BOOK XI.
32 outrageous a day. “Day” has here the meaning of “a space of time,” as in Berners’ Froissart. “The truce is not expired, but hath day to endure unto the first day of Maye next” (I. ccxiii., N.E.D.): a sense of the Latin dies. For “outrageous,” see on Bk. III. 162.
44 Akatane. Aquitaine, the ancient southern duchy of France, the hereditary possession of the Kings of England.
46 The Lanercost chronicler affirms (1311) that in the war the Scots were so divided that sometimes a father was with the Scots and his son with the English, or brothers were on opposite sides, or even the same person at one time on the Scottish side, at another on that of England; but that it was a pretence, either because the English seemed to get the better or to save their English lands, “for their hearts, if not their bodies, were always with their own people” (p. 217). Thus, at this time, there were still to be found among supporters of the English King such names as Stewart, Graham, Kirkpatrick, Maxwell, St. Clair, etc. (Bain, iii., Introd., pp. xvi, xvii). As many of these were Border lairds—some, indeed, are of Annandale—even their Scottish lands were specially exposed to English attack. Late in 1313 (October or November) we have a Petition to the King (of England) from the People of Scotland, by their envoys, Sir Patrick de Dunbar, Earl of March, and Sir Adam de Gordon, complaining of the great losses they have suffered “by their enemies”—i.e., the Bruce party—also of the brigandage of the English garrison in Berwick and Roxburgh (Bain, iii., No. 337). One of the results of Bannockburn was to bring many of these waverers over to the national side. Adam de Gordon, indeed, was already under suspicion, and apparently was a waverer. He had, in fact, a grant of the lands of Strathbogie in 1309, according to Robertson (Index, p. 2; 40). Cf. also 103-4.* For Gordon, see also Bk. IX. 720, etc.; XV. 333; and on March, Bk. XIX. 776, note.
79-82 Cf., as bearing out Barbour’s assertion, the comment by the author of the Vita Edwardi Secundi on the army when assembled at Berwick: “There were in that assemblage amply sufficient men (satis sufficientes) to traverse all Scotland, and, in the judgment of some, if the whole of Scotland had been brought together, it could not make a stand against the army of the King (cf. line 150). Indeed, it was confessed by the whole host that, in our time, such an army had not gone out of England” (Chronicles of Ed. I. and Ed. II., ii., pp. 201-2).
91 Erll of Hennaut. Count William of Hainault, Flanders. Cf. on Bk. XIX. 262.
93. Almanyhe: Germany. Friar Baston says four German knights came “gratis” (Eng. Hist. Rev., vol. xix., p. 507).
100 of Irlande ane gret menyhe. In Foedera we have the list of twenty-five Irish chiefs summoned to the campaign against the Scots—O’Donald, O’Neil, MacMahon, O’Bryn, O’Dymsy, etc. The Irish contingent was commanded by Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, Bruce’s father-in-law (III., pp. 476-478).
103 Ane hundreth thousand men and ma. See Appendix C.
105 Armyt on hors. That is, the men alone wore armour, being thus distinguished from the knights “with helit hors,” or horses armoured also in bardings of leather or mail. Skeat rejects the reading of E in favour of “playn male,” taking “playn” to represent the French plein = “complete mail,” on the ground of Innes’s remark that the distinction between mail or ring-armour and plate, “if known, was not so specific in Barbour’s age.” But plates had been coming into use since the last quarter of the thirteenth century, and by 1300 the practice of attaching such additional defences was rapidly developing. See note on 131. In 1316 we read of “200 men armed in plate,” who were sent to Ireland from England (Bain, iii., p. 99, No. 519).
114 Of cartis. “The multitude of waggons (multitudo quadrigarum), if it had been extended in a line one behind the other, would have taken up a space of twenty leagues” (Vita Edw. Sec., p. 202). The meaning of “league” is uncertain; apparently it was just a mile.
117 veschall. In Vita Edw. Sec. (pp. 206-7) the author speaks of “costly garments and gold (or gilt) plate” (vasa aurea). Baker of Swinbroke, in his Chronicon Angliæ (p. 55), also mentions the “plate of gold and silver,” and affirms that, in addition to an abundant supply of victuals, the English brought with them things which were wont to be seen only in times of peace on the luxurious tables of princes. Among the ornaments of the high altar of Aberdeen Cathedral in 1549 was “an old hood made of cloth of gold ... from the spoil of the Battle of Bannockburn” (Reg. Episc. Aberd., ii., p. 189).
119 schot. Arrows, and bolts for cross-bows. Cf. Bk. XIII. 311, and below, note on 544.
130 ryche weid. The rich flowing housings or drapery of the steeds, covering the armour, if any, as the “surcoat” of the knight did his.
