The Bruce
(1796) makes no mention of this “tradition,” and suggests a derivation
from the personal name Gill or Gillies. “The names both of Gillies and
Morison occur in the muirlands” (vol. xviii., p. 392).
437 _the Fawkirk._ A Scots translation of the original Gaelic name
(in twelfth century) _Eaglais breac_, “the speckled or particoloured
church,” in reference to the stone of which it was built. In “Falkirk”
the “l” has been substituted for “w,” as a sign of length in the vowel
(see _Language l_, App. G). Local pronunciation does not sound the “l.”
The English chroniclers write the name _Foukyrk_ (_Vita Edw. Sec._, p.
205), or _Faukirke_ (_Annales London._, p. 104).
440-453 Acting on the information received, and unaware, as yet, which
road the English would choose for an advance to Stirling, Bruce makes
a fresh disposition of his troops, departing from that laid down in
lines 305-347, so as to be ready for either line of advance. He himself
occupies the “entry” to the Park road, which was a continuation of
the medieval (Roman?) highway passing west of St. Ninian’s, with
his mixed brigade of Highlanders and Lowlanders; while Randolph is
posted at St. Ninian’s Kirk overlooking the level about seventy feet
below. Apparently (see below) both divisions are masked by the wood.
The others are in reserve to reinforce when it should turn out to be
necessary. The historians, ignoring this alteration in dispositions,
land themselves, as a result, in unintelligible confusion. Douglas
later trapped an English column in the “entre” of Jedburgh Forest
(_Bk._ XVI. 310 _et seq._).
486 _confort his men._ See note on 250.
523 _Aucht hundreth._ Gray says they were only three hundred,
under the command of Robert Lord de Clifford and Henry de Beaumont
(_Scalacronica_, p. 141). We learn from the same author that Philip de
Mowbray, constable of Stirling, went out and met Edward when the army
was _three leagues_, or miles, from the castle, and suggested that
he should advance no farther as, the English having come so far, and
being within touch, he considered himself relieved; besides, he said,
the Scots had blocked the narrow ways (_lez estroitz chemyns_) of the
wood--_i.e._, of the New Park. But from the conditions, as we have seen
(_Bk._ X. 822), the castle could not be held to be relieved so long as
the Scots were in force before it. We note that Mowbray also expected
the army to come by the Park roads. Now Barbour says that Clifford’s
detachment left the main body _two miles_ away (515). Apparently,
then, this movement was the result of Mowbray’s information (see next
note). However, it was known to Edward when he summoned his army that
the Scots had taken up a position between him and Stirling in strong,
marshy places difficult for horsemen (_Foedera_, ii., p. 481).
532 _it suld reskewit be._ So the Scots might conclude, but the version
of the _Lanercost_ chronicler better fits the case: “After dinner”
(_post prandium_--say, about midday) “the army of the King (Edward)
came to the neighbourhood of the Torwood” (he takes the Park to be an
extension of the larger forest), “and when it was known that the Scots
were in the wood” (from Mowbray), “the first line (_prima acies_) of
the King, whose leader was Lord Clifford, wished to surround the wood
so that the Scots should not escape in flight” (p. 225). This is in
harmony with the self-confidence of the English, and explains why the
horsemen did not, as they might have done, avoid Randolph’s foot, if
they were only making for the castle. There was apparently no obstacle
to Mowbray communicating personally with the relieving army, and he
cannot have gone alone; so that the parties were actually in touch,
and, as Mowbray argued, a technical “relief” had been performed.
536 _thai wist weill._ From Mowbray probably, but _cf._ note on 523.
Aymer de Valence, too, had gone on before the army to prepare its line
of march and carefully examine the stratagems of the Scots (_insidias
Scotorum._ _Vit. Edw._, p. 201).
537 _Beneth the Park._ “Made a circuit upon the other side of the wood
towards the castle, keeping the open ground” (_as beaux chaumps._
_Scalacronica_, p. 141).
544 _thai so fer war passit by._ The English writers report the matter
as it appeared to them. “The Scots, however, suffered this” (Clifford’s
advance) “until they had placed a considerable distance between
themselves and their friends, when they showed themselves, and cutting
off that first line of the King from the middle and rear divisions (_a
media acie et extrema_), rushed on it,” etc. (_Chron. de Lanercost_,
225). “Thomas Randolph, ... who was leader of the advance guard of
the Scots, having heard that his uncle had repulsed the advance guard
of the English on the other side of the wood, thought that he must
have his share, and issuing from the wood with his division” (Barbour
says “five hundred men,” line 542), “took the level plain” (_le beau
chaumpe_--Barbour’s “playn feld”) “towards the two lords aforesaid”
(_Scalacronica_, p. 141). Note that both Bruce at the “entry,” and
Randolph at “the Kirk,” were _in the wood_ (see on this also note on
_Bk._ XII. 58); and the reiterated use of the term “playn feld” for the
level below St. Ninian’s.
546 _ane rose of his chaplet._ Hailes suggests a far-fetched
explanation of this: “I imagine that _rose_ implies a large bead
in a rosary or chaplet,” when the dropping of a rose would imply
carelessness of duty (_Annals_, ii. 51, note). The _New English
Dictionary_ defines _chaplet_ as “A wreath for the head, usually a
garland of flowers or leaves,” and cites this passage. Randolph in the
wood, keeping his eyes on the main body, could easily miss an advance
by his flank, which had started independently two miles away, and
probably kept to cover as far as possible.
547 _Wes faldyn._ Skeat explains this form as “fallen” with an
“excrescent _d_, due to Scandinavian influence,” citing also _Bk._
XIII. 632. A form, _foolde_, occurs in _The Sowdone of Babylone_,
line 1428, where Hausknecht explains it as from _fealden_, “to fold,”
meaning “folded, bent down, fallen”; citing also “_Folden_ to grunde”
and “Fiftene hundred _Folden_ to grunden,” from _Layamon_, 23,894 and
27,055-6. The result as to meaning is the same either way.
