PRIMARY SOURCES
Important sources
1.
From the Chronicle of Walter Bower, the Scotichronicon
Then after the capture of the town of Berwick by the English and the piteous
slaughter of the Scots from Fife became known, the Scots who were sent by
King John to help the town of Berwick fought in the same year on 27 th April
with the English at Dunbar. Where Patrick de Graham and many nobles fell
wounded. And very many other knights and barons, on fleeing to the castle of
Dunbar in the hope of saving their lives, were received ther e with ready
welcome. But the custodian of the castle in question, Richard Siward by
name, handed them all, to the number of seventy knights, besides the Earl of
Ross and the Earl of Mentieth, to the king of England, like sheep offered for
slaughter. Without pity, he handed them over to suffer immediately various
kinds of death and hardship.
2.
The Ragman’s Roll
The Ragman’s Roll is the name given to the collection of names on the
official document showing the oath of fealty to Edward I after the 1296
campaign. The name usually refers to the ragged strips that the great seals of
the nobles would have been attached to. There are many strips that still bear
the seals, but most have long since vanished. There is another theory that
suggests the name is an English corruption of Ragimunde: a papal envoy who
collected a copy for the Pope of the time.
There are over 200 seals on the roll: most are nobles and their important
followers, although there are also several merchants, burgesses and crown
tenants. It has been suggested that William Wallace refused to sign the roll,
but there is no evidence for this. Historians such as Fiona Watson argue that
he was simply not important enough for his name to have been sought.
WARS OF INDEPENDENCE (H, HISTORY)
© Learning and Teaching Scotland 2009