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
Feast of the Swans Feast of the Swans The Feast of the Swans was a chivalric celebration of the knighting of 267 men at Westminster Abbey on 22 May 1306. It followed a proclamation by Edward I that all esquires eligible for knighthood should come to Westminster to be knighted in turn by their future king, and to march with him against the Scots. The King first knighted his son Edward II who in turn knighted the 266 others. At the feast that followed the king had two swans brought in. He swore before God and the swans to avenge the murder of John