131-*132. Armour was in a state of rapid transition, and so at this time is very complicated. An English brass of 1325 shows a knight wearing (1) a gambeson, or close-fitting quilted tunic, to ease the pressure of the armour; (2) a hauberk of banded or chain mail, with half-plates on the upper arm; (3) an habergeon (“hawbyrschown”), or lighter hauberk, apparently of small plates; (4) a haketon, another padded coat like the gambeson; (5) and a short surcoat. He has leggings of mail covering also the feet, and half-plates in addition from the knees to the toes: a hood of mail continued upward from the hauberk and a bascinet, or pointed, nut-shaped helmet, with no visor. Over this he would wear in battle such a heavy, closed, flat-topped helm as we see on the seal of Robert I. He carries a small triangular shield on his left arm, and his sword, a little more than half the body in length, hangs in front from a waist-belt. Such was probably the equipment of the leading knights at Bannockburn.
136 Till Berwick. The army was to assemble at Werk on the Tweed by Monday, June 10, 1314 (Foedera, iii., p. 481). But the start was made from Berwick on June 17 or 18 (Vita Edw., 201).
150 Mannaustt the Scottis. Cf. note on 79-82.
163 Glowcister. Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, nephew of the King, and a young man of twenty-three. Herfurd. Humphrey de Bohun, or Boun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, and Constable of England. “The Earl of Gloucester and the Earl of Herford commanded the first line” (primam aciem, Vit. Edw. Sec., p. 202). The Scalacronica says Gloucester commanded “the advance guard” (p. 141), but does not mention Hereford (see note on Bk. XIII. 466).
174 Schir Gylys de Argente. Sir Giles d’Argentine, popularly regarded as one of the three most eminent men of the time, the others being the Emperor Henry and Robert Bruce (Scotich. Lib., xiii. 16). He “guided the King’s bridle” (Vita Edw. Sec., p. 204). Cf. also Scalacronica (p. 143), votre reyne me fust baillez—“your rein was entrusted to me”: among others (p. 142).
210 the Torwood. Stretching north and west from Falkirk. It reached to near Bannockburn, a little south of which is “Torwoodhead” Castle.
250 abaysing. Fear which grew to panic. Morale, or firm courage, is always an important element in warfare, but in medieval times it seems to have been specially important (cf. IV. 191-200, and XII. 184-8). The remarkable successes of the Scots against larger numbers were often due to the “abaysing,” for one reason or other, of their opponents. Footmen were peculiarly liable to this loss of nerve, as they received no mercy, as a rule, from the mounted knights. Bruce was all along most anxious to guard against the rise of any such spirit of “funk” among his men. “Success in battle,” said Napoleon, “depends not so much upon the number of men killed as upon the number frightened.”
277 the wayis. As Bruce explains in the lines that follow, there were two “ways” of advance to Stirling; one through the wooded New Park, and the other by the level below St. Ninian’s, extending to the “pools” or lagoons along the side of the Forth. The trees of the New Park seem to have extended from above the banks of the burn to St. Ninian’s on the one side and Stirling, or near it, on the other (cf. note on Bk. XII. 58). It was made as late as 1264 by Alexander III., and enclosed with a paling in 1288 (Excheq. Rolls, I. 24, 38); whence the name “New.”
291 licht armyng. “Everyone of them (the Scots) was protected by light armour” (levi armatura). (Vita Edw. Sec., p. 203). See further, note on Bk. XII. 448.
296 ficht on fut. Fighting was still regarded as almost entirely the business of armoured men on horseback, the footmen serving only for minor purposes. That an army all on foot should oppose chivalry was a new departure. Bruce was an original general. Sir Thomas Gray says that the Scots “took example from the Flemings,” who, in 1302, at Courtrai had in this way defeated the French knights (Scalacronica, p. 142). But this is an after-thought. The Vita Edwardi Sec. also draws the parallel with Courtrai (p. 206). But the Scots could take the hint from the tactics at Falkirk in 1298, where Wallace was only defeated by the English archers. An English chronicler of about 1330 suggests that the Scots were made to fight on foot to avoid the mischance at Falkirk when their little body of cavalry fled at the sight of the English advance (Annales Johannis de Trokelowe, p. 84).
300 the sykis. No doubt shallow lagoons with a muddy bottom, about the Bannock, where it entered the Forth, flooded by the tide. Jamieson, in his Dictionary, defines syk as “a marshy bottom, with a small stream in it.” A rivulet in Selkirkshire is known as the Red Syke (Chambers’ Popular Rhymes, p. 17, ed. 1826).
