405 eftir the Kyng. Cf. preceding note.
412 the tothir man that tuk the wall. “The second man to reach the top of the wall.”
433 Malis of Strathern. Barbour is quite wrong in placing the Earl of Strathearn in Perth, and his son on the Scottish side. Both were still in the English interest. Malise of Stratherne, son of the Earl of Stratherne, is in English pay November, 1309 (Bain, iii., No. 121). The Earl appears to have been at Berwick during the winter of 1310-1311 (Bain, iii., No. 208); and it is no doubt his son who on January 28, 1313, after the fall of Perth (see on 338), is still in receipt of an allowance from Edward II. (ibid., No. 299). Malis, Earl of Strathearn, is among the signatories to the 1320 letter to the Pope (Act. Parl. Scot. I., p. 114).
448 thai war kynde to the cuntre. “They were related to the country”—i.e., they were Scots (see on 338). The Lanercost account is the contrary of this; it is there said that on the morrow of the capture, a Tuesday, Bruce had the chief burgesses of the town (meliores burgenses), who were of the Scottish nation, put to death, but allowed the English to depart in freedom. This writer errs, however, as to the fate of Olifard, a Scot, who, he says, was sent in bonds (ligatus) far off to the Isles (p. 222); for Olifard was in England a few months afterwards, and there is no mention of any escape or exchange (Bain, iii., p. xviii). Fordun’s version is that the treacherous folk (perfida gens), both Scots and English, were slain, but that Bruce, in his mercy, spared the common people (plebi), and gave pardon to those who asked for it (Gesta Annalia, cxxix.).
452 wallis gert he tummyll doune. Bruce’s usual policy with fortified places. See on Bk. X. 496. The Lanercost chronicler says he completely destroyed the town (p. 222); Fordun that he destroyed the wall and ditches, and burned everything else (ibid.).
461 Obeysit all. Not quite, in 1308. Dundee was in English hands in April, 1312, when reinforcements were being sent to its “rescue” (Bain, iii., p. 401); and in 1313, according to Barbour himself (Bk. X. 800-1). So was Banff (Watt’s History of Aberdeen and Banff, p. 68). Bain assigns to June, 1308, a note of instructions regarding Scotland, in which two wardens are appointed for “beyond the Scottish sea between the Forth and Orkeneye,” with 120 men-at-arms, “besides garrisons.” The “guardians of Scotland,” however, are told “that it is the King’s pleasure they take truce from Robert de Bruys, as from themselves, as long as they can”—an indication of the growing power of Bruce, emphasized by Barbour (Bain, iii., No. 47).
497 With all the folk, etc. The Lanercost writer explains this raid as being on account of the discord between the English King and his barons. With Edward Bruce, he says, went Robert himself, Alexander de Lindsay, and James Douglas, with their following, which they had brought together “from the remote isles of Scotland” (p. 212).
500 ryotit gretly the lande. The people of Galloway had paid tribute to be left alone (see on Bk. VIII. 391), but, says the Lanercost writer, they made no account of this, and in one day slew many of the more noble men of Galloway, and subjugated nearly the whole country, the Galloway men who could escape flying to England (p. 212).
502 Ingrame the Umphrevell. In June, 1308, Umfraville, with two others, was made a warden of Galloway, Annandale, and Carrick (Bain, iii., No. 47).
509 als Amery. Amery St. John; but there is no one on record of this name. Aymer de Valence was still a warden, but in September, 1307, when Bruce was raiding Galloway (see on Bk. VIII. 391), John de St. John was one of “the greater men” there (Bain, iii., No. 15). “Amery St. John” is referred to again in Bk. XVI. 506.