330 Years before the Birth of Christ. Feritharis Second King of Scotland FErgus dying left Two Sons behind him Ferlegus and Mainus neither of them yet able to manage the Government so that the Chiefs of the Clans meeting together to declare the succeeding King there was great Contention amongst them Some urging the late Oath whereby they had bound themselves to preserve the Scepter for the Fergusian Family others alleging What great hazards they might run under an Infant King At last after a long Dispute a Medium was found out whereby neither the Infant not yet fit to manage the Government should actually Reign nor yet their Oath be violated which was That whilst the Children of their Kings were Infants one of their Kindred who was judged most accomplished for the Government should weild the Scepter in their behalfe And if he dyed then the Succession of the Kingdom should descend to the former Kings Sons This Law did afterwards obtain for almost 1025 Years even until the days of Kenneth the III. of whom I shall speak in his place By virtue of this Law Feritharis Brother to Fergus obtained the Kingdom and managed it 15 Years with such Equity and Moderation that his Subjects found him a just King and the Orphans or Pupils a good Guardian Having by this Carriage procured Peace abroad and got the Love of his Subjects at home yet he could not allay the Ambition of his Kindred For Ferlegus being inflam'd with a desire to Reign having first communicated his Design to the most turbulent of the Soldiers and such as were most desirous of Innovation and Change comes to his Uncle and demands the Kingdom of him which he held as he alleg'd not as his Own but in Trust only for him Feritharis was so far from being disturbed at this rash undertaking of the young Man That calling an Assembly of the States together he Declared to them That he was ready to lay down and resign the Regal Scepter adding also many words in Commendation of the young Man As for himself he had rather freely resign up the Kingdom with which he was but intrusted willingly which his death now near at hand would deprive him of that so his Fidelity towards his Nephews might appear to be rather of Good Will than of Necessity But such was the Respect and Love all did bear to Feritharis that they utterly disliked this over-hasty Desire of the Kingdom in Ferlegus which they manifested not only by their Countenances and Frowns but by the loud Acclamations of the whole Convention and Assembly And having discovered by Spies the Conspiracy against the Uncle thô they judged the Author of so detestable a Design to be worthy of Death yet the Memory of this Father Fergus and the present Favour and Desires of his Uncle did so far prevail that they did not inflict it on him for his designed Wickedness only they set Keepers about him which should watch over and pry into all his Words and Actions But he being impatient not presently to obtain what he hoped for in his Mind thô the delay would have proved but short deceiving his Keepers with a few others privy to his design fled away First to the Picts and finding there no encouragement for his desired Innovation afterwards to the Brittons where he lived an obscure and consequently an ignoble Life But Feritharis a few Months after was taken off 't is doubtful whether by Disease or Treachery The former Ambition of Ferlegus the Deâ—ection of his Conspiracy and his late Flight raised such Suspitions that he was guilty of his Death that he was unanimously condemned in his absence about the Fifteenth Year after his Fathers Death Mainus the Third King FErlegus being condemned Mainus his Brother was created Third King of the Scots a Man more like to his Father and Uncle than his Brother Ferlegus He confirmed and setled Peace with his Neighbours abroad punished the Wicked and Profligate at home and constantly performed Religious Exercises whereby he procured to himself such an Opinion of Justice and Piety That as well Foreigners as his own Subjects thought it a Nefarious thing to hurt such a Person He was better guarded by this Opinion of his Sanctity than by his Military Forces after he had Reigned 29 Years he departed this Life being much lamented by all Good Men. Dornadilla the Fourth King HE left a Son behind him called Dornadilla the Successor of his Kingdom in point of Equity like his Father but very unlike him in the other parts of his Life For he spent much of his time in Hunting as judging that Exercise to be proper enough in a time of Peace and healthful as also very beneficial to harden the Body for War And besides the Mind did suck in the purest pleasures therefrom and was greatly strengthened thereby against Covetousness Luxury and other Vices which spring from Idleness Report says That the Venatory Laws which the Ancient Scots observe to this day were made by him He deceased in the 28th Year of his Reign Nothatus the Fifth King AFter his Death the People placed Nothatus his Brother on the Throne his own Son Reutherus being yet Immature in point of Age for the Government This Nothatus changed the Government which till then had been moderate and bounded with Laws into an Arbitrary Domination and as if his Subjects had been given him to Prey upon not to Defend he punished High and Low promiscuously with Forfeiture of Goods Banishment Death and all sort of Miseries so that scarce any addition could be made to his Cruelty By these Severities most of the People were cow'd out only one Dovalus of Galway an Ambitious Man thinking it a seasonable opportunity for him to advance himself by reason of the Peoples Hatred against their King and knowing also that his own Life was insidiously aim'd at by the King he resolves to prevent him And accordingly all things being in a readiness and being accompanied with a great number of his Vassals and Friends away goes he to the King and openly upbraids him with the Slaughter of the Nobility with the seizure of their Goods and Estates and with his Enslaving the Commonalty and demands of him to restore the Kingdom which he was not able to manage to the Right Heir Nothatus being thus Bearded and Affronted contrary to his Expectation yet remitted nothing of his former Stoutness but answered peremptorily That he would maintain what he had done by his Kingly Prerogative and if he had carried it somewhat Despotically it was to be imputed not to his own Disposition but to the Contumacy of the Subject who had enforced him thereto These Taunts increased the Animosities between them so that at last it came to Blows and Nothatus was Slain by Dovalus and his Partisans after he had Reigned Cruelly and Avariciously Twenty Years Reutherus the Sixth King WHereupon Reutherus was made King by the
before whereupon they forbad him to enter their Borders but sent him Word That they themselves without his Presence would gather Money for and send Souldiers to the Syrian War and indeed they sent Souldiers under the Command of the Earls of Carick and Athol Two of the Chief Nobility to Lâ—wis King of Franâ—e and to the Pope lest he might think himself altogether disesteemed they sent 1000 Marks of Silver The Year after Henry King of England died and his Son Edward the First succeeded him at whose Coronation Alexander and his Wife were present she returning died soon after yea David the Kings Son and also Alexander being newly Married to the Daughter of the Earl of Flanders followed her a little time after by their continued Funerals Margarite also the Kings Daughter departed this Life who left a Daughter behind her begot by Hangonanus King of Norwey Alexander being thus in a few years deprived both of his Wife and Children too took to Wife Ioleta the Daughter of the Earl of Dreux and within a Year he fell from his Horse and broke his Neck not far from Kinghorn in the Year of our Lord 1285. and the Fourteenth of the Calends of April he lived Forty Five years and Reigned Thirty Seven He was more missed than any King of Scotland had been before him not so much for the eminent Virtues of his Mind and the Accomplishments of his Body as that People foresaw what great Calamities would befal the Kingdom upon his Decease Those wholsome Laws which he made are antiquated by the Negligence of Men and the Length of Time and their Utility is rather celebrated by Report than experienced by Trial. He divided the Kingdom into Four Parts and almost every year he Travelled them all over staying well near Three Months in each of them to do Justice and to hear the complaints of the Poor who had free Access to him all that time Assoon as he went to an Assize or Sessions he Commanded the Prefect or Sheriff of that Precinct to meet him with a select number of Men and also to accompany him at his departure to the end of his Bailywick till the next Precinct where he was Guarded by another like Company By this means he became acquainted with all the Nobility and was as well known to them and the People as he went were not burthen'd with a Troop of Courtiers who are commonly Imperious and given to Avarice where they come He commanded the Magistrates to punish all Idle Persons who followed no Trade nor had any Estates to maintain them for his Opinion was That Idleness was the Source and Fountain of all Wickedness He reduced the Horse-Train of the Nobles when they travelled to a certain number because he thought that the Multitude of Horses which were unfit for War would spend too much Provision And whereas by reason of Unskilfulness in Navigation or else by Mens Avarice in committing themselves rashly to Sea many Shipwracks had happened and the Violence of Pyrates making an Accession thereto the Company of Merchants were almost undone he commanded they should Traffick no more by Sea That Order lasted about an Year but being accounted by many of a publick Prejudice at length so great a Quantity of Foreign Commodities were imported that in Scotland they were never in the Memory of Man more or less cheap In this Case that he might study the good of the Merchants-Company he forbad that any but Merchants should buy what was imported by whole Sale but what every Man wanted he was to buy it at second Hand or by Retail from them The Eighth BOOK ALEXANDER and his whole Lineage besides one 〈◊〉 by his Daughter being extinct a Convention of the Estates was held at Scone to Treat about Creating a new King and setling the State of the Kingdom whither when most of the Nobility were come in the first place they appointed Vicegerents to govern Matters at present so dividing the Provinces That Duncan Mackduff should preside over Fife of which he was Earl Iohn Cumins Earl of Buchan over Buchan William Frazer Archbishop of St. Andrews over that Part of the Kingdom which lay Northward And that Robert Bishop of Glascow Another Iohn Cumins and Iohn Stuart should Govern the Southern Countries and that the Boundary in the midst should be the River Forth Edward King of England knowing that his Sisters 〈◊〉 Daughter of the King of Norway was the only surviving Person of all the Posterity of Alexander and that She was the Lawful Heiress of the Kingdom of Scotland sent Ambassadors into Scotland to desire Her as a Wife for his Son The Embassadors in the Session discoursed much of the publick Utility like to accrue to both Kingdoms by this Marriage neither did they find the Scots averse therefrom For Edward was a Man of great Courage and Power yet he desired to increase it and his Valour highly appeared in the Holy War in his Fathers Life time and after his Death in his subduing of Wales neither were there ever more Endearments passed betwixt the Scots and the English than under the last Kings Yea the Ancient Hatred seemed no way more likely to be abolished than if both Nations on Just and Equal Terms might be united into One. For these Reasons the Marriage was easily assented to other Conditions were also added by the consent of both Parties as That the Scots should use their own Laws and Magistrates until Children were begot out of that Marriage which might Govern the Kingdom or if no such were begot or being born if they dyed before they came to the Crown then the Kingdom of Scotland was to pass to the next Kinsman of the Blood-Royal Matters being thus setled Embassadors were sent into Norway Michael or as others call him David Weems and Michael Scot Two eminent Knights of Fife and much Famed for their Prudence in those days But Margarite for that was the Name of the young Princess dyed before they came thither so that they returned home in a sorrowful posture without their errand By reason of the untimely death of this young Lady a Controversie arose concerning the Kingdom which mightily shook England but almost quite ruined Scotland The Competitors were Men of great Power Iohn Baliol and Robert Bruce of which Baliol had Lands in France Bruce in England but Both of them great Possessions and Allies in Scotland But before I enter upon their Disputes that all things may be more clear to the Reader I must fetch them down a little higher The Three last Kings of Scotland William and the Two Alexanders The Second and the Third and their whole Off-spring being extinct there remained none who could lawfully claim the Kingdom but the Posterity of David Earl of Huntington This David was Brother to King William and Great Uncle to Alexander the Third He Married Maud in England Daughter to the Earl of Chester by whom he had Three
received and admitted to the Kings Table but in the midst of the Feast some Armed Men beset him being Weaponless and put a Bulls Head upon him which in those Times was a Messenger and Sign of Death When the young Man saw that he was troubled and sought to arise but the Armed Men laid hold on and carry'd him to a Court near the Castle where by the loss of his Head he paid for the Intemperance of his Youth David his Brother and Malcolm Fleming whom next to his Brother he trusted most of all were also put to Death with him 'T is said that the King who was now fully entring on his being of Age wept for his Death and that the Chancellor did greatly Rebuke him for his unseasonable Tears at the Destruction of an Enemy whereas the Publick Peace was never like to be settled as long as he was alive William dying thus without Children Iames Sirnamed Crassus or the Gross from his Disposition succeeded him in the Earldom for 't was a Male-Feo as Lawyers speak the rest of his Patrimony which was very great fell to his only Sister Beatrix a very beautiful Person in her Days This Iames the Gross though he were no bad Man yet was no less suspected by the King and hated by the Commons than the former Earl because though he did not maintain Robbers as the former Earl had done yet he was not very Zealous in subduing them but he was substracted from this Envy by his Death which happen'd Two Years after William the Eldest of his Seven Sons Succeeded him he being Emulous of the ancient Power of the Family that he might restore it unto its Pristine Splendor resolv'd to Marry his Uncles Daughter who was the Heiress of many Countries Many of his Kindred did not approve of the Match partly because 't was an unusual and by consequence an unlawful thing and partly because by the Accession of so much Wealth he would be envy'd by the People and also formidable to the King For a Rumor was spread abroad and that not without ground that the King himself would do his utmost to hinder the Match This made William to hasten the Consummation of the Marriage even in the time when Marriages were forbidden that he might prevent the Kings endeavours to the contrary Thus having obtained great Wealth he grew insolent and envy follow'd his Insolence in regard Troops of Robbers did swarm every where whose Captains were thought to be no Strangers to Douglas his Design Amongst them there was one George Gorm of Athole who pillag'd all the Country about him and set upon William Ruthven Sheriff of Perth because he was leading a Thief of Athole to the Gallows and fought with him as it were in a set Battel At last Gorm the Captain and 30 of his Followers were slain and the rest sled to the Mountains This Bustling Fight was in the year of Christ 1443. A few days after the Castle of Dunbarton impregnable by Force was twice taken in a little time Robert Semple was Commander of the Lower Castle and Patrick Galbreth of the Higher and their Government was so divided that each had a peculiar entrance into his own Part. These Two were not free from Factions amongst themselves For Patrick was thought secretly to favour the Douglasses whereupon Semple perceiving that his Part was but negligently guarded seiz'd upon him and commanded him to remove his Goods The day after Patrick entred with four Companions attending him without Arms to fetch out his Goods where first he light upon the Porter alone and then catching up Arms drave him and the rest out of the Upper Castle and thus sending for Aid out of the Neighbouring Town he beat them out of the Lower Castle also and so reduc'd the whole Fort into his own hands About that time there were very many Murders committed upon the inferior Sort which were partly perpetrated by the Douglassians and partly charg'd upon them by their Enemies The King was now of Age and manag'd the Government himself so that Douglas being unable to stand against the Envy of the Nobles and the Complaints of the Commons too resolves to become a New Man to satisfie the People and by all means possible to atone the Heart of the King which was alienated from him and in order thereunto he came with a great Train to Sterlin And when he had Intelligence by some Courtiers whom he had greas'd in the Fist and made his Own that the Kings Anger was appeas'd towards him then and not before he came into his Presence and threw down his Life and Fortune and all his Concerns at his Feet and to his Dispose he partly excused the Crimes of his former Life and paâ—â—ly because That seemed the readier way to Reconciliation he ingenuously confest Them withal affirming that whatever Fortune he should have hereafter he would ascribe it solely to the Clemency of the King not to his Own Innocency but if the King were pleas'd to receive Satisfaction from him by his Services and Obsequiousness he would do his utmost endeavour for the future that no Man should be more Loyal and observant of his Duty than himself and that in restraining and punishing all those exorbitant Offences which his Enemies cast upon him none should be more sharp and severe than he in regard he was descended from that Family which was not raised by oppâ—â—â—sing the Poor but by defending the Commons of Scotland by theâ—â— Arms By this Oration of the Earls and the secret Commendation of the Courtiers the King was so chang'd that he forgave him all the Crimes of his former Life and received him into the Number of his Privadoes and communicated all his secret Designs to him And indeed the Earl in a very little time had so obliged the King to him by his Obsequious Carriage and had won so much on his Ministers by his Liberality yea had so ingratiated himself into all Men by his modest and courteous Condescension that the ordinary sort of People conceiv'd great Hope of his gentle and pliable Deportment but the Wiser were somewhat afraid whither so sudden a change of Manners would tend And especially Alexander Levingston and William Creighton imagining that all his Counsels would tend to their Destruction having laid down their publick Offices in the Government went away severally Alexander to his own Estate and William into the Castle of Edinburgh there to watch and observe where the Simulation of Douglas would terminate and end Neither did their preconceiv'd Opinion deceive such Wise Men as they were For Douglas having gotten the King alone and destitute of graver Counsel and who was somewhat unwary too by reason of the Greenness of his years thought now that he had a fit Opportunity to revenge the Deaths of his Kinsmen and so easily persuaded the King to send for William Creighton and Alexander Levingston with his two Sons Alexander and Iames to
into the Hands of the Franciscans wherein he Writes That he was solicited in a Dream by St. Francis to joyn himself to his Order In that Poem there were one or two Passages that reflected on them very sorely which those Ghostly Fathers notwithstanding their Profession of Meekness and Humility took more heinously than Men having obtained such a Vogue for Piety among the vulgar ought to have done upon so small an occasion of Offence But finding no just Ground for their immoderate Wrath and Fury they had recourse to the common Crime of those Days which they objected to those they wish'd ill to viz. The Cause of Religion Thus whilst they indulged their Malice and Disgust they made him who was not well affected to them before a greater Enemy to their Liceniousness and rendred him more inclineable to the Lutheran Cause In the mean time the King with Magdalen his Wife came from France not without the resentment of the Priesthood who were afraid that the Royal Lady having been bred up under her Aunt the Queen of Navar should attempt some Innovation in Religion But this fear soon vanished upon her Death which followed shortly after A while after there arose some suspitions at Court against some of the Nobility who were thought to have conspired against the King and in that matter the King was persuaded the Franciscans were somewhat concerned so that he Commanded Buchanan who at that time was at Court thô he were ignorant of the Disgusts betwixt Him and that Order to write a Satyr against them He was loth to offend either of them and therefore thô he made a Poem yet it was but short and such as might admit of a doubtful Interpretation wherein he satisfied neither Party not the King who would have had a tart and biting Invective nor the Fathers neither who lookt on it as a capital Offence to have any thing said of them but what was Honourable So that receiving a Second Command to write more pungently against them he began that Miscellany which now bears the Title of the Franciscan and gave it to the King But shortly after being made acquainted by his Friends at Court that Cardinal Beton sought his Life and had offered the King a Sum of Money as a price for his Head he escaped out of prison and fled for England But there also things were at such an uncertainty that the very same Day and almost with one and the same Fire the Men of Both Factions Protestants and Papists were burnt together Henry the Eighth in his old Age being more intent on his own Security than the Purity or Reformation of Religion This uncertainty of Affairs in England seconded by his ancient Acquaintance with the French and the innate courtesie of that Nation drew him again into France As soon as he came to Paris he found Cardinal Beton his utter Enemy Embassador there so that to withdraw himself from his Fury at the Invitation of Andrew Goveanus he went to Bourdeaux There he presided and Taught Three Years in the Schools which were erected at the Publick Cost At that time he wrote Four Tragedies which were afterwards occasionally Published But that which he wrote first called the Baptist was Printed last and then the Medea of Euripides He wrote them in compliance with the Custom of the School which was to have a Play wrote once a Year that so by acting of them he might as much as he could calll back the French Youth from Allegories with which they then were overmuch delighted to the Imitation of the Ancients This Affair succeeding even almost beyond his Hope he took more pains in compiling the other Two Tragedies called Iephthe and Alcestis because he thought they would fall under a severer scrutiny of the Learned And yet during this time he was not wholly free from Trouble being harassed between the Menaces of the Cardinal on the One side and of the Franciscans on the Other For the Cardinal had wrote Letters to the Archbishop of Bourdeaux to apprehend him but providentially those Letters were delivered to some of Buchanan's Friends However the death of the King of Scots and the Pestilence which then reigned over all Aquitain dispelled that Fear In the interim an Express came to Goveanus from the King of Portugal requiring him to come into that Kingdom and to bring with him some Men Learned both in the Greek and Latin Tongues that they might Read the Liberal Arts and especially the Principles of the Aristotelian Philosophy in those Schools which were then a Building with a great deal of Cost and Expence Buchanan being addressed to easily assented to go for one For whereas he saw that all Europe besides was either actually in Foreign or Domestique Wars or else suddenly likely so to be that one Corner of the World was in his Opinion likeliest to be free from Tumults and Combustions And besides his Companions in that Journy were such that they seemed rather his Acquaintance and Familiar Friends than Strangers or Aliens to him For many of them had been his Intimates for several Years and are well known to the World by their Learned Works as Nicolaus Gruchius Gulielmus Garentaens Iacobus Tevius and Elias Vinetus Upon which account he did not only joyn himself to their Society but also persuaded a Brother of his called Patrick to be one of so Illustrious a Society And the Truth is the matter succeeded excellently well at the beginning but the death of Andrew Goveanus which hapned as it were in the midst of our Race and was mature enough for himself but very prejudicial to us put a stop to its happy Progress For after his Decease all our Enemies endeavoured at first to insnare us by Treachery and soon after ran violently upon us as it were with open Mouth and their Agents and Instruments being great Enemies to the Accused they laid hold of Three of them and haled them to Prison whence after a long and nasty durance they were brought forth to their Answers and after many bitter Taunts were remanded to Prison again and yet no Accuser did appear in Court against them As for Buchanan they insulted most bitterly over him as being a Stranger and knowing also that he had very few Friends in that Country who would either rejoyce in his Prosperity sympathize with his Grief or Revenge the Wrongs offered to him The Crimes laid to his Charge was the Poem he wrote against the Franciscans which he himself before he went from France had deposited in the hands of the King of Portugal neither did his Accusers perfectly know what it was For he had given but one Copy of it to the King of Scots by whose Command he wrote it They further objected His eating of Flesh in Lent thô there be not a Man in all Spain but uses the same Liberty Besides he had given shrewd Girds against Monks which yet none but Monks could well except against Moreover they took it much amiss that
they crowded and hindred one another in endeavouring to Ship themselves they were all slain to a Man Belus their King despairing to obtain Quarter slew himself Evenus having finished the War returns to the work of Peace and constitutes two Mart-Towns for Trade in convenient Places i. e. Ennerlochy and Ennerness each of them receiving their Name from Rivers gliding by them For Enner amongst the Ancient Scots signifies a Place whither Ships do usually resort He subdued the Inhabitants of the Aebudae who by reason of their long Wars were grown very Licentious and Quarrelsome He reconciled their Animosities and appeased their Disturbances and soon after died having Reigned Seventeen years Ederus the Fifteenth King EDERVS the Son of Dochamus was made King in his place who whilst he was reaping the sweet Fruits of Peace establish'd both at home and abroad and giving himself to the sport of Hunting according to the ancient Custom of the Nation had News suddenly brought him That one Bredius an Islander of Kin to the Tyrant Gillus was Landed with a great Navy of Souldiers and plundered the Country He presently gathered together a Tumultuary Army against him and marching as silently as he could in the Night he passed by the Camp of his Enemies and set upon their Ships in the Road which by this suddain surprize he easily mastered and killing the Guard he burnt the Navy In the Morning he led his Army against the Camp which he easily took finding the Souldiers negligent and in no order at all many were slain on the spot whilst they delay'd either to Fight or Fly The rest having their flight by Sea prevented by the burning of their Ships were there taken and Hanged The Prey was restored to the Owners that claimed them A few years after another of the kindred of Gillus and out of the same Island too raised the like Commotion which had the same Event and Success for his Army was overthrown his Fleet burnt the Prey recovered back and restored to the Right Owners Thus having settled a firm Peace being very old he fell Sick and died in the Forty Eight year of his Reign Evenus III. the Sixteenth King EVENVS the Third Succeeded him a Son unworthy of so Good a Father for not being contented with an Hundred Concubines of the Noblest Families he published his Filthiness and Shame to the World by Established Laws For he enacted That every Man might Marry as many Wives as he was able to maintain And also That before the Marriage of Noble Virgins the King should have one Nights lodging with them and the Nobles the like before the Marriage of Plebeians That the Wives of Plebeians should be common to the Nobility Luxury Cruelty and Covetousness did as they ordinarily do attend and follow this his flagitious Wickedness For his Incomes and Revenues not answering his Expence upon pretended Causes the Wealthier sort were put to Death and the King going snips with the Robbers by that means Theives were never punished And thus the Favour which he had obtain'd from corrupt youth by reason of his permission of Promiscuous Lust he lost by his Cruelty and Rapaciousness For a Conspiracy of the Nobles being made against him he soon perceived that the Friendship and seeming Union of Wicked Men is not to be relied upon For assoon as they came to Fight he was Deserted by his Souldiers and fell alive into his Enemies Hands by whom he was cast into the common Jail Cadallanus who Succeeded him demanding what Punishment he should have he was Condemned to perpetual Imprisonment But there one or other of his Enemies either out of some old Grudge for Injuries received from him or else hoping for Favour or at least Impunity for the Murder of the King Strangled him by Night in the Prison when he had Reigned Seven years The Murderer was Hanged for his Labour Metellanus the Seventeenth King METELLANVS Kinsman to Ederus Succeeded him in the Throne a Prince no less dear to all for his excellent Virtues than Evenus was hated by them for his flagitious Vices He was mightily Priz'd and Esteem'd for This That during his Reign there was Peace both at home and abroad But it was some allay to his Happiness that he could not abrogate the Filthy Laws of Evenus being hindred by his Nobility who were too much addicted to Luxury He deceased in the Thirtieth year of his Reign Caratacus the Eighteenth King METELLANVS dying without Issue the Kingdom was conferred on Caratacus Son of Cadallanus a young Man of the Royal Blood Assoon as he entred upon the Kingdom he quieted the People of the Aebudae Islands who had raised Commotions upon the Death of their last King but not without great Trouble Yet here I cannot easily beleive what our Writers following Orosius Eutropius and Bede do say viz. That the Orcades were subdued by Claudius Caesar in his Reign Not that I think it a very hard thing for him to attempt one by one a few Islands scatter'd up and down in the Stormy Sea and having but a few and those too unarmed Inhabitants to defend them and seeing they could not mutually help another to take them all in nor that I think it incredible That a Navy might be sent by Claudius on that Expedition he being a Man that sought for War and Victory all the World over But because Tacitus affirms that before the coming of Iulius Agricola into Britain that part thereof was utterly unknown to the Romans Caratacus Reigned Twenty years Corbredus the Nineteenth King CORBREDVS his Brother Succeeded him He also subdued the Islanders in many Expeditions a People that almost in every Inter-Regnum did affect Innovation and raise up new Tumults He also quite suppress'd the Banditti which most infested the Commonalty Having settled Peace he return'd to Albium and making his Progress over all Scotland he repaired the Places injured by War and departed this Life in the Eighteenth year of his Reign Dardanus the Twentieth King THE Convention of Estates set up Dardannus the Nephew of Metellanus in his stead passing by the Son of Corbredus because of his young and tender years No Man before him entred upon the Government of whom greater Expectations were conceived and no Man did more egregiously deceive the Peoples Hopes Before he undertook the chief Magistracy he gave great Proof of his Liberality Temperance and Fortitude So that in the beginning of his Reign he was an indifferent Good and Tolerable King but he had scarce sat Three years on the Throne before he ran head-long into all sorts of Wickedness The Sober and Prudent Counsellors of his Father he banish'd from his Court because they were against his lewd Practices Only Flatterers and such as could invent new Pleasures were his Bosom Friends He caused Cardorus his own Kinsman to be put to Death because he reproved him for his Extravagance in Lawless Pleasures and yet he had been Lord Chief Justice and Chancellor too under
