PE I I US \\m i! I ! AND DERIVATIO GEORGF in mN^Hwu 1 % ^\ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES 33. PEEL: ITS MEANING AND DERIVATION: AN ENQUIRY INTO THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE TERM NOW APPLIED TO MANY BORDER TOWERS BY GEORGE NEILSON F.S.A. Scot. AUTHOR OF 'TRIAL BY COMBAT,' 'PER LINEAM VALLI," ETC, EDINBURGH GEORGE P. JOHNSTON, 33 GEORGE STREET MDCCCXCIV. r/-3i i PREFACE. The number of enquiries, resulting from the issue of 55 copies privately reprinted from the Proceedings of the Glasgow Archaeological Society, has tempted me to print, for sale, a fresh edition, limited to 120 copies. The text is unchanged, but one or two very slight additions are made to the notes. G. N. 34 Gran by Terrace, Glasgow, September, /Sgj. 63 Jc-. CONTENTS. PAGE THE QUESTION STATED — WHAT WAS A PEEL ? - - I I. PEELS OF EDWARD I., 1298-1307 — (i) LOCHMABEN - 2 (2) DUMFRIES 3 (3) LINLITHGOW - .... 5 (4) SELKIRK - - 8 (5) BERWICK - - - 10 II. ENGLISH-MADE PEELS, 1307-1336 — (6) PERTH - - II (7) LIDDELL - - 13 (8) kinross fort ■ - 1 5 (9) stirling - - - - 16 iii. other early peels — gargunnock, tarbert, etc. - - - - 18 iv. peels of 1 6th century — barmkin and peel statute, 1 535 - - - 20 bishop Lesley's definition - - - 22 peel and barmkin compare!' - 24 a definition with examples - 27 v. general remarks — transitional usage - 29 vi. etymology — from peel back to pal us - 31 PEEL: ITS MEANING AND DERIVATION. BY GEORGE NEILSON, E.S.A.Scot. [Originally read at a Meeting of the Glasgow Archaolgical Society held on gth January, iSgi ; but since re-writ ten.'] This paper 1 is an attempt to trace the historical evolution of the word ' peel' —a name now practically appropriated to the small, strong rectangular towers of stone 2 which, sometimes moated, sometimes surrounded by a ' barmkin ' or exterior wall, stud the English and Scottish border with memorials of ancient international feuds. It is emphatically a word with a history, to which neither lexicographer nor antiquary has yet done justice. i. Note of Explanation of some Contracted References. Bain= Calendars of Documents relating to Scotland. Ed. Joseph Bain. (Record publication.) Bower= Bower's Scotichronicon. Ed, Goodal. Exch. AWA=Exchequer Rolls of Scotland. (Record publication.) Hamilton Papers={ Record publication. Ed. Joseph Bain.) /,.(?. = Liber Quotidianus Contrarotulatoris Garderobte, 1299-1300. R. S. = Rolls series. Rot. .W. = Rotuli Scotioe. (Record publication.) Stevenson= Historical Documents Scotland, 12S6-1306. Ed. Joseph Stevenson. (Record publication.) 2. Excellent general descriptions of these towers are given by Mr. C. C. Hodges in the Reliquary, v. pp. 1 -10, and by Chancellor R. S. Ferguson, in his History of Cumberland, 236. See also an interesting sketch of the border tower system in Canon (now Bishop) Mandell Creighton's Carlisle, pp. 8284. I differ from them all, however (but see note p. 33 infra), as to the meaning and history of peel. As is not unusual in matters philological it is necessary at the outset to dis- card some preconceptions, 1 to get rid of the idea that peel meant from the first what it means now, and to be prepared to find that in the course of some six centuries the signification has altered. Was our peel always a tower of stone, as all previous writers on the subject have assumed ? If not, what was it? Whence comes it — from Latin P/iala, an oval tower; 2 from Latin pila, a pile;3 from Celtic/^/ or pill, an earthen mound or castle:'' or from any of them ? Before offering an answer I submit my evidence. I. — Peels of Edward I. The oldest proper examples of the word known to me occur in the accounts of the costs of the Scottish wars of Edward I. The first peel on record is that of Lochmaben : the next is at Dumfries. Others soon follow at Linlith- gow and Selkirk. i . Lochmaben : Edward retiring from Scotland after the battle of Falkirk in 1298, had taken possession of the castle of the Bruces at Lochmaben, referred to as a castrunfi and as a ^w^/. 6 That winter a considerable addition 'was made to its defensive strength, as appears from payments? made to English labourers, sawyers and carpenters (ad faciendum pel it m ibidem) for making a peel there. The entry as regards the sawyers is (ad sarranda ligna pro con- struclione peli) for sawing wood for the making of the peel. This leaves little doubt that the peel was essentially a wooden structure. Its character is further illustrated by an order 3 issued in November, 1299, to provide for the 1 I begin with some of my own contained in Annandale under the Bruces, pp. 28-9. 2 Jamieson's Dictionary. 3 Professor Skeat in his Supplement to his Dictionary. But see note p. 33 infra. 4 I think I have heard this derivation eloquently maintained by Professor John Vcitch. 5 Trivet (English Hist. Soc.) 374. Probably this castle then stood on the old site now known as the Castlehill. The argument that chiefly persuades me into that belief is touched upon in my last note on Selkirk peel infra. 6 Stevenson, ii. 333. 7 Stevenson, ii. 361. 8 Stevenson, ii. 404, 405. Bain, ii. 11 12. sure keeping of the close outside the castle, strengthened hy a palisade — custodia clausi extra cast rum dc Loghmaban palitio firmati. This passage points with great clearness to the conclusion that the peel was this palisaded or stockaded close, forming an outer rampart extending the bounds and increasing the accommodation of the castle. In 1300 houses 1 had been made in the 'piel,' and in 1301 the ' pele ' was unsuccessfully assailed 2 by the Scots. In the writs relative to Lochmaben Castle in subsequent years, very many of them conjoin the peel with the castle,3 the full name and style of which was castntm ct pelum. In 1376 payments* were made for planks and to carpenters at the new front called ' la Pele,' and the entry distinctly contrasts with that which follows for ' stanworke' of the castle itself. So late as 1397 English writs refer to the castle and peel.s The nature of the peel of Lochmaben is thus tolerably definite. 