The Bruce
of the main battle on Monday as something scarcely worth mentioning
(_parum quidem dictu_) (_Rer. Scot. Hist._, ed. 1762, chap. xxxix.).
Barbour, of course, concentrates on Bruce’s performance, but the _Vita
Edwardi_ incidentally corroborates Gray in remarking that in this day’s
fighting Gloucester was unhorsed (p. 202), which could have happened
only in the Park affair.
67 _thai com on._ As we see, the De Boun affair was part of a serious
skirmish, an attempt to force the road to Stirling through the Park,
in which the English van was repulsed. See above on 58, and hereafter
on 176. This important fact is usually overlooked, as in Hume Brown’s
_History_, i., p. 158.
140 _The layff went._ Some, says Gray, fled to the Castle of Stirling
(_au chastel_), the others to the King’s host (_Scala._, p. 141).
144-6 “Quickly took off their helmets to get air, for they were hot,
and covered with perspiration.”
176 _twis._ _I.e._, repulsed in the De Boun skirmish, and in that of
Randolph and Clifford. These successes were clearly of the greatest
importance, in so far as they put heart into the Scots, and prevented
their being overawed, as they might well have been, by the greatness
and terrifying appearance of the English host. The author of the _Gesta
Edw. de Carnarvon_ thus notes that at Bannockburn “they fought on
both days” (_utrisque diebus pugnaverunt_), and the Scots “prevailed”
(_Chron. Edw. I. and Edw. II._, ii. 46).
194 _gif yhe think_, etc. Bruce here offers his men alternative
courses, either to stay and fight or to retreat. Gray tells us that
the Scots were on the point of retiring to a stronger position in
the Lennox, when Sir Alexander Seton, secretly deserting the English
side--no doubt because he saw that the chances of success were now with
the Scots--came to Bruce and told him of the shaken condition of the
English army, pledging his head that if Bruce attacked next day, he
would win easily, and with little loss (_Scala._, p. 141). Bruce did
attack. Seton was an English partisan in February, 1312 (_Bain_, iii.,
No. 245). Later he appears on the Scottish side (_ibid._, 767, etc.).
210 _Lordyngis_, etc. For Bruce’s speech, see _Appendix_ B.
255-6 The various readings here show that to the scribes the sense was
somewhat obscure. Bruce says that, should the English find them weak,
and defeat them, they would have no mercy upon them. Skeat, by reading
_To_ in 255, and putting a period after _oppynly_, misses the point.
_That happyn_ and _that wyn_ are hypothetical subjunctives. E and H
have altered 256.
290 _my brothir Neill._ Nigel Bruce. See IV. 61, 176.
302 _enveronyt._ “The strength of this place shall prevent us being
surrounded”--always Bruce’s special fear, his men being few in
comparison with the enemy. See note on _Bk._ XIII. 275.
357 _The Inglis men sic abaysing, Tuk._ Similarly Gray writes that the
English had “sadly lost countenance and were in very _low spirits_”
(_etoint de trop mal covyne_) from what had taken place (_Scala._,
p. 142). “And from that hour,” says the _Lanercost Chronicle_, “fear
spread among the English and greater boldness among the Scots” (p.
225). The rhetorical John de Trokelowe, however, declares that the
English were “exasperated” (_exacerbati_), and firmly determined to be
revenged or vanquished on the morrow (_Chronica et Annales_, p. 83).
The last statement, though it would seem to be only a presumption on
the chronicler’s part, may apply to the lords, who, Barbour says, urged
on their men to “tak a-mendis.” Barbour, Gray, and the _Lanercost_
writer speak for the general mass, and their agreement establishes the
fact.
390 _bot he war socht._ The English certainly feared a night attack.
According to Gray, they passed the night under arms, with their horses
bitted (p. 142). In the _Vita Edwardi_ also we read that there was
no rest for them, and that they spent a sleepless night. “For they
thought the Scots would rather attack by night than await battle in the
daytime” (pp. 202-3).