a bloody Fight was begun betwixt them The Victory was a great while hovering and uncertain at last all the valiant Men of the Caledonians being slain the rest having their Courage cooled were forced to retreat to their Fastnesses After this Battel there was no doubt at all but that Agrippa would have subdued all Britain by the force of his conquering Arms if he had not been called home by Domitian not for the Honour of his Victories as was pretended but for his Destruction and Death After his departure Sedition arose in the Roman Camp and the Scots and Picts being glad of the occasion and somewhat encouraged thereby began to creep out of their lurking Places and perceiving that the Romans had not a General nor the same Camp-Discipline as before they sent Envoys up and down to try the Inclination not only of their own Country-men but of the Brittons also Thus in the first place being imboldned by some small successful Skirmishes they began to take heart and to assault Garisons and at last with a formed Army they resolved to venture the hazard of a pitched Field By this means The Romans were expelled out of their Territories and were forced with doubtful success to contend with the Britains for their ancient Province Galdus having obtained respite from War made his Progress all over the several Countries of the Land and resetled the old Owners in their Habitations which had been almost destroyed by the War As for the Places which were wholly void he sent his Soldiers to inhabit them And having restrained the frequent Robberies which were wont to be committed he composed the differences which began to arise betwixt Him and the Picts At length in great Glory and Endearment both with Friends and Foes he deceased in the 35th Year of his Reign Luctacus the Twenty Second King SO good a Father was succeeded by Luctacus as bad a Son who despising the Counsel of his Nobles gave up himself wholly to Drinking and Whoring No nearness of Alliance no Reverence of the Laws no respect of Nobility or of Conjugal Relation did restrain him from his vile lewdness with those Women which he had a Mind to Moreover He was inhumanly Cruel and also unsatiably Covetous The Soldiers and youthful Fry which is still more inclinable to the worse did easily degenerate into the Manners of their King So that at last when he had defiled all with Whoredom Rapines and Slaughters and no one Man durst oppose his exorbitant Power An Assembly of the States being called together and speaking freely concerning the State of the Kingdom he Commanded the Nobles as Seditious Persons to be led out to Execution but by the concourse of the intervening Multitude both He and also the loathed Ministers of his Lust and Lewdness were slain when he had scarce finished the Third Year of his Reign For the Honour had to his Father his Body was allowed to be Buried amongst the Sepulchres of his Ancestors but the Bodies of his Associats were cast out as unworthy of any Burial at all Mogaldus the Twenty Third King AFter him Mogaldus was elected King the Nephew of Galdus by his Daughter In the beginning of his Reign he equalled the best of Kings but growing older he was tainted with Vices and easily degenerated into the Manners of his Uncle When he first entred on the Government that he might with greater Facility cure the vitious Practices committed by the former King which did even contaminate the Publick Manners he made Peace with his Neighbors he restored the Ancient Ceremonies in Religion which had been carelesly neglected He banished all Pimps of Lust and Debauchery from Court and acted all things by the Advice of the Estates according to the Ancient Custom by which Deportment he procured to himself Love at home and Reverence abroad Having setled Matters at home he turned his Mind to Warlike Affairs and drove out the Romans from the Borders of his Kingdom and by his Auxiliaries assisted the Picts against the Injuries of the Romans Yea in some prosperous Battels he so weakned the Roman Power amongst the Britains that They also were erected to some hopes of recovering their Liberty and thereupon took up Arms in many places And their hopes were encreased because the Emperor Adrian had called back Severus a fierce and skilful Warrior out of Britanny into Syria to quell the Seditions of the Iews so that Adrian himself the Tumults more and more increasing was inforced to pass over from Gallia into Britain But he being a greater Lover of Peace than War desired rather to maintain the Bounds of his Empire than to enlarge them Whereupon when he came to York and found the Country beyond it to be harassed by the War he resolved to take a particular View of the Devastation and so marched his Army to the River Tine where being informed by the old Soldiers who had followed Agricola almost to the utmost Bounds of Britanny That there would be more Pains than Profit in Conquering the rest of the Island he built a Wall and Trench for the space of Eighty Miles between the Firths of the Rivers Tine and Esk and so excluded the Scots and Pâ—cts from their Provincials and having setled the State of the Province be returned back from whence he came Here I cannot but take notice that seeing there yet remain divers Marks of this Wall in many places it is a wonder to me that Bede did wholly omit to mention it especially since Aelius Spartianus hath taken notice of it in the Life of Adrian and also Herodian in the Life of Severus I cannot persuade my self That Bede could be so mistaken to think as many yet do That that Wall was not made by Adrian but by Severus This by the by Hereupon the Roman Province was quieted the Excursions of their Neighbors were prevented and Peace was observed between them for a great while The Britains did easily embrace it and the Scots and Picts had thereby opportunity to divide the Neighboring Lands as a Prey amongst themselves But that Peace besides the prejudice it did to the Body by weakening its Vigor through Sloth and Idleness did also enervate the Mind by the Baits of Pleasure which then began to tickle it For hereby Mogaldus till then Unconquered in War forgetting the Glory of his Ancestors ran headlong into all kind of Vice and besides other pernicious and foul Miscarriages prejudicial to the Publick he made a most unjust Law That the States of such as were condemned should be forfeited to his Exchequer no part thereof being allotted to their Wives or Children This Law is yet observed and pleaded for by the Officers of the King's Revenue who are willing to gratifie his Lust though they then did and yet do know that it is an unjust and inhuman Institution Mogaldus having thus made himself obnoxious and hateful to the Nobles and Commons too being unable to resist their Combinations
Alpinus and many of his Nobles were taken Prisoners and cruelly slain The Kings Head was fastned to a Pole and carried up and down the Army till at last they set it up for a Spectacle in the most eminent place of the greatest Town they had which then was Abernethy The place where he was slain as yet retains his Name being called Bas Alpin i. e. The Death of Alpin Kennethus II. The Sixty Ninth King ALpin being slain after he had Reigned Three Years his Son Kennethus succeeded him The next Summer the Picts having some hopes that if they did but endeavour it the Scots might easily be driven out of Britain as they had been heretofore hereupon they hired some Troops of the English and joyned them with what Forces of their Own they could make But a sudden Sedition arose betwixt the Commanders and that so outragious an One That King Brudus himself could not compose it so that the Army disbanded thereupon and Brudus died about Three Months after rather Heart-broken than of any Disease His Brother Druskenus was made King in his stead who in vain attempted to compose things at home but in the interim some Scotish Youngsters stole away the head of Alpinus from the place where the Picts had set it up and brought it to Kennethus he not only commended them for their Noble Exploit but also rewarded them with Lands Kennethus called together an Assembly to consult about War with the Picts and though the King himself and the forwardest of the Soldiers did advise to revenge the Treachery of such a perfidious People yet the Major part and especially the Graver sort thought it more adviseable to stay till their Forces which were weakned in former Wars had recovered themselves in the mean time they would neither seek Peace nor yet make War with the Picts till a better opportunity for either did offer it self This Opinion prevailed so that there was Peace betwixt the two Nations for Three Years as if it had been by common Consent But in the Fourth Year Kennethus desirous to renew the War yet finding few of the Nobles of his Mind invited them to a Banquet the Entertainment continued till late at Night so that they were all necessitated to lodge there which they might more easily do in regard every Man according to the custom of his Ancestors lay on the Ground and so they disposed of them in that large House having nothing under them but Leaves and Grass When they were gone to Bed the King suborned a Youth one of his Kinsmen commanding him to clothe himself with the Skins of Fishes dried in the Wind and so to enter by Night and to speak through a long Tube that the Voice might better reach their Ears at a distance and thus to exhort them to War as if a Message had been sent them from Heaven to that purpose The Nobles suddenly awoke at this Voice which at that time seem'd to them to be Greater and more August than a Mans many also were laden with Wine and the sudden flashing of Light from the Fishes Skins darting upon their drowsie Eyes and dazling them drove them into a great Astonishment in fine an un-wonted Apparition affected the Eyes of them all and a kind of Religious Consternation seized upon their Minds And That which increased the Admiration was That the Messenger stripping himself of his disguised Habit and by a secret Passage conveighing himself away as in an instant seemed to have vanished out of sight When the News hereof was brought to the King in the Morning and many did add to the Story as is usual in such Cases he also affirmed That the like Apparition was seen by him in his Sleep Hereupon a War was concluded upon by the general Consent of them all as if they were Commanded thereunto by God himself When the Armies were led forth to Battel as soon as ever they came in fight one of another every one ran upon the Enemy which stood next to him not staying for the Command of their Captains The Fight was as fiercely continued as it was eagerly begun At last the Victory inclined to the Scots Those in whom the Picts put most Confidence proved their Ruin For the English Troops seeing that all things were managed without Order and by Tumultuary Force withdrew themselves into the next Hill as if they had only been Spectators of other Mens Dangers There was a mighty Slaughter made of the Picts For the Scots were highly provoked against them not only by their ancient Hatred but by the remembrance of their later Cruelty against Alpinus and the rest whom they had taken Prisoners But that which chiefly inflamed their Minds was a Watch-Word spread abroad among the Scots That they should remember Alpinus From that very moment they spared neither Age nor Rank of Men The Hills covered the departure of the English and the Scots were so pertinaciously intent in revenging themselves on the Picts that they could not follow them This Victory reduced the Picts to so low an ebb and rendred their Condition so deplorable that though they endeavoured to make Peace yet all was in vain for the Scots would hearken to no Conditions but the full surrendring up of their Kingdom The next Year when all Places were surrendred up beyond Forth Northwards and Garisons placed in them as Kennethus was marching his Army against those on this side thereof word was brought That some of the Garisons which he had left behind were taken and the Souldiers slain Hereupon he marched his Army back against the Rebellious Picts of whom he spared neither Man Woman nor Child But wasted the whole Country with Fire and Sword Druskenus seeing the Picts were inraged almost like Mad-men at the Cruelty exercised over them and knowing now that they must fight not for their Kingdom but for their very Lives and the Lives of their Wives and Children gathered together all the Force that ever he could make and so passing the Forth came to Scone a Town situate on the Bank of the River Tay where he waited for the coming of the Scots There they again endeavoured to make a Pacification offering to surrender all the Country beyond the Forth but the Scots would have All or none The Fight as in such Circumstances of Necessity was very fierce At last the Pertinacy of the Picts was broken and the River Tay putting a stop to their flight was the cause of their Destruction For Druskenus and almost all his Nobility being not able to pass it were there slain And the Fortune of the common Souldiers was not better for as they crowded to the River in several places to save themselves they laboured also under the same incapacity of passing it and so they every one of them lost their Lives Hence it is as I judge that our Writers say We Fought with the Picts seven times in one Day The Force of the Picts was wholly broken by this Overthrow and
Kennethus wasted Lothian and the adjacent Country together with Those beyond the Forth that they might never be able again to recover themselves The Garisons for fear surrendred themselves Those few Picts who were left alive fled into England in an indigent and necessitous Condition The Sixth BOOK AS I formerly called Fergusius the First and after him Fergusius the Second with great reason the Founders of the Scotish Kingdom so I may justly reckon Kennethus the Son of Alpinus a Third Founder also Fergus the First from a mean beginning advanced the Affairs of the Scots to such an height as that they were Envy'd by their Neighbours Fergus the Second when they were banished and dispersed into remote Countrys and in the Judgment of their Enemies almost extirpated did as it were recal them to Life and in a few years reduced them to their Ancient Splendor But Kennethus was so Couragious as to accept of the Kingdom when Matters were almost desperate yea when others thought that the small remainder of Scots could hardly have been defended or kept together and not only so but he brake the power of the Enemy tho' assisted with Foreign aid and Triumphant also for his late Victory in many sharp yet prosperous Fights and being thus weakned he drave him out of Britanny and took from him the Kingly Name which to this day he could never recover again Tho' these were Great Atchievements yet they were not the Greatest he performed For as he enlarged his Kingdom to double of what it was before so he Governed it both by making New Laws and also by reviving the Old ones That neither Licentiousness arising from War nor Pride the product of Victory nor any footsteps of those Evils which are wont to accompany Luxury and Ease did appear during his Life Yea the Affairs of Scotland seem'd to be supported for many Years after by the Laws called by Posterity the Macalpin Laws as much as by Arms. But to let pass these things I shall proceed to relate his Noble Acts as I have begun Kennethus having driven out the Picts distributed their Lands amongst his Soldiers according to every ones Valour and Merit whose Ambition put New Names on many Places and Countrys cancelling and obliterating the Old He parted Horestia betwixt Two Brothers Aeneas and Mern one part of which in Old Scotish is yet called Aeneja they who more affect the English Speech call it Angus The other Mern The Country adjoyning from Tay to the Forth was called by the Ancients Ross i. e. Peninsule there are some signs of the Name yet remaining as Culross a Town which is as it were the Back or Hinder part of Ross and Kâ—nross which signifies the Head of Ross. Now at this day all that Country is called Fife from an Eminent Person called Fifus whose Sirname they say was Duffus Barodunum a Town in Lothian or as some call it Dâ—nbar was so called as it is thought from a Great Man named Bar. Lothian had its name not long ago from Lothus King of the Picts Cuningham is wholly a Danish Word used as I think by the Danes after the Death of Kennethus who possessed that Country for some years having driven the Scots beyond the Wall of Severus for Cuningham signifys in the Danish Language the Kings House or Palace 'T is also probable That Merch was so called by the Danes because it was the Limits between both Kingdoms As for Edinburgh either by the gross Ignorance or perverse Ill-will of some it is sometimes called Vallis Dolorosa i. e. The Dolesom Valley and sometimes Castrum Puellarum Maiden-Castle the Name in it self is not very obscure tho' it be made so by ill management They borrowed those Names from the Gallick-Fables which were devised within the space of 300 Years last past This is certain That the Ancient Scots called it Dunedinum the Later Edinburgum wherein they follow the Country Custom in imposing of Names whereas that Castle in a middle Appellation between both I think may be better named Edinum But enough in this place concerning the Old and the New Names of the Countrys of which I have spoken more largely before To return then to Kennethus Having enlarged his Kingdom as I said before and settled wholsome Laws for the Government thereof he endeavoured further to confirm his Royal Authority by mean and trivial Things even bordering upon Superstition it self There was a Marble-Stone which Simon Breccus is reported to have brought into Ireland out of Spain which Fergus the Son of Ferchard is also said to have brought over into Scotish Albion and to have placed it in Argyle This Stone Keunethus removed out of Argyle to Scone by the Rivet Tay and placed it there included in a Chair of Wood. The Kings of Scotland were wont to receive both the Name and the Habiliment of Kings sitting in that Chair till the days of Edward the First King of England of whom in his Place Kenneth Translated the Episcopal See which the Picts had placed at Abernethy to Fanum Reguli which after Ages called St. Andrews But the Ancient Scots-Bishops being chosen out of Monasteries not then contending for Place or Honour but for Sanctity and Learning did perform their Functions every where occasionally as opportunity was offered without Envy or Emulation no certain Diocesses being allotted to them in regard the Ecclesiastical Function was not yet made a matter of Gain After this sort Kennethus Reigned 20 Years In the beginning of his Fifth year he overthrew the Picts as the Black Book of Pasley hath it The other Sixteen years after he had destroyed the Government of the Picts he lived in great Tranquillity having Peace at home by reason of his just Government and Peace abroad by the Power of his Arms. He enlarged his Dominions from the Orcades to the Wall of Adrian A. C. 854. Donaldus V. The Seventieth King DONALDVS his Brother was chosen King next who quite altered the whole Publick Discipline together with his own Demeanour For whereas in the Life time of Alpinus he made a shew of Temperance and by that means had obtained the Love of the better sort When his Brother was dead as if he had been freed from all Fear and Restraint he gave himself up wholly to Pleasure And as if there had been no danger from any Enemy without he neglected all Military Study and kept almost none about him but Hunters Hawkers and Inventors of new Pleasures Upon these he spent the Publick Revenue The young Fry who were prone to Pleasures did extol the King to the Skies as a Noble and Generous Prince and scoffed at the Parsimony of former Times as Rude and Illiberal The Ancient Counsellors seeing all things likely to run to Ruin in a very short time came to the King and put him in mind of his Duty of his present Evils and Miscarriages and of the Danger imminent
with contrary Winds at Sea was Shipwracked and cast ashore and being brought to the King he and all his underwent their most deserved punishments They who brought him to the King were liberally rewarded his Castle was burnt and all that were therein were slain And the Body of Duffus was honourably interred amongst his Ancestors As these things did highly ingratiate Culenus to those who were good so the remaining part of his Life did accumulate so much Odium on him as never any King before him ever laboured under For whether induced by his own Nature or urged for fear of Danger as he would have it thought he suffered the severity of the Discipline used under Indulfus and Duffus to grow cold and remiss and permitted the younger Tribe being given up to unseasonable Debauchery and Foreign Delights to run into those Licentious practices which were forbid by the Laws till at last they broke forth into open Violence and Robbery And when he saw the greatest part of the young Nobility addicted to those Vices he also immerged himself in the same so that he abstained not from vitiating Noble Matrons and even Religious Nuns which in that Age on the account of their Chastity were had in great Veneration no nor from his own Sisters or Daughters neither nay he kept Troops of other Harlots hired by his Panders in his Court as in a Brothel-house When he was admonished and put in mind of these things by Wise and Prudent Persons on the behalfe of the young Nobility he answered That something was to be indulged to their Age and as for himself thô he confessed That some things were amiss yet he was forced out of fear to tolerate them For I remember said he what great Calamity the unseasonable Severity of the former King brought not only on himself but on the whole Kingdom also That the Nobility were the Stay and Prop of the Throne That it was not true that the Martial Spirits of Men were always broken by this free kind of Life or made low and abject nor That the Thoughts of Arms were so neglected by them in Peace as if they expected That there would never be any more War at all 'T is true proceeded he The Luxury of Youthful Age is so far to be restrained that it proceed not too far that so the good Seed of Ingenuity might not be choaked as it were by overmuch jollity in the very bud yet it is not wholly to be abridged or taken away lest the Seeds of Virtue should be plucked up together with it When the Nobles heard this his Defensatory Plea and perceiving they could do no good upon him by their Persuasions but rather create trouble to themselves if they should use the same liberty of Speech to him in their Rejoynders they withdrew themselves from the Court fearing lest they should be compelled to be Witnesses yea Partakers also of these facinorous Practices the sight and hearing whereof they did detest and abhor The King being freed from such troublesom Interposers gave up himself wholly to Wine and Women He proposed Rewards to those who could invent any new kind of Pleasure thô never so sordid and detestable His Court was filled Night and Day with wanton Songs and the Huzza's of Drunkards So that Intemperance and Impudence were as much praised by him as Modesty and Chastity are wont to be esteemed by Good and Pious Princes Those Evils which thô allowed or connived at by the Law in other Men yet are acted by Them in Secret were here openly committed without Shame The young Nobility being thus Effeminated by Pleasure and a Multitude of Parasites and Flatterers with them extol the King to the Skies as if he were the very First of their Kings who had joyned Splendor and Magnificence with Authority as tempering the Severity of his Government with Lenity and easing the burdens of Care and Labour by some Relaxation of Spirit and Allowance of Delight Now to continue these Luxuriant courses there was need of great Expence and therefore the wealthier sort were Fined upon fained Accusations and the Plebeians were suffered to be preyed upon and harassed with all sorts of servile Offices He that was not pleased with the present state of things was accounted a barbarous Country-Clown or if he seemed to be of an higher Spirit than ordinary he was presently accused by a company of Informers as if he studied Innovation in the State After 3 Years were spent in this flagitious Liberty when Men were silent out of Fear or Sâ—oth Luxury began to be a punishment to itself For when the King's Strength was exhausted by immoderate Lust and his Body had contracted Deformity by excessive Banquetings those Diseases followed which are wont to be Companions of such Vices so that there remained nought but a rotten Carkass fit for nothing but to â—ear the Punishment of his former mispent Life The King being thus disabled for all Functions of Life the strength both of his Body and Mind being enervated and weakened by Intemperance and his Courtiers also following the same practices some Aâ—â—â—â—cious Fellows being encouraged by hopes of Prey and Impunity committed publick Robberies and Murders regarding neither the Plebeians as being Men of poor Servile Spirits nor the Courtiers as Persons enfeebled by Luxurious wickedness Hereupon the founder Part of the Nobility being encompassed with a double mischief and therefore enforced to look to the Main called an Assembly of the States at Scone The King also was willed to be there That he might consult in common with the rest in such a dangerous Juncture of Affairs for the Publick Safety He being inwardly struck at this Summons and as it were awakned from his drowzy Sloth began to advise with his Confederates What a Man in such streights were best to do And thô he knew not how to make any Resistance nor yet how to fly away and thô his Mind also presaged no good to him yet he resolved to go to the Assembly And as miserable Men are wont to flatter themselves in Adversity so he did not altogether Despair That he either out of Pity or out of Respect to his Fathers Memory should procure some Favour that he might not be suddenly cast down from so great a Dignity to an Abyss of Misery In his Journy to Scone having a Train big enough but unarmed and dispirited about him he was slain at a Neighbour Village called Methvin by the Thane or Sheriff of that Country because he had forceably vitiated his Daughter When his Death was made known thô all Men were well pleased to be freed from such a Monster with less trouble than they supposed they should yet the Perpetration of the Fact by Roharans or Rodardus the Thane was very much disliked by all People He Reigned as the former King did 4 Years and 6 Months Kennethus III. The Eightieth King KENNETHVS the Brother of Duffus and Third of that Name succeeded
Henry was buried he stept into the Throne and the Two First Years reigned peaceably enough Whereupon growing insolent he began to neglect his Agreement made with the English and also to deal harsly with strangers After he had compelled all the English partly by Fear partly by fair Promises to take an Oath of Allegiance to him he sent Embassadors to David King of Scots to put him in mind to take the same Oath for the Counties of Cumberland Northumberland and Huntingdon which he held of him David returned Answer That he together with Stephen himself and the other Nobles of England had not long since bound themselves by an Oath to obey Maud their Lawful Queen And that he ought not nor would acknowledge any other King as long as she was alive When this Answer was brought to Stephen presently a War began The English entred upon the adjacent Scots the Scots doing as much for them The next Year an Army of Scots under the Conduct of the Earls of Merch of Menteith and of Argus entred England and met the English at the Town of Allerton whose General was the Earl of Glocester A sharp Battel was there fought with equal slaughter on both sides as long as the Army stood to it at last the English being overthrown many perished in the flight and many of the Nobility were taken Prisoners amongst whom was the Earl of Glocester himself Stephen being much concerned at this Overthrow lest the Friends and Kindred of the Captive Nobles might be alienated from him refused no Conditions of Peace The Terms were These That the English Prisoners should be released without Ransom That Stephen should quit all the Claim which as chief Lord he pretended to have over Cumberland But Stephen observed those Conditions no better than he did the Oath formerly taken to Maud his Kinswoman For before the Armies were quite Disbanded and the Prisoners Released he privately surprized some Castles in Northumberland and by driving away Bootys from the Scots Countrys renewed the War The Scots gathering a sudden Army together out of the Neighbour Countrys and despising the English whom they had overthrown in Battel the self same Year did rashly run on to the Conflict at the River Tees where they paid for their Folly in undervaluing the Enemy by receiving a great Overthrow and were also enforced to quit Northumberland David to retrieve this Loss and Ignominy gathered as great an Army as ever he could together and came to Roxburgh Thither Turstan or as William of Newberry calls him Trustinus was sent by the English to Treat concerning a Pacification and there being some hope of Agreement a Truce was made for Three Months upon Condition That Northumberland should be presently restored to the Scots But this Promise which was made by Stephen only to have the Army Disbanded was not performed so that David drove away a great Booty out of that Part of Northumberland which obeyed Stephen and Stephen gathering a great Force together pierced as far as Roxborough But understanding That the Nobility were averse and complained That they were intangled in an Unjust and Unnecessary War without performing any Memorable Exploit he retired into the heart of his Kingdom And the next Year fearing some intestine Sedition he sent his Wife Maud to David her Uncle to treat of Peace Upon her Mediation it was accorded That David from Newcastle where he commonly aboad and Stephen from Durham should send Arbitrators for composing of Matters to the Town of Chester in the street scituate in the Midway equally distant from Both Places David sent the Arch-Bishops of St. Andrews and Glasgoe Stephen the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and York Both Parties were the more inclineable to Peace because Stephen feared War from abroad and Seditions at home and the Scots complained That they were forced to bear the shock of a War made in the behalf of another whereas Maud for whose sake it was commenced did nothing at all in it The Peace was made on These Conditions That Cumberland as by Ancient Right should be possessed by David and that Northumberland unto the River Tees as William of Newberry the Englishman writes and Huntingtonshire should be enjoyed by Henry Davids Son upon the account of his Mothers Inheritance and That he should do Homage to Stephen for the same When things were thus composed David retired into Cumberland and Stephen into Kent This Peace was made in the Year of our Lord 1139. In which Year Maud being returned into England sent her Son Henry afterward King of England to Carlisle to David his Great Uncle that he might be instructed in Feats of Arms and also be made Knight by him who without doubt was the excellentest Warrior in his time which Matter in those days was performed with a great deal of Ceremony At that time there was so great a Disturbance in England by reason of Domestique Discords That no Part of it was free from a Civil War but That which David the King of Scots held And that he alone might not plead Exemption from the publick Calamity within Three Years after his Son the only Heir in hope of so much Power and Felicity dyed in the flower of his Age leaving Three Sons and as many Daughters behind him He left so great a Love behind for him both from the Scots and English that besides the publick Loss every one lamented his own private Misfortune also at his death For so great a Sincerity and Moderation of Mind shined forth in him even in that Age wherein Youth is accustomed to wantonize That every body expected most rare and singular Fruits from his Disposition when it was ripened by Age. His Fathers Grief was also further increased by reason of the tender Age of his Nephew and the Ambition and restless Disposition of Stephen and if he dyed he was troubled at the Fierceness of Henry's Spirit then in the fervor of his Youth who being the Son of Maud was to succeed in the Kingdom When the Thoughts of so many foreseen Mischiefs did assault his diseased and feeble Mind insomuch that all Men imagined he would have sunk under them yet he bore up so stoutly that he invited some of the Prime Nobility who were solicitous for him lest he should be too much afflicted as well they might to Supper and there he entertained them with a Discourse rather like a Comforter than a Mourner He told them That no new thing had hapned to him or to his Son That he had long since Learned from the Sermons of Learned and Holy Men That the World was Governed by the Providence of Almighty God whom it was a foolish and impious thing to endeavour to resist That he was not ignorant his Son was born on no other Terms but that he must also dye and so pay that Debt to Nature which he owed even at his very Birth And when Men were always ready to pay that Debt 't was
