Opening…

Preface

1. MSS. AND EDITIONS.

The poem The Bruce, by John Barbour, is preserved in only two manuscripts, one in the library of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and the other in the Advocates’ Library, Edinburgh. The former is hereafter denoted by the letter C, the latter by E. Of these E alone is complete in the sense of having both beginning and end; the first three Books and Book IV. 1-56 are missing in C. On the other hand, C bears to have been completed in 1487, E in 1489. Other things being equal, the earlier MS. must, of course, be preferred. Here, however, intervenes a series of extracts, numbering 280 lines from Books I. and II., embedded in Wyntoun’s Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, and the two MSS. of the Cronykil are actually older than those of The Bruce. This raises a difficulty, as Wyntoun’s extracts show a goodly proportion of variations in language from the corresponding passages in E, the only other MS. which covers the same ground. Professor Skeat considers that Wyntoun’s lines are “in a better form (in the main)” than those of E;[1] but, on the other hand, we do not know Wyntoun’s method of working in such a case--how far he transcribed verbatim, how far “he modified the language of the MS. which he must have had before him.”[2] Many lines he omits, and others he obviously paraphrases; he incorporates matter from another source; and his version of The Bruce lines may quite well be due to memorial reproduction after a hurried reading. It is not otherwise easy to account for scraps of a few lines of the poem being here and there embedded in narrative independently worded or derived. There is thus no warrant for erecting this chopped-up, second-hand version of the lines in question into a canon or standard for a purely scribal transcript made for its own sake. It is needful to enter this plea in view of the separatist theory of Mr. J. T. T. Brown, for whom the passages in Wyntoun represent so much of the original or ur-Bruce, out of which our MS. and printed versions have been elaborated by a fifteenth-century editor, who, to do so, borrowed freely and with no great cunning from the works of contemporary authors.[3]

[1] Preface, S.T.S. edition, p. lxxv.

[2] Skeat, p. xxxvii.

The earliest printed versions of The Bruce raise yet another issue bearing on the purity of the text. The first is apparently of the year 1571, and only one copy is known to exist.[4] It does not, however, differ materially from that of “Andro Hart” (H), published at Edinburgh in 1616. In this the language is modernized; still more so is it in the edition of four years later from the same publisher. And these seem to have been the basis of the gradually worsening issues so common in the eighteenth century, until in 1790 Pinkerton reverted to the sound critical method of having a transcript made directly from the Edinburgh MS. This again was the origin of Jamieson’s more careful edition of 1820, reprinted with a few corrections in 1869. Meantime Cosmo Innes had prepared for the Spalding Club (1856) a version which, for the first time, introduced readings from the Cambridge MS., but which, in being dressed up in a “consistent orthography,” so far reverted to the evil example of Hart. Subsequently, for the Early English Text Society, and later, for the Scottish Text Society, Professor Skeat, basing on C, but also utilizing E and H with a few readings from Wyntoun and Anderson’s issue of 1670, produced, for the first time, a full and in all respects competent text. To Skeat’s edition the present one is essentially indebted.

[3] The Wallace and The Bruce Restudied, p. 74 and passim. See also Appendices E, F.

[4] For a detailed account of the different editions see Skeat’s Preface to the E.E.T.S. or S.T.S. issues.

The main point about Hart’s edition (H) is that it supplies 39 lines not found in either MS., with an expansion of two others into eight, 45 new lines in all. The expanded portion Skeat perforce relegates to the footnotes. Twelve lines from Hart in the last book he at first accepted as genuine, but finally discarded as an interpolation.[5] He might justifiably have gone further, for he seems to me to have erred in attaching undue importance to Hart’s unsupported contributions.

[5] See Appendix D.

This is made clear by considering the question as between C and E. Each MS. has portions not found in the other. The scribe of E furnishes his own excuse; his copy was “hurriedly written” (raptim scriptus). Consequently we are not surprised to find that he has dropped 81 lines found in C. On the other hand, the more careful Cambridge scribe has overlooked, as the best of copyists might, 39 lines preserved in the Edinburgh version. Upon analysis of these two groups a satisfactory test of character emerges. In one case only--C, Bk. VI. *85-*92, E, Bk. VI. 101-106--do we find an unexplained confusion, traces of two alternative accounts of one incident, a possibility to which Barbour refers in several instances. One line from C Skeat rejects because it results in a triple rhyme.[6] Having eliminated these, we find that of the remaining omissions in E two lines are the result of the misplacing of one;[7] eight lines are couplets which have been overlooked; four lines are necessary to complete couplets, so that their loss is due to sheer carelessness; while the bulk of the missing lines, 57 out of 80, is accounted for by the recurrence of the same word or words at the beginning or end of the line, whereby the eye of the scribe has run on from, e.g., “Toward the toun” in Bk. IX. *374 to “Toward the toun” in 374, and from “thai fand” in Bk. XIII. 446 to “thai fand,” in *450, missing all between. A parallel result is given by analysis of the 39 lines wanting in C but present in E. Six are involved in the mutual perplexity of Bk. VI.; one is merely a careless oversight, and the remaining 32 come under the main category of omission through recurrence, within a short space, of the same word or rhyme. On the whole, then, with the reservation noted above, the condition of things as between the two MSS. is quite normal; the omissions are explicable on ordinary grounds, and as the missing lines, with but one real exception, take their places again without disturbance of their neighbours, we may conclude that C and E are individual versions of a single original poem, and complementary to each other. But copyists were only mortal; an author too might see cause to alter a MS.; and the variations of reading, even with those of Wyntoun thrown in, after all supply a less serious illustration of such possibilities than do the MSS. of the Canterbury Tales from the Ellesmere to the so disturbing Harleian.

[6] XVIII. *537; and see note on p. 277.

[7] VIII. *493, *495.

As for the lines found only in Hart’s edition, their every feature arouses distrust and suspicion. Skeat’s judgment of “almost certainly genuine” he has had to retract for 18 out of the total of 45, including the eight-line version of a couple in the MSS.[8] Those on the heart-throwing episode, Bk. XX. *421-*432, have been referred to above. Not a single example of the remaining accretions meets the test of repetition operative in the case of the MSS., or suggests its own explanation. The couplet in Bk. II., p. 25, is nothing either way; that on p. 283 is awkward; the intrusive lines on p. 321 are neither sense nor grammar; those on pp. 215, 216 can find a place only by an unwarrantable alteration of the succeeding line in both MSS., a liberty which Mr. Brown, on purely speculative grounds, lightly accepts from the very passage in question.[9] On the untimeous harangue into which Bruce is made to pass on p. 239 I have spoken in its place. In general it may be said that Hart’s contributions are clear misfits. Moreover, the circumstantial evidence seems to clinch the main conclusion. Hart, or his editor, had a turn for rhyme: to him are due the rhyming rubrics, and he added at the close of the poem a halting colophon of six lines, which in the later corrupt editions was simply merged in the poem, and is quoted as a specimen thereof in a critical historical work of 1702.[10] In XX. 610 he has barefacedly substituted a line for that of the MSS., which introduces a detail not found before the time of Bower and no doubt taken from him.[11] This throws a strong light on the origin of other lines in the same Book.[12] Thus we prove capability and inclination. Hart “modernized” the language of The Bruce, and from “modernization” to “improvement” is a tempting transition.

[8] XVII. 887, 888.

[9] The Wallace and The Bruce, pp. 133, 134.

[10] The Scottish Historical Library, by W. Nicholson, Archdeacon of Carlisle, p. 147.

[11] See note on passage.

[12] See Appendix D.

2. THE SCRIBES.

The Cambridge MS. bears witness that it was completed on August 18, 1487, by the hand of “John de R., chaplain”; the Edinburgh MS. that it was “hurriedly written” by “John Ramsay” in 1489, for a Fife vicar; and the latter signature is attached to the only MS. of The Wallace, which accompanies that of The Bruce but was transcribed two years earlier. Skeat immediately pronounces that the names signify but one person, that “John de R.” is also “John Ramsay,” apparently on the logic of Wonderland, because both surnames begin with the same letter.[13] Mr. Brown, however, points out that this equation of alternative forms was highly improbable for fifteenth-century Scotland, and substitutes a reading of his own whereby the scribes are still merged in one personality as “John Ramsay” otherwise “Sir John the Ross,” one of Dunbar’s makars, the real author of The Wallace, and the wholesale redactor of The Bruce. The details of Mr. Brown’s argument and all that flows therefrom must be read in The Wallace and The Bruce Restudied.[14] Mr. Brown (if I may say so) never fails to be suggestive and interesting, and even the light which led him astray was real critical illumination; but John Ramsay, who, “as a chaplain”--which he does not claim to have been--“was entitled to the courtesy title of Sir,”[15] and took his alternative name from his office as “Ross Herald or Ross Secretary”;[16] who lightened the toil of transcribing Acts of Parliament by dropping into verse on the margin--an unjustifiable accusation;[17] and who, from the seed of Blind Harry’s “gests,” raised the prickly bloom of The Wallace, and grafted enough borrowed material on to the rough stock of the original Bruce to make it something substantially different, and did all this without leaving even a cipher as a hint to posterity--of this complex and composite personage Mr. Brown is the only begetter, and his brief and inglorious career may be followed in The Athenæum, November 17-December 8, 1900, February 9, 1901. Mr. Brown, of course, can still claim that the problem of late redaction remains, whoever the guilty one may have been.[18] On this understanding I deal with it elsewhere.[19]

[13] The Bibliography of the Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. ii., recklessly says: “As the colophon informs us (!) all three MSS. were written by John Ramsay” (p. 447).

[14] Bonn, 1900.

[15] Brown, p. 82.

[16] Ibid., p. 68.

[17] See Athenæum, November 17, 1900.

[18] Athenæum, December 8, 1900.

[19] Appendix F.

For the MSS., it needs but a slight examination to show that they are from different hands. The fifteenth century had no “consistent orthography,” but a scribe would probably have of himself; would not, at the least, exhibit the systematic differences that mark the MSS. in question. That the differences are due to the scribes is indicated by their occurrence even in proper names where E is, on the whole, much more accurate than C.[20] Add that C offers more traces of southern English influences; that it invariably gives the weak form I for the Ic or Ik of E, and substitutes can for the latter’s gan; that it regularly prefers of to the off which distinguishes E and in certain positions i for y--these with other minor peculiarities, not being vital in character, are certainly due to individual idiosyncrasies in spelling. Ramsay is an honest scribe, who, at places, cannot read his original, and leaves a blank which must be supplied from the copy of the chaplain.[21] There is thus not the faintest reason for supposing but one scribe to have been at work. At the same time the essential agreement of the two transcripts shows that we are dealing with a single, complete, familiar poem which has suffered in precision of copying from the usual mishaps incident to its manner of publication and preservation.

[20] And Koeppel, while granting the general superiority of C, gives as his opinion that in not a few cases E, nevertheless, where it differs from C, preserves the genuine, original reading (Englische Studien, x., p. 377, note).

[21] IX. 492, XIX. 459, XX. 396.

3. THE PRESENT EDITION.

The present edition of The Bruce is based upon the printed text of the Cambridge MS., collated throughout with that of E--that is, upon the versions of Skeat and Jamieson. I have, however, adopted rather more readings from E than does Skeat, also a few more from Wyntoun, and offer some slight emendations--e.g., luffys for liffys in Bk. II. 527, oft for off in III. 194, Fyn all for Fyngall in II. 69, etc. I have profited, too, by criticism of the published text as in the adoption of Dr. Neilson’s corn-but in Bk. II. 438. The question of Hart’s version has been discussed above; it is valid only as a check upon the MSS. Variants of any interest or importance are given in the footnotes.

There has been no modernization of the language save in the case of the rubrics, which are no part of the text proper and have been contributed by the scribes or editors in order to facilitate the understanding of the poem. I have thus adhered to the spirit while modifying the letter of their work. But while avoiding any change in the language of the poem or even any attempt at a uniform spelling, I have taken a few harmless liberties with its alphabet and restricted certain of the letters to their modern values, substituting for others a modern equivalent. Skeat did this in the matter of the ancient “thorn” letter = th. In consideration of the general reader, I have gone somewhat farther, viz.:

1 The s with the ornamental curl I read as merely s; Jamieson and Skeat take it as, generally, = ss. But such alternative forms as Parys,[22] purches,[23] and purpos,[24] on the one hand, and the actual use of the tailed letter following the ordinary type in dress, press,[25] fix the usage I have adopted.[26] There are a few exceptions in which this letter is probably a contraction for is--e.g., II. 366, 459.

[22] I. 345.

[23] II. 572.

[24] III. 287.

[25] XIV. 246; XVI. 253.

[26] Cf. also in Gregory Smith’s Specimens of Middle Scots, p. xxx.

2. I have distributed their modern values to i, j, u, v, w. There is no advantage in preserving such forms as iugis, Evrope, wndyr: the hedge of the language--to use Lowell’s simile--is prickly enough without these accessories. Moreover, I have throughout written Edward for Eduuard or Eduard and Inglis for Ynglis (C).

3. As Skeat has substituted “th” for the “thorn” (þ), I have done likewise with the ancient English g (ȝ), the “yok” letter, resolving it into the digraph yh. As ultimately, in almost every case, significant of the consonantal y, I might have simply replaced it by that letter. But alternative forms, nearly without exception, show the digraph, both in The Bruce and in Wyntoun, giving yhe, yhet, yharnit, fenyhe, etc., and in Wyntoun’s extracts feyhnnyng, senyhoury, yhystir-day, bayhllys, etc. Even with the original letter the h is added as often as not. Apparently the usage, which had practically disappeared from the southern practice, was in a transitional stage on its way to its full revival in later Scots, where it became fixed, at the hands of the printers, as z, and survives in such forms as Cadzow, capercailzie, etc.[27] In I. 16, however, it has been read as g in forget, though foryhet is to be found in Ratis Raving, and in XV. 75 it is obviously z in Fi(t)z-Waryne.

[27] Cf. Murray’s Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland, p. *92; and New. Eng. Dict., G.

4. The placing of the capital letters and the punctuation are, of course, modern.

Further, the poem in MSS. is not divided into Books, but paragraphs are denoted by the insertion of a large capital; these, as in C, are similarly marked in the text. The division into twenty Books was first made by Pinkerton, and, as the most convenient, has been adopted by Skeat in his editions. From Pinkerton also Skeat adopts the numbering of the lines. Jamieson, however, made a division into fourteen Books with a numbering to suit. Cosmo Innes gave up the Books in favour of Cantos, with a fresh renumbering. To avoid confusion I have adhered to Skeat’s divisions and numbering, which are those of Pinkerton; inconvenient though the duplicate numbers certainly are, a totally new and fourth arrangement would be much more so. To break up and make more accessible the matter, I have also introduced, where possible, the paragraphs of Jamieson distinguished by spaces, some of these, however, being found in C. They are merely for the convenience of the reader. I may, perhaps, draw attention to the critical treatment of The Bruce as an historic document without which we move greatly in the dark. The historical notes of the early editors are few and superficial. Skeat does not profess to deal with the work strictly on this line (note, vol. ii., p. 224), though he does not fail to pass unnecessary censure at several places. But some such examination as I have tried to make seems necessary in the interests of Scottish historiography.

PAGE PREFACE v-xii 1. MSS. and Editions v 2. The Scribes viii 3. The Present Edition x

INTRODUCTION xv-xxiii 1. The Bruce as Romance xv 2. John Barbour xvi 3. Historic value of The Bruce xx

TEXT OF “THE BRUCE.” BOOKS I-XX. 1-377

NOTES TO TEXT 378

APPENDIX A.--The Site of the Battle of Bannockburn 496 „ B.--Bruce’s Speech at Bannockburn 497 „ C.--The Numbers at Bannockburn 498 „ D.--The Throwing of the Heart 502 „ E.--The Alexander and The Bruce 505 „ F.--Mr. Brown’s “Sources” for The Bruce 506 „ G.--Language and Orthography 511 „ H.--Grammar 513

GLOSSARY 519

LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS 545

Introduction

1. “THE BRUCE” AS ROMANCE.

The literary relationships of The Bruce may be briefly indicated. It stands at the beginning of Scottish literature; of its predecessors and contemporaries we have but the names, or possible versions whose place of origin is in dispute. In form and technique, including the octosyllabic couplet, it plainly depends on the French metrical romance, the most fruitful branch of a literature which, for quite two centuries, had been the mother of literatures in Western Europe. The opening line of The Bruce characterizes at once the poem itself, and what was best and most abundant in the literature of the Middle Ages. Barbour, too, it is never overlooked, announces his work as a “romance,” but as such, we gather from what precedes, only in a technical sense; and no mediæval writer would consider this popular method of treatment incompatible with strict accuracy and reality of subject: that is a modern refinement. Barbour certainly did not, nor did those who followed and used him; his selection of the model is simply the expression of his desire to do his work in “gud manere.” He anticipated Macaulay’s ambition in that his history was to differ from the most attractive literary matter only in being true. There were already in French many examples of contemporary history presented in this way as a succession of incidents on the lines of personal memoirs, though history had in the end succeeded in widening its outlook, and consequently found more fitting expression in prose. But that was of Barbour’s own age, and indeed Froissart had made his first essay, as an historian, in verse, which later he recast and continued in the form we know. All the necessities of Barbour’s case, however, led him the other way--the despised condition of the prose vernacular as a literary medium, from which, indeed, it never fully emerged; the character of his audience, which would be either learned or aristocratic; and the nature and associations of his subject, for which only the literature of romance could furnish a parallel or supply the appropriate setting. The literary qualities of The Bruce are, therefore, those of its model; it is a clear, vivid, easy-flowing narrative, and if it is also, as romances tended to be, loose in construction and discursive, it is never tedious, for it deals with real persons and events of real interest, depicted with an admiring fidelity.

2. JOHN BARBOUR.

The year of John Barbour’s birth we do not know, an item which is lacking also for Chaucer: 1320 is a good round guess. Nor have we any knowledge of his family. If, however, the St. Ninian in the Legends of the Saints be of Barbour, a claim for which there is much to be said,[28] it may give us a clue. The adventure of Jak. Trumpoure, there told, connects with the fact that Jaq. (James) Trampour had land in Aberdeen bordering on that of an Andrew Barbour.[29] It may be conjectured that the latter was John Barbour’s father, or other near relative, since the vivid personal details of the affair in the St. Ninian must have come from Trumpour himself, and the fact that he was a neighbour of the Barbours would explain how.

