Peace with England it was no hard matter to make up such a Number of Men being only Voluntiers Iohn Earl of Buchan the Governours Son was made General of the Forces and many eminent Persons followed him but Archibald Earl of Wigton the Son of Archibald the Second Earl of Douglas was far more eminent than all the rest When they came into France they were sent by the Dolphin so they call the Eldest Son of the King of France into Turein a Country very plentiful in all sorts of Provision and near to the Enemy For the Duke of Clarence Brother to the King of England was then in France instead of the King himself and made great Havock of the Country of Anjou whose Inhabitants remained in their Obedience to the French King And it was thought he would have come as far as the Town of Beujeu This was done Two Days before Easter whereupon the Scots thinking that the General would cease from any Military Action those few days of that Feast as the custom is and apply himself to Ecclesiastical Duties or as others say presuming upon an Eight Days Truce which was made carried themselves more securely than otherwise they were wont to do The Duke of Clarence was informed thereof either by Andrew Fregose an Italian or else by some Scots Foragers whom his Horse had taken Prisoners and having gotten a fair opportunity for Action as he thought he rose up presently from Dinner and with his Horse only marched toward the Enemy he himself besides his other Gallant Furniture and Armour had a Royal Diadam on his Head beset with many Jewels Some few French who were quartered nearest the Enemy in a Village called Little Beaujou being terrified with his sudden coming fled into the Tower of a Church adjoyning whilst he was assaulting of these the Alarum was given to the rest of the Army and presently in great dismay they all cryed out To your Arms. The Earl of Buchan whilst the rest were sitting themselves sent out 30 Archers to take possession of a Bridge which was the only Passage over a Neighbour River There a Skirmish begun and Hugh Kennedy who quartered in a Church hard by came in to them with One hundred Men who in so sudden a Fright were but half-armed This Party with their Arrows hindred the Horse from passing over whereupon Clarence with the forwardest of his Men leapt from his Horse and maintained the Combat on foot so that in a Lusty Charge they repelled the Scots who were some unarmed and some but half-armed from the Bridge and this opened the Passage for his Men. In the mean time whilst Clarence was mounting his Horse and his Men were passing the narrow Bridge a few at a time the Earl of Buchan was at hand with 200 Horse who being very earnest to shew themselves on Both sides a sharp Fight began with equal courage and hatred For the Scots were glad that they had gotten an Opportunity to give the first Proof of their Valour and so to refute the Reproaches of the French who were wont to upbraid them as Men given more to Eating and Drinking than Fighting The like Reproach do the same French use to cast upon the Britains The Spaniards on the French and the Africans on the Spaniards On the other side the English took it in great disdain That they should be attack'd by such an implacable Enemy not only at home but even beyond the Seas and so they fought stoutly but none more fiercely than Clarence himself He was known by his Armour Iohn Swinton ran at him and with his Lance grievously wounded him in the Face and the Count of Buchan also smote him with a Truncheon and struck him from his Horse when he was fallen the English ran away and were slain in the pursuit even until night This Battel was fought the day before Easter when the days are short in cold Countries a little after the Vernal Equinox There fell of the English in the Fight above 2000 amongst which were 26 of eminent Rank Many Prisoners were taken of good Accompt in their own Country and especially some of the Dukes Allies Few of the Scots or French were lost and those of no great Note neither This is the most common report concerning the Death of Clarence but the Pluscarty Book says that he was slain by Alexander Maccasland a Knight of Lennox who took off the aforesaid Diadem from his Head and sold it to Iohn Stuart of Derneley for 1000 Angels of Gold and he again pawned it to Robert Huston to whom he owed 5000 Angels This he says was the Vulgar Opinion The chief Praise of this Victory was ascribed to the Scots neither could their greatest Detractors deny it Whereupon Charles the Dolphin created the Earl of Buchan Lord High Constable which is the highest Office in France next the King The rest of the Commanders had also Honours bestowed on them according to their Rank and Valour Whilst these Things were acted in France in the year 1420 Robert Governor of Scotland died the same year in the Third of the Nones of September and Fifteen years after the Death of King Robert the Third His Son Murdo succeeded in his place a Man of a sluggish disposition and scarce fit to govern his private Family much less the Common-wealth So that either by his Slothfulness or else his too much Indulgence he so spoiled his Children for he had Three that in a short time he brought both them and himself into great Calamity and at last Destruction This change of Domestick Affairs caused the Earls of Buchan and Wigton with many of their Kindred to return from France But Matters being soon setled at Home the Dolphin recalled the Earl of Buchan who with his Son in Law Archibald Iames his Son and the Flower of the Scotish Soldiers sailed into France leaving his other Son the Earl of Wigton behind him who being grievously sick could not follow him They landed with 5000 Soldiers at Rochel and so came to the Dolphin at Poâ—ctou where they were joyfully received and Douglas was made Duke of Turein When Henry of England heard of the Death of Clarence he substituted Iohn Earl of Bedford his other Brother in his place and sent him before into France with 4000 Horse and 10000 Foot He himself followed soon after and took with him Iames King of Scots in the Expedition thinking by that means either to insinuate himself with the Scots who fought against him in France or else to render them suspected to the French But he obtained neither of his Ends nor could he prevail with them at the desire of their own King so much as to return home and to be Newters and Spectators only of the War For addressing to all the Garisons held there by the Scots They made him one General Answer That they could not acknowledge him for their King who was under the Power of another Man
ridiculous and incredible things were Objected against him and amongst the rest this was One That he had said Mass Thrice in one Day whereas in that Age there was hardly a Bishop who did the same in Three Months Hereupon his Enemy being Judge and Witnesses being hired against him he was Ejected out of his Bishoprick And Sivez who carried the Decree to the Pope was made Bishop in his room Neither were his Enemies contented with this Mischief they had done him but perceiving that he bore all their Contumelies with much Greatness of Spirit They took order that he should be shut up in some desolate Monast'ry under Four Keepers Inch Colm was chosen to be the Place a Rock rather than an Island from whence Three Years after he was remov'd to Dunferlin for fear of the English Fleet betwixt whom and the Scots a War had then broke forth and from thence he was again carried to the Castle which lies in Loch Leven where being worn out with Age and Miseries he departed this Life He was a Man guilty of no known Vice and in Learning and Virtue inferior to none of his Age. The other Good Men being terrify'd by his Calamity and perceiving no hopes of any Church-Reformation went all about their own private Affairs In the Court Church-Preferments were either Sold or else given away to Flatterers and Panders as a Reward for their filthy Service Tho' these things were acted at several times yet I have put them altogether in my Discourse that so the Thread of my History might not be too often interrupted and also that by one memorable Example we might have an entire View of the Miseries of those Times For one may easily imagin how vitious the ordinary sort of Men were seeing a Man that was so Eminent for all kind of Virtue and besides had the Advantage to be Allyed to the King and to many Noble Families besides was by a few Scoundrels of the Lowest-sort expos'd to the Reproach and Cruelty of his Enemies But to return to the other Occurrences of those Times In the Year 1476. there was a Publick Decree made against Iohn Lord of the Islands who had seiz'd upon some Provinces and had done great spoil on the Maritime Coasts insomuch that the King resolv'd to march against him by Land and Commanded the Earl of Craford his Admiral to meet him by Sea Hereupon Iohn perceiving that he was too weak to withstand such great Preparations by the Advice of the Earl of Athole the King's Uncle came in an Humble manner to Court and surrendred up himself to the King's Mercy The Provinces which he had forcibly enter'd upon were taken from him as Ross Kintire Cnapdale but the Command of the Islands was still permitted to him The same Year the Controversie with the English which was just about to break forth into a War was ended and decided The Occasion was this Iames Kennedy had built a Ship the biggest that ever Sailed on the Ocean at that time She being at Sea was by a Tempest cast upon the English Shore and her Lading rifled by the English Restitution was often sought for but in vain This bred a disgust betwixt the Nations for some Years at last the English sent Embassadors into Scotland The Chief of which were the Bishop of Durham and Scroop a Nobleman by whom Edward having been tost by the Inconstancy of Fortune and his Exchequer drain'd by continual Wars desir'd a Pacification which was easily renew'd upon Condition That the value of the Ship rifled and its Lading might be estimated by indifferent Persons and just Satisfaction made The same Year Embassadors were sent to Charles Duke of Burgundy in behalf of the Merchants who were disturb'd in their Trades When they came into Flanders they were Honourably receiv'd by him But one Andrews a Physician and a great Astrologer too being occasionally invited by them to Supper understanding the Cause of their coming took them aside and told them That they should not make too much haste in their Embassy for in a very few Days they should hear other News of the Duke And accordingly his Prediction was fulfilled for within Three Days after his Army was overthrown by the Switzers at the City of Nants in Lorain where he was slain Hereupon the Embassadors return'd without effecting their Business and when they came to the King and told him how highly skilled that Andrews was in Predicting Things to come they persuaded him who of himself was inclinable to those Arts to send for the Man upon promises of a good Reward and accordingly he came was well receiv'd and gratify'd with a rich Parsonage and other Boons He as 't is reported told the King That he should speedily be Destroy'd by his own Subjects and that Speech agreed with the Vaticinations of some wizardly Women to which the King was immoderately addicted who had Prophecy'd That a Lyon should be killed by his Whelps Hereupon from a Prince at first of great Ingenuity and good Hopes and as yet not wholly depraved he degenerated into a fierce and cruel Tyrant for when his Mind had entertain'd and was stuft with Suspicions he accounted even his nearest Kindred and all the Best of the Nobility as his Enemies and the Nobles were also disgusted at him partly by reason of his Familiarity with that Rascally sort of People but chiefly because he slighted the Nobility and chose mean Persons to be his Counsellors and Advisers The Chief of them were Thomas Preston One of a good Family but who was resolv'd to humor the King in all things Robert Cockrain a Man endued with great strength of Body and equal Audacity of Mind he came to be known by the King by a Duel which he fought with another and presently of a Tradesman was made a Courtier and that in a fair way of rising to some greater Advancement for having perform'd some lighter Matters intrusted to him with Diligence and also applying himself to the King's Humor he was soon admitted to advise concerning the Grand Affairs of the Kingdom insomuch that Preston chose him out to be his Son-in-law The Third was William Rogers an English Singing Man or Musician who coming into Scotland with the English Embassadors after the King had heard him once or twice in a cast of his Offence he was so taken with him That he would not suffer him to return but advanced him to wealth and honour soon after making him a Knight The rest of his Intimates were the most despicable sort of the meanest Tradesmen who were only known by their Improbity and Audaciousness Whereupon the Nobility had a Meeting wherein the Kings Brothers were the Chief to purge the Court from this sort of Cattle and some notice of it being divulg'd abroad Iohn the Youngest of the Brothers more unwary than the rest speaking a little too boldly and rashly concerning the State of the Kingdom was seiz'd upon by the
Ambassadors were presently sent into France Cardinal David Beton and Robert Maxwel to bring over Mary of the House of Guise Widow to the Duke of Longoville for the King presaging the Loss of his Wife had cast his Eye upon her This same Year the Earl of Bothwel because he had past over secretly into England and also had held private Cabals with the English in Scotland was banish'd out of England Scotland and France Moreover about the same time many Persons were accused and condemned for high Treason Iohn Forbes an active young Man the Head of a great Family and Faction was brought to his end it was thought by the Emulation of the Hâ—ntly's for there was one Straughan a Man fit for any flagitious Enterprize who was many Years very familiar with Forbes and was either privy to or else Partaker or Author of all his bad Actions He being not as much respected by him as he thought he deserv'd deserted him and apply'd himself to his Enemy Huntly and before him accused Forbes of Treason or as many think he there plotted the Accusation with Huntly himself against him viz. That Forbes many Years before had a Design to kill the King The Crime was not sufficiently prov'd against him nor by fit and unexceptionable Witnesses neither was the Plot of his Adversaries the Huntlys against his Life hid in the Process yet on the 14 th of Iuly the Judges who were most of Huntly's Faction condemn'd him and he had his Head struck off His Punishment was the less lamented because though Men believed him guiltless as to the Crime he suffered for yet they counted him worthy of Death for the Flagitiousness of his former Life Straughan the Discoverer because he had concealed so foul an Offence so long was banish'd Scotland and liv'd many Years after in France so deboistly and filthily that Men thought him a fit Instrument for any wicked Prank whatsoever The King not long after as if he had repented of his Severity against Forbes took another Brother of the Forbes's into his Family and another he advanced to a rich Match restoring to them their Estate which had been confiscate A few Days after there was another Trial which on the account of the Family of the accused Parties the Novelty of the Wickedness charged on them and the heinousness of the Punishment was very lamentable Ioan Douglas Sister to the Earl of Angus and Wife to Iohn Lyons Lord of Glames also her Son and later Husband Gilespy Cambel Iohn Lyons Kinsman to her former Husband and an old Priest were accused for endeavouring to poison the King All these tho they lived continually in the Country far from Court and their Friends and Servants could not be brought to witness any thing against them yet were put on the Rack to make them confess and so were condemn'd and shut up in Edinburgh-Castle The fifth day after Forbes was executed Ioan Douglas was burnt alive with the great Commiseration of all the Spectators The Nobleness both of her self and Husband did much affect the Beholders besides she was in the vigour of her Youth much commended for her rare Beauty and in her very Punishment she shewed a manlike Fortitude But that which People were most concern'd for was That they thought the Enmity against her Brother who was banish'd did her more prejudice than her own objected Crime Her Husband endeavoured to escape out of the Castle of Edinburgh but the Rope being too short to let him down to the Foot of the Rock he brake almost all the Bones of his Body in the Fall and so ended his Days Their Son a young Man and of greater innocent Simplicity than to have the Suspicion of such a Wickedness justly charged upon him was shut up Prisoner in the Castle and after the King's Death was released and recovered the Estate which had been taken away from his Parents Their Accuser was William Lyons he afterwards perceiving that so eminent a Family was like to be ruined by his false Information repented when it was too late and confess'd his Offence to the King and yet he could not prevail to prevent the Punishment of the Condemned or to hinder their Estates from being confiscate The next Year following on the 12 th of Iune Mary of the House of Guise arrived at Balcomy a Castle belonging to Iames Laird of Lermont from whence she was conveyed by Land to St. Andrews and there in a great Assembly of the Nobility she was married to the King In the beginning of the Year following which was 1539 many Persons were apprehended as suspected of Lutheranism And about the End of February five were burnt nine recanted but many more were banish'd amongst the Sufferers of this Class was George Buchanan who when his Keepers were asleep made his Escape out of the Window of the Prison to which he was committed This Year the Queen brought forth a Son at St. Andrews and the next Year another in the same Place Also this Year and the former Matters were rather somewhat hushed than fully composed some Men wanting rather a Leader than an Occasion to rebel For tho many desired it yet no Man durst openly avow himself Head of any Insurrection And now the King having Heirs to succeed him and thereby becoming more confident of his Settledness and Establishment began to slight the Nobility as a sluggish and unwarlike Generation and not likely to attempt any thing against him whose Family was now rivetted and confirmed by Issue-Male So that he applied his Mind to sumptuous and unnecessary Buildings he stood in need of Mony for that Work and in regard he was as Covetous as he was Indigent both Factions of Nobles and Priests were equally afraid and each of them indeavoured to avert the Tempest from falling upon them that it might light on the Other And therefore whenever the King complain'd of the Lowness of his Exchequer amongst his Friends One Party would extol the Riches of the Other as if it were a Prey ready for the Seisure and the King hearkned sometimes to the One and sometimes to the Other and so kept both in Suspence between hope and fear So that when Ambassadors came at that time out of England to Court to desire the King to give his Uncle a Meeting at York promising some mighty Advantages by that Interview and making a large Harangue concerning the Love and Good-will of their King towards him The Faction which was adverse to the Priests persuaded him by all means to meet at the Time and Place appointed When the Sacerdotal Party heard of this they thought their Order would be quite undone if they did not hinder the Meeting and so disturb the Concord by casting in Seeds of Discord betwixt the King and his Nobles And considering of all ways how to effect it no Remedy seemed more ready at hand for the present Malady than to attempt the King's Mind which
which Party was strongest and so were inclin'd to side with the most Powerful Their Faction was thought to be the strongest who either consented to the Murder or when the thing was done in obsequiousness to the Queen subscrib'd to that sceleratious Fact The chief of them came in to Hamilton and being very strong would receive neither Letters nor Messengers from the contrary Party in order to a Settlement neither did they spare to reproach them with all kind of calumniating Language and they were so much the more inrag'd because the greatest part of the Nobles who respected rather the Blasts of Fortune than the Equity of the Cause did not come in to the Vindicators for they that were not against them they concluded were for them Moreover they esteem'd it a piece of Vain-Glory that the Vindicators should enter before them into the Metropolis of the Kingdom and from thence send for them who were the greater Number and more powerful The other Party though they had not imperiously commanded them but only humbly desir'd yet to prescinde any Shew of imputable Arrogance they prevail'd with the Ministers of the Churches to write jointly to them all and severally to each in particular That in so dangerous a time they should not be wanting to the Publick Peace but setting aside private Animosities they should consult What was most expedient for the Publick Good These Letters did no more Good with the contrary Faction than Those of the Nobles before they all making the same Excuses as if it had been so agreed purposely between them Afterwards the Queen's Faction met together in diverse Places and finding no means to accomplish their Designs they all slipp'd off and dispers'd several ways In the Interim the Vindicators of the publick Parricide dealt with the Queen whom they could not separate from the Concerns of the Murderers to resign up her Government upon pretence of Sickness or any other specious Allegation and to commit the Care of her Son and the Administration of Publick Affairs to which of the Nobles she pleas'd At last with much ado she appointed as Governours to the Child Iames Earl of Murray if upon his Return home he did not refuse the Charge Iames Duke of Castle-herault Matthew Earl of Lennox Gilespy Earl of Argyle Iohn Earl of Athol Iames Earl of Morton Alexander Earl of Glencarn and Iohn Earl of Marr. Moreover they sent Proxies to see the King plac'd in his Royal Throne and so to enter on the Government either at Sterlin or any other Place if they thought fit These things were acted Iuly the 25 th in the Year of our Lord 1567. A little before Iames Earl of Murray hearing how Matters went at home returned through France and was pretty nobly entertain'd at Court yet so that Hamilton whose Faction the Guises knew were more intimately affected towards them was far better receiv'd which was occasion'd chiefly by the Guises who were averse to all Murray's Designs After he was dismiss'd the Archbishop of Glasgow who called himself the Queen of Scots Embassador told the Court That Iames though absent yet was the Chief of the Faction and as in former times all things were acted by his Influence so now he was sent for as an Head to the Body of them Hereupon some were sent after to bring him back but he being forewarned by his Friends had set Sail from the Haven of Deip where he was before the King's Letters came and arriving in England was honourably entertain'd by all Orders of Men and so sent home There he was receiv'd with the high Gratulation and Joy of all the People especially of the Vindicators and they all earnestly desir'd him to undertake the Government whilst the King his Sister's Son was yet a Child for he alone was able to manage that great Trust with the least Envy because of his Propinquity in Blood his known Valour in many Dangers his great Popularity grounded on his Deserts and moreover the Queen desir'd it too He tho knowing what they had spoke was true yet desir'd a few Days of Deliberation before he gave in his Answer In the mean time he writes earnestly to the Heads of the other Faction and chiefly to Argyle as being his Kinsman and one whom by reason of ancient Acquaintance he was loth to offend he told him in what posture things were and what the Infant-King's Party did desire of him and therefore he intreated him by their Nearness of Blood by their ancient Friendship and by the common Safety of their Country that he would give him opportunity to speak with him that so by his Assistance himself and their Country might be deliver'd out of the present Difficulties He also wrote to the rest according to every ones Place and Interest and in general he desir'd of them all that seeing Matters were in such Confusion there was no likelihood of a Settlement without a chief Magistrate That they should all agree to meet together as soon as might be in a Place they should judg most convenient and so by common Consent to settle Matters At length being not able to obtain a Meeting from the One Faction nor any longer delay of a Convention from the Other with the unanimous Consent of all there present he was elected REGENT IAMES the VIth the CVIIIth King ON the 29 th of August after an excellent Sermon made by Iohn Knox Iames the Sixth of that Name began his Reign Iames Earl of Morton and Alexander Hume took the Oath for him that he would observe the Laws they also promised in his Name that he would observe that Doctrine and those Rites of Religion which were then publickly taught and practised and oppose the contrary A few days after Hamilton's Partisans murmured That a few Persons and those none of the powerfullest neither had without their Consent and contrary to their Expectation grasp'd all things into their own Hands When they had tried all the Nobility one by one they found few of their Opinion besides those who first came in to them for many were rather Spectators than Actors of what was done At length they wrote to the Royalists That Argyle was ready to give a Meeting to confer with the Earl of Murray These Letters being directed to the Earl of Murray without any other Title of Honour were by the Council's Advice rejected and the Messenger dismissed in effect without an Answer But Argyle knowing what had offended in superscribing his Letters and trusting to the Faithfulness of the Regent with a few of the chief of his Faction came to Edinburgh where having receiv'd Satisfaction That 't was not out of any slighting of those Nobles that were absent but mere Necessity so requiring that had caused them to make such haste in setling a chief Magistrate A few Days after he came to the publick Convention of the Estates The Nineteenth BOOK WHEN the King was set up and the Power of the Regent almost
II. 306 His Duel with Henry Percy 316 Is slain fighting valiantly 318 His three last dying Requests ibid. James Douglas made Earl when William Douglas his Father was slain 386 He accuses the King and Nobles of Perfidiousness ibid. Proclaimed a publick Enemy 387 Marries Beatrix his Brother's Widow 388 Persuaded to a Reconciliation with the King which he refuses ibid. Being forsaken by his Friends he applies to England for Aid 389 And to Donald the Islander 390 Forsaken by his Wife ibid. James Douglas Earl of Morton and Alexander Hume take the Coronation-Oath for King James VI. in his Minority 214 He provides for the Common-wealth at his private Charge 215 Commands the King's Army against the Queen 220 Goes into England with the Regent 224 Sent Embassador into England 261 His Cheerfulness to encounter the Enemy 278 Taken Prisoner and then takes him Prisoner whose Captive he was before 282 James Haliburton taken Prisoner 281 James Hamilton Earl of Arran Admiral of a Navy under James IV. 16 He plunders Knockfergus in Ireland ibid. At last sails for France 17 Is chosen Regent 75 Opposes Archibald Douglas after his Return from France 39 Highly disgusted by King James V. 65 Compelled to change his Opinion concerning the Controverted Points of Religion 79 80 His shameful Flight Vanity and Inconstancy 84 86 Remiss in the Case of George Wiseheart 111 Corrupted by Avarice 112 Put from his Regency and made Duke of Chastle-herault 113 114 James Hamilton returns from France 229 Endeavours to engage Queen Elizabeth of England to make him Regent ibid. But without Success 232 He submits to the Regent 234 James Hamilton Son of the Archbishop of St. Andrews's Sister treacherously shoots Murray and kils him 245 246 James Hamilton a Bastard Brother to the Earl of Arran chosen Iudg against the Lutherans 68 He is tried condemned and executed 69 James Hepburn Earl of Bothwel committed to Prison 163 164 But escapes 167 Banished 66 A Rival to the Earl of Lennox 80 Called out of France by the Queen 171 172 Endeavours to supplant Murray 163 Divorced from his former Wife 198 Procures a Schedule from the Nobility about his Marriage with the Queen 196 Surprizes and marries the Queen 199 Outlawed 173 Accused of the King's Murder 194 His Mock-Trial 173 193 195 Wounded by an High-way Pad 184 Designs to destroy Murray 192 His Challenge answered 209 He flies 210 And dies distracted in Denmark 215 James Kennedy Archbishop an Adversary to the Douglasses 373 Retires from a corrupt Court 376 Disallows the Faction of the Queen-Mother 399 His Oration that Women ought not to govern 401 c. His Praise Death and Character 409 410 James Kennedy builds a vast Ship 420 James Levingston put to Death by the Douglassian Faction 375 376 Lindsy's Obstinacy in following his Enemies 319 James Macgil sent with others Embassador into England 224 261 James Macintosh unjustly put to Death 160 James the Son of Murdo burns Dumbarton 339 James Earl of Murray appointed Vicegerent 60 Settles the Borders 57 Sent into France 63 James Earl of Murray refuses to associate with the Queen and Bothwel 204 But chuses rather to leave the Land 205 He returns from Travel and is made Regent 213 His resolute Speech 217 He meets the Queen of England's Embassadors at York 224 Waylayed by his Enemies in his Iourny ibid. Goes to London 226 Where he manages the Accusation against the Queen 227 Whence honourably dismiss'd and his Transactions there approved in Scotland 233 He is deserted by his Friends 243 Too câ—â—eless of himself 245 Killed by one of the Hamiltons 246 His laudable Character 246 247 James Murray offers to encounter Bothwel hand to hand 209 James Sandiland Embassador from Scotland to France 150 James Sandiland sent against the Thieves 59 Carries Propositions from the Reformers to the Queen Regent 125 James Stuart marries Joan the Widow of James I. 364 Is banished 375 James Stuart the Queen's Brother puts the English to a Retreat 108 Hath threatning Letters sent him by the Queen 130 An Actor in reforming Religion 131 Made Earl of Marr and Murray 161 Iceni and Icium 10 Icolumbkil 26 Idleness the Source of Mischief 345 Idlers Isle or of the Otiosi 25 Ierna i. e. Ireland 69 Jews imitated by the Romanists 381 Issurt or Issert Isle 30 Igerne vitiated by Uter yet he afterwards marries her 149 Ignis Fatuus what 264 Ila Isle see Yla Ilan na Covihaslop 26 Images demolished at Perth 128 Immersi Isle 26 Impostors notorious ones 393 6 7 c. 58 Indigenae who 42 50 Indulfus King of Scots 181 Casually slain by the Danes 182 Indulgence over-much to Children punished 337 Informers though sometimes allowed yet dangerous Instruments in a State 148 Inhumanity to Prisoners 297 Innerlochy 20 Innerness 20 Interregnum in Scotland after Alexander the IIId's Death 245 Inundation of the River Tay at Perth 236 And great Ones in Lothian 305 John Annins writes the Original of the Brittons in Verse 42 Johannes Scotus sent for by Charles the Great 165 Johns or Jeans Isle 26 John Baliol his Genealogy 246 247 248 More solicitous for a Kingdom than a Good Name 250 Made King and surrenders himself and Kingdom to the King of England ibid. He confesses his Fault for so doing 251 Disgusts Edward of England 252 Overthrown by Edward made Prisoner and released 251 252 253 John King of England meditates a War against Scotland 235 Makes divers Leagues with the Scots 236 Enters Scotland 237 The Pope's Beneficiary ibid. Poisoned by a Monk 238 John Son of Alexander Brother to James III. Duke of Albany declared Regent when in France 31 He arrives in Scotland 32 Gets the Queen Mother into his Power 34 Goes into France appointing Governours in his Absence 37 Returns to Scotland 39 Raises an Army against England but makes a Truce 40 41 Goes again into France whence he returns with a great Navy 41 42 Marches into England and assaults Werk-Castle 45 Goes the third time into France and his Power is vacated in his Absence 46 John Erskin sent Embassador into France 63 Of the Queen's Faction 105 Made Governour of Edinburgh Castle 115 Sent Embassador into France 121 John Brother to King James III. put to death 421 John Erskin favours the Reformation 126 Afraid of the Queen Regent 128 Beats the Rebels out of Sterlin 282 Chosen Regent 283 Straitens Edinburgh 286 John Armstrong Captain of Thieves executed 57 John Earl of Athol marries Beatrix Douglas 301 He his Wife taken Prisoners by Donald 408 John Earl of Buchan aids the French King's Son 334 Made Lord High Constable of France 335 Slain there by the English 336 John Cumins marches into England and wasts Northumberland 253 His Treachery against Robert Bruce 2â—0 Which cost him his Life ibid. John Earl of Carick base Son to Robert II. 307 John Cockburn of Ormiston wounded and taken by Bothwel 140 John Cuningham imployed in surprizing Dumbarton-Castle 263 John Earl Douglas's Brother made Baron of
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
Daughters The Eldest Named Margarite Married Alan of Galway a Man very powerful amongst the Scots The Second was matched to Robert Bruce Sirnamed the Noble of High English Descent and of a large Estate The Third was Married to Henry Hastings an Englishman also whose Posterity do deservedly enjoy the Earldom of Huntington at this day But to let him pass because he never put in for the Kingdom I shall confine my Discourse to the Stock Cause and Ancestry of Baliol and Bruce only Whilst William was King of Scotland Fergus Prince of Galway left Two Sons Gilbert and Ethred William to prevent the Seeds of Discord betwixt the Two Brothers divided their Fathers Inheritance equally betwixt them Gilbert the Eldest took this highly amiss and thereupon conceived an Hatred against his Brother as his Rival and against the King too for his unequal Distribution Thereupon when the King was Prisoner in England being then freed from fear of the Law he discovered his long-concealed Hatred against them both As for his Brother he took him unawares pulled out his Eyes cut out his Tongue and so not content with a single Death he put him to grievous and excessive Tortures before he dyed and he himself joyned with the English and preyed upon his Neighbors and Country-men as if they had been in an Enemies Country for he wasted all with Fire and Sword And except Rolland the Son of Ethred had gathered a Band of Countrymen who remained firm to the King together to resist his Attempts he had either wasted the neighbour Countries or drawn them all over to his Party This Rolland was a forward young Man of great Abilities both of Body and Mind he not only abated the Fury of his Uncle but many times fought valiantly and sometimes successfully with the English as he met them whilst he repressed their Plunderings or as he himself spoiled their Lands At last when the King was restored Gilbert by the Mediation of his Friends got a Pardon upon promise of a sum of Money for the Wrongs he had done and giving Pledges to that purpose But Gilbert dying a few days after those who were accustomed to Blood and Prey under him and who had given up themselves into the Protection of the King of England either out of the Inconstancy of their Dispositions or for fear of Punishment being stirr'd on by Gripes from an accusing Conscience for what they had formerly done took up Arms again under the Command of Gilpatrick Henry Kennedy and Samuel who before had been the Assistors and Companions to Gilbert in his Wickedness Rolland was sent with an Army against them and after a great Fight he slew their chief Leaders and a great Part of the common Soldiers They who escaped fled to one Gilcolumb a Captain of the Freebooters and Robbers who had made a great spoil in Lothian and much endamaged the Nobles and Richer sort of whom also he killed some Thence marching into Galway he undertook Gilbert's Cause when all others looked upon it as desperate He not only claimed his Lands as his Own but carried himself as the Lord of all Galway At last Rolland fought with him in the Calends of October about Three Months after Gilbert's Forces were defeated and slew him with the greatest part of his Army with very little loss of his own side amongst the slain there was found his own Brother a stout young Man The English being troubled at the overthrow of these Men who had put themselves under their Protection the Year before march'd with an Army to Carlisle thither also came Rolland being Reconciled to the King of England by the Mediation of William where he refuted the Calumnies of his Enemies and shewed That he had done nothing Maliciously or Causelesly against his own and the Publicks Enemy upon which he was honourably dismissed by the King William also returned home and calling to Mind the Constancy of his Father Ethred and how many Noble Exploits he had performed for the Good of the Publick he gave him all Galway And besides he bestowed Carrick on the Son of Gilbert though his Father had not deserved so well of him William of Newberry the English Writer Records these things as done Anno 1183. Rolland took to Wife the Sister of William Morvill who was Lord High Constable in Scotland who dying without Issue Rolland enjoyed that Office as Hereditary to him and his Family He had a Son called Alan who for his Assistance afforded to Iohn King of England in his Irish War was rewarded by him with large Possessions on which accompt by the permission of William of Scotland he was a Feudatary to the English King and swore Fealty to him This Alan took to Wife Margarite the Eldest Daughter of David Earl of Huntington By her he had Three Daughters the Eldest Dornadilla he Married to Iohn Baliol who was King of Scotland for some years But Robert Bruce Married Isabella Davids Second Daughter he came to be Earl of Carrick upon this Occasion Martha Countess of Carrick being Marriageable and the only Heiress of her Father who died in the Holy War as she was a Hunting cast her Eye on Robert Bruce the Beautifullest Young Man of all her Train whereupon she Courteously invited him and in a manner compelled him into her Castle which was near at Hand Being come thither his Age Beauty Kindred and Manners easily procuring mutual Love they were quickly Married in a private way When the King was informed thereof he was much offended with them Both because the Right of bestowing the Lady in Marriage lay in him yet by the Mediation of Friends he was afterwards Reconciled to them Out of this Marriage Robert Bruce was Born who afterwards was King of Scotland Thus having enlarged my self in this Prologue I come now to the Matter in Hand and to the Competitors of the Kingdom They were Dornadilla the Grand-child of David of Huntingdon by his Eldest Daughter and Robert Bruce Earl of Carrick Grand-son of the said David by his youngest Daughter Dornadilla's Pretensions were grounded on the Custom of the Country whereby he or she that was nearer in Degree had a better Right Robert Bruce insisted on the Sex that in a like degree of Propinquity Males ought to be preferred before Females so that he denied it to be just that as long as a Grand-son was alive a Grand-daughter should inherit her Ancestors Estate And though sometimes the contrary may be practised in the Inheritances of private Men yet the matter is far otherwise in those Estates which are called Feuds and in the Succession of Kingdoms And of this there was urged a late Example in the Controversie concerning the Dutchess of Burgundy which the Earl of Nevers who Married the Grand-child of the last Duke by his Eldest Son Claimed yet the Inheritance was adjudged to the Son of the Duke's younger Brother so that Robert contended That he was nearer in Degree as
