Source:Book of Pluscarden (Book X, Chapter II)

"Book X, Chapter II" The Book of Pluscarden (vol. 2)

CHAPTER II. Base flight of Henry Percy earl of Northumberland.

Sir Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, unable to brook the disasters and grievous harrying of the English, assembled his forces to the number of seven thousand men-at-arms, penetrated into Scotland, and overran the whole land of the earl of Dunbar, wasting it with fire and sword. Marching on thence the first night as far as Dunse Park, he encamped there. Hither came some cunning lads, varlets and youths of the country with some of their dependents, about midnight, with a fearful noise from a certain instrument which in Scotland is called Clochbolg, and with horn trumpets ; and they went up to the troop of horses and made such a fearful noise that the horses were exceedingly terrified and bewildered, broke their fastenings, bits, bridles and reins, as seized with a panic, and, leaving their masters on foot in the said park of Dunse, at once bolted off bodily to English ground, and never came back again. But the lord Percy [and his men],¹ dazed with fear and thinking the Scottish army was close upon them, were awake and on their feet the whole night under arms and ready to do battle. In the morning, however, seeing that their horses had been stampeded off to England beyond recall, while some had been captured on the way, they shouldered their lances and hastened back again ingloriously on foot in their armour. Thus was the earl Percy compelled shamefully to take to flight home to England. Now these youths' stratagem is very highly spoken of ; so it is a good thing in warfare to act not always with valour and might, but sometimes with shrewdness and ingenuity. In the year 1372 a wind called that of St. Nicholas burst upon Scotland, and overturned and blew down houses and churches and everything else fixed in the ground, such as trees, towers, the pinnacles of the temple, causing inestimable damage. The same year Queen Euphemia was crowned at Scone. She was the mother of the traitor earl of Athol who was privy to the death of King James I., and daughter of the earl of Ross. We shall speak in due time of this earl's end. Of her the king begat Earl David of Strathern, who was the father of the countess of that ilk who was afterwards the spouse of sir William Graham's brother, which brother of sir William Graham was earl in right of his wife, and begat of her sons and daughters ; and he was afterwards betrayed into confidence and murdered by some brothers of the name of Oliphant, who also afterwards were punished with the penalty of death. In the year 1378 a very great schism arose in the Boman Curia, and lasted until the election of Pope Martin v., that is to say sixty-eight years. In the year of the said schism the great church of Saint Andrews, which was built entirely of lead, was burned down at the Feast of the Virgin Thekla, at the hour of high mass, by the lightning, or by the birds' nests under the leaden roof and rafters catching fire from the heat of the blazing sun, as is conjectured.² The same year the town of Berwick was retaken by the Scots. The same year, in 1379,³ was born David duke of Rothesay, who was afterwards starved to death by his uncle Robert duke of Albany. The following year William earl of Douglas assembled an army at the festival of the fair of the town of Penrith and, without warning to the townsfolk, surrounded the town, plundered it and burnt it down, and slew, captured and carried off many of the townsfolk, peasantry and merchants. Some of the Scots, however, perished through their own fault, having been left behind in the town through covetoiisness or drunkenness or otherwise. Let men in future therefore be warned against such things by the example of others. The same year also began the third plague, wherein likewise a great part of the inhabitants of the kingdom were swept away by pestilence. At the beginning of the following year the English entered the western districts of Scotland with a great host of men-at-arms, and did much harm ; but the countrymen of that province assembled their forces and fell upon them suddenly in a certain strong place, making great havoc of them, taking some and slaying others, and returned safely, bringing with them their booty and prisoners.

Page 237, n. 1. These words must be supplied, as the text is corrupt.

Page 238, n. 2. Bower, ii. 391, attributes the fire to the carelessness of a plumber.

Page 238, n. 3. Bower, ii. 391, says he was born on the 24th October 1378.

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Sources

• Buchanan, Maurice (c. 1461). Skene, Felix J. H. (ed.). The Book of Pluscarden. The Historians of Scotland. 2. Edinburgh: William Paterson (published 1880). OCLC 9891882. OL 6933769M.