and thither and is not content to Flow and Ebb so far as the Banks but inserteth and windeth it self into the Land shooting into the Mountains and Cliffs as to his own Chanel Now what manner of Men the first Inhabitants of Britanny were Foreign brought in or Born in the Land as among a barbarous People it is not certainly known Their Complexions are different and thence may some Conjectures be taken For the Red Hair of the dwellers in Caledonia and mighty Limbs import a German Descent The coloured Countenance of the Silures and Hair most commonly Curled and Site against Spain seem to induce a belief that the old Spaniards passed the Sea and possessed those places The nearest to France likewise resemble the French either because they retain something of the Race from which they descended or that in Countries butting together the same aspects of the Heavens do yeild the same Complexion of Bodies But generally it is most likely the French being nearest did People the Land In their Ceremonies and Superstitious Persuasions there is to be seen an apparent Conformity The Language differeth not much like boldness to challenge and leap into Dangers When Dangers are come like fear in refusing them saving that the Britains make more shew of Courage as being not mollifi'd yet by long Peace for the French also were once as we read redoubted in War till such time as giving themselves over to Peace and Idleness Cowardise crept in and Shipwrack was made both of Manhood and Liberty together And so it is also befaln to those of the Britains which were subdued of old the rest remain such as the French were before Their strength in the Field consisteth in Footmen some Countries make War in Wagons also The greater Personage guideth the Wagon his Waiters and Followers Fight out of the same Heretofore they were govern'd by Kings now they are drawn by Petty Princes into Parties and Factions And that is the greatest help we have against those Puissant Nations that they have no common Council together Seldom it chanceth that two or three States meet and concur to repulse the common danger So whilst one by one fighteth all are subdued The Sky is very Cloudy and much given to Rain without extremity of Cold. The length of Days much above the measure of our Climate the Nights light and in the furthermost part of the Island so short that between the going out and coming in of the Day the space is hardly perceived and when Clouds do not hinder they affirm that the Sun-shine is seen in the Night and that it neither Setteth nor Riseth but passeth along because belike the extream and plain parts of the Earth project a low Shaddow and raise not the darkness to an heigth so the Night falleth under the Sky and the Stars the Soil setting aside the Olive the Vine and the rest which are proper to warmer Countries taketh all kind of Grain and beareth it in abundance it shooteth up quickly and ripeneth slowly the Cause of them both is the same the overmuch moisture of the Soil and the Air. Britany beareth Gold and Silver and other Metals to inrich the Conqueror The Ocean bringeth forth Pearl also not Orient but duskish and wan which proceedeth as some do suppose for lack of skill in the Gatherers For in the Red Sea they are pulled out panting and alive from the Rocks but in Britany cast out by the Sea and so taken up For my part I do rather beleive the Nature of the Country not to yeild it than that our Covetousness could not find out the way to gather it aright The Britains endure Levies of Men and Money and all other Burdens imposed by the Empire patiently and willingly if Insolencies be forborn Indignities they cannot abide being as yet subdued to be Subjects not Slaves The first of the Romans which entred Britanny with an Army was Iulius Caesar who although he terrified the Inhabitants with a Battel which went on his side and gained the Shoar yet may seem rather to have shewed the place to Posterity than to have delivered to them the possession thereof The Civil Wars ensued and Bandyings of Men of great quality against the Republick of Rome and long after that lay Britany forgotten even in Peaceable Times Augustus termed it Policy and chiefly Tiberius so to do That Cajus had a meaning to invade Britanny it is certainly known but his rash running Head and hasty Repentance and chiefly his great Attempts against Germany turning to nothing averted that purpose Claudius did first with effect prosecute the matter transporting Legions and Aids and assuming Vespasian into the action which was the beginning of the Greatness whereunto he after attained Some Countries were subdued some Kings were taken and Vespasian made known to the World The first Lieutenant General was Aulus Plautius then Ostorius Scapula both Excellent Warriers And so by little and little was the nearest part of the Island reduced to the Form of a Province and besides a Colony of old Souldiers established there Certain Cities were also bestowed in pure Gift upon King Cogidunus who remained most Faithful even in our days according to an old Custom anciently received of the Romans to use even Kings themselves for Instruments of Bondage Then Didius Gallus succeeded who kept That which his Predecessors had gotten and builded some few Castles further in the Land to win by that means a Fame and Credit to his Office After Didius succeeded Verantius who died within one year Then Suetonius Paulinus for two years space behaved himself Fortunately subduing the Nations and establishing Garisons Upon Confidence whereof going to assail the Isle of Man which ministred supply to the Rebels he disfurnished the Country behind and laid it open to all opportunities of the Enemy For through the absence of the Lieutenant the Britains free of fear began to discourse the Miseries of Bondage to lay their Injuries together and aggravate them by Constructions and Inferences as That their Patience had profited them nothing save only to draw heavier Burdens upon themselves as Men willing to bear them That whereas in former times they had only one King now were there Two thrust upon them the Lieutenant to suck their Blood the Procurator their Substance whose disagreeing was the torment of the Subjects and their agreement their undoing the one vexing by Souldiers and Captains the other by Wrongs and Indignities That now their Covetousness and Lust laid hold without exception on all And whereas in Field he that spoileth is commonly stronger Now were they by Cowards and Weaklings for the most part dispossessed of their Houses berest of their Children injoyned to yeild Soldiers for other Mens behoof as though they were Men that knew to do nothing else save only to die for their own Country For otherwise what a small handful of Souldiers were come over if the Britains would fall to reckon themselves
