Note 68 — Chapter XI · STATE OF THE COUNTRY.—BRUCE INVITED TO TAKE THE CROWN.—CONDUCT OF CUMYN TOWARDS BRUCE.—NOTICE OF CUMYN.—TRADITION RESPECTING THE CLAN CUMYN.—NOTICE OF KERLE.—WALLACE BETRAYED BY MENTEITH.

The circumstance of this person being the last friend whom our hero was destined to behold, would, independent of his own personal merits, have rendered him an object of curiosity to a great proportion of our readers. The following account is taken from the notes of the editor of the Perth edition of Blind Harrie; and, as any thing which the writer has yet met with, rather tends to confirm than invalidate the statement, he shall submit it to the reader in the words of the learned and intelligent author:—

“William Ker, commonly called Kerlie, or Ker Little, was ancestor of the Kers of Kersland. He, as well as many others, was compelled to swear the unlawful oath of fealty to Edward, August 5. 1296.

“He joined Wallace at the castle of the Earl of Lennox, September 1296, and went with him immediately on his first northern expedition. He and Stephen of Ireland were the only two of Wallace’s men who survived the battle along the north side of the River Erne, November 1296.

“He was the constant friend and companion of Wallace on all occasions, and is sometimes called his steward: In 1305, when Wallace was taken prisoner at Robrastoun, a solitary village near Glasgow, William Ker only was with him. They were found both asleep, and Ker was killed in the scuffle.

“Henry says, that William Ker had large inheritance in the district of Carrick in Air-shire. That his ancestor was brought from Ireland by King David I., and defeated, with the assistance of seven hundred Scots, nine thousand Norwegians who had landed at Dunmoir. Some of the Norwegians were drowned in Doun, and others slain upon the land. King David gave him the lands of Dunmoir in reward of his bravery.

“It may be remarked, that Dun Hill, or, as it is commonly called, Norman or Northman Law, a high hill on the estate of Dunmure, in the north-east part of Fife, and parish of Abdie, has on the top of it the remains of Danish intrenchments. The hill on the north side declines all the way to the river or Frith of Tay, which has Dundee at the mouth of it. The constant tradition is, that the Danes or Norwegians carried the spoil of the country to the top of this hill, where the natives could have no access to them; and after having collected it there, carried it down on the other side to their ships in the river.”