Book XIX…

Book XIX

How the Lord Soulis thought through Treason with his Accomplices to have put down Good King Robert the Bruce, and how he was warned by a Lady.

[Sidenote: AUG., 1320] The Conspiracy against King Robert]

Than wes the land a quhile in pes; Bot covatis, that can nocht ces Till set men apon felony, Till ger thame cum till senyhory, Gert lordis of full gret renoune 5 Mak a fell conjuracioune Agane Robert, the douchty King; Thai thoucht till bring him till ending, And for till bruke, eftir his dede, The kynrik, and ryng in his sted. 10 The lord of Sowlis, Schir Wilyhame, Of that purchas had mast defame; For principall tharoff wes he, Bath of assent and cruelte. He had gert be with him syndri: 15 Gilbert Male-herbe, Johne of Logy, Thir war the knychtis I tell of heir, And Richard Broune als, a squyeir; And gud Schir David the Brechyne Wes of this deid arettit syne, 20 As I sall tell yhow forthirmair. Bot thai ilkane discoverit war Throu ane lady, as I herd say, Or till thair purpos cum mycht thai. For scho tald haly to the King 25 Thair purpos and thair ordanyng, And how that he suld haf beyn ded, And Sowlis ryng in-till his sted; And tald him werray takynnyng That this purches wes suthfast thing. 30 And quhen the King wist it wes swa, Sa sutell purchas can he ma, That he gert tak thame evirilkane. And quhar the lord Sowlis wes tane, Thre hundreth and sexte had he 35 Of squyeris, cled in his liverye, At that tyme in his cumpany, Outane knychtis that war joly. In-to Berwik than takyn wes he; Than mycht men all his menyhe se 40 Sary and wa; for, suth to say, The king leit thame all pass thar way; And held thame that he takyn had. The lord Sowlis syne eftir maid Playn granting of all that purchas. 45 A parliament tharfor set thar was, And thiddir broucht thir menyhe war. The lord Sowlis has grantit thar The deid in-to plane parliament. Thar soyn eftir he wes sent 50 Till his penans till Dumbertane, And deit in that tour of stane.

[1: C Thus (S).]

[16: C Mayle-Erle (S), but see note.]

[Sidenote: 1320] Umfraville returns to England]

Schir Gilbert Maleherbe, and Logy, And Richard Broune, thir thre planly War with ane assis than ourtane. 55 Tharfor thai drawin war ilkane, And hyngit and hedit als thar-to, As men had demyt thame till do. And gud Schir David the Brechyne Thai gert challans richt stratly syne; 60 And he grantit that of that thing Wes maid till hym discoveryng, Bot he thar-till gaf na consent. And for he helit thair entent And discoverit it nocht to the King, 65 That he held of all his halding, And had maid till him his fewte, Jugit to hang and draw wes he. And as thai drew him for to hyng, The pepill ferly fast gan thring, 70 Him and his myscheiff for to se, That to behald wes gret pite. Schir Ingerame Umphravell, that than Wes with the King as Scottis man, Quhen he that gret mischeif can se, 75 “Lordis,” he said, “quhar-to press yhe? “To se at myscheiff sic a knycht, “That wes so worthy and so wicht, “That I haf seyn ma pres to se “Him for his richt soverane bounte, 80 “Than now dois for till se him heir!” And quhen thir wordis spoken weir, With sary cher he held him still Quhill men had done of him thar will. Syne, with the leiff of the King, 85 He broucht him menskfully till erding. And syne to the King thus said he; “A thing, pray I yhow, grant to me; “That is, that yhe of all my land, “That in-to Scotland is lyand, 90 “Wald gif me leiff till do my will.” The King than soyne has said him till, ‘I will weill graunt that it swa be; ‘Bot tell me quhat anoyis the?’ He said agane, “Grant me mercy, 95 “And I sall tell yhow it planly. “Myne hert giffis me no mor to be “With yhow duelland in this cuntre. “Tharfor, bot at it nocht yhow greiff, “I pray yhow hertly of yhour leiff. 100 “For quhar sa richt worthy a knycht, “And sa chevelrus and sa wicht, “And sa renownit of worschip syne “As gud Schir David the Brechyne, “And sa fulfillit of all manheid, 105 “Wes put to sa felloune a ded, “My hert forsuth may nocht gif me “Till duell, for na thing that may be.” The King syne said; ‘Sen thou will swa, ‘Quhen-evir thou likis thou may ga, 110 ‘And thou sall haiff gud leiff thar-to ‘Thi liking of thi land till do.’ And he him thankit gretumly, And of his land, in full gret hy, As him thoucht best, disponit he. 115 Syne at the King of gret bounte, Befor all thai that with him war, He tuk his leyff for evirmair; And went in Ingland to the King, That maid him richt fair welcummyng, 120 And askit him of the north tithing. And he him tald all, but lesing, How thai knychtis distroyit war. And all as I tald till yhow air; And of the Kyngis curtasye, 125 That levit him debonarly Till do of his land his liking. In that tyme war send fra the King Of Scotland messingeris to tret Of pes, gif that thai mycht it get, 130 As thai oftsis befor war send, Quhar that thai couth nocht bring till end. For the gud King had in entent, Sen God sa fair grace till him sent, That he had wonnyn all his land 135 Throu strinth of armys till his hand, That he pes in his land wald ma, And all the landis stabill swa, That his air eftir hym suld be In peis, gif men held thair laute. 140

[106: E velanys. H villanous.]

[110: E the likys.]

[134: E Had him lent.]

[Sidenote: MAY-JUNE, 1323] A Thirteen Years’ Truce]

In this tyme now that Umphrevele, As I bair yhow on hand eir-quhil, Com till the King of Ingland, The Scottis messingeres thar he fand Of pes and rest to haf tretis. 145 The King wist Schir Ingerame wes wis, And askit his consell thair-to, Quhat he wald rede him for till do. For him, said he, thoucht herd to ma Pes wyth King Robert Bruce his fa, 150 Quhill that he of him vengit war. Schir Ingerame till hym maid ansuar And said, “He delt sa curtasly “With me, that on na wis suld I “Giff consell till his merring.” 155 ‘The behufis neid-way,’ said the King, ‘To this thing heir say thine avis.’ “Schir,” said he, “sen yhour willis is “That I say, wyt yhe sekirly, “For all yhour gret chevelry, 160 “Till deill with hym yhe haf no mycht. “His men ar worthyn all sa wicht “For lang usage of gret fechting, “That has beyne norist in sic thing, “That ilk yheman is sa wicht 165 “Of his, that he is worth a knycht. “Bot and yhe think yhour weir to bring “Till your purpos and gud liking, “Lang trewis with hym tak sall yhe. “Than sall the mast of his menyhe, 170 “That ar bot sympill yhemanry, “Be distrenyheit all comonly “To wyn thair met with thair travale. “And sum of thame neid mon thame call “With plewch and harrow for to get, 175 “And othir ser craftis, thair met; “Swa that thair armyng sall worth ald, “And sall be rottyn, distroyit, or sald; “And feill, that now of weir ar sle, “In-till a lang trewis sall de, 180 “And othir in thair sted sall ris “That sall cun litill of sic mastris. “And quhen thai thus disusyt ar, “Than may yhe move on thame yhour wer, “And sall richt weill, as I suppos, *185 “Bring yhour entent to gud purpos.” *186 Till this assentit thai ilkane. 185 And eftir syne war trewis tane, Betuix the twa Kyngis, that wer Talit to lest for thretten yheir: And on the marchis gert thame cry. The Scottis men kepit thame lely, 190 Bot Inglis men apon the se Distroyit, throu gret iniquite, Marchand-schippis, that saland war Fra Scotland to Flandris with war, And distroyit the men ilkane, 195 And till thar oys thar gude has tane. The King send oft till ask redres, Bot nocht thar-of redres ther wes; And he abaid all tyme askand. The trewis on his half gert he stand 200 Apon the marchis stabilly, And gert men kep thame lelely.

[177: C thai armyng (S).]

[*185, *186: Omitted in Pinkerton’s edition.]

[188: E viii. (for xiii.). H threttene.]

The Death of Good Sir Walter Steward.

In this tyme that the trewis war Lestand on marchis, as I said ar, Walter Steward, that worthy was, 205 At Bathket a gret seknes tais. His evill it wox ay mair and mair, Quhill men persavit by his fair, That hym worthit neyd to pay the det That na man for till pay may let. 210 Schrevyn, and als repentand wele, Quhen all wes done him ilke deill That nedit Cristin man till haf, As gud Crystyn the gast he gaf. Than mycht men heir folk gret and cry, 215 And mony a knycht and ek lady Mak in apert richt evill cher; Sa did thai all that evir thair wer: All men hym menyt comonly, For of his elde he wes worthy. 220 Quhen thai lang tyme thar dule had maid, The cors to Paslay haf thai had, And thar with gret solempnite, And with gret dule, erdyt wes he. God, for his mycht, his saull he bring 225 Quhar joy ay lestis but endyng!

[206: E Bathgat.]

[224: C entyrit (S). H eirded.]

Eftir his ded, as I said air, The trewis that swa takyn war, For till haf lestit thretten yheir, Quhen twa yheir of thame passit weir, 230 And ane half, as I trow, alsua, Kyng Robert saw men wald nocht ma Redres of schippes that war tane, And of the men als that war slane; Bot continuit thair mavite 235 Quhen evir thai met thame on the se. He send and acquyt hym all planly, And gaf the trewis up oppinly. And, in vengeans of this trespas, The gud Erll of Murreff, Thomas, 240 And Donald Erll of Mar alsua, And James of Douglas with thaim twa, And James Steward, that ledar wes, Eftir his gud brother disses, Of all his brothir men in weir, 245 He gert apon thar best maner With mony men bown thaim to ga In Ingland, for to burne and sla. And thai held furth soyn till Ingland-- Thai war of gud men ten thousand-- 250 Thai brynt and slew in-to thair way; Thair fais fast distroyit thai. And swagat furthward can thai fair, Till Wardill quhill thai cummyn war. That tyme Edward of Carnavarane, 255 The King, wes ded, and laid in stane; And Edward, his sone, that wes yhyng, In Ingland crownyt wes for Kyng, And surname had of Wyndissoyr. He had in France beyn of befor 260 With his moder dame Isabell; And wes weddid, as I herd tell, Till a yhoung lady fair of face That the Erllis douchter was Of Hennaut; and of that cuntre 265 Broucht with him men of gret bounte. Schir Johne of Hennaut wes thar leder, That was richt wis and wicht in wer.

[253: E southwart.]

[Sidenote: JUNE, 1327] The Scots in Weardale]

[Sidenote: AUG., 1327] Attack by the English Archers]

And that tym that Scottis men war At Wardale, as I said yhow ar, 270 In-to York wes the new maid King, And herd tell of the distroying That Scottis men maid in his cuntre. A gret host till him gaderit he: He wes weill neir fifty thousand. 275 Than held he northwarde in the land In haill battale with that menyhe. Auchtene yheir ald that tyme wes he. The Scottis men all Cokdaill. Fra end till end thai heryit haill, 280 And till Wardaill agane thai raid. Thar discurriouris that sicht has had Of cummyng of the Inglis men, To thair lordis thai tald it then. Than the lord Douglas, in a lyng, 285 Raid furth for till se thair cummyng; And saw that sevyn battellis war thai, That com rydand in gud aray. Quhen he that folk behaldin had, Toward his host agane he raid. 290 The Erll sperit giff he had seyne The Inglis host; “Yha, Schir, but weyne.” ‘Quhat folk ar thai?’ “Schir, mony men.” The Erll his ayth has suorn him then, ‘We sall ficht with thame, thouch thai war 295 ‘Yheit ma eftsonis than thai ar.’ ‘Schir, lovit be God,’ he said agane, ‘That we have sic ane capitane, ‘That swa gret thyng dar undirta. ‘Bot, be Saint Bryde, it beis nocht swa, 300 ‘Giff my consaill may trowit be. ‘For fecht on na maner sall we ‘Bot be it at our avantage. ‘For me think it war nane outrage ‘Till fewar folk aganys ma 305 ‘Avantage, quhen thai ma, to ta.’ As thai war on this wis spekand, Our ane hye rig thai saw rydand, Toward thame evyn, a battell braid; Baneris displayit enew thai had. 310 And ane othir come eftir neir: And rycht apon the sammyn maner Thai com, quhill seven battellis braid Out-our that high ryg passit had. The Scottis men war thar liand 315 On north half Wer, toward Scotland. The daill wes strekit weill, I hicht; On athir syde thar wes ane hicht Till the wattir doune, sum-deill stay. The Scottis men in gud aray, 320 On thair best wis buskit ilkane, Stude in the strynth that thai had tane; And that wes fra the wattir of Wer A quartir of ane myle weill ner: Thai stude thar battell till abyd. 325 And Inglis men on athyr syd Com ridand dounward, quhill thai wer To Weris wattir cummyn ner, And on othir half thair fais war. Than haf thai maid a-rest richt thar: 330 And send out archeris a thousand With hudis of, and bowis in hand, And gert thaim weill drink of the wyne, And bad thaim gang to bykkyr syne The Scottis host in abandoune 335 And luk if thai mycht dyng thaim doun: For mycht thai ger thame brek aray, Till have thaim at thar will thoucht thai. Armyt men doune with thame thai send, Thame at the watter till defend. 340

[282: C had had (S). H hes.]

[304: C me to think (S).]

[336: E Thai ger thaim cum apon thaim doun: which does not make sense.]

The lord Dowglas has seyn thair fair, And men, that richt weill horsit war And armyt, a gret cumpany, Behynd the battell prevely He gert hufe, to byd thair cummyng: 345 And quhen he maid to thame taknyng, Thai suld com prikand fast, and sla With speris that thai mycht our-ta. Donald of Mar thar chiftane was, And Archbald with hym of Dowglas. 350 The lord Dowglas toward thaim raid; A gown on his armyng he had, And traversit alwayis up agane Thame neir his battell for till trayne. And thai, that drunkyn had of the wyne, 355 Com ay up endlang in a lyne, Quhill thai the battell com so neir That arrowis fell emang thaim seir. Robert of Ogill, a gud squyer, Com prekand than on a courser, 360 And on the archeris cryit agane, “Yhe wat nocht quha mais yhow that traine! “It is the lord Dowglas, that will “Sum of his playis ken yhow till.” And quhen thai herd spek of Dowglas, 365 The hardyest affrayit was, And agane returnit halely. His takyn maid he than in hy; And the folk that enbuschit war So stoutly prekit on thame thar, 370 That weill thre hundreth haf thai slayne, And till the wattir hame agayne The remanand all can thai chas. Schir Williame of Erskyn that was Newlingis makyn knycht that day, *375 Weill horsit intill gud aray, *376 Chassit with othir that war thar 375 Sa fer-furth, that his hors him bar Emang the lump of Inglis men, That with strang hand he tane wes then. Bot of hym weill soyn chaynge wes maid For othir that men takyn had. 380 Fra thir Inglis archeris wer slayne, Thai folk raid till thar host agane. And richt swa did the lord Douglas; And quhen that he reparit was, Thai mycht emang thair fayis se 385 Thair palyheownys soyne stentit be. Than thai persavit soyne in hy That thai that nycht wald tak herbery, And schap till do no mar that day. Tharfor alsua thame herbreit thai, 390 And stentit palyheownys soyn in hy; Tentis and luggis als thair-by Thai gert mak, and set all on raw. Twa novelreis that day thai saw, That forrouth in Scotland had beyn nane: 395 Tymbrys for helmys wes the tane, That thame thoucht than of gret bewte, And alsua wounder for to se; The tothir crakkis war of wer, That thai befor herd nevir eir. 400 Of thir twa thyngis thai had ferly. That nycht thai wachit stalwardly: The mast part of thame armyt lay, Quhill on the morne that it wes day.

[341: C that fair. Has E.]

[368: C he thaim (S). H then. E seems to give the more probable reading.]

[*375, *376: In C H. E omits.]

[394: E noveltyis.]

[Sidenote: AUG., 1327] The English try an Ambush]

The Inglis men thame umbethoucht, 405 Apon quhat maner that they moucht Ger Scottis leve thair avantage; For thame thoucht foly and outrage To gang up to thame till assale Thame at thar strynthis in playn battale. 410 Tharfor of gud men ane thousand, Armyt on hors bath fut and hand, Thai send, behynd thair fayis to be Enbuschit in-till a vale: And schup thair battellis, as thai wald 415 Apon thame till the fechting hald. For thame thoucht Scottis men sic will Had, that thai mycht nocht hald thaim still: For thai knew thame of sic corage, That thai trowit strenth and avantage 420 That suld leyff, and meit thame planly; Than suld thar buschement hastely Behynd prek on thame at the bak; Sa thoucht thai weill thai suld thaim mak For till repent thame of thair play. 425 Thair enbuschement furth send haf thai, That thame enbuschit prevaly. And on the morn, sum-deill airly, In-till the host syne trumpit thai, And gert thair battell braid aray; 430 And, all arayit for to ficht, Thai held toward the wattir richt. Scottis men, that saw thame do swa, Bown on thair best wis can thaim ma; And in battell planly arayit, 435 With baneris to the wynd displayit, Thai left thair strynth, and all planly Com doune to meit thame hardely, In als gud maner as thai mowcht, Richt as thair fayis befor had thoucht. 440 Bot the lord Dowglas, that ay-quhar Set out wachis heir and thar, Gat wit of thair enbuschement. Than in gret hy soyn is he went Befor the battellis, and stoutly 445 He bad ilk man turn hym in hy, Richt as he stud, and turnit swa Up till thair strynth he bad thaim ga, Swa that na let thar-in be maid. And thai did as he biddin had, 450 Quhill to thair strynth thai com agayn. Than turnyt thai thame with mekill mayn, And stude reddy to giff battale, Giff thair fayis wald thame assale. Quhen Inglis men has seyn thaim swa 455 Toward thar strynth agane up ga, Thai cryit hey, “Thai fley thar way!” Schir Johne de Hennaut said: “Perfay, “Yhone fleying is richt degyse. “Thair armyt men behynd I se, 460 “And thair baneris, swa that thai thar “Bot turne thame as thai standand war, “And be arayit for the ficht, “Gif ony pressis thame with mycht. “Thai haf seyne our enbuschement, 465 “And agane to thar strinth ar went. “Yhone folk ar governyt wittely; “And he that ledis thame war worthy “For a-vis, worschip, and wisdome, “To governe the empyre of Rome.” 470 Thus spak that worthy knycht that day; And the enbuschement, fra that thai Saw that thai swa discoverit war, Toward thar host agane thai far. And the battell of Inglis men, 475 Quhen thai saw thai had falit then Of thar purpos, to thair herbery Thai went, and lugit thame in hy. On othir half richt swa did thai, Thai maid no mar debat that day. 480

[Sidenote: AUG., 1327] The Scots shift to a New Position]

Qwhen thai that day ourdrivyn had, Fyres in gret foysoune thai maid, Als soyne as the nycht fallen was. Than the gud lord of Dowglas, That spyit had a plas thar-by, 485 Twa myle fra thine, quhar mar trastly The Scottis host mycht herbery ta, And defend thame bettir alsua Than ellis in ony place thar-by; It wes a park, that halely 490 Wes enveronyt about with wall; It wes neir full of treis all, Bot a gret plain in-till it was; Thiddir thoucht the lord Dowglas Be nychtyrtale thair host to bryng. 495 Tharfor, forouten mair duelling, Thai bet thair fyres and maid thame mair, And syne all sammyn furth thai fair, And till the park, without tynsele, Thai come, and herbryit thaim richt wele 500 Upon the wattir, and als neir Till it as thai be forrouth weir. And on the morn, quhen it wes day, The Inglis host myssit away The Scottis men, and had ferly, 505 And gert discurriouris hastely Prek to se quhar thai war away. And, by thair fyres, persavit thai That thai in the park of Wardale Had gert herbery thar host all hail. 510

[502: that inserted by S for metre. C forrouth (S). Cf. 515.]

[Sidenote: AUG., 1327] A Night Attack on the English]

Tharfor thair host but mair abaid Buskit, and evin anent thaim raid, And on othir half the watter of Wer Gert stent thair palyheownys, als neir As that befor stentit war thai. 515 Aucht dayis on bath halffis swa thai lay, That Inglis men durst nocht assale The Scottys men with playne battale, For strinth of erd that thai had ther. Thar wes ilk day justyng of wer, 520 And scrymmyng maid full apertly, And men tane on ather party. And thai that tane war on a day On ane othir changit war thai. Bot othir dedis nane war done, 525 That gretly is apone till mone; Quhill it fell, on the nynt day, The lord Dowglas had spyit a way, How that he mycht about thame ryd, And cum apon the ferrest syd. 530 And at evyn him purvayit he, And tuk with him a gude menyhe, Fyve hundreth on hors, wicht and hardy; And in the nycht, all prevely, For-out noyis so fer he raid, 535 Quhill that he neir enveremyt had Thar host, and on the ferrer syd Toward thame slely can he ryd, And half the men that with hym war He gert in hand have suerdis bar; 540 And bad thaim hew rapys in twa, That thai the pailyhownys mycht ma To fall on thaim that in thaim war. Than suld the laiff, that forouth ar, Stab doune with speres sturdely. 545 And, quhen thai herd his horne, in hy To the wattir hald doun the way. Quhen this wes said that I here say, Toward thair fais fast thai raid, That on that syd no wachis had. 550 And as thai neir war approchand, Ane Inglis man, that lay bekand Hym by a fyre, said to his feir, “I wat nocht quhat may tyd us heir, “Bot a richt gret growyng me tais; 555 “I dred me sair for the blak Dowglas.” And he, that herd him, said, ‘Perfay, ‘Thou sall haf caus, gif that I may!’

[527: E sevynd. H nynth.]

[533: C wes richt hardy (S). H as E.]

[544: E folowit thar.]

