BOOK XII.
22 quyrbolle. Cuir-bouilli, or “boiled leather,” was not really boiled, as in that case it would become horny and brittle and so quite unsuitable for the purposes to which it was put—the strengthening of armour in the transition period of the fourteenth century prior to the full use of plate, and the making of sheaths, bottles, caskets, etc. The leather was steeped in a warm mixture of wax and oil, which made it pliable and fit to receive the designs cut or embossed on it. It was then slowly dried. Helmet crests or other fittings were also made of it, as here.
29 the Boune. Henricus de Boun in Vita Edw. Sec. (see below). The name is variously spelled—Bowme (C), Bohun, etc. He was the nephew of Hereford. Barbour says “cosyne” in 31, but this, formerly, very frequently denoted a nephew or niece (N.E.D.).
33 merk-schot. Jamieson’s Dictionary gives as explanation: “Seems the distance between the bow markis which were shot at in the exercise of archery.” In the New English Dictionary: “The distance between the butts in archery” (citing this passage). E and H read bow-schote = 150 to 200 yards.
36 his men. That is, the men of his own battle at the “entry,” not the whole army drawn up in line, as is generally assumed. Cf. Bk. XI. 440-53, and note.
42 his hors he steris. Cf. with the account, professing to be based on Barbour, in Scott’s Lord of the Isles, canto vi., XV.: “The Bruce stood fast,” etc.
49 in-till a lyng. “They quickly took their positions so as to come at each other in a line.”
58 And he doune till the erd can ga. I.e., De Boun; but Sir Herbert Maxwell says Bruce! (Robert the Bruce, p. 205). With this Scottish version of the event cf. the following English one (c. 1326): “When the English had now passed the wood”—i.e., the Torwood—“and were approaching Stirling, behold! the Scots were moving about, as if in flight, on the edge of the grove” (sub memore, i.e., the wood of the New Park), “whom a certain knight, Henry de Boun, with the Welshmen, pursued up to the entry” (introitum, Barbour’s “entre”) “of the grove. For he had it in his mind that, if he should find Robert Bruce there, he would either slay him or bring him back his captive. But when he had come hither, Robert himself issued suddenly from the cover of the wood” (a latebris silvæ); “and the aforesaid Henry, seeing that he could not resist the crowd of Scots, and wishing to retire to his friends, turned his horse; but Robert withstood him, and with the axe which he carried in his hand, smashed in his skull. His squire, while endeavouring to shield and avenge his lord, is overcome by the Scots” (Vita Edw. Sec., p. 202). Gray says the advanced guard under the Earl of Gloucester entered the road within the Park and were repulsed (tost furvont recoillez. Scala., p. 141) by the Scots; and that, as was reported, Robert Bruce here slew a knight, Peris de Mountforth, with an axe. A John de Mountfort was slain at Bannockburn, and in the list cited his name immediately precedes that of Henry de Boun (Annales Londonienses, p. 231, in Chronicles of Edward I. and Edward II., vol. i.). Buchanan places this incident at the beginning of the main battle on Monday as something scarcely worth mentioning (parum quidem dictu) (Rer. Scot. Hist., ed. 1762, chap. xxxix.). Barbour, of course, concentrates on Bruce’s performance, but the Vita Edwardi incidentally corroborates Gray in remarking that in this day’s fighting Gloucester was unhorsed (p. 202), which could have happened only in the Park affair.
67 thai com on. As we see, the De Boun affair was part of a serious skirmish, an attempt to force the road to Stirling through the Park, in which the English van was repulsed. See above on 58, and hereafter on 176. This important fact is usually overlooked, as in Hume Brown’s History, i., p. 158.
140 The layff went. Some, says Gray, fled to the Castle of Stirling (au chastel), the others to the King’s host (Scala., p. 141).
144-6 “Quickly took off their helmets to get air, for they were hot, and covered with perspiration.”
176 twis. I.e., repulsed in the De Boun skirmish, and in that of Randolph and Clifford. These successes were clearly of the greatest importance, in so far as they put heart into the Scots, and prevented their being overawed, as they might well have been, by the greatness and terrifying appearance of the English host. The author of the Gesta Edw. de Carnarvon thus notes that at Bannockburn “they fought on both days” (utrisque diebus pugnaverunt), and the Scots “prevailed” (Chron. Edw. I. and Edw. II., ii. 46).
