The Scalacronica. 57 



near, almost all of them having left their horses behind them. 

 Thomas and his men could not approach them, being on horse- 

 back. So he had the horses driven together in a herd before him 

 into the said Castle, where that night they had nine score horses 

 confined as booty. Alexander Frisel, an adherent of Robert de 

 Bruys, with 100 men-at-arms, was lying in ambush half a league 

 away from the said Castle, one day in March, when the town was 

 full of the country-people. He had sent others of his men to 

 plunder a village on the further side of the Castle. The said 

 Thomas heard the noise, and, mounting a fine charger, went 

 to see what the matter was before his men could be got ready. 

 The enemy in ambush were spurring their horses before the gates 

 of the Castle ; for they knew well that there was the causeway 

 b} which he would come. Thoma,s perceiving this well, went 

 back a little way to the town of Coupir, at the end of which stood 

 the Castle, along the road by which he had intended to enter on 

 horseback. They had occupied the whole street beyond. When 

 he came near them he set spurs to his horse, and struck to the 

 ground the first men who advanced, some of them with his lance, 

 and others with the shock of his horse. He passed through them 

 all and dismounted in front of the gate. He drove his horse 

 inside, and strode himself within the Vjarriers, where he found 

 his men about to sally forth. 



The great men of England took a great dislike to Piers de 

 Gaviston, whom the King had made Earl of Cornwall. They 

 compassed his destruction while he was engaged in the King's war 

 in Scotland. He had fortified the town of Dundee, and con- 

 ducted himself there too rudely for the pleasure of the gentlemen 

 of the country. He determined to return to the King to assist 

 him in his strife with the Barons. During the strife between the 

 King and the Earl of Lancaster Robert de Bruys grew stronger 

 in Scotland. He had raised a rebellion in the lifetime of the 

 King's father and claimed the right to the realm of Scotland, 

 which had been conquered and subjected to the obedience of the 

 King of England. He recovered many parts of the country also 

 on account of the mismanagement of the King's officers, who 

 governed too harshly for their own personal profit. The Castles 

 of Roxburgh and Edinburgh, which were in the charge of aliens, 

 were surprised and taken. Roxburgh was in the charge of a 

 knight, Gilmyug de Fenygs, who was a Burgundian. From him 