divided his Book into Chapters and besides what he affirms is no where found in his Writings but to leave this unlearned and shameless Relator I return to Edward who by reason of the abounding Multitude of his Army sent Part of it to besiege Dunbar and a few days after the Castle of Berwick despairing of any Relief was surrendred to him Afterwards he joined all his Forces together at Dunbar to fight the Scots Army who came to relieve it The Battel was fierce and the Victory inclining to the English the chief of the Nobility fled into the Castle but the Castle was soon taken either by the Perfidiousness of Richard Stuart the Governor or else because he had not Provisions for so great a Multitude as were shut up in so narrow a Compass Edward was very cruel to all the Prisoners Some cast the Blame of this Overthrow upon Robert Bruce the Elder in that his Friends giving back in the Battel it strook a Terrour into the rest But our Writers do constantly affirm That when Bruce demanded of Edward the Kingdom of Scotland according to his Promise as a Reward of his Pains that day That Edward should answer in French of which Language he was Master What have I nothing else to do but to win Kingdoms for you When Dunbar and some other Castles near the Borders of England were taken the surrender of Edinburgh and Sterlin followed soon after Then Edward passing over the Forth directed his March where Baliol then was When he was come as far as Montross without any to oppose him Baliol by the Persuasion of Iohn Cumins of Strabogy came to him and surrendred to him Himself and the Kingdom Baliol was sent into England by Sea and Edward returning to Berwick sent a strict and severe Summons to all the Scots Nobles to attend him there after they came he compelled them to Swear Fealty to him But William Douglas an eminent Man both on the account of his Family and also his own famous Exploits obstinately refusing to do it was cast into Prison where in a few years he died Thus Edward having succeeded in his Expedition according to his Mind left Iohn Warren Earl of Surry as Proxy behind him and Hugh Cressingham Lord Chief Justice or Treasurer and so returned to London There he committed Iohn Baliol to Prison in the 4th year of his Reign but a while after at the Entreaty of the Pope and his Promise that he would raise no Tumults in Scotland he was sent back into France his Son Edward being retained as an Hostage Edward having prepared all things for the French War which by reason of the Commotions in Scotland he had deferred now Sails thither with great Forces The Scots by reason of his Absence being erected to some hopes of their Liberty chose 12 Men to Govern the State By whose unanimous Consent Iohn Cumins Earl of Buchan was sent into England with a good Force and in regard the English who were scattered in Garisons over Scotland dared not to stir he spoiled Northumberland without controul and laid Siege to Carlisle but to no purpose Though this Expedition did somewhat encourage the before crest-fallen Scots and hindred the English from doing them further Mischief yet it contributed little or nothing to the Main Chance in regard that all the Places of Strength were possessed by the Enemies Garisons But when the Nobility had neither Strength nor Courage to undertake great Matters there presently started up one William Wallace a Man of an Ancient and Noble Family but one that had lived poorly and meanly as having little or no Estate yet this Man performed in this War not only beyond the Expectation but even the Belief of all the Common People For he was bold-spirited and strong-bodied and when he was but a Youth had slain a young English Nobleman who proudly domineered over him For this Fact he was fain to run away and to skulk up and down in several places for some years to save his Life and by this Course of Life his Body was hardned against Wind and Weather and his Mind also fortified to undergo greater hazards when time should serve At length growing weary of such an Erratick Life he resolved to attempt something though never so hazardous and therefore gathered a Band of Men together of like Fortune with himself and did not only assault single Persons but even greater Companies though with an inferior Number and accordingly he slew several Persons in divers Places He played his Pranks with as much Celerity as Boldness and never gave his Enemy opportunity to fight him so that in a short time his Fame was spread over Both Nations by which means many came in to him moved by the likeness of their Cause or with the like Love of their Country thus he made up a considerable Army And seeing the Nobles were sluggish in their Management of Affairs either out of Fear or Dulness this Wallace was proclaimed Regent by the Tumultuous Band that followed him and so he managed Things as a Lawful Magistrate and the Substitute of Baliol. He accepted of this Name not out of any Ambition or Desire to Rule but because it was cast upon him by the Love and Good Will of his Countrymen With this Army the first visible Exploit he performed was at Lanerick where he slew the Major General of that Precinct being an Englishman of good Descent Afterwards he took and demolished many Castles which were either slenderly Fortified or meanly Garisoned or else guarded negligently which petty Attempts so encouraged his Soldiers that they shunned no Service no not the most hazardous under his Conduct as having experienced That his Boldness was guided by Counsel and That Counsel seconded by good Success When the Report of these Things was spread abroad and perhaps somewhat enlarged beyond the Bounds of Truth out of Mens Respect and Favour to him All that wished well to their Country or were afraid of their own particular Conditions flocked in to him as judging it fit to take Opportunity by the Forelock so that in a short time he reduced all the Castles which the English held on the other side of the Forth though never so well fortified and for fear of him carefully Guarded He took and demolished the Castles of Dundee Forfar Brechin and Montross he seized on Dunoter unawares and Garisoned it he entred Aberdene which the Enemy for fear of his coming had plundered and burnt even whilst it was in Flames but a Rumour being scattered abroad concerning the coming of the English Army prevented his Taking the Castle for he determined to meet them at the Forth not being willing to hazard a Battel but in a Place he himself should choose Edward of England when he went into France as I said before put English Garisons into all the Strong Holds of Scotland and besides having many of the Scots faithful to him and unfaithful to their
Changes happening in so long a War had confounded the Right of Mens Possessions he commanded every one to produce and shew By what Title he held his Estate This Matter was equally grievous to the Old Possessors as well as the New Valiant Men thought they enjoyed That by a good Right which they had taken from their Enemies and they took it much amiss That what they had got as the Price of their Military Toil yea of their Blood too should be rent from them in Times of Peace As for the old Owners of Estates seeing there was no one House almost but had suffered in the War They had lost their Deeds by which they held their Lands as well as their other Goods Whereupon they all entred upon a Project valiant in appearance but bold and temerarious in the event For when the King in the Parliament commanded them to produce their Titles every one drew his Sword and cried out We carry our Titles in our Right Hands The King being amazed at this sudden and surprising Spectacle though he took the Matter very heinously yet he stifled his Indignation for the present until a fit Time of Revenge And it was not long before an Occasion was offered him to shew it Divers of the Nobles being conscious to themselves of the Audacity of their late Attempt and fearing to be punished for it conspire together to betray the Kingdom to the English The Fact was discovered to the King and that so plainly that the Letters declaring the Manner Time and Place were intercepted and their Crime made evident Whereupon they were all taken and brought to the King without any Tumult at all raised at their Apprehension And because it was much feared That William Souls Governor of Berwick would deliver up both Town and Castle to the English before the Conspiracy was publickly divulged he made a Journy thither as it were by she by A Convention was made at Perth to try the Prisoners where the Letters were produced and every ones Seal known being convicted of High-Treason by their own Confession they were put to Death The Chief were David Brechin and William Lord Souls of the Nobility also Gilbert Mayler Richard Brown and Iohn Logie besides there were many others of all Orders accused but there being only Suspicion against them they were dismissed The Death of David Brechin only did diversly affect Mens minds for besides that he was the Son of the Kings Sister he was accounted the Prime young man of his Age for all Arts both of Peace and War He had given given evident Proofs of his Valour in Syria in the Holy War He being summoned in by the Popular Conspirators never gave his Consent to the Treason only his Crime was That being made acquainted with so foul a Machination he did not Discover it The Body of Roger Mowbray who dyed before Conviction was Condemned to all kind of Ignominy but the King remitted that Punishment and caused it to be buried Some some few Months before this Process was had the Popes Legates who at the request of the English came to compose the Dissensions betwixt the Kingdoms not being able to do any thing therein lest they might seem to have done nothing for the English in their Legation Excommunicated the Scots and forbad them the Use of Publick Divine Service the Popes Thunderbolts being terrible in Those days Bruce to shew how little he valued the Popes Curses in an unjust Cause gathered an Army and invaded England following the Legate at his Departure almost at his very heels There he made a foul havock with Fire and Sword and came as far as the Cross at Stanmore The English not to suffer so great Ignominy to pass unrevenged levied so numerous an Army that they promised themselves an easy Victory even without Blood Robert thought it dangerous to run the Hazard of All in a Battel against the mighty Army of so great a King but rather he resolved to help out the matter with Policy rather than by Force He drave all the Cattle into the Mountains whither Armies could not but with great Difficulty ascend and all other things of use for an Army he caused either to be reposited in Fortify'd Places or to be wholly spoiled The English who came thither in hopes of a speedy Battel and had not Provisions for a long March when they perceived what Devastation was made in their own Country were inflamed with Anger Hatred and Desire of Revenge and resolved to pierce into the middst of Scotland and to ferret the King out of his boroughs yea and force him to a Fight tho' against his Will For the Greatness of his Forces did encourage him to hope that either he should blot out his former Ignominy by an Eminent Victory or else should recompense his Loss lately received by an enlarged Depopulation With this Resolution he came in all hast to Edinburgh he spared Churches only in his March but the further he was to go the more scarcity he was like to find So that in five days time he was forced to retreat At his return he spoiled all things both Sacred and Prophane He burnt the Monasteries of Driburgh and Mulross and killed those old Monks whom either Weakness or Confidence in their Old Age had caused to stay there As soon as Bruce was informed that Edward was returned for want of Provision and that Diseases did rage in his Army so that he had lost more Men than if he had been overcome in Battel he almost trod upon his Heels with an Army noted more for the Goodness than the Number of Soldiers and came as far as York making grievous havock as he went He had almost taken the King Himself by an unexpected Assault at the Monastery of Biland where Edward in a tumultuary Battel was put to Flight all his Household-stuff Money Bag and Baggage being taken To blot out the Ignominy of this Infamous Flight Andrew Berkley Earl of Carlisle was a while after accused as if he had been bribed to betray the English and so he lost his Life in Punishment for the Cowardize of another Man The next Year a double Embassy was sent One to the Pope to reconcile him to the Scots from whom he had been alienated by the Calumnies of the English and Another to renew the Ancient League with the French They Both easily obtained what they desired For when the Pope understood That the Controversy arose by the Injury and Default of Edward the First who affirmed That the King of Scots ought to obey as a Feudatary the King of England and That the English had nothing to defend their Claim by but old Fables and late Injuries and besides That in Prosperity being Summoned by the Pope they always avoided an equal Decision of Things tho in their Adversity they were always humble suiters to him for his Aid and on the other side the Scots always were willing
of the Estates he was by a General Suffrage named Heir Presumptive of the Crown But this was done some Years after The King spent the next Five Years in appeasing the Discords at home in which time there happened Two great Calamities One reached but to a few by an Inundation of Water for the Heavens sent down so much Rain that Lothian seemed to be all a Float yea the force of the Water was such that it carried away Bridges Water-Mills Country Houses with their Owners and Cattle into the Sea it rooted up Trees and almost quite destroyed the Towns which stood near the Banks of Rivers This Misery was seconded by Another namely a grievous Pestilence which consumed many of all Ranks and Ages In the Year 1363. the state of things grew Calmer and then in the Assembly of the Estates the King propounded to the Lords of the Articles That the King of England or else his Son might be sent for into Scotland to undertake the Kingdom if he should chance to Die This he did either by his weariness of War or foreseeing That it would be for the Good of both Kingdoms or as others think because of his Oath which the English had made him to Swear but his Speech was so Unacceptable and Offensive to them all that before every ones Vote could be asked in order they all confusedly cried out upon it as an abominable Propose and it was almost come to That that they who had most freely spoken against it fearing his Displeasure were meditating a Revolt But he understanding their Fears abated his Anger and received them into Favour When he had quieted all things elsewhere yet the Highlanders continued still in Arms and did not only commit Outrages upon one another but also made Havock of the adjacent Countries The King tried all probable Means to bring them to a mutual Concord but being not able to do it his next Plot was To suborn some Crafty Fellows to foment and heighten their Dissensions that so when the feircest of them had destroyed one another the rest might become more Tractable and Pliant The King having performed these Exploits both at home and abroad departed this Life in the Castle of Edinburgh on the Seventh Day of Iune in the Forty Seventh Year of his Age about the Thirty Ninth of his Reign and of our Lord 1370. He was certainly a Man eminent in all kind of Virtue but especially in Justice and Clemency and though he had been exercised with Good and Bad Events alternately yet still his Fortune seemed rather to fail him than his Industry Robert II. The Hundredth King AFter David's Decease the Nobles met together at Linlithgo to Congratulate Robert at the beginning of his Reign who had before been designed King by his Uncle but here the Ambition of William Douglas had almost cast things into a Sedition and Uproar For he demanded the Kingdom as his Hereditary Right in regard he was descended from Baliol and the Cumins's But finding that his Suit was unacceptable to them all and especially to his most intimate Friends as the Two Brothers George and Iohn Dunbars of which one was Earl of Merch and the other of Murray as also to Robert Erskin Governor of the Three well-fortified Castles of Dunbarton Sterling and Edinburgh he desisted and promised to obey Robert as his Liege King and the King to oblige him in a more strict Bond of Friendship espoused his Daughter to Earl William's Son This year the Truce made for Fourteen years was broken by the English There was a great Fair usually kept the Third of the Ideâ— of August whether huge Numbers of both Nations even from very remote Places used to resort thither came the Inhabitants of Merch and it happened that one of Dunbar's Familiar Friends was slain there George according to the Law which was observed among the Borderers sent Heralds to demand the Murderers to be given up to him or else That they would Punish them Themselves but perceiving that Favour did outvy Equity he dissembles the Affront and against the next day appointed for the Fair he secretly prepared a Band of Men and setting upon the Town unexpectedly he slew all the Youngsters burnt the Houses and returned home with a great Booty The English to revenge this Injury did with like Cruelty ravage over all the Lands of Iohn Gordon a Noble Knight and not long after Gordon entred England and took away a great Prey of Men and Cattle but as he was returning home Iohn Lilburn met him with a far greater Force than he had A terrible Fight began betwixt them and Victory seemed a long time to flutter over both Parties with doubtful Wings but at last she inclined to the Scots The Commander of the English Forces was taken Prisoner with many of his Allies and Tenants Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland a Man of a great Spirit being then Lord Warden or Governour of the Eastern Marches or Borders took this Overthrow of his Countrymen in great Disdain and thereupon gathered together a Body of above 7000 Men and encamped at a Village called Duns remarkable for being the Birth Place of Iohn Scotus Sirnamed Subtilis rather than for any thing else There the Countrymen and Shepherds gathered themselves together having no other Arms but such Rattles and Gimcracks wherewith they frighten Stags and other Cattle which do pasture there up and down without any Keeper and so by night they placed themselves on some Risings of the Lamormore Hills which were near to the said Village of Duns The Form of the Gimcrack is This On the top of a long Spear or Pole they fasten some Staves or Hoops of Wood made crooked and bent into a Semicircle all over them they stretched a Skin after the same Form as the Lanterns which the Vulgar Parisians call Falots are made into these Lanterns or Concavities they put small Stones but very hard ones which when they are stirred and tumbled up and down make such a rattling noise as drives away the Beasts and Cattle from the Corn. With these Rattling Instruments they made a mighty Noise on the Hills hanging over Duns wherewith the English Horse were so affrighted that they broke the Headstalls they were tied with and ran up and down the Fields and so were taken by the Countrymen And in the whole Army there was such a Tumultuous Bustle that they cried out Arm Arm and thinking the Enemy had been at their Heels they passed that night without sleep But in the morning perceiving their mistake in regard they had lost many of their Baggage Horses as well as those for Service they retreated six Miles for that Place is so far distant from England on Foot leaving their Baggage behind them almost in the Posture of such as Fly away The same day that Percy retired back from Duns Thomas Musgrave Governor of Berwick had issued out of his Garison
unwilling to expose them to needless danger At this very time a Truce was made and Hopes of Peace between France and England by the Mediation of the Pope and the Neighbouring Princes on This Condition That the Allies of Both might be comprehended by Name viz The Portugals of the English side the Scots and Spanish Castilians of the French's King Robert against the Advice of his Counsel gave his single Assent thereunto but upon no solid ground for he was able to make neither Peace nor War but by the Publick Advice of the Estates neither could he promise any firm Truce without their Decree in the Case Neither could the Nobility conceal any longer that hidden Grief and Disgust which they had conceived against the French who had only done them this Courtesie the backward way that when they were to do Service against an Enemy they would strike the Weapons out of their Hands and so take away the Fruit of a former Victory and also the Hopes of a New At last after much dispute and quarrelling the French Ambassador gained this Point but with much ado That the Scots should send Ambassadors into France about the Matter that so the Hopes of a Peace so near at hand might not be hindred by their Obstinacy Robert the King lived not long after but departed this Life in his Castle called Dundonald in the Year of Christ 1390 the 13th of the Calends of May. He lived 74 Years and Reigned 19 Years and 24 Days This King managed Wars by his Deputies and usually with good Success he was present in few Battels himself which some impute to his Age others to his Cowardize but all say That he was a very Good Man and in the Arts of Peace easily comparable with the best of Kings He administred Justice diligently and impartially to all he severely punished Robberies In his Actions he was Constant in his Words Faithful He undertook the Kingdom in troublesome times yet he setled things at home appeased Discords and governed with great Equity and Justice and he got such Conquests over his Enemy that he reduced all the Castles they had but Three After his Death Tumults arose where they were least expected Alexander Earl of Buchan the youngest of the Kings Sons by Elizabeth More fell into a deadly fewd with the Bishop of Murray upon a light Occasion and when he could not come at him to kill him he wrecked his fury upon the Church of Elgin which was then one of the fairest in all Scotland and burnt it down to the Ground The same Year William Douglas Earl of Nithisdale who as I said before for his Valour was made the Kings Son in Law was slain at Dantzick on the Vistula by some Ruffians who were sent to perpetrate the Murder by Clifford of England For Douglas when Matters were quieted at home that he might not lye lazie and idle intended for the Holy War and in Borussia he gave such Proof of his Valour That he was made Admiral of the whole Fleet which was a Great and Magnificent One and withal well accommodated But a Quarrel arising between him and Clifford grounded upon Old Emulations because he gruded him that Honour he sent him a Challenge to Fight with him Hand to Hand But the Challenger perceiving into what an Hazardous Adventure he had run himself by that Challenge before the set time came caused him to be slain by hired Assassins The Tenth BOOK Robert III. The Hundred and First King ROBERT the Second was Succeeded by his Eldest Son Iohn in the Ides of August and Year of our Lord 1390. He was called Iohn till that time but then by the Decree of the Estates his Name was changed into Robert whether it were for the Misfortunes and Calamities of Two Kings called Iohns one of France the other of England Or for the Eminent Virtues and Felicity of Two Roberts both in Peace and War who lately Reigned in Scotland as Authors are silent in so I will not determine The Excellency of this Robert was That he rather wanted Vice than was Illustrious for any Virtue so that the Name of King was in him but the management of all publick Affairs rested on Robert his Brother In the Beginning of his Reign there was Peace abroad by reason of the Three Years Truce made with the English which a while after was enlarged for Four Years more But at home a Sedition was begun by Duncan or Dunach Stuart He was the Son of Alexander Earl of Buchan the Kings Brother and was every jot as feirce as his Father who upon the Death of his Grandfather imagining now that he had a fit opportunity for Rapine and Pillage got a Band of Roisters about him and descending into Angus spoiled all as if it had been an Enemies Country Walter Ogilby and Walter Lichton his Brother endeavouring to oppose him were slain with Sixty of their Followers They being lifted up with this Success did afflict the Country more grievously than ever but hearing of the approach of the Earl of Crawford whom the King had sent to restrain their Insolence the nimblest of them fled speedily to their lurking Holes of those who made not so much hast some were slain some taken and afterwards put to Death Thus the Wickedness of these Unquiet and Turbulent Men being hindred from breaking in upon the Plain and Champion Countries they fell out most grievously amongst Themselves at their own homes And especially Two Families of them did exercise great Rage and Cruelty one upon another They refused to end their Fewds by course of Law or to refer them to indifferent Arbitrators So that the King sent Two Earls to suppress them Thomas Earl of Dunbar and Iames Lindsay his Father being Dead now Earl of Crawford These Commanders considering they were to engage against a feirce and resolute People who valued not their Lives nor the Pleasure thereof so that they were not likely to subdue them by force without great Slaughter of their own Men they therefore resolved to try what they could do by Policy And thereupon they accosted the Clans of both Families a part and represented to them what danger would accru to Both by their mutual Slaughters one of another and if one Family should extirpate the other yet that was not likely to be effected without the Great Damage even of the Conquering Side and if either Party should prevail yet the Contest would not end so For then they were to engage the King's Forces tho' they were weakned before by their mutual Conflicts of whose Anger against them Both they might be justly sensible because he had sent them with Forces to destroy them Both even before they had severely and irrecoverably engaged against one another But in regard they were more desirous of their Preservation than their Ruin if they would hearken to them they would shew them a Way How they might be reconciled with
the Fifth to Scotland to sâ—iâ— them up to War against England Berwick Castle surprised by Ramsay but regain'd by Percy Iames the First Earl of Douglas enters England with an Army * In Cumberland A Pestilence in Scotland Talbet overthrown in Scotland A Truce between the Scots and English for three Years Quatuor nummos Angâ—â—coâ— A Rising of the Commons in England at the Instigation of Iohn Baâ— a Priest Lancaster the English Embassador in Scotland denied entrance into Berwick Loch-Maban Castle taken by the Scots unbar surprizes the Governor of Roxburg Lancaster enters Scotland He favours the Edinburgers But is put to a Retreat Douglas prevails in Scotland he dyes and his Son William succeeds him A Truce made for a Year between French English and Scots which the French were to acquaint the Scots with The English enter Scotland before Notice is given them of a Truce made Some Scots Nobles also invade England before the Truce is Proclaimed Richard II. enter'd Scotland with an Army Whereupon the Scots enter England They both return home The French and Scots quarrel â—bout the Bears Skin before he was catcht French Soldiers more licentious than Scots or English which occasions a disgust betwixt them The French Army leaves Scotland but their General is retain'd to satisfy damages Nov. 1. Will. Douglas sails into Ireland And takes Dundalk * A Town on the North side of the Nith a Mile about Drumlanerick in Nithisdale * A Sea Town in the County of Louth and Province of Vlster in Ireland And returns from thence The Scots enter England 〈◊〉 Against the mind of Robert and his Son Aug. â— An English Spy in the Scots Army discovered The Scots Army divide themselves to attack England Douglas in Northumberland encountred by Percy A Duel between Earl Douglas and Earl Percy The Scots march to Otterborn A terrible Fight between the Scots and English under Percy and Douglas Hart slain And Douglas mortally Wounded His Three last dying Requests Ralfe Pâ—rcy 〈…〉 The English overthrown Lindsay takes Redman Prisoner and releases him on his Parol Courtesy to Prisoners The ancient punishment of Prisoners not returning upon their Parol The Bishop of Durham comes too late to Assist Percy The Bishops Forces terrified with the Sound of Horns and Retreat Lindsay's Kindness to Redman requited by him Ralfe Percy released on his Parol Henry Percy Ransomed Douglas buried at Mulross Both the Scots Armies lament Dougâ—aâ— Iuly 21. Robert Earl of Fife made Governor of Scotland Earl Marshal vaunts over the Scots Whereupon Robert enters England and returns with a great Booty A Peace between France and England Robert assents thereto on his own Head * Lying on the River Irwin Apr. 19. Roberts Death and Character Alexander Earl of Buchan burns Elgin Church William Douglas slain at Dantzick by the procurement of Clifford of England * Or Prussias A noted Maâ—t Town of great Trade on the Wesseâ— acknowledge the King of Poland for Protector August 1â— Robert the Third his Name changed from Iohn Duncan Stuart rises in Arms but is suppressed A notable Policy to divide the Islanders and make them Instruments to destroy one another which takes effect accordingly Dukes First made in Scotland E. Douglas refuses that Title Richard the Second of England resigns his Crown and Hen. the Fourth succeeds him Difference in Scotland occasioned by the Marriage of the King's Son Dunbar joyns with Percy and infests Scotland Standing upon Tine 3 Miles below Hadington The Death of Archibald Douglas August 13. Henry of England Enters Scotland Carries it Moderately And Retreats * A Castle over against Holy-Isle in Northumberland The Scots overthrown by Percy and Dunbar at Homeldon May. 7. Coâ—â—â—aw-Castle besieged by the English but they raise the Siege themselves Arch Bishop Traâ—â—e an observer of Ancient Discipline David after his Mothers decease le ts loose the reins to Licentiousness David most cruelly starved to Death by his Uncle Robert Scituate at the North bottom of Locâ—-Lomond near the Centre of Fife The Governor of Faâ—kâ—and's cruelty to his own Daughter Douglas joyne with Percy against the K. of England Having Performed valiantly in a fight he is taken Prisoner and after ransomed Robert accused for Davids Death Undergoes a partial Tryal and is Acquitted King Robert imprecates God's judgment on the Murderers of his Son Iames the K. Son for security sent into France but Landing in England is detained There Dispute 〈◊〉 King 〈…〉 concerning the Detention oâ— Diâ—mission oâ— Iames. Iames well Educated in England yet his Captivity breaks his Fathers Heart April 1. Robert's Death and Character Robert his Brother made Regent Percy overthrown and flies to Scotland Henry of England invades Scotland Dunbar returns to Scotland Percy betrayed by Rokesby his pretended Friend and put to Death A Supposititious Prince Standing on a Rock above the Firth of Forth near St. Ebâ—s Head in the Merss A County lying on 〈◊〉 River Stâ—aâ—-Bogy 40 〈…〉 Aâ—â—rdeen * In Murray A Cruel Fight between Donald and the Governour The Erection of St. Andrews University March 21. Henry the 4 th Dyes and Henry the 5 thâ—â—â—â—ceeds â—â—â—â—ceeds 〈◊〉 Percys Posterity restored to their Dignity Council of Constance send Ambassadors to Scotland so doth Peter Lune Anti-Pope The King of France distracted Divisions in France A County of France lying on the River Carus The French King craves Aid of the Scots which is sent him under the Command of the Earl of Buchan The Scots Auxiliaries Land in France Is overthrowâ— by them And slain Buchan made Lord High Constable of France September 3. Robert dies and his Son Murdo made Governor of Scotland Buchan returns to Scotland but is recalled to France Douglas made Duke of Turein Earl of Bedford sent by Henry into France who carries with him Iames I. King of Scotland A Chief Town of the County oâ— Bâ—â—e in France situated near the Matrona A Town in or near Normandy A Chief Town of the County oâ— Bâ—â—e in France situated near the Matrona A Town in or near Normandy A large Country about Orleanâ— on the 〈◊〉 The Scâ—ts overthrown in Fâ—ance 〈…〉 English and their Chief 〈…〉 Reflections on some English Writers Fond Indulgence to Children justly punished in a Father The Scots send for King Iames the First out of England Who returns upon a Ransom May 27. April 20. 〈…〉 Scotlâ—nd â—bout 〈…〉 The King remits one halfe of his Ransom-Tax Several Scots Nobles imprisoned Others 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 Murdo brought to his Trial. The Ancient manner of Trying Nobles in Scotland Murdo c. found Guilty and Beheaded Embassadors from France to Scotland about Peace and a Marriage K. Iames the First his prosperous Beginnings Free 〈◊〉 punished by the King Alexander the Islander â—iseâ— in Armâ— But is suppressed * Easter And submits to the Kings Mercy Donald Bâ—lâ—ck makes an Insurrection But is quelled Tories fall out among themselves Mackdonald a Free-booter His Cruelty to a Woman Retaliated on himself and his Followers Donald's
