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 University of California • Berkeley 
 
 From the book collection of 
 
 BERTRAND H. BRONSON 
 
 bequeathed by him 
 or donated by his wife 
 
 ^ Mildred S. Bronson 
 
POEMS, 
 
 WRITTEN ANNO MCCCLII. 
 
 BY LAURENCE MINOT. 
 
 WITH 
 
 ON THE 
 
 SCOTISH WARS OF EDWARD IIL 
 
 ON UIS 
 
 CLAIM TO THE THRONE OF FRANCE, 
 
 AMD 
 
 BY JOSEPH RITSON. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED FOR J. H. BURN, BEDFORD STREET, 
 
 COVENT GARDEN. 
 MDCCCXXV. 
 
NoKMAN, rrinter, 29, Maiden I.ane, Covent Garden. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 EDITION OF MDCCXCV. 
 
 The neglect which writers of genius are occa- 
 sionally condemned to experience, as well from 
 their contemporaries as from posterity, was never 
 exe^iplified, perhaps, in a more eminent degree 
 than by the poet whose works are now offered 
 to the public. His very name appears totally 
 unknown to Leland, Bale, Pitts, and Tanner : it 
 is mentioned, in short, by no one writer, till late 
 in the present century, nor is found to occur in 
 any catalogue: while the silence of the public 
 records would induce us to- believe that the great 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 monarch whom he has so eloquently and earnestly 
 panegyrised was either ignorant of his existence 
 or insensible of his merit.* 
 
 That these equally elegant and spirited com- 
 positions were at length retrieved from the ob- 
 scurity in which they had been for ages interred, 
 was owing to a whimsical circumstance, which it 
 may not be impertinent to relate. The compiler 
 of the Catalogue of Cottonian Manuscripts, printed 
 at Oxford in 1696, or some person whom he em- 
 ployed, had contented himself with describing the 
 inestimable volume, marked Galea E. IX. which 
 contains some of the most precious relics of 
 ancient English poetry, in these words : " Chau- 
 cer. Exemplar emendate scriptum" The manu- 
 script, it must be confessed, is very fairly, and 
 also pretty correctly written, if either be the 
 
 * Of this monarch, who gave to Chaucer an office in the customs, 
 upon condition that he wrote his accounts witli his own hand, it has 
 already been observed, that, " though adorned with many royal and 
 heroic virtues," he " had not the gift of discerning and patronizing 
 a great poet." Vide Chaucer's Catiterbury Tales, by TyrwhittjlTTS, 
 8vo. vol. i. p. xxviii. 
 
PREFACE. .Vll 
 
 meaning of emendate^ but owes not the smallest 
 obligation to the great poet whose genuine works 
 might, naturally enough, have been expected to 
 occupy the whole. The indolence of the cata- 
 logue-maker being equal to his ignorance, readily 
 converted the name of Richard Chawfer, 
 scrawled, perhaps, by some former proprietor of 
 the volume, on a spare leaf, into that of Geoffrey 
 Chaucer, the supposed author of its contents. 
 To this fortunate blunder, however — if a blunder 
 there was to be — we are indebted for our acquaint- 
 ance with the name and writings of Laurence 
 Mi NOT, whom one of a different nature might 
 have consigned to perpetual oblivion. The late 
 ingenious and industrious Mr. Tyrwhitt, in pre- 
 paring materials for his admirable edition of 
 Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, consulted the manu- 
 script for the purpose of collating an accurate copy 
 of his favourite author. His disappointment, 
 which may be easily imagined, would be very 
 speedily converted into the most agreeable sur- 
 
prise, on finding himself thus unexpectedly in- 
 troduced to the acquaintance of a new poet, 
 anterior, perhaps, to that favourite in point of 
 time, and certainly not his inferior with respect 
 to language. In consequence of this happy dis- 
 covery, the name of Laurence Minot, which 
 he himself has luckily taken care to preserve, 
 was first ushered into the modern world by a 
 note to the learned " Essay on the Language 
 and Versification of Chaucer." 
 
 A copy of these poems having been communi- 
 cated to the Rev. Thomas Warton, of Oxford, 
 some extracts from them appeared, with sufficient 
 aukwardness indeed, in the third volume of his 
 History of English Poetry ^ published in 1781. 
 Those extracts, however, are by no means undis- 
 tinguished by the general inaccuracy which per- 
 vades that interesting and important work. Its 
 author, confident in great and splendid abilities, 
 would seem to have disdained the too servile ta^ 
 of cultivating the acquaintance of ancient dialect 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 or phraseology, and to have contented himself 
 with publishing, and occasionally attempting to 
 explain, what, it must be evident, he did not him- 
 self understand. That an Enghsh writer of the first 
 eminence should never have heard of the name 
 of Baliol, must excite surprise : and yet this 
 appears to have been the case of our poetical 
 historian, who, in his certainly bold, but not less 
 erroneous, attempts to elucidate one of the fol- 
 lowing poems, makes " Edward the Baliolfe" 
 to mean " Edward the warlike," that is, 
 " Edward the third," who " is introduced," 
 he says, " by Minot, as resisting the Scotish 
 invasion in 1347 [1346] at Nevil's Cross, near 
 Durham;"* though every child might be ex- 
 
 • llie is well known to be the northern corrnption of de : hence 
 the Bruce, the Baliol, of the Scotish poets. See Barbour's Life of 
 Bruce, passim. Thus, also, Philippe dc Valois \& here called " Philip 
 the Valas." The name of Ballot was frequently written Baitolf, or 
 Bailllof, in the age of our poet. In Mores's Nomina NobiUum 
 Equitumque sub Edw. J. 1749, 4to. we find " sir Thomas de 
 Bailolf;" and in a list of Durham knights, in the time of Henry 111. 
 preserved in an ancient manuscript, called The Boldon-buke, from 
 its containing a copy of that record, in the auditor's office, Durham, 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 pected to know that this monarch was, upon that 
 occasion, at the siege of Calais ; and, in fact, he 
 is, in the very poem alluded to, expressly stated 
 to be " out of the londe." With respect to the 
 age of the manuscript, which the same gentle- 
 man attributes to the reign of Henry VI. he was 
 probably misled by the person who transmitted 
 the poems, as it may very fairly be referred to 
 that of Richard II. though some pieces, it is true, 
 are inserted by a later hand, and of a more 
 modern date. 
 
 That these poems were written, or at least 
 completed, in the beginning of the year 1352, 
 according to the present stile, is not a mere cir- 
 cumstance of probability, but may be clearly 
 demonstrated by internal evidence and matter of 
 fact. The latest event they commemorate is the 
 capture of Guisnes Castle, which happened. 
 
 " sir John de Bailliof, sir Hugh de BailUof, sir Eustace de Baillop* 
 Blind Harry, the Scotish Homer; calls John de JBalioi, ii Jhon the 
 Balzouue," 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 according to Avesbury, on saint Vincent's day, 
 January 22, 1351-2; and it is manifest that the 
 concluding poem, of which that capture is the 
 subject, was written in *' winter," most likely in 
 February, while the fact was recent, and the 
 captors were in possession of the place, which, 
 we learn from Stow, they did not long oc- 
 cupy* The fact, indeed, might have been inferred 
 from other circumstances : that the duke of 
 Lancaster, who is familiarly mentioned by that 
 title, was only so created the 6th of March, 
 1350-1 ; and that some great events quickly 
 succeeded the year 1 352, which, as our author 
 has not celebrated nor alluded to them, it may 
 be presumed he did not live to witness. Minot, 
 of course, is to be regarded as a poet anterior not 
 
 • Stow's account, whencesoever he had it, is not every where 
 clear. If Avesbury be right, and the ambassadors from the earl of 
 Guisnes did not arrive in London before the day of St. Maurice the 
 abbot, which is the l5th of January, John de Doncaater must have 
 kept possession till the following year, 1352-3; which is highly 
 improbable. * 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 only to Chaucer, who, in 1352, was but twenty- 
 four years of age, and had not, so far as we 
 know, given any proofs of a poetical imagination, 
 but also to Gower, who, though he survived that 
 writer, was probably his senior by some years. 
 He cannot, at the same time, be considered as 
 the first of English poets, since, not to mention 
 the hermit of Hampole, the prolixity of whose 
 compositions is compensated more by their piety 
 than by their spirit, he is clearly posterior to 
 Robert [Mannyng] of Brunne ;* whose namesake 
 of Gloucester is, in fact, the Ennius of this 
 numerous family .f 
 
 * Robert Mannyng of Brunne, or Bourn, in Lincolnshire. He 
 translated into English rhymes, from the French of Robert Grosse- 
 teste. Bishop of Lincoln, a treatise called Manuel de Peches, as early 
 as the year 1303. This work of his has not been printed, but is 
 preserved in MS. Harl. 1701, and in the Bodleian, 2323. He also 
 translated from the French an history of England ; the first part, or 
 Gesta Britonum, from Master Wace ; the remainder, to the death 
 of Edward I. from Peter of Langtoft, which translation he finished 
 in 1338 or 9. The latter part, with some extracts from the former, 
 was printed by Ilearne, in 1725, from a single manuscript. 
 
 + How long Mannyng was employed upon his translation of Lange- 
 toft does not appear; but that he had not finished it in 1337 is clear 
 
PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 It seems pretty clear, from our author's dialect 
 and orthography, that he was a native of one of 
 the northern counties, in some monastery whereof 
 the manuscript which contains his poems, along 
 with many others in the same dialect, is conjec- 
 tured to have been written ; and to which, at the 
 same time, it is not improbable that he himself 
 should have belonged. Chance, however, may 
 one day bring us somewhat better acquainted 
 with his history. 
 
 The creative imagination and poetical fancy 
 which distinguish Chaucer, who, considering the 
 general barbarism of his age and country, may 
 be regarded as a prodigy, admit, it must be ac- 
 knowledged, of no competition ; yet, if the truth 
 
 from a passage in p. 243 of the printed copy : and, iodecd, he else- 
 where, at p. 341, expressly tells us, 
 
 " Idus that is of May left i tuw rite this ryme, 
 B letter & Friday bi ix. that zere zede prime." 
 
 The dominical letter, as Ilearnc observes, should be D : so that the 
 poet finished his work, upon which he had probably been engaged 
 for some years, on Friday, the l5th of May, 1339. 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 may be uttered, without offence to the estabUshed 
 reputation of that pre-eminent genius, one may 
 venture to assert that, in point of ease, harmony, 
 and variety of versification, as well as general 
 perspicuity of style, Laurence Minot is, per- 
 haps, equal, if not superior, to any EngUsh poet 
 before the sixteenth, or even, with very few ex- 
 ceptions, before the seventeenth century. There 
 are, in fact, but two other poets who are any way 
 remarkable for a particular facihty of rhyming 
 and happy choice of words : Robert of Brunne, 
 already mentioned, who wrote before 1340, and 
 Thomas Tusser, who wrote about 1560. 
 
 As to what concerns the present publication, it 
 may be sufficient to say, that the poems are 
 printed, with scrupulous fidelity, from the only 
 manuscript copy of them known to exist. All 
 abbreviations have been entirely discarded; as 
 hath likewise the character y; the improper 
 representative, though peculiar, perhaps, at 
 that period, to the northern scribes, of the 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 Saxon p. The letter z, however, is retained; 
 h retention which can require no apology, after 
 the respectable examples of a Ruddiman and a 
 Percy; notwithstanding they may have been 
 ranked among " ignorant editors," for the preser- 
 vation of " this stupid blunder."* Its power, at the 
 same time, is, in these poems, every where that 
 of the modern y, consonant; though, on many 
 occasions, it is the substitute of gh. 
 
 It may be requisite to apprise the reader, that 
 our author, like Chaucer, and, perhaps, other 
 poets of the same age, makes occasional use of 
 the e feminine, which renders it necessary, in 
 pronunciation, to divide, in some cases, what in 
 others is a single syllable : a liberty upon which 
 the metre and harmony of his lines will now and 
 then be found essentially to depend. Thus, for 
 
 • See Ancient Scottish Poems, 1786, p. 520. The astertion made 
 in the same page, that the letter z, " in the old editions," is " care, 
 fully distinguished from the" y consonant, in the manner there 
 described, seems to be hazarded withoat the slightest authority or 
 foundation. 
 
XVI PREFACE. 
 
 instance, in page 1, line 8, the word " dedes" is 
 to be pronounced as a dyssallable, " dedes;" 
 though, in the very next line but one, it is equally 
 requisite to be pronounced as a monosyllable. 
 In the same predicament are " Scottes," p. 3, 1. 5, 
 and " Scottes, p. 4, 1. 4, and ** bowes," p. 20, 
 1. 10, and *' bowes," p. 23, 1. 4. The use of the 
 acute accent, which has been introduced in a 
 few instances of proper names, may, perhaps, be 
 thought no less proper in the case spoken of; 
 but, beside that there is only a single manuscript, 
 the writer of which, not having received the ter- 
 rible injunction layed upon Adam Scrivinere* 
 was possibly unaware of the poet's intention, one 
 must not forget the sentiment of a most inge- 
 nious and accurate person upon this subject: 
 that " a reader, who cannot perform such opera- 
 tions for himself, had better not trouble his head 
 about the versifiation of * ancient author/ " f It 
 
 * See Urry's Chaucer, p. 626. 
 
 t Canterbury Tales, 1775, vol. iv. p. 05. 
 
PREFACE. XVll 
 
 may, therefore, be deemed sufficient to add, in 
 the words of the same excellent critic, that " the 
 true e feminine is always to be pronounced with 
 an obscure evanescent sound, and is capable of 
 bearing any stress or accent.*** 
 
 The NOTES which accompany these poems are 
 given chiefly from spme ancient manuscript, from 
 the old English translation of Froissart, an almost 
 contemporary writer, and from the Chronicles of 
 Fabian, Holinshed, and Stow; but more espe- 
 cially from that of Froissart, the extracts from 
 which, though occasionally prolix, as it is a book 
 of great rarity, may be excused, if not welcomed, 
 by most readers, on account of their novelty. 
 The language of this translation, however obso- 
 lete it may now appear, was doubtless esteemed 
 perfectly elegant at the court of king Henry the 
 Eighth : it being the work of a very eminent and 
 accomplished nobleman of that period. 
 
 • The latter in never implied by the acute accent ; bat Urry, ojit 
 of ignorance, adopted the grave accent, which always reqaire« it. 
 
 h 
 
XVIU PREFACE. 
 
 As the general information which appeared 
 necessary to illustrate the two principal subjects 
 of Minot's poetry — his hero's wars with Scot- 
 land and with France — was thought too long for 
 the notes, it has been thrown into the form of 
 DISSERTATIONS. This, howcvcr, being an after- 
 thought, has occasioned some repetitions, which 
 the reader is desired to pardon. 
 
 No word of the least difficulty has been inten- 
 tionally omitted rn the glossary ; though many 
 words, peculiar to our author, are necessarily 
 submitted to farther investigation ; as it seems no 
 part of an editor's duty to save his readers the 
 trouble of guessing at the meaning of expressions 
 for which they cannot possibly be more at a loss 
 than he is himself. 
 
INTRODUCTORY 
 
 DISSERTATIONS. 
 
 I. 
 
 ON THE SCOTISII WARS OF KING EDWARD III. 
 
 The male line of the royal family of Scotland 
 having become extinct by the death of Alex- 
 ander III. in the year 1285-6, and the young 
 queen Margaret of Norway, his grand -daughter, 
 the only surviving descendant of Henry, prince 
 of Cumberland, eldest son of David I. dying an 
 infant, in 1290, several persons, in different rights, 
 laid claim to the crown; and the regency of 
 Scotland, either unable or unwilling to decide 
 
XX ON THE SCOTISH WARS 
 
 the contest, solicited the assistance of king Ed- 
 ward I. This monarch, powerful, ambitious, and 
 politic, readily accepted the office of arbitrator ; 
 but, previously to a decision upon the claims of 
 others, he thought it necessary to determine a 
 claim of his own, which was, to be superior and 
 lord paramount of the kingdom of Scotland : a 
 claim which the competitors, whether through 
 ignorance, timidity, or prudence, unanimously 
 acknowledged; and, in that character, they 
 obliged themselves, by a solemn instrument, to 
 sbumit to his award ; the regency and baronage of 
 Scotland, at the same time, not only surrendering 
 the kingdom, but doing homage and swearing 
 fealty, as to their liege lord, in order to enable 
 him, as he pretended, to carry it the more effec- 
 tually into execution. This meeting was held, 
 by adjournment, at a small ville^e on the north 
 side of the Tweed, opposite to the castle of Nor- 
 ham, in the beginning of June, 1291, and was 
 further adjourned to the second of August, in the 
 
OF EDWARD THE THIRD. XXI 
 
 same year ; when the claims were to be received 
 by commissioners named for the purpose, who 
 were to report the result to Edward. The com- 
 petitors, accordingly, at this adjourned meeting, 
 delivered in their claims, which amounted to thir- 
 teen: but, most of them being very frivolous, 
 they were, by different means, finally reduced to 
 two : those of John de Baliol and Robert de Brus, 
 or Bruce, both powerful barons, as well in Eng- 
 land as in Scotland ; Baliol being the grandson 
 of Margaret, the eldest daughter of David earl 
 of Huntingdon, second son of David I. and Bruce 
 the son of Isabel, the second daughter of the 
 same nobleman. The sole question, therefore, 
 left to the decision of Edward, was whether the 
 issue of an elder sister, more remote in one de- 
 gree, was to be preferred to the issue of a younger 
 sister, nearer in one degree; and his definitive 
 judgment was, that Baliol should have seisin 
 of the kingdom of Scotland, saving the right of 
 the king of England and his heirs. Seisin being 
 
XXU ON THE SCOTISH WARS 
 
 accordingly delivered, Baliol was crowned at 
 Scone, on the 30th of November, 1292, and on 
 the 26th of the following month did homage to 
 his liege lord, at Newcastle upon Tyne. This 
 adjudication of the English monarch, however 
 unsatisfactory in its consequences, was self-evi- 
 dently just; and supposing, with the learned 
 and ingenious Ruddiman, the Scots of that period 
 to have thought otherwise, namely, that the child 
 of a younger daughter was to be preferred, in an 
 indivisible inheritance, to the grandchild of an 
 elder, they must certainly have been very con- 
 fused and inconsequential reasoners. 
 
 In the year 1295, Baliol, who had been re- 
 peatedly cited before the English parliament, on 
 the complaint of his own subjects, and seems, in 
 short, to have had his patience completely, and 
 perhaps intentionally, wearied out by the domi- 
 neering insolence of his lord paramount, entered 
 into an alliance with Philip the Fair, king of 
 France, and committed some petty devestation 
 
OF EDWARD THE TPIIRD. XXIII 
 
 upon the English borders. Edwaid, glad of his 
 vassal's rebellion, Baliol having formally re- 
 nounced his allegiance, immediately took Ber- 
 wick, and, by his general, the earl of Warren, 
 defeated the Scots at Dunbar. The castles of 
 Roxburgh, Edinburgh, and Stirling, speedily 
 surrendered; and, to conclude, Baliol, on the 
 2d of July, 1296, in the most humiliating man- 
 ner that could be devised, expressed contrition 
 for his offences, and resigned his crown, king- 
 dom, and people, into the hands of his liege lord, 
 who once more received the fealty of his Scotish 
 subjects, as their immediate and lawful sovereign. 
 In the following year, 1297, the Scots, under 
 the command of the illustrious William Wallace, 
 defeated the English in repeated engagements, 
 and drove them out of the country. Edward 
 again invaded it, and again, after a spirited oppo- 
 sition, reduced it to subjection. Baliol, whom he 
 had retained in custody from the time of his 
 resignation, was now sent oyer to France, and 
 
XXIV ON THE SCOTISH WARS 
 
 delivered into the hands of the pope's nuncio, to 
 be disposed of at his hohness's pleasure. The 
 younger Bruce, who had been chosen one of the 
 guardians of Scotland, in the name of his father's 
 rival, and had surrendered himself to the English, 
 dying in 1 304, was, with Edward's consent, suc- 
 ceeded in his Scotish inheritances by his eldest 
 son. 
 
 Edward seemed now to have attained the sum- 
 mit of his ambitious views: but the calm was 
 transient and delusive. Four months sufficed to 
 overthrow a system, which, it has been observed, 
 ** the incessant labour of fifteen years had esta- 
 blished by dissimulation, craft, and violence, with 
 a waste of treasure, and the effusion of much 
 blood." 
 
 On the 10th of February, 1305-6, Robert 
 Bruce, grandson to the competitor, arrived in 
 Scotland; and, having appointed an interview 
 with John Comyn, lord of Cumbernauld, a noble- 
 man of the first consequence in that kingdom, in 
 
OF EDWARD THE THIRD. XXV 
 
 the church of the Minorites at Dumfries, stabbed 
 him before the high altar. The immediate causes 
 of Bruce's leaving the English court, of his re- 
 questing this conference, and of its violent issue, 
 are not known. It is, however, highly probable 
 that he came down resolved to assert his preten- 
 sions to the Scotish crown ; and, naturally anxious 
 to attach to his party the most powerful baron in 
 his realm, had proposed terms, the rejection of 
 which gave rise to an altercation, which termi- 
 nated in his opponent's death. But whatever 
 was, in fact, the subject of the conversation, to 
 which no third person appears to have been 
 privy, it is certain that Bruce, though excom- 
 municated as a sacrilegious murderer, did not 
 think it necessary to publish his vindication. He 
 was probably satisfied in having got rid of one 
 whose friendship he found it impracticable to 
 obtain, and whose enmity might have furnished 
 an insuperable banier to his attempt.* 
 
 * Tbe notion entertained by lord Hailes and othert, that Comyn, 
 
XXVI ON THE SCOTISII WARS 
 
 On the 27th of March, 1306, Bruce was 
 solemnly crowned at Scone : and, on the 7 th of 
 June, 1329, died in the full and peaceable pos- 
 session of that sovereignty which he had struggled 
 through numerous difficulties, and against the 
 most potent enemies, to restore and establish. 
 
 Previously, however, to this event, Edward II. 
 the son and successor of Edward I. who died on 
 his expedition against Scotland, the 7th of July, 
 1 307 ; after a turbulent and disgraceful reign, 
 had, in January, 1326-7, been formally deposed 
 from the sovereignty, by the queen and her fac- 
 tion, who had placed his crown on the head of 
 the young prince of Wales, now Edward III. and 
 a treaty of peace between the two kingdoms had 
 been concluded at Northampton, in April, 1328; 
 of which one article was, that Joan, sister to the 
 English monarch, should be given in marriage to 
 David, the only son of the king of Scots. This 
 
 iu right of his mother, Marjory, sister to Baliol, had himself some 
 contingent pretensions to the crown, seems destitute of foundation. 
 
OF EDWARD THE THIRD. XXVll 
 
 marriage having accordingly taken place, Da- 
 vid II. and his queen, — he being in his eighth 
 year, and she about the same age, — were crowned 
 at Scone, on the 24th of November, 1331. 
 
 John Baliol, who died in France in 1314, had 
 left an elder son, Edward, the heir of his preten- 
 sions ; and this youth the king of England had, 
 in 1330, taken under his protection, and formally 
 permitted to reside there for a twelvemonth. 
 
 Though, by an express article in the treaty of 
 Northampton, no restitution was to be made by 
 either sovereign of inheritances which had fallen 
 into his hands by the forfeiture of former pro- 
 prietors, an exception was introduced in favour 
 of Thomas lord Wake, Henry de Beaumont, and 
 Henry de Percy, who were to be restored to the 
 estates of which the king of Scots, by reason of 
 the war between the two nations, had already 
 taken possession. This article had been fulfilled 
 with respect to Percy, and Edward had repeat- 
 edly, though ineffectually, demanded its per- 
 
XXVlll ON THE SCOTISII WARS 
 
 formance in favour of Wake and Beaumont. 
 These noblemen, therefore, in conjunction with 
 the other disinherited barons, having prevailed 
 upon young Baliol, who arrived very opportunely 
 for their purpose, to head the enterprise, deter- 
 mined to invade Scotland. Edward, however, 
 who affected publicly to oppose a design which 
 he privately countenanced, would not suffer them 
 to enter that kingdom by the English marches ; 
 as such a measure would have been in open 
 violation of the peace of Northampton, of which 
 he appeared very tenacious. They, therefore, 
 changed their plan to an invasion by sea ; and, 
 having embarked with their forces in the Humber, 
 landed at or near Kinghorn, in the Firth of 
 Forth, on the 6th of August, 1332. The earl of 
 Fife, who opposed their landing with a few hasty 
 levies, being quickly defeated, Baliol marched to 
 Dunfermline, and attacking the Scotish army 
 under the command of Donald earl of Mar, the 
 new regent, obtained a victory, which to the 
 
OF EDWARD THE THIRD. XXIX 
 
 English was as easy and honourable, as to the 
 Scots it is, even by their own historians, allowed 
 to have been bloody and disgraceful. The regent, 
 whose ignorance appears to have been the chief 
 cause of this national disaster, with many other 
 noblemen, perished in the conflict. Baliol entered 
 Perth on the following day; and, a blockade 
 formed by the earl of March being abandoned, 
 within three weeks after his landing perceived 
 himself in the peaceable possession of a kingdom, 
 and was formally crowned at Scone on the 24th 
 of September. The king of England now thought 
 it prudent, " for the safety of the realm," to 
 draw near the Scotish frontiers; and, while he 
 remained at York, received, from the grateful 
 Baliol, an instrument, executed at Roxburgh 
 Castle, whereby he acknowledged Edward for his 
 liege lord, and covenanted to put him in posses- 
 sion of the town of Berwick, and of other territory 
 on the Scotish marches; offering, moreover, to 
 marry the young queen, to increase her jointure, 
 
XXX ON THE SCOTISH WARS 
 
 and to provide for the dethroned monarch as his 
 said liege lord should advise; and engaging to 
 serve in all his wars, with two hundred men at 
 arms, for a year together, at his own expence. 
 Edward, in return, was to guarantee the posses- 
 sion of Scotland to this mushroom monarch. In 
 the mean time, the friends of the young king 
 were not idle; for, on the 16th of December 
 following, while Baliol was indulging in the 
 sweets of sovereignty at Annan, he was suddenly 
 attacked by the earl of Murray and others, at the 
 head of a party of horse, and escaped with great 
 difficulty into England ; his brother, and several 
 other persons of distinction, being slain in his 
 defence. Here he renewed his engagements to 
 Edward ; and, by the assistance he received, was 
 enabled to return into Scotland, and quarter him- 
 self in the neighbourhood of Roxburgh. The 
 Scots, upon Baliol's flight, having made some 
 inroads upon the borders, the English monarch 
 now formally proclaimed that they had violated 
 
OF EDWARD THE THIRD. XXXI 
 
 the peace of Northampton ; and being resolved, 
 he said, to chastise their outrages, and to seek 
 redress for the injuries which he pretended they 
 had done him, ordered an army to assemble at 
 Newcastle upon Tyne; desiring, at the same 
 time, that public prayers might be offered for his 
 success: a piece of superstition or hypocrisy 
 which Christian sovereigns take particular care 
 never to neglect when they are engaged in the 
 prosecution of an unjust war. He laid siege to 
 Berwick, before which Baliol, who had made him 
 a present of it, had already arrived with his forces, 
 in the beginning of May, 1333; and, the re- 
 gent attempting to relieve the town, a general 
 engagement ensued, at Halidon-Hill, in which the 
 Scots were discomfited with prodigious slaughter ; 
 whereupon the town and fortress of Berwick were 
 immediately surrendered. The young king and 
 queen, who had hitherto resided at Dunbarton 
 Castle, were now conveyed into France; and 
 Baliol again held parliaments, in one of which 
 
XXXn ON THE SCOTISH WARS 
 
 the treaty of Roxburgh was ratified, and the 
 town, castle, and territory of Berwick annexed 
 for ever to the English crown. He shortly after 
 surrendered the forests of Jedburgh, Selkirk, and 
 Ettrick; the counties of Roxburgh, Peebles, 
 Dumfries, and Edinburgh ; and the constabula- 
 ries of Linlithgow and Haddington ; and, on the 
 18th of June, 1334, did homage, and swore 
 fealty, to his liege lord, for the kingdom of 
 Scotland, at the town of Newcastle upon Tyne. 
 The partisans of David, however, soon exerted 
 themselves in such a manner as to oblige Baliol 
 to implore, in person, the protection of his feudal 
 sovereign, who, in December, 1334, invaded the 
 country : an invasion which was repeated in the 
 following year. There would seem to have been 
 a contest between this mock-monarch and his 
 liege lord, which of them could most effectually 
 waste and destroy a kingdom, which neither had 
 any longer a hope to enjoy peaceably.* The 
 
 * Another pretender, according to Wyntown, started up in tlie 
 
OF E^DWARD THE THIRD. XXXlll 
 
 war was carried on with various success till 
 May, 1341, when, Baliol having previously with- 
 drawn into England, David and his queen ar- 
 rived' from France. The Scots now began to 
 retaliate on the English frontiers; and, in 1346, 
 while Edward was prosecuting his wars in France, 
 David, at the instigation, it is said, of Philip, 
 whom the English monarch had already charged 
 with aiding the Scots, contrary to the conditions 
 of a subsisting truce, assembled a formidable 
 army, and, penetrating into the bishopric of 
 Durham, pitched his camp in the neighbourhood 
 of that city, on the 16th of October. William de 
 la Zouche, then archbishop of York, Henry de 
 Percy, and Ralph de Nevill, under a commission 
 from the regency, headed the English army; 
 and, in an engagement which ensued, called the 
 battle of NeviVs-crosSf the Scots were routed 
 
 person ot John of Elthain, earl of Cornwall, only broUier to the king 
 of England, whom, in the heat of their altercation upon the subject, 
 li« slew with his own hand. See B. VIII. c. xxx. 
 
XXXIV ON THE SCOTISH WARS 
 
 with great slaughter, and their king, after a 
 gallant resistance taken prisoner: nor, though 
 occasionally permitted to visit his dominions, was 
 he finally released till the 3d of October, 1357, 
 after a captivity of eleven years. 
 
 Baliol, who had served in the English army at 
 the battle of Durham, and, from king of Scotland, 
 condescended to become governor of Berwick, 
 seeming now completely sick of sovereignty, 
 made an absolute surrender to Edward, in con- 
 sideration of five thousand marks, and an annuity 
 of two thousand pounds, as well of his private 
 estates in Scotland as of his nominal kingdom, 
 delivering seisin of the former by a clod of earth, 
 and of the latter by the royal diadem, and insert- 
 ing in the instrument of surrender a clause of 
 warranty for himself and his heirs against all 
 mortals for ever. This farcical scene passed at 
 Roxburgh Castle, while Edward, it seems, lay at 
 Bamburgh, in Northumberland ; and the phantom 
 of departed royalty, who appears, throughout the 
 
OF EDWARD THE THIRD. XXXV 
 
 process of this political drama, the tool of the 
 more crafty and ambitious Edward, retired into 
 England, where he continued in obscurity till the 
 time of his death, which happened in 1363. 
 
 Edward, now become the immediate and abso- 
 lute sovereign of Scotland, displayed his affection 
 for his new subjects by a fresh inroad and more 
 extensive devastation ; being " resolved," he said, 
 " inviolably to maintain the ancient laws and 
 the usages of that kingdom." The English, how- 
 ever, were soon driven out of the country, and 
 the liege lord and assignee of Baliol finally " ex- 
 pressed his willingness to enter into a treaty with 
 the Scots, not only for the ransom of their king, 
 and for a cessation of hostilities, but also for a 
 perpetual peace." * 
 
 * Se« the Annals of Scotland, by sir David Dalrymple, lurd 
 Hailes. Ed'mb. me 9, 2 vols. 4to. 
 
II. 
 
 ON THE TITLE OF KING EDWARD III. TO THE 
 CROWN OF FRANCE. 
 
 On the death of Charles the Fair, king of 
 France, the last of the three sons and successors 
 of Phihp the Fair, in 1328, his wife, Joan 
 d'Evreux, being left pregnant, the office of regent 
 was claimed by Edward III. king of England, 
 then a youth of fifteen, in right of his mother 
 Isabel, only sister of the deceased monarch; his 
 claim being opposed by that of Philip, son of 
 Charles of Valois, younger brother of Philip the 
 Fair. This contest, which involved, in fact, the 
 right of succession to the crown itself, in case 
 the child of which Joan was then pregnant should. 
 
