The Bruce
to hear of “some good exploit, if possible, before their arrival”
(_Bain_, ii., No. 1773).
205 _And byrn, and slay, and rais dragoun._ Edward, writing to Valence
on June 12, is “well pleased to hear he has burned Sir Simon Fraser’s
lands in Selkirk Forest.” He is “to do the same to all enemies on his
march,” “to burn, destroy, and waste their houses, lands, and goods”
(_Bain_, ii., No. 1782). In later letters these commands are repeated
for specific instances. On June 28 he is “referring to his orders to
put to death all enemies and rebels already or hereafter taken” (No.
1790). The expression “rais dragoun” has been fully explained and
illustrated by Mr. Neilson in the _Scottish Antiquary_, vol. xii.,
No. 48. His summary is as follows: “In the middle of the fourteenth
century, and later, there was still prevalent the conception ...
that the dragon banner was a token of hostility more deadly than the
ordinary conditions of feudal and chivalric warfare countenanced.
Its display in every example adduced was against subjects in revolt,
however supposititious, as at Crecy, the claim of sovereignty might be”
(p. 151). The origin and development of this association is the subject
of Mr. Neilson’s article. _Cf._ also in _Morte Arthure_, “For thare es
noghte bot dede _thare the dragone es raissede!_” (line 2057).
211 _Philip the Mowbray._ He is among those with Valence given by Gray
(_Scala._, p. 130). See on Mowbray, _Bk._ XIII. 363.
212 _Ingram the Umfravill._ He had taken an active part in previous
years on the national side. He is among the “Scotsmen and late rebels”
who, on October 10, 1305, had their lands in Scotland and England
restored on renewing their fealty to Edward (_Bain_, ii., No. 1696).
215 _off Scotland the maist party._ It is not clear what Barbour
precisely means. But, according to Gray, Valence had with him several
Scottish barons, friends of Comyn, opposed to Bruce (_Scala._, p.
130); and a fortnight before the battle Edward was requesting Valence
“to inform the King’s foresters of Selkirk how they have loyally and
painfully served the King, and done well” (_Bain_, ii., No. 1782).
Fordun says that Valence had in Perth “a great power of both English
and Scots” (_Gesta Annalia_, cxix).
235 _Levynax._ _I.e._, Lennox, otherwise _Levenauch_. Malcolm “Comte de
Levenaux” is on _Ragman Roll_ (_Bain_, ii., p. 209). He was the fifth
in the line of Celtic Earls. _Cf._ on 482.
Atholl is John de Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl. He was among the first
to join Bruce, and it was by his advice that the safe-conduct to
Strathearn was broken and the Earl confined in Inchmacolm (see on 187).
He was captured after Methven, and, as he was of royal blood, was
spared torture, but was hanged “higher than the rest” (_Hemingburgh_,
ii., p. 250): on a gallows thirty feet higher (_Scala._, p. 131). He
was alleged to be the son of Edward’s aunt, but see _Genealogist_, N.S.
xxii., p. 105.
236 _Edward the Bruce._ Robert’s brother.
237 _Thomas Randell._ Thomas Randolph, the King’s nephew, afterwards
Earl of Moray. For his change of side, see on 463. _Hew de le Hay_ is
on Ragman Roll, apparently of Fife (_Bain_, ii., p. 204); brother of
Gilbert de la Hay, afterwards Constable of Scotland and ancestor of the
Earls of Errol.
238 _David the Berclay._ David de Berkele on Ragman Roll (_Bain_, ii.,
209); of Cairns, in Fife (_Hailes_, ii., p. 2. Ed. 1797). _Cf._ on
_Bk._ XIX. 19.
