John Randolph 3rd Earl of Moray 1306-1346

Liber Pluscardensis Chapter 33. In these days John of the Isles kept up friendly relations with the English party, and John [aged 29] earl of Murray, who was at Tarbert Castle, used to haye many discussions and disputes with him. When, however, the count of Guelderland [aged 23] arriyed in the south of Scotland with a strong army to help the king of England, the aforesaid earl quitted the north and moved thence and marched southwaids; and, being joined by the earl of the marches, William Douglas [aged 35], Alexander Bamsay and many other nobles of the kingdom, he fought an engagement [on 30th July 1335] with the said count of Guelderland at Boroughmuir near Edinbuigh. Here many were slain on either side, and a certain warrior maiden of Guelderland, arrayed in knightly aimour, had a bout with a noble Scot of the name of Richard Schaw. On being killed by this Richard Schaw, she was found to be a woman, to the great astonishment of all. But, just as they of Guelderland were getting the upper hand, William Douglas and some nobles from Pentland came up and put them to flight as far as the town of Edinburgh and into the street which is called Mair Winde (Saint Mary's Wynd); and they fled as fer as the hill of the Castle of Maidens (Edinburgh Castle), which was then in ruins, and established and fortified themselves on the said hill as best they could, making themselves, as some assert, an outer rampart out of the carcasses of the horses killed. Being, however, overwhelmed with hunger, cold and faintness, they surrendered to the said warden, their lives and property being spared; and, after paying a reasonable ransom, they shortly went home again. But, out of regard for the king of France, their ransom and spoils were returned to them by the said guardian, and they departed free to their own countiy; and moreover, their ships having been sent away, he in person with some of his nobles escorted the said count of Guelderland by land as far as within the borders of the English marches. Here, on his way beck, he suddenly came upon one Peter Pewsy (William de Pressen), who with a strong army had been pillaging and was carrying off some booty from Scottish tenitory, and fought with him; but, as they were unarmed the said guardian was taken piisoner by the English plunderers who were anned, and was brought to the king in England. The brother of William Douglas, James by name, was killed at that place. Thereupon, when the earl of Athol heard of the capture of the said guardian Murray, he exulted with very great joy; for he hated him, as also sir William Douglas.

Scotichron Book 13. At this time, the Earl of Moray [aged 29], Guardian of Scotland, while staying at the castle of Tarbert, held many and various negotiations with John of the Isles, who greatly favoured the English side. The earl, however, having agreed upon a truce for a time, for whatever reason, made for the southern regions. Upon his arrival there, the high-spirited and illustrious warrior, the Count of Guelders [aged 23], coming from overseas with a strong force of armed men in the same year, on the third day before the Kalends of August [30th July 1335], entered Scotland in order to bring assistance to the King of England. When the aforesaid Guardian, who had then withdrawn into the northern regions because of the tyranny of the Earl of Atholl, was informed of his arrival, he joined to himself the [his future brother-in-law] Earl of March [aged 50], William Douglas [aged 35] and Alexander Ramsay, with many others, and encountered them at Boroughmuir near Edinburgh. There, after many had been killed on both sides, a certain woman warrior from Guelders, clad in military armour, and a Scottish squire named Richard Shaw, both fittingly armed and mounted upon strong horses, took their stand on opposing sides with their lances raised. Immediately spurring on their horses, they charged swiftly and pierced one another’s bodies with their lances. Thus, mortally wounded, they fell dead to the ground. When both had at length been stripped, the warrior from Guelders was discovered to be a woman. It is believed that the men of Guelders would have prevailed had William Douglas not suddenly arrived with his men during the conflict, together with others coming in companies from the Pentland Hills and the neighbouring districts. Stunned by their unexpected arrival, the men of Guelders were forced to retreat towards the town, although they continued fighting throughout. They fled through the street of the Friars and, from the east, through another street called Saint Mary’s Wynd. There the distinguished warrior Sir David of Annandale, knight, while pursuing the men of Guelders with the others, received a wound from one of them. When he saw his own blood, he was thereby inflamed with fiercer anger, gathered his strength and, remaining on horseback and standing upright in his stirrups, swung a great battleaxe around him like another Corineus. He struck the man who had wounded him with so violent a blow that he cut through his arm from the shoulder, through the horse’s shoulder blades, not merely as far as its lower legs or hooves, but down to the resistance of the hard flint beneath, splitting the stone itself in two, as the mark of the blow may still be seen in the rock. Thus, fighting and withdrawing manfully, the men of Guelders held together until they climbed the sorrowful hill where the Castle of the Maidens at Edinburgh had stood, which had been destroyed before this time for fear of the English. The men of Guelders defended the rocks manfully and voluntarily killed their weary and wounded horses, making an outer rampart from their carcasses. Thus, surrounded and besieged by the Scots throughout that whole night, suffering from hunger and cold, thirst and exhaustion, they passed it entirely without sleep. Wearied by hardship of this kind and despairing of all assistance, the men of Guelders surrendered themselves to the Scots early on the following morning. An agreement was made concerning the payment of a ransom, provided that they might depart freely for their own country. But the noble Earl of Moray, Guardian of Scotland, being courteous beyond measure and bearing compassionate feelings even towards his enemies, took great pity upon them. Believing that by doing so he would render service to the illustrious Philip, King of France, from whom he had recently departed after being magnificently received, and trusting that he would please him greatly, he permitted the Count of Guelders and all his men to depart free and unharmed, without ransom or any further burden, and restored to them the spoils which had been taken, out of reverence for the aforesaid King of France. As a further demonstration of his goodwill, he took William Douglas with him, accompanied by a small company of armed men, and personally escorted the aforesaid Count of Guelders to the Marches. While returning, however, he was unexpectedly overtaken and engaged by a body of soldiers from the castles of the English March, commanded by Peter de Paris, otherwise called Percy. They had recently taken booty in Scotland with a strong force and, while returning home with the spoils, joined battle with them. There was fierce fighting on both sides. But because the English were superior in numbers to men who were fewer and poorly armed, James Douglas, brother of the aforesaid lord William, was killed with several other valiant men. William himself escaped unharmed as though carried by the wind, while the noble Earl of Moray was captured by men of low birth and consigned to harsh imprisonment.

