Biggar and the House of Fleming

474 BIGGAR AND THE HOUSE OF FLEMING.
throw 200 men into the town, or defeat the English in a
pitched battle. The adherents of David Bruce immediately-
raised an army, and marched to the relief of the beleaguered
town. The Governor representing that the inhabitants were
reduced to the last extremity, the Scots resolved to hazard a
battle, and, crossing the Tweed, attacked the English, who
were drawn up in four battalions on an eminence called Hali-
donhill. The Scots, who were also arrayed in four battalions,
Fleming and his retainers occupying a post in the second,
made charge after charge, but were ultimately driven back, and
scattered in irretrievable confusion. Fourteen thousand war-
riors, including a number of the nobility, were laid lifeless on
the field. Fleming was fortunate enough to escape, and fled
to his strong Castle of Dumbarton. Edward overran the
country, appointed sheriffs, garrisoned castles, and managed all
matters as if Scotland had been thoroughly and irretrievably
subdued, and had become an integral part of England. Flem-
ing, therefore, began to suspect that Dumbarton Castle might
not be strong enough to protect the King and Queen ; and on
this account he privately conveyed them to France, where they
remained for eight years. They returned to Scotland on the
4th of May 1341, when their interests in Scotland had begun
to be again in the ascendant.
David, whatever may have been his defects in other respects,
was fully alive to the great and notable services which had
been rendered to him by Malcolm Fleming. At the town of
Ayr, on the 9 th of November, about six months after his return
from France, he conferred on him a charter, by which he was
raised to the dignity of Earl of Wigton, and obtained very im-
portant rights and privileges. The following may be given as
the substance of this charter, from the original Latin : — David,
by the grace of God, King of Scotland. Be it known to all
good men on the face of the earth, lay or clerical, that we have
giverj, granted, and, by this our charter, confirmed to Malcolm
Fleming, our well-beloved and faithful Knight, for his homages
and laudable service paid and to be paid to us, all our
lands of Faryes and the Bynnes, and the whole of our burgh of
Wigton, with all their pertinents, and all our lands of the whole
Sheriffship of Wigton, by their proper boundaries, and divi-
sions, viz., along the Water of Cree to the sea, and along the