BOOK IX.

34 _Enverrowry._ Inverury, on the Don, fifteen miles north-west of Aberdeen.

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 company is successful without a captain, which they can be only with difficulty, still they will not accomplish as much as if they had one.

107 _the Slevach._ Sliach in Drumblade parish, about sixteen miles north-west of Inverurie. Certain archæological features in the district are connected with Bruce’s visit, the “Meet-hillock,” “Robin’s Height,” etc. (_Old. Stat. Acct._, iv., p. 55; Macpherson’s _Geograph. Coll._, i., pp. 8, 19).

117 _And als frendis._ According to Fordun, whose account is independent of that of Barbour, Buchan had many nobles, both English and Scots, when he went to attack Bruce at Sliach (_Gesta Annalia_, cxxii.).

118 _Schir Johne the Mowbray._ See note on _Bk._ VIII. 21.

127 _Martymes._ Martinmas, November 11, 1307.

153 _thai send._ This second “thai” refers to the Scots of Bruce’s party.

183 _begouth to fale._ “They retired, overcome with shame and in confusion” (_Gesta Annalia_, cxxii.). But in Fordun the reference is to Christmas Day. See below, 204.

188 _Strabogy._ Strathbogie.

190 _cover and ga._ “Recover and go about.”

202 _Ald Meldrom._ About five miles north-east of Inverury.

204 _Before Yhoill-evyn nycht._ “One night before Christmas Eve.” Fordun records an attack by Brechin on Bruce on Christmas Day (see above on 183), but the battle of Old Meldrum he puts on to 1308 (cxxiv.). But he sends Bruce north right away after his landing in Carrick and capture of Turnberry to destroy Inverness and other fortresses (cxxi.), whereas Bruce could scarcely go north before the autumn, as he was in Galloway on September 30 (_Foedera_, iii., p. 14). After his victory at Inverury, Bruce ravages Buchan, subdues the north, and, according to Fordun, is in Argyll by August, 1308 (cxxvi.). This would be quick work, even for Bruce, and Lord Saltoun therefore argues that Barbour is right in his chronology (_Frasers of Philorth_, ii. 183-194).

221 _His horse ... he askit._ When the King heard of the attack, says Fordun, “though he was still prostrated by great weakness, he rose from the litter on which he was constantly carried, and ordered his men to arm him and place him on his horse” (_Gesta Annalia_, cxxiv.).

249 _merdale._ “Rabble”; O.F. _merdaille_, “a dirty crowd.” _Cf._ _Alexander_, “For thay war pure, small _mardale_” (379; 14); also _Lives of the Saints; Ninian_, 921.

289 “The son of him (the Earl of Atholl) that was in Kildrummy.” But see note on _Bk._ XIII. 489. Atholl was English, and Barbour must be wrong.

293 _Com syne his man._ But on May 20, 1308, Edward II. was expressing his thanks to “David de Breghyn,” etc. (_Bain_, iii., No. 43). This would support Fordun’s date for the battle, if, as Barbour says, Brechin submitted soon after. But “Sir David de Breghyn” is receiving wine from Edward II. on July 12, 1310 (_Bain_, iii., No. 121). See further on _Bk._ XIX. 19.

296 _all Bouchane._ The district of Buchan is in the north-east of Aberdeenshire.

307 _Toward Angus._ In the north of Forfarshire.

309 _the Scottis Se._ The Firth of Forth (see on 461). Of old it marked the boundary between the land of the Gaelic-speaking Scots and the English Lowlands.

312 _Philip the Forster of Platan._ Jamieson explains that there is still a _Forest-muir_ in Angus, “the name of a great track of waste ground a few miles to the north of Forfar” and about two miles east of it, “a village vulgarly named _Forster-seat_ ... said to be properly designed _Forester-seat_, as having been the place where the forester anciently resided.” He identifies _Platan_ with _Platter_, a forest which is the subject of a grant by Robert Bruce (_Index Chart._, p. 4, No. 43); while a charter of Robert II. confers on Alexander de Lindsay the office of Forester of the Forest of Plater, “in the sheriffdom of Forfar” (_ibid._, p. 120, 63).