548 _war past._ Clifford then had passed the Kirk before Randolph made
a move. The scene of the conflict is usually placed at a position
half-way between St. Ninian’s and Stirling, now known as Randolph’s
Field. But this name is not older than the end of the eighteenth
century (_Old Stat. Acct._, vol. xviii., p. 408). The origin of the
nomenclature is two standing stones said to have been erected in memory
of the victory (Nimmo’s _History of Stirlingshire_, ed. 1817, p. 216).
But standing stones are no uncommon feature in Scotland, and various
traditions attach to them; and why this preference in commemoration?
“Standing stones,” on the other side of the Forth, are mentioned in the
_Wallace_ (_Bk._ v. 298).
557 _In hy thai sped thame._ Gray gives an account of this affair,
in which his father was taken prisoner, in the _Scalacronica_ (edit.
Maitland Club. p. 141): “Sir Henry de Beaumont said to his men, ‘Let us
retire a little; let them [the Scots] come on; give them room [_donez
les chaumps_.]” His father, Sir Thomas, charging on the Scots, was
carried off a prisoner on foot, his horse having been slain on the
pikes. He, too, mentions the death of Sir William Deyncourt (line 573),
and says the squadron was utterly routed. If Beaumont--to whom, with
Deyncourt, Gray gives the command--proposed to allow the Scots more
room by retiring, his detachment cannot have gone far past Randolph’s
original position (_cf._ also line 538). The remark seems absurd if
applied to the ground at Randolph’s Field. Buchanan says Randolph had
horse, in which he is clearly wrong (_Rerum Scotic. Hist._, ed. 1762,
chap. xxxix.), and he is followed on this point in White’s _History of
the Battle of Bannockburn_ (Edinburgh, 1871), p. 55.
573 _Schir Wilyhame Dencort._ See previous note.
598 _Styk stedis, and ber doune men._ An unhorsed knight in his heavy
suit of full armour was a cumbrous unit, and if he fell, might find
it impossible to rise in the press, or be assisted to do so, so as to
be remounted on a fresh steed by his squire, whose duty it was to see
to this, among other things. The author of the _Vita Edw._ notes as
a mischance deserving remark that in this day’s fighting the Earl of
Gloucester was unhorsed (p. 202; see also on _Bk._ XII. 504).
BOOK XII.
22 _quyrbolle._ _Cuir-bouilli_, or “boiled leather,” was not really
boiled, as in that case it would become horny and brittle and so quite
unsuitable for the purposes to which it was put--the strengthening of
armour in the transition period of the fourteenth century prior to the
full use of plate, and the making of sheaths, bottles, caskets, etc.
The leather was steeped in a warm mixture of wax and oil, which made it
pliable and fit to receive the designs cut or embossed on it. It was
then slowly dried. Helmet crests or other fittings were also made of
it, as here.
29 _the Boune._ Henricus de Boun in _Vita Edw. Sec._ (see below). The
name is variously spelled--_Bowme_ (C), _Bohun_, etc. He was the nephew
of Hereford. Barbour says “cosyne” in 31, but this, formerly, very
frequently denoted a nephew or niece (N.E.D.).
33 _merk-schot._ Jamieson’s _Dictionary_ gives as explanation: “Seems
the distance between the _bow markis_ which were shot at in the
exercise of archery.” In the _New English Dictionary_: “The distance
between the butts in archery” (citing this passage). E and H read
_bow-schote_ = 150 to 200 yards.
36 _his men._ That is, the men of his own battle at the “entry,” not
the whole army drawn up in line, as is generally assumed. _Cf._ _Bk._
XI. 440-53, and note.
42 _his hors he steris._ _Cf._ with the account, professing to be based
on Barbour, in Scott’s _Lord of the Isles_, canto vi., XV.: “The Bruce
stood fast,” etc.
49 _in-till a lyng._ “They quickly took their positions so as to come
at each other in a line.”
58 _And he doune till the erd can ga._ _I.e._, De Boun; but Sir Herbert
Maxwell says Bruce! (_Robert the Bruce_, p. 205). With this Scottish
version of the event _cf._ the following English one (_c._ 1326):
“When the English had now passed the wood”--_i.e._, the Torwood--“and
were approaching Stirling, behold! the Scots were moving about, as if
in flight, on the edge of the grove” (_sub memore_, _i.e._, the wood
of the New Park), “whom a certain knight, Henry de Boun, with the
Welshmen, pursued up to the entry” (_introitum_, Barbour’s “entre”) “of
the grove. For he had it in his mind that, if he should find Robert
Bruce there, he would either slay him or bring him back his captive.
But when he had come hither, Robert himself issued suddenly from the
cover of the wood” (_a latebris silvæ_); “and the aforesaid Henry,
seeing that he could not resist the crowd of Scots, and wishing to
retire to his friends, turned his horse; but Robert withstood him, and
with the axe which he carried in his hand, smashed in his skull. His
squire, while endeavouring to shield and avenge his lord, is overcome
by the Scots” (_Vita Edw. Sec._, p. 202). Gray says the advanced guard
under the Earl of Gloucester entered the road within the Park and were
repulsed (_tost furvont recoillez._ _Scala._, p. 141) by the Scots;
and that, as was reported, Robert Bruce here slew a knight, Peris de
Mountforth, with an axe. A John de Mountfort was slain at Bannockburn,
and in the list cited his name immediately precedes that of Henry de
Boun (_Annales Londonienses_, p. 231, in _Chronicles of Edward I. and
Edward II._, vol. i.). Buchanan places this incident at the beginning