than the Skill and Diligence of Physitians doth to others The same Parsimony makes much both for the elegancy of their Beauties and the talness of their Stature They have but a small increase of Corn except only of Oats and Barly Out of which they extract both Bread and Drink too Of Animals which Herd together they have Sheep Kine and divers Goats so that they have abundance of Milk Butter and Cheese among them They have also an innumerable company of Sea-Fowl of which and of Fishes their Diet doth for the most part consist There is no venemous Creature there no nor any one Deformed to look upon They have little Horses in shew contemptible but strong enough for all uses even beyond belief They have never a Tree growing no nor Shrub neither besides Heath which happens not so much for the fault of the Soil or Air as of the Laziness of the Inhabitants as doth easily appear by the roots of Trees which in many Places are there digged out of the Earth As oft as Foreigners import any Wine thither they drink it greedily even to excess They have an Ancient Cup or Goblet among them which to procure the greater Authority to their Carousings they say did belong to St. Magnus who first instructed them in the Principles of the Christian Religion It so far exceeds the bigness of other Drinking-bowls that it may seem to have been a relick of the Feast of the Lapithae They try an Experiment upon their Bishops at their first coming to them therewith He that can drink up a whole One at one Draught which seldom happens they count him a very Nonsuch of a Man and do look upon it as an happy Omen and Presage that the Crop of the following Years will be superabundant From which practice of theirs a Man may easily conjecture that their Parsimony which I spake of proceeds not so much from Reason and Choice as from Penury and Want and the same necessity which produced it at first did perpetuate and transmit it to their posterity Till the Neighbor-Nations being corrupted by prevailing Luxury their Ancient Discipline was by degrees weakned and impaired and They also gave up themselves to charming Pleasures and Delights and being thus inclined to Luxury they were hurried on thereto by their commerce with Pyrates who not daring to land on the Continent because it was full of Inhabitants took in fresh Water at these Islands and there either chang'd their Wine and other Merthandize for the Provisions of the Country or else sold them to the Islanders at a low price And the Islanders being few in number and unarmed too and dispersed also in the tempestuous Sea that they could not convene to assist one another being conscious of their own weakness either did receive or at least did not reject Security brought home to their doors especially it being mixed with Gain and Pleasure to boot which are the usual Companions thereof But this pollution of Manners did infect the Great ones mostly and the Priests Among the Vulgar many footsteps of their former Moderation do yet remain The Sea is there very raging and tempestuous which is caused not only by the violence of Winds and the position of the Heavenly Constellations But also by the meetings of contrary Tides raised up and flowing in from the West Ocean and making such a conflict between the Streights of the Land that the Surges occasioned thereby sometime meeting opposite one to another and being all impetuously whirled together cannot be passed neither by Oars nor Sails If any Mariners dare come too near one of these Three mischiefs befals them They are either driven back with a forcible violence into the Sea or else by the rapidness of the foaming Waves they are dashed upon Shelves and Rocks Or lastly are swallowed up by the rolling Vortices of the insucking Waters There are only two Seasons wherein these Streights are passable either when upon the Falling back of the Tides the conflict of Waters ceasing the Sea is thereby calmed or else when it comes in a full Chanel to the height of its increase at Spring-Tides That force languishing on both sides which raised and made the Waters Tempestuous and Stormy The Ocean as it were founding a Retreat to its Storms and thereupon the Mountainous Surges thereof do retire that I may so speak into their own proper Caverns and Recesses Moreover Authors do not agree concerning the number of the Orcades Pliny reckons them to be Forty others about Thirty But Orosius comes nearest the Truth he makes them Thirty Three of which Thirteen are inhabited the rest not but left to feed Cattle For many of them are low and so narrow in compass that if they should be Tilled they would scarce maintain above one person or two Some of them shew like bare Rocks or else such as are covered but with squalid Moss The biggest Isle of the Orcades is call'd by many of the Ancients Pomona At this day they call it the Main Land because it exceeds the rest so much in bigness for it is Thirty mile long It is well inhabited for it hath in it Twelve Parish Churches and one Town besides which the Danes who were long Masters of the Orcades called Cracoviaca we Scotchmen call it by a corrupt name Kirkwall In this Town there are two Castles of a reasonable bigness standing near together one belonging to the King the other to the Bishop And between them is a Church magnificent enough for those places Between the Church and the Castles there are frequent Buildings on both sides which the Inhabitants call Two Cities one the Kings the other the Bishops The whole Isle runs out into Promontories between which the Bays of the Sea making an influx do afford safe Anchoring for Ships and here and there a good Port. In Six several Places of this Island there are Metals i. e. White and Black Lead so good that there are not better in all Britain This Island is about Twenty four Mile distant from Caithness The Pictish Sea called Pentland Firth running between them of whose Nature we have spoken before In that narrow Sea there are many scattered Islands of which Strom-oy not unfruitful for the bigness of it is distant from Caithness but a Mile but they do not reckon that amongst the Orcades because of its propinquity to the British shore and also because the Earls of Caithness have always been Lords of it Sayling from hence towards the North we meet with South Ranalds or Ranals-Oy the first of the Orcades which is Sixteen Mile from Dungsby-head Skiffs and small Ships pass over in Two Hours from it to this Island the Tide being with them though there be no Wind such is the Violence of this Current This Island is Four Miles in length and it hath a convenient Port Sirnamed St. Margarets hope From it a little towards the East are two small
other Reserves into Service he drew on also the Squadrons left to guard the Baggage into the Fight They being intire routed the Brittons which stood against them so that the Victory began on that side whence the fear of a Total overthrow did proceed The rest of the Brittons following the Fortune of the other Brigade ran away too and flying into the Woods and Marishes near to the place where the Battel was fought as they were thus straggling dispersed and unarmed their Enemies Baggage-men and Attendants slew abundance of them There fell of the Brittons in this Fight 14000 of their Enemies 4000. After this Fight the Brittons having lost almost all their Infantry send Ambassadors to the Scots and Picts Commissioning them to refuse no Conditions of Peace whatsoever The Confederate Kings seeing they had All in their Power were somewhat inclined to Mercy and therefore Terms of Peace were offered which were hard indeed but not the severest which in such their afflicted State they might have propounded The Conditions were That the Brittons should not send for any Roman or other Forein Army to assist them That they should not admit them if they came of their own accord nor give them Liberty to march thrâ— their Country That the Enemies of the Scots and Picts should be Theirs also vice versâ and That without their Permission they should not make Peace or War nor send Aid to any who desired it That the Limits of their Kingdom should be the River Humber That they should also make present Payment of a certain sum of Money by way of Mâ—lâ—t to be divided amongst the Soldiers which also was to be paid yearly by them That they should give an hundred Hostages such as the Confederate Kings should approve of These Conditions were entertained by the Brittons grudingly by some but necessarily by all and the same necessity which procured it made them keep the Peace for some years The Brittons being left weak and forsaken of Foreigners that they might have an Head to resort to for publick Advice made Constantine their Countryman a Nobleman of high descent and of great repute whom they had sent for out of Gallick Britanny King He perceiving that the Forces of the Brittons were broken both abroad by Wars and at home by Fewds Robberies and Discords thought fit to attempt nothing by Arms but during the Ten years he reigned he maintained Peace with his Neighbours at last he was Slain by the Treachery of Vortigern a Potent and Ambitious man He left Three Sons behind him of which Two were under Age the Third and Eldest as unfit for Government was thrust into a Monastery yet he was made King principally by the Assistance of Vortigern who sought to obtain Wealth and Power to himself under the Envy of another mans Name The Fields which were now tilled in time of Peace after a most grievous Famine yielded such a plentiful Crop of Grain that the like was never heard of in Britain before And from hence those Vices did arise which usually accompany Peace as Luxury Cruelty Whoredom Drunkenness which are more pernicious than all the Mischiefs of War There was no Truth or Sincerity to be found and that not only amongst the Vulgar but even the Monks and the Professors of an Holier Life made a mock at Equity Faithfulness and constant Piety of Life of which Bede the Anglo-Saxon and Gildas the Britton do make an heavy Complaint In the mean time the Ambassadors who returned from Aetius brought word That no relief could be expected from him for the Brittons had sent Letters to Aetius some Clauses whereof as they are mentioned by Bede I shall here recite both because they are a succinct History of the Miseries of that Nation and also because they demonstrate How much many Writers are mistaken in their Memoirs The Words are these To Aetius the third time Consul the Complaints of the Brittons And a little after The Barbarians drive us to the Sea the Sea beats us back again upon the Barbarians between These two kinds of Deaths we are either Killed or Drowned Now Aetius was joyned in his Third Consulship with Symmachus in the 450th year after Christ. Neither could there any Aid be obtained from him who was then principally intent upon the observing the Motions of Attila The rest of the Brittons being driven to this desperate point only Vortigern was glad of the publick Calamity and in such a general hurly-burly he thought he might with greater Impunity perpetrate that Wickedness which he had long before designed in his mind which was to cause the King to be Slain by those Guards which he had appointed about him and afterwards to avert the suspition of so foul a Parricide from himself in a pretended Fit of Anger as if he were impatient of delay in Executing Revenge he caused the Guards also to be put to death without suffering them to plead for themselves Thus having obtained the Kingdom by the highest degree of Villany he managed it with as little Sanctity For suspecting the Faithfulness of the People towards him and not confiding in his own strength which was but small he engaged the Saxons to take his part who then exercised Pyracy at Sea and infested all the shores far and near He procured their Captain Hengist with a strong Band of Soldiers to come to him with three Galleys and he assigned Lands to him in Britain so that now he was to fight not as for a strange Country but as for his own Demeasne and Estate and therefore was likely to do it with greater Alacrity When this was noised abroad such large Numbers of Three Nations the Iutes the Saxons and the Angles are reported to have flocked out of Germany into Britain that they became formidable even to the Inhabitants of the Isle First of all about the year of our Lord 449. Vortigern being strengthned by those Auxiliaries joyned Battel with the Scots and Picts whom he Conquered and drove beyond the Wall of Adrian As touching Eugenius the King of the Scots there goes a double Report of him some say he was slain in fight beyond the River Humber others that he died a natural Death However he came by his end this is certain he governed the Scots with such Equity that he may deservedly be reckoned amongst the Best of their Kings For tho' he spent the first Part of his Life almost from his Childhood in War yet he so profited under the Discipline of his Grandfather and his Mind was so established thereby that neither Military Freedom as it usually doth did draw him to Vice neither did it make him more negligent in conforming his Manners to the Rule of Piety nor did his prosperous Success make him more arrogant And on the other side the Peace and Calm he enjoyed did not abate the sharpness of his Understanding nor break his Martial Spirit but he managed his Life with such an equal and
poised Temper that by the advantage of his natural Disposition he did equal or rather exceed those Princes who are instructed in the Liberal Arts and from thence come to the Helm of Government Dongardus The Forty Second King THE same Year that Eugenius died which was in the 452 Year of our Lord his Brother Dongardus was made King in his place He was of a Disposition like his Brother for as he was willing to embrace Peace upon good Conditions so when occasion required he was not afraid of War And therefore in reference both to Peace and War he not only prepared all things necessary to resist the Invasion of an Enemy but also he trained up the Youth and Soldiery of his Country in Pains and Parsimony That so they might be restrained from Vice and their minds not grow feeble and languid by long Quiet and too much Prosperity But the Seditions at home raised by the Brittons were the Cause that his Arms were not much famed abroad But being freed from that Encombrance he gave himself wholly up to the Reformation of Religion for the Reliques of the Pelagian Heresy did as yet trouble the Churches To confute them Pope Celestine sent Palladius over in the life of his Father Eugenius who instructed many that grew afterwards famous for Learning and Sanctity of Life and especially Patricius Servanus Ninianus Kentâ—gernus The same Palladius is reported to have appointed Bishops first in Scotland Whereas till then the Churches were govern'd only by Monks without Bishops with less Pomp and external Ceremony but with greater Integrity and Sanctimony of Life The Scots being thus intent about purging and settling Religiâ—n and Divine Worship escaped free from that Tempest of War which did shatter almost the whole World In the Second year of the Reign of Eugenius Vortigern was deposed and his Son Vortimer chosen King of the Brittons He renewed the Ancient League with the Scots and Picts that so he might more easily break the Power of the Saxons which was also made Tripartite of Three Nations against the Romans in the Days of Carausius Dongardus did not long survive this League for he died after he had reigned Five Years Constantine I. The Forty Third King COnstantinos his youngest Brother succeeded him in the Government who in his private Condition lived temperately enough but as soon as he mounted the Throne he let loose the Reins to all Debauchery He was avaricious and cruel towards the Nobility but familiar with men of an inferiour Rank He gave himself wholly to the Constupration of Virgins and Mâ—trons and to excessive Feastings having always Musicians and Stage-players about him and all other Ministers of Lasciviousness and Pleasures The Scotch Nobility being offended at these Miscarriages came often to him to put him in mind of his Duty He received their Admonitions very haughtily bidding them to look after their own Affairs saying That he had better Advice from others He also told them That they were much mistaken if they thought to Limit their King on pretence of Advising him And as he was thus arrogant towards his Subjects so he was as abject and submissive to his Enemies For he granted them Peace at first asking and forgave them the Injuries they had committed withal he demolished some Castles and deliver'd up others to them This Carriage of his did so far incense the Scots and Picts that the Scots were ready to Rebel and the Picts who before had secretly dealt with the Saxons set up for themselves and at last made a publick League with them But amongst the Scots there was one Dugal of Galway of great Authority amongst the Commons he for the present restrained the Multitude by an Insinuating Oration wherein he acknowledged That many of those things which they complained of were true and what they desired was just But yet if War should come as an accession to their other Miseries the Kingdom would be endangered yea hardly retrievable from Destruction especially seeing the Picts were alienated from them the Brittons since Vortimers Death but their uncertain Friends and the Saxons who were very strong and potent and who managed there Victories with great Cruelties and in whose Commerce their was no Faithfulness were always intent upon the Destruction of all their Neighbours Thus by the Prudence of the Ancienter the Tumult of the Common People was appeased but the King continuing to reign tho' with the Hatred and Contempt of all was at length slain by a Nobleman of the Aebudae for vitiating his Daughter by force in the Fifteenth year of his Reign This is the common Report concerning his Death but I rather incline to the Opinion of Iohannes Fordonus who says in his Scotochronicon that he reigned 22 years and at last died of a wasting Disease In his Reign Aurelius Ambrosius came into This Britain out of the Lesser beyond Sea he was the Son of Constantine who held the Kingdom some years before but he being Treacherously Slain and his Brother who reigned after his Father being also slain by Vortigern by like Treachery the Two other remaining Sons of Constantine were conveyed by their Fathers Friends into Gallick Bretagne I think this Original of Aurelius Ambrosius is truer than That which others deliver among whom is Bede for they say that he was the last of the Roman stock who reigned in Britanny These two Brothers when Vortimer was slain by the fraud of his Stepmother and Vortigern had made himself King without Authority or Power being now grown up and fit to Govern returned with the great Favour and Expectation of all men into the Island to recover their Fathers Kingdom and withal they brought no inconsiderable number of Britains out of Gaul along with them After their Arrival before they would alarm the strangers they subdued Vortigern in Wales and then sent Messengers to the Scots and Picts desiring their Allyance and craving their Conjunction in Arms against the Saxons the most bitter Enemies of the Christian Name Their Embassy was kindly received by the Scots and the League before made with Constantine was again renewed which from that day remained almost inviolate till the Kingdom of Britanny was oppressed by the Angles and the Kingdom of the Picts by the Scots But the Picts answered the British Ambassadors That they had already made a League with the Saxons and that they saw no Cause to break it but they were resolved to run all hazards with them for the future as partakers of their good or bad success Thus the whole Island was divided into Two Factions the Scots and Brittons waging continual War against the Picts and Saxons Congallus I. The Forty Fourth King COngallus succeeded Constantine the Son of Dongardus Constantine's Brother He was inclineable to Arms but durst not then attempt any thing in regard the People were effeminated and weakned by Sloth and Luxury during the Reign of his Uncle And tho' Many in compliance with his
Disposition as usually Kings have many such Parasites did often persuade him to take Arms yet he would never be induced thereunto First then he applied himself to correct the publick Manners neither did he attempt to reduce the Ancient Discipline till he had Created new Magistrates and by their means had abridged Suits and Controversies and restrained Thefts and Robberies Peace being setled at home he endeavoured to reclaim others to a civiller course of Life first of all by his own Example and if any took no Copy from him but persisted obstinately in their Evil Courses Such he either gently chastized and punished or else sleighted them as despicable and worthless Persons and thus he quickly reduced all things to their former state Seeing as I said before at the beginning of his Reign he gave up himself wholly to the study of Peace the Brittons began to persuade Aurelius Ambrosius to recover Westmorland from the Scots which they had possessed many years Hereupon several Embassys being sent to and fro betwixt them the Matter was like to be decided by the Sword if fear of the Common Enemy had not put an end to the Dispute so that the League made by Constantine was renewed and no Alteration made in reference to Westmorland Congallus had War with the Saxons all the time of his Reign but it was a slow and intermittent one as Parties fortuitously met in driving of their respective Preys in which kind of Fighting the Scots being nimble light and most Horsemen accounted themselves Superior to their Enemies but they never came to a pitch'd Battel For Congallus was of opinion That it was best to commit as few things as we could to the Arbitrement of Fortune and therefore he sent Part of his Forces to help Aurelius Ambrosius and with the rest he wearied his Enemy and never suffered him to rest Night nor Day Merlin and Gildas lived in the days of these and the next Kings They were both Brittons and obtained great Fame amongst Posterity for the Opinion conceived of them concerning Prophecies and Divinations Merlin was a little the Ancienter of the Two a Cheat and Impostor rather than a Prophet His Vaticinations are scattered up and down but they are obscure and contain no Certainty at all to encourage any ones hopes before their fulfilling or to satisfy them when they are so that upon neither account can you affirm them to be True And besides they are so framed that you may accommodate or apply them to different or contrary Events as you will your self Yet tho' they are dayly furbished up and also augmented by new Additions such is the Folly oâ— credulous men That what they understand not they are yet bold to affirm to be as True as Gospel and tho' they be taken in a notorious I â—e yet they will not suffer themselves to be convinced thereof Gildas was later than he a Learned and Good Man and one who was had in great Veneration both Alive and Dead for his Excellent Learning accompanied with Sanctity of Life The Prophecies which go under his Name are such Ridiculous Sentences and so course and ill-framed in Wording and also in the whole Series of their Composure that no Wise Man can esteem them to be His Yet each Prophet as you call them had a Patron suitable to his own Disposition Merlin had Vortigern for his Patron and after him Vter to whom he was a Pander for his Lust. Gildas had Aurelius Ambrosius a Person no less admirable for the Probity of his Life than for his Victories in War after whose Death Gildas retired unto Glastonbury in Sommerset-shire where he lived and died very devoutly Our Books of the Life of Aurelius Ambrosius do make mention of him After his Death Vter the youngest of Constantines Three Sons succeeded him in the Year of our Lord Five Hundred And the next year after Congallus King of Scotland departed this Natural Life in the Twenty Second year of his Reign Goranus The Forty Fifth King GORANVS his Brother Succeeded him who after his Example governed Scotland with great Piety and Justice as much as Foreign Wars would suffer him so to do for he not only travelled all over the Kingdom as the good Kings of old were wont to do to punish Offenders but also to prevent the Injuries which great Men did offer to the Poor who in such Cases dared not to complain and to curb their oppressive Domination over them he appointed Informers who were to find out such Miscarriages write them down and bring them to him a Remedy necessary perhaps for those times but in our days a very hazardous one He was the chief Means and Occasion that the Picts deserting the Saxons made a joint League with the Scots and Britains At that time Lothus was King of the Picts a Person who excelled the Princes of his time in all accomplishments both of Body and Mind Goranus dealt earnestly with him to break his Alliance with those Barbarous Nations alleging That he ought to remember his own Country in which they were all born and especially their common Religion That he was much deceived if he imagined that the Peace betwixt him and the Saxons would be faithfully kept when once the Brittons and Scots were overthrown seeing he had to do with Men of inhuman Cruelty and insatiable Avarice That they had given sufficient proofs how little they esteemed Leagues or any other thing when they wickedly slew the Nobility of the Brittons who had so well deserved of them upon Pretence of calling them out to a Conference That the Son in Law was saved alive by the Father in Law not for any releif of his Calamity but for upbraiding of the Enemy he added That the Sacredness of Leagues which amongst other Nations are accounted the firmest bonds of Union was amongst them as a Snare or Bait to catch the simple and unwary in To what purpose was it to run so many hazards to free themselves from the Tyranny of the Romans if they must spontaneously give themselves up to the much harder and baâ—er Servitude of the Saxons This were not to make a change of their Condition but of their Masters only Yea it was to prefer a Truculent and Barbarous One before One that was mild and gentle What a Foolish and Wild a thing was it to take away Lands from the Scots and Brittons and to deliver them to the Germans And so to despoil those who were but lately their Friends and endeared to them by many ancient Courtesies and Respects that they might enrich Pirates the common Enemies of Mankind even to their own Destruction That it ought to be esteemed the most grievous thing of all by one who was a true Christian to consent to that League whereby Christian Religion must be extinguished profane Rites renewed and wicked Tyrants Enemies of Piety and Humanity armed with Power against God and his Law Lothus knew all this to be true
it was expressly cautioned That none should be preferred to the Succession of the Kingdom before the Sons of Lothus To which the contrary Party answered that That League was extorted by the necessity of the Times against the Common good of the whole Nation and that they were not obliged to keep it now Lothus with whom it was made was Dead And that therefore the Picts would do well to be contented with their own Bounds and not to invade other Mens That the Kingdom of Britain by Gods Blessing was now in that State that it could not only defend it self against New Injuries but also revenge the Old These things being brought to Modredus his Ear did quite alienate his Mind from Arthur and inclined him to set up for himself by maintaining his own Dignity only he a little suspended the War till he had tryed the Minds of the Scots when they were brought over to his Party an Army was listed consisting of many Picts Scots and Brittons being induced to side with Modredus either for the Equity of his Cause the Love of his Person or their private Hatred of Arthur Yea Vannora the Wife of Arthur was thought not to be ignorant of these new Cabals as having been too familiar with Modredus Both Armies pitched their Tents by Humber and being ready to Fight Proposals were made by the Bishops on both sides in order to a Peace but in vain for Constantine's Friends obstructed all affirming That the Felicity of Arthurs Fortune would bear down all Opposition Hereupon a most feirce Fight began on both sides but Two things did especially advantage Modredus and his Confederates One was a Marsh in the midst between them which the Brittons could not easily pass and Another in the heat of the Fight there was one suborned to spread a Report among the Brittons that Arthur was slain and therefore all being lost every one should shift for himself at which Bruit they all fled yet there was great Slaughter on both sides neither was the Victory joyous to either Party for on the one side Modredus was slain and on the other his Brother Galvinus Arthur himself mortally Wounded and a great Prey taken I know well What Fabulous matters are reported by many concerning the Life and Death of Arthur but they are not fit to be related lest they cause a Mist to be cast over his other famous Actions for when Men confidently affirm lies they cause the Truth it self many times to be questioned This is certain he was a great Man and very Valorous bearing an intire Love to his Country in freeing them from Servitude in restoring the true Worship of God and in reforming it when it was corrupted I have spoken these things concerning his Lineage Life and Death more prolixly than the Nature of my Design required for I never meant to Record all the Exploits of the Brittons but to free and preserve the Affairs of our own Nation from the Oblivion of Time and the Fabulous Tales of some lewd and ill-disposed Writers I have insisted longer on the Exploits of Arthur partly because some do curtail them through Envy and others do heighten them by their Verbosities He died in the year of our Lord Five Hundred and Fifty Two after he had Reigned 24 Years But to return to the Affairs of Scotland Goranus the King now grown old departed this Life after he had governed Scotland Thirty four years 't is thought he was Treacherously slain by his Subjects There was one Toncetus Chief Justice in Criminal Matters a Man no less Cruel than Covetous he having played many foul Pranks against the richer sort thought he might easily get Pardon of all from the King because by this means he had augmented his Revenue The People could not easily obtain admittance to the King now enfeebled by Age and Diseases to make their Complaints and if they had Access they judged their Allegations would not have been beleived against such a principal Officer and high Favourite So that they set upon Toncetus and slew him But after the heat of their Anger was over when they began to think with themselves how foul a Fact they had committed and that there was no Pardon to be expected by them they turned their Wrath and Fury upon the King himself and by the Instigation of Donald of Athol they entred into his Palace and slew Him also Eugenius III. The Forty Sixth King EVgenius the Son of Congallus succeeded him when he was advised by some of the Nobility to revenge the Death of his Uncle Goranus he entertained the motion so coldly that he himself was not without suspicion in the Case And the Suspicion was increased because he took Donald of Athol into his Grace and Favour So that the Wife of Goranus for fear fled with her small Children into Ireland But Eugenius to purge his Life and Manners from so foul an Imputation so managed the Kingdom that none of the former Kings could be justly preferred before him he assisted Modred and also Arthur against the Saxons He sent several Captains to make daily Incursions into the English Borders but he never fought with them in a pitched Battel He died in the year of Christ Five Hundred and Fifty Eight having Reigned Twenty Three Years Congallus II. The Forty Seventh King HIS Brother Congallus was set up in his Room who governed the Kingdom Ten years in great Peace a Man for his excellent Virtues worthy of perpetual Memory for besides his Equity in matter of Law and the aversion of his Mind from all Covetousness he vyed with the very Monks themselves in point of Sobriety of Life though they at that time used a most severe Discipline He enriched Priests with Lands and other Revenues more out of a Pious Intention than with any good Success He restrained the Souldiers who were declining to Effeminateness and Luxury and abused the blessing of Peace rather by the Examples and Authority of his Life than by the severity of Laws He called home the Sons of Goranus who for fear of Eugenius had fled into Ireland but before their Return he died in the Year Five Hundred and Sixty Eight He never fought Battel himself but only assisted the Brittons with Auxiliary Forces against the Saxons with Whom they often fought with various Success Kinnatellus The Forty Eighth King WHen he was Dead and his Brother Kinnatellus designed King Aidanus the Son of Goranus came into Scotland by the persuasions of Columba who Two years before had come out of Ireland By him he was brought to the King who beyond his own and the Expectation of all other Men received him Courteously and wished him to be of good cheer for he should shortly be King For Kinnatellus being worn out by Age and Sickness and not able to Administer the Government himself made Aidanus his Deputy and so died having Reigned Fourteen some say Fifteen Months Some Writers leave him out and do place Aidanus
thereupon He nevertheless persisted in his slothful kind of Life which gave opportunity to the Remainders of the Picts as if an hopeful Alarm had been given them even from the very bottom of Despair to address themselves to Osbreth and Ella Two of the most potent and prevalent Kings of the English for then England was divided into many Kingdoms They bewail'd their misfortune to them and craved earnestly their Assistance promising That they and all their Posterity would become Feudataries to the English in case they obtained the Victory over the Scots which they prejudg'd would be an easy one by reason of the slothful Nature of Donald The English were easily persuaded and having setled things at home they led out their Army into Merch from whence they sent Heralds to Donaldus requiring that the Lands which the Scots had forceably taken away from the Picts their Friends and Allies might be restored which unless he would do they would not neglect their old Confederates who had now also newly cast themselves upon them Donaldus by the advice of the Estates which in this time of imminent Danger he had thô unwillingly convened Levied an Army and met with the Enemy at Iedd a River of Teviotdale where he joyned Battel and overthrew Osbreth enforcing him to fly to the next Mountains From thence he marched on by Tweed unto the Sea side recovered Berwick which had been taken by the English and again deserted by them upon the ill news of the success of the Battel where he took all the Ships riding in the Mouth of the River and seized upon all the Enemies Provisions therein There he got an opportunity to renew his interrupted Pleasures and as if his Enemies had been wholly overthrown he drowned himself in all kind of Voluptuousness Whereupon the English who in the last Fight were rather scatter'd than subdued understanding by their Spies the Carelesness and Security of the Scots gathered together what Force they could out of the Neighborhood and by night set upon the Scots who were laden with Wine and fast asleep making a great slaughter amongst them but they took the King who was between sleeping and waking Prisoner From thence they followed the Course of their Victory and to make their Ravage more compleat they divided their Army into Two Parts and so marched into the Enemies Country Part of them when they came to the Forth got Vessels and essayed to pass over by Water into Fife but a great Number of them were Shipwrackt and drowned and the rest by the violence of the Storm were forced back to the Shore where they embarked from whence marching to Sterling and joyning with the rest of their Army they pass over the Forth on a Bridge The Scots after their flight gathered themselves into a Body thereabouts having the bare show rather than the strength of an Army and sent Ambassadors to the English for Peace which they did not refuse because their strength was weakened by the unsuccessful Battel of Iedd and also by their own Shipwrack The English propounded hard Conditions yet such as the present State of Affairs made to seem tolerable As that The Scots should yield up all the Land which was within the Wall of Severus That their Bounds should be beneath Sterling the Forth beneath Dunbarton the Clyd and between the Two Rivers the Wall of Severus Amidst such hard Terms of Peace yet this happened as joyous so unexpected to the Scots That no mention was made concerning the Reduction of the Picts For the English and Britains divided the Lands surrendred up betwixt them the River being a Boundary betwixt them both There are some who think the Money yet called Sterling was then Coined there The Lands being thus divided the Picts who thought to recover their own being eluded of their hopes passed over to the Cimbrians and Scandians i. e. as we now speak to Denmark and Norway Those few of them that staid in England were all put to death by them upon pretence that they would attempt Innovations by their soliciting of Forein Aid Donaldus after he had made Peace upon his Return was Honourably received partly out of Respect to his Ancestors and partly in hopes of his Repentance But he persevering in his wonted Slothfulness the Nobles fearing that so filthy and sluggish a Person who would neither hearken to the Counsels of his Friends nor be reclaimed by his own Calamities would lose that part of the Kingdom which remained cast him into Prison where either for Grief in having his Pleasure restrained or for Fear to be made a Publick Spectacle of Scorn he laid violent hands on himself in the Sixth Year of his Reign Others report that This Donaldus performed many Noble Exploits both at home and abroad and that he dyed a natural death at Scone in the Year of our Lord 858. Constantinus II. The Seventy First King COnstantinus the Son of Kennethus undertook the Kingdom after him at Scone he was a Prince of a great Spirit and highly Valorous He was desirous to obliterate the Ignominy received under Donaldus and to enlarge his Kingdom unto the Bounds left by his Father but he was otherwise advised by his Nobles because the greatest part of the Soldiery were slain under Donaldus and the remainder was grown so Corrupt that it was not fit to put Arms into their hands And thereupon the King first bent his care to amend the Publick Discipline and so he reduced the Order of Priests to their Ancient Parsimony by severe Laws in regard they had left off Preaching and had given up themselves to Luxury Hunting Hawking and to Courtly-Pomp He caused the Young Soldiers who were effeminated with Pleasures to lye on the Ground and to Eat but once a day Drunkards he punished with Death He forbad all sports but those who served to harden both Body and Mind for the Wars By these Laws the Soldiery of the Kingdom were reduced to a better pass And presently upon a certain Islander named Evenus whom he himself had made Governour of Loch-Abyr a Man of an unquiet Spirit and Ambitious of Dominion rose up in Arms who knowing That the Youthful Fry of Soldiers could not well bear the Severity of these New Laws First gathered together a small Number and then a greater complaining of the present State of Things And when he found his Discourse was acceptable to them he easily persuaded them to conspire for the Destruction of Constantine But being more active than cautelous in gathering strength to their Faction they were betrayed by some of their Own and slain before they knew any Forces were gathered together against them Evenus the head of the Conspiracy was hanged About this time it was That the Danes then the most Potent and Flourishing Nation amongst the Germans were solicited by the Picts against the Scots and also by one Buernus or as others write Verna whose Wife Osbreth had forceably