must needs be overwhelmed with the inundations of the Ocean and must therefore be barren which alone in that Tract ought to have born Corn. But this is yet a more difficult Question That seeing the Sea-water did run on both sides the Forth why the Romans did not there make their Boundary-Wall rather than unnecessarily carry it many Miles further Beyond the County of Sterling lies Lennox divided from the Barony of Renfrew by Clyd and from the County of Glasgow by the River Kelvin from the County of Sterling by Mountains and from the Stewarty of Menteath by the Forth at length it is terminated in the Mountain Grampius or Grantsbain at the foot of which through an hollow Valley Loch-Lomund spreads it self which is 24 Miles long and 8 broad it contains above 24 Islands besides a multitude of other Fishes it hath some of a peculiar kind very pleasant to eat they call them Pollacks At length breaking out towards the South it pours out the River Levin giving Name to the whole Country and near the Castle of Dumbarton and a Town of the same Name falls into Clyd The furthermost Hills of Mount Grampius do heighten the extreme parts of Lennox being divided by a small Bay of the Sea called Loch-Ger from its shortness Beyond that there is a Bay much larger called Loch-Long from the River Long falling into it That is the Boundary between Lennox and Cowel Cowel it self Argyle and Knapdale are divided into many parts by reason of several narrow Bays of the Sea running down into them from the Firth of Clyd There is one Bay or Loch more eminent than the rest among them called Loch-Finn obtaining its Name from the River Finn which it receives into it it is above 60 Miles in length There is also in Knapdale a Loch called Loch-Awe in which there is a small Island and a Castle that is fortified The River Awe or Owe issues out from that Loch which is the only River in that Country that empties it self into the Deucaledonian Sea Beyond Knapdale to the South-West there runs out Cantyre i. e. The Head of the Country it stands over against Ireland from which it is divided but by a Narrow Sea It is not so Broad as it is Long and it is joyned to Knapdale by so Narrow an Isthmus or Neck of Land that it is scarce a Mile over and that space too is nothing but Sand so plain and level that sometimes Seamen to make their Voyages shorter do hale their small Vessels called Birlings over it from one side of Loch-Tarbet to the other Lorn touches Knapdale it borders immediately on Argyle and reaches as far as the Country of Abyr commonly called Loch-Abyr It is a plain Country and not unfruitful where the Mountain Grampius is lowest and more passable that Country is called Braid-Albin which is as much as to say The highest part of Scotland and where the loftiest Pic or Top of all is that is called Drum-Albin i. e. The Back of Scotland and not without cause for from that Back there run down Rivers into both Seas some into the North or German others into the South or Deucaledonian Sea For from Loch-Earn it pours out the River Earn towards the South-East which falls into the River Tay about three Miles below Perth From this River the Country called in Highland or old Scots Language Strath-Earn takes it Name being situate on both sides of its Banks For the Highlanders use to call a Country lying at the fall of Rivers Strat. Between the Mountains of this Country and the Forth lies the Stewarty of Menteath taking its Name from the River Teath which runs through the middle of it Next to Menteath stand the Mountains called Ocel-Hills a great part of which as also of the Country lying at the Foot of them is reckoned within the Stewarty of Strath-Earn but the rest of the Country even unto the Forth Man 's Ambition hath divided into several Stewarties as the Stewarty of Clacman of Culross and of Kinross From these Stewarties and the Ocel-Hills all the Country lying between the Forth and the Tay grows narrow like a Wedge Eastward even to the Sea and it is all called by one Name Fife a Country self-sufficient with all necessaries for the use of Life It is broadest where Loch-Leven and the River Leven running through it do divide it and from thence it narrows on each side till you come to the Town of Caraâ—l it sends forth but one remarkable River and that 's called Leven It s whole shore is stor'd with abundance of Towns of which the most remarkable for the Study of the Arts is St. Andrews which the Highlanders call Fanum Reguli More to the Inland almost in the middle of the County lies Cowper the Shire or Assize Town whither the rest of the Inhabitants of Fife do come for the Administration of Justice Where it touches Strath-Earn stands the Town of Abernethy the Ancient Royal Seat of the Picts Here the River Earn falls into the Tay. As for the Tay it self that breaks out from Loch-Tay which is in Braid-Albin a Loch Twenty Four Miles long it is without question the greatest River in Scotland for winding about towards the Grampian-Hills it touches upon Athol a fruitful Country situate in the very Woody Passages of Mount Grampius That part thereof which is extended into a Plain at the Foot of the Mountain is called the Blare of Athol which Word signifies a Soil devoid of Trees Below Athol on the Right side of the River Tay stands the Town of Caledonia which yet retains its Ancient Name though vulgarly called Dunkelden i. e. an Hill full of Hasel-Trees For those Trees growing thick in such unmanured places and shadowing the Country like a Wood gave Name both to the Town and also to the People thereabouts For the Caledons or Caledonians heretofore one of the famousest Nations amongst the Britains made up one part of the Kingdom of the Picts as we may be informed by Ammianus Marcellinus who divides the Picts into Two Tribes i. e. The Caledones and the Vecturiones though at this Day there is hardly any Footstep left of either of those Two Names Twelve Miles below Dunkelden on the same Right-hand Bank of the Tay stands Perth otherwise called St. Iohnstons And on the Left-Bank of the Tay below Athol towards the East stands Gowry a County abounding with rich Corn-Fields Below Gowry between the Tay and the Esk is extended Angus or as the Highlanders call it Aeneia some call it Horestia or according to the English Dialect Forestia In it there are these two Cities Cowper and that which Boetius to gratifie his Country-men ambitiously calls Deidonum but I think the old Name thereof was Taodunum
i. e. Dundee from Dune i. e. an Hill situated by the River Tay for at the Foot of that Hill the Town is built Fourteen Miles beyond the Tay in a direct Line along the Shore we meet with the Town of Aberbrothock sometimes called Abrinca Then follows the Promontory called Red-Head which shews it self at a very great distance The River South-Esk runs through the middle of Angus and the North-Esk divides it from the Mearns The Mearns is for the most part a plain and level Country till it toucheth Mount Grampius beyond the little Town of Fordun and Dunotter a Castle belonging to the Earls of Marshal Then it grows lower and lower declining towards the Sea Beyond Mearn towards the North is the River Die commonly called Diemouth and about a Mile beyond it is the River Don. Upon the one there stands Aberdone a Town famous for Salmon-Fishing and upon the other stands Aberdee for so 't is called in old Records where the Bishops-See is and also a Flourishing University But now adays both Towns are distinguished only by the Names of Old and New Aberdene From this narrow Front between those two Rivers begins Marr which growing wider and wider by degrees extends it self 60 Miles in length even unto Badenach Badenach is