no great matter when God their Creditor called upon them for it That if only Wicked Men were subject to Death then a Man might justly grieve at the Decease of his Kindred but when we see Good Men also Dye all Christians said he ought to be throughly setled in this persuasion That no Evil can happen to the Good either alive or dead and therefore Why should we be so much troubled at a short Separation especially from our Kindred who have not so much left us as they are gone before us to our common Country Whither we also thô we should live never so long must yet at last follow As for my Son if he hath undertaken this Voyage before us that so he might visit and enjoy the Fellowship of my Parents and Brethren those precious Men before-hand if we are troubled at it let us take heed That we seem not rather to envy his Happiness than to Mourn for our own Loss As for you Worthy Lords as I am beholding to you for many Offices of Respect so both I and my Son for I shall undertake also for him are much obliged for your Loves to me and your Grateful and Pious Memory of him This Greatness of Mind in the King as it added much to his own Veneration so it increased the Sense of the loss of his Son in the Minds of all when they considered What a Prince they and their Children were deprived of And David that he might make use of the only way of Consolation which was left him caused his Nephews and his Sons Children to be brought to him and to be trained up in Court-discipline which was then most Pious In Fine he provided for their Security as far as Human Counsel could foresee He commended Malcolm the eldest of the Three to the Care of the whole Nobility and particularly of Mackduff Earl of Fife a very powerful and prudent Man and he caused him to carry him all over the Land that so he might be received as the undoubted Heir of the Kingdom William the next Son he made Earl of Northumberland and sent him presently to take Possession of that Country David the Third Son he made Earl of Huntington in England and of Garioch in Scotland He made the more haste to prefer them because being Sick of a mortal Disease he foresaw his Time could not be long in this World He dyed in the Year of Christ 1553. the Ninth of the Calends of Iune He was so well beloved That all Men thought they had lost rather a Father in him yea the best of Fathers than a King For thô his whole Life was so Devout as no History records the like yet some few Years before his Death he Devoted himself to the Preparation for his later End So that his Deportment then did much increase Mens Veneration for the former part of his Life For thô he equalled former Kings who were most Praise-worthy in the Art of War and excelled them in the Study of Peace Yet now leaving off contending with others for Superiority in Virtue He maintained a Combat with himself alone wherein he advanced so much That if the Highest and most Learned Wits should endeavour to give the Idea or Pattern of a Good King they could never comprehend in their Thoughts such an exemplary Prince as David shewed himself in his whole Life to be He Reigned 29 Years 2 Months and 3 Days Malcolm IV. The Ninety Second King HIS Nephew Malcolm succeeded him who thô yet Under-age gave great hopes of his future Ingenuity For he was so Educated by his Father and Grandfather that he seemed to resemble them asmuch in the Virtues of his Mind as in the Lineaments of his Body In the beginning of his Reign a great Plague raged all over Scotland whereby great Numbers of Men and Cattle also were destroyed At that time one Somerled was Thane of Argyle whose Fortune was above his Family and his Mind above his Fortune He conceiving some hopes to enjoy the Kingdom by reason of the King's Non-age and the present Calamity gathered a Band of his Confidents together and invaded the adjacent Countries Yea the Havock he made was spoken of far and neer and the fear of him spreading itself further many Bad Men coming in to him and some Good good being forced to joyn with him too in a short time he made up a vast Army Upon the report of this Tumult Donald also the Son of Malcolm Macbeth made another Bustle but being taken at Whithorn in Galway and sent to the King he was committed to the same Prison with his Father But soon after the King was reconciled to them and they were both released Gilchrist Earl of Angus was sent with an Army against Somerled who defeated and killed many of his Men and caused him with some few more to fly into Ireland This Victory thus unexpectedly and suddainly obtained produced Tranquillity at home but Envy abroad For Henry King of England an Ambitious Prince and desirous to inlarge his own Dominions resolved with himself to curb the growing Greatness and Power of Malcolm But he could not well make open War upon him out of Conscience of that Pact and Oath which he had sworn to him For when he received the Military Girdle as the Custom is from King Malcolm's Grandfather at Carlisle he promised and took his Oath on it as William of Newberry besides our own Writers say That he would never go about to deprive either David himself or any of his Posterity of any part of those Possessions which David then held in England He being somewhat bound up by this Oath That he might find out some colour for his Calumniations he resolved to try the Kings Patience in a lesser Matter When Iohn Bishop of Glascow was Dedicating Churches Shaving Priests and performing the other Parts of his Episcopal Office as then they were judged to be all over Cumberland Henry by Trustine Archbishop of York sent a new Bishop into that Country called the Bishop of Carlisle Iohn was so moved at the Injury that seeing no sufficient Safeguard neither in the King nor in the Law he left his Bishoprick and retired into the Monastery of Tours in France Whence he returned not untill the Pope at Malcolm his Request drew him unwillingly out of his Cell and made him return to his own Country Malcolm bore the wrong better than some hoped so that not thinking it a sufficient Cause for a War he went to Chester in the Street there to quiet Suspicions and to cut off occasions of Discord Being arrived there by the Fraud of Henry he was Circumvented and made to take an Oath of Fidelity to him whereas it was not the King himself but his Brothers who had Lands in England according to an old Agreement who were to take that Oath But this was Craftily and Maliciously devised by the English King to sow the Seed of Discord amongst Brethren which
of Silver as a Largess being moved thereunto either out of Remembrance of his former Bounty to him or on the Consideration of his present Want Neither were ever the Scots and English more Gracious than at that time as many judge There William fell very Sick and a Rumour of his Death being noised abroad caused new Combustions in Scotland Harald Earl of the Orcades and of Caithnes hated the Bishop of Caithnes because as he alledged he was the Obstacle that he could not obtain what he desired of the King and therefore he took him Prisoner cut out his Tongue and also put out his Eyes The King returning home overthrew Harald in several Skirmishes and destroyed most of his Forces Harald himself was taken in his Flight and brought back to the King who when his Eyes also were first put out by way of Retaliation was afterwards hanged his whole Male-Stock were Gelded the rest of his Kinn and Companions of his Wickedness were deeply Fined These things are thus related by Hector Boetius and common Report confirms them yea the Hill receiving its Name from Testicles gives credit to the Relation so that it seems truer than what others Write in this matter These things happened in the Year of our Salvation 1198. in which Year the King had a Son named Alexander Born to him and Richard of England dying his Brother Iohn succeeded him Whereupon the King of Scots went into England to take his Oath to him for the Lands which he held in England and in the beginning of Iohn's new Reign his Coming was not more acceptable than his Departure displeasing because he refused to follow Iohn in his Expedition into France against Philip his old Friend So that as soon as Iohn returned out of France he sought Occasion for a War with the Scots and began to build a Fort over against Berwick William having in vain complained of the Injurie by his Embassadors gathered a Company together and demolished what was built thereof Upon which Armies were Levied on both sides but when their Camps were near to one another Peace was made by the Intervention of the Nobles on these Terms That William's Two Daughters should be given in Matrimony to Iohn's Two Sons assoon as ever they were Marriageable A great Dowry was promised and Caution made That no Fort should be built and Hostages also were given in the case William at his return fell into an unexpected Danger The greatest Part of the Town of Berth was swept away in the Night by an Inundation of the River Tay Neither was the King's Palace exempted from the Calamity but his Son an Infant with his Nurse and 14 more were drowned the rest hardly escaping Many also of the Promiscuous Multitude lost their Lives The King perceiving that the Water had overwhelmed the greatest part of the Ground on which the City stood and that almost every House in the Town had suffered thereby caused a new City to be built a little below in a more commodious place on the same River and making some small variation of the Name called it Perth in Memory as some say of one Perth a Nobleman who gave the King the Land on which the City was built About the same time the King took Gothered Makul Captain of the Rebels in the North who was betrayed to him by his own Men. When he was Prisoner he constantly abstained from all Food to prevent as 't is thought a more heavy Punishment This was in a manner the last memorable Fact of William's which yet in regard of his unweildy Age was acted by his Captains For he Dyed soon after in the 74 th year of his Age and the 49 th year of his Reign A. D. 1643. Not long before his Death Leagues were renewed with Iohn King of England almost every Year for he being a Man desirous to enlarge his Dominions thô he had War with the French abroad with the Romanists at home and moreover was never on sure Terms of Peace with the Irish or Welsh yet did not break off his Inclination to invade Scotland which had then an old Man for their King and the next Heir to him a Child Frequent Conferences happened on this Occasion rather to try what might be obtained than in hopes of any good Issue at length the Matter broke out into open Suspicion And after many Leagues made between Them at last William was called to Newcastle upon Tine Whither he came but there falling into a dangerous Disease he returned without doing any thing In fine a little before his Death he was invited to Norham on the Tweed and when his Sickness would not permit him to go his Son was desired to come in his stead which yet by the Advice of the Council was refused the Leagues established in those Interviews I shall not particularly mention for they almost all contain the same things having in them nothing New save that in One of them it was Articled That the Scotish Kings should not Swear nor be Feudataries to the Kings of England Themselves for the English Lands they held but their Children only The Mention of these things is wholly omitted by the English Writers also I believe for this very Cause Alexander II. The Ninety Fourth King WIlliam was succeeded by Alexander his Son begot on Emergard who was Kinswoman to the King of England and Daughter to the Earl of Beaumont He was but Sixteen years of age when he began to Reign entring upon the Government in troublesom Times he composed and setled things more prudently than could be expected from one of his years First of all he Indicted a Publick Convention of the Estates and therein by a Decree he confirmed all the Acts of his Father that good and prudent Prince His first Expedition was into England not out of any private Ambition but to bridle the Tyranny of Iohn and it was then said that he was sent for in by the Ecclesiasticks of that Kingdom He left Norham upon certain Conditions when he had begun to besiege it and piercing further into the Kingdom he carried it very severely against all the Royalists Upon his Return home Iohn invaded Scotland quickly after He made a mighty Devastation in Dunbar Hadington and all the Neighbouring Parts of Lothian and to spread the War and Ruin further he determined to return another Way Alexander being very desirous to decide it by a Battel pitcht his Tents between the Pentland Hills and the River Eske which way as it was bruited he would return but Iohn to avoid fighting marched along by the Sea and burnt the Monastery of Coldingham he also took and burnt Berwick which was then but meanly fortified As he thus marched hastily back Alexander followed him as fast as he could and making great havock all over Northumberland came as far as Richmond But Iohn by speedy marches having retreated into the heart of England Alexander returned by Westmorland and
Kirkpatrick one his Kinsman the other his old Friend perceiving by his Countenance that he was troubled asked him the Cause he told them in breif the whole Business adding withal That he thought he had killed Cumins What says Lindsay will you leave a Matter of that Consequence upon an I thought and assoon as he had spoke the Word he ran into the Church and dispatched him quite and also his Kinsman Robert Cumins who endeavoured to save him This Murder was committed in the Year 1305. on the Fourth of the Ides of February About the same time also Wallis was betrayed in the County of Glascow where he then hid himself by his own Familiar Friend Iohn Menteith whom the English had Corrupted with Money and so was sent to London where by Edwards Command he was wofully Butchered and his Limbs for the terrour of others Hanged up in the most noted Places of London and Scotland Such an End had this Person the famousest Man of his Time who deserved to be compared with the most Renowned Captains of Ancient Times both for his Greatness of Mind in undertaking Dangers and for his Wisdom and Valour in overcoming Them For Love to his Country he was Second to none who when others were Slaves he alone was Free neither could be induced by Rewards or Threats to forsake the Publick Cause which he had once undertaken His Death was the more to be Lamented because he was not conquered by his Enemy but betrayed by his Friend who had little Reason so to do Bruce The Ninety Seventh King BRVCE stayed so long till he had obtained Pardon from the Pope for killing a Man in Holy Church and then in April following Anno Domini 1306. he went to Scone and was Crowned King The first thing he did knowing that he had to do with a Powerful Enemy was to levy all the Force he could make but in regard the whole Family of the Cumins's whose Greatness was never equalled by any in Scotland either before or since was against him and also the Minds of many were offended with him for his former assisting of the English and moreover most of the Scots were out of Fear willing to be quiet under the English Power yet he adventured with a small Army to try his Fortune at Methven where he was overthrown by Ailmer Edwards General but with little Slaughter because his Men seeing their own weakness fled away entire almost at the first Charge this was done on the 13th of the Calends of August And not long after coming to Athol and designing for Argyle his design was discovered by the Cumins's and he was forced in his very march at a place called Dalree i. e. Kings-land to try his Fortune in a Battel where he was overthrown also but lost few in regard every one fled several ways as they thought fit After that time he had but Two or Three in his Company for he thought himself more secure with a few and thus he wandred up and down in secret places living mostly a Foresters Life and in despair of any Aid if he had a mind again to try his Fortune For the Vulgar upon his double Discomfiture drew thence discouraging Omens and so they all left him only Two of his old Friends Malcolm Earl of Lennox and Gilbert Hay never forsook him but remained constant to him in all Misfortunes The English not yet satiated with his Miseries send about through all Parts of the Kingdom to apprehend his Allies and Kindred and besides they Commanded all the Wives and Children of those who were banished to depart the Kingdom at a time prefixed The Wife of Robert himself was taken by William Earl of Ross and sent into England and Neile his Brother with his Wife and Children came into the Hands and Power of the English his Castle of Kildrummy being betrayed by the Governor thereof to them Moreover his Brethren Thomas and Alexander endeavouring to pass out of Galway to Carick were taken at the Loch Ryan which Ptolemy calls the Bay Rerigonius and sent into England These Three were put to Death in several Places the rest of the Brucian Party were diligently sought after and put also to Death and their Estates Confiscate The King himself with one or two and sometimes alone wandred up and down through uncouth Places daily yea hourly changing his Recesses and yet even thus not thinking himself safe enough from the Cruelty of his Enemies and the Perfidiousness of his Subjects he passed over to another Friend of his into the Aebudae where he lurked for some Months And in regard he did no where appear he was thought to be Dead and so they left searching for him This Report as it made for his Safety so if it had continued long it would have taken away all Hopes from his Friends of his ever obtaining and recovering the Kingdom Whereupon he judged it fit to attempt something and receiving a small Force from his Friends where he had hid himself he sailed over into Carick and by Means of his sudden coming he there surprized a Castle which was his own Inheritance but Garisoned by a strong party of English whom he put all to the Sword and lest his Passage might be stopped by the Enemy he passed over by the Bay of Clyde and came to the strong Castle of Ennerness situate on a pretty high Hill by the River Ness which as being in a remote Country and negligently Guarded he also happily took The Report hereof being divulged occasioned great Thoughts of Heart all over Scotland For besides his Old Friends who came to him from all Places out of their Lurking Holes the Pride of the English had raised him up many New ones for They thinking that he had been dead began to Lord it more imperiously and cruelly than ever they had done before So that his Forces being considerably encreased and that with very good Soldiers whom either Labour had hardned or Despair urged to the most desperate Attempts he took all the Castles in the North of Scotland and demolished them as they were taken partly That he might not weaken his Forces by dividing them into Garisons and partly That the Enemy might have no Harbour there Thus overcoming all as he went he came into the very Heart of the Kingdom Iohn Cumins Earl of Bachan being informed thereof gathered together a suddain Company of Scots and English even as many as were able to bear Arms when he was come to the Forest through which the River Esk falls down into the Plains of Mern he overtook him at a Place called Glenesk Bruce perceiving that the Narrowness of the Passages was advantageous for his Men stood ready to Fight expecting his Enemy Cumins drew out his Army in length imagining that Bruce would be astonished at the sight of such a Multitude But when he saw that he stirred not from the Place and being also Conscious of the Weakness
to have their Cause heard and never shunned the Determination of an Equal Judge nor the Arbitration of any Good men and moreover when they produced many Grants and Summons of Former Popes which made for them and against their Enemies the Scots were always present at the day and the English tho' they had Notice given never came Hereupon the Pope was easily reconciled to the Scots and the French as easily induced to renew the Ancient League only one Article was added to the old Conditions That if any Controversy did hereafter arise amongst the Scots concerning him who was to succeed in the Kingdom the same should be decided by the Council of the States and the French if there were need were to assist Him by his Authority and with his Arms who by Lawful Suffrages was by them declared King Our Writers cast the Rise of the Hamiltons now a powerful Family in Scotland upon these Times There was a certain Nobleman in the Court of England who spake Honourably of the Fortune and Valour of Bruce whereupon one of the Spencers Bed-Chamber Man to the King either thinking That his Speech was Reproachful to the English or else to curry Favour with the looser sort of the Nobility drew forth his Faucheon and making at him gave him a slight wound in the Body The Man being of a great Spirit was more concerned at the Contumely than at the Damage and being hindered by the coming in of many to part the Fray from taking present Revenge the day after finding his Enemy in a sit Posture in the same place he run him thorough And fearing the Punishment of the Law and the great Power of the Spencers at Court he fled presently into Scotland to King Robert by whom he was courteously received and some Lands near the River Clyde were bestowed upon him His Posterity not long after were admitted to the Degree of Noblemen and the Opulent Family of the Hamiltons was Sirnamed from him and also the Name of Hamilton was imposed on the Lands which the King gave him Not long after Edward had great Combustions at home insomuch that he put many of the Nobles to Death and advanced the Spencers the Authors of all Evil Counsel higher than his own Kindred could bear so that he was apprehended by his Son and by his Wife who had received a small Force from beyond the Seas and kept close Prisoner and not long after he was slain by a course sort of Death an hot Iron was thrust into his Fundament through a Pipe of Horn by which his Bowels were burnt up and yet no Sign of so terrible a Fact appeared on the outside of his Body His Wife and Son were thought Privy to the Parricide either because his Keepers would never have dared to commit such a Deed so openly unless they had had Great Authors or else because they were never called in Question for so Immane a Butchery These Disturbances in England which were followed by the Kings Death Bruce also growing old and weak in Body were the Occasions that Peace for some Years did intercede between the Two Neighbour Nations For Bruce being freed from the Fear of the English and being also called upon by his Age converted his Thoughts to settle his Domestick Affairs And first he made hast to confirm the Kingdom which was not yet quite recovered nor fully setled from the Commotions of former Times to his only Son yet but a Child by the Consent and Decree of the Estates And if he died without Issue then he appointed Robert Stuart his Nephew by his Daughter to be his Successor He caused the Nobles to take an Oath for the Performance of this Decree But afterwards fearing That after his Death Baliol would begin his old Dispute about the Kingdom especially seeing his Heirs because of their Minority might be liable to be injured by others he sent Iames Douglas to Iohn Baliol being in France with large Gifts and Promises That he would cease his Claim to the Kingdom This he did not so much to acquire a new Right because according to the Scotish Custom The King is made by the Decree of the Estates who have the Supream Power in their Hands but that he might cut off all Occasion from Wicked Men to Calumniate his Posterity and also that he might Eradicate the very Seeds of Sedition Douglas found Baliol far more placable than he or others thought he would be for he was now surrounded with the Miseries of Extream Old Age. He ingenuously Confessed That his Peccant Exorbitance was justly restrained and that he was deservedly driven out of the Kingdom as unworthy to Reign And therefore he was very willing That his Kinsman Robert should enjoy the Crown by whose high Valour singular Felicity and great Pains-taking 't was Vindicated into its Ancient Splendour In one thing he rejoyced That they by whom he was deceived did not enjoy the Reward of their Perfidiousness When Robert had setled these Matters according to his own desire the same Year which was 1327. our Writers say That Ambassadors were sent into Scotland by Edward the Third for a Pacification in which Matter they seemed to act Treacherously and instead of Peace they carried home War but what the particular Fraud was is not expressed and the English say That the War was openly denounced by Robert but they describe not the Cause of it surely it must needs be some great and mighty One or else a valetudinary old Man when Peace was scarce setled at home and who might have been sated with his former Victories rather than with War would not so soon have been provoked to reassume his Arms. This is certain That the King by reason of his Age could not manage the War himself in Person so that Thomas Randolfe and Iamâ—s Douglas the Valiantest and Wisest of all that Age were sent by him into England with Twenty Thousand brave nimble Horse but no Foot at all The Reason was That they might fly up and down swiftly and not abide in one place nor be forced to Fight the English unless they themselves pleased For they knew that the English would make Head against them in their first Expedition with a far more numerous Army Neither were they deceived in their Opinions for the King of England besides his Domestick Forces had procured great Assistance of Horse from Belgium but in regard they and the English fell out at York some English Writers say That they returned home again But Frossard a French Writer of the same Age says That they accompanied the English during the whole Expedition and that not only for Honours sake but also for Fear of Sedition they had the next Place to the Kings Regiment always assigned to them in the Camp The King having made a Conjunction of all his Forces which were clearly above Sixty Thousand Men marched against the Scots who had already passed over the Tine Now there were
to settle Matters at home When the Marriage of his Son was magnificently celebrated he perceiving the end of his Life to be near at hand composed himself almost into the Habit of a private Man for some years before all the Grand Affairs of State had been managed by Thomas Randolph and Iames Douglas and lived in a small House at Cardross a place divided from Dumbritton by the River Levin and kept himself but in case of great Necessity from the Concourse of People Thither he called some of his Friends a little before his Death and made his Will He confirmed those to be his Heirs which were so declared by the Convention of Estates First David his Son being eight year old next Robert his Nephew by his Daughter he commended them to his Nobles and especially to Thomaâ— Randolph his Sisters Son and Iames Douglas Afterward he settled his Houshold Affairs and exhorted them all to Concord amongst themselves and to observance of Allegiance to their King if they did so he would assure them to be unconquerable by a Foreign Power Moreover he is reported to have added Three Commands or if you will Counsels First That they should never make any one Man Lord of the Aebudae Islands Next That they should never fight the English with all their Force at one time and Thirdly That they should never make with them a Perpetual League In Explicating his First Advice he discoursed much concerning the Number Bigness and Power of the Islands and concerning the Multitude Fierceness and Hardiness of their Inhabitants They with Ships Such as they were yet not inconvenient for those Coasts coping with Men unskill'd in Marine Affairs might do a great deal of Mischief to others but receive little Damage themselves And therefore Governors were Yearly to be sent thither to administer Justice amongst them by Officers who should not be continued long in their Places neither His Second Advice concerning the English stood upon this Foot Because the English as inhabiting a better Country did exceed the Scots in Number of Men Money and all other Warlike Preparations and by reason of these Conveniencies they were more accustomed to their Ease and not so patient of Labour or Hardship On the other side the Scots were bred in an hardier Soil and were by reason of their Parsimony and continual Exercise of a more healthy Constitution of Body and by the very manner of their Education made more capable to endure all Military Toil and therefore That they were fitter for suddain and occasional Assaults so to weaken and weary out their Enemy by degrees than to venture all at once in a pitch'd Battel His Third Advice was grounded upon this Reason Because if the Scots should have a long Peace with the English having no other Enemy besides them to exercise their Arms upon they would grow Lazy Luxurious and so easily become Slothful Voluptuous Effeminate and Weak As for the English though they had Peace with the Scots yet France was near them which kept their Arms in ure If then those who are skilful in Warlike Affairs should cope with the Scots thus grown unskilful and sluggish they might promise to themselves an assured Victory Moreover he commended to Iames Douglas the Performance of the Vow which he had made which was to go over into Syria and to undertake the Cause of Christendom in the Holy War against the Common Enemy thereof And because he himself by reason of his Home-bred Seditions or else being broken with Age and Diseases could not perform the Vow himself he earnestly desired That Douglas would carry his Heart after he was deceased to Jerusalem that it might be buried there Douglas looked upon This as an Honourable Imployment and as an eminent Testimony of the Kings Favour towards him and therefore the next Year after the Kings Death with a good Brigade of Noble young Men he prepared for his Voyage But being upon the Coasts of Spain he heard That the King of Arragon managed a fierce War against the same Enemy with which he was to fight in Syria and thinking with himself that it mattered not in what Place he assisted in the Cause of Christianity he Landed his Men and joined himself with the Spaniard where after many prosperous Fights at last despising the Enemy as a weak and fugitive one he thought to attempt something against him with his own Men and so rushing unadvisedly on the Army of the Sarazens he was by them drawn into an Ambush wherein he and most part of his Men were slain His chief Friends that perished with him were William Sinclare and Robert Logan This happened the next year after the Kings Death which was 1330. To be short Robert Bruce was certainly a most Illustrious Person every way and he can hardly be parallelled for his Virtues and Valour even in the most Heroick Times for as he was very Valiant in War so he was most Just and Temperate in Peace and though his unhoped for Successes and after that Fortune was once satiated or rather wearied with his Miseries a continual course of perpetuated Victory did highly Ennoble him yet to me he seemed to have been more Glorious in his Adversities For What a strong Heart was That which was not broken no nor yet weakened by so many Miseries as brake in upon him all at once Whose Constancy would it not have tried to have his Wife a Prisoner and to have his Four Valiant Brothers cruelly put to Death And his Friends at the same time vexed with all kind of Calamities and they which escaped with their Lives were Exiled and lost all their Estates As for himself he was outed not only of a large Patrimony but of a Kingdom too by the powerfullest King of those Times and one who was most ready both for Advice and Action Though he were beset with all these Evils at one time yea and brought into the extreamest Want yet he never doubted of recovering the Kingdom Neither did he ever do or say any thing which was unbecoming a Royal Spirit He did not do as Cato the Younger and Marcus Brutus who laid violent Hands on themselves neither did he as Marius incensed by his Sufferings let loose the Reins of Hatred and Passion against his Enemies but when he had recovered his Ancient State and Kingdom he so carried it towards them who had put him to so much Hardship and Trouble That he seemed rather to Remember that he was now their King than that he had been sometimes their Enemy And even a little before his Death though a great Disease made an addition to the Trouble of his Old Age yet he was so much Himself as to confirm the Present State of the Kingdom yea and to consult the quiet of his Posterity So that when he died all Men bewailed him as being deprived not only of a Just King but of a Loving Father too He departed this Life the Seventh of