TO THE CROWN OF FRANCE. XXXVU 
 
 as it did, happen to be a daughter, was, by the 
 French peerage, decided in favour of the latter, 
 who, in virtue of that decision, on the dehvery of 
 the queen dowager, succeeded to the vacant 
 throne. In any other country than France, the 
 claim of Edward must unquestionably have been 
 preferred to that of Philip ; but by the Salic law, 
 an ancient and established custom of that king- 
 dom, females were incapable of inheriting the 
 crown; and, consequently, Isabel, having no 
 right in herself, could not possibly, as was con- 
 tended, transmit any to her son. This conse- 
 quence, however, was denied by Edward, who 
 insisted, that although females were personally 
 excluded, such incapacity did not reach their 
 male descendants ; and that he, as the nearest 
 male in blood, ought to be preferred to Philip, 
 who was very far removed. But the argument, 
 if well-founded, clearly proved too much to be of 
 any service to the English monarch, since the 
 male issue of the daughters of former kings must 
 
XXXVUl ON THE TITLE OF EDWARD III. 
 
 inevitably have been preferred to him. Those 
 writers who have argued against the existence or 
 force of the law itself have fallen into a similar 
 dilemma ; since, it is evident, allowing the descent 
 of the crown to females, that the pretensions of 
 Edward, however preferable to those of Philip, 
 must have been postponed to the right even of 
 Blanch, the new-born daughter of the late king. 
 The validity, therefore, of the Salic law was 
 necessarily admitted by both parties; the only 
 disagreement between them arising from its con- 
 struction. The fallacy of Edward's claim is 
 manifested by his own arguments ; since, in the 
 first place, if the right of the mother were no- 
 thing, she, whether living, as she then was, or 
 dead, could transmit none to the son; and, 
 secondly, if she had a right capable of trans- 
 mission, the male issue of Joan, daughter of Lewis 
 Hutin, of Joan, daughter of Philip the Long, and 
 of Blanch, daughter of Charles the Fair, were 
 clearly to be preferred to the male issue of Isabel, 
 
TO THE CROWN OF FRANCE. XXXIX 
 
 the sister of those monarchs. It is, therefore, 
 impossible to conceive a claim more frivolous and 
 worse supported than that of Edward to the 
 crown of France. However, as the reasoning of 
 kings is said to consist in force, to that species 
 of logic the disappointed monarch, as soon as 
 he found it convenient, was determined to resort. 
 Soon after the coronation of PhiUp of Valois, 
 in 1329, Edward, who held the duchy of Aquitain 
 and county of Ponthieu as a vassal to the crown 
 of France, was summoned to do his fealty for 
 those provinces. This threw him into a great 
 dilemma ; for, if he should refuse the required 
 homage, he must inevitably forfeit his territories, 
 which he did not at that period think himself 
 strong enough to defend ; and if he performed it, 
 he would, by acknowledging the superiority of 
 Philip, appear to renounce his pretensions to the 
 kingdom itself. Out of this difficulty he was 
 extricated by a salvo worthy of his claim: he 
 protested, in a council of his peers, that what- 
 
xl ON THE TITLE OF EDWARD III. 
 
 ever he was about to perform or promise in 
 France would be done against his will, and to 
 the end only that he might preserve his provinces 
 in that kingdom ; of which, after a trifling ob- 
 jection as to the nature of the homage, he 
 received the accustomed investiture. 
 
 In the year 1336, after the conclusion of the 
 Scotish wars, Edward began to think it time that 
 he should convince Philip of his superior right to 
 the throne of France by force of arms. To this 
 project he is generally thought to have been 
 determined by the inflammatory eloquence of 
 Robert, earl of Artois, a French refugee, who, 
 to gratify a personal pique against his sovereign, 
 scrupled not to endeavour the destruction of his 
 country ; but there can be little doubt that Edward 
 was sufficiently inclined to the measures he 
 adopted, without such diabolical instigation. 
 With this view he formed alliances with many 
 illustrious potentates on the continent ; amongst 
 whom were the duke of Brabant, the marquis of 
 
TO THE CROWN OF FRAWCE. xK 
 
 Juliers, the eries of Gelderland and Hainault, the 
 archbishop of Cologne, and, finally, the emperor 
 Lewis of Bavaria, who created him vicar of the 
 empire throughout France, which gave him a 
 colourable authority over his German confede- 
 rates. James Arteville, likewise, a brewer of Ghent, 
 who had acquired the management of the turbulent 
 Flemings, brought that powerful nation into the 
 league; and, in order to avoid the penalty or 
 reproach of taking up arms against the lung of 
 France, with whom they had lately concluded a 
 treaty of peace, persuaded Edward to assume that 
 title ; but which, it is said, the monarch, as if con- 
 scious of the flagrant injustice of the usurpation, 
 was not prevailed on to do without hesitation and 
 difficulty. He now, however, sent the duke of 
 Brabant and marquis of Juliers in formal embassy 
 to Philip, to demand a resignation of the crown ; 
 he published manifestos, and wrote letters to the 
 pope : the former, of course, Philip declined, and 
 the latter he refuted or replied to. The two first 
 
xlii ON THE TITLE OF EDWARD III. 
 
 campaigns, if Edward's invasions of France may 
 be so called, passed without any action of im- 
 portance ; and a truce, on the intercession of the 
 countess of Hainault, the mother-in-law of Ed- 
 ward and sister of Philip, was agreed to by these 
 rival monarchs. In the mean time, Edward's 
 German allies, disappointed probably in their too 
 sanguine expectations of English gold and French 
 plunder, gradually fell off; and even the em- 
 peror, at the instance of Philip, revoked the title 
 of imperial vicar. 
 
 On the expiration of the truce, the war was 
 renewed with increased vigour, and the successes 
 of the campaign were crowned with the bloody 
 victory of Cressy, and the long-expected surrender 
 of Calais. A new truce was now concluded on, 
 through the mediation of the pope's legates, 
 during which Philip of Valois died, and was 
 succeeded by his son John, who, on a renewal of 
 the war, was made prisoner at the battle of 
 Poictiers in 1356. This event was followed by 
 
TO THE CROWN OF FRANCE. xliii 
 
 another truce for two years ; and Edward's terms 
 of pacification, though accepted by his royal 
 captive, being rejected, as dishonourable and 
 injurious, by the dauphin and states of France, 
 he, in 1359, prepared for a new invasion of that 
 unfortunate kingdom, which accordingly took 
 place ; but, becoming sensible that the success of 
 his arms answered no other purpose than to de- 
 populate one country and impoverish the other, 
 he was induced to listen to more reasonable pro- 
 posals, and a peace was, at length, concluded, on 
 the 8th of May, 1360, of which the principal 
 conditions were, that king John should be set at 
 liberty, on payment of three million crowns of 
 gold ; that Edward should for ever renounce all 
 claim to the crown of France, as well as to the 
 provinces of Normandy, Maine, Touraine, and 
 Anjou, possessed by his ancestors; in lieu whereof 
 he was to receive certain other districts, together 
 with the towns of Calais, Guisnes and Montreuil, 
 to be held, along with Guienne, in absolute 
 
Xliv ON THE TITLE OF EDWARD III. 
 
 sovereignty: but John, finding insuperable diffi- 
 culties to occur in fulfilling the conditions of the 
 peace on his part, gave a singular proof of 
 monarchical good faith, by returning to his former 
 lodgings in the Savoy, where he died, on the 8th 
 of April, 1364. 
 
 The power and possessions of the English 
 every day yielding to the prudence of the new 
 king Charles V. and the conduct of his brave 
 constable Du Guesclin, Edward thought fit to 
 resume the empty title of king of France ;* but, 
 after sending repeated, though ineffectual levies 
 into that kingdom, was at length obliged to con- 
 clude a truce with the enemy, " after almost 
 
 * This title has since contir.ucd a part of the royal style, and, by 
 an act of parliament, made in the the 35th year of Henry VIII. was 
 *' united and annexed for ever to the imp&rial crown of his highness' 
 realm of England :" as if it consisted with the peculiar morality of 
 kings and nations to perpetuate, with ostentatious and insulting 
 formality, an instance of usurpation and injustice which had been 
 the means of converting an unnatural hatred into a national virtue, 
 of wasting millions of treasure, and of spilling oceans of blood. It 
 has now, indeed, lost its baneful influence, and is become perfectly 
 jnsjgnificaht and contemptible. 
 
TO THE CROWN OF FRANCE. xlv 
 
 all his ancient possessions," says Hume, *' had 
 been ravished from him, except Bourdeaux and 
 Bayonne, and all his new conquests, except 
 Calais." Having survived his eldest son, the 
 black prince, about a year, he expired on the 
 21st of June, 1377, in the 65th year of his age 
 and the 51st of his reign.* 
 
 • See Schoepflini Commentationcs Historic^ et Critica. Basil: 
 1741, 4to. cap. V. and Hume's Hiatory of England, vol. ii. 
 
POEMS, 
 
 LAURENCE MINOT. 
 WRITTEN ANNO 13S2. 
 
POEMS 
 
 LAURENCE MINOT. 
 
 I. 
 
 LITRES, AND I SALL TELL ZOW TYLL 
 THE BATAILE OF HALIDON-H YLL. 
 
 Trew king, that sittes in trone, 
 
 Unto the i tell my tale, 
 And unto the i bid a bone, 
 
 For thou ert bute of all my bale : 
 Als thou made midelerd and the mone, 
 
 And bestes and fowles grete and smale, 
 Unto me send thi socore sone. 
 
 And dresce my dedes in this dale. 
 
2 MINOT S POEMS. 
 
 In this dale i droupe and dare, 
 
 For dern dedes that done me dere ; 
 Of In gland had my hert grete care, 
 
 When Edward founded first to were : 
 The Franche-men war frek to fare 
 
 Ogaines him, with scheld and spere ; 
 Thai turned ogayn, with sides sare. 
 
 And al thaire pomp noght worth a pere. 
 
 A pere of prise es more sum tyde 
 
 Than al the boste of Normondye : 
 Thai sent thaire schippes on ilka side, 
 
 With flesch and wine, and whete and rye 
 With hert and hand (es noght at hide) 
 
 For to help Scotland gan thai hye : 
 Thai fled, and durst no dede habide, 
 
 And all thaire fare noght wurth a flye. 
 
 For all thaire fare, thai durst noght fight, 
 
 For dedes dint had thai slike dout ; 
 Of Scotland had thai never sight, 
 
 Ay whils thai war of wordes stout : 
 Thai wald have mend tham at thaire might, 
 
 And besy war thai thareobout. 
 Now god help Edward in his right ! 
 
 Amen ! and all his redy rowt ! 
 
minot's poems. -3 
 
 His redy rout mot Jhesu spede, 
 
 And save tham both by night and day ; 
 That lord of hevyn mot Edward lede. 
 
 And maintene him als he wele may. 
 The Scottes now all wide will sprede, 
 
 For thai have failed of thaire pray ; 
 Now er thai dareand all for drede, 
 
 That war bifore so stout and gay. 
 
 Gai thai war, and wele thai thoght 
 
 On the erle Morre and other ma ; 
 Thai said it suld ful dere be boght, 
 
 The land that thai war ilemid fra. 
 Philip Valays wordes wroght, 
 
 And said he suld thaire enmys sla : 
 Bot all thaire wordes was for noght, 
 
 Thai mun be met if thai war ma. 
 
 Ma manasinges zit have thai maked, 
 
 Mawgre mot thai have to mede ! 
 And many nightes als have thai waked 
 
 To dere all Ingland with thaire dede : 
 Bot, loved be god ! the pride es slaked 
 
 Of them that war so stout on stede ; 
 And sum of tham es levid all naked, 
 
 Noght fer fro Berwik opon Twede. 
 
4 MINOT S POEMS. 
 
 A litell fro that forsaid toune, 
 
 Halydon-hill that es the name, 
 Thare was crakked many a crowne 
 
 Of wild Scottes, and alls of tame ; 
 Thare was thaire baner born all doune ; 
 
 To mak slike boste thai war to blame : 
 Bot nevertheles ay er thai boune 
 
 To wait Ingland with sorow and schame. 
 
 Shame thai have, als I here say ; 
 
 At Donde now es done thaire daunce. 
 And wend thai most another way. 
 
 Even thurgh Flandres into France : 
 On Filip Valas fast cri thai, 
 
 Thare for to dwell and him avaunce ; 
 And nothing list them than of play, 
 
 Sen tham es tide this sary chance. 
 
 This sary chaunce tham es bitid. 
 
 For thai war fals and wonder fell ; 
 For cursed caitefes er thai kid, 
 
 And ful of treson, suth to tell. 
 Sir Jon the Comyn had thai hid, 
 
 In haly kirk thai did him qwell ; 
 And tharfore many a Skottis brid 
 
 With dole er dight that thai most dwell. 
 
MINOT S POEMS. 
 
 Thare dwelled oure king, the suth to saine, 
 
 With his menz^, a litell while ; 
 He gaf gude confort, on that plaine, 
 
 To all his men obout a myle. 
 All if his men war mekill of maine, 
 
 Ever thai douted tham of gile ; 
 The Scottes gaudes might nothing gain, 
 
 For all thai stumbilde at that stile. 
 
 Thus in that stowre thai left thaire live, 
 That war bifore so proud in prese. 
 
 Jhesu, for thi woundes five, 
 
 In Ingland help us to have pese! 
 
II. 
 
 NOW FOR TO TELL ZOW WILL I TURN 
 
 OF [the] batayl of BANOCBURN. 
 
 Skottes, out of Berwik and of Abirdene, 
 At the Bannokburn war ze to kene ; 
 Thare slogh ze many sakles, als it was sene. 
 And now has king Edward wroken it, i wene: 
 It es wroken i wene, wele wurth the while ; 
 War zit with the Skottes, for thai er ful of gile. 
 
 Whare er ze, Skottes of Saint-Johnes-toune ? 
 The boste of zowre baner es betin all doune ; 
 When ze hosting will bede, sir Edward es boune 
 For to kindel zow care, and crak zowre crowne : 
 He has crakked zowre croune, wele worth the while; 
 Schame bityde the Skottes, for thai er full of gile. 
 
 Skottes of Striflin* war steren and stout. 
 Of god ne of gude men had thai no dout ; 
 Now have thai the pelers priked obout, 
 Bot at the last sir Edward rifild thaire rout : 
 He has rifild thaire rout, wele wurth the while ; 
 Bot ever er thai under bot gaudes and gile. 
 
 * Stirling. 
 
MINOT S POEMS. 7 
 
 Rugh-fute riveling, now kindels thi care, 
 Bere-bag, with thi boste, thi biging es bare ; 
 Fals wretche and forsworn, whider wiltou fare ? 
 Busk the unto brig, and abide thare : 
 Thare wretche, saltou won, and wery the while ; 
 Thi dwelling in Donde es done for thi gile. 
 
 The Skotte gase in burghes, and betes the stretes. 
 All thise Inglis-men harmes he hetes ; 
 Fast makes he his mone to men that he metes, 
 Bot fone frendes he findes that his bale betes : 
 Fune betes his bale, wele wurth the while ; 
 He uses all threting with gaudes and gile. 
 
 Bot many men thretes and spekes ful ill, 
 That sum tyme war better to be stane-still ; 
 The Skot in his wordes has wind for to spill. 
 For at the last Edward sail have al his will : 
 He had his will at Berwik, wele wurth the while. 
 Skottesbroghthim thekayes, bot get for thaire gile. 
 
111. 
 
 HOW EDWARD THE KlUG COME IN BRABAND, 
 AND TOKE HOMAGE OF ALL THE LAND. 
 
 God, that scbope both se and sand, 
 Save Edward king of Ingland, 
 Both body, saul and life. 
 And grante him joy withowten strif ; 
 For mani men to him er wroth, 
 In Fraunce and in Flandres both : 
 For he defendes fast his right, 
 And tharto Jhesu grante him might. 
 And so to do, both night and day. 
 That yt may be to goddes pay. 
 
 Oure king was cumen, trewly to tell. 
 Into Brabant for to dwell ; 
 The kayser Lowis of Bavere, 
 That in that land than had no pere. 
 He, and als his sons two. 
 And other princes many mo, 
 Bisschoppes and prelates war thare fele. 
 That had ful mekill werldly wele. 
 Princes and pople, aid and zong, 
 Al that spac with Duche tung. 
 
MINOt's POEIkiS. 
 
 All thai come with grete honowrc, 
 Sir Edward to save and socoure, 
 And proferd him, with all thayre rede, 
 For to hald the kinges stede. 
 The duke of Braband, first of all, 
 Swore, for thing that might bifall. 
 That he suld, both day and night, 
 Help sir Edward in his right, 
 In toun, in feld, in frith and fen ; 
 This swore the duke and all his men. 
 And al the lordes that with him lend, 
 And tharto held thai up thaire hend. 
 Than king Edward toke his rest, 
 At Andwerp, whare him liked best ; 
 And thare he made his mon6 playne. 
 That no man suld say thareogayne ; 
 His mon6, that was gude and lele, 
 Left in Braband ful mekill dele ; 
 And all that land, untill this day, 
 Pars the better for that jornay. 
 When Philip the Valas herd of this, 
 Tharat he was ful wroth, i wis ; 
 He gert assemble his barounes. 
 Princes and lordes of many tounes ; 
 At Pariss toke thai thaire counsaile, 
 Whilke pointes might tham moste availe 
 
10 minot's poems. 
 
 And in all wise thai tham bithoght 
 To stroy Ingland, and bring to noght. 
 Schip-men sone war efter sent, 
 To here the kinges cumandment ; 
 And the galaies-men also, 
 That wist both of wele and wo. 
 He cumand than that men suld fare 
 Till Ingland, and for nothing spare, 
 Bot brin and sla both man and wife, 
 And childe, that none suld pas with life ; 
 The galay-men held up thaire handes, 
 And thanked god of thir tithandes. 
 At Hamton, als i understand, 
 Come the gaylayes unto land, 
 And ful fast thai slogh and brend, 
 Bot noght so mekill als sum men wend ; 
 For or thai wened war thai mett 
 With men that sone thaire laykes lett. 
 Sum was knokked on the hevyd. 
 That the body thare bilevid ; 
 Sum lay stareand on the sternes ; 
 And sum lay knoked out thaire hemes : 
 Than with tham was none other gle, 
 Bot ful fain war thai that might fle. 
 The galay-men, the suth to say. 
 Most nedes turn another way ; 
 
MINOT*S POEMS. 11 
 
 Thai soght the stremis fer and wide, 
 In Flandres and in Seland syde. 
 Than saw thai whare Cristofer stode, 
 At Armouth,* opon the flude; 
 Than wen thai theder all bidene, 
 The galayes-men, with hertes kene, 
 Eight and forty gal ays and mo, 
 And with them als war tarettes two, 
 And other many of galiotes. 
 With grete noumber of smale botes ; 
 Al thai hoved on the flode. 
 To stele sir Edward mens gode. 
 Edward oure king than was noght there, 
 Bot sone, when it come to his ere, 
 He sembled all his men full still, 
 And said to tham what was his will. 
 Ilk man made him redy then, 
 So went the king and all his men 
 Unto thaire scbippes ful hastily, 
 Als men that war in dede doghty. 
 Thai fand the galay-men, grete wane, 
 A hundereth ever ogaynes ane ; 
 The Inglis-men put tham to were, 
 Ful baldly, with bow and spere ; 
 
 • Yarmouth, in Norfolk. 
 
12 MINOT*S POEMS. 
 
 Thai slogh thare of the galaies-men. 
 
 Ever sexty ogaynes ten ; 
 
 That sum ligges zit in that mire, 
 
 All hevidles withowten hire. 
 
 The Inglis-men war armed wele, 
 
 Both in yren and in stele ; 
 
 Thai faght ful fast, both day and night, 
 
 Als lang als tham lasted might ; 
 
 Bot galay-men war so many, 
 
 That Inglis-men wex all wery : 
 
 Help thai soght, bot thar come nane, 
 
 Than unto god thai made thaire mane. 
 
 Bot, sen the time that god was born, 
 
 Ne a hundreth zere biforn. 
 
 War never men better in fight 
 
 Than Ingliss-men, while thai had myght; 
 
 Bot, sone all maistri gan thai mis. 
 
 God bring thaire saules untill his blis ! 
 
 And god assoyl tham of thaire sin. 
 
 For the gude will that thai war in ! Amen. 
 
 Listens now, and leves me, 
 Who so lifes thai sail se 
 That it mun be ful dere boght, 
 That thir galay-men have wroght. 
 Thai hoved still opon the flode, 
 And reved pover men thaire gude ; 
 
minot's poems. 13 
 
 Thai robbed, and did mekill schame, 
 And ay bare Inglis-men the blame. 
 Now Jhesu save all Ingland, 
 And blis it with his haly hand ! Amen. 
 
 £dward, oure cumly king, 
 In Braband has his woning, 
 
 With mani cumly knight ; 
 And in that land, trewly to tell, 
 Ordains he still for to dwell, 
 
 To time he think to fight. 
 
 Now god, that es of mightes maste, 
 Grant him grace of the haly gaste, 
 
 His heritage to win ; 
 And Mari moder, of mercy fre, 
 Save oure king and his menze 
 
 Fro sorow, schame and syn. 
 
 Thus in Braband has he bene, 
 Whare he bifore was seldom sene, 
 
 For to prove thai re japes ; 
 Now no langer wil he spare, 
 Bot unto Fraunce fast will he fare, 
 
 To confort hym with grapes. 
 
14 MINOT*S POEMS. 
 
 Furth he ferd into France, 
 God save him fro mischance 
 
 And all his cumpany ! 
 The nobill due of Braband 
 With him went into that land, 
 
 Redy to lif or dy. 
 
 Than the riche floure de lice 
 Wan thare ful litill prise, 
 
 Fast he fled for ferde ; 
 The right aire of that cuntre 
 Es cumen, with all his knightes fre, 
 
 To schac him by the herd. 
 
 Sir Philip the Valayse, 
 Wit his men in tho dayes, 
 
 To batale had he thoght ; 
 He bad his men tham purvay, 
 Withowten lenger delay, 
 
 Bot he ne held it noght. 
 
 He broght folk, ful grete wone, 
 Ay sevyn ogains one, 
 
 That ful wele wapind were ; 
 Bot sone when he herd ascry, 
 That king Edward was nere tharby. 
 
 Than durst he noght cum nere. 
 
minot's poems. 15 
 
 In that morning fell a myst, 
 
 And when oure Ingliss-men it wist, 
 
 It changed all thaire chere ; 
 Oure king unto god made his bone, 
 And god sent him gude confort sone, 
 
 The weder wex ful clere. 
 
 Oure king and his men held the felde 
 Stalworthly, with spere and schelde, 
 
 And thoght to win his right, 
 With lordes, and with knightes kene, 
 And other doghty men bydene, 
 
 That war ful frek to fight. 
 
 When sir Philip of France herd tell 
 That king Edward in feld walld dwell, 
 
 Than gayned him no gle ; 
 He traisted of no better bote, 
 Bot both on hors and on fote 
 
 He hasted him to fle. 
 
 It semid he was ferd for strokes 
 When he did fell his grete okes 
 
 Obout his pavilyoune; 
 Abated was than all his pride, 
 For langer thare durst he noght bide, 
 
 His host was broght all doune. 
 
16 minot's poems. 
 
 The king of Beme had cares colde, 
 That was ful hardy and bolde, 
 
 A stede to um stride ; 
 [He and] the king als of Naverne 
 War faire ferd in the feme 
 
 Thaire heviddes for to hide. 
 
 And leves wele it es no lye, 
 And felde hat Flemangrye 
 
 That king Edward was in, 
 With princes that war strif ande bolde, 
 And dukes that war doghty tolde, 
 
 In batayle to bigin. ' 
 
 The princes that war riche on raw 
 Gert nakers strike, and trumpes blaw, 
 
 And made mirth at thaire might ; 
 Both alblast and many a bow 
 War redy railed opon a row, 
 
 And ful frek for to fight. 
 
 Gladly thai gaf mete and drink, 
 So that thai suld the better swink, 
 
 The wight men that thar ware. 
 Sir Philip of Fraunce fled for dout, 
 And hied him hame with all his rout : 
 
 Coward, god gifFhim care ! 
 
MINOT*S POEMS. 17 
 
 For thare than had the lely-flowre 
 Lom all halely his honowre. 
 That so gat fled for ferd ; 
 Bot oure king Edward come ful still, 
 When that he trowed no harm him till, 
 And keped him in the berde. 
 
IV. 
 
 LITIIES, AND THE BATAIL I SAL BIGYN 
 
 OF INGLISCH-MEN AND NORMANDES IN THE SWYN. 
 
 JVliNOT with mowth had raenid to make 
 Suth sawes and sad for sum mens sake ; 
 The wordes of sir Edward makes me to wake, 
 Wald he salve us sone mi sorow suld slake; 
 War mi sorow slaked sune wald I sing : 
 When god will sir Edward sal us bute bring. 
 Sir Philip the Valas cast was in care, 
 And said sir Hugh Kyret to Flandres suld fare, 
 And have Normondes inogh to leve on his lare. 
 All Flandres to brin, and mak it all bare ; 
 Bot, unkind coward, wo was him thare. 
 When he sailed in the Swin it sowed him sare ; 
 Sare it tham smerted that ferd out of France, 
 Thare lered Inglis-men tham a new daunce. 
 The burjase of Bruge ne war noght to blame, 
 I pray Jhesu save tham fro sin and fro schame ; 
 For thai war sone at the Sluse all by a name, 
 Whare many of the Normandes tok mekill grame. 
 
minot's poems. !^ 
 
 When Bruges and Ipyre hereof herd tell, 
 
 Thai sent Edward to wit, that was in Arwell ; 
 
 Than had he no liking langer to dwell, 
 
 He hasted him to the Swin, with sergantes snell, 
 
 To mete with the Normandes that fals war and fell. 
 
 That had ment, if thai might, al Flandres to quell. 
 
 King Edward unto sail was ful sune dight. 
 
 With erles and barons, and many kene knight ; 
 
 Thai come byfor Blankebergh on saint Jons night, 
 
 That was to the Normondes a well sary sight ; 
 
 Zit trumped thai and daunced, with torches ful bright 
 
 In the wilde waniand was thaire hertes light. 
 
 Opon the morn efter, if i suth say, 
 
 A mery man, sir Robard out of Mori ay, 
 
 A half-eb in the Swin soght he the way, 
 
 Thare lered men the Normandes at bukler to play ; 
 
 Helpid tham no prayer that thai might pray, 
 
 The wreches es wonnen, thaire wapin es oway. 
 
 The erle of Norhamton helpid at that nede, 
 
 Als wise man of wordes, and worthli in wede. 
 
 Sir Walter the Mawnay, god gif him mede ! 
 
 Was bold of body in batayle to bede. 
 
 The due of Lankaster was dight for to drive, 
 
 With mani mody man that thoght for to thrive ; 
 
 Wele and stalvvorthly stint he that strive. 
 
 That few of the Normandes left thai olive ; 
 
20 minot's poems. 
 
 Fone left thai olive, hot did tham to lepe, 
 
 Men may find by the flode a hundred on hepe. 
 
 Sir Wiliam of Klinton was eth for to knaw, 
 
 Mani stout bachilere broght he on raw ; 
 
 It semid with thaire schoting als it war snaw, 
 
 The host of the Normandes brog-ht thai ful law ; 
 
 Thaire host was abated, and thaire mekil pride, 
 
 Fer might thai noght fle, bot thaire bud tham bide. 
 
 The gude erle of Glowceter, god mot him glade ! 
 
 Broght many bold men with bowes ful brade ; 
 
 To biker with the Normandes baldely thai bade, 
 
 And in middes the flode did tham to wade ; 
 
 To wade war tho wretches casten in the brim, 
 
 The kaitefs come out of France at lere tham to swim. 
 
 1 prays John Badding als one of the best; 
 
 Faire come he say land out of the suth-west, 
 
 To prove of tha Normandes was he ful prest, 
 
 Till he had foghten his fill he had never rest. 
 
 John of Aile of the Sluys, with scheltron full schene. 
 
 Was comen into C agent, cantly and kene ; 
 
 Bot sone was his trumping turned to tene. 
 
 Of him had sir Edward his will, als I wene. 
 
 The schipmen of Ingland sailed ful swith. 
 
 That none of the Normandes fro tham might skrith: 
 
 Whoso kouth wele his craft thare might it kith ; 
 
 Of al the gude that thai gat gaf thai no tithe. 
 
minot's poems. 21 
 
 Two hundreth and mo schippes in the sandes 
 Had oure Inglis-men won with thaire handes ; 
 The Kogges of Ingland was broght out of bandes. 
 And also the Cristofir, that in the streme standes; 
 In that stound thai stode with stremers ful stil, 
 Till thai wist ful wele sir Edwardes will. 
 Sir Edward, oure gude king, wurthi in wall, 
 Faght wele on that flude, faire mot him fall ! 
 Als it es custom of king to confort tham all. 
 So thanked he gudely the grete and the small ; 
 He thanked tham gudely, god gif him mede! 
 Thus come our king in the Swin till that gude dede. 
 This was the bataile that fell in the Swin, 
 Where many Normandes made mekill din ; 
 Wele war thai armed up to the chin, 
 Bot god and sir Edward gert thaire boste blin ; 
 Thus blinned thaire boste, als we wele ken : 
 God assoyle thaire sawls ! sais all Amen. 
 
V. 
 
 HERKINS HOW KING EDWARD LAY 
 WITH HIS MEN BIFOR TOURNAY. 
 
 Tow REN AY zow has tight 
 
 To timber, trey and tene ; 
 A bore with brems bright, 
 
 Es broght opon zowre grene ; 
 That es a semely sight, 
 
 With schilterouns faire and schene : 
 Thi domes-day es dight, 
 
 Bot thou be war, I wene. 
 
 When all yowre wele es went 
 
 Zowre wo wakkins ful wide. 
 To sighing er ze sent 
 
 With sorow on ilka syde ; 
 Full rewfull es zowre rent. 
 
 All redles may ze ride ; 
 The harmes that ze have hent 
 
 Now may ze hele and hide. 
 
 Hides and helis als hende, 
 
 For ze er cast in care, 
 Ful few find ze zowre frende. 
 
minot's poems. 23 
 
 For all zowre frankis fare. 
 Sir Philip sail zow schende, 
 
 Whi leve ze at his lare ? 
 No bowes now thar zow bende, 
 
 Of blis ze er all bare. 
 
 All bare er ze of blis, 
 
 No host may be zowre bote, 
 All mirthes mun ze mis, 
 
 Oure men sail with zow mote, 
 Who sail zow clip and kys, 
 
 And fall zowre folk to fote; 
 A were es wroght, i wis, 
 
 Zowre walles with to wrote. 
 
 Wrote thai sal zowre dene. 
 
 Of dintes ze may zow dowt ; 
 Zowre biginges sail men brene. 
 
 And breke zowre walles obout. 
 Ful redles may ze ren. 
 
 With all zowre rewful rout ; 
 With care men sail zow ken 
 
 Edward zowre lord to lout. 
 
 To lout zowre lord in land 
 
 With list men sail zow lere ; 
 Zowre harmes cumes at hand, 
 
24 MINOT*S POEMS. 
 
 Als ze sail hastly here. 
 Now frendschip suld ze fande 
 
 Of sir Philip zowre fere, 
 To bring zow out of band, 
 
 Or ze be broght on bere. 
 
 On bere when ze er broght. 
 
 Than cumes Philip to late ; 
 He hetes, and h aides zow noght, 
 
 With hert ze may him hate. 
 A bare now has him soght 
 
 Till Turnay the right gate, 
 That es ful wele bithoght 
 
 To stop Philip the strate, 
 
 Ful still: 
 Philip was fain he moght 
 
 Graunt sir Edward his will. 
 
 If ze will trow my tale, 
 
 A duke tuke leve that tide, 
 A Braban brwed that bale, 
 
 He bad no langer bide ; 
 Giftes grete and smale 
 
 War sent him on his side; 
 Gold gert all that gale. 
 
 And made him rapely ride. 
 Till dede. 
 
minot's poems. 25 
 
 In hert he was unhale, 
 
 He come thare moste for mede. 
 
 King Edward, frely fode, 
 
 In Fraunce he will noght blin 
 To mak his famen wode, 
 
 That er wonand tharein. 
 God, that rest on rode, 
 
 For sake of Adams syn, 
 Strenkith him main and mode, 
 
 His reght in France to win, 
 
 And have ! 
 God grante him graces gode, 
 
 And fro all sins us save ! Amen. 
 
VI. 
 
 HOW EDWARD AT HOGGES UNTO LAND WAN 
 AND RADE THURGH FRANCE OR EVER HE BLAN 
 
 Men may rede in romance right 
 Of a grete clerk that Merlin hight ; 
 Ful many bokes er of him wreten, 
 Als thir clerkes wele may witten ; 
 And zit, in many preve nokes, 
 May men find of Merlin bokes. 
 Merlin said thus, with his mowth, 
 Out of the north into the sowth 
 Suld cum a bare over the se, 
 That suld mak many man to fle ; 
 And in the se, he said ful right, 
 Suld he schew ful mekill might ; 
 And in France he suld bigin 
 To mak tham wrath that er tharein ; 
 Untill the se his taile reche sale 
 All folk of France to mekill bale. 
 Thus have i mater for to make, 
 For a nobill prince sake: 
 Help me god, my wit es thin ! 
 Now Laurence Minot will bigin. 
 
MINOT S POEMS. 
 
 A BORE es broght on bankes bare, 
 
 With ful batail bifor his brest, 
 For John of France will he noght spare, 
 
 In Normondy to tak his rest, 
 With princes that er proper and prest : 
 
 Alweldand god, of mightes maste, 
 He be his held, for he mai best. 
 
 Fader and sun and haly gaste ! 
 
