BOOK XV.
8 In battale. The date of the English defeat at Connor is on or shortly after September 10, 1315. The Annals are not clear on the point, and the capture of William de Burgh on the 10th seems to refer to one of the earlier skirmishes mentioned in the previous book (Annals, p. 346).
39 The barell-ferraris. See Glossary. Cf. “Barell-ferrers they brochede, and broghte them the wyne” (Morte Arthure, line 2714).
56 Quha mast, etc. “Who most would get the upper hand.”
63 That evir durst, etc. “No one dared to wait for his comrade.”
75 Fizwarine. The Annals suggest that he was not captured till early in the following year, and he is not mentioned among the captives at “Conyers” (pp. 349, 346).
83 Mont-peleris. Apparently Montpelier, then famous for its School of Medicine, an Arab foundation.
98 Syne thidder. The account in the Annals states that “Baron de Donull” made head against the Scots, but that they chased his men boldly as far as “Cragfergus” (p. 346). The castle had been provisioned against the Scots (Bain, iii., No. 479).
100 Palmesonday. April 4, 1316. The garrison was suffering great privations from lack of food (Annals, Fragment, p. 297).
101 Tysday. Tuesday in Easter-week, 1316, was April 13.
105 Paske evin. Saturday night, April 10.
107 Devilling. Dublin. According to the Annals, Maundeville came with men from Drogheda, arriving at Carrickfergus on April 8, and inflicting a defeat upon the Scots, who lost about thirty men (p. 350).
111 The Mawndvell, ald Schir Thomas. So also in Annals (p. 350).
131 the day. April 11. The Annals place this (the second) attack on the Scots upon Easter-eve, April 10 (in vigilia Pasche., p. 350). Similarly St. Mary’s Annals, p. 282. Nothing is said about a breach of truce. Barbour, however, gives evidence of having been thoroughly well informed. See below on 205-9.
137 the Kyng. I.e., Edward Bruce, apparently not crowned King till some weeks later, May, 1316, “a little after the feast of Philip and James” (May 1). The Annals really seem to fix it in 1315 (p. 345), but they have already stated that Edward did not land till May 26. The chronology is confused (cf. on Bk. xiv. 21). See also line 161.
181 Gib Harpar. Probably Gilbert the Harper, or minstrel. His fate is told in Bk. XVIII.
183 of his stat. These words suggest that he was of some special class.
192 reft the liff. Sir Thomas Maundeville was slain (Annals, p. 350; St. Mary’s Annals, p. 282).
205-9 Skeat evidently thinks that these lines refer to the same incident as that described above in lines 190-2, and actually prints in his rubric “as I said” as a summary of Barbour, though Barbour has nothing to suggest these words. But the person previously slain is “the Mawndvell”—i.e., Sir Thomas himself, whom Barbour has already so denominated (111). The present victim is a Maundeville whose “propir nayme” he does not know, but who, we learn from St Mary’s Annals, was “John Maundevyll,” brother of Sir Thomas (p. 282).
259 The castell till him yhalde. Carrickfergus Castle was surrendered (Annals, Fragment, p. 297; Bain, iii. 970) apparently in September, 1316 (Fragment, ibid.). Thus, if begun after Connor, the siege must have occupied the Scots for a year—the greater part of 1316.
260 Till sauf thame thair liffis. The defenders were granted life and limb (vita et membrum. Fragment, p. 297).
272 the Tarbard. Tarbert, Kintyre: Gaelic Tairbeart, a portage, an isthmus.
274 draw thar schippes. According to the Magnus Saga, chap. xx., Magnus, King of Norway, agreed with the King of Scotland, Edgar, in 1102, that he should have “all the islands to the west of Scotland, between which and the mainland a helm-carrying ship could pass.” Magnus then had “a small ship” drawn across the isthmus at Tarbert, with himself sitting at the helm, and so secured Kintyre. “There is a narrow ridge between it (Kintyre) and Scotland, so that ships are often drawn across it.”
292 Ald prophesy. This probably derives from the incident told of above.
299 Johne of Lorne. Barbour is quite wrong as to the career and fate of John of Lorn or Argyll (“de Ergadia,” “Daragille,” in records). He had escaped to England in 1309 (see Bk. 128), and was Admiral of Edward’s fleet in the west by 1311 (Bain, iii., No. 203). In the summer of 1314 he went to the Irish coast with a fleet (355), and was in command there in 1315-1316 (No. 479, Hist. and Municip. Docts., Ireland, p. 344). He returned from the Irish service in 1316 “impotent in body,” and received a pension from Edward II., but died a year and a half later, probably towards the end of 1317, in London (Bain, iii., No. 912).
