New Cumnock known as Castle William, for upon this sted Sir William Wallace held a ryall house, a crown property. On 10 February 1306, Robert the Bruce killed John Comyn at Greyfriars Kirk, Dumfries. By May of that year Bruce was crowned King of Scots at Scone but early setbacks against English forces saw him seek refuge in the Western Isles and then in Ireland. In the spring of 1307 Bruce and his followers returned to the Scottish mainland and ambushed an English force under the command of Sir Aymer de Vallence at Glen Trool, Galloway. Worse was to follow for the
History of the Scots language a "lingua franca" by the end of the 13th century. As a consequence of the outcome of the Wars of Independence though, the English-speaking people of Lothian who lived under the King of Scots had to accept Scottish identity. The growth in prestige of English in the 14th century, and the complementary decline of French in Scotland's Royal Court, made English the prestige language of most of eastern Scotland. Divergence from Northumbrian Middle English was influenced by the Norse of Scandinavian-influenced Middle English-speaking immigrants from the North and Midlands of England during the 12th and 13th centuries, Dutch and Middle