ABSTRACT
The problem of keeping English forces in Scotland well supplied with food during the later years of the reign of Edward was one of the main preoccupations of the royal clerks responsible for the organization of the armies and garrisons. Among the numerous wardrobe documents illustrating the activities of the victuallers there survive a few estimates, which show that there were definite standards used to work out the requirements of castle garrisons. On 1 January 1300 John Droxford, keeper of the wardrobe, Walter Beauchamp, steward of the household, and various others met to make an estimate for part of that year of food supplies for the castles of Berwick, Edinburgh and Dirleton. A much more informal draft estimate for Edinburgh shows slightly different standards. From the information provided by the estimates it is possible to work out how much the royal officials thought soldiers doing garrison duty should eat.