392 _Doune in the Kers._ The Carse is the low-lying ground along Forth
side, on which were the “pools” (see note on _Bk._ XI. 300), and
which was thus in a generally marshy condition. The ancient limits
of the Carse proper seem to be indicated in the O.S. map by the
names Kerse Patrick, Kerse Mill, and Springkerse, all on the 40-feet
level. Eastwards the land sinks towards the Forth; westwards it rises
slightly to the 50-feet level at the foot of the ridge on which stands
St. Ninian’s. This middle division is called “the dryfield lands” in
the _Old Stat. Act_, xviii., p. 388. Friar Baston also has the name:
“The dry land (_arrida terra_) of Stirling” (see note on XI. 360).
The English had to keep to the marshy land of the east in order to
be clear of the Scottish leaguer in the Park. They thus crossed the
Bannock (see below), and kept the “dryfield land” between them and the
Scots. Having crossed, they could advance to the “hard feld” (Barbour)
from their front. It is of the first importance to understand that
the English did camp here, for, if so, the battle was fought on the
strip of level, firm ground separating the armies. Gray corroborates
Barbour: “The host of the King ... had arrived on a plain towards the
water of Forth, _beyond Bannockburn_--a bad, deep morass with pools”
(_ruscelle_, _Scala._, p. 142.). Mr. Lang, seeing the difficulty of
reconciling this statement with the site of battle as fixed by him
and the other historians, says that Gray, in “_beyond Bannockburn_”
(_outre Bannockburn_), must mean “_south_ of Bannockburn, taking the
point of view of his father, at that hour a captive in Bruce’s camp”
(_History_, i., p. 221). But Gray’s hour of writing was forty years
later; and Barbour, who says the same thing, cannot be explained away
by supposititious hallucination.
407 _quhen it wes day._ “About the third hour of the day” (_Trokelowe_,
p. 84). On June 24 the sun rises about 4 a.m.
413 _Thai maid knychtis._ A usual ceremony before an important battle.
Those receiving the honour for distinguished conduct in the field were
known as “knights-banneret.” Previously they had been only “bachelors,”
for which see Glossary.
421 _tuk the playne._ Note the reiteration of this expression, and
_cf._ what is said on _Bk._ XI. 544, and above on 392; also _Vita Ed._,
p. 203: “When he (Bruce) learned that the English battles had occupied
the plain (_campus_), he led out his whole army from the grove” (_de
nemore_).
426 _richt as angelis schane brichtly._ Probably in reference to the
white “surcoats” worn by the knights over their armour (_cf._ _Bk._
VIII. 232-35). Baston writes: “The English folk, like Heaven’s folk,
in splendour shine” (_Anglicolæ, quasi cœlicolæ, splendore nitescunt_,
_Scotich._ ed. Goodall, ii., lib. xii., chap. xxii.).
429 _a schiltrum._ A close-packed body of men of any order or size
(see Glossary). _Cf._ _Morte Arthure_, line 2, 922: “Owte of the
_scheltrone_ they schede (separated themselves), as schepe of a folde”;
also several other uses in the same poem. Hemingburgh says that
Wallace’s “schiltrouns” at Falkirk were round (_qui quidem circuli
vocabantur “schiltrouns,”_ ii., p. 180). Skeat questions this, for
philological reasons! (see note here).
448 _apon fut._ _I.e._, the Scots left the cover of the wood, and
advanced to meet the English chivalry on foot, contrary to all
contemporary rules of the art of war. _Cf._ what is said on _Bk._
XI. 296. “None of them (the Scots) mounted a horse, but every man of
them was protected by light armour such as a sword could not easily
penetrate.... They marched close-packed like a thick hedge, and such a
body could not be easily broken into” (_Vita Edw. Sec._, p. 203). Also
of the Scots: “On their side all were on foot: moreover, chosen men of
the highest courage, suitably equipped with very sharp axes and other
weapons of war, packing their shields close together in front of them,
made the column (_cuneum_) impenetrable” (_Trokelowe_, p. 84). The
formation, in fact, was that of the famous “shield-wall” of Hastings
and other early English battles.
