The Bruce 4The placing of the capital letters and the punctuation are, of (part 1)
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Fiction · Historical Fiction
The Bruce 4
The placing of the capital letters and the punctuation are, of (part 1)
BarbourEnglish
course, modern.
Further, the poem in MSS. is not divided into Books, but paragraphs are denoted by the insertion of a large capital; these, as in C, are similarly marked in the text. The division into twenty Books was first made by Pinkerton, and, as the most convenient, has been adopted by Skeat in his editions. From Pinkerton also Skeat adopts the numbering of the lines. Jamieson, however, made a division into fourteen Books with a numbering to suit. Cosmo Innes gave up the Books in favour of Cantos, with a fresh renumbering. To avoid confusion I have adhered to Skeat’s divisions and numbering, which are those of Pinkerton; inconvenient though the duplicate numbers certainly are, a totally new and fourth arrangement would be much more so. To break up and make more accessible the matter, I have also introduced, where possible, the paragraphs of Jamieson distinguished by spaces, some of these, however, being found in C. They are merely for the convenience of the reader. I may, perhaps, draw attention to the critical treatment of The Bruce as an historic document without which we move greatly in the dark. The historical notes of the early editors are few and superficial. Skeat does not profess to deal with the work strictly on this line (note, vol. ii., p. 224), though he does not fail to pass unnecessary censure at several places. But some such examination as I have tried to make seems necessary in the interests of Scottish historiography.
PAGE PREFACE v-xii 1. MSS. and Editions v 2. The Scribes viii 3. The Present Edition x
INTRODUCTION xv-xxiii 1. The Bruce as Romance xv 2. John Barbour xvi 3. Historic value of The Bruce xx
TEXT OF “THE BRUCE.” BOOKS I-XX. 1-377
NOTES TO TEXT 378
APPENDIX A.--The Site of the Battle of Bannockburn 496 „ B.--Bruce’s Speech at Bannockburn 497 „ C.--The Numbers at Bannockburn 498 „ D.--The Throwing of the Heart 502 „ E.--The Alexander and The Bruce 505 „ F.--Mr. Brown’s “Sources” for The Bruce 506 „ G.--Language and Orthography 511 „ H.--Grammar 513
GLOSSARY 519
LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS 545
INTRODUCTION
1. “THE BRUCE” AS ROMANCE.
The literary relationships of The Bruce may be briefly indicated. It stands at the beginning of Scottish literature; of its predecessors and contemporaries we have but the names, or possible versions whose place of origin is in dispute. In form and technique, including the octosyllabic couplet, it plainly depends on the French metrical romance, the most fruitful branch of a literature which, for quite two centuries, had been the mother of literatures in Western Europe. The opening line of The Bruce characterizes at once the poem itself, and what was best and most abundant in the literature of the Middle Ages. Barbour, too, it is never overlooked, announces his work as a “romance,” but as such, we gather from what precedes, only in a technical sense; and no mediæval writer would consider this popular method of treatment incompatible with strict accuracy and reality of subject: that is a modern refinement. Barbour certainly did not, nor did those who followed and used him; his selection of the model is simply the expression of his desire to do his work in “gud manere.” He anticipated Macaulay’s ambition in that his history was to differ from the most attractive literary matter only in being true. There were already in French many examples of contemporary history presented in this way as a succession of incidents on the lines of personal memoirs, though history had in the end succeeded in widening its outlook, and consequently found more fitting expression in prose. But that was of Barbour’s own age, and indeed Froissart had made his first essay, as an historian, in verse, which later he recast and continued in the form we know. All the necessities of Barbour’s case, however, led him the other way--the despised condition of the prose vernacular as a literary medium, from which, indeed, it never fully emerged; the character of his audience, which would be either learned or aristocratic; and the nature and associations of his subject, for which only the literature of romance could furnish a parallel or supply the appropriate setting. The literary qualities of The Bruce are, therefore, those of its model; it is a clear, vivid, easy-flowing narrative, and if it is also, as romances tended to be, loose in construction and discursive, it is never tedious, for it deals with real persons and events of real interest, depicted with an admiring fidelity.
2. JOHN BARBOUR.
The year of John Barbour’s birth we do not know, an item which is lacking also for Chaucer: 1320 is a good round guess. Nor have we any knowledge of his family. If, however, the St. Ninian in the _Legends of the Saints_ be of Barbour, a claim for which there is much to be said, it may give us a clue. The adventure of Jak. Trumpoure, there told, connects with the fact that Jaq. (James) Trampour had land in Aberdeen bordering on that of an Andrew Barbour. It may be conjectured that the latter was John Barbour’s father, or other near relative, since the vivid personal details of the affair in the _St. Ninian_ must have come from Trumpour himself, and the fact that he was a neighbour of the Barbours would explain how.
The name Barbour (Barbitonsoris) is obviously plebeian. Some ancestor followed the business of barber, as some one of Chaucer’s possibly did that of “hose-making.” The established spelling, Barbour, shows a French termination which takes also the form Barbier, whence Mr. Henderson concludes that John Barbour “was of Norman origin.” But the spelling is merely an accident of transcription; the oldest form is Barber(e) (1357, 1365), which the scribe of the Edinburgh MS. also uses, and which Wyntoun rhymes with here and matere; in a few cases it is Barbar. As we might expect, the name was common enough in the English-speaking districts of Scotland.
See Neilson in Scottish Antiquary, vol. xi., p. 102 ff., and Buss, ex adverso, in Anglia, Band ix., p. 495.
Jamieson’s Memoir, p. iv.
Scottish Vernacular Literature, p. 41.
For this reason Buss always gives the name as Barbere.
All our information about John Barbour, except the little to be gleaned from the complimentary references of later authors, is drawn from official sources, and is thus, of course, perfectly precise, but meagre and uncharacteristic. We learn something of what Barbour did and got, but not what sort of man he was, or what he was like. By 1357, at the latest, he is Archdeacon of Aberdeen, the most important official of the diocese after the bishop, having as his prebend the parish of Rayne, in Garioch; and in the same year (August 13) he has a safe-conduct to go with three scholars, for purposes of study, to Oxford, where he may have seen John Wycliffe. There was, of course, no University in Scotland as yet, and scholars desirous of academic advantages had to seek them at least across the Border, a patronage which Edward III., in his own interests, readily encouraged. Seven years later he is again in England on a similar mission with four horsemen, and on October 16 of the year following he goes to St. Denis, near Paris, this time with six companions on horseback; in 1368-69 he once more visits France “with two servants (vallettis) and two horses.” The University of Paris had the highest reputation for the study of philosophy and canon law, and Barbour, whose duty it was to administer the jurisdiction of his bishop, would necessarily be something of a lawyer, though his allusion to the clerkly “disputations” in this field does not suggest much personal interest in legal refinements.
These have been brought together by Skeat in his first volume, pp. xv-xxv.
Skeat here takes equitibus to be “knights,” but this is not a military business. They were, we may judge, the attendants proper to his rank.