194 gif yhe think, etc. Bruce here offers his men alternative courses, either to stay and fight or to retreat. Gray tells us that the Scots were on the point of retiring to a stronger position in the Lennox, when Sir Alexander Seton, secretly deserting the English side—no doubt because he saw that the chances of success were now with the Scots—came to Bruce and told him of the shaken condition of the English army, pledging his head that if Bruce attacked next day, he would win easily, and with little loss (Scala., p. 141). Bruce did attack. Seton was an English partisan in February, 1312 (Bain, iii., No. 245). Later he appears on the Scottish side (ibid., 767, etc.).
210 Lordyngis, etc. For Bruce’s speech, see Appendix B.
255-6 The various readings here show that to the scribes the sense was somewhat obscure. Bruce says that, should the English find them weak, and defeat them, they would have no mercy upon them. Skeat, by reading To in 255, and putting a period after oppynly, misses the point. That happyn and that wyn are hypothetical subjunctives. E and H have altered 256.
290 my brothir Neill. Nigel Bruce. See IV. 61, 176.
302 enveronyt. “The strength of this place shall prevent us being surrounded”—always Bruce’s special fear, his men being few in comparison with the enemy. See note on Bk. XIII. 275.
357 The Inglis men sic abaysing, Tuk. Similarly Gray writes that the English had “sadly lost countenance and were in very low spirits” (etoint de trop mal covyne) from what had taken place (Scala., p. 142). “And from that hour,” says the Lanercost Chronicle, “fear spread among the English and greater boldness among the Scots” (p. 225). The rhetorical John de Trokelowe, however, declares that the English were “exasperated” (exacerbati), and firmly determined to be revenged or vanquished on the morrow (Chronica et Annales, p. 83). The last statement, though it would seem to be only a presumption on the chronicler’s part, may apply to the lords, who, Barbour says, urged on their men to “tak a-mendis.” Barbour, Gray, and the Lanercost writer speak for the general mass, and their agreement establishes the fact.
390 bot he war socht. The English certainly feared a night attack. According to Gray, they passed the night under arms, with their horses bitted (p. 142). In the Vita Edwardi also we read that there was no rest for them, and that they spent a sleepless night. “For they thought the Scots would rather attack by night than await battle in the daytime” (pp. 202-3).
392 Doune in the Kers. The Carse is the low-lying ground along Forth side, on which were the “pools” (see note on Bk. XI. 300), and which was thus in a generally marshy condition. The ancient limits of the Carse proper seem to be indicated in the O.S. map by the names Kerse Patrick, Kerse Mill, and Springkerse, all on the 40-feet level. Eastwards the land sinks towards the Forth; westwards it rises slightly to the 50-feet level at the foot of the ridge on which stands St. Ninian’s. This middle division is called “the dryfield lands” in the Old Stat. Act, xviii., p. 388. Friar Baston also has the name: “The dry land (arrida terra) of Stirling” (see note on XI. 360). The English had to keep to the marshy land of the east in order to be clear of the Scottish leaguer in the Park. They thus crossed the Bannock (see below), and kept the “dryfield land” between them and the Scots. Having crossed, they could advance to the “hard feld” (Barbour) from their front. It is of the first importance to understand that the English did camp here, for, if so, the battle was fought on the strip of level, firm ground separating the armies. Gray corroborates Barbour: “The host of the King ... had arrived on a plain towards the water of Forth, beyond Bannockburn—a bad, deep morass with pools” (ruscelle, Scala., p. 142.). Mr. Lang, seeing the difficulty of reconciling this statement with the site of battle as fixed by him and the other historians, says that Gray, in “beyond Bannockburn” (outre Bannockburn), must mean “south of Bannockburn, taking the point of view of his father, at that hour a captive in Bruce’s camp” (History, i., p. 221). But Gray’s hour of writing was forty years later; and Barbour, who says the same thing, cannot be explained away by supposititious hallucination.
407 quhen it wes day. “About the third hour of the day” (Trokelowe, p. 84). On June 24 the sun rises about 4 a.m.
413 Thai maid knychtis. A usual ceremony before an important battle. Those receiving the honour for distinguished conduct in the field were known as “knights-banneret.” Previously they had been only “bachelors,” for which see Glossary.
