The Recruit (52 page)

Mary followed Helen out of the Hall, down the stairs, and into the courtyard. The
two men were sitting on overturned wooden crates, arguing. From the looks of them,
it was hard to tell who won. They were both bruised, scraped, and looked like they’d
been rolling in mud—which they had.

Helen didn’t say anything. She just stomped up to her husband, put her hands on her
hips, and glared at him until he dropped his head. “Aw, Helen, don’t look at me like
that. He had it coming.”

“He always does. And did you prove anything?”

“Aye, that his neck looks good under my sword,” Kenneth interjected gamely.

His sister shot him a look. “I’ll deal with you later. Come,” she said to Magnus,
with a long-suffering sigh. “Let me see what I can do with that eye.”

Mary shook her head and folded her arms, looking down at her gloating husband. “Well,
Ice, what do you have to say for yourself?” She used the war name given to him by
the Highland Guard when he and Helen had been given a ceremony a few months ago. “I
thought the
sword would be enough. But it seems this contest will never be over.”

Since Kenneth had lost his sword saving her, Bruce had gifted him with a new one.
On it was inscribed
Par omnibus operibus, secundum ad neminem
. Equal to every task, second to none.

“It was his fault.”

“It always is. When are you two going to admit that you don’t hate each other?”

He gave her that provoking smile that tended to make her knees weak. “Now why would
we do that? He’s the best sparring partner I have.”

He’d also become his real partner in the Highland Guard. Hell indeed had frozen over.

Mary gave up. Her stubborn brother-in-law and hot-tempered husband would just have
to figure it out on their own. She hoped without killing each other in the process.

Kenneth picked her up and spun her around. “Put me down.” She wrinkled her nose, trying
to swat his hands away. “You’re filthy.”

He kissed her anyway. Deeply and passionately in the bright sunshine until her heart
was pounding, her breath was quickening, and her knees were turned to jelly.

His eyes were hot as they met hers. “Where’s William?”

“With his nurse, taking a nap.”

His grin deepened. “Sounds like an excellent idea.”

She blushed. Helen had finally given her approval to resume her marital “duty,” and
Kenneth seemed intent on making up for lost time—not that she minded. “It seems you
have been propositioning me for improper naps since the first time I met you.”

Their eyes locked, remembering their first conversation at the Highland Games. “It
was the best proposition I ever made,” he said softly. “But I should have tossed you
over my shoulder that day and carried you up the stairs. It would have been a lot
easier.”

She met his gaze, all the love in her heart shining in her eyes. “But not half as
rewarding. What’s victory without the battle?”

He laughed and shook his head. “Spoken like a true fighter.”

“I learned from the best.” And she had.

As with the other books in this series, many of the characters in
The Recruit
are loosely based on historical figures, including the hero and heroine. Some time
after 1307, Kenneth de Moravia, the younger brother of William, Earl of Sutherland,
married Mary of Mar, the widow of John Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl (who made a brief
appearance in
The Viper
).

Most historians believe it is the same Mary who married both Atholl and Sutherland,
but there seems to be a possibility that they were two different women. She is alternatively
referred to as Mary, Marjory, and Margaret. Moreover, the genealogical charts are
all over the place on her date of birth. Some are highly implausible, i.e. having
her well over forty when she married Kenneth, who was probably in his early twenties
at the time—which, given that they had at least three children together, seems a stretch
for medieval procreation. Most sources have Mary as the daughter of Donald, Earl of
Mar, but others have her as the daughter of Gartnait (his son). I decided to go with
the conventional wisdom of her being the same person, but adjusted her age to fit
my story. The possibility of more than one Mary did, however, give me the idea for
a fictional twin sister, “Janet.”

If there is one thing I’ve learned in researching this series, it’s that intermarriage
between noble families seems
to have made everyone related. I’m exaggerating, but not by much. The connections
are numerous and at times extremely convoluted.