all full of Hills and Mountains which sends forth Rivers into both Seas Abyr borders upon Badenach it declines gently towards the Deucaledonian Sea a Country for a Scotish one very much abounding with all Land and Sea-Commodities As it is fruitful in Corn and Pasture so it is also very pleasant by reason of its shadowy Groves and the delightful Fountains Brooks and Rivulets which glide along through it As for the Multitude of Fish hardly any County in Scotland can compare therewith For besides the plenty of Fresh-water Fish which so many Rivers do afford the Sea also contributes its Dole of Salt-water ones piercing in a long Chanel through the level part of the Country and there being somewhat curbed and pent in by the higher boundary of the Land for some space at length it diffuses and spreads it self abroad again representing the form of a Meer or rather Loch Hence 't is called Abyr i. e. in our Country Language A Road for Ships They give also the same Name to the Country thereabouts those that affect to speak after the English mode call both i. e. That Bay of the Sea and the Country too Loch-Abyr but mistakingly and without ground These three Counties Abyr Badenach and Marr do take up all the bredth of Scotland between the two Seas the Deucaledonian and the German On the North next to Marr stands Buchan divided from it by the River Don it stretcheth out it self farthest of any County in Scotland into the German Sea 'T is Rich in Pasture and in a good breed of Sheep and is able to maintain it self with all Conveniencies for the support of Life The Rivers in it abound with Salmon and yet which is strange there is one of its Rivers called Ratra that hath not a Salmon in it On the Shore of Ratra there is a strange kind of Cave the Nature whereof I cannot pass over in silence The Water therein drops down from a natural Vault or Arch and is turned into Pyramids of Stone insomuch that if Men did not cleanse it ever and anon the whole space to the very Roof would be quickly petrified and filled up The Stone thus concreted is of a middle Nature between Stone and Ice for it is friable and never arrives at the hardness and solidity of Marble When I was at Tholouse about the Year of our Lord 1544. I was informed by creditable Persons that there was a Cave in the Neighbouring Pyrenaean Hills altogether like This in Scotland Beyond Buchan to the North lie two small Counties Boin and Aâ—â—y which reach to the River Spey that separates them from Murray As for the River Spey That hath its rise in the ridge of Hills in Badenach of which I have made mention before and not far from the Fountain thereof is a Loch which sends forth a River called Lochtee which roles it self into the West-Sea At the Mouth thereof as they say there was once a Noble Town called Inner-Lochtâ—e borrowing its Name from the Loch aforesaid The Truth is if you consider the Nature of the Neighbouring Soil and the conveniency of Transporting and Carriadge by Sea it is a place very fit for a Mart-Town And our Ancient Kings tempted and invited by those conveniencies made their abode there for some Ages in the Castle of Evonia which some do falsely persuade themselves to be Dunstafnage For the Rubbish and Ruins of that Castle are yet to be seen in Lorn There are some small Counties lying betwixt Buchan and the West-Sea but having scarce any thing remarkable in them I shall not waste time to describe them Beyond the Spey even unto the River Ness there follows Murray heretofore as 't is thought called Varar Between those two Rivers the Spey and the Ness the German Ocean doth as it were drive the Land backward to the West and so with a vast Bay doth abridge the largeness thereof This whole Country for the higness of it abounds with Corn and Pasturage but as for Pleasantness and the profit arising from Fruit-bearing Trees it bears away the Bell from all the other Countries in Scotland It hath two Eminent Towns in it Elgin and Inverness Elgin stands on the River Lâ—ssie and as yet retains its Ancient Name Innerness is situate by the River Ness which issues out of Loch-Ness a Loch 24 Miles long the Water thereof is almost always warm and all the year long 't is never so Cold as to Freeze yea in the sharpest Winter that is if Flakes of Ice are conveyed into it they will quickly be thawed by the warmth of its Waters Beyond Loch-Ness towards the West there are only eight Miles of Continent interjacent so small a Portion of Ground hinders the Conjunction of the two Seas and consequently the making of the rest of Scotland an Island for all that space of Land which lies betwixt that narrow Neck and the Deucaledonian Sea is cut off from the rest by several Bays of the Sea breaking into it That part of the Country which lies beyond Loch-Nâ—sâ— and those narrow Streights or Neck of Land before-mentioned is wont to be divided into four Provinces or Shires viz. Ross Strath-Navern Sutherland and Caithness Navern or as commonly called Strath-Navern taking its Name from the River Navern Beyond the Mouth of Ness where it disembogues it self into the German Sea lies Ross which runs out into the Sea with very high Promontories as the Name it self shews for Ross in the Scotish Dialect signifies a Promontory This Province hath more of Length than Bredth in it
that plainly enough For besides the vain promises on both sides the Rythms say That the Island was not then inhabited but desolate but that it was inhabited before But where I pray then were those Portentous Figments of Gogmagog and Tentagol and other frightful Names of Men invented for Terrour shall I say or for Laughter rather What will become of those doughty Combates of Corineus and others the Companions of Brutus against not the Earth-born but Hell-born Giants Thus far concerning Brutus and his Oracle Though these be so great Fictions yet Posterity is so little ashamed of them that but a few years ago no mean Writer amongst them hath impudently feigned That the Trojans spake the British Language Homer and Dionysius Halicarnasseus do easily refel the vanity of this shameless Opinion For the one gives Greek Names to all the Trojans the other in a long and serious Disputation doth contend that the Trojans were Originally Greeks I pass by this consideration that when Brute arrived in England with no great Train how within the space of Twenty years he could establish Three Kingdoms and how they who all of them put together aâ— first could scarce make up the number of one mean Colony should in so short a time People an Island the biggest in the whole World and furnish it not only with Villages and Cities but set up in it Three large Kingdoms also yea who a while after it seems grew so numerous that Britain could not contain them but they were forced to Transport themselves into the large Country of Germany where overcoming the Inhabitants they compelled them to assume their own Name which was not a British but a Latin one and so from those Nineteen Brothers forsooth which indeed were not properly own Brothers as we say for almost each of them had a several Mother that the Country should be called Germany I have related this Fable as absurd as it is not to take the pains to refute it but to leave it to the Germans themselves for