2 . Dumfries : Still more so is the evidence from Dumfries. A castle was there, 6 just as at Lochmaben, before the peel was made by King Edward in the autumn of 1300. In September Friar Robert of Ulm and with him Adam of Glasham and many other carpenters were busy in the forest of Inglewood in Cumber- land making the peel, as the account? phrases it, which was to be set up round about the castle of Dumfries. King Edward visited them one day. The queen visited them another. 3 The exigencies of war demanded haste, and the work was pushed on with all possible energy. Soon we hear that the king has gone to Dumfries, perhaps escorting the workmen and the materials, 1 Stevenson, ii. 408. Les maisons quit ad fait en le piel de Loghmaban. 2 Stevenson, ii. 432. 3 In 1300 L.Q. 120; in 1304 Bain, ii. 1525; in 1334-36-37-38-41-56-60 ; Rot. Scot., i. 263. 264, 276, 280, 281, 399, 479, 550, 607, 793, 846. 4 Bain, iv. 231. 5 Bain, iv. 494. 6 Stevenson, ii. 333, 413 ; Exck. Rolls, i. 37 ; Rot. Scot., i. 7, 12. 7 L.Q. 165, Carpentanis facientibus pelum in foresla de Ingelwoode assidendum circa astrum de Dnmfres. 8 L.Q. 167. This entry repeats the phrase of the last one precisely. (pour lever son pel e efforcer le chastel) to raise his peel and strengthen the castle. 1 Cordage and other necessaries were purchased to bind up the timber" for conveyance to the peel, and other arrangements were made for the same purpose.3 Precise details are lacking as to the mode of conveyance, but whilst some of the material was transported by sea up the river Nith,4 it is probable that the bulk of it was conveyed by the workmen themselves under convoy of the expeditionary force, a part of which the king had reviewed^ at Carlisle on 15th October. On the 18th he appears to have reached Annan, 6 doubtless, with a detachment of his army on the march. Possibly the work of erecting the peel at Dumfries began before his arrival there, for the accounts? leave it uncertain how much of the work of the carpenters and others at the peel was done at Inglewood Forest, and how much on the spot. By the 20th of October, at latest, the task was being pushed briskly forward by all hands at Dumfries. Ditchers, carpenters and smiths toiled hard at the digging of ditches and planting and rearing of beams and palisades. The wages account shews that from first to last the carpenters (on an average to the number of over 60, but sometimes over 100 being employed) laboured for n weeks. The ditchers, numbering about 250, worked for a fortnight only. There were about two dozen smiths. It is obvious, there- fore, how greatly the carpenter-work predominated. The term employed 8 in the entries describing these labours is usually very general — for work {circa pelum) about the ' peel.' We are not told very precisely what was done by the 1 Stevenson, ii. 296. There can be no doubt that Father Stevenson is in error in assigning this letter to August, 1298. There was no peel being raised at Dumfries then. All the circumstances point clearly to the letter having been written in October, 1300. See the letter, note its contents, and compare— Bain, iii. 1154, 1164, 1165, 1171, 1172, 1174, 1 175 ; iv. p. 446 ; L.Q. 13, 73, 265. The matter cannot be discussed at greater length here. 2 L.Q. 74. 3 Bain, iv. ^83 ; L.Q. 265. 4 L. Q. 268. 5 L. Q. 260. 6 L.Q. 43- 7 L.Q. 264-5. S Operant turn circa peluw de Dumfres, L.Q. 6, 7, 264, 268; Pro factura et operacionc peli L.Q, 263 ; Fro pactum peli, L.Q. 265, 268; Pro pelo facicudo, L.Q. 26S. ditchers (fossatores) but one entry 1 makes express what otherwise would have gone without saying, that it was a fosse (fossatum) they were making. That entry shews that women were employed to clear out the ditch which the men had dug. By the 30th of October all was virtually complete. There still remained some wood-work to do, but broadly speaking the peel was finished. From these particulars it is easy to infer the character of King Edward's peel. A very odd entry 2 shews that an axe was borrowed to cut trees near Dumfries, ' for pales there.' The pales cut with that axe (which by the way was not returned to its owner) doubtless went, with hundreds of others, to the making of the peel. The castle appears to have had thrown round it, some little distance out from the walls, a strong palisade or stockade, beyond which again a large fosse was dug. This palisaded and moated enceinte constituted the peel. Within it buildings might be erected, such as barracks, or store rooms, or stables. The existence of houses in the peel at Lochmaben has been noticed. At Dumfries the same must have been the case, for there are three consecutive entries3 in the wages accounts — (1) for the cavalry in the castle (infra municionem castri) ; (2) for the cavalry in the peel, {infra municionem peli de Dumfres post constructional! ejusdem peli) ; and (3) for the engineers and others in the castle (infra municionem ejusdem castri), shewing by the clearest contrast, that the peel had a garrison of its own after 2nd November, 1300. 3. Linlithgoiu : In 1 30 1 King Edward spent the winter at Linlithgow, and instituted a series of extensive changes on the castle there. Here again he had a fortress already existing,-* and in spite of Lord Hailess to the contrary, I am satisfied from the records, that it is quite a mistake to say that he built a castle. Before proceeding to show from the contemporary authorities what he actually 1 L.Q. 269. 2 Bain, iv. 1783. 3 L. Q. 142-43. 4 Chastel de Linlithqu in 1296. See Stevenson, ii. 98. 5 Hailes' Annals, anno 1301. did, I shall briefly examine the statements ot Fordun and Wyntoun, from which erroneous inferences have been drawn. Fordun 1 says that in 130 1 the munidpium or peel of Linlithgow (munidpium scilicet Pel de Lithcii) was constructed by the King of England. 