This was the flag carried by the great Scottish national hero, Robert-the-Bruce, whose valour won for him the crown of Scotland, and whose descendants, the earls of Elgin, still bear his banner on their coatof-arms. At Bannockburn, in 1314, this emblem of Bruce rose victorious over Edward II. and his stolid Englishmen. Its use was continued in 1385, when the Scots, stirred up and aided by Charles VI. of France, invaded and despoiled the border counties of England, in which expeditions both they and their French auxiliaries wore a white St. Andrew's cross upon their jacques, both before and behind, in order that they might distinguish the soldiers of their combined companies from the forces of the foe.[38] [38] Perry: "Rank and Badges." But St. Andrew's flag was not always victorious. At Chevy Chase and Flodden Field it suffered defeat, but only in such wise as to prove the truth of the warning motto of the prickly Scotch thistle, "_Nemo me impune lacessit_"--(No one may touch me with impunity). The Scottish Jack in all these early centuries, unlike its English compeer, does not appear to have been carried by Scotsmen far afield, nor in expeditions across the seas. On land, the Scots used it mainly as a sign of recognition during the forays which they kept up with unceasing vigour on the neighbouring kingdoms of England and Ireland; and at sea its scene of action was kept measurably near to their own shores. Scotland, being so far removed from the fleets of the southern nations of Europe, did not need a regular navy, and never had one of any size,[39] but her far northern coasts, indented with deep bays and bordered by wild fastnesses, adapted themselves admirably to the use to which they were mainly put, of being the lair from which hardy, venturesome freebooters, in those times called "sea rovers," sailed forth in their "talle shippes" (13), and pounced down upon the vessels of the passersby. The exploits of some of these sailors, under the St. Andrew's Jack, crop out from time to time with splendid audacity in the history of the centuries. One "Mercer, a Scottish rover," during the reign of Richard II. of England, so harried the merchant shipping of England that, in 1378, Alderman John Philpot, "a worshipful citizen of London," equipped an expedition at his own expense to cramp the energies of the marauder, and meeting Mercer and fifteen Spanish ships, which were acting with him, brought the whole fleet, "_besides great riches which were found on board_," in triumph into port at Scarborough in Yorkshire. Philpot was haled before the English royal authorities for having dared "_to set forth a navy of men-of-war without the advice of the King's Council_," but the end was considered to have justified the means, and the bold citizen, who by his own action had put down the annoyance with which the officers of the realm should have dealt, was, after having himself stoutly berated the Council for their sluggishness, let go free.