With that, with all his cumpany, He ruschit on thame hardely, 560 And prowd palyheownys doune he bare, And with speris that scharply schar Thai stekit men dispituisly. The noyis weill soyn rais, and the cry; Thai stabbit, stekit, and thai slew; 565 And mony palyheownys doun thai drew. A felloun slauchtir maid thai thair, That thai, that liand nakit war, Hed na power defens to ma; And thai but pite can thame sla. 570 Thai gert thame wit that gret foly Wes, neir thair fayis for to ly, Bot gif thai trastly wachit war. The Scottis men war slaand thar Thair fayis on this wis, quhill the cry 575 Rais throu the gret host comonly, That lord and othir war on steir. And quhen the Dowglas wist thai weir Armand thame all comonly, He blew his horne for till rely 580 His men, and bad thame hald thar way Toward the wattir, and swa did thai; And he abaid henmast, to se That nane of his suld lefit be. And, as he swa abaid hufand, 585 Swa come ane with a club in hand, And swa gret rowtis till him raucht, That, had nocht beyn his mekill maucht And his richt soverane gret manhede, In-till that plas he had beyne ded. 590 Bot he, that na tyme was affrayit, Thouch he weill oft wes herd assayit, Thou mekill strynth and gret manheid, Has brocht the tothir on-to ded, His men, that to the wattir doune 595 War rydyn in-till a randoune, Myssit thar lord quhen thai com thar. Than war thai dredand for him sar; Ilkane at othir sperit tithing, Bot yheit of hym thai herd no thing. 600 Than can thai consale sammyn ta, That thai to sek hym up wald ga. And, as thai war in sic affray, A tutlyng of his horne herd thai. And thai, that has it knawin swith, 605 War of his cummyng woundir blith, And sperit at him of his abaid; And he tald how a carll him maid With his club richt ane felloune pay, That met him stoutly in the way, 610 That, had nocht ure helpit the mair He had beyn in great perell thair. Thusgatis spekand thai held thar way, Quhill till thar host cummyn ar thai, That on fut, armyt, thame abaid, 615 For till help, gif thai myster had. And, als soyne as the lord Dowglas Met with the Erll of Murreff was, The Erll sperit at hym tithing How he had farn in his outyng. 620 “Schir,” said he, “we haf drawyn blude.” The Erll, that wes of mekill mude, Said, ‘And we had all thiddir gane, ‘We had discumfit thame ilkane.’ “It mycht haf fallyn weill,” said he, 625 “Bot sekerly enew war we “To put us in yhon aventur. “For, had thai maid discumfitur “On us, that yhondir passit wer, “It suld all stonay that ar heir.” 630

[612: C I had (S). H as E.]

[Sidenote: AUG., 1327] Douglas restrains Murray]

The Erle said, ‘Sen that it swa is, ‘That we may nocht with juperdis ‘Our felloune fais fors assale, ‘We sal it do in playn battale.’ Lord Douglas said then; “Be Saint Bryd, 635 “It war gret foly, at this tyd, “Till us with sic ane host till ficht, “That ilk day growis of mycht, “And vittale has thar-with plente. “And in thar cuntre heir ar we, 640 “Quhar thar may cum us na succours; “Herd is to mak us heir rescours; “Na we may forra for to get met, “Sic as we haf heir mon we et. “Do we with our fayis tharfor 645 “That ar heir liand us befor, “As I herd tell this othir yher “How that a fox did with a fischer.”

How the Fox played with the Fisher.

‘How did the fox?’ the Erll can say. He said; “A fischar quhilome lay 650 “Besyde a ryver for till get “His nettis that he had thar set. “A litill luge thar had he maid; “And thar-within a bed he had, “And ek a litill fyre alsua; 655 “A dure ther wes, withouten ma. “A nycht, his nettis for till se “He rais, and thair weill lang duelt he. “And quhen that he has done his ded, “Toward his luge agane he yhed, 660 “And with licht of the litill fyre, “That in the luge was byrnand schyre, “In-till his luge a fox he saw, “That fast can on a salmond gnaw. “Than till the dure he went in hy, 665 “And drew ane swerd deliverly “And said, ‘Reiffar, thou mon heir out.’ “The fox, that wes in full gret dout, “Lukit about sum hoill to se; “Bot nane ysche thar couth he se, 670 “Bot quhar the man stude sturdely. “A lawchtane mantill than hym by, “Lyand apon the bed, he saw; “And with his teyth he can it draw “Atour the fyre; and, quhen the man 675 “Saw his mantill ly byrnand than, “Till red it ran he hastely. “The fox gat out than in gret hy, “And held his way his warand till. “The man leit hym begilit ill, 680 “That he his salmond swa had tynt, “And alsua had his mantill brynt, “And the fox scathles gat his way. “This ensampill I may weill say “By yhon folk and us that ar heir; 685 “We ar the fox, and thai the fischer, “That stekis forouth us the way. “Thai weyne we may nocht get away, “Bot richt quhar that thai ly; perde, “All as thai think it sall nocht be. 690 “For I haf gert spy us a gat, “Suppos that it be sum-deill wat, “A page of ouris we sall nocht tyne. “Our fayis, for this small tranontyne, “Wenys we sall weill pryd us swa, 695 “That we planly on hand sall ta “To gif thame oppynly battale; “Bot at this tyme thair thoucht sall fale. “For we to-morne heir, all the day, “Sall mak als mery as we may, 700 “And mak us boune agane the nycht; “And than ger mak our fyres bricht, “And blaw our hornys, and mak fair “As all the warld our awne it war, “Quhill that the nycht weill fallyn be. 705 “And than, with all our harnas, we “Sall tak our way hamward in hy. “And we sall gyit be richt graithly “Quhill we be out of thair danger, “That lyis now enclosit her. 710 “Than sall we all be at our will, “And thai sall let thame trumpit ill, “Fra thai wit weill we be away.” To this haly assentit thai; And maid thame gud cher all that nycht 715 Quhill on the morn that day was licht.

[667: C Tratour (S).]

[Sidenote: AUG., 1327] The Scots prepare to depart]

[Sidenote: AUG., 1327] King Robert sends a Relief]

Apon the morne, all prevaly, Thai turst harnas and maid reddy; Swa that, or evyn, all boun war thai. Thair fayis, that agane thame lay, 720 Gert haf thair men that thar wes ded In cartis till ane haly sted. All that day caryand thai war With cartis, men that slayne war thar. That thai war feill men mycht weill se, 725 That in carying so lang sud be. The hostis bath all that day wer In pes; and quhen the nycht wes ner, The Scottis folk, that lyand war In-till the park, maid fest and far; 730 And blew hornys and fyres maid, And gert thame bryn bath bricht and braid, Swa that thair fyres that nycht war mair Than ony tyme befor thai war. And quhen the nycht wes fallyn wele, 735 With all thair harnas ilke deill All prevaly thai raid thair way. Soyn in a mos enterit ar thai, That had weill a lang myle on breid; Out-our that moss on fut thai yheid, 740 And in thair hand thair hors led thai. It wes richt ane noyus way; And nocht-for-thi all that thar wer Com weill outour it, haill and fer, And tynt bot litill of thar ger, 745 Bot gif it war ony summer That in the mos wes left liand. Quhen all, as I haf born on hand, Out-our the mos, that wes so braid, War cummyn, a gret gladschip thai had, 750 And raid furth hamwarde on thar way. And on the morn, quhen it wes day, The Inglis men saw the herbery, Quhar Scottis men war wount to ly, All voyd; thai wonderit gretly then, 755 And send furth syndry of thar men To spy quhar thai war gane away, Quhill at the last thair tras fand thai, That till the mekill mos thame had, That wes so hidwis for till waid, 760 That aventur thame thar-to durst nane; Bot till thar host agane ar gane, And tald how that thai passit war, Quhar nevir man wes passit ar. Quhen Inglis men hard it wes swa, 765 In hy till consale can thai ta, That thai wald follow thaim no mar. Thair host richt than thai scalit thar, And ilk man till his awn he raid. Kyng Robert than that witteryng had 770 That his men in the park swa lay, And at quhat myscheiff thar war thai, Ana host assemblit he in hy. And ten thousand men, wicht and hardy, He send furth has with Erllis twa, 775 Of Marche and Angous war thai, The host in Wardale till releiff; And, gif thai mycht so weill escheiff That sammyn nycht be thai and thai, Tha thoucht thair fayis till assay. 780

[739: E twa myle of. So, too, in H.]

[742-744: After line 742 H inserts:

_But flaikes in the wood they made Of wands, and them with them had: And sykes therewith brigged they: And sa had well their horse away, On sik wise, that all that there were, Came through the mosse baith haill and feire._ ]

[774: C Of twenty thousand richt hardy (S). H like E.]

[776: E the Merse.]

So fell it that, on the sammyn day That the mos, as yhe herd me say, Wes passit, the discurrouris that thar Rydand befor the hostis war, Of athir host has gottin sicht. 785 And thai, that worthy war and wicht, At tha metyng justit of wer. Ensenyheis hye thai cryit ther; And be thair cry persavit thai, That thai war frendis, and at a fay. 790 Than mycht men se thame glad and blith; And tald it to thair lordis swith. The hostis bath met sammyn syne; Thar wes richt hamly welcummyne Maid emang gret lordis thar; 795 Of thair metyng joyfull thai war. The Erll Patrik and his menyhe Had vittale with thame gret plente, And thar-with weill relevit thai Thar frendis; for, the suth to say, 800 Quhill thai in Wardall liand war, Thai had defalt of met, bot thar Thai war relevit with gret plente. Toward Scotland, with gammyn and gle, Thai went, and hame weill cummyn ar thai; 805 And scalit syne ilk man thar way. The lordis ar went on-to the King, That maid thame richt fair welcummyng. For of thar come richt glad wes he; And that thai sic perplexite. 810 For-out tynsale eschapit had. Thai war blith all and mery made.

Book XX

How Good King Robert the Bruce crowned his Young Son David and Dame Johann, his Spouse.

[Sidenote: 1327-28] A Treaty of Peace]

Soyne eftir that the Erll Thomas Fra Wardale thus reparit was, The King assemblit all his mycht, And left nane that wes worth to ficht. A gret host than assemblit he, 5 And delt his host in parties thre. A part to Norhame went but let, And thair ane strat assege was set, And held thame in, richt at thar dik. The tothir part on to Awnwyk 10 Is went, and thar ane sege set thai; And quhill at thir assegis lay At the castellis, I spak of ar, Apert assaltis maid thai thar: And mony fair gud chevelry 15 Eschevyt wes full douchtely. The king at thai castellis liand Left his folk, as I bare on hand, And with the thrid ost held his way Fra park to park, hym for to play, 20 Huntand as all his awn it war. And till thame that war with him thar The landis of Northumbirland, That next Scotland thar wes liand, In fe and heritage gaf he, 25 And thai payit for the selys fee. On this wis raid he distroyand, Quhill that the Kyng of Ingland, Throu consell of the Mortymer And his moder, at that tym wer 30 Ledaris of hym, that than yhoung wes, To Kyng Robert, till tret of pes Send messyngers, and swa sped thai That thai assentit on this way, Than a perpetuall pes to tak, 35 And thai a mariage suld mak Of King Robertis sone, Davy, That than bot fiff yheir had scarsly, And of dame Johane als of the Tour, That syne wes of full gret valour. 40 Sistir scho was to the yhoung King That Ingland had in governyng, That than of eild had sevin yher. And monymentis and lettrys ser, That thai off Ingland that time had, 45 That oucht agayn Scotland maid, In till that tretys up thai gaff; And all the clame that thai mycht haff In-till Scotland on ony maner. And King Robert, for scathes ser, 50 That he till thame of Ingland Had done of weir, with stalward hand, Full twenty thousand pund suld pay Of sylvir in-to gude monay. Quhen men thir thyngis forspokin had, 55 And, with selys and athis, maid Fesnyng of frendschip and of pes, That nevir for na chans suld ces; The maryage syne ordanit thai Till be at Berwyk, and the day 60 Thai have set quhen that it suld be; Syne went ilk man till his cuntre.

[16: E war. H was. C omits line. S reads wes as more usual form.]

[41: E yhing.]

[44-49: In E only. C H omit.]

Thus maid wes pes quhar wer wes air, And syne the assegis rasit wair. The Kyng Robert ordanit till pay 65 The silvir, and, agane the day, He gert weill for the mangery Ordane, quhen that his sone Davy Suld weddit be; and Erll Thomas, And the gud lord als of Douglas, 70 In-till his stede ordanit he Devysouris of that fest till be; For ane male-es tuk hym so sare, That he on na wis mycht be thar. His mail-eis of ane fundyng 75 Begouth; for, throu his cald lying, Quhen in his gret myschef wes he, Him fell that herd perplexite. At Cardros all that tym he lay; And quhen neir cummyne wes the day 80 That ordanit for the wedding wes, The Erll and the lord Dowglas To Berwik come with mekill fair, And broucht yhoung Davy with thame thair. And the Queyne and Mortymer, 85 On othir party cummyn wer With gret affeir and rialte, The yhoung lady, of gret bewte, Thidder thai broucht with rich affeir. The wedding have thai maid richt ther 90 With gret fest and solempnite, Thair mycht men myrth and gladschip se: For full gret fest thai maid richt thar, And Inglis men and Scottis war To-gidder in joy and in solas: 95 Na felloune spek betuix thame was.

[Sidenote: JULY 12, 1328] The Marriage of Prince David]

The fest a weill lang tyme held thai; And quhen thai buskit till fair away, The queyn hes left hir douchter thar With gret riches and ryall far. 100 I trow that lang quhill no lady To hous wes gevin so richly. The Erll and the Lord Dowglas, Hir in dante resavit has, As it wes worthy, sekyrly; 105 For scho wes syne the best lady And the farest, that men mycht se. Eftir this gret solempnite, Quhen on bath halfis levis wes tane, The queyne till Ingland hame is gane, 110 And had with hir the Mortymer. The Erll and thai that levit wer, Quhen thai a quhile hir convoyit had, Toward Berwik agane thai raid, And syne, with all thar cumpany, 115 Toward the King thai went in hy, And had with thame the yhoung Davy, And als dame Johane the yhoung lady. The Kyng maid thame fair welcummyng, And eftir, but lang delaying, 120 He has gert set ane parliament, And thiddir with mony men is went. For he thoucht he wald, in his liff, Croune his yhoung sone and his wif At that parliament, and swa did he; 125 With gret fair and solempnite, The kyng Davy wes crownyt thar, And all the lordis at thar war, *127 *And als of the comminite, *Maid hym manrent and fewte. And forouth that thai crownit war, *130 The King Robert gert ordane thar, Gif it fell that his sone Davy Deit, but air male of his body 130 Gottyn, Robert Stewart suld be Kyng, and bruk all the rialte That his douchter bar, Marjory. And at this tailyhe suld lelely Be haldin, all the lordis swar, 135 And it with selys affermyt thar. And gif it hapnyt Robert the Kyng To pass till God, quhill thai war yhyng, The gud Erle of Murref, Thomas, With the lord alsua of Dowglas, 140 Suld have thame in-to governyng, Quhill thai had wit to steir thar thing; And than the lordschip suld thai ta. Heir-till thar athis can thai ma. And all the lordis that wes thar 145 To thir twa wardanys athes swar Till obeis thame in-to lawte, Gif thame hapnyt wardanys to be.

[*127-*130: Found in C, E, H, but omitted by Pinkerton.]

[131: C Robert Stiward (S).]

[134: C tale (S). H tailyie.]

[Sidenote: MAY-JUNE, 1329] The Mission of the King’s Heart]

Quhen all this thing thus tretit wes, And affermyt with sekirnes, 150 The king till Cardross went in hy; And thar hym tuk sa felonly The seknes, and him travalyt swa, That he wist him behufit ma Of all this liff the commoune end, 155 That is the ded, quhen God will send. Tharfor his lettres soyne send he For the lordis of his cuntre, And thai com as he biddyn had. His testament than has he maid, 160 Befor bath lordis and prelatis; And till religioune of seir statis, For heill of his saull, gaf he Silvir in-to gret quantite. He ordanit for his saull richt weill. 165 And quhen at this wes done ilk deill, “Lordingis,” he said, “swa is it gane “With me, that thar is nocht bot ane “That is, the ded, withouten dreid, “That ilk man mon thole on neid. 170 “And I thank God that has me sent “Spas in this liff me till repent. “For throu me and my warraying “Of blud thar has beyne gret spilling, “Quhar mony sakles men wes slayne; 175 “Tharfor this seknes and this payne “I tak in thank for my trespas. “And my hert fyschit fermly was, “Quhen I wes in prosperite, “Of my synnys till savit be 180 “To travell apon Goddis fayis. “And sen he now me till hym tais, “That the body may on na wis “Fulfill that the hert can devis, “I wald the hert war thiddir sent, 185 “Quhar-in consavit wes that entent. “Tharfor I pray yhow evir-ilkane, “That yhe emang yhow cheis me ane “That be honest, wis, and wicht, “And of his hand ane nobill knycht, 190 “On Goddis fayis myne hert to bere “Quhen saull and cors disseverit er. “For I wald it war worthely “Broucht thar, sen God will nocht that I “Have power thiddirward till ga.” 195 Than war thair hertis all so wa, That nayne mycht hald hym fra greting. He bad thame leiff thair sorowyng; For it, he said, mycht nocht releif, And mycht thaimself gretly engreif. 200 And prayit thame in hy till do The thyng that thai war chargit to. Than went thai furth with drery mude. And emang thame thai thoucht it gude That the worthy lord Dowglas 205 Quham in bath wit and worschip was *206 *Suld tak this travaill apon hand; *Heir-till thai war an accordand. *Syne till the Kyng that went in hy *And tald hym at thai thoucht trewly, That the douchty lord Dowglas *211 Best schapen for that travell was. And quhen the King hard at thai swa Had ordanit hym his hert till ta, That he mast yharnit suld it haf, He said, “Sa God him-self me saff! 210 “I hald me richt weill payit that yhe “Has chosyn hym; for his bounte, “And his worschip set my yharnyng, “Ay sen I thoucht till do this thyng, “That he it with hym thar suld ber. 215 “And sen yhe all assentit er, “It is the mar likand till me. “Lat se now quhat thar-till sayis he.” And quhen the gud lord of Dowglas Wist at the Kyng thus spokyn has, 220 He com and knelit to the Kyng, And on this wis maid him thanking. ‘I thank yhow gretly, lorde,’ said he, ‘Of mony large and gret bounte, ‘That yhe haf done till me feill sis 225 ‘Sen fyrst I come to yhour servis. ‘Bot our all thing I mak thanking, ‘That yhe so digne and worthy thing ‘As yhour hert, that illumynyt wes ‘Of all bounte and worthynes, 230 ‘Will that I in my yheemsell tak. ‘For yhow, Schir, will I blithly mak ‘This travell, gif God will me gif ‘Laser and space so lange till liff.’ The Kyng him thankit tendirly. 235 Than wes nane in that cumpany That thai ne wepit for pite; Thair cher anoyus wes to se.

[*206-*211: E omits, apparently on account of double termination Douglas. In C H.]

Death of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland.

[Sidenote: JUNE, 1329] The Sorrow for the King’s Death]

Quhen the Lord Dowglas, on this wis, Had undirtane so hye empris, 240 As the gud Kyngis hert till ber On Goddis fayis apon wer, Prisit for his enpris wes he. And the Kingis infermite Woxe mair and mair, quhill at the last 245 The dulfull dede approchit fast. And quhen he had gert till hym do All that gud Cristin man fell to, With werray repentans he gaf The gast, that God till hevin couth haf, 250 Emang his chosyn folk till be In joy, solace, and angell gle. And fra his folk wist he wes ded, The sorow rais fra sted to sted. Thair mycht men se men rif thar hare, 255 And cumly knychtis gret full sar, And thar nevis oft sammyn driff, And as wode men thair clathes rif, Regratand his worthy bounte, His wit, strynth, and his honeste; 260 And, our all, the gret cumpany That he oft maid thame curtesly. “All our defens,” thai said, “allas! “And he that all our confort was, “Our wit, and all our governyng, 265 “Is brought, allas! heir till ending. “His worschip and his mekill mycht “Maid all that war with him so wicht, “That thai mycht nevir abaysit be, “Quhill forouth thame thai mycht him se. 270 “Allas! quhat sall we do or say? “For in liff quhill he lestit ay, “With all our fais dred war we: “And in-till mony fer cuntre “Of our worschip ran the renoune: 275 “And that wes all for his persoune.” With sic wordis thai maid thair mayne; And sekirly wonder wes nane: For better governour than he Mycht in na cuntre fundyn be. 280 I hop that nane that is on lif The lamentacioune suld discrif That thai folk for thair lord maid. And quhen thai lang thus sorowit had, And he debowalit wes clenly, [293] 285 And bawlmyt eyne full richly, And the worthy lord Dowglas [295] His hert, as it forspokyn was, Has resavit in gret dantee, With gret fair and solempnite [298] 290 Thai have him had till Dunfermlyne, [285] And hym solempnly erdit syne, And in a fair towne in the queyr. Bischoppes and prelatis that thar weir Assolyheit hym, quhen the servis 295 Wes done as thai couth best devis; [290] And syne, apon the toder day, Sary and wa ar went thar way. [292]

[273: E our nychtbowris. H faes.]

[285-298: The arrangement here is from C H. E sets differently and illogically. The numbers in brackets follow Pinkerton.]