His next appearance is in a different though related capacity. In 1372 he is clerk of the audit of the King’s household, that of Robert II., who had come to the throne in the previous year as the first of the Stewart Kings. The year after he is also an auditor of exchequer. The Stewarts were good friends to Barbour, and we see the result in his kindly, almost affectionate, references to the family in his poem. He wrote up their genealogy, but that piece of work is lost. After a long interval he reappears as an auditor of exchequer in 1382, 1383, 1384. For some part, at least, of this interval he was engaged upon The Bruce, and its completion in the course of 1376 suggestively approximates to a grant of £10, by the King’s order, from the customs of Aberdeen, first recorded in the accounts of March 14, 1377. So also does a pension of twenty shillings sterling from certain revenues of the same city, granted on August 29, 1378, to himself and his assignees for ever. Accordingly, two years later Barbour assigned his pension, on his death, to the cathedral church of Aberdeen, as payment for a yearly mass for his own soul and for the souls of his relatives and all the faithful dead. The practice of these payments can be traced for a considerable time afterwards, but the financial readjustments of the Reformation sent Barbour’s legacy elsewhere.
See on Bk. XIII. 702.
The account of 1429 is the first to state expressly that this perpetual pension was “for the composition of the book of the deeds of the erstwhile King Robert the Bruce” (Excheq. Rolls, iv., p. 520).
But the royal bounty had not dried up. In 1386 the poet had gifts of £10 and £6 13s. 4d., no doubt in recognition of further literary labours. And on December 5, 1388, he had a fresh pension of £10 for life “for faithful service,” to be paid in equal portions at Pentecost and Martinmas. This he enjoyed for only a few years. On April 25, 1396, the first payment of twenty shillings is made to the Dean and Chapter of Aberdeen, so that Barbour must have been dead before April 5, 1395, when the accounts for the year began. As his “anniversary” fell on March 13, that date in 1395 was, in all probability, the day of his death. Thus born under the great Bruce, he had lived through the reigns of David II. and Robert II., and five years of Robert III.
Some stray notices of Barbour in other connections add nothing of importance. One, however, lets us know that he was responsible for the loss of a volume on law from the library of his cathedral.
We have really learned nothing as to the personality of the poet. That he was a keen student and a great reader as well as a trustworthy official, and stood high in the royal favour, may be inferred. The respectful and admiring references of Wyntoun and Bower attest his high reputation as a writer and authority on history. But The Bruce of itself would suggest neither the cleric nor the accountant. His pious reflections would be commonplaces even for a lay writer, and his handling of figures is not in any way distinctive. Even of Scotland in the background we get but casual, fleeting glimpses. Barbour is occupied entirely with his heroes and their performances. It is these he undertakes to celebrate, not, primarily, even the great cause which called them forth; and personal loyalty is his master virtue. That he so conceived and developed his subject, his hurried passage from incident to incident, his grim, practical humour, his impatience of inaction or commonplace achievement, his actively descriptive vocabulary, and his vivid realization of the details of movement and conflict--all contribute to the impression of a man of lively, energetic temperament, with a delight in action and the concrete, and so, as his time and circumstances would make him, an amateur and idealist of chivalry.
“His theme was Freedom,” writes Mr. Cosmo Innes. Barbour gives out his “theme” in the first thirty-six lines, and never once mentions it.
Besides The Bruce, Wyntoun credits Barbour with _The Stewartis Oryginalle_, a metrical genealogy starting from “Sere Dardane, lord de Frygya”(!), which has not survived. Skeat has also suggested, basing on certain references by Wyntoun, that Barbour wrote a Brut on the mythical colonization of Britain by Brutus, but the inference is disputed by Mr. Brown, and Wyntoun’s language is too vague for a definite opinion. On better grounds there has been attributed to him a Trojan War or Troy Book, portions of which have been used to fill up gaps in a MS. of Lydgate’s Siege with the rubric, “Here endis Barbour and begynnis the monk,” and again conversely. An independent MS. gives a larger number of lines in continuation. These fragments have been subjected to close linguistic and metrical criticism by P. Buss in Anglia, ix., pp. 493-514, and by E. Koeppel in _Englische Studien_, x., pp. 373-382, and their reasoning on differences of verbal and grammatical usages has been summarized by Skeat, who concurs with their conclusion against Barbour’s authorship. But there are other elements of evidence, and the sceptical discussion of Medea’s alleged astronomical powers with the affirmation,
Bot na gude Cristene mane her-to
Sulde gif credence--that I defend,
is significantly similar to the argumentation on astrology in _The Bruce_, Bk. IV. 706 to end. Faced with the plain statement of the fifteenth-century scribe, Skeat can only suggest that the poem was not by our Barbour, but by another person of the same name--surely the extremity of destructive literary criticism. And every argument of the German scholars against the Troy fragments would clinch the case for Barbour’s claims on the Alexander, with which I deal elsewhere. The garrulous and dreary Legends of the Saints probably contain, at least, contributions by Barbour; even Buss admits peculiar features in the St. Ninian, and St. Machar is a purely Aberdeen worthy, in whom the poet, too, professes a special interest; these may well have come from Barbour’s pen as the uncongenial but meritorious labour of his old age. Such, at any rate, was the normal progress of a poetic clerk, from translation to original work, to decline at the close upon versions of saintly biographies.
The editor of The Exchequer Rolls, vol. ii. p. cv., says: “Bower accuses Barbour of misrepresenting the origin of the Stewarts.” That is not so. According to the summary in Bower, Barbour had it that they came from Wales, and in fact the family was settled in Shropshire on the Welsh March. It had its origin, he said, from one who was called “Le Fleanc de Waran,” who may equate with Alan FitzFlaald, who, however, apparently did not marry a daughter of Warine, the sheriff of that county (Round, Studies in the Peerage, p. 116). He affirms, rightly enough, that the first of them in Scotland was Walter, in the days of King William (twelfth century). Where he goes wrong genealogically, according to Bower, is in saying that Walter’s son, Alan, was in the First Crusade, which was obviously impossible; but Alan FitzAlan, uncle of Alan FitzFlaald, was in that expedition. Barbour was dealing with remote personages through family tradition, and whatever his errors as represented by Bower, he does not appear, as is too lightly assumed, to have been the source of the myths of later historians in this connection. Bower’s language does not admit of a Banquo. See Cupar and Perth MSS., in Scotichronicon, Lib. IX., chap. xlviii.
The Wallace and The Bruce, pp. 88-90.
Preface I., xlix-lii.
Edit. Horstmann, ii., p. 226.
See further, Neilson’s John Barbour, p. 2.
Anglia, as cited.
3. HISTORIC VALUE OF “THE BRUCE.”
A comparison of judgments on the value of The Bruce as a contribution to history plunges us into a thicket of contradictions. Green’s verdict that it is “historically worthless” is but a petulant aside. It repeats itself, however, in the pronouncement of Mr. Brown that “in no true sense is it an historical document,” but Mr. Brown selects, as illustrative of this, examples, such as the Simon Fraser identification, and the Stanhope Park inference, which recoil to the confusion of the critic. Mr. Cosmo Innes has sought to discriminate, unfortunately upon wrong lines. Of Barbour as historian, he writes: “Satisfied to have real persons and events, and an outline of history for his guide, and to preserve the true character of things, he did not trouble himself about accuracy of detail.” As it happens, it is just in his outline--that is, in his dates and succession of events--that Barbour may be adjudged most careless; his details contain the most remarkable examples of his accuracy. The latest expression of opinion on this head is not even self-consistent. In the _Cambridge History of English Literature_ it is thus written of The Bruce: first, that “it is in no real sense a history ... though, strange to say, it has been regarded from his own time to this as, in all details, a trustworthy source for the history of the period”--a clear exaggeration; and then a few pages farther on: “While Barbour’s narrative contains a certain amount of anecdotal matter derived from tradition, and, on some occasions, deviates from the truth of history, it is, on the whole, moderate, truthful, and historical”--which is quite another pair of sleeves.
