Battle of Methven

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Battle of Methven

Part of the First War of Scottish Independence

Date	June 19, 1306
Location	Methven, west of Perth
Result	English victory

Combatants

Kingdom of Scotland

Kingdom of England

Commanders

Robert I of Scotland

Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

Strength

4,500 soldiers

3,000 soldiers

Casualties

First War of Scottish Independence
Dunbar – Stirling Bridge – Falkirk – Roslin – Happrew – Stirling Castle – Methven – Dalry – Glen Trool – Loudron Hill – Slioch – Inverurie – Pass of Brander – Bannockburn – Connor – Skaitmuir– Skerries – Faughart – Berwick – Myton – Arbroath – Boroughbridge – Old Byland – Corbeil – Stanhope Park – Edinburgh-Northampton

Wars of Scottish Independence
First – Second

The Battle of Methven took place at Methven in Scotland in 1306, during the Wars of Scottish Independence.

1 Comyn's Death
2 The Oath of the Swans
3 Methven
4 A Fortunate Defeat?
5 References

[edit] Comyn's Death

In February 1306 Robert Bruce and a small party of his followers killed John Comyn, also known as the Red Comyn, before the high altar of the Greyfriars Church in Dumfries. It was an act of sacrilege; but it was also one of the most decisive moves in Scottish political history. Hitherto the wars with England, later to be known as the Wars of Scottish Independence had been pursued in a somewhat desultory fashion: enemies of the English at one moment were just as liable to be friends at the next; and both Bruce and Comyn had changed sides on more than one occasion. For Bruce the only way now was forward; for he would never be received back into the peace of Edward I. We have no way of knowing what his motives were that February day. But now his only defence lay in the seizure of the political high ground: a few weeks after the murder he was crowned King of Scotland at Scone.

[edit] The Oath of the Swans

The murder of John Comyn took Edward by complete surprise. News travelled slowly: it was some thirteen days after the event that the details reached his court at Winchester, and even then the full circumstances were unclear. The murder was initially described as the 'work of some people who are doing their utmost to trouble the peace and quiet of the realm of Scotland.' When he learned the true facts he was incensed. On 5 April he appointed Aymer de Valence, Comyn's brother-in-law, and the future Earl of Pembroke, as his plenipotentiary in Scotland, with powers to raise the Dragon Banner, signifying that no quarter would be given to Bruce and his adherents; or, as the chronicler John Barbour puts it 'to burn and slay and raise dragon.'

At Westminster on 20 May the king knighted the Prince of Wales and 250 other young men in preparation for the coming war. A banquet was held after the ceremony during which two decorated swans were presented to the king. Edward then vowed 'by the God of Heaven and these swans' to avenge the death of John Comyn and the treachery of the Scots. On his demand the newly created knights took a similar oath. This was a hunt to the death.

[edit] Methven

In Scotland Robert Bruce was already engaged in a full-scale civil war with the family and friends of John Comyn. The coronation in March had given him some legitimacy; but overall the position was very uncertain. Even his wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, the daughter of the Earl of Ulster, and now queen of Scotland, was concerned. After the coronation she is reported to have said 'It seems to me we are but a summer king and queen whom children crown in their support.' For Robert Bruce winter was fast approaching.

Valence moved quickly, and by the middle of summer he had made his base at Perth, where he was joined by many of the supporters of John Comyn. King Robert came from the west, ready to meet his foe in battle. He was not yet the great guerilla commander he was to become in later years, and was prepared to observe on this occasion the gentlemanly conventions of feudal warfare, while the English adopted less orthodox tactics. Valence was invited to leave the walls of Perth and join Bruce in battle, but he declined to do so. The king, perhaps believing that Valence's refusal to accept his challenge was a sign of weakness, retired only a few miles to nearby Methven, where he made camp for the night. Before dawn on 19 June his little army was taken by surprise and almost destroyed. Methven wasn't a battle; it was a disaster. The Scots had almost no time to rally, and many prominent men were taken prisoner. We have no precise information on casualties; but they were almost certainly very light, given the speed with which the engagement was concluded. In the retreat westwards what was left of the royal army was mauled by the Macdougalls of Lorn, kinsmen of John Comyn's, at the Battle of Dalry. Bruce managed to escape, but into a very uncertain future.

[edit] A Fortunate Defeat?

For all truly great soldiers lessons learned in adversity are just as valuable-if not more so-than lessons learned in success. Methven and its aftermath was a near disaster for Bruce; but he would never again allow himself to be trapped in so simple a fashion, or attempt to face up to an enemy in conventional terms. It would be hard to provide a better verdict on the Battle of Methven than that given by Geoffery Barrow; Yet the disaster was the saving of Bruce and his kingdom. If he had won, as he might well have done, he would almost certainly have met the English king in the field in a major pitched battle, eight years before he was ready for it.

[edit] References

Barbour, John, The Bruce, trans. A. A. H. Duncan, 1964.
Barrow, G.W. S., Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, 1964.
Barron, E. M., The Scottish War of Independence, 1934.
Hailes, Lord (David Dalrymple), The Annals of Scotland, 1776.
Macnair-Scott, R., Robert Bruce, King of Scots, 1982.