The name Barbour (Barbitonsoris) is obviously plebeian. Some ancestor followed the business of barber, as some one of Chaucer’s possibly did that of “hose-making.” The established spelling, Barbour, shows a French termination which takes also the form Barbier, whence Mr. Henderson concludes that John Barbour “was of Norman origin.”[30] But the spelling is merely an accident of transcription; the oldest form is Barber(e) (1357, 1365),[31] which the scribe of the Edinburgh MS. also uses, and which Wyntoun rhymes with here and matere; in a few cases it is Barbar. As we might expect, the name was common enough in the English-speaking districts of Scotland.

[28] See Neilson in Scottish Antiquary, vol. xi., p. 102 ff., and Buss, ex adverso, in Anglia, Band ix., p. 495.

[29] Jamieson’s Memoir, p. iv.

[30] Scottish Vernacular Literature, p. 41.

[31] For this reason Buss always gives the name as Barbere.

All our information about John Barbour, except the little to be gleaned from the complimentary references of later authors, is drawn from official sources,[32] and is thus, of course, perfectly precise, but meagre and uncharacteristic. We learn something of what Barbour did and got, but not what sort of man he was, or what he was like. By 1357, at the latest, he is Archdeacon of Aberdeen, the most important official of the diocese after the bishop, having as his prebend the parish of Rayne, in Garioch; and in the same year (August 13) he has a safe-conduct to go with three scholars, for purposes of study, to Oxford, where he may have seen John Wycliffe. There was, of course, no University in Scotland as yet, and scholars desirous of academic advantages had to seek them at least across the Border, a patronage which Edward III., in his own interests, readily encouraged. Seven years later he is again in England on a similar mission with four horsemen,[33] and on October 16 of the year following he goes to St. Denis, near Paris, this time with six companions on horseback; in 1368-69 he once more visits France “with two servants (vallettis) and two horses.” The University of Paris had the highest reputation for the study of philosophy and canon law, and Barbour, whose duty it was to administer the jurisdiction of his bishop, would necessarily be something of a lawyer, though his allusion to the clerkly “disputations” in this field does not suggest much personal interest in legal refinements.

[32] These have been brought together by Skeat in his first volume, pp. xv-xxv.

[33] Skeat here takes equitibus to be “knights,” but this is not a military business. They were, we may judge, the attendants proper to his rank.

His next appearance is in a different though related capacity. In 1372 he is clerk of the audit of the King’s household, that of Robert II., who had come to the throne in the previous year as the first of the Stewart Kings. The year after he is also an auditor of exchequer. The Stewarts were good friends to Barbour, and we see the result in his kindly, almost affectionate, references to the family in his poem. He wrote up their genealogy, but that piece of work is lost. After a long interval he reappears as an auditor of exchequer in 1382, 1383, 1384. For some part, at least, of this interval he was engaged upon The Bruce, and its completion in the course of 1376[34] suggestively approximates to a grant of £10, by the King’s order, from the customs of Aberdeen, first recorded in the accounts of March 14, 1377. So also does a pension of twenty shillings sterling from certain revenues of the same city, granted on August 29, 1378, to himself and his assignees for ever.[35] Accordingly, two years later Barbour assigned his pension, on his death, to the cathedral church of Aberdeen, as payment for a yearly mass for his own soul and for the souls of his relatives and all the faithful dead. The practice of these payments can be traced for a considerable time afterwards, but the financial readjustments of the Reformation sent Barbour’s legacy elsewhere.

[34] See on Bk. XIII. 702.

[35] The account of 1429 is the first to state expressly that this perpetual pension was “for the composition of the book of the deeds of the erstwhile King Robert the Bruce” (Excheq. Rolls, iv., p. 520).

But the royal bounty had not dried up. In 1386 the poet had gifts of £10 and £6 13s. 4d., no doubt in recognition of further literary labours. And on December 5, 1388, he had a fresh pension of £10 for life “for faithful service,” to be paid in equal portions at Pentecost and Martinmas. This he enjoyed for only a few years. On April 25, 1396, the first payment of twenty shillings is made to the Dean and Chapter of Aberdeen, so that Barbour must have been dead before April 5, 1395, when the accounts for the year began. As his “anniversary” fell on March 13, that date in 1395 was, in all probability, the day of his death. Thus born under the great Bruce, he had lived through the reigns of David II. and Robert II., and five years of Robert III.

Some stray notices of Barbour in other connections add nothing of importance. One, however, lets us know that he was responsible for the loss of a volume on law from the library of his cathedral.

We have really learned nothing as to the personality of the poet. That he was a keen student and a great reader as well as a trustworthy official, and stood high in the royal favour, may be inferred. The respectful and admiring references of Wyntoun and Bower attest his high reputation as a writer and authority on history. But The Bruce of itself would suggest neither the cleric nor the accountant. His pious reflections would be commonplaces even for a lay writer, and his handling of figures is not in any way distinctive. Even of Scotland in the background we get but casual, fleeting glimpses. Barbour is occupied entirely with his heroes and their performances. It is these he undertakes to celebrate, not, primarily, even the great cause which called them forth; and personal loyalty is his master virtue.[36] That he so conceived and developed his subject, his hurried passage from incident to incident, his grim, practical humour, his impatience of inaction or commonplace achievement, his actively descriptive vocabulary, and his vivid realization of the details of movement and conflict--all contribute to the impression of a man of lively, energetic temperament, with a delight in action and the concrete, and so, as his time and circumstances would make him, an amateur and idealist of chivalry.

[36] “His theme was Freedom,” writes Mr. Cosmo Innes. Barbour gives out his “theme” in the first thirty-six lines, and never once mentions it.

Besides The Bruce, Wyntoun credits Barbour with The Stewartis Oryginalle, a metrical genealogy starting from “Sere Dardane, lord de Frygya”(!), which has not survived.[37] Skeat has also suggested, basing on certain references by Wyntoun, that Barbour wrote a Brut on the mythical colonization of Britain by Brutus, but the inference is disputed by Mr. Brown,[38] and Wyntoun’s language is too vague for a definite opinion. On better grounds there has been attributed to him a Trojan War or Troy Book, portions of which have been used to fill up gaps in a MS. of Lydgate’s Siege with the rubric, “Here endis Barbour and begynnis the monk,” and again conversely. An independent MS. gives a larger number of lines in continuation. These fragments have been subjected to close linguistic and metrical criticism by P. Buss in Anglia, ix., pp. 493-514, and by E. Koeppel in Englische Studien, x., pp. 373-382, and their reasoning on differences of verbal and grammatical usages has been summarized by Skeat,[39] who concurs with their conclusion against Barbour’s authorship. But there are other elements of evidence, and the sceptical discussion of Medea’s alleged astronomical powers with the affirmation,

Bot na gude Cristene mane her-to Sulde gif credence--that I defend,[40]

is significantly similar to the argumentation on astrology in The Bruce, Bk. IV. 706 to end.[41] Faced with the plain statement of the fifteenth-century scribe, Skeat can only suggest that the poem was not by our Barbour, but by another person of the same name--surely the extremity of destructive literary criticism. And every argument of the German scholars against the Troy fragments would clinch the case for Barbour’s claims on the Alexander, with which I deal elsewhere. The garrulous and dreary Legends of the Saints probably contain, at least, contributions by Barbour; even Buss admits peculiar features in the St. Ninian,[42] and St. Machar is a purely Aberdeen worthy, in whom the poet, too, professes a special interest; these may well have come from Barbour’s pen as the uncongenial but meritorious labour of his old age. Such, at any rate, was the normal progress of a poetic clerk, from translation to original work, to decline at the close upon versions of saintly biographies.

[37] The editor of The Exchequer Rolls, vol. ii. p. cv., says: “Bower accuses Barbour of misrepresenting the origin of the Stewarts.” That is not so. According to the summary in Bower, Barbour had it that they came from Wales, and in fact the family was settled in Shropshire on the Welsh March. It had its origin, he said, from one who was called “Le Fleanc de Waran,” who may equate with Alan FitzFlaald, who, however, apparently did not marry a daughter of Warine, the sheriff of that county (Round, Studies in the Peerage, p. 116). He affirms, rightly enough, that the first of them in Scotland was Walter, in the days of King William (twelfth century). Where he goes wrong genealogically, according to Bower, is in saying that Walter’s son, Alan, was in the First Crusade, which was obviously impossible; but Alan FitzAlan, uncle of Alan FitzFlaald, was in that expedition. Barbour was dealing with remote personages through family tradition, and whatever his errors as represented by Bower, he does not appear, as is too lightly assumed, to have been the source of the myths of later historians in this connection. Bower’s language does not admit of a Banquo. See Cupar and Perth MSS., in Scotichronicon, Lib. IX., chap. xlviii.

[38] The Wallace and The Bruce, pp. 88-90.

[39] Preface I., xlix-lii.

[40] Edit. Horstmann, ii., p. 226.

[41] See further, Neilson’s John Barbour, p. 2.

[42] Anglia, as cited.

3. HISTORIC VALUE OF “THE BRUCE.”

A comparison of judgments on the value of The Bruce as a contribution to history plunges us into a thicket of contradictions. Green’s verdict that it is “historically worthless”[43] is but a petulant aside. It repeats itself, however, in the pronouncement of Mr. Brown that “in no true sense is it an historical document,”[44] but Mr. Brown selects, as illustrative of this, examples, such as the Simon Fraser identification,[45] and the Stanhope Park inference,[46] which recoil to the confusion of the critic.[47] Mr. Cosmo Innes has sought to discriminate, unfortunately upon wrong lines. Of Barbour as historian, he writes: “Satisfied to have real persons and events, and an outline of history for his guide, and to preserve the true character of things, he did not trouble himself about accuracy of detail.”[48] As it happens, it is just in his outline--that is, in his dates and succession of events--that Barbour may be adjudged most careless; his details contain the most remarkable examples of his accuracy. The latest expression of opinion on this head is not even self-consistent. In the Cambridge History of English Literature it is thus written of The Bruce: first, that “it is in no real sense a history ... though, strange to say, it has been regarded from his own time to this as, in all details, a trustworthy source for the history of the period”--a clear exaggeration;[49] and then a few pages farther on: “While Barbour’s narrative contains a certain amount of anecdotal matter derived from tradition, and, on some occasions, deviates from the truth of history, it is, on the whole, moderate, truthful, and historical”[50]--which is quite another pair of sleeves.

[43] Short History, p. 211.

[44] The Wallace and The Bruce, p. 93.

[45] See on II. 239.

[46] XIX. 486.

[47] An article on Barbour’s Bruce in the Saturday Review, 1872, vol. xxxiii., p. 90, has all the marks of the “belabouring” method of Professor Freeman. Barbour’s “historical value,” it is affirmed, “is as low as value can be,” and there are intermittent shrieks of “shameless falsehood,” “conscious liar,” etc. The usual play is made with the supposed identification of the two Bruces, and it is declared that on this “the whole story hangs,” which, in its own way, is a statement just as unwarranted and absurd. It is easy to fix on the error as to Edward being in the Holy Land when the question arose as to the succession, and the antedating of his death. But the critic, with full opportunity for being correct, can sin as to dates quite as egregiously. “In authentic history,” he says, “somewhat more than three years passed between the death of Alexander III. in Lent, 1289, and the coronation of John Balliol on St. Andrew’s Day, 1292.” Quite wrong. In “authentic history” Alexander was killed on March 19, 1286 (1285 by old reckoning). This is a criticism of Barbour’s “six years” in I. 39! He objects to the statement that the Queen was put “in prison,” because she was entertained in one of her husband’s manors. But she is always officially spoken of as “in custody,” and the stone walls of a manor even make a good enough prison. This is mere carping, and most of the rest is of the same sort, where it does not depend on a forcing or misunderstanding of the text. Barbour, he complains, makes the difference between Bruce and Balliol “one between male and female succession.” So, in a sense, it was (see on I. 54), but the critic has not taken the trouble to understand how. Barbour, however, is certainly confusing.

[48] The Brus, Spalding Club edition, 1856, p. ix.

[49] Vol. ii., p. 104.

[50] P. 108.

The fact is that these wayward judgments rest upon too narrow a basis of induction, and that induction, too, usually irrelevant or uncertain--considerations as to the nature of Romance, Barbour’s literary awkwardness and literary dressing, with inadequate examination of the external evidence. But if Barbour professes to write history, as he does profess, and as he gives every evidence of honestly trying to do, he can surely claim to be tried by the appropriate tests--those of official records or other contemporary accounts, and, in the last resource, by his performance so far as these carry us, and by an estimate of the probable sources of what is peculiar to himself. Nor must the quality of his critical equipment be overlooked; he frankly lets us know that of certain incidents different versions were in circulation--some said that the fatal quarrel between Bruce and Comyn fell otherwise than as he has related, and he includes the divergent accounts of how Bruce and his man escaped the hound; and there are other matters for which, lacking certainty himself, he is content to cite popular report. Towards prevailing and attractive superstitions, necromancy, astrology, and the like, his attitude is bluntly sceptical; yet an apparently well-attested case of prophecy--not one, it must be owned, exhibiting any exceptional degree of penetration--he does record, with very distinct reservation of judgment.[51] There is no supernatural machinery in The Bruce, no visions, miraculous agencies, or other such distractions: for these we must go to sober prose. But such is not the manner of popular romance with which it has been usual to class the manner of The Bruce. Barbour is not writing a conventional romance with historic persons and incidents for his material; he is writing history which has all the qualities of romance in real life. Of the same type were the exploits of Edward Bruce, which of themselves, he says, would furnish material for many romances.[52]

So comes it, then, that a careful and most competent investigator like Joseph Bain can authoritatively pronounce The Bruce to be “of the highest value for the period,”[53] and affirm that “in these details he is almost always correct, with occasional errors in names.”[54] Barbour’s errors, indeed, lie on the surface, and are typical of his time, not wilful perversions on his part--events are transposed, wrong dates given, figures almost always exaggerated. On the other side a study of the notes to the present volume will show how trustworthy he is in the main, and, repeatedly, how strikingly and minutely accurate. His profession to tell a truthful story, so far as his knowledge will take him, must be accepted as fully borne out.

[51] Bk. IV. 767-774. Contempt for astrology, indeed, had already gone pretty far--Chaucer’s Franklin has it (F.s’ Tale); but the contrary opinion still held most ground, and prophecy was in the enjoyment of full respect. Theological authority was divided and uncertain on the matter.

[52] IX. 492.

[53] Calendar of Documents, vol. iii., p. ix, note. Book I. is a hasty introduction.

[54] Ibid.

Moreover the reflection is forced upon us at many points that, in addition to the oral accounts of which he makes use, those of actual participators like Sir Allan of Cathcart, and John Thomson for the Irish campaigns, besides relations and reminiscences otherwise derived, Barbour had various contemporary writings at his command. Such was certainly the case with Sir Thomas Gray, who wrote, a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle, twenty years before. His Scalacronica embodies the results of research in the library of his prison where he found Scottish chronicles in verse and prose, in Latin, French, and English, and he expressly refers to such chronicles in his account of Bruce, letting us know that there was in existence a description of the Battle of Bannockburn, and, incidentally, that Barbour even has not exhausted the fund of stories of adventure told of the fugitive King. More curious and suggestive is the citation, in the bye-going, by Jean le Bel, Canon of Liège, of a “history made by the said King Robert” (en hystoire faitte par le dit roy Robert), that is the King Robert whom, he tells us, Edward I. had chased by hounds in the forests.[55] It is an allowable inference that these accessible materials were known to the learned and inquiring Barbour, when he took to deal with a subject familiar to him from his earliest years, and so congenial to his instincts, literary and national.

It is worth noting that Sir Walter Scott, on the publication of the Lord of the Isles, which draws so handsomely upon The Bruce, was accused of a lack of proper patriotism, meaning the pungent and rather aggressive patriotism of a long-irritated Scotland distinctive of The Wallace and certain subsequent productions, but not of The Bruce, the spirit of which, too, was in harmony with that of the great reviver of romance. There is no malice in The Bruce; the malice and bitterness are in the contemporary war-literature of the other side. And Barbour is no sentimentalist; his patriotism is not pretentious or exclusive, nor such as leads him to depreciate an opponent, and is therefore not a distorting influence on facts, as Mr. Henderson postulates it must have been.[56] It is not possible to point to a single error on Barbour’s part which is fairly traceable to this cause. And his faults and errors, such as they are, may be paralleled over and over again from the most reputable of that century’s historians, to say nothing of those who, in later times, had to weave their web from less tangled and broken material.

[55] Chronique, I, chap. xxii.Return to passage

[56] Scottish Vernacular Literature, p. 43.Return to passage

THE BRUCE

Book I

Storys to rede ar delitabill, Suppos that thai be nocht bot fabill: Than suld storys that suthfast wer, And thai war said on gud maner, Have doubill plesance in heryng. 5 The fyrst plesance is the carpyng, And the tothir the suthfastnes That schawys the thing rycht as it wes: And suth thyngis that ar likand Tyll mannys heryng ar plesand. 10 Tharfor I wald fayne set my will, Giff my wyt mycht suffice thartill, To put in wryt a suthfast story, That it lest ay furth in memory, Swa that na tyme of lenth it let, 15 Na ger it haly be forget. For aulde storys that men redys, Representis to thaim the dedys Of stalwart folk that lyvyt ar, Rycht as thai than in presence war. And certis, thai suld weill have prys 20 That in thar tyme war wycht and wys, And led thar lyff in gret travaill, And oft, in hard stour off bataill, Wan richt gret price off chevalry, 25 And war voydyt off cowardy. As wes King Robert off Scotland, That hardy wes off hart and hand; And gud Schyr James off Douglas, That in his tyme sa worthy was, 30 That off hys price and hys bounte, In fer landis renownyt wes he. Off thaim I thynk this buk to ma: Now God gyff grace that I may swa Tret it, and bryng it till endyng, 35 That I say nocht bot suthfast thing!

[15: S following H reads lenth of tyme, characterising the expression in E “an obvious error.” But cf. analogous phrase in line 531, and see note.]

How the Lords of Scotland took the King of England to be Arbiter at the last.