 Haly gaste, thou gif him grace, 
 
 That he in gude time may bigin, 
 And send to him both might and space, 
 
 His heritage wele for to win ; 
 And sone assoyl him of his sin, 
 
 Hende god, that heried hell! 
 For France now es he entred in. 
 
 And thare he dightes him for to dwell. 
 
 He dwelled thare, the suth to tell, 
 
 Opon the coste of Normondy ; 
 At Hogges fand he famen fell, 
 
 That war all ful of felony : 
 To him thai makked grete maistri, 
 
 And proved to ger the bare abyde ; 
 Thurgh might of god and mild Mari, 
 
 The bare abated all thaire pride. 
 
 27 
 
28 MINOT*S POEMS, 
 
 Mekill pride was thare in prese; 
 
 Both on pencell and on plate, 
 When the bare rade, withouten rese, 
 
 Unto Cane the graythest gate ; 
 Thare fand he folk bifor the zate 
 
 Thretty thowsand stif on stede : 
 Sir John of France come al to late, 
 
 The bare has gert thaire sides blede. 
 
 He gert blede if thai war bolde, 
 
 For thare was slayne and wounded sore 
 Thretty thowsand, trewly tolde. 
 
 Of pitaile was thare mekill more; 
 Knightes war thar wele two score. 
 
 That war new dubbed to that dance. 
 Helm and hevyd thai have forlore: 
 
 Than misliked John of France. 
 
 More misliking was thare then, 
 
 For fals treson alway thai wroght ; 
 Bot, fro thai met with Inglis-men, 
 
 All thaire bargan dere thai boght. 
 Inglis-men with site tham soght. 
 
 And hastily quit tham thaire hire ; 
 And, at the last, forgat thai noght. 
 
 The toun of Cane thai sett on fire. 
 
minot's poems. 29 
 
 That fire ful many folk gan fere, 
 
 When thai se brandes o ferrum flye ; 
 This have thai wonen of the were, 
 
 The fals folk of Normundy. 
 I sai zow lely how thai lye, 
 
 Dongen doun all in a daunce ; 
 Thaire frendes may ful faire forth i 
 
 Pleyn tham untill John of France. 
 
 Franche-men put tham to pine. 
 
 At Cressy, when thai brak the brig^ ; 
 That saw Edward with both his ine, 
 
 Than likid him no langer to lig. 
 Ilk Inglis-man no others rig, 
 
 Over that water er thai went ; 
 To batail er thai baldly big, 
 
 With brade ax, and with bowes bent. 
 
 With bent bowes thai war ful bolde, 
 
 For to fell of the Frankisch-men ; 
 Thai gert tham lig with cares colde, 
 
 Ful sari was sir Philip then. 
 He saw the toun o ferrum bren, 
 
 And folk for ferd war fast fleand ; 
 The teres he lete ful rathly ren 
 
 Out of his eghen, i understand. 
 
30 MINOT*S POEMS. 
 
 Then come Philip, ful redy dight, 
 
 Toward the toun, with all his rowt, 
 With him come mani a kumly knight, 
 
 And all umset the bare obout. 
 The bare made tham ful law to lout, 
 
 And delt tham knokkes to thaire mede ; 
 He gert them stumbill that war stout, 
 
 Thare helpid nowther staf ne stede. 
 
 Stedes strong bilevid still 
 
 Biside Cressy opon the grene ; 
 Sir Philip wanted all his will, 
 
 That was wele on his sembland sene. 
 With spere and schelde and helmis schene. 
 
 The bare than durst thai noght habide: 
 The king of Berne was cant and kene, 
 
 Bot thare he left both play and pride. 
 
 Pride in prese ne prais i noght, 
 
 Omang thir princes prowd in pall ; 
 Princes suld be wele bithoght, 
 
 When kinges suld tham tyll counsail call 
 If he be rightwis king, thai sail 
 
 Maintene him both night and day. 
 Or els to lat his frendschip fall 
 
 On faire manere, and fare oway. 
 
MINOT*S POEMS. 31 
 
 Oway es all thi wele, i wis, 
 
 Franche-man, with all thi fare ; 
 Of murning may thou never mys, 
 
 For thou ert cumberd all in care : 
 With speche ne moght thou never spare 
 
 To speke of Ingliss-men despite; 
 Now have thai made thi biging bare, 
 
 Of all thi catell ertou quite. 
 
 Quite ertou, that wele we knaw, 
 
 Of catell, and of drewris dere, 
 Tharfore lies thi hert ful law. 
 
 That are was blith als brid on brere. 
 Inglis-men sail zit to-zere 
 
 Knok thi palet or thou pas, 
 And mak the polled like a frere ; 
 
 And zit es Ingland als it was. 
 
 Was thou noght, Franceis, with thi wapin, 
 
 Bitwixen Cressy and Abvyle, 
 Whare thi felaws lien and gapin. 
 
 For all thai re treget and thaire gile ? 
 Bischoppes war thare in that while, 
 
 That songen all withouten stole : 
 Philip the Valas was a file, 
 
 He fled, and durst noght tak his dole. 
 
32 minot's poems. 
 
 Men delid thare ful mani a dint 
 
 Omang the gentill Geneuayse ; 
 Ful many man thaire lives tint, 
 
 For luf of Philip the Valays. 
 Unkind he was and uncurtayse, 
 
 I prais nothing his purviance ; 
 The best of France and of Artayse 
 
 War al to-dongyn in that daunce. 
 
 That daunce with treson was bygun, 
 
 To trais the bare with sum fals gyn : 
 The Franche-men said, All es wun, 
 
 Now es it tyme that we bigin ; 
 For here es welth inogh to win, 
 
 To make us riche for evermore : 
 Bot, thurgh thiare armure thik and thin, 
 
 Slaine thai war, and wounded sore. 
 
 Sore than sighed sir Philip, 
 
 Now wist he never what him was best ; 
 For he es cast doun with a trip, 
 
 In John of France es all his trest ; 
 For he was his frend faithfulest, 
 
 In him was full his affiance : 
 Bot sir Edward wald never rest, 
 
 Or thai war feld the best of France. 
 
MlNOT*S POEMS. '33 
 
 Of France was mekill wo, i wis. 
 
 And in Paris the high palays : 
 Now had the bare, with mekill blis, 
 
 Bigged him bifor Calais. 
 Heres now how the romance sais, 
 
 How sir Edward, oure king with croune, 
 Held his sege, bi nightes and dais, 
 
 With his men bifor Calays toune. 
 
VII. 
 
 HOW EDWARD, ALS THE ROMANCE SAIS, 
 HELD HIS SEGE BIFOR CALAIS. 
 
 Calais men, now may ze care, 
 
 And murning mun ze have to mede ; 
 Mirth on mold get ze no mare, 
 
 Sir Edward sail ken zow zowre crede. 
 Whilum war ze wight in wede. 
 
 To robbing rathly for to ren ; 
 Men zow sone of zowre misdede, 
 
 Zowre care es cumen, will ze it ken. 
 
 Kend it es how ze war kene 
 
 Al Inglis-men with dole to dere ; 
 Thaire gudes toke ze albidene, 
 
 No man born wald ze forbere ; 
 Ze spared noght, with swerd ne spere. 
 
 To stik tham, and thaire gudes to stele ; 
 With wapin and with .ded of were. 
 
 Thus have ze wonnen werldes wele. 
 
mikot's poems. 35 
 
 Weleful men war ze, i wis, 
 
 Bot fer on fold sail ze noght fare, . 
 A bare sal now abate zowre blis, 
 
 And wirk zow bale on bankes bare. 
 He sail zow hunt als hund dose hare. 
 
 That in no hole sail ze zow hide ; 
 For all zowre speche will he noght spare, 
 
 Bot bigges him right by zowre side. 
 
 Biside zow here the bare bigins 
 
 To big his boure in winter-tyde. 
 And all bityme takes he his ines, 
 
 With semly sergantes him biside. 
 The word of him walkes ful wide, 
 
 Jhesu, save him fro mischance ! 
 In bataill dare he wele habide 
 
 Sir Philip and sir John of France. 
 
 The Franche-men er fers and fell. 
 
 And mase grete dray when thai er dight ; 
 Of tham men herd slike tales tell, 
 
 With Edward think thai for to fight, 
 Him for to hald out of his right. 
 
 And do him treson with thaire tales ; 
 That was thaire purpos, day and night, 
 
 Bi counsail of the cardinales. 
 
36 minot's poems. 
 
 Cardinales, with hattes rede. 
 
 War fro Calays wele thre myle, 
 Thai toke thaire counsail in that stede 
 
 How thai might sir Edward bigile. 
 Thai lended thare hot litill while, 
 
 Til Franche-men to grante thaire grace ; 
 Sir Philip was funden a file. 
 
 He fled, and faght noght in that place. 
 
 In that place the bare was blith, 
 
 For all was funden that he had soght ; 
 Philip the Valas fled ful swith, 
 
 With the batail that he had broght : 
 For to have Calays had he thoght, 
 
 All at his ledeing loud or still, 
 Bot all thaire wiles war for noght, 
 
 Edward wan it at his will. 
 
 Lystens now, and ze may lere, 
 
 Als men the suth may understand, 
 The knightes that in Calais were 
 
 Come to sir Edward sare wepeand, 
 In kirtell one, and swerd in hand, 
 
 And cried. Sir Edward, thine [we] are, 
 Do now, lord, bi law of land, 
 
 Thi will with us for evermare. 
 
minot's poems. 37 
 
 The noble burgase and the best 
 
 Come unto him to have thaire hire ; 
 The comun puple war ful prest 
 
 Rapes to bring obout thaire swire : 
 Thai said all, Sir Philip oure syre, 
 
 And his sun, sir John of France, 
 Has left us ligand in the mire, 
 
 And broght us til this doleful dance. 
 
 Oure horses, that war faire and fat, 
 
 Er etin up ilkone bidene. 
 Have we nowther conig ne cat, 
 
 That thai ne er etin, and hundes kene, 
 All er etin up ful clene, 
 
 Es nowther levid biche ne whelp. 
 That es wele on oure sembland sene, 
 
 And thai er fled that suld us help. 
 
 A knight that was of gi*ete renowne, 
 
 Sir John de Viene was his name, 
 He was wardaine of the toune, 
 
 And had done Ingland mekill schame. 
 For all thaire boste thai er to blame, 
 
 Ful stalworthly thare have thai strevyn, 
 A bare es cumen to mak tham tame, 
 
 Kayes of the toun to him er gifen. 
 
38 minot's poems. 
 
 The kaies er zolden him of the zate, 
 
 Let him now kepe tham if he kun ; 
 To Calais cum thai all to late, 
 
 Sir Philip and Sir John his sun : 
 Al war ful ferd that thare ware fun, 
 
 Thaire leders may thai barely ban. 
 All on this wise was Calais won ; 
 
 God save tham that it so gat wan ! 
 
VIII. 
 
 SIR DAVID HAD OF HIS MEN CRETE LOSS, 
 WITH SIR EDWARD, AT THE NEVIL-CROSS. 
 
 Sir David the Bnise, 
 
 Was at distance, 
 When Edward the Baliolfe 
 
 Rade with his lance ; 
 The north end of Ingland 
 
 Teched him to daunce, 
 When he was met on the more 
 
 With mekill mischance. 
 Sir PhiUp the Valayse 
 
 May him noght avance, 
 The flowies that faire war 
 
 Er fallen in Fraunce ; 
 The floiires er now fallen 
 
 That fers war and fell, 
 A bare with his bataille 
 
 Has done tham to dwell. 
 
 Sir David the Bruse 
 
 Said he sulde fonde 
 To ride thurgh all Ingland, 
 
40 M1N0T*S POEMS. 
 
 Wald he noght wonde ; 
 At the Westminster-hall 
 
 Suld his stedes stonde, 
 Whils oure king Edward 
 
 War out of the londe : 
 But now has sir David 
 
 Missed of his merkes, 
 And Philip the Valays, 
 
 With all thaire grete clerkes. 
 
 Sir Philip the Valais, 
 
 Suth for to say, 
 Sent unto sir David, 
 
 And faire gan him pray, 
 At ride thurgh Ingland, 
 
 Thaire fomen to slay, 
 ' And said none es at home 
 
 To let hym the way ; 
 None letes him the way, 
 
 To wende whore he will : 
 Bot with schiperd-staves 
 
 Fand he his fill. 
 
 Fro Philip the Valais 
 Was sir David sent. 
 All Ingland to win, 
 
MINOT*S POEMS. 41 
 
 Fro Twede unto Trent ; 
 He broght mani bere-bag, 
 
 With bow redy bent ; 
 Thai robbed and thai reved, 
 
 And held that thai hent ; 
 It was in the waniand 
 
 That thai furth went ; 
 Fro covaitise of cataile 
 
 Tho schrewes war schent ; 
 Schent war tho schrewes, 
 
 And giiled unsele, 
 For at the Nevil-cros 
 
 Nedes bud tham knele. 
 
 At the ersbisschop of Zork 
 
 Now will i bigyn, 
 For he may, with his right hand, 
 
 Assoyl us of syn ; 
 Both Dorem and Carlele, 
 
 Thai wald nevir blin 
 The wirschip of Ingland 
 
 With wappen to win ; 
 Mekil wirschip thai wan, 
 
 And wele have thai waken. 
 For syr David the Bruse 
 
 Was in that tyme taken. 
 
42 minot's poems. 
 
 When sir David the Bruse 
 
 Satt on his stede, 
 He sEiid of all Ingland 
 
 Haved he no drede ; 
 Bot hinde John of Coupland, 
 
 A wight man in wede, 
 Talked to David, 
 
 And kend him his crede : 
 Thare was sir David, 
 
 So dughty in his dede, 
 The faire toure of Londen 
 
 Haved he to mede. 
 
 Sone than was sir David 
 
 Broght unto the toure, 
 And William the Dowglas, 
 
 With men of honowre ; 
 Full swith redy servis 
 
 Fand thai thare a schowre, 
 For first thai drank of the swete, 
 
 And senin of the sowre. 
 Than sir David the Bruse 
 
 Makes his mone, 
 The faire coroun of Scotland 
 
 Haves he forgone ; 
 He luked furth into France, 
 
MINOTS POEMS. 
 
 Help had he none, 
 
 Of sir Philip the Valais, 
 
 Ne zit of sir John. 
 
 The pride of sir David 
 
 Bigon fast to slaken, 
 For he wakkind the were 
 
 That held him self waken ; 
 For Philyp the Valaise 
 
 Had he brede baken, 
 And in the toure of Londen 
 
 His ines er taken : 
 To be both in a place 
 
 Thaire forward thai nomen, 
 Bot Philip fayled thare, 
 
 And David es cumen. 
 
 Sir David the Bruse 
 
 On this manere 
 Said unto sir PhiHp 
 
 Al thir sawes thus sere : 
 Philip the Valais, 
 
 Thou made me be here, 
 This es noght the forward 
 
 We made are to-zere ; 
 Fals es thi forward, 
 
 43 
 
44 jMinot*s poems. 
 
 And evyll mot thou fare, 
 For thou and sir John thi son 
 Haves kast me in care. 
 
 The Scottes, with thaire falshede^ 
 
 Thus went thai obout 
 For to win Ingland 
 
 Whils Edward was out ; 
 For Cuthbert of Dorem 
 
 Haved thai no dout, 
 Tharfore at Nevel-cros 
 
 Law gan thai lout ; 
 Thare louted thai law, 
 
 And leved allane. 
 Thus was David the Bruse 
 
 Into the toure tane. 
 
IX. 
 
 now KING EDWARD AND HIS MEN2E 
 MET WITH THE SPANIARDE8 IN THE SEE. 
 
 I WALD noght spare for to speke, 
 
 Wist i to spede, 
 Of wight men with wapin, 
 
 And worthly in wede, 
 That now er driven to dale, 
 
 And ded all thaire dede, 
 Thai sail in the see-gronde 
 
 Fissches to fede ; 
 Fele fissches thai fede, 
 
 For all thaire grete fare : 
 It was in the waniand 
 
 That thai come thare. 
 
 Thai sailed furth in the Swin, 
 
 In a somers tyde. 
 With trompes and taburns, 
 
 And mekill other pride ; 
 The word of tho weremen 
 
 Walked full wide ; 
 
46 minot's poems. 
 
 The gudes that thai robbed 
 In holl gan thai hide ; 
 
 In holl than thai hided 
 Grete welthes, als i wene. 
 
 Of gold and of silver, 
 Of skarlet and grene. 
 
 When thai sailed westward, 
 
 Tho wight men in were, 
 Thaire hurdis thaire ankers 
 
 Hanged thai on here ; 
 Wight men of the west 
 
 Neghed tham nerr, 
 And gert tham snaper in the snare. 
 
 Might thai no ferr ; 
 Fer might thai noght flit, 
 
 Bot thare most thai fine, 
 And that thai bifore reved 
 
 Than most thai tyne. 
 
 Boy with thi blac herd, 
 
 I rede that thou blin, 
 And sone set the to schrive, 
 
 With sorow of thi syn ; 
 If thou were on Ingland, 
 
 Noght saltou win, 
 
MINOT*S POEMS. 47 
 
 Cum thou more on that coste 
 
 Thi bale sail bigin : 
 Thare kindels thi care, 
 
 Kene men sail the kepe, 
 And do the dye on a day, 
 
 And domp in the depe. 
 
 Ze broght out of Bretayne 
 
 Zowre custom with care, 
 Ze met with the marchandes 
 
 And made tham ful bare ; 
 It es gude reson and right 
 
 That ze evill misfare, 
 When ze wald in Ingland 
 
 Lere of a new lare : 
 New lare sail ze lere. 
 
 Sir Edward to lout 
 For when ze stode in zowre strenkith 
 
 Ze war all to stout. 
 
HOW GENTILL SIR EDWARD, WITH HIS 
 
 GRETE ENGINES, 
 WAN WITH HIS WIGHT MEN THE CAS- 
 
 TELL OF GYNES. 
 
 War this winter oway, 
 
 Wele wald i wene 
 That somer suld schew him 
 
 In schawes ful schene ; 
 Both the lely and the Hpard 
 
 Suld geder on a grene. 
 Mari, have minde of thi man. 
 
 Thou whote wham i mene ; 
 Lady, think what i mene, 
 
 I mak thee my mone ; 
 Thou wreke gude king Edward 
 
 On w^ikked syr John. 
 
 Of Gynes ful gladly 
 Now will i bigin, 
 We wote wele that woning 
 
MINOT S POEMS. 
 
 Was wikked for to win : 
 Crist, that swelt on the rode. 
 
 For sake of mans syn, 
 Hald tham in ^ide hele 
 
 That now er tharein ! 
 Inglis-men er tharein, 
 
 The kastell to kepe ; 
 And John of France es so wroth 
 
 For wo will he wepe. 
 
 Gentill John of Doncaster 
 
 Did a ful balde dede. 
 When he come toward Gines 
 
 To ken tham thai re crede ; 
 He stirt unto the castell 
 
 Withowten any stede, 
 Of folk that he fand thare 
 
 Haved he no drede ; 
 Dred in hert had he none 
 
 Of all he fand thare ; 
 Faine war thai to fle, 
 
 For all thaire grete fare. 
 
 A letherin ledderr, 
 And a lang hne, 
 A small bote was tharbv, 
 
 49 
 
50 minot's poems. 
 
 That put tham fro pine ; 
 The folk that thai fand thare 
 
 Was faine for to fyne ; 
 Sone thaire diner was dight, 
 
 And thare wald thai dine ; 
 Thare was thaire purpose 
 
 To dine and to dwell, 
 For treson of the Franche-men, 
 
 That fals war and fell. 
 
 Say now, sir John of France, 
 
 How saltou fare, 
 That both Calays and Gynes 
 
 Has kindeld thi care ? 
 If thou be man of mekil might, 
 
 Lepe up on thi mare, 
 Take thi gate unto Gines, 
 
 And grete tham wele thare ; 
 Thare gretes thi gestes, 
 
 And wendes with wo. 
 King Edward has wonen 
 
 The kastell tham fro. 
 
 Ze men of Saint-Omers, 
 
 Trus ze this tide. 
 And puttes out zowre paviliownes 
 
MINOT*S POEMS. 51 
 
 With zowre mekill pride ; 
 Sendes efter sir John of Fraunce 
 
 To stand by zo^v^e syde, 
 A bore es boun zow to biker, 
 
 That wele dar habide : 
 Wei dar he habide 
 
 Bataile to bede, 
 And of zowre sir John of Fraunce 
 
 Haves he no drede. 
 
 God save sir Edward his right 
 
 In everilka nede, — 
 And he that will noght so, 
 
 Evil mot he spede ; — 
 And len oure sir Edward 
 
 His life wele to lede, 
 That he may at his ending 
 
 Have hevin till his mede. 
 AMEN. 
 
i! if!*? ^nds-ed bak 
 
NOTES. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Page 1. 
 
 I. The bataile of Halidon-iiyll.] Of this 
 battle, fought on the 19th of July, 1333, the fol- 
 lowing particulars are extracted from MS. Harl. 
 4690. 
 
 " Att that tyme itte befell thatt king Edwarde 
 of Windesore helde his parlement atte the Newe 
 Castell uppe Tyne, for diverse deseses thatt weren 
 in thatt countre ; and thenne thider to him come 
 sir Edwarde Bailolle king off Scottelond, and to 
 him he dude homage and feute for the reme 
 off Scottelonde. Thanne sir Edward of BailoU 
 towke his leve off king Edwarde, & went ayenne 
 into Scottelonde, and was so grete a lorde, & so 
 moche had his wille, that he touke no hede to 
 hem that halpe him in his quarelle ; werefore thei 
 wente thennes fro him & dwelleden in her owne 
 londe, and lyveden with her rentes in Scottelonde. 
 
56 NOTES. 
 
 And itte was not longe after thatte the king of 
 Scottelonde wente fro thennes he was at thatt tyme 
 to the towne of Amande,* and ther he towke his 
 sojourne, and thider comen to him a companie 
 off knightes & mighty squieres, & yelde ham 
 to him, and made him bel continaunce ; and so 
 thei baren ham to him thatte is truste was fnlhche 
 in ham : and as sone as the treitours perceiveden 
 that he truste on hem, thei assembled 1. orped 
 men, and wolde have sleine him; butte by the 
 grace of godde he brake a walle off his chaumber, 
 and ascaped her tresoune, as godde wolde ; butt 
 alle his folke werenne ysleye : & so with grete 
 paine he come to the towne off Cardoile,t and 
 there abode, gretely discomforted : and this aven- 
 ture befelle him in the vigille off the concepcioune 
 off our lady. And thenne the king of Scottelond 
 sended to the king of Englonde howgh treitouresly 
 he was put to schame in litell wile by his owne 
 lieges, to the whiche he trustedde gretely ; and 
 therefore he praiedde the king of Englonde, for 
 the love of godde, thatte he wolde helpe him & 
 meynteine ayenste his enemys. Thanne the king 
 of Englonde, havyng despyte of that tresoune, 
 
 * Annan. t Cariile. 
 
NOTES. 57 
 
 behete him gode socour, and sent to him that he 
 schulde holde him in pees in the cete off Cardoille 
 into the tyme thatte he had gadredde his power* 
 And thenne king Edwarde of Englond made a 
 counseill atte London, & lete assemble his folke in 
 diverse schires of Englonde, and wente towardc 
 the towne of Berwike uppon Twede ; and thider 
 come to him king Edwarde off Scotteionde, with 
 his power to besege the towne; and there thei 
 sette a faire towne & pavylounes, and lete dyche 
 itte welle alle aboute hem, so thatte thei hadde no 
 drede of the Scottes, and made meny assautes with 
 gonnes and engines to the town, werewitli thei 
 destroieden meny menne, & threw a downe many 
 houses to the pleine erthe : nottewithstonding, tlie 
 Scottes defendedde welle the towne, so thatte the 
 king might not come thereynne a grete wile. 
 But the kingges tweyne besegede the towne so long 
 that hem failed vitaile ; and also thei were so for- 
 wacched thatte thei wiste notte watte to do ; but 
 by ther comen assente thei lette crye on the walles 
 that thei mighten have pees off Englischemenne ; 
 and so thei praiden the kingges off her grace, 
 and askeden treues for viii. daies, in thatte cove- 
 naunt, iff thei were notte resckewed by the par- 
 ties of her towne towarde Scotteionde, & off the 
 
58 NOTES. 
 
 Scottes withynne the same viii. dales, that thei 
 schulde yelde hem,bothe towne and manne, to the 
 kingges ; and to holde that covenaunte thei pro- 
 ferred the ii. kingges xii. hostages oute off the 
 towne. Wanne the hostages weren dehveredde 
 to the kingges, thei of the towne senten to the 
 Scottes to telle hem of her mischiefF; and thenne 
 the Scottes come thider prively, and passeden the 
 water of Twede to the bought of goddes house ; 
 and sir William Dikkette, atte that tyme chieff 
 stywarde of Scottelonde, with other Skottes, put 
 hemself in perell off her lyffe atte thatt tyme ; for 
 thei passeden over the water ther that there stode 
 a brigge som tyme, & the stones wer coveredde 
 with the water, and many off her company weren 
 adreinte ; but the forseide sir William passed over, 
 & many other off his companie, and come to the 
 Englische schippes ; and there in a barge of Hulle 
 he slowe xvi. menne ; and then thei entreden in to 
 the towne of Berwike bi water. Werefore the 
 towne helde hem for resckewed, and askede ayen 
 her hostages : and the king off Englond sent hem 
 to seine that thei hasked her hostages with wrong ; 
 for the Scottes entred the towne by the parties off 
 the towne towarde Englonde, and the covenaunte 
 was betwene ham that the towne schulde be res- 
 
NOTES. 59 
 
 kewed towarde the parties of Scottelonde ; and 
 therefore the king commaunded hem to yelde 
 uppe the towne, or he wolde slee the hostages : 
 and the Skottes seiden that the towne was res- 
 kewedde welle ynough ; and therto thei wolde 
 holde ham. Than was the king righte wrothe ; 
 and anone he towke oon off the hostages, that hete 
 sir Thomas of Seeton, the sone off sir Ahsaunder 
 Seton, wiche was wardeine of Berwikke ; and this 
 sir Thomas was parson off Dunbar ; and he towke 
 him firste of alle the hostages ;* and then the king 
 sente hem worde thatt every day he wolde take 
 too off the hostages, and do to ham alle the dess- 
 esse that he mighte, if thei wolde not yelde him 
 the town ; and so he wolde teche hem to kepe 
 her covenauntz. And whan thei off the towne 
 herd these tidingges, thei were wonder sory, and 
 senten ayenne to the king off Englonde, prayynge 
 him to graunte hem other viii. daies off respite, 
 with soche covenaunte, thatt iff ii.c. men of armes 
 might passe by hem & entre in to the towne bi 
 strengthe, to vitaille ham, thatte thanne the towne 
 schulde be holde reskewedde ; and iff xxi. or xxii. 
 or mo weren sieve of the ii.c. before seide, that 
 
 • Subintelligitur~And hanged him. The execution took place 
 in the father's sight. 
 
60 NOTES. 
 
 the town schulde notte be holde reskewedde ; 
 and to this the king accordedde, & towke other 
 xii. hostages. And in the mene wile, on seinte 
 Margareteis eve, in the yere off grace a m^ ccc. & 
 ' xxxiii.' the Scottes come oute off Scottelonde 
 fersly, in iiii. wingges, welle araied in armour, 
 to mete with king Edwarde of Englond and king 
 Edwarde off Scottelonde with a grete power, 
 aboute even-song tyme. And at that sam tyme 
 was a grete flode on the water off Twede, that 
 no man might passe that water on horse ne on 
 fote, & that water was betwene Englond and the 
 ii. kingges ; and then the Scottes aboden, hoping 
 that by her strengthe the Englischemen schulden 
 be slaine with fighting, or elles be adreinte ; but, 
 worschipped be god, the false Scottes faileden off 
 her purpose. The erle of Dunbar, keper of 
 the castell of Berwikke, halpe the Scottes with 1. 
 men off armes. Sir Alisaunder Seton, keper off 
 the towne of Berwike, halpe the Scottes with an 
 hundred men off armes : and the comens off the 
 town with iiii.c. men of armes, x.m^ & viii.c. 
 fote menne. The som of erles & lordes amownteth 
 Ixv. The som off bachelers newe dubbed, a c. & 
 xl. The som off men off armes, iii.m^ vi.c. xP^ 
 The som of comineres, iiii. score m^ & ii.c. The 
 
NOTES. 61 
 
 som total off alle the pepelle amoAvnetb, iiii'^^m'. 
 xv.m. & v.c. & v.* And thes forseide Ixv. grete 
 lordes, with iiii. bateilles, as it is before descri- 
 "edde, come alle afote ; and king Edwarde off 
 Englonde and king Edwarde of Skottelonde had 
 well pairaled her folke in iiii. bateilles on fote, 
 also to fighte ayenste her enemys. And then the 
 Englische mynstrelles beten her tabers, & blewen 
 her trompes, and pipers pipeden loude, and made 
 a grete schoute uppon the Skottes. And then 
 hadde the Englische bachelers eche off hem ii. 
 wingges off archers, which atte thatte meting 
 mightly drewen her bowes, & made arowes flee 
 as thik as motes on the sonne heme ; and so theie 
 smote the Skottes that thei fell to grounde by 
 many m^ and anone the Skottes beganne to flee 
 fro the Englischemenne, to save ther lyves. Butt 
 wanne the knaves & the Skottische pages, that 
 weren behinde the Skottes to kepe her horses, 
 seyen the discomfiture, thei prikeden her maisters 
 horses awey to kepe hemselfe from perelle ; and 
 so thei towke no hede off her maisters. And 
 then the Englischemen towken many off the 
 Skottes horses, and prikeden after the Skottes, 
 & slewe hem downerighte : and there men mighte 
 
 * These numbers appear to be inaccurate'. 
 
62 NOTES. 
 
 see the nowbell king Edwarde off Englonde, & 
 his folke, hough mannefully thei chaseden the 
 Skottes ; werofF this romance was made. 
 
 There men mighte well see 
 Many a Skotte lightely flee, 
 And the Englische after priking, 
 With scharpe swerdes them striking, 
 And there her baners weren founde, 
 Alle displayedde on the grounde, 
 And layne starkly on blode, 
 As thei had fought on the flode. 
 Butt the Skottes, ille mote thei thee ! 
 Thought the Englisch adreint schulde be. 
 For bicause thei mighte not flee, 
 Butte iff thei adreinte schulde bee. 
 Butte thei kepte hem manly on londe, 
 So thatte the Scottes might nott stonde^ 
 And felde hem downe to grounde, 
 Many thowsandes in thatte stounde ; 
 And the Englischemen pursuyed hem so 
 Tille the flode was alle agoo. 
 Alle thus the Skottes discomfite were 
 In littell tyme with grete feere. 
 For non other wise dide thei stryve 
 But as'xx. schepe among wolfes fyve ; 
 
NOTES. 63 
 
 For V. off hem then were 
 
 Ayenst an Englischman there : 
 
 So there itte was welle semyng 
 
 That with multitude is no scomfiting ; 
 
 But with god, fuUe of mighte, 
 
 Wham he will helpe in trewe fighte. 
 
 So was this, bi goddes grace, 
 
 Discomfiture off Skottes in that place, 
 
 That men cleped Halidown-hille, 
 
 For there this bateill befelle, 
 
 Atte Ber^vike beside the towne 
 
 This was do with mery sowne, 
 
 With pipes, trompes, and nakers therto. 
 
 And loude clariounes thei blew also. 
 
 And there the Scottes leyen dede, 
 
 xxx.m^ beyonde. Twede, 
 
 & V. m*. tolde thereto. 
 
 With vii.c.xii. and mo : 
 
 & of Englischemen but sevenne, 
 
 Worschipped be god in hevenne ! 
 
 & that wer men on fote goyng. 
 
 By foly of her owne doyng. 
 
 On seinte Margeteys eve, as y yow tell, 
 
 Befille the victory of Halidoune-hille, 
 
 In the yere of god almighte 
 
 A m^.iii.c. and * iii.' and thritty. 
 
64 NOTES. 
 
 Atte this discomfiture 
 The EngHsch knightes towke her hure 
 Of the Skottes that weren dede, 
 Clothes and haberjounes for her mede ; 
 And watteever thei might finde 
 On tlie Skottes thei lefte not behinde ; 
 And the knaves, by her purchas, 
 Hadde there a mery solas, 
 For thei hadde, for her degree, 
 In alle her lyffe the better to be, 
 Alle thus the bateille towke ending ; 
 But y canne not telle off the yen going 
 Off the too kingges, were thei become, 
 & wether thei wen ten out or home : 
 But godde, thatte is heven king, 
 Sende us pees, and god** ending I" 
 
 The English historians are thought to have ex- 
 aggerated the number and carnage of the enemy. 
 They are compared by one old author to a swarm 
 of locusts, and their loss, in killed, is generally 
 stated at upward of thirty thousand. " He slewe 
 of them," says Fabian, " as testifieth divers 
 writers, seven earles, nine hundred knightes and 
 banerettes, foure hundred esquiers, and upon 
 thirty two thousand of the common people ; and 
 
NOTES. 65 
 
 of Englishmen were slaine but onely fiftene per- 
 sons." — Froissart has a chapter upon the siege of 
 Berwick, but takes not the least notice of this 
 great and bloody battle. 
 
