The Bruce
received the like, till the King sends him succours. He hears that
Robert, when he came, was boasting and saying that the writer had come
to his peace at the report that many others would rise in his aid,
which God and the writer know is not true. Should the King hear this
from others, he is not to believe it” (_Bain_, as cited). Fordun’s
story is that Bruce besieged Alexander of Argyll in Dunstaffnage, that
the castle was surrendered, but Alexander refused to do homage and
was allowed a safe-conduct for himself and friends to England (_Gesta
Annalia_, cxxvi.).
137 _at Lythkow wes than a peill._ Linlithgow “peel” was constructed
by Edward I. in 1301-1302. Barbour’s chronology is again at fault, or
he is not concerned about it. Linlithgow was still being munitioned
against the Scots in August, 1313 (_Bain_, iii., No. 330). Barbour
appears to be simply grouping the different captures of castles
together (see lines 144-7). Strictly a “peel” was a fortification
consisting of a stockade and ditch, enclosing the buildings of the
garrison (see lines 144-7).
153 _Wilyhame Bunnok._ See note on 254. C reads _Bowne_ here, but
_Bunnok_ in line 194.
180 _the hede-soyme._ That is, the “trace” or “traces” connecting the
animals with the cart would be cut, when the waggon would block the
gateway. By a similar trick, in which the agents are dressed as carters
and the traces are loosened by withdrawing the pins, Oudenarde was
captured in 1384 (_Froissart_, Johnes, ii., chap. cli.).
185 _the harvist tyde._ September or October, 1313. See above on 137.
195 _To leid thair hay._ To “lead” the hay, still the usual country
phrase, is to bring it in from the field to the place of storage.
Bunnok was to gather the hay and cart it to the castle.
196 _but dangeir._ “Without difficulty,” readily.
223 _callit his wayn._ “Drove” or “urged forward” his waggon. The word
occurs in this sense in the _Wallace_ “Thir cartaris ... _callyt_ furth
the cartis weill” (_Bk._ ix. 717-8), where, as usual, the incident is
borrowed from the _Bruce_. _Cf._ Burns: “Ca the yowes to the knowes.”
232 _he leyt the gadwand fall._ “He” is not Bunnock, but the driver,
who drops his goad and cuts the trace.
254 _hym rewardit worthely._ According to Nisbet’s _Heraldry_,
Bunnock is the same name as _Binning_, and the arms of Binning of
Easter-Binning are “placed on the bend of a waggon argent”; and he
gives as an explanation that “one of the heads of that family, with his
seven sons, went in a waggon covered with hay, surprised and took the
castle of Linlithgow, then in the possession of the English, in the
reign of David II.” (I. 100, ed. 1816). The reference is clearly to the
present incident, though “sons” is a later development, and the date is
wrong. Jamieson is highly suspicious over the identification, and it
seems, in fact, to be a case of ancestry manufacture.
265-6 _Murref ... And othir syndri landis braid._ “Murref” is English
transcription of the Gaelic form, _muiraibh_, dative plural of _muir_,
the sea. The grant to Randolph was most extensive, including lands
from the mouth of the Spey to Lochaber and Mamore, and “the marches
of northern Argyll,” and covering 2,550 square miles in Banff, Elgin,
Nairn, and Inverness (Robertson’s _Index of Charters_, p. xlix;
Rampini’s _Moray and Nairn_, p. 140).
324 _Schir Peris Lumbard._ Peter de Loubaud (Lybaud, Libaut) was
constable of Edinburgh Castle and the peel of Linlithgow in March, 1312
(_Bain_, iii., No. 254). Edinburgh Castle was captured during Lent,
1314 (_Chron. de Lanercost_, p. 223; Fordun says March 14, 1314), by
Randolph (_Gesta Annalia_, cxxx.); March 24, apparently, in _Gesta
Edw. de Carn._ (p. 45), where it is said that Roxburgh and Edinburgh
fell between February 29 and March 24, 1314. Hailes goes a year wrong
in these dates, and Skeat adopts. For the intrusion of “m” before “b,”
_cf._ _Ferumbrace_ for _Fierabras_ in _Bk._ III. 437.