2 The same statement is made, with a curious variation by Wyntouns who says that — ' Wyth the Lang schankis this Edwardt, Kyng off Ingland, coyme efftyrwart, And Lynlythkow fayre and welle, Gert byg and mak thare the Pelle.' This passage plainly means that the King built Linlithgow itself, and made the peel. It seems to be not altogether improbable that Wyntoun mistook the meaning of munidpium, interpreting it in its classical sense as a town, and unaware of the medieval signification with which Fordun employed it. Munidpium in Low Latin* is used to denote an outer fortification, the adjunct to a castle or town — in short is a synonym for a peel, as defined by the facts at Lochmaben, Dumfries, and, as will be seen, Linlithgow also. The accounts for the making of the peel in November, 1301 (although the word peel is never used in it), is very explicit. It shows that it furnished employment to 80 ditchers for 8 days, and to 107 carpenters for the same period. Evidently, therefore, the work resembled in all respects that at Lochmaben and Dumfries. In the spring of 1302 considerable extensions were contracted for. 6 In the summer there was demand? for 30 more of the best carpenters, and the sending of 19 in July is on record. 8 In September v the work was so far advanced that there was nothing further? to do 'except 14 1 Fordun, Skene's ed. i. 332. -• A variant is given in a footnote— munidpium de Lynlicqu quod Anglice Pelc vocatur. This is the reading in the corresponding passage in Bower, ii. 220. 3 Wyntoun, viii. (end of chap. 15). 1 See passage cited by Du Cxage—muridpia cl incurtes prater castrum subvertens—hova Suger's Vie de Lous le Groi (edition of 1887 p. 133)- Compare Raoul Glaber (1886) p. 19 —municipia civitatum vol castrorum. These cannot denote the castle itself. 5 Stevenson, ii. 441. 6 Bain, ii. 13- 1 § 1 S- 7 Bain, ii. I3° 8 - 8 Bain, ii. 1398. 9 Bain, ii. 1324. perches of peel and 6 bretasches ' — these latter being 1 a species of wooden turrets usually accompanying peel-work. In 1303 we hear 3 of the ' Pele ' : in 1304 ofc the 'Pel': in 1305 of* the keeper (custos pcli regis) of the King's peel. Repairs executed in 1304, because a storms had broken down a bit of the peel and fosse (parte pcli et fossati), prove the close association of the two. From this time forward there are frequent allusions 6 to the peel, until 1311, when, as Barbour minutely describes, the place was won from the English, who had held it so long. He tells? us that — 1 At Lythkow wes than a pele, Mekill, and stark, and stuffyt wele.' and how the patriotic Scots essayed ' castellis and peyllis for to ta,' of which Linlithgow was one. The 'pele' and castle were captured by the stratagem of stopping a cart of hay in the gateway. In the Scottish Exchequer Rolls mention is made of the meadow 8 of the 'pele' (pratide le Pele de Lithqw); there are other references to the same effect,? and it is remarkable that to this day 10 the good people of Linlithgow apply the term 'the peel' not to the castle (as most writers apply it) but to the meadow ground outside the walls of the palace, and lying virtually all round it, forming a sort of headland jutting into the loch, and having the palace seated in the middle of it, near its southern boundary. There can be little doubt that local tradition has thus preserved the evidence of the position occupied by the extensive 1 Du Cange, voce bvclachice, Voillet-le-Duc voce bretesche. - Bain, ii. 1422. 3 Bain, ii. 1586. 4 Stevenson, ii. 494. 5 Bain iv, p. 459. 6 Rot. Scot., i. in. BaiD, iii. 121, 254, 317, 682, pp. 411-12. 7 Barbour's Bruce, book vii. 435. S Exch. Rolls, v. 588. 9 Reg. Magni Sigilli, 1546-90, No. 1768. See letter in 1599, by James VI., where com- plaint is made of encroachments which caused the loch to • overflow our peill and orchardis.' The inhabitants of the burgh used to bleach their clothes in the ' peel.' Waldie's History of Linlithgow, 1858, pp. 76-77. 10 My attention was drawn to this by Dr. Dickson of the Register House, whom it is a great pleasure to thank for his kindly interest in this paper. 8 stockaded or palisaded and moated close which Edward I. added to Linlith- gow Castle. 4. Selkirk: Whilst the work was still going on at Linlithgow, another peel was in hand at Selkirk. According to the Scalacronica it was Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who made it. 1 'At Selkirk, the said Eymer (fist afermer mi ptele) caused a ' piele ' to be fortified.' The existence of a castle at Selkirk was of old standing, as it is mentioned in a charter of David I. It was a residence of the kings of Scotland certainly as late as the time 2 of Alexander III. Probably, however, it was of no great account as a fortress in 1302. The accounts3 for the making of this peel are very like those for the others. There were employed carpenters, masons, hewers, smiths, barrowmen^ (baiardi), wood-cutters felling trees in the forest, ditchers, carriers, and women carrying hods (hottas) of lime and fuel. At Selkirk, however, a tower was built which would appear to have been of woods as the western doorway in it is specially referred to as having been 'faced with stone,' a phrase incompatible with a stone building, In September one memorandum 6 states that there are 14 perches of ' pele ' made, and another adds that there are 43 perches of ' pel ' yet to make, whilst the stonework of the chief gate is raised above ground to the drawbridge. Sir Alexander de Balliol was made keeper 8 of the new fortress. Looking to the nature of it as defined in the accounts, we cannot wonder that it was 1 Scalacronica, 127. I think it is very doubtful whether it was he that made it, but for present purposes that point is of no account. 2 Scots Acts, (Thomson) i. (red ink pages) 91, 390-2, 405; Melrose Cartulary, 274; Craig Brown's Selkirkshire, i. 10. 