The Chronicle of John Prior of Hexham

All of them, advancing near Northallerton, in a certain field of the fee of Saint Cuthbert, set up the standard, that is, a ship’s mast, hanging upon it the banner of Saint Peter, and of Saint John of Beverley, and of Saint Wilfrid of Ripon, and placing the body of the Lord upon it, so that He would be their standard-bearer and leader of the battle. Therefore Archbishop Thurstan sent with them Ralph Nowell, his suffragan bishop, and men of discipline, who would receive confessions, and instruct them about the hope of future life through satisfaction. The archbishop himself, having been more wisely restrained by the princes from setting out to the battle, persisted with prayers and entreaties, in great affliction and contrition of heart, with his clerics, until it was announced to him what great grace of deliverance God had granted to his people.

So, on the octave of the Assumption of Saint Mary, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of September [22nd August 1138], on a Monday, the whole army gathered around the Standard, lest anyone presume to flee, with the horses having been removed to a distance; and all, with one accord, resolved either to die or to conquer for their country. The princes who were foremost in honor and dignity were these: William, Earl of Albemarle; Walter de Gant; Robert de Brus; Roger de Mowbray; Walter Espec; William de Percy; Bernard de Balliol; Richard de Courcy; William Fossard; Robert de Stuteville; Ilbert de Lacy. This Ilbert, and his father Robert de Lacy, King Henry had driven from the kingdom of England. After the king’s death, William Trussebut, who by the king’s gift had held the honor, namely of Pontefract, was killed by a certain knight, Pagan, on account of that honor; and this Ilbert then possessed the honor by right of inheritance. Also present with their forces were William Peverel of Nottinghamshire, Robert de Ferrers of Derbyshire, and Geoffrey Halsalin.

The king of Scotland also advanced, with his legions, arrayed for battle, the Scots being placed in the front line, claiming that place for themselves by native right, as though they were one. They advanced naked and almost unarmed against the ranks of mailed men, and therefore against those who were invulnerable. Around the king stood the cavalry, equipped with military arms. The king judged it worthy of faith to conquer or to die for the oath which he had sworn to the heirs of King Henry, and with him the whole realm of England.

Thus the Scots and the Picts scarcely held out from the first hour of the battle until the third, seeing themselves pierced and riddled with arrows, overwhelmed and crushed. All of them fled from the field, throwing away their baggage. In disgrace of this event that place was called Baggamor. Immediately the resolve of the remaining army was disturbed and weakened. Therefore the elders, hastening, compelled the king to recall the horses and to withdraw with his ordered battle line, lest he too with his men should fall into ruin. The army of York also did not pursue those retreating, but each hastened to return to his own home. Many of the Scots, wandering and ignorant of the places, were slaughtered wherever they were found. Even the very battle-lines of the Scots and Picts, when on their retreat they encountered one another, contending with unhappy hostility, choked each other to death. The king therefore, having returned into his kingdom, summoned the Scots and Picts to him, and fined them a great sum of money, receiving hostages and oaths from them, that in every conflict and danger they would faithfully stand with him and for him. The king of England also, rejoicing in these successes of his, made William of Albemarle earl in Yorkshire, and Robert de Ferrers earl in Derbyshire.

Qui omnes procedentes secus Alvertun, in campo quodam de feudo Sancti Cuthberti standart, id est malum navis, erexerunt, vexillum Sancti Petri et Sancti Johannis de Beverlaco, et Sancti Wulfridi Ripum in eo suspendentes, et corpus Domini superinponentes, ut esset signifer et dux prælii eorum. Misit ergo cum eis archiepiscopus Turstinus Radulphum Nouellum, episcopum suffraganeum suum, et viros disciplinatos, qui ad pœnitentiam susciperent, et de spe futuræ vitæ per satisfactionem instruerent. Ipse archiepiscopus a principibus ab hac profectione ad pugnam consultius revocatus, orationibus et obsecrationibus in afflictione magna et contritione cordis instabat cum suis clericis, donec renuntiatum ei fuit, quantam ereptionis gratiam populo suo præstitit Deus.