Sport and Ridicule This in General concerning the Fables of the Brittons But the intent of those who devised them seems not very obscure to me for that Monstrous Fiction of Devils lying with Virgins seems to tend hereto viz. That they might either prove an Alliance between their Brutus and two of the greatest Neighbouring Nations or else that they might vye with them in the Nobleness of their Original For the Gauls affirmed as Caesar hath it that they were descended from Father Pluto and so did the Germans according to Tacitus The cause of devising this Figment concerning Brutus seems to be alike For seeing the Buthrotii in Epirus other People in Sicily The Romans Campanians and Sulmonenses in Italy The Arvâ—rni Hedui Sequani and last of all the Francs in Gaul did celebrate I know not what Trojans as their Founders The Writers of British Affairs also thought it very conducive to the advancement of the Nobility of their Nation if they derived its Original too from the very Archives of Antiquity and especially from the Trojans either because of the famousness of that City which was praised by almost all Nations or else by reason of its Alliance with so many Nations which are said to have started up as it were out of the same common Shipwrack of that one Town Neither did they think themselves guilty of any effrontery in the Falshood if they did somewhat participate of the feigned Nobility which upon the same account was common to so many Nations besides themselves Hence arose as I judge the Fiction of Brutus and other Fables of an older date as impudently devised as foolishly received it will perhaps be enough to shew the vanity of all those things to put the Reader in mind that they were unknown to Ancient Writers that when Learning flourished they dared not peep abroad that they were coyned in its decay recorded by unlearned Flatterers and entertain'd by ignorant and too credulous Persons who did not understand the Fraud of such Cheaters For such is the disposition of those Impostors who do not seek the publick good by a true History but some private advantage by Flattery that when they seem highly to Praise theâ— they most of all deride and jeer For what do they else who pretending to advance the Nobility of a People for its greater splendor do fetch it from the Skum and Riffraff of Nature And yet credulous shall I say or not rather sottish Persons do Pride themselves with a pretended Eminency of an Original which none of their Neighbours will envy them for They also who have wrote of Scotish Affairs have delivered down to us a more Creditable and Noble Origin as they think but no less Fabulous than That of the Britains For they have adopted Ancestors to us not from the Trojan Fugitives but from those Greek Hero's whose Posterity Conquered Troy For seeing in those Ancient times two Nations of the Greeks were most of all celebrated the Dores and the Iones and the Princes of the Dores were the Argivi and of the Iones the Athenians The Scots make one Gathelus to be the chief Founder of their Nation but whether he were the Son of Argus or of Cecrops that they leave in doubt and that they may not be inferior on this accompt to the eminency of the Romans they added to him a strong Band of Robbers with which he going into Egypt perform'd gallant Exploits and after the departure would you think it of Moses was made General of the Kings Forces in that Land And that afterwards with his Wife Scota the Daughter of the King of Egypt he sailed about the whole shore of Europe adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea and having passed through so many Countries which were desolate in that Age or else inhabited but by few and in few places as Greece Italy France not to mention the numerous Islands of the Mediterranean Sea some will have him to Land at the River Iberus but leaving that Country which he could not keep they draw him on further to Galaecia a Country much more Barren Some Land him at the Mouth of the River Durius being the first of all Men as I suppose who adventured into the Ocean with a Navy of Ships and that there he built a brave Town which is now called from his Name Portus Gatheli or Port a Port whence the whole Country which from Lusus and Lusa the Children of Bacchus was a long time called Lusitania began to be called Portugal and afterwards being forced to pass into Gallaecia he there built Brigantia now called Compostella also that Braga in Portugal was built by him at the Mouth of the River Munda These are the things which the Scots have fabulously wrote concerning the Original of their Nation In feigning of which how uncircumspect they were we may gather from hence that they did not give a
of an Island called by Pomponius Mela Ptolemy and Iuvenal Iuverna by Strabo Claudian and the Inhabitants thereof Ierna That which some call the Nerian Promontory Strabo calls Ierne Iernus or Iern a River of Gallaecia Mela calls it Ierna Iernus is also a River of Ireland In Ptolemy 't is reckoned a River of Scotland falling into Tay. Another of the same Name glides through Murray the Country adjacent to both is called Ierna We read of the City Mediolanum in Ptolemy as one Insubrum of the Santones another of the Aulerci Eburaici another by the Loir i. e. Menu a fourth by Sequana or the Sein now as I think named Meulan or Melun another in High Germany called Alciburgum another by the Danow another in Britain of which mention is made in the Itinerary of Antoninus Also Marcolica a Town in Spain Macolica in Ireland Vaga a River in Portugal and another of Wales in England Avo in Mela Avus in Ptolemy a River of Galaecia as yet retains its Name In Argyle there is also a River of the same Name flowing out of the Lough Awe The Promontorium Sacrum one is in Spain another in Ireland Ocellum is a Promontory in Britain Ocellum is also in Gallaecia in the Luceâ—sian District Ocelli are Mountains in Scotland Ocellum is the last Town of Gallia Togata Caesar mentions Vxellum a Town in Britain perhaps for Ocellum for Martianus in explaining the Ancient Names of the Cities of Gallia says that the Word is variously writ Ocellum Oscela and Oscellium hence perhaps comes Vxellodunum which is also sometimes writ Vxellodurum So there is Tamar a River of Gallaecia Ptolemy Tamaris in Mela Tamarici a People of Gallaecia the River Tamarus Pliny and Tamara a Town in Britain Sars a River of Gallaecia Ptolemy Sarcus in Scotland Mela. Ebora a Town of Portugal called Lâ—bâ—ralitas Iulia in Pliny and Ptolemy Ebura that which is Cerealis in Boetica in Pliny is Ebora Ptolemy mentions Aulerci Eburaici in Gallia Celtica and also Eboracum i. e. York of the British Brigantes Deva now d ee a River of England and three in Scotland so called one in Galway another in Angus the third divides Merne from Marr. The Cornavii in England are in the farthest part of the West in Scotland they are the farthest North. Both of them are now called Kernici there seems also to have been a third sort of Kernici in Scotland at the Mouth of the River Avennus or Even which is the boundary between the Coasts of Lothian and Sterling For Bede makes the Monastery of Abercorn to be at the end of Severus his Wall where now the Ruins of the Castle of Abercorn do appear Aven