330 _Till Perth is went._ According to Gray, it was the Earl of Atholl who captured Perth for Bruce (_Scala._, p. 140). This is quite wrong; Atholl was English.

335 _the wallis war all of stane._ Perth was an exceptional case, the larger Scottish towns, except Berwick, being fortified only with ditch and palisade (_de bons fossez et de bons palis._ _Le Bel_, I., xxii.). And so was Berwick till 1296.

338 _Olyfard._ Barbour is about four years too soon with the capture of Perth. William de Olifard (modern Oliphant) was still holding it for Edward II. in February, 1312 (_Bain_, iii., No. 247). Oliphant was a Scot, and the state of the garrison for July, 1312, shows a great number to have been Scotsmen (_ibid._, pp. 425-7). Fordun says Perth fell on January 8, 1313; the _Chron. de Lanercost_ gives the date as January 10, 1313 (_Gesta Annalia_, cxxix., _Lanerc._, p. 221). According to the Lanercost writer, the Scots climbed the walls on ladders during the night, and captured the place through the neglect or lack of sentinels and defenders (_propter defectum vigilum et custodum_, p. 222).

340 _Of Stratherne als the Erll._ But see below on 433.

354 _the dik._ The burgesses of Perth had, by order, made “a pielle and fosse”--_i.e._, a tower and a ditch--“when Robert de Brus broke the peace” (_Bain_, iii., No. 68).

371, 373 _mak ledderis ... in a myrk nycht._ See above on 338.

377 _slepit all._ See on 338.

391 _A knycht of France._ In the _Wallace_ it is explained that this was Sir Thomas de Longueville, a French pirate and a friend of Wallace. Such an identification is in the usual plagiarising fashion of the author of the _Wallace_.

405 _eftir the Kyng._ _Cf._ preceding note.

412 _the tothir man that tuk the wall._ “The second man to reach the top of the wall.”

433 _Malis of Strathern._ Barbour is quite wrong in placing the Earl of Strathearn in Perth, and his son on the Scottish side. Both were still in the English interest. Malise of Stratherne, son of the Earl of Stratherne, is in English pay November, 1309 (_Bain_, iii., No. 121). The Earl appears to have been at Berwick during the winter of 1310-1311 (_Bain_, iii., No. 208); and it is no doubt his son who on January 28, 1313, after the fall of Perth (see on 338), is still in receipt of an allowance from Edward II. (_ibid._, No. 299). Malis, Earl of Strathearn, is among the signatories to the 1320 letter to the Pope (_Act. Parl. Scot._ I., p. 114).

448 _thai war kynde to the cuntre._ “They were related to the country”--_i.e._, they were Scots (see on 338). The _Lanercost_ account is the contrary of this; it is there said that on the morrow of the capture, a Tuesday, Bruce had the chief burgesses of the town (_meliores burgenses_), who were of the Scottish nation, put to death, but allowed the English to depart in freedom. This writer errs, however, as to the fate of Olifard, a Scot, who, he says, was sent in bonds (_ligatus_) far off to the Isles (p. 222); for Olifard was in England a few months afterwards, and there is no mention of any escape or exchange (_Bain_, iii., p. xviii). Fordun’s version is that the treacherous folk (_perfida gens_), both Scots and English, were slain, but that Bruce, in his mercy, spared the common people (_plebi_), and gave pardon to those who asked for it (_Gesta Annalia_, cxxix.).

452 _wallis gert he tummyll doune._ Bruce’s usual policy with fortified places. See on _Bk._ X. 496. The _Lanercost_ chronicler says he completely destroyed the town (p. 222); Fordun that he destroyed the wall and ditches, and burned everything else (_ibid._).

