same due to it from our Manuscripts and Records beyond all contradiction Bishop Lesly and Arch-bishop Spotswood are Men who have written our History with great judgment and truth and it cannot be imagin'd that they who were indeed banish'd for Loyalty and suffer'd the loss of all for their Perswasion would have asserted a whole bundle of Lies or a continued Romance as the Author calls our History especially since they had both seen Luddus and knew that their History would be enquired into And Lesly has the confidence to tell in his Preface to the Nobility That his History had been drawn with all the exactness that the truth of History requires from the ancient Records of the Kingdom and the Monasteries and he was then at Rome whither they were carried It is also very pleasant to hear the Bishop of St. Asaph inveigh against Dempster the Jesuit one of our Antiquaries whose Book certainly he had never seen else he would never have call'd him a Jesuit as he does For the very Title of his Book bears that he was Baro de Muiresk and a Lawyer and he was indeed Professor honorarius of the Civil Law at Bolognia in Italy and died married as the History of his Life writ by Peteraces bears and we may know by the Elogies of the greatest Wits in Italy how much they esteem'd him for his extraordinary Learning and Parts I may add to these David Camerarius de fortitudine c. Scotorum besides Richardus de sancto victore and Cornelius Hibernicus both which wrote our ancient Histories the last of them liv'd in the year 1140. And they are both follow'd by Boethius and cited by Vossius Baleus Sixtus Senensis and others and also Adamnanus that wrote St. Columba's Life From all which it appears that our Historians have been Men of great credit and esteem and have founded their History upon more authentick Documents than almost any other Historians in the World viz. the Records of many Monasteries in the time when Monasteries were very devout and upon the universal Tradition of the times both ancient and modern and that before there was any competition or controversie concerning our Antiquity and that what they have said has been universally believ'd by all the learned World To which I shall add that our Clerk of Registers Skeen the great Antiquary had added from those ancient Records a Chronology of our Kings and which he has inserted amongst our Acts of Parliament Is not then the Bishop of St. Asaph much to blame when he would have all this pass for a Romance and all those Authors to be reputed only as one Because as he says they followed one another from Fordon and he follow'd Ieffrey neither of which is so Tho I confess the contrivance of this untruth was prety but happily disappointed by their asserting that they founded their Histories upon the old Records of our Monasteries and on Turgot Verimund and others all which they had seen and who are elder than Fordon And it might be as well objected against Witnesses that they came in and depos'd one after another giving for the reason of their knowledg that they had seen what they depos'd If all these Manuscripts which I have cited were extant I doubt not but the Author himself would acknowledg our Histories to be instructed beyond debate and therefore if I can instruct them to have once been they must be reputed as good as extant still For both Law and common Reason having consider'd that Papers are very subject to be lost and to perish have therefore allow'd that if it can be prov'd that there were such Papers and that they were lost by accident that this probation shall supply the loss And I desire to know if the Warrants of Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation had been burnt would not the Bishop of St. Asaph have been angry if his Testimony and Dr. Stillingfleet's had not been sufficient to prove the tenor of them And what have we for many Authors whom Livy Iosephus and Herodot cite besides their own Testimony And what probation did ever Mankind see stronger than that which we adduce in this case For first that all our Monasteries did write our Annals is beside common Fame and universal and late Tradition which passes over all our Country prov'd by the other Authorities above cited If then two ordinary Witnesses be sufficient to prove a matter of Fact we must much more allow that this matter may be prov'd by very many Persons considerable for their Devotion and Quality 2. There are other Manuscripts yet extant some whereof I my self have seen and have formerly nam'd all agreeing with the tenour of our History and long prior to Luddus's starting of this Debate in Anno 1572. And so must prove sufficient to support our Histories and those Witnesses especially seeing they have nothing in them contrary to Reason or other credible Histories but on the contrary are supported by both and written by Authors of great Integrity and Knowledg and have been receiv'd with great applause in the World and are also confirm'd by the English Historians themselves And therefore I must conclude with the Learned Vossius That albeit the old Monuments of Rome perisht that therefore the Faith of their History should not perish with them Lest it might be thought that we our selves caus'd to destroy those Records we now cite to prevent further inquiry and to shew how much harder it is for us than other Nations to be call'd to such an account I shall desire Strangers to be inform'd as a casus omissionis that our ancient Records were destroyed in three remarkable occasions 1. When Edward the First took away all our Records that he could find having as all Historians declare resolv'd to abolish all memory of our Nation and of which we accus'd him before the Pope and he did not deny it 2. When our Monks flying to Rome at the Reformation carry'd with them their Records 3. By Cromwel who carry'd our Records into England and many of which were lost at Sea in their return But if our Historians are to be rejected I hope it must be by the Authority of far more and far more credible Authors agreeable to a Principle of Dr. Stillingfleet's the Patron of our Bishop's Book who says Certainly they who undertake to contradict that which is received by common Consent must bring stronger and clearer Evidence than that on which that Consent is grounded or else their Exceptions ought to be rejected with the highest Indignation Which Principle as it seems to be recommended by Reason so it is founded upon the express Law of all Nations by which it is acknowledg'd that the Testimonies of Witnesses are not to be reprobated but by others in a double number and who are of far greater Authority And from this Principle it is that if a Jury of fifteen hath absolv'd a Man unjustly though that Jury consisted of the meanest Men
