The Bruce
No. 43); while a charter of Robert II. confers on Alexander de Lindsay
the office of Forester of the Forest of Plater, “in the sheriffdom of
Forfar” (_ibid._, p. 120, 63).
330 _Till Perth is went._ According to Gray, it was the Earl of Atholl
who captured Perth for Bruce (_Scala._, p. 140). This is quite wrong;
Atholl was English.
335 _the wallis war all of stane._ Perth was an exceptional case, the
larger Scottish towns, except Berwick, being fortified only with ditch
and palisade (_de bons fossez et de bons palis._ _Le Bel_, I., xxii.).
And so was Berwick till 1296.
338 _Olyfard._ Barbour is about four years too soon with the capture
of Perth. William de Olifard (modern Oliphant) was still holding it
for Edward II. in February, 1312 (_Bain_, iii., No. 247). Oliphant
was a Scot, and the state of the garrison for July, 1312, shows a
great number to have been Scotsmen (_ibid._, pp. 425-7). Fordun says
Perth fell on January 8, 1313; the _Chron. de Lanercost_ gives the
date as January 10, 1313 (_Gesta Annalia_, cxxix., _Lanerc._, p. 221).
According to the Lanercost writer, the Scots climbed the walls on
ladders during the night, and captured the place through the neglect
or lack of sentinels and defenders (_propter defectum vigilum et
custodum_, p. 222).
340 _Of Stratherne als the Erll._ But see below on 433.
354 _the dik._ The burgesses of Perth had, by order, made “a pielle and
fosse”--_i.e._, a tower and a ditch--“when Robert de Brus broke the
peace” (_Bain_, iii., No. 68).
371, 373 _mak ledderis ... in a myrk nycht._ See above on 338.
377 _slepit all._ See on 338.
391 _A knycht of France._ In the _Wallace_ it is explained that this
was Sir Thomas de Longueville, a French pirate and a friend of Wallace.
Such an identification is in the usual plagiarising fashion of the
author of the _Wallace_.
405 _eftir the Kyng._ _Cf._ preceding note.
412 _the tothir man that tuk the wall._ “The second man to reach the
top of the wall.”
433 _Malis of Strathern._ Barbour is quite wrong in placing the Earl
of Strathearn in Perth, and his son on the Scottish side. Both were
still in the English interest. Malise of Stratherne, son of the Earl
of Stratherne, is in English pay November, 1309 (_Bain_, iii., No.
121). The Earl appears to have been at Berwick during the winter of
1310-1311 (_Bain_, iii., No. 208); and it is no doubt his son who on
January 28, 1313, after the fall of Perth (see on 338), is still in
receipt of an allowance from Edward II. (_ibid._, No. 299). Malis, Earl
of Strathearn, is among the signatories to the 1320 letter to the Pope
(_Act. Parl. Scot._ I., p. 114).
448 _thai war kynde to the cuntre._ “They were related to the
country”--_i.e._, they were Scots (see on 338). The _Lanercost_
account is the contrary of this; it is there said that on the morrow
of the capture, a Tuesday, Bruce had the chief burgesses of the town
(_meliores burgenses_), who were of the Scottish nation, put to death,
but allowed the English to depart in freedom. This writer errs,
however, as to the fate of Olifard, a Scot, who, he says, was sent in
bonds (_ligatus_) far off to the Isles (p. 222); for Olifard was in
England a few months afterwards, and there is no mention of any escape
or exchange (_Bain_, iii., p. xviii). Fordun’s version is that the
treacherous folk (_perfida gens_), both Scots and English, were slain,
but that Bruce, in his mercy, spared the common people (_plebi_), and
gave pardon to those who asked for it (_Gesta Annalia_, cxxix.).
452 _wallis gert he tummyll doune._ Bruce’s usual policy with fortified
places. See on _Bk._ X. 496. The _Lanercost_ chronicler says he
completely destroyed the town (p. 222); Fordun that he destroyed the
wall and ditches, and burned everything else (_ibid._).
