BOOK VIII.

9 _Kyle._ The central division of Ayrshire, between _Carrick_ to the south and _Cunningham_ (13) in the north.

14 _He gert helde._ “He made to submit” (O.E., _hieldan_, to incline; Anglian _haeldan_). _Cursor Mundi_, “All folk to Rome suld _heild_” (22,235, N.E.D.).

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 Moray, were presented to Aymer de Valence and his heirs (_Bain_, ii., No. 1214). See also note on _Bk._ xiii. 409.

21 _Philip the Mowbray._ More probably Sir John de Mowbray serving in Ayr for Valence, with others, in June to August, 1307 (_Bain_, ii., Nos. 1938, 1961).

28 _Makyrnokis way._ Godscroft gives the name in the form _Machanacks_; but David Macpherson, supporting the spelling in the text, says it is “a narrow pass on the bank of Makyrnok wattyr,” which he located near Kilmarnock (_Geog. Illust._, s.v.).

34 _Edry-furd._ The meaning of this name appears to be given in the line below, “betwix marras twa,” in which case _Edry_ is for Gaelic _Eadar_, “between,” as in other ancient names--_e.g._, _Eddirdail_ for the Black Isle, being _Eadar-da-dhail_, “between two dales.” “Furd,” of course, is English, and we may conjecture that the place was first known as “the ford,” with a Gaelic name beginning with _Eadar_, and signifying “between the marshes”; then that the unwieldy title was telescoped, the latter part of the Gaelic compound dropping out, and reduced to the hybrid “Eadar-ford,” finally to the form given.

95 _Kilwynnyn._ Kilwinning is west of Kilmarnock, near Ardrossan. At Ardrossan they turned north by the coast road and passed Largs on to Inverkip, where are still the remains of the castle. In 1301 Edward I., after capturing Bothwell Castle, went on to besiege that of Inverkip, and in July, 1306, after Methven, Thomas Randolph was imprisoned there (_Bain_, ii., Nos. 1224, 1807).

123 _Gawlistoun._ Galston is a little east of Kilmarnock. Beyond it rises Loudon Hill.

133 _the tend day of May._ May 10. The memoranda cited in note to _Bk._ VII. 622, relating to the pursuit of Bruce in Galloway, extend to May 3. The battle of Loudon Hill was fought before May 15. See note on 362.

164 _The hye-gat._ “The high-road” to Ayr, as we learn also from the _Wallace_, _Bk._ iii. That hero, with his men, there lay in wait for “Persey’s caryage,” which was being convoyed up Avondale (78) to Ayr (63). The waggons of supplies “took Loudon Hill” (116), on which Wallace had prepared a position (100). Loudon Hill itself is a bold, outstanding eminence commanding the valley of the Avon. The road must have crossed the lower slope (line 165).

172 _thre dykis._ On each side of the road, but a bowshot (150 to 200 yards) away (169), was a moss, impassable for horsemen. Further to narrow the hard ground (170), Bruce dug inwards from “the mosses” three ditches up to the road (173), each a bowshot behind the other (175). In the ditches he left gaps (“stoppis”) for the road (179), wide enough for 500 men to ride abreast (? 650 to 700 yards). Thus he could not be outflanked (185) or attacked in the rear (186), and he had sufficient men to deal with a frontal attack (187, 188). If he could not check the English at the first ditch, he could retreat to the next, and so to the third, if necessary (189-194). Bruce’s tactics was thus to make a position defensible by a small number on foot, and open only to an attack in front. Maxwell’s suggestion that the ditches were to shelter the Scots from the archers has no warrant in the text (_Robert the Bruce_, p. 164). In the _Wallace_:

“A maner _dyk_, off stanys thai had maid, _Narrowyt the way_ quhar throuch thair thikar raid”

(iii. 133-4).

The incident in the _Wallace_ is certainly derived from _The Bruce_, but Barbour’s “dykis” = ditches, as in the modern English sense, has become a stone dike in the _Wallace_, where “dyk” has been taken in its modern Scots sense = a wall.