477 _Knelyt all doune._ So, too, in _Chron. de Lanercost_: “But when
the two armies had come very close all the Scots fell on their knees
to say a _Paternoster_, and committed themselves to God, and asked
help from heaven; when they had done this they advanced boldly against
the English” (p. 225). This ceremony was directed by Maurice, Abbot of
Inchaffray, afterwards Bishop of Dunkeld (Bower, _Scotich._, lib. xii.,
ch. xxi.).
488 _dout of ded._ “Fear of death.”
498 _Schir Edward._ The author of _Vita Edw._ says it was commanded by
James Douglas, but in this he is wrong (p. 203).
504 _frusching of speris, etc._ The _Lanercost_ writer, who derived his
information, as he himself says, from a trustworthy eyewitness, has a
very similar description. The English chargers, he writes, galloped
against the Scottish spears as against a thick wood, “whereupon arose
an exceeding great and terrible noise from breaking spears and steeds
mortally wounded” (p. 225). The Scots, of course, would “stick” the
horses, so as to unseat the heavily armoured riders--a serious accident
for them (see note on _Bk._ XI. 598).
519 _With speris ... and axis._ Of the Scots it is said in _Vita Edw._:
“They had an axe by the side, and carried spears (_lanceas_) in their
hands” (p. 203). For the “weill grundyn” axes, _cf._ _Trokelowe_ above,
line 448.
535 _He held his way._ The Scots appear to have attacked with
successive battles, each coming up later than, and to the left of, its
predecessor--in echelon by the right. So we may infer from Barbour,
as well as from the rather obscure description in the _Lanercost_
chronicle: “But they so ordered their army, that two divisions (_duæ
acies_) of it should precede the third, the first on the flank of
the second, so that neither should go in front of the other (_una ex
latere alterius, ita quod neutra aliam præcederet_), to be followed by
the third, in which was Robert” (p. 225). Gray simply says that the
advance guard of the Scots came on in line of schiltrons and engaged
the English (_Scala._, p. 142). Baker alone states that the Scots stood
drawn up in solid array behind an artificial “hurdle” covered ditch,
and waited the English attack (_Chron._, p. 56).
537 _The nyne battales._ Probably, as Mr. Oman suggests (_Art of
War_, p. 574), in the way the French were at Creçy, in three lines of
three battles each, the advance guard under Gloucester and Hereford
thus forming a separate body (_cf._ lines 435-7). Mr. Oman gives the
tenth, however, to “a reserve under the King” (_ibid._). Baker, whose
account is the latest and is really a summary essay on tactics, divides
the English army into three “wards” (_custodias_): first, the heavy
horsemen, which he tumbles into the “fragile” ditch (see above on 536,
and note on _Bk._ XI. 360); next, the foot with the archers reserved to
deal with the enemy in flight (see on _Bk._ XIII. 51); and, third, the
King himself, with the bishops and other “religious” men (_Chronic._,
56-7).
BOOK XIII.
32 _tynt the suet._ “Lost their lives.” The phrase in this sense occurs
also in the _Wallace_: “The Scottis on fute gert mony _loiss the
suete_” (_The Wallace_, Jamieson’s edition, _Bk._ xii., line 194).
36 _slew fire._ “Struck out fire.” Also in _Wallace_, iv. 285: “_slew
fyr_ on flint.” _Cf._ from _The Buik of Alexander_: “thare dyntis, That
_kest fyre_ as man dois flyntis” (p. 236, line 24).
51 _the archeris war perelous._ Baker says that the archers were not
given a suitable position, as in his time, being placed behind the
first line instead of on the wings (_cf._ note on _Bk._ XII. 537, and
below lines 102-5, and note on 104). “Some,” he adds, “shot upwards