_a_ 2. _Bannokburn._ Minot's subject is not so much the defeat of the
English at Bannockburn in 1314, as the English victory at Halidon Hill
on 19 July 1333, which he regards as a vengeance for Bannockburn.
_a_ 7. _Saint Iohnes toune_: Perth, so called from its church of St.
John the Baptist. It was occupied by the English in 1332 after the
defeat of the Scots at Dupplin Moor.
_a_ 13. _Striflin_, 'Stirling'.
_a_ 15. Hall suggests that this refers to Scotch raids on the North of
England undertaken to distract Edward III from the siege of Berwick.
_a_ 19 f. _Rughfute riueling... Berebag_: nicknames for the Scots, the
first because they wore brogues (_riuelings_) of rough hide; the second
because, to allow of greater mobility, each man carried his own bag of
provisions instead of relying on a baggage train.
_a_ 22. _Brig_ = _Burghes_ l. 25, 'Bruges'. At this time Scots, English,
and French had all close connexions with the Netherlands. Observe that
John Crab, who aided the Scots in the defence of Berwick (note to X 15),
was a Fleming.
_a_ 35. _at Berwik._ Berwick fell as a result of the battle of Halidon
Hill which the Scots fought with the object of raising the siege. For an
earlier siege of Berwick, in 1319, see No. X.
_a_ 36. _get_, 'watch', 'be on the look out' (ON. _gǽta_).
_b_ 5-6. Calais was at this time a convenient base for piracy in the
Channel.
_b_ 19. _A bare_: Edward III, whom Minot often refers to as
'the boar'.
_b_ 24-6. In preparation for the long siege Edward III had built a
regular camp beside Calais.
_b_ 32. _Sir Philip._ Philip de Valois, Philip VI of France (1293-1350).
His son, John Duke of Normandy (1319-64), who succeeded him in 1350, is
of good memory as a lover of fine books. Two are mentioned in the notes
to XI _a_ 25 ff. and XI _b_ 234. A splendid copy of the _Miracles de
Notre Dame_, preserved until recently in the Seminary Library at
Soissons, seems also to have been captured with his baggage at Poitiers,
for it was bought back from the English by King Charles V. Another
famous book produced by his command was the translation of Livy by
Bersuire, with magnificent illuminations. The spirit of the collector
was not damped by his captivity in England from 1356-60, for his account
books show that he continued to employ binders and miniaturists, to
encourage original composition, and to buy books, especially books of
romance. See _Notes et Documents relatifs à Jean, Roi de France_, &c.,
ed. by Henry of Orleans, Duc d'Aumale (Philobiblon Soc., London 1855-6).
_b_ 40. _þe Cardinales._ Pope Clement VI had sent cardinals Annibale
Ceccano bishop of Frascati, and Etienne Aubert, who became Pope Innocent
VI in 1352, to arrange a peace between France and England. But the
English were suspicious of the Papal court at Avignon, and accused the
cardinals of favouring the French cause.
_b_ 82. _Sir Iohn de Viene._ Jean de Vienne, seigneur de Pagny (d.
1351), a famous captain in the French wars.
_c_ 5 f. 'They (friends) are so slippery when put to the test, so
eager to have <for themselves>, and so unwilling to give up <to
others>.'
_c_ 14. _And_, 'if'.
_c_ 47. King John of France was captured at Poitiers in 1356 and held in
England as a prisoner until the Treaty of Bretigny in 1360. See note to
XIV _b_ 32.
_c_ 54. Note the omission of the relative: 'which recked not a cleat for
all France', and cp. ll. 43-4, XIII _a_ 36 (note).
_c_ 59. _his helm_, 'its helm'—the bar by which the rudder was moved.
_c_ 61. 'The King sailed and rowed aright'; on _him_, see note to XV _g_
24.
_c_ 83. _An ympe_: Richard II.
_c_ 90. _sarri_: not in the dictionaries in this sense, is probably OFr.
_serré_, _sarré_, in the developed meaning 'active', 'vigorous', seen in
the adv. _sarréement_.
_c_ 103-4. 'If we are disloyal and inactive, so that what is rarely seen
is straightway forgotten.'
_c_ 108. 'Who was the fountain of all courage.'
_c_ 111. _los_, 'fame'.
_d_ 1. SCHEP: here means 'shepherd', 'pastor', a name taken by Ball as
appropriate to a priest.
_Seynte Marie prest of Ȝork_, 'priest of St. Mary's of York' (cp.
note to I 44), a great Benedictine abbey founded soon after the
Conquest; see Dugdale, _Monasticon Anglicanum_, vol. iii, pp. 529 ff.
_Marie_ does not take the _s_ inflexion, because it has already the
Latin genitive form, cp. _Mary-ȝet_ X 163.
_d_ 2. _Iohan Nameles_, 'John Nobody', for _nameless_ has the sense
'obscure', 'lowly'.
_d_ 6. _Hobbe þe Robbere._ _Hob_ is a familiar form for _Robert_, and it
has been suggested that _Hobbe þe Robbere_ may refer to Robert Hales,
the Treasurer of England, who was executed by the rebels in 1381. But
_Robert_ was a conventional name for a robber, presumably owing to the
similarity of sound. Already in the twelfth century, Mainerus, the
Canterbury scribe of the magnificent Bible now in the library of
Sainte-Geneviève at Paris, plays upon it in an etymological account of
his family: _Secundus_ (sc. _frater meus_) _dicebatur Robertus, quia a
re nomen habuit: spoliator enim diu fuit et praedo_. From the fourteenth
century lawless men were called _Roberts men_. In _Piers Plowman_ Passus
v (A- and B-texts) there is a confession of 'Robert the Robber'; and the
literary fame of the prince of highwaymen, 'Robin Hood', belongs to this
period.
_d_ 14. _do wel and bettre_: note this further evidence of the
popularity of _Piers Plowman_, with its visions of _Dowel_, _Dobet_, and
_Dobest_.