heard of it nor with one even of these few who had valu'd it and so this Author may be said rather to have suggested a new Argument than to have answered an old One For they urge now nothing to us save places of Scripture resolving to have their Presbytery Iuris Divini knowing that nothing less can secure them in opposing the Laws of the Kingdom And what can the Presbyterians think of their other Arguments which they value much Since this which they valu'd so little is thought of such force by a learned Bishop as to deserve a whole Book the cutting off of 44 Kings and the offending a Nation of Friends It is also very remarkable that the learn'd Doctor Hammond a great Champion of Episcopacy owns the Antiquity of our Nation and answers fully that Argument without overturning the truth of our History or wronging the Antiquity of our Royal-Line whereas Baxter the Presbyterian urges this Citation and yet agrees with this Author in opposing the Antiquity of our History approving what is said by Cambden and Vsher and in a Letter to the Duke of Lauderdale asserting the lateness of our settlement here Which shews that there is no necessity lying upon such as own Episcopacy to wrong the Antiquity of our Kings and Nation But how the necessity of a private corner of a remote Country in Ecclesiâ constituendâ could wrong the general practice of the Church is as little to be understood as it is undenyable that many thousands in Iapan and China were converted by Presbyters before Bishops were sent thither And since it cannot be deny'd but that those who ordain'd our Presbyters were Bishops it necessarily follows that Episcopacy was settl'd in the Christian Church before we had Presbyters or Culdees or else if these who ordain'd our Presbyters were not Bishops the practice of that Church whereby our Presbyters were ordain'd should have been impugn'd and not the Authority of our Histories and the Antiquity of our Royal-Line overturn'd And though this Reverend and Learn'd Author could prove that we were not setled here before the Year 503 yet that could not answer the Argument for the Culdees might have been settled before that time in this Country where we now live though amongst the Picts for it cannot be deny'd but the Picts were setled in this Country before that time And when our Historians say that the Abbots of Icolm-kill had Jurisdiction over all the Bishops of the Province that is to be understood as Beda observes more inusitato and my Lord St. Asaph himself well remarks these words and gives a full and clear vindication of the passages of Beda in the 173 and following Pages and might have rested therein and needed not to have been driven to seek a new Answer in overturning the Antiquity of our Nation Many examples can be given of Jurisdiction of Presbyters and even of Deacons over Bishops in the Canon Law and History So that this instance from our Historians makes nothing against Episcopacy And latter Historians meeting with these ambiguous words in our Annals De signatus Electus Ordinatus were by a mistake induc'd to appropriate these words to the formal Ceremony of Ordination and Imposition of Hands And I find by the Bishop's Concession that the Abbess Hilda did elect and send forth such of her Monks as she thought fit to be ordain'd which is all that our Guldees and ancient Monks did Thus a King may be said to make one a Bishop or a Mother to have made one of her Sons a Church-man which answer the learned Nicol a zealous friend to Episcopacy thought sufficient to elide Blondel's Arguments from our Historians without denying the Antiquity of our Nation or troubling himself with our Culdees And if Beda had heard that the Presbyters did ordain Bishops he had remark'd it as a most unusal thing having marked that the Abbots had jurisdiction over Bishops they being but Presbyters such an Ordination being much more extraordinary than such a Jurisdiction And might not my Lord St. Asaph as well have inveigh'd against Gildas and the British Historians because he says that Church-men were ordain'd by the consent of the Bishops and the rest of the Presbyters from which Presbyterians and particularly the same Blondel infers a parity betwixt Bishops and Presbyters And from which it appears that dangerous Consequences should not be drawn from the dubious and heedless expressions of old Authors living in rude Times and Places and from all which we might have been secure that my Lord St. Asaph would have concur'd with the wise answer which Spotswood Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews with whom the learn'd Hammond agrees gave to that silly Argument without affronting him as a betrayer of the Episcopal Cause and caressing our Fanaticks by that unwarrantable and dangerous assertion that in consequence thereof they might reasonably conclude that when they covenanted against Episcopacy they had only us'd their own right and thrown out that which was a confess'd innovation in order to the restoring of that which was their primitive Government For it does not follow that because our Church in its infancy and necessity was without Bishops for some Years that therefore it was reasonable for Subjects to enter into a Solemn League and Covenant without and against the consent of their Monarch and to extirpate Episcopacy settled then by Law and by an old prescription of 1200 Years at least 3. Precedency being one of the Jewels of the Crown and one of the chief Glories of Princes and all who treat on that Subject confessing that the King of Great-Britain as King of Scotland is the most ancient Monarch in Europe the Line of other Kingdoms having been often interrupted whereas ours never was it seems a great injury to our Kings to have their Line shortened so as thereby to postpone them to many others and if this Author's Arguments prove any thing they must prove that our Kings cannot instruct their Antiquity till Malcolm the 3d's Time and so our Kings will be amongst the last of all Crowned-Heads Nor is it one of the least Arguments which prevail with us to hazard all for our Royal-Line that we have been so long Subjects to it and happy under it and therefore whoever shortens it lessens though without design the influence of our Kings and endangers the Succession And since Luddus owns that he durst not deny the British Descent from Brutus lest he might thereby wrong the Majesty of the English Nation I admire that any of the Subjects of Great Britain did not think it a degree of Lese-Majesty to injure and shorten the Royal-Line of their Kings 4. If this injury had been done to Kings or to a Nation when they were Enemies to Episcopacy as the Obligation was so the fault had been less But to inveigh against our Royal-Line after King Iames had made the settlement of Episcopacy his business King Charles had died for it and our late Soveraign of
we had against the Romans in conjunction with the Picts the Victories we then got are chiefly to be ascrib'd to us And to crown all we have generously contributed all that was in our power to support that Ancient and Royal Family so unparallell'd for its antiquity by which we were animated and instructed to do all those great Actions till they are now become the Monarchs of the whole Isle having by a happier way extinguished those Wars and Animosities and may he be unhappy who revives them For clearing how this Tradition might have been and was preserv'd Our History tells us of a probable way among many others which was That at the Coronation of our Kings one appeared and recited his whole Genealogy I shall trouble my Reader only with a proof of this Custom which is such as confirms also the Genealogy of King Alexander the 3d in the year 1249 prior to Fordon's time or to the view of any such Debate and is related by Fordon and Major in the Life of that King and being so memorable a Fact and so near Fordon's own time his Relation cannot but be credited His words are That the King being plac'd in the Marble-Chair the Crown upon his Head and the Scepter in his Hand and the Nobility being set below Him a Venerable old High-landed Gentleman stept out and bowing the Knee express'd himself to the King in the High-land Language thus God bless you King Alexander Son of Alexander Son of William c. And so carried up the Genealogy to Fergus the First Which Custom was most solemnly us'd at the Coronation of King Charles the Martyr at which time their