Book viii
., chap. xxviii.).
426 _till ane vale._ Apparently in the valley behind Coxet Hill. “Gillies Hill” is said to have taken its name from these “gillies,” or servants (Nimmo’s _History of Stirlingshire_, second edition, p. 219). Barbour never calls them “gillies,” and why a Gaelic name? The writer of the description of the district in the _Old Statistical Account_ (1796) makes no mention of this “tradition,” and suggests a derivation from the personal name Gill or Gillies. “The names both of Gillies and Morison occur in the muirlands” (vol. xviii., p. 392).
437 _the Fawkirk._ A Scots translation of the original Gaelic name (in twelfth century) _Eaglais breac_, “the speckled or particoloured church,” in reference to the stone of which it was built. In “Falkirk” the “l” has been substituted for “w,” as a sign of length in the vowel (see _Language l_, App. G). Local pronunciation does not sound the “l.” The English chroniclers write the name _Foukyrk_ (_Vita Edw. Sec._, p. 205), or _Faukirke_ (_Annales London._, p. 104).
440-453 Acting on the information received, and unaware, as yet, which road the English would choose for an advance to Stirling, Bruce makes a fresh disposition of his troops, departing from that laid down in lines 305-347, so as to be ready for either line of advance. He himself occupies the “entry” to the Park road, which was a continuation of the medieval (Roman?) highway passing west of St. Ninian’s, with his mixed brigade of Highlanders and Lowlanders; while Randolph is posted at St. Ninian’s Kirk overlooking the level about seventy feet below. Apparently (see below) both divisions are masked by the wood. The others are in reserve to reinforce when it should turn out to be necessary. The historians, ignoring this alteration in dispositions, land themselves, as a result, in unintelligible confusion. Douglas later trapped an English column in the “entre” of Jedburgh Forest (_Bk._ XVI. 310 _et seq._).
486 _confort his men._ See note on 250.
523 _Aucht hundreth._ Gray says they were only three hundred, under the command of Robert Lord de Clifford and Henry de Beaumont (_Scalacronica_, p. 141). We learn from the same author that Philip de Mowbray, constable of Stirling, went out and met Edward when the army was _three leagues_, or miles, from the castle, and suggested that he should advance no farther as, the English having come so far, and being within touch, he considered himself relieved; besides, he said, the Scots had blocked the narrow ways (_lez estroitz chemyns_) of the wood--_i.e._, of the New Park. But from the conditions, as we have seen (_Bk._ X. 822), the castle could not be held to be relieved so long as the Scots were in force before it. We note that Mowbray also expected the army to come by the Park roads. Now Barbour says that Clifford’s detachment left the main body _two miles_ away (515). Apparently, then, this movement was the result of Mowbray’s information (see next note). However, it was known to Edward when he summoned his army that the Scots had taken up a position between him and Stirling in strong, marshy places difficult for horsemen (_Foedera_, ii., p. 481).
532 _it suld reskewit be._ So the Scots might conclude, but the version of the _Lanercost_ chronicler better fits the case: “After dinner” (_post prandium_--say, about midday) “the army of the King (Edward) came to the neighbourhood of the Torwood” (he takes the Park to be an extension of the larger forest), “and when it was known that the Scots were in the wood” (from Mowbray), “the first line (_prima acies_) of the King, whose leader was Lord Clifford, wished to surround the wood so that the Scots should not escape in flight” (p. 225). This is in harmony with the self-confidence of the English, and explains why the horsemen did not, as they might have done, avoid Randolph’s foot, if they were only making for the castle. There was apparently no obstacle to Mowbray communicating personally with the relieving army, and he cannot have gone alone; so that the parties were actually in touch, and, as Mowbray argued, a technical “relief” had been performed.
536 _thai wist weill._ From Mowbray probably, but _cf._ note on 523. Aymer de Valence, too, had gone on before the army to prepare its line of march and carefully examine the stratagems of the Scots (_insidias Scotorum._ _Vit. Edw._, p. 201).
537 _Beneth the Park._ “Made a circuit upon the other side of the wood towards the castle, keeping the open ground” (_as beaux chaumps._ _Scalacronica_, p. 141).