Vitiated which They being over-stocked with Youngsters at home easily assented to and so they transported themselves in a great Navy into Britain Their first Descent was in Fife there they slew all they met without distinction out of Hatred to the Christian Religion and dividing their Army they spoiled the Country two several ways Constantinus drew forth against them and first he set upon that Brigade which Hubba Brother to the Danish King commanded who being hindred to joyn with their Fellows by the sudden swelling of the River Levin were there easily overcome and slain except a few of his Men who could swim over the River who fled to their other Commander called Humber Constantinus followed after them as to a Prey not a Battel and overtook them not far from the Town of Carail but not before they had well fortify'd their Camp For the Danes being very provident after their late unhappy Fight had made a kind of Defensive Fortification upon some small Winding Rocks near the shore by heaping up a parcel of Stones together which lay thereabouts In that posture Constantine assaulted them where by reason of the Incommodiousness of the place and the Desperation of the Danes he paid dear for his Rashness for he lost a great Part of his Army he himself being taken Prisoner and haled into a little Cave hard by was there slain There are some Monuments of this Fight remaining to this day as the Cave the Circumference of their Camp which was not cut out regularly or by equal spaces but turning and winding according to the Bending of the Rocks Some lay the blame of this unlucky Accident upon the Picts who being admitted into Constantines Fealty and Army were the first that ran away and drew the greatest Part of the Army after them The Danes gathered up the Spoils and departed to their Ships The Kings Body was found the day after and carried to the Sepulchres of his Ancestors in the Island Icolumb-kil He possessed the Kingdom sixteen Years and died in the Year of our Lord 874. Ethus The Seventy Second King HIs Brother Ethus succeeded him from the Swiftness of his Feet Sirnamed Alipes he was elected King upon no higher or other Account but because he gathered together the Relicts of the Army which was scattered by the Danes Amongst the Prodigies of his Time they reckon those Sea-Fishes then appearing which are seldom seen and not after long Intervals of Time but they never appear but in Sholes nor without some unlucky Presage The Common People call them Monachi-marini i. e. Sea-Monks others give them the Title of Bassineti i. e. Hooded or Helmered Fish Ethus being unmindful both of his Brother and of his Ancestors giving up himself to all manner of Vices and drawing the young Soldiers easily seduceable along with him was taken Prisoner by a Combination of the Nobles made against him and after all the flagitious Acts of his Life had been declared to the People in a long Speech he was forced to abjure the Government in the second Year of his Reign Three days after he died in Prison for Grief That which chiefly offended the Martial Men was his slothful Unactiveness because that when the Danes were at War with the English and many bloody Battels had been fought between them yet he never bethought himself of the recovering the Country he had lost nor would he suffer himself to be put in mind thereof by others Some write that he was not inforced to relinquish his Kingdom but that he was wounded in a Combate by Gregorius who was emulous of the Kingdom and that he died Two months after Anno Christ. 875. Gregorius The Seventy Third King GRegorius the Son of Dongallus was set up in his stead a Man of a Royal Spirit in whom no Virtue requisite in a King was wanting First he reconciled all those to him who were against him in suing for the Kingdom and then he proceeded to compose the Discords of the Nobles amongst themselves He so tempered the Severities of his Government with Affability that he did more with his Subjects by Love than by Fear He restored the Old Laws concerning the Immunity of the Ministers of the Church who were but in the nature of Slaves under the Picts or else he made New to the same purpose His first Expedition was into Fife against the Picts left there by the Danes whilst they were employing their Arms against the English He drove them not out of Fife only but out of Lothian and Merch too The Danes when he came to Berwick fearing if they should have any Misfortune the English also would be upon their backs durst not join in a Field-fight with Gregory but sent Part of their Forces over the River into Northumberland commanding them to join with a small Brigade of their Country-men who had gathered themselves together and were newly landed there The Rest of them enter'd Berwick to strengthen the Garison there But the English who were but unwillingly under the Command of the Danes as being Men of a different Religion from them gave admission to the Scots in the night by which means all the Danes were put to the Sword From thence Gregory marched into Northumberland and fought a prosperous Battel against Hardnute wherein he made so great a slaughter of them that their Numbers which were lately formidable to all Britain were mightily diminished partly by Gregory of Scotland and partly by Alfrid of England Gregory took in all Northumberland and gave free leave to those English to depart who were willing so to do to the rest he very courteously distributed Lands The greatest part of the English staid behind partly out of love to their native Soil partly by reason of the Kings Bounty to them and partly also for fear of their Enemies For seeing they had now for many years had several cruel Fights with the Danes the Victory being many times uncertain Many of the English chose rather to be under the Dominion of the Scots who though formerly Enemies were yet Christians than either to fall into the power of the Bloody Danes or to hope for uncertain Aid from their own Countrymen especially since things were in such an hurly burly over all Britanny that the English knew not which Party to succour first After he had so chastised the Danes that he expected no more Trouble from them he turned his Arms upon the Brittons who as yet held some of the Scotish Dominions with These also he made Peace they restoring the the said â—ands and promising to assist him against the Danes if they did return Whereupon he disbanded his Army But the Brittons after their return home repented of the Peace they had made and entring Scotland again in an hostile manner they were driving away a great Booty but Gregory met them at Loch-Maban and after a bloody Fight overthrew them Constantine their King being also slain The Brittons having received this fruit of their
the Whole At first he Nobly treated Edward and Edmond the Sons of the Deceased Edmond when they were brought to him Afterwards being edged on by wicked Ambition he desirous to confirm the Kingdom to his Posterity by their Destruction sent them away privately to Valgar Governour of Swedland to be Murdered there Valgar understanding their Noble stock and considering also their Age and Innocence withal taking Compassion of their Condition and Fortune sent them to Hungary to King Salomon pretending to Canutus That he had put them death There they were Royally Educated and so much grateful Towardliness appeared in Edward that Salomon culled him out of all the Young Nobles to give him his Daughter Agatha to Wife By her he had Edgar Margaret and Christian. In the mean time Canutus dying Hardicanute succeeded him When he was slain Edward was recalled from Normandy whither he was before Banished together with his Brother Alured Earl Godwyn a powerful man of English Blood but who had Married the Daughter of Canutus was sent to fetch them home He being desirous to transfer the Kingdom into his own Family caused Alured to be Poysoned as for Edward he was preserved rather by Gods Providence than by any human Counsel and Reigned most devoutly in England But wanting Children his Chief care was to recal his Kinsman out of Hungary to undertake the Government alleging That when Edgar returned he would willingly surrender up All to him but His Modesty out-did the Kings Piety for he refused to accept of the Kingdom as long as he was alive At length upon Edwards death Harald Godwyns Son invaded the Throne yet he dealt kindly with Agatha the Hungarian and her Children But he being also overthrown by William the Norman Edgar to avoid Williams Cruelty resolved with his Mother and Sisters to return into Hungary but by a Tempest he was driven into Scotland There he was Courteously entertained by Malcolm who made him his Kinsman also by the Marriage of his Sister Margaret William then Reigning in England upon every light Occasion was very cruel against the Nobles either of English or Danish Extraction But understanding what was a doing in Scotland and fearing a Tempest might arise from thence he sent an Herald to demand Edgar denouncing War against Scotland unless he were surrendred up Malcolm looked upon it as a cruel and faithless Thing to deliver up his Suppliants Guest and Kinsman and one against whom his very Enemies could object no Crime to his Capital Enemy to be put to Death and therefore resolved to suffer any thing rather than so to do And thereupon he not only detained and harboured Edgar but also gave Admission to his Friends who in great Numbers were Banished from their own homes and gave them Lands to live upon whose Posteritys were there Propagated into many Rich and Opulent Families Upon this Occasion there followed a War betwixt the Scots and English wherein Sibert King of Northumberland favouring Edgar joyned his Forces with the Scots The Norman being puff'd up with the good Success of his Affairs made light of the Scotish War and thinking to end it in a short time he sent one Roger a Nobleman of his own Country with Forces into Northumberland But he being overcome and put to flight was at last Slain by his own Men. Then Richard Earl of Glocester was sent with a greater Army but he could do but little good neither for Patrick Dunbar wearied him out with light Skirmishes so that his Men could not straggle for to get in Prey at last William's Brother and Bishop of Bayon being made Earl of Kent came down with a much greater strength he made great spoil in Northumberland and slew some who thought to stop him from plundering but as he was returning with a great Booty Malcolm and Sibert set upon him slew and took many of his Army and recovered the Prey When his Army was recruited William's Son was sent down thither but he made no great Earnings of it neither only he pitched his Camp at the River Tine and he rather kept off than made or inferred the War In the mean time he repaired Newcastle which was almost decayed by reason of its Antiquity William being thus wearied with a War more tedious than profitable his Courage being somewhat cooled applied himself to thoughts of Peace which was made on these Conditions That in Stanmore i. e. a Stony Heath a Name imposed on it for that very Cause lying between Richmond-shire and Cumberland the Bounds of both Kingdoms should be fixed and in the Boundary a Cross of Stone should be Erected which should contain the Statues and Arms of the Kings of Both Sides That Cross as long as it stood was called Kings Cross That Malcolm should enjoy Cumberland upon the same Terms as his Ancestors had held it Edgar was also received into William's Favour and endowed with large Revenues and that he might prevent all occasion of suspition of his innovating things he never departed from the Court Voldiosus also the Son of Sibert was to have his Fathers Estate restored to him and besides he was admitted into Affinity with the King by Marrying a Neice of his born of his Daughter Intestine Tumults did succeed this External Peace for the Men of Galway and of the Aebudae did Ravage and commit Murders over all their Neighbouring Parts and the Murray-Men with those of Ross Caithness and their Allies made a Conspiracy and assuming their Neighbour Islanders to their Aid gave an Omen of a greater War Walter the Nephew of Bancho by his Son Fleanchus who was before received into Favour with the King was sent against the Galway-Men and Macduff against the other Rebels whilst the King himself was gathering greater Forces Walter slew the Head of that Faction and so quell'd the common Souldiers that the King at his Return made him Lord Steward of all Scotland for his Good Service This Magistrate was to gather in all the Kings Revenues also he had a Jurisdiction such as the Sheriffs of Counties have and he is the same with That which our Ancestors called a Thane But now a days the English Speech getting the better of our Country Language the Thanes of Counties are in many places called Stewards and he which was anciently called Abthane is now the Lord High Steward of Scotland Yet in some few places the Name of Thane doth yet remain From this Walter the Family of the Steuarts who have so long Reigned over Scotland took its Beginning But Macduff warring in another Province when he came to the Borders of Marr the Marrians promised him a Sum of Money if he would not enter into their Province and he fearing the Multitude of the Enemy did protract the time in Proposals and Terms of a pretended Peace till the King arrived with greater Forces When they came to the Village Monimuss they joined Camps and the King being troubled at the bruit
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
laid all waste to the very Gates of Carlisle The City it self he took by Force and Fortified it The next year Lewis the Son of Philip King of France was sent for by those who favoured the Ecclesiastical Faction to London that so he upon the Proscription of Iohn might possess the Kingdom and so was King Alexander of Scotland too who came to aid his Old Friend But Iohn being forsaken by his Subjects and assaulted also by Foreign Arms upon the Payment of a great Sum of Money at present and the Promise of a perpetual Pension and moreover transferring the Right of the Kingdom of England to the Pope so that the Kings of England for the future were to be His Feudataries was received into Favour So that he obtained Letters from Rome by Cardinal Galo a Man of known Avarice wherein the Scots and French were with great Threats forbid to meddle with a People which were Tributaries to the Holy See Upon this sudden Change of things Lewis returned into France and Alexander into Scotland but his return home was not so quiet as his entrance into England was For the English pressing upon the Rear of his retiring Army took many of the Stragglers Prisoners And besides Iohn had broken down all the Bridges on the Trent and had fastned sharp Pikes or Palisadoes in all its Fords removing away all Ships and Boats so that it seemed to be so great an Impediment unto him that he could not avoid it but must certainly be destroyed In the mean time Iohn was poysoned by an English Monk at Newark a Town seated on the Trent and being carried in a Litter died in two days That Casualty opened the way for Alâ—xander's March. Then blaming and punishing his Men for their former Carelessness he marched on more circumspectly but not without the great Damage of those through whose Countrys he passed For whatsoever could be driven away or carried he took with him and so returned home with a great Booty Galo the Popes Legat when he had setled Henry the Son of Iohn in the Throne mulct the Nobles of England in a great Sum of Money and then received them into Favour And to give them some Recompence for their Loss by the like Calamity of their Enemies he Excommunicates Lewis of France and Alexander of Scotland in hopes to obtain some Prey from them also The Scots were Interdicted all Divine Offices for he imagined that his Thundring Curses would prevail more amongst the simple Vulgar than with the Kings But at last Peace was made between the Two Kings the Scots were to restore Carlisle and the English Berwick and the Ancient Bounds at Kings-Cross were to be observed by them Both. Alexander and his Subjects were released from their Censures by the English Bishops who were Authorized thereunto Hereupon Galo was much enraged That so great a Prey should be taken out of his Hands so that he turned his Anger on the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy of Scotland as his own Peculiar with whom Kings had nothing to do He summoned them to appear at Alnwick Whither when they came the more fearful appeased his Wrath with Money the more resolute were Cited to Rome But they having also received many Letters from some of the English Bishops and Abbats directed to the Pope concerning the sordid Spirit of the Ambassador or Legat made grievous Complaints against him calling him the Firebrand of all mischief because he studied not the Publick Good but his own Avarice and did chaffer for and sell Peace and War amongst Princes at his own pleasure Galo not being able to acquit himself of the Crimes laid to his charge was Fined by the Pope in the Loss of the Money he had got which was to be divided amongst his Accusers Hereupon they returned home loaden with large Promises but with empty Purses A few years after Henry of England being now grown Ripe both in Years and Judgment came to York there he agreed with Alexander in the presence of Pandulphus the Popes Legat to take Henry's Sister to Wife by whom yet because of her untimely Death he had no Children From that time there was Peace between Both Kings as long as they lived There he also solemnly Promised and Swore before the same Pandulphus That he would bestow the Two Sisters of Alexander in Honourable Marriages according to their Dignity as his Father had promised before But one of them returned home unmarried one only being bestowed in Marriage The next Year viz. 1220 the Cardinal of St. Giles came into England to fish for Money for the Holy War and accordingly having scraped together a great Sum in both Kingdoms which by his Impostures he had gulled Persons 〈◊〉 credulous of he Luxuriously spent it in his Journy so that he came empty to Rome falsely alleging That he was robbed by Thieves in the way Another Legat presently succeeded him but Men having been twice cheated by Roman Fraud by a Publick Decree forbad him to set his foot on Land Alexander was busied to suppress Vices at home which sprung up by the Licentiousness of War and he travelled over the whole Kingdom with his Queen to do Justice whilest Gilespy a Rossian spoiled Ross and the Neighbour Counties for passing over the River Ness he took and burnt the Town of Enverness He cruelly slew all those that refused to obey him Iohn Cumin Earl of Buchan was sent against him who took him and his two Sons as they were shifting up and down and changing their Quarters to secure themselves and cut off their Heads and so sent them to the King About this time the Caithnesians entred by night into the Bedchamber of Adam their Bishop and there killed a Monk who was his usual Companion for he had been before Abbat of Mulross and one of his Bedchamber as for the Bishop himself they grievously wounded him and dragging him into the Kitchen there they burnt him and the House he was in The Cause of their great Cruelty was as 't is reported because the Bishop was more severe than in former times in exacting his Tithes The Offenders were diligently sought out and most severely punished The Earl of Caithnes though he were not present at the Fact yet was somewhat suspected but afterward being brought privately to the King in the Christmas Holy-days which the Scots call Saturnalia he humbly begg'd Pardon of the King and obtained it About this time Alane of Galway the powerfullest Man in Scotland departed this Life He left Three Daughters behind him of whom I shall speak hereafter Thomas his Bastard Son despising their Age and Sex sets up for himself as Lord of the Family and not contented herewith he gathers 10000 Men together kills all that oppose him and drives Booties far and near from all the Neighbouring-Countries At last the King sent an Army against him who slew 5000 of the
Rebels with their General The same year Alexander with his Wife went for England to allay the Tumults as much as he could raised against Henry and to reconcile him to the Nobility Whilest he was busie about this at York his Wife went with the Queen of England a Pilgrimage to Canterbury but at her return she fell sick died and was buried at London Not long after her Death the King being Childless Married Mary the Daughter of Ingelram Earl of Coucy in France in the year of Christ 1239 by whom he had Alexander who succeeded his Father in the Kingdom Two years after viz. in 1242 whilst the King was hastening to England to visit that King newly returned from France and refreshed himself a while at Hadington in Lothian with Horse-Races the Lodging or Inn of Patrick of Gallway Earl of Athol was set on Fire wherein he and two of his Servants were burnt the Fire speading it self a great way further It was not thought to have casually happened because of the Noted Fewds between Patrick and the Family of the Bizets And though William the Chief of that Family was at Forfar above 60 Miles from Hadington the same night that the Fire happened as the Queen could testify in his behalf yet because the adverse Party being the Kindred of Patrick pleaded That many of his Servants and Tenants were seen at Hadington at that time William was Summoned to appear He came to Edinburgh at the day prefixed but not daring to stand to his Tryal because of the Potency of his Adversaries which were the Cumins's he would have Tryed the matter in a Duel but That being not accepted he and some of his Sept banished themselves into Ireland where he left a Noble Family of his Name and House There was also another Seditious Tumult in Argyle Raised by Sumerled Son of the former Sumerled but he was soon suppressed by Patrick Dunbar and submitting to the Kings Mercy obtained Pardon for all his past Offences The King not long after fell sick and died in the 51 Year of his Age the 35 of his Reign and of our Lord 1249. Alexander the III. The Ninety Fifth King ALexander the Third His Son was Crowned King at Scone the same Year a Child not past Eight years Old The Power of all things was mostly in the Faction of the Cumins's For they turned the Publick Revenue to the Enrichment of themselves oppressed the Poor and by false Accusations cut off some of the Nobles who were averse to their humours and desires and dared to speak freely of the State of the Kingdom and being Condemned their Goods were Confiscated and brought into the Kings Exchequer from whence they who rather Commanded than Obeyed the King received them back again for their Private Emolument A Convention of the Estates being held the chief Matter in agitation was to pacify the King of England lest in such a troublesome time he should make any Attempt upon Them and to do it more easily an Affinity was proposed This Way seemed more commodious to the Anti-Cuminian Party to undermine their Power than openly to oppugn it Whereupon Embassadors were sent to England who were kindly received and munificently rewarded by that King who granted them all their Desires The next Year which was 1251 both Kings met at York the 8th of the Calends of Dâ—cember There on Christmas day this Alexander was made Knight by the King of England and the day after the Match was concluded betwixt him and Margarite Henrys Daughter A Peace was also renewed betwixt them which as long as Henry lived was inviolably observed And because Alexander was yet but a Child and under Age it was Decreed by the advice of his Friends That he should consult his Father-in-Law as a Guardian in all Matters of Weight Some of the Prime men being accused by Virtue of this Decree secretly withdrew themselves When the King returned home Robert Abbat of Dumferling Chancellor of the Kingdom was accused because he had Legitimated the Wife of Alane Durward who was but the Natural or Base-born Daughter of Alexander the Second That so if the King dyed without Issue she might come in as Heiress Upon this Fear the Chancellor as soon as ever he returned home surrendred up the Seal to the Nobles Gamâ—lin afterwards Bishop of St. Andrews succeeded him in his Office The Three next Years they who were the Kings Council did almost every one of them carry themselves as Kings whatever they catched was their own so that the poor Commonalty was left destitute and miserably oppressed The King of England being made acquainted therewith out of his paternal Affection to his Son in Law came to Werk-Castle scituate on the Borders of Scotland and sent for his Son in Law Alexander and his Nobles thither There by his Advice many advantageous Alterations were made especially of those Magistrates by whose Defaults Insurrections had been made at home And also many profitable Statutes were Enacted for the Future The King returned to Scotland with his Wife and having an English Guard to convey him home he resolved to dwel in the Castle of Edinburgh Walter Cumins Earl of Monteath kept the Castle who was disaffected because of the Change of the Publick State made by the King of England yet he was compelled to surrender it by Patrick Dunbar with the Assistance of the English Forces The greatest Part of the Nobility and of the Ecclesiasticks were offended in regard their Power was somewhat abridged by those New Statutes which they looked upon as a Yoke imposed upon them by the English and a Beginning of their Servitude Yea they proceeded to that height of Contumacy that being Summoned to give a Legal Account of their Management of Affairs in former times they made light of the Summons The same Persons who were the Principal Actors in disturbing things before were now the Chief Incouragers to Disobedience They were generally the Clans of the Cumins's Walter Earl of Monteath Alexander Earl of Buchan Iohn Earl of Athol William Earl of Marr and other Considerable Men of the same Faction They dared not to put their Cause on a Legal Tryal as being conscious to themselves of the many Wrongs done to the Poor and meaner Sort yea to the King himself and therefore they resolved to out-face Justice by their Impudent Audacity For being informed That the King was but lightly Guarded and lived securely at Kinross as in a time of Peace They immediately gathered a Band of their Vassals about them Seized him as he was asleep and carried him to Sterling and as if there were no Force in the Case but they had been rightfully Elected they discharged and expelled his Servants took New and managed all things at their own Will and Pleasure so that now the Terror and Consternation was turned upon the Former Counsellors But this Sedition was allay'd by the Death of Walter Cumins who
being a Grand-son than Iohn Baliol who was but a Great Grand-son As for Dornadilla with whom he stood in equal Degree yet he was to be preferred before her as a Male before a Female The Scots Nobles could not decide this Controversie at home for by reason of the Power of both Parties the Land was divided into Two Factions For Baliol by his Mother held all Galway a very large Country and besides he was allied to the Cumin's Family which was the most Powerful next the Kings for Mary the Sister of Dornadilla had Married Iohn Cumins Robert on the other side in England possessed Cleveland in Scotland Annandale and Garioch and by his Son Earl of Carrick who was afterwards King was related to many Noble Families and he was also very Gracious with his own People so that for these Reasons the Controversie was not able to be decided at home yea if it should have been equitably determined yet there was not a sufficient Party in Scotland to compel both sides to stand to the Award and therefore Edward of England was almost unanimously chosen to be the Decider thereof Neither was there any doubt made of his Fidelity as being Born of such a Father as the late King of Scotland had Experienced to be both a Loving Father in Law to him and a just Guardian too and on the contrary the English King had received a late and memorable Testimony of the Scots Good-Will towards him in that they so readily consented to the Marriage of his Son with their Queen Whereupon Edward as soon as he came to Berwick sent Letters to the Peers and Governors of Scotland to come to him protesting That he Summoned them to appear before him not as Subjects before their Lord or Supreme Magistrate but as Friends before an Arbitrator chosen by themselves First of all he required an Oath of the Competitors to stand to his Award in the next place he required the same Oath of the Nobles and Commissioners to obey Him as King whom he upon his Oath should declare so to be and for this he desired a publick Scrol or Record signed by all the States and each ones Seal affixed thereto to be given to him This being done he chose of the most prudent of all the Estates 12 English and adjoyned 12 Scots to them from them also he exacted an Oath to Judge Rightly and Truly according to their Consciences in the Case These things were managed openly and above board which in appearance were honest and taking with the People but his private Design was secretly agitated amongst a few only how he might bring Scotland under his Subjection The Thing was thought feasable enough in regard the Kingdom was divided into Two Factions but to make the Way more Intricate and the Fraud more Covert he raised up Three other Competitors besides Bruce and Baliol that out of so great a Number he might more easily bring over One or More to his Party And lest so great a Matter might seem to be determined unadvisedly he consulted with Those who were most eminent in France for Piety Prudence and the Knowledge of the Law Neither did he doubt but that as that sort of Men are never always of One Opinion he should fish something out of their Answers which might make for his purpose The New Competitors seeing no Grounds for their Pretensions of their own accord quickly desisted but to the Lawyers whom he Governed and Influenced as he pleased a false or made Case was Stated and Propounded Thus A certain King that was never wont to be Crowned nor Anointed but only to be placed in a kind of Seat and declared King by his Subjects yet not a King so free but that he was under the Patronage of another King whose Homage or Beneficiary he professed himself to be Such a King died without Children Two of his Kinsmen begat by Sempronius Great Vncle of the deceased King claim the Inheritance to wit Titius Great Grand-son by the Eldest Daughter of Sempronius and Seius Grand-son by his Younger Daughter now Which of These is to be preferred in â—n undividable Estate The Case being propounded well near in those very Words They all Generally answered That if any Law or Custom did obtain in the Kingdom which was sued for they were to be Guided by and stand to it if not then they must be Guided by him under whose Patronage they were because in Judging of Freehold Custom doth not ascend i. e. The usage and award of the Superior is to be a Law to the Inferiour but not on the contrary It would be too prolix a Task to reckon up particularly all the Opinions but in brief almost all of them answered very doubtfully and uncertainly as to the Right of the Competitors but as the Case was falsely put they all gave the Supreme Power of Judgment in the Controversie to Edward Hereby the Matter was made more intricate and involved than before so that the next Year they met again at Norham There Edward by Agents fit for his purpose gently tried the Minds of the Scots Whether they would willingly put Themselves under the Power and Jurisdiction of the English which as was alleged their Ancestors had often done But when they all unanimously refused so to do he called to him the Competitors whom he himself had set up and by great Promises extorted from them to Swear Homage to him and he persuades the rest to remove the Assembly to Berwick as a more convenient Place There he shut up the 24 Judges Elected as before in a Church without any Body else amongst them commanding them to give their Judgments in the Case and till they did so no Man was to have Access to them But they being slow in their Proceedings he ever and anon went in alone to them and by discoursing sometimes One and sometimes Another finding that most were of Opinion That the Right lay on Baliol's side tho' he were inferiour in Favour and Popularity he went to Bruce who because he was Legally cast by their Votes he thought he might more easily persuade to assent to his Design and promised him the Crown of Scotland if he would put himself under the Patronage of the King of England and be Subject to his Authority Bruce answered him ingeniously That he was not so eager of a Crown as to accept of it by abridging the Liberty his Ancestors had left him Hereupon he was dismissed and he sends for Iohn Baliol who being more desirous of a Kingdom than of honest Methods to come by it greedily accepted the Condition offered him by Edward John Baliol The Ninety Sixth King WHereupon Iohn Baliol was declared King of Scotland 6 Years and 9 Months after the Death of Alexander The rest of the Scots being studious of the publick Tranquillity led him to Scone and there Crowned him according to Custom and all Swore Fealty to him except Bruce He being thus made King by
Country he banished and sent the Scots Nobility whom he most suspected into the heart of England till his return Amongst which was Iohn Cumins Lord or Petty King of Badenach and Alan Longan a Man fit both for Advice and Action and having setled Matters after this sort he was so far from fearing any Insurrection in Scotland that he carried all his Army over along with him But hearing of the many Exploits of Wallace he thought there was need of a greater Force to suppress him yet that the Expedition was not worthy of a King neither as being only against a Roving Thief for so the English called Wallace and therefore he writes to Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland and William Latimer That they should speedily Levy what Forces they could out of the Neighbouring Parts and join themselves with Cressingham who as yet remained in Scotland to subdue the Rebellious Scots Thomas Walsingham writes that the Earl of Warren was General in this Expedition But Wallace who was then besieging the Castle of Cowper in Fife left his Army which he had increased against the coming of the English should be idle the English being near at hand marched directly to Sterlin The River Forth no where almost fordable may be there passed over by a Bridge of Wood though it be increased by the Addition of other Rivers and by the coming in of the Tide too There Cressingham passed over with the greatest part of his Army but the Bridge either having its Beams loosned and disjointed on purpose by the Skill of the Architect as our Writers say it was that so it might not be able to bear any great Weight or else being overladen with the heavy burden of so many Horse Foot and Carriages as passed over was broken and so the March of the rest of the English was precluded and hindred The Scots set upon Those who were passed over before they could put themselves into a Posture and having slain their General drove the rest back into the River the Slaughter was so great that they were all either killed or drowned Wallace returned from this Fight to the besieging of Castles and in a short time he so changed the Scene of Affairs that he left none of the English in Scotland but such as were made Prisoners This Victory wherein none of any eminency among the Scots fell save Andrew Murray whose Son some years was Regent of Scotland was obtained in the Ides of September in the year of Christ 1297. Some say that Wallis was called off to this Fight not from the Siege of Cowper but of Dundee whither he also returned after the Fight so Iohn Major and some Books found in Monasteries do relate By means of these Combustions the Fields lay untilled insomuch that after that Overthrow a Famine ensued and a Pestilence after the Famine from whence a greater Fear was apprehended than from the War Wallis to prevent this Mischief as much as he could called together all those who were fit for Service to appear at a certain day with whom he marched into England thinking with himself that their Bodies being exercised with Labour would be more healthy and that Wintring in an Enemies Country Provisions might be spared at home and the Soldiers who were in much want might reap some Fruit of their Labours in a rich Country and flourishing by reason of its continued Peace When he was entred into England no Man dared to attack him so that he staid there from the Calends of November to the Calends of February and having refreshed and inriched his Soldiers with the Fruits and Spoils of the Enemy he returned home with great Renown This Expedition as it increased the Fame and Authority of Wallis amongst the Vulgar sort so it heightned the envy of Nobles against him mightily For his Praise seemed a tacite Exprobration to them who being Men of great Power and Wealth either out of Slothfulness durst no◠or out of Perfidiousness would not attempt what He that was a Mean Man and destitute of all the Advantages of Fortune had not only valiantly undertook but also successfully performed Moreover the King of England finding the Business to be greater than could well be managed by his Deputies made some settlement of things in France and returned home and gathering together a great Army but hastily levied for he brought not back his Veteran Soldiers from beyond Sea and for the most part raw and unexperienced Men he marches toward Scotland supposing he had only to do with a disorderly Band of Robbers But when he saw both Armies in Battel array about 500 Paces one from another in the Plains of Stanmore he admired the Discipline Order and Confidence of his Enemies So that thô he himself had much the greater Force yet he durst not put it to the hazard of a Battel against such a Veteran and Experienced a Captain and against Soldiers inured to all hardships but turned his Ensigns and marched slowly back Wallace also durst not follow him for fear of Ambushes but kept his Army within their Trenches Having thus got the Victory thô Bloodless over so puissant a King his Enemies were so much the more enraged against him and caused Rumours to be scattered up and down That Wallis did openly affect a Supream or Tyrannical Power at which the Nobles especially Bruce and the Cumin's of the Royal Stock did mightily disdain for they said thus within themselves That if they must be Slaves they had rather be so under a Great and Potent King than under an Vpstart whose Domination was like to be not only base but also dangerous And therefore they determined by all means to undermine the Authority of Wallis Edward was not ignorant of these Disgusts and therefore the next Summer he Levies a Great Army consisting partly of English partly of Scots who had remained Faithful to him and came to Falkirk which is a Village built in the very Tract of the Wall of Severus and is distant from Sterling little more than 6 Miles The Scots Army were not far from them of sufficient strength for they were 30000. if the Generals and Leaders had agreed amongst themselves Their Generals were Iohn Cumins Iohn Stuart and William Wallace the most flourishing Persons amongst the Scots the Two former for their high Descent and Opulency the Later for the glory of his former Exploits When the Three Armies were ready to fight a new Dispute arose besides their former Envy Who should lead the Van of the Army and when all Three stood upon their Terms the English decided the Controversie who with Banners displaid marched with a swift pace towards them Cumins and his Forces retreated without striking a stroke Stuart being beset before and behind was slain with all that followed him Wallace was sorely pressed upon in the Front and Bruce had fetched a compass about an Hill and fell on his Reat yet he was as little disturbed