3 Bain iv, 468-9. 4 Baiardi'. compare baiardores, Bain iv, 1786. From baiard, a hand-barrow. See New English Dictionary voc. baiardour, bayard. 5 Bain ii, 1324 p. 339-40. 6 Ibid. p. 340. 7 Ibid. s Bain, ii. p. 337. called a peel. Indeed the instructions 1 for its erection were that it was to be 'a pele with a stone gateway.' This, and this alone, it was. 2 The peel was not long held. The 'roaring sweep of border fray' soon bore it out of the English grasp. Alexander de Balliol was pardoneds by King Edward in 1305 'for the loss of the pele of Selkirk.' The last entry I have noticed 4 about it in a military capacity is in 131 1. The name, notwithstanding, was tenacious. Lands called 'le Pele' are repeatedly on records in the Selkirk accounts for the fifteenth century. The Peilhill, Pielhill, or Pelehill 6 also, certainly the site of the Peel and locally believed to have been the site of the old castle as well,? is frequently mentioned in early writings, and is still well- known. The fosse dug in 1302 is referred to in 1535 as the Peel-seugh — and is visible to this day. 8 Even the stockade or other wood-work, which distinctively constituted the peel, appears also to be alluded to in the mention 9 in 1535 of the 'auld barros'in close connection with the Peel-seuch. Now, barras or barrers (with a wide variety of spellings) has two main meanings, one being the lists for knightly encounters, 10 the other being the palisade in front 1 Bain, ii. 1722. I think this writ clearly belongs to the summer of 1302. The date- fixing reference to the ' K's last Parliament at London ' must mean that of June, 1302. See Stubbs' Select Charters (1884), p. 446. 2 Mr. Craig Brown, in his Selkirkshire, appears to favour the view that it was a regular stone castle that was built. I see no evidence of this. If there was a castle, why is it virtually unheard of ever after ? 3 Bain, ii. 1649. 4 Bain, iii. 218. 3 Exch. Rolls, v. 400, 440 ; viii. 104. 6 Exck. Rolls, viii. 4 ; Kclours, Selkirkshire, 1, 5, 65, 91 ; Reg. Mag. Si-:, ii. year 1509, No. 3388. 7 Craig Brown's Selkirkshire, ii. 10. 8 Craig Brown's Selkirkshire, ii. pp. io, 41. 9 Craig Brown's Selkirkshire, ii. p. 41. 10 I may cite the index of Trial by Combat for many references. IO of a fortress. 1 I have little doubt that the latter sense 2 belonged to the 'auld barros' in the records at Selkirk in 1535. 5. Berwick; These are all the clear cases known to me of peels made in Scotland by Edward I., but there is yet one other piece of evidence as to the nature of these fortifications which is of exceptional interest for more reasons than one. I have purposely kept it out of its chronological place because it might con- ceivably be argued that it is not a true peel. When the war of independence broke out and King Edward was besieging Berwick, he was assailed with derisive shouts by the inhabitants of the town, who jeered at him in rhyme. 3 " Kyng Edward wanne thu havest Berwic pike the ; Wanne thu havest geten dike the." The reason for the taunt is not explained by the historians, but it is not impossible that some encampment with digging of ditches and making of palisades on the north side of Berwick — between the town and the Scots, perhaps in rear of the English army — may have occasioned the taunt, which was cruelly avenged by the slaughter of 8,000 citizens after the rampart had been stormed. Be the explanation what it may, Edward literally accepted the jeering counsel given to him, and proceeded to secure Berwick by greatly strengthening its fortifications. He made a great ditch 80 feet in breadth and 40 feet deep.* One versions of a rhyme made by the victorious Englishmen reads thus ; " Picket him and diket him, in skorn seiden he,6 Nu piketh he7 it and diketh it his owen for to be." 1 New Eng, Dictionary, voce Barrace. - The same consideration has led me to alter the opinion I once held about the site of Lochmaben Castle. The fact, that the Barras at Lochmaben is near the old site of the castle and in the town, convinces me that when the peel was made, the castle was on its old site, now known as the Castlehill, not its present one. This matter is, however, too large to handle here. 3 Rishanger (U.S.) 373. Even more objectionable insults were levelled at him from the walls. See Lanercost Chron. 173. 4 Ilemingburgh ii. 99. 5 Quoted in Wright's Political Songs (Camden .Society) p. 392 ; to be compared with p. 2S6, also with Langtoft {R.S.) ii. 234. 6 i.e. The jeering Scot. 7 i.e. King Edward. 1 1 The meaning of this I suppose to be that, taking the sneering Scot at his word, King Edward 'diket him* by making the great fosse, and 'piket him' by erecting a serried line of palisades — not unfitly to be called pikes — along the bank. This is not a priori reasoning, it is history ; for Rishanger 1 tells us circumstantially that the King, not forgetful of the banter and taunting of the Scots, ordered the fosse 2 to be dug, and 'great and long pales ' to be planted on the summit of the bank, which was heightened by the dug-out earth. Indeed, so eager was the great Plantagenet over the work that, with his own royal hand, he laboured 3 with hod or barrow in the trench. The nature of this fortification fully explains why in a document* of the year 1300, special provision is made 'for the defence of the town and pele.' The sum and substance of the evidence afforded by the operations of Edward I. in Scotland is decisive that the peel, as made by him, was radically a moated palisade, usually forming the enceinte of an existing castle which needed either to have its strength increased or its accommodation extended. II. — English-made Peels from 1307 to 1336. 6. Perth: Passing with mere mention the peel of Livingstones (concerning the original nature of which nothing substantial is known except that it was garrisoned by the troops of Edward), the fortifications of Perth fall next to be considered. In 1307 orders 6 had been issued for the fortification of Perth, with which the 1 Rishanger (A'. S.) 375. 