33 Men sayis. Cf. on 3: “My brothir” is Walter, the High Steward.
75 nane of us. Not true of the Scots-Irish. Cf. note on 8-9.
89 fourty thousand neir. Cf. line 93, and note on 17. The Lanercost chronicler says the English were but “a few country-folk” (paucis et popularibus; p. 238), probably an exaggeration the other way.
95 cot-armour. The surcoat over his armour, bearing his coat-of-arms.
101 till assemmyll. The battle took place near the hill of Faughard or Fagher, about two miles from Dundalk. The spot where Edward Bruce fell is still shown by the natives. The date is given by Hailes, Bain, and others, following the version of the Annals in Camden’s Chronicle as October 5; but in the later edition of the Annals and in the Annals of Ulster and of Clonmacnoise it is precisely fixed as Saturday, October 14, 1318, from which the Lanercost chronicler differs by a day only, October 13 (Lanercost, p. 238; Annals of Ulster, p. 433; Annals of Ireland, p. 359; Annals of Clonmacnoise, p. 281); Fordun also October 14 (Skene, i., p. 348).
104 ruschit with thair fais. In the Lanercost Chronicle it is explained that the Scots were in three battles too far apart, and that thus each as it attacked was disposed of before the next could come to its assistance. Edward was with the third battle (p. 238).
110 Johne de Sowlis als. But John de Soules appears to have been dead circa 1316, when the husband of his “daughter and heir” petitioned Edward II. for his Scottish lands (Bain, iii., No. 530). The date, however, is doubtful.
113 That few ... war slayne. According to the Vita Edw. Sec., five hundred stout men-at-arms (valentes armati) were slain, besides Edward Bruce (p. 238); almost all were slain, says Lanercost, except those only who escaped by flight (p. 238); not a single one escaped, declares Knighton (i., p. 412), but this is absurd. Two thousand, almost all the Scots, were slain, but a few got away (Annals of Ireland, p. 360). Only a few escaped out of thirty thousand (Stevenson, Illustrations, p. 3).
117 Johne Tomassun. No doubt the same John Thomson (Johannes videlicet Thomæ), a stout commoner (valens vernaclus), who in 1333 was holding out in the “peel” of Lochdoon against Edward III. (Scotichr., lib. xiii., chap. xxviii.).
123 Johne cummyn. Skeat prints the verb with a capital, as if “cummyn” was a personal name. Obviously “Johne” is Thomson.