Family records of the Bruces and the Cumyns

1 66 KING DAVID II.— ARCHD. DE DOUGLAS, REGENT.
Wyntoun says —
" The young Erie of Murrawe, ' JhotiJ
And Schir Archibald of Dowglas," &c, &c,
came suddenly upon Baliol's party at Annan.
" Schir Henry de Baliol them agayne
With a staffe, foucht sturdily,
And dyntes delt rycht douchtyly
That men hym luffit eftir his day.
Thar died than, Sir John the Mowbray,
And Alysandre the Brus was tane (Sth Earl of Carrick. )
Bot The Baliol his gait is gane (Edward Baliol)
On a barnie hors, with leggis bare.
Swa fell, bot he escaped there."
March Soon after the defeat of Edward Baliol at Annan, Sir William Douglas,
r 333- keeper of Lochmaben Castle, was taken prisoner in a conflict with the English.
He was eldest son of Sir James Douglas of Loudon, and a great commander,* and
was generally known as the Knight of Liddesdale and the " Flower of Chivalry."
Edward III. was much pleased with his prize, and ordered him to be kept
in iron fetters. — ' Rymer,' vol. iv. p. 552. At the same time Sir Humphrey
de Bois, Sir Humphrey Jardine, and Sir William Carlyle, were amongst
the slain.
The Regent Moray next attempted to storm Roxburgh Castle, where Baliol
then lay ; one of his esquires, Sir Ralph Golding, pushing far before the rest,
was surrounded by the English ; Sir Andrew, attempting in person single-
handed to rescue him, shared his fate. Disdaining to yield to an inferior, he
demanded to be led to the King of England, who was then at Durham, and
was thrown into prison, where he remained for two years.
Scotland thus lost her two best soldiers, and was again without a regent.
Archibald de Douglas, half-brother of the good Sir James, now became
regent ; and in July following attempting to oblige Edward to raise the siege
of Benvick, forgot the advice of King Robert, and making an attack on the
English, who were advantageously posted on a rising ground at Halidon with
July 19. a marshy hollow in their front, was totally defeated, and mortally wounded
— only living to see himself a prisoner, and his army destroyed.
The army had been divided into four bodies. The first was led by John
Earl of Moray, the son of Randolph ; but as he was young and inexperienced
in war, James and Simon Fraser, soldiers of approved reputation, were joined
with him in command. The second body was led by the Steward of Scotland,
a youth of 16, under the inspection of his uncle, Sir James Stewart of Rosy th.
The third body was led by the regent himself, having with him Alexander
Earl of Carrick, and other barons of eminence. The fourth body, or reserve,
* We must not confuse him with the son nat. of the good Sir James, who died in France ; nor with
" William the Black Douglas, Lord of Niddesdale," who married Egidia, daughter of King Robert II.