[Sidenote: 1290] Discord over the Succession]

[Sidenote: 1291] The Dispute is referred to Edward I]

Quhen Alexander the King was deid, That Scotland haid to steyr and leid, The land sex yher, and mayr perfay, Lay desolat eftyr hys day; 40 Till that the barnage at the last Assemblyt thaim, and fayndyt fast To cheys a king thar land to ster, That, off awncestry, cummyn wer Off kingis that aucht that reawte, 45 And mayst had rycht thair king to be. Bot envy, that is sa feloune, Maid amang thaim discencioun. For sum wald haiff the Balleoll king; For he wes cummyn off the offspryng 50 Off hyr that eldest systir was. And othir sum nyt all that cas; And said, that he thair king suld be That wes in als nere degre, And cummyn wes of the neist male, 55 And in branch collaterale. Thai said, successioun of kyngrik Was nocht to lawer feys lik; For thar mycht succed na female, Quhill foundyn mycht be ony male 60 That were in lyne evyn descendand; Thai bar all othir wayis on hand, For than the neyst cummyn off the seid, Man or woman, suld succeid. Be this resoun that part thocht hale, 65 That the lord off Anandyrdale, Robert the Bruys Erle off Carryk, Aucht to succeid to the kynryk. The barownys thus war at discord, That on na maner mycht accord; 70 Till at the last thai all concordyt, That all thar spek suld be recordyt Till Schyr Edward off Ingland King; And he suld swer that, but fenyheyng, He suld that arbytre disclar, 75 Off thir twa that I tauld off ar, Quhilk sulde succeid to sic a hycht; And lat him ryng that had the rycht. This ordynance thaim thocht the best, For at that tyme wes pes and rest 80 Betwyx Scotland and Ingland bath; And thai couth nocht persave the skaith That towart thaim wes apperand; For that at the King off Ingland Held swylk freyndschip and cumpany 85 To thar King, that wes swa worthy, Thai trowyt that he, as gud nychtbur, And as freyndsome compositur, Wald have jugyt in lawte: Bot othir wayis all yheid the gle. 90 A! blynd folk full off all foly! Haid yhe umbethoucht yhow enkrely, Quhat perell to yhow mycht apper, Yhe had nocht wrocht on that maner: Haid yhe tane keip how at that King 95 Alwayis, for-owtyn sojournyng, Travayllyt for to wyn senyhory, And, throw his mycht, till occupy Landis that war till him marcheand, As Walis was, and als Ireland; 100 That he put to swylk thrillage, That thai that war off hey parage Suld ryn on fute, as rebaldaill, Quhen he wald ony folk assaill. Durst nane of Walis in bataill ride; 105 Na yhet, fra evyn fell, abyd Castell or wallyt toune with-in, That he ne suld lyff and lymmys tyne. In-to swilk thrillage thaim held he, That he ourcome throw his powste. 110 Yhe mycht se he suld occupy Throw slycht, that he ne mycht throw maistri. Had yhe tane kep quhat was thrillag, And had consideryt his usage, That gryppyt ay, but gayne-gevyng, 115 Yhe suld, for-owtyn his demyng, Haiff chosyn yhow a king, that mycht Have haldyn weyle the land in rycht. Walys ensample mycht have bene To yhow, had yhe it forow sene. 120 And wys men sayis he is happy That be othir will him chasty. For unfayr thingis may fall, perfay, Als weill to-morn as yhisterday. Bot yhe traistyt in lawte, 125 As sympile folk, but mavyte; And wyst nocht quhat suld eftir tyd. For in this warld, that is sa wyde, Is nane determynat that sall Knaw thingis that ar for to fall: 130 But God, that is off maist poweste, Reservyt till his majeste For to knaw, in his prescience, Off alkyn tyme the mowence.

[48: E inserts gret before discencioun, but W and H omit.]

[54, 55: E gives war and so in J: but wes from W is preferable. For als nere (W) E has alsner.]

[61: From H. E has How that in his evyn descendand, which does not make sense. W gives That be lyne war dissendand, which halts metrically. See note.]

[77: Sulde in W. E omits.]

[129: Skeat adopts determynatly from H, with the meaning “certainly.” But this reading cumbers the metre; and Barbour’s word to this effect is “certis.”]

[130: For is from W and H. E omits.]

On this maner assentyt war 135 The barownis, as I said yhow ar: And throuch thar aller hale assent, Messingeris till hym thai sent, That was than in the haly land, On Saracenys warryand. 140 And fra he wyst quhat charge thai had, He buskyt hym, but mar abad, And left purpos that he had tane; And till Ingland agayne is gayne. And syne till Scotland word send he, 145 That thai suld mak ane assemble; And he in hy suld cum to do In all thing, as thai wrayt him to. But he thoucht weile, throuch thar debate, That he suld slely fynd the gate 150 How that he all the senyhowry, Throw his gret mycht, suld occupy. And to Robert the Bruys said he; “Gyff thow will hald in cheyff off me “For evirmar, and thine ofspryng, 155 “I sall do swa thou sall be king.” ‘Schyr,’ said he, ‘sa God me save, ‘The kynryk yharn I nocht to have, ‘Bot gyff it fall off rycht to me: ‘And gyff God will that it sa be, 160 ‘I sall als frely in all thing ‘Hald it, as it afferis to king; ‘Or as myn eldris forouch me ‘Held it in freyast rewate.’ The tothir wreythyt him, and swar 165 That he suld have it nevir mar: And turnyt him in wreth away. Bot Schyr Jhon the Balleoll, perfay, Assentyt till him, in all his will; Quhar-throuch fell eftir mekill ill. 170 He was king bot a litill quhile; And throuch gret sutelte and ghyle, For litill enchesone, or nane, He was arestyt syne and tane, And degradyt syne wes he 175 Off honour and off dignite. Quhethir it wes throuch wrang or rycht, God wat it, that is maist off mycht.

[Sidenote: 1292-1296] Edward takes Possession of Scotland]

Quhen Schyr Edward, the mychty king, Had on this wys done his likyng 180 Off Jhone the Balleoll, that swa sone Was all defawtyt and undone, To Scotland went he than in hy, And all the land gan occupy: Sa hale, that bath castell and toune 185 War in-till his possessioune, Fra Weik anent Orknay, To Mullyr-snuk in Gallaway; And stuffyt all with Inglis men. Schyrreffys and bailyheys maid he then; 190 And alkyn othir officeris, That for to govern land afferis, He maid off Inglis nation; That worthyt than sa ryth fellone, And sa wykkyt and covatous, 195 And swa hawtane and dispitous, That Scottis men mycht do na thing That evir mycht pleys to thar liking. Thar wyffis wald thai oft forly, And thar dochtrys dispitusly: 200 And gyff ony thar-at war wrath, Thai watyt hym wele with gret scaith; For thai suld fynd sone enchesone To put hym to destructione. And gyff that ony man thaim by 205 Had ony thing that wes worthy, As hors, or hund, or othir thing, That plesand war to thar liking, With rycht or wrang it have wald thai. And gyf ony wald thaim withsay, 210 Thai suld swa do, that thai suld tyne Othir land or lyff, or leyff in pyne. For thai dempt thaim eftir thar will, Takand na kep to rycht na skill. A! quhat thai dempt thaim felonly! 215 For gud knychtis that war worthy, For litill enchesoune or than nane, Thai hangyt be the nekbane. Alas that folk, that evir wes fre, And in fredome wount for to be, 220 Throw thar gret myschance and foly, War tretyt than sa wykkytly, That thar fays thar jugis war: Quhat wrechitnes may man have mar?

[218: S nek[ke]bane.]

A! fredome is a noble thing! 225 Fredome mays man to haiff liking; Fredome all solace to man giffis: He levys at es that frely levys. A noble hart may haiff nane es, Na ellys nocht that may him ples, 230 Gyff fredome failyhe: for fre liking Is yharnyt our all othir thing. Na he, that ay has levyt fre, May nocht knaw weill the propyrte, The angyr, na the wrechyt dome, 235 That is cowplyt to foule thyrldome. Bot gyff he had assayit it, Than all perquer he suld it wyt; And suld think fredome mar to prys, Than all the gold in warld that is. 240 Thus contrar thingis evir-mar, Discoveryngis off the tothir ar. And he that thryll is has nocht his; All that he has enbandownyt is Till hys lord, quhat-evir he be. 245 Yheyt has he nocht sa mekill fre As fre liking to leyve, or do That at hys hart hym drawis to. Than mays clerkis questioun, Quhen thai fall in disputacioun, 250 That gyff man bad his thryll owcht do, And in the samyn tym come him to His wyff, and askyt hym hyr det, Quhethir he his lordis neid suld let, And pay fryst that he awcht, and syne 255 Do furth his lordis commandyne; Or leve onpayit his wyff, and do It that commaundyt is him to? I leve all the solucioun Till thaim that ar off mar renoun. 260 Bot sen thai mek sic comperyng Betwix the dettis off wedding, And lordis bidding till his threll, Yhe may weile se, thoucht nane yhow tell, How hard a thing that threldome is. 265 For men may weile se, that ar wys, That wedding is the hardest band, That ony man may tak on hand: And thryldome is weill wer than deid; For quhill a thryll his lyff may leid, 270 It merrys him, body and banys; And dede anoyis him bot anys. Schortly to say, is nane can tell The halle condicioun off a threll.

[247: Liking from H. E has wyll, which leaves the line metrically short of a syllable.]

[258: It from H. E has Thai thingis, which turns the line into prose.]

[Sidenote: 1298-1299] Harsh Treatment of the Scots]

Thus-gat levyt thai, and in sic thrillage; 275 Bath pur, and thai off hey parage. For off the lordis sum thai slew, And sum thai hangyt, and sum thai drew; And sum thai put in hard presoune, For-owtyn caus or enchesoun. 280 And, amang othir, off Dowglas Put in presoun Sir Wilyham was, That off Dowglas was lord and syr; Off him thai makyt a martyr. Fra thai in presoune him sleuch, 285 Hys landis, that war fayr inewch, Thai to the lord off Clyffurd gave. He had a sone, a litill knave, That wes than bot a litill page, Bot syne he wes off gret vaslage; 290 Hys fadyr dede he vengyt sua, That in Ingland, I underta, Wes nane off lyve that hym ne dred; For he sa fele off harnys sched, That nane that lyvys thaim can tell. 295 Bot wondirly hard thingis fell Till him, or he till state wes brocht. Thair wes nane aventur that mocht Stunay hys hart, na ger him let To do the thing he wes on set; 300 For he thocht ay encrely To do his deid avysily. He thocht weill he wes worth na seyle, That mycht of nane anoyis feyle; And als for till escheve gret thingis, 305 And hard travalyis, and barganyngis, That suld ger his price dowblyt be. Quharfor, in all hys lyve-tyme, he Wes in gret payn, et gret travaill; And nevir wald for myscheiff faill, 310 Bot dryve the thing rycht to the end, And tak the ure that God wald send. Hys name wes James of Douglas: And quhen he heard his fadir was Put in presoune sa fellounly, 315 And at his landis halyly War gevyn to the Clyffurd, perfay He wyst nocht quhat to do na say; For he had na thing to dispend, Na thar wes nane that evir him kend 320 Wald do sa mekill for him, that he Mycht sufficiantly fundyn be. Than wes he wondir will off wane; And sodanly in hart has tane, That he wald travaile our the se, 325 And a quhile in Parys be, And dre myscheiff quhar nane hym kend, Till God sum succouris till hym send. And as he thocht he did rycht sua, And sone to Parys can he ga; 330 And levyt thar full sympylly. The-quhethir he glaid was and joly; And till swylk thowlesnes he yheid, As the cours askis off yhowtheid; And umquhill in-to rybbaldaill: 335 And that may mony tyme availl. For knawlage off mony statis May quhile availyhe full mony gatis; As to the gud Erle off Artayis Robert, befell in-till his dayis. 340 For oft feynyheyng oft rybbaldy Availyheit him, and that gretly. And Catone sayis us, in his wryt, That to fenyhe foly quhile is wyt. In Parys ner thre yher duellyt he; 345 And then come tythandis our the se, That his fadyr wes done to ded Then wes he wa, and will of red; And thocht that he wald hame agayne, To luk gyff he, throw ony payn, 350 Mycht wyn agayn his heritage, And his men out off all thryllage.

[279: Hard from W improves the line. It is not given in E or H.]

[286: So Skeat reads, following H. E has land that is, which is clearly wrong. Cf. line 316.]

[287: To from H. E omits.]

[300: E has thing that, but H omits as here; the line then goes more smoothly.]

[309: Et or ec is clearly a Latin rendering of ‘&’ = and: a scribal error.]

[319: E has for to. H omits.]

[344: H omits that, and S follows.]

The First Rising of Lord Douglas.

[Sidenote: 1299-1303] James Douglas returns from Paris]

To Sanct Androws he come in hy, Quhar the byschop full curtasly Resavyt him, and gert him wer 355 His knyvys forouch him to scher; And cled him rycht honorabilly, And gert ordayn quhar he suld ly. A weile gret quhile thar duellyt he; All men lufyt him for his bounte; 360 For he wes off full fayr effer, Wys, curtais, and deboner; Larg and luffand als wes he, And our all thing luffyt lawte.

Leaute to luff is gretumly; 365 Throuch leaute liffis men rychtwisly: With a vertu of leaute A man may yheit sufficyand be: And but leawte may nane haiff price, Quhethir he be wycht, or he be wys; 370 For quhar it failyheys, na vertu May be off price, na off valu, To mak a man sa gud that he May symply callyt gud man be.

He wes in all his dedis lele; 375 For him dedeynyheit nocht to dele With trechery, na with falset. His hart on hey honour wes set: And hym contenyt on sic maner, That all him luffyt that war him ner. 380 Bot he wes nocht so fayr, that we Suld spek gretly off his beaute: In vysage wes he sumdeill gray, And had blak har, as Ic hard say; Bot off lymmys he wes weill maid, 385 With banys gret, and schuldrys braid. His body wes weyll maid and lenye, As thai that saw hym said to me. Quhen he wes blyth he wes lufly, And meyk and sweyt in cumpany: 390 Bot quha in battail mycht him se All other contenance had he. And in spek wlispyt he sum deill; Bot that sat him rycht wondre weill. Till gud Ector of Troy mycht he 395 In mony thingis liknyt be. Ector had blak har, as he had, And stark lymmys, and rycht weill maid; And wlyspit alsua as did he, And wes fulfillyt of leawte, 400 And wes curtais and wys and wycht. Bot off manheid and mekill mycht, Till Ector dar I nane comper Off all that evir in warldys wer. The-quhethyr in his tyme sa wrocht he, 405 That he suld gretly lovyt be.

[Sidenote: 1304-1305] Edward refuses Douglas]

He duellyt thar, quhill on a tid, The King Edward, with mekill prid, Come to Strevillyne with gret mengyhe, For till hald thar ane assemble. 410 Thiddirwart went mony baroune; Byschop Wylyhame off Lambyrtoun Raid thiddyr als, and with him was This squyer James of Dowglas. The byschop led him to the King, 415 And said: “Schyr, heyr I to yhow bryng “This child, that clemys yhour man to be; “And prayis yhow par cheryte, “That yhe resave her his homage, “And grantis him his heritage.” 420 “Quhat landis clemys he?’ said the King. “Schyr, giff that it be yhour liking, “He clemys the lordschip off Douglas; “For lord tharoff hys fadir was.” The King then wrethyt him encrely, 425 And said; ‘Schyr byschop, sekyrly ‘Gyff thow wald kep thi fewte, ‘Thow maid nane sic speking to me. ‘Hys fadyr ay wes my fay feloune, ‘And deyt tharfor in my presoun; 430 ‘And wes agayne my majeste: ‘Tharfor hys ayr I aucht to be. ‘Ga purches land quhar-evir he may, ‘For tharoff haffys he nane, perfay: ‘The Cliffurd sall thaim haiff, for he 435 ‘Ay lely has servyt to me.’ The byschop hard him swa ansuer, And durst than spek till him na mar; Bot fra his presence went in hy, For he dred sayr his felouny: 440 Swa that he na mar spak tharto. The King did that he com to do; And went till Ingland syn agayn, With mony man off mekyll mayn.

[428: H mak, which seems more likely.]

The Scots are likened to the Holy Maccabees.

Lordingis, quha likis for till her, 445 The Romanys now begynnys her, Off men that war in gret distres, And assayit full gret hardynes, Or thai mycht cum till thar entent: Bot syne our Lord sic grace thaim sent, 450 That thai syne, throw thar gret valour, Come till gret hycht, and till honour, Magre thair fayis evirilkane, That war sa fele, that ay for ane Off thaim thai war weill a thowsand. 455 Bot quhar God helpys quhat may withstand? Bot, and we say the suthfastnes, Thai war sum tyme erar may then les. Bot God that maist is of all mycht, Preservyt thaim in his forsycht, 460 To veng the harme and the contrer, At that fele folk and pautener Dyd till sympill folk and worthy, That couth nocht help thaim self: for-thi, Thai war lik to the Machabeys, 465 That, as men in the Bibill seys, Throw thair gret worschip and valour, Fawcht in-to mony stalwart stour, For to delyvir thar countre Fra folk that, throw iniquite, 470 Held thaim and thairis in thrillage: Thai wrocht sua throw thar vassalage, That, with few folk, thai had victory Off mychty kingis, as sayis the story, And delyveryt thar land all fre; 475 Quharfor thar name suld lovyt be.

[Sidenote: 1305-1306] Bruce accepts Comyn’s Proposal]

Thys lord the Bruys, I spak of ayr, Saw all the kynryk swa forfayr; And swa trowblyt the folk saw he, That he tharoff had gret pitte. 480 Bot quhat pite that evir he had, Na contenance thar-off he maid; Till, on a tym, Schyr Jhone Cumyn, As thai come ridand fra Strevillyn, Said till him; “Schir, will yhe nocht se, 485 “How that governyt is this countre? “Thai sla our folk but enchesoune, “And haldis this land agayne resoune, “And yhe tharoff full suld lord be. “And gyff that yhe will trow to me, 490 “Ye sall ger mak yhow tharoff king, “And I sall be in yhour helping; “With-thi yhe giff me all the land “That he haiff now in till yhour hand: “And gyff that yhe will nocht do sua, 495 “Na swylk a state upon yow ta, “All hale my land sall yhouris be; “And lat me ta the state on me, “And bring this land out off thyrllage. “For thar is nothir man na page, 500 “In all this land that ne sall be “Fayn to mak thaim-selvyn fre.” The lord the Bruis hard his carping, And wend he spak bot suthfast thing. And, for it likit till his will, 505 He gave sone his assent thartill: And said, ‘Sen yhe will it be swa, ‘I will blythly apon me ta ‘The state, for I wate I have rycht; ‘And rycht mays oft the feble wycht.’ 510

[489: Full is from Wyntoun. E omits.]