2 Langtoft (A'.lS'.) ii, 234, says much the same ; li Le fit environer de fosse large ei lec, En reprovante le Escot ke ad de ly chaunte" 3 El lit dicebatiir, ipsemel cum vehiculo terrain porlabat ut foveam accumularet. Rishanger, id supra. Another royal ditcher was St. Louis at Jaffa in 1 252-53. See Joinville, ed. Wailly, 1888, § 517, 4 Rain, ii. 1 1 71. I have met with no other allusion to the Rerwick psel. 5 Rain, iii. p. 411. In 131 1 there was a garrison in mutticione peli de Z< ivingestone. In late times it had a tower defended by au earthen rampart and a wide fosse. In 1594 this house is referred to as the Place of the Peill of Levingstoun. Reg. Privy Council of Scotland, v. 193. 6 Rain, ii. 1912. 12 burgesses appear to have complied ; for, some two years later, they complained" that no allowance had been granted them for the costs they had incurred in making (entour cele pielle e le fosse) a ' pielle ' and fosse. More than twenty years afterwards these fortifications come very curiously to light in the records of the usurpation of Edward Balliol. In 1332, having, by the aid of his English and disaffected Scottish allies, defeated the Scottish army at the battle of Dupplin, he took possession of Perth. Its fortifications were old and decayed, but as he anticipated an early attack from the Earl of Fife, he immediately repaired them. The Scalacroniat 1 says the repairs consisted of dressing up anew the old fosses and restoring their guard of bretasches. Another chronicles says to the same effect that he strengthened the ruined fortifications (cum palis et tabulis) with pales and planks ; whilst Knighton says that he fortified-* the town (cum larga fossura et de palo) with a large fosse and a palisade. There was urgent need for these precautions, for the Earl was hovering in the rear. A stratagem of hiss recalls the incident in Shakespeare's Macbeth, where, according to the astonished messenger, the wood began to move, forcing Macbeth to believe that the weird sisters' saying was fulfilled, and Birnam Wood was come to Dunsinane. " The Earl Patrick, with his army, hastened to the wood of Lambirkin, where " he commanded them to make up loads and bundles of tree boughs and " branches to fill up the ante-mural fosses of Perth, and to advance with them " towards the town. But the men in the town, seeing as it were a thorn-wood 6 " marching towards them, were greatly afraid. However, putting themselves in 1 Bain, iii. 68; Nat. MSS. Scot., part ii. No. 15. ■■ Scalacron, p. 160, enfermerent la vile en rcperaillaunt In veutz fossez qc chescun reperailla sa gard de bretage. 3 Chronicles of Edward I. and 11. (R.S.), ii. 107. The Lanercost Chron., 269, says Perth was unwalled — ' non niurata.' 4 Knigton (R.S.), 1464. 5 Bower, ii. 36. 6 Priiinosum nemus. This is translated by Wyntoun as 'hare wod,' which literally renders pruinosus = hoar or frosty. I do not understand this, and have, much doubting, preferred to suppose that the word vi&s prztnosus. 13 "a posture of defence to safeguard the town, they waited in astonishment the "attack (adventum exercitus nemorosi) of the woody army." 1 The woody army, however, unlike that of Malcolm when Macbeth 'tried the last' at Dunsinane, failed in its purpose to storm the ' pielle ' of Perth, which, with its fosse and wooden wall/ appears to have resembled in all particulars those of its predecessors in other places. 7. Liddell: The brightest of recent county historians devotes a single, brief, and quite inadequate sentence^ to one of the finest historic remains in Cumberland. ' Liddell Moat,' he says, 'was probably the original caput baronia* [of Liddell], and its vast earthworks are remarkable for size and preservation.' The Moat stands nobly picturesque on the Liddell, near its junction with the Esk. It is a series of very deep and broad trenches, isolating and strongly fortifying a great mound — called by Dr. Skene* a ' magnificent hill-fort ' — of which the northern side was already still more strongly guarded by the high and steep — indeed precipitous — river-bank. It is on English soil — soil which never was ' debatable.' It is, in spite of the silence of the county history, unquestionably the spot on which stood the castle of Lidel, which was taken s in 1 1 74 by King William the Lion. In 1282 when an 'extent' was made of the manor of ' Lydel in Cumberland,' it was recorded by the jury 6 that ' there is at Lydel the site of a castle ' with some buildings on it in bad repair. In 1300 an indenture? was entered into for 'repairing the mote and the fosses around ; strengthening and re-dressing the same and the pele and the 1 Wyntoun, viii. ch. 26, tells the same story, incidentally referring to the making of ' brettys ' or bretasches by the town's defenders. 2 Described by R. de Avesbury as made, ' cum fossis et anlris recipientibtts aquam currentem in circuitu et maris ligneis? Murimuth, etc. (K.S. ) 29S. 3 R. S. Ferguson's Cumberland, 171. 4 Celtic Scotland, i. 157. 5 Benedictus Abbas {R.S. ), i. 65. ; Bain, i. 685. 6 Bain, ii. 208. The site of the castle is again referred to in 1349 ; Bain, iii. I54 2 - 7 Bain, ii. 1173. 