421 tuk the playne. Note the reiteration of this expression, and cf. what is said on Bk. XI. 544, and above on 392; also Vita Ed., p. 203: “When he (Bruce) learned that the English battles had occupied the plain (campus), he led out his whole army from the grove” (de nemore).
426 richt as angelis schane brichtly. Probably in reference to the white “surcoats” worn by the knights over their armour (cf. Bk. VIII. 232-35). Baston writes: “The English folk, like Heaven’s folk, in splendour shine” (Anglicolæ, quasi cœlicolæ, splendore nitescunt, Scotich. ed. Goodall, ii., lib. xii., chap. xxii.).
429 a schiltrum. A close-packed body of men of any order or size (see Glossary). Cf. Morte Arthure, line 2, 922: “Owte of the scheltrone they schede (separated themselves), as schepe of a folde”; also several other uses in the same poem. Hemingburgh says that Wallace’s “schiltrouns” at Falkirk were round (qui quidem circuli vocabantur “schiltrouns,” ii., p. 180). Skeat questions this, for philological reasons! (see note here).
448 apon fut. I.e., the Scots left the cover of the wood, and advanced to meet the English chivalry on foot, contrary to all contemporary rules of the art of war. Cf. what is said on Bk. XI. 296. “None of them (the Scots) mounted a horse, but every man of them was protected by light armour such as a sword could not easily penetrate.... They marched close-packed like a thick hedge, and such a body could not be easily broken into” (Vita Edw. Sec., p. 203). Also of the Scots: “On their side all were on foot: moreover, chosen men of the highest courage, suitably equipped with very sharp axes and other weapons of war, packing their shields close together in front of them, made the column (cuneum) impenetrable” (Trokelowe, p. 84). The formation, in fact, was that of the famous “shield-wall” of Hastings and other early English battles.
477 Knelyt all doune. So, too, in Chron. de Lanercost: “But when the two armies had come very close all the Scots fell on their knees to say a Paternoster, and committed themselves to God, and asked help from heaven; when they had done this they advanced boldly against the English” (p. 225). This ceremony was directed by Maurice, Abbot of Inchaffray, afterwards Bishop of Dunkeld (Bower, Scotich., lib. xii., ch. xxi.).
488 dout of ded. “Fear of death.”
498 Schir Edward. The author of Vita Edw. says it was commanded by James Douglas, but in this he is wrong (p. 203).
504 frusching of speris, etc. The Lanercost writer, who derived his information, as he himself says, from a trustworthy eyewitness, has a very similar description. The English chargers, he writes, galloped against the Scottish spears as against a thick wood, “whereupon arose an exceeding great and terrible noise from breaking spears and steeds mortally wounded” (p. 225). The Scots, of course, would “stick” the horses, so as to unseat the heavily armoured riders—a serious accident for them (see note on Bk. XI. 598).
519 With speris ... and axis. Of the Scots it is said in Vita Edw.: “They had an axe by the side, and carried spears (lanceas) in their hands” (p. 203). For the “weill grundyn” axes, cf. Trokelowe above, line 448.
535 He held his way. The Scots appear to have attacked with successive battles, each coming up later than, and to the left of, its predecessor—in echelon by the right. So we may infer from Barbour, as well as from the rather obscure description in the Lanercost chronicle: “But they so ordered their army, that two divisions (duæ acies) of it should precede the third, the first on the flank of the second, so that neither should go in front of the other (una ex latere alterius, ita quod neutra aliam præcederet), to be followed by the third, in which was Robert” (p. 225). Gray simply says that the advance guard of the Scots came on in line of schiltrons and engaged the English (Scala., p. 142). Baker alone states that the Scots stood drawn up in solid array behind an artificial “hurdle” covered ditch, and waited the English attack (Chron., p. 56).
537 The nyne battales. Probably, as Mr. Oman suggests (Art of War, p. 574), in the way the French were at Creçy, in three lines of three battles each, the advance guard under Gloucester and Hereford thus forming a separate body (cf. lines 435-7). Mr. Oman gives the tenth, however, to “a reserve under the King” (ibid.). Baker, whose account is the latest and is really a summary essay on tactics, divides the English army into three “wards” (custodias): first, the heavy horsemen, which he tumbles into the “fragile” ditch (see above on 536, and note on Bk. XI. 360); next, the foot with the archers reserved to deal with the enemy in flight (see on Bk. XIII. 51); and, third, the King himself, with the bishops and other “religious” men (Chronic., 56-7).