is often read a River both of England and Scotland Aven in Scotish and Avon in Welsh signifies a River Of the Three Nations which first inhabited this Island after the coming of Caesar the Britains were Subject to the Emperors of Rome successively little less than Five Hundred years but the Scots and Picts were under the subjection of their own Kings At length when all the Neighbouring Nations did conspire for the Destruction of the Romans they recalled their Armies from their most remote Provinces to maintain their Empire at home And by this means the Britains being destitute of Foreign Aid were miserably vexed by the Scots and Picts insomuch that they craved Aid of the Saxons which then infested the Seas with a Pyratical Navy But that project cost them dear For the Saxons having repelled the Picts and Scots being tempted by the fertility of the Country and the weakness of the Inhabitants aspired to make themselves Masters of the Island But after various Successes in War seeing they could not arrive at what they aimed at by Force they resolved to accost the Britains by Fraud Their Stratagem was this There being a Conference or Treaty agreed upon at a set Day and Place between the Nobles of both Parties The Saxons having a sign given them by Hengist their Captain slew all the British Nobility and drove the common People into Rugged and Mountainous Places so that they themselves possessed all the Champain and divided the fruitfulest part of the Island between them into Seven Kingdoms This was the State of Affairs in Britain about the year of Christ 464. And whereas three German Nations did originally undertake Expeditions into Britain the other two by degrees passed into the Name of English-Men But the Peace made with the Brittons nor with the English amongst themselves was never faithfully observed About the year of our Lord 317 the Danes being powerful at Sea did first molest England with pyratical Incursions but being Valiantly repulsed about Thirty three years after they came with greater Forces and made a descent into the Country with a Land Army At the first conflict they were Victors but afterwards they contended with the English with various Successes till in the year 1012. Swain having wholly subdued the Britains by their publick Consent obtained the Kingdom which yet remain'd but a few years in his Family For the Saxons having again Created Kings of their own Nation about Twenty four years after were overcome by William the Norman most of their Nobility being Slain and their Lands divided among the Normans by which means the common People were kept in a miserable Slavery till Henry the Sevenths time who easing part of their burden made the condition of the Commonalty a little more Tolerable But those which are in favour with the King or would seem to be truly Illustrious and Noble derive their whole Sept from the Normans These are the discoveries which I have been able to make out of ancient Writings and other no obscure Indications concerning the Original Customs and Language of the Three Ancientest Nations in Britain all which do induce me to believe that the old Britains and the other Inhabitants of Britain were derived from the Gauls and did originally use the Gallick Speech of which many Footsteps do manifestly appear both in France and Britain Neither ought it to seem strange if in a Language which admits of a change each moment of our Life many things receive different Names in divers places especially in a such a Longinquity of time yeâ— we may rather admire that the same Foundations of a Language that I may so speak and the same manner of Declension and Derivation doth yet continue amongst a People so far remote one from another and so seldom agreeing together in converse of Life yea oft being at mortal fewds one with another Concerning the other Three Nations the Angles Danes and Normans we need make no solicitous Inquiry seeing the Times and Causes of their coming are known almost to all But I have entred upon this task that
Dust or the little Stones from thence and strow them among Bee-hives the Swarms forsake their Combs The Sea that is between Ireland and Britain is stormy and rough most part of the year so that it can hardly be sailed over but a few days in Summer time They Sail in Keels of Wicker done over with Neats-Leather How long soever their passage continueth the Passengers abstain from Meat all the while such as have throughly examined it have esteemed the bredth of that narrow Sea to be 120 Miles A tempestuous Sea also divided the Islands of the Silures from the Coast that the Britains inhabited the Men of which Island keep their old customs even to this day They utterly refuse Buying and Selling for Money but barter one Commodity for another providing things necessary rather by exchange than ready Money They worship the Gods very devoutly As well the Women as the Men boast of their Knowledge of Fore-telling things to come The Isle of Thanet is beaten upon by the French Sea and is divided from Britain with a very narrow Strait it is happy in Corn Fields and a fat Soil and healthful not only to its Inhabitants but to others also Forasmuch as there is no Snake bred there the Earth thereof to what place soever it is carried from thence killeth that Vermin Out of the Third Book of Herodian Translated into Latin by Politian BUt Severus made delays on purpose that he might not make his entrance into Rome Poorly for being desirous of Victory and of the Sirname of Britannicus he sends the Ambassadors home before he had done his Business whilst he himself in the mean time with great diligence prepared all things necessary for War His first and chief Care was to erect Bridges on the Marish Grounds that so his Soldiers might stand safely and fight as upon firm ground for many places in Britain are Marishy because of the frequent Inwashings of the Ocean The Barbarians themselves do swim through these Moors or Marishes and run up to the Groins in them not regarding the Mud with their naked Bodies For they are ignorant of the use of Garments to cloath them but do girt their Belly and their Neck with Iron thinking that to be an ornament and sign of Riches as other Barbarians do Gold And besides they mark their Bodies with various Pictures and with the shapes of all manner of Animals and therefore they cloath not themselves lest they should hide the painted outside of their Bodyes But they are a very warlike Nation and greedy of slaughter being contented only with a narrow Shield and a Lance. And moreover they wear a Sword hanging down from their naked Bodies and are wholly ignorant of the use of Coats of Male or Helmets as judging them to be an hindrance and a luggage to them in passing over the Marishes whose Vapors being exhaled by heat make the Air there always dark and misty Out of the 10th Book of Ammianus Marcellinus THis was the state of Affairs throughout Illyricum and the Eastern Parts But in the Consulship of Constantius when matters were very often disturb'd in Britanny by the inroads of those barbarous Nations the Scots and Picts and thereby Peace was broken and the places near to their Borders being wasted which caused a fear to seize on the Provinces already tired with their