[Sidenote: JULY-AUG., 1330] Douglas reaches Spain]

Quhen at the gud King beriit was, The Erll of Murreff, Schir Thomas, 300 Tuk all the lande in governyng; All obeysit till his bidding. And the gud lord of Dowglas syne Gert mak ane cas of silvir fyne Anamalyt throu subtilite: 305 Thar-in the Kyngis hert did he, And ay about his hals it bare, And fast him bownyt for his fare. His testament devisit he, And ordanit how his land suld be 310 Governit, quhill his agane-cummyng, Of frendis; and all othir thing, That till him partenit ony wis, With sa gude forsicht and sa wis, Or his furth-passyng, ordanit he, 315 That na thing mycht amendit be. And quhen that he his leif has tane, To schip till Berwik is he gane; And with ane nobill cumpany Of knychtis and of squyary, 320 He put him thar in-to the se. A lang way furthwarde salyt he; Betuyx Cornwale and Bretanyhe He salit, and left the Grunye of Spanyhe On north half hym; and held thar way 325 Quhill till Savill the Graunt com thai. Bot gretly war his men and he Travaled with tempest on the se; Bot, thouch thai gretly travalit war, Haill and feir thai cummyn ar. 330 Thai arivit at gret Savill; And eftir, in a litill quhill, Thar hors to land thai drew ilkane, And in the toune has herbery tane.

[324: C grund (S).]

[326: C Sebell (S).]

[331: C at Graunt Sebell. H the great Sebell.]

He hym contenyt richt richly; 335 For he had a fayr cumpany, And gold eneuch for till despend. The Kyng all soyne eftir hym send, And him richt weill resavit he, And profferit hym in gret plente 340 Gold and tresour, hors and armyng; Bot he wald tak thar-of na thyng; For, he said, he tuk that viage To pass in-till his pilgrimage On Goddis fais, that his travale 345 Micht eftir till his saull avale. And sen he wist that he had were With Sarazenis, he wald dwell ther, And help him at his mycht lely. The King him thankit curtesly, 350 And betaucht him gud men that were Weill knawin of that landis wer, And the maner thar-of alsua. Syne till his innys can he ga.

Quhen that the King him levit had, 355 A weill gret sojourne thar he mad. Knychtis that com of fer cuntre Com in gret rowtis hym to se, And honorit him full gretumly. And our all men mast soveranly, 360 The Inglis knychtis that war thar Honour and cumpany him bar.

[356: C sudiorne (S).]

Emang thame wes ane strange knycht, That wes haldyn so woundir wicht, That for ane of the gude wes he 365 Prisit of all the Cristianite. Sa fast till-hewyn wes all his face That it our all neir wemmyt was. Or he the lord Dowglas had seyne, He wend his face had wemmyt beyne, 370 Bot nevir ane hurt in it had he. Quhen he unwemmyt can it se, He said that he had gret ferly That sic a knycht and sa worthy, And prisit of sa gret bounte, 375 Mycht in the face unwemmyt be. And he ansuerd thar-till mekly, And said, “Love God, all tym had I “Handis myne hede for till were.” Quha wald tak tent to this ansuer 380 Suld se in it undirstanding, That, and he that maid askyng, Had had handis to wer, his face, That, for defalt of fens so was To-fruschit into placis ser, 385 Suld haf, may fall, left haill and fer. The gud knychtis, that than war by, Prisit this ansuer gretumly; For it wes maid with meke speking, And had richt hye undirstanding. 390

[378-386: For these lines H gives:

_And said, “God lent me hands to beare, Wherewith I might my head weere.” Thus maid he courteous answering, With a right hie understanding: That for default of fence it was, That sa evill hewen was his fall._ ]

[380: E tak kep.]

[Sidenote: AUG. 25, 1330] A Battle with the Saracens]

Apon this maner still thai lay, Quhill throu the cuntre thai herd say That the hey King of Balmeryne, With mony a mudy Sarasyne, Wes enterit in the land off Spanyhe 395 All haill the cuntre till demanyhe. The Kyng of Spanyhe, on othir party, Gaderit his host delyverly, And delt thame in-to battellis thre. And to the lord Dowglas gaf he 400 The vaward for to leid and steir; All haill the strangeris with him weir, And the gret mastir of Saint Jak The tothir battell gert he tak. The reirward maid him-selvyn thar. 405 Thusgat devisit, furth thai war To mete thair fayis, that in battale Arayit, reddy to assale, Com agane thame full sturdely. The Dowglas than, that wes worthy, 410 Quhen he to thame of his ledyng Had maid ane fair amonestyng Till do weill and na dede to dreid, For hevynnis blis suld be thair meid, Gif that thai deit in Goddis servis; 415 Than, as gud werriours and wis, With thame stoutly assemblit he. Thar mycht men felloune fechting se; For thai war all wicht and hardy That war on the Cristyn party; 420 So fast thai faucht, with all thar mayne, That of Sarasenys war mony slayne; The-quhethir, with mony fell fachoune, Mony Cristyn thai dang thar doune.

[393: Hey from E. C H omit.]

[*421:

_But ere they joyned in battell, *421 What Dowglas did, I sall you tell. The Bruce’s Heart, that on his brest Was hinging, in the field he kest, Upon a stane-cast and well more: *425 And said, “Now passe thou foorth before, As thou wast wont in field to be, And I sall follow, or els die.” And sa he did withoutten ho, He faught even while he came it to, *430 And tooke it up in great daintie; And ever in field this used he._ *432

*421-*432. In H only; not in C E. See Appendix D. ]

[Sidenote: AUG. 25, 1330] The Death of Douglas]

Bot at the last the lord Douglas, 425 And the gret rout that with hym was, Pressit fast the Sarasenys swa That thai haly the bak can ta. And thai chassit with all thar mayn, And mony in the chas has slayn. 430 So fer chassit the lord Dowglas, With few folk, that he passit wes All the folk that wes chassand then. He had nocht with him atour ten Of all men that war with him thar. 435 Quhen he saw all reparit war Toward his host than turnit he. And quhen the Saryzynys gan se That the chasseris turnyt agane, Thai relyit with mekill mayne. 440 And as the gud lorde Dowglas, As I said air, reparand was, So saw he, richt besyd him ner, Quhar that Schir Willyhame de Sancler With a gret rout enveremyt was. 445 He wes anoyit, and said; “Allas! “Yhone worthy knycht will soyn be ded, “Bot he haf help throu our manhed. “God biddis us help him in gret hy, “Sen that we ar so neir him by. 450 “And God wat weill our entent is “Till lif and de in his servis; “His will in all thing do sall we, “Sall na perell eschevit be “Quhill he be put out of yhone payne, 455 “Or than we all be with hym slayn.” With that with spurris spedely Thai strak the hors, and in gret hy Amang the Saracenys soyne thai raid, And rowme about thame haf thai maid. 460 Thai dang on fast with all thair mycht, And feill of thame to ded has dicht. Gretar defens maid nevir sa quhoyne Agane so feill, as thai have doyne. Quhill thai mycht lest to gif battale. 465 Bot mycht no worschip thar avale That tym, for ilkan war slayn thar; For Sarasynys sa mony war That thai war tuenty neir for ane. The gud lord Douglas thar wes slane, 470 And Wilyhame Sancler syne alsua; And other worthy knychtis twa, Schir Robert Logan hat the tane, And the tothir Walter Logane; Quhar our Lord, for his mekill mycht, 475 Thar saulys have to hevynnis hycht!

[438: C H And as he turnit, he can weill se (S). Text from E.]

[440: C And thai (S).]

[476: C licht (S). H as E.]

The gud lord Douglas thus wes ded; And the Sarasenys in that sted Abaid no mair, bot held thar way; Thai knychtis ded thar levit thai. 480 Sum of the lord Douglassis men, That thar lord ded had fundyn then, Yheid weill neir wood for dule and wa. Lang quhile our hym thai sorowit swa, And with gret dule syne hame him bar. 485 The Kyngis hert have thai fundyn thar, And that haym with thame have thai tane, And ar toward thair innys gane With greting and with evill cher; Thair sorow angyr wes to her. 490 And quhen of Keth gud Schir Wilyhame, That all that day had beyn at hame-- For at sa gret myschef wes he, That he come nocht to the journee, For his arme wes brokyne in twa-- 495 Quhen he that folk sic dule saw ma, He askyt quhat it wes in hy. And thai him tauld all opynly, How that thair douchty lord wes slayn With Sarazynys that releyt agayn. 500 And quhen he wyst that it was sua, Atour all other he wes mast wa, And maid so woundir evill cher That all wounderit that by him wer. Bot till tell of thair sorowyng 505 Anoyis, and helpis litill thing. Men may weill wit, thouch nane thaim tell, How angry, sorowfull, and how fell Is till tyne sic ane lord as he Till thame that war of his menyhe. 510 For he wes swete, and debonar, And weill couth tret his frendis far, And his fais richt felonly Stonay, throu his gret chevelry. The-quhethir of litill effer wes he, 515 Bot our all thing he lufit lawte; At tresoune growyt he so gretly, That na tratour mycht be hym by, That he mycht wit, na he suld be Weill punyst of his cruelte. 520

[496-501: From E H. Not in C, owing to cher twice.]

[Sidenote: 1330] How Fabricius punished a Traitor]

I trow, the leill Fabricius, That fra Rome to warray Pirrus Wes send with a gret menyhe, Hatit tresoune na les than he. The-quhethir quhen the Pirrus had 525 On him and on his menyhe, mayd Ane outrageous discumfitour, Quhar he eschapit throu aventour, And mony of his men war slane, And he gaderit ane host againe, 530 A gret mastir of medicyne, That Pirrus had in governyne, Profferit to this Fabricius In tresoune for to slay Pirrus; For, in his first potacioune, 535 He suld him gif dedly poysoune. Fabricius than, that wondir had That he sic proffer till hym maid Said; “Certis, Rome is wele of mycht “Throu strynth of armys in-to ficht, 540 “Till vencus weill thar fais, thouch thai “Consent to tresoune be na way. “And for thou wald do sic tresoune, “Thou sall, to get thi warisoune, “Ga to Pirrus, and lat hym do 545 “Quhat evir in hert hym lyis the to.” Than till Pirrus he sende in hy This mastir, and gert him oppenly Fra end till end tell all this tale. Quhen Pirrus had it herd all hale, 550 He said; ‘Wes nevir man that swa ‘For laute bar hym till his fa, ‘As heir Fabricius dois till me; ‘It is als ill to ger hym be ‘Turnyt fra way of richtwisnes, 555 ‘Or to consent till wikidnes, ‘As at mydday to turne agane ‘The sone that rynnis his cours all playn.’ Thus said he of Fabricius, That syne vencust this ilk Pirrus 560 In playne battell throu hard fechting. His honest lawte gert me bryng In this ensampell her, for he Had soverane pris of his lawte. And richt sua had the lord Douglas, 565 That honest, leill, and worthy was; That ded wes, as befor said we; All menyt hym, strange and preve.

Quhen his men lang had maid murnyng, The debowellit hyme, and syne 570 Gert seth him, swa that mycht be tane The flesche all haly fra the bane. The carioune thair in haly plas Erdit with richt gret worschip was. The banys have thai with thame tane, 575 And syne ar till thair schippes gane. Quhen thai war levit of the Kyng, That dule had of thar sorowyng. Till se thai went, gud wynd thai had, Thair cours till Ingland haf thai maid, 580 And thair saufly arivit thai; Syne toward Scotland held thar way, And thar ar cummyne in full gret hy. And the banys richt honorabilly In-till the kirk of Dowglas war 585 Erdit, with dule and mekill car. Schir Archibald his sone gert syne Of alabast bath fair and fyne Ordane a towme full richly, As it behufit till swa worthy. 590

[Sidenote: JULY 20, 1332] Death of the Earl of Murray]

Qwhen that on this wis Schir Wilyhame Of Keyth had broucht his banis hame, And the gud Kyngis hert alsua, And men had richly gert ma With fair affeir his sepulture, 595 The Erle of Murreff, that the cure That tyme of Scotland had haly, With gret worschip has gert bery The Kyngis hert at the abbay Of Melros, quhar men prayis ay 600 That he and his haffe paradis. Quhen this wes done that I devis, The gud Erll governit the land, And held the pure weill to warand. The law sa weill mantemyt he, 605 And held in pes swa the cuntre, That it wes nevir led or his day So weill, as I herd ald men say. Bot syne, allas! poysonyt wes he; To se his ded wes gret pite. 610

The lordis deit apon this wis. He, that hye Lord of all thing is, Up till his mekill blis thame bryng, And grant his grace, that thar ofspryng Leid weill the land, and ententif 615 Be to folow, in all thair liff, Thair nobill elderis gret bounte! The afald God in Trinite Bring us hye up till hevynnis blis, Quhar all-wayis lestand liking is!--AMEN. 620

[610: In H By a false Monk full traiterously.]

NOTES

For fuller details of the more important works referred to see Bibliographical List.

Book I

4 on gud maner. The best expansion of this phrase as an expression of Barbour’s ideal of style is in the Alexander:

“To mak it _on sa gud manere, Sa oppin sentence and sa clere As is the Frenche_” (p. 441).

15 tyme of lenth. In modern phrase, “length of time,” and Skeat accordingly follows Hart’s edition in so reading it. But “of lenth” is a common attributive phrase and may quite well stand here, though awkward to modern ears. In line 531 we have this warld of lenth for “the length of this world,” which is a close enough parallel, and will not admit of alteration. In Wyntoun, too, occur such phrases as, “a merke schot large of lenth” (Bk. ix. 27, 419).

37 Quhen Alexander the King was deid. As in the first line of the well-known double verse given by Wyntoun as a fragment of the time; “Quhen Alexander our Kinge was dede.” Wyntoun, in his extract from The Bruce, here reads oure. Alexander III. was killed by falling, with his horse, over the cliff at Kinghorn in Fife, on March 19, 1286.

39 six yher. Rather less. Alexander “was dead” on March 19, 1286, which Barbour would reckon as 1285. The dispute over the succession began on the death of Queen Margaret on September 26, 1290.

40 lay desolat. Barbour, it may be from considerations of space or symmetry, or as a Bruce partisan, omits all mention of the child-Queen Margaret (1286-1290); Bruce “the Competitor,” indeed, held that his claim was superior to hers, and on Alexander’s death started a rising apparently against the succession of a female contrary to the ancient customs of the country. In his pleadings before Edward he claims to be “higher in degree and more worthy in blood” even than she (Palgrave, pp. 30-31). To the reign of Balliol (1292-1296) there is reference later; but no notice is taken of the rising under Wallace (1297-1298) nor of the Barons’ War (1299-1304); the former was carried on in the name of King John, and the latter was mainly a Comyn affair. Robert Bruce (King) took a fitful share in both operations on the national side, but ended as an active partisan of Edward I. (but see note on 611).

49 sum wald haiff the Balleol king. The active heads of his party were Sir John Comyn of Badenoch and William Fraser, Bishop of St. Andrews, two of the Guardians (Palgrave, p. 18). These two had assumed the control of the government (p. 16).

51 eldest systir was. The direct line of William the Lyon having failed, recourse was had to that of his brother, David Earl of Huntingdon. David’s only son died without issue. His eldest daughter, Margaret, was the mother of Devorgoil, or Devorgilla, mother of John Balliol who was thus the great-grandson of the Earl, and of the senior female branch. David’s second daughter, Isabella, had married Robert Bruce of Annandale father of the Competitor, who was thus the son of the second daughter, as Devorgilla was the daughter of the first.

54 in als nere degree. The legal phraseology used throughout by Barbour corresponds with the pleadings submitted by Bruce. These (Anglo-French) are given in full by Palgrave in his Documents and Records, vol. i.; the Latin version from the Great Roll, printed in Rymer’s Fœdera, vol. i., is only a notarial summary. Barbour, however, does not put the issue clearly. In the “branch collaterale” (en lyne collateral) of Earl David, Bruce was “in als nere degre” (aussi pres en degre) as Devorgilla. But Devorgilla was dead before the vacancy in the throne occurred; she had never been vested in the succession, and thus had no rights to transmit to her son (cf. 59, 60). The heritage, therefore, on the death of its possessor, came by law to him who was then nearest in blood--that is, to Bruce, as grandson of Earl David; for John Balliol, as great-grandson, was a degree further away (qe en Sire Roberd de Brus meilleur dreyt deit reposer qe est plus procheyn du saunk qe en Sire Johan de Balliol qe est en plus loyngteyn degree.--Palgrave, p. 34, § 8). Though modern historians have scouted Bruce’s plea, it was quite sound for the Middle Ages. Bruce himself cites a contemporary case in Castile, where a younger brother was, by the law of the Visigoths--i.e., their version of Roman law--preferred to the son of the elder.

58 nocht to lawer feys lik. Balliol urged that the same law applied to kingdoms as to earldoms, and that thus a kingdom should pass to the next heir by seniority, “without any regard to nearness of degree” (Palgrave, 27, § 3). To this Bruce replies that kings are above the laws, and that the right to a kingdom should not be judged by common law, nor by laws applying to subjects and subject fiefs (29, § 5; 27, § 3), but by “the laws by which kings reign,” the “law of nations” (dreit naturel, 25, § 5); and he therefore appeals to Edward as “his Emperor” to judge accordingly (29, § 6), on the analogy of the German or Holy Roman Emperor, who was, in theory, the superior of Christian kings in temporal matters (cf. on 153). Balliol rebuts this with the further contention that the issue is not one of “imperial law,” since “the kingdom of Scotland is held of the Crown of England and of no Empire”; and that it would be to the prejudice of Edward’s Crown rights (en prejudice de la coroune notre Seigneur le Roi) if he judged the matter in his Court by imperial law (p. 43). Bruce, it will be observed, takes higher ground than Balliol, and presents a special interpretation of the (alleged) overlordship, on which see further note on 153. The distinction may seem over-refined to modern minds, but to the medieval mind, with its own “imperial” idea, it was both real and important. Bruce had other pleas in support of his main position, but on these Barbour does not touch (cf. on 153).

61 in lyne evyn descendand. The correct reading is fixed by the legal phrase, en la dreyte lyne descendant (Palgrave, p. 31, § 2).

62 Thai bar ... on hand. Skeat says that “to bear on hand often signified to ‘assert strongly,’” and interprets it here as, “They asserted.” But this is meaningless in the present context, and the correct significance is as in Chaucer, “For he bar hir on honde of trecherye” (Complaynt of Faire Anelida, line 158); and in Troilus (1154-1155), “She bar him on honde that this was don for malice”: hence, here “accused” in the sense of “controverted,” on the lines laid down in 59-64. The weaker sense is probably seen in Prologue of the W. of B.’s Tale, 380, 575, etc.

67 Erle off Carryk. The Competitor was not Earl; it was his son, father of King Robert, who married the widowed Countess of Carrick.

71-5. thai all concordyt. “The nobles, by unanimous consent, decreed among themselves to send serious (solemnes) messages to Edward King of England that in this cause he should be their higher judge” (Fordun, Gesta Annalia, lxx.). The parties were at bitter variance, and there was no other authority strong enough to enforce a decision (ibid.). In fact, civil war was impending. On this account, Bishop Fraser of St. Andrews had already written to Edward on the matter (October, 1290). From this letter we gather that Balliol was about to approach Edward on his own behalf. The “Seven Earls” appealed in support of their own rights to elect a king (Palgrave, p. 14). Bruce submitted his claim to Edward, as against the guardians, who favoured Balliol (ibid., pp. 17, 18). Hemingburgh says that the Guardians of Scotland, fearing a popular outbreak, by the advice of the magnates sent to the King of England, that in a matter of such great doubt they might have the benefit of his advice (ejus consilio fruerentur, ii., p. 31).

88 as freyndsome compositur--i.e., “as a friendly arbiter” (cf. Hemingburgh in previous note). Fordun urges that the appeal did not imply any confession of overlordship, but Edward was appealed to as a “friendly and distinguished neighbour” (amicabilis et vicinus præstantior), to settle the difference “in the manner of a friendly compositor and for the sake of neighbourliness” (Gesta Annalia, lxx.). The first notice in Sir Thomas Gray’s Scalacronica puts it that the Scots asked Edward to interfere in the interests of peace, and that he replied that he would consider the matter. At Norham the Scottish magnates are said to have asked him to try the case as sovereign lord (pp. 112, 119).

100 Walis ... Ireland. Edward I. crushed the main Welsh rising in 1282, and in 1284 annexed the principality. He took no special part in the conquest of Ireland, which belongs to the reign of Henry II. (1171).

103 ryn on fute. This, I take it, reflects the fact that Edward usually drew upon Wales and Ireland for the foot in his army. At Falkirk, indeed, Hemingburgh says that nearly all the English foot were Welsh. Cf. also XIII. 419 ff.

140 on Saracenys warryand. Edward was in England. His crusading took place before he ascended the throne (1270-1272). The Scalacronica says he was at Ghent (p. 112).

146 ane assemble. Edward met the prelates and barons of Scotland at Norham, May 10, 1291. In his safe-conduct granted to these, Edward declares “that this shall not be a precedent to the prejudice of Scotland” (Bain’s Calendar, ii., No. 474): i.e., their meeting him on English ground.

151 all the senyhowry. Edward had meanwhile (March 8, 23) sent writs to the cathedrals and chief monasteries of England, requesting to be furnished with extracts from histories and chronicles respecting the relations between England and Scotland. The responses are given in Bain, ii., No. 478, and Palgrave, pp. xcvii-cxv (see next note).

153 to Robert the Bruys said he. Palgrave points out that Bruce was the first to appeal to Edward as overlord, in conjunction with the “Seven Earls” with whom he was acting; all submitting themselves--relatives, friends, adherents, lands and goods--to the protection of the King and Crown of England (pp. xlviii, 15, 18). In this he finds nothing inconsistent with the speech here attributed to Bruce, which he takes, not from Barbour, but from Fordun, who gives the same account as Barbour of Edward’s offer and Bruce’s reply (Gesta, lxxii.). For Palgrave regards the original historic supremacy as a vague imperial relation, to which Edward tried to give a narrow feudal precision (p. xliii). Bruce, he says, could properly regard himself “as the Laensman of the Monarch who represented the Bretwald, the Emperor or Basileus of Albion, or of Britain, and not the vassal of the King of England and Duke of Normandy” (p. xlix). Bruce, indeed, in one section of his pleadings addresses Edward as “his Sovereign Lord and his Emperor” (p. 29, § 6), but his pleading was against the purely feudal relationship (see on 58), the holding “in cheyff” (154), which would allow Edward the dominium or ownership of Scotland, as contrasted with the suzerainty, which would grant a power of control. Edward insisted on the former.

