The boy's Froissart

by Jean Froissart

When the English lords perceived the disposition of the Scots, they ordered their men to dismount, take off their spurs, and form three battalions as before. Many new knights were made; and, when the battalions were formed, some of the chief lords brought the young king on horseback along the lines, to encourage the men. The king spoke most graciously to all, and besought them to take every pains to do him honor and preserve their own. He ordered, under pain of death, that no one should advance before the banners of the marshals, or move without orders. Shortly afterwards the battalions were commanded to advance toward the enemy in slow time, keeping their ranks. This was done; and each battalion moved on a considerable space, and came to the ascent of the mountain where the Scots were posted. This manœuvre was intended in order to see whether the enemy would retire, or make any movement; but neither one nor other was to be perceived, and the armies were so near each other that they could see the arms on their fields. The army was ordered to halt to consider what was to be done; and some companions were mounted to skirmish with the enemy, and to examine the passage of the river and their appearance more clearly. They sent heralds to make an offer of retiring on the morrow, if they would pass the river, and fight upon the plain; or, if the Scots would not consent to this, that they would do the same.

When the Scots received this proposal, the chiefs retired to counsel, and returned for answer by the heralds, that they would do neither the one nor the other; that the king and his barons saw that they were in his kingdom, and had burnt and pillaged wherever they had passed; and that, if it displeased the king, he might come and amend it, for they would tarry there as long as it pleased them. When the council of the King of England heard the answer, he ordered it to be proclaimed, that each should take up his quarters where he was, without quitting the ground or his arms: they therefore lay that night very uncomfortably upon the hard ground, among rocks and stones, with their armor on, nor could they get any stakes for the purpose of tying their horses, or procure either litter, or forage, or any bushes to make fires.

The Scots, seeing the English thus take up their quarters, ordered part of the army to remain where the battalions had been drawn up; and the remainder retired to their huts, where they made marvellously great fires, and about midnight such a blasting and noise with their horns, that it seemed as if all the great devils from hell had been come there. Thus were they lodged this night, which was the night of the feast of St. Peter, the beginning of August, 1327, until the next day, when the lords heard mass; afterwards every one armed himself, and the battalions were formed as on the preceding day. When the Scots saw this, they came and lodged themselves on the same ground they had done before; and the two armies remained thus drawn up until noon, when the Scots made no movement to come toward the English, nor did these on their part make any advances, for they dared not to attempt it with so great disadvantage. Several companions passed the river on horseback, as did some of the foot, to skirmish with the Scots, who also quitted their battalions to meet them; and many on each side were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. In the afternoon the lords ordered every one to retire to their quarters, as it seemed to them that they were drawn up to no purpose. In this manner they remained for three days. The Scots, on their side, never quitted the mountain; but there were continued skirmishes on both sides, and many killed and taken prisoners. In the evenings they made large fires, and great noises with their horns and with shouting. The intention of the English lords was to keep the Scots besieged there; for, as they could not well fight with them, they hoped to starve them. They knew from the prisoners that they had neither bread, wine, salt, nor other provision, except cattle, of which they had plenty, that they had seized in the country: of these they might eat, indeed, without bread, which would not be very palatable. But they had some little flour to make such cakes as have been before mentioned, and which some of the English use on their inroads beyond the borders.

The fourth day, in the morning, the English looked for the Scots on the mountain, but saw none of them, for they found they had decamped secretly at midnight. Scouts of horse and of foot were immediately despatched through the mountains to know what was become of them. They found them, about four o’clock, posted upon another mountain, much stronger than that they had left, upon the same river, near a large wood, to be more concealed, and in order more privately to advance or retreat at pleasure.

As soon as this was known, the English had orders to dislodge, and to march in battle array toward the place where the enemy was posted; and they encamped on a mountain opposite. They formed their battalions, and seemed as if they meant to advance to them. The Scots no sooner perceived this, than they sallied out of their quarters, and came and posted themselves by the side of the river, directly in front; but they were unwilling to advance or come nearer. The English could not attack them in such a situation without great disadvantage and loss. They remained full eighteen days in this situation upon this mountain, whence the lords sent frequent heralds to the Scots, to offer to give them full place of plain ground to draw up their battalions, or else they would accept the same from them; but they would not agree to either of these proposals.

