The Bruce
(_Bain_, iii., p. 399). He was an Englishman living in the town, and
received a large sum of money in addition to the promise of lands
(_Lanercost_, pp. 234-235). “A royal sergeant retained by the citizens
in the defence of the town.” Douglas, it was said, “corrupted” him with
promises of £800 (_Stevenson_, p. 5). Spalding’s request for his money
was “obnoxious” to the Scots, and he was put to death on a trumped-up
charge of treason (_ibid._).
28 _the marschall._ Sir Robert Keith.
35 _the Kow-yhet._ Still the Cow-port (gate) in the middle of the north
side of the town.
45 _Ane or othir suld wrethit be._ _I.e._, “if he chose anyone to help
him, somebody else was sure to be offended.” Apparently he would have
to choose between Moray and Douglas. _Cf._ lines 55-7.
64 _Duns park._ A favourite rendezvous in that neighbourhood for the
Scots army. The “park” would be wooded. In June, 1315, Bruce was
reported to be collecting an army in “the Park of Duns,” either to
invade England or to besiege Berwick (_Bain_, iii., No. 440).
67 _Athir with ane quheyne of men._ Bruce gets out of the dilemma by
choosing both leaders, each to bring a small party of his men.
72 _the day._ April 2, 1318 (_Lanerc._, p. 234; _Ann. Paul._, p. 282).
_Circa_ March 25 (_Illustrations_, p. 5). Edward is preparing to retake
Berwick on April 18, 1318 (_Rot. Scot._, i., p. 181).
94 _the nycht._ The Scots entered “about midnight after the Sabbath
day” (_Lanerc._, p. 234). Edward, “much enraged,” reports that the
mayor and bailiffs “allowed the Scottish rebels to enter and take
possession,” “through carelessness,” and orders goods belonging to the
community of Berwick to be everywhere arrested; April 13, 15 (_Bain_,
iii., Nos. 593, 594).
97 _hald a staill._ “Occupy a position.” _Cf._ _Bk._ XV. 341.
105 _till the gude._ “For the goods.” Singular form as plural; see
Grammar. _Cf._ also _twa part_ in 103 for two parts.
125 _gat the castell._ “Got to the castle.”
128 _in the bargane slane._ Few were slain apart from those who
resisted (_Lanerc._, p. 235; _Stevenson_, p. 5). According to Baker, in
the capture of the town and castle no one was slain who was willing to
submit (_qui voluit obedire_, p. 59).
134 _the baner._ Apparently the Scots had assembled (“stuffit”) round
their banner in the “staill” (97).
150-1 _Wilyhame ... of Keth, and of the Gawlistoune._ Sir William Keith
of Galston, known by either surname, of Keith or of Galston (152).
Galston was in Kyle, Ayrshire, and there were Keiths in it at least a
hundred years after (_Reg. Mag. Sig._, p. 228; 17).
176 _all that fell_, etc. “All that would serve to provision the town.”
_Cf._ on 15.
185 _the Mers and Tevidaill._ The part of Berwickshire next the Border,
“the March,” and Teviotdale.
198 _on the sext day._ Gray says the castle held out for eleven weeks,
and as his father was then in garrison at Norham, he is probably about
right. The castle surrendered for lack of food (_Scala._, p. 144).
The account in Stevenson’s _Chronicle_ also implies a siege longer
than five days; for he speaks of King Robert assailing the castle with
siege-engines, and failing, and of the Scots then settling down to
starve out the garrison (_Illust._, p. 5). Horslee was at Newcastle
with the garrison on July 20--that is, about sixteen weeks after the
fall of the town--so that the surrender of the castle must have taken
place somewhat earlier in the month. Horslee and his garrison had to
be supported by the town, and the account therefore would begin with
their arrival (_Bain_, iii., No. 607). _Cf._ on line 226.
200 _till thair cuntre syne went thai._ Life and goods were granted
them on surrender (_Stevenson_, p. 5). _Cf._ previous note.
203 _soyn eftir._ But, according to the account in _Stevenson_, King
Robert assisted at the attack on the castle. See on 198.