Hoc in tempore comes Moraviæ cuſtos Scotiæ & apud caſtrum de Tarbard conſiſtens, multos et multifarios, cum Johanne de Inſulis ejuſdem, tractatus habebat; qui nimium parti Anglorum favebat. Comes autem qualicunque reſpectatione treugic ad tempus punctuata, artes petiit auſtrales. Ad cujus inibi adventum magnanimus et illufttis bellatof comes de Geller, cum valida manu armatorum, eodem anno tertio Kalendas Auguſti, de partibus ultramarinis veniens, cauſa ferendi auxilium regi Angliæ Scotiam intravit. De cujus adventu certificatus dictus cuſtos, qui tunc declinavit partes boreales, propter tyrannidem comitis Atholiæ, adjunctis ſibi comite Marchiarum, Willelmo de Douplas, et Alexandro de Ramſay, cum multis aliis, congreſſum cum eis abuit apud Borrow-more juxta Edinburgh; ubi, multis ex utraque parte occiſis, demum quædam virago Gellerena, armis militaribus contea, et quidam armiger Scotus, Richardus Schaw nuncupatus, ambo decenter armati ſuper fortes equos reſidentes, erectis ſuis haſtis, in adverſis partibus fteterunt: ſed confeſtim urgentes equos calcaribus, pernici curſu alterna ſeſe corpora lanceis transfixerunt; et fic letifero vulnere ad terram mortui ceciderunt. Tandem utriſque ſpoliatis, militaris de Gellerand comperta eſt eſſe mulier. Prævaluiſſent ut creditur Gellereni, fi non tempore conffictũs ſuperveniſſet ſubitò Willelmus de Douglas cum ſuis, et aliis de Pentlandhillis et è vicinis gregatim concurrentibus: quorum inopinato adventu Gellereni ſtupefacti, fugam ad villam, ſemper tamen pugnantes, aſſumere ſunt coacti. Fugerunt enim per vicum Fratrum, et ab Oriente per alium qui dicitur Sant-MaryHynd, ubi inſignis belliger, dominus David de Anandia, miles, cum ceteris Gellerenos fugans, ab uno eorum ſauciatus vulnus accepit: qui, viſo ſuo proprio cruore, acriore propterea ira ſuccenſus, vires ſuas collegit, et equeſter ſtans ſtrepis erectus, bipennem grandem, tanquam alter Corineus, rotando circumduxit, et ſe vulnerantem tam violento ictu percuſſit, ut armum ejus ab humero et per ſcapulas equi uſque, non ſolùm baſes vel ungulas ejus, ſed uſque ad reſiſtentiam duri ſilicis, r medium diſſecuit, ſicut per veſtigium ejus patet adhuc in petra. Viriliter itaque fugiendo et pugnando Gellereni ſe continuerunt, donec montem doloroſum conſcenderent, ubi fuit Caſtrum Puellarum de Edinburgh, ob metum Anglorum ante hoc tempus dirutum. Rupes enim Gellereni viriliter detenderunt, et equos ſuos laſſos et vulneratos ultrò occiderunt, de eorum cadaveribus antemurale facientes: et fic per totam illam noctem a Scotis circumſepti et obſeſſi, fame et frigore, fiti et languore, eam inſomnes protinus tranſegerunt. Hujuſmodi angariæ Gellereni pertæſi, et ab omni ſuccurſu deſperati, in craſtino de mane deditioni Scotorum fe dederunt, conventione factà de redemptione ſolvenda, dummodo liberè ad patriam ſuam poterant proficiſci. Sed nobilis comes Moraviæ, cuſtos Scotiæ, ultra modum curialis, et hoſtibus, pia geſtans viſcera, nimium compaſſus eſt: ac per hoc illuſtri regi Franciæ Philippo, a quo nuper munifice receſſerat, obſequium præſtare putans, et quamplurimum placere confiſus, ipſum comitem de Geller cum omnibus ſuis, fine redemptione vel quocunque ulteriore gravamine, reſtitutis ſibi ſpoliis ablatis, ob reverentiam dicti regis Francie, liberum et illæſum abire permiſit. Et ad majorem benevolentiz ſuæ oſtentationem, aſſociato ſibi Willelmo de Douglas cum exili armatorum cohorte, dictum comitem de Geller in propria perſona ad Marchias comitatus, caſtellanorum Marchiæ Angliæ phalange, cui præerat Petrus de Pareſis, alias Percy, redeundo inopinate, congreſſibus prævenitur; qui de Scotia recenter manu valida prædas ceperunt, et, ad propria cum ſpoliis repedantes, pugnam inierunt; ubi fortiter hinc inde pugnatum eſt. Sed quia Angli in multitudine contra pauciores et inermes præſtiterant, Jacobus de Douglas, dicti domini Willelmi frater, cum nonnullis aliis valentibus viris interficitur; et ipſe Willelmus per auram illæſus elabitur, et ab ignobilibus nobilis comes Moraviæ capitur, et carceribus diris mancipatur.