461 _Obeysit all._ Not quite, in 1308. Dundee was in English hands
in April, 1312, when reinforcements were being sent to its “rescue”
(_Bain_, iii., p. 401); and in 1313, according to Barbour himself
(_Bk._ X. 800-1). So was Banff (Watt’s _History of Aberdeen and Banff_,
p. 68). Bain assigns to June, 1308, a note of instructions regarding
Scotland, in which two wardens are appointed for “beyond the Scottish
sea between the Forth and Orkeneye,” with 120 men-at-arms, “besides
garrisons.” The “guardians of Scotland,” however, are told “that it
is the King’s pleasure they take truce from Robert de Bruys, as from
themselves, as long as they can”--an indication of the growing power of
Bruce, emphasized by Barbour (_Bain_, iii., No. 47).
497 _With all the folk_, etc. The _Lanercost_ writer explains this
raid as being on account of the discord between the English King and
his barons. With Edward Bruce, he says, went Robert himself, Alexander
de Lindsay, and James Douglas, with their following, which they had
brought together “from the remote isles of Scotland” (p. 212).
500 _ryotit gretly the lande._ The people of Galloway had paid tribute
to be left alone (see on _Bk._ VIII. 391), but, says the _Lanercost_
writer, they made no account of this, and in one day slew many of the
more noble men of Galloway, and subjugated nearly the whole country,
the Galloway men who could escape flying to England (p. 212).
502 _Ingrame the Umphrevell._ In June, 1308, Umfraville, with two
others, was made a warden of Galloway, Annandale, and Carrick (_Bain_,
iii., No. 47).
509 _als Amery._ Amery St. John; but there is no one on record of this
name. Aymer de Valence was still a warden, but in September, 1307, when
Bruce was raiding Galloway (see on _Bk._ VIII. 391), John de St. John
was one of “the greater men” there (_Bain_, iii., No. 15). “Amery St.
John” is referred to again in _Bk._ XVI. 506.
517 _Besyde Cre._ The River Cre divides Kirkcudbrightshire from
Wigtown. Fordun says the battle was on the Dee, and dates it June
29, 1308 (_Gesta Annalia_, cxxv.). The Dee flows into the Solway at
the town of Kirkcudbright. Though Barbour’s position is universally
accepted, Fordun is probably right. See next note.
522 _Buttil._ Here, at least, C is more correct in a place-name than
E, which gives Bothwell, on the Clyde, an absurd distance away, across
mountains. The castle is that at Buittle, near Dalbeattie, a Balliol
hold. It is a few miles east of the Dee, which seems to bear out Fordun
as in the preceding note; _cf._ also lines 533-5. Edward’s operations
by the Cree could hardly be seen from Buittle.
547 _by Cre._ A second battle by the Cree, or, more probably, one
following on the English reverse by the Dee.
575 _Schir Alane of Catcart._ Cathcart is near Glasgow. Sir William
de Cathcart (Kethker) is a knight of Roxburgh garrison (English) in
December, 1309 (_Bain_, iii., No. 121).
610 “Directed their heads inwards again”--_i.e._, turned their horses
to make a fresh charge from the rear.
658 _Thretten castellis._ Small castles, Border “peels”--ditch and
palisade.
683 _the wattir of Lyne._ In Peeblesshire, flowing into the Tweed from
the north, a short distance west of Peebles.
692 _Alysander Stewart._ In C, _Alexander Bonkill_. Son of Sir
John Stewart, who married the heiress of Sir Alexander de Bonkyl
in Berwickshire, and grandson of the fourth High Steward. He died,
apparently, in 1319, and his son John was created by Bruce Earl of
Angus (_Scots Peerage_, i. 13, 169).
694 _Thomas Randole._ Randolph. See note on _Bk._ II. 463.
695 _Adame ... of Gordoun._ See note on _Bk._ II. 463; XI. 46; XV. 333.
728 _His emys son._ The mother of Douglas was Elizabeth, daughter of
Alexander, the fourth High Steward, and her elder brother was Sir John
Stewart, father of Alexander Stewart, of Bonkil. _Cf._ on 692. Thus
Douglas and Sir Alexander were cousins.
BOOK X.