222 _At = that._ “That he took in hand to hold Berwick.”
224 _Bath the castell, and the dungeoune._ In his former references
Barbour has used the term “castle” to include both the tower or
“donjon” or keep and the surrounding wall, apart from the wall of the
town proper. The wall (or “wallis”), he says in 169, 170, was not then
in a very defensible state. Here he goes back to an older and more
technical usage before these two independent elements--donjon and
enclosure fortified with a wall--had quite coalesced. The evidence
for this differentiation is given at length by Mr. Round in his
_Geoffrey de Mandeville_, Appendix O. One of the citations is precisely
parallel to Barbour’s expressions here, the description of a grant of
Dublin--town, castle, and donjon--in 1172 to Hugh de Lacy:
“Li riche rei ad dunc baillé (has then entrusted)
Dyvelin en garde, _la cité
E la chastel e le dongun_,
A Huge de Laci le barun.”
These, then, are the three elements here: the town, which had its own
wall; the “castle,” strictly speaking, or walled enclosure; and the
“donjon” within the latter.
226 _Ryde in-till Inglande._ The _Lanercost_ writer places this raid
in the month of May, and, it would seem, after the fall of the castle
(see on line 198). The Scots on this occasion penetrated England
farther than usual, reaching Ripon, Knaresborough, and Skipton, in
Craven--_i.e._, covering a large part of Yorkshire (p. 235). The _Gesta
de Carn._ also dates this raid in May, “soon after Easter,” and says
the Scots went as far as Bolton Abbey (p. 55).
227 _gret plente of fee._ They brought back “a crowd of cattle
past numbering” (_Lanerc._, p. 236). They searched the woods of
Knaresborough for the cattle hidden there, and got possession of them
(p. 235).
228-9 _sum cuntreis trewit he For vittale._ _I.e._, “he made a truce
with some districts in return for a supply of victual.” The Scots
spoiled Ripon, but refrained from burning the town on payment of 1,000
marks (_Lanerc._, p. 235).
236 _But burges and but oblesteris._ Skeat takes exception to
“burgesses,” but the town had previously been defended by the burgesses
(_cf._ on 15), and some, no doubt, were willing “to obey” the Scots
(_cf._ on 128). E reads _burdowys_, which Jamieson supposed to mean
“men who fought with clubs,” while Skeat suggests that it is “_burdouis
for burdonis_--_i.e._, mules!” Mules are a less probable part of
the garrison than burgesses. “Oblesteris” are _arblasters_--_i.e._,
crossbow-men, a minor but constant part of both English and Scottish
armies of the time.
239 _Johne Crab._ A famous sea-rover of the east coast, as on the west
was Thomas Dun (_Bk._ XIV. 376, note). In 1319 Edward was complaining
to the Count of Flanders of his “outrages,” and the Count answered
(November 19) that “Crabbe” had been banished for murder, and that
“he will punish him on the wheel if he catches him” (_Bain_, iii.,
No. 673). He was captured in 1332 near Roxburgh, and because the
“ungrateful Scots” refused to ransom him he transferred his services to
the English (_Lanerc._, p. 270), and for his assistance at the Siege
of Berwick in 1333 was pardoned “all his homicides, felonies, etc., by
sea or land” (_Bain_, iii., 1090). He therefore cannot be the “Cryn, a
Fleming, an admiral of the sea, a robber,” killed by Sir Thomas Gray
in 1321-2, as is supposed by Sir Herbert Maxwell (_Robert the Bruce_,
p. 267, note; _The Scalacronica_, trans., p. 63, note). Crab is on
record till 1347 (_Bain_, No. 1504). But “Cryn” may be his nephew “John
Crabbekyn” (_Bain_, iii., No. 417). The Scots slew his son (_Lanerc._,
p. 270). A John Crab gets lands from Bruce in Aberdeen, which, with
those in Berwick, are transferred to another in the reign of David II.
(Robertson’s _Index_, 15, 21, etc. ... 32, 9), apparently on his going
over to England. He is not, therefore, likely to be the John Crab, a
burgess of Aberdeen in later times, and a member of Parliament (1365,
1367), as the editor of the _Exchequer Rolls_, II., postulates (p.
lxxxii., note: Index).