Short History, p. 211.
The Wallace and The Bruce, p. 93.
See on II. 239.
XIX. 486.
An article on Barbour’s Bruce in the Saturday Review, 1872, vol. xxxiii., p. 90, has all the marks of the “belabouring” method of Professor Freeman. Barbour’s “historical value,” it is affirmed, “is as low as value can be,” and there are intermittent shrieks of “shameless falsehood,” “conscious liar,” etc. The usual play is made with the supposed identification of the two Bruces, and it is declared that on this “the whole story hangs,” which, in its own way, is a statement just as unwarranted and absurd. It is easy to fix on the error as to Edward being in the Holy Land when the question arose as to the succession, and the antedating of his death. But the critic, with full opportunity for being correct, can sin as to dates quite as egregiously. “In authentic history,” he says, “somewhat more than three years passed between the death of Alexander III. in Lent, 1289, and the coronation of John Balliol on St. Andrew’s Day, 1292.” Quite wrong. In “authentic history” Alexander was killed on March 19, 1286 (1285 by old reckoning). This is a criticism of Barbour’s “six years” in I. 39! He objects to the statement that the Queen was put “in prison,” because she was entertained in one of her husband’s manors. But she is always officially spoken of as “in custody,” and the stone walls of a manor even make a good enough prison. This is mere carping, and most of the rest is of the same sort, where it does not depend on a forcing or misunderstanding of the text. Barbour, he complains, makes the difference between Bruce and Balliol “one between male and female succession.” So, in a sense, it was (see on I. 54), but the critic has not taken the trouble to understand how. Barbour, however, is certainly confusing.
The Brus, Spalding Club edition, 1856, p. ix.
Vol. ii., p. 104.
P. 108.
The fact is that these wayward judgments rest upon too narrow a basis of induction, and that induction, too, usually irrelevant or uncertain--considerations as to the nature of Romance, Barbour’s literary awkwardness and literary dressing, with inadequate examination of the external evidence. But if Barbour professes to write history, as he does profess, and as he gives every evidence of honestly trying to do, he can surely claim to be tried by the appropriate tests--those of official records or other contemporary accounts, and, in the last resource, by his performance so far as these carry us, and by an estimate of the probable sources of what is peculiar to himself. Nor must the quality of his critical equipment be overlooked; he frankly lets us know that of certain incidents different versions were in circulation--some said that the fatal quarrel between Bruce and Comyn fell otherwise than as he has related, and he includes the divergent accounts of how Bruce and his man escaped the hound; and there are other matters for which, lacking certainty himself, he is content to cite popular report. Towards prevailing and attractive superstitions, necromancy, astrology, and the like, his attitude is bluntly sceptical; yet an apparently well-attested case of prophecy--not one, it must be owned, exhibiting any exceptional degree of penetration--he does record, with very distinct reservation of judgment. There is no supernatural machinery in The Bruce, no visions, miraculous agencies, or other such distractions: for these we must go to sober prose. But such is not the manner of popular romance with which it has been usual to class the manner of The Bruce. Barbour is not writing a conventional romance with historic persons and incidents for his material; he is writing history which has all the qualities of romance in real life. Of the same type were the exploits of Edward Bruce, which of themselves, he says, would furnish material for many romances.
So comes it, then, that a careful and most competent investigator like Joseph Bain can authoritatively pronounce The Bruce to be “of the highest value for the period,” and affirm that “in these details he is almost always correct, with occasional errors in names.” Barbour’s errors, indeed, lie on the surface, and are typical of his time, not wilful perversions on his part--events are transposed, wrong dates given, figures almost always exaggerated. On the other side a study of the notes to the present volume will show how trustworthy he is in the main, and, repeatedly, how strikingly and minutely accurate. His profession to tell a truthful story, so far as his knowledge will take him, must be accepted as fully borne out.
Bk. IV. 767-774. Contempt for astrology, indeed, had already gone pretty far--Chaucer’s Franklin has it (F.s’ Tale); but the contrary opinion still held most ground, and prophecy was in the enjoyment of full respect. Theological authority was divided and uncertain on the matter.
IX. 492.
Calendar of Documents, vol. iii., p. ix, note. Book I. is a hasty introduction.
Ibid.
Moreover the reflection is forced upon us at many points that, in addition to the oral accounts of which he makes use, those of actual participators like Sir Allan of Cathcart, and John Thomson for the Irish campaigns, besides relations and reminiscences otherwise derived, Barbour had various contemporary writings at his command. Such was certainly the case with Sir Thomas Gray, who wrote, a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle, twenty years before. His Scalacronica embodies the results of research in the library of his prison where he found Scottish chronicles in verse and prose, in Latin, French, and English, and he expressly refers to such chronicles in his account of Bruce, letting us know that there was in existence a description of the Battle of Bannockburn, and, incidentally, that Barbour even has not exhausted the fund of stories of adventure told of the fugitive King. More curious and suggestive is the citation, in the bye-going, by Jean le Bel, Canon of Liège, of a “history made by the said King Robert” (en hystoire faitte par le dit roy Robert), that is the King Robert whom, he tells us, Edward I. had chased by hounds in the forests. It is an allowable inference that these accessible materials were known to the learned and inquiring Barbour, when he took to deal with a subject familiar to him from his earliest years, and so congenial to his instincts, literary and national.
It is worth noting that Sir Walter Scott, on the publication of the Lord of the Isles, which draws so handsomely upon The Bruce, was accused of a lack of proper patriotism, meaning the pungent and rather aggressive patriotism of a long-irritated Scotland distinctive of The Wallace and certain subsequent productions, but not of _The Bruce_, the spirit of which, too, was in harmony with that of the great reviver of romance. There is no malice in The Bruce; the malice and bitterness are in the contemporary war-literature of the other side. And Barbour is no sentimentalist; his patriotism is not pretentious or exclusive, nor such as leads him to depreciate an opponent, and is therefore not a distorting influence on facts, as Mr. Henderson postulates it must have been. It is not possible to point to a single error on Barbour’s part which is fairly traceable to this cause. And his faults and errors, such as they are, may be paralleled over and over again from the most reputable of that century’s historians, to say nothing of those who, in later times, had to weave their web from less tangled and broken material.
Chronique, I, chap. xxii.
Scottish Vernacular Literature, p. 43.
THE BRUCE
BOOK I.
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 fyrst plesance is the carpyng, And the tothir the suthfastnes That schawys the thing rycht as it wes: And suth thyngis that ar likand Tyll mannys heryng ar plesand. 10 Tharfor I wald fayne set my will, Giff my wyt mycht suffice thartill, To put in wryt a suthfast story, That it lest ay furth in memory, Swa that na tyme of lenth it let, 15 Na ger it haly be forget. For aulde storys that men redys, Representis to thaim the dedys Of stalwart folk that lyvyt ar, Rycht as thai than in presence war. And certis, thai suld weill have prys 20 That in thar tyme war wycht and wys, And led thar lyff in gret travaill, And oft, in hard stour off bataill, Wan richt gret price off chevalry, 25 And war voydyt off cowardy. As wes King Robert off Scotland, That hardy wes off hart and hand; And gud Schyr James off Douglas, That in his tyme sa worthy was, 30 That off hys price and hys bounte, In fer landis renownyt wes he. Off thaim I thynk this buk to ma: Now God gyff grace that I may swa Tret it, and bryng it till endyng, 35 That I say nocht bot suthfast thing!