The two armies had little comfort during the time they remained in this position. The first night that the English were posted on this second mountain, the Lord James Douglas took with him about two hundred men at arms, and at midnight crossed the river, at such a distance from the camp that he was not noticed, and fell upon the English army most valiantly, shouting, “Douglas forever! Ye shall die, ye thieves of England!” He and his companions killed more than three hundred; and he galloped up to the king’s tent, and cut two or three of its cords, crying, at the same time, “Douglas! Douglas forever!” when he set off; and in his retreat he lost some of his followers, but not many: he returned to his friends on the mountain. Nothing more of the sort was attempted from that time; but the English in future kept a strong and attentive guard, for they were fearful of another attack from the Scots, and had placed sentinels and scouts to give notice of the smallest movement of the enemy; the chief lords also slept in their armor. There were frequent skirmishes, and many lives lost on both sides. The twenty-fourth day from the time they had received intelligence of the enemy, a Scots knight was taken prisoner, who, sore against his will, gave an account to the lords of the state of the enemy. He was so closely examined, that he owned his lords had given orders that morning for every one to be armed by vespers, and follow the banner of Lord James Douglas; that it was to be kept secret; but he was not for a certainty acquainted with their intentions further. Upon this the English lords held a council; and they judged, from the information of the Scots knight, that the enemy might perhaps come in full force at night to attack them on both sides at once, and from their sufferings by famine, which they could endure no longer, make it a very bloody and doubtful combat. The English formed into three battalions, and posted themselves before their quarters, on three separate spots of ground. They made large fires, in order to see better, and left their pages in their quarters to take care of their horses. They remained under arms all the night, and each was placed under his own standard or banner.

Toward daybreak two Scots trumpeters fell in with one of the patrols, who took them, and brought them before the lords of the council, to whom they said, “My lords, why do you watch here? You are losing your time; for we swear, by our heads, that the Scots are on their march home since midnight, and are now four or five leagues off, and they left us behind, that we might give you the information.” The English said that it would be in vain to follow them, as they could never overtake them; but, fearing deceit, the lords ordered the trumpeters to close confinement, and did not alter the position of the battalions until four o’clock. When they saw that the Scots were really gone, they gave permission for each to retire to his quarters, and the lords held a council to consider what was to be done. Some of the English, however, mounted their horses, passed the river, and went to the mountain which the Scots had quitted, and found more than five hundred large cattle, which the enemy had killed, as they were too heavy to carry with them, and too slow to follow them, and they wished not to let them fall into the hands of the English alive. They found there, also, more than three hundred caldrons, made of leather with the hair on the outside, which were hung on the fires full of water and meat, ready for boiling. There were also upward of a thousand spits with meat on them, prepared for roasting; and more than ten thousand pairs of old worn-out shoes, made of undressed leather, which the Scots had left there. There were found five poor English prisoners, whom the Scots had bound naked to the trees, and some of them had their legs broken. They untied them, and sent them away, and then returned to the army, just as they were setting out on their march to England, by orders from the king and council.

They followed all that day the banners of the marshals, and halted at an early hour in a beautiful meadow, where there was plenty of forage for their horses; and much need was there of it, for they were so weakened by famine, that they could scarce move. The next day they decamped betimes, and took up their quarters still earlier, at a large monastery within two leagues of Durham. The king lay there that night, and the army in the fields around it, where they found plenty of grass, pulse, and corn. They remained there quiet the next day; but the king and lords went to see the church of Durham. The king paid his homage to the church and the bishopric, which he had not before done, and gave largesses to the citizens.

They found there all their carriages and baggage, which they had left in a wood thirty-two days before at midnight, as has been related. The inhabitants of Durham, finding them there, had brought them away at their own cost, and placed them in empty barns. Each carriage had a little flag attached to it, that it might be known. The lords were much pleased at finding them again.

The king and nobles reposed two days at Durham, and the army in its environs, for there would not have been sufficient room to lodge them in that city. They had all their horses well shod, and set out on their march toward York. They made such haste, that in three days they arrived there, and found the queen mother, who received the king and nobles with great joy, as did all the ladies of the court and city. The king disbanded the army, and gave permission for every one to return to his home, and made many acknowledgments to the earls, barons, and knights for the services they had rendered him by their advice and prowess. The knights made out their accounts for horses which had been ruined or lost, or had died, and gave them in to the council; and also a statement of their own expenses, which Sir John de Hainault took upon him as his own debt toward his followers, for the king and his ministers could not immediately collect such a sum as their horses amounted to; but he gave them sufficient for their own expenses, and to carry them back to their own country.