353-4 These lines appear to mean that Douglas alternately advanced and retired so as to draw the English on. The Scots on the next day, according to Le Bel, “ran forwards and backwards in skirmishing” (couroient et racouroient tout en eshcarmuchant, p. 64).
374 Schir Williame of Erskyn. It is noted that Bruce died in debt to Erskine (Excheq. Rolls, i., p. 404).
396 Tymbrys for helmys. Wooden crests on helmets, common in the fourteenth century. Apparently the novelty was not in the crests, but in the material; hitherto they would have been made of cuir-bouilli (see Bk. XII., 23, note). Edward III. bore an eagle: “Tymbre de legle (? l’aigle)” (Bain, iii., p. lxviii.).
399 crakkis of war. Early cannon (cf. on Bk. XVII., line 250). It is not easy to understand how the English carried these with them in their forced marches over hill and dale. Le Bel does not mention them. They do not appear again in warfare till Creçy (1346), if then (Oman, Art of War, p. 611).
402 That nycht. “The night of St. Peter in August” (la nuit Saint-Pierre d’aoust, Le Bel, 64). St. Peter’s Day was August 1, but as Mass was heard on the morrow, the “night” was probably that of July 31, St. Peter’s Eve.
405 The Inglis men. Le Bel (Froissart) does not relate the incidents given by Barbour, or these operations, except in general terms. Many “companions,” he says, with the assistance of their horses, crossed the river, and some on foot; prisoners were taken, and others wounded or killed on both sides; and this went on continuously for three days (p. 64). The English learned from their prisoners that the Scots had neither bread, salt, nor wine, and so they hoped to starve them out; but they had plenty of beef, and were not particular about how they ate it, without salt or bread, “boiled or roasted as it liked them;” as well as some oatmeal, of which they made cakes (i., p. 65).
431 all arayit. Each of the first two days, Le Bel tells us, the English were drawn up in order of battle, though it came only to fruitless skirmishing.
482 Fyres in gret foysoun. The Scots, writes Le Bel, always made a wonderful number of fyres between night and morning; and by this and their blowing of horns and shouting together it seemed as if all the devils of hell were assembled there (pp. 64, 65; Johnes, i., ch. xviii.).
486 Twa myle. “Two small leagues” (Le Bel). “A short league” (Scala.). “League,” as usual, signifies just a mile, as when Le Bel credits the Scots with an average day’s march of from twenty to thirty-two “leagues” (p. 4).
488 defend thame bettir. “A much stronger place than before” (Le Bel, 65).