[15: S following H reads lenth of tyme, characterising the expression in E “an obvious error.” But cf. analogous phrase in line 531, and see note.]
How the Lords of Scotland took the King of England to be Arbiter at the last.
[Sidenote: 1290] Discord over the Succession]
[Sidenote: 1291] The Dispute is referred to Edward I]
Quhen Alexander the King was deid, That Scotland haid to steyr and leid, The land sex yher, and mayr perfay, Lay desolat eftyr hys day; 40 Till that the barnage at the last Assemblyt thaim, and fayndyt fast To cheys a king thar land to ster, That, off awncestry, cummyn wer Off kingis that aucht that reawte, 45 And mayst had rycht thair king to be. Bot envy, that is sa feloune, Maid amang thaim discencioun. For sum wald haiff the Balleoll king; For he wes cummyn off the offspryng 50 Off hyr that eldest systir was. And othir sum nyt all that cas; And said, that he thair king suld be That wes in als nere degre, And cummyn wes of the neist male, 55 And in branch collaterale. Thai said, successioun of kyngrik Was nocht to lawer feys lik; For thar mycht succed na female, Quhill foundyn mycht be ony male 60 That were in lyne evyn descendand; Thai bar all othir wayis on hand, For than the neyst cummyn off the seid, Man or woman, suld succeid. Be this resoun that part thocht hale, 65 That the lord off Anandyrdale, Robert the Bruys Erle off Carryk, Aucht to succeid to the kynryk. The barownys thus war at discord, That on na maner mycht accord; 70 Till at the last thai all concordyt, That all thar spek suld be recordyt Till Schyr Edward off Ingland King; And he suld swer that, but fenyheyng, He suld that arbytre disclar, 75 Off thir twa that I tauld off ar, Quhilk sulde succeid to sic a hycht; And lat him ryng that had the rycht. This ordynance thaim thocht the best, For at that tyme wes pes and rest 80 Betwyx Scotland and Ingland bath; And thai couth nocht persave the skaith That towart thaim wes apperand; For that at the King off Ingland Held swylk freyndschip and cumpany 85 To thar King, that wes swa worthy, Thai trowyt that he, as gud nychtbur, And as freyndsome compositur, Wald have jugyt in lawte: Bot othir wayis all yheid the gle. 90 A! blynd folk full off all foly! Haid yhe umbethoucht yhow enkrely, Quhat perell to yhow mycht apper, Yhe had nocht wrocht on that maner: Haid yhe tane keip how at that King 95 Alwayis, for-owtyn sojournyng, Travayllyt for to wyn senyhory, And, throw his mycht, till occupy Landis that war till him marcheand, As Walis was, and als Ireland; 100 That he put to swylk thrillage, That thai that war off hey parage Suld ryn on fute, as rebaldaill, Quhen he wald ony folk assaill. Durst nane of Walis in bataill ride; 105 Na yhet, fra evyn fell, abyd Castell or wallyt toune with-in, That he ne suld lyff and lymmys tyne. In-to swilk thrillage thaim held he, That he ourcome throw his powste. 110 Yhe mycht se he suld occupy Throw slycht, that he ne mycht throw maistri. Had yhe tane kep quhat was thrillag, And had consideryt his usage, That gryppyt ay, but gayne-gevyng, 115 Yhe suld, for-owtyn his demyng, Haiff chosyn yhow a king, that mycht Have haldyn weyle the land in rycht. Walys ensample mycht have bene To yhow, had yhe it forow sene. 120 And wys men sayis he is happy That be othir will him chasty. For unfayr thingis may fall, perfay, Als weill to-morn as yhisterday. Bot yhe traistyt in lawte, 125 As sympile folk, but mavyte; And wyst nocht quhat suld eftir tyd. For in this warld, that is sa wyde, Is nane determynat that sall Knaw thingis that ar for to fall: 130 But God, that is off maist poweste, Reservyt till his majeste For to knaw, in his prescience, Off alkyn tyme the mowence.
[48: E inserts gret before discencioun, but W and H omit.]
[54, 55: E gives war and so in J: but wes from W is preferable. For als nere (W) E has alsner.]
[61: From H. E has How that in his evyn descendand, which does not make sense. W gives That be lyne war dissendand, which halts metrically. See note.]
[77: Sulde in W. E omits.]
[129: Skeat adopts determynatly from H, with the meaning “certainly.” But this reading cumbers the metre; and Barbour’s word to this effect is “certis.”]
[130: For is from W and H. E omits.]
On this maner assentyt war 135 The barownis, as I said yhow ar: And throuch thar aller hale assent, Messingeris till hym thai sent, That was than in the haly land, On Saracenys warryand. 140 And fra he wyst quhat charge thai had, He buskyt hym, but mar abad, And left purpos that he had tane; And till Ingland agayne is gayne. And syne till Scotland word send he, 145 That thai suld mak ane assemble; And he in hy suld cum to do In all thing, as thai wrayt him to. But he thoucht weile, throuch thar debate, That he suld slely fynd the gate 150 How that he all the senyhowry, Throw his gret mycht, suld occupy. And to Robert the Bruys said he; “Gyff thow will hald in cheyff off me “For evirmar, and thine ofspryng, 155 “I sall do swa thou sall be king.” ‘Schyr,’ said he, ‘sa God me save, ‘The kynryk yharn I nocht to have, ‘Bot gyff it fall off rycht to me: ‘And gyff God will that it sa be, 160 ‘I sall als frely in all thing ‘Hald it, as it afferis to king; ‘Or as myn eldris forouch me ‘Held it in freyast rewate.’ The tothir wreythyt him, and swar 165 That he suld have it nevir mar: And turnyt him in wreth away. Bot Schyr Jhon the Balleoll, perfay, Assentyt till him, in all his will; Quhar-throuch fell eftir mekill ill. 170 He was king bot a litill quhile; And throuch gret sutelte and ghyle, For litill enchesone, or nane, He was arestyt syne and tane, And degradyt syne wes he 175 Off honour and off dignite. Quhethir it wes throuch wrang or rycht, God wat it, that is maist off mycht.
[Sidenote: 1292-1296] Edward takes Possession of Scotland]
Quhen Schyr Edward, the mychty king, Had on this wys done his likyng 180 Off Jhone the Balleoll, that swa sone Was all defawtyt and undone, To Scotland went he than in hy, And all the land gan occupy: Sa hale, that bath castell and toune 185 War in-till his possessioune, Fra Weik anent Orknay, To Mullyr-snuk in Gallaway; And stuffyt all with Inglis men. Schyrreffys and bailyheys maid he then; 190 And alkyn othir officeris, That for to govern land afferis, He maid off Inglis nation; That worthyt than sa ryth fellone, And sa wykkyt and covatous, 195 And swa hawtane and dispitous, That Scottis men mycht do na thing That evir mycht pleys to thar liking. Thar wyffis wald thai oft forly, And thar dochtrys dispitusly: 200 And gyff ony thar-at war wrath, Thai watyt hym wele with gret scaith; For thai suld fynd sone enchesone To put hym to destructione. And gyff that ony man thaim by 205 Had ony thing that wes worthy, As hors, or hund, or othir thing, That plesand war to thar liking, With rycht or wrang it have wald thai. And gyf ony wald thaim withsay, 210 Thai suld swa do, that thai suld tyne Othir land or lyff, or leyff in pyne. For thai dempt thaim eftir thar will, Takand na kep to rycht na skill. A! quhat thai dempt thaim felonly! 215 For gud knychtis that war worthy, For litill enchesoune or than nane, Thai hangyt be the nekbane. Alas that folk, that evir wes fre, And in fredome wount for to be, 220 Throw thar gret myschance and foly, War tretyt than sa wykkytly, That thar fays thar jugis war: Quhat wrechitnes may man have mar?