169 Assentyt till him. After a delay of three weeks (June 2-3, 1292), nine of the Competitors made full acknowledgment of the supremacy of the King of England; the others acquiesced on August 3 (Bain, ii. 483, 507). The issue was finally narrowed down to a consideration of the respective claims of Balliol and Bruce. Barbour is misleading.

171 He was king. Judgment in favour of Balliol was given on November 17, 1292, at Berwick. Balliol resigned “his kingdom and people to” the King of England on July 7, 1296, “a litill quhile,” three years and seven months after.

173 For litill enchesone. Balliol was treated as an ordinary vassal, and finally summoned, with the Scottish magnates, to attend Edward on an expedition into France (June 29, 1294). Balliol, however, made a treaty with King Philip IV. In October he wrote Edward renouncing “the homage extorted from him by violence” (Bain, ii., No. 722). This was followed up by a raid into England in the spring of 1296. Meantime the government had been taken out of Balliol’s hands, and was administered by twelve Scottish barons and prelates.

189 And stuffyt all. The list of castles and towns committed to Englishmen and Scottish supporters of Edward is given in Bain, ii., No. 853. Gray says Edward took possession of all the castles of Scotland (Scala., p. 123).

193 He maid off Inglis nation. The offices of Governor, Treasurer, and Justiciar, as well as minor ones, were filled by Englishmen. Some of the appointments of Sheriffs, etc., are given in Bain as above, and in Stevenson’s Historical Documents, II., pp. 90, 91. Barbour overstates the case.

194 That worthyt than sa ryth felloune. Gray says that the revolt of the conquered territories in Scotland under Robert Bruce was in great measure due to “the bad government of the ministers of the King, who governed them with too great harshness for their own personal gain” (qi trop asprement lez governoient pur singuler profit.--Scala., p. 140).

250 in disputacioun. For the “disputations” of clerks, cf. Chaucer, Nun’s Priest’s Tale and Franklin’s Tale, 162.

259 I leve all the solucioun. As Mr. Neilson has pointed out (An English Miscellany, p. 383), this is a quite serious reference to a class of questions discussed by ecclesiastical lawyers. A whole book (ix.) is devoted to the Redditio Debiti Conjugali in the volume by Thomas Sanchez, one of the Salamanca doctors (De Sto. Matrimonii Sacramento; Venice, 1625). Chaucer’s Wife of Bath has some characteristic remarks on the same subject:

“Why sholde men elles in hir bookes sette That man shal yelde to hys wyf hire dette?”

(Prologue to Tale, 129, 130. Cf. also 154, 155).

282 Put in presoun Sir Wilyham was. Sir William Douglas, “the bold” (le Hardi), joined Bruce and the other lords who followed Wallace in rising, and formed a camp at Irvine in July, 1297. When these submitted and surrendered, Douglas, for not fulfilling his terms of surrender, was confined in Berwick Castle. Thence he was taken to the Tower, where he died before January, 1299. His Scottish lands were given to Sir Robert de Clifford (cf. lines 285-7).

293 that hym ne dred. Cf. note on Bk. XX. 514.

313 James of Douglas. “James is, in general, dissyllabic in Barbour” (Skeat).

323 will off wane. See glossary, and note on Bk. II. 471.

339 Erle off Artayis. This is probably the Count Robert of Artois, who was a friend of Queen Isabella and her son Edward III. He was driven from France (Le Bel, i., chap. xix., and notes in ed. 1904). He wandered from place to place, after quarrelling with King Philip, for three years; then crossed to England, disguised as a merchant (1334), which fact Barbour probably has here in his mind (Mémoires de l’Académie Royale, vol. x., p. 635. Paris, 1733).

343 Catone sayis. Dionysius Cato, a writer of the fourth century. The reference is to his line, “To pretend foolishness is, at times, the highest wisdom” (Stultitiam simulare loco prudentia summa est. Disticha de Moribus, Bk. ii. xviii; Ed. Amsterdam, 1754, p. 178).

346 then come. See on 282.

354 the byschop. William Lamberton. Edward sent to the Pope a lengthy list of charges against Lamberton, who had broken his most solemn oaths of fealty and shared in the “rebellions” against him. He had, when Chancellor of Glasgow, supported Wallace, and had himself chosen Bishop of St. Andrews, on Fraser’s death, without Edward’s consent. Then, with other lords, he went to France to do all the mischief he could there against Edward, and sent letters of encouragement to Wallace. After the suppression of the rising, he again submitted and took the oaths (see on 412), and was made chief of the Guardians of Scotland. He was suspected of complicity in the murder of Comyn (see on 611), and immediately supported Bruce. Arrested after Methven, he was imprisoned with Bishop Wishart of Glasgow, though not guilty of so many perjuries as he. These two bishops (with the other Scottish clergy), were the principal “abettors and maintainers” of Bruce’s rising (Palgrave, pp. 331-340; also Bain, ii., as indexed). Lamberton was released in 1308, on giving securities for good behaviour and swearing fealty to Edward II. (Bain, iii., No. 50). Thereafter he acted as a negotiator between England and Scotland (Bain, iii.). He was excommunicated, and was one of the four bishops (St. Andrews, Dunkeld, Aberdeen, Moray) summoned by the Pope in 1319 to answer for their support of Bruce (Lanercost, p. 423). He died some time before June, 1329 (Bain, iii., p. 316).

356 forouth him to scher. So did Chaucer’s Squire: “And carf biforn his fader at the table” (Prologue, 100).

381-2. But he wes nocht so fayr, etc. Cf. of Porrus, in the Alexander:

“Bot he was nocht so fare suthly, That men need speke of him gretly, For he was broun red in visage” (p. 176).

399 And wlyspit alsua. Guido delle Colonne says that Hector “stammered a little in his speech” (parum vero erat balbutiens in loquela. See on 525): and so in the Gest. Hystoriale of Hector, “a little he stotid” (stammered) (line 3881).

403 Till Ector. In the Alexander that monarch is the incomparable hero:

“Bot Alexander I tak beforne, To him I mak na man compeir” (p. 110).

406 lovyt. “praised” (see Glossary).

412 Byschop Wylyhame. Lamberton, as Edward says, went to him at Stirling on May 4, 1304, and again took the oath of fealty, receiving from Edward’s hands the temporality of his bishopric (Palgrave, p. 334). “Strevellyne,” with several variations of spelling, is the usual form in contemporary records.

429 my fay feloune. See on 282.

455 thaim thai. “Thaim” refers to the Scots; “thai” to the English. Barbour is particularly careless in the use of this pronoun. In 458 “thai” is again the English, who were sometimes rather more (“erar may”) in proportion; in 460 “thaim” is the Scots.

466 in the Bibill. The deeds of the Jewish patriots, as recorded in the apocryphal Books of the Maccabees, were, of course, included in the Vulgate Bible of the Church. The rising of the Maccabees and their supporters against the over-rule of the Seleucids in the latter half of the second century B.C. was, for the medieval writers, the prime example of a national uprising against foreign dominance. (See also Bks. II. 330; XIV. 313.)

477 I spak of ayr. Here Barbour appears to refer to the Competitor, last mentioned in line 153, thereby confusing him with his grandson Robert the King. Much grave reproof has accordingly been wasted upon the poet. According to Maxwell, the poem “has been almost irretrievably discredited as a chronicle by a monstrous liberty which the author takes in rolling three personages” (Competitor, Robert “the elder,” and the King) “into one ideal hero” (Robert the Bruce, p. 6). Mr. Brown accuses Barbour of having “deliberately and consciously perpetrated the fabrication” of making his hero a trinity of these three (The Wallace and Bruce Restudied, p. 93). Barbour, it is to be observed, at worst only combines two, grandson and grandfather--he says nothing of the intermediate Robert; unless we force what is said in line 67 to this sense. One chronicler alone distinctly achieves the feat of making the three one person--Geoffrey Baker of Swinbroke (pp. 100-1)--but so far he has escaped censure, and no one rejects his work on that account. Surely in Barbour’s case it is but a striking case of his frequent carelessness of reference (see on 445). He started with King Robert, his subject, in line 25, and it is not too much to ask that “I spak of ayr” goes back to that point. This is a simpler way out than that inconsistently taken by Mr. Brown, who argues that, after all, the reading is probably wrong, and proposes to restore “the original” from Wyntoun’s lines, a paraphrase of Barbour (p. 95). Wyntoun was not deceived, nor was anyone likely to be. Barbour had nothing to gain by purposeless perversity, not even a literary point as has been suggested, for the “Romance” proper begins at line 445, and for it there is but one Robert.

478 swa forfayr. “Going to ruin.” Cf. Gest. Hystoriale, “Fele folk forfaren,” ready to perish (1438). Modern Scots in sense of “neglected,” as in Thom’s Mitherless Bairn; “sairly forfairn.”

485 Said till him. Gray gives a similar account of the alternative proposals here made, putting them, however, into the mouth of Robert Bruce, who, with him, takes the initiative, and stating that they were made upon the occasion of the meeting in the Greyfriars Church, where Comyn refused to listen to them. It must be remembered that Barbour admits the existence of various accounts. Gray supplies also the significant motive: “for now is the old age of the present English King” (qar ore est temps en veillesce de cesty roy Engles, p. 130). Bruce, in this account, speaks of the land being in servitude to the English by fault of Balliol, “who suffered his right and his freedom of the kingdom to be lost” (qe son droit et la fraunchise du realme ad lesse perdre, p. 129). The account in Fordun gives Bruce the initiative in making the offer on the ride from Stirling, and dates it 1304 (Gesta Annalia, cxiii.). See note on Bk. II. 35.

525-6 Dares ... and Dytis. These two represented to the medieval mind the more trustworthy authorities on the Siege of Troy; Homer, whom they knew only through the Latin classics, being obviously biassed in favour of the Greeks, a strong objection to historians who loved to attribute the beginnings of their nation to a colony of Trojan fugitives--e.g., Brutus, who founded Albion or Britain. Dares Phrygius, whose De Excidio Trojæ is merely a good-sized pamphlet, here comes first as the favourite. Figuring as a priest of Hephæstus, he gives the Trojan side. The point of the present reference is that he makes Troy fall by the treachery of Æneas and others, who admit the Greeks by night at the Scæan gate on the outside of which “was painted the head of a horse” (ed. London, 1825, p. 336); thus rationalizing the story of the wooden horse as he does Homer’s other remarkable incidents. The book is in Latin, and is late--not much earlier than the twelfth century. It professes, however, to have been translated from a Greek manuscript found at Athens by the translator, Cornelius Nepos! Dictys Cretensis, styled companion of Idomeneus, stands for the Greek side, giving, however, a more impartial account than Homer. His MS. (Ephemeris Belli Trojani) was found, it is alleged, in Gnossus, Crete, in one of the tin (lead) coffers, examples of which have been found in the recent explorations of the great palace. It was translated from the original Punic into Greek in the time of Nero and again translated into Latin. It is the older production of the two by a few centuries; both, of course, are fabrications. On them Benoit de Sainte-More based his Roman de Troie, which Guido delle Colonne turned into a Latin Historia Trojana and successfully passed off on the Middle Ages as his own work. Scotland came under the spell of Guido, and it is from him Barbour takes his information.

533 throw pusoune. The account of the medieval romances of Alexander. He really died in 323 B.C., of a combination of malarial fever and hard drinking--which was much too tame an end for his admirers.

542 fryst maid emperour. A usual medieval error, but Julius Cæsar did not become Emperor. Chaucer says the same thing (Monk’s Tale). Geoffrey of Monmouth speaks of “Julius Cæsar and the rest of the Roman kings”--a double error (Edit. Giles, 1844, p. 176). See below on 554.

549 Als Arthur. Arthur’s European conquests are enumerated in the contemporary, Morte Arthure, p. 2. The Eastern ones, such as “Surry” (Syria), follow the triumph over Rome.

554 Lucius Yber. “Sir Lucius Iberius, the Emperor of Rome,” is a leading figure in Morte Arthure. Wyntoun observes that his correct title was Procurator, as the Emperor proper was Leo, but excuses the earlier author for calling him Emperor on that ground that,

“Ane empyroure in propyrté (in especial) A comawndoure suld callyt be” (Bk. v., Chap. xii.):

i.e., Emperor is simple imperator. In fact, Geoffrey styles him “Lucius Respublicæ procurator” to begin, but in the account of his death, “Lucius imperator” (ed. cited, pp. 174, 198). In the Gest. Hystoriale, Agamemnon is “Emperor” of the Greeks. On conclusions from this passage, see Appendix F.i.c.

611 The endentur, the seile to se. Fordun, too, tells of “endentures” (indenturas) between the barons, and of Comyn’s disclosure to Edward, but gives a different account of Edward’s action and Bruce’s escape. Wyntoun adopts Barbour’s version in his own words, so that we may take it that, substantially, the story was the current explanation in Scotland. Gray, too, it must be remembered, drew upon a Scottish chronicle (see on 485 and Introd., ii.). It may just be that there was a confusion as to the origin of the indenture which caused the mischief. There actually was an indenture or bond between Bruce and Bishop Lamberton, drawn up, too, in 1304, the year to which Fordun attributes that between Bruce and Comyn. In this the parties bound themselves to act together, in matters affecting them, against all persons whatever, and provided that neither should attempt any “difficult business” without consulting the other, and that, in the case of any peril threatening, each should warn and shield the other to the utmost of his power. The implication is clear: a fresh rising was in contemplation, probably on the death of Edward I. (cf. Gray in note on 485). A copy of this document came into Edward’s hands--certainly not, however, through the agency of Comyn--and Lamberton was charged before witnesses at Newcastle on August 3, 1306. He was asked whether the seal was his (cf. line 612), and whether it had been affixed with his will and knowledge; to which he answered in the affirmative (Palgrave, 323-5). The story of this endenture may have got worked into what was known of Comyn’s refusal to co-operate with Bruce. The records give no hint of anything else of the kind in Edward’s possession, and the knowledge of it, had it existed, would not have been suppressed (see also note on Bk. II. 17).

625-6 into bourch, etc. I.e., Bruce pledges his lands as bail for his appearance. There is no record of such a Parliament, nor is any such procedure at all probable.

Book II

17 Thai raid. The account in Fordun is that one night, “when the wine was giving its colour in the cup” (cum merum splenderet in calice), Edward, on his way to bed, explained that on the morrow Bruce would lose his life. Thereupon the hint of his danger was conveyed to Bruce by the Earl of Gloucester (i.e., Randolph or Ralph de Monthermer), in the form of twelve silver pennies and a pair of spurs (Gesta Annalia, cxiv.). Gloucester was presently in the field against Bruce. Edward declared that up to the time of the rupture, Bruce had enjoyed his “full confidence” (Fœdera, ii., p. 988).

17 on the fyften day. Bower says the seventh day (Scotich, Lib. xii., Cap. vii.). But the news of Comyn’s murder on February 10 seems to have reached Edward (at Winchester) not long before the 23rd, probably only a day or so (Bain, ii., No. 1746), and this would be carried quickly.

18 Louchmaban. Bruce’s castle in Annandale.

32 Schyr Jhone the Cumyn. According to both Gray and Hemingburgh, Bruce first sent his two brothers, Thomas and Neil, to ask Comyn to meet him at Dumfries; Gray says that they might kill him on the way, which, to Bruce’s disquiet, they failed to do; Hemingburgh that he might discuss with Bruce certain matters affecting them both (Scala., p. 129; Chronicon, ii., p. 245). Sir John Comyn “the Red” was Balliol’s nephew, the son of his third sister (Scala., p. 121), and his wife was a sister of Aymer de Valence. He came to Dumfries from Dalswintion, not far away.

33 In the Freris, at the hye awter. Edward informed the Pope that Comyn was murdered “in the church of the Friars Minor (Franciscans) of Dumfries, near the high altar” (Palgrave, i., pp. 335, 346). The “high altar” is part of the setting in all the accounts. The date is February 10, 1306.

34 with lauchand cher. Hemingburgh says they embraced in the cloister (mutuo se receperunt in osculum, p. 245).

35 The endentur. According to Fordun, Bruce, on his way home, had met a messenger of Comyn carrying to Edward letters advising the imprisonment or death of Bruce. He had killed the messenger and taken the letters, and it was with these he now confronted Comyn (Gesta Annal., cxv.). Gray relates that Bruce now made Comyn the proposal described in note on Bk. I. 485, which Comyn refused to entertain, whereupon Bruce said: “I had other hopes of you from the promises of both you and your friends; you have betrayed me to the King by your letters, and, since you cannot live to accomplish my wish, take your reward” (pur quoi viaunt ne pusse eschever moun voloir, tu auras toun guerdon.--Scala., p. 130). Hemingburgh’s version is that Bruce accused Comyn of treason, in that he had denounced him to the King of England, and lowered his standing to his loss (p. 246). Edward’s account to the Pope is that Comyn would not assent to the treason which Bruce proposed--that is, to renew the war against him, and make himself, by force, King of Scotland (Palgrave, 335).

36 hym reft the lyff. The other accounts are more detailed, and agree in stating that Bruce merely wounded Comyn, and that his followers completed the work: “In the middle of the church, before the altar,” says Gray; “on the steps of the high altar, which was stained with his blood,” according to Hemingburgh (as cited).

37-38 Schyr Edmund Comyn ... And othir mony. Barbour is wrong in the name; it was Sir Robert Comyn, John’s uncle (Fordun, Lanercost, Gray, Hemingburgh, Palgrave, as cited). Sir Edmund fell at Bannockburn (Annal. London, p. 251). No other fatalities are mentioned. Hemingburgh adds that Bruce took the Castle and forced the English justices, then holding court, to surrender, but allowed them to depart in safety (p. 246).

40 that debat fell othir wayis. “That the quarrel came about otherwise.” Barbour was familiar with, at least, another version. Cf. previous notes.

67 drawyn and hangit. See note on Bk. IV. 322.

81 the byschop of Androws towne. On June 9 Lamberton writes to Aymer de Valence, Edward’s lieutenant in Scotland, that no blame attached to him in the matter of the death of John Comyn and his uncle, or for the beginning of this war (Palgrave, p. 322).

86 Thomas prophecy. Thomas of “Hersildoune” is Thomas of Ercildoune (now Earlston), or Thomas Rhymer whose alleged prophecies had a great vogue in Scotland for hundreds of years, especially at a national crisis. One such was current with the Jacobites of the Forty-Five. A MS. of the first quarter of the fourteenth century gives a long prediction by Thomas in answer to the question when the Scottish War should end (Thomas of Ercildoune, E.E.T.S., pp. xviii, xix). It contains the line, “When Bambourne (? Bannockburn) is donged wyth dede men.” Cf. Bk. XIII. 336-340.

92 befor the byschop schar. See note on Bk. I. 356.

96 the burdys down war laid. I.e., the boards which formed the table were removed from the trestles after dinner.

107 wald disherys. Bruce’s lands had been immediately confiscated and distributed to others (Bain, ii.; s.v. Earl of Carrick).

112 the Clyffurd. See note on Bk. I. 282.

118 Ferrand. Also the name of the horse of Emynedus, Alexander’s comrade, in the Alexander. “Ferrand” means “iron-grey,” as in Morte Arthure: “one ferant stedez” (2259, etc.). Like “Blanchard” (white) a common name for a horse.

148 Aryk stane. At the head of Annandale.

179 wes maid king. On the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 1306 (Lanercost, 203; Hemingburgh, 247; Scala., 130).

187 went out our the land. Malise, Earl of Strathearn, presented a memorial to the King of England, explaining how Bruce, after his coronation, had summoned him to give homage, how he had refused at first, but was apprehended, and submitted in order to save his life (Palgrave, pp. 319-21). According to Hemingburgh, it was after Comyn’s murder that Bruce went round Scotland (circuivit terram Scociae), seizing and fortifying castles, etc. (II., p. 246). There was scarcely time at that stage.

200-1 Schir Amer the Vallang. Sir Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, sent to put down Robert Bruce, etc., April 15, 1306 (Bain, ii., No. 1762). In Barbour’s spelling the “g” is soft. Valence had taken an active part in the Scots’ war since Falkirk, and figures, as before that date, in the Wallace. He was now about twenty-six years of age and practically a professional soldier.

204 in all hy. Valence was to enter Scotland at once; the Prince of Wales and then Edward himself were to follow. Edward, however, wished to hear of “some good exploit, if possible, before their arrival” (Bain, ii., No. 1773).

205 And byrn, and slay, and rais dragoun. Edward, writing to Valence on June 12, is “well pleased to hear he has burned Sir Simon Fraser’s lands in Selkirk Forest.” He is “to do the same to all enemies on his march,” “to burn, destroy, and waste their houses, lands, and goods” (Bain, ii., No. 1782). In later letters these commands are repeated for specific instances. On June 28 he is “referring to his orders to put to death all enemies and rebels already or hereafter taken” (No. 1790). The expression “rais dragoun” has been fully explained and illustrated by Mr. Neilson in the Scottish Antiquary, vol. xii., No. 48. His summary is as follows: “In the middle of the fourteenth century, and later, there was still prevalent the conception ... that the dragon banner was a token of hostility more deadly than the ordinary conditions of feudal and chivalric warfare countenanced. Its display in every example adduced was against subjects in revolt, however supposititious, as at Crecy, the claim of sovereignty might be” (p. 151). The origin and development of this association is the subject of Mr. Neilson’s article. Cf. also in Morte Arthure, “For thare es noghte bot dede thare the dragone es raissede!” (line 2057).

211 Philip the Mowbray. He is among those with Valence given by Gray (Scala., p. 130). See on Mowbray, Bk. XIII. 363.

212 Ingram the Umfravill. He had taken an active part in previous years on the national side. He is among the “Scotsmen and late rebels” who, on October 10, 1305, had their lands in Scotland and England restored on renewing their fealty to Edward (Bain, ii., No. 1696).