461 _Obeysit all._ Not quite, in 1308. Dundee was in English hands in April, 1312, when reinforcements were being sent to its “rescue” (_Bain_, iii., p. 401); and in 1313, according to Barbour himself (_Bk._ X. 800-1). So was Banff (Watt’s _History of Aberdeen and Banff_, p. 68). Bain assigns to June, 1308, a note of instructions regarding Scotland, in which two wardens are appointed for “beyond the Scottish sea between the Forth and Orkeneye,” with 120 men-at-arms, “besides garrisons.” The “guardians of Scotland,” however, are told “that it is the King’s pleasure they take truce from Robert de Bruys, as from themselves, as long as they can”--an indication of the growing power of Bruce, emphasized by Barbour (_Bain_, iii., No. 47).

497 _With all the folk_, etc. The _Lanercost_ writer explains this raid as being on account of the discord between the English King and his barons. With Edward Bruce, he says, went Robert himself, Alexander de Lindsay, and James Douglas, with their following, which they had brought together “from the remote isles of Scotland” (p. 212).

500 _ryotit gretly the lande._ The people of Galloway had paid tribute to be left alone (see on _Bk._ VIII. 391), but, says the _Lanercost_ writer, they made no account of this, and in one day slew many of the more noble men of Galloway, and subjugated nearly the whole country, the Galloway men who could escape flying to England (p. 212).

502 _Ingrame the Umphrevell._ In June, 1308, Umfraville, with two others, was made a warden of Galloway, Annandale, and Carrick (_Bain_, iii., No. 47).

509 _als Amery._ Amery St. John; but there is no one on record of this name. Aymer de Valence was still a warden, but in September, 1307, when Bruce was raiding Galloway (see on _Bk._ VIII. 391), John de St. John was one of “the greater men” there (_Bain_, iii., No. 15). “Amery St. John” is referred to again in _Bk._ XVI. 506.

517 _Besyde Cre._ The River Cre divides Kirkcudbrightshire from Wigtown. Fordun says the battle was on the Dee, and dates it June 29, 1308 (_Gesta Annalia_, cxxv.). The Dee flows into the Solway at the town of Kirkcudbright. Though Barbour’s position is universally accepted, Fordun is probably right. See next note.

522 _Buttil._ Here, at least, C is more correct in a place-name than E, which gives Bothwell, on the Clyde, an absurd distance away, across mountains. The castle is that at Buittle, near Dalbeattie, a Balliol hold. It is a few miles east of the Dee, which seems to bear out Fordun as in the preceding note; _cf._ also lines 533-5. Edward’s operations by the Cree could hardly be seen from Buittle.

547 _by Cre._ A second battle by the Cree, or, more probably, one following on the English reverse by the Dee.

575 _Schir Alane of Catcart._ Cathcart is near Glasgow. Sir William de Cathcart (Kethker) is a knight of Roxburgh garrison (English) in December, 1309 (_Bain_, iii., No. 121).

610 “Directed their heads inwards again”--_i.e._, turned their horses to make a fresh charge from the rear.

658 _Thretten castellis._ Small castles, Border “peels”--ditch and palisade.

683 _the wattir of Lyne._ In Peeblesshire, flowing into the Tweed from the north, a short distance west of Peebles.

692 _Alysander Stewart._ In C, _Alexander Bonkill_. Son of Sir John Stewart, who married the heiress of Sir Alexander de Bonkyl in Berwickshire, and grandson of the fourth High Steward. He died, apparently, in 1319, and his son John was created by Bruce Earl of Angus (_Scots Peerage_, i. 13, 169).

694 _Thomas Randole._ Randolph. See note on _Bk._ II. 463.

695 _Adame ... of Gordoun._ See note on _Bk._ II. 463; XI. 46; XV. 333.

728 _His emys son._ The mother of Douglas was Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander, the fourth High Steward, and her elder brother was Sir John Stewart, father of Alexander Stewart, of Bonkil. _Cf._ on 692. Thus Douglas and Sir Alexander were cousins.