[218: S nek[ke]bane.]
A! fredome is a noble thing! 225
Fredome mays man to haiff liking;
Fredome all solace to man giffis:
He levys at es that frely levys.
A noble hart may haiff nane es,
Na ellys nocht that may him ples, 230
Gyff fredome failyhe: for fre liking
Is yharnyt our all othir thing.
Na he, that ay has levyt fre,
May nocht knaw weill the propyrte,
The angyr, na the wrechyt dome, 235
That is cowplyt to foule thyrldome.
Bot gyff he had assayit it,
Than all perquer he suld it wyt;
And suld think fredome mar to prys,
Than all the gold in warld that is. 240
Thus contrar thingis evir-mar,
Discoveryngis off the tothir ar.
And he that thryll is has nocht his;
All that he has enbandownyt is
Till hys lord, quhat-evir he be. 245
Yheyt has he nocht sa mekill fre
As fre liking to leyve, or do
That at hys hart hym drawis to.
Than mays clerkis questioun,
Quhen thai fall in disputacioun, 250
That gyff man bad his thryll owcht do,
And in the samyn tym come him to
His wyff, and askyt hym hyr det,
Quhethir he his lordis neid suld let,
And pay fryst that he awcht, and syne 255
Do furth his lordis commandyne;
Or leve onpayit his wyff, and do
It that commaundyt is him to?
I leve all the solucioun
Till thaim that ar off mar renoun. 260
Bot sen thai mek sic comperyng
Betwix the dettis off wedding,
And lordis bidding till his threll,
Yhe may weile se, thoucht nane yhow tell,
How hard a thing that threldome is. 265
For men may weile se, that ar wys,
That wedding is the hardest band,
That ony man may tak on hand:
And thryldome is weill wer than deid;
For quhill a thryll his lyff may leid, 270
It merrys him, body and banys;
And dede anoyis him bot anys.
Schortly to say, is nane can tell
The halle condicioun off a threll.
[247: Liking from H. E has wyll, which leaves the line metrically short of a syllable.]
[258: It from H. E has Thai thingis, which turns the line into prose.]
[Sidenote: 1298-1299] Harsh Treatment of the Scots]
Thus-gat levyt thai, and in sic thrillage; 275 Bath pur, and thai off hey parage. For off the lordis sum thai slew, And sum thai hangyt, and sum thai drew; And sum thai put in hard presoune, For-owtyn caus or enchesoun. 280 And, amang othir, off Dowglas Put in presoun Sir Wilyham was, That off Dowglas was lord and syr; Off him thai makyt a martyr. Fra thai in presoune him sleuch, 285 Hys landis, that war fayr inewch, Thai to the lord off Clyffurd gave. He had a sone, a litill knave, That wes than bot a litill page, Bot syne he wes off gret vaslage; 290 Hys fadyr dede he vengyt sua, That in Ingland, I underta, Wes nane off lyve that hym ne dred; For he sa fele off harnys sched, That nane that lyvys thaim can tell. 295 Bot wondirly hard thingis fell Till him, or he till state wes brocht. Thair wes nane aventur that mocht Stunay hys hart, na ger him let To do the thing he wes on set; 300 For he thocht ay encrely To do his deid avysily. He thocht weill he wes worth na seyle, That mycht of nane anoyis feyle; And als for till escheve gret thingis, 305 And hard travalyis, and barganyngis, That suld ger his price dowblyt be. Quharfor, in all hys lyve-tyme, he Wes in gret payn, et gret travaill; And nevir wald for myscheiff faill, 310 Bot dryve the thing rycht to the end, And tak the ure that God wald send. Hys name wes James of Douglas: And quhen he heard his fadir was Put in presoune sa fellounly, 315 And at his landis halyly War gevyn to the Clyffurd, perfay He wyst nocht quhat to do na say; For he had na thing to dispend, Na thar wes nane that evir him kend 320 Wald do sa mekill for him, that he Mycht sufficiantly fundyn be. Than wes he wondir will off wane; And sodanly in hart has tane, That he wald travaile our the se, 325 And a quhile in Parys be, And dre myscheiff quhar nane hym kend, Till God sum succouris till hym send. And as he thocht he did rycht sua, And sone to Parys can he ga; 330 And levyt thar full sympylly. The-quhethir he glaid was and joly; And till swylk thowlesnes he yheid, As the cours askis off yhowtheid; And umquhill in-to rybbaldaill: 335 And that may mony tyme availl. For knawlage off mony statis May quhile availyhe full mony gatis; As to the gud Erle off Artayis Robert, befell in-till his dayis. 340 For oft feynyheyng oft rybbaldy Availyheit him, and that gretly. And Catone sayis us, in his wryt, That to fenyhe foly quhile is wyt. In Parys ner thre yher duellyt he; 345 And then come tythandis our the se, That his fadyr wes done to ded Then wes he wa, and will of red; And thocht that he wald hame agayne, To luk gyff he, throw ony payn, 350 Mycht wyn agayn his heritage, And his men out off all thryllage.
[279: Hard from W improves the line. It is not given in E or H.]
[286: So Skeat reads, following H. E has land that is, which is clearly wrong. Cf. line 316.]
[287: To from H. E omits.]
[300: E has thing that, but H omits as here; the line then goes more smoothly.]
[309: Et or ec is clearly a Latin rendering of ‘&’ = and: a scribal error.]
[319: E has for to. H omits.]
[344: H omits that, and S follows.]
The First Rising of Lord Douglas.
[Sidenote: 1299-1303] James Douglas returns from Paris]
To Sanct Androws he come in hy,
Quhar the byschop full curtasly
Resavyt him, and gert him wer 355
His knyvys forouch him to scher;
And cled him rycht honorabilly,
And gert ordayn quhar he suld ly.
A weile gret quhile thar duellyt he;
All men lufyt him for his bounte; 360
For he wes off full fayr effer,
Wys, curtais, and deboner;
Larg and luffand als wes he,
And our all thing luffyt lawte.
Leaute to luff is gretumly; 365
Throuch leaute liffis men rychtwisly:
With a vertu of leaute
A man may yheit sufficyand be:
And but leawte may nane haiff price,
Quhethir he be wycht, or he be wys; 370
For quhar it failyheys, na vertu
May be off price, na off valu,
To mak a man sa gud that he
May symply callyt gud man be.
He wes in all his dedis lele; 375
For him dedeynyheit nocht to dele
With trechery, na with falset.
His hart on hey honour wes set:
And hym contenyt on sic maner,
That all him luffyt that war him ner. 380
Bot he wes nocht so fayr, that we
Suld spek gretly off his beaute:
In vysage wes he sumdeill gray,
And had blak har, as Ic hard say;
Bot off lymmys he wes weill maid, 385
With banys gret, and schuldrys braid.
His body wes weyll maid and lenye,
As thai that saw hym said to me.
Quhen he wes blyth he wes lufly,
And meyk and sweyt in cumpany: 390
Bot quha in battail mycht him se
All other contenance had he.
And in spek wlispyt he sum deill;
Bot that sat him rycht wondre weill.
Till gud Ector of Troy mycht he 395
In mony thingis liknyt be.