 Page 4. 
 
 L, 4. Of wild Scottesy and alls of tame.] These 
 " wild Scottes" were the inhabitants of the high- 
 lands and western isles, of Galloway, and other 
 parts ; those, in short, who adhered to the ancient 
 dress or manners, and Irish or Pictish language. 
 The " tame" Scots, of course, were the low- 
 landers, who spoke English. 
 
 L. 10. At Donde now es done thaire daunce.] 
 The author's allusion is to the battle of Duplin, 
 fought near a village of that name, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Perth, on the 12th of August, 1332, 
 in which an army of forty thousand Scots, under 
 the command of Donald earl of Mar, regent, who 
 was slain in the conflict, were completely and 
 disgracefully overthrown, with great ease, and 
 prodigious slaughter, by Edward Baliol, and the 
 disinherited English barons, — such, that is, as 
 had lost their Scotish possessions, — with their fol- 
 lowers, to the amount of about three thousand 
 men. Duplin, however, is at a considerable dis- 
 
 F 
 
66 NOTES. 
 
 tance from Dundee ; but the engagement might 
 have obtained a name from the latter place, by 
 reason of Baliol's fleet being stationed there ; he 
 and his forces having been previously landed at 
 Kinghorn. See Lord Hailes' Annals of Scotland, 
 L. 21. Sir Jon the Comyn, &c.] Sir John Co- 
 myn of Badenoch, a powerful Scotish baron, in 
 the English interest, was slain by Robert Bruce, 
 afterward king of Scotland, at a private confe- 
 rence between them, in the friery-church at Dum- 
 fries, on the 10th of February, 1305-6. The im- 
 mediate motive of this act of violence has not 
 transpired, though historians seem as confident 
 in their surmises as if they had been actually pre- 
 sent at the interview. Probably the most authen- 
 tic account of this transaction is that given by 
 Langtoft, or his translator, Robert Mannyng, 
 both of whom were living at the time. 
 
 " Of WiUiam haf ze herd, how his endyng was, 
 Now of kyng Robert to telle zow his trespas. 
 Als Lenten tide com in, Cristen mans lauh, 
 He sent for Jon Comyn, the lord of Badenauh ; 
 To Dounfressuld he come, unto the Minours kirke, 
 A spekyng ther thei nome, the Comyn wil4 not 
 wirke, 
 
NOTES. 67 
 
 Ne do after the sawe of Roberd the Brus. 
 Away he gan him drawe, his conseil to refus, 
 Roberd with a knyve the Cymyn ther he smote, 
 Thorgh whilk wounde his lyve he lost, wele i wote, 
 He zede to the hie autere,& stode & rested him thore, 
 Com Roberdes squiere, & wonded him wele more, 
 For he wild not consent, to reise no folie, 
 Ne do als he ment, to gynne to mak partie, 
 Ageyn kyng Edward, Scotland to dereyne, 
 With werre and batail hard, reve him his demeyne." 
 
 Page 6. 
 
 II. [The] batayl of Banocburn was 
 fought on the 24th of June, 1314, between the 
 English and Scotish armies, headed by their 
 respective sovereigns (Edward II. and Robert 
 Bruce); in which the English were completely 
 defeated. Bannockburn is in the shire of Stirling. 
 
 L. 7. Saint- JohneS'toune.] Perth, of which 
 Baliol took possession the day after the battle of 
 Duplin. Among all the English writers, histo- 
 rians or poets, perhaps the Scots have not a more 
 inveterate enemy than Peter Langtoft, or his 
 congenial translator, Robert Mannyng, who omits 
 no opportunity of exercising his satirical vein 
 
68 NOTES. 
 
 upon them. At p. 283 he thus earnestly prays 
 for their destruction : 
 
 " Jhesu so meke, i the biseke, on croice that was 
 
 wonded, 
 Grante me that bone, the Scottes sone alle be 
 
 confonded !" 
 
 Having already, at p. 265, wished the whole 
 country sunk to hell : 
 
 " Wales, wo the be, the fende the confound ! 
 Scotland, whi ne mot i se * the' sonken to helle 
 ground ?" 
 
 See also p. 279, and under the word Ri veling , 
 in the glossary to the present volume. 
 
 Page 8. 
 
 HI. How Edward the king come in Bra- 
 band, 
 And toke homage of all the land.] 
 
 " The kyng of Englande," according to Frois- 
 sart, whose relation is here transcribed, " made 
 great purveyances; and whan the wynter was 
 
NOTES. 69 
 
 passed he toke the see, well acompanyed with 
 dukes, erles, and barownes, and dyvers other 
 knyghtes; and aryved at the towne of Ande- 
 warpe, as than pertayninge to the duke of Bra- 
 bant. Thyther came people frbm all partes to 
 se hym, and the great estate that he kept. Than 
 he sent to his cosyn the duke of Brabant, and to 
 the duke of Queries ; to the marques of JuUers, to 
 the lorde Johan of Heynalt, and to all such as he 
 trusted to have any conforte of; sayng howe he 
 wolde gladly speke with theym : they came all to 
 Andewarpe bytwene Whytsontyde and the feest 
 of saynte Johan. And whan the kyng had well 
 feasted them, he desyred to knowe their myndes, 
 whanne they wolde begynne that they had pro- 
 mysed ; requirynge them to dyspatche the mater 
 brevely ; for that intente, he sayd, he was come 
 thyder, and had all his men redy : and howe it 
 shulde be a great damage to hym to deferre the 
 mater long. These lordes had longe counsell 
 among them, and fynally they sayd : Syr, our 
 commynge hyther as nowe was more to se you 
 than for any thynge els : we be nat as nowe pur- 
 veyed to gyve you a ful answere. By your ly- 
 cence, we shall retourne to our people, and cume 
 agayne to you at your pleasure ; and thanne gyve 
 
70 NOTES. 
 
 you so playne an answere that the mater shall nat 
 rest in us. Than they toke day to come agayn a 
 thre wekes after the feest of saynt John. So 
 thus these lordes departed, and the kynge taryed 
 in the abbay of saynt Brunarde, and some of the 
 Englysshe lordes taryed styll at Andewarpe, to 
 kepe the kynge company, and some of the other 
 rode about the countrey in great dyspence. 
 The day came that the kynge of Englande loked 
 to have an answere of these lordes ; and they ex- 
 cused them, and sayd howe they were redy and 
 their men, so that the duke of Brabant wolde be 
 redy for his part ; sayeng that he was nere than 
 they. Than the kyng dyd so muche that he 
 spake agayne with the duke, and shewed him the 
 answere of the other lordes, desyring him by amyte 
 and lynage that no faut were founde in him ; say- 
 eng how he parceyved well that he was but cold 
 in the mater ; and that, without he wer quicker, 
 and dyd otherwise, he douted he shulde lese ther- 
 by the ayde of all the other lordes of Almayne 
 through his defaulte. Than the duke sayd, he 
 wolde take counsayle in the matter ; and whan he 
 had longe debated the mater, he sayd he shulde 
 be as redy as any other ; but firste, he sayd, he 
 wolde speke agayne with the other lordes ; and he 
 
NOTES. 71 
 
 dyde sende for them, desyring them to come to 
 hym wher as they pleased best. Than the day 
 was apointed about the myddes of August, & this 
 counsell to be at Hale, bycause of the yong erle 
 of Haynalt, who shulde also be ther, and with 
 hym sir Johan of Heinalt his uncle. Whann these 
 lordes were all come to this parlyament at Hale, 
 they had longe counsayle togyder; finally they 
 sayd to the kyng of Englande : Syr, we se no 
 cause why we shulde make defyance to the Frenche 
 kyng, all thynges consydred, without ye can 
 gette thagrement of themperour; and that he 
 wolde commaunde us to do so in his name. The 
 emperour may well thus do, for of long tyme 
 past there was a covenant swome and sealed that 
 no kyng of Fraunce ought to take any thyng 
 parteyning to thempyre, and this kynge Phylippe 
 hath taken the castell of Crevecure in Cambreysis, 
 and the castell of Alves in Pailleull, and the cytie 
 of Cambray: wherfore themperour hath good 
 cause to defye hym by us; therfore, sir, if ye 
 can get his acord, our honour shal be the more : 
 and the kyng sayd he wolde folowe their coun- 
 sayle. Then it was ordayned that the marques 
 of Jullers shulde go to themperour, and certayne 
 knyghtes and clarkes of the kynges, and some of 
 
72 NOTES. 
 
 the counsell of the duke of Gwerles. But the 
 duke of Brabant woulde send none fro hym; 
 but he lende the castell of Lovayne to the kynge 
 of Englande to lye in. And the marques and his 
 company founde the emperour at Florebetche, 
 and shewed hym the cause of their commyng. 
 And the lady Margarete of Heynault dydde all 
 her payne to further forthe the mater, whom sir 
 Lewes of Bavyer than emperour had wedded. 
 And themperour gave commyssion to four knyghtes 
 and to two doctours of this counsell to make kyng 
 Edwarde of Englande his vycarre generall through- 
 out al the empyre ; and therof these sayd lordes 
 hadde instrumentes publyke, confyrmed and seal- 
 ed sufFyciently by the emperour. And than 
 about the feest of all sayntes the marques of Jul- 
 lers and his company sent worde to the kyng how 
 they had sped. And the kyng sent to hym that 
 he shulde be with hym about the feest of saynt 
 Martyne ; and also he sent to the duke of Bra- 
 bant to knowe his mynde, wher he wolde the par- 
 lyament shuld be holde ; and he answered at Ar- 
 ques, in the county of Loz, nere to his countrey. 
 And than the kyng sent to all other of his alyes, 
 that they shulde be there ; and so the hal of the 
 towne was apparelled and hanged, as though it 
 
NOTES. 73 
 
 hat ben the kynges chamber. And there the 
 kyng satte crowned with geolde v. fote hygher 
 than any other : and there openly was rede the 
 letters of themperour, by the which the kyng 
 was made vycare generall and lieftenaunt for the 
 emperour, and had power gyven hym to make 
 lawes, and to mynistre justyce to every person in 
 themperours name, and to make money of golde 
 and sylver. The emperour also there commaunded 
 by his letters, that all persons of his empyre, and 
 all other his subgiettes shulde obey to the kyng of 
 England his vycare as to hymselfe, and to do 
 hym homage. And whan all this was done the 
 lordes departed, and toke day that they shulde all 
 appere before Cambray thre wekes after the feest 
 of saynt Johan, the whiche towne was become 
 Frenche : thus they all departed, and every man 
 went to his owne." Froissart's Chronicle , trans- 
 lated by Sir John Bourchier Lord Berners, 1525, 
 fol. vol. i. chap. 32, 34. 
 
 Page 9. 
 
 L. 15. And thare he made his mone playne.] 
 " Kynge Edwarde, as vycare of thempyre, went 
 then to Lovayne to the quene, who was newly 
 come theyder out of England, with great noble- 
 
74 NOTES. 
 
 nesse, and well accompanyed with ladyes and do- 
 mosels of Englande. So there the kynge and the 
 quene kepte their house ryght honorably all that 
 wynter; and causeed money, golde and sylver, 
 to be made at Andewarpe, great plentie." Frois- 
 sart*s Chronicle. 
 
 Page 10. 
 
 L. 3. Schip-men sone war efter sent, &c.] 
 " The Frenche kynge on his part had set Geno- 
 wayes, Normans, Bretons, Pycardes, and Spa- 
 nyardes, to be redy on the see to entre into 
 Englande assone as the warre were opened." 
 Froissart's Chronicle, ut supra, vol. i. chap. 35. 
 
 L. 13. At Hamton, &c.] '^ As sone as sir Hewe 
 Quyriell, [r. Quyriett] sir Peter Babuchet, and 
 Barbe Noyre, who lay and kept the streightes 
 * bytwene' England and Fraunce with a great 
 navy, knewe that the warre was opyn, they came 
 on a sonday in the forenoone to the havyn of 
 Hampton, whyle the people were at masse ; and 
 the Normayns, Pycardes, and Spanyerdes entred 
 into the towne, and robbed and pylled the towne, 
 and slewe dyvers, and defowled maydens, and en- 
 forced wyves, and charged their vessels with that 
 pyllage ; and so entred agayne into their shyppes : 
 
NOTES. 
 
 75 
 
 and whan the tyde came they disancred, and sayled 
 to Normandy, and came to Depe ; and there de- 
 parted and devyded their boty and pyllag:es." 
 Froissart, ut supra, vol. i. chap. 37. 
 
 L. 25. Thegalay-men, &c.] " Kyng Philyppe,*' 
 says Froissart, " greatly fortyfyed his navy that 
 he hadde on the see, wherof syr [Hewe] Kiry [ett], 
 [sir Peter] Bahuchet, and Barbe Noyre were cap- 
 taines : and they had under them a great retinue 
 of Genowaies, Normayns, Bretons, and Picardes. 
 They dyd that wynter great domage to the realme 
 of England. Somtyme they came to Dover, Sand- 
 wyche, Winchelse, Hastinges, and Rye : and did 
 moche sorowe to thenglisshemen, for the were a 
 great nombre, as a xl. m. men. Ther was none 
 that coude yssue out of England, but they were 
 robbed, taken or slayne : so they wan great pyl- 
 lage, and specyally they wan a great shype called 
 Christofer, laden with wolles, as she was goyng into 
 Flaunders ; the whiche shype had coste the kyng 
 of England much money ; and all they that were 
 taken within the shippe were sleine and drowned : 
 of the which conquest the Frenchemen wer right 
 joyouse." Chronicle^ chap. 44. 
 
 The account given of this affair by Fabian ifv 
 more particular than Froissart's. 
 
76 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 " In the xiii. yeare [I338],kynge Edward with 
 quene Philip hys wyfe, for moore assured stablish- 
 meiit of amitie, to be had betwene him and the 
 Hollanders, Sealanders, and Brabanders, passed 
 the sea in the beginninge of the moneth of * Ju- 
 lye/ & sayled with a goodly companye into the 
 countrey of Brabant, the queene then being great 
 with childe, where of the earle of Brabant he was 
 honorably receaved, &c. In this passetyme, the 
 Frenche king had sent dyvers shyppes unto the 
 sea with men of warre, for to take the Englyshe 
 merchauntes and other that came in theyr course. 
 And so befell that they encountred with two great 
 shippes of England, called the Edwarde and th 3 
 Christopher, the whiche (as testifieth the French 
 Chronicle j) were freyt with great riches, and also 
 well manned. Anone, as either was ware of other, 
 gonnes, and shot of longe bowes, and arblasters, 
 were not spared on nother side, so that betwene 
 them was a cruell fyght, but not egall : for of 
 the French men wer xiii. sailes great and smal, & 
 of the Englishmen but five, that is to meane, these 
 two foresaid great ships, two barckes and a carvell, 
 the which thre smal ships escaped by their deliver 
 sayling, and the two abode and fought beyonde ix. 
 houres, so much that there were slaine upon bothe 
 
NOTES. 77 
 
 parties above sixe hundred men ; but, in the end, 
 the said two ships wer taken, and brought into 
 the French kinges streames, & many of the Eng- 
 lyshmen that were wounded cast into the sea." 
 Fabian's Chronicle^ p. 206. 
 
 Page 14. 
 L. 1 . Furth heferd into France, 4&c.] " Assone 
 as kyng Edward had passed the river of Lescaute,* 
 and was entred into the realms of Fraunce, he 
 went and lodged in thabbey of mount saint Mar- 
 tyn, and there taryed two dayes, and his people 
 abode in the countrey, & the duke of Brabant 
 was lodged in thabbey of Vancelliz. And the 
 next day on the mornyng the kyng departed from 
 Mount Saynt Marty n ; and so than they entred 
 into Vermandoys, and toke that day their lodgyng 
 be tymes on the mount Saynt Quintyne in good 
 order of batayle. Than the lordes toke coun- 
 sell what way they shulde drawe, and, by thadvyce 
 of the duke of Brabant, they toke the way to Thy- 
 erasse, for that way their provisyon came dayly to 
 them. And they determyned that if kyng Phy- 
 lyppe dyd followe them, as they supposed he wolde 
 
 • Ihe Beheld. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 do, that than they wolde abyde hym in the plane 
 felde, and gyve hym batayle. Thus they went 
 forthe in thre great batayls : the marshalles and 
 the Almaygnes had the first, the kynge of Eng- 
 lande in the myddle warde, & the duke of Bra- 
 bant in the rerewarde. Thus they rodde forthe, 
 brennynge and pyllynge the countrey a thre or 
 foure leages a day, and ever toke their logynge 
 betymes. And a company of Englysshmen and 
 Almaygnes passed the ryver of Somme, by the 
 abbey of Vermans, and wasted the countrey al 
 about. An other company, wherof sir Johan of 
 Heynault, the lord Faulquemont, and sir Arnold 
 of Bacquehen were chefe, rode to Origny Saint 
 Benoyste, a good towne ; but it was but easely 
 closed : incontynent it was taken by assaut, and 
 robbed, and an abbey of ladyes vyolated, and the 
 towne brent. Than they departed, and rode to- 
 warde Guys and Rybemont, and the kynge of 
 Englande lodged at Vehories, and ther taryed a 
 day, and his men ranne abrode, and dystroyed the 
 countrey. Than the kynge toke the way to the 
 Flammengerie, to come to Lesche in Thyerasse, 
 and the marshals and the bysshoppe of Lincolne 
 with a fyve hundered speres passed the ryver of 
 Trysague, and entred into Laonnoys^ towarde 
 
NOTES. (79 
 
 the lande of the lorde of Coucey, and brent Saynt 
 Gouven, and the towne of Marie. And on a 
 nyght lodgedde in the valley besyde Laon, and 
 the nexte day they drewe agayne to their boost ; 
 for they knewe by some of their prisoners, that 
 the Frenche kyng was come to Saynt Quyntines 
 with a c. thousand men, and there to passe the 
 ryver of Somme. So these lordes in their return- 
 ynge brent a good towne called Crecy, and dy- 
 verse other townes and hamelettes therabout. 
 The kynge of Englande departed fro Sarnaques 
 and went to Muttrell ; and ther loged a nyght ; 
 and the next day he went to the Flamengery, and 
 made all his men to loge nere about hym, wherof 
 he had mo than xl. thousande ; and there he was 
 counselled to abyde kyng Philyp, and to fyght with 
 hym. The French kyng departed fro Saynt Quyn- 
 tines ; and dayly men came to him fro all partes, 
 and so came to Vyronfosse. There the kyng 
 taryed, & sayd howe he wold not go thens tyll he 
 had fought with the kynge of Englande, and with 
 his alyes, seyng they were within two leages to- 
 guyther. Thus these two kynges were lodged 
 bytwene Vyronfosse and Flamengery, in the playne 
 feldes, without any advauntage. I thynke ther was 
 never sen before so goodly an assemble of noble 
 
80 NOTES. 
 
 men togyder as was there. Whanne the kynge of 
 England, beyng in the chapell of Thyerasse, knewe 
 how that king Philyppe was within two leages, 
 than he called the lordes of his host togyder, and 
 demaunded of them what he shuld do, his honour 
 saved, for he sayd that his entencyon was to gyve 
 batayle. Than the lordes behelde eche other, and 
 they desyredde the duke of Brabant to shewe first 
 his entent. The duke sayd that he was of the ac- 
 corde that they shuld gyve batayle, for otherwyse, 
 he sayd, they coude nat depart, savyng their ho- 
 nours ; wherfore he counsayled that they shulde 
 sende herauldes to the Frenche kyng, to demaunde 
 a day of batayle. Than an heraulde of the duke 
 of Guerles, who coude well the langage of Frenche, 
 was enformed what he shulde say, and so he rode 
 tyll he came in to the Frenche boost. And * than' 
 he drewe hym to kyng Philyppe and to his coun- 
 sayle ; and sayde. Sir, the kynge of Englande is 
 jn the felde, and desyreth to have batell, power 
 agaynst power : the whiche thyng kyng Philyppe 
 graunted, and toke the day, the Friday next af- 
 ter ; and as than it was Wednesday. And so the 
 haraude retourned, well rewarded with good fur- 
 red gownes gyven hym by the French kyng and 
 other lordes, bycause of the tidynges that he 
 
NOTES. 81 
 
 brought. So thus the journey was agreed, & 
 knowledge was made therof to all the lordes of 
 bothe the hoostes, and so every man made hym 
 redy to the mater. Whan the Friday came in 
 the mornyng, both hoostes aparelled themselfe 
 redy, and every lorde harde masse among their 
 owne companyes, and dyvers wer shriven. First 
 we woll speke of thorder of thenglysshmen, who 
 drewe them forwarde into the felde, and made 
 iii. batels a fote, and dyd put al their horses and 
 bagages into a lytell wood behynde them, and for- 
 tefyed it. The first batel ledde the duke of Guer- 
 les, the marques of Nusse, the marquyes of Blan- 
 quebure, sir Johan of Heynault, therle of Mons, 
 therle of Savynes, the lorde of Faulquemont, sir 
 Guyllam du Fort, sir Arnolde of Baquehen, and 
 the Almayns ; and amonge them was xxii. ban- 
 ners, and Ix. penons in the hole, and viii.m. men. 
 The seconde batayle had the duke of Brabant, and 
 the lordes and knyghtes of his countrey. The 
 duke of Brabant had xxiiii. baners, and Ixxx. 
 penons, and in al vii.m. men. The iii. batayle 
 & the grettest had the kyng of Englande, and 
 with hym his cosyn therle of Derby,* the bys- 
 
 • Afterward duke of Lancaster. 
 
82 NOTES. 
 
 shoppe of Lynecolne, the bysshoppe of Durame, 
 therle of Salisbury, the erle of Northampton and 
 of Glocetter, therle of SufFolke, sir Robert Dar- 
 toyse, as than called erle of Rychmont, the lorde 
 Raynolde Cobham, the lorde Persy, the lorde 
 Roose, the lord Montbray, sir Lewes and sir Johan 
 Beauchampe, the lord Dalawarre, the lorde of 
 Laucome, the lorde Basset, the lorde Fitzwater, 
 sir Water Manny, sir Hewe Hastynges, sir Johan 
 Lyle ; and dyvers other that I can nat name : 
 among other was sir Johan Chandos, of whom 
 moche honour is spoken in this boke. The kyng 
 had with hym xxviii. baners, and Ixxxx. penons, 
 and in his batale a vi.m. men of armes, and 
 vi.m. archers ; and he had set an other batell as 
 in a wyng, wherofF therle of Warwyke, therle of 
 Penbroke, the lorde Barkly, the lorde Multon, 
 and dyverse other were as cheyfe, and they were 
 on horsbacke. Thus, whan every lord was un- 
 der his banner, as it was commaunded by the mar- 
 shals, the kyng of England mounted on a palfray, 
 accompanyed all onely with sir Robert Dartoyse 
 sir Raynolde Cobham, and sir Water of Manny, 
 and rode along before all his batels, and right 
 swetely desyred all his lordes and other, that they 
 wolde that day ayde to defende his honoure ; and 
 
NOTES. 83 
 
 they all promysed hym so to do. Than he re- 
 turned to his own batell, and set every thin^ in 
 good order, and commaunded that non shuld go 
 before the marshals baners. 
 
 " Nowe let us speke of the lordes of Fraunce 
 what they dyd. They were xi. score baners, 
 iiii. kynges, v. dukes, xxvi. erles, and mo than 
 iiii.m. knyghtes ; and of the commons of Fraunce 
 mo than Ix.m. The kynges that were there with 
 kyng Philyppe of Valoys, was the kyng *■ of Be- 
 hayne,' the kyng of Naverre, and kyng Davyd of 
 Scotland ; the duke of Normandy, the duke of 
 Bretayne, the duke of Bourbon, the duke of Lor- 
 rayne, and the duke of Athenes. Of erles : therle 
 of Alanson, * brother* to the kyng, the erle of 
 Flaunders, therle of Heynalt, the erle of Bloys, 
 therle of Bare, therle of Forestes, therle of Foyz, 
 therle of Armynack, the erle Dophym of Au- 
 vergne, therle of Vandosme, therle of Harrecourt, 
 therle of Saynt Pol, therle of Guynes, therle of 
 Bowlongne, therle of Roussy, therle of Dampmar- 
 tyn, therle of Valentynois, therle of Aucer, therle 
 of Saucerre, therle of Genue, the erle of Dreux 
 and of Gascongue, and of Languedoc. So many 
 €rles and vycuntes that it were longe to reherse. 
 It was a great beauty to beholde the baners and 
 
84 NOTES. 
 
 standredes, wavyng in the wynde; and horses 
 l)arded ; and knyg;htes and squyers richely armed. 
 The Frenchemen ordayned thre great batayls ; in 
 eche of them fyftene thousand men of armes, 
 [and] xx.m. men a fote. 
 
 " It myght well be marveyledde, howe so 
 goodly a sight of men of warre, so nere togyder, 
 shulde depart without batayle. But the French- 
 men were nat al of one accorde, they were of dy- 
 vers opynyons. Some sayde, it were a great shame 
 and they fought nat, seyng their ennemys so nere 
 them, in their owne countre, raynged in the felde ; 
 and also had promysed to fyght with them. And 
 some other sayd, it shulde be a great folly to fyght, 
 for it was harde to knowe every mannes mynde, 
 and jeopardy of treason. For, they sayd, if for- 
 tune were contrary to their kyng, as to lese the 
 felde, he than shuld put all his hole realme in a 
 jeopardy to be lost ; and though he dyd dysconfet 
 his ennemes, yet for all that he shuld be never the 
 nerer of the realme of Englande, nor of such landes 
 parteynyng to any of those lordes that be with 
 hym alyed. Thus, in strivyng of dyvers opynions, 
 the day past tyll it was past noone; and then 
 sodenly there started an hare among the French- 
 men ; and such as sawe her cryed and made gret 
 
NOTES. 85 
 
 brunt, wherby suche as were behynde thought 
 they before had ben fightynge, and so put on their 
 helmes, and toke their speres in their handes : and 
 so there were made dyvers newe knyghtes ; and 
 specially therle of Heynalt made xiiii. who were 
 ever after called knyghtes of the hare. Thus that 
 batell stode styll all that Friday. And besyde this 
 stryfe bytwene the counsellours of France, there 
 was brought in letters to the boost, of recommen- 
 dacion to the Frenche kyng, and to his counsell, 
 fro kyng Robert of Cicyle ;* the which kyng, as 
 it was sayd, was a great astronomy re, and full 
 of great science. He had oftentymes sought his 
 bokes on the state of the kynges of England and 
 France ; and he founde by his astrology, and by 
 thenfluens of the hevens, that if the French kyng 
 ever fought with king Edwarde of England, he 
 shuld be disconfited : wherfore he, lyke a king 
 of gretwysdome, and as he that douted the peryll 
 of the Frenche kyng his cosyn, sent oftentymes 
 letters to king Philyppe, and to his counsayle, that 
 in no wyse he shulde make any batayle agaynst 
 
 * Concerning this sage and scientific monarch, and of the pride 
 which occasioned his downfall^ there is an old metrical romance, or 
 legend, extant in MS. 
 
 Wartou, very strangely, supposes Robert Cecyll the title, he says, 
 of au old English morality; a corruption of Robert the Devil! 
 
86 NOTES. 
 
 thenglysshmen, where as kyng Edwarde was per- 
 sonally present. So that, what for dout, and for 
 such writyng fro the kyng of Cecyle, dyvers of 
 the great lordes of Fraunce were sore abasshed ; 
 and also kynge Philyppe was enfourmed therof. 
 Howebeit yet he had great wyll to gyve batayle, 
 but he was so counselled to the contrary, that the 
 day passed without batell, and every man with- 
 drue to their lodgynges. And whan the erle of 
 Heynalt sawe that they shuld nat fight, he de- 
 parted with his hole company, and went backe 
 the same night to Quesnoy. And the kynge of 
 Englande, the duke of Brabant, and all the other 
 lordes, returned and trussed all their bagagis, and 
 went the same night to Davesnes in Heynalt. And 
 the next day they toke leve eche of other ; and 
 the Almayns and Brabances departed, and the 
 kynge went into Brabant with the duke his cosyn. 
 The same Friday that the batell shulde have ben, 
 the French kynge, when he came to his lodgyng, 
 he was sore dyspleased, bycause he departed 
 without batayle. But thay of his counsayle sayde, 
 howe right nobly he had borne hymselfe, for he 
 had valyantly pursued his enemies, and had done 
 so muche that he had put them out of his realme ; 
 and how that the kyng of England shulde make 
 
NOTES. 87 
 
 many such vyages or he conquered the realme of 
 Fraunce. The next day kyng Philyppe gave 
 lycence to all maner of men to depart, and he 
 thanked right courtesly the gret lordes of their 
 ayde and socour. Thus ended this great jour- 
 ney ; and every man went to theyr owne," Frois- 
 sart's Chronicle, vol. i. chap. 39, &c. This was 
 in 1339. 
 
 Page 18. 
 
 v. litiies, and the batail i sal bigyn 
 Of Inglisch-men and Normandes in 
 
 THE SWYN.] 
 
 ** Nowe lette us speke of the kynge of Eng- 
 lande, who was on the see to the intent to arryve 
 in Flaunders, and so into Heynalt to make warre 
 agaynst the Frenchmen. This was on Mydsomer 
 even, in the yere of our lord m.ccc.xl. all then- 
 glysse flete was departed out of the ryver of Tames, 
 and toke the way to Sluse. And the same tyme 
 bytwene Blanqueberque and Sluse on the see was 
 sir Hewe * Kyryett,' sir Peter Bahuchet, and Barb- 
 noyr : and mo than six score great vessels besyde 
 other, and they were of Normayns, Bydaulx, Ge- 
 nowes, and Pycardes ; about the nombre of xl.m. 
 There they were layd by the Frenche kyng, to de- 
 
88 NOTES. 
 
 fende the kyng of England passage. The kynge 
 of England and his came saylyng tyll he came be- 
 fore Sluse ; and whan he saw so great a nombre of 
 shippes that their mastes seemed to be lyke a great 
 wood, he demaunded of the mayster of his ship 
 what peple he thought they were ; he answered 
 and sayde, Sir, I thynke they be Normayns layd 
 here by the Frenche kynge ; & hath done gret 
 dyspleasure in Englande, brent your towne of 
 Hamton, and taken your great shyppe the Chrys- 
 tofer. A, quod the kinge, I have longe desyred to 
 fyght with the Frenchemen, and nowe shall I 
 fyght with some of them, by the grace of god 
 and saynt George, for truly they have done me 
 so many dysplesurs that I shall be revenged & I 
 may. Than the king set all his shyppes in order, 
 the grettest before, well furnisshed with archers, 
 & ever bytwene two shyppes of archers he had 
 one shypp with men of armes, and than he made 
 an other batell to ly a lofe with archers to confort 
 ever them that were moost wery, yf nede were. 
 And there were a great nombre of countesses, la- 
 dyes, knyghtes wyves, & other damosels that were 
 goyng to se the quene at Gaunt: these ladyes 
 the kyng caused to be well kept with thre hun- 
 dred men of armes, and v.c. archers. 
 
NOTES. 89 
 
 " Whan the kyng and his marshals had or- 
 dered his batayls, he drewe up the scales and cam 
 with a greater wynde, to have the vauntage of 
 the Sonne. And so at last they tourned a lytell to 
 get the wynde at wyll : and whan the Normayns 
 sawe them recule backe, they had marvell why 
 they dyde so. And some sayd, They thinke them 
 selfe nat mete to medyll with us ; wherfore they 
 woll go backe. They sawe well ho we the kyng 
 of England was there personally, by reason of his 
 baners. Than they dyd appareyle their flet in 
 order, for they wer sage and good men of ware 
 on the see ; and dyd set the Christofer, the which 
 they had won the yer before, to be formast with 
 many trumpettes and instrumentes : and so set on 
 their ennemies. There began a sore batell on 
 bothe partes: archers and crosbowes began to 
 shote, and men of armes aproched and foughte 
 hande to hande ; and the better to come togyder, 
 they had great hokes, & grapers of yron to cast 
 out of one shyppe into another, and so tyed them 
 fast togyder. There were many dedes of armes 
 done, takyng and rescuyng agayne. And at last 
 the great Christopher was first won by thenglyssh- 
 men, and all that were within it taken or slayne. 
 .Than there was great noyse and cry, and theng- 
 
90 NOTES. 
 
 lysshmen aproched and fortifyed the Christofer 
 with archers, and made hym to pass on byfore 
 to fyght with the Genoweys. This batayle was 
 right fierse and terryble ; for the batayls on the 
 see ar more dangerous and fierser than the ba- 
 tayls by lande : for on the see ther is no reculyng 
 nor fleyng, there is no remidy but to fight, and to 
 abyde fortune, and every man to shewe his prowes. 
 Of a trouthe sir Hewe * Kyriett,' and sir [Peter] 
 Bahuchet, and Barbe-noyer, were ryght good and 
 expert men of warre. This batayle endured fro 
 the mornyng tyll it was noone, & thenglysshmen 
 endured moche payne, for their ennemies were 
 foure agaynst one, and all good men on the see. 
 Ther the kyng of England was a noble knight of 
 his owne handes, he was in the flouer of his yough. 
 In like wyse so was the erle of Derby, Pembroke, 
 Herforde, Huntyngdon, Northampton, and Glo- 
 cetter, sir Raynolde Cobham, sir Rycharde Staf- 
 forde, the lorde Percy, sir Water of Manny, sir 
 Henry of Flaunders, sir Johan Beauchamp, the 
 lorde Felton, the lorde Brasseton, sir [John] Chan- 
 dos, the lorde Delawarre, the lorde of Multon, sir 
 Robert Dartoys, called erle of Rychmont, and 
 dy verse other lordes and knyghtes, who bare them- 
 selfe so valyantly, with some socours that they 
 
NOTES. 91 
 
 had of Bruges, and of the countrey thereabout, 
 that they obtayned, the vyctorie. So that the 
 Frenchmen, Normayns, and other were dysconfet- 
 ted, slayne, and drowned : there was nat one that 
 scaped, but all were slayne. Whane this vyctorie 
 was atchyved, the kyng all that nyght abode in 
 his shyppe before Sluse, with great noyse of trum- 
 pettes and other instrumentes. Thyder came to 
 se the kynge dyvers of Flaunders, suche as had 
 herde of the kynges commyng, &c.'* Froissart, 
 vol. i. chap. 50. 
 