Igitur, in octavis Assumptionis Sanctæ Mariæ, undecimo kalendas Septembris, feria secunda, universus exercitus circa standard convenit, ne quis de fuga præsumeret equis procul amotis; omnes autem mori aut vincere pro patria unanimiter decernentes. Fuerunt autem principes hii in honoribus et dignitatibus præminentes, Willelmus de Albamarla comes, Walterus de Gant, Rodbertus de Brus, Rogerus de Mulbrai, Walterus Espec, Willelmus de Perci, Bernardus de Baillel', Ricardus de Curceio, Willelmus Fossard, Robertus de Stuthavilla, Ilbertus de Lesceio. Hunc ipsum et patrem ipsius, Rodbertum de Lesceio, Henricus rex ejicit e regno Angliæ. Mortuo rege, Willelmum Transversum, qui ex datione regis honori scilicet Pontifracto præsedit, miles quidam Paganus, de honore illo, occidit, et iste Ilbertus honorem jure patrimonii possedit. Affuit etiam cum suis copiis de Nothingaham-scira Willelmus Peverel, et Rodbertus de Ferers de Derbi-scira, et Galfridus Halsalin.

Accessit etiam rex Scottiæ, cum suis legionibus, stipatus in prælium, Scottis in prima acie dispositis, id sibi ex nativa dignitate reclamantes quasi unus. Nudi ipsi et pæne inermes progressi adversus cuneos loricatos et iccirco invulnerabiles. Circa regem steterunt equestres ordines militaribus armis instructi. Fide dignum rex arbitratus est vincere vel mori pro sacramento quod juravit hæredibus Henrici regis, et universitas Angliæ cum eo.

Scotti itaque et Picti vix a prima hora initi conflictus usque ad tertiam perstiterunt, videntes se confodi et consui sagittis, et obrui, et opprimi. Qui omnes a campo dilapsi sunt, sarcinas suas a se rejicientes. In ignominiam hujus rei vocatus est locus ille Baggamor. Continuo constantia residui exercitus proturbata et infirmata est. Propterea seniores festinantes compulerunt regem equos reposcere, et cum sua conserta acie discedere, ne et ipse cum suis cederet in ruinam. Exercitus quoque Eboraci non est persecutus recedentes, sed unusquisque ad propria regredi festinavit. Plurimi vero Scottorum, ignari locorum aberrantes, ubicunque reperti sunt jugulati sunt. Ipsæ etiam acies Scottorum et Pictorum, ubi adinvicem in reditu concurrerunt, infelici hostilitate concertantes, sese suffocaverunt. Rex igitur, in regnum suum receptus, convocatos ad se Scottos et Pictos multa massa pecuniarum mulctavit, acceptis obsidibus et sacramentis ab eis, quod in omni conflictu et periculo fideliter cum eo et pro eo persisterent. Rex etiam Angliæ, lætatus super his successibus suis, Willelmum de Albamarla comitem in Eboracisciria fecit, et Rodbertum de Ferers comitem in Derbi scira.¹

Note 1. After this passage there comes in the MS. the account of the comet of 1133, which I have transferred to that year. After that, there follows the poem of Serlo on the battle of the Standard, which is printed by Twysden (coll. 331-2), and the account of the same conflict by Aelred of Rievaux which occurs in the same collection (col. 333, etc.). At the end of Aelred's work is this colophon, - "Explicit descriptio Atheldredi abbatis. Incipit descriptio prædicti Prioris Haugustaldensis ecclesiæ." i.e. "Here ends the description of Abbot Æthelred. Here begins the description of the aforesaid Prior of the church of Hexham."

The chronicle of Prior John is then continued, after having been thus strangely cut in two. The transcriber seems to have been more of an utilitarian than a person of taste. The poem of Serlo and the work of Aelred relate to the year 1138, and, therefore, he ruthlessly disjointed the Prior's chronicle, and, without any regard to appearance, inserted what the other two had written in the intervening space, among the occurrences of 1138.