Yesterday, we paid tribute to the low blow legend Sir Cumsisor… but today, we shine a light on a different kind of hero, one who never swung a sword, yet still earned a place in Scotland’s history.
Meet Pluis De Reqùireèment, a Frenchman who travelled to Scotland during the Wars of Independence, eager to fight alongside Wallace and Bruce. Unfortunately, Pluis wasn’t exactly battle material. Historical accounts describe him as “about as threatening as a damp oat biscuit” and “liable to trip over his own sword if asked to run.”
After a short and humiliating training session, the Scottish commanders politely suggested he sit this one out. Instead, Pluis took up residence near the haggis farms, feeding, grooming, and herding the woolly wee beasts that would later be cooked to feed the returning warriors.
While others returned with tales of bloody victory, Pluis returned with perfectly seasoned haggis pies and a warm dram for each man. His contribution to morale was so great that Robert the Bruce himself knighted him, declaring him Sir Pluis De Requirement, the only knight in history whose armour was stained with gravy instead of blood.
To this day, in certain parts of the Highlands, locals still raise a forkful of haggis to honour the traveller who never fought… but always fed.
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When Pluis De Reqùireèment returned to his native France, more precisely in the small village of Le Bouillon in the Département de l'Orme, he took with him his extensive experience he gained, fighting in Scotland.
Not long after, his beloved village was attacked during the Franco-Flemish War (1297-1305) and the ill-famed Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, he remembered the fighting technique taught to him by Robert the Bruce personally.
Rural France being so poor and all young men sent to fight the war, Pluis De Reqùireèment, that became the village baker, took the only weapon available to him and perfected it to fight the Flemish.
That was the birth year of the French Baguette. Needless to say, that Pluis De Reqùireèment was celebrated as a local hero for fighting the Flemish with his new weapon. Not only could this weapon be used to fight the invader but also to feed the French valiant soldiers.