Case in point: Mary of Mar. Mary’s sister Isabel was Robert the Bruce’s first wife
and the mother of his daughter Marjory, who at the time of this story is his heir
and imprisoned in England with his second queen, Elizabeth, and Mary’s nephew Donald,
the current Earl of Mar. But Mary’s brother Gartnait was also married to Bruce’s sister,
Christina (who later would marry Christopher Seton, Alex “Dragon” Seton’s brother).
Another of Mary’s brothers (Duncan?) seems to have been the first husband of Christina
of the Isles, the half-sister of Lachlan “Viper” MacRuairi.

Got all that straight? Those are just the connections I mentioned. I didn’t mention
that Mary’s mother was Helen, daughter of Llewelyn the Great, Prince of Wales, and
Joan, King John of England’s natural daughter. In other words, Mary’s maternal great-grandfather
was King John of England, which makes her second cousins with Edward I of England
and gives her more connections than I could possibly name. But that isn’t all. Mary’s
paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Comyn of Buchan (the Comyns, of course, being Bruce’s
archenemies); thus her father’s first cousin was John Buchan, Earl of Buchan (Bella
MacDuff’s first husband from
The Viper
). I can’t imagine trying to put together a family tree of all this!

Kenneth became the fourth Earl of Sutherland on his brother’s death in 1330. Kenneth
and Mary’s son William, who is born at the end of this book, later became the fifth
Earl. Their second son, Nicholas, married a le Cheyne heiress, and was the progenitor
of the Sutherland lairds of Duffus. They also had a daughter Eustachia and possibly
another daughter.

Significantly, their son William married Margaret, the daughter of Robert the Bruce
and his second wife, Elizabeth
de Burgh, making Mary and Bruce in-laws three times over! For a brief time William
and Margaret’s son John (Kenneth and Mary’s grandson) was named the royal heir, but
unfortunately he died of the black plague in his teens.

As Bruce had only four children to reach adulthood (only three of whom were alive
at the time of this marriage), the royal alliance certainly shows that the Sutherlands—who
had fought with the Comyns and the English until 1308–09—had firmly established themselves
in the Bruce fold. To my authorial mind, it also could show Kenneth’s importance to
Bruce and/or his fondness for Mary.

As is unfortunately common for most women of the era, information on Mary’s whereabouts
and what happened to her in the days after Atholl’s execution did not seem to make
it onto the historical record. The timing and circumstances of her marriage to Kenneth,
therefore, were left up to my fictional imagination.

Much more, however, is known about her son. David Strathbogie, like his young cousin,
Donald, Earl of Mar, was an English prisoner in his youth and spent time in the royal
household of the Prince of Wales (later Edward II). David and Donald would be loyal
to Edward of England for most of their lives.

So how do two Scottish earls end up loyal to an English king? The opponents in the
Scottish Wars of Independence seem simple: the Scots versus the English. But of course,
the reality is much more complex. One of the hardest things for me to wrap my head
around was just how much the Bruce kingship divided the nation—this is the feuding
that is glossed over in
Braveheart
and better explains Robert the Bruce’s unheroic actions in that movie. The war was
between the Scots and the English, yes, but it was also between the Scots loyal to
Bruce and those loyal to the deposed King John Balliol (Comyn faction).

Men who had fought together against the English in the
early part of the war (like Atholl and Sir Adam Gordon) would take opposite sides
when Bruce claimed the throne. Thus, you will see some of the early “patriots,” who
fought alongside Wallace, later fighting with the English. The old proverb “The enemy
of my enemy is my friend” really holds here. There was a significant core of Scottish
nobles who chose to fight with the English rather than join Bruce, even after it was
clear he was making inroads (1307–08).

To my mind, as I allude to in the book, part of Bruce’s greatness as a king was that
he did not immediately disinherit many of these men, instead making a concerted effort
to win over his detractors and unify his kingdom (with the notable exception of the
Comyns and MacDougalls, his blood enemies who could never be forgiven). The Sutherlands
and the Earl of Ross are good examples of this. The Earl of Ross was responsible for
the imprisonment of Bruce’s queen, his sister, and his daughter, but Bruce forgave
him two years later and married one of his sisters to Ross’s heir. Interestingly,
one of the conditions for Ross to come over to Bruce was that he had to pay for mass
to be said at St. Duthacs in memory of Atholl.