the Ides of Iuly in the Year of Christ 1329. and of his Reign the Twenty Fourth The Ninth BOOK THE Nobles of Scotland having performed the Funeral Obsequies for the late King assoon as they could conveniently did Indict a Convention of the Estates for the Electing of a Regent where the Inclinations of the Publick easily pitched on Thomas Randolf Earl of Murray for even in the Kings Life Time he had for some Years managed that Office and the King at his Death had also Recommended him to the People by his last Will and Testament David II. The Ninety Eighth King THE Coronation of the King was deferred till the Eighth of the Calends of December the next Year following that so by the Permission of the Pope he might be Anointed and that new Ceremony be performed more Augustly amongst the Scots Assoon as the Regent was chosen he first of all ratified the Peace made with the English afterward he applied his Mind to settle quiet at home and to suppress publick Robberies In order whereto he kept a strong Guard of Armed Men about him which were ready on all Occasions so that when News was brought him as he was going to Wigton which is a Town in Galway that there was a strong Band of Thieves who beset the Highways and robbed Travellers in that Country he sent out his Guard against them even as he was in his Progress who took them every Man whom he caused to be put to Death He was Inexorable against all Murderers so that he caused a certain Man to be apprehended who had obtained the Popes Bull of Pardon for his Offence and thereupon thought himself secure to be apprehended alledging That the Pope might Pardon the Soul-Guilt but the Body-Punishment belonged to the King To prevent Robberies which were yet too frequently committed by reason of the remaining Contagion of the Wars he made a Law That the Country Men should leave their Iron Tools and Plough-Gear in the Field all Night and that they should not shut their Houses nor Stalls If any thing were stollen the Loss was to be repaired by the Sheriff of the County and the Sheriff was to be reimbursed by the King and the King was to be satisfied out of the Estates of the Thieves when they were taken There was one Country Man either over-greedy of Gain or else judging that Caution to be Vain and Frivolous who hid his Plough Iron in the Field and came to the Sheriff to demand Satisfaction as if it had been stollen the Sheriff paid him presently but inquiring further into the Matter and finding that he was the Author of the Theft himself he caused him to be Hanged and his â—oods to be Confiscate He restrained the loose Pack of Drolling Vagabonds and Minstrellers from wandring up and down the Country under most grievous Penalties If any one assaulted a Travellor or any Publick Officer in performing his Office he made it Lawful for any Body to Kill him So that when Thirty Assailants had been slain by the Companions of a certain Publick Minister at a Village called Halydon he pronounced That the Fact was just and Indemnified the Committers of it This Domestick Severiâ—y made him Formidable to flagitious Persons at home as his Valour did to his Enemies abroad And therefore the English who upon Roberts death watched all Occasions to revenge themselves perceiving That they could attempt nothing by open Force as long as Randolph was living turned their Thoughts to secret Fraud and Stratagem The speediest Way to be rid of their Enemy seemed to be by Poysoning him Neither wanted there a fit Minister to attempt it which was a certain Monk of that Class which are idly brought up and for want of Masters to teach them better they do many times pervert Good Wits to Evil Arts and Practices There were Two Professions joyned in him viz. Monkship and the Profession of Physick the First seemed proper to gain him Admittance the Second rendred him fit to perpetrate the Wickedness Hereupon he comes into Scotland giving out in all Places That as he had Skil in all other Parts of Physick so especially in curing the Stone by which means he obtained an easy Access to the Regent and being employed to cure him he mixed a Slow-working Poyson with his Medicine and then taking a few Days Provision with him he returned again into England as if he had gone only to get and prepare more Drugs and Medicines There he makes a Solemn Asseveration before Edward That Randolf would dye by such a certain day In Hopes whereof Edward levied a great Army and marching to the Borders found there as great an Army of Scots ready to receive him not far from his Camp whereupon he sent a Trumpeter to them upon Pretence to demand Reparation for Damages but he was enjoyned to inquire Who commanded the Scots Forces Randolph his Disease growing on and the Monk not returning at the Day appointed suspected all things for the worse and therefore dissembling his Grief as much as he could he sate in a Chair before his Tent Royally apparelled and gave Answer to the Demands of the Herald of Arms as if he had been a man perfectly Healthy and Sound The Herald at his Return acquainted the King with what he had seen and heard so that the Monk was punished as a Lying Cheat and Edward marched back his Army only leaving a Guard on the Borders to prevent Incursions Randolph also was hindred from marching forward by the Violence of his Disease but returning he disbanded his Army and at Musselborough about Four Miles from Edinburgh departed this Life in the year of our Salvation 1331. and the 13th of the Calends of August having managed the Regency Two years after Robert's death He was a Man no whit Inferiour to any of our Scotish Kings in Valour and Skill in Military Affairs but far Superiour to them in the Arts and Knacks of Peace He left Two Sons behind him Thomas and Iâ—hn Both worthy of so great a Father When Randolf Guardian of the Kingdom for so they then called him was dead Duncan Earl of Marr was chosen in his Place the 4th of the Nones of August The King being then Ten year old on which very Day a sad Message was brought to Court That the day before the Calends of that Month Edward Baliol was seen in the Firth of Forth with a Navy very Numerous To make all things more plain concerning his coming I must go a little back When King Robert died there was one Laurence Twine an English man of the Number of Those who having received Lands in Scotland as a Reward of their Military Service dwelt there He was of a Good Family but of a Wicked Life He conceiving Hope of greater Liberty upon the Death of One King and the Immature Age of Another gave himself up more licentiously to unlawful Pleasures so that
the mean time Henry Percy the Younger called Hot-Spur and George Dunbar ceased not to infest the Neighbouring Lands of the Scots with their Incursions Which when they had often and successfully done their Boldness encreased with their Success so that gathering 2000 Men together they entred Lothian and made great havock about Hadington They besieged Hales-Castle but in vain When they came to Linton a Village scituate on the Tine a River of Lothian they were so disturbed at the sudden Coming of Douglas against them that they left their Prey and all their Baggage behind them and ran away in such Fear that they never stopp'd till they came to Berwick This was done about the beginning of February in the Year 1400. The same Year upon the return of the Herald War was denounced against England and then also Archibald Douglas Sirnamed the Austere a man inferiour to none of his Ancestors in all kind of Praise fell sick and died in a very bad time for his Country which had lately lost by sundry misfortunes so many brave Generals before His Son of the same Name succeeded him In the Ides of August the English King with great Forces entered Scotland When he came to Haddington he stayed there three days and then marched to Leith and staying there as many days he laid Siege to the Castle of Edinburgh The Governor led an Army against them but very slowly so that it easily appeared that he did not much care if the Castle of Edinburgh were taken by the English and in it David the Kings Son For by this time his wicked Ambition did begin to shew it self For he undervalued his Brother as an effeminate Person and sought the Destruction of his Children as much as he could that he might enjoy the Kingdom himself So that their Loss he counted his Gain But the King of England and his Army on the contrary did Exercise their Enmity very moderately as if by an Ostentation of War they had only sought for Peace for having made some sleight Onset on the Castle he raised the Siege and returned home without doing any considerable damage to the Places thro' which he marched insomuch that in his Marches both backward and forward he got the Praise and Commendation of a mild clement and moderate Enemy he was courteous to Those that surrendred themselves he offered no violence to consecrated Places yea he rewarded those bountifully who had formerly entertained his Father All which did more ingratiate Him and render the Governor more odious in regard he did not prosecute the War with any Eagerness as against an Enemy nor yet endeavour to make so easy and beneficent a King his Friend After Henry was returned for England George Dunbar did still trouble the Borders rather with frequent than great Inroads To suppress him there was more need of a diligent than numerous Force and therefore Douglas divided the Forces of each County into small Bands and appointed Commanders over them who by turns were to stop the Enemy or if they saw cause to Fight him The First lot sell upon Thomas Halyburton of Birlington who took a great Booty from the Enemy out of the Lands near to Bamburgh But Patrick Hepburne who wandred further abroad with a greater Band of men had not the like Success for trusting too much to the Numbers of his men and not being very wary in his Retreat with his Prey he was cut off by the English and with him all the flower of the Lothian Soldiery Archibald Douglas to revenge the slaughter of his Friend by the consent of the Governor gathered above Ten thousand men together abundance of the Nobles accompanied him in his March and amongst them Murdo the Governors Son when they came to Northumberland at New-Castle upon Tine they passed the River and spoiled the Country with Fire and Sword but there encountring with Henry Percy the Younger and George Dunbar in a pitch'd Battel they were overcome many of the Nobles were slain Douglas was taken Prisoner having lost one of his Eyes so were also Murdo Earl of Fife Thomas Earl of Murray and George Earl of Angus with many other Noble and Illustrious Persons And indeed the strength of Scotland was not so much weakned 〈◊〉 any one Fight for many years before as it was in This. It was fought at Homeldon a Town in Northumberland in the Noâ—es of May and Year of Christ 1401. Percy having obtained so notable a Victory resolved to subject all the Country which lay betwixt Northumberland and the Forth to the English Scepter and he thought it would be a work of no great difficulty so to do in regard most of the Nobility of those Countrys were either slain in the Fight or held Prisoners by him Thereupon beginning with Cocklaw a Castle in Teviotdale the Governor agreed That unless the Castle was relieved by the Scots in forty days he would surrender it up When these Conditions was brought to the King and then to the Governor some were of Opinion that the Castle should be surrendred in regard it was not of That Consequence as for the sake thereof to hazard the strength of the Kingdom a second time which had been so sorely shalâ—en and weakned in the late Fight This Dejection of spirit proceeded not so much from Fear of the Enemy as from the Perfidiousness of the Governor who gaped for the Kingdom He on the other side to avert all Suspicion from himself in high confident Words affirmed That this Cow-heartedness and Confession of Publick Fear would more encourage the Enemy than the loss of a Battel And if any one thought That the English would be contented with the taking in of One Castle they were very much mistaken for as Fire is more encreased by a light Aspersion of Water so the desire of the English upon Surrender of some Places would not be extinguished but rather inflamed to the Taking of more so that What was given up at First would be but a Step to a further Progress But says he if all of you refuse to march out for the relief of the Castle I my self will go alone for as long as I live and am in health I will never suffer such a Mark of Disgrace to be branded on the Scotish Name Upon this stout Speech of the Governors the rest either extinguishing or dissembling their Suspicion cryed out That they would follow Hâ—m But Fortune decided the Controversy and blew off that danger For Percy was called back to the Civil War in England and so the Siege was raised without Blows Whilst these things were acted abroad against the Enemie matters stood less prosperously at home For shortly after the Death of Archibald Douglas the Year before there immediately followed the Decease of the Queen Annabella and of Walter Trayle Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews insomuch that all mens minds did presage a great Mutation of Affairs For the splendour of
were fit for such or such Promotions Which Course if succeeding Kings had followed certainly we had never fallen into these times wherein the People cannot endure the Vices of the Priests nor the Priests the Remedy of those Vices Neither was the King ignorant that the Church was incumber'd with those great mischiefs under which it then labour'd by reason of the Immoderate Opulency thereof and therefore he did not approve the Prodigality of Former Kings in exhausting their Treasury to inrich Monasteries so that he often said That though David was otherwise the Best of Kings yet his profuse Piety so praised by many was prejudicial to the Kingdom yet notwithstanding He himself as if he had been carry'd away by the Rapid Torrent of Evil Custom could not withhold his hand from building a Monastery for the Carthusians near Perth nor from endowing it with large Revenues One thing in him was very admirable that amidst the greatest Cares for the high Affairs of the Publick he thought the most inferior and private Matters not unworthy of his Diligence provided some benefit came to the Publick by them For whereas Scotland had been exercised with continual Wars after the death of Alexander the Third for almost 150 years wherein her Cities had been so often spoil'd and burnt and her Youth generally made Soldiers so that other Trades were much neglected he invited Tradesmen of all sorts to come out of Flanders proposing great Rewards and Immunities to them by which means he filled his Cities almost empty before in regard the Nobility did usually keep themselves in the Country with this sort of Artificers neither did he only restore the appearance of ancient Populousness to the Towns hereby but also ingag'd a great number of Idlers to fall to honest Labour and hereby it came to pass that what was with small cost made at home need not with far greater be fetch 't from abroad Yet whiles he was thus strengthning all the weak parts of his Kingdom by proper Remedies he ran into the great dislike and offence of his Subjects especially for Two Reasons The one seem'd light in appearance yet ' was That which is the beginning of almost all Calamity to a People For when Peace was universally setled Idleness Luxury and Lust to the destruction first of ones self then of others followed thereupon Hence arose sumptuous Feastings Drinking Caresses by day and night personated Masks Delight in strange Apparel Stateliness of Houses not for necessary Use but to please the Eye A corruption of Manners falsely called Neatness and in all things a general neglect of the Country Customs so that nothing forsooth was accounted handsom or comely enough but that which was New-fangled and Strange The Commonalty did willingly cast off the fault of these things from themselves and laid it on the English Courtiers who followed the King and yet they did not inveigh against such wanton and pleasurable Courses more bitterly in their Words than they studiously practis'd them in their Lives But the King obviated this Mischief as much as he could both by good Laws and also by his own good Example for he kept himself in his Apparel and Frugality within the rate of the Richer sort of private Men and if he saw any thing of Immoderation in any part of a Man's Life he shew'd by his Countenance and sometimes by his Words that 't was displeasing to him By this means the course of increasing Luxury was somewhat restrain'd rather than the new Intemperance extinguisht and the old Parsimony reduc'd His other Fault was bruited abroad by his Enemies and afterwards broke forth into a Publick Mischief Robert the King's Uncle and Murdo his Cosin-German who had the Regency of the Kingdom for many Years seeing they themselves aspir'd to the Throne and yet knew not how to remove Iames out of the way they did what was next to it i. e. Engage the Affections of Men so to them that the better sort might have no extraordinary miss of a King nor any ardent Desires after him so that they us'd such great Moderation in the management of Affairs that their Government seem'd to many not only tolerable but very desireable if Mâ—rdo's Son had carried it with a semblable Popularity and Moderation For they so engaged the Nobles to them by their Liberality and Munificence that some injoyed the Lands belonging to the King by Connivence To others they gave them and in favour of some particular Men they Cancell'd Proceedings and Judgments in Law and restor'd some who had been banish'd and amongst them one Eminent and Potent Person George Dunbar Earl of Merch who during his Exile had done much mischief to his Country and by this means they hop'd so to ingage the Nobility that they would never so much as think of calling home the King and then if Iames Dy'd without Issue the Kingdom would come to them without any Competitor but if he should chance to return from his Banishment yet their Faction would be so powerful that if the King bore them a Grudge yet they were able to defend themselves by force against him but when the King did actually return the old Favour and Respect born to the Uncle seem'd to be quite extinguish'd by the new Injury and Flagitiousness of Murdo so that it plainly appear'd that nothing was more popular than Iustice. And therefore the People were not only consenting but also contributed their assistance to the Execution of Murdo the Father and his Two Sons and to the Banishment of of a 3d. So that the King's Revenue was Augmented by the Confiscation of their Estates and also by the Accessâ—on of the Estates of Iohn Earl of Buchan who Dyed Childless in France and of Alexder Earl of Merch who was also Childless and a Bastard who Dy'd at home concerning whom I shall speak a few Words by way of Digression This Alexander was the Son of Alexander Son to King Robert In his Youth by the ill Advice of some bad Men he turn'd to be a Commander amongst Thâ—eves but when he came to â—an's Estate he was so Reform'd that he seem'd plainly to be quite another Man so that his Vices gradually decreasing by the benefit of wholsom Counsel he so manag'd things both at home and abroad that he left a Memory behind him precious to Posterity For at home he quell'd the Insurrectioâ— of the Islanders at Harlaw making great Slaughter of them And so he extinguisht a dangerous War in the very Rise and Bud and thô he had great Wealth well gotten and had bought 〈◊〉 stately Sâ—â—ts insomuch that he much exceeded his Neighbourâ— yet he addicted not himself to Idleness or Pleasure but went with â— good Party of his Country-men into Flanders where he follow'â— Charles D. of Burgundy against the Luick-landers in which War he got both Estate and Honour and besides he Married richly in Holland and Island of the Batavians but the Hollanders not being able
were pluckt up by the roots and new Foundations of Amity laid and thus they by joynt Counsel again undertake the Management of the Kingdom After this Concord an Assembly of the Estates was held at Edinburgh Thither came not a Few Persons as is usual but even whole Clans and Tenantrys as if they had remov'd their Habitations to complain of the Wrongs they had sustain'd and indeed the Sight of such a miserable Company could not be entertain'd without deep Affliction of Spirit every one making his woful moan according to his Circumstance that Robbers had despoiled Fathers of their Children Children of their Fathers Widows of their Husbands and all in general of their Estates Whereupon after Commiseration of the Sufferers The Envy as is usual and Reflection was carry'd to and fix'd upon the Captains of those Thieves whose Offences were so impudent that they could in no wise be suffer'd and their Faction was so far diffus'd that no man was able to defend his Life or Fortune unless he were of their Party yea their Power was so great that the Authority of the Magistrate could afford little help to the poorer and weaker Sort against their Violence and Force Whereupon the Wiser sort of Counsellors were of Opinion That seeing their Power was insuperable by plain Force 't was best to undermine it by degrees They all knew well enough that the Earl of Douglas was the Fountain of all those Calamities yet no Man durst name him publickly whereupon the Regent dissembling his Anger for the present persuaded the whole Assembly That it was more adviseable for them to cajole Douglas by Flatteries than to irritate him by Suspicions for he was of so great Power that he alone if he remain'd refractary was able to hinder the Execution of the Decrees of All the Estates but if he joyn'd himself with the Assembly then he might easily heal the present Mischiefs Semblable to this Advice a Decree was made that Letters of Complement in the Name of the Estates should be sent to him to put him in Mind of the Place which he held and of the great and Illustrious Merits of his Ancestors for the Advantage of their Country and withal to desire him to come to the Publick Assembly of the Estates which could not be well Celebrated without the presence of him and his Friends If he had any Complaint to make in the Assembly they would give him all the Satisfaction they were able to do and if he or his Friends had done any thing prejudicial to the Publick in respect to his Noble Family which had so often well deserv'd of their Country they were ready to remit many things upon the account of his Age of the Time of himself and the great Hopes conceiv'd of him And therefore they desired he would come and undertake what part of the Publick Government he pleas'd for seeing Scotland had often been deliver'd from great Dangers by the Arms of the Douglas's they hop'd that by his Presence he would now strengthen and relieve his Country which labour'd under Intestine Evils The Young Man who by his Age and Disposition was desirous of Glory was taken with the Bait and his Friends also persuaded him for they were all blinded by their particular Hopes so that their Minds were turn'd from all Apprehension of Danger to the sole Consideration of their particular Advantages When the Chancellor heard that he was on his Journey he went out several Miles to meet him and gave him a Friendly Invitation to his Castle which was near the Road it was called Creighton where he was Magnificently entertain'd for the space of Two Days in which time the Chancellor shew'd him all imaginable Respect that he might the more easily intrap the unwary Young Man For to shew that his Mind was no way alienated from him he began in a familiar manner to persuade him to be mindful of the Kings Dignity and of his own Duty that he should own him for his Leidge Lord whom his Birth the Laws of the Country and the Decree of the Estates had advanc'd to be King that he should transmit the great Estate which his Ancestors had got by their Blood and Valour to his Posterity in like manner as he had receiv'd it that so the Name of the Douglasses which was Illustrious for their Loyalty and Atchievements might be freed from the foul Blot of Treason yea and from all Suspicion of the same that he and his Tenants should forbear oppressing the poor Commons that he should put all Robbers out of his Train and for the future he should so addict himself to the maintenance of Justice that if he had offended heretofore it might be thought attributable to the ill Counsel of Bad Men and not to the Wickednese of his own Nature for in that tender and infirm Age his Repentance would pass for Innocence By these and the like Speeches he persuaded the young Man that he was his entire Friend and so drew him on to Edinburgh with David his Brother who was privy to all his Projects and Designs But his Followers smelt out some suspicion of Deceit by reason of the frequent Messages that past betwixt Alexander and the Regent for almost every Moment Posts ran betwixt them and besides the Chancellors Speech seem'd to some more glozing and kind than was usual for one of his Place and Dignity His Train did secretly mutter this and some freely told him That if he were resolv'd to go on yet he should send back David his Brother and according to his Fathers advice to him on his Death Bed not give up his whole Family to one stroke of Fortune But the improvident Youth was Angry with his Friends that had thus advis'd him and caus'd a Word to be given forth to all his Followers to surcease all such private Whisperings And to his Friends he made Answer That he knew well enough that 't was the common Plague of great Families to be troubled with Men who loved not to be quiet and who made a gain of the Dangers and Miseries of their Patrons And that such Men because in time of Peace they were bound up by Laws were the Authors and Advisers to Sedition that so they might Fish the better in troubled Waters but for his part he had rather cast himself on the known Prudence of the Regent and Chancellor than give Ear to the Temerity and Madness of Seditious Persons Having spoken these Words to cut off any occasion of further advice in the Case he set Spurs to his Horse and with his Brother and a few more of his Confidents hastned to the Castle with more speed than at the rate of an ordinary March and so Fate drawing him on he precipitated himself into the Snares of his Enemies In that very Moment of time the Regent came in too for so it was agreed that the whole weight of so great Envy might not lye on one Mans Shoulders only Douglas was kindly
give him a Legal Account of 〈◊〉 Administration of their former Offices His Design herein 〈…〉 if they came to the Court he might either destroy them or 〈◊〉 bring them under by the power of his Faction but if they refused to come then to declare them publick Enemies and so having the Authority of the Kings Name as a pretence for his Power to despoil and out them of all their Estates Hereupon they were summoned to appear but return'd Answer by Letters That they had never any thing more prevalent and superior in their Thoughts than the Good of the King and Kingdom and that they had so managed their Offices that they desired nothing more than to give up a full Account provided it were before equal Judges but for the present they desir'd to be excus'd in regard they perceiv'd that the Minds of those who were to be their Judges were preposses'd in Favour and by the Largesses of their Enemies and besides all Passages were beset with Armed Men not that they shunn'd a Legal Hearing but only withdrew from the Violence of their Mortal Enemies at the present and reserv'd their Lives for better Times till the Commanders of Thieves being driven from the Kings Presence as they had often done in doubtful times before they might then justify and asseâ—t their Innocency to the King and all Good Men. When this Answer was receiv'd an Assembly was Indicted to be held at Sterlin the Fourth day of November wherein Douglas so carry'd the Matter that they were declared Publick Enemies and their Goods Confiscate And then he sends out Iohn Froster of Gorstorphin his Confident with Forces to spoil their Country and bring their Goods into the Kings Exchequer He took in their Castles by Surrender part of them he demolisht and part he put new Garisons into and thus making a vast spoil without any resistance he carried off a great Booty The Douglassians had scarce retired before Creighton had gathered an Army of his Friends and Vassals sooner than Men thought and with them he ran over the Lands of the Foresters and of the Douglasses even as far as Corstorphin Sâ—rabrock Abercorn and Blackness he burnt their Houses spoil'd their Corn and brought away as much Prey as he was able and amongst the rest a stately Breed of Mares and thus he did his Enemy much more Mischief than he receiv'd Douglas knowing that Creighton had done this by the assistance of Others rather than his own Force turns his Anger upon his Friends who he was inform'd had sent him Aid privately for few durst do it openly The Chief of them were Iames Kennedy Archbishop of St. Andrews George Earl of Angus Iohn Earl of Morton Both the later of Douglas's his own Family but One Born of the King's Aunt the Mother of Iames Kennedy the Other had Marry'd the King's Sister These Persons did always prefer the Publick Safety and their Duty for the Conservation thereof before the private Respect to their own Family But Kennedy exceeded the rest in Age Counsel and consequently in Authority and therefore his Wrath was principally incensed against him Whereupon the Earl of Craford and Alexander Ogilby gather'd a reasonable Army together and spoil'd his Lands in Fife and following the Prey rather than the Cause they plunder'd the Neighbor Farms also with a great devastation and then without any Opposition return'd into Angus laden with Spoil In this case Kennedy betook himself to his proper Church-Arms of Defence and in regard Craford avoided the Decision of these Disputes by Law he prosecuted him with Ecclesiastical Censures which when he despis'd according to his wonted Contumacy a little while after he was justly punish'd for his contempt of all Divine and Human Laws For the same Year wherein these things were acted the Colledge of the Benedictins at Aberbrothock in regard Monks might not intermeddle to judge in Civil Causes had made Alexander Lindsy Eldest Son of the Earl of Craford their Chief Judge in Civils or as they call him Sheriff or Bayliff He with his huge Train of Followers became burdensome to the Monast'ry and besides he carried himself as their Master rather than their Servant so that they dispossest him of his Offices and put Alexander Ogilby in his Place Lindsy lookt upon This as a Wrong to him in his Opinion so that each of them gather'd together what Force they could as if a War had been denounc'd between them when Both Armies stood in a readiness to Fight the Earl of Craford having notice of it made all the haste he could and rode in betwixt Them Both thinking that the sole Authority of his Name had been Armour of proof to him and whilst he was hindring his Son from ingaging and calling out Ogilby to a Conference a Soldier darted a Spear into his Mouth it was not known Who he was nor What he aim'd at and struck him down dead from his Horse His Death was as an Alarm to Both Armies and after a sharp Conflict many being wounded on Both sides the Victory fell to the Lindsys They say the Cause thereof was that whilst Both Armies stood with their Spears upright representing the fashion of a Wood a certain Man cry'd out Why do you bring those Goads with you as if you had to do with Oxen Pray cast them away and let us fight it out with our Swords hand to hand by true Valour as becomes Men Upon which Words they all cast away their Pikes on both sides except 100 Clydesdale Men whom Douglas had sent in to Aid the Lindsyst These held the Tops or Points of their Pikes in their Hands and drew the rest of them behind their Backs but when they came to Handy-blows then they held them out as a thick Fence before them and their Enemies being terrified with the sudden Spectacle had their Ranks broken thereby The Conquering side lost 100 the Conquer'd 500 and amongst them some Men of Note Alexander Ogilby was taken prisoner and Dyed a few Days after either of his Wounds or for Grief Gordon Earl of Huntly was put upon a Horse by a Friend of his own and so escap'd The Slaughter had been much greater if the Night had not cover'd the Flyers away for the Battel began a few hours before Night on the 9 th of the Calends of February The Lindsys manag'd their Victory with great Cruelty they pillaged and demolisht Houses and utterly spoil'd the Country The War was as hotly carried on between the Factions in other Parts Douglas had besieg'd William Creighton some Months in the Castle of Edinburgh and to make a more close Siege he remov'd the Assembly of the Estates which was summoned to be held on the Ides of Iuly and was already begun at Perth to Edinburgh when the Siege had lasted 9 Months both the Besiegers and the Besieged grew equally weary and so a Surrender was made on these Conditions That William should be