318 the Forest. Ettrick Forest.
321 Eumond de Calion, a Gascoune. Correctly, as in records, “Remon Caillau,” or “Reymound Cailough” (Bain, iii., Nos. 470, 477). He was perhaps a relative of the Bishop of Durham who died in the same year, 1316, “Recardus Kellow” (Lanercost, p. 233). Other Gascons are mentioned as having taken part in this sally—Arnant de Poillant, Pierres de Logar, etc. (ibid.). The information in Bain is contained in letters from the Governor of Berwick (see next note), and petitions to the King from some of the townspeople.
325 He had than Berwik in keping. No; Sir Moryz or Maurice de Berkele(y) was “warden of Berwick-on-Tweed.” Caillou was only one of “the King’s sergeant-at-arms” (Bain, iii., No. 477)—i.e., an officer of the royal household.
327 a gret cumpany. A “great part of the garrison” went out on this foray. They had been forbidden to go out by the warden, but Berwick was in desperate straits for want of food, and they replied that “it was better to die fighting than starve” (Bain, 477). The date of the foray is February 14, 1316.
329 the nethir end of Tevydaill, etc. Teviotdale, locally so pronounced. The forayers went as far as “within two leagues (miles) of Melros Abbey” (Bain, 477). The Merse is South Berwickshire, the “March,” or frontier.
333 Schir Adam of Gordoun. See note on Bk. XI. 46. He became a “Scottis man” apparently after Bannockburn. His lands of Gordon were in East Lothian.
335 drif away thar fe. “They took many prisoners and cattle” (Bain, 470).
*337-*338. These lines mean that Gordon saw only small bodies (“scaill”; cf. line 344*) of the English in retreat, and the “swains” in possession of the prey—i.e., driving the cattle. Cf. lines *353-*354 and 339-341. “Scaill” is a noun here as in *353.
*354 a childrome. The scattered bands assembled in one body to deal with the Scots in pursuit, and sent on the cattle in front. For “childrome,” or “schiltrome,” see note on Bk. XII. 249.
341 made a staill. “Staill” is certainly to be preferred to “scaill,” which is contrary to the sense of the passage. Skeat, in his note, admits as much. Cf. similar use in Bk. XVII. 97. The forayers “made a stand” to defend the cattle from the Scots. The fight was at Scaithmoor. (Scala., p. 143).
351 on his luf, etc. “Let each man think on his love.”
375-6 thai wer, etc. “Though the English were very many more than the Scots.” Barbour’s usual reckless use of “thai.”
377 wes ded. The writer in Bain did not know whether Caillou was dead or only a prisoner (No. 470).
381 sum has slayne. The foragers lost 20 men-at-arms and 60 foot, killed or prisoners (Bain, No. 470). “The Gascons were slain to a man” (furount mors toutes playnes de Gascoins. Scala., p. 143). The Scots, of course, recovered the castle, and the Berwick garrison were soon dying of hunger on the walls (ibid., No. 477).
392 hap him fell. “If it so happened.”
393 That. I.e., the killing of the “cheftune,” or leader of his opponents.
405 full gret invy. Neville appears to have had a weakness in this way. He had already slain a cousin of Robert Bruce in a quarrel as to which was the greater lord (Scala., p. 143). He was known as “the Peacock of the North,” which significantly describes him (Bain, iii., p. xxv).
435 Befor Berwyk. The fight between Douglas and Neville took place at Berwick (Scala., p. 143; Gesta Edw. de Carn., p. 56). The Gesta dates it June, 1319; Barbour seems to place it in 1316, but says nothing definite; nor does Gray, “another time” (Scala., p. 143), introducing it, like Barbour, after the Skaithmoor fight, but unlike Barbour, also after Lintalee.
477 no mycht till us. “Douglas with his yeomanry shall have no power compared with ours.”
503 Schir Ralf the Nevell, etc. There is on record a petition by “Rauf de Neville” to the King asking for assistance in ransoming himself, and explaining that he, with two of his brothers, was taken prisoner on the day on which his brother Sir Robert was killed by the Scots (Bain, iii., No. 527).
504 the Baroun of Hiltoun. Apparently Sir Robert de Hilton, who is a witness in 1310 to a grant by the Bishop of Durham of a manor in Scotland (Bain, iii., No. 1147). Hilton is near Berwick.
505 othir of mekill mycht. “Many of his (Neville’s) company were captured, and the rest put to flight” (Gesta, p. 56). Cf. line 510.