[501: E has than thai, which is obscure. Wyntoun gives that thaiy ne (S): thaiy seems superfluous.]

[506: E and S have his assent sone: Wyntoun as above, which preserves the correct accentuation of assent.]

[509: E reads and S adopts wate that.]

The barownys thus accordyt ar; And that ilk nycht than writyn war Thair endenturis, and aythis maid To hald that thai forspokyn haid. Bot off all thing wa worth tresoun! 515 For thar is nothir duk ne baroun, Na erle, na prynce, na king off mycht, Thocht he be nevir sa wys na wycht, For wyt, worschip, price, na renoun, That evir may wauch hym with tresoune. 520 Wes nocht all Troy with tresoune tane, Quhen ten yheris of the wer wes gane? Then slayn wes mone thowsand Off thaim with-owt, throw strenth of hand; As Dares in his buk he wrate, 525 And Dytis, that knew all thar state. Thai mycht nocht haiff beyn tane throw mycht, Bot tresoun tuk thaim throw hyr slycht. And Alexander the Conqueroure, That conqueryt Babilonys tour, 530 And all this warld off lenth and breid, In twelf yher, throw his douchty deid, Wes syne destroyit throw pusoune, In his awyne hows, throw gret tresoune. Bot, or he deit, his land delt he: 535 To se his dede wes gret pite. Julius Cesar als, that wan Bretane and Fraunce, as dowchty man, Affryk, Arrabe, Egipt, Surry, And all Europe halyly; 540 And for his worschip and valour Off Rome wes fryst maid emperour; Syne in hys capitole wes he, Throw thaim of his consaill prive, Slayne with punsoune, rycht to the ded: 545 And quhen he saw thair wes na rede, Hys eyn with his hand closit he, For to dey with mar honeste. Als Arthur, that throw chevalry Maid Bretane maistres and lady 550 Off twelf kinrykis that he wan; And alsua, as a noble man, He wan throw bataill Fraunce all fre; And Lucius Yber vencusyt he, That then of Rome was emperour: 555 Bot yheit, for all his gret valour, Modreyt his systir son him slew; And gud men als ma then inew, Throw tresoune and throw wikkitnes; The Broite beris tharoff wytnes. 560 Sa fell off this conand-making: For the Cumyn raid to the King Off Ingland, and tald all this cas; Bot, I trow, nocht all as it was. Bot the endentur till him gaf he, 565 That soune schawyt the iniquite: Quharfor syne he tholyt ded; Than he couth set tharfor na rede.

[511: Wyntoun has Thus thir twa lordis.]

[512: Than is from Wyntoun. S following E omits.]

[Sidenote: 1306] Edward sends for Bruce]

Quhen the King saw the endentur, He wes angry out of mesur, 570 And swour that he suld vengeance ta Off that Bruys, that presumyt swa Aganys him to brawle or rys, Or to conspyr on sic a wys. And to Schyr Jhon Cumyn said he, 575 That he suld, for his leawte, Be rewardyt, and that hely: And he him thankit humyly. Than thocht he to have the leding Off all Scotland, but gane-saying, 580 Fra at the Bruce to dede war brocht. Bot oft failyheis the fulis thocht; And wys mennys etling Cummys nocht ay to that ending That thai think it sall cum to; 585 For God wate weill quhat is to do. Off hys etlyng rycht swa it fell, As I sall efterwartis tell. He tuk his leve, and hame is went; And the King a parlyament 590 Gert set thareftir hastely; And thidder somownys he in hy The barownys of his reawte. And to the lord the Bruce send he Bydding to come to that gadryng. 595 And he that had na persavyng Off the tresoun, na the falset, Raid to the King but langir let; And in Lundon hym herberyd he The fyrst day off thar assemble; 600 Syn on the morn to court he went. The Kyng sat into parleament; And forouch hys consaile prive, The lord the Bruce than callyt he, And schawyt hym the endentur. 605 He wes in full gret aventur To tyne his lyff; bot God of mycht Preservyt him till hyer hycht, That wald nocht that he swa war dede. The King betaucht hym in that steid 610 The endentur, the seile to se, The askyt, gyff it enselyt he? He lukyit the seyle ententily, And answeryt till hym humyly, And sayd; “How that I sympill be, 615 “My seyle is nocht all tyme with me; “Ik have ane othir it to ber. “Tharfor giff that yhour willis wer, “Ic ask yhow respyt for to se “This lettir, and avysit be, 620 “Till to morn that yhe be set: “And then, for-owtyn langir let, “This lettir sall I entyr heyr, “Befor all yhour consaill planer; “And thair-till in-to bourch draw I 625 “Myn herytage all halily.” The King thocht he wes traist inewch, Sen he in bowrch hys landis drewch; And let hym with the lettir passe, Till entyr it, as for-spokin was. 630

[604: E and S thar: Wyntoun than.]

[620: E and S have and tharwith: Wyntoun omits tharwith.]

[625: E and S give boruch (borwch), but Wyntoun has it as above, and it so appears in line 628. Skeat’s Glossary is at variance with his text: he refers borwch to 628 also.]

II. How the Bruce avoided King Edward’s Deceit

[Sidenote: JAN. 1306] Bruce and the Clerk Escape]

The Bruys went till his innys swyth; Bot, wyt yhe weile, he wes full blyth, That he had gottyn that respyt. He callit his marschall till him tyt, And bad him luk on all maner, 5 That he ma till his men gud cher; For he wald in his chambre be A weill gret quhile in private, With him a clerk for-owtyn ma. The marschell till the hall gan ga, 10 And did hys lordys commanding. The lord the Bruce, but mar letting, Gert prively bryng stedys twa. He and the clerk, for-owtyn ma, Lap on, for-owtyn persavyng: 15 And day and nycht, but sojournyng, Thai raid; quhill, on the fyften day, Cummyn till Louchmaban ar thai. Hys brodyr Edward thar thai fand, That thocht ferly, Ic tak on hand, 20 That thai come hame sa prively: He tauld hys brodyr halyly, How that he thar soucht was, And how he chapyt wes throw cas.

[23: Wyntoun gives--reversing the lines--How before all hapnyd was, from which Skeat suggests as an improvement on 23 How that before al hapynd was.]

Here John Comyn and Others are Slain in the Friars’ Kirk.

Sa fell it in the samyn tid, 25 That at Dumfres, rycht thar besid, Schir Jhone the Cumyn sojornyng maid; The Brus lap on and thiddir raid; And thocht, for-owtyn mar letting, For to quyt hym his discoveryng. 30 Thiddir he raid, but langir let, And with Schyr Jhone the Cumyn met, In the Freris, at the hye awter, And schawyt him, with lauchand cher, The endentur; syne with a knyff, 35 Rycht in that sted, hym reft the lyff. Schyr Edmund Cumyn als wes slayn, And othir mony off mekill mayn. Nocht-for-thi yheit sum men sayis, At that debat fell othir wayis; 40 But quhat sa evyr maid the debate, Thar-throuch he deyt, weill I wat. He mysdyd thar gretly, but wer, That gave na gyrth to the awter. Tharfor sa hard myscheiff him fell, 45 That Ik herd nevir in romanys tell Off man sa hard frayit as wes he, That eftirwart com to sic bounte.

[34: Wyntoun gives hevy chere; but see note.]

[38: For mony S reads als from H.]

[39: S begins And from H.]

[47: For frayit in E Skeat reads sted from H.]

Here the King of England seeks for Robert Bruce, but does not find Him.

Now agayne to the King ga we, 50 That on the morn, with his barne, Sat in-till his parlement; And eftyr the lord the Bruys he sent, Rycht till his in, with knychtis kene. Quhen he oft tyme had callit bene, And his men eftir him askit thai, 55 Thai said that he, sen yhytirday, Duelt in his chambyr ythanly, With a clerk with him anerly. Than knokyt thai at his chamur thar; And quhen thai hard nane mak ansuar 60 Thai brak the dur; bot thai fand nocht, The-quhethir the chambre hale thai socht. Thai tauld the King than hale the cas, And how that he eschapyt was. He wes off his eschap sary; 65 And swour in ire, full stalwartly, That he suld drawyn and hangit be. He manausyt as him thocht: bot he Thoucht that suld pas ane othir way.

Here Robert Bruce sends Letters for an Assembly.

[Sidenote: FEB. 1306] Douglas hears Bruce’s Letter]

And quhen he, as ye hard me say, 70 In-till the kyrk Schyr Jhone haid slayn, Till Louchmabane he went agayne; And gert men, with his lettres, ryd To freyndis apon ilke sid, That come to hym with thar mengyhe; 75 And his men als assemblit he: And thocht that he wald mak him king. Our all the land the word gan spryng, That the Bruce the Cumyn had slayn; And, amang othir, lettres ar gayn 80 To the byschop off Androws towne, That tauld how slayn wes that baroun, The lettir tauld hym all the deid: And he till his men can it reid; And sythyn said thaim; “Sekyrly 85 “I hop that Thomas prophecy “Off Hersildoune sall veryfyd be “In him; for, swa our Lord help me! “I haiff gret hop he sall be king, “And haiff this land all in leding.” 90

[74: Ilke is from H: S adopts the form ilka. E gives ilk, a syllable short.]

[84: E has gert for can it read by S from H.]

[86: That is from H.]

[87: S following H reads verray for veryfyd.]

The Douglas meeting with King Robert.

[Sidenote: MARCH 1306] Meeting of Bruce and Douglas]

James off Dowglas, that ay-quhar All-wayis befor the byschop schar, Had weill hard all the lettir red; And he tuk alsua full gud hed To that the byschop had said. 95 And quhen the burdys doun war laid, Till chamyr went thai then in hy; And James off Dowglas prively Said to the byschop; “Schyr, yhe se “How Inglis men, throw thair powste, 100 “Dysherysys me off my land; “And men has gert yhow undirstand, “Als that the Erle off Carryk “Clamys to govern the kynryk: “And, for yhon man that he has slayn, 105 “All Inglis men ar him agayn, “And wald disherys hym blythly; “The-quhethir with him dwell wald I. “Tharfor, Schir, giff it war yhour will, “I wald tak with him gud and ill. 110 “Throw hym I trow my land to wyn, “Magre the Clyffurd and his kyn.” The byschop hard, and had pite, And said; ‘Swet son, sa God help me! ‘I wald blythly that thow war thar, 115 ‘Bot at I nocht reprovyt war. ‘On this maner weile wyrk thou may, ‘Thow sall tak Ferrand my palfray; ‘And for thair na is hors in this land ‘Sa wycht, na yheit sa weill at hand; 120 ‘Tak him as off thine awyne heid, ‘As I had gevyn thar-to na reid. ‘And gyff his yhemar oucht gruchys, ‘Luk that thow tak hym magre his; ‘Swa sall I weill assonyheit be. 125 ‘Almychty God, for his powste, ‘Graunt that he thow passis to, ‘And thow, sa weill all tyme may do, ‘That yhe yhow fra yhowr fayis defend!’ He taucht him silver to dispend; 130 And syne gaiff him his benisoun. And bad him pass his way off toun; For he na wald spek till he war gane. The Dowglas then his way has tane Rycht to the hors, as he him bad: 135 Bot he, that him in yhemsell had, Than warnyt hym dispitously. Bot he, that wrethyt him encrely, Fellyt hym with a suerdys dynt. And syne, for-owtyn langir stynt, 140 The hors he sadylt hastely, And lap on him delyverly; And passyt furth but leve-taking. Der God, that is off hevyn king, Sawff hym, and scheld him fra his fayis! 145 All him alane the way he tais Towart the towne off Louchmabane; And, a litill fra Aryk-stane, The Bruce with a gret rout he met, That raid to Scone, for to be set 150 In kingis stole, and to be king. And quhen Dowglas saw hys cummyng, He raid, and hailsyt hym in hy, And lowtyt him full curtasly; And tauld him haly all his state, 155 And quhat he was, and als how-gat The Clyffurd held his heritage: And that he come to mak homage Till him as till his rychtwis king; And at he boune wes, in all thing, 160 To tak with him the gud and ill. And quhen the Bruce had herd his will, He resavyt him in gret daynte, And men and armys till him gaff he. He thoucht weile he suld be worthy; 165 For all his eldris war douchty. Thusgat maid thai thar aquentance, That nevir syne, for nakyn chance, Departyt quhill thai lyffand war. Thair frendschip woux ay mar and mar: 170 For he servyt ay lelely; And the tothir full wilfully, That was bath worthy, wycht, and wys, Rewardyt him weile his service.

[95: H all that (S).]

[128: In E clumsily in all tyme sa weill to do. The reading is from H.]

[131-2: E has gaiff him gud day, two syllables short, and pass furth on his way. S reads as in text from H.]

The Crowning of King Robert.

The lord of the Bruce to Glaskow raid, 175 And send about him, quhill he haid Off his freyndis a gret menyhe. And syne to Scone in hy raid he, And wes maid king but langir let, And in the kingis stole wes set; 180 As in that tyme wes the maner. Bot off thar nobleis gret affer, Thar service, na thar realte, Yhe sall her na thing now for me; Owtane that he off the barnage 185 That thiddir come, tok homage; And syne went our all the land, Frendis and frendschip purchesand, To maynteym that he had begunnyn. He wyst, or all the land war wonnyn, 190 He suld fynd full hard barganyng With him that wes off Ingland King: For thar wes nane off lyff sa fell, Sa pautener, na sa cruell. And quhen to King Edward wes tauld, 195 How at the Bruys, that wes sa bauld, Had brocht the Cumyn till ending, And how he syne had maid him king, Owt off his wyt he went weill ner; And callit till him Schir Amer 200 The Vallang, that wes wys and wycht, And off his hand a worthy knycht, And bad him men off armys ta, And in all hy till Scotland ga, And byrn, and slay, and rais dragoun: 205 And hycht all Fyfe in warysoun Till him, that mycht othir ta or sla Robert the Bruce, that wes his fa. Schir Aymer did as he him bad, Gret chevalry with him he had; 210 With him wes Philip the Mowbray, And Ingram the Umfravill perfay, That wes bath wys and averty, And full of gret chevalry; And off Scotland the maist party 215 Thai had in-till thar company.

[204: All is from H.]

The First Speaking of King Robert with Sir Aymer.

[Sidenote: 1306] Valence occupies Perth]

For yheit then mekill off the land Wes in-till Inglis mennys hand. Till Perth then went thai in a rout, That then wes wallyt all about 220 With feile towris, rycht hey bataillyt, To defend giff it war assaylit. Thar-in duellyt Schir Amery, With all his gret chevalry. The King Robert wyst he wes thar, 225 And quhat-kyn chyftanys with him war, And assemblyt all his mengyhe. He had feyle off full gret bounte; Bot thar fayis war may then thai, Be fifteene hunder, as Ik herd say. 230 The-quhethir he had thar, at that ned, Full feill that war douchty off deid; And barownys that war bauld as bar. Twa erlis alsua with him war; Off Levynax and Atholl war thai. 235 Edward the Bruce wes thar alsua, Thomas Randell, and Hew de le Hay, And Schyr David the Berclay, Fresale, Somerveile, and Inchmertyn; James of Dowglas thar wes syne, 240 That yheyt than wes bot litill off mycht; And othir fele folk forsye in fycht: Bot I can nocht tell quhat thai hycht. Thocht thai war qwheyn, thai war worthy, And full of gret chevalry. 245 And in bataill, in gud aray, Befor Sanct Jhonystoun com thai, And bad Schyr Amery isch to fycht; And he, that in the mekill mycht Traistyt off thaim that wes him by, 250 Bad his men arme thaim hastily. Bot Schir Ingram the Umfravill Thocht it war all to gret perill In playne bataill to thaim to ga, Or quhill thai war arayit sa: 255 And till Schyr Amer then said he; ‘Schir, giff that yhe will trow to me, ‘Yhe sall nocht ische thaim till assaile, ‘Till thai ar purvayt in bataill. ‘For thar ledar is wys and wycht, 260 ‘And off his hand a noble knycht; ‘And he has in his cumpany ‘Mony a gud man and worthi, ‘That sall be hard for till assay, ‘While thai ar in sa gud aray. 265 ‘For it suld be full mekill mycht ‘That now suld put thaim to the flycht: ‘For quhen thai folk ar weill arayit, ‘And for the bataill weill purvait, ‘With-thi that thai all gud men be, 270 ‘Thai sall fer mar be avise, ‘And weill mar for to dreid, then thai ‘War set sumdele out off aray. ‘Thairfor yhe may, schir, say thaim till, ‘That thai may this nycht, and thai will, 275 ‘Gang herbery thaim and slep and rest; ‘And at to morn, but langar frest, ‘Yhe sall isch furth to the bataill, ‘And fecht with thaim bot gyf thai faile. ‘Sa till thar herbery wend sall thai, 280 ‘And sum sall wend to the forray; ‘And thai that duellis at the logyng, ‘Sen thai come owt off travelling, ‘Sall in schort tyme unarmyt be. ‘Then on our best maner may we, 285 ‘With all our fayr chevalry, ‘Ryd towart thaim rycht hardyly; ‘And thai that wenys to rest all nycht ‘Quhen thai se us arayit to fycht, ‘Cummand on thaim sa sudanly, 290 ‘Thai sall affrayit be gretumly. ‘And or thai cummyn in bataill be, ‘We sall speid us swagat that we ‘Sall be all redy till assembill. ‘Sum man for erynes will trymbill, 295 ‘Quhen he assayit is sodanly, ‘That with avisement is douchty.’

[*243-245: H has

_Als was good Cristall of Setoun, And Robert Boyde of great renoun, And other feill men of meekle might._

These lines are from H, and are not in E. See note.]

[255: H gives While that and S adopts.]

[256: E omits then in H.]

[265: E Till thai.]

[280, 281: E went; wend is from H.]

[292: For cummyn S reads knit from H.]

The Lodging of King Robert in the Park of Methven.