his Former Life and especially for his late and yet reaking Conquests was received with a great deal of Favour and had the Government of Roxburgh bestowed on him yea and the Sheriff-wick of all Teviotdale was also added to his Authority William Douglas took this mighty heinously that Ramsay was preferred before him in that Honour For seeing he had expelled the English from almost all Teviotdale he had sometimes presided over the Publick Assembly there thô without the Kings Command yet relying upon his Merits towards his Country the Nobleness of his Stock and the Power of his Family he hoped That no man would have been his Competitor for that Office Whereupon being wholly bent on Revenge he at present dissembled his Anger but in Three Months after he met with his Adversary holding an Assembly in the Church of Hawick and unawares assaulted and wounded him having also slain Three of his Followers who endeavoured to rescue him and so set him upon an Horse and carried him to the Castle of Hermitage where he starved him to Death About the same time William Bullock a Man of singular Loyalty to the King was put to the same kind of Death by David Berclay These Two Savage and Cruel Facts filled almost the whole Kingdom with Seditions and distracted it into several Parties These things did mightily exercise the King who was yet but Young and not accustomed to Men of Rough and Military Dispositions yet though he used great diligence to find out Douglas to bring him to Condign Punishment he by Means of his Friends of which he had procured Many by his Noble Exploits for the Liberty of his Country and especially of Robert Stuart the King's Son by his Sister obtained his Pardon And indeed the Magnificent yet True Report of his Famous Actions did much facilitate the Obtaining thereof together with the present Conjuncture of the Time wherein there being but an uncertain Peace abroad and Seditions at home Military Men were to be respected yea and honoured too Upon which Account he was not only pardoned but preferred also to the Government of Roxburgh and of Teviotdale too a Clemency which perhaps in the present Circumstances of Things might be useful but certainly of very ill Example for the Future David having thus settled Matters at Home the best he could denounces War against England the greatest Part of the Nobility dissuading him from that Expedition by reason of the great Scarcity of Provisions Yet he Listed an handsom Army and made Thomas Randolfe General thereof he himself accompanied him but in disguise that he might not be known to be the King This Army having wasted Northumberland for about Two Months time returned home with great Booty Within a few Days after he made another Inrode into the Enemies Country but then he did not disguise but openly professed Himself both King and General The English being inferior in Strength would not venture to give a set Battel whilst their King was absent in France but skirmished their Enemies with their Horse and so kept them from plundering much by a close March Five of the Chief Nobility whom David had lately raised to that Honour straggling too far from their Men were taken Prisoners their Followers being also killed or put to Flight So that David to spend no more time there in vain returned with his Army He made also a Third Expedition with what Force he could privately Levy that so he might fall upon his Enemy unawares But entring England in a stormy Autumn the small Brooks were so swollen with large Showres that they made all the Country unpassable and also hinder'd the Carriage of Provision so that Home he came again yet that he might not seem to have taken so much Pains to no purpose he demolished a few Castles Not long after Embassadors were sent to and fro in order to obtain a Truce for Two Years which the Scots consented to upon Condition That Philip King of France gave his Consent for That was one Article in the Treaty between the Scots and French That neither of them should make Truce or Peace with the English without the Other 's Consent For those Two Years Scotland was quiet About the Fourth Year after David's Return the French were overcome in a great Battel and Calais a Town of the Mâ—â—ini was besieged by them so that Philip pressed the Scots by his Ambassadors to Invade England and to so draw away some of their Force from Him Hereupon an Army was commanded to meet at Perth Thither they came in a great Abundance and there David Earl of Rosse waylaying Reginald Lord of the Aebudae his Old Enemy fell upon him in the Night and slew him with Seven Nobles in his Company This Murder did much weaken the Army for the Kindred and Tenants of both Parties yea the Neighbouring Inhabitants fearing a Civil War between Two such Potent Families returned to their own Homes And therefore William Douglas of Liddisdale earnestly persuaded the King to desist from his present Expedition and to compose Matters at Home His Counsel was refused and the King his Friendship to Philip overcoming his Love to his Country marches forward into England and destroyed all as he went by Fire and Sword And thus in Sixteen Days he came into the County of Durham where the English parly levied by Percy and partly sent back from the Siege of Calais made a great Body and shewed themselves to the Enemy in Battel-array sooner than ever the Scots could have imagined David who feared nothing less than the coming of the Enemy and therefore had sent abroad Douglas to forage the Neighbouring Country gave a Signal of Battel to his Souldiers Douglas fell unawares amongst his Enemies and having lost Five Hundred of his Men was put to slight and returned in great Fear to the Camp And the End of the Conflict was as unhappy as the Beginning For the Fight being sharply begun Randolfe's Men were routed at the first Onset and he himself slain The main Battel in which the King was was assaulted by Two Brigades of the English One that had conquered before and Another that was intire and had not yet charged who shattered it and cut it off quite They being resolved to die and therein almost all the Scotish Nobility were utterly lost and the King himself after his Arms were taken away was taken Prisoner by Iohn Copland but he struck out Two of his Teeth with his Fist though he himself was sorely wounded with two Arrows The Third Wing commanded by Robert Stuart and Patrick Dunber perceiving the Slaughter of their fellow-Souldiers withdrew themselves with little Loss The Nobility were so destroyed in this Fight that immediately after it Roxburgh Hermitage and many other Castles were surrender'd to the English And the Scots were enforced to quit their Claim to all the Lands they held in England and also to Merth Teviotdale Liddisdale and Lauderdale and the
there were Ten thousand Horse and Foot from the Neighbouring Places a promiscuous multitude which came in They encouraged the Bishop to march the nearest way to the Enemy and to give him Battel alleging That He was so wearied with his yesterdays Fight and so many were wounded and the rest secure by reason of their late Victory that he might obtain an easie Conquest over them The Earl of Murray upon whom the Eyes of all were fixed when Douglas was gone was advertised of his coming by his Scouts whereupon he consulted with his Chief Commanders about the Prisoners To kill them in cold Blood after they had given them Quarter seemed cruel and to save alive a number of Enemies almost equal with their own seemed dangerous The Resolve was That they should all Swear not to stir whilst the Battel was fought and though their Friends might relieve them yet they should continue and own themselves as Prisoners still Upon these Terms they were left in the Camp with a small Guard who were commanded to fall upon them all if any one did stir This Matter thus setled the Scots being full of Courage by reason of their Former Victory marched out with their Army being fortified and secured in the Rear with Marshes and on the Right and Left with Trees which they cut down and moreover the Word of Command was given That as soon as the Enemy drew near every Man should blow his Horn which he carried behind him at his Back which would make such a mighty Noise and Sound as was terrible of it self but being multiplied by the Repercussion and Eccho of the Neighbouring Hills gave forth the Representation of a Greater Force than indeed they were The English had marched very fast and moreover were to fight amongst the dead Bodies of their own Men being astonished at that horrible Noise and also at the Alacrity of their Enemies who stood in good Order over against them and besides having no Skilful Commander over so tumultuary a Body and also the Commander not much confiding on such a Raw Soldiery they presently turned their Colours and marched back as they came In the mean time Lindsay who as I have said was taken Prisoner and left at Newcastle being seen and known by Redman was courteously treated by him and set at Liberty without Ransom The Scots having passed over this sudden Brunt so easily resolved to return home but before they dismissed Ralfe Percy who was much wounded so that he could not endure the Jogging of an Horse and sent him to Newcastle to be healed of his Wounds upon his Promise That as soon as ever he was able to ride he would wait on the Earl of Murray where he pleased to appoint and engaging his Faith thereto as the manner is he departed Seven hundred other Prisoners followed his example and were released on their Parol upon the same Terms Many of the Common Soldiers who were like to be more burdensom than beneficial was dismissed gratis Of the Nobler sort Henry Percy and almost 400 more were detained and carried into Scotland and shortly after upon Payment of a Ransom set upon their Heads they were all set at Liberty so that in that Age as Ennius says Men did not huckster out a War but fought it out as contending mainly for Liberty and Glory Three days after the Bodies of Douglas and the other Great Commanders that fell were carried to Mulross and there magnificently interred When the Tidings of these Matters were brought to the other Army which was wasting Cumberland it disturbed all their Mirth so that the Joy conceived for their good Success was turned into bitter Mourning The Loss of Douglas did so affect all Military Men that not only that Army which followed him but this Other also returned home in Silence and Sadness as if they had not been Conquerors but Conquered The Publick Sentiment was also further increased That he died without Children and in the Flower of his Age and that almost He alone was deprived of the Fruit of the Victory which he had gotten His Estate fell to Archibald Earl of Galway Sirnamed the Austere who also was a brave Cavalier in his days This is that memorable Fight of Otterborn remarkable not only for the Magnanimity and Hardiness of the Commanders and Soldiers therein and their Modesty in Victory but also for the various and changeable event of it That the Conqueror in the highest expectation of his Glory was taken off by Death and could not enjoy the Fruit of his own Labour And the Conquered General though then discomfited and made a Prisoner yet outlived this Battel many years in great Glory and Splendour It was Fought the 12th of the Calends of August in the year of our Lord 1388. By this Victory Matters were more composed and quiet both at home and abroad but in regard the King by Reason of his Age was not fit to manage Business and withal understanding of the Reflection that was made upon him by reason of the late Expedition which was undertaken without him and his eldest Son Iohn was of a slow nature and addicted more to Ease than to difficult Enterprizes he therefore Indicted an Assembly of the Estates and made Robert Earl of Fife Deputy of the Kingdom by the name of Governor yet they who managed that Office before him were usually called Custodes i. e. Keepers When Henry Percy eminent for Stock and Prowess was Prisoner in Scotland the Earl of Merch commonly called Earl Mareschal a Man fiercer in his Words than Actions was put in his Place He undervaluing the Scots Valour in the Fight of Otterborn and also grievously blaming the Cowardize of the English did thereby incur the Hatred of Both Nations And indeed Robert Vice-King of Scotland was so offended at his boasting Insolence That he thought it a just Cause to make an Expedition against him Hereupon he entred the Enemies Country and with Archibald Douglas then Earl of Douglas marches directly towards the Enemy who was reported to stay for him with a great Army when he came near him he gave him opportunity to engage which he declining he sent a Trumpeter to him to desire him to try it out in a plain Field but the Mareschal kept himself in his Fastnesses and Places unaccessible so that Robert after he had shewed his Army some hours to the Enemy sent them forth to pillage in the Neighbourhood and he ransacked those Places especially which the Mareschal was wont to have his Residence in and afterwards he marched them back laden with Booty without any Fight at all This Expedition though undertaken upon slight grounds yet was very pleasing both to the English and the Scots who Both rejoyced to see the vanity of the Man so to be confuted but he to excuse the Matter as often as Mention was made of it did allege That he did it for the Love of his Countrymen as being
and Faithful Friend as he thought That he did not want Force both of Scots and English who were ready to assist him to recover his Ancient Patrimony provided that he would joyn in his assistance with them This Ralfe was at that time Sheriff of Yorkshire so they there call the Officer which presides in Chief over Juridical Assemblies He enticed Percy to him upon pretence of giving him Aid and then discovered the Conspiracy to the King Thus his Friend was betrayed by him his Head cut off and sent to the King at London There was also at that time a certain Englishman in Scotland who called himself Richard the Second but I judge falsly For when Percy the Elder did often and earnestly desire to speak with him he would not by any persuasion be induced thereunto fearing as may be guessed left his Imposture might be detected by a Man who so well knew his King Yet he was for some Yearss Treated as one of the Blood-Royal and that he might live more securely he feigned himself most averse from any desire of enjoying the Kingdom But at last he was Buried in the Church of the Franciscan-Fryers at Sterlin The Title of the King of England being inserted in his Epitaph â—ot long after Fastcastle a very Strong Castle as the Name intimates in Merch was taken from the English by Patrick Dunbar Son to George and therein Thomas Holden Governor thereof who had infested all the Neighboring Places of Lothian with his continual Thievery And moreover in Teviotdale William Douglas and Gawin Dunbar youngest Son to the Earl of Merch had broken down the Bridge of Roxburgh and burnt the Town but they attempted not the Castle because they were destitute and unprovided of all things necessary for a Siege But the next Year after which was 1411. Donald the Islander Lord of the Aebudae claiming Ross as the next Heir for so indeed he was as unjustly taken away from him by the Governor when he could get no Right he Levied 1000 Islanders and made a Descent on the Continent and so easily seized on Ross the whole Country being willing to return to the Subjection of their own just Master But this Facility of the Rossians in submitting to him gave him whose Mind was greedy of Prey Encouragement to attempt greater Matters For he passed over into Murray and there being no Force to defend it he reduced it to his Obedience and then passed further in his Depredations into Strath-Bogy and did threaten Aberdeen Against this suddain and unexpected Enemy The Governour gathered Forces but in regard the Greatness and Propinquity of the Danger did not admit the expectancy of slow-paced Aid Alexander Earl of Marr the Son of Alexander the Governours Brother and almost all the Nobility beyond the Tay at a Village called Harlaw set themselves and their Men in Battel-array against him The Fight was Cruel and Bloody for the Valour of many Nobles did then contend for Estate and Glory against the Savage Cruelty of the opposite Party At last the Night parted them and it may be rather said That they were Both weary with Fighting than that either Party had the better so that the event of the Fight was so uncertain that when Both sides had reckoned up how many they had lost each counted himself the Conqueror In this Fight there fell so many Eminent and Noble Personages as scarce ever perished in one Battel against a Foreign Enemy for many Years before And therefore the Village which was obscure before grew Famous therefrom even to Posterity This Year also Publick Schools began first to be opened at St. Andrews which was effected rather by the consent of Learned Men who made an overture at the Profession of Science than by the Occasion of any Private or Publick Assistance The next 10 Years there was hardly any Memorable thing acted betwixt the Scots and English either because there was a Truce made which yet Authors are silent in or because Henry the 4 th Dying on the 12 th of the Calends of April and his Son Henry the 5 th presently succeeding him being all the rest of his Life intent on the Affairs of France the English abstained from offering any Injury to the Scots And besides the Governour of Scotland did not dare to stir on his side for fear lest the English should bring back upon them the true Heir of the Crown whom he knew many of the Scots would close with out of the Commiseration of his Misfortunes Therefore what Inroads were made at that time were rather like Robberies than Wars For both Penrith in England was burnt by Archibald Douglas and Dunfrize in Scotland by the English And also there was an Exchange of Prisoners made Murdo the Governours Son taken at Homildon Fight was exchanged for Percy who when his Grandfather's Party was subdued in England was brought into Scotland and left with the Governor But upon the New King 's coming to the Crown he was restored to the Dignity of his Ancestors He though he were not properly a Prisoner by the Law of Arms yet the unjust detention of Iames Son to the King of Scots stopt the mouths of the English that they could not justly complain of any injury in the Case As for Percy himself he was so far from resenting it that as long as he lived he acknowledged the Civility and great Friendship of the Scots to him in all kind of mutual Service Moreover the same Year another Embassy came from the Council of Constance the Head whereof was the Abbat of Pontiniack and another from Peter Lune who had seized on the Papacy and as pertinaciously kept it He by Henry Harding an English Franciscan had wrought over the Governor to his Party but in vain for the whole Body of the Priesthood was against him for they having assented to the Council of Constance had subscribed to the Election of Martin the Fifth In the mean time the King of France by means of a violent Disease fell besides himself and his Distemper was encreased by the Monks who pretended to Cure him By which means France was divided into Two Factions The Head of the One was the Duke of Burgundy who having slain the Kings Brother drew him to the English Party The Head of the Other was the Kings Son who being disinherited by his distracted Father was called by his Enemies in a jeer the King of Berry because he usually kept himself at Burges in Berry a Town of the Bernois He being forsaken by a great part of his own Country Men and destitute also of Foreign Aid in the Year 1419. sent the Earl of Vendosme his Ambassador to the Scots to demand Aid of them according to the League made betwixt the Two Nations The Assembly of the Estates ordered him Seven Thousand Men and indeed at that time in regard the Soldiers were increased by reason of the long
Henry being offended at their Peremptoriness and Constancy having taken the Town of Meaux by Storm hanged up 20 Scots which he found there alleging That they bore Arms against their own King Soon after He and Charles the Sixth King of France died immediately one after another About Two years after the English prevailed in a Battel at Vernevil where there were slain of the Prime Scots the Earl of Buchan and Douglas one Duke of Turein the other Master of the Horse to the French King and also Iames Douglas his Son Alexander Lindsay Robert Stuart and Thomas Swinton and of Common Soldiers above 2000. And about three years after the Auxiliary Scots received another great Overthrow at Beaux when they were carrying Provisions to Orleans They set upon the English in the way in which Fight there were slain of Scots of note William Stuart with his Brother and two eminent Knights of the Family of the Douglas's whose Posterities do yet enjoy two Castles and large Possessions about them in Scotland viz. one of them the Castle of Drumlanerick and the other the Castle of Lough Levin in Fife Thus have I briefly touched at the Actions of the Scots performed in a few years in France as External and Foreign Occurences the farther Explication of them is to be had in the French Annals which though they be not quite alien from the Affairs of Scotland yet I had not stepped out of my way to mention them if the calumny of some English Writers had not compelled me so to do For they endeavour to undervalue and speak evil of what they do not deny if Histories did not mention their Atchievements yet the Munificence of the Kings the Decrees of the Cities and the Honourable Monument at Orleance and Turein do sufficiently declare them What I pray can they here object The Scots say they are too poor to maintain so great a Force in a Foreign Country I answer First That if they be Poor it is the fault of the Soil not of the Men neither would I have taken this for a Reproach if it did not appear by their Writings That the English intended it for Such and therefore I shall only answer them with this That these Poor and Indigent Scots as they call them have got many great and famous Victories over the Opulent and Wealthy English And if they do not believe me herein let them consult their own Histories and if they suspend their Belief of them also let them not require of us to receive them for True in other things But to return to the Affairs of Scotland Murdo being set up as I said but now in the place of his Father he maintained a very loose Discipline in his own House his Children whose Names were Walter Alexander and Iames did despise their Inferiors and consequently oppress them with many Injuries and they infected the Youth with those Vices to which they themselves were addicted and seeing their Father did not curb nor restrain them at last he was punished himself for giving them such bad Education The old Man did highly prize a certain Bird he had of that sort of Hawks which they call Falcons Walter had often begg'd him of his Father and was as often denied so that upon a time he catched it out of his Fathers Hand and wrung off his Neck To whom his Father replied Because thou can'st not find in thy Heart to obey me I will bring in another That both thou and I too shall be forced to obey And from that time forward he bent his Thoughts to restore his Kinsman Iames and there was an Eminent Man of Argile chief of the Country named Calen Cambel whom before Walter had affronted and wronged who approved of his Design herein so that he assembled the Estates at Perth and a Consultation being had concerning the Revocation of their King They all either out of Favour to the true Heir of the Kingdom or out of Weariness of the present posture of Affairs willingly agreed to send an Embassy about his Restitution Some Nobles were chosen Embassadors who coming into England found the English more inclinable to it than they expected For the Duke of Gloucester who in the Kings Minority governed the Affairs of England called the Council together and easily persuaded them That Iames Son to the King of Scotland should be sent back at the desire of his People into his own Country seeing he was not in his present posture of so great Authority amongst them as to be able to recal the Scots Auxiliaries out of France or to draw any Part of the Kingdom to an Alliance with England And besides he thought to make another advantage of him That he would not only be his sure and fast Friend but would always be under the power and influence of England for he had Married Ioan the Earl of Salisbury's Daughter the Beautifullest Woman of her Time which he then was mightily in Love with he persuaded himself that by her means the League with France might be easily undermined and if he were freed either he would be obliged by that Courtesy or else whilst he was busie in revenging the Wrongs his Kindred had done him he would intangle his Country in a grievous intestine War and by this means it would come to pass That either the English would be made stronger by the Accession of such a Friend or if their Scotish Enemies disagreed amongst themselves yet they should be more disingaged and readier for a Foreign War And indeed these were no imprudent Considerations if they themselves by the Narrowness of their Spirits had not marred their own Market For seeing they demanded a greater Sum of Money for his Redemption than the Scots in their present Circumstances either durst promise or were able to pay a Compremize was made That the Dowry of his Wife should be retained as for One half and that the Sons of some Noblemen should be given in Hostage for the payment of the Other Iames being set at Liberty upon these Terms returned home 18 years after he had been a Prisoner in the year of our Lord 1423. Amidst the great Concourse of People which flocked in to see him and to Congratulate his Return he was soon entertained with the Complaint of those who grievously lamented what Wrongs they had sustained since the last Kings Death partly by the Negligence and partly by the Injuries of the late Governors Walter the Son of Murdo Malcolm Fleming and Thomas Boyd were highly accused who to pacifie the Commons for the present were committed to several Prisons until the next Convention of the Estates which was appointed to be the Sixth of the Calends of Iune But Fleming and Boyd upon payment of Damages and some kind of Compensation and also upon laying down a round Sum which they were Fined at into the Kings Exchequer were set at Liberty James I. The Hundred and Second King IN the mean time
of Murray Two Years after he went thither to Administer Justice and Suppress Robberies thither he sent for the Chief of all the Families especially of those who were wont to issue out with great Troops and fetch in Booties from the Neighbouring Countries And when he had subdued them he laid Taxes on them and made the Commonalty provide Victuals for them which were Idle themselves Some of those Robbers had 1000 some 2000 some more Pattizans at their Command whereby Good People were kept under for fear of Danger And the Bad who found a sure Refuge amongst them were made more bold to commit all manner of Wickedness The King had persuaded most of them some by Threatnings others by Flatteries but he committed about 40 of the chief of them to Prison and upon Tryal Two of the most Eminent Alexander Macrory and Iohn Macarthur were hanged up also Iames Cambel was put to death for the Murther of Iohn the Islander one of Note in his Country The rest were divided into several prisons of which some afterward suffred and others were freely set at Liberty Thus the Heads of the Faction being either Slain or kept Prisoners the King judged the Common sort being deprived of their Leaders would not stir and therefore he persuaded them by kind and gentle words to do that which was just and to place the hopes of their safety upon no other Basis as firm and secure but Innocency of Life If they would do so he would be always ready to honour and reward them if not they might take Example by the Punishment of others and most certainly expect the like Themselves When other Matters were thus composed yet the King had still with Him Alexander the Islander one of the most potent Persons in the Land next the King himself for he Commanded over all the Aebudae and besides he had an Accession of the fertile County of Ross by means of his Mother who was Daughter to Walter Lesly Earl of Ross. He having committed many cruel and flagitious Acts was thereupon in great Fear of the King whom yet he found very exorable by the Mediation of his Friends insomuch that he was courteously invited to Court kindly entertained there and having obtained an Amnesty for what was past great Hopes of Favour were propounded to him if he would inure himself to a more quiet and obedient Carriage and Deportment for the time to come and so he was sent home But he was so far from being thankful to the King for his Pardon and afterwards for his Liberty that he thought he had Great wrong done him that he was kept some days in Prison And therefore as soon as he was returned to his old Comrades he gathered a Company of Them together who were accustomed to live upon the Spoil and went to Innerness in a seemingly peaceable manner where being hospitably entertained he suffered his Followers to pillage the Town and after he had set fire to the Houses he laid Siege to the Castle but hearing of a Force coming against him was compelled to raise his Siege and march in great haste to Loch-Abyr There by reason of the opportunity of the Place he resolves to put himself upon the Fortune of a Battel with that Army which he had with him which were 10000 men hardned to the Wars But Two Tribes or Clans of Those who followed him chearfully to the Plunder when they heard of the Kings Preparations made against them deserted him to wit The Catans and the Camerons called vulgarly Clan-Chattan and Clan-Cameron Being thus deprived of Part of his strength and having no great Confidence in the Fidelity of the rest he began to think of hiding himself again and so dismissing his Army he retired with some few into the Aebudae and there consulted concerning his Flight into Ireland But presuming that even there he could not be safe from the wrath of the King he thought it best to fly to his last Refuge viz. the Kings Mercy and Clemency which before he had so large experience of But here his Thoughts were at a loss betwixt Hope and Fear when he considered what Mischiefs he had done at his first Revolt and after the King had graciously pardoned him with what perfidiousness and cruelty he had again broke forth and so had cut off all hopes of further Indemnity and therefore was in great Doubt and Perplexity whether he would commit himself his Life and Fortunes to the Kings Anger so justly conceived against him In these Circumstances he resolved to take a middle Course between Flight and Surrendring himself which was to send Agents to Court to beg Pardon for his Offences and to incline the Kings Heart to Lenity towards him And for this Service he chose quiet moderate Men and not at all infected with the same contagious Villanies whereof he himself was Guilty and on that account not unacceptable to the King yet notwithstanding they could obtain no other Answer from him but That he would hear nothing unless he would put himself into his hands neither would he Treat with him as long as he was absent Alexander cast up all his dangers in his mind and foreseeing that he could be safe no where from the Kings Fury resolved to choose a fit Time and Place and so to cast himself upon him for he thought he would count it a shame to injure or punish an humble Supplicant Whereupon he comes privately to Edinburgh where the King then was and on the day wherein our Lord's Resurrection is celebrated with great Solemnity he threw himself at the Kings Feet having a Linen Cloak or Plad about him wherewith he was rather covered than cloth'd and in a Speech composed to procure pity put himself into his hands and begg'd his Life and Estate His Habit the Place and Time and so great and sudden a Change of Fortune did much affect the By-standers The Queen and the Nobles who were present interceded with the King for him and did so far incline and affect his Mind That they were commanded to stay till their Devotions were ended In the Interim the King pondered every thing with himself and thought it not safe to dismiss so perfidious potent and Factious a Person without any Punishment at all and yet on the other side to make some Gratification to the Request of the Queen he thought it best to keep him alive in safe Custody for by this means he might gain an Opinion of Clemency and also prevent his opportunity to do further Mischief provide for the security of the Common People and withal terrify others by his Example Hereupon he was sent Prisoner to Tintallon-Castle and his Mother a fierce Woman was Banished into the Isle of Inch-colm For it was thought That she would have excited him to new Attempts The Licentiousness of Alexander being thus repressed yet all things were not quiet in the Northern Countrys For the men of Caithnes and Cameron who the Year
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
Triumphed over And so She herself and her Kingdom which was enlarged and increased by her Husband Odenatus was lost in a moment Neither may I pass over in silence what is principally to be regarded in the management of other Mens Affairs That the Chief Command is not to be intrusted to such sort of Persons who are not accountable for their Mal-Administration I do not at all distrust the Disposition Faithfulness nor Care of the Queen but if any thing be acted amiss as it often happens by the Fraud of others and Matters be carried otherwise than the Publick Good or the Dignity of Her Place doth Require What Mulct can we exact from the Kings Mother What Punishment can we require Who shall give an account for Miscarriages The Highest Matters will then be managed in the Meetings of Women in the Nursery or Dressing Room You must There either each Man in particular subscribe to Decrees or All in General Make them and She whom you scarce now restrain tho' She be without Arms and obnoxious to you by Laws and Customs when you have by your Authority put Power into Her hands you will certainly feel Her Womanish Wilfulness and Extravagance Neither do I speak this as if I did fear any such thing from our Queen who is the Choicest and Modestest of all Women but because I think it base and unseemly for us who have all things yet in our own Hands and Power to place the Hope of our Safety which we may owe to our Selves only in anothers Power especially since both Divine and Human Laws the Custom of our Ancestors yea and the Consent of all Nations throughout the whole World make for us 'T is true some Nations have endured Women to be their Chief Magistrates but they were not elected to that Dignity by their Judgment and Suffrage but were cast upon them by the Lot of their Birth and Nativity but never any People who had freedom of Vote when there was plenty of able Men to chuse did ever prefer Women before Them And therefore most Eminent Patriots I advise and earnestly intreat you That according to the Laws of our Country and the Customs of our Ancestors we chuse One or if you think fit More the Best out of the Noblest and Best who may undertake the Regency till the King arrive at that strength both of Body and Mind as to be able to manage the Government Himself And I pray God to Bless your Proceedings herein Kennedy spake thus with the Approbation of the undoubtedly major part of the Assembly and the rest perceiving that it was in vain to oppose passed over to their Opinion The Matter was thus composed That neither Party seemed to have the Better of the other Two of each Faction were chosen for the Guardianship for the King who were to manage all Publick Affairs with Fidelity to Collect and Expend the King's Revenue and to undertake the Charge of the Royal Family Of the Queens side William Graham and Robert Boyd then Chancellor Of the Other Robert Earl of the Orcades and Iohn Kennedy All on both sides the Chief of their Families To these were added the Two Bishops of Glasgo and Caledonia The Queen was allowed to be present at the King's Education but She was not to touch any part of the Publick Government As for the other Children which were Four viz. Alexander Duke of Albany and Iohn Earl of Mar and Two young Females She had the Charge of their Educations Herself Matters being thus composed at home Embassadors from England had their Audience who desired a Truce which was granted for Fifteen Years The next Year which was 1463. The King's Mother Died being not well spoken of in point of Chastity The same Year Alexander the King's Brother returning from his Grandfather by the Mothers-side out of France was taken Prisoner by the English but freed soon after in regard the Scots urged it as a Breach of the Truce and threatned a War thereupon Peace being obtained abroad it was not long before Intestine Commotions arose at home for when the Disputes and Controversies betwixt the Nobility concerning ordering the State of the Kingdom were bruited abroad and magnified by vulgar Rumors And Moreover the King's Minority together with the fresh Remembrance of the Licentiousness of the late Times were brought upon the Stage all these Temptations put together did easily let loose the Reins to Men who were turbulent enough in their own Nature Alan of Lorn a Seditious Person had a mind to enjoy the Estate of Iohn his Elder Brother and therefore kept him Prisoner intending there to detain him so long alive till the hatred of his cruel Practise did with time abate and so he yield to his Will and Pleasure when Calen Cambel Earl of Argyle heard of it he gather'd a Band of his Tenants together freed Iohn and cast Alan into Prison in his room resolving to carry him to Court that he might suffer Punishment for That as well as for his other noted Robberies but he prevented his Punishment by Death whether voluntary or fortuitous is not known In another part of the Country Donald the Islander as being a more powerful Person began to make a far greater Commotion for after the Kings Death as free from Fear and judging That turbulent state of things to be a fit Opportunity for him to injure his Inferiors and to increase his own power he came to Enverness with no great Train and was kindly invited into the Castle by the Governor thereof who had no Thoughts or so much as the least Fear of any Hostility from him when he was entred he turned out the Garison seized upon the Castle and gathering his Islanders about him proclaim'd himself King of the Islands He sent forth Edicts into the Neighbour Countries That the Inhabitants should pay Tribute to none but himself and that they should acknowledge no other Lord or Master denouncing a great Penalty to those that did otherwise The News hereof caus'd Debauch'd Persons to flock to him from all Parts so that having made up an Army great enough he entred Athole with such celerity that he took the Earl thereof who was the Kings Uncle and his Wife Prisoners before they suspected any such thing For the Earl hearing the sudden Tumult of a War distrusted the strength of his Castle of Blare and went into the Church of St. Brides near adjoining to defend himself there as in a Sanctuary by the Religion of the Place many also of his Vassals and Countrymen being surprized at the sudden danger carried and laid up their best Goods there That Church was venerated in those Parts with great Ceremony and it had remain'd inviolate to that very day by reason of the great Opinion of its Sanctity but the consideration of Gain was more prevalent with that Savage and Avaritious Person than any sense of Religion For he violently pull'd out the Earl and his