Indemnify'd for whatsoever he had done against the King and He and His should march safely off Thus in every Dispute he who is most powerful would seem to be most innocent And not long after Creighton was received into the King's Favour and was made Chancellor again by the general Consent of all but he refrain'd the Court and all Publick Business as much as ever his Office would suffer him to do Douglas having thus rather terrified than overthrown Creighton turn'd the rest of his fury upon the Levingstons But before I come to that Part of my History I will touch upon the Slaughter of some of these Noble Persons for 't would be infinite to name the Deaths of all who were put to Death in those Days Iames Stuart a Noble Knight was slain by Alexander Lisle and Robert Boyd at Kirk-Patrick about Two Miles from Dunbarton neither was their Cruelty satisfy'd with his Death but they endeavour'd to get his Wife also who was then great with Child and almost ready to lye down into their Power In order whereto they sent a Priest to her as in great hast to tell her That all the Roads were full of Horse and Foot and that there was no Way for her to escape the present Danger but to go a Shipboard and fly to Robert Boyd at Dunbarton who had solemnly promis'd to return her safe home The credulous Woman who did not know that Robert was present at the perpetration of the Murder being carried from Cardros into the Castle perceiving that She was circumvented by the Fraud of her Enemies being overcome by the Greatness of her Grief Fear and Indignation brought forth an Abortive Birth which with the Mother Dyed a few hours after About the same time Patrick Hepburn Earl of Hales kept the Castle of Dunbar and had with him Ioan the Wife of Iames the I. who in those tumultuous times had fled thither for refuge Archibald Dunbar thinking this to be a just Cause for a Quarrel set upon Hepburn's Castle in the Night kill'd the Garison Soldiers on the First Onset and took it yet in a few Hours for fear he gave it up to the Earl of Douglas upon condition That He and His should march safely off Not long after Queen Ioan Dyed leaving these Children by her later Husband Iohn Earl of Athole Iames Earl of Buchan and Andrew afterwards Bishop of Murray After She was Dead Hepburn deliver'd up the Castle of Dunbar un-Garison'd and empty to the King In Angus Alexander Earl of Craford put Iohn Lyons to death in the Market-place at Dundee because he had been rais'd up to great Wealth and Honour even to a Match in the Royal Family by his Father yet he prov'd ungrateful and forgot the Courtesies he had received Amidst these Discords the Men of Annandale did vex the adjoyning Countries with all sorts of Calamities The Cause of all these Mischiefs was cast upon the Earl of Douglas who yet did all he could to conceal these Facts of his Clans for he openly Studied nothing more than to afflict the Men of different Parties in regard he was grown to that height of Power that 't was a Capital Offence to question any of his Doings He caus'd Iames Stuart the King's Uncle to fly the Land because he spoke something freely concerning the State of the Kingdom but his Ship being taken by the Flemings he liv'd not long after Now he thought it was high time to attempt the Levingstons whereupon he caus'd Alexander the Head of the Family and his Son Iames and also Robert the King's Treasurer and David to be summon'd to an Assembly at Edinburgh and of his Friends Robert Bruce Iames and Robert Dundasses of these Alexander and the Two Dundasses were sent back to prison to Dunbarton the rest were put to Death of what Crime they were guilty meriting so great a Punishment the Historians of those Times do not mention neither will I interpose my own Conjectures in a business so remote from our Memory only I will relate what I have heard That Iames Levingston when he came to the place of Execution complain'd heavily and expresly of the Inconstancy of Fortune That his Father who was Honour'd with a Power next to the Kings did yet freely give up the invidious Title of Regent and went to his own Estate far from Court and out of his Enemies sight whose Cruelty waâ— never satiated with his Miseries and therefore he was forc'd to take Arms to preserve his Life which he again laid down at the Kings Command if there were any fault in that he had long ago obtain'd his Pardon and since that time he had liv'd remote and free from all suspicion of any Crime of which this was an evident Token That the Nobility thought them innocent and did solicitously deprecate their Punishments and yet notwithstanding the severe Cruelty of their Enemies prevailed more than the former Demerits and good Offices of their Family or than the Kings Pardon obtain'd or than the interceding Supplications of the Nobility And therefore he intreated all who were there present to look upon those lofty Titles of Empire and Dominion to be nothing else but the Glosing Complements of Fortune who then intended to do most Mischief and that they were rather flowry Embelishments for ones Funeral than Safeguards to a Man's Life especially since Bad men can always do more to destroy the Good than the Consent of the Good can do to save them And having thus spoken to the great grief of all the Spectators he submitted his Neck to the Executioner Amidst these Combustions Creighton was sent into France partly to renew the Ancient League and partly to obtain from thence a Royal Bride Douglas took his Absence very well tho' in an Honourable Employment because tho' he was a prudent and potent person yet out of the Relicks of their former discords he was not over-fond of him In this troublesome state of the Kingdom the same Disease which vext others did also infect the Ecclesiastical Order Iames Cameron Bishop of Glasco had himself committed many acts of Cruelty and Avarice upon the Husbandmen of his Diocess which was very large and he had also given Encouragement to Those who were in power to do the like that so when the Owners were unjustly condemn'd their Estates might be Confiscated to him so that he was believ'd to be the Author or the Favourer of all the Mischiefs which were acted abroad 'T is reported that the Man came to an End worthy of his wicked Life The Day before the Nativity of Christ as he was asleep in a Farm of his own about 7 Miles from Glasco he seem'd to hear a loud Voice calling him to the Tribunal of Christ to plead his Cause That sudden Fright wakened him out of his Sleep he call'd up his Servants to bring a Candle and sit down by him he took a Book in his hand and began to read but presently the
with his Army if he did they threatned to Excommunicate him with Bell Book and Candle For the Pope said they is wholly intent upon a War against the Common Enemy of Christendom and so would have the differences compos'd all over Europe that they might be free for that War and that they were sent before to give him Notice hereof but there was a more Solemn Embassy which would shortly arrive and which they believ'd was already come as far as France to decide the Civil Discords of England and to give satisfaction to the Scots for the Wrongs they had sustain'd The King did not imagine any Fraud in the Case and desiring nothing more than an Honourable Peace in regard things at home were not quite setled to his Mind Obey'd the Legate and Disbanded his Army He had scarce dismist it but he was advis'd from England that this suppos'd Embassador was a Cheat so that he gather'd again some Forces and because he could not joyn the Duke of York that he might keep off some of the King's Force from him and also revenge his own Wrongs he march'd directly to Roxborough the Town he took and destroy'd it at his first coming but whilst he was laying Siege to the Castle Embassadors came from York and his Associats informing him that their King was overcome and the War ended in England They gave him Thanks for his Good-Will and his Desire to assist them in the maintenance of their Lives and Honours and that they would in time be mindful to requite the Courtesie but at present they desir'd him to raise the Siege and draw off from the Castle and likewise to forbear any other Act of Hostility against England For otherwise they should be laden with great Envy amongst the People who could hardly be contain'd or satisfy'd but that an Army must presently march against the Scots Iames congratulated their Victory but ask'd the Embassadors Whether the Duke of York and his Allies had given them nothing in Command concerning restoring the Places promis'd He Answer'd Nothing Then said he before your last Embassy came to me I was determin'd to pull down that Castle which is built upon my Land neither since that time am I so much obliged by the Courtesies of that Faction as to give over an Enterprize which is begun and almost finisht As for the Threatnings made either by the People or by Them let them look to it goe you and tell them that I will not be remov'd hence by Words but Blows Thus the Embassadors were dismist without their Errand and whilst he did press upon the Besieg'd by all the hardships of War Donald the Islander came into his Camp with a great Band of his Country-men He to obtain the easier Pardon for his past Offences and fully to Atone and Reconcile the King promis'd him that if he would march forward into the Enemies Countries as long as he was there he would march a Mile before his Army and endure the sharpest and first of all Brunts and Hazards But he was Commanded to be near the King yet some of his Troops was sent out to prey upon the Country It happen'd also that at the same time Alexander Gordon Earl of Huntly brought in new Forces to the King This Accession of Strength made the King more resolute to continue the Siege tho' a strong Defence was made by Those within So that whereas before it was a Blockade only a well-laid and close Siege was now made when he had Soldiers enough some presently succeeded in the Places of others insomuch that the Garison Soldiers of whom many were Slain many Wounded and unfit for Service the rest tired out with continual Toil and Labour were not so eager to run into the Places of most Danger as before and to strike the more Terror into them the King gave Command to batter part of the Wall with Iron pieces of Ordnance which were then much us'd and were very terrible And whilst the King was busie about one of them to press on the work the Fire catcht within it and with its force drove out a wooden Wedg or Plug which immediately fell'd the King to the Earth and slew him without hurting any body else Those Courtiers who stood next him tho' they were terrify'd at this sudden Accident yet they cover'd his Body left if his Death were divulg'd the Common Soldiers should run away The Queen who that very Day came to the Camp did not give up her Mind to Womanish Lamentations bur call'd the Nobles together and exhorted them to be of good Courage and that so many valiant Men should not be so dismayed at the Loss of One as counting it dishonourable to desert a Business that was almost ended She told them She her Self would speedily bring them another King in the place of him that was slain in the mean time they should press with might and main upon the Enemy lest he might grow more resolute upon News of their Generals Death and so imagin that all the Courage of so many valiant Men was extinguisht in in the Fate of one Person only The Officers were asham'd to be exceeded in Courage by a Woman Whereupon they assaulted the Castle with such Violence that neither Party was sensible that the King was lost In the mean time Iames the King's Son being about 7 Years of Age was brought into the Camp and Saluted King And 't was not long after before the English being tired out with Watching and continued Service surrendred up the Castle to the new King upon Condition to march away with Bag and Baggage The Castle that it might be the Occasion of no new War was levell'd to the Ground This End had Iames the 2d in the Year of Christ 1460. a few Days before the Autumnal Equinox in the 29 th Year of his Age and the 23d of his Reign he had been exercis'd always even from his Youth with Domestick or Foreign Wars he bore Both Estates of Life the Prosperous and Adverse with great Moderation of Mind he shew'd such Valour against his Enemies and such Clemency to those that submitted themselves that All Estates were much afflicted for his Loss and his Death was the more lamented because 't was sudden and that in the Flower of of his Youth too after he had escap'd so many Dangers and when the Expectation of his Virtues was at the highest And he was the more miss'd because his Son was yet immature for the Government whilst Men consider'd what Miseries they had suffer'd for the last 20 Years the Ashes of which Fire were hardly yet rak'd up so that from a reflective Remembrance of what was Past they seemed to Divine the Estate of future Things The Twelfth BOOK James III. The Hundred and Fourth King JAMES II. as I have related being slain in his Camp to prevent all Controversy concerning the Right of Succession which had happen'd at other times his Son Iames a Child
shall not conceal what I have heard some Good Men and not Ignorant of the History of those Times affirm They say That the Amnesty given to the Boyds was thus Worded in the Records That the King forgave them all the Prejudice and Rancour of Mind as they then Phras'd it which he might have conceiv'd against them which they who were willing to Gratifie the King did Interpret according to the Distinction then Celebrated amongst Divines concerning the Remission of the Fault and of the Punishment after this manner That though the King forgave them his Personal Resentment yet they were not exempted from the Punishment of the Law Thomas Boyd when he heard of the Calamity of his Family though some put him in hopes of Pardon in a time of publick Rejoycing yet durst not come ashore but being inform'd by his Wife who upon the first News of the approach of the Danish Fleet made immediately to him that there was no Hopes of Re-admission to the Kings Favour his Enemies having stopt all Passages thereunto sail'd back into Denmark whence he came and so Travelled through Germany into France where he in vain indeavour'd to obtain the Mediation of Lewis the Eleventh who then had turn'd the Legitimate Empire of the French into a Tyranny for his Reconciliation and thereupon he went to Charles of Burgundy where he carry'd himself Valiantly and did him much Faithful Service in the Wars for which he was well rewarded by him with Honours and Largesses There he lived a Private yet Honourable Life and his Wife bore him a Son called Iames and a Daughter called Grekin of which in their place The Marriage of Iames the Third and Queen Margarite was Celebrated with a great Concourse of the Nobility on the Tenth Day of Iuly in the Year of our Lord 1470. There was born out of that Marriage Three Years after on Saint Patricks Day in March Iames who Succeeded his Father in the Kingdom In the interim the King not yet satisfi'd with the Misery of the Boyds writes over into Flanders to recal his Sister home but knowing that she bore so great a Love to her Husband that she would hardly be induc'd to part from him he caus'd others to write to her giving her some Hopes that the Kings Anger might in time be appeas'd towards her Husband and that no doubt was to be made but that she her self might prevail much with her Brother for his Relief but that she must come to plead for him in Presence and not commit his Apology to others upon these Hopes she return'd and was no sooner arriv'd in Scotland but the King transacts with her about a Divorce and thereupon he affixt publick Libels and Citations attested by many Witnesses at Kilmarnock which was the Chief House of the Boyds before their Fall wherein Thomas was Commanded to appear in Sixty Days though all Men knew that though the publick Faith had been given him yet he would hardly have return'd he not appearing at the Day the former Marriage was pronounc'd Null and a Divorce made though the Husband were absent and unheard and so Mary the Kings Sister was compell'd against her Will to Marry Iames Hamilton a Man rais'd but a little before and much inferiour to her former Husband in Estate and Dignity yet she bore him a Son named Iames and a Daughter called Margarite The Children she had by her former Husband were also recall'd by the King And he himself lived not long after He died at Antwerp and having no Kinsmen there to claim his Estate Charles of Burgundy caus'd a Magnificent Monument to be erected for him with the Mony which he had munificently bestow'd upon him in the Church of ...... wherein an Honourable Epitaph was inscribed Thus the Family of the Boyds which then was the most flourishing one in all Scotland within a few Years grew up and was cut down to the great Document of Posterity What slippery things the Favours of young Kings are Their Ruin did not only amaze their Friends but it also kept off and damp'd their very Enemies so that none would adventure to Aspire to that Dignity from whence they were cast down partly upon the account of the Instability of Human Affairs and partly in Consideration of the Kings sudden Repentance for bestowing of his Graces and Favours and his continu'd Perseverance in his Hatred when once began This is certain that they which were erected to great Hopes of Preferment by this change of Publick Affairs found themselves much mistaken For the King who before that time had used himself to Domestick Ease and seldom appear'd in Publick being now also newly Married spent a great part of his Time in the Pleasures of his Palace he excluded the Nobility and was wholly govern'd by a few of his Servants for being of an eager and fervid Disposition he could not well bear the being contradicted in his Opinion so that he avoided the Liberty which Nobles would take in advising him and had only those about him who would not reprehend but rather approve of what he did that so by avoiding any occasion of Offence by their Flattery they might curry his Favour Amidst these Manners of the Court the Ecclesiastical State was not much better for though the Ministers of the Church had been given for many years to Luxury and Avarice yet there was still some shadow of ancient Gravity remaining so that some encouragement was given to Learning and Advantage to such as were good Proficients therein For the Bishops were chosen by the Colleges of Canons and the Abbats by their respective Sodalities but then the Parasite Courtiers persuaded the King for it was they only who had his Heart and Ear that it would be very gainful to him and those with whom he was to deal were not able to hinder his Design if he recalled and assumed the Designation of such Offices to himself and not suffer a Matter of so great Advantage to rest in the Hands of such a dronish Generation of People and unfit for any publick Business as Ecclesiasticks were The King was easily persuaded thereunto in regard they alleg'd That by this means besides other Advantages he might have Opportunity to curb the Contumacious to oblige Neuters and to reward the well deserving but said they in our present Circumstances Promotions and Honours are in the Hands of the Dregs of the Vulgar who are as Parsimonious in case of publick Necessities as they are profuse in their private Pleasures but it was fit that in such Cases all Men should depend upon the King alone that so he might have the sole Power of Punishing Pardoning and Rewarding By these and the like Flattering Arguments they persuaded the King to their Opinion for his Mind was not yet confirm'd by Ripeness of Years besides 't was weaken'd by ill Custom and not fortifi'd against the Temptations of Money-Matters And moreover he was naturally Prone
by the Ears one with another which his Assembling the Chief of the Nobility at Edinburgh made more plainly to appear For he called Douglas to him into the Castle and told him that he had now an Eminent Opportunity to revenge himself for if the Leaders of the Faction were apprehended and put to Death the rest would be quiet but if he omitted this Opportunity which was so fairly put into his hands he could never expect the like again Douglas who knew that the Kings Mind was no more reconcil'd to himself than to others did craftily reason with him concerning so cruel and so ruinous a Design alleging that all Men would judge it to be a base and flagitious Act â—f he should hurry so many Noble Persons to Death without any Hearing or Tryal to whom he had pardon'd their former Misdoings and now they also rested secure in that they had the Publick Faith given them for their Safety For the fierce Minds of his Enemies would not be broken by the Death of a Few but rather if his Faith were once violated all Hopes of Concord would be cut off and if once Men despair of Pardon their Anger will be turn'd into Rage and from thence a greater Obstinacy and Contempt both of the Kings Authority and of their own Lives too will ensue But if you will hearken to my Counsel said he I will shâ—w you a Way whereby you may salve the Dignity of a King and yet revenge yourself too For I will gather my Friends and Clans together and so openly and in the day time I will lay hold upon them and then you may try them where you will and inflict what Punishment you please upon them This Way will be more creditable and also much more safe than if you should set upon them secretly and by night for then 't would look as if they were murder'd by Thieves The King thought the Earl had been real in what he spake for he knew that he was able to perform what he had promised and therefore he gave him many Thanks and more Promises of great Rewards and so dismist him He presently acquainted the Nobility with their imminent Danger and advis'd them to withdraw themselves as he himself also did The King perceiving that his secret Projects were discover'd from that day forward would trust no Body but after he had staid a while in the Castle of Edinburgh he sailed over into the Countries beyond the Forth for they as yet remain'd firm in their Obedience to him and there levy'd a considerable Force And the Nobles who before had sought his Amendment not his Destruction now seeing all Hopes of any Agreement or Concord were cut off managed all their Counsels for his utter Overthrow and Ruin Only there was one difficulty which troubled them and That was Who should be their General that after the King was subdued might be Regent or Vice-King who might be acceptable to the People and on the account of the Honour of his Family would load the Faction with as little Envy as might be after many Consultations in the case at last they pitcht upon the King's Son He was entised thereunto by the Supervisors and Tutors of his Childhood and he did it out of this Fear that if he refus'd the Government and Command would pass over to the English the perpetual Enemies of their Family The King by this time had past over the Forth and pitcht his Tents by the Castle of Blackenes and his Sons Army was not far off ready for the Encounter when loe the matter was compos'd by the Intervention of the Earl of Athole the Kings Uncle and Athole himself was given up as an Hostage for the Peace to Adam Hepburn Earl of Bothwel with whom he remain'd till the Kings Death But Suspicions increasing on Both sides the Concord lasted not long however intercourse of Messengers passed between them and at last the Nobility gave this Answer That seeing the King did act nothing sincerely therefore a certain War was better than a treacherous Peace there was but one Medium left upon which they could agree And that was that the King should resign the Government and his Son be set up in his Place and if he would not assent to This 't was in vain for him to give himself the Trouble of any more Messages or Disputes The King communicated this Answer to his Embassadors which he sent to the French and to the English making it his Desire to them that they would assist him against the Fury of a Few of his Rebellious Subjects by their Authority and if need were by some Auxiliary Forces that so they might be reduc'd to their Obedience for they ought to look upon it as a Common Fortune and that the Contagion by this Example would quickly creep to the Neighbour-Nations There were also Embassadors sent to Eugenius the Eighth Pope of Rome to desire him that out of his Fatherly Affection to the Scotish Name he would send a Legat into Scotland with full Power by Ecclesiastical Censures to compel his Rebellious Subjects to lay down Arms and obey their King The Pope writ to Adrian of Castell then his Legat in England a Man of great Learning and Prudence to do his endeavour for the composing the Scotish Affair but these Remedies were too late For the Nobles who were not ignorant What the King was a doing and knew that he was implacable toward them resolv'd to put it to a Battel before any more Forces came in to him And though they had the Kings Son with them both to countenance their Matters with the greater Grace amongst the Vulgar and also to shew that they were not Enemies to their Country but to their Misled King only yet lest the Hearts of the People might be weakned by the Approach of Foreign Ambassadors they were solicitous night and day how to decide it by a Battel But the Kings Fearfulness was an hindrance to their hasty Design who having levied a great Strength in the Northern Parts of the Kingdom resolved to keep himself within the Castle of Edinburgh till those Aids came to him But he was taken off from that Counsel and Advice though it seem'd the safest for him by the Fraud or at least the Simplicity of those about him for in regard of the frequent Washes and Firths which gave delay to those who were coming in to him they persuaded him to go to Sterlin the only Place of the Kingdom fit to receive Aids coming from all Parts thereof And there he might be as safe as he was in the Castle of Edinburgh seeing his Enemies were unprovided of all Materials requisite for the Storming of Castles and also he might have his Fleet which he had rigg'd out against all hazards to ride in some convenient Harbour near adjoining This Counsel seem'd both faithful and also safe if Iames Shaw Governor of the Castle being corrupted by the contrary Faction
as he lived and every Year he added one Link thereunto and tho this Practice might seem formidable to those that were the Causers of his Father's Death yet they had such Confidence either in the Gentleness of the King's Disposition or in their own Power that it occasioned no Insurrection at all Amidst this publick Jubilee and also the private Rejoycings of particular Persons about the seventh Year of the King's Reign Peter Warbeck came into Scotland But before I declare the Cause of his coming I must fetch things something further back Margaret the Sister of Edward the fourth King of England having married Charles Duke of Burgundy she endeavoured all the ways she could if not to overthrow yet at least to vex Henry the Seventh the Leader of the contrary Faction In order whereunto she raised up one Peter Warbeck as a Competitor for the Kingdom he was a Youth born of mean Parentage at Tornay a City of the Nervii but of such Beauty Ingenuity Stature of Body and Manliness of Countenance that he might easily be believed to have been descended of a Royal Stock And by reason of his Poverty he had travelled up and down in several Countries so that he was known but by very few of his own Relations and there he had learned several Languages and had hardened himself to all kind of bold and impudent Carriage when Margarite who was intent on all occasions to disturb the Peace of England had got this Youth she kept him a while privately by her till she had informed him with what Factions England laboured at that time what Friends and what Enemies she had there in a word she made him acquainted with the whole Genealogy of the Royal Progeny and what Happinesses or Misfortunes had attended each of them When things seemed thus to be somewhat ripe she was resolved to try Fortune and took private order that he should be sent in a decent Equipage first into Portugal then into Ireland there he had a great Concourse of People flock'd about him and was received with huge Applause as the Son of King Edward of England either because his own Disposition assisted also by Art was inclined to Dissimulation or because being there amongst wild Kerns he was soon likely to raise great Stirs and Tumults When a War brake forth suddenly betwixt the French and the English he was called for out of Ireland by Charles the Eighth and had great Promises made him so that coming to Paris he was there honourably received in the Garb and Equipage of a Prince and had a Guard appointed him yea the English Exiles who were numerous at that Court put him in a sure hope of the Kingdom But that Tumult being quieted upon Terms he departed privately out of the Court of France for fear lest he should have been delivered up and so retired to Flanders there he was highly caressed by Margaret as if it were the first time that ever she had seen him and was diligently shewed to all the Courtiers and several times in the hearing of many of them he was desired to relate the Story of all his Adventures Margarite as if this were the first time she had ever heard it did so accommodate her dissembled Affections in compliance with each part of his Discourse both when he related his Successes and also his Misfortunes that every body thought she believed what he had spoken to be certainly true After a day or two Peter was desired to go abroad in the habit of a Prince and had thirty Men to be his Guard wearing a white Rose which is the Badg of the York-Faction amongst the English and so was every where declared as the undoubted Heir of the Crown of England When these things were divulged first in Flanders afterward in England the Minds of Men were so stirred up that a great concourse of People flock'd in to him not only of those who lurked in Holes and Sanctuaries for fear of the Laws but even of some Noble-men whom their present State did not please or who desired Innovations But when a longer delay which Peter hoped would bring in more Force to him was likely to abate his present Strength if he were discovered to be a Counterfeit therefore he determined to try his Fortune in a Fight so that having gotten a pretty great Party together he landed some few of them in Kent to try the Affections of the Kentish-men but in vain All those who landed were taken so that he was forced to steer his course for Ireland and there also he met not with the entertainment he hoped for so that he sailed over into Scotland well knowing that Peace betwixt Scotland and England never used to continue very long He being admitted into the King's Presence made a lamentable complaint of the Ruin of the York-Family and what miserable Calamities he himself had suffered and therefore he earnestly besought him to vindicate Royal Blood from such contumely and shame The King bid him be of good chear and promised he should shortly find That he had not desired his help in his Distresses in vain A few days after a Council was called where Peter made a sad Story of his Misfortunes That he being born of a King the most Flourishing of his Time and that of the highest hopes too was left destitute by the untimely death of his Father and so was like to have fallen into the Tyrannical Hands of his Uncle Richard before he was sensible almost what Misery was That his Elder Brother was cruelly murdered by him but that he himself was stolen away by his Father's Friends so that now he durst not live no not a poor and precarious Life even in that Kingdom of which he was the lawful Heir That he had so miserably lived amongst Foreign Nations that he preferred the Condition of his deceased Brother before his own in regard he was snatch'd away from all further Calamity by a suddain and violent Death That he himself was reserved as the ridicule of Fortune and that his Sorrow had not that alleviation that he durst bewail his miserable State amongst Strangers to incline them to pity him for after he had begun openly to profess what he was Fortune had assaulted him with all her Darts and to his former Miseries had added a daily fear of Treachery for his crafty Enemy had sometimes tampered with those who entertained him to take away his Life and sometimes he had privily suborned his Subjects under the name of Friends to discover his secret Designs to corrupt his true Friends and to find out his secret ones and to calumniate his Stock and Pedigree by false Accusations amongst the Vulgar to reproach his Aunt Margaret and those English Nobles that owned him and yet notwithstanding that she being supported by a good Conscience against the revilings of Enemies and also out of compassion to her own Blood had supported him in his low Estate with her Assistance