239 _Fresale, Somerveile, and Inchmertyn._ _Fresale_ is “Alexander
Fraser” (see line 407). Jamieson identifies him as “the brother of
Simon Fraser, of Oliver Castle, in Tweeddale,” which is Hailes’s
statement (_Annals_, vol. ii., p. 2), and Skeat follows, whence arises
a serious confusion in _Bk._ VIII. 397. Sir Simon Fraser, “filius,” of
Oliver, to distinguish him from his father (“pater”), and grandfather
of the same name, the hero of the English defeat at Roslin in 1302,
was captured and executed as a traitor in 1306. His brother was Thomas
Fraser, and neither seems to have left any descendants (Lord Saltoun’s
_Frasers of Philorth_, ii., p. 94). This Alexander Fraser was of the
same stock, but was the elder son of Sir Andrew Fraser of Touch-Fraser,
Stirlingshire, Sheriff of Stirling in 1293, and was afterwards
Bruce’s Chamberlain of Scotland (_ibid._, p. 125). He was not “Sir”
Alexander till after 1312 (_ibid._, i., pp. 49, 54). Bruce granted him
“Tulch-fraser” afresh (_Reg. Mag. Sig._, p. 17, 86). He had a brother
Simon, but a different Simon from the one Jamieson refers to (see note
on _Bk._ VIII. 397). “Fresale,” Jamieson adds, “is still the vulgar
pronunciation of the name in Lothian.” _John de Somerville_ was second
son of Sir Walter de Somerville of Linton and Carnwath (_Memorie of
the Somervills_, i., 83, 86). _Inchmertyn_ is David de Inchmartyn, who
was, according to Hailes, the ancestor of the Earls of Findlater and
Airlie, and of Lord Banff (_Annals_, vol. ii., p. 3, note. Ed. 1797).
_John de Somerville_ and _David de Inchmartyn_ are among the fifteen
Scots captured at Methven and sentenced to death at Carlisle on August
4, without being allowed to plead, under the charge of “feloniously and
wickedly slaying some of the King’s liegemen” at that battle. They were
all hanged (_Bain_, ii., No. 1811).
*243 _Cristall of Setoun._ See line 418 and note on _Bk._ IV. 16. He
was married to Cristina Bruce, Robert’s sister (_Bain_, ii., No. 1910):
twenty-eight years of age.
*244 _Robert Boyd._ Ancestor of the Viscounts of Kilmarnock
(Robertson’s _Index of Charters_, p. 6, No. 46). He was captured at
Kildrummy (_Bain_, ii., No. 1829), but must either have escaped or been
released, as he appears again. See _Bk._ IV. 342; VIII. 415.
247 _Sanct Johnstoun._ Perth. The church was dedicated to St. John.
248 _bad Schyr Amery isch to fycht._ Hemingburgh writes that Bruce
sent a message that the English should either come out to fight or
surrender (ii., p. 248); Gray that Bruce offered battle to the Earl
(of Pembroke), and remained before the town from the early morning
till after noon (_Scalacronica_, p. 130). Noon would be dinner-time.
Trivet briefly says that Bruce “invited” Valence to come out and fight
(_Annals_, p. 409); similarly Rishanger (_Chronica_, p. 230).
252 _Schir Ingram._ According to Gray, Pembroke acted on the advice of
his Scottish lords, and lay low (_se teint tot coy_, p. 130).
279 _bot gyf thai faile._ “If they do not fail on their part.”
301 _on the morn cum._ The English, “seeing they were fewer in number,
cautiously replied that they would not come out then, because it was
a feast day (Sunday, June 26), but would gladly fight with him on the
morrow” (_Hemingburgh_, ii., p. 249. _Cf._ also Trivet’s _Annals_, p.
410; Rishanger, _Chronica_, p. 230).
305 _went to the forray._ The English had calculated that the Scots
would be occupied in preparing food (_Hemingburgh_).
310 _Ischyt in-forcely._ At vespers (_Hemingburgh_: _Trivet_).
313 _wes unarmyt then._ Had put off his armour. Hemingburgh says they
found the Scots carelessly resting (_recumbentes secure_: as cited);
Trivet that they came on the Scots suddenly, and slew many unarmed (p.
410). Bruce and some others speedily armed themselves and resisted
(_ibid._).
319 _on thair hors lap._ According to Hemingburgh, the English attacked
before all the Scots could mount. Gray says they formed up hastily, and
all on horseback attacked the English (_Scala._, p. 131).
330 _For multitud mais na victory._ “For the victory of battle standeth
not in the multitude of an host” (I. _Maccabees_, Chap. iii., 19).
340-1 _Cf._ in _Alexander_:
“Quha for his Lord dois he sall be
Harbreid with Angellis gle” (p. 21).