Pictures were expos'd and noblest Actions recited As also the reciting of their Genealogy was usual at the Burial of ours Kings a written Proof of which Tradition is to be seen in a Manuscript of Baldredus Abbas Rynalis for that which is the Abbacy of Melros was so called before King David's time who designs them so in the Foundations of the Lands of Melros which he gives to them and is related verbatim by Fordon consisting of eighteen Chapters mentioning the memorable Actions of King David upon whom the Lamentation is made who died 1151 and running up the Genealogy of the said St. David to Fergus the First dedicated to Henry Prince of England Grand Nephew to St. David who came to the Crown of England Anno 1154 under the name of Henry the Second In both which at least Fordon is to be believ'd having sufficient Vouchers This also being ordinary in our High-land Families to this very day not only at Burials but Baptisms and Marriages and in which Families Men continue still to be design'd from their Fathers Grandfathers and very many Generations upwards as is a sufficient Historical Proof of Tradition tho we had no other Warrant for those few Ages Before I come to clear that we had Manuscripts and Records it is fit to consider that is very probable that as the History of most Nations was preserv'd by their Priests and Church-men so ours would be very ready to oblige the Kings under whom and the People among whom they liv'd by writing their Annals And therefore we may reasonably conclude that since we were very early Christians we had therefore ancient Histories written by our Church-men besides those which we may pretend to have been transmitted to them by the Druids And the Bishop himself acknowledges that the Monastery of Hy call'd by us Icolm-kill that is Hy the Cell of Columba was founded about the year 560 and it is undeniable that 48 of our old Kings were buried and our Records were kept there since its Foundation until the Reign of Malcolm Canmore and it is also certain that our Annals were written in our Monasteries such as Scoon Pasley Pluscardin and Lindesfern govern'd by three Scotish-Bishops Aidan Finan and Colman and Abercorn mention'd by Beda and Melross the Chronicle whereof begins where Beda ends as their History now printed shews though certainly that English Manuscript is very unfaithful for most of the things relating to our Nation are omitted as particularly about the beginning in the year 844. Our Manuscript observes which the English has not That Alpin King of the Scots died to whom succeeded his Son Kenneth who beat the Picts and was declared first King of all Scotland to the Water of Tine and after it expresses in his Epitaph Primus in Albania fertur Regnasse Kenedhus Filius Alpini praelia multa gerens And it observes that he was called the first King of Albany not because he was the first who made the Scotish Laws but because he was the first King of all Scotland And each of our Monasteries had two Books the one call'd their Register or Chartulary containing the Records relating to their private securities and another call'd their Black-book containing an account of the memorable things which occur'd in every Year And as it is strongly presumable that our Historians would have compil'd our Histories from those So this being a matter of Fact is probable by Witnesses and I thus prove it in such a way and manner as is sufficient to maintain any History Verimundns a Spaniard Arch-deacon of St. Andrews in Anno 1076 as is remarked by Chambers of Ormond declares in the Epistle to his Book of the Historians of Scotland dedicated to King Malcolm call'd Can-more That albeit there are many things in the said Histories which may seem to the Readers to be a little difficult to be believed because they are not totally confirmed by Foreign Historians Yet after have they heard how the Scots were setled in the North Part of the Isle of Albion separated by the Sea from the firm Land and so seldom troubled by Strangers to whom they give no occasions to write their Actions and also that they have not been less happy in having almost always among them the Druids Religious People and diligent Chroniclers before the Reception of the Christian Faith and continually since Monks faithful Historians in the Isles of Man and Icomkill where they kept securely their Monuments and Antiquities without giving a sight or Copy of them to strangers they will cease to wonder This Chambers was a Learned Man and a Lord of Session who wrote anno 1572 and in his Preface says That he had those principal Authors Verimund a Spaniard Turgot Bishop of St. Andrews John Swenton John Campbel and Bishop Elphinstoun c. and many great Histories of the Abbacies of Scoon called the Black-book and of other like Chronicles of Abbacies as that of Inch-colm and Icolmkill the most part whereof he took pains to consider as much as was possible for him He cites Verimund for an account of the Scots and Picts and after he also cites him for the Miracle of St. Andrews in Hungus's time and he gives an account of the tenor of the League betwixt Charles the Great and Achaius and asserts that
the same was extracted out of the Registers and Books he mention'd and particularly out of the second Book of Verimund Sir Richard Baker cites this Verimund among the Authors out of whom he compiled his History and with him he cites Ioannes Campbellus who he says wrote the History of the Scots from the Origine of the Nation till the Year 1260 in which he liv'd And also Turgot who he says wrote our Annals from the beginning till the Year 1098 in which he liv'd and him likewise Hollinshed cites as also Aluredus Rivallensis who wrote the History of King David and died Anno 1166 and Bartholomeus Anglicus who wrote a Chronicle of the Scots and liv'd in the Year 1360. Two of which three last we have reason to think were Scots-men and have been called English-men only because they liv'd in the Counties which now belong to England but then certainly belong'd to us and if they be Englishmen they are yet the more credible Witnesses for us And as the worthy Baker says he compil'd his History out of these Books which he neither would nor could have said if he had not seen them So it is very probable that he did see them our Records and Manuscripts having been industriously carry'd to England by Edward the First as shall be hereafter observ'd Nor can it be answer'd that he cited them at second-hand from Boeth or Buchannan for else he had cited the other Authors whom they cite such as Richardus de sancto victore Fordon Major c. All this doth evidently demonstrate that we had such Historians as Verimund and the others above-cited who asserted before Fordon what he has related so that it was most unwarrantable to say that these things were dream'd by Fordon and Boethius but that Verimund was seen and consider'd by others and cited in a particular part of his Book which could not be copied from Boethius because he doth not cite Verimund for all those Transactions and upon this Balaeus a Learn'd English-man hath rested And Holinshed says that Verimund wrote a Book De Regibus Scotorum Nor can it be deny'd that Gesner in verbo Verimund and other famous Strangers cite him as one who has written our History ab exordio Scoticae gentis usque ad Malcolmi tempora And it is incredible to think so good and grave a Man as Boetius could have been so impudent to assert in his Dedication to King Iames the 5th That these Books were sent to him by the Earl of Argile and his Brother the Thesaurer from Icolmkill and that he had