The Bruce

These lines are found only in Hart’s printed edition. Pinkerton thought there was “no reason to view them as an interpolation,” and Jamieson regarded their agreement with the ac...

The lordis of the land wes fayne Quhen thai wist he wes cummyn agane, And till him went in full gret hy, And he resavit thame richt gladly, And maid a fest and gladsum cher. 5 A...

Qwhen Thomas Randol, on this wis Wes takyn, as I heir devis, And send to duell in gud keping, For the speke he spak to the King; 4 The gud King, that thoucht on the scath, The d...

Than wes the land a quhile in pes; Bot covatis, that can nocht ces Till set men apon felony, Till ger thame cum till senyhory, Gert lordis of full gret renoune 5 Mak a fell conj...

In Rauchryne leve we now the King In rest, for-owtyn barganying; And off his fayis a quhile spek we, That, throw thar mycht and thar powste, Maid sic a persecucioune, 5 Sa hard,...

Qwhen that thir twa first batellis wer Assemblit, as I said yhow er, The Steward, Walter that than was, And the gud lord als of Douglas, In a battale quhen that thai saw 5 The E...

Now leif we in-to the Forest Douglas, that sall haf litil rest, Till the cuntre deliverit be Of Inglis men and thair pouste: 4 And turne we to the nobill Kyng; That, with the fo...

The Lord off Lorne wonnyt thar-by, That wes capitale ennymy To the King, for his emys sak, Jhon Comyn; and thocht for to tak Vengeance apon cruell maner. 5 Quhen he the King wys...

Quhen Schir Edward, as I tald air, Had discumfit Richard of Clair, And of Irland all the barnage Thris, throu his worthy vassalage, And syne with all his men of mayne 5 Till Cra...

The King is went till his luging. And of his dede soyn com tithing To Schir Ingerame the Umphrevell, That thoucht his sutelte and gyle 4 Had all falyheit in-to that place. Tharf...

And quhen this cunnand thus wes maid, Schir Philip in-to Ingland raid, And tald the King all haill this tale, How he a tuelf moneth all hale Had, as it writtin wes in thair tale...

The Kyng toward the wod is gane, Wery, for-swat, and will of wayn. In-till the wod soyn enterit he, And held doun toward a vale 4 Quhar throu the wod a wattir ran. Thiddir in gr...

This wes in vere, quhen wyntir tyde, With his blastis hydwis to byde, Wes ourdriffin: and byrdis smale, As thristill and the nychtingale, 4 Begouth rycht meraly to syng, And for...

Soyne eftir that the Erll Thomas Fra Wardale thus reparit was, The King assemblit all his mycht, And left nane that wes worth to ficht. A gret host than assemblit he, 5 And delt...

Storys to rede ar delitabill, Suppos that thai be nocht bot fabill: Than suld storys that suthfast wer, And thai war said on gud maner, Have doubill plesance in heryng. 5 The fy...

The Bruys went till his innys swyth; Bot, wyt yhe weile, he wes full blyth, That he had gottyn that respyt. He callit his marschall till him tyt, And bad him luk on all maner, 5...

15 _tyme of lenth._ In modern phrase, “length of time,” and Skeat accordingly follows Hart’s edition in so reading it. But “of lenth” is a common attributive phrase and may quit...

Now Douglas furth his wayis tais, And in that self tyme fell, throu cas, That the Kyng of Ingland, quhen he Wes cummyn with his gret menyhe Neir to the place, as I said air, 5 Q...

Qwhen thai within has seyn swa slane Thair men, and chassit hame agane, Thai war all wa, and in gret hy “Till armys!” hely can thai cry. Than armyt thame all at thar war, 5 And...

Bot he, that rest anoyit ay, And wald in travaill be all-way, A day forrouth thair arivyng That war send till hym fra the King, He tuk his way south-wart to fare 5 Magre them al...

13 _Redis Swyr._ The pass over Cheviot to the valley of the Rede, a tributary of the Tyne. By it went the road from Jedburgh, and in it is the site of the Battle of Otterburn, 1...

11 _The lord of Sowlis._ Probably the grandson of Sir Nicholas Soulis, one of the competitors in 1292. Sir Nicholas claimed through his mother, a niece of Alexander III. (_Bain_...

How the Earl of Carrick passed into Ireland to win it, and with him Earl Thomas Randolph and Sir Philip the Mowbray, Sir John Stewart, Sir John Soulis, and Ramsay of Ochterhouse.

The King, fra Schir Amer was gane, Gadert his menyhe evirilkane; And left bath woddis and montanis, And held his way straucht to the planys. 4 For he wald fayn that end war maid...

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._...

32 _outrageous a day._ “Day” has here the meaning of “a space of time,” as in Berners’ _Froissart_. “The truce is not expired, but hath _day_ to endure unto the first day of May...

17 _Thai raid._ The account in Fordun is that one night, “when the wine was giving its colour in the cup” (_cum merum splenderet in calice_), Edward, on his way to bed, explaine...

177 _my trespass._ This sounds like a clerical interpretation; _cf._ _Bk._ II. 43-5 for a similar comment. In _Le Bel_ Bruce opens with the remark that all knew that he had much...

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...

4 _Scotland to litill wes._ According to the Annalist, it was the Scots who were not satisfied with their own country; but this is merely a rhetorical comment (_Annals of Irelan...

10-12 _off na degree ... Nothir of the kyrk_, etc. The Lanercost writer notes that among those hanged at this time were not only “common folk and countrymen” (_simplices laici e...

3 _A day forrouth thair arivyng._ So, too, Gray declares that Edward Bruce “from over-boldness (_pur surquidery_) was not willing to wait his reinforcements (_soun poair_) which...

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 i...

It is the privilege of early historians to equip their leading personages with speeches, and in its pertinent, practical character the speech here provided for King Robert is a...

1 _The Lord of Lorne._ Strictly this should be Alexander Macdougall of Argyll or of Lorn, but probably his son, John of Lorn, is meant, as on September 14 Edward writes to the P...

15 _Bothweill._ Bothwell Castle, on the Clyde. It had seen a good deal of fighting in the earlier war. In August, 1301, the castle and barony, which had belonged to William de M...

64 _a-pane._ A curious use of the French adverbial phrase _a peine_, in, or with, difficulty; here = “hardly,” “scarcely.” The sense seems to be that even in a case in which a c...

8 _in Scotland for till pas._ Barbour, as he himself explains, now goes back to the beginning of the siege of Carrickfergus after the victory at Connor. According to the _Annals...

8 _In battale._ The date of the English defeat at Connor is on or shortly after September 10, 1315. The _Annals_ are not clear on the point, and the capture of William de Burgh...

90 _till the toune._ _Cf._ note on III. 556. Hemingburgh’s account is that Bruce, coming on him suddenly, attacked Percy by night and slew a few of his company (ii. 251). _Cf._...

23-25 _The landis of Northumberland ... gaf he._ “And lands, it is claimed, within the kingdom of England, the said King Robert confers on certain of his followers, and causes c...

17 _I haf herd_, etc. In a note to the _Wallace_, _Bk._ v. 25, Jamieson cites from “Bellenden, after Boece,” a long passage on bloodhounds, in which this occurs: “And thocht the...

316 _Thaim byrd._ “It behoved or was necessary for them.” (O.E. _byrian_, impersonal verb). _Cf._ “Sa _byrd_ al Galouya hyme honoure” (_Lives of the Saints, Ninian_, 932): “Me b...