327 _mystrowit hym of tratory._ So we have it in the _Vita Edw. Sec._
that Edinburgh Castle was captured “by the betrayal of a certain
Gascon, who was known as Peter de Gavestone, to whom the King had
committed the custody of the castle. He, a perjured traitor, adhered to
Robert the Bruce, and betrayed the castle” (p. 199). _Cf._ on 766.
360-1 _ledderis ... With treyn steppis_, etc. Ladders of this sort
are carefully described by the Carlisle friar as having been used at
an unsuccessful siege of Berwick by Bruce in 1312. Two strong ropes
were taken, of a length according to the height of the wall. These
were knotted at intervals of a foot and a half; on these knots rested
wooden (_treyn_) steps two and a half feet long by half a foot broad,
sufficient for one man at a time, and every third step had a projection
inwards, to keep the ladder out from the wall. At the top end was a
curved iron (_cf._ “a cruk ... of iron”), one end of which, about a
foot long, lay on the top of the wall, while the other hung down, was
pierced with a hole, and had a ring on each side for the rope. In the
hole a sufficiently long spear was inserted, by which the ladder was
put in position by two men. When the Scots had placed two ladders for a
night attack, a dog barked, and Berwick was saved, the Scots making off
and leaving their ladders behind to be hung up in derision of the Scots
by the garrison (p. 221).
372 _on the fasteryn evyn._ “Fastern’s Eve,” Shrove Tuesday, February
27, 1314. So, too, in Fordun (_Gesta Annalia_, cxxx.), and in
_Scalacronica_, the night of Shrove Tuesday (p. 140); in _Lanercost_
the capture is dated the day after, February 28, the first day of Lent,
1314 (p. 223). The castle was still in English hands on February 7,
1314 (_Bain_, iii., No. 352), but lost before May 29 (No. 358), in 1314
(894).
400 _up thair ledderis set._ “For James (Douglas) himself on a certain
night secretly approached the castle (of Roxburgh), and placed ladders,
which had been carried up in concealment (_latenter_) against the wall,
and so by these ascended the wall,” etc. (_Vita Edw. Sec._, p. 200).
441 _The custom._ It was the custom to spend the day before the
beginning of the fast of Lent in feasting and jollity. This practice
continued in Scotland long after the Reformation, when Lent was no more
observed. The _Vita Edw._ says that the garrison were sleeping or off
their guard.
456-7 _Gylmyne de Fenis ... in the gret toure_, etc. “They (the Scots)
took the whole castle except one tower, to which, with difficulty,
had escaped the warden of the castle, Sir Gilminus de Fenes, a Gascon
knight, and his men with him, but that tower the Scots had soon
afterwards” (_Lanercost_, p. 223). Sir William de Filinge (Filling,
Felynges) was constable of Roxburgh since 1312 at least (_Bain_, iii.,
Nos., 332, 337, 351). On the conduct of Roxburgh garrison see on _Bk._
XI. 46.
479 _Woundit so felly._ According to Gray, “Guillemyng Fenygges” was
killed by an arrow while holding the great tower (_Scala._, p. 140).
496 _to tummyll it doune._ “And all this beautiful castle, as with all
the other castles which they were able to get, they laid level with the
ground, that the English might never afterwards by holding the castles
be able to dominate the country” (_Lanercost_, p. 223). So also _Vita
Edw. Sec._, p. 199, and _Gesta Edw._, p. 45, where it is alleged that
Bruce did this to prevent the Scottish nobles taking refuge therein
instead of helping him. See on _Bk._ IX. 452, and below on 771.
504 _Outane Jedworth._ There was fighting about Jedburgh in 1315, 1316
(_Bain_, iii., No. 494), but it was still in English hands in 1321
(_ibid._, 746).
509 _At Edinburgh._ Edinburgh Castle was still in English hands in
August, 1313 (_Bain_, iii., No. 330). See further note on 324.
513 _all his purchas._ “By his own procurement.”