many past slaughters Caesar then being in his Winter Quarters at Paris was distracted with divers Cares for he feared to assist those Transmarine People as I related before thô Constantius did lest he should leave Gaul without a Governor in the mean time The Almaius or Germans also then being very eager on Cruelty and War And therefore he was pleased to send Lupicinus thither to compose matters who was as a Commissary-General of the Army at that time a stout Man and very skilful in Military Affairs and prided himself much therein so that he was very supercilious and haughty and to speak Proverbially as proud as a Peacock It was a great doubt whether he was more Covetous or more Cruel He having caused the Vanguard to march viz. The Lombards The Hollanders and many of the Moesâ—ci came to Bolongne in the depth of Winter And embarking all his Soldiers in those Ships which he had provided taking advantage of a favourable Wind he was wafted over to Sandwich and so went to London that there he might advise and be in readiness to act according to emergencies Out of his 26th Book THe Picts Saxons Scots and Attacotti vex the Britains with perpetual Miseries Out of this 27th Book IT 's sufficient for me to say That at that time the Picts being divided into Two Nations the Dicalidones and the Vecturiones and also the Attacotti a warlike People and the Scots ranging several ways spoiled many Shires and Countries The Franks and Saxons as they had opportunity to make inroads by Land or Sea plundered the Gallican Tracts near to them and carried from thence mighty Booties firing all before them and killing those which they took Captive To hinder this Fortune favouring him our warlike Commander came into these extreme parts from Bolongne which is divided from the Land he was to make by the Streights of the Sea which is wont to be raised by high Tides and again levell'd in a Calm like a Plain without any prejudice to the Mariners from thence he gently passed over to Richburrow a safe Harbor over against it whence being followed by the Batavi Heruli and Iovii trusting to their conquering Numbers he came to the old Town of London since called Augusta where dividing his Troops he set upon the praedatory Bands of his Enemies and they being loaden with spoils he quickly overcame them and took away their prey both of Prisoners and Plunder to their great damage He restored all to the losers except a small part bestowed on his wearied Soldiers thus he re-entred the City in Triumph before forelorn but now relieved by him Being lifted up by his prosperous success he designed greater matters and intended to follow safe Counsels for he had learned both by Prisoners and Deserters that such scattered Troops of sundry Nations and those fierce ones too could not be conquered but by Treachery or suddain Assault So that he made Edicts and propos'd Impunity and by that means called in all Stragglers and Deserters Hereupon many returning he being moved thereby and anxiously careful required Civilis to be sent to him to Govern Britain a Man of a sharp Wit and very Just and Honest too and also Dulcitius a Commander very skilful in Warlike Affairs Out of the 39th Book of Dion CAesar First of all the Romans having passed the Rhene afterward was wafted over into Britanny in the Consulship of Pompeius and Crassus The Island itself is extended 45 Stadia at least beyond the Morini And it is stretched out beyond the rest of Gaul and almost all Spain reaching out into
the Father in Law of King Fergusius I am most inclined to be of this last Opinion The Wall then being thus Razed the Scots and Picts did Rage with most inhuman Cruelties over the Brittons without distinction of Age or Sex For as Matters then stood the Brittons were weak and unaccustomed to War so that they sent a lamentable Embassy to Rome complaining of the unspeakable Calamities they endured and with great humility and earnestness supplicating for Aid farther alleging That if they were not moved at the Destruction of the Brittons and the loss of a Province lately so splendid an one yet it became the Romans to maintain their own Dignity lest their Names should grow contemptible amongst those Barbarous Nations Hereupon another Legion was again sent for their Relief who coming as Bede says in Autumn an unexpected Season of the Year made great Slaughter of their Enemies The Confederate Kings gathered what Force they could together to beat them back and being encouraged by their Success in former Times and also by the Friendship and Alliance of Dionethus a Britton they drew forth towards the Enemy This Dionethus was well descended in his own Country but always an Adviser of his Countrymen to shake off the Roman Yoke and then especially when so fair an Opportunity was offered and the whole Strength of the Empire was engaged in other Wars whereupon he was suspected by his own Men as an Affector of Novelty and was hated of the Romans but was a Friend to the Scots and Picts who understanding That the Design of the Romans was first to destroy Dionethus as an Enemy near at hand and in their very Bowels to obviate their purpose made great Marches towards them and joyning their Forces with Those of Dionethus's began a a sharp Encounter with the Romans who over-powered by Numbers both in Front and Reer were put to Flight When the Ranks of the Legionary Soldiers were thus broken and gave Ground the Confederate King being too eager in pursuit fell amongst the Reserves of the Romans and the rest of their Army who stood in good Order and were repulsed by them with great Slaughter So that if the Romans being conscious of the smalness of their Number had not forbore any farther pursuit they had doubtless received a mighty Overthrow that Day but because the loss of some Soldiers in but a small Army was most sensible therefore they were less joyous at the Victory Maximianus so our Writers call him who commanded the Roman Legion being dismayed at this Check retired into the midst of his Province And the Opposite Kings returned each to his own Dominion Hereupon Dionethus took the Supreme Authority upon him and being clothed in Purple after the manner of the Romans carries himself as King of the Brittons When the Romans understood that their Enemies were dispersed they gathered what Force they could together and encreased them with British Auxiliaries and so marched against Dionethus who infested the Provinces adjoyning to him for they thought to subdue him from whom their Danger was nearest before his Allies could come to his relief But the Three Kings united their Forces sooner than he imagined and joyning all their Forces together they encouraged their Soldiers as well as they could and without delay drew forth their Armies to the Onset The Roman General placed the Brittons in the Front and the Romans in the Reserves The Fight was fierce and the Front giving Ground Maximianus brought on his Legion and stopt the Brittons in their flight and then sending about some Troops to fall on the Rear some Brigades of Scots being incompassed by them drew themselves into a Ring where they bravely defended themselves till the greatest part of their Enemies Army falling upon them they were every Man slain Yet their loss gave