follow'd them in writing his History Especially since he is by Erasmus that great Critick admir'd as a most Learned Man they having studied together at Paris where he remembers that he was in great esteem And in a Letter concerning him Anno 1530 inserted in the Life of Erasmuus he remarks that Boethius was a Person who could not lie How can it then be imagined that he would have adventur'd to have printed a whole Romance and have told his King and the World that he had the Manuscripts by him Nor is this asserted only by Boethius and our own Historians but by Paulus Iovius a very famous Foreign Historian who in his Description of Scotland says That in Iona which we call Icolmkill are kept the ancient Annals and Manuscripts in hidden Presses of the Church and large Parchments asigned by the King 's own hands and seal'd either with Seals of Gold or Wax By which also it appears how nice we have been in securing the Faith of our History the Seals of our Kings being put to what was written by our devout Church-men And whereas the Bishop of St. Asaph to lessen the Credit of Boethius relates that Bishop Gavin Dowglas advised Polidor Virgil not to follow his History Polidor Virgil himself is appeal'd to where there is no mention of Boethius at all nor could it be for Polidor regrates that Gavin Dowglas died Anno 1520 whereas Boethius was not publish'd till 1526 and Boethius himself informs us That the Records from which he form'd his History were sent him from Icolmkill Anno 1525 and no sooner neither did he see those Warrants from which he wrote his History till that Year And it appears by that passage that Gavin Dowglas believ'd our account and produc'd a Manuscript for it which I now cite and use as an accessory Argument and prove it by the Bishop of St. Asaph and Polidor and whereas the Bishop of St. Asaph pretends that the Relation given by Gavin Dowglas agreed with Nennius but contradicted Boethius the contrary is probable by Polidor's own Relation of what Gavin Dowglas writ to him which agrees with Boethius in every thing relating to our Antiquity The Bishop of St. Asaph is also most unjust to Boethius in alledging that Vossius considers him as a fabulous Author For Vossius commends him from what Erasmus and Buchannan say of him and in the end taxes him only a little for having believ'd too many Miracles a fault incident to most Popish Writers in those times but to none more than to the Bishop's own obscure Authors for which among many other Testimonies I refer my Reader to them who writ the Preface to the Histories of Matthew of Westminster and to the Life of King Alfred and Walsingham's History It can also be proved by many famous Gentlemen that the Black Book of Scoon containing our Histories from the beginning was among President Spotwood's Books and was given by Lewis Cant to Major General Lambert and by him to Collonel Fairfax which Book King Charles the first had ransom'd from Rome by a considerable Sum of Money And it is certain that Spotswood had it and the Black Book of Pasley signed by the hands of three Abbots when he compil'd his History Which Book of Pasley together with the famous Book of Pluscardin Buchannan says he had and frequently cites and that there were such Books is known to the whole Nation And I my self have seen in the Learned Sir Robert Sibbald's Library to whom this Nation owes very much a very old Abridgment of the Book of Pasley which Book Bp Vsher himself also cites agreeing in every thing with our Histories and which was extracted per venerabilem virum Ioannem Gibson Canonicum Glasguensem Rectorem de Renfrew Anno 1501. And two other old Manuscripts the one called Excerpta de Chronicis Scotiae Scoti-chronico which comes to the Reign of King Iames the 2d and belong'd to Doctor Arbuthnot Physician to King Iames the 5th and this proves that there were Chronica different from Fordon's And the other Extracta de Registro prioratus Sancti-Andreae giving the Irish Names of our Kings As also I have seen a Manuscript written by a Brother of the minores Observants of Iedburgh in Anno 1533 containing an Abridgment of our History and whereof Doctor Sibbald has another Copy And there is another old Manuscript
the practice of others but from Sabellicus gliscere indies id malum augebatur duarum gentium audaciâ apparebatque brevi totam insulam alienatam iri nisi ejusmodi conatibus maturé iretur obviam 5. How it is imaginable that the Picts finding themselves in so great danger from the Romans and Britons the one very considerable for their Valour and the other for their great Numbers would not have intreated the Scots to stay constantly with them for tho they had been equal to their Enemies when the Scots and they were together yet they could not be but much more inferiour to them when the Scots left them once every Year 6. If the Irish had constantly sent in Auxiliaries to assist against the Romans it is not to be believ'd but the Romans would have resentted this Injury against the Kingdom of Ireland which they never did except once when the Irish gave the Scots Supplies endeavouring to re-establish themselves after the expulsion of Eugenius And if this War had been carried on by the Kingdom of Ireland and not by the Scots in Scotland we had certainly heard that the Kings of Ireland had been mention'd both in the Roman English and our Histories for it is not to be imagin'd that so long and so great Wars could have been carried on by the Subjects without the consent of the King and Kingdom 7. If they never had been call'd in by the Picts to stay as a Colony till the Saxons had beat the Britons who had lately call'd them in to their Assistance How is it imaginable to think that the Picts would have call'd them in as Auxiliaries at that time having so lately seen how dangerous Auxiliaries might prove especially considering that the Scots had been us'd many hundred Years to robbing as the Bishop of St. Asaph would have us believe and that they were part of a numerous near Nation from whom they might expect suddenly great Supply or that they would have not only run this risque but have divided with them their little Country and yet not have employ'd their Assistance for the Ends for which they call'd them in For the Bishop tells us that the Scots did nothing for 100 Years after they were call'd in 8. It cannot be deny'd but that about the Year 792 there was a League entred into betwixt Charles the Great call'd Charle-Maigne King of France and Emperor of the West and Achaius King of Scotland call'd by all the French Historians the Famous Alliance In which the King of Scotland did send over 4000 Men to the assistance of Charles the Great And this is testified by Aeginardus who wrote the History of those Times and was Secretary to Charles the Great and who is cited by Vsher at which time the King of Scotland sent over very many famous learn'd Men who founded the incomparable University of Paris All which is clear by Favin in his Theatre of Honour and Paulus Aemilius in that King's Life From which I raise two Arguments 1. How can it be imagin'd that if the Scots had not setled in a Colony till the 503 that their King could have been so famous that in about 280 Years time this small Colony which the Bishop of St. Asaph represents to have been but pilfering barbarous Robbers would have become so famous that Charles the Great then Emperor of all the Western World would have entred into a League with them especially since they had not for 100 Years after their settlement done any memorable Action as the Bishop of St. Asaph alledges 