215 off Scotland the maist party. It is not clear what Barbour precisely means. But, according to Gray, Valence had with him several Scottish barons, friends of Comyn, opposed to Bruce (Scala., p. 130); and a fortnight before the battle Edward was requesting Valence “to inform the King’s foresters of Selkirk how they have loyally and painfully served the King, and done well” (Bain, ii., No. 1782). Fordun says that Valence had in Perth “a great power of both English and Scots” (Gesta Annalia, cxix).

235 Levynax. I.e., Lennox, otherwise Levenauch. Malcolm “Comte de Levenaux” is on Ragman Roll (Bain, ii., p. 209). He was the fifth in the line of Celtic Earls. Cf. on 482.

Atholl is John de Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl. He was among the first to join Bruce, and it was by his advice that the safe-conduct to Strathearn was broken and the Earl confined in Inchmacolm (see on 187). He was captured after Methven, and, as he was of royal blood, was spared torture, but was hanged “higher than the rest” (Hemingburgh, ii., p. 250): on a gallows thirty feet higher (Scala., p. 131). He was alleged to be the son of Edward’s aunt, but see Genealogist, N.S. xxii., p. 105.

236 Edward the Bruce. Robert’s brother.

237 Thomas Randell. Thomas Randolph, the King’s nephew, afterwards Earl of Moray. For his change of side, see on 463. Hew de le Hay is on Ragman Roll, apparently of Fife (Bain, ii., p. 204); brother of Gilbert de la Hay, afterwards Constable of Scotland and ancestor of the Earls of Errol.

238 David the Berclay. David de Berkele on Ragman Roll (Bain, ii., 209); of Cairns, in Fife (Hailes, ii., p. 2. Ed. 1797). Cf. on Bk. XIX. 19.

239 Fresale, Somerveile, and Inchmertyn. Fresale is “Alexander Fraser” (see line 407). Jamieson identifies him as “the brother of Simon Fraser, of Oliver Castle, in Tweeddale,” which is Hailes’s statement (Annals, vol. ii., p. 2), and Skeat follows, whence arises a serious confusion in Bk. VIII. 397. Sir Simon Fraser, “filius,” of Oliver, to distinguish him from his father (“pater”), and grandfather of the same name, the hero of the English defeat at Roslin in 1302, was captured and executed as a traitor in 1306. His brother was Thomas Fraser, and neither seems to have left any descendants (Lord Saltoun’s Frasers of Philorth, ii., p. 94). This Alexander Fraser was of the same stock, but was the elder son of Sir Andrew Fraser of Touch-Fraser, Stirlingshire, Sheriff of Stirling in 1293, and was afterwards Bruce’s Chamberlain of Scotland (ibid., p. 125). He was not “Sir” Alexander till after 1312 (ibid., i., pp. 49, 54). Bruce granted him “Tulch-fraser” afresh (Reg. Mag. Sig., p. 17, 86). He had a brother Simon, but a different Simon from the one Jamieson refers to (see note on Bk. VIII. 397). “Fresale,” Jamieson adds, “is still the vulgar pronunciation of the name in Lothian.” John de Somerville was second son of Sir Walter de Somerville of Linton and Carnwath (Memorie of the Somervills, i., 83, 86). Inchmertyn is David de Inchmartyn, who was, according to Hailes, the ancestor of the Earls of Findlater and Airlie, and of Lord Banff (Annals, vol. ii., p. 3, note. Ed. 1797). John de Somerville and David de Inchmartyn are among the fifteen Scots captured at Methven and sentenced to death at Carlisle on August 4, without being allowed to plead, under the charge of “feloniously and wickedly slaying some of the King’s liegemen” at that battle. They were all hanged (Bain, ii., No. 1811).

*243 Cristall of Setoun. See line 418 and note on Bk. IV. 16. He was married to Cristina Bruce, Robert’s sister (Bain, ii., No. 1910): twenty-eight years of age.

*244 Robert Boyd. Ancestor of the Viscounts of Kilmarnock (Robertson’s Index of Charters, p. 6, No. 46). He was captured at Kildrummy (Bain, ii., No. 1829), but must either have escaped or been released, as he appears again. See Bk. IV. 342; VIII. 415.

247 Sanct Johnstoun. Perth. The church was dedicated to St. John.

248 bad Schyr Amery isch to fycht. Hemingburgh writes that Bruce sent a message that the English should either come out to fight or surrender (ii., p. 248); Gray that Bruce offered battle to the Earl (of Pembroke), and remained before the town from the early morning till after noon (Scalacronica, p. 130). Noon would be dinner-time. Trivet briefly says that Bruce “invited” Valence to come out and fight (Annals, p. 409); similarly Rishanger (Chronica, p. 230).

252 Schir Ingram. According to Gray, Pembroke acted on the advice of his Scottish lords, and lay low (se teint tot coy, p. 130).

279 bot gyf thai faile. “If they do not fail on their part.”

301 on the morn cum. The English, “seeing they were fewer in number, cautiously replied that they would not come out then, because it was a feast day (Sunday, June 26), but would gladly fight with him on the morrow” (Hemingburgh, ii., p. 249. Cf. also Trivet’s Annals, p. 410; Rishanger, Chronica, p. 230).

305 went to the forray. The English had calculated that the Scots would be occupied in preparing food (Hemingburgh).

310 Ischyt in-forcely. At vespers (Hemingburgh: Trivet).

313 wes unarmyt then. Had put off his armour. Hemingburgh says they found the Scots carelessly resting (recumbentes secure: as cited); Trivet that they came on the Scots suddenly, and slew many unarmed (p. 410). Bruce and some others speedily armed themselves and resisted (ibid.).

319 on thair hors lap. According to Hemingburgh, the English attacked before all the Scots could mount. Gray says they formed up hastily, and all on horseback attacked the English (Scala., p. 131).

330 For multitud mais na victory. “For the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of an host” (I. Maccabees, Chap. iii., 19).

340-1 Cf. in Alexander:

“Quha for his Lord dois he sall be Harbreid with Angellis gle” (p. 21).

365 all the renk. Skeat has a note on this word explaining renk as “a rank of fighting men,” and citing “the plur. form renges” in Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale (Globe, Chaucer, A 2594). But while there is a form renk = rank, that is not the word or the sense here. The proper explanation comes from the Alexander, in such examples as:

“Ane renk about him hes he made, Quhair evir he straik nane him abade” (p. 145, 8-9).

and

“Ane renk about him hes he maid, He sparit nane that him abaid” (p. 231, 20-21);

while we have a similar use in the Morte Arthure:

“Ryde thrughte all the rowtte, rerewarde and other, Redy wayes to make, and rennkes full rowme.”

Another passage from the Alexander gives us the sense in the setting and phraseology of the passage on hand:

“The woundit gave cryis and granes, Trumpettis and hornes blew atanes, It seemit all the countre quok” (p. 412, 29-31).

Renk, then, has nothing to do with “rank,” but signifies “an open or clear space”; here “all the place about them quaked.” It is, in fact, our modern “rink,” and appears to be a form of “ring,” as in “prize-ring” (Skeat’s Etymol. Dict.). It has nothing to do with “range” in the sense of “rove,” as Mr. Amours thinks (Alliterative Poems, S.T.S.). H actually reads rinke.

415 hynt hys rengyhe. The account in Gray is that Bruce’s rein was seized by John de Haliburton, who let him go immediately when he saw who he was. The difficulty about recognition was due to the fact that Bruce showed no coat of arms, having on a white tunic (un chemys blank.--Scalacronica, p. 131). Hemingburgh says that all the mounted Scots, in their approach to Perth, had these white overalls (super omnia arma vestem lineam), so that they could not be identified (ii., p. 248).

438 corn-but. This reading for the obscure torn-but of E (t and c are often indistinguishable in MS.) and combat of H is due to Mr. George Neilson, basing on a passage in the Morte Arthure (Scottish Antiquary, July, 1902, p. 51). The “heathen king” is down with a mortal wound from Sir Cador, who exclaims:

“Thow has corne botte, sir kynge, there God gyfe the sorowe, Thow killyde my cosyn, my kare is the less” (1837-8).

Though the general meaning of “revenge,” “tit-for-tat,” is clear, no satisfactory analysis of the phrase has been offered. Skeat and Gollancz think that the first part of the term is French--corne, a horn “as the symbol of pride”--and that the compound signifies “a requital for pride, a taking down.” The passages will scarcely bear this. Moreover, bōt is admittedly old English--“remedy, atonement”--and one shies at a solitary compound in such a case. Mann-bōt was a fine paid to the lord of a murdered man; brycgbot was a levy for the repair of bridges; corn-gesc(e)ot was a contribution of corn. Corn-bot may thus have been a fine for the destruction of corn, and have taken on a general sense of requital or revenge. It does not seem to require the force of a specially intense revenge (auserlessene busse. Holshausen), but appears to have been a slang term, whence its rare occurrence in literature. It is not given in the New English Dic. (See further Scottish Antiquary. June, 1903, pp. 121-123; Notes and Queries, 9 Series, x. 61, 115, 253).

463 Thomas Randell. He was given in ward to Sir Adam de Gordon to be kept till the King’s arrival in Inverkip Castle (Bain, ii., No. 1807). Gray says he was released at the instance of Gordon, when he remained English till his recapture (Scala., p. 131).

467 sum thai hangyt. See on 235, 239.

471 will of wane. “Astray in thought (weening); distracted, at a loss. Will = modern English wild, astray, bewildered (Icel. villr). Cf. in the Gest. Hystoriale: “All wery I wex and wyll of my gate” = out of my way (line 2369).

479 the Boroundoun. This name has puzzled editors and given rise to a good deal of conjecture. But a Sir Walter de Borondone was constable of Carstairs Castle in 1305-1306 (Bain, ii., No. 1880), and he is the same person as Sir Walter de Bourghdon, constable there in 1301-1302 (ibid., No. 1290), of Roxburghshire (ibid., p. 199). He was an English officer.

482 The Erle of the Levenax wes away. Fordun, however, says that Lennox and De la Hay alone followed Bruce, and became “his inseparable companions (comites individui) in every tribulation” (Gesta Annal., cxxi.). Cf. Bk. III. 591.

491 Schir Nele Cambell. Ancestor of the Campbells of Lochow, or Loch Awe, and so of the Argyll family. He married Mary Bruce, the King’s sister, but not, it would seem, before 1312 (Scots Peerage, i., p. 323; but see on xvi. 119). The grant of “Lauchaw” was to their son Colin (Robertson’s Index, pp. 16, 18).

494 the Month. “The mountain which is called the Mound, which stretches from the western to the eastern sea” (De Situ Albaniae, MS. Paris; cited in Historians of Scotland, Innes’ Essay, p. 412). The modern Grampians.

513 Nele the Bruys ... and the Queyn. Neil or Nigel (Nigellus) Bruce was the King’s brother. His Queen was Bruce’s second wife, a daughter of Richard de Burgh Earl of Ulster.

514 othir ladyis. Fordun says all the ladies went with their husbands and the King, hiding in the woods, etc. (Gesta Annal., cxix.).

529 King Adrastus. One of “the Seven against Thebes,” and the only one who returned home in safety. Barbour follows neither the Greek sources nor the Thebaid of Statius, but one of the many French romances on the subject. See Appendix F.

534 Campaneus. Properly Capaneus, who was struck with lightning by Zeus, whom he had defied, while attempting to scale the walls of Thebes.

542 the tour. See note on Bk. XVII. 224.

Book III

1 The Lord of Lorne. Strictly this should be Alexander Macdougall of Argyll or of Lorn, but probably his son, John of Lorn, is meant, as on September 14 Edward writes to the Prince of Wales how “Sir John of Argyll has well served him and the Prince” (Bain, ii., No. 1830).

3 his emys sak. Alexander of Argyle, according to Wyntoun (Bk. viii., Chap, vi., 1171) had married an aunt of the murdered John Comyn, a daughter of Sir John Comyn “the Red” (!), of Badenoch, his grandfather. He was thus the “eym” or uncle of Comyn, not his nephew (Scots Peerage, i., 507).

15 thar fryst metyng. According to Fordun, this skirmish took place at Dalry (“the King’s field”), near Tyndrum, in the west of Perthshire, on August 11, 1306 (Gesta Ann., cxx.). Bruce was making his way westwards by Glen Dochart. There is the usual “King’s Cave” in Balquhidder (Jamieson).

62 ane sik aw. “In such awe.” For this form, cf. Alexander (78, 5), “he stude of thame lytill aw,” and Wallace (Bk. v. 929), “On thaim he raid, and stud bot litill aw.” This usage is a stage in the grammatical development of the modern phrase from the original type, “Awe of one stood men” (dat.), for which see N.E.D.

67 Marthokys sone. Jamieson suggests Marthok to be for Muratach (Muredach) = Murdoch; so “Marthokys sone” = MacVurich (MacMhuirich).

69 Fyn all. Here E gives hym all, which is clearly wrong. Skeat adopts Fyngall from H and A. Better, however, is the more ancient and correct form, Fyn, which the scribe has turned into hym, while the “all” is preserved to balance the “all” in the next line. Golmakmorn is Goll mac Morna, head of the Clann Morna, the rivals of the Fianna, and the reference is to the detachment of members of his band from Finn by Goll; Finn, indeed, perished in a conflict with rebel followers.

75 in Gadyrris the forrayours. The reference is to one of the later episodes in the Romance of Alexander, appearing in the Scottish Alexander as The Forray of Gadderis (La Fuerre de Gadres). Alexander, while besieging Tyre, sends out a body of men to forage in the “vale of Josaphas.” On their return with the cattle, they are set upon by a large army under Betys of “Gaderis,” one of whose followers was Gaudifer. Only the timely arrival of Alexander saved his men, and, on the flight of Betys, Gaudifer maintained the struggle till he was slain. Skeat says that Barbour could not have used the Scottish translation, dated 1438, but “must have seen it in an earlier form.” Lines 81, 82, however, correspond literally, with one exception, to the passage in the Alexander, and, according to Neilson, they have no place in the original French (John Barbour, p. 55):

“For to defend all the flearis And for to stony the chassaris” (p. 88, 20).

Coneus (line 85) is there Corneus (pp. 88, 89), and Danklyne, Danclyne or Danclene--in the French original Corneus and Dans Clins. Cf. Brown’s Wallace and Bruce, p. 101, where, however, Mr. Brown’s transcription of the names in the Alexander must be checked; and see further Appendix E. In the Wallace there is a similar reference to The Forray, Bk. x. 340-2.

101 “the Durwarth sonnys.” “The Durward or door-ward’s sons,” a translation of the Gaelic name Mac-na-dorsair, “son of the door-man.” Skeat has a long note, contributed by Dr. Murray, claiming that “no writer seems to have seen the point of this passage.” Reference is accordingly made to the trouble caused by Alan Durward in the reign of Alexander III., and the connection of Durward with Nicholas de Soulis, one of the Competitors (see also on Bk. XIX. 11). Whence it is inferred that these “men were the clansmen of Alan the Durward, who, like the Comyns of Badenoch, the Baliols, and others, were almost more dangerous to Bruce than the arms of England.” That can scarcely have been the case, since it must also be taken into account (1) that the Bruces were of the Durward party in the reign of Alexander III., and (2) that an Alan Durward was hanged with Nigel Bruce at Berwick, having, apparently, been captured at Kildrummy (Scala., p. 131).

153 a baroune Maknauchtan. The chief of the Macnaughtons (? Ferchar or Farquhar), whose father was of the time of Alexander III., an ancient clan having lands near Loch Awe (Cf. Coll. de Reb. Alb., p. 51). There is no “Duncan” (Jamieson following Nisbet, Heraldry) in the genealogy.

162 his owtrageous manheid. Cf. in Alexander, “outtragius hardement” (p. 184, 16). This use of “outrageous” = extreme or excessive, is common, if not peculiar, to the Alexander and the Bruce. Cf. in Bruce, vi. 126; viii. 270; ix. 101; xi. 32: Alexander, 235, 8; 258, 30; 335, 9.

172 “sa our Lord me se.” “May our Lord watch over me,” as in Chaucer’s Pardoner’s Tale, “Now, lordes, God yow see” (Group C, line 715).

208 Hanniball. The reference is to Hannibal’s crushing defeat of the Romans at Cannae, 216 B.C. Barbour takes his details in a rather huddled fashion from Martinus Polonus, a popular monkish historian of the thirteenth century (Chronicon de Gestis Romanorum, etc.), who again bases on Paulus Orosius, of the beginning of the fifth century. Wyntoun confessedly reproduces the chapters of Polonus at greater length and more accurately than Barbour, and on this fact, viewed in the light of the general relation of Wyntoun to Barbour, and certain peculiarities in the present case, Mr. Brown bases an argument that the Hannibal passage is “derived from the Cronykil” and “an interpolation” in the Bruce. On this see Appendix F, v. Mr. Brown gives in full the relevant portions of the text of Polonus and Orosius (Wallace and Bruce, pp. 120-7).

211 thre bollis, etc. “Tres modios aureorum anulorum Carthaginem misit, quos ex manibus interfectorum nobilium extraxerat” (Mart. Pol.).

216 Scipio the king. For the medieval usage in titles, cf. also note on Bk. I. 554. Polonus calls Scipio Tribunus militum; Barbour (and Wyntoun) translate milites, from the contemporary use of the word, as “knights”; whence “the Tribune of the knights” naturally suggests the title “King,” Wyntoun preferring “chyftane.” Cf. also what is said in the footnote. It may, however, be considered that in the Alexander we have “Gaudifer the yhing” (121, 20), and “Ideas the yhing” (161, 26).

221 knychtis. Really only “soldiers” (milites fecerunt).

231 Thai ischit. Barbour hurries over the interval of four years between the Battle of Cannae and Hannibal’s appearance before the walls of Rome, 212 B.C.

234 throw mycht of Goddis grace. Divina miseratio in Mart. Pol. and Orosius.

242 twys thar-eftir. No; only twice altogether. But Barbour is apparently summarizing from memory, though Mr. Brown repudiates the suggestion (p. 126).

281-2 That hym thocht, etc. From Lucan’s Pharsalia: Nil actum credens, si quid superesset agendum (ii. 657).

337 Kildromy. Kildrummy Castle, in Aberdeenshire, on the Don, a royal castle which Edward had ordered Bruce, in September, 1305, to place “in the keeping of one for whom he shall answer” (Bain, ii., No. 1691).

365 H has flatly misunderstood this line, and Skeat’s partial emendation therefrom introduces a use of the quhilk rare in Barbour (see on XVIII. 225). Moreover, as Koeppel further points out, the sense of the passage implies an antithesis such as E gives. The only difficulty is the redundant syllable yt, and for confort alone, cf. V. 210, XV. 371 (Englische Studien, x., p. 380, note).

373 to the wynter ner. Kildrummy fell before the middle of September, 1306, but August is scarcely “near” winter, even in Scotland.

390 hys werdis, etc. “Follow out his fate (werdis) to the end.”

392 Nele Cambel. See note on Bk. II. 491.

437 Ferambrace. The romance of Fierabras or Ferumbras (ferri brachium, “iron-arm” or “strong-arm”) was the most popular of the Charlemagne romances. It still circulates among the French peasantry. There are two versions of it in English of the fifteenth century, Syr Ferumbras (E.E.T.S.) and The Sowdone of Babylone (E.E.T.S.). The latter also has the peculiar form Lavyne from Laban for Balan, the Sowdone or Sultan and father of Fierabras. On these points see Appendix F, iii. Olyver (439) is Oliver, one of the “duk-peris” (440) or “twelve peers” (douze pairs) of Charlemagne, and Syr Ferumbras opens with the account of how he defeated Fierabras in single combat, which also begins the second division of the Sowdone. The French knights are, however, trapped by the Saracens and confined in the castle of Egrymor (441), or Aigremont, in Spain, but are released and joined by Floripas, the daughter of Balan, and make themselves masters of “the tower” (449). They are the twelve peers, though Barbour makes them “bot eleven” (444), probably with reference to the one who was slain in the defence. But they lack provisions, and news of their plight is carried to Charlemagne by Richard of Normandy (450). Charlemagne, who, supposing them slain, was on his way home to France, turned back with his army, seized the marble bridge over the river Flagot, which was warded by a giant, and captured the great tower of Mantrible on the other side (445). Thereafter Lavyne, or Balan, is defeated and captured, and, later, executed; the Christians recover from Floripas the sacred relics carried off by Fierabras from St. Peter’s, Rome. The “sper” (459) is the spear with which the side of the crucified Jesus was pierced by the Roman soldier; the crown is the crown of thorns; “the naylis” are the nails with which he was fixed to the cross. In the Complaynt of Scotlande (E.E.T.S., p. 63) is a reference to the Tail (tale) of the Brig of the Mantrible. Readers of Don Quixote will recall “the balsam of Fierabras,” which also figures in the romance. On Mr. Brown’s treatment of this passage, see Appendix F, iii.

493 will of red. “At a loss what to do”; red = “rede,” counsel, advice. See note on Bk. II. 471.

517 but anger. “Without trouble or sorrow.”

561 To tell of paynys, etc. An allusion to Virgil: Forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit (Æneid, i. 203).

578 mony frely fute. “Many a handsome child” is Skeat’s explanation, taking “fute = fode, one fed or nourished up.” But in the Morte Arthure, Gawain says to Mordred, who was no child, “Fals fosterde foode, the fende have thy bonys” (3376); and “frely” also occurs as in, “Thow arte frely and faire,” etc. (970); whence Barbour just means, “many a goodly or handsome person.”

584 the hyde leve on the tre. “They left the skin on the wood of the oars,” being unaccustomed to the rough work of rowing.

588 To furthyr thaim, etc. “To carry them on in their floating.”

658 our stycht. “Our fixed purpose or determination.” Cf. A.S. stihtan, to establish (Skeat). The Morte Arthure has the related verb, “styhtyll tha steryn men”--i.e., “place these stern men” (line 157): styhtlen, to dispose.

