Antiphoners and cruets

Four days after Falkirk, 26 July, Edward I was at Stirling on the Forth. The castle had been held by the Scots since 1297, but surrendered soon after the king and his cavalry appeared before the walls. Edward left on 8 August, when the castle was supplied with food, weapons and furnishings for the chapel. The fifty-eight year old king, still nursing two broken ribs, had more riding ahead of him.

 The inventory for Stirling survives, and shows an interesting concern with the refurbishment of the chapel: God came first. John Sampson, the new constable of Stirling, received a silver chalice, a vestment, two towels, a missal, a portoise, an antiphoner, a troper, and two pewter cruets.

I had to Google some of the above. A ‘portoise’ was a breviary, an antiphoner a liturgical book, and a troper a book containing tropes or sequences for the sung parts of the Mass. For their earthly needs the garrison were supplied with 67 quarters of wheat flour, 46 quarters of wheat, 51 quarters of beans, 81 quarters of barley, 143 quarters of malt, 100 large cattle and 217 sheep. For a treat, they also received a box of almonds.