Series 1 > History of Greater Britain, as well England as Scotland

344
JOHN MAJOR’S HISTORY
[book VI.
The duke of
Clarence bears
rule over
almost all
France.
The duke of
Clarence is
Who of the
English were
missing or
could not for all that make a prisoner of the kingdom
of Scotland; and they had the mandate from the nobles of
Scotland to help to the uttermost the dauphin, and to pay no
respect to the dauphin’s father who was upon the side of the
English; because, if the dauphin had been conquered by the
English, then would the kingdom of the French have been
utterly overthrown ; and to give their lives in its defence they
held an honourable thing, bearing in mind the ancient amity
of the kingdoms. On a few Frenchmen and in his faithful
Scottish allies lay all the strength of the dauphin and all his
sinews of war. John Stewart earl of Buchan, son of the
guardian of Scotland, was chosen to be constable to the
dauphin, and this will be found quoted as a well-known fact in
the French chronicles1. When Henry the Fifth had subdued a
large part of France he went into England, leaving his brother,
the duke of Clarence, a brave and strong soldier, as governor
in France. A battle was fought between him and the earl of
Buchan, the constable, who had with him Archibald Douglas
earl of Wigton, and both French and Scots. In this battle the
duke of Clarence was slain. Gaguin tells how he had gone in
advance of his line of battle, wearing above his helmet a
wreath of gold adorned with precious stones2, and for this
reason he was the rather recognised by the enemy. I condemn
his thoughtlessness; for thoughtless he was to wear such an
ornament as this to the end he should be known by the
enemy. The chronicles tell that John Swinton knight wounded
this duke of Clarence sorely in the face, and that the earl of
Buchan slew him after he had been laid low by a club 3.
On the English side there fell, besides the duke of Clarence,
the earl of Ryddisdale, the lord Ros, the lord Gray. There
were made prisoners the earl of Somerset, the earl of Hunting¬
don, and many other gentlemen. A short time thereafter the
earl of Buchan fought with the English and the men of
Burgundy at Crevant; and in this second battle, since he had
lost those that formerly aided him, he was taken prisoner by
1 ‘ comitem bouscaudum scotum conestabilem creat.’—Gaguin, u.s., fol. ccvii.
2 ‘ super galeam sertum gemmis honestatum portantem ’. These are also
Gaguin’s very words.—/6. fol. ccvii.
3 See TAe Swintons of that Ilk and their Cadets, Edinburgh 1883, pp. 22, 23;
and Hume’s History of the House of Douglas, there quoted, p. 125.