Ector had blak har, as he had,
And stark lymmys, and rycht weill maid;
And wlyspit alsua as did he,
And wes fulfillyt of leawte, 400
And wes curtais and wys and wycht.
Bot off manheid and mekill mycht,
Till Ector dar I nane comper
Off all that evir in warldys wer.
The-quhethyr in his tyme sa wrocht he, 405
That he suld gretly lovyt be.
[Sidenote: 1304-1305] Edward refuses Douglas]
He duellyt thar, quhill on a tid, The King Edward, with mekill prid, Come to Strevillyne with gret mengyhe, For till hald thar ane assemble. 410 Thiddirwart went mony baroune; Byschop Wylyhame off Lambyrtoun Raid thiddyr als, and with him was This squyer James of Dowglas. The byschop led him to the King, 415 And said: “Schyr, heyr I to yhow bryng “This child, that clemys yhour man to be; “And prayis yhow par cheryte, “That yhe resave her his homage, “And grantis him his heritage.” 420 “Quhat landis clemys he?’ said the King. “Schyr, giff that it be yhour liking, “He clemys the lordschip off Douglas; “For lord tharoff hys fadir was.” The King then wrethyt him encrely, 425 And said; ‘Schyr byschop, sekyrly ‘Gyff thow wald kep thi fewte, ‘Thow maid nane sic speking to me. ‘Hys fadyr ay wes my fay feloune, ‘And deyt tharfor in my presoun; 430 ‘And wes agayne my majeste: ‘Tharfor hys ayr I aucht to be. ‘Ga purches land quhar-evir he may, ‘For tharoff haffys he nane, perfay: ‘The Cliffurd sall thaim haiff, for he 435 ‘Ay lely has servyt to me.’ The byschop hard him swa ansuer, And durst than spek till him na mar; Bot fra his presence went in hy, For he dred sayr his felouny: 440 Swa that he na mar spak tharto. The King did that he com to do; And went till Ingland syn agayn, With mony man off mekyll mayn.
[428: H mak, which seems more likely.]
The Scots are likened to the Holy Maccabees.
Lordingis, quha likis for till her, 445 The Romanys now begynnys her, Off men that war in gret distres, And assayit full gret hardynes, Or thai mycht cum till thar entent: Bot syne our Lord sic grace thaim sent, 450 That thai syne, throw thar gret valour, Come till gret hycht, and till honour, Magre thair fayis evirilkane, That war sa fele, that ay for ane Off thaim thai war weill a thowsand. 455 Bot quhar God helpys quhat may withstand? Bot, and we say the suthfastnes, Thai war sum tyme erar may then les. Bot God that maist is of all mycht, Preservyt thaim in his forsycht, 460 To veng the harme and the contrer, At that fele folk and pautener Dyd till sympill folk and worthy, That couth nocht help thaim self: for-thi, Thai war lik to the Machabeys, 465 That, as men in the Bibill seys, Throw thair gret worschip and valour, Fawcht in-to mony stalwart stour, For to delyvir thar countre Fra folk that, throw iniquite, 470 Held thaim and thairis in thrillage: Thai wrocht sua throw thar vassalage, That, with few folk, thai had victory Off mychty kingis, as sayis the story, And delyveryt thar land all fre; 475 Quharfor thar name suld lovyt be.
[Sidenote: 1305-1306] Bruce accepts Comyn’s Proposal]
Thys lord the Bruys, I spak of ayr, Saw all the kynryk swa forfayr; And swa trowblyt the folk saw he, That he tharoff had gret pitte. 480 Bot quhat pite that evir he had, Na contenance thar-off he maid; Till, on a tym, Schyr Jhone Cumyn, As thai come ridand fra Strevillyn, Said till him; “Schir, will yhe nocht se, 485 “How that governyt is this countre? “Thai sla our folk but enchesoune, “And haldis this land agayne resoune, “And yhe tharoff full suld lord be. “And gyff that yhe will trow to me, 490 “Ye sall ger mak yhow tharoff king, “And I sall be in yhour helping; “With-thi yhe giff me all the land “That he haiff now in till yhour hand: “And gyff that yhe will nocht do sua, 495 “Na swylk a state upon yow ta, “All hale my land sall yhouris be; “And lat me ta the state on me, “And bring this land out off thyrllage. “For thar is nothir man na page, 500 “In all this land that ne sall be “Fayn to mak thaim-selvyn fre.” The lord the Bruis hard his carping, And wend he spak bot suthfast thing. And, for it likit till his will, 505 He gave sone his assent thartill: And said, ‘Sen yhe will it be swa, ‘I will blythly apon me ta ‘The state, for I wate I have rycht; ‘And rycht mays oft the feble wycht.’ 510
[489: Full is from Wyntoun. E omits.]
[501: E has than thai, which is obscure. Wyntoun gives _that thaiy ne_ (S): thaiy seems superfluous.]
[506: E and S have his assent sone: Wyntoun as above, which preserves the correct accentuation of assent.]
[509: E reads and S adopts wate that.]
The barownys thus accordyt ar; And that ilk nycht than writyn war Thair endenturis, and aythis maid To hald that thai forspokyn haid. Bot off all thing wa worth tresoun! 515 For thar is nothir duk ne baroun, Na erle, na prynce, na king off mycht, Thocht he be nevir sa wys na wycht, For wyt, worschip, price, na renoun, That evir may wauch hym with tresoune. 520 Wes nocht all Troy with tresoune tane, Quhen ten yheris of the wer wes gane? Then slayn wes mone thowsand Off thaim with-owt, throw strenth of hand; As Dares in his buk he wrate, 525 And Dytis, that knew all thar state. Thai mycht nocht haiff beyn tane throw mycht, Bot tresoun tuk thaim throw hyr slycht. And Alexander the Conqueroure, That conqueryt Babilonys tour, 530 And all this warld off lenth and breid, In twelf yher, throw his douchty deid, Wes syne destroyit throw pusoune, In his awyne hows, throw gret tresoune. Bot, or he deit, his land delt he: 535 To se his dede wes gret pite. Julius Cesar als, that wan Bretane and Fraunce, as dowchty man, Affryk, Arrabe, Egipt, Surry, And all Europe halyly; 540 And for his worschip and valour Off Rome wes fryst maid emperour; Syne in hys capitole wes he, Throw thaim of his consaill prive, Slayne with punsoune, rycht to the ded: 545 And quhen he saw thair wes na rede, Hys eyn with his hand closit he, For to dey with mar honeste. Als Arthur, that throw chevalry Maid Bretane maistres and lady 550 Off twelf kinrykis that he wan; And alsua, as a noble man, He wan throw bataill Fraunce all fre; And Lucius Yber vencusyt he, That then of Rome was emperour: 555 Bot yheit, for all his gret valour, Modreyt his systir son him slew; And gud men als ma then inew, Throw tresoune and throw wikkitnes; The Broite beris tharoff wytnes. 560 Sa fell off this conand-making: For the Cumyn raid to the King Off Ingland, and tald all this cas; Bot, I trow, nocht all as it was. Bot the endentur till him gaf he, 565 That soune schawyt the iniquite: Quharfor syne he tholyt ded; Than he couth set tharfor na rede.
[511: Wyntoun has Thus thir twa lordis.]
[512: Than is from Wyntoun. S following E omits.]