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
could not be so easily managed but were forced to a Surrender and so they were tow'd up against the Stream of the Tay to Dundee where they staid till the dead were buried and the wounded were distributed abroad to Chirurgeons for their Cure This Battel was fought the 10 th day of August in the Year of our Redemption 1490. A few days after Wood went to the King and carried with him Stephen Bull with the other Commanders of the Ships and the notedst of his Souldiers which he presented to him Wood was highly commended by the King for this Exploit and honourably rewarded The King freely dismissed the Prisoners and their Ships and sent them back to their King with an high commendation of their Valour For in regard they fought for Honour not for Booty he therefore would shew that Valour was to be honoured even in an Enemy King Henry tho he was much aggrieved for the loss of his Men in this unhappy Fight yet he gave the King of Scots Thanks and told him that he gratefully accepted his Kindness and the Greatness of his Mind About this time a new kind of Monster was born in Scotland in the lower part of its Body it resembled a Male Child not much differing from the ordinary shape of a humane Body newly born but above the Navel the Trunk of the Body and all the other Members were double representing both Sexes male and female The King gave special Order for its careful education especially in Musick wherein it arrived to admirable Skill and moreover it learned several Tongues and sometimes the two Bodies did discover several Appetites disagreeing one with another and so they would quarrel one liking this another that and yet sometimes again they would agree and consult as it were in common for the good of both This was also memorable in it that when the Legs and Loins were hurt below both Bodies were sensible of the Pain in common but when it was pricked or otherwise hurt above the sense of the pain did affect one Body only which difference was also more perspicuous in its Death for one of the Bodies died many days before the other and that which survived being half putrified pined away by degrees This Monster lived twenty eight years and then died when Iohn was Regent of Scotland I am the more confident in relating this Story because there are many honest and creditable Persons yet alive who saw this Prodigy with their Eyes When the People of the North of Scotland heard of this Naval Victory they gave over all thoughts of War and return'd each to his own home This Tumult and Broil being so easily quieted the King applied his Mind not only to quell all Seditions for the present but also to prevent all occasions of them for the future he summoned his First Parliament to be held at Edinburgh the 6th day of November there many wholesom Laws were made for the Establishing of publick Concord and to the end that Peoples minds might the better agree in the general the Fault was cast but upon a few particular Persons and the punishments were either very easy or else wholly remitted When a Dispute arose concerning the lawfulness of the War Iohn Lyon Lord Glames rose up and shewed several Heads of Articles which the Nobles had formerly sent to the King in order to a Pacification to which Iames the third had often both assented and subscribed and that indeed he had struck up a Peace with his Nobles upon those Terms unless some evil Counsellors had drawn away his Mind therefrom and so perswaded him to call in the old Enemy to fight against his own Subjects And by reason of this his Inconstancy the Earls of Huntly Arrol Earl of Marshal and Lyons himself with many other noble Persons had forsaken him at that time and had set up Iames the 4 th his Son as being a great Lover of the publick Peace and Welfare After a long dispute at last they all consented to a Decree wherein those that were slain in the Battel of Sterlin were affirmed to have been cut off by their own Default and that their Slaughter was just and that they who had took up Arms against the Enemies of the Publick though covering their hidden Fraud under honest pretences were guilty of no Crime nor consequently liable to any Punishment All who had Votes in the Assembly subscribed to this Decree that so they might give a better account of the Fact to Foreign Embassadors who they heard were a coming Many other Statutes were then also made to restore to the Poor what had been taken violently from them to inflict light Mulcts on the Rich and to indemnify both Parties That their taking up of Arms at that time might never turn to the Prejudice of them or their Posterity This Moderation of Spirit was highly commended in a young King of but fifteen Years old and who was also a Conqueror and had the Command of all but it was further heightned by his Benignity and Faithfulness in performing his Promises to which may be added which the Vulgar do most admire that he was of a graceful well-set Body and also of a vivid and quick Apprehension so that by his using this Victory neither with Avarice nor Cruelty and by his real pardoning of Offendors in a short time there grew up a great Concord amongst both Factions both of them equally striving to shew their Love and Duty to the King A few only who were most obstinate were mulct with a small Fine or with the loss of part of their Estates but none at all were deprived of their whole Patrimony neither were the Fines brought into the King's Exchequer but expended on the Charges of the War This his Royal Clemency was the more grateful because Men did yet retain fresh in their Memories upon what slight occasions in the former King's Reign many eminent Men were outed of All and how much inferior to them those were who came in their places Moreover to engage the chief Leaders of the contrary Faction to a greater Fidelity he joyned them in Bonds of Affinity to himself for whereas his Aunt had two Daughters begot by several Husbands he married Gracina Boyd to Alexander Forbes and Margaret Hamilton to Matthew Stuart Thus in a short time the Minds of all were reconciled and a pleasant Peace and Tranquillity did ensue yea as if Fortune had submitted her self to be an Handmaid to the King's Virtues there was so great an encrease of Grain and Fruits of the Earth as if a Golden Spring had suddenly started up out of a more than Iron Age. Thus after the King had suppressed Robberies by Arms and other Vices by the Severity of the Laws lest he might seem a sharp Avenger of others but indulgent to himself and withal to make it appear that his Father was slain against his Will he wore an Iron Chain about his Waste as long
all the Pageantry of his former Life he ended his days in an Halter The Seminary of War between England and Scotland being almost extinguished and a great likelihood of Peace appearing behold there arose a great Ebullition of Spirit upon a very light occasion which had almost broken out into a fierce War Some Scottish Youths went over to the Town of Norham which was near to the Castle as they were oft wont to do in Times of Peace there to recreate themselves in Sports and Pastimes and to junket together with their Neighbours as if they had been at Home for there was but a small River which divided them The Garison in the Castle out of the Rancour yet lodging in their Breasts since the former War and being also provoked by some passionate words accused those Scots as Spies and so from Words they came to Blows many were wounded on both sides and the Scots being fewer in number were forced to return Home with the loss of some of their Company This Business was often canvassed in the Meetings between the Lords of the Marches and at last Iames was very angry and sent an Herald to Henry to complain of Breach of Truce and how unconstant the English were in keeping Covenant and unless Satisfaction were given according to the just Laws which were made by general Consent about restitution betwixt the Borderers he commanded him to denounce War against him Henry had been exercised by the Violence of Fortune even from his Cradle and therefore was more inclined to Peace his Answer was That whatever was done of that kind was against his Will and without his Knowledg and if the Garison-Souldiers had offended in the Case by their Temerity he would take order That Examination should be made and that the Leagues being kept inviolate the Guilty should be punished But this was slowly done and Iames looked upon the Answer as dilatory that so Punishment might be deferred and the Sentiment thereof worn out with Time and therefore it rather provoked than satisfied Iames. But Richard Fox Bishop of Durham who was owner of the Castle being much troubled that an occasion of breaking the League should be administred by any of his Tenants to prevent it sent several Letters to Iames full of great submission modesty and civility which so inclined the Mind of Iames that he wrote him word back that he would willingly speak with him not only about the late Wrongs done but also about other Matters which might be advantagious to both Kingdoms Fox acquainted his King herewith and by his Consent he waited upon Iames at Mulross where he then was There Iames made a grievous Complaint of the Injury acted at Norham yet by the prudent and grave discourse of Fox he was so pacified that for Peace-sake of which he shewed himself very desirous he remitted the Offence Other things were acted privately betwixt them but it appeared afterward that the Sum of them was this That Iames did not only desire a Peace but both before and also now an Affinity with Henry and a stricter Bond of Union And if Henry would bestow his Daughter Margaret upon him in Marriage he hoped that the thing would be for the benefit of both Kingdoms and if Fox whose Authority he knew to be great at home would but do his Endeavour to accomplish the Affinity he did not doubt but it would be soon effected He freely promised his Endeavour and coming to the Court of England acquainted the King with the Proposition and thereupon gave hopes to the Scots Embassadors that a Peace would easily be accorded betwixt the two Kings Thus at length three Years after which was An. 1500 even about one and the same time Henry's Eldest Daughter was betrothed to Iames the IVth and also Katharine Daughter to Ferdinand of Spain to Henry's Eldest Son and their Marriages were celebrated with great Pomp the next Year after After the Marriage all things were quiet and the Court turned from the Study of Arms to Sports and Pastimes so that there was nothing but Masks Shews Feastings Dancings and Balls it was as a continued Jubilee and upon that account every day was as an Holy-day There were also Horse-Tiltings frequently made mostly according to the French Mode betwixt which as Tragical Acts there intervened the Challenges of Moss-Troopers one of another who were wont to live upon Spoil which Sport the King was well pleased to behold because he judged that the killing of them was a Gain to him When the noise of these Tourneaments came to Foreign Nations many Strangers and especially from France came daily over to shew their Prowess who were all liberally entertained by the King and as bountifully dâ—smissed Neither did he rest in these ludicrous Exercises but he laid out a great deal of Mony upon Building at Sterlin Falkland and sundry other places and especially in building of Monasteries but his Cost about Ships was greatest of all for he built three stately ones of a great Bulk and many also of a middle Rate one of his great ones was to admiration the biggest that ever any Man had seen sail on the Ocean it being also furnished with all manner of costly Accommodations our Writers have given a Description of it which I pass over and the Measure of it is kept in some places but the Greatness of it appeared by this That the News thereof stirred up Francis King of France and Henry the 8 th King of England each of them to build a Ship in imitation thereof and each endeavouring to out-vie the other when their Ships were finished and fitted with all necessaries for sailing and brought to Sea they were so big that they stood there like unmoveable Rocks unfit for any use These Works being very expensive did exhaust Iames his Treasure so that he was forced to devise some new ways to get Mony and amongst the rest he pitched upon one by the Perswasion as it was thought of William Elphinstone Bishop of Aberdeen which was very displeasing to all the Nobility Amongst the Tenures of Land in Scotland this is one kind by which the Owner holds what he buys or else is given him on these Terms That if he dye and leave his Son and Heir under Age The Wardship of him should belong to the King or to some other Superior Lord yea and all the Revenue is to be received by him till the Heir come to the age of 21 Years There is also another Badg of Slavery annexed to this Hold that if an Owner do sell above half his Estate without the consent of the chief Lord then he is to forfeit the whole to him This Law was introduced by Court-Parasites to advance the King's Exchequer but being looked upon as unjust had lain dormant a long time but the King being informed that Money might be got out of the Violators of it commanded it to be put in Execution that Process they call Recognition
Ships were taken in a time of Peace and the Passengers slain They were answered That the killing of Pirats was no violation of Leagues neither was it a justifiable Cause for a War This Answer shewed the spight of one that was willing to excuse a plain Murder and seemed as if he had sought an occasion for a War Whereupon the English which inhabited the Borders by that which was acted above-board guessed at their King's Mind and being also accustomed to sow the Seeds of Dissention in the times of the firmest Peace and besides being much given to Innovation began to prey upon the adjacent Countries of the Scots At that time there was one Alexander Hume who had the sole command of all the Scots Borders which was wont to be distributed into three Mens Hands he was mightily beloved by Iames but his Disposition was more fierce than was expedient for the Good of those Times The King was intent upon War and very solicitous how to blot out the Ignominy received by those Incursions and Hume promised him That he and some of his Kindred and Vassals would in a little time make the English repent of the Loss and Damage they had done as being resolved to turn their Mirth into Sadness To make good his Word he gathered together about 3000 Horse entred England and spoiled the Neighbouring Villages before any Relief could come in but as he was returning his Men being accustomed to pillaging and then also laden with a great deal of Booty being impatient to stay there any longer divided their Spoil even in their Enemy's Country and went their ways severally Home Alexander with a few brought up the Rear to see that no assault might be made upon them in their Retreat but perceiving none to follow he was the more careless and so fell into an Ambush of 300 English who taking the opportunity set upon them and struck such a suddain Terror into them that they routed and put them to flight In this Conflict a great many of the Scots were slain and 200 taken Prisoners amongst whom was Alexander's Brother who was exchanged for the Lord Hern of Foord who had been kept Prisoner many Years in Scotland for the Murder of Robert Carr But all the Booty came safe into Scotland because they who drove it were marched on before This new Offence coming upon the King's Mind which was not easy before upon the account of what I formerly related made him unruly and headstrong and thereupon he called a Convention to consult concerning the War The wiser sort were against it but L'amot the Embassador of France earnestly pressed it by Entreaties and Promises And also frequent Letters from Andrew Forman urged the same thing yea the King himself inclined thereto so that many to gratify him fell in with his Opinion the rest being the minor part lest by a fruitless Opposition they might incur the King's Displeasure gave also their assent so that a War was voted to be made against England both by Land and Sea 't is doubtful whether the Counsel or the Event was the worst a set day was appointed for the Army to meet together An Herald was sent into France to Henry who was then besieging Tournay to denounce War upon him The Causes of it were rendred to be That Satisfaction for Losses had been required but not given That Iohn Hume the Murderer of Robert Carr did openly shew himself That Andrew Breton in violation of the Leagues betwixt the two Crowns had been pillaged and slain by the King 's own Command And though he did not mention any of those Wrongs yet he should never endure That the Territories of Lewis King of France his Ancient Ally nor of Charles Duke of Gelderland his Kinsman should be so miserably harrassed with all the Calamities of War and therefore unless he desisted therefrom he bid him Defiance Henry being young and having a flourishing and puissant Kingdom and besides a general Combination of almost all Europe against France alone these things kindled a desire in his Mind which was otherwise ambitious enough of Glory to continue his Arms and therefore he gave the Herald an Answer more fierce than suted with his youthful Age That he heard nothing from him but what he long before had expected from such a Violator of all Divine and Human Laws and therefore he should do as he thought fit for his part he was resolved not to be threatned out of his Procedure in a War wherein he had so well prospered hitherto and besides he did not value his Friendship as having already had sufficient proof of his Levity This Denunciation of War being brought into Scotland as the King was going to his Army at Linlithgo whilst he was at Vespers in the Church as the manner then was There entred an old Man the Hair of his Head being Red inclining to Yellow and hanging down on his Shoulders his Forehead sleek thro' baldness bare-headed in a long Coat of a russet Colour girt with a linen Girdle about his Loins in the rest of his Aspect he was very venerable He pressed thro' the Crowd to come to the King When he came to him he leaned upon the Chair on which the King sat with a kind of rustick simplicity and bespoke him thus O King said he I am sent to warn thee not to proceed in thy intended Design which Monition if thou neglect neither Thou nor thy Followers shall prosper I am also commanded to tell thee That thou shouldest not use the Familiarity Intimacy and Counsel of Women which if thou dost it will redound to thy Ignominy and Loss Having thus spoken he withdrew himself into the Crowd and when the King enquired for him after Prayers were ended he could not be found which Matter seemed more strange because none of those who stood next and observed him as being desirous to put many Questions to him were sensible how he disappeared Amongst them there was David Lindsy of Mont a Man of approved Worth and Honesty and a great Scholar too for in the whole course of his Life he abhorred Lying and if I had not received this Story from him as a certain Truth I had omitted it as a Romance of the Vulgar But the King notwithstanding went forward in his March and near Edinburgh mustered his Army and a while after entred England took the Castles of Norham Werk Etel Foord and some others near to the Borders of Scotland by Storm and demolished them and spoiled all the adjoining part of Northumberland mean while the King falls in Love with one of the Ladies he had taken Prisoner she was Hern's Wife of Foord and neglected his present business insomuch that Provision beginning to grow scarce in a not very plentiful Country and it being very difficult to fetch it from far the greatest part of his Army stole away and left their Colours very thin only the Nobles with a few of their
or else were likely speedily to follow after It considering also his eminent Virtues yea his popular Vices did easily deceive vulgar Minds under a specious Resemblance and Affinity to Virtue For he was of a strong Body just Stature a Majestick Countenance of a quick Wit but by the default of the Times not cultivated by Learning He did greedily imbibe one ancient Custom of the Nation for he was skilful in curing of Wounds for in old Times that kind of Knowledg was common to all the Nobility as Men continually accustomed to Arms. The Access to his Presence was easy his Answers were mild he was just in Judgment and moderate in Punishment so that he seemed to be drawn to it against his Will He bore the malevolent Speeches of his Enemies and the Monitions of his Friends with a Greatness of Mind which arose in him from the Tranquillity of a good Conscience and the Confidence of his own Innocency insomuch that he was so far from being angry that he never returned them an harsh Word There were also some Vices which crept in among these Virtues by reason of his two great affectation of Popularity For by endeavouring to avoid the Name of a covetous Prince which his Father had incurred he laboured to insinuate himself into the Good will of the Vulgar by sumptuous Buildings by costly Pageants and immoderate Largesses so that his Exchequer was very low and his want of Money such that if he had lived longer the Merits of his former Reign would have been extinguished or at least out-ballanced by his Imposition of new Taxes so that his Death seemed to have hapned rather commodiously than immaturely to him IAMES the Vth the CVIth King WHen Iames the Fourth was slain he left his Wife Margaret and Two Sons behind him the Eldest of which was not yet full two Years old The Parliament assembled at Sterlin proclaimed him King according to the Custom of the Country on the 24 th day of February and then they addressed themselves to settle the publick Affairs in doing whereof they first perceived the greatness of their Loss For those of the Nobility who bore any thing of Authority and Wisdom before them being slain the major part of those who survived by reason of their youthful Age or incapacity of Mind were unfit to meddle with Matters of State especially in so troublesom a time and they who were left alive of the better sort who had any thing of Prudence in them by reason of their Ambitions and Covetousness abhorred all Counsels tending to Peace Alexander Hume Lord Warden of all the Marches had got a great Name and a large Estate in the King's Life-time but when he was dead he obtained an almost Regal Authority in the Countries bordering upon England He out of a wicked Ambition did not restrain Robbers that so he might more engage those bold and lewd Persons to him thinking thereby to make way for his greater Puissance but that Design was unhappy to him and in the end pernicious The Command of the Country on this side the Forth was committed to him the Parts beyond to Alexander Gordon to keep those Seditious Provinces within the Bounds of their Duty But the Name of Regent was in the Queen her self For the King had left in his Will which he made before he went to fight that if he miscarried as long as she remained a Widow she should have the Supream Power This was contrary to the Law of the Land and the first Example of any Woman who ever had the Supream Rule in Scotland yet the want of Men made it seem tolerable especially to them who were desirous of Peace and Quietness But her Office continued not long for before the end of the Spring she married Archibald Douglas Earl of Angus one of the prime young Men of Scotland for Lineage Beauty and Accomplishments in all good Arts and before the end of that Year the Seeds of Discord were sown They took their Rise from the Ecclesiastical Order for after the Nobles were slain in all publick Assemblies a great part were of that sort of Men and many of them did their own business amidst the publick Calamity and got such Estates that nothing did more hasten their Ruin than that inordinate Power which they afterwards as arrogantly used Alexander Stuart Archbishop of St. Andrews was slain at Flodden and there were Three which strove for that Preferment but upon different Interests Gawin Douglas upon the account of the Splendor of his Family and his own Personal Worth and Learning was nominated to the place by the Queen and accordingly took Possession of the Castle of St. Andrews Andrew Hepburn Abbat of St. Andrews before any Archbishop was nominated gathered up the Revenues of the place as a Sequestrator and he being a potent factious and subtile Man was chosen by his Monks to the Vacancy for he alleged that the Power of electing an Archbishop by ancient Custom was in Them so that he drove out the Officers of Gawin and placed a strong Garison in the Castle Andrew Forman had obtained great Favour in the Courts both of Rome and France by his former Services so that besides the Bishoprick of Murray in Scotland which he held from the beginning Lewis the 12 th of France gave him the Archbishoprick of Bourges And Pope Iulius had also dismissed him loaden with many rich Preferments for he bestowed on him the Archbishoprick of St. Andrews the two rich Abbies of Dumfermling and Aberbrothock and made him his Legate à Latere as they call him besides But so great was the Power of the Hepburns at that time that the Hume's being yet at Concord with them no Man could be found that durst proclaim the Popes Bull for the Election of Forman to that Dignity until at last Alexander Humes was induced by great Promises and besides other Gifts with the actual Donation of the Abby of Coldingham to David his younger Brother to undertake the Cause which seemed to be honest and just and especially because the Family of the Formans was in the Clanship or Protection of the Hume's so that he caused the Popes Bull to be published at Edinburgh And that was the Original of many Mischiefs which ensued for Hepburn being a Man of a lofty Spirit from that day forward studied day and night how to destroy the Family of the Hume's The Queen whilst she sat at Helm did this one thing Worthy to be remembred that she wrote to her Brother that he would not make War upon Scotland in respect to her and her young Children and that he would not infest the Dominions of his Cousin by his Foreign Arms which of its own accord was divided into so many Domestick Factions but that he would rather defend them against the Wrongs of others upon the account of his Age and the Affinity betwixt them Henry answered very Nobly and Prince-like That if the Scots desired
he was upon the way he turn'd aside with those of his Family that were with him to Sterlin The Violence of the Hamiltons was somewhat abated by this Trial but Iames the Bastard burnt with a mortal Hatred against Kennedy and a few days after as he was returning home he caus'd him to be murther'd upon the way by means of Hugh Cambel Laird of Air. This Hugh the same day the Murder was committed which he had commanded his Vassals to execute that so he might avert all Suspition of so horrid a fact from himself went to Erskin's House whose Wife was Sister to Kennedy's Wife She as soon as ever she heard of this cruel Murther did not cease to upbraid him most grievously therewith to his very face Thus the noble Family of the Kennedy's was almost quite extinguished the Son of the Earl after his Father was slain being but a Child fled to his Kinsman Archibald Douglas who was then Lord Treasurer and put himself and his Family under his Protection he lovingly receiv'd him and such was the great Ingenuity of his promising Years that he designed him for his Son-in-law Hugh Cambel was summon'd to appear but his Crime being manifest he fled out of the Land Neither did the Douglasses exercise their Revenge and Hatred less fiercely upon Iames Beton for they led their Forces to St. Andrews seized upon pillaged and ruined his Castle because they counted him the Author of all the Projects the Earl of Lennox had undertaken but he himself went under frequent Disguises because no Man durst entertain him openly and so escaped And with the like kind of Dissimulation and Solitude the Queen Herself made her Retirement that so She might not fall into the Hands of her Husband whom she hated At the beginning of the next Spring Douglas made an Expedition into Liddisdale where he slew many of the Thieves falling upon them unawares in their Hutts before they could gather themselves together for defence twelve of them he hang'd up and twelve more he kept as Hostages but because their Fellows did not forbear their old trade of robbing a few Months after he put them to Death also At his Entrance on that Expedition there hapned a matter very memorable which for the Novelty of the thing I shall not pretermit There was an Under-Groom or Helper belonging to the Stables of Iohn Stuart of mean Descent and therefore used in a mean Employment to dress Horses when his Lord and Master was kill'd by the Hamiltons he wander'd up and down for a time not knowing what course to take at last he took Heart and resolved to attempt a Fact far superior to the rank and condition he had been born and brought up in For he undertook a Journey to Edinburgh with an intent to revenge the Death of his Lord who was slain and there he casually lighted upon a Man of the same Family and Fortune with himself he demanded of him whether he had seen Iames Hamilton the Bastard in the City who answer'd him he had What said he Thou ungratefullest of Men hast thou seen him and would'st thou not kill him who slew so good a Master as we Both had get thee gone with a witness all Misery betide thee And thereupon he presently hastned on in his designed Voyage and came directly to Court There were then in a large Court which is before the Palace in the Suburbs about 2000 arm'd Men of Douglasses and Hamilton's Dependants ready prepared for the Expedition I spake of before he seeing them past by all the rest and fix'd his Eye and Mind on Hamilton only who was then coming out of the Court-yard in his Cloak without his Armor when he saw him in a pretty long Gallery and somewhat dark which is over the Gate he flew at him and gave him six Wounds one of them almost pierc'd to his Vitals others of them he pretty well avoided by the Flexure of his Body and by warding them off with his Cloak which he held before him and then the Groom presently mixt himself among the Croud immediately a great hubbub was raised and some of the Hamiltons suspected that the Douglasses had done so horrid a Fact out of the relicks of their old Feuds so that those two Factions had almost like to go together by the Ears at last when their Fear and Surprise was allay'd they were all commanded to stand in single ranks by the Walls which were round about the Court-yard there the Murderer was discovered as yet holding the bloody Knife in his hand Being demanded what he was and whence and for what he came thither he made no ready Answer upon which he was dragg'd to Prison and put to the Rack and then he confess'd immediately that he had undertaken the Fact in revenge of his good Lord and Master and that he was sorry for nothing but that so famous an Attempt did not take effect he was tortur'd a long time but discover'd no Body as privy to his Design at last he was condemned and carried up and down the City and every part of his naked Body was nipp'd with Iron Pinchers red hot and yet neither in his Speech nor in his Countenance did he discover the least sense of Pain when his right Hand was cut off he said that it was punish'd less than it had deserved for not sufficiently seconding the Dictates of so stout a Spirit Moreover the same Year Patrick Hamilton Son to a Sister of Iohn Duke of Albany and of a Brother of the Earl of Arran's her Husband a young Man of great Judgment and singular Learning by a Conspiracy of the Priests was burnt at St. Andrews And not long after his Suffering Men were much terrified at the Death of Alexander Cambel he was of the Order of the Dominicans a Man also of good Ingenuity and accounted one of the most learn'd of all those who follow'd the Sect of Thomas Aquinas Patrick had often Conference with him concerning the meaning of the Holy Scripture and at last he brought the Man to confess and acknowledg that almost all the Articles which were then counted Heterodox were really true And yet this Alexander being more desirous to save his Life than to hazard it for Truths sake was persuaded by his Friends to prefer a publick Accusation and Charge against him Patrick being a Man of a zealous Spirit could not brook this Desire of Vain-glory in the ambitious Man but brake forth into this Expression openly O thou vilest of Men says he who art convinc'd that the Tenents which thou now condemneth are most certainly true and not long since didst confess to me that they were so I do therefore cite thee to the Tribunal of the living God Alexander was so astonished at that word that he was never himself from that day forward and not long after he died in a Fit of Madness All this time and for a great part of the Year ensuing the Douglasses being severally
was not able to resist Offers of Mony by the Promises of large Subsidies whereupon they set before his Eyes the Greatness of the Danger the doubtful and uncertain Credit of an Enemies Promise that he might have a great Sum of Mony at home and more easily procurable First of all They promised to give him of their own 30000 Ducats of Gold year by year and all the rest of their Estates also should be at his Service besides enough to obviate future Emergencies if any hapned and as for those who rebelled against the Authority of the Pope and the King 's and so endeavoured to trouble the Peace of the Church by new and wicked Errors and thereby would subvert all Piety overthrow the Rights of Magistracy and cancel Laws of so long standing out of their Estates he might get above an hundred thousand Ducats more yearly into his Exchequer by way of Confiscation if he would permit them to nominate a Lord-Chief-Justice in the Case because they themselves could not by Law sit in Capital Causes to condemn any Man And that in the managing the Process against them there would be no danger nor any Delay in passing Sentence seeing so many thousand Men were not afraid to take the Books of the Old and New Testament into their Hands to discourse concerning the Power of the Pope to contemn the ancient Ceremonies of the Church and to detract from that Reverence and Observance which was due to Religious Persons consecrated to God's Service This they urged upon him with such Vehemency that he appointed them a Judg according to their own Hearts and that was Iames Hamilton base Brother to the Earl of Arran him they had oblig'd by great Gratuities before and besides he was resolv'd to conciliate the King's Favour who long since had been offended with him with the Perpetration of some atoning Fact though never so cruel About the same time there came into Scotland Iames Hamilton Sheriff of Linlithgoe and Cousin-German to the former Iames He after a long Banishment when he had commenced a Suit against Iames the Bastard and had obtained leave to return for a time to his own Country understanding in what Danger he and the rest of the Favourers of the Reformed Doctrine were in sent his Son in a Message to the King as he was about to pass over into Fife and having gotten him opportunely before he went aboard he filled his Head which was naturally suspicious with fearful Presages That this Commission granted to Hamilton would be a Capital Matter and pernicious to the whole Kingdom unless he did prevent this Sophistry by another Wile The King who was then hastning into Fife sent the young Man back to Edinburgh to the Court called the Exchequer-Court where he also commanded to assemble Iames Lermont Iames Kircaldy and Thomas Erskin of whom one was the Master of the Houshold the other Lord High Treasurer neither of them averse from the Reformed Religion the Third was highly of the Popish Faction and his Secretary These were all ordered to meet And the King commanded them to give the same Credit to the Messenger as they would do to himself if he were present and so took the Ring off his Finger and sent it them as a known Token between them They laid their Heads together and apprehended Iames just after he had dined and had fitted himself for his Journy and committed him Prisoner to the Castle But having Intelligence by their Spies at Court that the King was pacified and that he would be released besides the publick Danger they were afraid also for their particular selves lest a Man factious and potent being released after he had been provoked by so great an Affront and Ignominy should afterwards study a cruel and bitter Revenge against them Whereupon they speedily hastned to Court and inform'd the King of the Imminency of the Danger of the naughty Disposition Fierceness and Power of the Man all which they augmented to raise the greater suspicion upon him so that they persuaded the King not to suffer so crafty and withal so puissant a Person being also provoked by this late Disgrace to be set at Liberty without a legal Trial. Whereupon the King came to Edinburgh and from thence to Seton where he caused Iames to be brought to his Trial and in a Court legally constituted according to the Custom of the Country he was condemned and had his Head struck off his Body was cut up after his Execution and his Quarters hanged up in the publick Places of the City The Crimes objected against him in behalf of the King were That on a certain Day he had broke open the King's Bed-Chamber and had designed to kill him and that he had driven on secret Designs with the Douglasses who were declared publick Enemies Few were grieved for his Death because of the Wickedness of his former Life save only his own Kindred and the Sacerdotal Order who had placed all the Hopes of their Fortunes in a manner upon his Life only From that time forward the King increased in his Suspicions against the Nobility and besides he was exercised with sundry distracting Cares insomuch that his unquiet Mind was much troubled with Dreams in the Night There was One more remarkable than the rest which was much talked of That in his Sleep he saw Iames Hamilton running at him with his drawn Sword and that he first cut off his Right Arm then his Left and threatned him shortly to come and take away his Life and then disappeared when he awoke in a Fright and pondering many things about the Event of his Dream at last Word was brought him that both of his Sons departed this Life almost at one and the same moment of Time one at St. Andrews and the other at Sterlin In the mean while there was not a certain Peace nor yet an open War with the King of England who was alienated and offended afore insomuch that without any denunciation of a War Preys were driven from the Borders of Scotland Neither would the English when called upon to make Restitution give any favourable answer So that all Men saw That Henry was in an high Indignation because of the frustration of the Interview at York And Iames tho he knew that War was certainly at hand and therefore had made Levies for that purpose and had appointed his Brother the Earl of Murray to be General of all his Forces and had also made all necessary Preparation for a Defence yet he sent an Ambassador to the Enemy if 't were possible to compose Matters without Blows In the mean time George Gordon was sent to the Borders with a small Force to prevent the pillaging Incursions of the Enemy The English despised the paucity of the Gordonians and therefore hasten'd to burn Iedburgh But George Hume with 500 Horse interpos'd and charg'd them briskly and after a short Fight when they saw the