516 _voidry._ Skeat’s suggestion. See footnote. It means “cunning,
stratagem” (S).
529 “Ere that siege should miscarry, or go wrong.” _Cf._ on _Bk._ I.
478. The mood here is subjunctive, past tense.
530 _William Francas._ Francis or “Fraunceys” appears from Bain to have
been a common name in the Lothians. A “William Francis” got lands from
Bruce in Roxburgh in 1322. His grant just precedes one to John Crab
(Robertson’s _Index to Charters_, p. 15, No. 20; _cf._ _Bk._ XVII. 239).
701 _The Erll has tane the castell all._ The _Lanercost_ historian
says the castle was captured in this manner: “Those besieging the same
castle, one day in the evening, made a bold assault on the south gate,
because on account of the position of the castle, there was no other
place where an assault could be given. But those within, all collecting
at the gate, resisted them stoutly; meanwhile, however, others of the
Scots climbed the rock on the north side, which was very high and
steep, up to the foundation of the wall, and there, placing their
ladders against the wall, they climbed up in such numbers that those
within could make no resistance; and so they (the Scots) opened the
gates and brought in their friends, and took the whole castle and slew
the English” (p. 223). The _Scalacronica_ account is that Moray took
the castle at the highest part of the rock, where there was no thought
of danger (_a quoi il ne se dotoit_) (p. 140).
708 _Lap fra a berfrois._ For a “beffroi,” see on _Bk._ XVI. 597. O.F.,
“berfroi,” etc. For form “belfry,” _cf._ “pilgrim,” from “peregrinus”;
in English not before the fifteenth century. French dropped the “r”
(N.E.D.). The reference here is to one of the _Alexander_ romances,
of which there was no translation, and is indicative of Barbour’s
familiarity with this literature. _Cf._ _Appendix_ E.
740 _in stede of prophesye._ “In the way of, or as, a prophecy.”
742 _hir chapell._ St. Margaret’s Chapel, built for Queen Margaret,
wife of Malcolm Canmore. She died in Edinburgh Castle in 1093. In 1336
the chapel was fitted with four windows of glass (_Bain_, iii., p.
335).
746 _as old men sayis._ The picture and inscription were, therefore, no
longer extant.
747 “Gardez-vous de Francois.” “Beware of Francis or of the French.”
766 _he becom the Kingis man._ Gray tells how “Lebaud” went over to
Bruce, but, because he was in heart English (_qil estoit Engles qe
quer_), Bruce had him accused of treason and hanged (_Scala._, p. 140).
The official record is that he was convicted of treason, and, from his
forfeitures, he seems to have received large holdings in Lothian (_Reg.
Mag. Sig._, where he is styled _Peter Luband_, p. 3, 3; p. 13, 63, 64,
66).
771 _myne doune all halely._ The _Lanercost_ writer adds that the Scots
levelled Edinburgh Castle to the ground, as they had done Roxburgh.
815 _Fra the lenteryne._ Lent, 1313. In the _Vita Edw._ it is said that
Mowbray brought the news of his pact at the beginning of Lent, which
must be Lent, 1314, suggesting a considerable difference in dates (p.
200).
816 _Quhill ... Saint Johnnis mess._ That is, by June 24, 1313, the
English garrison began to find their food running short. “Their victual
was insufficient” (_Vita Edw._, p. 200).
822-3 _it was nocht with battaill Reskewit._ So, too, in _Vita Edw.
Sec._, where the agreement is that Mowbray “would either procure the
King of England to come to the defence of the castle, or, if he should
not be able to induce the King to do this, that he would summarily
(_indilate_) surrender the castle.” St. John’s day is fixed as the
limiting date. The writer makes Robert Bruce himself conduct the siege
(p. 200). So does Gray, who says that the castle was to be surrendered,
“unless the English army came within three leagues of the said castle
within eight days after St. John’s day in the summer next to come”
(_dedenz viii jours apres le Saint Johan en este adonques procheine
avenir_, p. 141). But _cf._ _Bk._ XI. 8-9.
BOOK XI.