it was; for if they had known that it had been the
earl Douglas, they had been thereof so joyful and so proud that the
victory had been theirs. Nor also the Scots knew not of that adventure
till the end of the battle; for if they had known it, they should have
been so sore despaired and discouraged that they would have fled away.
Thus as the earl Douglas was felled to the earth, he was stricken into
the head with an axe, and another stroke through the thigh: the
Englishmen passed forth and took no heed of him: they thought none
otherwise but that they had slain a man of arms. On the other part the
earl George de la March and of Dunbar fought right valiantly and gave
the Englishmen much ado, and cried, 'Follow Douglas,' and set on the
sons of Percy: also earl John of Moray with his banner and men fought
valiantly and set fiercely on the Englishmen, and gave them so much to
do that they wist not to whom to attend.

[1] 'No man was so well armed that he did not fear the great
strokes which he gave.'

HOW IN THIS BATTLE SIR RALPH PERCY WAS SORE HURT AND TAKEN PRISONER BY
A SCOTTISH KNIGHT

Of all the battles and encounterings that I have made mention of
herebefore in all this history, great or small, this battle that I
treat of now was one of the sorest and best foughten without cowardice
or faint hearts. For there was nother knight nor squire but that did
his devoir and fought hand to hand: this battle was like the battle of
Becherel,[1] the which was valiantly fought and endured. The earl of
Northumberland's sons, sir Henry and sir Ralph Percy, who were chief
sovereign captains, acquitted themselves nobly, and sir Ralph Percy
entered in so far among his enemies that he was closed in and hurt,
and so sore handled that his breath was so short, that he was taken
prisoner by a knight of the earl of Moray's called sir John Maxwell.
In the taking the Scottish knight demanded what he was, for it was in
the night, so that he knew him not, and sir Ralph was so sore overcome
and bled fast, that at last he said: 'I am Ralph Percy.' Then the Scot
said: 'Sir Ralph, rescue or no rescue I take you for my prisoner: I am
Maxwell.' 'Well,' quoth sir Ralph, 'I am content: but then take heed
to me, for I am sore hurt, my hosen and my greaves are full of blood,'
Then the knight saw by him the earl Moray and said: 'Sir, here I
deliver to you sir Ralph Percy as prisoner; but, sir, let good heed be
taken to him, for he is