245 _engynis and trammys._ “Siege-engines and structures of wood.”
246 _grec fyre._ In all probability “Greek fire,” as Skeat suggests;
“t”and “c” are almost indistinguishable in the MSS. of the time. “Greek
fire” was the mother of gunpowder; it was a liquid made of sulphur and
saltpetre, with the addition of inflammable oils, and its purpose was
to set woodwork on fire (_cf._ Oman’s _Art of War_, pp. 546, 547). It
was used at the Siege of Stirling in 1304 (_Bain_).
247 _Spryngaldis and schotis._ The _springal_ (_espringale_) was a
great crossbow on a frame, whose cord was drawn back by a winch; the
“shots” were its bolts, or “long darts”: _springaldis, ad longa spicula
emittenda_ (_Lanercost_, p. 231) at the siege of Carlisle in 1315.
250 _gynis for crakkis._ Contrivances for making explosions--_i.e._,
guns, which at first seem to have been valued for this quality.
271 _ger dik thame._ _I.e._, the English were to surround their own
encampment at Berwick with a rampart for further security, and to keep
off the Scots who might come to its relief.
278 _thoucht all suth._ “Thought quite rightly.”
285 _Of Lancister the Erll Thomas._ Bain says that, though Lancaster
was clearly summoned (_Fœdera_, iii., p. 784), “Walsingham, who was
not contemporary, seems the only authority for his presence, and
if his men had been there they would have been found on the roll,”
where they are not given (iii., p. xxvi). But a letter from Hugh le
Despenser, the younger, printed by Stevenson in his notes to the
_Chronicle of Lanercost_, expressly names the Earl of Lancaster as
having been present (p. 422). Despenser also was at Berwick, and his
letter (Anglo-French) is dated September 21 at Newcastle. Strangest
fact, Bain, who knew the _Chron. de Lanerc._, overlooked the mention of
Lancaster having accompanied the King to Berwick on p. 239. In _Vita
Edw. Sec._, too, Lancaster is among those at Berwick (pp. 241, 244).
Also in _Annal. Paul._, p. 286; _Illustrations_, p. 56. _Cf._ notes
below. Maxwell, too, cites Barbour only for Lancaster’s presence (p.
265, note).
286 _That syne wes sanctit._ See note on 874.
295 _all this menyhe._ According to the pay-sheet, August 1 to
September 24, 8,080 men, apart, however, from the following of
Lancaster (_cf._ on 285 and 852) and the sailors (_Bain_, iii., No.
668). In _Annal. Paul._ 30,000 horse! (p. 286).
298 _Ordanit ane felde._ The “Magdalen Fields” surrounding the town.
“The army was spread ont, on the land side, round the circuit of the
town” (_Vita Edw. Sec._, p. 242).
306 _all the havyn wes stoppit._ “On the side of the sea the sailors
present from the Cinque Ports (_Quinque Portubus_) so watched the
entries and exits that no one could possibly get out” (_Vita Edw._, p.
242).
318-9 _sib him ner, Or ... his allye._ “Either near relatives or those
closely attached to him by some personal tie.” “Allye,” Fr. _allié_,
is a trisyllable. It does not seem to signify, as Skeat suggests,
allied “by various marriages,” but only the latter part of the phrase,
“relatives and personal friends.”
335 _our Ladeis evin._ September 7, 1319. So Despenser, in his letter,
says Edward came before Berwick on September 7, and “laid siege to the
town, with all his host, by sea and by land” (_par myer et par terre._
_Lanerc._, p. 422). The English army entered Scotland on August 29
(_Ann. Paul._, p. 286).
343 _coveryngis._ Special protective dresses, such as the miner’s
“basket” of wicker for those breaching the wall.
344 _howis ... staff slyngis._ The first were possibly picks on
long poles, so resembling hoes, used for pulling down defences. The
staff-sling consisted of a wooden shaft about a yard long, to one end
of which was attached a sling. The slinger held it by the other end
with both hands, and so could discharge a stone or bullet with great
force.