Opportunity to the rest to escape There fell in that Fight Fergus King of the Scots and Durstus King of the Picts Dionethus being wounded was with great difficulty carried off to the Sea and in a Skiff returned home This Victory struck such a Terrour to all that it recalled the memory of Ancient Times in so much that many consulted whither to betake themselves for their Place of Exile Fergusius died when he had Reigned Sixteen Years a Man of an Heroick Spirit and who may deservedly be called The Second Founder of the Scotish Kingdom yea perhaps he may be said to exceed the former Fergusius in this That he came into a void Country and that by the Concession of the Picts neither had he the unconquered Forces of the Romans to deal with but with the Brittons who though somewhat yet not much Superiour to them in Accoutrements and Provisions for War were yet their Inferiours in enduring the Hardships of the Field But this later Fergusius when almost all were slain who were able to bear Arms being also brought up in a Foreign Country and after the 27th Year of his Banishment from his Own being sent for as an unknown King by those Subjects who were as unknown to him marched with a mixed Army packed up of several Nations against the Brittons who were sometimes also assisted by the Forces of the Romans so that if God had not manifestly favoured his Designs he might seem to have undertaken a very Temerarious Attempt and bordering upon Madness it self When he was slain he left three Sons behind him very young Eugenius Dongardus and Constantius Graham their Uncle by the Mother's side was by Universal Consent appointed Guardian over them and in the mean time till they came to be of Age he was to manage the Government as Regent He was a Person of that Virtuous Temper that even in the most Turbulent Times and amidst a most fierce Nation who were not always obedient no not to Kings of their own Nation yet there hapned no Home-bred Sedition in his time though he himself were a Foreigner Eugenius or Evenus II The Forty First King EVgenius or Evenus the Eldest Son of Fergusias had the Name of King but the Power was in the Hands of Graham he caused a Muster to be made of the Soldiers all over the Land and when he found that his Militia was weakned by former Fights beyond what he thought he saw that nothing then was to be done and so ceased from making any Levies But the Roman Legion having releived their Allies and as they were Commanded being about to return into the Continent spoiled all their Enemies Country within the Wall of Severus and slew the Inhabitants 't is true they restored the Lands to the Brittons but they kept the Prey for themselves So that the Remainders of the Scots and Picts who supervived their late loss were again shut up between the two Firthâ— of the Sea Matters being reduced to this pass the Romans declared to the Brittons with how great and strong Armies they were beset who had conspired to destroy the Roman Name and Empire so that they were not
Soldiers both English and Scots promiscuously to the Sword and that others might be deterred from the like Obstinacy by their Example he razed their Walls and filled up their Trenches The Terror of that Example caused Dumfriez Lanerick Air and Bote and many other weaker Forts to Surrender At the beginning of the Spring Roxburgh was taken by Iames Douglas when the Garison was intent upon their Sports and Pastimes in those Revels which were wont to be celebrated at the beginning of Lent And not long after Thomas Randolph recovered the Strong Castle of Edinburgh The Isle of Man was also surrendred and the Castles thereof demolished that they might not again be a Receptacle to the Enemy In the mean time Edward Bruce closely besieged the Castle of Sterlin scituate on a Rock steep every way but one where the Passage to it lay It was defended by Philip Mowbray a vigilant Commander who perceiving the Success of the Brucians in Scotland and foreseeing a Siege had mightily stored and fortified it with Arms and Provisions before hand And therefore when Edward had fruitlessly spent many days in besieging it and had no hopes to carry it by force That he might not seem to be repulsed without doing any thing he enters into Conditions with Mowbray That if he was not relieved in an Year to commence from that very Day by the English then the Castle was to be surrendred and the Garison should have Liberty Bag and Baggage to march whither they pleased These Conditions did much displease the King yet that he might not detract from his Brothers Credit he resolved to observe them Yet in regard he did not doubt but the English would come at the time appointed he prepares as much as in so great a scarcity of things he was able to manage his last Encounter with his potent Enemy And indeed Edward considering that he was not only dispossessed of Scotland whose People his Father had left to him conquered and broken but that England was also in danger had a desire to root out so Rebellious Disobedient and Unquiet a Nation In order whereunto he levied an Army not only of English and such Scots who adhered to them but he increased it by supplys from his Transmarine Dominions which then were many great and opulent so that his Army was bigger than ever any King of England had before Yea he received also an Accession of Force from his Allyes beyond the Seas especially from Flanders and Holland whom his Father had strenuously assisted against Philip King of France They say it consisted of above 100000 Fighting men There followed also his Army a Multitude of Baggagers Attendants and Sutlers who carries Provision both by Sea and Land because they were to come into a Country not very fruitful of it self and besides which had so many years before been harassed with all the Miseries of War Moreover there was a Multitude of Such as were to set out or describe Colonies and to receive Dividends of Land who brought their Wives and Children along with them so that the Force of so Rich Powerful and Flourishing a Kingdom as England was being thus as it were abridged and epitomized into one Army the Consideration thereof produced such a Confidence in them all That now all the Discourse was not of Fighting but rather of Dividing the Spoil Bruce hearing of this great Preparation of the Enemy prepares also his Forces far inferiour in Number to so great a Multitude as being Thirty Thousand only but such as were inured to Hardships and the Toyl of a Civil War and who now carried the Hopes of their Lives Fortunes and of all that is dear to Men as it were on the Point of their Swords With this Army he sate down on the left Bank of the River Bannock This River hath steep Banks on Both sides and it had but a few and those too narrow Passages or Fords it is about Two Miles from Sterlin Below the Hills before it makes its influxe into the Forth it passeth thrô a little leveller Ground yet here and there it is Marshy In the Winter it usually runs with a rapid Torrent but in that hot Time of the Year the Water was but Low and Fordable in many Places Bruce by how much the Weaker in Force was so much the more Circumspect and therefore he used Art and Policy to make the Passage over the River more difficult to the English who