MATILDA BRUCE: sister of Robert
*MATTHEW: a knight from Robert’s Essex estates
*MURTOUGH: monk from Bangor Abbey
NEIL CAMPBELL: a knight from Argyll
NIALL BRUCE: brother of Robert
NIALL MAC EDAN: member of the secular family who claimed the right to the diocese of Armagh in the twelfth century
*NED: servant in the Earl of Ulster’s household
*NES: squire to Robert
*PIERRE: steward of John Balliol in Picardy
PIERS GAVESTON: companion of Prince Edward and ward of the king
PHILIPPE IV: King of France (1286–1314)
RALPH DE MONTHERMER: royal knight in the court of Edward I
*RANULF: huntsman of the Earl of Ulster
RICHARD DE BURGH: Earl of Ulster and Lord of Connacht
*RICHARD CROW: prison guard of Edward I
ROBERT D’ARTOIS: Count of Artois
ROBERT BRUCE V: grandfather of Robert, competed for the throne of Scotland, died in 1295
ROBERT BRUCE VI: Lord of Annandale and father of Robert
ROBERT BRUCE VII: Earl of Carrick, Lord of Annandale on his father’s death and King of Scotland (1306–29)
ROBERT CLIFFORD: royal knight in the court of Edward I
ROBERT WINCHELSEA: Archbishop of Canterbury
ROBERT WISHART: Bishop of Glasgow
SIMON FRASER: Scottish nobleman and rebel
SIMON DE MONTFORT: Earl of Leicester, led a rebellion against Henry III, died in battle with Edward in 1265
*STEPHEN: a servant in the Earl of Ulster’s household
STRATHEARN: Earl of Strathearn
THOMAS OF BROTHERTON: son of Edward I and Marguerite of France
THOMAS BRUCE: brother of Robert
THOMAS OF LANCASTER: Earl of Lancaster and nephew of Edward I
THOMAS RANDOLPH: son of Margaret Bruce and Robert’s half-nephew
*WALTER: knight from Annandale
WILLIAM DOUGLAS: Lord of Douglas and father of James, died in the Tower in 1298
WILLIAM OLIPHANT: commander of Stirling Castle
WILLIAM WALLACE: leader of the Scottish rebellion against Edward I in 1297
GLOSSARY
BASINET: a close-fitting helmet, sometimes worn with a visor.
BRAIES: undergarments worn by men.
CHAUSSES: mail stockings.
COAT-OF-PLATES: a cloth or leather garment with metal plates riveted to it, worn under the surcoat.
COIF: a tight-fitting cloth cap worn by men and women, it could also be made of mail and worn by soldiers under or instead of a helm.
CROWN OF ARTHUR: a coronet worn by the princes of Gwynedd, most notably Llywelyn ap Gruffudd who styled himself prince of Wales. Edward I seized the crown along with other important Welsh relics during the 1282-84 invasion and sent it to Westminster Abbey.
CURTANA: also known as the Sword of Mercy because of its symbolically broken tip, it was thought to have belonged to St Edward the Confessor and became part of the English regalia used in coronations.
DESTRIER: a warhorse.
DIRK: Scots for dagger.
FALCHION: a short sword with a curved edge.
GAMBESON: a padded coat worn by soldiers, often made of quilted cloth, stuffed with felt or straw.
GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH: thought to have been a Welshman or Breton by birth, Monmouth resided in Oxford during the twelfth century, where he was possibly a canon of St George’s College. Later, he became bishop of St Asaph. He wrote three known works during his life, the most famous being The History of the Kings of Britain of which the Prophecies of Merlin became part, followed by The Life of Merlin. Despite mixing established British history with romantic fiction, Monmouth presented his writings as fact and many readers of his works took them as such, accepting King Arthur and Merlin as historical figures. Monmouth’s works, although criticised by some of his contemporaries, were hugely popular during the medieval period and from his The History of the Kings of Britain sprung the immense canon of Arthurian literature that graced Europe over the following centuries. Chrétien de Troyes, Malory, Shakespeare and Tennyson were all influenced by his work.
HAUBERK: a shirt or coat of mail with long sleeves.
HUKE: a hooded cloak.
JUSTICIAR: a chief justice official. In Scotland there were three justiciars during the period: those of Galloway, Lothian and Scotia.
MAGNATE: a high-ranking noble.
MOTTE: a castle or keep built on a mound, often surrounded by a bailey.
PALFREY: a light horse used for everyday riding.
PRIMOGENITURE: the right of the first-born to inherit.
PROPHECIES OF MERLIN: written by Geoffrey of Monmouth during the twelfth century. Originally composed as a separate volume, the Prophecies were later incorporated into his The History of the Kings of Britain. According to Monmouth he was translating the work into Latin from an older text. Monmouth has been credited as being the creator of Merlin, but it is now believed he derived this enigmatic figure from earlier Welsh sources.
QUARREL: an arrow for a crossbow.
ROUNCY: a type of riding horse.
STAFF OF MALACHY: also known as the Staff of Jesus, it was a wooden crosier covered with gold. It was believed to have belonged to St Patrick, who is said to have received it from Jesus. Highly revered by the Irish, it became connected with Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, when he was forced to pay off the leader of the secular clan who had possession of the staff and control of St Patrick’s cathedral and its diocese. According to popular law, only when Malachy had the staff could he claim to be the rightful archbishop. The staff was taken to Dublin in the late twelfth century, where it was burned as a superstitious relic in the sixteenth century.