2. If our Kings and Nation had only then Dalrieda or the Kingdom of Argile as the Bishop contends how could this Prince of Argile which is after all improvement but an Earldom have been worthy not only of the Alliance of the great Emperor of the West but to be able to send 4000 Men especially having such dangerous Enemies at Home and being himself but a Stranger newly entred into a Foreign Island and living in a small part of the Isle with the Picts the more powerful and ancient possessors And that there were 4000 Men sent by virtue of that League is clear not only from Verimundus out of whose 2d Book Chambers cites the whole League but by Sansovin an Italian who writes the History of the Douglassii or Scoti whom he derives from William Douglas who was Lieutenant at that Time to Prince William Brother to Achaius For which Sansovin cites another viz. Vmberto Locato more ancient than himself And this is so far acknowledg'd by the French Kings that upon it we got very great Privileges in France and all the Heraulds in Europe acknowledg that the double Tressure was the Badg of that Alliance 9. How can it be conceiv'd that the Scots could in so short a time after their Settlement have been able without any help to extirpate the Picts who must be presum'd to have been very strong having been so long setled in this Isle and having possest in effect all that we have now benorth Forth except the Shire of Argyle if we believe the Bishop of St. Asaph Our Tradition is fortified and the former Authorities cited by us are clear'd from the receiv'd Laws of our Nation for first all our Histories bear That after King Fergus ' s death the Nobility finding his Son too young and the Wars in which they were engaged very dangerous they declared that the Vncle should govern Which Custom continu'd till it occasion'd many bloody Civil Wars betwixt the Uncles and Nephews and therefore was justly abrogated by a Parliament holden by Kenneth the Third which Kenneth the Third reign'd Anno 970. And it were very ridiculous to think that since these Matters of Fact are true viz. That there were bloody Civil Wars betwixt the Uncles and the Nephews and that all this hath been much debated in posterior Parliaments betwixt such as were for the Crown and such as were for popular Elections without ever controverting the Truth of the Matter of Fact and long before we could have any apprehension of such a debate as this and so that all this was a meer fiction calculated for maintaining an Antiquity which was never controverted It can as little be deny'd that there were Laws relating to the merchetae mulierum since many of our old Charters relate to them and discharges of them are incorporated in our Charters and which Styles are a part of our old and Traditional Law These merchetae mulierum were thereafter abrogated by King Malcom Canmor's Laws many hundred Years before the starting of this Debate And that there were such Laws is also acknowledged not only by Baker and others within the Isle but even by Solinus and Ierome c. And that these Laws were made by Evenus the Third who liv'd twelve Years before Christ is a part of the same Tradition and so cannot but be believ'd since Laws are one of the probablest
Apology against Edward the first of England about the Year 1300 we assert the Tradition of a wonderful Victory obtain'd by our King Hungus against the Saxons by the Relicts of St. Andrew the Apostle by virtue whereof the Scots first receiv'd the Faith of Christ. To which it is shortly answer'd that every Contradiction does not overturn the Truth of a whole History otherwise we need not be troubled to give any other answer to the Bishop's own Book nor is this pretended to be a Contradiction amongst our Historians for they all agree that King Donald was our first Christian King but in that Apology which is alledg'd to contradict our Histories our Predecessors design'd as most Pleaders do and this Eloquent Author does in his Book to gain their Point at any rate For understanding whereof it is fit to know that King Edward the first having upon the Competition betwixt Bruce and Baliol interpos'd with design to make himself Lord Paramount of Scotland he caus'd his Parliament write to the Pope to whom afterwards he wrote himself in which Letter of his it is pretended that we were Vassals to England as descended from Albanactus the second Son to Brutus 2. Because several of our Kings had become Vassals to his Predecessors in the Times of the British Saxon and Norman Kings To which we answer in our Apology That without debating whether the first Inhabitants of the Isle were descended from Albanactus or his Albanians it is asserted that we came from Spain by Ireland and conquer'd the first Inhabitans for which we cite Beda and so tho they had been Vassals we were free not being lyable to the Conditions of the People we conquer'd and as such fought constantly against the Britons who were forc'd to build Severus's Wall against us And as to any homage made by our Kings it was either for the Three Northen Countries of Cumberland Westmoreland and Northumberland confirm'd to us by the Britons to defend them against the Saxons and thereafter again confirm'd by both Saxons and Britons to assist them against the Danes Or was extorted by force from one or two young Captive Kings upon which heads the Popes had declar'd us free which Bulls Edward himself had robb'd unjustly out of our Treasure with other Records which he could not deny but to cajole the Pope their Judg they insinuate that though they were not Tributaries to his Holiness as England was yet they ought to be protected by the Pope because they had been converted by St. Andrew his Predecessors Brother-german St. Andrew having in Hungus's reign obtain'd for them a Victory over the Saxons and so became subject and subservient to the Pope in having converted the Saxons by Aidan Finan and Colman From this Matter of Fact I observe 1. That we own'd the same origination there that our Historians do to this day and so our Ancestors differ'd not from our Historians much less are they irreconcilable as St. Asaph alleadges 2. That the English acknowledg'd us to be as ancient as the Britons they and we being descended from two Brothers 3. That what we said of St. Andrew must needs be upon design to have oblidg'd the Pope meaning certainly either that we were then first effectually converted to the Church of Rome from the Oriental Observations in which we were very long very obstinate and that Rome consider'd that as the true Conversion or that after that time we first became subject tho not feudatary to the Pope as these forecited words subjoyn'd do insinuate But that our conversion from Paganism was more than 400 Years before the Saxons is positively asserted in that same Apology Nor can this have another meaning for it is undeniable that we were Christians long before the reign of Hungus who reign'd 800 Years after Christ and Colman c. liv'd long before that King Nor was Hungus our King we being only Auxiliaries to him then as King of the Picts after which Apology King Robert the 1st being crown'd and having defeated King Edward at Banock-burn where he gain'd a most signal Victory over the English they then being low made application to the Pope and he having discharg'd us by a formal Interdiction to pursue the Victory into England the Nobility to pacify that Pope and to remove the Interdiction at the desire of the King wrote Letter wherein they own the Antiquity of our Nation and Religion and Royal-Line mentioning when we came from Spain as our