The Oul Leid
The earliest of the truly great pieces of Scots literature was Barbour’s epic historical poem The Bruce, written about 1375. John Barbour was Archdeacon of Aberdeen and his massive work in Old Scots ran to 20 books — each ‘book’ containing about 500-600 lines of poetry. The story was that of Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick and King of Scotland at the time of the Battle of Bannockburn. Of great Ulster interest are not only the references to Robert’s visits to Rathlin Island, and later to Carrickfergus, but the three-year expedition of his brother Edward the Bruce: this included his sojourn here, his coronation as ‘King of Ireland’ (possibly at Carrickfergus), and finally, his death in battle near Dundalk. Edward’s stay in east Ulster was from 1315-1318, and it is almost incredible, but nevertheless true, that the equivalent of two entire ‘books’ of The Bruce are set in east Ulster. The description of the countryside around Carrickfergus by Barbour has been described by one scholar of this great work as showing “a feeling for nature not inferior to that of other poets of his period such as Langland and Chaucer”. Ulster-Scots placenames are revealed too — the version from which the small abstract below has been taken names Larne Lough as “Vaveryng fyrth”, while other early copies use “wokingis furth” and “wolyngs firth”. These are all understood to mean “Viking’s firth” as the “Scoto-Scandinavian” name for Larne Lough.
In another part of the work, (relating to the Battle of Connor in Antrim); “Connor” is spelt “Coigner”. It is assumed that this was pronounced con-yer and modern scholars have noted that this remains the local pronunciation! Clearly this most important work of early Old Scots literature solidly embraces east Ulster. Barbour’s Bruce is as much a part of Ulster-Scots literary heritage as it is for any other part of the Scots-speaking world.
A small fragment of about 70 lines is provided below, paralleled by a loose translation in verse form of the same passage:
In vaveryng fyrth arivit thai
Saufly, but bargane or assay,
And send thair schippis home ilkane.
A gret thing haue thai vndertane,
That with [sa] quheyne as thai war thar,
That wes sex thousand men but mar,
Schupe for to warray all Irland,
Quhar thai sail se mony thousand
Cum armyt on thame for to ficht.
Bot thouch thai quheyne var, thai var vicht,
And, for-outen dreid or effray,
In twa battelis thae tuk the way
Toward cragfergus, it to se.
Bot the lordis of that cuntre,
Mavndwell, byset, and logane,
Thar men assemblit euirilkane;
De sawagis wes alsua thair.
And, quhen thai all assemblit war,
Thai war weill neir tuenty thousand.
Quhen thai wist that in-till thar land
Sic a menzhe arivit war,
With all the folk that thai had thar,
Thai went toward thame in gret hy.
And fra schir eduard wist suthly
That neir till him cumand war thai,
His men he gert richt weill aray
The vaward had the erll thomas,
And in the rerward schir eduard was.
Thar fais approchit to the fichting,
And thai met thame but abaysing.
Thar mycht men se a gret melle;
For erll thomas and his menzhe
Dang on thair fais sa douchtely,
That in schort tym men mycht se ly
Ane hundreth that all bludy war.
For hobynis, that war stekit thar,
Rerit and flang, and gret rowme maid,
And kest thame that apon thame raid.
And schir Eduardis Cumpany
Assemblit syne so hardely,
That thai thar fais ruschit all.
Quha hapnyt in that ficht to fall,
It was perell of his Risyng.
The scottis men in that fechting
Swa apertly and weille thame bar,
That thair fais swa ruschit war,
That thai haly the ficht has tane.
In that battale wes tane or slane
All hale the flour of wllister.
The Erll of murreff gret pris had ther;
For his [richt] worthy cheuelry
Confortit all his Company.
That wes a full fair begynnyng;
For, newlyngis at thair ariwyng,
In playne ficht thai discomfit thar
Thar fais, that ay fowr for ane war.
Syne to Cragfergus ar thai gane,
And in the toune has Innys tane.
The castell wele wes stuffit then
Of-new with wittale and vith men;
Thar-till thai set ane sege in hy
Mony ysche full apertly
Wes maid, quhill thar the sege lay,
Quhill trewis at the last tuk thai.
Quhen that the folk of wllister
Till his pes haly cummyn wer,
For schir eduard walk tak on hand
Till ryde forthirmar in the land.
In Vikings’ Firth they landed fair.
No opposition found they there,
And home they sent their fleet entire.
Great things indeed did they aspire,
That with a force of men so small
(A bare six thousand men in all)
They hoped to take the whole country;
Where many thousands would they see
Come to oppose them with their might!
But they, though few, were skilled in fight.
Without misgiving or delay
Their two divisions made their way
To Carrickfergus. But the men
That held and ruled that country then,
The Logan, Bisset, Mandeville,
And Savages, when they heard tell
Of such a host upon their land,
Summoned their followers to hand,
In all near twenty thousand men,
And marched against Sir Edward.
When
He knew that they were on their way
He set his men in good array.
The vanguard did Earl Thomas steer;
Sir Edward took in hand the rear.
And when they saw their foes come near
The Scotsmen met them without fear.
Then might one see a great mêlée.
Earl Thomas and his men that day
Attacked their foes so dauntlessly
That in a short time one could see
A hundred men lie bleeding there.
The Irish horses, stabbed by spear,
Reared up and kicked and lashed around,
And threw their riders to the ground.
Sir Edward and his company
Soon joined the fray so doughtily
That all their foes were driven back.
Who chanced to fall in that attack
Was little like to rise again!
For in that fight the Scottish men
So bore themselves with bravery,
And so o’erwhelmed the enemy
That all as one they took to flight.
The slain or captured in that fight
Were all the flower of Ulster’s men.
Earl Thomas won great honour then;
His valour and his chivalry
Encouraged all his company.
Thus was beginning made right fair;
For they had scarcely landed there
When they had crushing victory won
O’er foes that numbered four to one!
To Carrickfergus soon they went,
In quarters there some time they spent.
The castle was well furnished then
With newly-garnered food, and men.
Forthwith a siege to it was set.
Many a sortie there was met
And skirmish fought, while siege was laid,
Until at last a truce was made.
When all the Ulster folk entire
Acknowledged him as lord and sire,
Sir Edward boldly took on hand
To ride forth further through the land.
Next: Daein the Messages
Previous: Old Time Square Dancing
Contents: Ullans: The Magazine for Ulster-Scots, Nummer 3 Spring 1995