712 thai sall let thame trumpit ill. Evidently in allusion to line 680. “Trumpeting” seems to have been the prelude to any operation. Or the phrase may be in French idiom, introducing the verb tromper, to deceive, which, however, would be unusual for Barbour.
731 blew hornys and fyres maid. Cf. note on 482.
735 the nycht wes fallyn. According to Le Bel, a Scottish knight was that day captured, who, much against his will, informed them that in the morning the Scots lords had arranged that every man was to be armed at vespers (68), and that each was to follow the banner of Douglas wherever he should go, and that every man was to keep it secret; but the Scots knight did not know for certain what their purpose was. The English judged that the Scots, forced by unendurable famine, were about to make an attack on their host (p. 68). Next day it was found that the Scots had departed “before midnight” (p. 69), “leaving the park by night” (Gesta Edw., p. 97). Certain allusions would lead us to infer that the English had, to some extent, got round the Scots. Le Bel declares that the Scots were thought to be planning an attempt to break through the English on two sides (brisier nostre ost à deux costés, pp. 68-9). The Lanercost writer says the Scots got away to their own country “by moving round the army of the King” (circueundo regis exercitum versus Scotiam pertransirent, p. 259). They were surrounded, according to Knighton (i., 445). Cf. also extract 957 from Bain in note on 490, and lines 800, 801. Le Bel says that he and some “companions” had to cross the river next day to get to the Scottish encampment, where they found abundance of beef in various forms. The account in the Scalacronica is simply that, the third night after the Douglas affair, the Scots broke camp and marched to their own country (Scala., p. 155). Several English chroniclers attribute the escape of the Scots to treachery on their own side (Murimuth, 53, 64; Knighton, i. 445; Gesta Edw., 97, etc.).
746 summer. “Sumpter-horse,” as, with a different spelling, in Wallace, iv. 53; “Thar tyryt sowmir so left thai in-to playne.”
766-7 till consale, etc. “When the lords heard this they took counsel ... and said that to chase after the Scots would profit them nothing, for they could not be overtaken” (Le Bel, p. 69).
770 Kyng Robert than. If so, Bruce must have hurried back from Ireland, for on July 12 he granted a truce of one year to the people of Ulster (Bain, iii. 922). This Irish campaign appears to have been a failure (ibid., 1191). These are our only allusions to it. In Scala. it is said that it was the Earls who heard they were besieged (p. 155).
774 tuenty thousand. “Five thousand” (Scala., p. 155).
776 Marche and Angous. “Patrick, Earl of March, and John the Steward, who styled himself Earl of Angous” (Scala., p. 155). March (cf. note on Bk. XI. 46) had joined the Scots some time before February, 1317 (Bain, iii. 536). Sir John Stewart of Boncle, or Bonkill, son of Sir Alexander (see on Bk. IX. 692), was created Earl of Angus by Bruce (Scots Peerage, i. 169).
781 the sammyn day. “The very day of their departure” (Scala., 155).
798 Had vittale with thame. On the contrary, Gray declares that if they had had enough provisions they would have gone back; they were such fierce warriors (p. 155).