[Sidenote: JUNE 26, 1306] The Scots are Surprised]

As he avisyt now have thai done; And till thaim utouth send thai sone, And bad thaim herbery thaim that nycht, 300 And on the morn cum to the fycht. Quhen thai saw thai mycht no mar, Towart Meffayn then gan thai far; And in the woud thaim logyt thai; The thrid part went to the forray; 305 And the lave sone unarmyt war. And skalyt to loge thaim her and thar. Schyr Amer then, but mar abaid, With all the folk he with him haid, Ischyt in-forcely to the fycht; 310 And raid, in-till a randoun rycht, The strawcht way towart Meffen. The King, that wes unarmyt then, Saw thaim cum swa inforcely; Then till his men gan hely cry, 315 “Till armys swyth, and makys yhow yhar! “Her at our hand our fayis ar!” And thai did swa in full gret hy; And on thair hors lap hastily. The King displayit his baner, 320 Quhen that his folk assemblyt wer; And said, “Lordingis, now may yhe se “That yhone folk all, throw sutelte, “Schapis thaim to do with slycht, “That at thai drede to do with mycht. 325 “Now I persave he that will trew “His fa, it sall him sum tyme rew. “And nocht-for-thi, thocht thai be fele, “God may rycht weill our werdis dele; “For multitud mais na victory, 330 “As men has red in mony story, “That few folk has oft vencusyt ma. “Trow we that we sall do rycht sua. “Yhe are ilkan wycht and worthy, “And full of gret chevalry; 335 “And wate rycht weill quhat honour is. “Wyrk yhe then apon swylk wys, “That yhour honour be savyt ay. “And a thing will I to yow say, “That he that dois for his cuntre 340 “Sall herbryit in-till hevyn be.” Quhen this wes said, thai saw cumand Thar fayis ridand, ner at the hand, Arayit rycht avisely, Willful to do chevalry. 345

[340: S deis for “an obvious error”; but see note.]

The Battle of Methven and the First Discomfiture of King Robert.

[Sidenote: JUNE 26, 1306] The Scots give way]

On athir syd thus war thai yhar, And till assemble all redy war. Thai straucht their speris, on athir syd, And swa ruydly gan samyn ryd, That speris all to-fruschyt war, 350 And feyle men dede, and woundyt sar; The blud owt at their byrnys brest. For the best and the worthiest, That wilfull war to wyn honour, Plungyt in the stalwart stour, 355 And rowtis ruyd about thaim dang. Men mycht haiff seyn in-to that thrang Knychtis that wycht and hardy war, Undyr hors feyt defoulyt thar, Sum woundyt, and sum all ded: 360 The gress woux off the blud all rede. And thai, that held on hors, in hy Swappyt owt swerdis sturdyly; And swa fell strakys gave and tuk, That all the renk about thaim quouk. 365 The Bruysis folk full hardely Schawyt thair gret chevalry: And he him-selff, atour the lave, Sa hard and hevy dyntis gave, That quhar he come thai maid him way. 370 His folk thaim put in hard assay, To stynt thar fais mekill mycht, That then so fayr had off the fycht, That thai wan feild ay mar and mar: The Kingis small folk ner vencusyt ar. 375 And quhen the King his folk has sene Begyn to faile, for propyr tene Hys assenyhe gan he cry; And in the stour sa hardyly He ruschyt, that all the semble schuk; 380 He all till-hewyt that he our-tuk; And dang on thaim quhill he mycht drey. And till his folk he criyt hey; “On thaim! On thaim! Thai feble fast! “This bargane nevir may langar last!” 385 And with that word sa wilfully He dang on, and sa hardely, That quha had sene him in that fycht Suld hald him for a douchty knycht. Bot thocht he wes stout and hardy, 390 And othir als off his cumpany, Thar mycht na worschip thar availyhe; For thar small folk begouth to failyhe, And fled all skalyt her and thar. Bot the gude, at enchaufyt war 395 Off ire, abade and held the stour To conquyr thaim endles honour.

[Sidenote: 1306] Fate of the Prisoners]

And quhen Schyr Amer has sene The small folk fle all bedene, And sa few abid to fycht, 400 He releyt to him mony a knycht; And in the stour sa hardyly, He ruschyt with hys chevalry, That he ruschyt his fayis ilkane. Schir Thomas Randell thar wes tane, 405 That then wes a yhoung bacheler; And Schyr Alexander Fraseyr, And Schyr David the Breklay, Inchmertyne, and Hew de le Hay, And Somerveil, and othir ma; 410 And the King him-selff alsua Wes set in-till full hard assay, Throw Schyr Philip the Mowbray, That raid till him full hardyly, And hynt hys rengyhe, and syne gan cry; 415 “Help! help! I have the new maid king!” With that come gyrdand, in a lyng, Crystall of Seytoun, quhen he swa Saw the King sesyt with his fa; And to Philip sic rout he raucht, 420 That thocht he wes off mekill maucht, He gert hym galay disyly; And haid till erd gane fullyly, Ne war he hynt him by his sted. Then off his hand the brydill yhed; 425 And the King his enssenyhe gan cry, Releyt his men that war him by, That war sa few that thai na mycht Endur the fors mar off the fycht. Thai prikyt then out off the pres; 430 And the King that angry wes, For he his men saw fle him fra, Said then; “Lordingis, sen it is swa “That ure rynnys agane us her, “Gud is we pass off thar daunger, 435 “Till God us send eftsonys grace: “And yheyt may fall, giff thai will chace, “Quyt thaim corn-but sum-dele we sall.” To this word thai assentyt all, And fra thaim walopyt owyr mar. 440 Thar fayis alsua wery war, That off thaim all thar chassyt nane: Bot with prisoneris, that thai had tane, Rycht to the toune thai held thar way, Rycht glaid and joyfull off thar pray. 445 That nycht thai lay all in the toun; Ther wes nane off sa gret renoun, Na yheit sa hardy off thaim all, That durst herbery with-out the wall. Sa dred thai sar the gayne-cummyng 450 Off Schir Robert, the douchty King. And to the King off Ingland sone, Thai wrate haly as thai haid done; And he wes blyth off that tithing, And for dispyte bad draw and hing 455 All the prisoneris, thocht thai war ma. Bot Schyr Amery did nocht sua; To sum bath land and lyff gaiff he, To leve the Bruysis fewte, And serve the King off Ingland, 460 And off him for to hald the land, And werray the Brus as thar fa. Thomas Randell wes ane off tha, That for his lyff become thar man. Off othir, that war takyn than, 465 Sum thai ransownyt, sum thai slew, And sum thai hangyt, and sum thai drew.

Here the King and his Men Suffer Great Want.

In this maner rebutyt was The Bruys, that mekill murnyn mais For his men that war slayne and tane. 470 And he wes als sa will off wane, That he trowit in nane sekyrly, Owtane thaim off his cumpany; That war sa few that thai mycht be Five hunder ner off all mengyhe. 475 His brodir alwayis wes him by, Schyr Edward, that wes sa hardy; And with him wes a bauld baroun, Schyr Wilyham the Boroundoun; The Erle off Athole als wes thar. 480 Bot ay syn thai discomfyt war, The Erle off the Levenax wes away, And wes put to full hard assay Or he met with the King agayn: Bot always, as a man off mayn, 485 He mayntemyt him full manlyly. The King had in his cumpany James alsua of Dowglas, That wycht, wys, and averty was. Schyr Gilbert de le Hay alsua, 490 Schir Nele Cambell, and othir ma, That I thar namys can nocht say, As utelauys went mony day; Dreand in the Month thar pyne; Eyte flesch, and drank watir syne. 495 He durst nocht to the planys ga, For all the commownys went him fra; That for thar liffis war full fayn To pas to the Inglis pes agayn. Sa fayris it ay commounly; 500 In commownys may nane affy, Bot he that may thar warand be. Sa fur thai then with him; for he Thaim fra thar fais mycht nocht warand: Thai turnyt to the tothir hand. 505 Bot threldome, that men gert thaim fele, Gert thaim ay yharne that he fur wele.

Here King Robert with his Men goes as far as Aberdeen.

[Sidenote: 1306] Of the Scottish Ladies]

[Sidenote: 1306] The Labours of Douglas]

Thus in the hyllis levyt he, Till the maist part off his menyhe Wes revyn and rent; na schoyne thai had, 510 Bot as thai thaim off hydys mad. Tharfor thai went till Abyrdeyne, Quhar Nele the Bruys come, and the Queyn, And othir ladyis fayr and farand, Ilkane for luff off thar husband; 515 That for leyle luff, and leawte, Wald partenerys off thair paynys be. Thai chesyt tyttar with thaim to ta Angyr, and payn, na be thaim fra. For luff is off sa mekill mycht, 520 That it all paynys makis lycht; And mony tyme mais tendir wychtis Off swilk strenthtis, and swilk mychtis, That thai may mekill paynys endur, And forsakis nane aventur 525 That evyr may fall, with-thi that thai Thar-throw succur thair luffys may. Men redys, quhen Thebes wes tane, And King Adrastus men war slane, That assailyt the cite, 530 That the wemen off his cuntre Come for to fech him hame agayne, Quhen thai hard all his folk wes slayne; Quhar the King Campaneus, Throw the help off Menesteus, 535 That come percas ridand tharby, With three hunder in cumpany, That throw the kingis prayer assailyt, That yheit to tak the toun had failyheit. Then war the wiffys thyrland the wall 540 With pikkis, quhar the assailyheours all Entryt, and dystroyit the tour, And slew the pupill but recour. Syn quhen the duk his way wes gayne, And all the kingis men war slayne, 545 The wiffis had him till his cuntre, Quhar wes na man leiffand bot he. In wemen mekill comfort lyis; And gret solace on mony wis. Sa fell it her, for thar cummyng 550 Rejosyt rycht gretumly the King; The-quhethir ilk nycht him-selvyn wouk And his rest apon daiis touk. A gud quhile thar he sojournyt then, And esyt wondir weill his men; 555 Till that the Inglis men herd say That he thair with his mengyhe lay, All at ese and sekyrly. Assemblit thai thar ost in hy, And thar him trowit to suppris. 560 Bot he, that in his deid wes wys, Wyst thai assemblyt war, and quhar; And wyst that thai sa mony war, That he mycht nocht agayne thaim fycht. His men in hy he gert be dycht, 565 And buskyt of the toune to ryd: The ladyis raid rycht by his syd. Then to the hill thai raid thar way, Quhar gret defaut off mete had thai. Bot worthy James off Dowglas 570 Ay travailland and besy was, For to purches the ladyis mete; And it on mony wis wald get. For quhile he venesoun thaim brocht: And with his handys quhile he wrocht 575 Gynnys, to tak geddis and salmonys, Trowtis, elys, and als menounys. And quhill thai went to the forray; And swa thar purchesyng maid thai. Ilk man traveillyt for to get 580 And purches thaim that thai mycht ete. Bot off all that evir thai war, Thar wes nocht ane amang thaim thar, That to the ladyis profyt was Mar then Jamys of Dowglas. 585 And the King oft confortyt wes, Throw his wyt and his besynes. On this maner thaim governyt thai, Till they come to the hed of Tay.

[527: I read luffis without any MS. or printed authority; but surely the sense, a eulogium of love and what it may make women do, demands this reading. Cf. III., 351.]

[534: S, following H, inserts that after Quhar.]

[558: S from H reads At alkyn. E as given.]

Book III

Here the Lord of Lorn attacks the King because of the Death of John Comyn.

The Lord off Lorne wonnyt thar-by, That wes capitale ennymy To the King, for his emys sak, Jhon Comyn; and thocht for to tak Vengeance apon cruell maner. 5 Quhen he the King wyst wes sa ner, He assemblyt his men in hy; And had in-till his cumpany The barownys off Argyle alsua, Thai war a thowsand weill or ma: 10 And come for to suppris the King, That weill wes war of thair cummyng. Bot all to few with him he had, The-quhethir he bauldly thaim abaid; And weill ost, at thar fryst metyng, 15 War layd at erd, but recoveryng. The Kingis folk full weill thaim bar, And slew, and fellyt, and woundyt sar. Bot the folk off the tothir party Fawcht with axys sa felounly 20 For thai on fute war evir-ilkane, That thai feile off thar hors has slayne; And till sum gaiff thai woundis wid. James off Dowglas wes hurt that tyd; And als Schyr Gilbert de le Hay. 25 The King his men saw in affray, And his ensenyhe can he cry; And amang thaim rycht hardyly He rad, that he thaim ruschyt all; And fele of thaim thar gert he fall. 30 Bot quhen he saw thai war sa feill, And saw thaim swa gret dyntis deill, He dred to tyne his folk, forthi His men till him he gan rely, And said; ‘Lordyngis, foly it war 35 ‘Tyll us for till assembill mar, ‘For thai fele off our hors has slayn; ‘And gyff we fecht with thaim agayn ‘We sall tyne off our small mengyhe, ‘And our-selft sall in perill be. 40 ‘Tharfor me thynk maist avenand ‘To withdraw us, us defendand, ‘Till we cum owt off thar daunger, ‘For owr strenth at our hand is ner.’

Then thai withdrew thaim halely; 45 Bot that wes nocht full cowartly; For samyn in-till a sop held thai; And the King him abandonyt ay To defend behind his mengyhe. And throw his worschip sa wroucht he, 50 That he reskewyt all the flearis, And styntyt swagat the chassaris, That nane durst owt off batall chas For alwayis at thar hand he was. Sa weile defendyt he his men, 55 That quha-sa-evir had seyne him then Prove sa worthely vasselage, And turn sa oft sythis the visage, He suld say he awcht weill to be A king of gret rewate. 60

[Sidenote: 1306] Bruce compared to Gaudifer]

Quhen that the Lord of Lorne saw His men stand off him ane sik aw, That thai durst nocht folow the chase, Rycht angry in his hart he was; And for wondyr that he suld swa 65 Stot thaim, him allane but ma, He said; “Me think, Marthokys sone, “Rycht as Golmakmorn was wone “To haiff fra Fyn all his mengne, “Rycht swa all his fra us has he.” 70 He set ensample thus mydlike, The-quhethir he micht, mar manerlik, Lyknyt hym to Gaudifer de Larys, Quhen that the mychty duk Betys Assailyheit in Gadyrris the forrayours. 75 And quhen the King thaim made rescours, Duk Betys tuk on him the flycht, That wald ne mar abid to fycht. Bot gud Gaudifer the worthi Abandonyt him so worthyly, 80 For to reskew all the fleieris, And for to stonay the chasseris, That Alysandir to erth he bar; And alsua did he Tholimar, And gud Coneus alsua, 85 Danklyne alsua, and othir ma. But at the last thar slayne he wes: In that failyheit the liklynes. For the King, full chevalrusly, Defendyt all his cumpany, 90 And wes set in full gret danger; And yheit eschapyt haile and fer.

How the King slew the Three Men that swore his Death.

Twa brethir war into that land, That war the hardiest off hand That war in-till all that cuntre; 95 And thai had sworn, iff thai micht se The Bruys, quhar thai mycht him our-ta, That thai suld dey, or then hym sla. Thar surname wes Makyne-drosser; That is al-so mekill to say her 100 As “the Durwarth sonnys” perfay. Off thar covyne the thrid had thai, That wes rycht stout, ill, and feloune. Quhen thai the King of gud renoune Saw sua behind his mengne rid, 105 And saw him torne sa mony tid, Thai abaid till that he was Entryt in ane narow place, Betuix a louchside and a bra; That wes sa strait, Ik underta, 110 That he mycht nocht weill turn his sted. Then with a will till him thai yhede; And ane him by the bridill hynt: But he raucht till him sic a dynt, That arme and schuldyr flaw him fra. 115 With that ane othir gan him ta Be the lege, and his hand gan schute Betuix the sterap and his fute: And quhen the King felt thar his hand. In sterapys stythly gan he stand, 120 And strak with spuris the stede in hy, And he lansyt furth delyverly, Swa that the tothir failyheit fete; And nocht-for-thi his hand wes yheit Undyr the sterap, magre his. 125 The thrid, with full gret hy, with this Rycht till the bra-syd he yheid, And stert be-hynd hym on his sted. The King wes then in full gret pres; The-quhethir he thocht, as he that wes 130 In all hys dedys avise, To do ane owtrageous bounte. And syne hyme that behynd hym was, All magre his will, him gan he ras Fra be-hynd hym, thocht he had sworn, 135 He laid hym evyn him beforn. Syne with the suerd sic dynt hym gave, That he the heid till the harnys clave. He rouschit doun off blud all rede, As he that stound feld off dede. 140 And then the King, in full gret hy, Strak at the tothir vigorusly, That he eftir his sterap drew, That at the fyrst strak he him slew. On this wis him delyverit he 145 Off all thai felloun fayis thre.

[Sidenote: 1306] Macnaughton praises Bruce]

Quhen thai of Lorne has sene the King Set in hym-selff sa gret helping, And defend him sa manlely; Wes nane amang thaim sa hardy 150 That durst assailyhe him mar in fycht: Sa dred thai for his mekill mycht. Thar wes a baroune Maknauchtan, That in his hart gret kep has tane Unto the Kingis chevalry, 155 And prisyt hym in hert gretly. And to the Lord off Lorne said he; ‘Sekyrly now may yhe se ‘Betane the starkest pundelan, ‘That evyr yhour lyff-tyme yhe saw tane. 160 ‘For yhone knycht, throw his douchti deid, ‘And throw his owtrageous manheid, ‘Has fellyt in-till litill tyd ‘Thre men of mekill mycht and prid: ‘And stonayit all our mengyhe swa, 165 ‘That eftyr him dar na man ga; ‘And tournys sa mony tyme his stede, ‘That semys off us he had na dred.’ Then gane the Lord off Lorn say; “It semys it likis the perfay, 170 “That he slayis yhongat our mengyhe.” ‘Schyr,’ said he, ‘sa our Lord me se! ‘To sauff yhour presence it is nocht swa. ‘Bot quhethir sa he be freynd or fa, ‘That wynnys prys off chevalry, 175 ‘Men suld spek tharoff lelyly. ‘And sekyrly, in all my tyme, ‘Ik hard nevir, in sang na ryme, ‘Tell off a man that swa smertly ‘Eschevyt swa gret chevalry.’ 180 Sic speking off the King thai maid: And he eftyr his mengyhe raid; And in-till saufte thaim led, Quhar he his fayis na thing dred. And thai off Lorne agayn ar gayn, 185 Menand the scaith that thai haiff tayn.