[Sidenote: 1306] Edward sends for Bruce]
Quhen the King saw the endentur, He wes angry out of mesur, 570 And swour that he suld vengeance ta Off that Bruys, that presumyt swa Aganys him to brawle or rys, Or to conspyr on sic a wys. And to Schyr Jhon Cumyn said he, 575 That he suld, for his leawte, Be rewardyt, and that hely: And he him thankit humyly. Than thocht he to have the leding Off all Scotland, but gane-saying, 580 Fra at the Bruce to dede war brocht. Bot oft failyheis the fulis thocht; And wys mennys etling Cummys nocht ay to that ending That thai think it sall cum to; 585 For God wate weill quhat is to do. Off hys etlyng rycht swa it fell, As I sall efterwartis tell. He tuk his leve, and hame is went; And the King a parlyament 590 Gert set thareftir hastely; And thidder somownys he in hy The barownys of his reawte. And to the lord the Bruce send he Bydding to come to that gadryng. 595 And he that had na persavyng Off the tresoun, na the falset, Raid to the King but langir let; And in Lundon hym herberyd he The fyrst day off thar assemble; 600 Syn on the morn to court he went. The Kyng sat into parleament; And forouch hys consaile prive, The lord the Bruce than callyt he, And schawyt hym the endentur. 605 He wes in full gret aventur To tyne his lyff; bot God of mycht Preservyt him till hyer hycht, That wald nocht that he swa war dede. The King betaucht hym in that steid 610 The endentur, the seile to se, The askyt, gyff it enselyt he? He lukyit the seyle ententily, And answeryt till hym humyly, And sayd; “How that I sympill be, 615 “My seyle is nocht all tyme with me; “Ik have ane othir it to ber. “Tharfor giff that yhour willis wer, “Ic ask yhow respyt for to se “This lettir, and avysit be, 620 “Till to morn that yhe be set: “And then, for-owtyn langir let, “This lettir sall I entyr heyr, “Befor all yhour consaill planer; “And thair-till in-to bourch draw I 625 “Myn herytage all halily.” The King thocht he wes traist inewch, Sen he in bowrch hys landis drewch; And let hym with the lettir passe, Till entyr it, as for-spokin was. 630
[604: E and S thar: Wyntoun than.]
[620: E and S have and tharwith: Wyntoun omits tharwith.]
[625: E and S give boruch (borwch), but Wyntoun has it as above, and it so appears in line 628. Skeat’s Glossary is at variance with his text: he refers borwch to 628 also.]
BOOK II.
How the Bruce avoided King Edward’s Deceit.
[Sidenote: JAN. 1306] Bruce and the Clerk Escape]
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 That he ma till his men gud cher; For he wald in his chambre be A weill gret quhile in private, With him a clerk for-owtyn ma. The marschell till the hall gan ga, 10 And did hys lordys commanding. The lord the Bruce, but mar letting, Gert prively bryng stedys twa. He and the clerk, for-owtyn ma, Lap on, for-owtyn persavyng: 15 And day and nycht, but sojournyng, Thai raid; quhill, on the fyften day, Cummyn till Louchmaban ar thai. Hys brodyr Edward thar thai fand, That thocht ferly, Ic tak on hand, 20 That thai come hame sa prively: He tauld hys brodyr halyly, How that he thar soucht was, And how he chapyt wes throw cas.
[23: Wyntoun gives--reversing the lines--How before all hapnyd was, from which Skeat suggests as an improvement on 23 _How that before al hapynd was_.]
Here John Comyn and Others are Slain in the Friars’ Kirk.
Sa fell it in the samyn tid, 25 That at Dumfres, rycht thar besid, Schir Jhone the Cumyn sojornyng maid; The Brus lap on and thiddir raid; And thocht, for-owtyn mar letting, For to quyt hym his discoveryng. 30 Thiddir he raid, but langir let, And with Schyr Jhone the Cumyn met, In the Freris, at the hye awter, And schawyt him, with lauchand cher, The endentur; syne with a knyff, 35 Rycht in that sted, hym reft the lyff. Schyr Edmund Cumyn als wes slayn, And othir mony off mekill mayn. Nocht-for-thi yheit sum men sayis, At that debat fell othir wayis; 40 But quhat sa evyr maid the debate, Thar-throuch he deyt, weill I wat. He mysdyd thar gretly, but wer, That gave na gyrth to the awter. Tharfor sa hard myscheiff him fell, 45 That Ik herd nevir in romanys tell Off man sa hard frayit as wes he, That eftirwart com to sic bounte.
[34: Wyntoun gives hevy chere; but see note.]
[38: For mony S reads als from H.]
[39: S begins And from H.]
[47: For frayit in E Skeat reads sted from H.]
Here the King of England seeks for Robert Bruce, but does not find Him.
Now agayne to the King ga we, 50 That on the morn, with his barne, Sat in-till his parlement; And eftyr the lord the Bruys he sent, Rycht till his in, with knychtis kene. Quhen he oft tyme had callit bene, And his men eftir him askit thai, 55 Thai said that he, sen yhytirday, Duelt in his chambyr ythanly, With a clerk with him anerly. Than knokyt thai at his chamur thar; And quhen thai hard nane mak ansuar 60 Thai brak the dur; bot thai fand nocht, The-quhethir the chambre hale thai socht. Thai tauld the King than hale the cas, And how that he eschapyt was. He wes off his eschap sary; 65 And swour in ire, full stalwartly, That he suld drawyn and hangit be. He manausyt as him thocht: bot he Thoucht that suld pas ane othir way.
Here Robert Bruce sends Letters for an Assembly.
[Sidenote: FEB. 1306] Douglas hears Bruce’s Letter]
And quhen he, as ye hard me say, 70 In-till the kyrk Schyr Jhone haid slayn, Till Louchmabane he went agayne; And gert men, with his lettres, ryd To freyndis apon ilke sid, That come to hym with thar mengyhe; 75 And his men als assemblit he: And thocht that he wald mak him king. Our all the land the word gan spryng, That the Bruce the Cumyn had slayn; And, amang othir, lettres ar gayn 80 To the byschop off Androws towne, That tauld how slayn wes that baroun, The lettir tauld hym all the deid: And he till his men can it reid; And sythyn said thaim; “Sekyrly 85 “I hop that Thomas prophecy “Off Hersildoune sall veryfyd be “In him; for, swa our Lord help me! “I haiff gret hop he sall be king, “And haiff this land all in leding.” 90
[74: Ilke is from H: S adopts the form ilka. E gives ilk, a syllable short.]
[84: E has gert for can it read by S from H.]
[86: That is from H.]
[87: S following H reads verray for veryfyd.]
The Douglas meeting with King Robert.
