Sir David Annand
When the battle of the Burghmuir was fought in
1335, Abercrombie tells us that the Namurois,
when defeated by the Scots, “made an orderly
retreat to Edinburgh; they faced about several
times, as occasion offered or necessity required,
particularly as they entered St. Mary’s Wynd; and
here a Scots knight, Sir David Annand, a man of
incredible strength and no less courage, having re-
ceived a wound from one of the enemy, was thereby
so much exasperated, that, at once exerting all the
vigour of his unwearied arms, he gave his adversary
such a blow with an axe, that the sharp and ponderous
weapon clave both man and horse, and
falling with irresistible force to the ground, made a
lasting impression upon the very stones of the street.
This story may seem a little too romantic, and I
would not have related it had I not cited a very
good voucher, John de Fordoun, who flourished in
1360, not long after it happened.”
source-Old and New Edinburgh
