X THE BRUCE WRITTEN IN 1375 BY JOHN BARBOUR.
Reading edition
John Barbour was archdeacon of Aberdeen, an auditor of the Scottish exchequer, and a royal pensioner. Consequently a number of isolated records of his activities have been preserved. In 1364 he was granted a safe-conduct to travel with four students to Oxford. In 1365 and 1368 he had permission to travel through England so that he might study in France. The notices of his journeys, his offices, and his rewards point to a busy and successful life. He died in 1395.
According to Wyntoun, Barbour's works were (1) The Bruce; (2) The Stewartis Oryginalle (or Pedigree of the Stewarts), now lost; (3) a Brut, which some have identified with extant fragments of a Troy Book (see the prefatory note to No. VII), and others with (2) The Stewartis Oryginalle.
The Bruce is found in two late MSS., both copied by John Ramsay; the first, St. John's College, Cambridge, MS. G 23, in the year 1487; the second, now at the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, in 1489. It has been edited by Skeat for the Early English Text Society, and for the Scottish Text Society. The poem is valuable for the history, more especially the traditional history, of the period 1304-33. Barbour speaks of it as a romance, and the freedom and vividness of the narrative, with its hero-worship of Robert Bruce and Douglas, place it well above the ordinary chronicle. But far from disclaiming historical accuracy, Barbour prides himself that truth well told should have a double claim to popularity:
Storys to rede ar delitabill Suppos that thai be nocht bot fabill: Than suld storys that suthfast wer, And thai war said on gud maner, Hawe doubill plesance in heryng: The fyrst plesance is the carpyng, And the tothir the suthfastnes, That schawys the thing rycht as it wes.
He did not misjudge the taste of his country, and The Bruce, with which the Scottish contribution to English literature begins, long held its place as the national epic of Scotland.
The specimen describes an incident in the unsuccessful siege of Berwick, 1319.
THE BRUCE, Bk. xvii, ll. 593 ff. St. John's College (Cambridge) MS. G 23 (A.D. 1487).
Thai <that> at the sege lay, Or it wes passit the fift day, Had maid thame syndry apparale To gang eftsonis till assale. Of gret gestis ane sow thai maid 5 That stalward heling owth it had, With armyt men enew tharin, And instrumentis als for to myne. Syndry scaffatis thai maid vithall That war weill hyar than the wall, 10 And ordanit als that by the se The toune suld weill assalȝeit be. And thai vithin that saw thame swa So gret apparale schap till ma, Throu Crabbis consale, that ves sle, 15 Ane cren thai haf gert dres vp hye, Rynand on quhelis, that thai mycht bring It quhar neid war of mast helping. And pik and ter als haf thai tane, And lynt <and> hardis, with brynstane, 20 And dry treis that weill wald byrne, And mellit syne athir othir in; And gret flaggatis tharof thai maid, Gyrdit with irnebandis braid; Of thai flaggatis mycht mesurit be 25 Till a gret twnnys quantité. Thai flaggatis, byrnand in a baill, With thair cren thoucht thai till availl, And, gif the sow come to the wall, Till lat thame byrnand on hir fall, 30 And with ane stark cheyne hald thame thar Quhill all war brint <vp> that ves thar. Engynys alsua for till cast Thai ordanit and maid redy fast, And set ilk man syne till his ward; 35 And Schir Valter, the gude Steward, With armyt men suld ryde about, And se quhar at thar var mast dout, And succur thar with his menȝhe. And quhen thai into sic degré 40 Had maid thame for thair assaling, On the Rude-evyn in the dawing, The Inglis host blew till assale. Than mycht men with ser apparale Se that gret host cum sturdely. 45 The toune enveremyt thai in hy, And assalit with sa gud will,— For all thair mycht thai set thartill,— That thai thame pressit fast of the toune. Bot thai that can thame abandoune 50 Till ded, or than till woundis sare, So weill has thame defendit thare That ledderis to the ground thai slang, And vith stanys so fast thai dang Thair fais, that feill thai left lyand, 55 Sum ded, sum hurt, and sum swavnand. Bot thai that held on fut in hy Drew thame avay deliuerly, And skunnyrrit tharfor na kyn thing, Bot went stoutly till assalyng; 60 And thai abovin defendit ay, And set thame till so harde assay, Quhill that feill of thame voundit war, And thai so gret defens maid thar, That thai styntit thair fais mycht. 