Accused had committed no such heinous Offence and besides they foresaw the Danger that would insue About the same time the Queen of England sent her a very large and obliging Letter full of prudent Advice in reference to the present Estate of Scotland endeavouring to incline her Kinswoman from a wrathful to a reconcilable Temper The Nobility knew that such Letters were come and they guess'd at What the Contents were and thereupon the Queen counterfeited a civiller Respect to them than ordinary and began to read them in the presence of many of them when she was in the middle David stood up and bid her Read no more she had read enough she should stop that Carriage of his seemed to them rather arrogant than new for they knew how imperiously he had carried it towards her heretofore yea and sometimes he would reprove her more sharply than her own Husband ever durst do At that time the Cause of the Banish'd was hotly disputed in the Parliament-House some to gratify the Queen would have the Punishment due to Traitors to be pass'd upon them others contended that they had done nothing worthy to be so severely treated In the mean time David went about to all of them one by one to feel their pulses what each ones Vote would be concerning the Exiles if he was chosen Speaker by the rest of the Convention he told them plainly the Queen was resolved to have them condemn'd and 't was in vain for any of them to contend against it and besides he would be sure to incur the Queen's Displeasure thereby His Design in this was partly to confound the weaker Spirits betwixt Hope and Fear and partly to exclude the more resolv'd out of the number of the Judges select or Lords of the Articles or at least that the major Part might be of such a Gizard as would please the Queen This audacious Improbity of so mean a Fellow was fear'd by some and hated by all Whereupon the King by his Father's Advice sent for Iames Douglas and Patrick Lindsy his Kinsmen one by the Father the other by the Mother's side they advise with Patrick Ruven an able Man both for Advice and Execution but he was so weakned with a lasting Disease that for some Months he could not rise out of his Bed however they were willing to trust him amongst some few others in a matter of so great Concernment both by reason of his great Prudence and also because his Children were Cousin-Germans to the King The King was told by them what a great Error he had committed before in suffering his Kinsmen and Friends to be driven from Court in favour of such a base Rascal as Rize yea he himself did in effect thrust them out from the Court with his own Hands and so had advanced such a contemptible Mushroom that now he himself was despised by him they had also much other Discourse concerning the State of the Publick The King was quickly brought to acknowledg his Fault and to promise to act nothing for the future without the Consent of the Nobility But those wise and experienc'd Counsellors thought it not safe to trust the verbal Promises of an Uxorious young Man as believing that he might in time be enticed by his Wife to deny this Capitulation to their certain Ruin and therefore they drew up the Heads of their Contract in Writing to which he willingly and forwardly subscribed The Heads were For the establishing Religion as 't was provided for at the Queen's Return to Scotland To reduce the Persons lately banished because their Country could not well want their Service To destroy David for as long as he was alive the King could not maintain his Dignity nor the Nobility be in Safety They all set their Hands to this Schedule wherein the King professing himself the Author of the Homicide they resolved presently to attempt the Fact both to prevent the Condemnation of the absent Nobles and also lest Delay might discover their Design And therefore when the Queen was at Supper in a narrow private Room the Earl of Argyle's Wife and David sitting with her as they were wont and there were but a few Attendants for the Room would not hold many Iames Douglas Earl of Morton with a great number of his Friends were walking in an outward Chamber their faithful Friends and Vassals were commanded to stay below in the Yard to quiet the Tumult if any should be The King comes out of his own Chamber which was below the Queen's and goes up to her by a narrow pair of Stairs which were open to none but himself Patrick Ruven follow'd him arm'd with but four or five Companions at most they entred into the Closet where they were at Supper and the Queen being something mov'd at that unusual Appearance of arm'd Men and also perceiving Ruven in an uncouth posture and lean by reason of his late Disease and yet in his Armour asked him What was the matter for the Spectators thought that his Feaver had disturb'd his Head and put him besides himself He commanded David to rise and come forth for the Place he sat in was not fit for him the Queen presently rose and sought to defend him by the interposal of her Body but the King took her in his Arms and bid her to be of good chear they would do her no hurt only the Death of that Villain was resolved on they haled David out into the next then into the outer Chamber there those that waited with Douglas made an end of him with many Wounds which was against the Mind of all those who conspired his Death for they resolved to hang him up publickly as knowing it would be a grateful Spectacle to all the People There went a constant Report that one Iohn Damiot a French Priest counted a Conjurer told David once or twice that now he had feather'd his Nest he should be gone and withdraw himself from the Envy of the Nobles who would be too hard for him And that he should answer The Scots were greater Threatners than Fighters he was also told a little before his Death that he should take heed of a Bastard to which he replied That as long as he lived no Bastard should have so much Power in Scotland as that he need fear it for he thought his Danger was predicted from Murray but the Prophecy was either fulfill'd or eluded by Douglas's giving him his first Blow who was the base-begotten Son to the Earl of Angus after he had began then every one rush'd in to strike him either to revenge their own particular Grief or the publick Concern Hereupon a Tumult arose all over the House and the Earls of Huntly Athol and Bothwel who were at Supper in another part of the Palace were rushing out but they were kept within their Chamber by those who guarded the Courts below and had no harm done them Ruven went out of that Privy-room into the Queen's Bed-Chamber where
271 And receives an Affront thereupon ibid. A Conspiracy discovered against him ibid. He agrees with Baliol then in France 274 His Army enters England 275 His last Will and Testament 279 His three Counsels to his Nobles ibid. He would have his Heart buried at Jerusalem 280 His Death and Praise 281 Brudeus King of the Picts 156 Brudus King of the Picts slain 166 167 Brutus his Story 41 to 44 Buchan 19 Its Etymology 139 Buchan the Earl thereof made Lord High-Constable of France 335 Bull 's Head put upon a Man's heretofore a sign of Death in Scotland 370 Burgundus from Burgus 63 Bullock an English Man turns to the Scots 298 Put to Death 301 Burgh a Danish Name 201 Burra Isle 35 36 37 Buthroti Who 46 Buiia Isles great and small 29 30 70 C CAdvallus made Vice-King 105 He dies of Grief 106 Caithness 21 133 Caithness Men cruel against their Bishop and are punished for it 239 Calaman Isle 26 Calden in Scotch is an Hasel 56 Caledonia a Town i. e. Dunkel 18 Caledones Who ibid. Caledonian Woods whence so called 56 Caledonians Picts and Scots sometimes all called Britains 74 Calen Cambel with two others chosen Governour of the King and Kingdom 47 He is sent against the Douglasses 56 Calfa Isle 27 Calthrops politick Engines in War what 266 Camber Son of Brute 42 Cambri ibid. Why so called 61 Camus the Dane slain by the Scots 202 Caâ—a Isle 26 28 Cantire Promontory 17 Canutus a Danish General in Scotland 202 Makes Peace with the Scots 203 Caprary or Goat Isle 25 Cara Isle 25 Carail Town 18 Purged from Monuments of Idolatry 131 Caratacus King of Scotland 107 The Orcades not subdued by Claudius Caesar in his Time 108 Carausius a Roman composes the Differences betwixt Scots and Picts 124 He seizes on Britain for himself ibid. Carausius Brother of King Findocus causes him to be slain 122 Cardorus unjustly put to death by Dardanus 188 Carick 14 Carniburgh's two Islands 27 Carron-water 15 Carron why sirnamed Schrimger 218 Cave an unusual one turning Water into Stone 20 Cassivelannus his Town i. e. Verulam taken by Caesar 82 Cecily Edward of England's Daughter promised in Marriage to the Son of James III. 422 The intended Marriage null'd and the Dowry repaid 427 Celestine Pope sends Palladius into Scotland 145 Cells so the ancient Scots called their Temples 125 Celts Who 58 Celtiberi so called from the Celts and Iberians 49 Celuinus or Cialine King of the East-Saxons 156 Slain by the Scots 157 Charles the Dolphin of France seeks Aid of the Scots 334 Charles of Burgundy slain at Nants 420 He lays the Foundation of Tyranny in his Country 434 Charles the Fifth sends to Scotland to join in Affinity with them 63 Why his Mother was committed to perpetual Imprisonment 269 Charles Guise Cardinal Guarantee for the Kingdom of Scotland 114 Charn Islands 27 Chourna Isle ibid. Childeric a Saxon Commander wounded 152 Christian Religion promoted in Scotland 125 Christ's Birth-day prophaned 151 Christians join in League against the Danes 176 Christiern of Denmark with all his Male-Stock cast out of the Kingdom 269 Chualsa Isle 73 Cicero quoted about Britain 86 Church its woful State 417 Cimbri so the French and Germans call Thieves 77 78 Cities Names in Bria Brica Briga 63 64 65 In Dunum 65 66 67 In Durum 68 In Magus 69 Clacman Prefecture or Stewarty 18 Clarence Duke of it slain in France by the Scots 335 Clarshacks What 24 Claudian a Verse in him corrected by Joseph Scaliger 76 Cleirach Isle 31 Cloich Isle 25 Clydsdale 13 14 Cluyth 92 Cnapdale 17 Cockburn Forest or Path 13 Cockrane one of King James the IIId's Evil Counsellors put to Death 425 Coemeteries for the Kings of three Nations 27 Coilus King of the Britains slain by the Scots 96 Colca a rare kind of Bird 32 Colgernus a Saxon Commander killed 152 Coll Isle 27 Collonsa Isle 26 Colman an holy Bishop 160 Columb the Saint his Monastery 26 His great Authority 155 He tells of a Victory at a very great distance 155 156 His Death 157 Columb Isle see Icolumbkill Colvansa Isle 27 Colurn i. e. Chourna or Hasel Isle 26 Comes Stabuli Who 247 Commodus the Emperor in Britain 117 Commonâ—lty usually comply with the Humour of their Prince 188 Affect Innovations 413 Competitors for the Crown of Scotland with their several Pretensions 248 The Controversy not decided in Scotland but referred to Edward of England ibid. The Case as stated by Edward and propounded to Lawyers 249 Bruce refuses the Kingdom offered him on ignoble Terms 250 Edward decides for Baliol ibid. Competitors for the Regency 283 Conanus elected Vice-Roy 101 Conanus perswades to Peace but is seditiously slain by the Britains his Country-men 141 Conarus King of Scotland joins in a Conspiracy against his Father 113 He demands large Subsidies but is denied 114 He wars against the Britains 113 Ends his Life in Prison 115 Confidence sometimes praised for Constancy 358 Congal I. King of Scotland 147 Congal II. enriches Priests 159 Congal III. 166 Conscience guilty gives no Rest 195 Constantine Chlorus in Britain 124 Chosen General by the Brittons 125 Made their King 143 Slain by Vortigern ibid. Constantine the Emperour born 124 Constantine I. King of Scots 145 Reigns wickedly ibid. His violent Death 146 Constantine II. 174 Renews publick Discipline ibid. Slain by the Picts 175 Constantine III. 179 Makes a League with the Danes ibid. Invades the Subjects Right ibid. Abjures the Kingly Office 172 And retires into a Monastery 180 Constantine IV. sirnamed Calvus 196 Canvasses for the Crown ibid. Inveighs against the Law of Kenneth about Hereditary Succession 197 〈◊〉 the Decree of its Council seasonable for Perjured Persons 77 Controversy between the Baliols and the Bruces concerning the Crown of Scotland 245 c. Convention of the Nobles to choose a Regent after Murray's Death 251 Cony Isle 25 30 See Sigrama Corbred I. King of Scots 108 Corbred II. sirnamed Galdus 109 He first fought with the Romans ibid. And beat them out of Caledonia 111 Cornavii 22 They are in Scotland and England too 60 Cornish rise against Henry VII of Enggland 10 11 Cornovallia or Cornuvallia whence derived 60 Corshera Isle 26 Coval 17 Covihaslop see Round Isle Council of Constance send Embassadors to Scotland 334 They deny Faith to be kept with those they call Hereticks 77 Count of Rothes committed to Prison 92 Coupins-oy 36 Courtesy to Prisoners 319 Courts many times prefer Honour before Honesty 333 Cowper a Town 18 Cracoviac see Kirkwal Craford Earl of it takes part with the Douglasses 384 But afterwards deserts them 389 And is received into Pavour by the King ibid. Crackles i. e. little jangling Bells terrify Horses 307 Crathilinthus King of Scots 123 Much addicted to hunting 124 Crathilinthus kils his Grandfather 192 He rises in Arms but is suppressed 193 Cree River 14 Cressingham an English General slain by the Scots 255 Creighton sent
Embassador into France 376 Croke the French Embassador dislikes the Queen's Marriage with Bothwel 199 He mediates a Peace 208 209 Crowling Isle 28 Cruelty an Example thereof 329 Culbrenin Isle 25 Culdees a kind of Monks 18 125 Worshippers of God 18 Culen King of Scots an incestuous Person 184 185 He is slain by a Strumpet 187 Cull 196 Culross whence so called 170 Cumbra Isles the greater and the lesser 25 Cumbri and Cumri 75 Cumins their Faction powerful 240 Cumins overthrows Gilespy 239 Cumins John overthrown by Bruce 264 Cumins William poisoned by his Wife 241 Cuningham 14 Cuningham's overcome by the Hamiltons 85 Cup of St. Magnus see Magnus Curia a Parish-Church 26 Curry a Merchaâ—t an Instrument in surprizing Edinburghâ—â—stle â—â—stle 299 Cutberectus 161 D DAal what it signifies in Old Scotish 100 Dalkeith 13 Dalreudini why the Scots so called 100 Danes enter England 71 Invade Scotland 174 Fight a bloody Battel with the English 178 Turn Christians ibid. Land in Scotland 182 Are overthrown ibid. Danish Fleet lands again in Scotland 190 Stupified by an inebriating Drink and overcome by the Scots 209 Swear never to return to invade Scotland any more 210 Dangers make Men sagacious 26 Dardanus King of Scots 108 His cruel Reign and violent Death ibid. David I. King of Scots 212 Profuse towards Monasteries 223 Maintains the Cause of Maud his Kinswoman against Stephen of England 224 Accuses him of Perjury ibid. Makes two Accords with Stephen 225 226 Henry Heir of England made Knight by him 226 Loses his hopeful Son yet comforts himself and his Nobles in a Christian Discourse thereupon 226 He erects new Bishopricks 223 His extraordinary Character for Piety and Virtue 227 David King William's Brother accompanies Richard of England to the Holy War 235 He is shipwrack'd and taken Prisoner yet at last returns ibid. David II. anointed King of Scotland 282 Sent into France when he was a Child 286 Returns to Scotland 300 Taken Prisoner in a Fight by the English 302 Ransomed 304 His Death and Character 305 306 David Cumins appointed Ruler over Scotland by the English 293 He and Douglas disagree 294 Forced to take an Oath to Bruce ibid. Makes large Promises to Edward of Enggland 295 Follows the good Success of the English ibid. Left by the English King as Regent of Scotland where his Army is overthrown and he himself slain 296 David the Son of Robert III imprisoned and starved to Death by his Vncle who was his Governour 328 329 David Beton the Cardinal 73 Chosen Regent by a pretended Will but the Fraud being discovered he is displaced and imprisoned 75 He endeavours to avert the imminent Ruin of Popery 76 He chouzes Lennox with vain Hopes of marrying the Queen 80 He grieves to be deprived of a rich Morsel which he had swallowed in his Hopes 81 He is sharply reproved by Montgomery 91 His Cruelty against Protestants 93 He espouses his Daughter to the Earl of Craford's Son 97 He is slain in his Castle with the manner thereof 98 His foul Character 99 David Douglas with his Brother William beheaded 370 David Hamilton defends the Cause of the Gospel 93 David Panater or Painter Bishop of Ross made an Abbat by the King of France 113 David Rize a Musician his Story 171 He persuades the Queen to cut off the Scotish Nobility 177 His Court-Preferments Familiarity with the Queen of Scots violent Death and Burial 179 to 183 David Spence slain 282 David Straiton or Straton burnt for a Lutheran 63 Death better than a miserable Life 12 d ee a River in England 13 Three of that Name in Scotland 14 70 Deidonum i. e. Dundee 18 Deiri Who 159 Delators or Informers appointed by Evenus 13 Denmark the King thereof bargains with the Embassador of Scotland to quit his Right to the Islands about Scotland 413 Derivative Words shew the Affinity of a Language 6â— Dessius General of the French Forces in Scotland 106 Called home by the King of France 110 Descants on the Law about Hereditary Succession of the Crown 205 Descants on over-severe Executions of Criminals 358 Deucaledonian Sea What 21 Diana's Oracle counterfeited by a Monk 44 45 Dicaledones rather to be read Duncaledones in Marcellinus 56 Dioclesian a supposed King of Syria 41 Dionethus gives himself forth to be King of the Brittons 136 Dion quoted concerning Britain 90 91 118 Dona River 20 Donachs or Duncans Bay 22 Donald I. King of Scots 117 He first received the Christian Religion ibid. Donald II. 122 Overthrown by Donald the Islander and dies ibid. Donald Brother of Malcolm III. yields up the Possession of the Islands to the King of Norwey 23 Donald III. 123 Reigns Tyrannically and is slain by Crathilinthus ibid. Donald IV. or Donebald sends Christian Doctors into England and interprets pious Sermons to the People himself 159 Donald V. Brother of Kenneth 172 Reigns licentiously and is put in Prison 173 Donald VI. Son of Constantine II. 178 Donald VII or Duncan 204 Donald Murderer of King Duffus taken and executed 185 Donald Bane calls himself King of the Aebudae 164 He is slain ibid. Donald VIII or Banus 220 He promises the Islands to Magnus King of Norwey ibid. Donald of Athol 154 Donald Baloc overthrows Alexander and Alan Stuarts 343 He is taken in Ireland and his Head is sent to the King 344 Donald Lord of the Aebudae rises in Arms 333 With the Earl of Ross and Douglas he figâ—â—s with the King's Forces ibid. He is left by his Wife 391 Sends Agents to make his Peace with the King 392 After the King's Death he plays Rex again 408 He takes the Earl of Athol Prisoner and burns St. Bride's Church ibid. He is shipwrack'd and fals distracted 409 Donald Monro commended 22 He travelled over the Islands of Scotland and described them 31 Dongal King of Scots 168 He is drowned ibid. Dongard King of Scots 144 Opposes the Pelagian Heresy 145 Dornadilla King of Scots 98 Dorstologus slain 166 Dorus flies for fear of Nathalocus 120 Dovallus kils King Nothatus 99 He himself is slain in Battel 100 Douglas River 14 Douglas Dale 140 Douglas made Duke of Turein 336 Douglas slain by the Moors 280 Douglas William takes Dundalk in Ireland 314 Douglas William pardoned 301 Douglas breaks in upon the English Army 278 Douglasses their Power intolerable 372 377 Their Power broken 53 Drinach Isle 25 Drix 60 Druides Who 56 Drumalbin 17 Drummilaw Sands 209 Drunkenness punished with Death 174 Druskins King of the Picts and all his Nobility slain 169 Drury intercedes for Peace between the Parties in Scotland 278 Duffa or Dow Isle 25 Duffus King of Scots 181 Witchcraft practised upon his Body 183 He is slain 184 Dukes when the Name first brought into Scotland 325 Duke of York overthrown and slain by the Queen of England 396 Dulcitius in Britain 89 Dunacus and Domnacus 68 Dunbar whence so called 13 14 Its Siege raised 297 Fortified by Alexander against the King but deserted by
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
Her Faction garison Edinburgh from whence they sally out 〈◊〉 Morton â—â—â— Massacre designed in France by the Guâ—â—es 750 Matthew Stuart Earl of Lennox marries Margarite Hamilton â— Sent for out of France into Scotland 78 Returns 171 Circumvented by the Cardinal 's Cunning about his marrying the Queen 80 Vpon which he rises in Arms but is forced to agree with the Regent 82 He justifies himself to the French King 83 Is worsted and flies into England where he is kindly received and marries Margarite Douglas 83 85 86 Created Regent 258 259 Takes Brechin from Huntly 260 Hurt by a Fall 261 Maximianus Commander of a Roman Legion in Britain 136 He overthrows the Scots and Picts 137 Mâ—xim grave in Policy 176 Another 208 Others 239 Maximus in Britain 127 He overcomes the Scots 128 Takes the chief Government upon him 129 Banishes all the Scots out of Britain ibid. Measures and Weights amended and rectified 334 Mechanical Engine of Brass a strange one 192 Mecla Isle 37 Meliss Graham deprived of Strathearn by the King 351 Men fight like wild Beasts one with another 324 Mendiâ—ant Friars called Manducant 129 Menteiâ—h 17 140 Mentheâ—'s Treachery against Robert Bruce 268 He is rewarded 269 Merch 13 Merchants forbid to traffick by Sea for a time 244 Merchants or Châ—nnards Isâ—e 26 Mercenary Souldiers change with Fortune 236 Fit to establish Tyranny 117 177 Merlin the Prophet or Impostor rather when he lived 147 A wicked Man 149 A Comparison between Gildas and him à dissimili ibid. Mern whence so called 170 Mernoch Isle 25 Mertaâ—k Isle 31 Metellan or Maitland King of Scots 107 Michael Weems helps the Royalists 277 Milesian Fables what 77 Minturnae 78 Modred Son of Lothus General of the Picts Forces 151 Competitor with Constantine 153 Slain ibid. Moesici who 89 Mogald King of Scots 112 Makes an unjust Law 113 He is slain ibid. Molas Isle 24 Mologhascar Isle 25 Mon Isle put falsly for Man 24 Monfort slain by Preston 297 Mongomery comes into Scotland 91 Monk poisons King John of England 238 Another poisons Thomas Randolph 283 Their Impudence in devising Fables 42 Their Luxury 143 Their Monasteries overthrown by Order of the Lords 152 Monster like an Hermaphrodite born in Scotland 4 5 Monk-Fishes never seen but they predict Mischief 175 Mordac King of Scots 162 Mordac Earl of Fife Son of Robert taken Prisoner 327 Returns to Scotland 333 Succeeds his Father in the Government 336 Takes Care to recal King James from England 337 Imprisoned 339 Executed 340 More Isle 25 More in old Gaulish signifies Mare the Sea 10 More marusa 7 10 77 Morini who 10 Morton's large Account of his Negotiation in England to the Regent 267 Mother cruel to her own Children 231 Mourning Garments when first used in Scotland 66 Muick Isle 28 Mull of Galway 14 Mull Isle 26 Mulmore Isle ibid. Mungo or St. Mungo see Kentigern Murderer discovered sometimes by touching the Murdered Body 184 Murdo and his Sons put to Death 348 Murray a fruitful Country 20 Its Inhabitants seditious 230 Murray made Regent 226 His Death 298 Musa Isle 37 Musadil Isle 25 Musicians or wandring Minstrels restrained 282 283 N NAick Isle 28 Nagunner Isle ibid. Names new by ambitious Men given to Places 170 171 Names of Towns new shew the Affinity of a Language 62 Naomph Isles 26 Naosg Isles 26 Narn 140 Nathalocus King of Scots 120 Murders the Nobility and consults Soâ—â—hsayers ibid. Nathalocus a Noble Man conspires against Athirco 119 Is himself slain 121 Navern Province so called from the River Navern 21 140 Nectamus King of Scots 126 Ness Town i. e. Innerness and River whose Water is always warm 20 Nightshade its Description and Properties 209 Ninian 145 Nithisdale from the River Nith 13 140 Nobility their Tyranny over the Commons restrained 182 Nobles how anciently tried in Scotland 340 Normans overcome the Saxons and Danes in Britain 71 Norman Lesly his Valour against the English 89 He surprizes St. Andrews and kils Cardinal Beton 98 Northumberland divided into two Kingdoms viz. the Deiri and the Bernici 159 Nostvade Isle 37 Nothatus King of Scots 98 First sets up Arbitrary Government ibid. He is slain 99 Noviogagus many Cities so called 68 Nuns Isle or Monades 27 O OCCA General of the Saxons overthrown by three Kings and wounded 151 152 Occidental or Western Isles 22 Ocel-Mountains 17 Olavus General of the Scandians 200 Old Castle Isle 31 Oracle feigned by a Monk 44 Oransa Isle 28 29 Oration of Archbishop Kennedy that the Administration of the chief Government is not to be committed to Queen-Mothers 401 c. Orcades Isles 33 Their Description ibid. Writers not agreed about their Number 35 Orca Promontory 21 Ordovices who 109 Original of Letters 38 Orkny the Bishop thereof marries the Queen to Bothwel 199 Orma Isle 37 Orvansa or Oversa Isle 26 Osbreth aids Picts against Scots 172 Overthrown at first but afterwards beats the Scots ibid. Osellius a French Man desirous of Glory 120 Differs with the Scots Nobles but afterwards yields to Them ibid. Osrim Isle 26 Oswald King of Northumberland promotes the Christian Religion 159 Otterborn Fight wherein the English are worsted 318 Oversa Isle 26 Ovia Isle ibid. Otiosi Isle 25 Oxon for Oxonford 8 P PABA Isle noted for Robbery or Piracy 28 29 Pabaia Isle 30 Palladius sent by Pope Celestine into Scotland first sets up Bishops there 145 Pandulphus the Pope's Legat 238 Papa Isles great and small 36 37 Parish Priests and Friars Mendicants the Cause of the Decay of Ecclesiastical Discipline 243 Parricide God suffers not to be unrevenged 184 185 Parsimony the Mother of Health 33 Parsonages Church-Preferments sold 419 Bestowing of them causes Strife 57 Pasly Book or the Black Book of Pasly what 134 Patrick Graham chosen Bishop of St. Andrews by his Canons in the room of Jameâ— Kennedy 411 Made Primate of Scotland by the Pope but obstructed by the Courtiers ibid. He labours to maintain Church-Priviledges 417 Is excommunicated and forced to resign his Bishoprick 418 419 And dies in Prison ibid. Patrick Grey one of those who slew King James III. 433 Patrick Grey committed to Custody 92 Patrick an holy Man sent into Scotland 145 Patrick Blackater flies from the Douglasses 47 He is treacherously slain by John Hume 48 Patrick Hamilton put to death for Religion by the Conspiracy of the Priests 53 Patrick Lindsy sides with the Reformers 132 Goes with the Regent into England 222 Ruven's Magnanimity 181 182 He kils David Rize ibid. He acquaints Murray with the Conspiracy against him 173 Paul Mefane or Meffen Preacher of the Gospel troubled for Religion 123 Harboured by the Inhabitants of Dundee 124 Paulus Orosius quoted 86 Corrected 87 Paul Termes sent with Aid from France to Scotland 110 Peace-downs see Duni Pacis Peace sometimes more dangerous than War 140 112 347 Peace confirmed with an intended Affinity betwixt Scots and English 422 But soon broken ibid. Mediated for by
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
the former King And a while after many other Persons as they did excel in Virtue or in Wealth were circumvented by him by one wile or other and so unjustly brought to their Ends. At last to free himself from the Fears of a Successor he took up a Resolution to destroy Corbredus Galdus his Kinsman with his Brothers who were Royally Educated in hopes of the Kingdom The Charge of this Assassination was committed to Cormoracus one of his Privado's He being laden with many Gifts but more Promises was sent away to perpetrate the Villany but attempting it with less Caution than such a Butchery required he was taken in the very Fact by some of Galdus his Train with a naked Fauchion in his Hand being Arraigned and put to the Torture he confessed the Author and the designed order of the whole Conspiracy and so was executed immediately When this wicked Plot was divulged abroad there was a general Combination of almost all sorts of People against the King insomuch that having slain many of those who were Panders to his Lust as they could be found at last they endeavoured to make their way to the King himself the Source and Fountain of their Mischief In the mean time Conanus one of the Kings Parasites a Man meanly descended but highly Respected and Trusted by his Master levied some Troops and had the Confidence to send them forth against the Nobles but being forsaken of his Men he was taken and Hang'd The Commons having now got Galdus for their General found out Dardanus who was privately lurking to secure himself while they were apprehending of him he endeavour'd to lay violent Hands on himself but being prevented he was brought to Galdus and immediately put to Death his Head was carried up and down in Mockery and his Body thrown into a Jakes after he had Reigned Four years Corbred II The Twenty First King COrbred the Second Sirnamed Galdus succeeded him a Prince equally dear to Lords and Commons both upon the account and early proof of his own personal Virtue and promising Ingenuity as for the Memory of his worthy Father Some imagin that he was That Galgacus who is mentioned by Tacitus and that he was Sirnamed Galdus by the Scots because he had been educated amongst the Britains For the Scots according to their Ancient Custom call all Strangers Galds or Galls as the Germans call them Wals as I shewed largely before After he had undertook the Government he increased the great Hopes which had been pre-conceived of him For making an Expedition into the Islands of Sky and Lewis he quelled the Seditions lately raised there and suffered to come to an head by the negligence of Dardanus and that with a due and prudent mixture of Mercy and Severity He slew the Captains of those Banditti and enforced the rest for fear of punishment either voluntarily to banish themselves or else to return to their former rural Employments He as I believe was the First of the Scotish Kings that ever advanced his Ensigns against the Romans who had by little and little propagated their Empire even to the very Borders For Petitius Cerealis first broke the Forces of the Brigantes and his Successor Iulius Frontinus conquered the Silures 'T is very probable that the Scots and Picts sent Aid to those Nations who were situate not far from their Borders Iulius Agricola succeeded the former Generals who having overcome the Ordovâ—ces and reduced the Island Man when he was come to the narrowest part of Britain thinking that it was not far to the end of the Island he was encouraged to the Conquest of it all And therefore in the Third Year of his Generalship he overcame and plundered the neighboring Countries of the Scots and Picts until he came to the River Tay And thô his Army was much distressed by Tempest yet he had time to build Forts in all places convenient for Defence by which means he defeated the Designs of his Enemies and withal brake their Force For before the Adverse party being Men inured to hardship what they lost in the Summer would many times recover in Winter when the Roman Legions were dispersed into Winter Quarters And somtimes they would assault and take their Enemies Castles and Garisons being not sufficiently fortified But at that time by the cunningness of Agrippa in Building his Forts and by his skill in making them defensible and withal by relieving them with his Forces every Year Their Arts were deluded In the Fourth Year of his Government perceiving that the Firths of Forth and of Clyd were severed but by a small Tract of Land having fortified that Place with Garisons he spoiled the Countries bending to the Irish Sea In his Fifth Year he sent a Fleet to Sea and made descents in many places and plundred the Maritime Coasts fortifying those that looked towards Ireland with Garisons not only for that present occasion but also that he might from thence more easily transport an Army to that Country By this prudence of Agricola the Scots and Picts being shut up in a narrow Angle and secluded from any commerce with the Britains prepared themselves for the last shock and rancounter Neither was Agricola less careful but commanding his Navy to fetch a compass about to discover the utmost parts of the Island he led his Army beyond the Forth and drew towards the Caledonians There their Enemies being ready as in a desperate Case to run their last hazard assaulted some of the Roman Garisons which struck such a Terror into them that some of the Romans as fearing either the Number of their Enemies or their Obstinacy by reason of their desperation gave their advice to retreat with their Army into a place of greater safety But their General being resolved to Fight when he was informed that the Enemy approached him in three distinct Brigades he also drew towards them having divided his Army into Three Squadrons also which Project was almost his total Ruin For his Enemies understanding his Design did with their whole Army assault one of his Legions by night and having killed the Sentinels had almost taken his whole Camp But being prevented by the coming in of other Legions after they had fought desperately till Day light at length being put to flight they returned into the Mountains and Woods Those things were acted about the Eighth Year of his Expeditions Both Parties prepare themselves as for their last Encounter against the next Spring The Romans as judging that the Victory would put an end to the War And their Enemies looking upon their All to be at stake and that they were about to fight for their Liberty Lives and for whatsover is to be accounted Dear and Sacred amongst Men Hereupon judging that in former Battels they were overcome by Stratagem rather than by Valour they betook themselves to the higher Grounds and at the foot of Mount Grampius waited for the coming of the Romans There