 " The French king being advertised that the 
 king of England meant shortlie to retume into 
 Flanders with a great power in purpose to invade 
 the realme of France on that side, assembled a 
 navie of foure hundred shippes, under the leading 
 of three expert capteins of the warres by sea, as 
 sir Hugh Kiriell [r. Kiriett], sir Peter Bahuchet, 
 and a Geneweis named Barbe-noir, appointing 
 them to the coasts of Flanders to defend the king 
 of England from landing there, if by any meanes 
 they might. These three capteins or admerals 
 came and laie with their ships in the haven of 
 Sluise, for that it was supposed the king of Eng- 
 land would arrive there, as his meaning was in- 
 deed. Whereupon, when his men, ships, and 
 
92 NOTES. 
 
 provisions were once readie, in the moneth of 
 June [1340], he tooke the sea with two hundred 
 saile, and directing his course towards Flanders, 
 there came unto him the lord Robert Morley, 
 with the north navie of England, so that then he 
 had in all about three hundred saile, or (as other 
 sale) two hundred and three score. 
 
 ** The French navie laie betwixt Sluise and 
 Blancbergh, so that when the king of England 
 approched, either part descried other, & there- 
 with prepared them to batell. The king of Eng- 
 land staied till the sunne, which at the first was in 
 his face, come somewhat westward, and so had it 
 upon his backe, that it should not hinder the sight 
 of his people, and so therewith did set upon his 
 enimies with great manhood, who likewise verie 
 stoutly incountered him, by reason whereof in- 
 sued a sore and deadlie fight betwixt them. The 
 navies on both sides were divided into three bat- 
 tels. On the English part, the earles of Gloces- 
 ter, Northampton, and Huntington, who was 
 admerall of the fleet that belonged to the cinque 
 ports, and the lorde Robert Morley, admerall of 
 the northerne navie, had the guiding of the fore 
 ward, bearing themselves right valiantlie ; so that 
 at length the Englishmen having the advantage. 
 
NOTES. 93 
 
 not onlie of the sunne, but also of the wind and 
 tide, so fortunatlie, that the French fleet was 
 driven into the streights of the haven, in such 
 wise that neither the souldiers nor mariners could 
 helpe themselves, insomach that both heaven, sea, 
 and wind, seemed all to have conspired against 
 the Frenchmen. And herewith manie ships of 
 Flanders joining themselves with the English fleet, 
 in the end the Frenchmen were vanquished, slaine 
 and taken, their ships being also either taken, 
 bowged, or broken. 
 
 " When night was come upon them, there 
 were thirtie French ships that yet had not entred 
 the battel 1, the which sought by covert of the 
 night to have stolne awaie ; and one of them be- 
 ing a mightie great vessell, called the James of 
 Deepe, would have taken awaie a ship of Sand- 
 wich that belonged to the prior of Canterburie : 
 but by the helpe of the erie of Huntington, after 
 they had fought all the night till the next morn- 
 ing, the Englishmen at length prevailed ; and 
 taking that great huge ship of Deepe, found in 
 hir above foure hundred dead bodies. To conclude, 
 verie few of the French ships escaped, except some 
 of their small vessels, and certeine gallies with 
 their admerall Barbe-noir, who in the beginning 
 
94 NOTES. 
 
 of the battell got foorth of the haven, advising the 
 other capteins to doo the like, thereby to avoide 
 the danger which they wilfuUie imbraced. There 
 died in this battell, fought (as some write) on 
 midsummer-daie, in the yere aforesaid, of French- 
 men to the number of 30000, of Englishmen about 
 4000, or (as other have that lived in those daies) 
 not past 400, amongst whom there were foure 
 knights of great nobilitie, as sir Thomas Mon- 
 hermere, sir Thomas Latimer, sir John Boteler, 
 and sir Thomas Poinings. 
 
 *' It said also, that the kinge himselfe was hurt 
 in the thigh. The two English ships that had 
 beene taken the yeere before, the Edward and the 
 Christopher, were recovered at this time, amongst 
 other of the French ships that were taken there. 
 Sir Peter Bahuchet was hanged upon a crosse pole 
 fastened to a mast of one of the ships.* Through 
 the wilfulnesse of this man, the Frenchmen re- 
 ceived this losse (as the French chronicles report) 
 bicause he kept the navie so long within the 
 haven, till they were so inclosed by the English- 
 men, that a great number of the Frenchmen could 
 
 • Fabian says that both " syr Nicholas Buchett," as h^ calls him, 
 '* and syr Hugh Qucrett, in despite of the Frenchemen, were hanged 
 upon the sayles of the shippes, which they wer taken in." 
 
NOTES. 95 
 
 never come to strike stroke, nor to use the shot of 
 their artillerie, but to the hurt of their fellows. 
 Howsoever it was, the Englishmen got a famous 
 victorie, to the great comfort of themselves, and 
 discomfort of their adversaries. The king of Eng- 
 land, after he had thus vanquished his enimies, 
 remained on the sea by the space of three daies, 
 and then comming on land, went to Gant, where 
 he was received of the queene with great joy and 
 gladnesse. Holinshed's Chronicle^ 1587, vol. ii. 
 p. 358. See also Fabian, 1559, p. 211. 
 
 Page 18. 
 
 L. 12. The Swin.'\ A river or passage between 
 the isle of Cadsand and the S. W. continent of 
 Flanders. 
 
 L. 17. The Sluse.] Or the Sluys, p. 20, a sea- 
 port, belonging, at present, to the Dutch, oppo- 
 site the isle of Cadsand, in what was then the 
 county of Flanders. 
 
 Page 19. 
 
 L. 2. ArwelL] Orwell-haven, in Suflfolk. 
 
 L. 9. Blankebergh.] Blankenberg, a sea-port, 
 in the county of Flanders, between Ostend and 
 the Sluys. 
 
96 NOTES. 
 
 L. 14. — sir Robard out of Morlay.] Robert 
 lord Morley, admiral of the north navy of Eng- 
 land; died in France, 1361. 
 
 L. 19. The erle of Norkamton.] William de 
 Bohun, created earl of Northampton in 1339; 
 died in 1359. 
 
 L. 21. Sir Walter the Mawnay.] Sir Walter 
 Manny, a native of Hainault, and the hero of a 
 romance in real life. See Froissart's Chronicle, 
 throughout. In performance of a promise he had 
 made *' before ladyes and demoselles er he came 
 out of Englande," he " made the first journey 
 into France," burnt a town, took a castle, and re- 
 turhed as if he had been taking a morning ride. 
 Another time, in the course of an after-dinner con- 
 versation, in a besieged town, he proposes to issue 
 out and break down a great engine ; which is in- 
 stantly done, with equal gallantry and judgment. 
 King Edward and the prince of Wales fought 
 under his banner at the battle of Calais. He 
 died, full of glory and honour, in 1371, and was 
 buried in his own foundation of the Charter- 
 house. 
 
 L. 23. The. due of Lankaster.] Henry, surnamed 
 de Grismond, otherwise au tort col, or wry neck, 
 then earl of Derby, who, succeeding to the earl- 
 
NOTES» 97 
 
 doM of Lancaster on the death of his father, in 
 1345, was, on the 6th of March, 1351, created 
 duke of Lancaster. He died in 1 360, and was 
 buried in the church of the college and hospital 
 of the New-works, at Leicester, which he had 
 founded. He was a brave and fortunate com- 
 mander, and makes a great figure in Froissart's 
 Chronicle ; being at the same time of a mild and 
 generous disposition, and so much beloved by the 
 people as to be usually called the good duke of 
 Lancaster. His piety, which may be now thought 
 the least advantageous part of his character, pro- 
 cured him, if not actual canonization, at least the 
 title of a saint, a circumstance unnoticed by his- 
 torians.* 
 
 Page 20. 
 
 L. 3. Sir WiliamofKlinton,] Sir William Clin- 
 ton, created earl of Huntingdon in 1338; died 
 in 1354. 
 
 • '* Testlmonia ' Laurentli IHt-iaiiensis,' de pracipuis Carnie- 
 litante religlonisfautoribus, sell. Sancto IIknrico primo duce 
 Lancastri*." MS. Ilaii. 1819, fol. 13. The house of Lancaiter, 
 indeed, was peculiarly distinguished by the odour of sanctity: ihe 
 miracles of his uncle, St. I honias, were long celebrated ; and that 
 his descendant, Henry VI. was not raised to the same honour, is 
 solely ascribable to the avarice of his immediate sncccssor of the 
 same name. 
 
 li 
 
98 NOTES. 
 
 L. 9. The gude erle of Glowceter.] Hugh De- 
 spenser; died in 1350. 
 
 L. '20. Cagent,] The isle of Cadsand, in the 
 mouth of the Scheld. 
 
 Page 21. 
 
 L. 3. Tlie Kogges of Ingland.] This seems 
 the proper name of the ship. The word coggis 
 is used by bishop Douglas in the sense of boats 
 or pinnaces : 
 
 " And sum with airis into the coggis small 
 Ettilit to land." 
 
 The latter are now called cocks or cock-boats. 
 The original word, cog or cogue, is still, in Scot- 
 land, the name of a wooden vessel used for sup- 
 ping or drinking out of. The Koggis of Ingland is 
 perhaps the identical ship which Stow calls the 
 Blacke Cocke. In 1340, the earl of Gloucester, 
 being to go to sea in the king's service, had two 
 ships assigned to him out of the royal navy, viz. 
 " the S. Mary Cogg, and the Cogg of Clyne." 
 Dugdale's Baronage, vol. i. p. 395. See also 
 Spelman's Glossary, voce Cogones. The Cris- 
 tofir has been already mentioned. 
 
NOTES. 99 
 
 Page 22. 
 
 VI. Herkins how king Edward lay 
 With his men bifor Tournay.] 
 The king and his allies laid siege to Touraay on 
 the of July, 1340, and raised it, by reason 
 
 of a truce agreed upon between him and king 
 Philip, on the of September in the same year. 
 See Froissart*s Chronicle^ vol. i. cc. 53, et seq. 
 
 Page 24. 
 
 L. 1 3. To stop Philip the sirate, 
 
 Ful still.] This species 
 of verse, which was probably common enough in 
 our author's time, though perhaps confined to 
 popular compositions, now lost, is introduced, 
 for the sake of ridicule, no doubt, by Chaucer in 
 his Rime of Sire Thopas. Tyrwhitt, who had 
 not observed the present instance, nor met, it 
 seems, with any other, is very much at a loss to 
 account for it. See his Notes on the Canterbury 
 Talesy 1775, vol. iv. p. 37. 
 
 L. 18. A duke tuke leve that tide.] Froissart af- 
 fords no ground to accuse the duke of treachery 
 or defection : he merely says that, on raising the 
 siege, '* the Brabances departed quickely, for they 
 
100 NOTES. 
 
 had * great' desyre therto." Indeed it was said 
 that the besieged, whom the king thought to 
 famish, " founde somme courtesy en theym of 
 Brabaunt, in sufferynge vytayles to passe throughe 
 their boost into the cytie : and they of Brussels 
 and Lovane were sore wery with taryeng there 
 so long, & they desyred the marshall of thost that 
 they might have leave to retourne into Brabant. 
 The marshall sayd, he was well content ; but than 
 they must leave all their harnes behynd them : 
 with the which answere they were so ashamed, 
 that they never spake therof more." It is, how- 
 ever, highly probable that the duke, who was one 
 of the king of England's commissioners to treat of 
 the truce, might be particularly eager to have 
 it concluded; since the king " departed sore 
 agaynst his mynde, if he myght have done other- 
 wyse, but in maner he was fayne to folowe the 
 wylles of the other lordes, and to byleve theyr 
 .counsayls." 
 
 Page 26. 
 
 L. 1 , Men may rede in romance right 
 
 Of a grete clerk that Merlin hight.] Mer- 
 lin, surnamed Ambrosius, the son of an incubus, 
 -is a prophet and enchanter in the fabulous history 
 
XOTEf*. 101 
 
 or romance, professed to have been translated out 
 of the ancient British language, but perhaps writ- 
 ten in original Latin, by Jeffrey of Monmouth, 
 afterward Bishop of St. Asaph, about the year 
 1125. Vortegirn, king of the Britons, having 
 been spectator of a battle between two dragons, 
 commands honest Ambrose to tell him what it 
 portended : upon which he, bursting into tears, 
 delivers, at some length, the suggestions of his 
 prophetical spirit ; in the course of which he says : 
 '* From Conan shall proceed a warlike boar, that 
 shall exercise the sharpness of his tusks within the 
 Gallician woods. For he shall cut down all the 
 larger oaks, and shall be a defence to the smaller. 
 The Arabians and Africans shall dread him ; for 
 he shall pursue his furious course to the farther 
 part of Spain," See The British History y trans- 
 lated by Aaron Thompson, 1718, 8vo. p. 212. 
 The author chooses to apply this image to his 
 hero, whom he frequently, both in this and the 
 following poems, calls a hore, or the hare. 
 
 There was also another Merlin, surnamed SU- 
 vestris, or CaledoniuSy who prophesied of king 
 Charles II. under the figure of a boar. See 
 British and Outlandish Prophesies, by Thomas 
 Pugh, gentleman, 1658, 4to. p. 153. 
 
102 NOTES. 
 
 Many copies of these prophecies, considerably 
 differing from each other, are still extant, both in 
 French and Latin ; but it would be a matter of 
 difficulty, perhaps, to find the identical authority 
 vouched by our author.* It may, however, be 
 deemed sufficient for the present purpose, to cite 
 the character of his hero from certain " Prophe- 
 cies of Merlin," evidently composed in their own 
 time, as extant in the Cotton MS. 
 
 " Efter the gaytf sail cum a lyon. 
 
 That in hert ful fers and fell sail be fun ; 
 
 His bihalding sail be ful of pete, 
 
 His sembland to seke rest lykind sail be. 
 
 His brest alswa sail be slokening of threst, 
 
 Untill all lufes pese and rest, 
 
 His tong sail speke wordes all of lewte, 
 
 His bering like a lamb meke sal be ; 
 
 He sail have trey and tene in bigining, 
 
 To chistise misdoers of wrang lifing ; 
 
 * That part of Robert Mannyng's translation of Peter Langtoft's 
 Ckronicle which contains the British history, has not been published^ 
 though the work is still extant in manuscript, in the Inner-Temple 
 library ; and it appears, from Tanner, that another copy is in the 
 archiepiscopal library at Lambeth. The prophecy may, probably, 
 be there given more in our author's manner. 
 
 t Edward II. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 103 
 
 And als thurgh felnes sethin sail he seke, 
 
 Till he have made the folk als lamb to be meke. 
 
 He sail be cald in the werld, als wide als it es, 
 
 Bare of hele, of nobillay, and of felnes. 
 
 Als a lamb sail he [be] milde and meke, 
 
 And unto rightwisnes ay sail he seke. 
 
 This ilk beste that es the bare named biforn 
 
 Cumes out of Windesore, thare bese he born. 
 
 Whetand his tuskes sail that ilk bare 
 
 Fare thurgh foure landes thar he come never are ; 
 
 And evermore his jornay ever ilka dele 
 
 Sail he do hardily, nobilly and wele ; 
 
 Till the burgh of Jerusalem and to the haly land. 
 
 Sail he find none ogains him to stand. 
 
 Spayne sail trembill for tene and for care, 
 
 Arago\vne sail have drede and dout of the bare. 
 
 In France sail he sett his hevid biforn ; 
 
 His tail sal rest in Yngland, whare he was born ; 
 
 He sal whet his tuskes on Pariss zates ; 
 
 Almayn sal be ful ferd for his lates. 
 
 He sail gar revers and mani grete flode 
 
 Be rinand with hemes and with rede blode. 
 
 The gresses that er grene sal he rede make ; 
 
 Mani man for the bare sal trembill and quake. 
 
 In alkins landes win sail the bare 
 
 That anv of his eldres has losed are. 
 
104 NOTES. 
 
 So nobil and so doghty sail the bare be 
 
 That he sail or he dy were corons thre. 
 
 Underlout sail he mak ilk outen land 
 
 To be at his will and bow till his hand. 
 
 Wele more sail the bare conquer and win 
 
 Than ani did bifore of all his end kin. 
 
 All lordes sail him lout without ani lese, 
 
 And than sail his land be in swith gude pese : 
 
 Sethin in a fer land end sail he, 
 
 And for his nobilles be graven bitwen kinges thre." 
 
 Page 27. 
 
 L. 3. For John of France will he noght sparcl 
 John of France is John duke of Normandy, son 
 to king Philip, whom he succeeded on the 23d of 
 August, 1350. 
 
 L. 15. For France now es he entred t».] " Whan 
 the kynge of England," says Froissart, '' ar- 
 ryved in the Hogue Saynt Wast,* the kinge ys- 
 sued out of his shyppe, and the fyrst fote that he 
 sette on the grounde, he fell so rudely that the 
 blode braste out of his nose : the knyghtes that 
 were aboute him toke him up, and sayd, Sir, for 
 goddes sake, enter in agayne into your shyp, and 
 
 ♦ La IJoguc. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 10^ 
 
 come nat a lande this day ; for this is but an evyll 
 sygne for us. Than the kyng answered quyckely, 
 and sayd, Wherfore this is a good token for me, 
 for the lande desyreth to have me. Of the whiche 
 answere all his men were ryght joyful : so that day 
 and nyght the kynge lodged on the sandes, and 
 in the mean tyme dyscharged the shyppes of their 
 horses and other bagages. There the kynge made 
 two marshals of his boost, the one the lorde God- 
 fray of Harecourt, and the other therle of War- 
 wyke, and the erle of Arundell constable. And 
 he ordayned that therle of Huntyngdon shulde 
 kepe the flete of shyppes with c. men of armes, 
 and foure c. archars. And also he ordeyned the 
 batayls, one to go on his ryght hande, closynge to 
 the see syde, and the other on his lefte hande, and 
 the kynge himselfe in the myddes, and every nyght 
 to lodge al in one felde. Thus they sette forth as 
 they were ordayned ; and [after taking, robbing, 
 or burning the towns of " Harflewe, Cherbourgue, 
 Mountbourgue, Quarentyne," and " many other 
 townes in that country ;" and, lastly, " a great 
 towne called Saynt Lowe,"] the kynge went 
 towarde Cane, the whiche was a greater towne, 
 and full of drapery, and other marchauntdyse, and 
 ryche burgesses, noble ladycs and damosels, and 
 
106 NOTES, 
 
 sayre churches, and specially two ' great* and 
 ryche abeys, one of the Try ny tee, another of 
 saynt Stephyn ; and on the one syde of the towne 
 one of the fayrest castells of all Normandy, and 
 capitayne therin was Roberte of Blargny, with 
 thre hundred Genowayes ; and in the towne was 
 therle of Ewe and of Guynes, constable of Fraunce, 
 and therle of Tankervyll, with a good nombre of 
 men of warre. The king of England rode that 
 day in good order, and logedde al his batayls to- 
 gyderthat night, a two leages fro Cane, in a towne 
 with a lytell havyn called Haustreham ; and thy- 
 der came also his navy of shyppes, with therle of 
 Huntyngdone, who was governour of them. The 
 constable and other lordes of France that nyght 
 watched well the towne of Cane, and in the morn- 
 ynge armed them, with all them of the towne. 
 Than the constable ordayned that none shulde 
 yssue out, but kepe their defences on the walles, 
 gate, bridge, and ryver, and lette the subbarbes 
 voyde, bycause they were nat closedde, for they 
 thought they shulde have ynough to do to defende 
 the towne, bycause it was nat closedde but with 
 the ryver. They of the towne sayde howe they 
 wolde yssue out, for they were stronge ynough to 
 fyght with the kyng of Englande. Whan the 
 
NOTES. 107 
 
 constable sawe their goodwyls, he sayde, In the 
 name of god, be it ; ye shall not fyght without 
 me. Than they yssued oute in good order ; and 
 made good face to fyght, and to defende theym, 
 and to putte their lyves in adventure. 
 
 " The same daye thenglyssh men rose erly, and 
 appayrelled them redy to go to Cane ; the kynge 
 harde noyse before the sonne-rysinge ; and than 
 toke his horse, and the prince his son, with sir 
 Godfraye of Harcourt, marshall and leader of all 
 the boost, whose counsayle the kynge moche fo- 
 lowed. Than they drewe towarde Cane with their 
 batels in good aray ; and so aproched the good 
 towne of Cane. Whanne they of the towne, who 
 were redy in the felde, sawe these thre batayls 
 commyng in good order, with their baners and 
 standerdes wavynge in the wynde, and the archers, 
 the which they had nat bene accustomed to se, 
 they were sore afrayd, and fledde away towarde 
 the towne, without any order or good aray, for 
 all that the constable coulde do : than the Eng- 
 lysshmen pursued them egerly. Whan the con- 
 stable and the erle of Tankervyll sawe that, they 
 toke a gate at the entry, and saved themself and 
 certayne with them ; for the Englysshmen were 
 entred into the towne. Some of the knyghtes and 
 
108 NOTES. 
 
 squyers of Fraunce, suche as knewe the waye to 
 the castell, went thyder, and the captayne there 
 received them all, for the castell was large. Theng- 
 lysshmen in the chase slewe many, for they toke 
 none to mercy. Than the constable and the erle 
 of Tankervyll, beynge in the lytell towre at the 
 bridge fote, loked alonge the strete, and saw their 
 men slayne without mercy, they douted to fall 
 in their handes. At last they sawe an Englysshe 
 knyght with one eye, called sir Thomas Holande, 
 and a fyve or sixe other knyghtes with hym ; they 
 knewe them, for they had sene them before in 
 Pruce, in Grenade, and other vyages : than they 
 called to sir Thomas, and sayde howe they wolde 
 yelde themselfe prisoners. Than sir Thomas came 
 thider with his company, and mounted up into 
 the gate, and there founde the sayde lordes with 
 XXV. knyghtes with them, who yelded them to sir 
 Thomas, and he toke them for his prisoners, and 
 left company to kepe theym ; and than mounted 
 agayne on his horse, and rode into the streates, and 
 saved many lyves, of ladyes, damosels, and cloys- 
 terers fro defoylynge, for the soudyers were witli- 
 out mercy. It fell so well the same season for 
 thenglysshmen, that the ryver, whiche was able to 
 here shyppes at that tyme, was so lowe that men 
 
NUTKS. 109 
 
 went in and out besyde the bridge. They of the 
 towne were entred into their houses, and cast 
 downe in the strete stones, tymbre and yron; 
 and slewe and hurte mo than fyve hundred Eng- 
 lysshmen, wherwith the kynge was sore displeased. 
 At nyght, whan he hard therof, he commaunded 
 that the next daye all shulde be putte to the swerde 
 and the towne brent; but than sir Godfray of 
 Harecourtsayd : Dere sir, for goddes sake, asswage 
 somewhat you re courage ; and let it suffyce you 
 that ye have done. Ye have yet a great voyage to 
 do, er ye come before Calys, whyder ye purpose 
 to go ; and, sir, in this towne there is moche peo- 
 ple, who will defend their houses ; and it woU cost 
 many of your men their lyves, er ye have all at 
 your wyll; wherby, paraventure, ye shall nat 
 kepe your purpose to Calys, the whiche shulde 
 redowne to your rech. Sir, save your people ; for 
 ye shall have nede of them or this moneth passe ; 
 for i thynke verely your adversary kynge Philyppe 
 woU mete with you to fyght, and ye shall fynde 
 many strayt passages and rencounters. Wherfore 
 your men, and ye had mo, shall stande you in 
 gode stede : and, sir, without any further sleynge, 
 ye shall be lorde of this towne ; men and women 
 woll put * al' that they have to your pleasure. 
 
110 NOTES. 
 
 Than the kyng sayd, Sir Godfraye, you ar our 
 marshall ; ordayne every thynge as ye woll. Than 
 sir Godfray, with his baner, rode fro strete to 
 strete, and commaunded, in the kynges name, non 
 be so hardy to put fyre in any house, to slee any 
 persone, nor to vyolate any woman. Whan they 
 of the towne hard that crye, they receyved the 
 Englysshmen into their houses, and made theym 
 good chere ; and some opyned their^ coffers, an 
 badde them take what them lyst, so they myght 
 be assured of ther lyves : howe beit there were 
 done in the towne many yvell dedes, ' murders,* 
 and roberyes. Thus the Englysshmen were lordes 
 of the towne thre dayes, and wanne great richesse, 
 the which they sent by barkesse and barges to 
 Saynte Savyoure, by the ryver of Austrehen, a 
 two leages thens ; where as all their navy lay. 
 Than the kyng departed fro the towne of Cane, 
 and rode in the same maner as he dyde before ; 
 brennynge and exilynge the countrey." Chronicle, 
 ut supra, vol. i. cc. 122, et seq. 
 
 L. 19. Hogges.] Or La Hogue, a sea-port town 
 of Normandy, about two leagues S. of Barfleur. 
 
 Page 28. 
 L. 24. The toun of Cane thai set on fire J\ This 
 
NOTES. Ill 
 
 is a mistake, as appears from the preceding ex- 
 tract. After leaving Caen, the king burnt the 
 town of " Gysors, Saynte Germayne in Laye, 
 Mountjoy, Saynte Clowde, Petit Bolayne by Pa- 
 rys, and the quenes Bourge." On quitting the 
 vicinity of Paris, he hanged twenty of his men for 
 setting fire to the fair and rich abbey of Saint 
 Messine, near to Beauvais, the suburbs of which 
 town were burned, as was also the town of Poys. 
 See Froissart, ut supra, vol. i. chap. 125. 
 
 Page 29. 
 
 L. 10. At Cressy when thai brak the brig.] No 
 particular mention is made by Froissart of the 
 breaking of this bridge; he only says, that " the 
 kyng of Englande being at Araynes wyst nat 
 where for to passe the Some, the which was large 
 and depe, and all briges were brokin, and the 
 passages well kept." 
 
 L. 14. Over that wafer er thai went.] " Whan 
 * the Frenche kyng' was at Amyense he had or- 
 dayned a great barowne of Normandy, called sir 
 Godmar du Fay, to go and kepe the passade of 
 Blanche Taque, where the Englysshmen must 
 passe, or els in none other place : he had with 
 hym m. men of armes, and sixe thousand a fote, 
 
112 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 with the Genowayes ; soo they went by Saynte 
 Reyngnyer in Ponthieu, and fro thens to Crotay, 
 whereas the passage lay. And also he had with 
 hym a great nombre of men of the countrey, and 
 also a great nombre of theym of Mutterell; sa 
 that they were a twelfe thousand men, one and 
 other. Whan the Englysshe boost was come thy- 
 der, sir Godmar du Fay araunged all his company 
 to defende the passage. The kyng of Englande 
 lette nat for all that, but whanne the fludde was 
 gone, he commaunded his marshall to entre into 
 the water, in the name of god and saynt George. 
 Than they that were hardy and coragyous entred 
 in bothe parties, and many a man reversed : there 
 were some of the Frenchmen of Arthoyes and 
 Pycardy that were as gladde to just in the water 
 as on the drye lande. The Frenchemen defended 
 so well the passage at the yssuyng out of the 
 water, that they had moche to do : the Genowayes 
 dyde them great trouble with their crosbowes. 
 On thother syde the archers of Englande shotte so 
 holly togyder, that the Frenchmen were fayne to 
 gyve place to the Englysshmen. There was a sore 
 batayle, and many a noble feate of armes done on 
 both parties : finally, thenglysshmen passed over, 
 and assembled togyder in the felde. The kynge 
 
NOTES. 113 
 
 and the prince passed, and all the lordes : than the 
 Frenchmen kept none array, but departed he that 
 might best. Whan sir Godmar sawe that discon- 
 fyture, he fledde and saved hymselfe : some fledde 
 to Abvyle, and some to Saynte Raygnyer. They 
 that were there a fote coude nat flee ; so that there 
 were slayne a great numbre of them of Abvyle, 
 Muttrell, Arras, and of Saynt Reygnier: the 
 chase endured more than a great leag. And as 
 yet all the Englysshmen were nat passed the 
 ryver, certayne currours of the kyng of Behayne, 
 and of sir Johan of Heynaultes, came on them 
 that were behind, and toke certayne horses and 
 caryages, and slewe dyvers, or they coude take 
 the passage." Froissart, ut supra, vol. i. chap. 1 27. 
 L. 21. He saw the toun o ferrum bren.] Our 
 author is still speaking, it would seem, of the town 
 of Cane ; for, if he means the town of Cressy, he 
 must have been misinformed, as Crotay se^ms to 
 have been the only place burned after the king 
 passed the river. He arrived on Friday, the 1 4th 
 of August, 1346, in the neighbourhood of Cressy, 
 where he encamped; the king of France lying 
 with a great army at Abbeville. 
 
114 NOTES. 
 
 Page 30. 
 
 L. 1. Than come Philip, ful redy dight.] This 
 is the famous battle of Cressy, of which Froissart's 
 account, though somewhat prolix, is very curious 
 and minute. " On the Fridaye, as i sayde be- 
 fore, the kyng of Englande lay in the feldes ; for 
 the contrey was plentyfuU of wynes and other vy- 
 tayle ; and, yf nede had bene, they had provysyon 
 folowynge in cartes and other caryages. That 
 nyght the kynge mad a supper to all his chefe 
 lordes of the boost, & made them good chere : 
 and whan they were all departed to take their 
 rest, than the kynge entred into his oratorie, and 
 kneled downe before the auter, praeng god de- 
 voutly, that if he fought the next day, that he 
 might achyve the journey to his honour. Than 
 aboute midnyght he layde hym downe to reste ; 
 and in the mornynge he rose betymes, and harde 
 masse, and the prince his sonne with hym ; and 
 the moste parte of his company were confessed and 
 houseled : and, * after' the masse sayde, he com- 
 maunded every man to be armed, & to drawe to 
 the felde, to the same place before apoynted. Than 
 the kynge caused a parke to be made by the wode 
 syde, behynde his boost ; and there was set all 
 
NOTES. 115 
 
 cartes and caryages, and within the parke were 
 all their horses, for every man was afote: and 
 into thys parke there was but one entry. Than 
 he ordayned thre batayls. In the first, the yonge 
 prince of Wales, with hym the erle of Warwyke 
 and Canforde, the lorde Godfray of Harecourt, 
 sir Reynolde Cobham, sir Thomas Holande, the 
 lorde StafForde, the lorde of Mauny, the lorde 
 Dataware, sir Johan Chandos, sir Bartylmewe de 
 Bomes, sir Roberte Nevyll, the lorde Thomas 
 ClyfForde, the lorde Bourchier, the lorde de la 
 Tumyer, and dyvers other knytes and squyers 
 that i can nat name : they were an viii. hundred 
 men of armes, and two thousande archers, and a 
 thousande of other, with the Walsshmen : every 
 lorde drue to the felde apoynted, under his owne 
 baner and penone. In the second batayle, was 
 therle of Northampton, the erle of Arundell, the 
 lorde Rosse, the lorde Lygo, the lorde Wyloughby, 
 the lorde Basset, the lorde of Saynt Aubyne, 
 sir Loyes Tueton, the lorde of Myleton, the lorde 
 de la Sell, and dyvers other, about an eight hun- 
 dred men of armes, and twelf hundred archers. 
 The third batayle had the kynge : he had sevyn 
 hundred men of armes, and two thousande ar- 
 chers. Than the kyng lept on a hobby, with a 
 
116 NOTES. 
 
 whyte rodde in his hand, one of his marshals on 
 the one hande, and the other on the other hande : 
 he rode fro renke to renke, desyringe every man 
 to take hede that daye to his right and honour. 
 He spake it so swetely, and with so good counte- 
 nance and mery chere, that all such as were dis- 
 confyted toke courage in the sayeng and heryng 
 of hym. And whan he had thus visyted all his ba- 
 tayles, it was then nyne of the day : than he caused 
 every man to eate & drynke a lytell, and so they 
 dyde at their leaser; and afterwarde they ordred 
 agayne their bataylles : than every man lay downe 
 on the yerthe, and by hym his salet and bowe, to 
 be the more fressher whan their ennemyes shulde 
 come. 
 
