BAN 



242 



BAN 



bmkia 



II 

 IJAnnerets. 



solvent acts occasionally pa6t, or by the provisons of 

 what is called the Lords' Act. By this statute it is 

 provided, that a debtor incarcerated for a debt under 

 .'.'(00, may petition the courts for liberation, which 

 will be granted on conveying to his creditors all his 

 effects. Had the enactment ended here, it would 

 have been indeed a most salutary provision, equal in 

 kind, though not in extent, to the Scots process of 

 ccssio bonoruni ; but it goes on to declare, that if the 

 incarcerating creditor shall object to the liberation, 

 and shall find security for an aliment to the debtor, 

 not exceeding two shillings and four-pence weekly, 

 he may detain him in prison. See Bell's Commentaries 

 on the Law of Scotland in relation to Bankruptcy ; 

 and Cooke and Cullen's Treatises on the Bankrupt 

 Law of England, (f) 



BANKSIA, a genus of plants of the class Te- 

 trandria, and order Monogynia. See Botany, (to) 

 BANNAT, a district of Hungary, lying between 

 the river Maros and the Danube. See Hungary, (j) 

 BANNERETS, an order of knights, next in dig- 

 nity to the barons, and entitled to lead their vassals 

 to battle at the royal summons, under their own ban- 

 ner or flag. By this privilege they were distinguished 

 from the knights bachelors, who were obliged to 

 march under the banner of a superior. The origin 

 of the name seems abundantly simple, being obviously 

 no other than banner, a square Hag ; and this etymo- 

 logy is supported by all the other appellations by 

 which the bannerets were distinguished, such as 

 milites vexilliferi, vcxillarii, bannerarii, &c. But 

 the origin of the- order, like every thing uncertain, 

 has given rise to much controversy among antiqua- 

 rians. Some contend that this dignity first origi- 

 nated in France ; while others assign that honour to 

 Brittany, and others to England. Those who are of 

 the last opinion trace the order of bannerets to 

 Conan, lieutenant of Maximus, who commanded the 

 Roman forces in England under the reign of Gra- 

 tian. Revolting from his government, say they, he 

 portioned out England into forty cantons, over which 

 he appointed forty knights, with power to assemble, 

 when necessary, under their own banners, as many 

 lighting men as they could muster in their several 

 districts. Without pretending to decide as to the 

 origin of the order, we can say, with sufficient cer- 

 tainty, when it expired ; for the last knight banne- 

 ret was Sir John Smith, who was invested with that 

 dignity by Charles L, after the battle of Edgehill, 

 as a reward for his bravery in rescuing the royal 

 standard from the rebels. 



In feudal times none could obtain the dignity of 

 knight banneret, except gentlemen of family, whose 

 property enabled them to bring into the field fifty 

 men at arms, with the suitable complement of arch- 

 ers and crossbowmen, amounting in all to one hun- 

 dred. This honour was in general conferred on those 

 who had distinguished themselves by their valour in 

 battle. The king, at the liead of his victorious 

 army, and surrounded by all his nobles and field offi- 

 cers, summoned the hero to repair to the royal stan- 

 dard, which was displayed on purpose to receive 

 him. He was conducted to his sovereign by two 

 knights, or men at arms, of approved bravery, bear- 

 ing in his hand his pennon or guidon of arms, and 

 preceded by two heralds, who proclaimed his gallant 



exploits. When he came into the royal pre3er.ee, Bannck. 

 the king desired him to advance his banneret, and 

 commanded the ends of his pennon to be torn off, 

 which, being thus made square, was converted into 

 a banner. Martial music attended him as he returned 

 to his tent, to which he was accompanied by many 

 of the nobility and principal officers, for whom a 

 sum;' liquet WU prepared. This honour, in- 



tended as the peculiar reward of personal gallantry, 

 died with the individual who had earned it ; and n 

 ther the title nor supporters of the knights bannc: 

 were hereditary. In the 28th of Edward I. a knight 

 banneret had four bhillings of daily pay, and his diet 

 at court ; and was entitled to take precedence of the 

 younger sons of viscounts and barons, (pt) 



BANNOCKBURN, a small rivulet about three 

 miles from Stirling, on the road to Edinburgh, cele- 

 brated for a great battle fought on its banks between 

 the English and Scots armies, in the reign of Ed- 

 ward II. 



Robert Bruce, grandson of that Bruce who was 

 Baliol's competitor for the crown of Scotland, had 

 resolved at once to rescue his country from the thral- 

 dom into which it had been reduced by the first 

 Edward, and to vindicate his own claim to the 

 throne, now vacant by the demise of John Baliol. 

 The minds of the Scots people had been entirely 

 alienated from that monarch by his pusillanimous 

 submission to Edward, and his desertion of the rights 

 and interests of his own subjects ; and his son, a pri- 

 soner and an exile, was in no condition to revive the 

 claims of his family, now generally abandoned. The 

 escape of Bruce from the English court, to which he 

 had accompanied Edward I. after his victorious expe- 

 dition into Scotland, restored to new energy the droop- 

 ing spirits of his countrymen ; and the latent indigna- 

 tion with which they bore the tyranny of the English 

 monarch, now burst forth in the avowed resolution to 

 regain their national independence, or to perish in 

 the attempt. The English were attacked in all 

 quarters ; many of their garrisons were reduced ; and 

 the authority of Bruce being universally acknow- 

 ledged, he was solemnly crowned and inaugurated 

 as king of Scotland. But his resources were too 

 slender to support him against such an antagonist as 

 Edward. An immense army was speedily sent against 

 him; and a furious conflict took place, in which 

 Bruce, after displaying the most heroic valour, was 

 overpowered by the superior numbers of his enemies, 

 and forced to take refuge, with a few attendants, in 

 the Western Isles. While Edward was hastening with 

 an overwhelming force to complete the final subjuga- 

 tion of the Scots, and to deprive them of all power of 

 future revolt, he was seized with a mortal distemper 

 at Carlisle ; and with his last breath enjoined his son 

 to make the reduction of Scotland the first and prin- 

 cipal enterprise of his reign. The death of this war- 

 like monarch, and the weakness of his successor, once 

 more restored the hopes of the Scottish nation ; and 

 Robert, who had already left his fastnesses, and 

 gained some important advantages, soon saw his 

 standard surrounded with a band of faithful adhe- 

 rents, burning with revenge against their English op- 

 pressors, and united in the resolution to conquer or 

 die. In a short time the English were driven from 

 all their strong holds, except the castles of Stirling, 