14 palisades, and making lodges within the mote, if necessary, for the safety of the men at arms of the garrison.' Hence it is easy to understand, why it is referred to about 1310 as T the 'Piel of Ledel,' and in 13 19 as -'the 'Pele of Lidell.' Various chroniclers give it the same name in their narratives of the event of 1346 — the chief fact in its history. On his expedition into England in that year — an enterprise which resulted in his utter defeat at Durham, where he was taken prisoner— David II., the ill-starred son of Robert the Bruce, after crossing the border besieged the place, which was held by Walter of Selby. One chronicle" calls it 'the fortalice (fortalitiitm) of Lidelle,' another, 4 ' the Pyle of Lydelle,' another, 5 ' the pile of Lidel.' Wyntoun ° calls it ' Peel off Lyddale ' and ' Pelle.' In the pages of Bower it bears the interesting name 7 ' municipium de Lidallis? Most important of all, however, and conclusive as to the geographical identity of this peel with the old castle of the Stutevilles and the Wakes, is the testimony of Galfridus le Baker, s who calls it 'a manor place (qitoddam manerium domincr dc Wake vocatum Ludedeiv 9 ) of the lady of Wake.' The defence was conducted with such gallantry that it was not until the fourth day, in the morning before daybreak, that an assault could be under- taken. The great ditch was filled up with wood and earth and fascines : the Scots, covered by their shields, advanced to the attack : with iron tools they tore down the foundations of its walls or ramparts ; and at last they took by storm the stubborn peel. Walter of Selby, its captive captain, vainly appealing to the king's justice and mercy, was beheaded, with an aggravated vindictiveness 1 Bain, iii. 219. 2 Bain, iii. 675. ■• Lanercost Chron. 345. The fortalititium is exactly preserved in one of its modern names of Liddell Strength. 4 Parkington, ap Leland T. i. p. 470, cited in Hailes' Annals anno 1346. 3 Scalacronica (Leland's translation) 301. 6 Wyntoun, viii. 6140-45. 7 Bower, ii. 340. Compare observations on municipium, supra, p. 6. 8 Galf. le Baker, ed. Giles, p. 170, see also Bain, i. 1557. ! ' Ludedew is obviously the blunder of a copyist. A double 1 in some old MSS. is easily mistaken for a \v. *5 unworthy of chivalry. 1 No one who has stood on the Strength of Liddell and in its mighty fosses will wonder at the gallant tenacity of its defence. In the case of this peel there was no castle : there were great ditches : and the palisade constructed in 1300 may not improbably have been supplemented by works more durable. But to the last its characteristics assign it to the generic category of peel, a fort defended by a moated palisade. Thus far the evidence with singular unanimity has gone to shew that a peel was essentially a structure of wood. In the example next to be considered we shall for the first time find a new element combining with wood in the construction. 8. Kinross Fort. In 1335 the castle of Lochleven, held by the national party, was besieged by the Balliol faction, whose forces consisted of Englishmen and Anglified Scots. To blockade the island-castle the besiegers made a fort in St. Serf's Cemetery, near Kinross. This fort is never expressly named as a peel. Bower calls 2 it a ' fortalicium,' and Wyntoun," a ' fortalys.' That in character it was near akin to a peel is, however, apparent from the description given of its construction. Bellenden, translating Boece, says 4 the besiegers ' maid thair bastailyeis and trinscheis of fale and devat 5 in the kirkyard of Sanct Sarfe beside Kinrosse.' The original passage in Boece's history as printed 6 does not contain an equivalent of this description of a fortress of sod, although a few lines further on Boece mentions 7 the making of a dam or agger with stones, trees, and sods {lapides, arbores, cespites), which dam Bellenden further describes 8 as 'ane high dyke . . . biggit . . . with fale, devat, and trees.' There is other and better evidence that the Kinross fort was indeed 1 In 1358 Selby's son was served heir to his father, who was, as the jury testified, 'slain by the Scots in the pele of Lydelle.' Bain, iii. 1670. -Bower, ii. 313. : Wyntoun, viii. cli. 29. 4 Bellenden's Boece (1S21), ii. 426. 5 Feal and Divot =turf, sods. See Jamieson's Dictionary. 6 Boece (1574), folio 317. 7 Ibid. 317 verso. s Bellenden's Boece, ii. 426. 1 6 so made, for Bower calls 1 it a fortalice of sod (fortalidum de k falc) and the Book of Pluscarden, still more explicit, says 2 its garrison made a strength in the churchyard, (gkbis terrceque murantes firmaverunt et palis circumdederunt) walling it with turf and surrounding it with pales. It would, therefore, seem that this fort wanted little except the name to make it a peel. Certain of its characteristics 3 may be found illustrative hereafter. y. Stirling. In 1336 Edward III., in prosecution of his designs for the conquest of Scotland, made large additions 4 to the fortifications of various castles. In particular between the autumn of that year and the following summer he executed extensive alterations on the castle of Stirling. The chronicle of Lanercost 5 says, that in room of the castle which had been destroyed he made a fort {presidium quod Peel Angliee vocabatttr) which, in English, was called a peel. In the accounts 6 rendered by the keeper of the castle the costs of the peel {custus peli) are fully set forth. The part selected for special strengthening was the inner bailey, a term which I understand to imply the inner ward or second line of defence of the castle. Possibly there was a ditch already there. Possibly the level of the inner bailey was so much higher than that of the outer or lower bailey as to make a ditch superfluous. At any rate the change now effected was to make a peel of this inner bailey 1 Bower, ii. 313. 2 Liber Pluscardensis, i. 272. " Extensive use was made of sods by the English in their operations in Scotland about this time. In 1335-36 repairs at Edinburgh Castle included earth and turf for daubing and roofing divers houses (terrain et turbas pro daubatura et pro coopertura diversarum domorum), and for the making of walls of turf (facientibus muros de turbis et fodicntibus turbas J, and the digging of the turf. — See Bain, iii. p. 348. At Stirling in 1336-37 an account of wages pro coopertura, paid to the cutters of ' flaghturfs ' (fod/enc/um turbos vocatas flaghturfs), shows that these turves — thin moory-surfaced sods are still called ' flaghs ' or ' flax ' in Southern Scotland, and the spade that cuts them is called ' flacterspade ' (= of course to ' flaghturf- spade ') — were for roofing purposes. Indeed one item is for the wages of men (cooperiencinm super dictas domos aim turbis) ' covering over said houses with turf.' — Bain, iii. p. 365. 