 " This Saturdaye the Frenche kynge rose be- 
 tymes, and hard masse in Abvyle, in his lodgynge 
 in the abey of Saynte Peter; and he departed 
 after the sonne-risyng. Whan he was out of the 
 towne two leages, aprochyng towarde his enne- 
 myes, some of his lordes sayde to hym : Sir, it 
 were good that ye ordred your batayls, and let 
 all your fotemen passe somewhat on before, that 
 they be nat troubled with the horsemen. Than 
 the kyng sent iiii. knyghtes, the Moyne Battell, 
 the lorde of Noyers, the lorde of Beaujewe, and 
 
NOTES. 117 
 
 the lorde Dambegny, to ryde to avyewe theng- 
 lysshe host ; and so they rode so nere that they 
 myght well se part of their dealyng. Tlienglyssh- 
 men sawe them well, and knewe well howe they 
 were come thyder to avieu them : they let them 
 alone, and made no countenance towarde them, 
 and let them retourne as they came. And whan 
 the Frenche kyng sawe these foure knyghtes 
 retourne agayne, he taryed tyll they came to 
 hym ; and sayd, Sirs, what tydynges ? These four 
 knyghtes eche of them loked on other, for there 
 was none wolde speke before his companyon. 
 Finally, the kynge sayd to Moyne, who pertayned 
 to the kynge of Behaygne, and had done in his 
 dayes somoch that he was reputed for one of the 
 valyantest knightes of the worlde. Sir, speke you. 
 Than he sayd : Sir, I shall speke, sith it pleaseth 
 you, under the correction of my felawes : sir, we 
 have ryden and sene the behavynge of your 
 ennemyes ; knowe ye for trouth, they are rested in 
 thre batayls, abydinge for you. Sir, I woll coun- 
 sell you, as for my parte, savynge your displea- 
 sure, that you and all your company, rest here and 
 lodg for this nyght ; for or they that be behynde 
 of your company be come hyther, and or your 
 batayls be set in good order, it wyll be very late, 
 
118 NOTES. 
 
 and your people be wery and out of array ; and 
 ye shall fynde your ennemys fresshe and redy to 
 receyve you. Erly in the mornynge ye maye 
 order your bataylles at more leaser, and advise 
 your ennemies at more delyberacion, and to re- 
 garde well what way ye will assayle theym ; for, 
 sir, surely they woll abyde you. Than the kynge 
 commaunded that it shuld be so done. Than his 
 ii. marshals one rode before, another behynde, 
 sayenge to every baner, Tary and abyde here, in 
 the name of god and saynt Denys. They that 
 were formast taryed ; but they that were behynde 
 wolde nat tary, but rode forthe, and sayd ho we 
 they wold in no wyse abyde tyll they were as ferre 
 forward as the formast. And whan they before 
 sawe them come on behynde, than they rode for- 
 warde agayne ; so that the kyng nor his marshals 
 coude nat rule them. So they rode withoute or- 
 der in good araye, till they came in syght of their 
 enemyes. And assone as the formast sawe them, 
 they reculed than backe without good araye: 
 wherof they behynde had marvell, and were 
 abasshed, and thought that the formast compani 
 had ben fightyng: than they myght have had 
 leaser and rome to have gone forwarde if they had 
 lyst. Some went forthe, and some abode styll. 
 
NOTES. 119 
 
 The commons, of whome all the wayes bytwene 
 Abvyle and Cressy were full, whan they sawe that 
 they were nere to their ennemies, they toke their 
 swerdes, and cryed, Downe with them — let us sle 
 them all ! There was no man, though he were 
 present at the journey, that coude ymagen or shewe 
 the trouth of the yvell order that was amonge the 
 Frenche partie ; and yet they were a mervelous 
 greate nombre. That i wryte in this boke, i lemed 
 it specyally of the Englysshmen, who well be- 
 helde their dealyng ; and also certayne knyghtes 
 of sir Johan of Henaultes, who was alwayes aboute 
 kynge Philyppe, shewed me as they knewe. 
 
 ** Thenglysshmen, who were in thre batayls, 
 lyenge on the grounde to rest them, assone as they 
 saw the Frenchmen aproche, they rose upon their 
 fete, fayre and easely, withoute any hast, and 
 aranged their batayls. The firste, whiche was 
 the princes batell, the archers there stode in 
 maner of a herse, and the men of armes in the 
 botome of the batayle. Therle of Northamton & 
 therle of Arundell, with the second batell, were 
 on a wynge in good order, redy to confute the 
 princes batayle, yf nede were. The lordes and 
 knyghtes of France came nat to the assemble 
 togyder in good order ; for some came before, and 
 
120 NOTES. 
 
 some came after, in suche hast and yvell order, 
 that one of them dyd trouble another. Whan the 
 French kyng sawe the Englysshmen, his blode 
 chaunged, and sayde to his marshals, Make the 
 Genowayes go on before, and begynne the batayle, 
 in the name of god and saynt Denyse. There 
 were of the Genowaies, crosbowes, about a fyf- 
 tene thousand ; but they were so wery of goyng 
 a fote that day a six leages, armed with their cros- 
 bowes, that they sayde to their constables, We be 
 nat well ordred to fyght this daye, for we be nat 
 in the case to do any grete dede of armes ; we 
 have more nede of rest. These wordes came to 
 the erle of Alanson, who sayd, A man is well at 
 ease to be charged with suche a sorte of rascalles, 
 to be faynt and fayle nowe at moost nede ! Also, 
 the same season, there fell a great rayne and a 
 clyps, with a terryble thonder; and before the 
 rayne there came fleyng over bothe batayls a great 
 nombre of crowes, for feare of the tempest com- 
 myng. Than anone the eyre beganne to waxe 
 clere, and the sonne to shyne fayre and bright ; 
 the whiche was right in the Frenchmens eyen, 
 and on the Englysshmens backe. Whan the Ge- 
 nowayes were assembled toguyder, and beganne 
 to aproche, they made a great ieape and crye to 
 
NOTES. 121 
 
 abasshe thenglysshmen ; but they stode sty 11, and 
 styredde nat for all that. Thanne the Geno- 
 wayes, agayne the seconde tyme, made another 
 leape and a fell crye, and stepped forwarde a 
 lytell ; and thenglysshmen remeved nat one fote. 
 Thirdly, agayne they leapt and cryed, and went 
 forthe tyll they came within shotte : thanne they 
 shotte fiersly with their crosbowes. Than theng- 
 lysshe archers stepte furthe one pase, and lette fly 
 their arowes, so holly and so thycke, that it semed 
 snowe. Whan the Genowayes felte the arowes 
 persynge through * heeds,* armes, and brestes, 
 many of them cast downe their crosbowes, and 
 dyde cutte their strynges, and retoumed discon- 
 fyted. Whan the Frenche kynge sawe them flye 
 awaye, he sayde, Slee these rascals, for they shall 
 lette and trouble us withoute reason. Than ye 
 shulde have sene the men of armes dasshe in among 
 them, and kylled a great nombre of them. And 
 ever styll the Englysshmen shot where as they 
 sawe thyckest preace : the sharpe arowes ranne 
 into the men of armes, and into their horses, and 
 many fell, horse and men, amonge the Genoweys ; 
 and whan they were downe, they coude nat re- 
 lyve agayne, the preace was so thycke, that one 
 overthrewe another. And also amonge the Eng- 
 
122 NOTES. 
 
 lysshmen there were certayne rascalles, that went 
 afote, with greate knyves; and they went in 
 among the men of armes, and slewe and mur- 
 dredde many, as they lay on the grounde ; bothe 
 erles, * barownes/ knyghtes, and squyers : wherof 
 the kyng of Englande was after displeased ; for 
 he had rather they had bene taken prisoners. The 
 valyant kynge of Behaygne, called Charles of 
 Luzenbourge, sonne to the noble emperour Henry 
 of Luzenbourge, for all that he was nyghe blynde, 
 whan he understode the order of the batayle, he 
 sayde to them about hym. Where is the lorde 
 Charles my son ? His men sayde. Sir, we cannat 
 tell ; we thynke he be fyghtynge. Than he sayde, 
 Sirs, ye are my men, my companyons, and frendes, 
 in this journey ; i requyre you bryng me so farre 
 forwarde, that i maye stryke one stroke with my 
 swerde. They sayde they wolde do his com- 
 maundemente ; and to the entent that they shulde 
 nat lese hym in the prease, they tyed all their 
 raynes of their bridelles eche to other, and sette 
 the kynge before to acomplysshe his desyre ; and 
 so they went on their enemyes. The lorde Charles 
 of Behaygne, his sonne, who wrote hymselfe kynge 
 of Behaygne, and bare the armes, he came in 
 good order to the batayle ; but whanne he sawe 
 
NOTES. 
 
 12^ 
 
 that the matter wente awrye on their parte, he 
 departed, i can nat tell you whiche waye.* The 
 kynge his father was so farre forewarde, that he 
 strake a stroke with his swerde, ye and mo than 
 fought valyantly ; and so dyde his company ; and 
 they adventured themselfe so forwarde, that they 
 were all slayne ; and the next day they were founde 
 in a place about the kynge, and all the horses tyed 
 eche to other.f This batayle bytwene Broy and 
 
 ►'t 
 
 i^ 
 
 • Leland, oat of Scala Chronica, telU ua, expressly that " this '7*-^ t p^ 
 Charles, elected emperor, fled at the baUH of Crescy." Collectanea yu*^ ,^ 
 
 vol. i. p. 562. ' ^ 
 
 t Prince Edward, then a youth of sixteen, is commouly pretended 
 to have himself slain the king of Bohemia, and, in commemoration 
 
 of that event, to have adopted the badge and motto borne on that day 17^^" v^ m« A ^ 
 by his royal victim, and which have been ever since appropriated to j^ \\j ■I fi^ 
 the princes of Wales. See Camden's Remains, 1674, 8vo. p. 451. 
 
 This anecdote is, nevertheless, very questionable, and perhaps totally 
 destitute of foundation. The ostrich-feathers, at least, were cer- 
 tainly the badge, not only of the black prince, but also of his two 
 brothers, John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock, and continued 
 to be the favourite distinction of the house of Lancaster till the time 
 of Henry VI. and even much later, as appears by the seal of the old 
 countess of Richmond, mother to Henry VII. They are likewise as- 
 sumed by Richard duke of York, and his son, afterward king 
 Edward IV, Sec Sandford's Genealogical History, 1677. Some 
 person or other may, probably be able to clear up this matter ; and, 
 at the same time, to account, upon better authority than has yet ap- 
 peared, for the origin of the two roses, which make so consider- 
 able a figure in English history. Camden, it is true, in page 452 of 
 the above work, alledgcs, that " John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, 
 
 
124 NOTES. 
 
 Cressy, this Saturday, was ryglit cruell and fell, 
 and many a feat of armes done that came not to 
 my knowlege. In the night, dyverse knyghtes 
 and squyers lost their maisters, and somtyme came 
 on thenglysshmen, who receyved theym in suche 
 wyse, that they were ever nighe slayne ; for there 
 was none taken to mercy nor to raunsome ; for so 
 the Englysshmen were determyned in the mornyng 
 
 took as it were by right ef his first wife, the heir of r.aiicaster, a 
 red rose to his device, as Edmund of Langley, duke of York, took 
 the white rose:" and, in the preceding page, he says that "Edmund 
 Crouchbacke, first earl of Lancaster, used a red rose, wherewith 
 his tomb at Westminster is adorned:" but, upon a pretty accurate 
 examination of all the seals, arms, badges, and monuments, of the 
 earls and dukes of Lancaster, published by Dugdale, Sandford, and 
 others, it does not appear that any one of them ever used a rose for 
 his device. On the contrary, as has been already noticed, the favou- 
 rite cognizance of John of Gaunt, and from him, it would seem, of 
 the house of Lancaster, was the ostrich-feathers ; two of which ap- 
 pear upon the duchy-seal to this day. The roses, therefore, of earl 
 Edmunds tomb may have been introduced merely by way of orna- 
 ment, at the fancy of the artist. That the king of Bohemia used the 
 device in question does not, perhaps, appear from any ancient or 
 creditable authority. 
 
 Some of our best historians, as Mnrimuth, Waisingham, and 
 Knyghton, agree in stating that the king of Majorca was also killed 
 at this battle, which the authors of the Universal History, for the 
 reasons there given, pronounce a falsehood. The authentic dispatches, 
 likewise, preserved by Robert of Avesbury, p. 13C, only mention 
 " le roi de Bcaume ;'* and the silence of our author, Mi not, is a 
 corroborative testimony. 
 
NOTES. 125 
 
 of the day of the batayle. Ccrtayne Frenche- 
 men and Almaygnes perforce opyned the archers 
 of the princes batayle, and came and fought with 
 the men of armes hande to hande. Than the se- 
 conde batayle of thenglysshmen came to socour 
 the princes batayle ; the whiche was tyme, for 
 they had as than moche ado ; and they with the 
 prince sent a messenger to tlie kynge, who was on 
 a lytcll wyndmyll hyll. Than the knyght sayde to 
 the kynge, Sir, therle of Warwyke, and therle of 
 Canfort, sir Reynolde Cobham, and other suche 
 as be about the prince your sonne, ar feersly 
 fought withall, and are sore handled : wherfore 
 they desyre you that you and your batayle woUe 
 come and ayde them, for if the Frenchmen en- 
 crease, as they dout they woll, your sonne and they 
 shall have moche ado. Than the kynge sayde, Is 
 my sonne deed, or hurt, or on the yerthe felled ? 
 No, sir, quoth the knyght, but he is hardely 
 matched ; wherfore he hath nede of your ayde. 
 Well, sayde the kyng, retourne to hym, and to them 
 that sent you hyther, and say to them, that they 
 sende no more to me for any adventure that falleth, 
 as long as my sonne is alyve : and also say to them, 
 that they sufFre hym this day to wynne his spurres ; 
 for, if god be pleased, i woll this journey be his, 
 
126 NOTES. 
 
 and the honoure therof and to them that be 
 aboute hym. Than the knyght retourned agayn 
 to them, and shewed the kynges wordes, the which 
 gretly encouraged them; and repoyned in that 
 they had sende to the kynge as they dyd. In 
 the evenynge the Frenche kynge, who had left 
 about hym no mo than a threescore persons, one 
 and another, wherof sir Johan of Heynalt was 
 one, who had remounted ons the kynge, for his 
 horse was slayne with an arowe : than he sayde to 
 the kynge. Sir, depart hense, for it is tyme : lese 
 nat yourselfe wylfully; if ye have losse at this 
 tyme, ye shall recover it agayne another season. 
 And soo he toke the kinges horse by the brydell, 
 and ledde hym away in a maner perforce. This 
 Saturday the Englysshmen never departed fro 
 their batayls for chasynge of any man, but kept 
 styll their felde, and ever defended themselfe 
 agaynst all such as came to assayle them. This 
 batayle ended aboute evynsonge tyme. 
 
 *' On this Saturdaye, when the nyght was come, 
 and that thenglysshmen hard no more noyse of 
 the Frenchemen, than they reputed themselfe to 
 have the vyctorie, and the Frenchmen to be dys- 
 confited, slayne and fled awaye. Than they made 
 greate fyers, and lyghted up torchesse and can- 
 
NOTES. 127 
 
 delles, bycause it was very darke : than the kyng 
 avayled downe fro the lytell hyll whereas he stode, 
 and of al that day tyll than his helme came never 
 of on his heed. Than he went with all his batayle 
 to his Sonne the prince, and sayde, Fayre sonne, 
 god gyve you good perseverance ; ye ar my good 
 son, thus ye have acquyted you nobly; ye ar 
 worthy to kepe a realme. The prince inclyned 
 himselfe to the yerthe, honouryng the kyng his 
 father. This night they thanked god for their 
 good adventure, and made no boost therof ; for 
 the kynge wolde that no manne shulde be proude 
 or make boost, but every man humbly to thank 
 god." Froissart's Chronicle^ vol. i. cc. 128, 129, 
 130, 131. 
 
 Page 34. 
 
 VII. How Edward, als the romance sais, 
 Held the sege bifor Calais.] 
 
 *' Whan the kyng of Englande was come before 
 Calys, [on the 3d of September, 1346,] he 
 layde his siege and ordayned bastides, betwene 
 the towns and the ryver; he made carpenters 
 to make houses, and lodgynges of great tymbre, 
 and set the houses lyke * streetes,* and coverd 
 them with rede and brome ; so that it was lyke 
 
128 NOTES. 
 
 a lytell towiie; and there was every thynge 
 to sell, and a markette-place, to be kept every 
 Tuesdaye and Saturday, for flesshe and fyssh, mer- 
 cery-ware, houses for cloth, for bredde, wyne and 
 all other thynges necessarie, suche as came out of 
 England, or ojit of Flanders, there they myght 
 bye what they lyst. The kynge wolde not as- 
 sayle the towne of Calys ; for he thought it but 
 a lost labour : he spared his peple, & his artil- 
 lery, and sayd howe he wold famysshe them in the 
 towne with long siege, without the Frenche kyng 
 come and reyse his siege perforce. Whan the cap- 
 ten of Calys sawe the maner and thorder of then- 
 glysshmen, than he constrayned all poore and 
 meane peple to yssue out of the towne. And on 
 Wednysday there yssued out, of men, women and 
 chyldren, mo than xvii.c. and as they passed 
 through the boost, they were demaunded why 
 they departed; and they answered and sayde, 
 bycause they had nothing to lyve on. Than the 
 kyng dyd them that grace that he sufFred them 
 to passe through his host without danger, and 
 gave them mete and drynke to dyner, and every 
 person ii.d. sterlyng in almes; for the which 
 dyners many of them prayed for the kynges 
 prosperyte. 
 
NOTES. V29 
 
 ** Kinge Philyppe, who knewe well howe his 
 men were sore constrayned in Calays, com- 
 maunded every manne to be with hym at the 
 feest of Pentecost, in the citie of Amyense, or 
 there about : there was none durst say nay. Whan 
 they were all at Amyense, they toke counsayle ; 
 the Frenche kyng wold gladly that the passages of 
 Flaunders myght have ben opyned to hym : for 
 than he thought he might sende part of his men 
 to Gravelyng, and by that way to refresshe the 
 towne of Calys, and on that syde to fyght easely 
 with thenglysshmen. He sende great messangers 
 into * Flaunders' to treat for that mater ; but the 
 kyng of Englande had there suche frendes, that 
 they wolde never accorde to that curtesy : than 
 the Frenche kyng said howe he wolde go thyder 
 on the syde towarde Burgoyne. Than the kyng 
 went to the towne of Arras, and sette many men 
 of warre to the garysons of Arthoys. Than the 
 French kyng and his company departed fro Arras 
 and went to Hedyn ; his boost with the caryage 
 held well in length a three leages of that contrey ; 
 and there he taryed a day, and the next day to 
 Blangy. There he rested to take advyse what 
 way to go forthe : than he was counsayled to go 
 through the contrey called la Belme ; and that 
 
 K 
 
130 NOTES. 
 
 way he toke, and with him a cc.m. one and 
 other; and so came streyght to the hyll of San- 
 gattes, bytwene Calays and Wyssant. They 
 came in goodly order with baners displayed, that 
 hit was great beautie to beholde their puyssant 
 array: they of Calys, whan they sawe them 
 lodge, it semed to them a newe siege. 
 
 " Ye shall here what the kyng of Englande 
 dyd. Whanne he sawe and knewe that the 
 Frenche kyng came with so great an hoost to rayse 
 the siege, the whiche had coste him so moche good, 
 and payne of his body, and lost many of hys men, 
 and knewe well howe he had so constrayned the 
 towne, that hit coulde nat longe endure for de- 
 faute of vitayls, it greved hym sore than to de- 
 part. Than he advysed well howe the French- 
 men coude nat aproche nother to the hoost, nor 
 to the towne, but in two places; other by the 
 downes by the see syde, or elles above by the 
 highe waye, and there was many dykes, rockes, 
 and maresshes, and but one way to passe over the 
 bridge called Newlande bridge. Than the kynge 
 made all his navy to drawe along by the cost of 
 the downes, every shyp well garnysshed with bom- 
 bardes, crosbowes, archers, springalles, and other 
 artyllary ; wherby the Frenche hoost myght nat 
 
NOTES. 131 
 
 passe that waye. And the kyng caused the erle 
 of Derby to go and kepe Newlande-bridge with a 
 great nombre of men of armes and archers, so 
 that the Frenchmen coude natte passe no waye, 
 
 * without' they wolde have gone through the 
 marshes, the whiche was unpossyble. On the 
 other syde, towarde Calays, there was a hygh 
 towre kept with xxx. archers, and they kept the 
 passages of the downes fro the Frenchmen. 
 The Frenche kyng sent his. marshals to advyse 
 what way he myght aproche to fyght with the 
 Englysshmen: so they went forthe, and whan 
 
 * they* had advysed the passages and straytes, 
 they retoumed to the kyng, and sayde, howe in 
 no wyse he coude come to the Englysshmen, with- 
 out he wolde lese his people. So the mater rested 
 all that day and nyght after. The next day, 
 after masse, the Frenche kynge sende to the kynge 
 of Englande the lord * GefFraye* of Charney, the 
 lord Ewstace of Rybamount,* Guy of Nele, 
 
 • This nobleman was taken prisoner, in single cotnbat, by king 
 Edward, fighting under the banner of sir Walter Manny, at the 
 battle of Calais, in 1340. The night after the battle the king gave 
 his prisoners a snppcr in the castle of Calais, and after supper he 
 gave sir Eustace a chaplet of pearls from his own head, as the most 
 valiant knight of the world, and set him free without ransom. 
 Froissart's Chronicle, vol. i. cc. I5l, 152. 
 
,l32 NOTES. 
 
 and the lorde Beajewe ; and as they rode that 
 stronge way, they sawe well it was harde to passe 
 that way. They praysed moche the order that the 
 erle of Derby kept there at the bridge of New- 
 lande, by the whiche they passed. Than they 
 rode tyll they came to the kynge, who was well 
 acompanyed with noble men aboute hym ; thanne 
 they foure lyghted, and came to the kynge, and 
 dyde their reverence to hym. Than the lord 
 Ewstace of Rybamount said, Sir, the kynge my 
 mayster sendeth you worde by us that he is come 
 to the mount of Sangate to do batayle with you ; 
 but he canne fynde no way to come to you : ther- 
 fore, sir, he wolde that ye shulde apoynt certayne 
 of your counsayle, and in lyke wise of his, and 
 they betwene theym to advyse a place for the ba- 
 tayle. The kyng of Englande was redy advysed 
 to answere, and sayde. Sirs, I have well understande 
 that ye desyre me, on the behalfe of myne adver- 
 sary, who kepeth wrongfully fro me myne hery- 
 tage : wherfore i am sorie. Say unto hym fro me, 
 if ye lyst, -that i am here, and so have bene nyghe 
 an hole yere, and all this he knew right well. He 
 myght have come hyther soner, if he had wolde ; 
 but he hath suffred me to abide here so long, the 
 whiche hath ben gietly to my coste and charge. 
 
NOTES. 133 
 
 I nowe coude do so moche, if i wolde, to be sone 
 lorde of Calays, wherfore I am natte determynedde 
 to folowe his devyse and ease, nor to departe fro 
 that whiche i am at the poynt to wynne, and that 
 i have so sore desyred, and derely * bough te :' wher- 
 fore if he nor his men canne passe this way, lette 
 theym seke some other passage, if they thynke to 
 come hyther. Thanne these lordes departed, and 
 were conveyed tyll they were paste Newlande 
 bridge : than they shewed the Frenche kynge the 
 kynge of Englandes answere. 
 
 " In the meane seasone, whyle the Frenche 
 kynge studyed howe to fight with the kyng of 
 Englande, there came into his boost two cardy- 
 nalles from bishoppe Clement in legacion, who 
 toke great payne to ryde bytwene these hoostes ; 
 and they procuredde so moche, that ther was 
 graunted a certayne treatie of acorde, and a re- 
 spyte bytwene the two kynges, and ther men, 
 beynge there at siege and in the felde all onely. 
 And so there were foure lordes apoynted on ey- 
 ther partie to counsell togyder, and to treat for 
 peace; and the two cardynalles were meanes 
 betwene the parties. * These* lordes mette thre 
 dayes, arid many devyses put forthe, but none 
 efFecte: than the two cardynalles returned to 
 
134 NOTES. 
 
 Saynt-Omers ; and whan the Frenche kynge sawe 
 that he coude do nothynge, the next daye he dys- 
 loged by tymes, and toke his way to * Amyens/ 
 and gave every man leve to depart. 
 
 " After that the Frenche kynge was thus de- 
 parted fro Sangate, they within Calays sawe well 
 howe their socoure fayled them ; for the whiche 
 they were in great sorowe. Than they desyred 
 so moche their captayn, sir Johan of Vyen, that 
 he went to the walles of the towne, and made a 
 sygne to speke with some person of the hoost. 
 Whan the kynge harde therof, he sende thyder 
 sir Galtier of Manny, and sir Basset. Than sir 
 Johan of Vyen sayd to them : Sirs, ye be ryght 
 valyant knyghtes in dedes of armes ; and ye knowe 
 well howe the kynge my mayster hath sende me 
 and other to this towne, and commaunded us to 
 kepe it to his behofe, in suche wyse that we take 
 no blame, nor to hym no dammage ; and we have 
 done all that lyeth in oure power. Now oure so- 
 cours hath fayled us ; and we be so sore strayned, 
 that we have nat to lyve withall, but that we 
 muste all dye, or els enrage for famyn ; without 
 the noble and gentyll kyng of yours woU take 
 mercy on us, the whiche to do we requyre you to 
 desyre hym to have pyte on us, and to let us go 
 
NOTES. 135 
 
 and depart as we be; and lette hym take the 
 towne and castell, and all the goodes that be ther- 
 in, the whiche is greate abundaunce. Than sir 
 Gaultyer of Manny sayde, Sir, we knowe som- 
 what of the entencyon of the kynge our mayster, 
 for he hath shewed it unto us : surely, knowe, for 
 trouth, it is nat his mynde that ye, nor they 
 within the towne, shulde depart so ; for it is his 
 wyll that ye all shude put yourselfes into his pure 
 wyll, to ransome all suche as pleaseth hym, and 
 to putte to dethe suche as he lyste : for they of 
 Calays hath done hym suche contraryes and dis- 
 pyghtes, and hath caused hym to dyspende soo 
 moche good, and lost many of his menne, that 
 he is sore greved agaynst them. Than the cap- 
 tayne sayde, Sir, this is to harde a mater to us ; 
 we ar here within a small sorte of knightes and 
 squyers, who hath trewely served the kyng our 
 maister, as well as ye serve yours. In lyke case, 
 and we have endured moche payne and unease, 
 but we shall yet endure asmoche payne as ever 
 knyghtes dyd, rather thanne to consent that the 
 worst ladde in the towne shulde have any more 
 yvell than the gretest of us all. Therfore, sir, we 
 praye you, that of your humylite, yet that ye 
 woU go and speke to the kynge of Englande ; and 
 
136 MOTES. 
 
 desyre hym to have pitie of us; for we truste in 
 hym so moche gentylnesse, that by the grace of 
 god, his purpose shall chaunge. Sir Galtier of 
 Manny and sir Basset retourned to the kynge, and 
 declared to hym all that hadde bene sayde. The 
 kynge sayde, he wolde none other wyse, but that 
 they shulde yelde them up symply to his pleasure. 
 Than sir Gaultier sayde, Sir, savynge your dis- 
 pleasure, in this, ye may be in the wronge ; for ye 
 shall gyve by this an yvell ensample. If ye sende 
 any of us your servauntes into any fortresse, we 
 woU nat be very gladde to go, if ye putte any of 
 theym in the town to dethe after they be y elded : 
 for in lyke wise they woU deale with us, if the 
 case fell lyke. The whiche wordes dyverse other 
 lordes that were there present sustayned and mayn- 
 teyned. Than the kynge sayde. Sirs, i will nat 
 be alone agaynste you all ; therfore, sir Gaultier 
 of Many, ye shall goo, and saye to the captayne, 
 that all the grace that they shall fynde nowe in 
 me is, that they lette sixe of the chief burgesses of 
 the towne * come' out bareheeded, barefoted and 
 barelegged, and in their shertes, with haulters 
 about their neckes, with the kayes of the towne 
 and castell in their handes ; and lette theym sixe 
 yelde themselfe purely to my wyll, and the resy- 
 
NOTES. ^ 137 
 
 dewe i will take to mercy. Than syr Gaultyer 
 retourned, and founde syr Johan of Vyen styll on 
 the wall, abydynge for an answere : thanne sir 
 Gaultyer shewed hym all the grace that he coulde 
 gette of the kynge. Well, quod sir Johan, sir, i 
 requyre you tary here a certayne space, tyll i go 
 in to the towne, and shewe this to the commons 
 of the towne, who sent me hyder. Than sir Johan 
 went unto the market-place, and souned the com- 
 mon bell; than incontynent men and women 
 assembled there : than the captayne made reporte 
 of all that he had done, and sayde. Sirs, it wyll 
 be none otherwyse ; therfore nowe take advyse, 
 and make a shorte aunswere. Thanne all the peo- 
 ple beganne to wepe, and to make suche sorowe, 
 that there was nat so herd a hert, yf they had sene 
 them, but that wolde have had great pytie on 
 theym: the captayne hymselfe wepte pytiously. 
 At last the moost ryche burgesse of all the towne, 
 called Ewstaceof Saynte-Peters,roseup and sayde 
 openly : Sirs, great and small, greate myschiefe it 
 shulde be to sufFre to dye suche people as be in 
 this towne, other by famyn or otherwyse, whan 
 there is meane to save theym. I thynke he or 
 they shulde have great merette of our lorde god, 
 that myght kepe theym fro suche myscheife. As 
 
138 NOTES. 
 
 for my parte, i have so good truste in our lorde 
 god, that yf i dye in the quarell to save the resy- 
 dewe, that god wolde pardone me. Wherfore, to 
 save them, i wyll be the first to putte my lyfe in 
 jeopardy. Whan he had thus sayde, every man 
 worshypped hym, and dyvers kneled downe at his 
 fete, with sore wepyng, and sore syghes. Than 
 another honeste burgesse rose, and sayde, I wyll 
 kepe company with my gossuppe Ewstace : he was 
 called Johan Dayre. Than rose up Jaques of 
 Wyssant, who was ryche in goodes and herytage ; 
 he sayd also, that he wolde hold company with 
 his two cosyns in lyke wyse ; so dyd Peter of Wys- 
 sant his brother: and thanne rose two other; they 
 sayde they wolde do the same. Thanne they went 
 and apparelled them as the kyng desyred. Than 
 the captayne went with them to the gate : there 
 was great lamentacyon made, of men, women and 
 chyldren, at their departynge. Than the gate was 
 opyned, and he yssued out with the vi. burgesses 
 and closed the gate agayne, so that they were by- 
 twene the gate and the barryers. Than he sayde 
 to sir Gaultyer of Manny, Sir, i delyver here to 
 you, as captayne of Calys, by the hole consent of 
 all the people of the towne, the six burgesses; 
 and i swere to you truely, that they be and were 
 
NOTES. 139 
 
 to day moost honourable, ryche, and moste nota- 
 ble burgesses of all the towne of Calys. Wher- 
 fore, gentyll knyght, i requyre you, pray the 
 kyng to have mercy on theym, that they dye nat. 
 Quod sir Gaultyer, I can nat say what the kynge 
 wyll do ; but i shall do for them the best i can. 
 Thanne the barryers were opyned, the sixe bur- 
 gesses wente towardes, the kynge, and the cap- 
 tayne entred agayne into the towne. Whan sir 
 Gaultier presented these burgesses to the kyng, 
 they kneled downe, and held up their handes 
 and sayde : Gentyll kynge, beholde here, we sixe, 
 who were burgesses of Calays, and great mar- 
 chantes, we have brought to you the kayes of the 
 towne, and of the castell : and we submyt oure 
 selfe clerely into youre wyll and pleasure, to save 
 the resydue of the people of Calays, who have 
 suffred greate payne. Sir, we beseche youre 
 grace to have mercy and pytie on us, through 
 your hygh nobles. Than all the erles and ba- 
 rownes and other that were there wept for pytie. 
 The kynge loked felly on theym, for greatly he 
 hated the people of Calys, for the great damages 
 and displeasures they had done hym on the see 
 before. Than he commaunded their heedes to be 
 stryken of. Than every man required the kyng 
 
140 notes; 
 
 for mercy; but he wolde here no man in that 
 * behalfe.' Than sir Gaultyer of Manny sayd : A, 
 noble kynge, for goddes sake refrayne * your' cou- 
 rage ; ye have the name of souverayne nobles : 
 therfore nowe do nat a thyng that shulde blemysshe 
 your renome, nor to gyve cause to some to speke 
 of you vyllany. Every mon woU say it is a great 
 cruelty to put to dethe suche honest persons, who 
 by their owne wylles putte themselfe into youre 
 grace to save their company. Than the kyng 
 wryed away fro hym, and commaunded to sende 
 for the hangman ; and sayde. They of Calys hath 
 caused many of my men to be slaine, wherfore 
 these shall dye in lyke wyse. Than the queue, 
 beynge great with chylde, kneled downe, and sore 
 wepynge, sayd : A gentyll sir, sith i passed the 
 see in great parelli have desyred nothynge of 
 you ; therfore nowe i humbly requyre you, in the 
 honour of the son of the virgyn Mary, and for the 
 love of me, that ye woU take mercy of these six 
 burgesses. The kynge behelde the queue, and 
 stode styll in a study a space, and then sayd : A, 
 dame, i wold ye had ben as nowe in some other 
 place ; ye make suche request to me that i can nat 
 deny you : wherfore i gyve them to you, to do 
 your pleasure with theym. Than the queue caused 
 
NOTES. 141 
 
 them to be brought into her chambre, and made 
 the halters to be taken fro their neckes, and 
 caused them to be newe clothed, and gave them 
 their dyner at their leser : and than she gave ech 
 of them sixe nobles, and made them to be brought 
 out of thoost in savegarde, and set at their lyberte. 
 Thus the stronge towne of Calys was gyven up 
 to kyng Edwarde of Englande the yere of our 
 lorde god m.ccc.xlvi. in the moneth of August." 
 Froissart's Chronicle^ vol. i. chap. 133, 134, &c. 
 