affected Alterations yet trusting to the Strength of the Place and the Authority of the Kingly Name tho it were but a sorry Defence in those Circumstances they thought themselves secure from Force The adverse Party had a great meeting of the Nobles where they chose Three of their own Party to be Guardians of King and Kingdom Archibald Douglas Earl of Angus Iohn Stuart Earl of Lennox and Calen Cambel Earl of Argyle they made great haste in their business First they passed the Forth and caused Iames Beton a prudent Man to join with them who perceiving the Strength of the Party durst not resist From thence they went to Sterlin and conferr'd all publick Offices and Employments on the Men of their own Faction only and from thence they came to Edinburgh which they entred without Force for it was not fortified at all They cast up a small Trench against the Castle and besiedg'd it The Defendants had made no Provision for a Siege and therefore soon surrendred up both It and Themselves All but the King were sent away so that now the whole weight of the Government lay upon the Shoulders of those Three Associates who agreed among themselves That they would manage it by turns each of them attending four Months apiece on the King But this Conjunction was not hearty neither did it last long Douglas attended the first four Months who brought the King into the Archbishop of St. Andrews House and made use of all the Bishop's Houshold stuff and other Accommodations as if they had been his own for he had a little before revolted from their Faction and to engage the King to him the more he suffer'd him to wallow in all kind of Pleasure and yet he obtain'd not his End neither in regard the King 's Domesticks were corrupted by the adverse Faction headed by the Queen and Hamilton The first Grudges at Court brake forth upon the account of distributing Ecclesiastical Preferments for the Douglasses drew all to themselves George Creighton was translated to the Bishoprick of Dunkelden The Abby of Holy Rood in the Suburbs which was left by him Douglas gave to his Brother William who had now for 5 years forcibly held That of Coldingham about six Miles from Berwick after the Murder of Robert Blacketer the former Abbat For Robert's Cousin-german had the Abby bestowed on him by the Pope with the Consent of Iohn the Regent He had also commenced a Suit against Iohn Hume an Intimate of the Earl of Angus's and Husband to his Sister's Daughter about the whole ancient Estate of the Blacketers And therefore Patrick being unable to cope with the Douglasses suffer'd his Estate to be made a Prey to his Enemies and reserv'd himself for better times amongst his Mother's Kindred far from those Counties which were obnoxious to the Faction of the Douglasses They on the other side though they did not much value Patrick yet having the Supreme Power in their Hands and being unwilling to incur the Blot of invading other Mens Rights by mere Force made use of Friends to proffer him some kind of Amends and Satisfaction he shewing himself inclinable to an Agreement even tho he remitted part of his Right had thereupon a Pass and the publick Faith given him by Douglas to come to Edinburgh which he did only with a small Retinue and unarm'd and not far from the Gates of the City he was set upon by Iohn Hume who lay in Ambush for that purpose and slain As soon as the Noise of the Fact was spread over the City many mounted their Horses and pursued the Murderers some Miles in order to their apprehension but understanding that George Douglas Brother to the Earl was in their Company and many more of Douglas's Faction with the Kindred of Hume not knowing with what intent they came out whether to catch or to defend the Murderers they desisted from their Pursuit whereupon strange Reports were divulged abroad concerning the Douglasses As for Calen Cambel he had already withdrawn himself from the Triumvirate and the Earl of Lennox though he followed the King yet in regard the Douglasses drew all Offices of publick Advantage to themselves he gave many Testimonies of his Dislike and that his Mind was quite alienated from them But they being confident of their Power slighted the Reports and ill-will of others mean while the King though he were us'd more indulgently than was fit that so his infirm Spirit might be the longer in Subjection to them yet notwithstanding by little and little grew weary of their Government being also alienated from them by his Domesticks who laid to their charge Actions some true some false and interpreted the doubtful in the worst sense whereupon he held secret Cabals with such as he could trust concerning vindicating himself into his Freedom and Liberty Neither was he afraid to open the Secrets of his Heart to Iohn Earl of Lennox one of his Nobles for besides his other Virtues of Mind and Body he was an honest and fine-spoken Man and excellently compos'd to conciliate and win upon Men by a natural Sweetness of Manners and Deportment Him he made privy to his Designs and whilst they were consulting concerning the Time Place and Manner of it's Accomplishment Douglas was making many Expeditions against the Banditty but with no great Success at length about the end of Iuly he resolv'd to carry the King into Teviotdale as supposing that his presence would be advantageous by striking a Terror into the Licentious Thus an Assembly being held at Iedburgh the King call'd together all the Heads of the chief Families round about and commanded them to apprehend those Criminals every one within his own Precinct of which he then gave them a List They willingly and industriously obey'd this Command so that the Heads of the Thieves were many of them put to Death and Others were spared in hopes of Amendment Thus whilst the Minds of all were very merry and jocund they who had a design to free the King from the Pupillage of the Douglasses thought that a good opportunity to effect it because one Walter Scot living not far from Iedburgh had great Clanships in the Counties thereabouts The manner of the accomplishing their Project was thus laid Walter was to invite the King to his House and there he was to remain with his own good liking till greater Forces came in at the Noise of the thing But their Design seem'd to be discovered either by Chance or upon some private Intimation Whereupon the King was carried back to Mulross Yet Walter was not discouraged but proceeded on strait in his Journy to the King when he was but a little way off frightful News were brought to the Douglasses that Walter was at hand well-arm'd and a great Troop of arm'd Men accompanying him So that there was no doubt to be made but he being a factious Man and withal good at his Weapon did intend some Mischief insomuch that
on the Trial hereupon the Names of the Judges or Jury were according to Custom which I have elsewhere mentioned impannell'd and none of them were excepted against by the adverse Party yet by all their Votes he was acquitted From thence they marched to the Castle of Langham from thence they drove out the English and as they resolved to attempt other Forts they were call'd back by a sudden Message For News were brought them that a French Fleet was seen not far from the Promontory of St. Ebb wherein were one and twenty Ships The Regent imagining what the matter was that they were come to besiege the Castle of St. Andrews as had been agreed between them march'd joyfully home there he discoursed Leon Strozy Admiral of the French Fleet and they both agreed to lay close Siege to the Castle which they did with so much Celerity that many of the Garison-Souldiers which were abroad could not come in and many Country-men which had no hand in the Conspiracy but occasionally came into the Castle about their private Affairs could not get out They planted their Brass Guns upon the Towers of two Churches which stood near on both sides the Castle which did so annoy the whole Court within the Castle-Walls that the Defenders could hardly stir in or out And afterwards they brought bigger pieces of Ordnance and play'd upon part of the Wall which stood between two Towers which was soon batter'd down because the later Buildings were not at all compacted with the former and so it fell down with a mighty Noise Hereupon they within who before trusted to their Fortifications and were ready to expose themselves to stop any Breach now began to be afraid and calling together a Council of War because they fear'd the Cruelty of the Regent in revenging the Death of his Kinsman such Sentiments making deep Impressions on infirm Minds they surrendred the Castle and themselves to Leon Strozy only upon Quarter for Life Leon hereupon sent in his Men to pillage the Castle wherein was found besides a great Quantity of Provisions of all sorts all the Cardinal's Mony and Houshold-stuff and all the Wealth of the Garison-Souldiers and of many others also who had laid up their Goods there as in a place of Refuge there also they found the Regent's Son who was before given in Hostage by his Father to the Cardinal and when he was slain was detain'd there The Castle was demolish'd by Advice and Order of the Council and a few days after Leon set Sail with his Prisoners for France These things fell out in August 1547. About the same time News was brought that the English had prepared great Forces both by Land and Sea to invade Scotland and to demand the Performance of the Treaty which was made four Years before with the Regent concerning the Marriage of the Queen of Scotland to the King of England's Son This sudden Report mightily affected the Regent who was faint-hearted enough of himself for he had then no foreign Aid neither did he much confide in his own forces For the Papal Faction were offended at his Levity and the Friends of exil'd Lennox having been cruelly intreated by him retained the Seeds of their old Hatred against him yet upon his Proclamation there came in great numbers to Edinburgh from thence they march'd to the Mouth of the River Esk which runs through Lothian and there waited for the coming of the English In the mean time the Scotish Horse rode up towards the Enemy in their March and challenged them to fight by this means creating some trouble to them in their Passage But the English General who knew that the Scots were better than his own Men at such tumultuary Skirmishes had given Command that none of his Troops should march out to encounter them At last upon the Importunity of Grey Commander of the Horse he was persuaded to send out some Troops of Horse well-armed and of Curiasiers which should suddenly rush in upon them unprepared for Resistance The Scots being grown fearless of the Enemy but now astonish'd at the sudden Onset brake their Ranks and fled for their Lives and about 800 of them were either slain or taken of the English also who prest too eagerly on the pursuit several were taken Prisoners amongst which were some eminent Horse-Commanders From that day forward there was no memorable Action performed by the Scotish Horse The English had their Camp at the Town of Preston a little more than a Mile from Them From thence they might behold the number of the Scotish Army from the high Ground and perceiving them to be more than they thought they advised what course to take and resolved to send Letters to the Scots that so if just and equal Conditions might be agreed on the matter might be compos'd rather by Treaty than by Force The Contents of the Letters were They earnestly desired the Scots to remember that both Armies profess'd the Christian Religion to whom unless they did renounce their Profession nothing ought to be more dear than Peace and Tranquillity and nothing more to be abhorr'd than unjust Arms and War that the cause of the present War was not Covetousness Hatred or Envy but a Desire of perpetual Peace which could no ways so firmly coalesce as by a Marriage which had been already promised by the publick Decree and Consent of all the Estates and ratified by a League and that on such Conditions as were more advantageous to the Scots than the English not to reduce them into an Estate of Servitude but to a joint Society of Life and Participation and Communion of all their Fortunes which Marriage would be so much the more beneficial to the Scots than English because the Weaker might expect Advantage from the Stronger as being possess'd with a greater Fear lest he might be wrong'd by him And at the present in casting up accounts of things you are first to consider the Case that it is very necessary your Queen should marry that necessity was inevitable and that it was a difficult thing to moderate it and that the sole Power of chusing her an Husband was left to the Estates If they would chuse a Family upon the account of Dignity and publick Advantage whom could they pitch upon better than a Neighbour King born in the same Island ally'd in Blood instituted in the same Laws educated in the same Manners and Language and superior not in Power alone but in all external Ornaments and Accessions of Dignity And besides this Marriage would bring with it a perpetual Concord and an Oblivion of all old Grudges But if they had Thoughts to bring in a Stranger amonst them to undertake the Kingdom that differ'd from them in Language Laws and Customs they should consider how many Inconveniences lodg'd in the Belly of that Design which they might easily foresee by the Examples of other Nations and 't were better so to do than to learn it
parties every day six Miles round who burnt and destroy'd all within that Compass They attempted nothing considerable besides saving the fortifying the desolate Islands of Inch-Keith and Inch-Colm in the Bay of Forth and in the Bay of Tay they took the Castle Brockty and in their return by Land they took by Surrender the Castles of Fascastle and Hume which the Garisons out of Fear gave up and they raised Forts one at Lauder and another in the Ruins of Roxborough Castle Their sudden Departure gave some Relief to the Scots and a breathing-time for them to meet together to consult about the main chance The Regent presently after the Fight came with that part of the Nobles which were with him to the two Queens at Sterlin and to the Nobility attending there the Regent and his Brother were very sad and dejected for the Calamity which happen'd by their Default and the Queen Dowager gave forth many outward Signs of Grief in her Speech and Countenance but they which knew her Heart did judg that she was not much troubled to see the Arrogance of the Hamiltons so curbed but to be joyous in a publick Calamity they who use to cover the Faults of Princes under honest Disguises are wont to call Greatness of Mind Besides the Dowager ever since the Death of the Cardinal had used all ways and means to throw the Regent out of his Office and to invest the supream Authority in her self but she knew she could never effect it as long as They were uppermost and had all fortified places in their Hands In all her Discourse she heighten'd the Fear she had from the English and complained of the Weakness of their own domestick Forces and propounded the Dangers imminent from the civil Dissensions amongst them She communicated her Design to those who she knew were ill affected towards the Hamiltons When the Nobles were in Consultation about the grand Affairs of the Kingdom a Decree was made that the Queen should retire to Dunbarton whilst the Nobility did debate concerning the Estate of the Kingdom Iohn Erskin was made Governour of it an unquestionable Favourer of the Queen's Faction and William Levingston a Friend to the Hamiltons was join'd in Commission with him Embassadors were also sent into France to demand Aid of their King Henry against their common Enemy according to the League made with him Hopes was also given them that the Queen would come over into France and marry the Dolphin but the French were intent upon their own Affairs and therefore their Auxiliaries were slower than the present Danger required In the mean time the English entred Scotland on both sides of the Borders The Earl of Lennox as if he had been sent for by his Friends came to Dumfries for his Father-in-Law Angus and his old Friend Glencarne had promised him two thousand Horse and Foot of the neighbouring Parts to assist him if he would leave the English and come over to them but when he came at the Place appointed there were hardly Three hundred come together and those too of such who used to live on Robberies These and some other things of the like Nature being very suspicious and specially the wavering Mind of Iohn Maxwel who had already given Hostages to the English made Lennox believe that he was betrayed and therefore he resolved to circumvent his Enemies with the like Fraud he retained with him Glencarn Iohn Maxwel and other chief Men of the Scots who had treated with him concerning his Transition and Return into his own Country and in the middle of the Night march'd toward Drumlanerick with six hundred Horse part of the English and part of the Scots who had yielded to them when they came to the appointed Place he sent out five hundred to commit what Spoil they could in the neighbouring Parts that so he might draw out Iames Douglas Owner of the Castle into his Ambush he imagining such a thing kept within his Hold till 't was Day and then being out of fear of Treachery he marched out with his Men and pass'd over the River Nith and press'd straglingly upon the Plunderers charging their Rear as they were retreating They having got a convenient Time and Place to rally turn'd back upon him with great violence and struck such a Terror into them in the Straits of a Ford that they disordered their Ranks killed some and took many considerable Prisoners This light Expedition struck such a Terror into the greatest part of Galway that they strove which of them should yield first to the English partly to gratify Lennox and partly fearing lest being forsaken by their Neighbours they should lie open to all Affronts The Scotish Regent fearing lest in such a general Hurly-burly if he did attempt nothing he should altogether dispirit his Men who were discourag'd enough before besieg'd the Castle of Brockty and having laid before it almost three Months without performing any thing considerable he drew off his Men leaving only an hundred Horse under the Command of Iames Halyburton an active young Man to infest the neighbouring Places and to hinder any Provisions from being carried in by Land to Brockty or to the Garison which the English had plac'd on an Hill adjoining These Matters pass'd at the End of that Year In the beginning of the next which was 1548 the English fortified Hadington a Town in Lothian upon the Tine and burned the Villages and plundered the Country about which was the richest part of Scotland and they form'd another Garison at Lauder Lennox about the end of February having pass'd over the West-Border hardly escap'd an Ambush laid for him by Part of those who had yielded themselves but returning to Carlisle he revenged himself by punishing some of the Hostages especially Iohn Maxwel the chief Author of the Revolt according to the Contents of some Letters he had receiv'd from the King of England During these Transactions Henry of France who succeeded his Father Francis sent Forces to the Sea to be transported into Scotland about six thousand Men of which three thousand were German Foot commanded by the Rhine-grave about two thousand French and one thousand of divers Nations all Horse they were all commanded to obey Monsieur Dessy a French Man who had been a Commander in France some years and had done good Service there They landed at Leith and were ordered to quarter at Edinburgh till they had recovered their Sea-sickness The Regent and the Forces with him marched to Hadington where they beset all Passages and laid a close Siege to the Place He sent out a Proclamation into all Parts in pursuance whereof in a short time there came into him about eight thousand Scots There the Nobility assembled and the Consultation was renewed concerning the Queen's going into France and marrying the Daulphin a Council was called in a Monastery of Monks without Hadington in the very Camp In that Convention there were various Disputes some said that
above 300 Men maintaining themselves in their Posts When Murray came thither he stood with his Party in Order and Rank on a small Hill where he overlook'd all the Marish the rest as they were advancing towards the Enemy gave evident Tokens of Treachery putting Boughs of Heath on their Helmets for that Plant grows in abundance in those Parts that they might be known by the Enemy When they came near the Huntleans secure of the Success hasten to them and seeing the adverse Army disordered by the Traitors and put to Flight that they might more nimbly pursue them they cast away their Lances and with their drawn Swords to terrify those Ranks that stood they cried out Treason Treason and made with great Violence at the Enemy The Traitors thinking that they should also put to Flight the standing Party made haste towards it But Murray perceiving no hope in Flight and that nothing remain'd but to dye nobly cried out to his Party to hold out their Lances and not to let those that were running away come in amongst them They being thus unexpectedly excluded from both Wings passed by in great Disorder But the Huntleans who now thought the matter ended and the Victory sure when they saw a Party though but small standing in a terrible manner with their Pikes forward they who were making towards them dispersedly and out of order and could not come to handy-strokes by reason of the length of their Spears being struck with a sudden Terror fled as swiftly as they had pursu'd before The Revolters perceiving this change of Fortune press'd upon them in their Flight and as if willing to expiate their former Fault what Slaughter was made that Day 't was They that did it There were 120 of the Huntleans slain and 100 taken Prisoners of the other Army not a Man was lost Amongst the Prisoners was Huntly himself and his two Sons Iohn and Adam the Father being an old Man corpulent and pussy dyed under the Hands of those that took him The rest late at Night were brought to Aberdeen Murray had appointed a Minister of the Gospel to wait for his Return where in the first place he gave Thanks to God Almighty who out of his Mercy alone beyond all Men's Expectation without any Strength or Wisdom of his own had delivered him and his Men out of so imminent a Danger afterwards he went to the Court where though many did highly congratulate him yet the Queen gave no Sign of Joy at all either in Speech or Countenance A few days after Iohn Gordon was put to Death not without the Trouble of many for he was a manly Youth very beautiful and entring on the prime of his Age not so much designed for the Royal Bed as deceived by the Pretence thereof and that which moved no less Indignation than Pity was that he was beheaded by an unskilful Headsman The Queen beheld his Death with many Tears but as she was prone to conceal and counterfeit Affections so various Descants were made upon her Grief and Passion and the rather because many knew that her Brother was as much hated by her as Huntly She pardoned Adam because he was but young George the eldest Son in this desperate case fled from his House to his Father-in-Law Iames Hamilton there to shelter himself or else by his Mediation to obtain his Pardon As for Gordon's Followers according to the Degrees of their Offences some were fined others banish'd the Land many sent packing into remote parts of the Kingdom that they might make no more Commotions at home Those who lighted upon powerful Intercessors were remitted their Offence and taken into former Grace and Favour Matters being thus settled or at least appeased for the present the rest of the Winter was spent in Peace The 26 th day of November Bothwel who had escap'd out of Prison was by a Proclamation commanded to render himself again and in Default thereof he not obeying was declared a publick Enemy When the Queen was returned from Aberdene to St. Iohnston's Iames Hamilton came to her to beg Pardon for George Gordon his Son-in-Law he received an Answer not wholly severe yet was forced to deliver up his Son-in-Law who was sent Prisoner to Dunbar and the next Year after which was 1563 on the 7 th of the Calends of February was brought to Edinburgh there condemned for Treason and sent back to Dunbar 'T was about this time that there came forth a Proclamation under a pecuniary Mulct That no Flesh should be eaten in Lent The pretence was not any thing of Religion but civil Advantage only The Arch-bishop of St. Andrews because he did not forbear to hear and say Mass after the Edict made at the coming in of the Queen was committed Prisoner to the Castle of Edinburgh Others guilty of the same Fault were punish'd but slightly yet were threatned to be more severely treated if they offended in the like sort again Now the time of the Parliament drew near which was summon'd to be held the 20 th day of May where the Queen with the Crown on her Head and her Royal Robes went in great Pomp to the Parliament-house a new Spectacle to many but that Men had been accustom'd to bear the Government of Women in her Mother's and Grandmother's Days In that Assembly some Statutes were made in Favour of the Reformed and some Coyners were punish'd the rest of the Summer the Queen spent in Athol in the Sport of Hunting At the end of Autumn Matthew Stuart Earl of Lennox by the Queen's Leave returned to Scotland having been unworthily deserted by the King of France the 22 d Year after his Departure as I said before And the next Year which was 1564 in the Month of Ianuary at a Convention of the Estates held almost on purpose for that very thing his Banishment was remitted and his Goods restored the Queen seconding that Remission with many favourable Words and repeating the many great Services the Earl had done her in her very Infancy she having been delivered out of her Enemies Hand and advanced to her Throne by his Means Afterwards Henry his Son came out of England into Scotland on the 12 th of February having there obtained a Convoy for three Months This Young Man being of an high Linage and very beautiful the Son of her Aunt the Queen of Scots received very courteously and delighting daily in his Society the common Speech was That she would marry him neither was the Nobility against it because they saw many advantages might redound to Britain by that Marriage if it might be made by the Queen of England's Consent Both of them were in an equal Degree of Consanguinity from her and she was so far from being against it that she was willing rather to seem the Author of it and so to lay some Obligation upon her in making the Match besides she thought it for her Advantage to humble
without the consent of the States and afterwards in all her Mandates till that time the King and Queens Name were exprest now she chang'd the Order keeping both Names in but setting her own First At length the Queen to deprive her Husband of all opportunity to do Courtesies for any found fault with him that whilst he was busy in Hawking and Hunting many State-Matters were acted unseasonably or else were wholly omitted and therefore it would be better that She might subscribe her Name for them Both and by this means he might enjoy his Pleasure and yet no publick Business be retarded He was willing to gratify her in every thing and yielded to be dismist upon such frivolous Grounds that so being remote from the Council and Privity of publick Affairs the Obligation for all Boons might rebound to the Queen her self For she thought thus with her self that if her Husband's Favour could do no good Offices for any and his Anger were formidable to none he would by Degrees grow to be despis'd by all and to increase the Indignity David was substituted with an Iron Seal to impress the King's Name on Proclamations He thus fraudulently cheated out of publick Business lest he might also prove an Interrupter of their private Pleasures in a very sharp Winter was sent away to Pebly with a small retinue far beneath the Dignity of some private Persons for a Prey rather than Recreation At the same time there fell such a quantity of Snow that the Place not being very Plentiful and besides troubled with Thieves He that was always bred up at Court and used to a liberal Diet was in great hazard of wanting Necessaries unless the Bishop of the Orcades had casually come thither for he knowing the scarcity of the Place brought him some Wine and other Provisions for his use The Queen was not content to advance David and as 't were to shew him to the People from such an obscure Original on the account before mention'd but she advis'd another way how to cloath him with domestick Honour For whereas the Queen had for some Months before permitted more Company than was usual to sit with her at her Table that so in the Croud David's place might be less envy'd by this shew of Popularity she thought to gain the point that the unaccustomedness of the Sight would by the Multitude of Guests and daily Usage be somewhat alleviated and so Mens high Stomachs by degrees be inur'd to bear any thing At last it came to this That but he and one or two more fat at Meat with Her and that the straitness of the Room might take off something from the envy of the thing sometimes she would eat her Junkets in a small Parlor sometimes at David's own Lodgings But the Way she thus took to abate did but increase the Reflections for it maintained Suspicions and gave occasion to odd Discourses Mens Thoughts were now inclin'd to the worst and it serv'd to inflame them That in Housholdstuff in Apparel and in the Number of brave and stately Horses he exceeded even the King himself and it made the matter look the worse that all this Ornament did not credit his Face but rather his Face spoil'd all this Ornament But the Queen not being able to amend the Faults of Nature endeavour'd by heaping Wealth and Honour upon him to raise him up to the degree of the Nobles that she might cover the Meanness of his Birth and the Defects of his Body too with the Vail of his lofty Promotions But he was to be advanced by degrees lest he might seem to be but a poor Mercenary Senator The first Attempt was made on the account of a piece of Land near Edinburgh the Scots call it Malvil The Owner of the Land his Father-in-Law and others that were best able to persuade him were sent for and the Queen deals with the present Owner to part with his Possessions and she desir'd his Father-in-Law and Friends to persuade him to it But this Matter not succeeding the Queen took the Repulse as an Affront to her and which was worse David took it very heinously also These Things being noised abroad the Commonalty did bewail the sad State of Affairs and expected that things would grow worse if Men eminent for their Families Estates and Credits should be outed of their ancient Patrimonies to gratify the Lust of a beggarly Varlet yea many of the elder Sort call'd to mind and told others of that time when Cockburn wickedly slew the King's Brother and of a Stone-cutter was made Earl of Marr which rais'd up such a Fire of Civil War that could not be extinguish'd but by the Death of the King and almost the Destruction of the Kingdom These things were spoken openly but Men in private did mutter much more as it useth to be in Matters not very creditable Yet the King would never be persuaded to believe it unless he saw it with his own Eyes so that one time hearing that David was gone into the Queen's Bed-Chamber he came to a little Door of which he always carried the Key about him and found it bolted in the inside which it never us'd to be he knock'd no body answered whereupon conceiving great Wrath and Indignation in his Heart that Night he could not sleep From that time forward he consulted with some few of his Servants for he durst trust but a few many of them having been corrupted by the Queen and put upon him rather as Spies of his Actions than Attendants on his Person how to rid David out of the way they approved his Design but could not find out a probable Way to effect it that Consultation had been managed for some days when other of his Servants who were not of the Privacy suspected the matter and there being evident signs of it they acquainted the Queen therewith and told her They would bring her to the place where they were and they were as good as their Words they observ'd and watch'd the opportunity when others were shut out and the King had only his Confidents with him the Queen as if she were passing through his Chamber to her own surprized him with his Partisans whereupon she inveighed against him most bitterly and highly threatned his Domesticks telling them all their Plots were in vain she knew all their Minds and Actions and would remedy them well enough in time Matters being brought to this pass the King acquaints his Father with his sad Condition they both concluded That the only Remedy for the present Malady was to reconcile that part of the Nobility which were present and to recal those that were absent but great haste was required in the thing because the Day was near at hand wherein the Queen resolved to condemn the Nobles that were absent she having Indicted a Convention of the Estates for that purpose against the Wills of the French and English Embassadors who interceded in the Case For they knew that the