Historians do with whom they agree exactly Vt ex antiquorum gestis libris collegimus says the Letter which being prior to Fordon proves that all this was not Fordon's Dream and that our History is well founded on old Records prior to Fordon And lastly it appears that our Kings were not Vassals to England for their Crown but only for these Provinces as my Lord St. Asaph confesses and as I have prov'd in my Treatise of Precedency albeit our Independency was as much controverted of old as our Antiquity is now and I hope that the one will shortly appear as unjust a Pretence as the other is already confest to be From this it appears that there is rather a Harmony than real Contradiction here and that any seeming Contradiction is far less than the real ones betwixt Beda and the Bishop of St. Asaph and the following Contradictions wherein he differs from himself For clearing whereof observe That the Bishop says he questions not the truth of any thing that is said to have been within 800 nay within 1400 Years but so it is that this would bring us to be setled here before the Year 300 after Christ for substract 1400 out of 1684 which is the Year in which the Bishop prints his Book his Lordship can controvert nothing except what was done within 284 Years after Christ And yet he decryes our Historians for saying that we were settl'd here before the Year 503 and denies our being Christians for many Years after the Year 300 and to improve this learn'd Bishop's just Concession I must remark that all our Historians agree that Gregory the great King of Scotland who died Anno 892 added Northumberland to the Merse and having defeated the Britons at Lochmaben he forc'd them to renew their ancient League and to confirm to him the former Right his Predecessors got from them to Cumberland and Westmorland for assisting them against the Picts and Saxons which shews also what great things we could do not only alone without but even against the Picts All which being said by our Historians not only within the 1400 Years but the 800 are not controvertible by the Bishop's concession and therefore I understand not why he asserts that we had nothing but the Kingdom of Argyle before the beating and extirpating of the Picts who gave us their possession beyond Drumalbain Nor can I reconcile how the Bishop asserts all alongst and particularly that the Picts had nothing besouth Grahams-dyke or the
is That no Author mentions our Country by the name of Scotia for the first 1000 years whereas most of all the former Authors both within and without the Isle prove Scotia to have been the name of our Country and the whole Tract of Beda's History proves that since the year 560 this Country was generally so called Whereas neither Gildas nor Beda who lived near that Time and wrote whole Books of us do once call it Dalrieda or Argyle and consequently as I observ'd before the Bishop of St. Asaph's whole Sect. 9. of the first Chapter wherein he asserts that about the Year 500 the Scots erected the Kingdom of Argile or Dalrieda is most unwarrantable for though Beda calls us once Dalreudini yet this is spoken of us by him in the Time of our King Reuda and so near 70 Years before the 503 after Christ. And from this also arises a clear confutation of what the Bishop of St. Asaph asserts that no Author writing within the 1000 Years and naming Scotia means Us which is so far from being so that no Author of Credit Isidore only excepted did then by Scotia mean Ireland And the best Authority that Arch-bishop Vsher gives us for Dalrieda is Iocelin which my Lord St. Asaph hath improved by a new authority out of a Manuscript of the Lord Burghlie's where the Author thinks that Dalrieda and the Kingdom of Argile are the same Authors not to be once mentioned with those whom we cite 7. The distinction of Scotia Major and Minor is lately invented for either Ireland was called Scotia Major before the Year 1000 or only since if the first then it necessarily implyeth that at that Time our Country was also call'd Scotia Minor there being no other place assignable But this is contrary to Arch-bishop Vsher and my Lord St. Asaph's Position who deny our Country was called Scotia at all for the first 1000 Years If it be asserted that this distinction was after the 1000 Years then there was little or no use for it For Vsher tells us that Nubiensis Geographus about the Year 1150 describes Ireland by the name of Hibernia and describes our Country by the name of Scotia and so it seems at that time Ireland had lost the name in our favour and it is not to be imagin'd that Nubiensis remarked the first Periods of the change of the Name and Geographers do describe Countries by their ordinary Names Nor does Vsher produce any other Testimony save a Letter of Dovenaldus Oneil Prince of Vlster to Pope Iohn 22d wherein there is this passage Beside the Kings of lesser Scotland who all came originally from our greater Scotland And a Patent of Sigismund the Emperor To the Convent of the Scots and Irish of Greater Scotland of a Monastery in Ratisbone Now Vsher acknowledgeth the eldest of these two Citations were in the 14th or 15th Century when I hope no body will assert that Ireland was called Scotia Major or that ever the Kings of England who were Lords of Ireland were ever called Lords Majoris Scotiae and it is probable they would have very much affected that Title if the Country had had that name altho they could never make themselves Masters Scotiae Minoris But it is no wonder that the Irish should be glad to tell Foreigners that they were our Chief and so their Country ought to be called Scotia Major notwithstanding that our Nation was then become great and glorious and that Vsher can find no better authority for his distinction of Scotia Major and Minor than these borrowed and magnifying Names used long after he himself acknowledgeth that Ireland had lost the name of Scotia and that We were only in possession of it 8. The mistaking of the Names of Scotia and Hibernia and of that assertion Scotia eadem Hibernia and applying these Names still to Ireland and not to our Country hath been the Ground whereupon we have been injured as to the antiquity of our Kings and Country Saints and learned Men Monasteries and greatness Abroad For admitting it to be true that we were not setled here till the Year 500 yet we have been so happy as to have such excellent Men and to have done so considerable Actions as have been sufficient to tempt our Neighbours and particularly the Irish to take great pains to have both pass for their own In order to which the Irish have lately invented the distinction of Scotia Major and Minor to the end that when any considerable Person is called a Scots-man in History they might claim him as descended from the Greater Scotland But besides that this distinction is too new to be extended to ancient Writers How can it be imagined that our Country only having passed under the Name of Scotland before the 300 and after the 1100 as has been proved Ireland should have assumed the Name of Scotland in that Interval Is it not more reasonable to think that our Country which alone was design'd by that Name before the 300 and after 1100 bore it likewise only or at least chiefly during that interval But to assert that during that space another Country had our old and present designation in a more peculiar manner than we and that in dubious Cases it must be appropriated to them is a piece of confidence which even eminent Wit and Learning cannot support And yet we find in Malcom the Second's Time as was formerly observ'd