333-6 Pinkerton suggests in his edition that Bruce could not trust the Highlanders and Islesmen, and so put them in the rear, and stiffened their ranks with his own followers from Carrick. For this there is no warrant. The “barons of Argyll and Inchgallye” (the Hebrides) attended Bruce’s Parliament at St. Andrews in March, 1309 (Acts Parl. Scot., i. 99). Cf. also note on X. 14. In any case on the Sunday afternoon Bruce took the front position in the New Park with these very men (445, 446).
360 ane playne feld by the way. I.e., an open, level part by the road through the park, just outside the wood. The historians have shifted the position to suit their various and erroneous ideas of the field of battle. Barbour, it is to be noted, says nothing of bogs, nor of Buchanan’s “calthrops of iron” (Scot. Hist., ed. 1762, p. 213). Friar Baston, captured at Bannockburn, in his Latin poem, says there were stakes in the pits (Scotichronicon, lib. xii., chap. xxii.). Geoffrey Baker, of Swinbroke, enlarges them to long ditches covered with hurdles, an utter misapprehension (Chronicon, pp. 56, 57. Cf. notes on Bk. XII. 536, 537). At Cressy (1346) the English dug “many pits” (multa foramina) of the depth and width of a foot in front of their first line as a defence against possible pursuit by the French cavalry (Baker, p. 166). An analagous device is described by Herodotus as having been successfully used by the Phocians to destroy Messalian cavalry (Book viii., chap. xxviii.).
426 till ane vale. Apparently in the valley behind Coxet Hill. “Gillies Hill” is said to have taken its name from these “gillies,” or servants (Nimmo’s History of Stirlingshire, second edition, p. 219). Barbour never calls them “gillies,” and why a Gaelic name? The writer of the description of the district in the Old Statistical Account (1796) makes no mention of this “tradition,” and suggests a derivation from the personal name Gill or Gillies. “The names both of Gillies and Morison occur in the muirlands” (vol. xviii., p. 392).
437 the Fawkirk. A Scots translation of the original Gaelic name (in twelfth century) Eaglais breac, “the speckled or particoloured church,” in reference to the stone of which it was built. In “Falkirk” the “l” has been substituted for “w,” as a sign of length in the vowel (see Language l, App. G). Local pronunciation does not sound the “l.” The English chroniclers write the name Foukyrk (Vita Edw. Sec., p. 205), or Faukirke (Annales London., p. 104).
440-453 Acting on the information received, and unaware, as yet, which road the English would choose for an advance to Stirling, Bruce makes a fresh disposition of his troops, departing from that laid down in lines 305-347, so as to be ready for either line of advance. He himself occupies the “entry” to the Park road, which was a continuation of the medieval (Roman?) highway passing west of St. Ninian’s, with his mixed brigade of Highlanders and Lowlanders; while Randolph is posted at St. Ninian’s Kirk overlooking the level about seventy feet below. Apparently (see below) both divisions are masked by the wood. The others are in reserve to reinforce when it should turn out to be necessary. The historians, ignoring this alteration in dispositions, land themselves, as a result, in unintelligible confusion. Douglas later trapped an English column in the “entre” of Jedburgh Forest (Bk. XVI. 310 et seq.).
486 confort his men. See note on 250.
523 Aucht hundreth. Gray says they were only three hundred, under the command of Robert Lord de Clifford and Henry de Beaumont (Scalacronica, p. 141). We learn from the same author that Philip de Mowbray, constable of Stirling, went out and met Edward when the army was three leagues, or miles, from the castle, and suggested that he should advance no farther as, the English having come so far, and being within touch, he considered himself relieved; besides, he said, the Scots had blocked the narrow ways (lez estroitz chemyns) of the wood—i.e., of the New Park. But from the conditions, as we have seen (Bk. X. 822), the castle could not be held to be relieved so long as the Scots were in force before it. We note that Mowbray also expected the army to come by the Park roads. Now Barbour says that Clifford’s detachment left the main body two miles away (515). Apparently, then, this movement was the result of Mowbray’s information (see next note). However, it was known to Edward when he summoned his army that the Scots had taken up a position between him and Stirling in strong, marshy places difficult for horsemen (Foedera, ii., p. 481).
532 it suld reskewit be. So the Scots might conclude, but the version of the Lanercost chronicler better fits the case: “After dinner” (post prandium—say, about midday) “the army of the King (Edward) came to the neighbourhood of the Torwood” (he takes the Park to be an extension of the larger forest), “and when it was known that the Scots were in the wood” (from Mowbray), “the first line (prima acies) of the King, whose leader was Lord Clifford, wished to surround the wood so that the Scots should not escape in flight” (p. 225). This is in harmony with the self-confidence of the English, and explains why the horsemen did not, as they might have done, avoid Randolph’s foot, if they were only making for the castle. There was apparently no obstacle to Mowbray communicating personally with the relieving army, and he cannot have gone alone; so that the parties were actually in touch, and, as Mowbray argued, a technical “relief” had been performed.