not being able to stand he sat down and called for something to drink Whereupon the Queen fell upon him with such Words as her present Grief and Fury suggested to her calling him a Perfidious Traitor and ask'd him How he durst be so bold as to speak to her sitting whereas she her self stood he excus'd it as not done out of Pride but Weakness of Body but advis'd her That in managing the Affairs of the Kingdom she would rather consult the Nobility who had a Concern in the Publick than vagrant Rascals who could give no Pledg for their Faithfulness and who had nothing to lose either in Estate or Credit neither was the Fact then committed without a Precedent That Scotland was a Kingdom bounded by Laws and was never wont to be govern'd by the Will and Pleasure of one Man but by the Rule of the Law and the Consent of the Nobility and if any former King had done otherwise he had smarted severely for it Neither were the Scots at present so far degenerated from their Ancestors as to bear not only the Government but even the Servitude of a Stranger who was scarce worthy to be their Slave The Queen was more inraged at this Speech than before Whereupon they departed having plac'd Guards in all convenient Places that no Tumult might arise In the mean time the News was carried all over the Town and as every ones Disposition was right or wrong they took Arms and went to the Palace There the King shewed himself to them out of a Window and told the Multitude That He and the Queen were safe and there was no cause for their tumultuous Assembly What was done was by his Command and what that was they should know in time and therefore at present every one should go to his own House Upon which Command they withdrew except some few that staid to keep Guard The next day in the Morning the Nobles that return'd from England offer'd themselves to the Trial in the Town-hall being ready to plead their Cause for That was the day appointed but no body appearing against them they there openly protested That it was not their Fault for they were ready to submit to a Legal Trial and so every one return'd to his own Lodging The Queen sent for her Brother and after a long Conference with him she gave him hopes That ever after she would commit her self to the Nobles Hereupon the Guards were slackn'd though many thought this her Clemency did presage no Good to the Publick for she gathered together the Souldiers of her old Guard and went through a back Gate by Night with George Seton who attended with 200 Horse first to his Castle then to Dunbar she carried also the King along with her who for fear of his Life was forc'd to obey There she gathered a Force together and pretending a Reconcilement to those who were lately returned from Banishment she turn'd her Fury upon the Murderers of David but they yeilding to the time shifted for themselves and so having settled Matters she return'd to her old Disposition First of all she caus'd David's Body which was buried before the Door of a Neighbour-Church to be removed in the Night and to be plac'd in the Sepulchre of the late King and his Children Which gave occasion to illfavour'd Reports being amongst a few others a bad thing for what greater Confession of Adultery with him could she well make than as far as she was able to equal such an obscure Fellow who was neither liberally brought up nor had deserved well of the Publick in his last Funerals with her Father and Brothers and to increase the Indignity of the thing she put the Varlet almost into the Arms of Magdalene Vallois late Queen As for her Husband she threatned him and obliquely in her Discourses scoff'd at him doing her Endeavour to take away all Power from him and to render him as contemptible as she could At this time the Process was very severe against David's Murderers many of the Accus'd were banish'd some to one place some to another some were fin'd some but the most innocent and therefore secure put to Death for the prime Contrivers of the Fact were fled some to England others to the High-lands Those who were but the least suspected to have an hand in it had their Offices and Employments taken from them and bestow'd upon their Enemies And a Proclamation was made by an Herald in such a publick Sorrow not without Laughter That no Man should say The King was a Partaker in or so much as privy to David's Slaughter This Commotion being a little settled after the 15 th of April the Earl of Argyle and Murray were receiv'd into Favour and she her self drawing near the time of her Delivery retired into Edinburgh Castle and on the 19 th day of Iune a little after nine a Clock at Night was brought to Bed of a Son afterwards called Iames the Sixth The Eighteenth BOOK THE Queen after her Delivery receiv'd all other Visitants with Kindness enough suitable to the occasion of a publick Joy but when her Husband came she and her Attendants did so comport themselves both in Speech and Countenance as if they were afraid of nothing more than that he should not understand that his Presence was disdainful and his Company unacceptable to them all but on the contrary Bothwel alone was the Man he managed all Affairs The Queen was so inclined to him that she would have it understood no Suit would be obtained from her but by his Mediation And as if she were afraid her Favours to him were but mean and not sufficiently known on a certain day she took one or two with her and went down to the Haven called New-Haven and her Attendants not knowing whither she intended she went aboard a small Vessel prepared there for her William and Edmond Blacater Edward Robertson and Thomas Dickson all Bothwels Creatures and Pirates of known Rapacity had fitted the Ship before with this Guard of Robbers to the great Admiration of all good Men she ventur'd to Sea taking none of her honest Servants along with her She landed at Alloway a Castle of the Earl of Marrs where she so demeaned her self for some time as if she had forgot not only the Dignity of a Queen but even the Modesty of a Matron The King when he heard of the Queen 's sudden Departure followed her as fast as he could by Land his Design and Hopes were to be with her and to injoy mutual Society as Man and Wife but He as an importunate Disturber of her Pleasures was bid go back whence he came and had hardly time allow'd him for his Servants to refresh themselves A few days after the Queen return'd to Edinburgh and because it seems she would avoid the Croud of People she went not to her own Palace but to the House of a private Man in the Vicinage From thence she
managed Designs to alter things The Pope was not wanting by his Exhortations and Promises to stir up their Minds already inraged but the Kings were not sufficiently agreed amongst themselves and their Forces were so exhausted that they rather desired a War than were able to make it Besides there was an Emulation betwixt them one could not well bear that the other should have so great an Accession as England if it were conquered to his Dominions Moreover some Disputes arose betwixt Them and their Subjects which diverted their Thoughts from foreign Affairs though the Novelty of a Woman's Reign and she a young Woman too without an Husband gave Encouragement thereto especially since those who were ill affected to her said she was born to Henry the 8 th in an unlawful Marriage and also the former Differences about the Kingdom and about Religion were rather stifled than extinguished yea the Sparks of Discontent did glow in Mens Minds which in a short time were likely to break forth into a great Flame In the mean time the English Papists had made many Attempts but in vain for they were soon quell'd and though their Designs never succeeded yet Foreigners still feeding them only with blooming Hopes not with real Supplies they still persisted in the same resolute Design wanting rather a Commander for their Numbers than Power or Courage to come together The Common People of that Sect had taken a View of all the Nobility and they found none fit enough to whom they might commit their Lives and Fortunes many of the most stirring had been consumed in the Civil Wars many had past over to the other Party some were so old that they were unfit for publick Business or else the Vigor of their Minds as well as the Strength of their Bodies was so debilitated that they desired Peace if it were but a tolerable one There was only one Man who for Courage and Power seemed fit to undertake so great a Business and that was Thomas Howard who though he was of himself inclinable to Quietness yet there were some Causes which moved him to study Innovations For his Father and Grand-father though they had been highly eminent both in War and Peace yet in the Storms of an unstable Court they had been so toss'd that their highest Glory was ballanc'd with as great Disgrace His Father was condemn'd for Treason and publickly beheaded and Two Queens his Kinswomen had been also put to Death He in those Difficulties was liberally brought up and so preserved his Family from being quite extinguish'd and blown up In his very Youth he gave a Specimen of great Prudence and in a few Years by the Death of his Wives and by new Marriages he grew so rich that next to the Queen he was the most potent of the English for Wealth and Prudence the rest of the Nobility yielded to him but as for his Skill in Military Matters he had yet given no Proof of his Valor but in the Controversies of Religion he carried himself so swimmingly and ambiguously that tho he favoured Popery in his Heart yet he was such a Fosterer of the contrary Party that Many of them made sure of him in their Thoughts as their Own Amids these things the Queen of Scots was overcome in Battel and fled to England whence she wrote Letters to that Queen concerning the cause of her coming she was bid by her to retire to the House of the Lord Scroop Warden of the Marches till she did consider of her Demands in Council Scroop's Wife was Howard's Sister and by her Means the Treaty of Marriage was secretly begun betwixt the Queen and Howard and the Opportunity seemed to be offered by God himself seeing Howard's third Wife was lately dead and he was then a Widower The Design was concealed as being intrusted but to a few yet 't was whisper'd abroad among the Common People For narrow Spirits cannot conceal great Hopes but Ioy gives them Vent and so they fly abroad The Matter was so far advanc'd That the Fire of a Civil War seemed ready to break out yea some were so confident of Success after they had considered the Strength of the Parties that they thought Howard might easily do what he pleased without using any Force Things were in this Posture when the Scots Nobles had a great Meeting at Perth to hear the Demands of both Queen's both of them having wrote to them The Queen of England's Letters proposed one of these Three Conditions The first was absolute That the Queen might be restored to her Throne and Dignity as formerly But if that could not be granted Then that she might reign jointly with her Son that so she might injoy Princely Honour in Letters and publick Acts in the mean time the Regency should be in the Hands of the present Regent till the King came to the Age of seventeen If neither of those could be obtained then the third Condition was if the Queen could be persuaded to accept of it That she should live privately at home being content with those Honours which saving the Authority and Majesty of the King might be granted to her This last Request was easily assented to if the Queen would accept it But the other Two were peremptorily refused For the better and more incorrupt Part of the Nobility were resolute in this That they neither could nor ought to determine any thing which did diminish the King's Authority especially being lawfully inthron'd but the two former Heads did take off from the King's Honour yea it exposed his Life too being a Pupil unless it could be thought that his Mother who was known to be cruel towards her Husband and was not well affected toward her Son neither being exasperated by her Banishment besides should be no more kind to him than she had been ever before Also the Letters from the exil'd Queen were read wherein she desired That some Judges might be appointed to consider of her Marriage with Bothwel and if 't was found contrary to Law that she might be divorced from him Those Letters did highly incense the King's Party because she wrote her self as Queen and commanded them as Subjects Yea some would not have had them answered at all because they indeavoured to abridg the King of his Power and to instate the Rule in the sole Power of an exil'd Queen but that Part of the Council which was for the Queen alleged that they wondered much why those who had formerly the last Year much desired that she would separate her Cause from Bothwel's now when it was freely offer'd to them should hinder it as eagerly or rather more as they had before earnestly desired it if a Word or two in the Letters did displease them that Fault might easily be amended yea some there were who undertook provided the Matter of the Divorce might be handled in the mean time to procure a Commission from her in what Expressions they themselves would have it On the contrary
by the Legal Way of the Country for that would occasion some though not much Delay But these Interposals were over-ruled it being alleged That there was no need of any new Process in the Arch-Bishops case for it had been already judg'd in the Parliament Wherefore he being plainly convicted as guilty of the King's Murder and of the last Regents also was hang'd at Sterlin There was then new Evidence brought in against him for the greatest Part thereof had been discovered but lately The Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews who lodg'd in the next House when the Proposition of killing the King was made to him willingly undertook it both by Reason of old Feuds between their Families and also an Hope thereby to bring the Kingdom nearer to his Family whereupon he chuses out six or eight of the most flagitious of his Vassals and commended the Matter to them giving them the Keyes of the King's Lodgings they then enter very silently into his Chamber and strangle him when he was asleep and when they had so done they carried out his Body through a little Gate of which I spake before into an Orchard adjoining to the Walls and then a Sign was given to blow up the House The Discovery of this Wickedness was made by Iohn Hamilton who was a chief Actor therein upon this Occasion He was much troubled in his Mind Day and Night his Conscience tormenting him for the Guilt of the Fact and not only so but as if the Contagion reach'd to his Body too That also was miserably pained and consumed by degrees endeavouring all ways to ease himself at last he remembred That there was a School-Master at Pasley no bad Man who was yet a Papist to him he confesses the whole Plot and the Names of those who joined with him in perpetrating the Murder The Priest comforted him what he could and put him in mind of the Mercy of God yet because the Disease had taken deeper root than to be expiable by such slight Remedies within a few days he was overwhelmed with Grief and died The Priest was not so silent in the thing but that some inkling of it came to the King's Friends They many Months after the Murder was committed when Matthew Earl of Lennox was Regent and when Dunbarton was taken and the Bishop brought to Sterlin caused the Priest to be sent for thither He then justified what he had spoken before about the King's Murder whereupon being ask'd by Hamilton How he came to know it Whether 't were revealed to him in Auricular Confession He told him Yes then said Hamilton You are not ignorant of the Punishment due to those who reveal the Secrets of Confessions and made no other Answer to the Crime After fifteen Months or more the same Priest was taken saying Mass the third time and as the Law appointed was led out to suffer then also he publickly declared all that he had before affirm'd in the thing in plainer and fuller words which were so openly divulged that now Hamilton's Vassals fell out amongst themselves and one of them charged another with the King's Death In the mean while the Rebels had procured some small matter of Mony from France by means of the Brother of him who commanded Edinburgh-Castle And moreover Morton was returned from his English Embassy and in a Convention of the Nobles held at Sterlin declar'd the Effect thereof in these Words When we came to London February 20. we were put over to a Council chosen out for that purpose who after much Dispute betwixt us at last insisted upon two Points First That we would produce the clearest and best Arguments we had to evidence the Justness of those Actions which had pass'd in Scotland both formerly and now that so the Queen might be satisfied in the Equity of them and thereby know how to answer those who demanded a Reason for them If we could not do That yet the Queen would omit nothing which might conduce to our Safety In Answer to which we gave in a Memorial to Them to this effect The Crimes wherewith at first our King's Mother alleged that she was falsly charged with have been so clearly prov'd by the Earl of Murray and his Associates in that Embassy That both the Queen her self and those who were delegated by her to hear the Cause could not be ignorant of the Author of the King's Murder which was the Source of all our other Miseries To repeat them again before the Queen who we doubt not is therein sufficiently satisfied already we think it not necessary and besides we our selves are unwillingly drawn into the Task of repeating the Memory of so great a Wickedness But they who cannot deny that this Fact was cruelly and flagitiously perpetrated yet do calumniate the Resignation of the Kingdom and the Translation of the Government from the Mother to the Son to be a new and grievous thing extorted from her by mere Force First as for the Matter of Fact in punishing our Princes the old Custom of our Ancestors will not suffer it to be called new neither can the Moderateness of the Punishment make it invidious 'T is not needful for us to reckon up the many Kings whom our Forefathers have chastis'd by Imprisonment Banishment yea Death it self much less need we confirm our Practice by foreign Examples of which there are abundance in old Histories The Nation of the Scots being at first free by the common Suffrage of the People set up Kings over them conditionally That if need were they might take away the Government by the same Suffrages that gave it The Footsteps of this Law remain to this very Day for in the circumjacent Islands and in many Places of the Continent too which have retained the ancient Speech and Customs of our Fore-fathers to this Day the same Course is yet observed in creating their Magistrates Moreover those Ceremonies which are used in the Inauguration of our Kings themselves have an express Representation of this Law by which it easily appears That Kingly Government is nothing else but a mutual Stipulation betwixt King and People and the same is most clearly evidenced by the inoffensive Tenor of the Old Law which hath been observed ever since there was a King in Scotland even unto this present time no Man having ever attempted to abrogate abate or diminish this Law in the least 'T is too long to enumerate How many Kings our Ancestors have put by their Kingdoms have banish'd have imprison'd have put to Death neither is there the least mention made of the Severity of this Law or the abrogating thereof and that on good Grounds For 't is not of the Nature of such Sanctions which are subject to the Mutations of Time but in the very Original of Mankind 't was ingraven in Mens Hearts approv'd by the mutual Consent of almost all Nations and together with Nature it self was to remain inviolate and sempiternal so that these Laws are not
him 421 Again possessed by him and delivered to the English 427 Retaken by the Scots 429 Dunbritton 17 The Castle surrendred to Robert Bruce 268 Twice surprized 371 Taken by the Queen 164 Retaken by the Regent by Surprize with the Manner how 260 It s Scituation and why so called 262 263 Duncan King of Scots 229 He is slain ibid. Duncan Earl of Marr Regent 284 Slain in Battel 285 Duncan Stuart rising in Arms is suppressed 323 Duncaledon rather than Deucaledon to be read in Ptolemy 56 Dunchonel Isle 25 Dundee 18 Dundeans Enemies to the Gordons 286 Dunedin by the ancient Scots now Edinburgh 171 Dungisby Head 22 See Betubium Duni pacis what 15 119 Dunkelden 18 Duno or Dunum Words so beginning or ending are the Names of Places 65 66 67 Dunoter 19 Dunsinnan Hill and Castle 212 Dunstafnage 20 Duodecemvirate in Scotland 253 Dur the Names of some Places derived therefrom 68 Durstus King of Scots 102 He invites the Nobility to a Supper and there treacherously kils them ibid. He is slain 103 Durstus made King of the Picts 132 Slain in Battel 137 E EAnfrid 159 Easdale Isle 25 Easter-Day a Dispute about it raised by Austin the Monk 157 Eboracum i. e. York whence derived 60 Ecclesiasticks their Power over Kings 237 Their Avarice 238 243 They are reformed by Constantine II. are superstitâ—ous 195 Eder preserved by his Nurse 104 Educated by Cadvallus 105 Created King of Scots 106 Edgar then in Scotland demanded by William the Norman 216 Returns to England 217 Made King of the Sâ—ots 221 Builds Coldingham Abby ibid. Edifice a strange one 15 Edinburgh or Edinum whence so called 171 Its several Names 175 How seated 276 A Convention held at one End when the Enemy had the Castle at the other ibid. Edinburghers would not admit the English Exiles nor Hamilton to enter their City 252 Edmund King of England his Story 215 He gives Cumberland and Westmoreland to Malcolm King of Scots 181 Edward I. King of England takes away all Scotish Monuments 119 Endeavours to bring Scotland under his Dominion 249 Enters Scotland with a great Army 264 265 Overcomes the Scots and forces them to swear â—ealty to him 259 Appoints Magistrates all over Scotland ibid. Desires Margarite of Norwey Heiress of Scotland a Wife for his Son but she dies before her Marriage 245 Edward II. succeeding his Father in the Kingdom of England 263 Besieges Berwick makes a Truce with the Scots and retreats 270 271 Worsted in Scotland 272 Is cast into Prison by his Wife and his Son and there put to a cruel Death 274 Edward III. King of England makes Peace with the Scots 300 Baliol takâ—â— into his Protection 288 Hâ—s Cruelty to Seton's Children 289 〈◊〉 Berwick 288 Hath three Kings his Prisoners at once 304 He overthrows the Scots 290 Takes Berwick 290 Enters Scotland once or twice but retreats again 293 296 His Death 308 Edward Duke of York cals himself King of England 396 Edward IV. of England makes Peace with the Scots 416 He dies 428 He laid the Foundation of Tyranny 434 Edward VI. of England an hopeful Prince his Death 114 Edward Bruce called to be King in Ireland 269 Assists his Brother Robert 265 Edward Baliol with a numerous Fleet in the Bay of Forth 284 He overcomes the Scots 285 Enters on the Kingdom 286 Swears Fealty to the King of England 288 His supposititious Son 7 Education at Court what 160 Egfrid King of Northumberland slain by the Picts 161 Edwyn of Northumberland 159 Eels taken in abundance 14 Egg Isle See Rum 28 Eglish or Church Isle 25 Eglisa or Eglish-oy Isle 36 Elbeouf Marquess of it stays with the Queen in Scotland 154 Elgin a Town 20 Eliot's Authority disallowed 4 Elizabeth Queen of England sends Aid to the Reformers of Religion in Scotland 141 144 Her grave Oration to the Embassador of the Queen of Scots 155 156 c. She in part adopts the Cause of the Queen of Scots 222 Her Letters to the Regent to defer the Convention of the Estates ibid. Her other Letters to him which break off the Course of his Victories 223 She is informed by the Regent that the Cause of their Queen's deposing was the Murder of her Husband 227 228 She sends Letters to the Nobles of Scotland to receive their Queen again 239 c. Their Answer to her Letters 241 Howard's Conspiracy against her detected 244 She demands the English Fugitives to be given up to her by the Scots 284 She is made Arbiter between the Parties in Scotland 260 Some of her Council would have King James sent into England 275 Which the Scots refuse to do 280 She favours the King's Cause most yet is politickly slow in her Aid 279 286 Ella an English King 172 Embassadors from France desire the Scots to make War upon England 119 Embassadors from France and England to Scotland 352 England divided by four Rivers 13 The King thereof the Pope's Feudatary 237 Its King makes Peace or Truce with the Scots 249 250 Enecus General of the Danes 200 Slain by the Scots 201 Enemies not to be undervalued 174 291 Their sudden Liberality to be suspected 43 English how said to rule over all Britain 180 Incommoded in their March in Scotland 276 Their Army worsted 270 Quit their Claim to any Part of Scotland 234 Regain a great Part of Scotland 303 Drawn into an Ambush 304 Their Army of 60000 Men 274 Driven out of all Scotland except Berwick 300 English Souldiers less rapacious than the French 313 Worsted in Scotland 391 Overthrown by the Scots at Sea 379 Ask Aid of the Scots against their own King 392 English their Horses frightned in Scotland 42 Make War on Scotland 59 Enter Scotland again 86 Are worsted 89 Again enter 100 And give the Regent a great Overthrow 104 Enter Scotland again 105 And prevail against James Douglas 106 English Fleet attempts the Orcades 123 English called Deliverers of Scotland 152 Send Aid to the Reformers in Scotland 143 Assist the Vindicators of King and Regent's Murderers against the Queen's Faction 253 c. 256 257 Their Queen Elizabeth designed to be destroyed and the King of Scots too 280 Enner what it signifies 106 Ennerlute or Ennerlochy a Mart-Town 20 Ennerness a Mart-Town 106 Eorsa Isle 27 Eoy Isle 29 Ericaean or Heath Isle 26 Erisbach Isle see Abridic Eriscaia or Erisay Isle 30 Erin Isle ibid. Erra Isle 26 Esk River 13 South and North 19 Thence the Country called Eskdale 13 Etfin King of Scots 163 Ethelfrid King of Northumberland 156 Routs the Scots 157 Marches into Galway ibid. Ethodius I. King of Scots makes Laws about Hunting 112 Overcomes the Islanders ibid. Slain by Night in his Bedchamber by his Harper ibid. Ethodius II. rules by his Deputies 119 Is slain ibid. Ethus King of Scots 171 Eu Island 31 Eubonia or Man Isle 24 Evenus I. King of Scots 103 Aids the Picts against the Brittons ibid. The first that required an Oath of
Allegiance of his Subjects ibid. First settles Itinerary Iudges in Scotland ibid. Evenus II. 105 Overthrows the Orkney Men 106 Evenus III. noted for Obscenity 107 He makes a Law for Polygamy ibid. Is slain ibid. Eugenius I. or Evenus King of Scots 127 Slain by the Romans 128 Evenus an Islander put to Death 174 Eugenius II. 138 His Character 144 In his time the Romans leave Britain ibid. Eugenius III. Brother of Congal King of Scots 154 Assists against the Saxons ibid. Eugenius IV. Brother of Aidanus 158 Brought up under Columb ibid. He harbours the fugitive Saxons ibid. Eugenius V. 161 Eugenius VI. ibid. Learned in Theology ibid. In his Time it rained Blood ibid. Eugenius VII causes the memorable Facts of Kings to be recorded 162 He is suspected for the Murder of his Queen but causlesly ibid. Eugenius VIII slain in an Assembly of the Nobles 163 Evonia Castle 20 Eusdale County so called from the River Ewes 13 140 Examples of Princes more influential on Subjects than their Laws 155 Exchequer Officers defend sometimes most unjust Laws 113 Exchequer Profits sometimes Disprofits 35 Excommunication unjustly pronounced affects not the Excommunicated 272 Exile more tolerable than Servitude 132 F FAbilla or Fable Isle 30 Fair or Fara Isle 36 Faith or Fidelity towards wicked Persons unsteadfast 105 107 Sacred among Souldiers 319 330 Not to be kept with Hereticks as Papists say 130 Falamgal Isle see Finlagan Falcons in the Isle of Muick 28 Famine breaks stout Spirits 140 Famine and Pestilence in Scotland 388 Fara Isle 29 Farrow-head 21 Faunus's Oracle 43 Fenella commands Kenneth to be slain 169 Feraia Isle 29 Ferchard I. King of Scots 158 Endeavours to introduce Tyranny ibid. Maliciously nourisheth Factions amongst his Nobles and is guilty of the Pelagian Heresy 159 He kils himself ibid. Ferchard II. wickedly kils his Wife and abuseth his Daughters 160 He is excommunicated reproved by Coleman and repouts at his Death ibid. Feredeth King of the Picts 166 Ferelay Island 30 Fergus I. King of Scots sent for out of Ireland 95 The Kingdom settled on him by Common Consent 96 Drowned at Carickfergus in Ireland 97 Came first into Albium when Alexander the Great took Babylon ibid. Fergus II. whilst a Child flies by Sea with his Parents into Scandia is recalled from thence and made King 133 134 He is slain in Fight 137 His Praise with a Comparison between him and Fergus I. ibid. He is deservedly called The second Founder of the Scotish Kingdom ibid. Fergus III. poisoned by his Wife for his Adulteries 163 She owns the Fact and kils her self 164 Fergus of Galway's Children disagree after his Death 246 Feritharis King of Scots 97 An old Law concerning Succession to the Crown made in his Time ibid. Ferlegus Son of Fergus conspires against his Vncle for which he is condemned 97 98 Fethelmach King of Scots 127 Fidler or Harper One kils King Ethodius I. 116 Another assists to destroy Fethelmach 127 Fifteen Iudges appointed in Scotland but soon disused 59 Fife County 18 So called from Fifus 170 Fights memorable between Scots and English 355 At Bannock 267 At Otterborn 317 318 319 Fish shapeless 29 A strange sort ibid. Fincormachus King of Scots 125 Findochus King of Scots 121 Overcomes Donald ibid. Is slain by means of his Brother Caransius 122 Finelaw or Finlaw Bishop Author of ill Counsels 339 Finlagan Isle 26 Finnanus King of Scots 102 Fiole Isle 25 Flada Isle 24 28 29 30 Flanders Artificers sent for from thence into Scotland 347 Flata Island 36 Flattery the Pest of great Families 363 380 Flavanae Isles 30 Fordun 19 Forestia ibid. Forth or Scotish Sea 13 Fortune an Example of its Inconstancy 375 Fotlar Isle 37 Francs Who 46 Francis I. King of France by the help of the King of England restored to liberty out of the Hands of the Spaniards 62 He sends the Earl of Lennox into Scotland 78 Is alienated from Lennox 83 Sends Montgomery into Scotland 91 Francis II. of France sends La'bross into Scotland 136 He is influenced by and is under the Power of the Guises 150 His Death ibid. Francis Duke of Guise Curator of the Kingdom of Scotland 114 Appointed General of the Popish Faction 153 174 Franciscans or begging Friars their Wealth 128 France its miserable State 151 It s King Francis promises to aid the Scots of the Queen's Faction 254 And the Scots Rebels 279 280 Vpon what Grounds he did it ibid. Frazer's Family almost extinct 89 Frederethuâ— slain 166 Friend betrays Friend 332 Their Injuries the most grievous 314 Our Father's Friends not to be neglected 101 Friendship with Princes far off sometimes safer than with Those nearer home 44 French Gauls Franâ—s their Original 46 They receive Characters of Letters from the Massilian Greeks 38 Their Communion with the Brittons 61 When French and Scots Alliance first began 165 They send Aid to the Scots 90 106 Their Souldiers very licentious 313 Their Army leaves Scotland 314 Their unjust Demand 312 What Good the Scots got by their Alliance 322 Their King distracted 334 They ask Aid of the Scots ibid. They renew their League with the Scots 240 251 273 French and Scots Souldiers mutiny 109 Their Auxiliaries in Scotland cannot forbear their wonted Plundering 314 They hinder an Alliance with England by Bribes as much as they can 43 44 Assault Werk Castle 45 Their Souldiers kill the Governour of Edinburgh with some of the Citizens 209 They design to surprize Hadington ibid. They are disgusted by the Scots 110 French and English in Scotland agree 111 French transported into their own Country 112 French King sends Auxiliaries to strengthen the Queen Regent 135 143 French Embassadors Demands from the Reformed 136 152 French their contumelious Pride against some of the Scots 143 144 Their Design to establish Tyranny ibid. French Embassador busy between the Queen and the Royalists 218 219 Vpon the Queen's Overthrow he sculks away 221 French to leave Scotland by Consent 149 French Ship sent with Provision and Ammunition into Scotland taken by the Royalists 279 French Tongue heretofore not much different from the British 58 Friars Mendicants Mercenaries to Parish-Priests and Curats 345 346 Their Opinions and why Manducants rather than Mendicants 129 Fuda Isle 29 G GA Letter commonly used by the French for V 60 61 Gaga Isle 25 Gald Gael Galle 62 Galdus the Sir-name of Corbred what it signifies 109 Galeatius Sforza slain by his Vncle 231 Gallovid in Old Scotish signifies a Gaul 14 Galo Cardinal the Pope's Legat in England 237 He excommunicates the Scots 238 A wicked and avaritious Man ibid. Galvinus Son of Lothus 151 Galway why so called 14 61 139 Garalinga Isle 29 Garaard King of the Picts 162 Garvae Isles three 25 Garvillan Isles 30 Gavin Isle 25 Gauls sent Colonies into Spain 48 Into Italy 49 Into Germany ibid. Into Britain 50 Into Ireland 51 Gathelus a Prince feigned by some to be the Founder of the Scots Nation 46 Gawin Dunbar