4 Hailes' Annals, sub anno 1336. 5 Lanercost Chron., 2S7. 6 Bain, iii. pp. 364 to 368. '7 (pelam interioris battii ex parte boriali castri), in other words, to make the inner bailey a peel. The work appears to have been begun in November, 1336, and to have been finished about the end of the following March. The men engaged were T2 carpenters with 14 assistants for three weeks, 4 sawyers for one month, and 48 workmen for fifty-five days digging and ' daubing ' a clayey mud or muddy clay. There are also mentioned 800 wicker hurdles for the work. 1 On a consideration of all the items in the account, it would seem that the peel of Stirling resembled the earlier peels in all respects save one. If there was no entry for digging a ditch, that was presumably because no ditch was necessary. The wood work is abundantly evident. But one great outstand- ing fact remains — unaccounted for by anything we have yet found in the accounts for the making of any other peel. What means the mud or clay ? It was carried in hods (in hottis) \ it was tempered in mortar, which itself, perhaps, was largely composed of clay; 2 it was used 'to daub the said peel' (pro dicta pela dattbat/da), or as it is alternatively expressed (daubancium parietes peic) for daubing the walls or sides of the peel. We must have regard also to the distribution of time and labour — here in marked contrast to the proportions at Dumfries and Linlithgow. There the burden and heat of the day fell on the carpenters : here it fell not on the carpenters but on the ' daubers,' who were far more in number and far longer employed. These contrasting facts are of the utmost significance. Before 1 Under the heading ' Custtis pete cas/ri et ingeniorum ' are the entries specially relative to the peel, — for the wages of ' xij ' carpentariorum (for three weeks in November, \%$(j)facimcitim quondam pelam interioris battii ex parte boriali castri,' and for 14 men helping them *in levacione ejusdem pete,' also for 4 sawyers (for thirty days in January and February, 1337) sawing posts, joists, and planks 'tarn pro portis castri qiiam bretagis pete.' Also for ' due dais . . . pro scaffaldis in dicta pela hide faciendis ei super costibus exterioribus ejusdem attac/iiandis.' Also for 48 diggers for fifty-five days after 4th February, 'fodiencium latum pro dicta pela daubanda Mud portancium in liottis, cic tempcrancium in mortario, et dauban- cium parietes pele predicte.' — Bain, iii. pp. 366-7. I have Mr. Bain's authority for the corrected reading ' lutum ' in this last passage instead of ' littum ' as printed in the calendar. I have to thank Mr. Bain for his trouble in re-examining the roll at my request, as well as for other courtesies. A-, regards hot/a, a hod, compare Fr. hotte. - Wages were paid to men 'fodiencium argillum illud similiter et aquam portancium infra castrum, mortarium inde faciendum.' — Bain, iii. p. 365. i8 the stress- was upon the wood : here it was upon the clay. Nor must the 800 wicker hurdles be forgotten, an adequate accounting for which is obviously essential to the cohesion of any explanation. To me it appears that there is only one conclusion possible, and that the whole circumstances necessitate the induction that the peel of Stirling was of the type still known in Southern Scotland as a 'clay-daubing' — a structure 1 in which a series of strongly jointed posts and beams formed the framework of a thick mud wall or wall of clay, to which the wattled wicker added cohesive strength. This conclusion is rendered a certainty by the fact that in this very year 1336, Edward III. strengthened the fortifications of Perth with {luteo muro spisso) a thick mud wall, 2 which Wyntoun :; calls ' the mwde wall dykis.' Obviously the peel-work had developed during the course of the 14th century. A clay-daubed wall, with ribs and beams of timber at its heart, 4 was an advance upon the primal palisade. A clay-daubing (such as the ' auld clay biggin ' in which Robert Burns first saw the light) is as impervious to fire as a stone building. This from a military standpoint was an advantage of the first moment. III. — Other Early Peels. If Blind Harry 5 might be trusted there would be ground for believing that in Wallace's time there was a peel at Gargunnock. G On Gargownno was byggyt a small peill That warnyst was with men and wiltail weile, Within a dyk baith closs, chawmer, and hall. 1 See Jamieson's Dictionary, voce ' Cat and Clay ' for a description of rural work of this kind. I have had it described to me by persons who had seen and taken part in it. The ' cat ' was the wisp of straw, or the like, used in working the clay into a sufficiently dry and cohesive state. These buildings were capable of being very quickly erected and by unskilled labour. There was often a merrymaking to signalise such an occasion. My grandfather, who died twenty years ago aged ninety, has told me of his being present at such gatherings in Dumfriesshire. ' Wattle and daub ' is another name for the same kind of work. 2 Lancrcost Chron. 286. 3 Wyntoun, viii. 5558. See also Bower, ii. 307. 4 Churches were made of this kind of material. See Du Cange, voce luteus. 5 Wallace, iv. 213. 8 The wood for the peel of Stirling in 1336 was from this place. 19 The passage is at least decisive that the minstrel's conception of a peel did not greatly differ from that set forth in this paper. It was not a castle : it was a fortified close surrounded by a ditch — for of course Harry's ' dyk ' has that meaning. 