659 Angus of Ile. Angus Macdonald, known as Angus Oig (“the younger”). His elder brother, Alexander of Islay, or of the Isles, was in the English interest, and had married Juliana of Lorn, sister of John of Lorn. Their father, Angus Mor (“the big or elder”), had supported the Bruce party during his life, taking an active part with it in 1286. Angus also was English (Rot. Scot., i., 40, 41) till the appearance of Bruce. His lands were in Kintyre (see further Scots Peerage, i., 36, 37).

666 Donavardyne. The castle of Dunaverty, at the south end of Kintyre. It was being besieged, for some days at least, before September 22, by the English pursuing Bruce (Bain, ii., Nos. 1833, 1834), who believed that he was inside (Hemingburgh, ii. 249; Trivet, p. 410).

680 Rauchryne. Now Rathlinn, off the north coast of Ireland towards Kintyre. Dean Monro (1549) calls it Rachlinn, but Jamieson gives ten variations of the name from Archdall’s Monastic. Hibern., including Rachryne and Rochrinne, “from the multitude of trees with which it abounded in ancient times.” Surprise has been expressed that Bruce should have chosen for retreat an island four miles off the Irish coast, which was within the territory of the Bissets of Antrim, strong English partisans, and in which he could be trapped by a fleet. Not, however, till January 29-30, 1307, do we find a fleet in being, supplied by Hugh Bysset and John de Mentieth, which was to operate in “the Isles on the Scottish coast” “in putting down Robert de Brus and his accomplices lurking there, and destroying their retreat” (Bain, ii., p. xlix, Nos. 1888, 1889). Hemingburgh says (and Trivet, 410) that Bruce had gone “to the farthest isles of that region” (in extremas insulas, ii. 249). “Was lurking in remote island” is the account in Lanercost, p. 205.

688 strait off Marrok. The Strait of Gibraltar, so called also by Chaucer in the Man of Lawes Tale.

696 the mole. The “Mull” of Kintyre. Gaelic maoil = a promontory, a borrow of the Norse múli. It is “le Moel de Kintyr” in an indenture in Bain, ii., No. 1941.

745 loud and still. A romance phrase for “in all ways,” “under all circumstances.” Henryson has it in his Robene and Makyne, “I haif thee luvit loud and still.”

Book IV

10-12 off na degree ... Nothir of the kyrk, etc. The Lanercost writer notes that among those hanged at this time were not only “common folk and countrymen” (simplices laici et rurales), but also “knights, clerics, and prebendaries”--the latter in spite of their profession that they were “members of the church” (p. 204).

13 byschop Robert. Robert Wischard, or Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow since 1273. He had been, at one time, a Guardian of the Kingdom, and up to 1306 had taken the oath of fealty to Edward six times. He had taken a share in the rising of Wallace, had absolved Bruce for his murder of Comyn, and had furnished the robes for his coronation, further stirring up the people by declaring that to fight against Edward was as meritorious as to go on a Crusade. Edward sent to the Pope a long list of charges on these lines (Palgrave, pp. 340-350). He was captured, “as a man of war,” in the castle of Cupar, Fife, shortly before June 18 (Bain, ii., No. 1780; Palgrave, p. 349); at which Edward was “almost as much pleased as if it had been the Earl of Carrick” (Bain, ii., 1786). He was kept a prisoner till after Bannockburn (see note on Bks. I. 354, XIII. 687; and Scot. Hist. Rev., vol. v., pp. 86-88).

14 Marcus of Man. Mark, Bishop of Sodor (i.e., of the “Sudereys,” the “South Isles,” or Hebrides, or of Man and the Isles), had been imprisoned with Wishart in 1299. He had taken a prominent part in Scottish affairs on the national side, and had been one of the “auditors” in the case of the Competitors (Palgrave, p. 53). Apparently, however, he had died some years before, in 1303, so that Barbour is post-dating his imprisonment (Keith’s Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, ed. 1824, p. 301).

16 Crystoll of Seytoun. See note on Bk. II. *243. Hemingburgh says he was captured in “the castle of Lochdor,” for which we should probably read “Lochdon,” which fixes the reading in the text (Hem., ii. 250). Lochdon or Loch Doon, source of the river Doon, in Ayrshire, had a castle of which Sir Gilbert de Carrick, ancestor of the Earls of Cassilis, was hereditary keeper. Its traitorous surrender was the subject of a remission “of all rancour of mind conceived” on this account by King Robert to Sir Gilbert (Reg. Mag. Sig., i., p. 115, 8). The castle was being besieged on August 10 by Sir Henry de Percy, and had fallen before October (Bain, ii., Nos. 1819, 1841). Jamieson had identified his “London” with Lochdon, and has a long note on the matter.

19 Maknab. In the remission above referred to, the castle is said to have been surrendered “into the hands of the English” by Sir Gilbert’s son-in-law, when Seton was given up.

29 in Ingland. In this Barbour seems to be wrong. Hemingburgh says Edward ordered him to be taken to Dumfries, and there to be drawn, hanged, and beheaded (ii. 251). Gray, too, says he was executed at Dumfries, but erroneously adds that he had been captured at Kildrummy (Scala., p. 131). He was “the late” Christopher de Seton on October 4 (Bain, ii., No. 1841). Hemingburgh and Gray both explain that Seton was an Englishman, and had killed a knight at Dumfries. Bruce founded and endowed a chapel to his memory near that town (Robertson’s Index, p. 13, No. 89).

36 Schyr Ranald Crauford. Sir Ranald, or Reginald, Crauford, Edward’s Sheriff of Ayr in 1296 (Bain, ii., No. 853). Under March, 1307, there is a list of rewards by Edward to Dougal Macdowall and others of Galloway for the capture of “Sir Ranald de Crauford and other enemies” (Bain, ii., No. 1915), these being Robert’s brothers Alexander and Thomas, and their friends, who made a descent on Galloway, with the result stated above, February 17, 1307 (Lanerc., p. 205; Bain iv. p. 489).

37 Schyr Bruce the Blair. As Jamieson points out in his note, the reading “Bruce” (S) should more properly be Bryce or Brice. Sir Bryce was an ancestor of the Blairs of Blair, in Ayrshire. In the Wallace it is “Schyr Bryss the Blayr” (Bk. vii. 209). Conversely Brys for Bruce (IV. 61, etc.).

38 a berne in Ar. The Bruce being undoubtedly one of the sources of the Wallace this is--in part, at least--the origin of the famous outrage of “The Barns of Ayr,” there told in Bk. VII. as before the Battle of Stirling Bridge, 1297. Crawford and Blair are expressly named among the sufferers on that occasion. Crawford is claimed as Wallace’s uncle (Bk. i. 25-27).

39 dame Marjory. Bruce’s daughter by his first wife, Isabel, daughter of Donald Earl of Mar. She afterwards married Walter, the High Steward (see Bk. XIII. 689).

47 the gyrth of Tayne. The enclosure or “sanctuary” attached to the chapel of St. Duthac, at Tain, Ross-shire, a favourite place of pilgrimage with the Scottish kings, especially James IV. There was, however, no privilege of sanctuary for treason. William Earl of Ross was in the English interest, and on May 20, 1308, is the recipient of thanks from Edward II. “for faithful service to his father and himself” (Bain, iii., No. 43). Hemingburgh says “the new Queen” was taken in Kildrummy (ii. 249); Gray that Cristina Bruce was captured there, and the Queen and Nigel Bruce in Dunaverty (Scala., p. 131); Trivet agrees with the second statement, but obviously confuses (p. 410); according to Fordun the Queen was taken at Tain, and many ladies at “Kyndrumy” (Gesta Ann., cxx.).

49 thai of Ros. Fordun says the Queen was seized at St. Duthac’s by the Earl of Ross (Gesta Ann., cxx.).

55 put the ladyis in presoune. On November 7, 1306, there are “further orders for the custody of the Countesses of Carrick (the Queen) and Buchan, Marie, and Christine, the sisters, and Margerie the daughter, of Robert de Bruce ... three of the ladies to be in ‘kages.’” (Bain, ii., No. 1851). The Countess of Buchan, who had crowned Bruce, was to be placed in a cage of wooden bars and lattice in one of the turrets of Berwick Castle (Palgrave, p. 358; Scala., p. 131); Marie Bruce in a “kage” in Roxburgh (Palgrave, 359); Marjory in a “kage” in the Tower of London (359); Cristina in ward in England (ibid.). The Queen was to be in custody at “Brustewik” (p. 357); was removed thence by an order of June 22, 1308 (Bain, iii., No. 48). Marjory was in ward at Wattone in March, 1307 (Bain, ii., 1910). By 1311-1312 Maria de Brus is a prisoner in Newcastle (Bain, iii., 227, 340).

57-65 The Cambridge MS. begins at line 57. Lines 59-66 do not read satisfactorily in either MS., and the text is a composition from both with a view to clearness.

80 And set a sege. The Prince of Wales was in command at Kildrummy when it fell, shortly before September 13 (Bain, ii., No. 1829). Gray says the castle was invested by Thomas Earl of Lancaster and Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford (Scala., p. 131).

83 He bad distroy. Cf. note on Bk. II. 205.

96 bargane at the barras. “Barras” or “barrace” is a “barrier” or outwork before a fortress, usually of wood. Cf. Wallace:

“Off hewyn temyr in haist he gert thaim tak Syllys off ayk, and a stark barres mak” (Bk. x. 829-30).

115 the mekill hall. One form of the tradition is that the corn or forage was stored in the chapel of the castle and there set on fire (O.S.A., xviii. 417); another, that on the east side is the “Black Lardner,” so called because it was burnt in the siege (Macfarlane’s Geog. Coll., i., p. 29). Fordun says simply that the castle was lost by treachery (Gesta Annalia, cxx.).

134 wes battalit all, etc.--i.e., had battlements on the inside of the wall, as well as on the outside. The former case was unusual, but fortunate here because the besieged could thus shelter themselves from the fire within.

181 Snawdoune. Kildrummy is said to have had seven towers, of which one on the west side still stands, with the name of the “Snow Tower” (Geog. Coll., i., p. 28). There was a “Snowdoun” also at Stirling, and Sir David Lindsay, in the Complaynt of the Papingo, addresses Stirling Castle as “fair Snowdoun.” Nisbet speaks of a Snowdoun Castle in the county of Ross as an ancient residence of the Scottish kings (Heraldry, ii. 166). The name is, undoubtedly, old, and in its present form probably a corrupt assimilation to more familiar syllables.

189 in-to Northumberland. Edward was certainly in Northumberland in the autumn of 1306, being at Newcastle on August 8 (Bain, ii., No. 1816), at Newburgh, in Tynedale, August 28 (Fœdera, ii., p. 1018). He was delayed in Northumberland by sickness but passed the winter of 1306-1307 at Lanercost, near Carlisle, to which, on “account of old age and weakness,” he came by easy stages in a horse-litter, arriving on September 29, and staying till Easter of the following year, March 26, 1307 (Chron. de Lanercost, p. 205). Barbour thus antedates his death, which took place at Burgh-on-Sand, “three (about five) miles north of Carlisle,” on July 7, 1307 (ibid., 207; Hem., ii., p. 266).

211 In Burch I wist weill, etc. This is a familiar type of story, the “dowbill undirstanding,” told of several historic personages: of Henry IV., to whom it had been prophesied that he should die in Jerusalem, and who died in the “Jerusalem chamber,” Westminster (Shakespeare’s 2 Henry IV., Act IV., Scene 5); of Cardinal Wolsey, and others.

220 Ane spirit. Archbishop Sharpe was reported to have a “familiar spirit,” which he carried in a snuff-box in the form of a bee!

241 Erle Ferrandis moder. Ferrand was an historical personage, a Prince of Portugal, who, by marriage, became Earl of Flanders. The story of the oracle which can be read in two ways, is also one of which there are many examples from that of the utterance of the Delphic oracle to Crœsus, as told by Herodotus. Ferrand is in the Morte Arthure:

“One sir Feraunt before, upon a fayre stede, Was fosterde in Famacoste, the fend was his fadyre”

(2760-61).

Famacoste is Famagosta, in Cyprus.

249 Bosbek or Busbecq was in Flanders, west of Courtrai.

253 in Inglis. Barbour calls his own language English, as the Scots poets do down till the fifteenth century (see on Language, Appendix G).

256 Mynerff. Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, etc. For the early and mediæval Christians, the ancient deities were demons.

282 in the fechting. Ferrand and the Emperor Otho IV. were defeated at Bouvines, between Lille and Tournai, July 27, 1214.

322 “hangis and drawis.” It was Edward I. who regularized the horrible form of punishment allotted to traitors, several examples of which have already been noted. The victim was first drawn by horses on a rough cart through the principal streets, as Fraser was through the streets of London, then hanged, next taken down before he was dead and decapitated. The head was then stuck up on a public place, if the victim was sufficiently notorious, and the limbs might be similarly exposed, as was done with Wallace. Fraser’s heart and entrails were burned, and his body was again hung up till about three weeks afterwards, when it and the gallows were burned together. For Fraser’s case, see Ann. Paul, pp. 148, 149. For the grammatical forms, see Appendix H.

336 To King Robert. The narrative now goes back to the closing months of 1306.

338 till the wyntir neir wes gane. Too long a period. On February 1, 1307, Edward is ordering out ships to hunt for Bruce “towards Ayr” (Bain, ii., 1893).

367 In-to Kintyre. Hemingburgh has it that about September 29, 1306, Bruce came back from the islands and waited in Kintyre, and sent some men over to Carrick, who lifted his rents for Martinmas. Trivet has an account which is simply a careless abridgment of Hemingburgh (Hemingburgh, ii. 251; Trivet, 410). Nothing is said of Arran, but these writers are not strong in geography. Hemingburgh says Bruce had a force of “Irish” (Hibernicis) and Scots (ibid.). “Irish” suggests Rathlin, or they may be west-islanders.

384 Schir John the Hastyngis. Sir John de Hastings had been the most important of the Competitors, next to Balliol and Bruce, being the grandson of the youngest daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon. On May 22, 1306, he received from Edward a grant “of the Earldom of Mentethe in Scotland, with the Isles” (Bain, ii., No. 1771). In July or August, 1307, he is one of the garrison of Ayr Castle (ibid., 1901).

388 Brathwik. Brodick.

421 neid to fourty. In line 405 he says the English were in all “thretty and ma”!

464 The King arivit. On the west side of the island, opposite Campbelltown, is the King’s Cove, where, as tradition says, “King Robert de Bruce and his retinue lodged ... for some time when taking shelter in retired places” (Old. Stat. Acct., vol. ix., p. 167).

466 in a toune. Not “in a town” in the modern sense, but in the Scots meaning of any group of houses or buildings--e.g., a farm “toun.”

556 Turnberys snuke. Turnberry Point, on the coast of Ayrshire, the site of the castle of the Earls of Carrick. The castle was in possession of Henry Percy, to whom Edward had granted Bruce’s Earldom, as is stated in lines 599-600 (Hem., ii. 251). The point at Berwick was known as “le Snoke” (Hist. Docts., ii. p. 160). S reads “nuk” from C.

682-3 Jeromy = Jeremiah. Ysay = Isaiah.

720-1 “The constellation that gives to them kindly manners”--i.e., natural dispositions. Cf. “kyndly” = naturally, in line 735. For “manners” = character, cf. Chaucer. The Dethe of Blaunche:

“She used gladly to do wel, These were hir maners everydel” (1012-13).

747 Nigramansy. “Necromancy,” or the art of revealing the future through communication with the dead (Gr. nekros, a dead body); appearing in mediæval Latin as nigromanteia; O.F., nygromancie, the first part of the compound being confused and identified with Latin niger, black--whence “the black art.”

753 the Phitones. The Pithoness or Pythoness, which usually appears in the M.E. writers as in the text. Cf. Chaucer’s Hous of Fame, iii. 171: “And phitonesses, charmeresses,” etc. Pythia was the oracle-giving priestess of Apollo at Delphi; hence a woman who prophesies or divines. The name was given, as in the reference here, to the witch of Endor (1 Chron. x. 13), as in Bacon, Prophecies, etc., “Said the Pythonissa to Saul,” etc.

Book V

1 in vere. “In spring”--February, 1307 (see note on Bk. IV. 338.) The description here is really of the “Poets’ May.”

23 na nedill had na stane; i.e., neither an actual needle magnetized, nor a piece of magnetic iron, loadstone, to serve as a compass.

24 in-till ane. “In a straight course,” guiding themselves by the fire.

90 till the toune. Cf. note on III. 556. Hemingburgh’s account is that Bruce, coming on him suddenly, attacked Percy by night and slew a few of his company (ii. 251). Cf. 95, etc. Fordun says Bruce captured and destroyed one of his own castles, slew the garrison, and divided arms and other spoils among his men (Gesta Annalia, cxxi.). This is not Barbour’s version, which is the right one. Cf. on 107, 118.

104 Makdowall. Probably, as Jamieson suggests, the Dougall Macdowall who, about this time, defeated and captured Bruce’s brothers in Galloway. See on Bk. IV. 36.

107 In the castell. See above on 90. According to Hemingburgh, “Bruce besieged Percy in the castell till the siege was raised by an English army” (ii. 251). There were desertions, February 18, among troops called out to deal with Bruce (Parliam. Writs, i., p. 379).

118 All haill the reif. Bruce had captured their steeds and silver plate (Hemingburgh, as cited); steeds and much other spoil (Trivet’s Annals, p. 410).

133 a lady of that cuntre. Fordun says that Bruce was assisted in returning to Carrick by Christian “of the Isles,” who “had a kindness for him” (Gesta Annalia, cxxi.), but the lady here would seem to be of Carrick, and a relative. Cf. on Bk. IV. 367. Fordun is probably right as to the name, and Barbour as to the location, for “Cristiane de Carric” had, afterwards, a pension of forty shillings “at the King’s (Robert’s) pleasure” (Excheq. Rolls, i., p. 114).

151 the Erle Adell. See on Bk. II. 235.

153 till his party war heldand. There were others who were no longer “inclining” to his party; Allan, “late Earl of Menteith,” Sirs Patrick de Graham, Hugh Lovel, William de Moray of Sandford, Walter de Moray, and other adherents, had “come to the King’s (Edward’s) peace to be in law” in November of the previous year; and Thomas Randolph, too, had gone over (cf. Bk. II. 463 note).

156 Cristole of Setoun. See note on Bk. IV. 16.

174 Bot quhar worschip; i.e., in fair fight on the field of battle.

192 Bot lay lurkand. On February 6 there is a letter from Edward to the Bishop of Chester, his Treasurer, expressing “great wonder at hearing no news of Sir Aymer de Valence and his forces since he went to Ayr,” and requesting him to order Valence, Percy, Sir John de St. John and others to send particulars of what they are doing and of the state of affairs. He states also that “he hears they have done so badly that they do not wish him to know” (Bain, ii., No. 1895). On February 11 there are letters to the same effect, sent direct to Valence, the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, St. John, and Percy (ibid., 1896).

203 Schir Gauter the Lile. Sir Walter de Lisle.

205 schavalduris. Skeat explains this as “wanderers,” and says “the right form seems to be shaveldour, a vagrant” (Glossary). Jamieson takes it to mean “wanderers in the woods, subsisting by hunting.” There were bands of “schavaldurs” on the Border, who robbed and plundered (Bain, iii., No. 675); but John de Harcla had “schavaldurs” in his employment (ibid., p. 128). Clerk “Helias” was a schavaldus nobilis (Stevenson, p. 2; Bk. XVI. 441 note). The exact force of the word is not yet clear. Probably they were what later times knew as “broken men.”

231 the Clyffurd. Cf. note on Bk. I. 282. Ancestor of the Cliffords, Earls of Cumberland.

256 Toward Douglas. In the valley of the Douglas (Gael: dubh glas, black water), a tributary of the Clyde, in Upper Lanarkshire. In Bain’s Calendar is a petition from one of the garrison in Douglas Castle, “when Sir Robert de Brus and Sir James de Douglas attacked it, the year when the late King (Edward I.) died” (iii., No. 682).

296 manrent. “Homage”; Scots form of “manred” (A.S. mannraéden, homage, allegiance). “Bonds of manrent” are a familiar form of association with some great noble in later Scottish history.

307 Palme Sonday. March 19, 1307.

317 mantill. For long a mantle or cloak was the upper garment of the Scots, rich and poor.

336 Sanct Brydis. The church of Douglas was dedicated to St. Bridget, or Bride, a Celtic Saint.

388 With burdys set. On trestles, as the dinner-table. Cf. note on Bk. II. 96.

403 “Knocked out the heads of the wine barrels.”

410 the Dowglas Lardenere. “The Douglas Larder,” a North English and Scottish form of A.F. lardiner: here with the double meaning of a store of food and a slaughter. For the latter, cf. “The knyghtes of the round table made soche lardare through the field” (Merlin, cited N.E.D.). In the Alexander it is said of the slaughter accomplished by Porrus:

“Of handis and heidis baith braune and blude He maid ane lardnare quhare he stood” (p. 233, 5).

Dr. Neilson says, “there is nothing corresponding in the French,” and claims that the lines in the Bruce are the source of the “lurid and telling phrase” (John Barbour, p. 56). But this does not follow, as the word occurs in this sense elsewhere (see N.E.D.), and the simple sense of “slaughter” in the Alexander is not quite parallel to the full significance of the word in the Bruce, where the “meile, malt, blude and wyne” fill out the suggestiveness of its use. According to Hume of Godscroft, the Douglas historian, the “wyne-sellar” of line 399 is identified with a cellar “called yet the Douglas Lairder” (History of the House of Douglas, p. 28, ed. 1644).

460 The thrill-wallis. May be “John de Thirlewal, vallet of Sir Adam de Swynburne,” who, “with a barbed horse,” was one of a company hunting Bruce in Glentrool, April, 1307 (Bain, ii., p. 572).

483 Schyr Ingrame Bell. Evidently a misreading of “Ingrame Umphrevell,” as is clear from Bk. VI. 3; not the other way, as Skeat puts it. There was no such person as “Bell.” Umfraville was holding Cumnock Castle on May 18 (Bain, ii., 1931). Later in the year he is at Ayr, July or August, sent there by Valence (ibid., No. 1961).