Some would take longer to be persuaded (such as Sir Adam Gordon), but others would
never come over to Bruce’s side. After Bannockburn, Bruce lost patience. The holdouts
had their land and titles dispossessed and would become known as the “Disinherited.”

David Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl (like his cousin Donald, Earl of Mar), was one of
these Disinherited. Conveniently for my story, however, David does “switch” sides
and come over to Bruce about this time (around 1311–12). He was part of the English
truce party with Lamberton in 1311–12, which gave me the inspiration for Mary’s role.

Alas, David’s allegiance to Bruce was brief. He was back with the English by Bannockburn
in 1314, and this time it was for good. The supposed reason for his defection?
Allegedly his sister Isabel (Mary and Atholl actually had two, possibly three, children)
was seduced by Edward Bruce (Robert’s only remaining brother) and he refused to marry
her.

At the time of the novel, David was probably about twenty. Interestingly, he was also
married to Joan Comyn, the daughter of The Red Comyn, whom Bruce killed in 1306. Their
son David was born in early 1309 and baptized at St. Nicholas Church in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Thus, I chose to put Mary in the area at the time, although Ponteland Castle doesn’t
come to the Earl of Atholl until slightly later.

So how does David Strathbogie, the son of a great Bruce patriot, end up married to
a Comyn? I suppose it could have been arranged by King Edward to ally David with Bruce’s
enemy, but there is another explanation that goes back to my earlier point about former
friends. Atholl (David’s father) and The Red Comyn fought together at Dunbar for the
patriot cause and were imprisoned in the Tower of London. Perhaps the betrothal was
arranged when they were on the same side? Interestingly, when David temporarily switched
sides, he left his Comyn wife behind in England. One can only imagine what that reunion
was like.

As you can imagine, figuring out the possible motivations for why someone would have
allied with Bruce or Comyn (and the English), given all these interrelations, can
be a puzzle of its own. But there is another consequence of all these intermarriages
that I really didn’t “get” at first, which also complicated the decision for many
of Scottish nobles. We think of Scotsmen or Englishmen as either/or. But the practical
effect of all these marriages was a class of nobles who had significant land interests
on
both
sides of the border.

Mary’s first husband, John Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl, is an example of this, but
it was also true for many others
(including Robert the Bruce himself). John’s mother was English, and in addition to
his Scottish lands, he had holdings in Kent, England. Thus, choosing to fight for
Bruce wasn’t a simple patriotic decision. He was a Scottish earl, but he was also
an English landholder (possibly a baron), and by rebelling he put his English holdings
in jeopardy.

As I mention in the book, Atholl was captured with the ladies’ party in Tain (1306),
imprisoned, and executed—the first earl executed in more than two hundred years. He
did attempt to sway Edward by reminding him of their familial relationship, but Edward’s
response was to simply hang him on a higher gallows as befitting his exalted status.
Ah, that witty Plantagenet sense of humor. Atholl’s head was placed on a stake beside
that of Wallace and Simon Fraser. He was certainly a hero, but his profligacy is my
invention.

Sir Adam Gordon is another example of the Scottish nobles who were put in a difficult
position by the Bruce kingship. In the early years of the war, Sir Adam was considered
a great patriot, fighting alongside Comyn and Atholl at Dunbar in 1296 (where his
father fell). He seems to have escaped the capture and imprisonment that befell most
of the other nobles, but was forced to surrender to Edward not long after the battle.
Later, he fought alongside Wallace at Stirling Bridge (1297) and at Falkirk (1298).

His reasons for allying himself with the English until the relatively late date of
1313–14 are almost a checklist of the above tensions: his mother was English, he was
loyal to the deposed King John Balliol (enemy of Bruce), and his lands were in the
troublesome borders close to England. It wasn’t until after King John died (1313)
that Gordon came over to Bruce.

Ironically, King Robert granted Gordon the lands in Strathbogie and titles of the
now dispossessed Earl of Atholl (David, Mary’s son). Readers of
Highland Scoundrel
from my Campbell trilogy might recall these castles in the
north. But the original Strathbogie and Huntly(wood) castles were located in the Borders.