who began to Reign in the Year 1004 That the Frith of Forth in his Laws in the Book of Regiam Majestatem is call'd Mare Scotiae And it is said there that the same King did distribute omnem Terram Scotiae hominibus suis and it is not to be concluded that this was the first time that our Country was so call'd And about that time Ireland was expressed only by the name of Hibernia for King Henry the 2d of England who began to Reign in the Year 1154 is stiled Lord of Ireland And to clear further that Scotia about those times was the ordinary name for Scotland and Hebernia for Ireland I shall only add some few Passages out of Marianus Scotus who was born in the Year 1028 and died in the Year 1086 who sayes that about the Year 1016 Brianus King of Ireland was killed and a little thereafter at the Year 1034. Malcolm King of Scotland died and Duncan the Son of his Daughter succeeded him And after that he sayes at the Year 1040 Duncan King of Scotland was killed and the son of Finlay succeeded in his Kingdom whom afterward he calls Machetad King of Scotland All which passages agree exactly with our History and the summary of our Kings Lives as they are recorded in our Acts of Parliament and prove that Marianus treats of Scotland and Ireland as different Kingdoms in his Time In the last place I shall make some Remarks upon the most palpable of these Mistakes and of the chief Authors
thereof wherein I shall vindicate the Right and Dignity of our Country and assert these worthy Persons controverted to be ours I shall not insist much against Stanihurst he being solidly confuted by Camerarius and with that severity by Dempster that his Nephew Bishop Vsher as the Duke of Lauderdail remarked in some Judicious Reflections of his upon this occasion did highly resent it and in this Matter hath exceeded his usual Temperament and Moderation And yet Stanihurst never speaks injuriously of our Nation for though he mistakes many things and applys them to his own Country yet it appears to be rather of Design to magnifie it than injure ours for he acknowledeth ingenuously That he doth not clearly see from what time the Name of Scotland commenced And though thereafter he taxeth Boethius upon the Subject of Gathelus and Scota and that he mixeth Fables and Vain glory with his History yet he neither disapproves of Buchannan nor follows he Luddus both of whom he cites and who were immediatly before him his Book being printed at Antwerp in the Year 1584. In his Appendix also Commenting upon Giraldus Cambrensis a Welsh-man and Scretary to King Henry 2d of England and flourished before the end of the 12th Century He translates Cambrensis who describes Ireland by the name of Hibernia and makes frequent mention of our Country under the name of Scotia as when he speaks of the extent of Ireland he says as Stanihurst interprets it that it is equal in largeness to Wales and Scotland And elsewhere he says that Scotland is called the North part of the Isle of Britain And afterwards he tells the Story of Moreds six Sons and that from them the Inhabitants of the North part of Britain by a specifick word were called the Scotish Nation And Stanihurst in his Annotations on these two Chapters contends that before St. Patrick's time our Country was called Scotia and brings for proofs St. Ierome who asserts that the Scots were Gens Britannica but with great concern he vindicates us from the calumny of eating Mens Flesh and for our Antiquity he cites Beda who says that Sub duce Rendâ we made a third Nation in Britain So that we see that neither the Welsh in Giraldus's time nor the Irish in Stanihurst's time had the Opinion of our late Settlement and that our Country was not call'd Scotia for 1000 Years after Christ which their Successors Luddus Cambden Vsher and St. Asaph have had And the Irish in those days took a far better way for advancing their own interest in doing us justice since from all the considerable Actions we did there did arise a measure of that Honour to them from whose Country we came as a Colony Whereas since they were influenc'd by Strangers they have suffer'd themselves to be impos'd upon so as to lessen our true Merit in appropriating immediatly to themselves those devout persons who were really our Country-men not considering that the material unjustice was much greater than the imaginary honour And this Plagiarism and Man-stealing became easie to them since our Reformation from Popery because after that time we became too careless of those eminent Persons both at home and abroad who had liv'd in the Roman Communion or before that time But I will not insist on this for I hope their native kindness will incline them to return to their first just methods If I had leisure I would make larger Reflections to prove how unconsequential Arch Bp Vsher is in making Sedulus and Marianus Irish since by all Writers they are both call'd Scots and Balaeus an Englishman tells us that Sedulius flourish'd under Fergus 2d and Marianus under Macbeth both our Kings and Baronius asserts also this positively And Sedulius having liv'd before St. Patrick's Time who was the first Apostle of Ireland and being Disciple to Hildebert an acknowledg'd Scot and who liv'd in the 390 must be prior to the Irish Christianity which Giraldus and Stanihurst acknowledge to have been first planted by St. Patrick in the Year 432. Nor can Vsher in all his vast reading find any Christians in Ireland betwixt the Year 400 and 432 which was St. Patrick's Time but Kiaranus Ailbeus Declanus Ibarus Tho if Sedulius had been an Irish he had been certainly mention'd and employ'd before those obscure Persons and certainly he would have employed himself before St. Patrick's Time in the Conversion of his own native Country if he had been truly Irish. And as to Marianus Scotus it is a wonder how it can be controverted that he was a Scots-man since our Country was then called Scotland by the Bp of St. Asaph's own confession and Ireland was just then losing that name and Marianus in his whole Book distinguishes betwixt Scoti and Hiberni and mentions the forementioned three Kings of Scotland about whose Time he liv'd and also makes mention of one King of Ireland about that time as has been observed already and particularly speaking of the Conversions by Palladius and St. Patrick he expresly distinguishes betwixt Scoti and Hibernenses But passing these I confess it is pretty ridiculous to see a whole Book written by the above-mentioned Vardaeus and glossed by Sirin and published at Louvain 1662 to prove that Rumoldus Arch-Bishop of Mechlin was an Irish-man since the Arms of Scotland which are Or a Lion Rampant Gules within a doubles Tressure flowred and counterflowred with Flower de lis of the same are plac'd upon every Window of the Catherdral Church built by him and are to this day a part of the Arms of that Archi-Episcopal See Rumoldus himself being a younger Brother of the Royal-Family of Scotland And in which witty Book the Author to confute this is forced to maintain that the Scotish Lion is born by several Irish Familes And the double Tressure tho anciently born by Scotland and which is Blazon'd in that Archi-Episcopal Coat of Arms might have been born by the Irish because that famous League betwixt the Scots and Charlemaigne was made with the Kings of Ireland and not with the Kings of Scotland and that our Kings had never any Leagues with the French till the reign of Charles 7th who was contemporary with our King Iames 1st Whereas the whole French Histories as well as ours and all Foreign Historians as well as either the Leagues yet extant the Priviledges granted thereupon to us recorded in the French Registers and ours many Decisions in Parliaments and other Courts and the universal consent of all the French who ever liv'd since that Time do in all Humility seem to be sufficient Warrants for laughing at this monstruous Assertion as I do at him and others who pretend that the Scotish Monasteries in Germany are Irish since they were founded in Charle-Maigne's Time by William Brother to our King Achaius and others that went there with him and they are to this day govern'd by Abbots and Priors of our Country Nor can it