575 about his hals. Hung from his neck. A two-handed sword too long to be supported by a waist-belt.

642 toym. “Leisure.” Modern Scots toom = empty; not time. The distinction is clearly marked in the Gest. Hystoriale: “But this tyme is so tore (inconvenient), and we no tome have” (644).

Book VI

3 the Umphrevell. See Bk. V. 483, 513, etc.

69 Gilbert de la Hay. See note on Bk. II. 237.

120 “Since he was provided with armour.”

121 thurt. “Needed.” The word occurs once in Morte Arthure, in the present impersonal: “Hym thare be ferde (afraid) for no faces” (403). Cf. also Bk. VIII. 257.

128 For litill strynth of erd. “On account of a slight natural defence in the character of the ground.”

149 fiff-sum. “Five together.” The compound is still familiar in Scotland--e.g., a “three-some reel,” a “four-some” in golf. Cf. “sex-sum” in line 231.

179 The story is from the Thebaid of Statius through some intermediate source which cannot now be identified. See Appendix F, § iv.

195-6 “First the one should reign a year, then the other for a year from the expiry of the previous term,” and so on.

201 his constabill. Defined in the Alexander:

“That of the duke’s hoist all hale, Was constabill and chief ledere” (73; 14, 15).

252 the gret anciente. “Through its great antiquity.”

314 “Then they praised greatly God the all-mighty.” The comparative fastar is in Bk. XIII. 129.

316 Thaim byrd. “It behoved or was necessary for them.” (O.E. byrian, impersonal verb). Cf. “Sa byrd al Galouya hyme honoure” (Lives of the Saints, Ninian, 932): “Me byrd be blyth” in same (Martha, 152). Frequent in the Alexander. Cf. on Bk. I. 381.

336 Worschip extremyteis has twa. Valour as a mean between two extremes is an Aristotelian notion (cf. line 347).

339 “And they are both to be avoided.”

341 “Things which should be left alone as well as those which should be done” (cf. lines 348-9).

463 In Cumnok. A town and parish in Kyle, Ayrshire.

481 Johne of Lorn. See note on Bk. III. 1.

483 aucht hundreth men and ma. On July 19, 1307, there is a command from Aymer de Valence, the King’s lieutenant, for aid to John of Lorn “guarding the town of Ayr and parts adjacent.” Lorn had 22 men-at-arms and 800 foot, so that Barbour’s statement is remarkably accurate, while his details enable us to fix the date of the events (Bain ii., No. 1957).

484 A sleuthhund. Jean le Bel has a reference to some such occurrence as this, though he credits it to Edward I., and distorts the course of events. He explains that one time Edward had Robert Bruce chased through great forests for the space of three or four days, “by dogs and sleuth-hounds” (par chiens et limiers), and gives as his authority not only popular report (ce dit on), but also “an account composed by the said King Robert” (et le treuve on en hystoire faitte par le dit roy Robert. Chronique i., chap. xxii.). Sleuth-hounds were common for police purposes: “That thar sal nane lat (obstruct) a sluthe hund passand or the men that are cumand with hym for to follow theyffis or to tak mysdvaris,” etc. (1289) (Acta Parl. Scot., I. 108). See on VII. 17.

487 a strecour. A fast runner, a dog for the chase; from the verb streke, to go rapidly (Skeat).

503 his emys sak. See note on Bk. III. 3.

507 Schir Amery. Valence is at Glenken, Kirkcudbrightshire, on July 24, and at Doon-side on July 31, 1307 (Bain ii., Nos. 1958, 1959).

510 Thomas Randale. Thomas Randolph, on the English side. See note on Bk. II. 463.

558 “He would pay no attention to the others.”

650 Out of dawis doyn. “Done out of days”--i.e., killed.

657 yhow ane. “Yourself alone”--a rather awkward expression, but the reading in H supports E.

665-6 “As they did not fear me, I could do them much more harm.”

Book VII

2 will of wayn. “Wild of weening” or thought--i.e., quite at a loss. See on II. 471.

10 yhe. Ye from an inferior to a superior; you on the part of the latter, as in line 15.

17 I haf herd, etc. In a note to the Wallace, Bk. v. 25, Jamieson cites from “Bellenden, after Boece,” a long passage on bloodhounds, in which this occurs: “And thocht the thevis oftymes cors the wattir, quhair thai pas, to caus the hound to tyne the sent of thaym and the guddis, yit he serchis heir and thair with sic deligence, that be his fut he fyndis baith the trace of the theiff and the guddis” (Description of Albion, chap. xi.). See on VI. 484.

48 “And he is a good distance off by this time.”

90 price and loving. “Honour and praise.” Cf. 99, 294.

103 war bodyn all evynly. “Were armed equally well,” equipped for fighting.

132 bryng hym than of daw. “Bring him then out of day”--i.e., kill him. Cf. on Bk. VI. 650.

163 housis. MSS. give “hous” with flourished “s,” here expanded to “is.” See Preface 3.

177 slep. “To sleep,” infinitive, not a substantive.

188 as foul on twist. “Like a bird on a bough.”

*302 to-waverand. “To-wavering”--i.e., distracted, uncertain. Waverand occurs in line 112 above, and in the Wallace in “waverand wynd” (Bk. iv. 340). “To” is intensive = German zer. In Morte Arthure we have “to-stonayede” = astounded (1436) and “to-briste” = burst asunder (3982). Skeat gives for the text, “wandering uncertainly in different directions,” but “her and thar” follows.

330 nakyt. “Without armour,” as always in the poem.

423 for Jhon Cumyng’s sak. That this feeling did operate in certain quarters we gather, further, from a story told in the Scalacronica, citing “the chronicles of his (Bruce’s) actions,” in which two men ferry Bruce, whom they did not know, over a passage between two islands. They ask about Bruce, and express a wish that they had him in their hands, that they might kill him. Bruce inquired why, and the answer is, “Because he murdered John Comyn, our lord.” This incident is placed after Loudon Hill, and the precise locality is not mentioned. Bruce discloses his identity in parting from them (Scala., pp. 132-3).

455 top our teill. “Top over tail,” head over heels. The phrase occurs in the Alexander (72, 8).

468 till him dreuch. “Drew the man towards him.”

494 Glentruell. Glen Trool and Loch Trool are in the west of Kirkcudbright. See below on 622.

497 the deir war in sesoun. June or July, and so after Loudon Hill in Bk. VIII.

561 the Clyffurd. Sir Robert Clifford. See note on 622 and on Bk. I. 282.

588 his baneour. “His banner-bearer,” as in Morte Arthure, “He byddys his baneoure, Buske yow,” etc. (3732).

622 Vaus. “Vaux” = de vallibus, like Clifford, a Cumberland family. Sir John de Vaus is on service under Valence against Bruce in June, 1307 (Bain, ii., No. 1938). We have a set of memoranda relative to expeditions against Bruce in Galloway, dated February 12 to May 3, 1307, for wages to horse, foot, and archers under different commanders, “in the valley of Nith,” “beyond the water of Cree,” “Glentruil, riding in search of Robert de Brus,” “on the raid to Glentruyl, against said Sir Robert,” “in Carrick and Glentruyl”; and among the leaders is Sir Robert de Clifford (Bain, ii., No. 1923).

623 raucht him a colè. “Reached him a blow.” Skeat explains colè as from O.F. colee, from col (cou), the neck. Cf. accolade, a blow with the flat of a sword in dubbing a knight.

624 “Both drew up their men in sides,” for a fight.

632 than he com of toune. “Than when he set out,” a general phrase.

Book VIII

9 Kyle. The central division of Ayrshire, between Carrick to the south and Cunningham (13) in the north.

14 He gert helde. “He made to submit” (O.E., hieldan, to incline; Anglian haeldan). Cursor Mundi, “All folk to Rome suld heild” (22,235, N.E.D.).

15 Bothweill. Bothwell Castle, on the Clyde. It had seen a good deal of fighting in the earlier war. In August, 1301, the castle and barony, which had belonged to William de Moray, were presented to Aymer de Valence and his heirs (Bain, ii., No. 1214). See also note on Bk. xiii. 409.

21 Philip the Mowbray. More probably Sir John de Mowbray serving in Ayr for Valence, with others, in June to August, 1307 (Bain, ii., Nos. 1938, 1961).

28 Makyrnokis way. Godscroft gives the name in the form Machanacks; but David Macpherson, supporting the spelling in the text, says it is “a narrow pass on the bank of Makyrnok wattyr,” which he located near Kilmarnock (Geog. Illust., s.v.).

34 Edry-furd. The meaning of this name appears to be given in the line below, “betwix marras twa,” in which case Edry is for Gaelic Eadar, “between,” as in other ancient names--e.g., Eddirdail for the Black Isle, being Eadar-da-dhail, “between two dales.” “Furd,” of course, is English, and we may conjecture that the place was first known as “the ford,” with a Gaelic name beginning with Eadar, and signifying “between the marshes”; then that the unwieldy title was telescoped, the latter part of the Gaelic compound dropping out, and reduced to the hybrid “Eadar-ford,” finally to the form given.

95 Kilwynnyn. Kilwinning is west of Kilmarnock, near Ardrossan. At Ardrossan they turned north by the coast road and passed Largs on to Inverkip, where are still the remains of the castle. In 1301 Edward I., after capturing Bothwell Castle, went on to besiege that of Inverkip, and in July, 1306, after Methven, Thomas Randolph was imprisoned there (Bain, ii., Nos. 1224, 1807).

123 Gawlistoun. Galston is a little east of Kilmarnock. Beyond it rises Loudon Hill.

133 the tend day of May. May 10. The memoranda cited in note to Bk. VII. 622, relating to the pursuit of Bruce in Galloway, extend to May 3. The battle of Loudon Hill was fought before May 15. See note on 362.

164 The hye-gat. “The high-road” to Ayr, as we learn also from the Wallace, Bk. iii. That hero, with his men, there lay in wait for “Persey’s caryage,” which was being convoyed up Avondale (78) to Ayr (63). The waggons of supplies “took Loudon Hill” (116), on which Wallace had prepared a position (100). Loudon Hill itself is a bold, outstanding eminence commanding the valley of the Avon. The road must have crossed the lower slope (line 165).

172 thre dykis. On each side of the road, but a bowshot (150 to 200 yards) away (169), was a moss, impassable for horsemen. Further to narrow the hard ground (170), Bruce dug inwards from “the mosses” three ditches up to the road (173), each a bowshot behind the other (175). In the ditches he left gaps (“stoppis”) for the road (179), wide enough for 500 men to ride abreast (? 650 to 700 yards). Thus he could not be outflanked (185) or attacked in the rear (186), and he had sufficient men to deal with a frontal attack (187, 188). If he could not check the English at the first ditch, he could retreat to the next, and so to the third, if necessary (189-194). Bruce’s tactics was thus to make a position defensible by a small number on foot, and open only to an attack in front. Maxwell’s suggestion that the ditches were to shelter the Scots from the archers has no warrant in the text (Robert the Bruce, p. 164). In the Wallace:

“A maner dyk, off stanys thai had maid, Narrowyt the way quhar throuch thair thikar raid”

(iii. 133-4).

The incident in the Wallace is certainly derived from The Bruce, but Barbour’s “dykis” = ditches, as in the modern English sense, has become a stone dike in the Wallace, where “dyk” has been taken in its modern Scots sense = a wall.

216 The sone wes rysyn schynand bricht. So too in the Wallace. He took up his position “in the gray dawing,” and then “The sone was rysyne our landis schenand brycht” (Bk. iii. 119).

232 quhit as flour. See on Bk. II. 415; XI. 131. Barbour here must mean the white linen garment covering the armour--the surcoat.

257 that us thar dout. “Whom it needs us to fear.” See for “thar” = needs, note on Bk. VI. 121.

280 cant and keyn. Cant = lively, brisk; cf. canty. Keyn (keen) is probably in the sense of “bold” or “valiant.” The words are almost synonymous. Cf. Morte Arthure:

“The knyhte coveride (got) on his knees with a kaunt herte” (2195).

326 skalyt in soppis. “Scattered in groups.” The Wallace simply paraphrases:

“The Inglissmen, that besye was in wer, Befors ordand in sondyr thaim to ber” (163-4).

339 At erd ane hundreth and weill mar. So in Wallace:

“A hundreth dede in feild was levyt thar” (205).

351 to-ga. A past tense: “went off in a hurry.” See note on Bk. VII. *302.

362 He gaf up thar his wardanry. Loudon Hill was fought in May, 1307; Valence was still “warden of Scotland” in July 31 (Bain, ii., No. 1959), but was replaced by Sir John de Bretagne, Earl of Richmond, on September 13 (Foedera, iii., p. 10). An anonymous letter of May 15 says that “the King (Edward I.) was much enraged that the guardian and his force had retreated before ‘King Hobbe’”; also that James Douglas “sent and begged to be received, but when he saw the King’s forces retreat, he drew back” (Bain, ii. 1979).

380 For that victour. There exists a letter written by “some high official” at Forfar on May 15, which appears to refer to the events of this year. Bain gives it in full in Anglo-French in vol. ii., pp. 536-7, and an abstract on p. 513. The writer says that “the news of these parts are as follows: so far as I am able to understand, Sir Robert de Bruys has never before had the good will of the people even half so fully as at the present moment” (ne avoyt onkes sa en arere si avaunt la volunte des gentz ne la moyte si entierement cum il ad ore aparmeymes); “and that now they consider it manifest that he is in the right, and that God is clearly on his side, since he has now discomfited and defeated the full power of the King, as well English as Scots” (ausint bien les Engleis cum les Escoteys), “on which account the power of England is in full retreat before his men, not to return.”

391 Than wox his power. According to Hemingburgh, who sets Bruce riding through Lothian “a little after Easter,” before the battle of Loudon Hill, many then joined him who had been “exiled” by the English justiciars in the former year when they “sat” upon malefactors and supporters of “the new king.” “And because, according to the English law, they were sentencing them to burning, being drawn on horses and hanging, on that account they rose unanimously and went with him (Bruce), preferring to die rather than be judged by English laws” (ii., p. 265). Then follows the account of Valence’s defeat at Loudon Hill, the driving of the Earl of Gloucester into Ayr Castle, and Bruce’s subsequent defeat, after which he lurked “in moors and marshes” with ten thousand foot; and how Bruce always “slipped out of the hands” of his pursuers--clearly a misplaced account of the Galloway operations. Of the late summer and autumn of this year the Lanercost chronicler says that “Robert Bruce, with his brother Edward and many others adhering to him, without any opposition from the English guardians, wanders about in Scotland wherever he wished, and especially in Galloway, and took tribute from that country on condition that it should be left in peace; for, on account of the number of people who then adhered to him, they were not able to resist him” (Chron., p. 210). See also Foedera, iii., p. 14, for the official English description of Bruce’s raids on Galloway in August to September of this year.

393 Outour the Month. The writer of the letter cited above says that he learns from those who are watching the place beyond and on this side of the mountains, “that if Sir Robert Bruce is able to get away in any direction without inconvenience” (saun dreytes), “or towards the districts of Ross, he will find them all ready to his will more wholly than ever.” For “the Month,” see note on Bk. II. 494.

395 Sir Alexander the Fraser. See note on Bk. II. 239, and next note.

397 his brother Symon. See on Bk. II. 239. Skeat thinks this mention and that in Bk. IX. 10 “odd,” because he identifies him with the Sir Simon executed in 1306. Hence one of Barbour’s “errors.” Sir Alexander Fraser, sheriff of Kincardine, and “Simon Fraser his brother” are witnesses to a charter not dated, but later than 1312. (Fraser’s of Philorth, ii., p. 126). Simon Fraser is one of the honorary burgesses of Aberdeen in 1317 (Miscellany of Spalding Club, v., p. 283). He fell at Halidon Hill, 1333. In line 396 C reads frendis where E gives cosyngis and H cousings in the general sense of “relatives.” Bruce gifted the Earl of Atholl’s lands in part to Alexander Fraser’s wife, Marie, his own sister (Robertson’s Index, p. 19, 105). The gift must be after 1315 (Bk. XIII. 490).

400 Schir Johne Cumyne. On September 26, 1306, John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, is forgiven his debts to the Exchequer (England), on account of the loss sustained “in the death of Sir John Comyn his cousin” (Bain, ii., No. 1835).

401 Schir Johne the Mowbray. Had the custody of “the late John Comyn’s” lands in England from February 23, 1306; on duty in Ayr, June and July, 1307 (Bain, ii., Nos. 1746, 1938, 1961).

402 Schir David of Brechyne. Also serving Edward in Ayr, July or August, 1307 (ibid., No. 1961); of Forfarshire (ibid., p. 199). See on Bk. IX. 293.

413 The Erle of Lennox. See on Bk. II. 235. With line 414 cf. extract from Fordun on Bk. II. 482.

415 Schir Robert Boyd. See on Bk. IV. 342.

425 The forest of Selcryk. Sir Walter Scott has a note (45) to The Lord of the Isles on “The forest of Selkirk, or Ettrick,” which, he says, “embraced the neighbouring dales of Tweeddale, and at least the upper ward of Clydesdale.” But Gray distinguishes between “the forests of Selkirk and of Etryk” (Scala., p. 127); and Douglas, later, had a grant of the forests of Ettrick, Selkirk, and Traquair (Robertson’s Index, p. 10, No. 24).

427 Gedward Forest. “Jedworth,” or Jedburgh Forest. “The vulgar, and, indeed, almost universal, pronunciation, Jethart” (Jamieson on the Wallace, Bk. vii. 1277). See further on Bk. XVI. 363.

447 Lanrik fair. No doubt “Lanark” fair, as it appears in Godscroft’s account (History, p. 30, ed. 1644). “Lanerik” is an old form of the name in charters, etc.

449 gang on raw. “Go in a row.”

453 Schir Johne of Webitoune. In Godscroft “Sir John Walton,” under which name Sir John de Walton, he figures in Scott’s Castle Dangerous. The citation from Godscroft will be found in the Appendix to the Introduction to that tale.

492 per drowry. Drowry is O.F. druerie, droerie, love, friendship; here = “as a sweetheart,” apparently in a sinister sense. Cf. Chaucer:

“To be loved is not worthy, Or bere the name of druerie.”

(Romaunt of the Rose, 5063).

In the Alexander, as here, “And yharnes to lufe be droury” (126, 21).

Book IX

34 Enverrowry. Inverury, on the Don, fifteen miles north-west of Aberdeen.

64 a-pane. A curious use of the French adverbial phrase a peine, in, or with, difficulty; here = “hardly,” “scarcely.” The sense seems to be that even in a case in which a company is successful without a captain, which they can be only with difficulty, still they will not accomplish as much as if they had one.

107 the Slevach. Sliach in Drumblade parish, about sixteen miles north-west of Inverurie. Certain archæological features in the district are connected with Bruce’s visit, the “Meet-hillock,” “Robin’s Height,” etc. (Old. Stat. Acct., iv., p. 55; Macpherson’s Geograph. Coll., i., pp. 8, 19).

117 And als frendis. According to Fordun, whose account is independent of that of Barbour, Buchan had many nobles, both English and Scots, when he went to attack Bruce at Sliach (Gesta Annalia, cxxii.).

118 Schir Johne the Mowbray. See note on Bk. VIII. 21.

127 Martymes. Martinmas, November 11, 1307.

153 thai send. This second “thai” refers to the Scots of Bruce’s party.

183 begouth to fale. “They retired, overcome with shame and in confusion” (Gesta Annalia, cxxii.). But in Fordun the reference is to Christmas Day. See below, 204.

188 Strabogy. Strathbogie.

190 cover and ga. “Recover and go about.”

202 Ald Meldrom. About five miles north-east of Inverury.

204 Before Yhoill-evyn nycht. “One night before Christmas Eve.” Fordun records an attack by Brechin on Bruce on Christmas Day (see above on 183), but the battle of Old Meldrum he puts on to 1308 (cxxiv.). But he sends Bruce north right away after his landing in Carrick and capture of Turnberry to destroy Inverness and other fortresses (cxxi.), whereas Bruce could scarcely go north before the autumn, as he was in Galloway on September 30 (Foedera, iii., p. 14). After his victory at Inverury, Bruce ravages Buchan, subdues the north, and, according to Fordun, is in Argyll by August, 1308 (cxxvi.). This would be quick work, even for Bruce, and Lord Saltoun therefore argues that Barbour is right in his chronology (Frasers of Philorth, ii. 183-194).

221 His horse ... he askit. When the King heard of the attack, says Fordun, “though he was still prostrated by great weakness, he rose from the litter on which he was constantly carried, and ordered his men to arm him and place him on his horse” (Gesta Annalia, cxxiv.).

249 merdale. “Rabble”; O.F. merdaille, “a dirty crowd.” Cf. Alexander, “For thay war pure, small mardale” (379; 14); also Lives of the Saints; Ninian, 921.

289 “The son of him (the Earl of Atholl) that was in Kildrummy.” But see note on Bk. XIII. 489. Atholl was English, and Barbour must be wrong.

293 Com syne his man. But on May 20, 1308, Edward II. was expressing his thanks to “David de Breghyn,” etc. (Bain, iii., No. 43). This would support Fordun’s date for the battle, if, as Barbour says, Brechin submitted soon after. But “Sir David de Breghyn” is receiving wine from Edward II. on July 12, 1310 (Bain, iii., No. 121). See further on Bk. XIX. 19.

296 all Bouchane. The district of Buchan is in the north-east of Aberdeenshire.

307 Toward Angus. In the north of Forfarshire.

309 the Scottis Se. The Firth of Forth (see on 461). Of old it marked the boundary between the land of the Gaelic-speaking Scots and the English Lowlands.

312 Philip the Forster of Platan. Jamieson explains that there is still a Forest-muir in Angus, “the name of a great track of waste ground a few miles to the north of Forfar” and about two miles east of it, “a village vulgarly named Forster-seat ... said to be properly designed Forester-seat, as having been the place where the forester anciently resided.” He identifies Platan with Platter, a forest which is the subject of a grant by Robert Bruce (Index Chart., p. 4, No. 43); while a charter of Robert II. confers on Alexander de Lindsay the office of Forester of the Forest of Plater, “in the sheriffdom of Forfar” (ibid., p. 120, 63).

