=13. Robert III., 1390-1406.=--The eldest son of the late King was _John_, but, as Balliol had made this name odious to the people, he changed it at his coronation to _Robert_. The country was in a miserable state. The nobles had been so long used to war with England that they could not bear to be at peace. They fought with one another, and preyed on the peasants and burghers. As the King was too weak both in mind and body to restrain them, the Estates placed the sovereign power in the hands of his son _David_, who was created _Duke of Rothesay_. This is the first time the title of Duke appears in Scottish history. Rothesay was to act as the King's Lieutenant for three years, with the advice of a council chosen by the Estates. Meanwhile the real rulers were the King's two brothers, _Robert, Duke of Albany_, and _Alexander, Earl of Buchan_, who was master of the country north of the Firths, where his ferocity won him the surname of the _Wolf of Badenoch_. Albany, anxious, as he gave out, to restrain the wild follies of his nephew _Rothesay_, seized him and confined him in _Falkland Castle_. There he died. Albany said that he had died from natural causes, but the people believed that he had been starved by his uncle. After his death, Albany, with his associate _Archibald, Earl of Douglas_, was cleared of suspicion by an act of the Estates. He was afterwards appointed Governor. =14. Clan Battle near Perth.=--During this reign there was a deadly combat between two bands of _Highlanders_ on a meadow by the _Tay_, called the _North Inch of Perth_. The King and his nobles, and a vast crowd of persons of all ranks, gathered to see them fight. There were thirty chosen men on each side, and they fought as was their wont, with axes, swords, or bows, and wore no armour. Before the fight began one man left the ranks, swam the Tay, and fled. One _Henry Wynd_, called "_Gow Chrom_," or the "Crooked Smith," was hired to fill his place. They fought with fury, and did not leave off till ten men, all wounded, were left on the one side, and one only upon the other. Gow Chrom did such good service that he is said to have won the victory for the clan that had enlisted his services, though it is said he knew so little about the matter that he was quite uncertain which side he was fighting for. Like Otterburn, this slaughter simply showed the skill of the combatants in killing one another. The name of the clans engaged, and their cause of quarrel, if they had any, have been alike forgotten.