[Sidenote: 1306] How Hannibal failed at Rome]

The King that nycht his wachis set, And gert ordayne that thai mycht et; And bad thaim comford to thaim tak, And at thar mychtis mery mak. 190 ‘For disconford,’ as then said he, ‘Is the werst thing that may be. ‘For throw mekill disconforting ‘Men fallis oft in-to disparyng. ‘And fra a man disparyt be, 195 ‘Then utterly vencusyt is he. ‘And fra the hart be discumfyt, ‘The body is nocht worth a myt. ‘Tharfor,’ he said, ‘atour all thing, ‘Kepys yhow fra disparyng: 200 ‘And thynk, thouch we now harmys fele, ‘That God may yheit releve us weill. ‘Men redys off mony men that war ‘Fer hardar stad then we yhet ar; ‘And syne our lord sic grace thaim lent, 205 ‘That thai come weill till thair entent. ‘For Rome quhilum sa hard wes stad, ‘Quhen Hanniball thaim vencusyt had, ‘That, off ryngis with rich stane, ‘That war off knychtis fyngerys tane, 210 ‘He send thre bollis to Cartage: ‘And syne to Rome tuk his viage, ‘Thar to distroye the cite all. ‘And thai with-in, bath gret and small, ‘Had fled, quhen thai saw his cummyng, 215 ‘Had nocht bene Scipio the king, ‘That, or thai fled, wald thaim haiff slayn, ‘And swagat turnyt he thaim agayn. ‘Syne for to defend the cite, ‘Servandis and threllis mad he fre; 220 ‘And maid thaim knychtis evirilkane: ‘And syne has off the templis tane ‘The armys, that thar eldrys bar, ‘In name off victory offerryt thar. ‘And quhen thai armyt war and dycht, 225 ‘That stalwart karlis war and wycht, ‘And saw that thai war fre alsua, ‘Thaim thocht that thai had levir ta ‘The dede, na lat the toun be tane. ‘And with commowne assent, as ane, 230 ‘Thai ischit off the toune to fycht, ‘Quhar Hannyball his mekill mycht ‘Aganys thaim arayit was. ‘Bot, throw mycht off Goddis grace, ‘It ranyt sa hard and hevyly, 235 ‘That thar wes nane sa hardy ‘That durst in-to that place abid; ‘Bot sped thaim in-till hy to rid; ‘The ta part to thar pailyhownys, ‘The tothyr part went in the toune is. 240 ‘The rayne thus lettyt the fechtyn: ‘Sa did it twys thar-eftir syne. ‘Quhen Hanibal saw this ferly, ‘With all his gret chevalry ‘He left the toune, and held his way; 245 ‘And syne wes put to sik assay, ‘Throw the power off that cite, ‘That his lyff and his land tynt he. ‘Be thir quheyne, that sa worthily ‘Wane sik a king, and sa mychty, 250 ‘Yhe may weill be ensampill se, ‘That na man suld disparyt be: ‘Na lat his hart be vencusyt all, ‘For na myscheiff that evir may fall. ‘For nane wate, in how litill space, 255 ‘That God umquhile will send his grace. ‘Had thai fled and thar wayis gane, ‘Thar fayis swith the toune had tane. ‘Tharfor men, that werrayand ar, ‘Suld set thair etlyng evir-mar 260 ‘To stand agayne thar fayis mycht, ‘Umquhile with strenth, and quhile with slycht; ‘And ay thynk to cum to purpos: ‘And giff that thaim war set in chos, ‘To dey, or to leyff cowartly, 265 ‘Thai suld erar dey chevalrusly.’

[189: E omits the first thaim. H has thaim comfort which S adopts; but cf. line 191. J reads conford in E.]

[194: J and S off; but surely it should be oft.]

[210: E reads and J prints stanys, taneys; but, as S points out, the latter word is impossible. H gives as above.]

[216: E has king. H gives ying, which S adopts; but cf. line 250. Hannibal was not a king, either. King is, of course, historically wrong, but Barbour has already made Julius Cæsar Emperor! See note.]

Thusgat thaim confortyt the King; And, to confort thaim, gan inbryng Auld storys off men that wer Set in-tyll hard assayis ser, 270 And that fortoun contraryit fast, And come to purpos at the last. Tharfor he said, that thai that wald Thar hartis undiscumfyt hald Suld ay thynk ythandly to bryng 275 All thar enpres to gud ending: As quhile did Cesar the worthy, That traveillyt ay so besyly, With all his mycht, folowing to mak To end the purpos that he wald tak; 280 That hym thocht he had doyne rycht nocht, Ay quhill to do him levyt ocht: For-thi gret thingis eschevyt he, As men may in his story se. Men may se be his ythand will, 285 And it suld als accord to skill, That quha tais purpos sekyrly, And followis it syne ythandly, For-owt fayntice, or yheit faynding, With-thi it be conabill thing, 290 Bot he the mar be unhappy, He sall eschev it in party. And haiff he lyff-dayis, weill mai fall, That he sall eschev it all. For-thi suld nane haiff disparing 295 For till eschev a full gret thing: For giff it fall he thar off failyhe, The fawt may be in his trawailyhe.

[275, 288: Ythandly (S): E has ententily.]

[Sidenote: 1306] The Ladies are worn out]

He prechyt thaim on this maner; And fenyheit to mak bettir cher, 300 Then he had matir to, be fer: For his caus yheid fra ill to wer. Thai war ay in sa hard travaill, Till the ladyis began to fayle, That mycht the travaill drey na mar; 305 Sa did othir als that war thar. The Erle Jhone wes ane off tha, Off Athole, that quhen he saw sua The King be discumfyt twys, And sa feile folk agayne him rys; 310 And lyff in sic travaill and dout, His hart begane to faile all out. And to the King, apon a day, He said; “Gyff I durst to yhow say, “We lyff in-to sa mekill dreid, 315 “And haffis oft-sys off met sik ned, “And is ay in sic travailling, “With cauld, and hungir, and waking; “That I set off my-selvyn sua, “That I count nocht my liff a stra. 320 “Thir angrys may I na mar drey, “For thoucht me tharfor worthit dey, “I mon sojourne, quhar-evir it be. “Levys me tharfor par cheryte.” The King saw that he sa wes failyt, 325 And that he ik wes for-travaillyt. He said; ‘Schir Erle, we sall sone se, ‘And ordayne how it best may be. ‘Quhar-evyr yhe be, our Lord yhow send ‘Grace, fra yhour fais yhow to defend!’ 330 With that in hy to him callyt he Thaim, that till him war mast prive: Then amang thaim thai thocht it best, And ordanyt for the liklyest, That the Queyne, and the Erle alsua, 335 And the ladyis, in hy suld ga, With Nele the Bruce, till Kildromy. For thaim thocht thai mycht sekyrly Duell thar, quhill thai war victaillit weile: For swa stalwart wes the castell, 340 That it with strenth war hard to get, Quhill that thar-in were men and mete. As thai ordanyt thai did in hy: The Queyne, and all hyr cumpany, Lap on thar hors, and furth thai far. 345 Men mycht haiff sene, quha had bene thar, At leve-takyng the ladyis gret, And mak thar face with teris wet: And knychtis, for thar luffis sak, Baith sich, and wep, and murnyng mak. 350 Thai kyssyt thair luffis at thair partyng, The King umbethocht him off a thing; That he fra-thine on fute wald ga, And tak on fute bath weill and wa; And wald na hors-men with him haiff. 355 Tharfor his hors all haile he gaiff To the ladyis, that mystir had. The Queyn furth on hyr wayis rade; And sawffly come to the castell, Quhar hyr folk war ressavyt weill; 360 And esyt weill with meyt and drynk. Bot mycht nane eys let hyr to think On the King, that sa sar wes stad, That bot twa hunder with him had, The quhethir thaim weill confort he ay: 365 God help him, that all mychtis may!

[319: Set from H (S). E has am sad. Perhaps And I sad.]

[365: E gives The quhethir thaim weill confortyt he ay. H The whilke them wel governed ay, whence Skeat reads The quhilk with E less he. See note.]

The Pains of King Robert among the Mountains.

[Sidenote: 1306] Bruce will go to Kintyre]

The Queyne duelt thus in Kyldromy: And the King and his cumpany, That war twa hunder, and na ma, Fra thai had send thar hors thaim fra, 370 Wandryt emang the hey montanys Quhar he and his oft tholyt paynys. For it wes to the wynter ner; And sa feile fayis about him wer, That all the countre thaim werrayit. 375 Sa hard anoy thaim then assayit, Off hungir, cauld, with schowris snell, That nane that levys can weill it tell. The King saw how his folk wes stad, And quhat anoyis that thai had; 380 And saw wynter wes cummand ner; And that he mycht on na wys der, In the hillys, the cauld lying, Na the lang nychtis waking. He thocht he to Kyntyr wald ga, 385 And swa lang sojowrnyng thar ma, Till wynter weddir war away: And then he thocht, but mar delay, In-to the manland till aryve, And till the end hys werdis dryve. 390 And for Kyntyr lyis in the se, Schyr Nele Cambel befor send he, For to get him navyn and meite: And certane tyme till him he sete, Quhen he suld meite him at the se. 395 Schir Nele Cambel, with his mengyhe, Went his way, but mar letting, And left his brothir with the King. And in twelve dayis sua traveillit he, That he gat schippyne gud plente, 400 And victalis in gret aboundance: Sa maid he nobill chevisance. For his sibmen wonnyt thar-by, That helpyt him full wilfully.

[399: E xij. H ten.]

How the King passed over Loch Lomond.

The King, eftir that he wes gane, 405 To Lowchlomond the way has tane, And come thar on the thrid day. Bot thar-about na bait fand thai, That mycht thaim our the watir ber: Than war thai wa on gret maner: 410 For it wes fer about to ga; And thai war in-to dout alsua, To meyt thair fayis that spred war wyd. Tharfor, endlang the louch his syd, Sa besyly thai socht, and fast, 415 Tyll Jamys of Dowglas, at the last, Fand a litill sonkyn bate, And to the land it drew, fut-hate. But it sa litill wes that it Mycht our the wattir bot thresum flyt. 420 Thai send thar-off word to the King, That wes joyfull off that fynding; And fyrst in-to the bate is gane, With him Dowglas; the thrid wes ane That rowyt thaim our deliverly, 425 And set thaim on the land all dry: And rowyt sa oft-sys to and fra, Fechand ay our twa and twa, That in a nycht and in a day, Cummyn owt-our the louch ar thai. 430 For sum off thaim couth swome full weill, And on his bak ber a fardele. Swa with swymmyng, and with rowyng, Thai brocht thaim our, and all thair thing.

[Sidenote: 1306] Bruce reads aloud a Romance]

The King, the quhilis, meryly 435 Red to thaim, that war him by, Romanys off worthi Ferambrace, That worthily our-cummyn was, Throw the rycht douchty Olyver; And how the Duk-Peris wer 440 Assegyt in-till Egrymor, Quhar King Lavyne lay thaim befor, With may thowsandis then I can say. And bot eleven within war thai, And a woman: and war sa stad, 445 That thai na mete thar-within had, Bot as thai fra thar fayis wan. Yheyte sua contenyt thai thaim than, That thai the tour held manlily, Till that Rychard off Normandy, 450 Magre his fayis, warnyt the King, That wes joyfull off this tithing: For he wend thai had all bene slayne. Tharfor he turnyt in hy agayne, And wan Mantrybill and passit Flagot; 455 And syne Lavyne and all his flot, Dispitusly discumfyt he: And deliveryt his men all fre, And wan the naylis, and the sper, And the croune that Jesu couth ber; 460 And off the croice a gret party He wan throw his chevalry. The gud King, apon this maner, Comfortyt thaim that war him ner; And maid thaim gamyn and solace, 465 Till that his folk all passyt was.

[465: E has again et, as in I., 309.]

Quhen thai war passit the watir brad, Suppos thai fele off fayis had, Thai maid thaim mery, and war blyth; Nocht-for-thi full fele syth 470 Thai had full gret defaut off mete, And tharfor venesoun to get In twa partys ar thai gayne. The King him-selff was in-till ane, And Schir James off Dowglas 475 In-to the tothir party was. Then to the hycht thai held thar way, And huntyt lang quhill off the day; And soucht schawys, and setis set; Bot thai gat litill for till ete. 480 Then hapnyt at that tyme percas, That the Erle of the Levenax was Amang the hillis ner tharby; And quhen he hard sa blaw and cry, He had wondir quhat it mycht be; 485 And on sic maner spyryt he, That he knew that it wes the King And then, for-owtyn mar duelling, With all thaim off his company, He went rycht till the King in hy, 490 Sa blyth and sa joyfull, that he Mycht on na maner blyther be. For he the King wend had bene ded; And he wes alsua will off red, That he durst rest in-to na place 495 Na, sen the King discumfyt was At Meffan, he herd nevir thing That evir wes certane off the King. Tharfor in-to full gret daynte, The King full humyly haylsit he; 500 And he him welcummyt rycht blythly, And kyssyt him full tendirly. And all the lordis, that war thar, Rycht joyfull off thar meting war, And kyssyt him in gret daynte. 505 It wes gret pite for till se How thai for joy and pite gret, Quhen that thai with thar falow met, That thai wend had bene dede; forthi Thai welcummyt him mar hartfully. 510 And he for pite gret agayne, That nevir off metyng wes say fayne.

[495: E reads nocht rest.]

[502: E has askyt. H kyssyt.]

[508: H has fellowes, whence falowis (S).]

[Sidenote: 1306] How men weep]

Thocht I say that thai gret, sothly It wes na greting propyrly: For I trow traistly that gretyng 515 Cummys to men for mysliking; And that nane may but anger gret, Bot it be wemen, that can wet Thair chekys quhen-evir thaim list with teris, The-quhethir weill oft thaim na thing deris. 520 Bot I wate richt weill, but lesyng, Quhat-evir men say off sic greting, That mekill joy, or yheit pete, May ger men sua amovyt be, That watir fra the hart will rys, 525 And weyt the eyne on sic avys, That it is lik to be greting, Thocht it to be nocht sua in all thing. For quhen men gretis enkrely, The hart is sorowfull or angry. 530 Bot for pite, I trow, gretyng Be na thing bot ane opynnyng Off hart, that schawis the tendirnys Off rewth that in it closyt is. The barownys apon this maner, 535 Throw Goddis grace, assemblyt wer. The Erle had mete, and that plente, And with glaid hart it thaim gaiff he; And thai eyt it with full gud will, That soucht nane othir sals thar-till 540 Bot appetyt, that oft men takys; For rycht weill scowryt war thar stomakys. Thai eit and drank sic as thai had; And till our Lord syne lovyng maid, And thankit him, with full gud cher, 545 That thai war met on that maner. The King then at thaim speryt yharne, How thai, sen he thaim saw, had farne; And thai full petwysly gan tell Aventuris that thaim befell, 550 And gret anoyis, and poverte. The King thar-at had gret pite: And tauld thaim petwisly agayne The noy, the travaill, and the payne, That he had tholyt, sen he thaim saw. 555 Wes nane amang thaim, hey na law, That he ne had pite and plesaunce, Quhen that he herd mak remembrance Off the perellys that passyt war. For, quhen men oucht at liking ar, 560 To tell off paynys passyt by Plesys to heryng wonderly; And to rehers thar auld disese, Dois thaim oft-sys confort and ese; With-thi thar-to folow na blame, 565 Dishonour, wikytnes, na shame.

[521: H gives right, which seems necessary for the metre. E and S omit.]

How the King passed to the Sea, and how the Earl of Lennox was chased.

[Sidenote: 1306] The Knights at the Oars]

Eftir the mete sone rais the King, Quhen he had levyt hys speryng; And buskyt him, with his mengyhe, And went in hy towart the se; 570 Quhar Schir Nele Cambell thaim mete, Bath with schippis, and with meyte; Saylys, ayris, and othir thing, That wes spedfull to thar passyng. Then schippyt thai, for-owtyn mar; 575 Sum went till ster, and sum till ar, And rowyt be the ile of But. Men mycht se mony frely fute About the costis thar lukand, As thai on ayris rais rowand: 580 And nevys that stalwart war and squar, That wont to spayn gret speris war, Swa spaynyt aris, that men mycht se Full oft the hyde leve on the tre. For all war doand, knycht and knave; 585 Wes nane that evir disport mycht have Fra steryng, and fra rowyng, To furthyr thaim off thar fleting.

Here the Earl of Lennox is followed by Traitors.

Bot in the samyn tyme at thai War in schipping, as yhe hard me say, 590 The Erle off the Levenax was, I can nocht tell yhow throw quhat cas. Levyt behynd with his galay, Till the King wes fer on his way. Quhen that thai off his cuntre 595 Wyst that so duelt behynd wes he, Be se with schippys thai him soucht; And he that saw that he wes nocht Off pith to fecht with thai traytouris, And that he had na ner socouris 600 Then the Kingis flote, for-thi He sped him eftir thaim in hy. Bot the tratouris hym folowyt sua, That thai weill ner hym gan our-ta. For all the mycht that he mycht do, 605 Ay ner and ner thai come him to. And quhen he saw thai war sa ner That he mycht weill thar manauce her, And saw thaim ner and ner cum ay, Then till his mengyhe gan he say; 610 “Bot giff we fynd sum sutelte, “Ourtane all sone sall we be. “Tharfor I rede, but mar letting, “That, owtakyn our armyng, “We kast our thing all in the se: 615 “And fra our schip swa lychtyt be, “We sall swa row, and speid us sua, “That we sall weill eschaip thaim fra; “With that thai sall mak duelling “Apon the se, to tak our thing; 620 “And we sall row but resting ay, “Till we eschapyt be away.” As he devisyt thai have done; And thar schip thai lychtyt sone: And rowyt syne, with all thar mycht; 625 And scho, that swa wes maid lycht, Raykyt slidand throw the se. And quhen thar fayis gan thaim se Forowth thaim alwayis, mar and mar, The thingis that thar fletand war 630 Thai tuk; and turnyt syne agayne, Swa that thai lesyt all thar payne.

