Agnews of Lochnaw

I3l6.] THE KING'S CASTLE OF LOCHNAW. 21
So large a force was soon at the disposition of the Scottish
prince that he found himself able to spare a division numerous
enough to invest Carrickfergus, a fortress too strong to be taken
by assault, and to advance himself with the main body into
the heart of Ireland, carrying all before him. Among the
Scottish knights accompanying Edward Bruce, Barbour tells us
that there were —
" Sir Johne Stewart, als perfay j 1
And Schyr Alane Stewart alsua."
(Bruciad, B. 10.)
These were the brothers of Sir Walter Stewart of Dalswinton
and Garlies, with whom Agnew of Lame was now thrown in
company for the first time, little dreaming at the moment of the
intimate relations destined soon after to subsist between their
family and his own. Sir Alan Stewart became, a few years
after, the nearest neighbour of the Lord of Larne, soon receiving
a grant of the Castle and lands of Corswall, in the Ehinns of
Galloway, at almost the same date that young Agnew was
established at the King's Castle of Lochnaw. The younger of
his new comrades was seriously wounded in one of the engage-
ments fought in this campaign, in describing which the same
poet says —
" Schyr John Stewart, a noble knycht,
"Wes woundyt throw the body thar,
With a sper that scharply schar.
Bot to Montpeller went he syne
And lay ther lang in till helyne ;
And at the last helyt wes he." — (Barbour, B. 10.)
It may be interesting also to mention that the Earl of Moray, the
Scottish commander, afterwards Agnew's kind host and patron,
married Isabel Stewart, sister of the Knights of Garlies and of
Corswall ; and that, as a marriage-portion, her father, Sir John
Stewart of Bonkyl, bestowed upon her the lands of Garlies as her
dower — (these were subsequently restored by Moray to her
brother Sir Walter Stewart).
On the 2d of May 1316, Edward Bruce was crowned king of
1 Forsooth.