The nature of the Scots and their methods in war.
The True Chronicles of Jean le Bel, 1290-1360. Translated by Nigel Bryant. 2011
Chapter X. The nature of the Scots and their methods in war.
The Scots are exceedingly bold and fearsome fighters and have much experience of waging war, and at that time they had very little fear of the English - I don’t know whether that’s still the case. And when they mean to invade England their army will cover twenty or thirty leagues at a stretch, by day or night. Anyone who didn’t know their ways might well be amazed. The fact is that when they invade they’re all mounted, except for the rabble who follow them on foot; their knights and squires ride good sturdy rounceys and the others little hackneys. And because of the mountainous terrain in those parts they have no baggage train and carry no supplies of bread or wine; when they go to war their custom is such - and their abstinence so great - that they make do for long periods with half-raw meat (and no bread), and plain river water (no wine). And they don’t bother with pots or pans: they cook their meat in leather - even in a beast’s own new-flayed hide. They know they’ll find plenty of cattle where they’re going, so they take no provisions, except that each man carries a big flat stone between the seat and panel of his saddle and bags of flour behind him; and when they’ve eaten so much of this ill-cooked meat that their bellies feel tight and bloated, they throw the flat stone on the fire, mix some of the flour with water, and make little pancakes rather like the communion wafers made by the Beguine nuns, and eat these to ease their stomachs. So it’s no wonder the Scots cover more ground each day than others do, when, as you’ve heard, they’re all mounted (except for the rabble) and have no carts or baggage.
In just such a fashion they’d now invaded the country and were burning and laying waste the land, and finding more livestock than they knew what to do with. They numbered three thousand heavy cavalry, knights and squires, riding good strong rounceys and coursers, and fully twenty thousand other men, fierce and bold, armed in the fashion of their country and riding the smaller hackneys; and they never tether or groom them - as soon as they dismount they just send them off to graze on field or heath. And I tell you, they had two very fine captains: King Robert of Scotland was old and suffering (so it’s said) from the unclean sickness, and so had appointed as their captains a most noble and worthy prince, valiant in arms, namely the Earl of Moray, who bore a silver shield blazoned with three red cushions, and James, Lord Douglas, who was considered the boldest and most daring knight in either kingdom; he bore a blue shield with a silver chief and three red stars emblazoned on the silver. These two were the greatest lords in the whole kingdom of Scotland.
Les vrayes chroniques de Messire Jehan le Bel. 1863
Chronique de Jean de Bel. 1904
Во французском издании, как переводчик с английского и указал, дословно - "20 или 32 лье".
P.S. A Military History of Scotland. Edited by Edward M. Spiers, Jeremy A. Crang and Matthew J. Strickland. 2012. В первую очередь - главы, написанные Прествичем, Стиклендом и Фрезером.