174 Bot quhar worschip; i.e., in fair fight on the field of battle.
192 Bot lay lurkand. On February 6 there is a letter from Edward to the Bishop of Chester, his Treasurer, expressing “great wonder at hearing no news of Sir Aymer de Valence and his forces since he went to Ayr,” and requesting him to order Valence, Percy, Sir John de St. John and others to send particulars of what they are doing and of the state of affairs. He states also that “he hears they have done so badly that they do not wish him to know” (Bain, ii., No. 1895). On February 11 there are letters to the same effect, sent direct to Valence, the Earls of Gloucester and Hereford, St. John, and Percy (ibid., 1896).
203 Schir Gauter the Lile. Sir Walter de Lisle.
205 schavalduris. Skeat explains this as “wanderers,” and says “the right form seems to be shaveldour, a vagrant” (Glossary). Jamieson takes it to mean “wanderers in the woods, subsisting by hunting.” There were bands of “schavaldurs” on the Border, who robbed and plundered (Bain, iii., No. 675); but John de Harcla had “schavaldurs” in his employment (ibid., p. 128). Clerk “Helias” was a schavaldus nobilis (Stevenson, p. 2; Bk. XVI. 441 note). The exact force of the word is not yet clear. Probably they were what later times knew as “broken men.”
231 the Clyffurd. Cf. note on Bk. I. 282. Ancestor of the Cliffords, Earls of Cumberland.
256 Toward Douglas. In the valley of the Douglas (Gael: dubh glas, black water), a tributary of the Clyde, in Upper Lanarkshire. In Bain’s Calendar is a petition from one of the garrison in Douglas Castle, “when Sir Robert de Brus and Sir James de Douglas attacked it, the year when the late King (Edward I.) died” (iii., No. 682).
296 manrent. “Homage”; Scots form of “manred” (A.S. mannraéden, homage, allegiance). “Bonds of manrent” are a familiar form of association with some great noble in later Scottish history.
307 Palme Sonday. March 19, 1307.
317 mantill. For long a mantle or cloak was the upper garment of the Scots, rich and poor.