Now stont the heued above the tubrugge,
Faste bi Waleis, soth forte sugge,
After socour of Scotlond longe he mowe prye,
Ant after help of Fraunce, met halt hit to lye,
Ich wene.
Betere him were in Scotlond,
With is ar in ys hond,
To pleyen othe grene.
Ant the body hongeth at the galewes faste
With yrnene claspes longe to laste,
Forte wyte wel the body, and Scottysh to garste,
Foure and twenti the beoth to sothe ate laste,
By nychte,
Yef eny were so hardi
The body to remny,
Also to dyhte.”
Fraser left two daughters, his co-heirs, one of whom married Sir Patrick Fleming, ancestor of the Earls of Wigton; and the other named Mary, was the wife of Sir Gilbert Hay, ancestor of the Marquess of Tweedale. From Alexander Fraser his brother the Barons Saltoun and Lovat descended.
The arms of Simon Frazer were, sable, semée of roses argent; but the descendants of his brother bear, azure, three cinque foils argent.
After this notice of so distinguished a leader among the Scots, the reader may reasonably be supposed to feel some curiosity respecting the English general,
SIR JOHN SEGRAVE.
From the researches of Mr Nicolas, it appears that this eminent Baron was the eldest son of Nicholas Baron Segrave; and at his father’s death, in the 23d Edward I., was thirty-nine years of age. In the 54th Henry III., he married Christian, daughter of Hugh de Plessets, knight, and at the same time, his sister Amabil became the wife of his brother-in-law, Sir John de Plessets. Soon after the accession of Edward I., he was engaged in the wars of Scotland, and in the 13th Edward I. he attended the King in his expedition into Wales. In the 19th Edward I. he was with his father in the Scottish wars; and in the 24th Edward I. executed the office of Constable of the English army.
Dugdale asserts, that in the 25th Edward I., John de Segrave was, by indenture, retained to serve Roger le Bigot, Earl of Norfolk, the Earl Marshal, with six knights, including himself, as well in peace as war, for the term of his whole life, in England, Wales, and Scotland, with the following retinue:—In time of peace, with six horses, so long as the Earl should think fit, taking bouche of court for himself and six knights; and for his esquires hay and oats, together with livery for six more horses, and wages for six grooms and their horses. He was also to receive two robes for himself, as for a banneret, yearly, as well in peace as in war, with the same robes for each of his five knights, and two robes annually for his other bachelors. In war, he was bound to bring with him his five knights and twenty horses, in consideration of which, he was to receive for himself and his company, with all the said horses, xl s. per diem; but if he should bring no more than six horses, then xxij s. per diem. It was further agreed, that the horses should be valued, in order that proper allowance might be made, in case any of them should happen to be lost in the service; and, for the performance of this agreement, he had a grant from the Earl of the manor of Lodene in Norfolk.
The preceding document has been cited nearly in Dugdale’s own words, because at the same time that it affords much information with respect to the retinue by which Segrave was attended to the field, it proves that he was intimately connected with the Earl Marshal, which tends to explain his having in the same year, namely, on the 12th August, 25th Edward I. 1297, been appointed by the Earl to appear in his name before the King, in obedience to a precept directed to him and the Constable, commanding them to attend him on the subject of a body of armed men which had assembled in London. The record states, that on the appointed day, the Earl of Hereford as Constable, and “Monsr John de Segrave, qui excusa le Comte Mareschal par maladie,” came accordingly.[104] In the 25th Edward I., this baron was also summoned to accompany the King beyond the sea, and afterwards at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with horse and arms; and, in the next year, was present when the English army gained the victory of Falkirk. In the 28th Edward I., he was again summoned to serve in the wars of Scotland, in which year, when he must have been about forty-five years old, he was at the siege of Carlaverock. The account given of him by the poet, that he performed the Earl Marshal’s duties upon that occasion, because that nobleman was prevented from attending, is not only strongly corroborated by the preceding statement of his having acted as deputy of the Earl Marshal in the year 1297, but also by the following extract from Peter de Langtoft’s chronicle (p. 309.), when speaking of the expedition into Scotland in 1300.
“After Midesomers tide thorgh comon ordinance,
No lenger suld thei bide, bot forth & stand to chance.
Norreis & Surreis, that seruice auht the kyng,
With hors & harneis at Carlele mad samnyng.
The erle Marschalle Rogere no hele that tyme mot haue,
He went with his banere Sir Jon the Segraue,
To do alle tho service that longed the office tille,
& mayntend alle the prise, ther he sauh lawe & skille.”