Kingdoms and to show how they succeed to all who ever pretended to Monarchy in any of them As to the British part of the Isle Aurelius Ambrosius was by common consent chosen sole Prince of all the Britons And he had no other Succession save two Daughters Anna married to the King of the Picts and Ada married to the King of the Scots Mordredus King of the Picts Grand-child to the foresaid Aurelius finding himself debarr'd from the Succession of the British Crown employ'd the Scots who fought for him against the Britons But the Britons having called in the Saxons after a bloody Battel both Parties were forced to withdraw and the King of the Picts was induc'd to desist from his Pretentions at that time But thereafter Hungus King of the Picts and the direct Heir of the same Mordredus and consequently of Ambrosius King of the Britons gave his Sister Fergusiana to Achaius King of the Scots and in her Right Alpin King of Scotland succeeded both to the British and Pictish Crowns Hungus having died without any Children Kenneth the 2d Son to Alpin was forc'd to conquer the Picts who refus'd unjustly to receive him as their lawful King Our Kings are likewise Lineal Heirs of the Danish-Race who were Kings of England for 27 or as others say 29 Years they being the only Lineal Successors of Canutus King of the Danes in Britain for Margaret Wife to King Malcolm the 3d was Sister to Edgar which Edgar was Grand-child to St. Edward who was Brother to Hardiknut Son to Canutus After this the Kingdom of England return'd to the old Stock in King Edward's Time to whom succeeded Edgar whose Sister the pious Queen Margaret married King Malcolm the 3d of Scotland by whom he came to have right to the Crown of England there being none extant of the old Royal-Saxon-Line besides her self And with her came very many of the Nobility who fled from William the Conquerour after he conquer'd England and with whom King Malcolm would not make Peace till such of them as resolved to return were restored to their Estates The next Royal-Race which flourished in England was the Norman and to that Race our Kings succeeded thus The Line of William the Conqueror was branch'd out in the Houses of Lancaster and York To the House of Lancaster they succeed as Heirs by the marriage betwixt Ioan Daughter to the Duke of Somerset and undoubted Successor of the Family of Lancaster And to both Lancaster and York they succeed by being Heirs to Henry the 7th in whom these Successions were again happily reconcil'd he having married Elizabeth eldest Daughter to Edward the 4th who had transferred the Succession of the Crown from the House of Lancaster to that of York or at least had united the two in one For clearing whereof it is fit to know that Henry the 7th had only four Children Arthur Henry Margaret and Mary Arthur and Henry dying without Succession the Right of the Crown was certainly devolv'd upon the Children of Margaret the Daughter who did bear King Iames the 5th in a first Marriage with King Iames the 4th and Margaret Dowglas by a second Marriage with the Earl of Angus which Margaret being married to Matthew Earl of Lenox had two Sons the eldest whereof was Henry who thereafter married Queen Mary Daughter to King Iames the 5th and begot upon her King Iames the 6th and thus King Iames the 6th was upon all sides Heir to William the Conquerour and to Henry the 7th The Histories also of both Nations confess that our King is the undoubted Successor of the Blood-Royal of Wales for Walter Stuart from whom our Kings are descended was Grand-Child to the King of Wales by his Daughter who married Fleanchus Son to Banqhuo and Henry the 7th to whom King Iames the 6th was the true Successor was also the righteous Heir of Cadwallader the last Prince of Wales The Histories both of Scotland and Ireland do acknowledg that our Kings are undoubtedly descended from the Royal Race of the Kings of Ireland and all the debate that can be is only whether they be desended from King Ferquhard Father to King Fergus the first or from Eeric Father to King Fergus the second or from some other Irish Kings as Vsher pretends From all which I may draw two Conclusions First that God has from an extraordinary kindness to those Kingdoms lodged in the Person of our present Soveraign King Iames the 7th whom GOD Almighty long preseve all those opposite and different Rights by which our Peace might have been formerly disturb'd 2. That His Majesty who now Reigns has deriv'd from His Royal Ancestors a just and legal Right by Law to all those Crowns without needing to found upon the Right of Conquest so that the very endeavour to exclude him from all those Legal Rights by Arbitrary Insolence under a Mask of Law was the height of Injustice as well as Imprudence FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by RICHARD CHISWELL FOLIO SPeed's Maps and Geography of Great Britain and Ireland and of Foreign Parts Dr. Cave's Lives of the Primitive Fathers in 2 Vol. Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Time Bp Wilkins real Character or Philosophical Language Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity Guillim's Display of Heraldry with large Additions Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation of the Church of England in 2 Vol. Account of the Confessions and Prayers of the Murderers of Esquire Thynn Burlace's History of the Irish Rebellion Herodoti Historia Gr. Lat. cum variis Lect. The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuits Seminary Priests Recusants the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance explained by divers Judgments and Resolutions of the Iudges with other Observations thereupon By William Cawley Esq Sanford's Genealogical Hist. of the Kings of England Modern Reports of select Cases in the reign of King Charles the 2d Sir Tho. Murray's Collection of the Laws of Scotland Dr. Towerson's Explication on the Creed the Commandments and Lord's Prayer in 3 Vol. The History of the Island of CEYLON in the East-Indies Illustrated with Copper Figures and an exact Map of the Island By Capt. Robert Knox a Captive there near 20 Years QVARTO DR Littleton's Dictionary Latin and English Bp Nicholson on the Church-Catechism History of the late Wars of New-England Atwell's Faithful Surveyer Mr. Iohn Cave's seven occasional Sermons Dr. Crawford's Serious Expostulation with the Whigs in Scotland Dr. Parker's Demonstration of the Divine Authothority of the Law of Nature and the Christian Religion Mr. Hook's new Philosophical Collections Bibliotheca Norfolciana OCTAVO BIshop Wilkin's Natural Religion His Fifteen Sermons Mr. Tanner's Primordia Or the Rise and Growth of the first Church of God described Lord Hollis's Vindication of the Judicature of the House of Peers in the Case of Skinner Jurisdiction of the House of Peers in case of Appeals Jurisdiction of the House of Peers in case of Impositions Letters about the Bishops Votes in Capital Cases Spaniards Conspiracy against