330 Till Perth is went. According to Gray, it was the Earl of Atholl who captured Perth for Bruce (Scala., p. 140). This is quite wrong; Atholl was English.

335 the wallis war all of stane. Perth was an exceptional case, the larger Scottish towns, except Berwick, being fortified only with ditch and palisade (de bons fossez et de bons palis. Le Bel, I., xxii.). And so was Berwick till 1296.

338 Olyfard. Barbour is about four years too soon with the capture of Perth. William de Olifard (modern Oliphant) was still holding it for Edward II. in February, 1312 (Bain, iii., No. 247). Oliphant was a Scot, and the state of the garrison for July, 1312, shows a great number to have been Scotsmen (ibid., pp. 425-7). Fordun says Perth fell on January 8, 1313; the Chron. de Lanercost gives the date as January 10, 1313 (Gesta Annalia, cxxix., Lanerc., p. 221). According to the Lanercost writer, the Scots climbed the walls on ladders during the night, and captured the place through the neglect or lack of sentinels and defenders (propter defectum vigilum et custodum, p. 222).

340 Of Stratherne als the Erll. But see below on 433.

354 the dik. The burgesses of Perth had, by order, made “a pielle and fosse”--i.e., a tower and a ditch--“when Robert de Brus broke the peace” (Bain, iii., No. 68).

371, 373 mak ledderis ... in a myrk nycht. See above on 338.

377 slepit all. See on 338.

391 A knycht of France. In the Wallace it is explained that this was Sir Thomas de Longueville, a French pirate and a friend of Wallace. Such an identification is in the usual plagiarising fashion of the author of the Wallace.

405 eftir the Kyng. Cf. preceding note.

412 the tothir man that tuk the wall. “The second man to reach the top of the wall.”

433 Malis of Strathern. Barbour is quite wrong in placing the Earl of Strathearn in Perth, and his son on the Scottish side. Both were still in the English interest. Malise of Stratherne, son of the Earl of Stratherne, is in English pay November, 1309 (Bain, iii., No. 121). The Earl appears to have been at Berwick during the winter of 1310-1311 (Bain, iii., No. 208); and it is no doubt his son who on January 28, 1313, after the fall of Perth (see on 338), is still in receipt of an allowance from Edward II. (ibid., No. 299). Malis, Earl of Strathearn, is among the signatories to the 1320 letter to the Pope (Act. Parl. Scot. I., p. 114).

448 thai war kynde to the cuntre. “They were related to the country”--i.e., they were Scots (see on 338). The Lanercost account is the contrary of this; it is there said that on the morrow of the capture, a Tuesday, Bruce had the chief burgesses of the town (meliores burgenses), who were of the Scottish nation, put to death, but allowed the English to depart in freedom. This writer errs, however, as to the fate of Olifard, a Scot, who, he says, was sent in bonds (ligatus) far off to the Isles (p. 222); for Olifard was in England a few months afterwards, and there is no mention of any escape or exchange (Bain, iii., p. xviii). Fordun’s version is that the treacherous folk (perfida gens), both Scots and English, were slain, but that Bruce, in his mercy, spared the common people (plebi), and gave pardon to those who asked for it (Gesta Annalia, cxxix.).

452 wallis gert he tummyll doune. Bruce’s usual policy with fortified places. See on Bk. X. 496. The Lanercost chronicler says he completely destroyed the town (p. 222); Fordun that he destroyed the wall and ditches, and burned everything else (ibid.).

461 Obeysit all. Not quite, in 1308. Dundee was in English hands in April, 1312, when reinforcements were being sent to its “rescue” (Bain, iii., p. 401); and in 1313, according to Barbour himself (Bk. X. 800-1). So was Banff (Watt’s History of Aberdeen and Banff, p. 68). Bain assigns to June, 1308, a note of instructions regarding Scotland, in which two wardens are appointed for “beyond the Scottish sea between the Forth and Orkeneye,” with 120 men-at-arms, “besides garrisons.” The “guardians of Scotland,” however, are told “that it is the King’s pleasure they take truce from Robert de Bruys, as from themselves, as long as they can”--an indication of the growing power of Bruce, emphasized by Barbour (Bain, iii., No. 47).

497 With all the folk, etc. The Lanercost writer explains this raid as being on account of the discord between the English King and his barons. With Edward Bruce, he says, went Robert himself, Alexander de Lindsay, and James Douglas, with their following, which they had brought together “from the remote isles of Scotland” (p. 212).

500 ryotit gretly the lande. The people of Galloway had paid tribute to be left alone (see on Bk. VIII. 391), but, says the Lanercost writer, they made no account of this, and in one day slew many of the more noble men of Galloway, and subjugated nearly the whole country, the Galloway men who could escape flying to England (p. 212).

502 Ingrame the Umphrevell. In June, 1308, Umfraville, with two others, was made a warden of Galloway, Annandale, and Carrick (Bain, iii., No. 47).

509 als Amery. Amery St. John; but there is no one on record of this name. Aymer de Valence was still a warden, but in September, 1307, when Bruce was raiding Galloway (see on Bk. VIII. 391), John de St. John was one of “the greater men” there (Bain, iii., No. 15). “Amery St. John” is referred to again in Bk. XVI. 506.

517 Besyde Cre. The River Cre divides Kirkcudbrightshire from Wigtown. Fordun says the battle was on the Dee, and dates it June 29, 1308 (Gesta Annalia, cxxv.). The Dee flows into the Solway at the town of Kirkcudbright. Though Barbour’s position is universally accepted, Fordun is probably right. See next note.

522 Buttil. Here, at least, C is more correct in a place-name than E, which gives Bothwell, on the Clyde, an absurd distance away, across mountains. The castle is that at Buittle, near Dalbeattie, a Balliol hold. It is a few miles east of the Dee, which seems to bear out Fordun as in the preceding note; cf. also lines 533-5. Edward’s operations by the Cree could hardly be seen from Buittle.

547 by Cre. A second battle by the Cree, or, more probably, one following on the English reverse by the Dee.

575 Schir Alane of Catcart. Cathcart is near Glasgow. Sir William de Cathcart (Kethker) is a knight of Roxburgh garrison (English) in December, 1309 (Bain, iii., No. 121).

610 “Directed their heads inwards again”--i.e., turned their horses to make a fresh charge from the rear.

658 Thretten castellis. Small castles, Border “peels”--ditch and palisade.

683 the wattir of Lyne. In Peeblesshire, flowing into the Tweed from the north, a short distance west of Peebles.

692 Alysander Stewart. In C, Alexander Bonkill. Son of Sir John Stewart, who married the heiress of Sir Alexander de Bonkyl in Berwickshire, and grandson of the fourth High Steward. He died, apparently, in 1319, and his son John was created by Bruce Earl of Angus (Scots Peerage, i. 13, 169).

694 Thomas Randole. Randolph. See note on Bk. II. 463.

695 Adame ... of Gordoun. See note on Bk. II. 463; XI. 46; XV. 333.

728 His emys son. The mother of Douglas was Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander, the fourth High Steward, and her elder brother was Sir John Stewart, father of Alexander Stewart, of Bonkil. Cf. on 692. Thus Douglas and Sir Alexander were cousins.

Book X

9 toward Lorn. Barbour’s chronology is here not specific, but he apparently places the expedition against Lorn in the late summer or autumn of 1308. So does Fordun (see on Bk. IX. 204). On the other hand, there exists a letter from John of Lorn to Edward II., clearly referring to the present expedition. Unfortunately, it is not dated further than as an acknowledgment of the receipt of the King’s letters of March 11. About that date, in 1308, Bruce must have been in the North, beyond the Mounth (see on Bk. IX. 204). On June 16, 1309, Alexander of Lorn and John are in council with Edward at Westminster (Bain, iii., No. 95). Meantime Alexander of Argyll is in the sederunt of Bruce’s first Parliament, March 16, 1309, at St. Andrews (Act. Parl. Scot., vol. i., p. 160). Either, then, Bruce’s expedition is to be placed in the spring and early summer of 1309, or, after the defeat at Loch Awe, John of Lorn held out during the winter, and Dunstaffnage fell at some date between March 11, 1308, and June 16, 1309.

14 twa thousand. In the letter referred to above, John of Lorn says that “Robert Bruce had approached his territories with 10,000 or 15,000 men, it was said, both by land and sea. He had no more than 800 to oppose him, 500 of these being in his pay to keep his borders, and the barons of Argyll gave him no aid.... He has three castles to guard, and a lake 24 leagues (miles) long on which he has vessels properly manned, but is not sure of his neighbours” (Bain, iii., No. 80). Lorn’s estimate of Bruce’s strength is clearly exaggerated. Hemingburgh similarly gives Bruce 10,000 men in his Galloway wanderings (ii., p. 265).

17 Ane evill place. From the description, the Pass of Brander through which the River Awe flows from Loch Awe to Loch Etive, a sea-loch. The Callander-Oban Railway follows this route. The Pass is three miles long.

27 Crechanben. Cruachan Ben, or Ben Cruachan, on the north side, 3,689 feet.

34-35 on the se ... with his galays. Skeat says this must be “Loch Etive, a sea-loch, not the inland Loch Awe, from which the ships could not have escaped.” He is thinking of line 130, but the flight there mentioned has no connection with the present case. Loch Etive is not “weill neir the pas” (35; cf. also 97, 98), but Loch Awe is, and we see from Lorn’s letter (note on 14) that he had ships on that loch. He says further that he “was on sick-bed” when he received Edward’s letters, “and had been for half a year”; which probably accounts for his presence in a galley, or large Highland row-boat, as the Marquis of Argyll was, for a like reason, when his forces were cut to pieces by Montrose at Inverlochy in 1645.

46 Williame Wisman. A “William Wysman” was made Edward’s Sheriff at Elgin in 1305 (Bain, ii., p. 458). The wife of “Monsieur William Wysman” was among the ladies captured in 1306, and was sent to Roxburgh (Foedera, ii., p. 1014). William Wyseman was at the St. Andrews Parliament, 1309 (Act. Parl. Scot., i., p. 160). It was a Moray name.

47 Schir Androu Gray. Ancestor of the Lords Gray. Sir Andrew Gray received from Bruce in 1315 the barony of Longforgan and other lands in Perthshire and Forfarshire, which had belonged to Edmond Hastings (Robertson’s Index, p. 26, No. 19; Crawford’s Peerage, p. 179, ed. 1716).

82 ane wattir. The River Awe. The river here is wide, deep, and broken by rapids.

88 till brek it. The bridge, of course, was of wood. It was probably beyond the lower extremity of the Pass, somewhere near the present bridge.

113 Dunstaffynch. In Fordun Dunstafynch; Dunstaffnage Castle at the mouth of Loch Etive.

126 And com his man. As has already been noted (see on 9), Alexander of Arygll is, with the other “barons” of Argyll and the Hebrides, present at Bruce’s Parliament at St. Andrews, which, if correct, indicates that Barbour, so far, is right. Lorn wrote to Edward that, “though he and his were few in respect of his power, Robert de Brus had asked a truce from him, which he granted for a short space, and received the like, till the King sends him succours. He hears that Robert, when he came, was boasting and saying that the writer had come to his peace at the report that many others would rise in his aid, which God and the writer know is not true. Should the King hear this from others, he is not to believe it” (Bain, as cited). Fordun’s story is that Bruce besieged Alexander of Argyll in Dunstaffnage, that the castle was surrendered, but Alexander refused to do homage and was allowed a safe-conduct for himself and friends to England (Gesta Annalia, cxxvi.).

137 at Lythkow wes than a peill. Linlithgow “peel” was constructed by Edward I. in 1301-1302. Barbour’s chronology is again at fault, or he is not concerned about it. Linlithgow was still being munitioned against the Scots in August, 1313 (Bain, iii., No. 330). Barbour appears to be simply grouping the different captures of castles together (see lines 144-7). Strictly a “peel” was a fortification consisting of a stockade and ditch, enclosing the buildings of the garrison (see lines 144-7).

153 Wilyhame Bunnok. See note on 254. C reads Bowne here, but Bunnok in line 194.

180 the hede-soyme. That is, the “trace” or “traces” connecting the animals with the cart would be cut, when the waggon would block the gateway. By a similar trick, in which the agents are dressed as carters and the traces are loosened by withdrawing the pins, Oudenarde was captured in 1384 (Froissart, Johnes, ii., chap. cli.).

185 the harvist tyde. September or October, 1313. See above on 137.

195 To leid thair hay. To “lead” the hay, still the usual country phrase, is to bring it in from the field to the place of storage. Bunnok was to gather the hay and cart it to the castle.

196 but dangeir. “Without difficulty,” readily.

223 callit his wayn. “Drove” or “urged forward” his waggon. The word occurs in this sense in the Wallace “Thir cartaris ... callyt furth the cartis weill” (Bk. ix. 717-8), where, as usual, the incident is borrowed from the Bruce. Cf. Burns: “Ca the yowes to the knowes.”

232 he leyt the gadwand fall. “He” is not Bunnock, but the driver, who drops his goad and cuts the trace.

254 hym rewardit worthely. According to Nisbet’s Heraldry, Bunnock is the same name as Binning, and the arms of Binning of Easter-Binning are “placed on the bend of a waggon argent”; and he gives as an explanation that “one of the heads of that family, with his seven sons, went in a waggon covered with hay, surprised and took the castle of Linlithgow, then in the possession of the English, in the reign of David II.” (I. 100, ed. 1816). The reference is clearly to the present incident, though “sons” is a later development, and the date is wrong. Jamieson is highly suspicious over the identification, and it seems, in fact, to be a case of ancestry manufacture.

265-6 Murref ... And othir syndri landis braid. “Murref” is English transcription of the Gaelic form, muiraibh, dative plural of muir, the sea. The grant to Randolph was most extensive, including lands from the mouth of the Spey to Lochaber and Mamore, and “the marches of northern Argyll,” and covering 2,550 square miles in Banff, Elgin, Nairn, and Inverness (Robertson’s Index of Charters, p. xlix; Rampini’s Moray and Nairn, p. 140).

324 Schir Peris Lumbard. Peter de Loubaud (Lybaud, Libaut) was constable of Edinburgh Castle and the peel of Linlithgow in March, 1312 (Bain, iii., No. 254). Edinburgh Castle was captured during Lent, 1314 (Chron. de Lanercost, p. 223; Fordun says March 14, 1314), by Randolph (Gesta Annalia, cxxx.); March 24, apparently, in Gesta Edw. de Carn. (p. 45), where it is said that Roxburgh and Edinburgh fell between February 29 and March 24, 1314. Hailes goes a year wrong in these dates, and Skeat adopts. For the intrusion of “m” before “b,” cf. Ferumbrace for Fierabras in Bk. III. 437.

327 mystrowit hym of tratory. So we have it in the Vita Edw. Sec. that Edinburgh Castle was captured “by the betrayal of a certain Gascon, who was known as Peter de Gavestone, to whom the King had committed the custody of the castle. He, a perjured traitor, adhered to Robert the Bruce, and betrayed the castle” (p. 199). Cf. on 766.

360-1 ledderis ... With treyn steppis, etc. Ladders of this sort are carefully described by the Carlisle friar as having been used at an unsuccessful siege of Berwick by Bruce in 1312. Two strong ropes were taken, of a length according to the height of the wall. These were knotted at intervals of a foot and a half; on these knots rested wooden (treyn) steps two and a half feet long by half a foot broad, sufficient for one man at a time, and every third step had a projection inwards, to keep the ladder out from the wall. At the top end was a curved iron (cf. “a cruk ... of iron”), one end of which, about a foot long, lay on the top of the wall, while the other hung down, was pierced with a hole, and had a ring on each side for the rope. In the hole a sufficiently long spear was inserted, by which the ladder was put in position by two men. When the Scots had placed two ladders for a night attack, a dog barked, and Berwick was saved, the Scots making off and leaving their ladders behind to be hung up in derision of the Scots by the garrison (p. 221).

372 on the fasteryn evyn. “Fastern’s Eve,” Shrove Tuesday, February 27, 1314. So, too, in Fordun (Gesta Annalia, cxxx.), and in Scalacronica, the night of Shrove Tuesday (p. 140); in Lanercost the capture is dated the day after, February 28, the first day of Lent, 1314 (p. 223). The castle was still in English hands on February 7, 1314 (Bain, iii., No. 352), but lost before May 29 (No. 358), in 1314 (894).

400 up thair ledderis set. “For James (Douglas) himself on a certain night secretly approached the castle (of Roxburgh), and placed ladders, which had been carried up in concealment (latenter) against the wall, and so by these ascended the wall,” etc. (Vita Edw. Sec., p. 200).

441 The custom. It was the custom to spend the day before the beginning of the fast of Lent in feasting and jollity. This practice continued in Scotland long after the Reformation, when Lent was no more observed. The Vita Edw. says that the garrison were sleeping or off their guard.

456-7 Gylmyne de Fenis ... in the gret toure, etc. “They (the Scots) took the whole castle except one tower, to which, with difficulty, had escaped the warden of the castle, Sir Gilminus de Fenes, a Gascon knight, and his men with him, but that tower the Scots had soon afterwards” (Lanercost, p. 223). Sir William de Filinge (Filling, Felynges) was constable of Roxburgh since 1312 at least (Bain, iii., Nos., 332, 337, 351). On the conduct of Roxburgh garrison see on Bk. XI. 46.

479 Woundit so felly. According to Gray, “Guillemyng Fenygges” was killed by an arrow while holding the great tower (Scala., p. 140).

496 to tummyll it doune. “And all this beautiful castle, as with all the other castles which they were able to get, they laid level with the ground, that the English might never afterwards by holding the castles be able to dominate the country” (Lanercost, p. 223). So also Vita Edw. Sec., p. 199, and Gesta Edw., p. 45, where it is alleged that Bruce did this to prevent the Scottish nobles taking refuge therein instead of helping him. See on Bk. IX. 452, and below on 771.

504 Outane Jedworth. There was fighting about Jedburgh in 1315, 1316 (Bain, iii., No. 494), but it was still in English hands in 1321 (ibid., 746).

509 At Edinburgh. Edinburgh Castle was still in English hands in August, 1313 (Bain, iii., No. 330). See further note on 324.

513 all his purchas. “By his own procurement.”

516 voidry. Skeat’s suggestion. See footnote. It means “cunning, stratagem” (S).

529 “Ere that siege should miscarry, or go wrong.” Cf. on Bk. I. 478. The mood here is subjunctive, past tense.

530 William Francas. Francis or “Fraunceys” appears from Bain to have been a common name in the Lothians. A “William Francis” got lands from Bruce in Roxburgh in 1322. His grant just precedes one to John Crab (Robertson’s Index to Charters, p. 15, No. 20; cf. Bk. XVII. 239).

701 The Erll has tane the castell all. The Lanercost historian says the castle was captured in this manner: “Those besieging the same castle, one day in the evening, made a bold assault on the south gate, because on account of the position of the castle, there was no other place where an assault could be given. But those within, all collecting at the gate, resisted them stoutly; meanwhile, however, others of the Scots climbed the rock on the north side, which was very high and steep, up to the foundation of the wall, and there, placing their ladders against the wall, they climbed up in such numbers that those within could make no resistance; and so they (the Scots) opened the gates and brought in their friends, and took the whole castle and slew the English” (p. 223). The Scalacronica account is that Moray took the castle at the highest part of the rock, where there was no thought of danger (a quoi il ne se dotoit) (p. 140).

708 Lap fra a berfrois. For a “beffroi,” see on Bk. XVI. 597. O.F., “berfroi,” etc. For form “belfry,” cf. “pilgrim,” from “peregrinus”; in English not before the fifteenth century. French dropped the “r” (N.E.D.). The reference here is to one of the Alexander romances, of which there was no translation, and is indicative of Barbour’s familiarity with this literature. Cf. Appendix E.

740 in stede of prophesye. “In the way of, or as, a prophecy.”

742 hir chapell. St. Margaret’s Chapel, built for Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm Canmore. She died in Edinburgh Castle in 1093. In 1336 the chapel was fitted with four windows of glass (Bain, iii., p. 335).

746 as old men sayis. The picture and inscription were, therefore, no longer extant.

747 “Gardez-vous de Francois.” “Beware of Francis or of the French.”

766 he becom the Kingis man. Gray tells how “Lebaud” went over to Bruce, but, because he was in heart English (qil estoit Engles qe quer), Bruce had him accused of treason and hanged (Scala., p. 140). The official record is that he was convicted of treason, and, from his forfeitures, he seems to have received large holdings in Lothian (Reg. Mag. Sig., where he is styled Peter Luband, p. 3, 3; p. 13, 63, 64, 66).

771 myne doune all halely. The Lanercost writer adds that the Scots levelled Edinburgh Castle to the ground, as they had done Roxburgh.

815 Fra the lenteryne. Lent, 1313. In the Vita Edw. it is said that Mowbray brought the news of his pact at the beginning of Lent, which must be Lent, 1314, suggesting a considerable difference in dates (p. 200).

816 Quhill ... Saint Johnnis mess. That is, by June 24, 1313, the English garrison began to find their food running short. “Their victual was insufficient” (Vita Edw., p. 200).

822-3 it was nocht with battaill Reskewit. So, too, in Vita Edw. Sec., where the agreement is that Mowbray “would either procure the King of England to come to the defence of the castle, or, if he should not be able to induce the King to do this, that he would summarily (indilate) surrender the castle.” St. John’s day is fixed as the limiting date. The writer makes Robert Bruce himself conduct the siege (p. 200). So does Gray, who says that the castle was to be surrendered, “unless the English army came within three leagues of the said castle within eight days after St. John’s day in the summer next to come” (dedenz viii jours apres le Saint Johan en este adonques procheine avenir, p. 141). But cf. Bk. XI. 8-9.