658 our stycht. “Our fixed purpose or determination.” Cf. A.S. stihtan, to establish (Skeat). The Morte Arthure has the related verb, “styhtyll tha steryn men”—i.e., “place these stern men” (line 157): styhtlen, to dispose.
659 Angus of Ile. Angus Macdonald, known as Angus Oig (“the younger”). His elder brother, Alexander of Islay, or of the Isles, was in the English interest, and had married Juliana of Lorn, sister of John of Lorn. Their father, Angus Mor (“the big or elder”), had supported the Bruce party during his life, taking an active part with it in 1286. Angus also was English (Rot. Scot., i., 40, 41) till the appearance of Bruce. His lands were in Kintyre (see further Scots Peerage, i., 36, 37).
666 Donavardyne. The castle of Dunaverty, at the south end of Kintyre. It was being besieged, for some days at least, before September 22, by the English pursuing Bruce (Bain, ii., Nos. 1833, 1834), who believed that he was inside (Hemingburgh, ii. 249; Trivet, p. 410).
680 Rauchryne. Now Rathlinn, off the north coast of Ireland towards Kintyre. Dean Monro (1549) calls it Rachlinn, but Jamieson gives ten variations of the name from Archdall’s Monastic. Hibern., including Rachryne and Rochrinne, “from the multitude of trees with which it abounded in ancient times.” Surprise has been expressed that Bruce should have chosen for retreat an island four miles off the Irish coast, which was within the territory of the Bissets of Antrim, strong English partisans, and in which he could be trapped by a fleet. Not, however, till January 29-30, 1307, do we find a fleet in being, supplied by Hugh Bysset and John de Mentieth, which was to operate in “the Isles on the Scottish coast” “in putting down Robert de Brus and his accomplices lurking there, and destroying their retreat” (Bain, ii., p. xlix, Nos. 1888, 1889). Hemingburgh says (and Trivet, 410) that Bruce had gone “to the farthest isles of that region” (in extremas insulas, ii. 249). “Was lurking in remote island” is the account in Lanercost, p. 205.
688 strait off Marrok. The Strait of Gibraltar, so called also by Chaucer in the Man of Lawes Tale.
696 the mole. The “Mull” of Kintyre. Gaelic maoil = a promontory, a borrow of the Norse múli. It is “le Moel de Kintyr” in an indenture in Bain, ii., No. 1941.
745 loud and still. A romance phrase for “in all ways,” “under all circumstances.” Henryson has it in his Robene and Makyne, “I haif thee luvit loud and still.”
BOOK IV.
10-12 off na degree ... Nothir of the kyrk, etc. The Lanercost writer notes that among those hanged at this time were not only “common folk and countrymen” (simplices laici et rurales), but also “knights, clerics, and prebendaries”—the latter in spite of their profession that they were “members of the church” (p. 204).
13 byschop Robert. Robert Wischard, or Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow since 1273. He had been, at one time, a Guardian of the Kingdom, and up to 1306 had taken the oath of fealty to Edward six times. He had taken a share in the rising of Wallace, had absolved Bruce for his murder of Comyn, and had furnished the robes for his coronation, further stirring up the people by declaring that to fight against Edward was as meritorious as to go on a Crusade. Edward sent to the Pope a long list of charges on these lines (Palgrave, pp. 340-350). He was captured, “as a man of war,” in the castle of Cupar, Fife, shortly before June 18 (Bain, ii., No. 1780; Palgrave, p. 349); at which Edward was “almost as much pleased as if it had been the Earl of Carrick” (Bain, ii., 1786). He was kept a prisoner till after Bannockburn (see note on Bks. I. 354, XIII. 687; and Scot. Hist. Rev., vol. v., pp. 86-88).