544 _thai so fer war passit by._ The English writers report the matter as it appeared to them. “The Scots, however, suffered this” (Clifford’s advance) “until they had placed a considerable distance between themselves and their friends, when they showed themselves, and cutting off that first line of the King from the middle and rear divisions (_a media acie et extrema_), rushed on it,” etc. (_Chron. de Lanercost_, 225). “Thomas Randolph, ... who was leader of the advance guard of the Scots, having heard that his uncle had repulsed the advance guard of the English on the other side of the wood, thought that he must have his share, and issuing from the wood with his division” (Barbour says “five hundred men,” line 542), “took the level plain” (_le beau chaumpe_--Barbour’s “playn feld”) “towards the two lords aforesaid” (_Scalacronica_, p. 141). Note that both Bruce at the “entry,” and Randolph at “the Kirk,” were _in the wood_ (see on this also note on _Bk._ XII. 58); and the reiterated use of the term “playn feld” for the level below St. Ninian’s.
546 _ane rose of his chaplet._ Hailes suggests a far-fetched explanation of this: “I imagine that _rose_ implies a large bead in a rosary or chaplet,” when the dropping of a rose would imply carelessness of duty (_Annals_, ii. 51, note). The _New English Dictionary_ defines _chaplet_ as “A wreath for the head, usually a garland of flowers or leaves,” and cites this passage. Randolph in the wood, keeping his eyes on the main body, could easily miss an advance by his flank, which had started independently two miles away, and probably kept to cover as far as possible.
547 _Wes faldyn._ Skeat explains this form as “fallen” with an “excrescent _d_, due to Scandinavian influence,” citing also _Bk._ XIII. 632. A form, _foolde_, occurs in _The Sowdone of Babylone_, line 1428, where Hausknecht explains it as from _fealden_, “to fold,” meaning “folded, bent down, fallen”; citing also “_Folden_ to grunde” and “Fiftene hundred _Folden_ to grunden,” from _Layamon_, 23,894 and 27,055-6. The result as to meaning is the same either way.
548 _war past._ Clifford then had passed the Kirk before Randolph made a move. The scene of the conflict is usually placed at a position half-way between St. Ninian’s and Stirling, now known as Randolph’s Field. But this name is not older than the end of the eighteenth century (_Old Stat. Acct._, vol. xviii., p. 408). The origin of the nomenclature is two standing stones said to have been erected in memory of the victory (Nimmo’s _History of Stirlingshire_, ed. 1817, p. 216). But standing stones are no uncommon feature in Scotland, and various traditions attach to them; and why this preference in commemoration? “Standing stones,” on the other side of the Forth, are mentioned in the _Wallace_ (_Bk._ v. 298).
557 _In hy thai sped thame._ Gray gives an account of this affair, in which his father was taken prisoner, in the _Scalacronica_ (edit. Maitland Club. p. 141): “Sir Henry de Beaumont said to his men, ‘Let us retire a little; let them [the Scots] come on; give them room [_donez les chaumps_.]” His father, Sir Thomas, charging on the Scots, was carried off a prisoner on foot, his horse having been slain on the pikes. He, too, mentions the death of Sir William Deyncourt (line 573), and says the squadron was utterly routed. If Beaumont--to whom, with Deyncourt, Gray gives the command--proposed to allow the Scots more room by retiring, his detachment cannot have gone far past Randolph’s original position (_cf._ also line 538). The remark seems absurd if applied to the ground at Randolph’s Field. Buchanan says Randolph had horse, in which he is clearly wrong (_Rerum Scotic. Hist._, ed. 1762, chap. xxxix.), and he is followed on this point in White’s _History of the Battle of Bannockburn_ (Edinburgh, 1871), p. 55.
573 _Schir Wilyhame Dencort._ See previous note.
598 _Styk stedis, and ber doune men._ An unhorsed knight in his heavy suit of full armour was a cumbrous unit, and if he fell, might find it impossible to rise in the press, or be assisted to do so, so as to be remounted on a fresh steed by his squire, whose duty it was to see to this, among other things. The author of the _Vita Edw._ notes as a mischance deserving remark that in this day’s fighting the Earl of Gloucester was unhorsed (p. 202; see also on _Bk._ XII. 504).
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