365 _all the renk._ Skeat has a note on this word explaining renk as “a
rank of fighting men,” and citing “the plur. form renges” in Chaucer’s
_Knight’s Tale_ (Globe, _Chaucer_, A 2594). But while there is a form
_renk_ = rank, that is not the word or the sense here. The proper
explanation comes from the _Alexander_, in such examples as:
“Ane _renk_ about him hes he made,
Quhair evir he straik nane him abade” (p. 145, 8-9).
and
“Ane _renk_ about him hes he maid,
He sparit nane that him abaid” (p. 231, 20-21);
while we have a similar use in the _Morte Arthure_:
“Ryde thrughte all the rowtte, rerewarde and other,
Redy wayes to make, and _rennkes full rowme_.”
Another passage from the _Alexander_ gives us the sense in the setting
and phraseology of the passage on hand:
“The woundit gave cryis and granes,
Trumpettis and hornes blew atanes,
_It seemit all the countre quok_” (p. 412, 29-31).
_Renk_, then, has nothing to do with “rank,” but signifies “an open
or clear space”; here “all the place about them quaked.” It is, in
fact, our modern “rink,” and appears to be a form of “ring,” as in
“prize-ring” (Skeat’s _Etymol. Dict._). It has nothing to do with
“range” in the sense of “rove,” as Mr. Amours thinks (_Alliterative
Poems_, S.T.S.). H actually reads _rinke_.
415 _hynt hys rengyhe._ The account in Gray is that Bruce’s rein was
seized by John de Haliburton, who let him go immediately when he saw
who he was. The difficulty about recognition was due to the fact that
Bruce showed no coat of arms, having on a white tunic (_un chemys
blank._--_Scalacronica_, p. 131). Hemingburgh says that all the mounted
Scots, in their approach to Perth, had these white overalls (_super
omnia arma vestem lineam_), so that they could not be identified (ii.,
p. 248).
438 _corn-but._ This reading for the obscure _torn-but_ of E (_t_ and
_c_ are often indistinguishable in MS.) and _combat_ of H is due to Mr.
George Neilson, basing on a passage in the _Morte Arthure_ (_Scottish
Antiquary_, July, 1902, p. 51). The “heathen king” is down with a
mortal wound from Sir Cador, who exclaims:
“Thow has _corne botte_, sir kynge, there God gyfe the sorowe,
Thow killyde my cosyn, my kare is the less” (1837-8).
Though the general meaning of “revenge,” “tit-for-tat,” is clear,
no satisfactory analysis of the phrase has been offered. Skeat and
Gollancz think that the first part of the term is French--_corne_,
a horn “as the symbol of pride”--and that the compound signifies
“a requital for pride, a taking down.” The passages will scarcely
bear this. Moreover, _bōt_ is admittedly old English--“remedy,
atonement”--and one shies at a solitary compound in such a case.
_Mann-bōt_ was a fine paid to the lord of a murdered man; _brycgbot_
was a levy for the repair of bridges; _corn-gesc(e)ot_ was a
contribution of corn. _Corn-bot_ may thus have been a fine for the
destruction of corn, and have taken on a general sense of requital or
revenge. It does not seem to require the force of a specially intense
revenge (_auserlessene busse._ Holshausen), but appears to have been a
slang term, whence its rare occurrence in literature. It is not given
in the _New English Dic._ (See further _Scottish Antiquary_. June,
1903, pp. 121-123; _Notes and Queries_, 9 Series, x. 61, 115, 253).
463 _Thomas Randell._ He was given in ward to Sir Adam de Gordon to
be kept till the King’s arrival in Inverkip Castle (_Bain_, ii., No.
1807). Gray says he was released at the instance of Gordon, when he
remained English till his recapture (_Scala._, p. 131).
467 _sum thai hangyt._ See on 235, 239.
471 _will of wane._ “Astray in thought (weening); distracted, at
a loss. _Will_ = modern English _wild_, astray, bewildered (Icel.
_villr_). _Cf._ in the _Gest. Hystoriale_: “All wery I wex and _wyll of
my gate_” = out of my way (line 2369).
479 _the Boroundoun._ This name has puzzled editors and given rise to
a good deal of conjecture. But a Sir Walter de Borondone was constable
of Carstairs Castle in 1305-1306 (_Bain_, ii., No. 1880), and he is the