 To this relation of Froissart, it may not be im- 
 proper to add the discovery and reflections made, 
 some years since, by M. Brequigny, in conse- 
 quence of his researches in London, relative to 
 the history of France, as communicated by him 
 in a memoir of the French academy. 
 
 *'! shall not examine the several circumstances 
 of Froissart's relation, of which he is the only 
 voucher. Perhaps it may be thought difficult to 
 reconcile them with certain facts hitherto un- 
 known, but of incontestable authenticity ; which 
 I shall content myself to report. 
 
 "The queen, who is supposed to have been so 
 touched with the misery of the six burgesses, 
 whose life she had saved, did not fail to obtain, 
 a few days after, the confiscation of the houses 
 
142 NOTES. 
 
 which John d'Aire, one of them, had possessed in 
 Calais. 
 
 " The greater part of the other houses were 
 given to the EngUsh, whom Edward called thither 
 by his letters of the 12th of August. Calais had 
 cost him too dear ; he felt the importance of such 
 a place too much to neglect any thing which 
 might ensure its preservation. Even the habita- 
 tions which he there granted to his subjects were 
 not given without a clause of selling them to none 
 but the English. 
 
 "It is not, however, necessary to imagine, as 
 one commonly believes upon the faith of histo- 
 rians, that every former possessor was driven out, 
 that every Frenchman was excluded. I have 
 seen, on the contrary, a number of French names 
 among those of the persons to whom Edward 
 granted houses in his new conquest. But I did 
 not expect to find in the number of those who 
 had accepted the favours of the new sovereign, 
 him who appeared the most likely to disdain 
 them, the famous Eustache de Saint-Pierre. 
 
 " By letters of the 8th of October, 1347, two 
 months after the surrender of Calais, Edward 
 gave to Eustache a considerable pension, till he 
 should provide for him more amply. The mo- 
 
NOTES. 143 
 
 tives of this favour, are the services which he 
 owed to render, either in maintaining good order 
 in Calais, or in watching the safety of that place. 
 Other letters of the same date, founded on the 
 same motives, grant to him and his heirs the 
 greatest part of the houses and ground which he 
 had possessed in that city, and add to them, fur- 
 ther, some others. That Eustache de Saint-Pierre, 
 the man who is painted to us as immolating him- 
 self with so much generosity to the duties of sub- 
 ject and citizen, could consent to acknowledge 
 for sovereign the enemy of his country, to en- 
 gage solemnly to preserve for him that very place 
 which he had so long defended against him ; in 
 fine, to bind himself to him by the strongest tie 
 for a noble mind, the acceptance of a favour, 
 seems to accord little with the high idea hitherto 
 given of his patriotic heroism. 
 
 " His conduct, perhaps, will be attributed to 
 the vexation excited by some discontent ; and it 
 will be alledged that Froissart has said, that 
 Philip did nothing to recompense the courage and 
 fidelity of the brave Calesians. But Froissart was 
 ill-informed. We have many ordinances of Phi- 
 lip, by which he provides for the indemnity of 
 the unfortunate inhabitants of Calais: we have 
 
144 NOTES. 
 
 some which prove that this indemnity took effect ; 
 and the kings, his successors, John II. and 
 Charles V. paid still more attention to them. 
 
 " It must therefore be confessed that the glory 
 of Eustache de Saint-Pierre is somewhat tarnished ; 
 and, since the facts which I expose appear to im- 
 peach it, I shall make bold to draw from them 
 the conjectures to which they give birth. 
 
 " We have seen, by the letters of the Calesians, 
 that their final resolution was to sally out of their 
 walls sword in hand, and to seek, through the 
 English army, death or liberty. It appears evident 
 that Eustache combated this desperate resolution. 
 In the last council held at Calais, he rose the first, 
 and gave his opinion, according to the relation of 
 Froissart himself, to surrender on the conditions 
 which Edward dictated. He saved, by this mean, 
 the besieged, and spared the blood of the be- 
 siegers ; he served equally both parties. Edward 
 had reason to take this in good part, and was 
 willing to prove it to him by favours. He had 
 even reasons to seek to attach to himself a man 
 of so great weight in the city ; and he succeeded 
 at length in forcing Eustache to be grateful. 
 This, it appears to me, is what naturally results 
 from the combination of the facts which I have 
 
NOTES, 145 
 
 stated." Vide Memoires de Litter ature de VAca- 
 demie des Inscriptions , vol. xxxvii. p. 528. 
 
 Page 39. 
 VIII. Sir David had of his men grete 
 
 LOSS, 
 
 With sir Edward, at the Nevil- 
 
 CROSS.] 
 
 " Whan the kynge of Englande," says Froissart, 
 " had besieged Calays, and lay there, than the 
 Scottes determyned to make warre into Englande, 
 and to be revenged of such hurtes as they had 
 taken before ; for they sayde than, howe that the 
 realme of Englande was voyde of men of warre, 
 for they were, as they sayde, with the kyng of 
 Englande before Calys, and some in Bretaygne, 
 Poyctou, and Gascoyne. The Frenche kyng dyd 
 what he coude to styre the Scottes to that warre, 
 to the entent that the kynge of Englande shulde 
 breke up his siege, and retoume to defende his 
 own realme.* The kynge of Scottes made his 
 
 • Thus Winton, who has a long chapter— 
 
 " Qnhen kyng David passyt fra hame 
 Till the batell of Darame :" 
 
 " A thowsand and thre hander yhere 
 And sex and t'ourty to tha clere, 
 
 L 
 
146 NOTES. 
 
 sommons to be at Saynt-Johans-towne, on the 
 ryver of Taye, in Scotlande : thyder came erles, 
 
 The kyng of Frawns set hym to rass 
 
 And sat a sege befor Calays, 
 
 And wrate in Scotland till our kyng 
 
 Specyally be * tha' praying 
 
 To pass on were in-till Ingland : 
 
 For he sayd he snld tak on band 
 
 On other hialflf thame for to warray, 
 
 Sa upon bathe halfis suld thai 
 
 Be straytly stad : oure kyng Dawy, 
 
 That wes yhowng, stowt, and rycht joly. 
 
 And yharnyd for to se fychtyng, 
 
 Grawntyt the kyng oflf Frawncys yharnyng," 
 
 The same historian represents the allegation of * no7ie being at 
 home to let hym the way,* to have occurred at a conference on 
 taking * the pele of Lyddale :' 
 
 " Thau cousalyd WiUame oflf Dowglas, 
 
 That oflf weris mast wyss than was, 
 
 To tume agayne in thair cuntre ; 
 
 He sayd that with thair honeste 
 
 Thai mycht agayne repayr rycht welle 
 
 Syne thai off fors had tane that pelle. 
 
 £ot othir lordis that war by 
 
 Sayd he had fillyd fullyly 
 
 His baggis, and thairis all twme war, 
 
 Thai sai that thai mycht rycht welle fare 
 
 Till Lwndyn, for in Ingland than 
 
 Off gret mycht was lefft na man ; 
 
 For thai sayd all war in Frawns, 
 
 Bot sowteris, skynneris, or marchawns. 
 
 The Dowglas thare mycht noucht be herd, 
 
 Bot on thaire way all fnrth thai ferd." 
 
NOTES. 147 
 
 barownes and prelates of Scotlande ; and there 
 agreed, that, in all haste possyble, they should 
 entre into Englande. To come in that journey was 
 desyred Johan of the out iles, who governed the 
 wylde Scottes ; for to hym they obeyed, and to 
 no many els. He came with a thre thousande of 
 the moost couragyoust people in all that coun- 
 trey. Whan all the Scottes were assembled, they 
 were, of one and other, a fiftye thousande fyght- 
 ynge menne. They coude nat make their assem- 
 ble so secrete, but that the quene of Englande, who 
 was as thanne in the marchesse in the north, about 
 Yorke, knewe all their dealynge. Than she sent 
 all about for menne, and lay herselfe at Yorke : 
 than all men of warre and archers came to New- 
 castell with the quene. In the meane season, the 
 kyng of Scottes departed fro Saynt-Johannes 
 towne, and wente to Donefremelyne the firste 
 daye ; the nexte daye they passed an arme of the 
 see, and so came to Estermelyne, and than to 
 Edenbrough. Than they nombred their com- 
 pany, and they were a thre thousande men of 
 armes, knyghtes and squyers, and a thretie thou- 
 sande of other on hackenayes. Than they came 
 to Rousbourge, the first fortresse Englyssh on that 
 parte ; captayne there was sir Wyllyam Monta- 
 
148 NOTES. 
 
 gue : the Scottes passed by, without any assaut 
 makynge; and so wente forthe brennynge and 
 distroyenge the countrey of Northumberlande ; 
 and their currours ranne to Yorke, and brent as 
 moche as was without the walles, and retourned 
 agayne to their boost, within a dayes journey of 
 Newcastell upon Tyne. 
 
 " The queue of Englande, who desyred to de- 
 fende her contrey, came to Newcastell upon Tyne, 
 and there taryed for her men, who came dayly 
 fro all partes. Whan the Scottes knewe that the 
 Englysshemen assembled at Newcastell, they drue 
 thyderwarde, and their currours came rennynge 
 before the towne ; and at their retournynge they 
 brent certayne small hamelettes thereabout, so 
 that the smoke therof came into the towne of 
 Newcastell. Some of the Englysshmen wolde a 
 yssued out to have fought with them that made 
 the fyers, but the captayns wolde nat sufFre theym 
 to yssue out. The next day the kynge of Scottes, 
 with a xl. thousande men, one and other, came and 
 lodged within thre lytell Englysshe myle of New- 
 castell, in the lande of the lorde Nevyll ; and the 
 kyng sent to them within the towne, that if they 
 wolde yssue out into the felde, he wolde fyght 
 with theym gladly. The lordes and prelates of 
 
NOTES. 149 
 
 Englande sayd, they were content to adventure 
 their lyves, with the ryght and herytage of the 
 kynge of Englande their mayster : than they all 
 yssued out of the towne, and were in nombre a 
 twelfe hundred men of armes, thre thousande 
 archers, and sevyne thousande of other with the 
 Walsshmen. Than the Scottes came and lodged 
 agaynst theym, nere togyder: than every man 
 was sette in ordre of batayle. Than the queue 
 came amonge her men : and there was ordayned 
 four batayls, one to ayde another. The firste had 
 in governaunce the bishop of Dyrham, and the 
 lorde Percy : the seconde, the archbysshoppe of 
 Yorke, and the lorde Nevyll : the thyrde, the bys- 
 shoppe of Lyncolne, and the lorde Mombray : the 
 fourth, the lorde Edwarde de Bayleule, captayne 
 of Berwyke, the archbysshoppe of Canterbury, 
 and the lorde Rose : every battayle had lyke nom- 
 bre after their quantyte. The queue went fro ba- 
 tayle to batayle, desyring them to do their devoyre 
 to defende the honour of her lorde the kyng of 
 Englande, and in the name of god every man to 
 be of good hert and courage ; promysyng them 
 that to her power she wolde remembre them as 
 well or better as thoughe her lorde the kyng 
 were there personally. Than the quene departed 
 
150 NOTES. 
 
 fro them, recommendyng them to god and to 
 saynt George. Than anone after the bataylles of 
 the Scottes began to set forwarde, and in lyke 
 manner so dyd thenglysshmen. Than the archers 
 began to shote on bothe parties ; b ut the shot of 
 the Scottes endured but a short space : but the 
 archers of Englande shot so feersly, so that whan 
 the batayls aproched there was a harde batell. 
 They began at nyne and endured tyll noone. The 
 Scottes had great axes, sharpe and harde, and gave 
 with them many great strokes; howbeit finally 
 thenglysshmen obtayned the place and vyctorie, 
 but they lost many of their men. There were 
 slayne of the Scottes, therle of Sys, therle of Ossre, 
 the erle of Patnys, therle of Surlant, therle Das- 
 tredare, therle of Mare, therle Johan Duglas, and 
 the lorde Alysaunder Ramsey, who bare the 
 kynges baner; and dyvers other knightes and 
 squyers. And there the kynge was taken, who 
 fought valiantly, and was sore hurt : a squyer of 
 Northumberland toke hym, called Johan Cop- 
 lande ; and assone as he had taken the kynge he 
 went with hym out of the felde, with viii. of his 
 servauntes with hym ; and soo rode al that day, 
 tyll he was a fyftene leages fro the place of the 
 batayle ; and at nyght he came to a castell called 
 
NOTES. 
 
 151 
 
 Orgulus.* The same day there was also taken 
 in the felde the erle Morette, the erle of Marche, 
 the lord Wyllyam Duglas, the lorde Robert 
 Vesy, the bysshoppe of Dadudam, the bysshoppe 
 of Saynt ' Andrewes/ and dyvers other knyghtes 
 and barownes. And there were slayne, of one 
 and other, xv. thousande ; and the other saved 
 themselfe, as well as they myght. This batell 
 was besyde Newcastell, the yere of our lorde 
 
 • What caslle this was does not appear : " Chastell-orgueUleux" 
 is the language of romance. Knyghton says, David was led to Bam- 
 burgh Castle, then belonging to the lord Percy. Wallis, in his 
 Natural History of Northumberland, vol. ii. p. 4lfl, says, that ^^ %^*-f 
 
 Copeland, attended by only eight of his servants, carried David ofif in / ^■**J ^ ^^ 
 
 triumph to the Castle of Roxbrough, of which he was governor! It ^^^ •» '' * i 
 appears, however, from Ridpath's Border History, pp. 332, 336, ^ '^ JU/- 
 
 that this identical castle, of which, from Leland's Collectanea, vol. i. '^ 
 p. 558, it is likely enough, Copeland had been governor, — and 
 according to Rymer, Fcedera, vol. v. p. 76o, he actually was after- 
 ward, — belonged, at that time, to the king of Scots. Ridpath further 
 adduces, p. 338, from some historians, that the king was conveyed to 
 Ogle Castle, which is very probable, as it had been but lately built, 
 and sir Robert de Ogle, the then possessor, was present at the battle, 
 where, in fact, he had a principal command. Wallis, ut sup. vol. ii. 
 p. 551. Thus Froissart, confounding Ogle with orgueil, may have 
 created his imaginary " Chastell-orgueilkux." Copeland's own 
 residence was, probably, at South-Copeland , by Wooller; and not at 
 Copeland Castle, which, at that period, belonged to a different 
 name. It appears, from an excerpt in Leland's Itinerary, vol. viii. 
 p. 50, b. that he attempted the capture of king David by the advice 
 of Thomas Carre, his standard-bearer. .' 
 
 Jii 
 
152 NOTES. 
 
 m.ccc.xlvi. the Saturday next after Saynt My- 
 chaell. 
 
 " Whan the quene of Englande, beynge at 
 Newcastell, understode howe the journey was for 
 her and her men, she than rode to the place 
 where the batayle had bene : thanne it was shewed 
 her howe the kynge of Scottes was taken by 
 a squyer called Johan Coplande, and he hadde 
 caryed away the kynge no man knewe whyder. 
 Than the quene wrote to the squyer, commaund- 
 yng hym to bring his prisoner: and howe he 
 had nat well done to depart with hym without 
 leave. Whan the queues letter was brought 
 to Johan Copland, he answered and sayd, that 
 as for the kyng of Scottes his prisoner, he wolde 
 nat delyver hym to no man nor woman lyving, 
 but all onely to the kynge of England, his sove- 
 rayne lorde : as for the kynge of Scottes, he sayd, 
 he shuld be savely kept, so that he wolde gyve 
 acompte for hym. Thanne the quene sente let- 
 ters to the kyng, to Calays, wherby the kyng 
 was enfourmed of the state of his realme. Than 
 thg kynge sende incontynent to Johan Coplande, 
 that he shulde come over the see to hym, to the 
 siege before Calays. Than the same Johan dyd 
 putte his prisoner in save kepynge in a stronge 
 
NOTES. 153 
 
 castell, and so rode through Englande, tyll he 
 came to Dover ; and there toke the see, and ar- 
 ryved before Calays. Whan the kyng of Eng- 
 land saw the squyer, he toke him by the hande, 
 and sayd, A, welcome, my squyer, that by your 
 valyantnesse hath taken myne adversary the kyng 
 of Scottes. The squyer kneled downe and sayde : 
 Sir, yf god by his grace hath sufFred me to take 
 the king of Scottes by true conquest of armes, 
 sir, i thynke no man ought to have any envy 
 thereat ; for as wel god maye sende by his grace 
 suche a fortune to fall to a poore squyer, as to a 
 great lorde: and, sir, i requyre your grace be 
 nat myscontent with me, though i dyde nat de- 
 lyver the kynge of Scottes at the commaunde- 
 ment of the quene : sir, i, holde of you, as myne 
 othe is to you, and nat to her, but in all good 
 maner. The kynge sayd, Johan, the good ser- 
 vyce that ye have done, and your valyantnesse is 
 so moche worthe, that hit must countervayle your 
 trespasse, and be taken for your excuse; and 
 shame have they that here you any yvell wyll 
 therfore. Ye shall retourne agayne home to your 
 house ; and thanne my pleasure is that ye delyver 
 your prisoner to the quene my wyfe : and in a re- 
 warde i assygne you, nere to your house, where as 
 
154 NOTES. 
 
 ye thynke best yourselfe, fyve hundred pounde 
 sterlyng of yerely rent, to you and your heyres for 
 ever : and here i make you squyer for my body.* 
 Thanne, the thyrde day, he departed, and re- 
 tourned agayne into Englande; and whan he 
 came home to his owne house, he assembled to- 
 guyder his frendes and kynne, and so they toke 
 the kynge of Scottes, and rode with hym to the 
 cytie of Yorke, and there, fro the kyng his lorde, 
 he presented the kynge of Scottes to the queue, 
 and excused hym so largely, that the queue and 
 her counsell were content. Than the queue de- 
 parted fro Yorke towardes London. Than she 
 sette the kynge of Scottes in the stronge towre 
 of London, and therle Morette, and all other 
 prisoners; and sette good kepyng over them." 
 Chronicle, vol. i. cc. 1 37, et seq. 
 
 Froissart, in this narrative, has embraced for 
 truth some considerable errors. In the first place, 
 that the queen was not in the north at this period, 
 nor had any concern whatever in the command 
 or direction of the army, is clear from the silence 
 
 * Tne king made him a banneret. The five hundred pounds a 
 year was to be paid out of the customs of London and Berwick, (ill 
 the land could be provided. See Stow's AnnaleSf I59a, p, 375. 
 Foedcra, vol. v. p. 5. 
 
NOTES. 155 
 
 of our own contemporary or most ancient histo- 
 rians: neither was she vicegerent or warden of 
 the kingdom, as he seems to suppose. Secondly, 
 the battle was not " besyde Newcastell," but be- 
 tween Durham and a village called Kirk-Mer- 
 rington, near twenty miles off. It is called the 
 battle of NeviVs- Cross, from an ancient stone cross 
 erected by one of that family, about a mile from 
 Durham, and demolished by some puritanical 
 enthusiasts, in 1569, near which was probably 
 the heat or conclusion of the fight. Modern 
 writers suppose this cross to have been erected in 
 consequence of the battle ; whereas it was clearly 
 a well-known station at the time. The pursuit 
 after the battle, according to Stow, continued as 
 far as Prudhow and Corbridge, on the north side 
 of the Tyne. 
 
 John Copland, in taking king David prisoner, 
 according to Wynton,had two of his teeth knocked 
 out by that monarch : 
 
 " Jhon off Cowpland thare tuk the kyng 
 Off forss noucht yholdyne in that takyng ; 
 The kyng twa teth owt off his hevyd 
 With a dynt off a knyff hym revyd." 
 
156 NOTES. 
 
 " This battell," says Stow, " was fought on the 
 seventeenth of October [1346]. The prisoners 
 were conveyed to London about Christmasse, Da- 
 vid le Bruse except, which might not travell by 
 reason of two deadly woundes in his head with 
 arrowes ; but the second of January he was 
 brought up, and conveyed from Westminster to 
 the tower of London, in sight of all the people, 
 and there lodged in the blacke nooke of the sayde 
 tower, neere to the constables guard, there to be 
 kept." ^wwaZes, 1592, p. 374. 
 
 David was actually delivered, at York, by 
 Ralph de Nevill, to Thomas de Rokeby, sheriiF 
 of Yorkshire, and by him, on the 2d of January, 
 1346-7, delivered into the custody of John Darcy, 
 constable of the tower of London. Vide Foedera^ 
 vol. V. p. 539. That he was taken by Copland is 
 certain; but the contest or transaction between 
 this gentleman and the queen, though adopted by 
 Carte, Hume, and other modern historians, seems 
 nothing more than an ill-founded report, not to 
 believe it the invention of Froissart, to do honour 
 to his country-woman. 
 
 That Edward Baliol had some command in the 
 English army at the battle of Durham is highly 
 
NOTES. 157 
 
 probable, but it cannot be accurately ascertained. 
 See lord Hailes* Annals of Scotland y vol. ii. p. 213. 
 Hutchinson^s History of Durham ^ vol. ii. p. 337. 
 " Cuthbert of Dorem," noticed at p. 44, is 
 saint Cuthbert ; concerning whom, see Hutchin- 
 son, ut supra, vol. i. p. 20. 
 
 Page 45. 
 
 IX. How KINO Edward and his menze 
 
 Met with the Spaniardes in the see.] 
 
 " In the sommer * 1 350,' variance rising be- 
 tweene the fleets of England and Spaine, the Spa- 
 niards beset the Bi-y taine sea, with 44 great shippes 
 of warre, with the which they sunke ten English 
 ships comming from Gascoigne towardes Eng- 
 lande, after they had taken and spoyled them ; and 
 thus their former injuries being revenged, they 
 entred into Sluce in Flanders. 
 
 " King Edwarde understanding heereof, fur- 
 nished his navie of fiftie shippes and pinaces, fore- 
 casting to meete with the Spaniards in their re- 
 tume, having iu his company the prince of Wales, 
 the earles of Lancaster, North-hampton, War- 
 wicke, Salisburie, Arundale, Huntington, Gloces- 
 ter, and other barons and knightes, with their 
 
158 NOTES. 
 
 servants and archers, and upon the feast of the 
 decolation of S. John, about evensong time, the 
 navies mette at Winchelsea, where the great 
 Spanish vessels surmounting our ships and foystes, 
 hke as castles to cottages, sharply assailed our 
 men ; the stones and quarels flying from the tops, 
 sore and cruelly wounded our men, who no lesse 
 busie to fight aloofe with launce and sword, and 
 with the foreward manfully defend themselves ; at 
 length our archers pearced their eirbalisters with a 
 further retch than they could strike againe, and 
 thereby compelled them to forsake their place, 
 and caused other fighting from the hatches to 
 shade themselves with tables of the ships, and 
 compelled them that threw stones from the toppes, 
 so to hide them, that they durst not shew 
 their heades, but tumble downe : then our men 
 entring the Spanish vessels with swords and hal- 
 berds, kill those they meete, within a while make 
 voyde the vessels, and furnish them with English- 
 men, until they, beeing besette with darkenesse 
 of the night, could not discern the 27 yet remain- 
 ing untaken : our men cast anker, studying of 
 the hoped battell, supposing nothing finished 
 whilest any thing remained undone, dressing the 
 wounded, throwing the miserable Spaniards into 
 
NOTES. 159 
 
 the sea, refreshing themselves with victuals and 
 sleepe, yet committing the vigilant watche to the 
 armed bande. The night overpassed, the English- 
 men prepared (but in vain) to a new battel ; but 
 when the sunne began to appeare, they viewing 
 the seas, coulde perceive no signe of resistance ; 
 for 27 ships flying away by night, left 17 spoiled 
 in the evening to the king's pleasure, but against 
 their will. 
 
 " The king returned into England with victory 
 and triumph: the king preferred there eighty 
 noble ympes to the order of knighthood, greatly 
 bewayling the losse of one, to wit, syr Richard 
 Goldesborough, knight." Stow' sAnnales, 1592, 
 p. 385. 
 
 Page 48. 
 
 X. Haw GENTiLL sill Edward, with his 
 grete engines, 
 Wan with his wight men the castell 
 OF Gynes.] 
 The best historical account of this captue 
 seems to be that given by Stow , Froissart and 
 Fabian but slightly mentioning it. 
 
 " About the beginning of Januarie [1352], 
 the Frenchmen being occupied about the repayr- 
 
160 NOTES. 
 
 ing of the walles of Guisnes towne, being afore 
 that time destroyed by the EngHshmen, some men 
 of armes of Caleis, understanding their doings, 
 devised howe they might overthrow the worke, in 
 this sort. There was an archer named John 
 Dancaster, in prison in the castell of Guisnes, 
 before that time taken, who not having where- 
 with to pay his raunsome, was let loose, with con- 
 dition that hee should worke there among the 
 Frenchmen. This fellow chanced to lye with a 
 laundres, a strumpet, & learned of her where 
 beyond the principall ditch, from the bottome of 
 the ditch, there was a wall made of two foote 
 broade, stretching from the rampiers to the 
 brimme of the ditch within forth, so that being 
 covered with water it could not be sene, but not 
 so drowned, but that a man going aloft thereon 
 should not bee wette past the knees, it being 
 made for the use of fishers ; and therefore in the 
 middest it was discontinued for the space of two 
 foote : and so the archer (his harlot shewing it to 
 him) measured the heyght of the wall with a 
 threede. These thinges thus knowen, one day 
 slipping downe from the wall, he passed the ditch 
 by that hidden wall, and lying hidde in the marsh 
 til evening, came in the night neare unto Caleis, 
 
NOTES, 161 
 
 where tarying for the cleare day, hee then went 
 into the towne (for else he might not) ; here he 
 instructed them that were greedie of pray to ' scale 
 the castell, and' howe they might enter the same : 
 they caused ladders to be made to the length by 
 the archer appointed. Thirtie men conspired 
 togither, clothing themselves in blacke armour 
 without any brightnesse, went to the castel, by 
 the guiding of the said John de Dancaster, and 
 climing the wall with their ladders, they slewe the 
 watchmen, and threwe them downe headlong 
 beside the wall : after this, in the hall they slew 
 many, whome they found unarmed, playing at the 
 chesse and hazard. Then they brake into the 
 chambers and turrets, upon the ladies and knights 
 that lay there asleepe, and so were masters of all 
 that was within : and shutting all their prisoners 
 into a strong chamber, being bereft of all their 
 armour, they tooke oute the Englishmen that had 
 bene taken the yeere before, and there kept in 
 prison ; and after they had relieved them well 
 with meate and drinke, they made them guardens 
 over them that had them in custodie : and so they 
 wanne all the fortresses of the castell, unknowen 
 to them that were in the towne (appointed to 
 oversee the repayring of the broken walles) what 
 
 M 
 
162 NOTES. 
 
 had happened to them within the castell. In the 
 morning they commaunded the workemen in the 
 towne to cease from their workes, who thereupon, 
 perceiving that the castell was wonne, streight- 
 wayes fledde ; and the newe Castilians suffered the 
 ladies to depart on horsebacke, with their apparell, 
 writings and muniments, where [by] they ought 
 to hold their fees : and the same day there came 
 from Caleis to their ayde such persons as they sent 
 for, by whose ayde they kept the castell : and 
 about three of the clocke there came two knights, 
 sent from the earle of Guisnes, who, demanding a 
 truce, willed to know of them that were thus 
 entred the castell, who they were, to whom they 
 belonged, and by whose authority they kept the 
 castell, so taken in the time of truce ; whereunto 
 they answered, that being intruded, they woulde 
 not declare to any man their purpose, till they 
 had tryed a longer possession ; and therefore, on 
 saint Mawrice day the abbot, (the king being 
 busie in parliament) ' some' Frenchmen, being sent 
 from the sayde earle of Guisnes, declared how, in 
 prejudice of the truce the sayd castell was taken, 
 and therefore by right of mutuall faith it ought 
 to be restored unto them. The king answered, 
 that without his knowledge that enterprise was 
 
NOTES. 16'3 
 
 made, and therefore he gave commandement to 
 his subjectes that none of them should deteyne 
 the castell of ' Guisnes/ but deliver it unto the 
 lawfull lordes thereof. The messengers being re- 
 turned home, and reporting what they had done, 
 the earle of Guisnes commeth to the castell, de- 
 manding of them within, as at other times, in 
 whose names they kept it; who constantly af- 
 firming that they kept it in the name of John 
 Dancaster,hee required to knowe if the same John 
 were the king of Englands liegeman, or would 
 obey him ; who answering that hee knewe not 
 what messengers had beene in England, the earle 
 offered for the castell, besides all the treasure 
 found in it, many thousands of crown es or pos- 
 sessions for exchange, and a perpetuall peace with 
 the king of Fraunce. To this they answered, that 
 before the taking of that castell they were Eng- 
 lishmen by nation, but by their demerites ban- 
 nished for the peace of the king of England, 
 wherefore the place which they thus helde they 
 would willingly sell or exchange, but to none 
 sooner than to their naturall king of England, to 
 whom, they said, they would sell their castell to 
 obtaine their peace : but if he would not buy it, 
 then they would sell it to the king of France, or 
 to whomsoever would give the most for it. 
 
164 NOTES. 
 
 ** The earle being thus shifted of from them, 
 the king of England bought it in deede, and so had 
 that place which hee greatly desired." AnnaleSf 
 1592, p. 388. 
 
 L. 5. Both the lely and the lipard.] The author 
 alludes to the armorial ensigns of the two king- 
 doms. That the lions in the Enghsh shield were 
 originally leopards is a fact not to be disputed. 
 Thus Langtoft, as rendered by his ingenious 
 translator, Robert of Brunne, speaking of the 
 battle of Falkirk : 
 
 " Thei sauh kynges banere, raumpand thre 
 
 LEBARDES." 
 
 See also Drayton's Po/2/-0/6iow, song the eleventh, 
 and the learned Selden*s illustrations on the same. 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 Ailed, p. 41. 
 
 Aire, p. 14. Heir. 
 
 Albidene, p. 34. From time to time, one after 
 another. The word bidene is generally used 
 for presently, in a short time, by and by ; none 
 of which senses seem to suit the present text : 
 and the meaning is as doubtful in other places. 
 l"Tius, in the ancient manuscript metrical ro- 
 mance of Ywaine and Gawin : 
 
 ** His hert he has set cdbydencj 
 Whar himself dar noght be sene." 
 
 Again : 
 
 " The king himself, & als the queue, 
 & other knightes albidene^ 
 
168 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Again : 
 
 " Now sal you have noght bot their awin, 
 That is the half of al bydene^ 
 
 See BiDENE. Bydene. 
 Alblast, p. 16. More properly Arblast; 
 arcbaleste, Fr. Arcu-balista, Lat. a cross-bow ; 
 put in the text for the arbalister, or cross-bow- 
 man* Fabian uses Arblasters for cross-bows, 
 (see p. 76 ante,) as Stow does Arbalisters, for 
 cross-bow-men. Thus also Robert of Brunne : 
 
 " That sauh an alblastere, a quarelle lete he fiie." 
 
 Ald, p. 8. Old. 
 
 Allane, p. 44. Alone. 
 
 Alls, p. 4. Also. Als, p. 3, 1. 4. As. — L. 19. 
 
 Also. 
 Al weld AND, p. 28. All-wielding, all-governing. 
 Are, p. 31. Ere, before. 
 AscRY. Herd ASCRY, p. 14. Heard it spoken, 
 
 cried, reported, or proclaimed. 
 Assoyl, p. 12. Absolve. 
 At, p. 2. To. 
 AvANCE, p. 39. Avaunce, p. 4. Advance. 
 