[Sidenote: MARCH 1306] Meeting of Bruce and Douglas]
James off Dowglas, that ay-quhar All-wayis befor the byschop schar, Had weill hard all the lettir red; And he tuk alsua full gud hed To that the byschop had said. 95 And quhen the burdys doun war laid, Till chamyr went thai then in hy; And James off Dowglas prively Said to the byschop; “Schyr, yhe se “How Inglis men, throw thair powste, 100 “Dysherysys me off my land; “And men has gert yhow undirstand, “Als that the Erle off Carryk “Clamys to govern the kynryk: “And, for yhon man that he has slayn, 105 “All Inglis men ar him agayn, “And wald disherys hym blythly; “The-quhethir with him dwell wald I. “Tharfor, Schir, giff it war yhour will, “I wald tak with him gud and ill. 110 “Throw hym I trow my land to wyn, “Magre the Clyffurd and his kyn.” The byschop hard, and had pite, And said; ‘Swet son, sa God help me! ‘I wald blythly that thow war thar, 115 ‘Bot at I nocht reprovyt war. ‘On this maner weile wyrk thou may, ‘Thow sall tak Ferrand my palfray; ‘And for thair na is hors in this land ‘Sa wycht, na yheit sa weill at hand; 120 ‘Tak him as off thine awyne heid, ‘As I had gevyn thar-to na reid. ‘And gyff his yhemar oucht gruchys, ‘Luk that thow tak hym magre his; ‘Swa sall I weill assonyheit be. 125 ‘Almychty God, for his powste, ‘Graunt that he thow passis to, ‘And thow, sa weill all tyme may do, ‘That yhe yhow fra yhowr fayis defend!’ He taucht him silver to dispend; 130 And syne gaiff him his benisoun. And bad him pass his way off toun; For he na wald spek till he war gane. The Dowglas then his way has tane Rycht to the hors, as he him bad: 135 Bot he, that him in yhemsell had, Than warnyt hym dispitously. Bot he, that wrethyt him encrely, Fellyt hym with a suerdys dynt. And syne, for-owtyn langir stynt, 140 The hors he sadylt hastely, And lap on him delyverly; And passyt furth but leve-taking. Der God, that is off hevyn king, Sawff hym, and scheld him fra his fayis! 145 All him alane the way he tais Towart the towne off Louchmabane; And, a litill fra Aryk-stane, The Bruce with a gret rout he met, That raid to Scone, for to be set 150 In kingis stole, and to be king. And quhen Dowglas saw hys cummyng, He raid, and hailsyt hym in hy, And lowtyt him full curtasly; And tauld him haly all his state, 155 And quhat he was, and als how-gat The Clyffurd held his heritage: And that he come to mak homage Till him as till his rychtwis king; And at he boune wes, in all thing, 160 To tak with him the gud and ill. And quhen the Bruce had herd his will, He resavyt him in gret daynte, And men and armys till him gaff he. He thoucht weile he suld be worthy; 165 For all his eldris war douchty. Thusgat maid thai thar aquentance, That nevir syne, for nakyn chance, Departyt quhill thai lyffand war. Thair frendschip woux ay mar and mar: 170 For he servyt ay lelely; And the tothir full wilfully, That was bath worthy, wycht, and wys, Rewardyt him weile his service.
[95: H all that (S).]
[128: In E clumsily in all tyme sa weill to do. The reading is from H.]
[131-2: E has gaiff him gud day, two syllables short, and _pass furth on his way_. S reads as in text from H.]
The Crowning of King Robert.
The lord of the Bruce to Glaskow raid, 175 And send about him, quhill he haid Off his freyndis a gret menyhe. And syne to Scone in hy raid he, And wes maid king but langir let, And in the kingis stole wes set; 180 As in that tyme wes the maner. Bot off thar nobleis gret affer, Thar service, na thar realte, Yhe sall her na thing now for me; Owtane that he off the barnage 185 That thiddir come, tok homage; And syne went our all the land, Frendis and frendschip purchesand, To maynteym that he had begunnyn. He wyst, or all the land war wonnyn, 190 He suld fynd full hard barganyng With him that wes off Ingland King: For thar wes nane off lyff sa fell, Sa pautener, na sa cruell. And quhen to King Edward wes tauld, 195 How at the Bruys, that wes sa bauld, Had brocht the Cumyn till ending, And how he syne had maid him king, Owt off his wyt he went weill ner; And callit till him Schir Amer 200 The Vallang, that wes wys and wycht, And off his hand a worthy knycht, And bad him men off armys ta, And in all hy till Scotland ga, And byrn, and slay, and rais dragoun: 205 And hycht all Fyfe in warysoun Till him, that mycht othir ta or sla Robert the Bruce, that wes his fa. Schir Aymer did as he him bad, Gret chevalry with him he had; 210 With him wes Philip the Mowbray, And Ingram the Umfravill perfay, That wes bath wys and averty, And full of gret chevalry; And off Scotland the maist party 215 Thai had in-till thar company.
[204: All is from H.]
The First Speaking of King Robert with Sir Aymer.
[Sidenote: 1306] Valence occupies Perth]
For yheit then mekill off the land Wes in-till Inglis mennys hand. Till Perth then went thai in a rout, That then wes wallyt all about 220 With feile towris, rycht hey bataillyt, To defend giff it war assaylit. Thar-in duellyt Schir Amery, With all his gret chevalry. The King Robert wyst he wes thar, 225 And quhat-kyn chyftanys with him war, And assemblyt all his mengyhe. He had feyle off full gret bounte; Bot thar fayis war may then thai, Be fifteene hunder, as Ik herd say. 230 The-quhethir he had thar, at that ned, Full feill that war douchty off deid; And barownys that war bauld as bar. Twa erlis alsua with him war; Off Levynax and Atholl war thai. 235 Edward the Bruce wes thar alsua, Thomas Randell, and Hew de le Hay, And Schyr David the Berclay, Fresale, Somerveile, and Inchmertyn; James of Dowglas thar wes syne, 240 That yheyt than wes bot litill off mycht; And othir fele folk forsye in fycht: Bot I can nocht tell quhat thai hycht. Thocht thai war qwheyn, thai war worthy, And full of gret chevalry. 245 And in bataill, in gud aray, Befor Sanct Jhonystoun com thai, And bad Schyr Amery isch to fycht; And he, that in the mekill mycht Traistyt off thaim that wes him by, 250 Bad his men arme thaim hastily. Bot Schir Ingram the Umfravill Thocht it war all to gret perill In playne bataill to thaim to ga, Or quhill thai war arayit sa: 255 And till Schyr Amer then said he; ‘Schir, giff that yhe will trow to me, ‘Yhe sall nocht ische thaim till assaile, ‘Till thai ar purvayt in bataill. ‘For thar ledar is wys and wycht, 260 ‘And off his hand a noble knycht; ‘And he has in his cumpany ‘Mony a gud man and worthi, ‘That sall be hard for till assay, ‘While thai ar in sa gud aray. 265 ‘For it suld be full mekill mycht ‘That now suld put thaim to the flycht: ‘For quhen thai folk ar weill arayit, ‘And for the bataill weill purvait, ‘With-thi that thai all gud men be, 270 ‘Thai sall fer mar be avise, ‘And weill mar for to dreid, then thai ‘War set sumdele out off aray. ‘Thairfor yhe may, schir, say thaim till, ‘That thai may this nycht, and thai will, 275 ‘Gang herbery thaim and slep and rest; ‘And at to morn, but langar frest, ‘Yhe sall isch furth to the bataill, ‘And fecht with thaim bot gyf thai faile. ‘Sa till thar herbery wend sall thai, 280 ‘And sum sall wend to the forray; ‘And thai that duellis at the logyng, ‘Sen thai come owt off travelling, ‘Sall in schort tyme unarmyt be. ‘Then on our best maner may we, 285 ‘With all our fayr chevalry, ‘Ryd towart thaim rycht hardyly; ‘And thai that wenys to rest all nycht ‘Quhen thai se us arayit to fycht, ‘Cummand on thaim sa sudanly, 290 ‘Thai sall affrayit be gretumly. ‘And or thai cummyn in bataill be, ‘We sall speid us swagat that we ‘Sall be all redy till assembill. ‘Sum man for erynes will trymbill, 295 ‘Quhen he assayit is sodanly, ‘That with avisement is douchty.’