1 We are on surer historic ground as to the making of a peel by Robert the Bruce. In 1326 he paid for 2 the construction of a new peel (unius pek nove) at West Tarbert, in the vicinity of his castle there. The mason who built the latter made the former also — a fact of some suggestiveness. Not a few peels come fitfully under notice in the 14th century, concerning which there is little information extant, so that only their spellings call for mention here. I cite those which I have observed, premising that I have no doubt scores of others could be found. The 'pile' of Horton :! is named in 1316, the 'piles' of Boltone and Wytingam 4 in 13 18, and the 'peel' of Heyheved 5 in 1322, these being all English. In Scotland we hear in 1333 of a fortalice (fortalicium quod tunc Anglice vocabahtr Pek) then called in English a ' pele.' In connection with this latter a highly interesting contrast is drawn. Wyn- toun speaks 7 of ' foure castellis and a pelle,' equivalent to Bower's s corre- ponding quatuor castris cum uno fortalitio — a sharp distinction indicating that the difference between peel and castle was not a mere question of size. I have found few other notices of 14th century historical peels, except in general charter references to cast mm el pelum or castrum pelum et fortalitiun: 1 The ditch appears from 'Piers Ploughman,' passus xix. line 13684-7,10 have been an essential. The people are commanded ' For to delven a dych Depe aboute Unitee That holy chirche stode in Unitee As it a pyl weere.' 2 Exch. Rolls, i. 53. :i Hcalacron., 301. Trokelow (R.S.) 101, calls it pelum. 1 Pain, iii. 632. ' I.anercost Chron. 250. ,; Power, ii. 311. Wyntoun, viii. end or chap. 27. 7 Wyntoun, viii. 4007. 8 Power, ii. 311. 9 See references supra to Lochmaben ; also Du Cange, voce Pcla. Rymer in 1336, 261I1 January. 20 —references which, if they prove nothing, illustrate the distinction between castle and peel. During the wars of Balliol and Edward III. there are, however, some rather confusing references. Thus Bower mentions 1 the tower (turn's) of Kenmore, which Boece calls 2 a castle (castellum) and Wyntoun 3 a 'pele.' Similarly Fordun 4 names the castle (castrum) of Leuchars, which Wyntoun again designates 5 as a 'pele.' Such references to a time of rapid building and as rapid demolition of castles and fortresses are capable of another explana- tion, but they certainly suggest the probability that the term peel was coming in the 15th and 16th centuries to be used in a less severely technical sense than formerly. IV. — Peels of the i6th centurv. I have met with few or no historical instances of peels in the 15th century/ To all appearance the peel system of the Borders, originating in the harrassing warfare and feuds and the unceasing spoliations of the march territory, was not in full operation until the 16th century. A clue to the gradually changing meaning of the word, and at the same time an explanation of the prevalence of peels on the Border, is afforded by an Act of the Scottish Legislature in 1535. It must be examined with the microscopic eye. 1 For Bigging of Strenthis on the Bordouris. Item, 7 It is statut and ordanit for saiffing of men thare gudis and gere upoun the bordoris in tyme of were and all uther trublous tyme, That every andit man duelland in the Inland or upon the bordouris havand thare ane hundreth pund land of new extent sail big ane sufficient barmkyn apoun his heretage and landis in place maist convenient of stane and lyme contenand 1 Bower, ii. 321. 2 Boece, 319 verso. Bellenden, ii. 430. "Wyntoun, viii. 47°9- 4 Forclun, i. 362. Bower, ii. 3 2 3. 3 2 4- 5 Wyntoun, viii. 5009. 6 Acta Dominormn, p. 54, has ' The Belle : as a place name. ' Scots Acts (Thomson), ii. 346. 21 thre score futis of the square ! ane eln thick and vj. elnys heicht for the ressett and defens of him his tennentis and ther gudis in trublous tyme \vt ane toiire in the samin for him self gif he thinkis it expedient : And that all uthcr landit men of smallar rent and revenew big pelis and gret strenthis as thai pies for saifing of thare selfis men tennentis and gudis : And that all the saidis strenthis barmkynnis and pelis be biggit and completit within twa yeris under the pane.' 2 There is in this enactment a marked contrast between a barmkin ' of stanc and lyme ' on the one hand, and a peel on the other, but the difference between them does not extend to the purpose, which in both cases was ' the saiffing of men thare gudis and gere upoun the bordoris.' The difference was a question of expense turning upon the material used in the construction. The barmkin was of stone and lime ; the inference is irresistible that ordi- narily the peel was not so. The purpose of peel and barmkin alike was to serve as a place of refuge in time of trouble not only for the men, women, and children, but also for their goods and cattle. These minor strengths were indispensable in that wild marauding time. Buchanan 3 appears to refer to the peels under the Latin term propiignacula when he mentions alongside of the castles (aires) of the higher classes these propiignacula of the lower orders, who, he says, have them as a provision against sudden incursions and are in the habit of protecting themselves and their possessions in them. There is a sad penury of witnesses to the character of these peels, or as English writers usually called them, ' piles.' The endless allusions to their downfall give us no clear statement as to what they were. There are extant in our historical literature only two or three passages which in any way tend to explain away the -difficulty of the Act of 1535 — the question, namely, what the peels were made of, if they were not of stone and lime. John Lesley, 1 That is, the barmkin was to be square, each side to measure 60 feci, and the walls to lie 3 feet thick and 18 feet high. - The penally is not staled ; as if the statute had never been verbally completed. 3 Buchanan, xiv. chap. 17, sub anno 1522, ' Utriusque prowncia aires cum maxim poteniiorum nee leviore plebis (qu