GLOSSARY. 169 
 
 B. 
 
 Bade, p. 20. Abode. 
 
 Balde, p. 49. Bold. 
 
 Baldely, p. 20. Baldly, p. 11. Boldly. 
 
 Bale, p. 1. Evil, misery, sorrow. 
 
 Ban, p. 38. Curse. 
 
 Bare, p. 26. Boar. See the note. 
 
 Bavere, p. 8. Bavaria. 
 
 Bi.DE, pp. 6, 19. Offer. 
 
 Beld, p. 27. Refuge, help, protection. 
 
 Be ME, p. 16. Bohemia. 
 
 Bere, p. 24. Bier. Broght on bere. Dead. 
 
 Bere-bag, pp. 7, 41. Bag-bearer, carry-sack, 
 wallet-man. Froissart, describing the manners 
 of the Scots, during their military expeditions, 
 says : " They cary with them none other pur- 
 veyance, but on their horse bitwene the saddyll 
 and the panncll they trusse a brode plate of 
 metall, and behynde the saddyll they wyll 
 have a lytel sacke, full of ootemele, to the 
 entent, that whan they have eaten of the 
 sodden flesshe, than they ley this plate on the 
 fyre, and tempre a lytel of the otemele ; & 
 whan the plate is bote, they cast of the thyn 
 paste theron, and so make a lytle cake in 
 
170 - GLOSSARY. 
 
 maner of a crakenell or bysket, and that they 
 eate to comiforte withall theyr stomaks. Wher- 
 fore it is no great merveile though they make 
 greatter journeys than other people do." Chro- 
 nicle, ut supra; vol. i. chap. 17. 
 
 John of Hexham observes, that the field 
 where the battle of the standard was fought, 
 in 1138, obtained the name of Baggamor, 
 from the sacks or wallets left thereon by the 
 enemy. Decern Scriptores, p. 262. 
 
 Besy, p. 2. Busy, active, officious. 
 
 Betes, p. 7, 1. 9. Beats, walks up and down. 
 See batre les rues, hatre le pave, in Cotgrave*s 
 Dictionary. 
 
 Betes, p. 7, 1. 12. Amends, heals, cures. 
 
 Bid, p. 1. Offer, prefer, put up. 
 
 BiDENE, or ALL BiDENE, p. 11. Presently, 
 immediately; as also, (p. 37,) in process of 
 time, or, perhaps, one after another. See 
 Albidene. Bydene. 
 
 BiFORN, p. 12. Before. 
 
 Big, p. 29. 
 
 Big, p. 35. Build, erect. Bigged him, p. 33. 
 Lodged him, posted himself, made his dwelling 
 or habitation, taken up his residence. 
 
 Biging, p. 7. Dwelling, habitation. 
 
GLOSSARY. 171 
 
 Biker, p. 20. Bicker, skirmish. — P. 51. Assail, 
 attack. 
 
 BiLEviD, p. 10. Was left, remained.— P. 30. 
 Are left, are remaining. 
 
 Blin, p. 21. Cease. Blinned, p. 21. Ceased. 
 
 Bone, pp. 1,15. Prayer, request. 
 
 BoT, p. 6. Both ; as we should, probably, read. 
 
 Bot, p. 13. But. 
 
 Bote, p. 15. Boot, amends, remedy, help. 
 
 BouN, p. 51. BouNE, p. 24. Ready prepared. 
 
 BouRE, p. 35. Habitation. 
 
 Brade, p. 20. Broad. 
 
 BRAK,p. 29. Broke. 
 
 Brandes, p. 29. Fire-brands, things on fire. 
 
 Brems, p. 22. (Perhaps Brenis.) Corslets; 
 as in the ancient manuscript Scotish metrical 
 romance, in the Editor's possession, entitled 
 the Aunter of sir Gawane, surreptitiously 
 printed, in 1792, by John Pinkerton : 
 
 " Shene sheldes were shred. 
 Bright brenes by bled." 
 
 See also the Glossary to Bishop Douglas's 
 Virgil, in the word Byrnie. 
 Brend, p. 10. Burned. 
 
172 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Brene, p. 23. Burn. 
 
 Brid, p. 4. Bird 
 
 Brig, p. 7. Bridge. 
 
 Brin, p. 10. Burn. 
 
 Bud, p. 10. Behoved, must. 
 
 BuRGASE, p. 37. Burgesses. 
 
 BuRGHEs, p. 7. Boroughs. 
 
 Burjase, p. 18. Burgesses. 
 
 Busk, p. 7. Hye. 
 
 Bute, p. 1. See Bote. 
 
 Bydene, p. 15. After or beyond them. The 
 
 word occurs, with an apparently similar sense, 
 
 in the Aunter of sir Gawane : 
 
 '' Bothe the kyng and the quene. 
 And al the doughti bydene.'* 
 
 Again : 
 
 '^ They shullen dye on a day, the doughty 
 bydene.'' 
 
 Its etymology is uncertain ; the one, at least, 
 conjectured by some, i. e. by the even, as 
 belivey a term of similar signification, they 
 think, comes from by le eve, is altogether 
 unsatisfactory. See Albidene. Bidene. 
 
GLOSSARY. 173* 
 
 C. 
 
 Caitefes, p. 4. Caitifs, wretches. 
 
 Cant, p. 30. Brisk, in high spirits : the word 
 
 canty is still used in Scotland with this sense. 
 Cantly, p. 20. Briskly. 
 Clerkes, p. 40. Learned men. 
 Clip, p. 23. Embrace. 
 Come, p. 9. Came. 
 Con FORT, p. 13. Comfort. 
 CoNiG, p. 37. Coney, rabbit. 
 CovAiTisE, p. 4. Covetousness. 
 CuMAND, p. 10. Commanded. 
 CuMEN, p. 18. Come. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dale, pp. 1, 2. Valley; used metonymically 
 for the world or earth, which is still frequently 
 termed a vale of misery. 
 
 Dare, p. 2. Stare, as one terrified or amazed. 
 Dareand, p. 3. Staring, &c. 
 
 Ded, p. 34. Deed. 
 
 Dele, p. 9. Quantity. 
 
 Dene, p. 23. Den, habitation. 
 
 Dere, p. 2. Hurt, harm, injury, trouble, vexa- 
 tion. 
 
174 
 
 GLOSSARY 
 
 Dere, p. 3. Hurt, harm, vex, &c. 
 
 Dern, p. 2. Cruel, severe. 
 
 Did, p. 20. Caused, made. 
 
 DiGHT, p. 4. Dressed. — pp. 19, 22, 50. Dressed, 
 
 addressed, prepared, made ready. Dightes, 
 
 p. 27. Addresses, prepares. So, in the old 
 
 romance of Syr Degore : 
 
 " All thyng redy to souper he dyghte.*' 
 Dint, p. 2. Stroke. Dintes, p. 23. Strokes. 
 Do, p. 47. Cause, make. 
 
 Dole, p. 4. Sorrow, grief. — P. 31. Share, portion. 
 DoMP, p. 47. Plunge, plump, fall, or be thrown. 
 DoNGEN, p. 29. Dung, thrown. 
 Done, p. 2. Do, cause. — P. 39. Caused, made. 
 DowT, p. 23. Doubt, be doubtful or suspicious. 
 Dray, p. 35. Noise, riotous mirth; desroy^ Fr. 
 
 So, in a celebrated Scotish poem : 
 
 ** Was never in Scotland hard nor sene 
 Sic dansing and deray.^' 
 Dresce, p. 1. Dress, address, direct. 
 Drewris, p. 31. Jewels, ornaments of dress, 
 
 things, rich and valuable. Thus, in the ancient 
 
 manuscript metrical romance of Yvxiine and 
 
 Gawin : 
 
 " The lady made ful meri chere 
 Sho was al dight with drewris der." 
 
GLOSSARY. 175 
 
 , E. 
 
 Eghen, p. 29. Eyes. 
 Er, p. 4. Are. 
 Ertou, p. 31. Art thou. 
 Es, p. 2. Is. 
 Eth, p. 20. Easy. 
 EvERiLKA, p. 51. Every. 
 
 Fain E, p. 50. Eager. 
 
 Faire, pp. 16,29. Fairly. 
 
 Famen, p. 25. Foemen, enemies. 
 
 Fand, p. 10. Found. 
 
 Fare, p. 2, 1. 5. Go, speed. 
 
 Fare, p. 5, 1. 16. 
 
 Felde, p. 16. Field. 
 
 Fele, p. 8. Many, several. 
 
 Fell, p. 19. Fierce, cruel, wicked, malicious. 
 
 Felony, p. 27. Villany, wickedness, malice, 
 
 treason, treachery, mischief. 
 Fer, p. 20. Far. 
 Ferd, pp. 14, 18. Fared, went. 
 Ferd, pp. 15, 16, 1. 5. Feared, afraid. 
 Ferd, p. 17, 1. 3. Ferde, p. 14. Fear. 
 
176 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Fere, p. 24. Companion. 
 
 Ferr, p. 46. Farer, further. The Une, how- 
 ever, should, probably, be read : 
 
 " Flit might thai no ferr " 
 Ferrum, o ferrum, p. 29. Afar off. 
 File, pp. 31, 36. A coward, perhaps, or worth- 
 less person. The word is also used by Robert 
 of Brunne : 
 
 " David at that while was with Edward the 
 
 kyng, 
 Zit avanced he that^/e untille a faire thing." 
 Hearne, at random, explains it by " fool, thread, 
 trifle." 
 Fine, p. 46. End. 
 Fleand, p, 29. Fleeing, flying. 
 Flemid, p. 3. Banished. 
 Flit, p. 46. Remove. 
 
 Fode, freely fode, p. 25. Freely fed, gently 
 nurtured, well-bred, suh. youth, or young per- 
 son ; from the Saxon foedan, to feed ; a fre- 
 quent expression in old metrical romances. 
 Thus, in that of Tristrem : 
 
 " Her sorwen and her care 
 Thai with that frely/orfe." 
 Again, in Ywayne and Gawin : 
 
 " My daughter, fayrest/oc?e olyve." 
 
GLOSSAKV. 177 
 
 it is likewise used by Winton : 
 
 " Syne Saxon and the Scottis blude 
 Togyddyr is in yhon fvelyfwde" 
 
 Fold, p. 35. 
 
 FoNDE, p. 39. Attempt, endeavour, strive. 
 
 FoNE, p. 7, Few. 
 
 Fort HI, p. 29. Therefore, for that reason. 
 
 Forward, p. 43. Promise, covenant. 
 
 Founded, p. 2. Went, issued. 
 
 Fra, p. 3. From. 
 
 Franceis, p. 31. Frenchman. 
 
 Frank IS, p. 22. Franks, a denomination of 
 
 French money, answering at present to the 
 
 livre Tournois, 
 Frek, pp. 2, 15. Perhaps, ready, eager. The 
 
 word fraklyj nimbly, swiftly, hastily, is used 
 
 by Bishop Douglas. 
 Frely, p. 25. Freely. See Fode. 
 Frith, p. 9. Wood. 
 Fro, p. 28. From, from the time that 
 Fun, p. 38. Found. 
 Fun den, p. 36. Found. 
 Fune, p. 7. Few. 
 Fyne, p. 50. 
 
 N 
 
1:78 GLOSSARY. 
 
 G. 
 Gaf, p. 16. Gave. 
 Gase, p. 7. Goes. 
 
 Gaste, (haly gaste,) p. 13. Holy Ghost. 
 Gate, p. 28. Way. 
 Gaudes, p. 5. Tricks. So Winton : 
 
 " But this kyng Edward all wyth gawdys 
 Knakkyd Robert the Brws wyth frawdis." 
 
 Geneuayse, p. 32, Genoese. 
 
 Geder, p. 48. Gather, meet. 
 
 Ger, p. 27. Cause. Gert, p. 9. Caused. 
 
 Gestes, p. 50. Guests. 
 
 Get, p. 7. An interjection of contempt. 
 
 GiFF, p. 16. Give. 
 
 GiLE, p. 5. Guile, deceit, treachery. 
 
 Gle, p. 10. Mirth. 
 
 Gode, p. 11. Goods, property. 
 
 Grame, p. 18. Harm, mischief. 
 
 Graythest, p. 28. Readiest, nearest, best. 
 
 Gude, p. 6. Good. 
 
 GuDE, p. 12. Goods. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hald, p. 9. Hold. 
 Halely, p. 17. Wholly. 
 
GLOSSARY. 179 
 
 Haly, p. 13. See Gast. 
 
 Hat, p. 16. Wag called. 
 
 Haved, Haves, p. 42. Had, has. 
 Hele, p. 49. Health. 
 
 Hele, p. 22. Hide, conceal. Helis, p. 22. 
 Hide, conceal. 
 
 Hend, p. 9. Hand. 
 
 Hende, p. 22. Kind, gentle. 
 
 Hent, p. 22. Caught. 
 
 Here, p. 46. Hair. 
 
 Heres, p. 33. Hear. 
 
 Heried, p. 27. Harried, spoiled, ravaged, plun- 
 dered. Jesus Christ, after his resurrection, 
 made a hostile descent or irruption into hell, 
 and, armed with his cross, — the devils, terrified, 
 perhaps, by so unusual a weapon, not daring 
 to oppose him, — carried off a number of damned 
 souls. See a curious representation of this 
 transaction in Hearne*s edition of Forduni 
 Scotichronicon, p. 1403. 
 
 Hernes, p. 10. Brains. 
 
 Hetes, p. 7. Threatens, — P. 24. Promises. 
 
 Heviddes, p. 16. Heads. 
 
 Hevidles, p. 12. Headless. 
 
 Hevyd, p. 10. Head. 
 
 HiGHT, p. 26. Was called. 
 
180 GLOSSARY. 
 
 HiNDE, p. 42. Gentle, courteous. 
 Hire, p. 12. 
 
 HovED, p. 11. Hovered, remained. 
 HuRDis, p. 46. Ropes. 
 
 I. 
 
 Ilk, p. 11. Ilka, p. 2. Each, every. Ilk one, 
 
 p. 37. Every one. 
 Ine, p. 29. Eyes, 
 
 Ines, p. 13. Inn, lodging, residence. 
 Inogh, p. 18. Enough. 
 
 J. 
 
 Japes, p. 13. Tricks, jeers, mocks. 
 
 JoRNA Y, p. 9. Journey, expedition ; journeCy Fr. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kaitefs, p. 20. Caitifs, knaves. 
 
 Kayes, p. 7. Keys. 
 
 Kayser, p. 8. Emperor. 
 
 Ken, p. 21. Know.— P. 23. Teach. Kend, 
 
 p. 42. Taught. 
 Kene, p. 6. Keen, sharp, fierce, cruel. — pp. 19, 
 
 20. Bold. 
 Kid, p. 4. Known. 
 Kirk, p. 4. Church. 
 
GLOSSARY. 181 
 
 KiRTELL. p. 36. Tunic or waistcoat. 
 
 Kith, p. 20. Shew. 
 
 KouTH, p. 20. Could, knew, was master of. 
 
 KuMLY, p. 30. Comely. 
 
 K UN, p. 38. Can, knows how. 
 
 Lake, p. 18. Doctrine. 
 
 Lat, p. 30. Let. 
 
 Law, p. 30. Low. 
 
 Laykes, p. 10. Plays, sports, pastimes. 
 
 Ledeing, p. 36. Leading, management. 
 
 Lele, p. 9. True. Lely, p. 28. Truly. 
 
 Lely, p. 47. Lely-flowre, p. 17. The lily 
 or flower-de-luce. Floure de lice, p. 14. 
 Fleur de lis, Fr. the national or royal shield of 
 France being a blue field, powdered with those 
 flowers, since reduced to three. See p. 164, 
 ante. 
 
 Len, p. 51. Lend ; i. e. lend him grace. 
 
 Lend, p. 9. Stayed, remained. So in Ywaine 
 and Gaivin: 
 
 "Sir Ywaine wald no lenger lendy 
 But redies him fast for to wend." 
 
 Lended, p. 36. 
 
182 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Lere, pp.20, 23. Learn, teach. Atleretiiem, 
 
 to learn or teach themselves. — P. 36. Learn. 
 
 Lesed, p. 18. Taught. 
 Let, p. 40. Hinder. Letes, p. 40. Stops, 
 
 hinders. Lett, p. 10. Hindered, put a stop to. 
 Leve, p. 18. Believe. Leves, p. 12. Believe. 
 Leved, p. 44. 
 Levid, p. 3. Left. 
 
 Lie, p. 14. Live. Lifes, p. 12. Lives. 
 LiG, p. 29. Lie. Ligand, p. 37. Lying. 
 
 LiGGES, p. 12. Lie. 
 List, p. 23. 
 
 LiTHESt p. 1. Listen, attend, hear, hearken. 
 Live, p. 5. Life. 
 Lout, p. 23. Honour; properly to bow. — pp. 30. 
 
 44. Bow.dovi^n, stoop. 
 Listens, p. 36. Listen. 
 
 M. 
 
 Ma, p. .3. More. 
 
 Main, p. 25. Maine, p. 5. Corporal strength, 
 
 force. Main and mode, p. 25. Body and 
 
 mind. 
 Maistri, p. 12. Force, power. 
 Maked, p. 3. Marked, p. 27. Made. 
 Mane, p. 12. Moan. 
 
GLOSSARY. 183 
 
 Mase, p. 35. Make. 
 
 Maste, p. 1 3. Most. 
 
 Mawgre, p. 3. Despite. 
 
 Mede, pp. 3, 24, 51. Reward. 
 
 Mekil, p. 20. Mekill, p. 5. Much, great. 
 
 Men ID, p. 18. Meant, intended. 
 
 Menze, pp. 5, 13. Followers, retinue: mesnie, 
 
 Fr. 
 MiDDELERD, p. 1. The earth. 
 Misliked, p. 28. Disliked. 
 MisLiKiNG, p. 28, Dislike, displeasure. 
 Mo, p. 8. More. 
 
 Mode, p 25. Mind, spirit. See Main, 
 MoDY, p. 19. Brave, spirited. 
 Mold, p. 34. Earth. 
 MoNE, p. 1. Moon. 
 Mone, p. Money. 
 Mot, p. 3. May. 
 Mote, p. 23. Meet. 
 MuN, p. 3. Must. 
 
 N. 
 
 Nakeks, p. 16. Tymbals ; a species of martial 
 
 music adopted from the Saracens. 
 Nane, pi 12. None. 
 Naverne, p. 16. Navarre. 
 
184 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Ne, p. 6. Nor. 
 
 Negiied, p. 46. Nighed, approached, drew 
 
 near to. 
 Nerr, p. 46. Near. 
 NoGHT, p. 2, 1. 8. Not.— P. 10. Nothing.— Es 
 
 NOGHT AT HIDE, p. 2, 1. 12. It signifies 
 
 nothing to conceal it. 
 NoKEs, p. 26. Nooks, corners. 
 NoMEN, p. 43. Took. 
 NowTHER, p. 30. Neither. 
 
 O. 
 
 Ogaines, p. 2. Ogains, p. 14. Against. 
 
 Ogayn, p. 2. Again. 
 
 Olive, p. 19. Alive. 
 
 Omang, p. 30. Among. 
 
 Or, p. 10. Before. 
 
 OwAY, p. 19. Away. 
 
 P. 
 
 Palet, p. 31. Head, scull, crown, pate. Pink- 
 erton, in one of the miserable pieces of guess- 
 work he is pleased to call a glossary, inter- 
 prets " break your pallat" — *' cut your 
 
 THROAT.'* 
 
GLOSSARY. 186 
 
 Pall, p. 30. Fine cloth, used for the robes of 
 kings and princes. 
 
 *' Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy, 
 In sceptred pall, come sweeping by.'* 
 
 The word, at last, became significant rather of 
 the shape than the quality of the garment, as 
 we sometimes read of " a pall of white silk." 
 See han^hoia^s Letter from Killingworthy 1575, 
 reprinted, with Notes, by the Editor, in 1821, 
 8vo. It is now confined to the ornamental 
 covering of black velvet used in funeral pro- 
 cessions. 
 
 Pay, p. 8. Content, satisfaction. 
 
 Pelers, p. 6. Pillars. 
 
 PENCELL,p. 28. A small streamer. 
 
 Pere, p. 28. Peer, equal. 
 
 Pine, pp. 29, 50. Pain. 
 
 Pitaile, p. 28. Foot soldiers. Pitaille, Fa. 
 
 Plate, p. 28. Mail, armour, as breast-plate, 
 back-plate. Thus Spenser, Faerie Queene, 
 V. viii. 29 : 
 
 " So, forth he came, all in a coat of plate,** 
 
 Pleyn tham, p. 29, Complain. 
 Polled, p. 31. Shaven. 
 
186 GLOSSARY. 
 
 PovRE, p. 12. Poor. Pauvre, Fr. 
 
 Prese, p. 5. Press, crowd. 
 
 Pre&t, p. 20. Ready. 
 
 Priked, p. 6. Riden. 
 
 Prise, p. 2. Price, value. — P. 14. Prize, praise , 
 
 esteem. 
 Proved, p. 27. Strove, tried. 
 PuRVAY, p. 14. Provide, prepare. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quell, p. 4. Kill. 
 Quite, p. 31. Quit. 
 
 R. 
 
 Railed, p. 16. Set, placed. 
 
 Rapely, p. 24. Briskly, hastily, soon, quickly. 
 
 Rapes, p. 37. Ropes. 
 
 Rathly, p. 29. Soon, quickly. — P. 24. Eagerly, 
 
 readily. 
 Raw, p. 16. Row. 
 Rede, p. 9. Advice, counsel. 
 Rede, p. 46. Advise, counsel. 
 Redles, p. 22. 
 Ren, p. 34. Run. 
 Rese, p. 28. 
 Rev ED, p. 12. Robbed, taken away. 
 
GLOSSARY. 187 
 
 Rig, p. 29. Back. 
 
 RiGHTwis, p. 30. Righteous, just. 
 
 RivELiNG, p. 7. This word is used, as an adjec- 
 tive, by Chaucer, in his Romant of the Rose^ 
 with the signification of wrinkled : 
 
 " Or botis riveting as a gipe ;*' 
 
 whence it may be supposed to mean, in the 
 text, a man shrivelled or wrinkled with hunger. 
 It is, however, found to occur, as a substantive, 
 in Robert Mannyng's Translation of Peter 
 Langtoft's Chronicle: 
 
 '* Thou scabbed Scotte, thi nek thi hotte, the 
 
 develle it breke. 
 It salle be hard to here Edward ageyn the speke. 
 He salle the ken, our lend to bren, & werre 
 
 biginne. 
 Thou getes no thing, bot thi rivelyng, to hang 
 
 ther inne." 
 
 Its meaning, at the same time, is still uncer- 
 tain ; but unless it exist, in other passages, as 
 an adjective, it is most absurdly, and, at any 
 rate, imperfectly, interpreted by Hearne, " turn- 
 ing in and out, wriggling." See Rugii-fute. 
 Rode, p. 25. Rood, cross. 
 
188 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Romance, pp. 26, 33. Story; any historical 
 relation in vulgar poetry. The word is fre- 
 quently used by Robert of Brunne in the sense 
 of common history, as well as for his French 
 original. 
 
 RuGH-FUTE, p. 7. Rough-foot, rough-footed. 
 Our author probably alludes to a sort of shoes, 
 called rullions, made by the Scots from the 
 raw hide with the hair on. They are mentioned 
 by Bishop Douglas, in his " sevynth booke of 
 Eneados :" 
 
 " There left fute and al thare leg was bare, 
 Ane rouch rilling of raw hyde and of hare ^ 
 The tothir fute coverit wele and knyt." 
 
 Bhnd Harry, about 1460, makes young Selby 
 taunt his hero, Wallace, in the following terms : 
 
 " He callyt on hym, and said, Thou Scot, abyde ! 
 Quha dewill the grathis in so gay a wyde ? 
 Ane Ersche mantill it was thi kynd to wer, 
 A Scotts thewittil undyr thi belt to ber, 
 Rouch rowlyngs apon thi harlot fete, 
 Giff me thi knyfF, quhat dois thi ger sa mete ?" 
 
 The word rewelyngs, in the sense of rullions or 
 brogues, is repeatedly used by Andrew of 
 Wyntown. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 S. 
 
 189 
 
 Sad, p. 18. Serious, grave, solemn. 
 Saine, p. 5. Say. 
 
 Sakles, p. 6. Guiltless, blameless, innocent. 
 Sal, p. 18. Shall. 
 Saltou, p. 46. Shalt thou. 
 Salve, p. 18. 
 Sare, p. 2. Sore. 
 Sari, p. 29. Sary, p. 4. Sorry. 
 Saul, p. 8. Soul. 
 Sawes, p. 18. Sayings, discourses. 
 Sawls, p. 21. Souls. 
 ScHAC, p. 14. Shake. 
 Schawes, p. 48. Woods. 
 Scheltron, p. 20. A body of foot, in a compact 
 circle; so called, it would seem, from the 
 appearance of their shields; which, together 
 with that of their spear-points, might also give 
 occasion to the epithet shene or shining. See 
 Peter Langtoft's Chronicle ^hy Robert of Brunne, 
 p. 304, and Hearne's Glossary, 
 ScHENDE, p. 23. Ruin. 
 ScHENE, p. 20. Bright, shining. 
 ScHENT. p. 5. Ruined. 
 Schilterouns, p. 22. See Scheltron. 
 
190 GLOSSARY. 
 
 ScHREWES, p. 41. Villains, wretches. 
 
 ScHRivE, p. 46. Confess thyself. 
 
 Seland, p. 11. Zealand. 
 
 Sem BLAND, p. 30. Semblance, appearance. 
 
 Sembled, p. 11. Assembled. 
 
 Sen, p. 12. Since. 
 
 Senin, p. 42. After, afterward. 
 
 S^RE, p. 43. Several. 
 
 Sergantes, p. 19. Serjeants; a sort of gens 
 
 d'armes, according to M. le Grand. 
 Skrith, p. 20. 
 
 Slake, p. 18. Assuage, quench. 
 Slike, p. 2. Such. 
 Slogh, pp. 6, 12. Slew. 
 Smale, p. 1. Small. 
 Snaper, p. 46. 
 Snell, p. 19. Keen, sharp. 
 SocoRE, p. 1. Succour, 
 SoNE, p. 1. Soon. 
 
 SOAVED, p. 18. 
 
 Stalworthly, p. 15. Stoutly, vigorously, va- 
 liantly. 
 Stareand, p. 10. Staring. 
 Stede, p. 3. Steed, horse. 
 Stede, p. 9. Stead, place, room. 
 Steren, p. 6. Stern, fierce. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 191 
 
 St ERNES, p. 10. Stars. 
 
 STiF,p. 16. Stout. 
 
 Stile, p. 5. A set of steps to pass out of one 
 
 field into another. 
 Stint, p. 19. Stopped, ended. 
 Stirt, p. 49. Started, leaped, rushed, passed 
 
 hastily. 
 Stound, p. 21. Space of time. 
 
 Stow RE, p. 5. Fight, battle. 
 
 Strenkith, p. 25. Strengthen. 
 
 Strenkitii, p. 47. Strength. 
 
 Strive, p. 19. Strife. 
 
 Stroy, p. 10. Destroy. 
 
 SuLD, p. 4. Should. 
 
 SuTii, p. 4. Sooth, truth. 
 
 SuTH,p. 18. Sooth, true. 
 
 Swelt, p. 49. Dyed. 
 
 S WINK, p. 16. Labour. 
 
 Swire, p. 37. Neck. 
 
 SwiTH, p. 20. Quick. 
 
 Tab URNS, p. 45. Tabors, drums. ^ 
 
 Tarettes, p. 11. 
 
 Tene, p. 20. Sorrow, grief, trouble, affliction. 
 
192 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Tha, p. 20. The. 
 
 Thareogayne, p. 9 Thereagainst. 
 Thir, p. 10. These. 
 Tho, p. 41. Those. 
 Tide, p. 4. Betid. 
 Tight, p. 22. 
 
 Timber, p. 22. Destruction. The word occurs, 
 as a verb, in the Aunter of sir Gauuane : 
 
 " Thus shall a Tyber untrue tymber with tene." 
 
 Tint, p. 32. Lost 
 
 TiTHANDEs, p. 10. Tidings. 
 
 To-DONGYN, p. 32. Dung down, overthrown. 
 
 Trais, p. 32. Betray. 
 
 Traisted, p. 15. Trusted. 
 
 Treget, p. 31. Deceit, treachery, juggling, 
 imposture. 
 
 Trest, p. 32. Trust. 
 
 Trew, p. 1. True. 
 
 Tray, p. 22. A w'ord nearly synonimous, per- 
 haps, with tene, (which see,) and generally 
 used in its company. See Robert of Brunne, 
 pp. 235, 304, and p. 103, ante. 
 
 Trone, p. 1. Throne. 
 
 Trow, p. 24. Beheve. 
 
 Trus, p. 50. 
 
GLOSSARY. 193 
 
 Tyde, p. 2. Time. 
 Tyll, p. 1. To. 
 Tyne, p. 46. Lose. 
 
 U. 
 
 Umset, p. 30. Beset; a contraction, perhaps, 
 of umhesety a word used by Wintown : 
 
 " And tumbeset the Scottis there," 
 
 Umstride, p. 16. Bestride. 
 Uncurtayse, p. 32. Uncourteous. 
 Unhale, p. 24. Unsound. 
 Unkind, p. 18. Unnatural. 
 Unsele, p. 41. 
 
 W. 
 
 Wait, p. 4. 
 
 WAKKiND,p. 43. Awakened. Wakkins, p. 22. 
 
 Awakens. 
 Wald, p. 2. Would. 
 Wall, p. 21. 
 Walld, p. 15. Would. 
 
 Wane, p. 11. Quantity, plenty. Thus, in 
 Ywayn and Gawin : 
 
 ** Of maidens was thar so gude wane 
 That ilka knight mi^ht tak ane." 
 
 o 
 
194 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Waniand, pp. 19, 41, 45. Decrease or wane 
 of the moon. 
 
 Wapin, p. 19. Weapon. 
 
 Wapind, p. 14. Weaponed, armed. 
 
 Wappen, p. 41. Weapon. 
 
 War, p. 6. 
 
 Wede, p. 19. Apparel. 
 
 Weder, p. 15. Weather. 
 
 Wele, p. 3. Well. Werldly wele, p. 8. 
 Worldly wealth. 
 
 Well, p. 19. Very.— P. 31. Good fortune. 
 
 Wen, p. U. Go, or went. It should, probably, 
 hewejid. 
 
 Wend, p. 4. Go. 
 
 Wend, Wened, p. 10. Thought, supposed, con- 
 jectured. 
 
 Went, p. 22. Gone. 
 
 Wepeand, p. 36. Weeping'. 
 
 Were, p. 2. War. Were men, p. 45. Men 
 of war. 
 
 Wery, p. 7. Curse. So in the Aunter of sir 
 Gawane : 
 
 " But he shal wring his honde and warry the 
 wyle." 
 
 WeXj p. 12. Waxed, grew, became. 
 
GLOSSARY. 195 
 
 Whilke, p. 9. Which, what. 
 
 Whilum, p. 34. Sometime, formerly. 
 
 Whore, p. 40. Where. 
 
 Whote, pp. 4, 8. Wotest, knowest. 
 
 Wight, p. 16. Strong, stout. 
 
 WiKKED, p. 49. Difficult. 
 
 WiLTOU, p. 7. Wilt thou. 
 
 Win, p. 49. Take, get. 
 
 Wit, p. 14. Informed. Sent Edward to wit, 
 
 p. 1 9. Sent to inform him, sent him information. 
 WiTHOWTEN, p. 8. Without. 
 Witten, p. 26. Know. 
 WoDE, p. 25. Mad. 
 
 Won, p. 7. Dwell. Wonand, p. 25. Dwelling. 
 WoNDE, p. 40. Stop, stay. 
 WoNE, p. 14. Number, company. 
 WoNEN, p. 29. Won, got. 
 WoNiNG,p. 13. Dwelling, residence, habitation. 
 
 P. 48. Place. 
 WoNNEN, Es woNNEN, p. 19. Are won, are 
 
 had as easily, or are as perfectly at mercy, as 
 
 an unarmed man. — P. 34. Won. got. 
 WoRTHLi, p. 19. Worth LY, p. 45. Worthy. 
 Wreke, p. 48. Revenge. Wroken, p. 6. 
 
 Revenged. 
 
196 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Wrote, p. 33. Undermine, overthrow ; properly 
 
 to root up as swine do. Wrotariy Sax. 
 WuRTHi, p. 21. Worthy. 
 
 Zate, p. 38. Gate. — Note, this character, 5, at 
 the beginning of a syllable, had, uniformly, the 
 power of y; in the middle of one it had, 
 usually, that of gh : but it never occurs in the 
 latter situation throughout these poems. 
 
 Zere, p. 12. Years. 
 
 ZiT, p. 19. Yet. 
 
 ZoLDEN, p. 37. Yielded, delivered up. 
 
 ZoNG, p. 8. Young. 
 
 Zow, p. 1. You. 
 
 Zow, p. 6. Your. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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