Andrew Moray
[1] He rose to prominence during the First Scottish War of Independence, initially raising a small band of supporters at Avoch Castle in early summer 1297 to fight King Edward I of England.
The family traced their origins to Freskin of Uphall, in Lothian, who was granted lands in the Laich of Moray during the 12th-century reign of King David I of Scotland.
[11] Sir William Moray of Bothwell, the elder brother of Andrew the younger's father, held extensive lands in Lanarkshire and at Lilleford in Lincolnshire.
[12] Sir William, who was known as le riche due to his extensive personal wealth, was in 1296 constructing Bothwell Castle overlooking the River Clyde.
[13] He would subsequently be consecrated in the summer of 1299 as Bishop of Moray by Pope Boniface VIII,[14] and become a vociferous supporter of King Robert I's kingship.
On 19 March 1286, King Alexander III died after apparently being thrown from his horse as he made his way to Kinghorn, in Fife, from Edinburgh Castle to be with his young Flemish queen, Yolande.
Andrew Moray the younger was part of the Scottish feudal host assembling at Caddonlee in March 1296 in preparation for war with England.
A part of Scottish host, led by the earls of Atholl, Ross, and Mar and John Comyn the younger of Badenoch, entered Cumberland.
Pierre de Langtoft, an English chronicler, records:[19] Mar, Ross, Menteith ... have destroyed Tindale to cinders and coals, The town of Corbridge, and two monasteries, Hexham and Lanercost, they have annihilated by burning; They have made slaughter of the people of the country, Carried off the goods driven away the canons.King Edward I assembled a large army on the Anglo-Scottish border for the invasion of Scotland.
The English Lanercost Chronicle condemned this slaughter as a "crime" and recorded that fifteen thousand "of both sexes perished, some by the sword, others by fire, in the space of a day and a half".
[20] It had been many years since Scotland had mobilized for war, and at the Battle of Dunbar the Scots were overwhelmed quickly by a detachment led by John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey.
While the Scots suffered under English occupation, Andrew Moray the younger continued to be imprisoned in Chester castle, but sometime in winter 1296–97 he escaped and made his way back to his father's lands in north Scotland.
[35] The English Sheriff of Aberdeen, Sir Henry de Latham, was ordered on 11 June 1297 to deal with rebels in Aberdeenshire.
One participant was Sir William fitz Warin constable of Urquhart Castle standing on the western shore of Loch Ness.
The devastation of Sir Reginald Cheyne's lands was later reported to King Edward[40]a very large body of rogues swept through the province of Moray towards the Spey, destroying the lands of Duffus, laid waste and captured the castle.King Edward I while preparing to campaign in Flanders sought to deal with the threat posed by Andrew Moray by making use of Scots nobles released from his prisons.
The king issued orders on 11 June 1297 to several apparently loyal Scots lords to raise their retinues and march into the province of Moray to relieve fitz Warin and restore English authority.
An extremely ambiguous account of events at Enzie was sent on 25 August 1297 from Inverness to King Edward by Bishop Cheyn,[42] It relates that after some discussion, Moray and his rebel army withdrew into "very great stronghold of bog and wood" [where] "no horseman could be of service".
This was a highly dubious explanation when one considers the Comyn family pacified for the Scots king the province of Moray in the early 13th century.
Cressingham, having seen this letter, wrote to the king on 5 August:[43] Sire, the peace on the other side of the Scottish Sea [the Firth of Forth] is still in obscurity, as it is said, as to the doings of the earls who are there.
Walter of Guisborough, said of him:[47]The earl [of Surrey] ... to whom our king committed the care and custody of the Kingdom of Scotland, because of the awful weather, said that he could not stay there and keep his health.
He stayed in England, but in the northern part and sluggishly pursued the exiling [of the] enemy, which was the root of our later difficulty.Moray and Wallace, besieging Dundee castle, entrusted the siege to the townspeople and marched to Stirling to meet him.
He galloped for Berwick, causing one English chronicler, Walter of Guisborough, to sneer that Surrey's "charger never once tasted food during the whole journey".
According to the chronicle of Pierre de Langtoft[50] Cressingham, unaccustomed "to the saddle, From his steed in its course fell under foot, His body was cut to pieces by the ribalds of Scotland".
The Lanercost Chronicle claims that Wallace had:[51] "a broad strip [of Cressingham’s skin] ... taken from the head to the heel, to make therewith a baldrick for his sword".The defeat of Surrey at the Battle of Stirling Bridge was the zenith of Moray the younger's military career.
The training for knighthood that he had received as a baron's son equipped him with the skills to fulfil a leadership role in Scotland's feudal host.
It was received by the prior of Hexham by:[53]"Andrew de Moray and William Wallace, the leaders of the army and of the realm of Scotland."
[54] In response to these apparently conflicting facts, most historians choose to believe that Moray the younger was wounded at Stirling Bridge, later dying of his injuries sometime around November 1297.
[11] The child eventually acceded to the lordships of Avoch, Boharm, Petty and Bothwell, uniting the north and south branches of the family.
He was twice appointed Guardian of the Realm during the minority of King David II, the heir of Robert I. Moray the younger's lack of recognition is increasingly a subject of debate, and has even been discussed in the Scotland's parliament.
In December 2009, Murdo Fraser, a Conservative List MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, called for a national debate on an appropriate monument to Moray.