9 _toward Lorn._ Barbour’s chronology is here not specific, but he
apparently places the expedition against Lorn in the late summer or
autumn of 1308. So does Fordun (see on _Bk._ IX. 204). On the other
hand, there exists a letter from John of Lorn to Edward II., clearly
referring to the present expedition. Unfortunately, it is not dated
further than as an acknowledgment of the receipt of the King’s letters
of March 11. About that date, in 1308, Bruce must have been in the
North, beyond the Mounth (see on _Bk._ IX. 204). On June 16, 1309,
Alexander of Lorn and John are in council with Edward at Westminster
(_Bain_, iii., No. 95). Meantime Alexander of Argyll is in the sederunt
of Bruce’s first Parliament, March 16, 1309, at St. Andrews (_Act.
Parl. Scot._, vol. i., p. 160). Either, then, Bruce’s expedition is to
be placed in the spring and early summer of 1309, or, after the defeat
at Loch Awe, John of Lorn held out during the winter, and Dunstaffnage
fell at some date between March 11, 1308, and June 16, 1309.
14 _twa thousand._ In the letter referred to above, John of Lorn says
that “Robert Bruce had approached his territories with 10,000 or 15,000
men, it was said, both by land and sea. He had no more than 800 to
oppose him, 500 of these being in his pay to keep his borders, and the
barons of Argyll gave him no aid.... He has three castles to guard,
and a lake 24 leagues (miles) long on which he has vessels properly
manned, but is not sure of his neighbours” (_Bain_, iii., No. 80).
Lorn’s estimate of Bruce’s strength is clearly exaggerated. Hemingburgh
similarly gives Bruce 10,000 men in his Galloway wanderings (ii., p.
265).
17 _Ane evill place._ From the description, the Pass of Brander through
which the River Awe flows from Loch Awe to Loch Etive, a sea-loch. The
Callander-Oban Railway follows this route. The Pass is three miles long.
27 _Crechanben._ Cruachan Ben, or Ben Cruachan, on the north side,
3,689 feet.
34-35 _on the se ... with his galays._ Skeat says this must be “Loch
Etive, a sea-loch, not the inland Loch Awe, from which the ships could
not have escaped.” He is thinking of line 130, but the flight there
mentioned has no connection with the present case. Loch Etive is not
“weill neir the pas” (35; _cf._ also 97, 98), but Loch Awe is, and we
see from Lorn’s letter (note on 14) that he had ships on that loch.
He says further that he “was on sick-bed” when he received Edward’s
letters, “and had been for half a year”; which probably accounts for
his presence in a galley, or large Highland row-boat, as the Marquis of
Argyll was, for a like reason, when his forces were cut to pieces by
Montrose at Inverlochy in 1645.
46 _Williame Wisman._ A “William Wysman” was made Edward’s Sheriff at
Elgin in 1305 (_Bain_, ii., p. 458). The wife of “Monsieur William
Wysman” was among the ladies captured in 1306, and was sent to Roxburgh
(_Foedera_, ii., p. 1014). William Wyseman was at the St. Andrews
Parliament, 1309 (_Act. Parl. Scot._, i., p. 160). It was a Moray name.
47 _Schir Androu Gray._ Ancestor of the Lords Gray. Sir Andrew Gray
received from Bruce in 1315 the barony of Longforgan and other lands
in Perthshire and Forfarshire, which had belonged to Edmond Hastings
(Robertson’s _Index_, p. 26, No. 19; Crawford’s _Peerage_, p. 179, ed.
1716).
82 _ane wattir._ The River Awe. The river here is wide, deep, and
broken by rapids.
88 _till brek it._ The bridge, of course, was of wood. It was probably
beyond the lower extremity of the Pass, somewhere near the present
bridge.
113 _Dunstaffynch._ In Fordun _Dunstafynch_; Dunstaffnage Castle at the
mouth of Loch Etive.
126 _And com his man._ As has already been noted (see on 9), Alexander
of Arygll is, with the other “barons” of Argyll and the Hebrides,
present at Bruce’s Parliament at St. Andrews, which, if correct,
indicates that Barbour, so far, is right. Lorn wrote to Edward that,
“though he and his were few in respect of his power, Robert de Brus
had asked a truce from him, which he granted for a short space, and