Quhen that the Erle on this maner, And hys mengyhe, eschapyt wer, Eftyr the King he gan hym hy, 635 That then, with all his cumpany, In-to Kyntyr aryvyt was. The Erle tauld him all his cas; How he wes chasyt on the se, With thaim that suld his awyn be; 640 And how he had bene tane but dout, Na war it that he warpyt owt All that he had, him lycht to ma; And swa eschapyt he thaim fra. “Schyr Erle,” said the King, “perfay 645 “Syn thow eschapyt is away, “Off the tynsell is na plenyheing. “Bot I will say the weile a thing; “That thar will fall the gret foly “To pas oft fra my cumpany. 650 “For fele sys, quhen thow art away, “Thow art set in-till hard assay. “Tharfor me thynk it best to the “To hald the alwayis ner by me.” ‘Schyr,’ said the Erle, ‘it sall be swa. 655 ‘I sall na wys pas fer yhow fra, ‘Till God giff grace we be of mycht ‘Agayne our fayis to hald our stycht.’

[647: The is in E. S reads thi from H.]

[658: J reads flycht from E, but the two first letters are not clear, and S prefers stycht, though an unusual word.]

[Sidenote: 1306] Angus of Islay joins Bruce]

Angus off Ile that tyme wes syr, And lord and ledar off Kyntyr. 660 The King rycht weill resavyt he; And undretuk his man to be: And him and his, on mony wys, He abandownyt till his service. And, for mar sekyrnes, gaiff him syne 665 Hys castell off Donavardyne, To duell tharin at his liking. Full gretumly thankyt him the King, And resavyt his service. Nocht-for-thi, on mony wys, 670 He wes dredand for tresoun ay: And tharfor, as Ik hard men say, He traistyt in nane sekyrly, Till that he knew him utraly. Bot quhatkyn dred that evir he had, 675 Fayr contenance to thaim he maid. And in Donavardyne dayis thre, For-owtyne mar, then duellyt he. Syne gert he his mengyhe mak thaim yhar, Towart Rauchryne be se to far, 680 That is ane ile in-to the se; And may weill in mydwart be Betuix Kyntyr and Irland: Quhar als gret stremys ar rynnand, And als peralous and mar 685 Till our-saile thaim in-to schipfair, As is the rais of Bretangyhe, Or strait off Marrok in-to Spanyhe.

Thair schippys to the se thai set; And maid redy but langer let, 690 Ankyrs, rapys, bath saile and ar, And all that nedyt to schipfar. Quhen thai war boune, to saile thai went: The wynd wes wele to thar talent. Thai raysyt saile, and furth thai far; 695 And by the mole thai passyt yhar, And entryt sone in-to the rase, Quhar that the strem sa sturdy was That wavys wycht, that brekand war, Weltryt as hillys her and thar. 700 The schippys our the wavys slayd, For wynd at poynt blawand thai had. Bot nocht-for-thi quha had thar bene, A gret stertling he mycht haiff seyne Off schippys; for quhilum sum wald be 705 Rycht on the wavys, as on mounte; And sum wald slyd fro heycht to law, Rycht as thai doune till hell wald draw; Syne on the wav stert sodanly. And othyr schippis, that war thar-by, 710 Deliverly drew to the depe. It wes gret cunnannes to kep Thar takill in-till sic a thrang, And wyth sic wavis; for, ay amang, The wavys reft thar sycht of land. 715 Quhen thai the land wes rycht ner hand, And quhen schippys war sailand ner, The se wald rys on sic maner, That off the wavys the weltrand hycht Wald refe thaim oft off thar sycht. 720

[699: J reads wavys wyd wycht, as E probably has it. H has with. S puts in wavys wyd that, but wycht seems necessary and answers better to sturdy.]

[706: On mounte in E. H has summitie, whence S reads summite.]

[Sidenote: 1306] The King settles in Rathein]

Bot in to Rauchryne, nocht-forthi, Thai aryvyt ilkane sawffly: Blyth, and glaid, that thai war sua Eschapyt thai hidwyss wavis fra. In Rauchryne thai aryvyt ar; 725 And to the land thai went but mar, Armyt upon thar best maner. Quhen the folk, that thar wonnand wer, Saw men off armys in thar cuntre Aryve in-to sic quantite, 730 Thai fled in hy, with thar catell, Towart a rycht stalwart castell, That in the land wes ner thar-by. Men mycht her wemen hely cry, And fle with cataill her and thar. 735 Bot the Kingis folk, that war Deliver off fute, thaim gan our-hy; And thaim arestyt haillely, And brocht thaim to the King agayne, Swa that nane off thaim all wes slayne. 740 Then with thaim tretyt swa the King, That thai, to fullfill hys yharning, Become his men evirilkane: And has him trewly undretane That thai and thairis, loud and still, 745 Suld be in all thing at his will: And, quhill him likit thar to leynd, Evirilk day thai suld him seynd Victalis for three hunder men: And ay as lord thai suld him ken; 750 Bot at thar possessioune suld be, For all his men, thair awyn fre.

[738: Haillely is from H. S from E accepts hastely, but the former fits in better with line 740.]

[750: H has And ay for Lord they sould him ken. E And thai as lord suld him ken, which S follows. Ay is metrically necessary. Cf. 758.]

The cunnand on this wys was maid. And on the morn, but langir baid Off all Rauchryne bath man and page 755 Knelyt, and maid the King homage; And tharwith swour him fewte, To serve him ay in lawte: And held him rycht weill cunnand. For quhill he duelt in-to the land, 760 Thai fand meit till his cumpany; And servyt him full humely.

Book IV

How the Queen and Other Ladies were taken and imprisoned, and her Men slain.

In Rauchryne leve we now the King In rest, for-owtyn barganying; And off his fayis a quhile spek we, That, throw thar mycht and thar powste, Maid sic a persecucioune, 5 Sa hard, sa strayt, and sa feloune, On thaim that till hym luffand wer, Or kyn, or freynd on ony maner; That it till her is gret pite. For thai sparyt, off na degre, 10 Thaim that thai trowit his freynd wer, Nothir off the kyrk, na seculer. For off Glaskow byschop Robert, And Marcus off Man thai stythly speryt, Bath in fetrys and in presoune. 15 And worthy Crystoll off Seytoun In-to Lochdon betresyt was, Throw a discipill off Judas. Maknab, a fals tratour, that ay Wes off his duelling, nycht and day; 20 Quhom-to he maid gud cumpany. It wes fer wer than tratoury For to betreys sic a persoune, So nobill, and off sic renoune. Bot thar-off had he na pite: 25 In hell condampnyt mot he be! For quhen he him betrasyt had, The Inglis men rycht with him rad In hy, in Ingland, to the King, That gert draw hym, and hede, and hing, 30 For-owtyn pete, or mercy. It wes gret sorow sekyrly, That so worthy persoune as he Suld on sic maner hangyt be. Thusgate endyt his worthynes. 35 And off Crauford als Schyr Ranald wes. And Schyr Bruce als the Blar, Hangyt in-till a berne in Ar.

[17: Pinkerton read it Loudon (S). E has London. H Lochdon: on which see note.]

[Sidenote: 1306] The Queen goes to Tain]

The Queyn, and als dame Marjory, Hyr dochtyr that syne worthily 40 Wes coupillyt in-to Goddis band With Walter, Stewart off Scotland; That wald on na wys langar ly In the castell off Kyldromy, To byd a sege, ar ridin raith 45 With knychtis and with squyeris bath, Throw Ros, rycht to the gyrth off Tayne. Bot that travaill thai maid in vayne; For thai off Ros, that wald nocht ber For thaim na blayme, na yheit danger, 50 Owt off the gyrth thame all has tayne; And syne has send thaim evirilkane Rycht in-till Ingland, to the King, That gert draw all the men, and hing; And put the ladyis in presoune, 55 Sum in-till castell, sum in dongeoun. It wes gret pite for till heir Folk till be troublyt on this maneir.

[51: E hame (S).]

[58: E has the folk. Reading is from the Cambridge MS., which begins at line 57 (see Introd., 27). C has tribulit. C also has Kyndrumy throughout. I have kept the more familiar form in E.]

How Prince Edward of England besieged Kyldrumy.

That tyme wes in-to Kyldromy, With men, that wycht war and hardy, 60 Schyr Neile the Bruce: and I wate weile That thar the Erle wes off Adheill. The castell weill victalyt thai, And mete and fuell gan purvay; And inforsit the castell sua, 65 That thaim thocht na strenth mycht it ta. And quhen that it the King wes tald Off Ingland, how thai schup to hald That castell, he wes all angry; And callit his sone till hym in hy, 70 The eldest and apperande air, A yhoung bachiller, stark and fair, Schyr Edward callit off Carnavirnane, That wes the starkest man off ane That men fynd mycht in ony cuntre; 75 Prynce off Walys that tym wes he. And he gert als call erlis twa, Glowsister and Herfurd war thai; And bad thame wend in-to Scotland And set a sege, with stalward hand, 80 To the castell of Kildromy. And all the haldaris halely He bad distroy, without ransoun, Or bring thame till him in presoune.

[60: C omits with, but the garrison was more than two! See note.]

[61: C omits and, giving line 62 as And thar wes, etc.]

[63: E begins In. C omits.]

[64: C begins With.]

[66: C begins Thaim. E as above.]

[83: E for-owtyn.]

Here the King of England collects his Men in Scotland.

Quhen thai the mandment all had tane, 85 Thai assemblit ane ost on-ane, And to the castell went in hy, And it assegyt vigorusly; And mony tyme full hard assalit; Bot for to tak it yheit thame falit. 90 For thai within war rycht worthy, And thame defendit douchtely; And ruschit thair fayis oft agayne; Sum best woundit, and sum wes slayne. And mony tymes ysche thai wald, 95 And bargane at the barras hald; And wound thair fayis oft and sla. Schortly thai thaim contenyt swa, That thai without disparit war, And thoucht till Ingland for to far; 100 For thai sa stith saw the casteill, And wist that it wes warnist weill; And saw the men defend thame swa, That thai na hop had thame to ta.

[88: C has rygorusly.]

[94: E has Sum best, sum woundyt, sum als slayne, where slayne as a past tense is impossible. The reading is from C, Skeat interpreting as Some of the best were, etc.]

[104: E has nane. C na.]

[Sidenote: SEP. 1306] Kildrummy is set on Fire]

Nane had thai done all that sesoune, 105 Gyff na had beyn thair fals tresoune. For thar within wes a tratour, A fals lurdane, ane losengeour, Osbarn to name, maid the tresoun, I wate nocht for quhat enchesoun, 110 Na quham-with he maid that covyne: Bot as thai said, that war thar-in, He tuk a culter hat glowand, That het wes in a fyre byrnand, And went in-to the mekill hall, 115 That than with corne wes fillit all, And heych up on a mow it did, Bot it full lang wes thar nocht hyd. For men sais oft that fyr, na pryd, But discovering may na man hyd. 120 For the pomp oft the prid furth shawis, Or ellis the gret bost that it blawis. Na mar may na man fyr sa covyr, Than low or rek sall it discovyr. So fell it heir, for fyre all cleir 125 Soyn throu the thik burd can appeir, Ferst as a sterne, syne as a moyne, And weill bradar thar-efter soyn The fyre out syne in blasis brast; And the reik rais rycht wounder fast. 130 The fyre our all the castell spred, Thar mycht no fors of men it red. Than thai within drew till the wall, That at that tym wes battalit all Within, rycht as it wes with-out. 135 That battalyng, withouten dout, Saffit thair liffis, for it brak Blesis that wald thame ourtak. And quhen thair fayis the myscheiff saw, Till armys went thai in a thraw; 140 And assalit the castell fast, Quhar thai durst come for fyris blast, Bot thai, within that myster had, Sa gret defens ande worthy maid, That thai full oft thair fayis ruschit, 145 For thai nakyn peralis refusit. Thai travaill for to sauf thair lifis: Bot werd, that to the end ay driffis The warldis thingis, sua thame travalit, That thai on twa halfis war assalit. 150 Within with fyr, that thame sa brulyheit; Without with folk, that thaim sa tulyheit, That thai brynt magre thairis the yhet, Bot for the fyre, that wes so het, Thai durst nocht enter swa in hy. 155 Thar folk thar-for thai can rely, And went to rest, for it wes nycht; Till on the morn that day wes lycht.

[123: C begins And thair may.]

How King Edward died in Burgh-in-Sand.

[Sidenote: SEP. 1306] Kildrummy is surrendered]

At sic myscheiff, as yhe herd say, War thai within; the-quhethir thai 160 Evir thame defendit worthely, And thame contenit sa manfully, That thai or day, throu mekill pane, Had muryt up the yhet agane. Bot on the morn, quhen day wes lycht, 165 And sone wes ryssyn schynand brycht, Thai without in hale battale, Com purvait, reddy till assale. Bot thai within, that sa war stad, That na wittaill na fuaill had, 170 Quhar-with thai mycht the castell hald, Tretit ferst, and syne thame yhald To be in-to the Kyngis will, That than to Scottis wes full ill; As soyn efter wes weill knawin, 175 For thai war hangit all and drawin.

Quhen this cunnand thus tretit wes, And affermit with sekirnes, Thai tuk thaim of the castell soyn. And in till schort tyme has swa done, 180 That all a quarter off Snawdoune, Rycht to the erd, thai tumlit doune. Syne toward Ingland wend thar way. Bot quhen the King Edward herd say How Neyll the Bruce held Kildrummy 185 Agane his sone sa stallwardly; He gaderit a gret chevelry, And toward Scotland went in hy.

[183: C has thai wend (S). E omits thai.]

And as in-to Northumbirland He wes, with his gret rowt, rydand, 190 A seiknes tuk him in the way; And put him in sa hard assay, That he mycht nouthir gang no ryde. Him worthit, magre his, abyde In-till ane hamelat neir thair-by, 195 A litill toune, and unworthy. With gret payn thiddir thai hym brocht; He wes sa stad that he na mocht Hys aynd bot with gret panys draw; Na spek bot gif it war weill law. 200 The-quethir he bad thai suld him say Quhat toune wes that, that he in lay. “Schir,” thai said, “Bowrch-in-the-Sand “Men callis this toune, in-to this land.” ‘Call thai it Burch? Allace!’ said he, 205 ‘My hope is now fordone to me. ‘For I wend nevir to thole the payn ‘Of dede, quhill I, throu mekyll mayn, ‘The Burch of Jerusalem had tane; ‘My lif wend I thair suld be gane. 210 ‘In Burch I wist weill I suld de: ‘Bot I was nouthir wis, no sle, ‘Till othir burchis kepe to ta. ‘Now may I no wis forthir ga.’ Thus plenyheit he off his folye; 215 As he had mater sekirly, Quhen he wend to wit certante Of that at nane may certane be.

[218: C has that that (S). E that at.]

The-quhethir, men said enclosit he had Ane spirit, that hym ansuer mad 220 Of thingis that he wald inqueir. Bot he wes fule, forouten weir, That gaf treuth to that creature. For fendis ar of sic nature, That thai to mankynd has invy; 225 For thai wat weill and wittirly, That thai that weill ar liffand heir Sall wyn the segis, quhar-of thai weir Tumlit doune throu thair mekill pryde. Quharfor oftymis will betyde. 230 That quhen fendis distrenyheit ar For till apper and mak answar, Throu force of conjuracioune, That thai sa fals ar and felloune, That thai mak ay thair ansuering, 235 In-till dowbill undirstanding, Till dissaf thame that will thame trow. Ensampill will I set heir now Of a were, as I herde tell, Betuix France and the Flemynnis fell. 240

[234: C has sa felloune (S).]

[Sidenote: 1306] How Ferrand’s Mother was deceived]

The Erll Ferrandis moder was Ane nygramansour; and Sathanas Scho rasit; and him askit syne, Quhat suld worth off the fichtyne Betuix the Franch king and hir sone. 245 And he, as he all tyme wes wone, In-to dissat maid his ansuer; And said to hir thir versis heir.

[244: C has fichtyne (S), and (254) fichting.]

The Lines about the War of Bosbek.

_Rex ruet in bello tumulique carebit honore Ferrandus, comitissa, tuus, mea cara Minerva, 250 Parisius veniet, magna comitante caterva._ This wes the spek he maid, perfay; And is in Inglis for to say; “The king sall fall in the fichting, “And sall fale honor of erding; 255 “And thi Ferrand, Mynerff my deir, “Sall rycht to Paris went, but weir; “Followand him gret cumpany “Of nobill men and of worthy.” This is the sentens off the saw, 260 That he in Latyne can hir schaw. He callit hir his deir Mynerfe, For Mynerfe ay wes wont to serfe Him fullely at his devis. And for scho maid the samyn service, 265 His Minerf hir callit he: And als, throu his gret sutelte, He callit hir deir, hir till dissaf, That scho the titar suld consaf Of his spek the undirstanding, 270 That plesit mast to hir liking.

[265: C gives maid him the sam (S).]

[268: For the second hir, C has sone (S).]

His doubill spek hir sua dissavit, That throu hir feill the ded resavit; For scho was of his ansuer blith, And till hir sone scho tald it swith; 275 And bad him till the battale spede, For he suld victor haf but drede. And he, that herd hir sermonyng, Sped hym in hy to the fichting; Quhar he discumfit wes and schent, 280 And takyn, and to Paris sent. Bot in the fechting nocht-for-thi The kyng, throu his chevelry, Wes laid at erd, and lamyt bath, Bot his men horsit hym weill rath. 285 And quhen Ferrandis moder herd How hir sone in the battale ferd, And that he swa wes discumfit, Scho rasit the evill spirit als tit: And askit quhy he gabbit had 290 Of the ansuer that he hir mad. And he said that he suth said all; “I said the that the kyng suld fall “In the battale, and sua did he; “And falys erding, as men may se. 295 “And I said that thi sone suld ga “To Paris, and he did he rycht sua; “Followand him sic a mengyhe, “That nevir, in his lif-tyme, he “Had sic mengyhe at his leding. 300 “Now seis thow I maid na gabbing.” The wif confusit wes, perfay, And durst no mair on-till him say.

[301: C has mak (S).]

