Life of Sir William Wallace of Elderslie, Vol. 1 (of 2)

by John D. Carrick

“The government of the town was declared to be by a mayor, four provosts (præpositis), and twenty-four councillors,” &c.

In 1283, when Edward was preparing for his invasion of Wales, he commissioned one John Bishop, a burgess of Lynne, to purchase merchandise (mercimonia) for him in Scotland. This is rather a singular instance of the superiority of the Scots market in those days.[14]

The other cities in Scotland, though inferior to Berwick, were not without their proportion of trade. About the same time, the sheriffs of Cumberland and Lancaster were ordered to send people to purchase fish on the west coast of Scotland, and convey them to the depôt at Chester; and one Adam de Fulcham was commissioned to furnish 100 barrels of sturgeons, of 500 weight each, 5000 salt fish, also dried fish. The fish of Aberdeen were so well cured, that they were exported to the principal fishing port of Yarmouth.

Four hundred fish of Aberdeen (perhaps salmon), one barrel sturgeons, five dozen lampreys, fifty pounds whale oil, balen (for burning, perhaps, during the voyage), and a half last of herrings, constituted the fish part of the provisions put on board of a ship fitted out at Yarmouth for bringing the infant Queen of Scotland from the court of her father, the King of Norway. The fish of Aberdeen cost somewhat under three pennies; stock-fish under one penny each, and the half last of herring 30s.[15]

In the reign of Alexander III., the merchants of St Omer’s, and partners of the Florentine houses of Pullici and Lambini, had established correspondents in Scotland; and one Richard de Furbur, a trader of the inland town of Roxburgh, had sent factors and supercargoes to manage his business in foreign countries, and various parts of Britain.

The exports of Scotland, at this time, consisted of wool and woolfells, hides, black cattle,[16] fish, salted and cured, horses, greyhounds, falcons, pearls, and herrings, particularly those caught in Lochfyne, which had a preference, and found a ready market among the French, who came and exchanged their wines at a place still known by the name of French Foreland; and so much was wine a regular understood barter, that Lochfyne (Lochfion), or the Wine Loch, became the only name for one of the most extensive arms of the Western Ocean on the Scottish coast. The pearl was a more ancient branch of traffic, and said to have been in request among the Romans. The Scottish pearl, however, appears to have been partially superseded in the French market, by the introduction of an article of superior lustre from the East. The goldsmiths of Paris, therefore, made a trade regulation, forbidding any worker in gold or silver to set any Scotch pearls along with Oriental ones, except in large jewels for churches. The greyhounds,[17] however, kept up their price; and the Scottish falcons were only rivalled by those of Norway.

The reader may have some idea of the quantity of wine consumed at the table of Alexander III., from the circumstance of one hundred and seventy-eight hogsheads being supplied in the year 1263, and sixty-seven hogsheads and one pipe furnished the following year. The difference in the quantity of these two years may have been occasioned by the battle of Largs having taken place on the 2d October 1263; after which there would, no doubt, be a considerable influx of barons and their followers to the royal presence, to partake of the festivities incident to the occasion.[18]

Horses were, it is said, an article of importation as well as exportation with the Scots in the thirteenth century. Alexander I. rode a fine Arabian; and, in the Norwegian account of Haco’s invasion, we are told that a large body of Scottish knights appeared on Spanish steeds, which were completely armed. It is probable, however, that the warriors so mounted might have been the forces of the Temple, as this wealthy order had been some time before established in the country; and its services would no doubt be required on so stirring an occasion.

Asia, in the thirteenth century, was the grand military school for the nations of Europe; and every country having representatives in the armies of the crusaders, the improvements that took place in the art of war were quickly transfused through the various kingdoms of Christendom; and the offensive and defensive armour of each was, therefore, nearly the same. The warriors of Scotland and England assimilated very closely to each other; and, with the exception, perhaps, of the glaive-men and the bill-men of the English, and the Highlanders and Isles-men of the Scots, no material difference could be discovered. The Scots, as well as the English, had “men-at-arms,” who fought on foot; and while the latter used the lance, the former were armed with a spear of no common length. These men among the Scots were selected on account of their stature and strength, and were generally placed in the front-rank of the squares, being completely enclosed in defensive armour, which consisted of steel helmets, a tunic, stuffed with wool, tow, or old cloth, with a habergeon, or shirt of iron rings, the joints defended by plates of the same metal. The stubbornness with which they maintained their ranks may very reasonably be supposed to have acquired for the Scottish phalanx or schiltron, that high character for firmness and obstinate valour for which it was so long distinguished.

Hauberks of different kinds, with padded or quilted pourpoints, having iron rings set edgeways, were generally worn. In the early part of the reign of Alexander III, chain-mail was first introduced into Scotland by the crusaders; it was formed of four rings, joined to a fifth, and all firmly secured by rivets. Eastern armour, however, had appeared in the country before this period, as we find that Alexander I. had a splendid suit of Arabian manufacture, richly ornamented with jewels, with a spear and shield of silver, which, along with his Arabian steed, covered with a fair mantle of fine velvet, and other rich housings, he dedicated to the patron Saint of Scotland, within the church of St Andrew’s, in the early part of the thirteenth century. This was considered so valuable a donation, as to require the sanction of David, the heir-apparent of the throne.[19]