STONE OF DESTINY: also called the Stone of Scone, it was the ancient seat used in Scottish coronations. Thought to have been brought to Scone in the ninth century by Scotland’s king, Kenneth mac Alpin, its origins are unknown. It was seized by Edward I during the 1296 invasion and taken to Westminster Abbey where it was set in a specially designed throne and became part of the English coronation ceremony. It remained here until 1950 when four students stole it and returned it to Scotland. It was later sent back to England, before being officially presented to Edinburgh Castle in 1996, where it remains on display. It will be returned to Westminster for future coronations.
SURCOAT: a long sleeveless garment usually worn over armour.
VAMBRACE: armour for the lower arm.
VASSAL: a retainer subject to a feudal superior, who holds land in return for homage and services.
VENTAIL: a flap of mail that can be pulled up and secured to protect the lower half of the face during combat.
Baker, Timothy, Medieval London, Cassell, 1970
Barber, Richard, The Knight and Chivalry, Boydell Press, 1995
Barbour, John, The Bruce (trans. A.A.M. Duncan), Canongate Classics, 1997
Barrell, A.D.M., Medieval Scotland, Cambridge University Press, 2000
Barrow, G.W.S., Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, Edinburgh University Press, 1988
Barrow, G.W.S., The Kingdom of the Scots, Edinburgh University Press, 2003
Beam, Amanda, The Balliol Dynasty 1210 – 1364, John Donald, 2008
Chancellor, John, The Life and Times of Edward I, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981
Clairvaux, St. Bernard of, Life of St. Malachy of Armagh (trans. H.J. Lawlor), Dodo Press, 1920
Cummins, John, The Hound and the Hawk, the Art of Medieval Hunting, Phoenix Press, 2001
Daniell, Christopher, Death and Burial in Medieval England 1066 – 1550, Routledge, 1997
Davis, I.M., The Black Douglas, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974
Dean, Gareth, Medieval York, History Press, 2008
Duffy, Seán, Ireland in the Middle Ages, Macmillan Press Ltd, 1997
Duffy, Seán (general ed.),
Atlas of Irish History, Gill & Macmillan, 1997
Edge, David & Paddock, John M., Arms and Armour of the Medieval Knight, Bison Group, 1988
Fawcett, Richard, Stirling Castle (Official Guide), Historic Scotland, 1999
Frame, Robin, Ireland and Britain 1170 – 1450, Hambledon Press, 1998
France, John, Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000–1300, UCL Press, 1999
Gravett, Christopher, English Medieval Knight 1300 – 1400, Osprey Publishing 2002
Gravett, Christopher, Knights at Tournament, Osprey Publishing, 1988
Grove, Doreen & Yeoman, Peter, Caerlaverock Castle (Official Guide), Historic Scotland, 2006
Haines, Roy Martin, King Edward II, His Life His Reign and its Aftermath 1284 – 1330, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003
Houston, Mary G., Medieval Costume in England and France, Dover Publications, 1996
Hyland, Ann, The Horse in the Middle Ages, Sutton Publishing, 1999
Impey, Edward & Parnell, Geoffrey, The Tower of London (Official Illustrated History), Merrell, 2006
Kieckhefer, Richard, Magic in the Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press, 2000
Leyser, Henrietta, Medieval Women, a Social History of Women in England 450 – 1500, Phoenix Press, 1996
Lindsay, Maurice, The Castles of Scotland, Constable, 1995
Mackay, James, William Wallace, Braveheart, Mainstream Publishing, 1995
McNair Scott, Ronald, Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, Canongate, 1988
McNamee, Colm, Robert Bruce, Our Most Valiant Prince, King and Lord, Birlinn, 2006
Monmouth, Geoffrey of, The History of the Kings of Britain (trans. Lewis Thorpe), Penguin Classics, 1966
Monmouth, Geoffrey of, The Vita Merlini (trans. John Jay Parry), BiblioBazaar, 2008
Morris, J.E., The Welsh Wars of Edward I, Sutton Publishing, 1998
Morris, Marc, A Great and Terrible King, Edward I and the Forging of Britain, Hutchinson, 2008
Nicolle, David, The History of Medieval Life, Chancellor Press, 2000
Nuttgens, Patrick, The History of York, from Earliest Times to the Year 2000, Blackthorn Press, 2007
Oram, Richard, The Kings and Queens of Scotland, Tempus, 2004
Rixson, Denis, The West Highland Galley, Birlinn, 1998
Spufford, Peter, Power and Profit, the Merchant in Medieval Europe, Thames and Hudson, 2002
Tabraham, Chris, Scotland’s Castles, Historic Scotland, B.T. Batsford, 2005
Tabraham, Chris (ed.), Edinburgh Castle (Official Guide), Historic Scotland, 2003
Talbot, C.H., Medicine in Medieval England, Oldbourne, 1967
Watson, Fiona, Under the Hammer, Edward I & Scotland 1286 – 1307, Tuckwell Press, 1998
Weir, Alison, Isabella, She-Wolf of France, Queen of England, Pimlico, 2006
Wilkinson, James & Knighton, C.S., Crown and Cloister, the Royal Story of Westminster Abbey, Scala, 2010
Yeoman, Peter, Medieval Scotland, Historic Scotland, B.T. Batsford, 1995
Young, Alan, Robert the Bruce’s Rivals: The Comyns, 1212 – 1314, Tuckwell Press, 1997
Zacour, Norman, An Introduction to Medieval Institutions, St James Press, 1977
Excerpts used as part titles taken from:
The British History of Geoffrey of Monmouth (trans. A. Thompson, revised ed. J. A. Giles), William Stevens (printer), London, 1842
Also by Robyn Young
Insurrection
The Brethren Trilogy
Brethren
Crusade
Requiem