Balvany 377 Proclaimed a publick Enemy 387 John Damiot a Conjurer foretels Rize's Death 182 John Forbâ—s condemned and beheaded 6â— John Fordon Author of the History called Scoto-Chronicon 146 John Fleming the Queen's Governour of Dumbritton Castle when it was surprized 263 He escapes but his Wife is well treated by the Regent 265 John Fleming of Bogal taken there ibid. John Herris undeservedly put to Death by the Douglasses 384 John Hepburn powerful and factious 31 His Feud with the Hume's 32 33 He insinuates himself into John the Regent 31 Accuses Douglas Hume and Forman 3â— John Gordon â—arl of Huntly taken by Murray and put to Death 170 John Hamilton Archbishop of St. Andrews 103 A deâ—oâ—st Man 111 John Hamilton troubled in Conscience for the King's Murder discovers his Complices 267 John Kennedy made one of the King's Guardians or Tutors 407 John Knox preaches to reclaim those that kill'd Cardâ—nal Beton 100 His Sermon to the People of Perth for the Reformation 128 〈◊〉 which they destroy Popish Shrines ibid. His encouraging Sermon to the Reformers at Sâ—erlin 141 Hiâ— Sermon at King James VI. his Inauguratiâ—n â—14 John II. lays the Foundation of Tyranny in Portugal 434 John Lesly prâ—vy to the Conspiracy against James Earl of Murray 167 169 John Mac-Arthur Captain of Toâ—ies executed 341 John Melvil put to Death 11â— John Earl of Marr Brother to James III. put to Death by opening a Vein till he expired 421 John Murderaâ—h taken 116 John Monluâ— Bishop of Valence in Scotland 14â— John Maxwel of Herris revolts from the Reformers 176 177 The Queen puts little Trust in him 222 Made Prisoner by the Regent but released without publick Authority 253 John Earl of Marr a Commander in the King's Army 220 John Randolph sent into France 287 Made Regent 294 Taken Prisoner by the English 295 Slain in Fight 322 John Scot his wonderful Abstinence from Food â—8 John Duns Scotus where bâ—rn 306 John Ramsy preserved by the King 425 Proves an Evil Counsellour to James III. 431 John Stuart Earl of Lennox revolts from the Regent 35 But is again received into Favour ibid. He endeavours to take the King from the Douglasses and is slain 50 John Stuart Earl of Athol sent against John Murderach 116 A Proâ—urer of the Match between Henry and Mary Queen of Scotland 192 He loses hâ—s Opportunity 206 John Vien Admiral of the French Navy in Scotland 311 John Windram secretly favours the Cause of True Religion 65 Joan Douglas and her Husband their miserable Ends 66 67 Joan the Wife of James I. her manly Fact 360 Put in Prison with her Husband 364 Her Death 395 Joseph Scaliger amends a Place in Seneca 76 Josâ—â—a King of Scots 101 A Lover of Chirurgery 102 Ireland's ancient Inhabitants called Scots 73 Irish break in on Galway in Scotland 177 And are overthrown by King Gregory ibid. Irish Scots make Peace with the Romans 130 131 Irish Air temperate 2 51 Colonies of Gauls sent into Ireland 51 Description of Ireland out of Solinus 85 Irwin River 14 Island in Shape like a Man 26 Islands encompassing Scotland their Order and threefold Division 22 Islanders parsimonious 33 Healthful and long-liv'd 37 Prone to rebel 207 Islanders Western their Manner of Living at Home and Abroad 23 c. Isa or Ishol Isle 29 30 Issidorus i. e. Issoir a City in France Judgments and Tryals of Nobles how anciently managed in Scotland 340 Jule-tide or Christmass as 't is called licentiously observed 151 Julian Romer taken 110 Agricola's Exploits in Britain 109 110 Recalled from thence 111 Junius Brutus 271 Julius Caesar the first Roman that entred Britain with an Army 84 Julius Frontinus in Britain 86 109 Jura Isle 25 Justice can do more than Terrour of Arms 180 189 The most popular thing 348 Juverna Ireland so called 69 K KArrera Isle 25 Katharine Medices after her Son's Death undertakes the Government 151 Keames Castle 25 Kebercurning 22 Kedwalla King of the Brittons 159 Keligire Island 30 Kellasa Isle ibid. Kelvin River 16 Ken River 14 Kenneth I. King of Scots 158 Kenneth II. 167 Compared with Fergus II. persuades the Nobility to war with the Picts and overcomes them in Battel 169 He may be called the third Founder of the Scotish Kingdom 170 Kenneth III. 187 Circumvents his Nobles by a Wile 188 Causes Malcolm to be poisoned 193 Troubled in Conscience for it 195 Makes new Laws concerning the Succession of the Kingdom 193 194 Worsted at first by the Danes yet afterwards overthrows them 190 191 Slain by Fenella 196 Kenneth King of the Picts 167 Kentigern 145 Keniburgh Islands the Great and the Small 27 Kernici who 22 Kernicovalli ibid. Kingly Government what 268 It s Origin ibid. Kings their Distress moves Pity 213 Kings in Scotland not to do any publick Affairs without advising with their Nobles or Estates of the Realm 102 230 251 They used to ride the Circuits themselves for the Administration of Iustice before Itinerary Iudges were appointed 103 123 Their Wives anciently not called Queens 402 Not in their Power alone to make Peace or War in Scotland 322 They are inferiour to the Laws 269 How their publick Revenue if spent may be encreased 114 A Law for their successive inheriting the Crown confirmed 194 195 Kings if young their Favours slippery 416 Subjects apt to degenerate into their Manners 111 King desiring to be revenged on his Nobles endeavours to set them one against another 431 Kings-Cross or Re-cross in Stanmore what 238 Kinnatel King of Scots 155 Kinross 170 Its Sheriffwick 18 Kinloss Abby 184 Kinthern see Cantire Kirkwal the chief Town in the Island Pomonae or Mainland 35 Kirta Isle 30 Knapdale 17 Kyle 14 L L'Abross a French General would have all the Nobility of Scotland destroyed 148 Laia River see Avonlagan Lambs Isle 30 Lamlach Isle 24 Lamot the French King's Embassador in Scotland 20 He moves the Scots to war against England ibid. c. Lamyrian or Lamormoor Mountains 13 Lanarch or Lanerick 14 Lancaster Duke Embassador in Scotland 309 Afterwards invades it 310 Langside Fight 220 Laodice Queen her Cruelty to her own Children 231 Largesses immoderate occasion Want 203 Lauderdale so called of the Town Lauder 13 Laurence Twine persuades Baliol to go for Scotland 284 Law about Succession to the Kingdom of Scotland 97 New Ones made 194 Confirmed 200 Whether profitable to the Publick or not 196 197 Law too severe to confiscate the whole Estates of Condemned Persons without any Allowance to their innocent Wife and Children 113 Laws against Theft 282 Laws about Hunting their Authors see Hunting Laws Laws in Scotland few besides Decrees of the Estates 59 Laxa Isle 30 Lead White and Black found in Pomona 35 Legat a counterfeit Roman one 387 Leith River 13 Leland quoted 61 Lenity over-much brings Contempt 381 385 392 Lennox or Levin so called from the River Levin 140 Lent observed on a politick Account only 170 Leon Strozy Admiral of the French Gallies in Scotland
the Picts w Wherein Angusianus was slain But 〈◊〉 Murderd afterwards by two Picts inbornâ—d by 〈◊〉 * Maximus a Roman General in Britain z Roman◠〈◊〉 Picts 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 a 〈…〉 by Maximus and Eugenius slain b Maximus at first using his Victory moderately yet afterwards at the instigation of the Picts c He banisht the Scots out of all Britain upon pain of Death and give away their Lands a The Eâ—iled Scots endeavouring to recover their Country are worsted by their Enemies b And forced to make Peace with the Râ—mans b And forced to make Peace with the Râ—mans Which they obtain from Maximus on moderate Conditions d Victorinus sent from Rome to Govern Britain e Who incensed the Picts by his Tyrannick Government over them f The Picts repent of their Conjunction with the Romans to Root out the Scots and also of the Persecution of the Monks being of the same Reâ—â—gion with themselves g They send to recal Fergus a Scottish Exile from Scandia to take the Regal Government upon him h The Scots and Picts unite against the Romans then brought low by their own Civil Dissensions * A Parchment Chronicle of Scotish Affairs written by the Monks of the Abby of Pasley a Town and Abby situate not far from Glascom in the Baâ—ony of Renfrew called from its Cover The Black Book * Fergus prepares for War * The Brittons send for Aid to the Romans and receive one Legion * Who repulsed their Enemies and return * The Brittons receive another Auxiliary Legion of the Romans under Maximianus * Dionethus a Britton * Maximianus overcomes Fergus King of Scots 〈◊〉 King of Picts and Dionethus * The Two Fergus's compared * The Roman Legion leaves Britanny to maintain their Empire at home * Graham's Dike a The 〈…〉 by the 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 of the Râ—mans b A Peace made betwixt the Scots and Picts of the one part and the Brittons on the other * Tithes for Ecclesiasticks * Peace sometimes more dangerous than War * Famine the forest of Evils c New occasions of Dissention between the Scots and Brittons d Whereupon the Brittons Arm. Tho dâ—ssuaded therefâ—om by Conanâ—s their Countrymâ—n f Who is 〈…〉 g A terrible Fight between the Scots and the Picts and the Brittons h Wherein the Brittons are overthrown i And have 〈◊〉 Conditions of Peace imposed on them k The Brittons make Constantine King who was soon after slâ—in by Vâ—rtigern * Luxury the usual Companion of Peace l Vortigern having slain Constantine's Heir makes himself King of the Brittons m He sends for Aid to Hengist the Saxon by whose help he repels the Scots Picts * The Character of King Eugenius * Dongard an opposer of the Pelagian Heresy n Pope Celestine sends Paâ—ladius and other Learned Monks into Scotland * Or St. Mungo o Palladius first institutes Bishops in Scotland which before was governed by Monks with less splendor but more Piety * Vortigern deposed and Vortimer made King of the Brittons who concludes a Peace with the Scotâ— Picts p Constantineâ— wicked Reign q And violent Death r Scots and Brittons unite against Picts and Saxons * Aurelius Ambrosius in Britain s Merlin and Gildaâ— When they lived with a Comparison between Them the Formerâ— counteâ— an Impostor the Laâ—er a 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 * Gildas his Prophecies not Genuine * Gildas his Death at Glastonbury in England * Informers found dangerous by Experience a Goranus persuades Lothus King of the Picts and Vter King of the Brittons to join with the Scots and break with the Saxons b By the joint Confederacy of those three Kings the Saxons are worked c The Story of Vter and of Arthur his Son Kings of the Brittons c Arthur takes London and York from the Saxons d The Licentious rather than Religious Observation of the Day of Christ's supposed Nativity called Iuletide The Scots Picts and Brittons overthrow the Saxons g And at last drive them out of a great part of Britain h Competitorship between Modredus and Constantine for the Kingdom after 〈◊〉 Death i Arthur's Character k The People by the Instigation of Donald of Athol Murder Toncetus and after that the King Goranus himself l A Prince's example hath a greater influence on his Subjectâ— than his Laws m Columbas's great Authority * War betwixt Scots and Picts * A Fight between the Saxons Scots and Brittons wherein the Brittâ—ns are overthrown a The Scots and Britons overthrow the Saxons * Columb's wonderful Narration of a Victory at a very great distance from him * Ethelfrid routs the Scots being shatter'd afore * Columb's Death b Austin the Monk comes into Britain rather to promote the Ceremonies and Domination of Pope Gregory than to Preach the true Doctrine of the Gospel * A dispute raised about the Observation of Easter-day c Eugenius harbors the fugitive Saxons d Ferchard endeavours to turn limited Monarchy into Tyranny for which he is imprisoned and there lays violent hands on himself e Northumberland divided into two Kingdoms i. e. the Deiri Inhabiting on this side Tine and the Bâ—rnici Inhabiting beyond Tine to Tweed f Apostacy justly punish'd g King Donald repeats and interprets Pious Sermons to his Subjects himself Ferchard's wicked Life and Repentance at his death * Scots Monks unjustly banished out of England * Maldvinus Strangled by his Wife for which Fact she is Burnt â—liâ—e a Egfrid King of Northumberland overthrown by the Scots and Picts b Two Kings very great Theologistâ— c Blood rained down from Heaven for 7 days c. d Amberkelethus slain e Eugenius like to suffer for the supposed Murther of his Queen f He first appoints the Acts of Kings to be Registred in Monasteries * A Town in the East part of Strachern near Fife g An Abby not far from Wigton in Galway * Donald a great Plunderer * Donaldus slain by Bugâ—nsus * Eugenius slain by his Nobles for his vitious Life h Fergus for his Adulteries slain by his Wife who to avoid punishment â—illâ— her Self * One Donald calls himself King of the Aebudae * Donald slain * War between the Scots and Irish. * Which is soon composed i Achaius the first of the Scots Kings that enters into a Friendship with France k Learned Men sent for out of Scotland by Charâ—es the Great as Iohannes Scotus c. * Who Preach the Doctrine of Christiâ—nity in Germany l A Battel between Athelstan of England and Hungus the Pict who was aided by the Scots l A Battel between Athelstan of England and Hungus the Pict who was aided by the Scots * Hungus his Visiâ—n upon his Prayeâ— to God * Athelstan overthrown and slain * 〈…〉 Andrew * Hungus's Death * Dongal drowned * Wars between the Scots and Picts * King Alpin overthrown in Battel by the Picts and slain * Kenneteus by a witty Invention engages his Nobles to make War upon the Picts * The
to revenge the Cardinal's Death 101 Lewis Isle 30 Many Whales taken there 32 Lewis XI espouses Margarite the King of Scots's Daughter 340 He lays the Foundation of Tyranny 434 Lewis de Galais Embassador from France to the Queen's Party 254 Liddisdale so called from the River Lidal 13 140 Liguria 11 Lilborn worsted by the Scots 306 Linga Isle 30 37 Lingaia Isle 39 Lindil Isle 29 Linlithgo 30 Lindsay's and Ogilby's Fight 373 The Lindsays prevail 374 Lismore Isle 25 Loch-Abyr 19 20 Loch-Aw 17 Loch-Brien 31 Loch-Earn ibid. Loch-Fin 17 Loch-Ger ibid. Loch-Long ibid. Loch-Lomund ibid. Loch-Loubrun 21 Loch-Louch 20 Loch-Maban 300 The Castle in it taken by the Scots 309 Loch-Ness 20 Whose Water never freezeth ibid. Loch-Ryan 14 Loch-Spey 140 Loch-Tee 20 Lochindores Castle 296 Locrine Son of Brute 42 Loegria an old Name for England ibid. Lollius Urbicus in Britain 113 London anciently called Augusta 89 Longay Isle 25 Lords of the Articles who 305 Lorn County 17 Lothian so called from Lothus King of the Picts 13 Lothus King of the Picts 13 He joins with the Scots against the Saxons 148 Complains that his Sons were deprived of the Kingdom of Britain ibid. He is commended ibid. Lox or Lossy River 20 Luctacus King of Scots a flagitious Person 111 He is slain ibid. Lud or Lloyd allows that by Prudania is meant Britain 2 He is refuted 71 72 73 77 78 79 80 Luing Isle 25 Lunga Isle 25 27 Luparia or Wolf Isle 25 Lupicianus in Britain 88 89 Luss River 14 Lusitania why Portugal so called as some say 47 Lust a Punishment to it self 186 Lutherans persecuted 63 67 91 Mackbeth's Son slain by Malcolm 215 Luxury accompanies Peace 143 M MAalmori Isle 26 Macalpine Laws 70 Macdonald rises in Arms but is overthrown and kils himself 207 208 Mackbeth King of Scots his Character 208 His Dream 210 211 He flies 214 Macdonald his cruel Fact to a Woman retaliated on himself 343 344 Macduff ill resents Mackbeth 212 He stirs up Malcolm against him ibid. Three Priviledges granted him by Malcolm 215 The first Earl of Fife 214 He complains against Baliol to Edward of England 250 Macklan executed by Douglas 384 Maenavia Isle 24 See Man Magistrates have Power over Mens Bodies but not over their Consciences 127 Magna or Megala Isle 29 Magnus his carousing Goblet â—4 Magnus King of Norwey seizes on the Islands 221 Makes Peace with the Scots 242 Magus Towns so ending 68 69 Maiatae who 26 Mainland see Pomona Main an English Commander against the Scots slain in Fight 3â—9 Main Son of Fergus 97 King of Scots 98 Makul a Criminal abstains from Food 236 Maldon not in Scotland 16 Maldwin King of Scots 160 A Plague in his Time over Europe ibid. He is strangled by his Wife 1â—â— Malgo a Britain ibid. Malcolm Fleming executed by the Douglasses 37â— Malcolm I. 18â— Sits in Courts of Iudgment himself ibid. He is slain ibid. Malcolm II. Competitor with Constantino for the Crown 197 Confirms the Law for Succession 2â—â— Overthrown by the Danes 2â—1 Afterwards overthrows them in several Battels 202 His Murderers drowned 2â—4 Malcolm III. brings in foreign Titles of Honour into Scotland 214 He recovers the Kingdom from Mackbeth ib. Quâ—ls Conspiracies made against him 215 217 His Vow to St. Andrew 218 He erects new Bishopricks and makes wholesome suâ—pâ—uary Laws ibid. Builds the Cathedrals of Durham and Dunfermling 219 Is slain by the English with his Son Edward ibid. His Queen and other Female Relations very pious 218 Malcolm IV. takes a Feâ—datary Oath to Henry of England 227 He accompanies him into France 229 Is despoiled by him of Part of his Patrimony in Englâ—nd ibid. Is persuaded by the Scots to marry but gives them a negative Answer 231 Man Isle its several Names 24 Marcelâ—inâ—â— quoted and corrected 56 Marble Stone on which the Scots Kings were crowned 171 Maâ—ble white Mountains of it in Sutherland 21 Marchetâ— Mulierum what the Scots call so 219 Margaritâ—â— or St. Margarite's Port 35 Margarite Creighton who 428 Margarite Queen of England delivers her Husband Edward by Force of Arms 397 She flies into Scotland and thence into France ibid. Margarite Sister to Edward of England Wife to Charles of Burgundy endeavours to raise Commotions in England 6 Margarite Daughter of Henry VII marries James IV. 14 The first Female Regent in Scotland 29 After her Husband's Death she marries Archibald Dougâ—as ibid. She flies with her Husband into England 34 But returns 37 Displeased with her Husband ibid. Persuades the Scots to break with the French 42 But opposed therein by the French Faction 43 Marianus Scotus 180 Mariners to offend them dangerous to Passengers 286 Marr and Mâ—arn Counties whence so called 19 170 Martha Countess of Carick falls in Love with Robert Bruce and marries him 247 Martiqâ—â—â— the Earl of it comes â—â—to Scotland with his 〈◊〉 148 Mary Wife of 〈◊〉 II. her manly Spirit 394 Mary of Guise Widow of the Duke of Longuevil marries James IV. 67 By degrees she dispossesseth the Regent 112 113 Takes upon her the Ensigns of the Government 113 114 Imposes new Taxes 117 Changes ancient Affability into Arrogance 127 Persecutes the Reformed and is perfidious 130 1â—1 Makâ—s a Truce with the Reformed 134 The Administration of the Government taken from her by Proclamation 139 She dies in the Castle of Edinburgh 146 Her Disposition and Character 147 Mary Queen of Scots born 71 Begins her Reign ibid. Henry of England desires her for his Son's Wife 75 She is sent into France 107 From whence that Kingâ— sends Letters desiring her a Wife for his Son 120 Embassadors sent thither for that purpose of which some die there 121 122 She marries the Dolphin 121 When Mary of England died she carried her self as the next Heir and assumed the Royal Arms of that Kingdom 127 When her Husband died she resolves to return into Scotland 151 Her subtil Answer to a cunning Cardinal 153 She lays the Foundation of Tyranny 196 Designs a Guard for her Body ibid. Her unbecoming Familiarity with David Rize 172 She marries Henry Stuart 175 She punishes David's Homicides 183 Her strange Proclamation about Rize's Death ibid. She brings forth James VI. ibid. She is willing by all means to be rid of her Husband 183 184 185 A joculary Process against her Husband's Murderers 193 She marries Bothwel 199 The French Embassador and the Scotish Nobles dislike her Marriage ibid. She frames an Association against the Nobles 204 And they Another against her 205 Earl of Murray leaves Scotland in Discontent ibid. Besieged with Bothwel at Borthwick and escapes in Man's Apparel 206 Surrenders her self Prisoner 209 210 Proved guilty of her Husband's Death by Letters 211 Hamilton designs her Deliverance 216 She escapes 218 Is overthrown by the Nobles and 〈◊〉 for England 221 She endeavours by Balfure to raise Tumults in Scotland 226 Designs to marry Howard of England 233 23â— Continued in the Lord Scroop's House 239
Head sent to the K. from Ireland The King reforms Publick Manners He also rectifies Weights and Measures His Queen brings forth Twins Doâ—glaâ— and Kennedy released from Prison He reforms the Ecclesiasticaâ— Estate Which was Wofully degenerated and corrupted He Erects Publick Schools and is present himself at their Disputations Parish Priests and Begging Friers the Causes of the Decay of Ecclesiastical Discipline with the Manner how King Iames aims to prefer only Worthy Persons to Benefices and Church Preferments He invites Tradesmen out of Flanders Luxury and Prodigality the trust of Idleness Robert and Murdo affect the Throne Murdo and his Sons put to Death The 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 and his Exploits Exceptions taken against Iames. A Castle standing upon the Tâ—ne 3 Miles below Hadington The Dispute between Robert's Legitimate and Natural Children occasion great Troubles The Earl of Athol's Ambition A Town of Normandy in France Plots against Iames. Upon the Account of Wardships c. Embassadors from France and England to Scotland The Scots joyn with the French against England Iames Marries his Daugâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 oâ— France and sends her thither A Stately City on the Lâ—â—r The English Writers imputing Perfidiousness to Iames are blamed by this Author and their Reflections upon him Wiped off In Champaign in France A Fight between the Sâ—â—ts and Engâ—ish Iames enters England but retires upon notice of a Conspiracy formed against him by his own Kindred K. Iames Cruelly Assassinated His Death highly lamented with his Laudable Character Earl of 〈◊〉 and other of Iames's Murderers Tortured and Executed Descants upon such severe Executions Marchâ—7 â—7 Alexander Levingston made Regent William Creigton made Chancellor Douglas labours to imbroil things The Râ—gent and Chancellor disâ—gree The Queen by Policie get the Kings Person out of the Chancellors Power * Situate below â—anton Bridge on the Ti ne in 〈◊〉 Lothian The Chancellor highly accused And besieged in Edinburgh Castle The Chancellor craves Aid of Douglas But receives an affronting Answer from him Whereupon he agrees with the Regent And sâ—rrenâ—ers up Edinburgh Castle September 29. Lying on the River 〈◊〉 in Cuningham Iuly 9. Deadly â—ewds The 〈◊〉 of Archibaâ—d Dougâ—as With the Profuseness of his young Heir * Or Lâ—ther a great and ancient Family in Lothian The Queen with her Husband Iames Stuart and others committed to Prison August 2. August 31. But she is Releast again The Aebudians ravage the Continent A Two years Pestilence in Scotland The Râ—gent and Câ—â—â—cellor again Disagree The Chancellor surprâ—zes the Kings Person The Regent being out-Witted by the Chancellor inwardly frets And Meditates a Reconciliation with him His Condescending Haâ—angue to the Chancellor A New Knot of Amity between the Regent and the Chancellor The Miseries of the Commons Occasioned Principally by the Earl of Douglas Where he and his Brother David were slain William Douglas Marries Beatrix his Uncles Daughter The high 〈◊〉 oâ— Thieves Dunbarton Castle twice surprized King Iames being of Age enters on the Government Douglas throws himself at the Kings Feet acknowledges his Offences is Pardoned and Received into Favour The Regent and Chancellor lay down their Offices Douglas by his Power at Court summons them to Appear They excusing themselves are declared publick Enemies * Oâ— Forester In Mid-Lothian two 〈◊〉 West of Edinburgh A Town on the River 〈◊〉 West-Lothian A Castle standing on a Rock lying near the Firth of Forâ—h above Abercorn Creighton late Chancelor defends himself by force Douglas incensed against Creighton's Friends The Clans of the Lindsys and Ogilbys Fight Ian. 24. The Lindsys prevail Iuly 15. Creighton received into Favour and is made Chancellor again Deadly Fewds betwixt particular Persons and Families An Abby in Lennâ—x A Castle standing upon Tine near Hardington Douglas attempts the Levingstons of whom Iames is put to Death c. Creighton sent Embassador to France The Bishop of Glasco frightned by a Voice from Heaven for his wicked Life which does him to Death Iames Kennedy retires from a Corrupt Court Dunbar E. of Murray Dies and Archibald Douglas succeed◠〈◊〉 A Barony â—â—ing on the 〈◊〉 Spey The immoderate Power of the Douglas's eâ—poses them to Envy The Miserable Estate of the Commons under Douglas Mutual Incursions betwixt the Scots and English Or Saâ—s The English overthrown by the Scots A Truce between the Scots and English Iames Married to Mary of Gelderland Colvil put to Death by Douglas Douglas goes vain-gloriously in a year oâ— Iubilee to Rome In his absence his Enemies sue him and 〈◊〉 Damages for wrongâ— received Which are answered out of his Estate Douglas at his return from Rome received into Favour And made Regent Douglas gives Iames new occasion of Suspicion Douglas design against Creighton's Life 〈◊〉 deâ—ends himself 〈…〉 Douglas joyns with Craford and Ross. He provokes the King In the Case of Herris And Macklan Douglas on safe Conduct comes to Court Where the King Stabs him with his own Hand Mâ—rch 27. Whereupon the rest of the 〈◊〉 rise in Arms. The Douglasâ—â— proclaimed publick Enemies Iames Douglas Marries his Brothers Wife A Famine and Pestilence in Scotland Douglas persuaded to a Reconciliation with the King Which he refuses Craford forsakes Douglas and is pardoned by the King Douglas applys to England for Aid but in vain Hâ—milton 〈◊〉 Douglas * Standing upon Nâ—â—th-Esk in Mid-Lâ—thiâ—n 4 Miles above Daâ—keith Iune 5. Douglas joyns with the Enlish and then with Donald the Islander Douglas's Wife forsakes him and 〈◊〉 to the King Lying on the River Spâ—â— So doth Donald's Wiâ—e too In Mid-Lothian Thornton put to death for Murder The death of Will. Creightoâ— A Party of English worâ—â—ed in Scotland Donald the Islander submits to the King The English Nobles crave Aid of Iames against Henry their King He marches to their Assistance but is diverted by a Counteâ—feit Leâ—at from Rome Iames takes Roxborough Town And besieges the Castle Where he is casually slain The Queen shews Herself a virago immediately after her Husbands Death Roxburgh Castle Surrendred and Demolisht Iames II. his Character Iames III. begins his Reign about 7 years of Age. Henry of Enggland taken Prisoner by the Duke of York York overthrown by the Queen So is Warwick The Queen overthrown and flies witâ— her Husband into Scotland Berwick surrendred to the Scots by King Henry Henry's Queen sues for Foreign Aid * Or Renny Which having obtained 〈◊〉 enters Scotland and England again Holy-Isle seven miles South-East of Berwick on the Coast of Northumberland Henry's Army overthrown at Hexham Alnwick Castle besieged and Douglas's gallantry in bringing off the Garison Henry of England taken Prisoner and his Queen 〈◊〉 Disputes in the Assembly of Estates about the Regency Which the Queen claimâ— But Kennedy and Douglas oppose A Truce for a Month betwixt the Parties The Commonalty dislike the Queens Regency The Queens Plea for the Regency Kennedys Grave and Prolix Oration in Answer thereunto Queen of Palmira a City in Syria now called Faid
The Parliament Graâ—ity neither Party fully but chuse Regents of which the Queens Friends are an equal Number with the rest A Truce with England for 1â— Years The Queen Mothers Death Intestine Commotions in Scotland By Alan of Loâ—n And Donald the Islander * Or Redshanks Donald takes the Earl of Athol Prisoner pillages and burns St. Brides Church He is Shipwrackâ—d and theâ—eupon falâ—s distrâ—cted Iames Kennedy his commendation The Boyds câ—eep into Favour at Court Alexander Boyd abuses Kennedy The Boyds carry the King to Edinburgh Whereupon the Kennedies depart from the Court Boyd's Sarcasm to Iohn Kennedy Kennedy's Death and Character * Patrick Graham Elected Bishop of St. Andrews in the room of Iames Kennedy and Confirmed by the Pope But the Boyds obstruct his Admission Scots Bishops freed from the Jurisdiction of the Arch-Bishop of York by the Popes Decree The Boyds strengthen their Faction and procure Pardon for their Misâ—aâ—iageâ— by Publick Instruments to which the King assents Robert Boyd made Regent Thomas Boyd Marries the Kings Eldest Sister The Greatness of the Boyds occasions their Ruin James by his Ambassadors desires Margarite Daughter of the King of Denmark for a Wife The King of Denmark resigns up the Orcades and Scheâ—land to the Scots as a Dowry Thomas Boyd sent Ambassador to bring the new Queen from Norwey The Boyds undermined in the absence of Thomas Robert Boyd flies into England Alexander Boyd Beheaded A Critical or Ambiguous Pardon Thomas Boyd declared a publick Enemy in his â—bsence Who thereupon retires into Burgundy King Iames Married to Margarite of Norwey * A Town on the River Irwyn in Cuningham Thomas Boyd's Wife divorced fâ—om him and Married to Iames Hamilton Boyd's Death Bishops anciently chosen by their Canons and Abbats by their Monks Bâ—t King Iames assumes the naming of 〈◊〉 to himseâ—â— Which Patrick Grahâ—m laboâ—rs to withstand But the Court-brokers â—ppose him The Story of William Sivez and his worming of Graham out of the Archbishopâ—ick of St. Andrews Patrick Graham Excommunicated and his Rents gathered into the Kings Exchequer Situate upon the Head of Monks-Moor Five Miles North of Falkland 〈…〉 of his Bâ—shoprick imprisoned till 〈◊〉 Death and hiâ— Adversary Sivez succeeds him A Town four Miles above Queens-Ferry in Fife Iohn the Islander rises in Arms but quickly submits himself Iames Kennedy built a vast Ship which is rifled by the English but upon a Peace made by Embassadors he receives satisfaction Embassadors to Charles of Burgundy who soon after was slain at Nants by the Switzers One Andrews an Astrologer and Physician foretels K. Iames's Death K. Iames degenerates into Tyranny Iohn the Kings Brotheâ— put to Death And Aâ—exander impriâ—oned But he makeâ— his Escape to Dunbar and then to France Dunbar Castle deserted and taken by the Scots Peace between the Scots and English wherein it was agreed That Cecily Edwards Daughter should Marry Iames's Young Son But the Peace is soon broken and an Army Marches into England * In Lauderdale Douglasses Oration to the Nobles in the Camp against the King's Evil Counsellors Cockran and the Rest of the Evil Counsellors dragg'd out by an Incensed Army to their Deaths Their Crimes Objected were Brass-Money Coyned Their Aliâ—nating the King's Heart from the Nobility with 〈◊〉 Incouraging of him in Magical Aâ—ts and Exciting him to Cruelty against his own Flesh and Blood The Scots Army disbanded An English Army under the Duke of Glocester and Alexander the Kings Brother enters Scotland The Sâ—ots Nobâ—â—â—ty raise an Army Yet mediate a Peace by their Agents Reparties between both Armies * Near Hadington in 〈◊〉 Lothian Alexander is reconciled to the King returns into his own Country and is made Regent Beâ—wick Castâ—e surrendered to the Engâ—ish The intended Marriage be Iames's Son and Edward's Daughter Null'd and the Dowry repaid Alexander disgusted condemned and flees to England Creighton condemned with the Reasons why Edward of England dies and his Brother Richard made first Protector and then King A Scuffle in Scotland On the North-side of Fife upon the Riveâ— Tay. A Truce between Richard of England and the Scots Richard of England 〈◊〉 and Henry the 7 th 〈◊〉 him Dunbar-Castle surrendred to the Scots A Truce between the English and Scots for 7 Years The Death of the Queen of Scots and of Alexander the King's Brother who left Two Sons behind them The King again addicts himself to Evil Counsellors Iohn Ramsy c. The King labours to cajole some of the Nobles by Honors He discovers his Design against the Nobles to Douglas Who dissuades him from such Cruelty The Nobles Arm against the King and chuse the Kings Son for their General A Temporary Agreement The Nobles insist on the Kings resigning of the Crown The King sends Embassadors for Foreign Aid A Battel between the King and the Nobles where the King is slain The Character of james III And of the Foreign Princes his Contemporaries Wood's Constancy to King Iames the 3 d. On the North-side of Forth 2 Miles below Sterlin Andrew Wood reconciled to K. Iames the 4 th He fights the English Fleet overthrows them Some of the Scots Nobility combine against the new King's Party But are overthrown * Off the Point of Fife The manner of the Fight between Andr. Wood and the English Admiral Wood's second Victory over the English A strange Monster K. Iames the 4 th his first Parliament ‖ A Castle lying 4 miles South off Fâ—râ—ar in Angus * The Commendation of Iames the 4 th His Clemency His sorrowful Resentment for his Fathers Death Peter Warbeck some call him Perkin comes into Scotland His Story * A Town in Flanders standing on the Bank of the Sâ—â—â—ld †A Gallo-Belgick People possessing 〈◊〉 Warbeck set up by Margaret Dutchess of Burgundy Warbeck's feigned Harangue of himself The Scots Council cajol'd by Warbeck K. Iames marries Katherine Gordon his Kinswoman to Warbeck and assists him with an Army against England K. Iames begins to smell out Warbeck's Cheat. Henry of England prepares an Army against Scotland An Insurrection in England prevents K. Henry's Design against Scotland at that time K. Iames invades England but to little purpose * In the Mers on the River Aye a mile above Aymouth An Embassador form Spain to England Who mediates a Peace between Scotland and England * The chief Town in Tividale standing on the West of the River Ied Warbeck dismist out of Scotland Taken and hanged in England A War like to arise on a small Occasion betwixt England Scotland but accommodated by Fox Bp. of Durham * Mulross in Tiviot-dale on a bare Promonâ—ory on Tweed side three Miles below its confluence with Gala. A Conference between King Iames and R. Fox Bp of Durham concerning the Marriage of King Henry's Daughter Margaret to Iames. Which took Effect A vast Ship built by King Iames. Wardship a Badg of Slavery Recognition what Wardship disused K. Iames's resolution 〈…〉 Ierusalem The execution of it