216 _The sone wes rysyn schynand bricht._ So too in the _Wallace_. He took up his position “in the gray dawing,” and then “The sone was rysyne our landis schenand brycht” (_Bk._ iii. 119).

232 _quhit as flour._ See on _Bk._ II. 415; XI. 131. Barbour here must mean the white linen garment covering the armour--the surcoat.

257 _that us thar dout._ “Whom it needs us to fear.” See for “thar” = needs, note on _Bk._ VI. 121.

280 _cant and keyn._ _Cant_ = lively, brisk; _cf._ _canty_. _Keyn_ (keen) is probably in the sense of “bold” or “valiant.” The words are almost synonymous. _Cf._ _Morte Arthure_:

“The knyhte coveride (got) on his knees with a _kaunt_ herte” (2195).

326 _skalyt in soppis._ “Scattered in groups.” The _Wallace_ simply paraphrases:

“The Inglissmen, that besye was in wer, _Befors ordand in sondyr thaim to ber_” (163-4).

339 _At erd ane hundreth and weill mar._ So in _Wallace_:

“A hundreth dede in feild was levyt thar” (205).

351 _to-ga._ A past tense: “went off in a hurry.” See note on _Bk._ VII. *302.

362 _He gaf up thar his wardanry._ Loudon Hill was fought in May, 1307; Valence was still “warden of Scotland” in July 31 (_Bain_, ii., No. 1959), but was replaced by Sir John de Bretagne, Earl of Richmond, on September 13 (_Foedera_, iii., p. 10). An anonymous letter of May 15 says that “the King (Edward I.) was much enraged that the guardian and his force had retreated before ‘King Hobbe’”; also that James Douglas “sent and begged to be received, but when he saw the King’s forces retreat, he drew back” (_Bain_, ii. 1979).

380 _For that victour._ There exists a letter written by “some high official” at Forfar on May 15, which appears to refer to the events of this year. Bain gives it in full in Anglo-French in vol. ii., pp. 536-7, and an abstract on p. 513. The writer says that “the news of these parts are as follows: so far as I am able to understand, Sir Robert de Bruys has never before had the good will of the people even half so fully as at the present moment” (_ne avoyt onkes sa en arere si avaunt la volunte des gentz ne la moyte si entierement cum il ad ore aparmeymes_); “and that now they consider it manifest that he is in the right, and that God is clearly on his side, since he has now discomfited and defeated the full power of the King, as well English as Scots” (_ausint bien les Engleis cum les Escoteys_), “on which account the power of England is in full retreat before his men, not to return.”

391 _Than wox his power._ According to Hemingburgh, who sets Bruce riding through Lothian “a little after Easter,” before the battle of Loudon Hill, many then joined him who had been “exiled” by the English justiciars in the former year when they “sat” upon malefactors and supporters of “the new king.” “And because, according to the English law, they were sentencing them to burning, being drawn on horses and hanging, on that account they rose unanimously and went with him (Bruce), preferring to die rather than be judged by English laws” (ii., p. 265). Then follows the account of Valence’s defeat at Loudon Hill, the driving of the Earl of Gloucester into Ayr Castle, and Bruce’s subsequent defeat, after which he lurked “in moors and marshes” with ten thousand foot; and how Bruce always “slipped out of the hands” of his pursuers--clearly a misplaced account of the Galloway operations. Of the late summer and autumn of this year the Lanercost chronicler says that “Robert Bruce, with his brother Edward and many others adhering to him, without any opposition from the English guardians, wanders about in Scotland wherever he wished, and especially in Galloway, and took tribute from that country on condition that it should be left in peace; for, _on account of the number of people who then adhered to him_, they were not able to resist him” (_Chron._, p. 210). See also _Foedera_, iii., p. 14, for the official English description of Bruce’s raids on Galloway in August to September of this year.