caused himself to be carried abroad in a Litter meanly Apparrel'd and there he made a publick Confession of his Wickedness and so dyed in the Year of our â—edmption 668. Scotland groaned under this Monster 18 Years Maldvinus The LV King MAldvinus the Son of Donald succeeded him who that he might strengthen those Parts of the Kingdom which were weakned by the Tyranny of the former King made Peace with all his Neighbors Having quieted things without he was disturbed by a Sedition at home arising between the Argyle and Lennox Men. Maldvinus drew forth against the Authors of this Tumult that so he might punish them without prejudicing the Commonalty They to avoid the King's Wrath composed their private jars and fled into the Aebudae Isles The King sent for them to have them punished and the Islanders not daring to retain them delivered them up Their punishment kept the rest in their Duties About this time it was That when the Scotish Monks had spread the Doctrine of Christ very far over England and had so instructed the English Youth that now they seemed able of themselves to Preach the Gospel plainly even to their own Countrymen together with their Institution and Learning they also entertained and suck'd in some Envy against their Teachers so that by reason of this Prejudice the Scots-Monks were forced to return into their own Country Which Contumely as it cut off the Concord between both Kingdoms so the Modesty of Those who had received the wrong kept both Nations from open Hostility only frequent Incursions were made and Skirmishes hapned in divers places There fell out at this time a terrible Plague over all Europe such as was never Recorded by any Writer before Only the Scots and Picts were free therefrom By reason of the frequent Injuries mutually offered and Preys driven away on both sides Both Nations were like to break forth into an open War if the death of Maldvinus had not prevented it After he had Reigned 20 years his Wife suspecting that he had been naught with an Harlot Strangled him and Four Days after She herself was punished for the Fact by being burnt alive Eugenius V. The LVI King AFter him Eugenius the 5th Son of King Dongard undertook the Kingdom Egfrid the King of Northumberland with whom he principally desired to be at Peace sought to deceive him by fained Truces and he again assaulted Egfrid by the same Art Thus when Both made shew of Peace in Words they each secretly prepare for War When the Truce was ended Egfrid thô his Friends dissuaded him from it joyned Forces with the Picts and entring into Scotland he foraged Galway But he was overthrown by Eugenius the Picts giving ground in the Fight and lost almost all his Army so that he hardly escaped wounded and with a few Followers home The next Year his Friends then also Dissuading him he drew forth his Army against the Picts who pretending to run away drew him into an Ambush and cut him off with all his Men. The Picts laying hold of This so fair an Opportunity recovered those large Territories which had been taken from them in former Wars And the Brittons who freed themselves from the Government of the Angli or English together with the Scots entred Northumberland and made such an Havock there that it never recovered itself since Soon after Eugenius dyed in the 4th Year of his Reign Eugenius VI. The LVII King EVGENIVS the VI the Son of Ferchard succeeded Eugenius the V As did Alfrid Brother to Egfrid succeed him in Northumberland Both Kings were very Learned especially in Theology according to the rate of those times And also friendly one to the other on the account of their common Studies So that the Peace was faithfully maintain'd betwixt them Alfrid made use of this Tranquillity to settle the bounds of his Kingdom thô in narrower Limits than before But the Scots had neither an Establish'd Peace nor yet a Declared War with the Picts Excursions were frequently made with different and interchangable Successes thô Cutberectus an English Bishop and Adamannus a Scotish Bishop did in vain labour to reconcile them Yet This they effected that they never fought a pitched Battel In the mean time Eugenius being inflamed with an inexpiable Hatred against the Perfidiousness of the Picts was stopped in the midst of his Career to Revenge for he dyed having Reigned 10 Years In his Reign it is reported That it Reigned Blood all over Britain for 7 days and that the Milk Cheese and Butter were also turned into Blood Amberkelethus The LVIII King AFter him Amberkelethus the Son of Findanus and Nephew of Eugenius the 5th obtained the Kingdom At the beginning of his Reign he counterfeited Temperance but soon returned to his Natural Disposition and broke forth into all manner of Wickedness Garnard King of the Picts laying hold of this Opportunity gathered a great Army together and invaded the Scots Amberkelethus could hardly be excited to take Arms without much Importunity but at last he did as he was going forth in the Night to ease himself with Two Servants he was slain with an Arrow it was not known who shot it when he had not Reigned full Two Years some say That when he pressed upon the Enemy in a thick Wood that he was hurt with an Arrow by them and so dyed 10 days after Eugenius VII The LIX King EVGENIVS the 7 th Brother of the former King was Declared King by the Suffrage of the Soldiers in the Field that so the Army might not disband nor be without an Head He putting little confidence in an Army Levyed by a slothful King lengthened out the War by Truces and at last concluded it by Marrying Spondana Daughter of Garnardus She not long after was slain in her Bed by Two Athol-men who had conspired to destroy the King The King himself was accused of the Murder but falsly and before he was brought to Judgment the Murderers were found out Whereupon he was freed The Offenders were most exquisitely punished When Matters were composed abroad the King turned himself to the Affairs of Peace delighting much in Hunting But his chief Care was for Religion It was his Design and Appointment That the Noble Acts and Enterprizes of Kings should be Registred in Monasteries He maintain'd a continued Peace 17 Years with all his Neighbours and then dyed at Abernethy Mordacus The LX King EVGENIVS a little before his Death commended Mordacus the Son of Amberkelethus to the Nobility to be his Successor There was Peace all over Britain during his Reign as Bede says about the end of his History He did imitate Eugenius not only in maintaining Peace but in endowing of Monasteries also He Repaired the Convent of White-horn which was demolished He dyed at the Entrance into the 16th Year of his Reign Etfinus The LXI King IN the Year of our Lord 730 Etfinus the Son of Eugenius the 7 th
entred upon the Kingdom He being emulous of the Kings before him kept the Kingdom in great Peace during the space of 31 years that he managed the Government When he was old and could not perform the Kingly Office himself he appointed Four Vice-gerents to Administer Justice to the People Whilst These presided over the Affairs of Scotland some loose Persons resuming their former Luxuriant Extravagancies by the Magistrates Neglect or as some think Fault put all things into an Hurly Burly But their wicked Pranks were the less taken notice of by reason of the excessive Cruelty and Pride of one Donaldus who ranging over all Galway made the Country People pay Tribute to him or else he robbed them and reduced them to great Want Eugenius VIII The LXII King A Midst these Tumults Eugenius the 8 th the Son of Mordacus was set up in the room of Etfinus deceased His first Enterprize was to suppress Donaldus whom he overthrew in many bloody Fights took him Prisoner and publickly executed him to the Joy of all the Spectators He put Mordacus to death Vicegerent of Galway for Siding with Donaldus and set a Pecuniary Fine on the rest of the Vicegerents He made Satisfaction to the People who had been robbed out of the Offenders Estates The Bad being terrified for fear of these Punishments and a great Calm ensuing after a most violent Tempest he confirmed the Leagues heretofore made with the Neighbouring Kings Yet after all this he who got so much Glory in War when once Peace was made gave himself up to all manner of Vice And seeing he would not be reclaimed neither by the Advices of his Friends nor of the Priests all the Nobles conspired to destroy him which they did in a Publick Convention in the 3d year of his Reign The Companions and Associats of his wicked Practices ended their Lives at the Gallows all Men rejoycing at their Executions Fergusius III. The LXIII King FERGVSIVS the III the Son of Etfinus succeeded him who under a like counterfeit pretence of Virtue being fouly vitious dyed also after the like violent manner having Reigned the like Number of years viz. 3. He was poisoned by his Wife Others write That when his Wife had often upbraided him with his Contempt of Matrimony and his Flocks of Harlots but without any amendment that She Strangled him at night as he was sleeping in his Bed When Enquiry was made into his Death and many of his Friends were accused and yet though severely tortured would confess nothing The Queen thô otherwise of a fierce Nature yet pitying the suffering of so many Innocents came forth and from an high Place told the Assembly That She was the Author of the Murder and presently lest She should be made a living Spectacle of Reproach She ran her Self through with a Knife which Fact of Hers was variously spoken of and descanted upon according to the several Humours and Dispositions of the Men of that time Solvathius The LXIV King KING Solvathius the Son of Eugenius the 8 th is the next in Order Who if he had not contracted the Gout by reason of Cold in the 3d Year of his Reign might well be reckoned for his Personal Valour amongst the Best of Kings yet notwithstanding his Disease he appeased all Tumults by his Generals with great Wisdom and Prudence First of all Donaldus Banus i. e. White being Fearless of the King by reason of the Lameness of his Feet had the boldness as to seize upon all the Western Islands ând to call himself King of the Aebudae Afterwards making a Descent on the Continent and carrying away much Prey he was forced by Cullanus General of the Argyle-men and by Ducalus Captain of the Athol-men into a Wood out of which there was but one Passage so that their endeavours to escape were fruitless but He and His were there slain every Man One Gilcolumbus excited by the same Audacity and Hope assaulted Galway oppressed before by his Father but he also was overthrown by the same Generals and put to death In the mean time there was Peace from the English and Picts occasioned by their Combustions at home Solvathius Reigned 20 Years and then dyed being Praised of all Men. In the year of Christ 787. Achaius The LXV King ACHAIVS the Son of Etfinus succeeded him he having made Peace with the Angels and Picts understanding that War was threatned from Ireland composed the Seditions that were like to break forth at home not only by his Pains-taking but by his Largesses also The Cause of the Irish War was This. In the former Kings Reign who was unfit to make any Expedition The Irish and the Islanders out of hope of Prey and Impunity had made a descent upon Cantire the adjoyning Peninsule with great Armies both at once But a Feud arising between the Plunderers many of the Islanders and all the Irish were slain To revenge this Slaughter the Irish Rigged out a great Navy to Sail into the Aebudae Achaius sent Embassadors to them to acquaint them That they had no just cause for a War in regard that Thieves fighting for their Prey had slain one another That the loss was not that so many were slain but rather that any of them had escaped They farther alleged That the King and his National Councils were so far from offering any injury to the Irish that they had put all the Authors of the late Slaughter to death The Embassadors discoursing many things to this purpose were so coursly and barbarously rejected by the Irish That they set forth their Fleet against the Albine Scots even before their departure when their Fleet was on the Main a Tempest arose and destroyed them all This Mischance occasioned some sentiments of Remorse and Pity in the Irish so that now they humbly fued for that Peace which before they disdainfully refused But first of all Achaius made Peace between the Scots and Franks chiefly for this reason because not only the Saxons who inhabited Germany but even those who had fixed themselves in Britanny did infest Gaul with Piratical Invasions And besides Charles the Great whose desire was to enoble France not only by Arms but Literature had sent for some Learned Men out of Scotland to read Greek and Latin at Paris For yet there were many Monks in Scotland Eminent for Learning and Piety the antient Discipline being then not quite extinguished amongst whom was Iohannes Sirnamed Scotus or which is all one Albinus for the Scots in their own Language call themselves Albini He was the School-Master of Charles the Great and left many Monuments of his Learning behind him and in particular some Precepts of Rhetorick which I have seen with Iohannes Albinus inscribed There are also some Writings of Clement a Scot remaining who was a great Professor of Learning at the same time too in Paris There were many other Scotish Monks who passed over into Gaul out
his room a man of no ill Disposition and yet not constant in Good neither The Danes who could incline Gregory and Donald the Two last Kings of the Scots by no Promises or Persuasions to take Arms against the English which were then Christians Now they easily wrought upon Constantine by Gifts and by the vain Hope of enlarging his Dominions to make a League with Them which lasted scarce Two years but the Danes deserting the Scots struck up a League with the English This League had scarce continued Four years before Edward of England gathered an Army speedily together and spoiled the Danes Country whereby they were reduced to such 〈◊〉 that they were enforc'd to return to the Scots whom they had lately deserted To whom they Swore most Religiously That they would for ever after observe the Amity most inviolably betwixt Them This Second League is reported to have been entered into with great Ceremony in the Tenth Year of Constantines Reign He gave the same year Cumberland to Malcolm Son of the last King which was as an honourable Omen to him that he should Reign after him And afterwards the same Custom was observed by some succeeding Kings to the manifest disanulling of the old way of Convening the Estates whose Free Suffrages ought not to have been thus abridged but this was like the Designation of the Consuls by the Caesars which put an end to the Roman Liberty A War being now commenced between Edward the Son of Alured and the Danes Constantine sent Aid to the Danes under the Conduct of Malcolm He joyned his Army with the Danes and being Superior in number they harassed the adjoyning Countries of the English and made great Devastation wheresoever they came to the end that they might force the English who had a far less numerous Army to Fight Yea they were so arrogantly confident of their Numbers that they thought their Enemy would never so much as look them in the Face so that now as secure of the Victory they began to talk of dividing the Spoil But as Prosperity doth blind the Eyes of the Wise so Adversity and the foresight of Danger is a good Schoolmaster even to the weaker side What the English wanted in strength they supplyed in Cunning and Skill Their Army was well seconded with Reserves and so they began the Fight the First Ranks being commanded so to do give ground and pretend a Discomfiture and Flight that so their Enemies following them in disorder they might again return upon them in that straggling posture Athelstan the Base-born Son of Edward was General of all the English Forces as our Writers affirm and Grafton also says the same thing They make this Athelstan guilty of Parricide for killing his Father and his Two Brothers Edred and Edwin whose Right it was immediately to succeed their Father in the Kingdom Fame doth increase the Suspicion that Edward was violently put to death because it accounts him a Martyr For that Fact he was hatâ—d and therefore to recover the Favour of the People by some eminent Undertaking he determined to expiate the Blood of his Kâ—ndâ—ed by shedding That of his Enemies And thereupon after he had fought stoutly a-while he gave Ground by little and little but afterward in greater Fear and Confusion as if he intended absolutely to run away The Danes and Scots supposing themselves Conquerors were unwilling to make any brisk pursuit lest the Cowardliest of the Soldiers should enjoy all the Prey and therefore they returned to plunder their Camp Hereupon Athelstan gave a Signal and the Engâ—ish returning to their Ensigns set upon them as they were scattered and laden with Booty and killed them like Dogs The greatest part of the Scotish Nobility was lost in this Fight who chose rather to dye on the spoâ— than to undergo the Ignominy of deserting their Companions Malcolm being much wounded was carried off the Field by his own Men and sent the doleful Tidings of the loss of his Army to King Constantine neither was the face of things more pleasant amongst the Danes Athelstan during this Astonishment of his Enemies took Cumberland and Westmerland from the Scots and Northumberland from the Danes Constantine having not force enough neither to wage War or to carry on matters in Peace called a Convention of the Estates at Abernethy and willingly resigned the Kingdom and betook himself to the Culdeâ— certain Hermits so called living in Cells Worshippers of God for so the Monks of that Age were called as into a Sanctuary amongst whom he lived the rest of his life at St. Andrews Here the English Writers who are profuse enough in their own Praises do affirm That Athelstan was the Monarch of all Britanny and that the rest who had the Names of Kings in Albium were but precariously so and his Feudataries only as taking an Oath of Fidelity to him as the supreme Lord. And they introduce many ignoble English Authors as Favourers of that Opinion And to procure the greater Credit thereunto they add also Marianus Scotus an Illustrious Writer indeed But here I desire the Reader to take notice that there is not the least mention of any such thing in that Edition of Marianus which was Printed in Germany but if they have another Marianus different from him who is publickly read and interpolated or foisted by them let them produce him if they can Besides they being Men generally unlearned do not in some Places sufficiently understand their own Writers neither do they take notice That Bede William of Malmesbury and Geffrey of Monmouth do commonly call that part Britain over which the Britains ruled i. e. That within the Wall of Adrian or when they stretched their Dominions furthest within the Wall of Severus so that the Scots and Picts are oftentimes reckoned by them to be out of Britain and not seldom are called Transmarine People And therefore when they read that the English sometime Reigned over all Britanny they understand the Authors so as if they meant all Britanny i. e. Albium or Albion whereas they do often Circumscribe Britanny within narrower limits as I have said before But of this I have spoken more largely in another place To return then to the Affairs of Scotland Malcolm I. The Seventy Sixth King COnstantine having retired himself into the Cloyster of the Monks Malcolm the Son of Donald was declared King Athelstan being dead and his Brother Edward Reigning Cumberland and Westmerland revolted from the English and returned to their old Masters Moreover the Danes who remained in Northumberland sent for Avalassus their Countryman of the Royal Progeny who was Banished into Ireland to make him King Edmund foreseeing what Clouds of War were gathering over his Head yielded up Cumberland and Westmerland to Malcolm upon this Condition That he who should next succeed in the Scotish Kingdom should take an Oath to the King of England as the Lord Paramount of that Country Afterwards he easily reduced the
Danes who had been afflicted with so many Calamities Neither did he long survive his Victory The English chose his Brother Edred King after him against whom the Danes who possessed Northumberland and never cordially observed any Peace made with the English did rebel and took from him many strong Places whilst he was busied in other parts of his Kingdom and principally York but he overcame them by the assistance of 10000 Scots Malcolm returning home gave himself up wholly to the Arts of Peace And to cure the Inconveniencies occasioned by the Wars especially Luxury and Bribery he himself did ordinarily Visit all the Scots Courts of Judicature once in two years and administred Justice with great Equity At length whilest he was busie in punishing Robbers and in restraining the lewd Manners of the younger sort he was slain by some Conspirators of Murray-Land in the night in the Fifteenth year of his Reign The Perpetrators of that Villany were with great diligence sought after and found out by the Nobles and being apprehended were put to several exquisite Deaths according to every ones share of demerit in committing the Parricide Indulfus The Seventy Seventh King INdulfus Reigned after him who having setled things in Peace at home lived seven years after in great Tranquillity But in the Eighth year of his Reign the Danes taking it amiss that the Alliance with the English was preferred before Theirs and that a perpetual League was made between the two Kings against them came with a Navy of 50 Ships into the Firth of Forth when the Scots little expected any such thing insomuch that they had almost surprized and overthrown them unawares In such a sudden emergency all were full of fear and amazement insomuch that some carried their Goods into the midland Country as a place of more safety others came to the Sea-side to hinder the Enemies Landing Hago and Helricus were the two Admirals of the Fleet. They endeavoured first to Land in Lothian and afterwards in Fife but in vain then they essayed to enter the Firth of the River Tay but there also they were hindred from making any descent on Land so that they Coasted about the Sea-Coasts of Aeneia or Angus of Mern Marr and Buchan but in all places being hindred from Landing they hoisted their Sails into the Main as if they intended to return home But within a few days when all was secure they came back again and having gotten a convenient place in Boâ—â— at the Mouth of the River Cullin they there landed their Men without opposition before the Country People could give any alarm of their Arrival When Indulfus heard of their landing he marched towards them before they could well have any notice of his coming and first he set upon the straggling Plunderers and drove them to the rest of their Army but made no great Slaughter of them because the Camp of the Danes was near for them to retreat to When the Armies came in sight of each other they both set the Battel in array and fell to it with equal force and courage Whilst they were thus fiercely fighting Grame and Dumbar with some Troops of Lothian-Men appeared on the Rear of the Danes which struck them into such a Pannick fear that they all run away some to their Ships others to unknown places whithersoever the Fear of the Enemy drove them But a great part of them cast themselves into a Ring in a Woody Vale and there waited for an occasion of acting valorously or dying resolutely Indulfus as if his Enemies had been wholly overcome rode up and down with a few Attendants and casually lighting on them was there slain at the beginning of the Tenth year of his Reign Some say that he was slain with an Arrow shot out of a Ship having disarmed himself that he might be more nimble in the pursuit and press the more eagerly upon them as they were going a Shipboard Duffus The Seventy Eighth King AFter his Death Duffus the Son of Malcolm got the Kingdom in the beginning of his Reign he made Culenus Son of King Indulfus Governour of Cumberland and sent him into the Aeâ—â—dae which were then in War and Disorder by reason of the frequent Robberies committed there For the young Soldiers of the Nobility having got a great Pack of their Fellows about them made the Common People tributary to them imposing a pecuniary Mulct on every Family besides Free-quarter and yet Culenâ—s dealt not harmer with them than with the very Governors themselves of the Island who ought â—o have restrained such outrages He commanded That for the future They by whose negligence these disorders had happen'd should make Satisfaction to the Commonalty and also pay a Fine to the King This Injunction strook such a Terror into these Idle paltry Fellows that Many of them went over into Ireland and there got their Living by their Daily labour As this matter was acceptable to the Commons so it was as offensive to the Noble Allies of Those who were Banished and to many of the younger sort who did approve that idle kind of Life These Men in all their Meetings and Assemblies First secretly Afterwards in the presence of a Multitude of such as applauded them began openly to revile their King alleging That he despised the Nobility and was drawn away and seduced by the Counsel of sorry Priests That he put Men of Gentile Extraction to Servile Offices That he advanced the most abject of the People to the Highest Honours That in fine he made such Medleys as to turn all things Topsy-Turvy They added farther That if things should continue at that pass either the Nobility must transport themselves into other Countrys or else must make them a new King who might Govern the People by those ancient Laws whereby the Kingdom had arrived to that height out of so small beginnings Amidst these things the King was assaulted with a new and unusual Disease no evident cause thereof appearing so that when all Remedies had been tryed in vain a Rumour was spread abroad by I know not who that he was bewitched the suspicion whereof arose either from some Indications of his Disease or else because his body did waste and pine away by continual sweating and his strength was so much decay'd that the Physicians who were sent for far and near knew not what to apply for his relief Thus no Common causes of the disease discovering its self they had recourse to a Secret one And whilst all were intent on the Kings Malady at last News was brought That Nightly Assemblies and Conspiracies were made against him at Foress a Town in Murray The Report was taken for truth there being nothing to contradict it Whereupon some faithful Messengers were sent to Donald Governor of the Castle in whom the King confided much even in his greatest Affairs to find out the truth of the matter He by the discovery of a certain Harlot whose Mother was
Picts being deserted by the English receive a great overthrow by the Scots * The Picts again routed by the Scots their King Drusken slain and their Kingdom abolished * Kennethus compared with both the Fergus's and reckoned the Third Founder of the Scotish Kingdom g The wholsome Laws made by Kenneth called Mac-Alpin-Laws because he was the Son of Alpin h The Country lâ—ing between the Tay and Dee i Aeneia all one with Angus k The Mearns lie alongst the East-Sea between Dâ—e and North-Esk l It stands on the North-side of Forth in Pâ—rthshire m A Town lying on the beginning or head of a point of Land that runs into the West-side of Loc◠〈◊〉 Otherwise called the Sheriâ—fdom of Bâ—â—wick Edinburgh hath several Names p The Story of the Marble Stone on which the Scotch Kings were anciently Crowned q An Abby on the North-side of 〈◊〉 a Miâ—e above Perth r The Ancient Scots Bishops not Diocesaâ—s a Donaldus's Licentiousness b It gives opportunity to the Picts to solicite Aid from Osbreth in England c Osbreth overthrown by the Scots but his Men rallying overcome the Scots when secure after their Victory d Peace granted upon hard Terms to the Scots e The Picts driven out of Albium and never recalled * Sterling Money * Donald cast into prison where he dies * Ecclesiasticks Reformed by Constantine f Drunkenness Punished with Death g Evenus put to Death for conspiring against Constantine h The Danes Invade Scotland are worsted at first yet afterwards overthrow Constantine who was slain by them * On the East-point of Fife a Sea-Monks a prodigious sort of Fish swimming in Sholes always portending some Evil. b Ethus for his Viciousness forced to abjure the Government c Gregory overcomes the Picts and Danes * In Annandale d And the Brittons also causing them to restore Cumberland and Westmorland e Peace made between Aâ—â—red of Engâ—and and the Scots f The Iâ—ish break in upon Galway in Scotland g Which causes Gregory to follow them into 〈◊〉 h Where he takes Dundalk Tredagh and Dublin and then makes Peace with the Irish and returns i The Danes Fight a bloody Battel with the English and afterward turn Christians * A Town in Murry-land not far from Eâ—gin k Constantine taketh part with the Danes against the English * The Ancient Liberty of the Subâ—ect invaded l The Scots and Danes are overcome by the Policy of Athelstan of England m Who recovers from them Westmerland Cumberland and Northumberland which yet soon after reâ—oâ—t to thâ—â—â— old Mastâ—â—s * Constantine resigns the Kingdom * Culdeâ—s perhaps contracted from Cultores Dei or Kelds Who n Malcolm sometimes fâ—â—s in Courts of Justice himself o He is slain p The Danes Land in Scotland q Indulfus Slain in a Fight with the Danes r Murmurings against King Duffus 〈…〉 King Duffus Hoâ— and by Whom * A Tour in Murry-land 〈…〉 * King Duffus treacherously Murdered by Donald and his Wife * In Murry-land * A Traditional Opinion still obtaining Especially if the Murtherer touch the Murdered Body * Prodigies upon the Murder of Duffus awaken the Estates to revenge it * The Murderers of Duffus apprehended and executed Culen leâ—s loose the reinâ— to Voluptnousness and indeavours to justifie it in hâ—mself and the young Nobility His Intemperance enfeebles his Body * Lust a punishment to itself Culenus Summoned to appear at Scene * Or Meffen lying on the River Aâ—mond Two Miles above its Confluence with Tâ—â— Three Miles above Perth He is slain by a Thane for Vitiating his Daughter * Thâ—â—e was a 〈◊〉 of Dignity amongst the Old Scots and Picts before them equal with a Baron now Mr. Seldeâ— judges it to come from a Saxon rooâ— His Office was like that of a Sheriff amongst us to gather up the King 's Revenu Or as an Under-Steward to pay it in to the Lord High Steward who was called Abâ—hane * Thâ—â—e was a 〈◊〉 of Dignity amongst the Old Scots and Picts before them equal with a Baron now Mr. Seldeâ— judges it to come from a Saxon rooâ— His Office was like that of a Sheriff amongst us to gather up the King 's Revenu Or as an Under-Steward to pay it in to the Lord High Steward who was called Abâ—hane Illustrating 〈◊〉 upon Philosophical 〈◊〉 * The right Method for Publick Reformations is for Princes to begin at home as K. Kenneth the 3d did * On the Banks of Clyd 5 Miles above Hamilton Kenneth politickly circumvents his Nobility at Scone and causes them to Reform their Clandships * Red-Head A Danish Fleet appears upon the Coast Crathilinthusâ—â—â—ses â—â—â—ses a disturbance in Scotland * But is suppressed and put to Death Kenneth embrues his Hands in the Blood of the hopeful Prince and his Kinsman 〈◊〉 Kenneth III. endeavours to alter the old Law concerning Succession of the Crown and to make it Hereditary And carries the Point Kenneth troubled in Conscience for his Murder of Malcoâ—m An Apparition and Voâ—â—e to Kenneth Mock-Plaisters applied to Kenneth's wounded Conscience by Sâ—perstitious Ecclesiasticks * Situate at the Foot of Clermont in Mern * A strange Mechanical Statue or Engine * Kenneth slain by Fenella * Constantine inveighs against the Law made by Kenneth about the Hereditary Succession to the Crown with his Reasons to back his Opinion * Malcolm Competitor with Constantine for the Crown * Or Almond-water dividing Mid-Lothian from West-Lothian or Linlithgoshire Constantine slain * An Agreement made between Malcolm and Grimus conâ—erning the Crown * Grime having broken the Agreement with Malcolm is overthrown by him in Battel * The Law concerning Hereditary Succession to the Crown Confirmed Sueno or Swain coming into Scotland obtains Aid there against Engâ—and * Sâ—edes Danes Laps and Norts were anciently so called * The Danes enter Scotland and overthrow King Malcolm in Battel * A Burgh or Burough * A Village on the West of the River Fâ—ddick near Balvany * The Danes overthrown by the Scots and their Generaâ— Eneâ—â—s slâ—â—n * Called Redhead Ridhead or Reedhead * Bâ—mbreid in the midway between Dundee and Aberbrothock * The Danes under their General Camus receive another overthrow from the Scots * On the River South-Esk in Angus * Canutus sent by Swain into Scotland * A Third desperate Battel between the Danes under Canutus their General and the Scots * Which produceth Conditions of Peace between Them * The Originals of Wardships * New Titles of Honour * About four Miles South of Forfar * King Malcolm Murdered * The Chief Town of Angus * K. Malcolm's Murderers drowned in their Flight Prodigies Descants by way of Reflection upon the Law of Kenneth about Hereditary Succession to the Crown * Abthane or great Thane is the Chief above all other Thanes which receives the King's Revenue as Lord High Treasurer from the other Thanes Donaldâ—ust â—ust Government both to Râ—ch and Poor * One Mac-duald Rebels
against Donald * Or Râ—dshanks Mackbeth his Character Mâ—cduald is overthrown by Mackbeth and Bâ—nâ—ho Swain and his three Sons Swain King of Norwayâ—ands â—ands in Scotland * A Town standing on the Forth in Pertâ—shiâ—e * The Scâ—tâ— by an inebâ—â—ating Dâ—ink made of Night-shade stupifie the Danes * The Herb Night-shade its Description and Properties Danes overthrown * Druâ—iâ—aâ—-Sands 〈…〉 North-side of the 〈…〉 * A Burgh-Roâ—aâ— on the North 〈…〉 Another Fleet of the Danes overthrown by Bancho * Or Inch-Colm * The Danes swore neveâ— to invade Scotland any more * Mackbeth's Dream encouraging him to aspire to the Kingdom * He thereupon slâ—ys King Donald or Duncan as some call him and is declared King Donald's Children fly for their Lives Mackbeth severe against Thieves He makes Wholesom Laws But afterward degenerates causes Bancho to be treacherously slain * Lying Southwest 3 miles from Cowper in Angus Mackduff ill resents Mackbeth He flies into England And stirs up Duncan's Son against him * Malcolm by the assistance of Edward K. of England recovers the Kingdom from Mackbeth * See Note a p. 77. * Malcolm First brought in Foreign Titles of Honour into Scotland * Mackduff the first Earl in Scotland * Three Grand Privileges of the Mackduffâ— * Called Straâ— or Sâ—rath-Boâ—y Forty Miles North of Aberdeen * Mackbeth's Son slain by Malcolm * Or Icolumbâ—â—l an Isle 2 Miles from the South end of Mul. * Malcolm assaulted by private Conspiracies which he overcomes * The Story of Edmond K. of England and Canutus * William the Norman demands Edgar then in Scotland * Whom Malcolm refuses to Surrender * Whereupon a War 〈…〉 Roger Richard Odo and Robert Generals for William of England worâ—â—ed in Scotland Newcastle repaired A Peace concluded between the Scots and English * Or Re-Crosâ— on the North-side it had the Portâ—aicture of the Scots King and of the English King on the South * Home-bred Seditions against Maâ—colm queâ—l'd The Original of the Family of the Stuarts afterwards Kings of Scotland * Lying on the South-side of the River Danâ— in Marr * Malcolm's Vow to St. Andrew Alexander Carron preferred and Sirnamed Scrimger The Seditious quell'd The Piety of Malcolm's Queen c. * Or Mortlich * Malcolm erects new Bishopricks * Malcolm erects new Bishopricks * Sumptuary Laws made by Malcolm * Marâ—heta Mulierum What * Malcolm builds the Cathedrals of Durham and Dumferling * King William Rufus Wars against Malcolm * Malcolm and his Son Edward slain by the English * On the River Lian on the British Sea Weâ—t of Calice * Prodigies viz. The Inundation of the German-Sea and Men-killing Thunder-bolts * Donald promises the Islands to Magnus King of Norway * Donald flies * Duncan slain by the procurement of Donald * Edgar's Pious Reign He builds the Monastery of Coldingham * Lying within two Miles of Aymouth in Mersâ— near the Scotish Sea Alexanders Valour * He doth Justice to a Poor Woman * Lying on the East-side of the Carss or Plain of Gowry within two Miles of Dundee * Lying in the Braes or Risings of the Carss of Gowry five Miles above Dundee * Inch-Colm or St. Columb's Isle in the Firth of Forth in Fife near Aberdeen David's just Reign * He creates new Bishopricks He is censured for his Profuseness towards Monasteries * In Teviotdale Henry of England never Laughed after the Drowning of his Children * K. Henry setles the Succession on his Daughter Maud the Empress by causing the Nobility to Swear Fealty to her in his Life time * Stephen notwithstanding his Oath seizes on the Crown of England * His Pretensions for so doing The Bishops of England not True to Maud according to their Oaths David of Scotland maintains the Cause of Maud his Kinswoman He lays Perjury to Stephens's Charge North Allerton lying near the River Swale in the North-Riding of Yorkshire He Fights the English and Overthrows them An Agreement between David and Stephen not observed Which hath its Source near Black-Laws in Teesdale The Scots overthrown by Stephen Another Agreement between the Scots and Stephen King of England Henry Heir of England sent to David his Uncle to be made Knight by him * King David loses his hopeful Son and Heir * But â—ears his Affliction Piously and Patiently * May 24. Lying on the North-west of Aberdeneshire K. David's extraordinary Character for Piety and Virtue A great Pestilenâ—e 〈◊〉 Scotland Somerled rises in Arms but is overthrown Henry of England designs against Malcolm And makes him take a Feodatary Oath to him He carries Malcolm into France And at his return despoils him of his Ancient Patrimony in England * The Scots make War upon England Peace concluded between the English and Scots wherein Malcolm quits Northumberland A Rebellion in Galway quell'd The Murray-Men under Gildominick rise in Arms. But are suppressed * Sâ—merled stirs agaiâ—â— but is overthrown and slain The Estates persuade Malcolm to Marry His Negative Answer to their Request * December 9th * William solicits Henry of England for the restitution of Northumberland He accompanies Henry into France * Part of Nâ—rthumberland restored to the Scots * William enters England with an Army But is overthrown taken Prisoner by the English and sent to Henry then in France * August 1â—th February 1st * K. William Ransomed and takes an Oath to K. Henry * Not That Constance in Germany but That in Normandy now called Contances * Ianuary 〈…〉 Gilchrist King Williams General The Scots Bishops freed from the Jurisdiction of English Bishops Gilchrist Kills his Wife for Adultery and flys into England But is Forced to return into his own Country Donald Bane rises in Arms but is quelled Distressed Gilchrist Pardon'd and Restored * To the Holy War for Recovery of Ierusâ—lem from the Turks * The English quit their Claim to any part of 〈◊〉 * William sends David his Brother to accompany Richard to the Holy Land David returns from Sâ—â—ia * So doth Richard Lex Taâ—â—onâ—â— executed upon one Harald Earl of the Orcades * K. Iohn of England meditates a War against Scotland * But Matters are accommodated upon Terms between both Kingdoms * Berth destroyed and new Built Makul a Criminal abstains from all manner of Food * Several Leagues between Iohn of England and William of Scotland * A Maritime Town in Normandy 〈◊〉 France * Alexander enters England with an Army * Iohn enters Scotland Alexander takes Carlisle * King Iohn agrees with the Pope and becomes his Feudatary Cardinal Galo Avaâ—itiâ—â—â— * King Iohn Poysoned * Others say at 〈◊〉 Abby near Bostâ—n in Lincolnshire * The Scots Excommunicated * A Stone-Cross erected in Sâ—anmoâ—e in Cumberlâ—nd as a Boundary between the Two Kingdoms of England and Sâ—otland * Cardinal 〈◊〉 ill Character * Pandulphus the Popes Legat a Witness of the Peace between the Two Kings * Roman Fraud * Câ—min