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.