578-85 He convoyit thame so narrowly, etc. “Some, however, lagging in the flight, were slain by the Scots, who followed them swiftly (velociter)” (Chron. de Lanercost, p. 227). “The King escaped with great trouble” (a graunt payn, Scala., p. 143).
587 Wynchburch. On the road from Linlithgow to Edinburgh.
592 so feill. According to the Lanercost historian, the King was accompanied by many knights and footmen (p. 227).
612 Erll Patrik. Of March. See note on Bk. XI. 46. “Patrick Earl of March received him honourably, etc., for at that time he was his man” (soun homager. Scala., 143.).
615-16 A bate, etc. “When he came thither (Dunbar) he embarked on a ship, and with his own company put in at Berwick” (Vita Edw. Sec., p. 205). “Thence the King went by sea to Berwick and afterwards to the south” (Scala., 143). “At Dunbar the King, with his special friends, embarked on a boat (scapham) for Berwick” (Lanercost, p. 227). Barbour says they landed at Bamborough on the coast of Yorkshire, and in line 645 gives the number who thus accompanied the King as seventeen.
619-21 The laiff, etc. “The others (see above), not having a ship, come (to Berwick) by land” (Vita Edw. Sec., p. 205). The King, says the Lanercost writer, left all the others to their fate, who, however, came safe and sound to England (p. 228).
631 The Kyng eschapit. According to Baker, “no mortal ingenuity, neither the swiftness of the horses nor the cover on the way (involucra locorum) could have kept the King from capture by the Scots,” had not Christ Himself, at the intercession of His Mother, brought him out of Scottish territory, as both the King and his companions afterwards confessed. In his peril Edward vowed to found a monastery dedicated to the “Mother of God,” where twenty-four friars might study theology (Baker, p. 58); and, in fulfilment thereof, established Oriel College at Oxford (Hailes, ii. 57 note).
667-8 The castell and the towrys ... doune gert he myne. Stirling Castle thus lay in ruins till 1336-7, when it was rebuilt for Edward III. “after the conquest,” probably on the old plan. Stone walls and towers were erected, a “peel” of wood, to the north the walls (parietes) of which were plastered over, and various inner buildings for the garrison, etc., also of wood daubed with mortar and roofed with turf (Bain, iii., pp. 364-8). The rebuilding and repairs cost £280, equal to about £4,000 now (Bain, lviii.).
687 The Erll wes changit. In Vita Edw. Sec. (pp. 208-9) is recorded the exchange of the Earl for the wife of Bruce and other Scottish captives, including the Bishop of Glasgow. On October 2, 1314, “Robert, Bishop of Glasgow, the Countess Carrick, wife of Robert de Brus, with his sister and daughter and Donald de Mar,” were at Carlisle Castle, “to be taken thence to a place arranged by the Earl of Essex and Hereford and the Sheriff” (Bain, iii., No. 393). Mar is, no doubt, the “young earl” referred to in the Vita Edw., which says further that Edward gave to his sister, Hereford’s wife, all the Scottish captives since the time of Edward I.—fifteen and more—to procure the release of her husband (p. 208).