Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 2.djvu/78

 amounting to about fifteen thousand in number; and that these, along with the camp baggage, were stationed by Bruce to the rear of a little eminence called Gillies' hill. These men, either instructed for the purpose, or, what seems more likely, perceiving from their position that the English army began to give way, resolved with what weapons chance afforded them, to fall down into the rear of their countrymen, that by so doing they might share in the honour of the action, and the plunder of the victory. Choosing leaders, therefore, among themselves, they drew up into a sort of martial order, some mounted on the baggage horses and others on foot, having sheets fastened upon tent-poles and spears, instead of banners. The sudden and appalling spectacle of what seemed to the English in the distance, to be a new and formidable army, completed the confusion and consternation which had already begun widely to invade their ranks. The Scots felt their advantage; and raising a great shout, in which they were joined heartily by the auxiliaries in their rear, they pressed forward on the ground of their enemies with a fury which became more and more irresistible. Discipline and union were soon entirely lost, and the rout, on every side, became general and disastrous.

Pembroke, when he saw that the day was lost, seized Edward's horse by the bridle, and constrained him, though not without difficulty, to leave the field. When Sir Giles d' Argentine, the brave knight of Rhodes, was informed of the king's flight, and pressed to accompany him; "It never was my wont to fly," said he, and putting spurs to his horse, he rushed furiously into the battle and met his death. It was a vulgar opinion, that the three greatest warriors of that age were Henry of Luxemburg emperor of Germany, Robert king of Scotland, and Sir Giles d'Argentine. Sir James Douglas, with sixty horsemen, followed hard in pursuit of the English king. At the Torwood he was met by Sir Lawrence Abernethy with twenty horse hastening to the English rendezvous, but who, as soon as he understood that the Scots were victorious, joined the party of Douglas in the pursuit. Edward rode on without halting to Linlithgow; and had scarcely refreshed himself there, when the alarm that the Scots were approaching, forced him to resume his flight. Douglas and Abernethy followed so close upon his route, that many of the king's guards, who, from time to time, had chanced to fall behind their companions, were slain. This pertinacious chase continued as far as Tranent, a distance of about forty miles from the field of battle, and was only given up from the inability of the horses to proceed further. Edward at length reached the castle of Dunbar, where he was received by the Earl of March, and shortly afterwards conveyed by a little fishing skiff to Bamborough, in England.

Thirty thousand of the English are estimated to have fallen upon the field of Bannockburn. Of barons and bannerets there were slain twenty-seven, and twenty-two were taken prisoners; and of knights the number killed was forty-two, while sixty were made prisoners. Barbour affirms that two hundred pairs of gilt spurs AA r ere taken from the heels of slain knights. According to English historians the most distinguished among those who fell, were the Earl of Gloucester, Sir Giles d'Argentine, Robert Clifford, Payen Tybelot, William le Mareschal, and Edmund de Mauley, seneschal of England. Seven hundred esquires are also reckoned among the number of the slain. The spoil of the English camp was great; and large sums also must have accrued from the ransom of so many noble prisoners. If we may believe the statement of the monk of Malmsbury, a contemporary English writer, the loss sustained by his countrymen on this occasion did not amount to less than two hundred thousand pounds; a sum equal in value to upwards of three millions of our present currency. The loss sustained by the Scots is allowed on all hands to have been very inconsiderable;