393 _Outour the Month._ The writer of the letter cited above says that he learns from those who are watching the place beyond and on this side of the mountains, “that if Sir Robert Bruce is able to get away in any direction without inconvenience” (_saun dreytes_), “or towards the districts of Ross, he will find them all ready to his will more wholly than ever.” For “the Month,” see note on _Bk._ II. 494.

395 _Sir Alexander the Fraser._ See note on _Bk._ II. 239, and next note.

397 _his brother Symon._ See on _Bk._ II. 239. Skeat thinks this mention and that in _Bk._ IX. 10 “odd,” because he identifies him with the Sir Simon executed in 1306. Hence one of Barbour’s “errors.” Sir Alexander Fraser, sheriff of Kincardine, and “Simon Fraser his brother” are witnesses to a charter not dated, but later than 1312. (_Fraser’s of Philorth_, ii., p. 126). Simon Fraser is one of the honorary burgesses of Aberdeen in 1317 (_Miscellany of Spalding Club_, v., p. 283). He fell at Halidon Hill, 1333. In line 396 C reads _frendis_ where E gives _cosyngis_ and H _cousings_ in the general sense of “relatives.” Bruce gifted the Earl of Atholl’s lands in part to Alexander Fraser’s wife, Marie, his own sister (Robertson’s _Index_, p. 19, 105). The gift must be after 1315 (_Bk._ XIII. 490).

400 _Schir Johne Cumyne._ On September 26, 1306, John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, is forgiven his debts to the Exchequer (England), on account of the loss sustained “in the death of Sir John Comyn his cousin” (_Bain_, ii., No. 1835).

401 _Schir Johne the Mowbray._ Had the custody of “the late John Comyn’s” lands in England from February 23, 1306; on duty in Ayr, June and July, 1307 (_Bain_, ii., Nos. 1746, 1938, 1961).

402 _Schir David of Brechyne._ Also serving Edward in Ayr, July or August, 1307 (_ibid._, No. 1961); of Forfarshire (_ibid._, p. 199). See on _Bk._ IX. 293.

413 _The Erle of Lennox._ See on _Bk._ II. 235. With line 414 _cf._ extract from Fordun on _Bk._ II. 482.

415 _Schir Robert Boyd._ See on _Bk._ IV. 342.

425 _The forest of Selcryk._ Sir Walter Scott has a note (45) to _The Lord of the Isles_ on “The forest of Selkirk, or Ettrick,” which, he says, “embraced the neighbouring dales of Tweeddale, and at least the upper ward of Clydesdale.” But Gray distinguishes between “the forests of Selkirk and of Etryk” (_Scala._, p. 127); and Douglas, later, had a grant of the forests of Ettrick, Selkirk, and Traquair (Robertson’s _Index_, p. 10, No. 24).

427 _Gedward Forest._ “Jedworth,” or Jedburgh Forest. “The vulgar, and, indeed, almost universal, pronunciation, Jethart” (Jamieson on the _Wallace_, _Bk._ vii. 1277). See further on _Bk._ XVI. 363.

447 _Lanrik fair._ No doubt “Lanark” fair, as it appears in Godscroft’s account (_History_, p. 30, ed. 1644). “Lanerik” is an old form of the name in charters, etc.

449 _gang on raw._ “Go in a row.”

453 _Schir Johne of Webitoune._ In Godscroft “Sir John Walton,” under which name Sir John de Walton, he figures in Scott’s _Castle Dangerous_. The citation from Godscroft will be found in the Appendix to the Introduction to that tale.

492 _per drowry._ _Drowry_ is O.F. _druerie_, _droerie_, love, friendship; here = “as a sweetheart,” apparently in a sinister sense. _Cf._ Chaucer:

“To be loved is not worthy, Or bere the name of _druerie_.”

(_Romaunt of the Rose_, 5063).

In the _Alexander_, as here, “And yharnes to lufe _be droury_” (126, 21).