John of Fordun's Annals of the Scottish Nation. Chapter 153. John Earl of Moray taken.

The same year, on the 30th of July [1335], the Count of Gellere [aged 23] (Guelders), who had come over from parts beyond the sea to bring help to the king of England, on this same pending matter, came to blows, at Edinburgh, with the united forces of the [his future brother-in-law] Earl of March [aged 50], and the Earl of Moray [aged 29] (who kept away from the northern districts, because of the tyrannousness of the Earl of Athol); but he was beaten, and had to yield. The Earl of Moray, however, who was beyond measure courteous and soft-hearted towards his foes, feeling sure that he would thereby give great pleasure to the king of Trance, from whom he had lately parted, let the aforesaid Count of Gellere and his men go back free and scathless, without ransom or any other burden, and restored the booty which had been taken from him; and all for love of the king of France. And, the better to show his good-will, he accompanied him in person to the marches; but he was overtaken unawares by the onslaught of the garrison of a castle, taken by those churls, and thrown into prison. The same year, when not many days were overpast, the Earl of Athol made his submission to the king of England and to Edward of Balliol, and swore fealty to them, at Perth, faithfully promising them that he would, before long, bring back under their sway all the Scottish magnates. On the strength of this promise, he was made warden of Scotland on behalf of those kings. After these things, those who had fled came back, the castles were fortified, the kingdom was tranquillized, and the king of England returned, with his forces; but the great tjrranny and cruelty this Earl practised among the people words cannot bring within the mind's grasp: some he disinherited, others he murdered; and, in the end, he cast in his mind how he might wipe all the freeholders from off the face of the earth.