[Sidenote: JULY 7, 1307] Edward I. dies at Burgh-on-Sand]

Thusgat, throu doubill undirstanding, 304 That bargane come to sic ending, That the ta part dissavit was: Richt sua-gat fell it in this cas: At Jerusalem thus trowit he 308 Gravyn in the burch to be; The-quethir at Burch in-to the Sand He suelt rycht in his awne land. And quhen he to the ded wes ner, 312 The folk, that at Kyldrummy wer, Com with the presoners at thai had tane, And syne unto the Kyng ar gane. And for to confort him thai tald 316 How thai the castell to thame yhald; And how thai to his will war brocht, Till do of thame quhat-evir he thocht; And askit quhat thai suld of thaim do. 320 Than lukit he angyrly thame to, And said gyrnand, “Hangis and drawis.” It wes gret wounder of sic sawis; That he, that to the ded wes neir, 324 Suld ansuer apon sic maneir Forouten menyng of mercy, How mycht he trastly on hym cry, That suthfastly demys all thing 328 To haf mercy for his crying Of him that, throu his felony, In-to sic poynt had no mercy? His men his mandment has all done: 332 And he deit thar-eftir sone; And syne wes brocht till berynes: His son syne eftir kyng he wes.

[321: C has awfully (S).]

How James of Douglas passed into Arran.

To Kyng Robert agane ga we, 336 That in Rauchryne, with his menyhe, Lay till the wyntir neir wes gane, And of that ile his met has tane. James of Douglas wes angry 340 That thai so lang suld ydill ly; And to Schir Robert Boyd said he; “The pouir folk of this countre “Ar chargit apon gret maner 344 “Of us, that ydill lyis her. “And I heir say that in Arane, “Intill a stith castell of stane, “Ar Inglis men that with strang hand 348 “Haldis the lordschip of the land. “Ga we thiddir; and weill may fall, “Anoy thame in sum thing we sall.” Schir Robert said, “I grant thar-till. 352 ‘To ly heir mair war litill skill: ‘Tharfor till Arane pass will we, ‘For I knaw rycht weill that cuntre. ‘And the castell alsua knaw I. 356 ‘We sall come thair sa prevely, ‘That thai sall haff na persavyng, ‘Na yheit witting of our cummyng. ‘And we sall neir enbuschit be, 360 ‘Quhar we thair out-cummyng may se. ‘Sa sall it on na maner fall, ‘Than scath thame on sum wis we sall.’

[Sidenote: 1307] Douglas is in Ambush]

With that thai buskit thame on-ane: 364 And at the Kyng thair leyf has tane, And went thaim furth syne on thair way. In-to Kentyre soyn cumin ar thai: Syne rowit all-wayis by the land, 368 Till at the nycht wes neir at hand; Than till Arane thai went thair way, And saufly thair arivit thai. And under ane bra thair galay dreuch, 372 And syne it helit weill ineuch; Thair takill, ayris, and thair stere, Thai hyde all on the samyn maner: And held thair way rycht in the nycht, 376 Sa that, or day wes dawyn lycht, Thai war enbuschit the castell neir, Arayit on the best maneir. And thouch thai wate war and wery, 380 And for lang fastyng all hungry, Thai thoucht to hald thame all preve, Till that thai weill thair poynt mycht se.

[372: In a glen, E H.]

[375: C has sam (S) as in 265.]

Schir John the Hastyngis, at that tyde, 384 With knychtis of full mekyll pryde, And squyaris and gude yhemanry, That war a weill gret cumpany, Wes in the castell of Brathwik. 388 And oftsis, quhen it wald him lik, He went to hunt with his menyhe And sua the land abandonit he, That nane durst warn to do his will. 392 He wes in-to the castell still, The tym that James of Douglas, As I haf tald, enbuschit was. Sa hapnyt at that tyme, throu chans, 396 With vittalis and ek purvians, And with clething, and with armyng, The day befor, in the evynnyng, The undirwardane arivit was, 400 With thre batis, weill neir the place Quhar that the folk I spak off ar Prevely enbuschit war. Soyn fra the batis saw thai ga 404 Of Inglis men thretty and ma, Chargit all with syndry thing, Sum bare wyne, and sum armyng: The remanand all chargit were 408 With thingis on syndry manere: And othir syndry yheid thame by, As thai war masteris, ydilly. Thai that enbuschit war thame saw, 412 Ande, for-outen dreid or aw, Thair buschement apon thame thai brak, And slew all that thai mycht ourtak. The cry rais hydwisly and hee: 416 For thai, that dredand war to de, Rycht as bestis can rair and cry, Thai slew thaim for-outen mercy; Swa that, in-to the samyn sted, 420 Weill neir to fourty thar war ded.

[398: C omits second with (S).]

[402, 403: C has ere ... were (S).]

[414: C and S omit thai.]

[419: C has And thai slew fast without (S).]

Quhen thai, that in the castell war, Herd the folk sa cry and rair, Thai yschit furth to the fechtyng; 424 Bot quhen Douglas saw thar cummyng, His men till hym he can rely, And went till meit thame hastely. And quhen thai of the castell saw 428 Hym cum on thaim forouten aw, Thai fled forouten mair debate; And thai thame followit to the yhate, And slew of thame, as thai in past. 432 Bot thai thair yhet barrit so fast, At thai mycht do at thame no mair: Tharfor thai left thame ilkane thair, And turnit to the see agane, 436 Quhar that the men war forrow slane. And quhen thai that war in the batis Saw thair cummyng, and wist how-gatis Thai had discumfit thair menyhe, 440 In hy thai put thame to the se, And rowit fast with all thare mayn. Bot the wynde wes thame agayn, That it gert sa the land-brist rys, 444 That thai mycht weld the se na wis. Na thai durst nocht cum to the land, Bot hald thame thair so lang hobland, That of thre batis drownyt twa, 448 And quhen Dowglas saw it wes swa, He tuk the armyng, and cleything, Vittalis, wyne, and othir thing At thai fand thar; and held thair way 452 Rycht glad and joyfull of thair pray.

The Coming of King Robert Bruce to Arran.

[Sidenote: 1307] Bruce gets News of Douglas]

On this wis James of Douglas, And hys menyhe, throu Goddis grace, War weill releyit with armying, 456 With vittale als and with clething; Syne till a strenth thai held thair way, And thame full manly governit thai; Till on the tend day at the King, 460 With all that war in his ledyng, Arivit in-to that cuntre, With thretty small galais and thre. The King arivit in Arane; 464 And syne to the land is gane, And in a toune tuk his herbery: And sperit syne full specialy, Giff ony man couth tell tithand 468 Of ony strange men in that land. “Yhai,” said a woman, “Schir, perfay, “Of strange men I can yhow say, “That ar cumin in this cuntre, 472 “And schort quhile sen, throu thare bounte, “Thai haff discumfit our wardane, “And mony of his folk has slane. “In-till a stalward place heir-by 476 “Reparis all thair cumpany.” ‘Dame,’ said the King, ‘wald thou me wis ‘To that place quhar thair repair is, ‘I sall reward the but lesing, 480 ‘For thai ar all of my duelling; ‘And I richt blithly wald thame se, ‘And richt sua trow I thai wald me.’ “Yhis,” said scho, “Schir, I will blithly 484 “Ga with yhow and yhour cumpany, “Till that I schaw yhow thair repair.” ‘That is eneuch, my sister fair; ‘Now ga furthwardis,’ said the Kyng. 488 Than went thai furth but mair letting, Followand hir as scho thame led, Till at the last scho schewit a sted Till the King, in a woddy glen, 492 And said; “Schir, heir I saw the men, “That yhe speir eftir, mak luging: “Heir trow I be thair reparyng.”

[456: Relevit in E.]

[458: C gives strate (S). H strait. E as above, which seems more fitting.]

[481: C I wald (S).]

The King than blew his horn in hy; 496 And gert the men, that war him by, Hald thaim still, and all prive; And syne agane his horn blew he. James of Dowglas herd him blaw, 500 And he the blast all soyn can knaw; And said, “Suthly yhon is the Kyng: “I knaw lang quhill syne his blawyng.” The thrid tym thar-with-all he blew, 504 And than Schir Robert Boyde it knew, And said, “Yhon is the King, but dreid; “Ga we furth till hym bettir speid.” Than went thai till the King in hy, 508 And him salusit full curtasly; And blithly welcumit thame the Kyng, That joyfull wes of thair meting, And kyssit thame, and sperit syne 512 How thai had farn in thair huntyne. And thai hym tald all but lesyng: Syne lovit thai God of thair meting. Syne with the Kyng to his herbry 516 Thai wend, bath joyfull ande joly.

[498: C gives Hald thame all still than preve (S). E as in text.]

[513: C has ontyne, whence hontyne (S).]

How the King sent his Man to spy in Carrick who were to him Friendly.

[Sidenote: 1307] Reasons for Vengeance]

The King apon the tothir day Can till his preve menyhe say; “Yhe knaw all weill, and wele may se, 520 “How we ar out of our cuntre “Banyst, throu Inglis mennys mycht; “And that, that ouris suld be of richt, “Throu thair mastrice thai occupy; 524 “And wald alsua, without mercy, “Gif thai had mycht, distroy us all. “Bot God forbeid that it suld fall “Till us, as thai mak mannasyng! 528 “For than war thair na recoveryng. “And mankynd biddis us that we “To procur vengeans besy be. “For yhe may se we haf thre thingis 532 “That makis us amonestyngis “For to be worthy, wis, and wicht, “And till anoy thame at our mycht. “Ane is our liffis savite, 536 “That suld on na wis savit be, “Gif thai had us at thair liking. “The tothir that makis us egging, “Is that thai our possessioune 540 “Haldis with strinth agane resoune. “The thrid is the joy that we abyde, “Gif that it hapyn, as weill may tyde, “That we haf victor and mastry 544 “Till ourcum thair felony. “Tharfor we suld our hertis rais, “Sua that na myscheif us abais; “And schape all-wayis to that ending 548 “That beris mensk and ek lovyng. “And tharfor, lordis, gif yhe se “Emang yhow that it spedfull be, “I will send a man to Carrik, 552 “To spy and speir how the kynrik, “Is led, or quha is frend or fa. “And gif he seis we land may ta, “On Turnberys snuke he may 556 “Mak a fyre, on a certane day, “And mak taknyng till us, that we “May thair ariffe in-to saufte. “And gif he seis we may nocht swa; 560 “Luk on na wis the fyre he ma. “Swa may we thar throw haff wittering “Of our passage, or our duelling.”

[523: C gives And it (S).]

[525: E for-owtyne.]

[536: E sawfte.]

[556: C Turnberyis nuk (S); but see note.]

To this spek all assentit ar. 564 And than the King, withouten mair, Callit till him ane that wes preve, And born of Carrik his cuntre: And chargit him, in les and mare, 568 As yhe herd me devis it are; And set him certane day to may The fyr, gif he saw it wes sway That thai had possibilite 572 To manteme were in that cuntre. And he, that wes richt weill in will His lordis yharnyng to fulfill, As he that worthy wes and leill, 576 And couth secretis rycht weill conceil, Said, he wes boune in-till all thing For till fullfill his commaunding: And said he suld do sa wisly, 580 That na repreif suld eftir ly, Syne at the King his leif has tane; And furth apon his way is gane.

Now gais the messinger his way, 584 That hat Cutbert, as I herd say. In Carrik soyn arivit he, And passit throu all the cuntre. Bot he fand few thair-in, perfay, 588 That gud wald of his mastir say. For feill of thame durst nocht for dreid, And othir-sum rycht in-to ded War fais to the nobill Kyng, 592 That rewit syne thair barganyng. Bath hye and law, the land wes then All occupyit with Inglis men; That dyspitit, atour all thing, 596 Robert the Bruce the douchty Kyng. Carrik wes gevyn than halely To Sir Henry the lord Persy; That in Turnberyis castell then 600 Wes, with weill neir thre hundreth men; And dantit suagat all the land, That all wes till hym obeysand. This Cutbert saw thair felony, 604 And saw the folk sa halely Be worthyn Inglis, rich and pure, That he to nane durst hym discure. Bot thoucht to leif the fyre unmaid, 608 Syne till his mastir to wend but baid, And all thair covyne till hym tell, That wes sa angry and sa fell.

Of the Fire the King saw Burning.

[Sidenote: 1307] Bruce sees the Fire]

The Kyng, that in-to Arane lay, 612 Quhen that cumin wes the day, That he set till his messyngere, As I devisit yhow lang ere, Eftir the fyre he lukit fast; 616 And als soyn as the moyn wes past, Hym thoucht weill that he saw a fyre, By Turnbery byrnand weill schyre; And till his menyhe can it schaw: 620 Ilk man thoucht weill that he it saw. Than with blith hert the folk can cry; “Gud king, speid yhow deliverly; “Swa that we soyn in the evynnyng 624 “Arif, withouten persavyng.” ‘I grant,’ said he, ‘now mak yhow yhair. ‘God furthir us in-till our fair!’

[616: E none. H noone.]

Than in schort tym men mycht thaim se 628 Schute all thair galais to the se, Ande beir to se bath ayr and steir, And othir thyngis that mystir weir.

Here the King’s Hostess foretells what is to be, and gives him her Two Sons.

And as the King apon the land 632 Wes gangand up and doun, bydand Till that his menyhe reddy war, His hostes come rycht till hym thar. And quhen that scho him halsit had, 636 A preve spek till hym scho mad, And said, “Ta gude tent to my saw: “For or yhe pas I sall yhow schaw “Of yhour fortoun a gret party. 640 “And atour all thing specialy “A wittering heir I sall yhow may, “Quhat end that your purpos sall ta. “For in this warld is nane trewly 644 “Wat thingis to cum sa weill as I. “Yhe pas now furth on yhour viage, “To venge the harme and the outrage “That Inglis men has to yhow done; 648 “Bot yhe wat nocht quhat-kyn forton “Yhe mon dre in yhour warraying. “Bot wit yhe weill, without lesing, “That fra yhe now haf takyn land, 652 “Thair sal no micht, no strinth of hand, “Ger yhow furth pas of this cuntre “Quhill all to yhow abandonyt be. “Within schort tym yhe sall be king, 656 “And haf the land at yhour liking, “And ourcum yhour fayis all; “Bot feill anoyis thoill yhe sall, “Or that yhour purpos ende haf tane; 660 “Bot yhe sall thame ourdriff ilkane. “And, that yhe trow this sekirly, “My twa sonnys with yhow sall I “Send to tak with yhow yhour travell; 664 “For I wat weill thai sall nocht fale “Till be rewardit weill at rycht, “Quhen yhe ar heyt on to yhour hicht.”

[644: E land.]

[Sidenote: 1307] Of Astrology]

[Sidenote: 1307] Of Necromancy]

The Kyng, that herd all hir carpyng, 668 Than thankit hir in mekill thing; For scho confortit hym sumdeill: The-quhethir he trowit nocht full weill Hir spek, for he had gret ferly 672 How scho suld wit it sekirly: As it wes wounderfull, perfay, How ony man throu steris may Knaw the thingis that ar to cum 676 Determinabilly, all or sum, Bot gif that he enspirit war Of him, that all thing evirmar Seis in his presciens, 680 *As it war ay in his presens: As David wes, and Jeromy, Samuell, Joell, and Ysay, That throu his haly grace can tell Feill thingis that eftirward befell. 684 Bot thai prophetis so thyn ar sawin, That nane in erd now is knawin. Bot feill folk ar sa curious, And to wit thingis sa covatous, 688 That thai, throu thair gret clergy, Or ellis throu thair devilry, On thir twyn maners makis fanding Of thingis to cum to haf knawing. 692 Ane of thame is astrology, Quhar-throu clerkis, that ar witty, May knaw conjunctione of planetis, And quhethir that thair cours thaim settis 696 In soft segis, or in angry; And of the hevyn all halely How that the disposicioune Suld apon thingis wirk heir doune, 700 On regiones, or on climatis, That wirkis nocht ay-quhar a-gatis, Bot sum ar les, sum othir mair, Eftir as thair bemys strekit air, 704 Owthir all evin, or on wry. Bot me think it war gret mastry Till ony astrolog to say This sall fall heir, and on this day. 708 For thouch a man his liff haly Studeit swa in astrology, That on the sternis his hed he brak, Wis men sais he suld nocht mak, 712 His liftyme, certane domys thre; And yheit suld he ay dout quhill he Saw how that it com till ending: Than is thar na certane demyng. 716 Or gif thai men that will study In the craft of astrology, Knaw all mennis nacioune, And als the constillacioune 720 That kyndly maneris giffis thaim til, For till inclyne to gud or ill; How that thai throu craft of clergy, Or throu slicht of astrology, 724 Couth tell quhatkyn perell apperis To thame that haldis kyndly maneris; I trow that thai suld faill to say The thingis that thame happyn may. 728 For quhethir sa men inclynit be Till vertu or to mavite, He may richt weill refrenyhe his will, Outhir throu nurtour or throu skill, 732 And to the contrar turne him all. And men has mony tymis seyn fall, That men, kyndly to ivill giffin, Throu thair gret wit away has drivin 736 Thair evill, and worthyn of gret renoune, Magre the constillacioune. As Arestotill, gif, as men redis, He had followit his kyndly dedis, 740 He had beyn fals and covatous; Bot his wit maid him virtuous. And syn men may on this kyn wis Wirk agane that cours, that is 744 Principal caus of thair demyng, Me think thair dome na certane thing. Nigramansy ane othir is, That kennys men on syndry wis, 748 Throw stalward conjuraciones, And throw exorcizaciones, To ger spiritis to thame apeir, And gif ansuer on seir maneir. 752 As quhilom did the Phitones, That, quhen Saull abasit wes Of the Philistianis mycht, Rasit, throu hyr mekill slycht, 756 Samuelis sperit als tit, Or in his sted the evill spirit, That gaf rycht graith ansueir hir to. Bot of hir-self rycht nocht wist scho. 760 And man is in-to dreding ay Of thingis that he has herd say, And namly of thingis to cum, quhill he Have of the end the certante. 764 And sen thai ar in sic wenyng, Fourouten certane witting, Me think, quha sayis he knawis thingis To cum, he makis gret gabbingis. 768 Bot quhethir scho that tald the King How his purpos suld tak ending, Wenit, or wist it witterly; It fell eftir all halely 772 As scho said: for syne king wes he, And of full mekill renomme.

[* Pinkerton, whose numbering of the lines is followed by Skeat, omits this line by an oversight.]

[686: C has That thair in erd now nane is knawin (S). Reading from E. H has nane in eird.]

[753: C That (S): As E H.]

[764: Knaw in E H.]