65 Apon sic maner can thai ficht Quhill it wes neir noyne of the day. Than thai without, in gret aray, Pressit thair sow toward the wall; And thai within weill soyne gert call 70 The engynour that takyne was, And gret manans till him mais, And swoir that he suld de, bot he Provit on the sow sic sutelté That he tofruschyt hir ilke deill. 75 And he, that has persauit weill That the dede wes neir hym till, Bot gif he mycht fulfill thar will, Thoucht that he all his mycht vald do: Bendit in gret hy than wes scho, 80 And till the sow wes soyn evin set. In hye he gert draw the cleket, And smertly swappit out the stane, That evyn out our the sow is gane, And behynd hir a litill we 85 It fell, and than thai cryit hye That war in hir: 'Furth to the wall, For dreid<les> it is ouris all.' The engynour than deliuerly Gert bend the gyne in full gret hy, 90 And the stane smertly swappit out. It flaw <out> quhedirand with a rout, And fell richt evin befor the sow. Thair hertis than begouth till grow, Bot ȝeit than with thair mychtis all 95 Thai pressit the sow toward the wall, And has hir set tharto iuntly. The gynour than gert bend in hy The gyne, and swappit out the stane, That evin toward the lift is gane, 100 And with gret wecht syne duschit doune Richt by the wall, in a randoune, That hyt the sow in sic maner That it that wes the mast summer, And starkast for till stynt a strak, 105 In swndir with that dusche he brak. The men ran out in full gret hy, And on the wallis thai can cry That 'thair sow ferryit wes thair!' Iohne Crab, that had his geir all ȝar, 110 In his faggatis has set the fyre, And our the wall syne can thame wyre, And brynt the sow till brandis bair. With all this fast assalȝeand war The folk without, with felloune ficht; 115 And thai within with mekill mycht Defendit manfully thar stede Intill gret auentur of dede. The schipmen with gret apparale Com with thair schippes till assale, 120 With top-castellis warnist weill, And wicht men armyt intill steill; Thair batis vp apon thair mastis Drawyn weill hye and festnyt fast is, And pressit with that gret atour 125 Toward the wall. Bot the gynour Hit in ane hespyne with a stane, And the men that war tharin gane Sum dede, sum dosnyt, <come doun> vyndland. Fra thine furth durst nane tak vpon hand 130 With schippes pres thame to the vall. But the laiff war assalȝeand all On ilk a syde sa egyrly, That certis it wes gret ferly That thai folk sic defens has maid, 135 For the gret myscheif that thai had: For thair wallis so law than weir That a man richt weill with a sper Micht strik ane othir vp in the face, As eir befor tald till ȝow was; 140 And feill of thame war woundit sare, And the layf so fast travaland war That nane had tume rest for till ta, Thair aduersouris assailȝeit swa. Thai war within sa stratly stad 145 That thar wardane with him had Ane hundreth men in cumpany Armyt, that wicht war and hardy, And raid about for till se quhar That his folk hardest pressit war, 150 Till releif thame that had mister, Com syndry tymes in placis ser Quhar sum of the defensouris war All dede, and othir woundit sare, Swa that he of his cumpany 155 Behufit to leiff thair party; Swa that, be he ane cours had maid About, of all the men he had Thair wes levit with him bot ane, That he ne had thame left ilkane 160 To releve quhar he saw mister. And the folk that assalȝeand wer At Mary-ȝet behevin had The barras, and a fyre had maid At the drawbrig, and brynt it doune, 165 And war thringand in gret foysoune Richt in the ȝet, ane fire till ma. And thai within gert smertly ga Ane to the wardane, for till say How thai war set in hard assay. 170 And quhen Schir Valter Steward herd How men sa stratly with thame ferd, He gert cum of the castell then All that war thar of armyt men,— For thar that day assalȝeit nane,— 175 And with that rout in hy is gane Till Mary-ȝet, and till the wall Is went, and saw the myscheif all, And vmbethoucht hym suddandly, Bot gif gret help war set in hy 180 Tharto, thai suld burne vp the ȝet With the fire he fand tharat. Tharfor apon gret hardyment He suddanly set his entent, And gert all wyde set vp the ȝet, 185 And the fyre that he fand tharat With strinth of men he put avay. He set hym in full hard assay, For thai that war assalȝeand thar Pressit on hym with vapnys bair, 190 And he defendit with all his mycht. Thar mycht men se a felloune sicht: With staffing, stoking, and striking Thar maid thai sturdy defending, For with gret strynth of men the ȝet 195 Thai defendit, and stude tharat, Magré thair fais, quhill the nycht Gert thame on bath halfis leif the ficht.