536 thai wist weill. From Mowbray probably, but cf. note on 523. Aymer de Valence, too, had gone on before the army to prepare its line of march and carefully examine the stratagems of the Scots (insidias Scotorum. Vit. Edw., p. 201).
537 Beneth the Park. “Made a circuit upon the other side of the wood towards the castle, keeping the open ground” (as beaux chaumps. Scalacronica, p. 141).
544 thai so fer war passit by. The English writers report the matter as it appeared to them. “The Scots, however, suffered this” (Clifford’s advance) “until they had placed a considerable distance between themselves and their friends, when they showed themselves, and cutting off that first line of the King from the middle and rear divisions (a media acie et extrema), rushed on it,” etc. (Chron. de Lanercost, 225). “Thomas Randolph, ... who was leader of the advance guard of the Scots, having heard that his uncle had repulsed the advance guard of the English on the other side of the wood, thought that he must have his share, and issuing from the wood with his division” (Barbour says “five hundred men,” line 542), “took the level plain” (le beau chaumpe—Barbour’s “playn feld”) “towards the two lords aforesaid” (Scalacronica, p. 141). Note that both Bruce at the “entry,” and Randolph at “the Kirk,” were in the wood (see on this also note on Bk. XII. 58); and the reiterated use of the term “playn feld” for the level below St. Ninian’s.
546 ane rose of his chaplet. Hailes suggests a far-fetched explanation of this: “I imagine that rose implies a large bead in a rosary or chaplet,” when the dropping of a rose would imply carelessness of duty (Annals, ii. 51, note). The New English Dictionary defines chaplet as “A wreath for the head, usually a garland of flowers or leaves,” and cites this passage. Randolph in the wood, keeping his eyes on the main body, could easily miss an advance by his flank, which had started independently two miles away, and probably kept to cover as far as possible.
547 Wes faldyn. Skeat explains this form as “fallen” with an “excrescent d, due to Scandinavian influence,” citing also Bk. XIII. 632. A form, foolde, occurs in The Sowdone of Babylone, line 1428, where Hausknecht explains it as from fealden, “to fold,” meaning “folded, bent down, fallen”; citing also “Folden to grunde” and “Fiftene hundred Folden to grunden,” from Layamon, 23,894 and 27,055-6. The result as to meaning is the same either way.
548 war past. Clifford then had passed the Kirk before Randolph made a move. The scene of the conflict is usually placed at a position half-way between St. Ninian’s and Stirling, now known as Randolph’s Field. But this name is not older than the end of the eighteenth century (Old Stat. Acct., vol. xviii., p. 408). The origin of the nomenclature is two standing stones said to have been erected in memory of the victory (Nimmo’s History of Stirlingshire, ed. 1817, p. 216). But standing stones are no uncommon feature in Scotland, and various traditions attach to them; and why this preference in commemoration? “Standing stones,” on the other side of the Forth, are mentioned in the Wallace (Bk. v. 298).
557 In hy thai sped thame. Gray gives an account of this affair, in which his father was taken prisoner, in the Scalacronica (edit. Maitland Club. p. 141): “Sir Henry de Beaumont said to his men, ‘Let us retire a little; let them [the Scots] come on; give them room [donez les chaumps.]” His father, Sir Thomas, charging on the Scots, was carried off a prisoner on foot, his horse having been slain on the pikes. He, too, mentions the death of Sir William Deyncourt (line 573), and says the squadron was utterly routed. If Beaumont—to whom, with Deyncourt, Gray gives the command—proposed to allow the Scots more room by retiring, his detachment cannot have gone far past Randolph’s original position (cf. also line 538). The remark seems absurd if applied to the ground at Randolph’s Field. Buchanan says Randolph had horse, in which he is clearly wrong (Rerum Scotic. Hist., ed. 1762, chap. xxxix.), and he is followed on this point in White’s History of the Battle of Bannockburn (Edinburgh, 1871), p. 55.
573 Schir Wilyhame Dencort. See previous note.
598 Styk stedis, and ber doune men. An unhorsed knight in his heavy suit of full armour was a cumbrous unit, and if he fell, might find it impossible to rise in the press, or be assisted to do so, so as to be remounted on a fresh steed by his squire, whose duty it was to see to this, among other things. The author of the Vita Edw. notes as a mischance deserving remark that in this day’s fighting the Earl of Gloucester was unhorsed (p. 202; see also on Bk. XII. 504).