possessed the right-hand Bank thereof In order whereunto he caused deep Trenches to be dug in level Places wherein he fastened sharp Stakes or Spikes and covered them with some light Turffs a top that so his Stratagem might not be discovered and moreover he caused Calthrops of Iron to be thrown up and down on the Ground in Places most convenient Wherefore when Camp was almost joyned to Camp as being on different Hills only a small River between them Edward sent 800 Horse a little before to Sterlin who marched a little off from the Camp Robert imagining that they were sent to plunder in the Neighbourhood gave command to Thomas Randolph to follow them with 500 Horse either to prevent the stragglers in wasting the Country or if a fit Occasion were offered to fight them The English seeing them desisted from their intended March to Sterlin and faced about The Fight was sharp and continued long the Victory inclining for a time to neither Party so that Iames Douglas being concerned for the Scots who were the fewer in Number earnestly desired Bruce That he might go and relieve them Bruce peremptorily denied him whereupon tho' at present a Spectator only from an Hill yet he resolved if the Scots were further distressed to succour them but perceiving the English to give back and the Scots to get Ground he stopped his March that so he might detract nothing from another mans Praise The English having lost but those Few out of so numerous an Army were not discouraged in their Spirits and also the Scots prepared themselves for the Encounter the next day as if they had already received an Omen of a compleat Victory The Night thô very short for the Battel was fought on the 9 th of the Calends of Iuly yet seemed long to both Parties for the Eagerness they had to Fight All the Scots were divided into Three Brigades The King led the Middle or Main Battel His Brother Commanded the Right Wing and Randolf the Left The English besides a multitude of Archers which they placed on the outside of Both their Wings had also Curiassiers out of France They speeding towards Randolf who stood on the Lower Ground and endeavouring to fall obliquely on his Flank fell suddainly into the Diâ—ches made by Bruce where they tumbled one upon another with great Slaughter both of Man and Horse They that first fell in were Slain by the pressure of Those that fell upon them and the last Ranks being discouraged at the loss of the
not come down into the Champion he placed all the Scots Army on a contrary Part of the Hill This his rash Counsel and Project had the like Event for as with great Difficulty they were getting up the Hill the Enemy with their Darts and the hurling down of Stones did wound them very sore before they came to handy Blows and when they came near they rushed upon them in such close Bodies that they tumbled them headlong over the steep Precipices There fell that day about Ten some say Fourteen Thousand of the Scots almost all such who escaped out of the unhappy Battel of Duplin were lost here The chief of them whose Names are recorded were Archibald himself the General Iames Iohn and Alan Stuarts Uncles to Robert who Reigned next after the Brucians Hugh Kenneth and Alexander Bruce the several and respective Earls of Ross Sutherland and Carrâ—ck Andrew Iohn and Simon three Brothers of the Frazers This Overthrow of the Scots happened on St. Mary Magdalens Day in the Year 1333. After this Fight all Relief was despaired of so that Alexander Seaton surrendred up the Town to the English and Patrick Dunbar the Castle upon Condition to march out with all their Goods Both of them were forced to Swear Fealty to the English and Patrick Dunbar was further enjoyned to Re-edifie the Castle of Dunbar at his own Charge which he had demolished that it might not be a Receptacle to the English Edward having staid there a few days Commended the Town and the Reliques of the War to Baliol and he himself retired into his own Kingdom leaving Edward Talbot in Scotland a Noble Person and very Prudent with a few English Forces to assist Baliol in subduing the rest of Scotland And indeed it seemed no great Task so to do in regard that almost all the Nobility were Extinct and of those few that remained some came in to the Conqueror others retired either into Desert or else Fortified Places The Garisons which remained Faithful to David were very few as on this side the Forth an Island in a Lough whence the River Down flows scarce big enough to bear a moderate Castle and Dumbritton beyond the Forth a Castle scituate in Lough Levin and also Kildrummy and Vrchart The next Year Ambassadors came from the Pope and from Philip King of France to end the disputes between the Kings of Britain The English were so puft up with the prosperous course of their Affairs that the King would not so much as admit the Ambassadors into his Presence for he thought That the Hearts of the Scots were so cowed and their strength so broken That for the future they durst not neither were they able again to Rebel But this great Tranquillity was soon changed into a most grievous War and that upon a very light Occasion where it was least expected viz. Upon a Discord arising amongst the English themselves at Perth Iames Mowbray had Lands given to his Ancestors in Scotland by Edward the First but they being lost by the various Changes of the Times he recovered them again when Edward Baliol was King He dying without Issue Male Alexander their Uncle Commenced a Suit against his Daughters for those Lands Those of the English Faction that maintained the Cause of the Females were Henry Beaumont who had Married one of them also Richard Talbot and David Cumins Earl of Athol Baliol took Alexanders part and decided or adjudged the Lands to him which so offended his Adversaries that they openly complained of the Injustice of the Decree and seeing that Complaints availed nothing they left the Court and went every one to his own home Talbot was going for England but being apprehended was carried to Dunbarton Beaumont Garisoned Dundury a strong Castle of Buchan and took Possession not only of the Lands which were in Controversie but also of all the Neighbouring Country Cumins went into Athol where he fortified some convenient Places and prepared to defend himself by force if he were attacked Baliol being afraid of this Conspiracy of such Potent Persons altered his Decree and gave the Lands in Question to Beaumont he also reconciled Cumins by giving him many Fertile Lands which belonged to Robert Stuart the next King Alexander being concerned at this injurious Affront joyns himself with Andrew Murray Regent of the Scots who had lately Ransomed himself from the English for a great Sum of Money These things were acted at several times yet I have put them together that the whole course of my History might not be interrupted In the mean time Baliol in another part of the Country attacked all the Forts about Renfrew some he took others he battered down and demolished Having settled Matters there according to his own Mind he Sailed over into the Island Bote and there fortified the Castle of Rothsay of which he made Alan Lisle Governour whom he had before made Chief Iustice for Matters of Law He diligently sought after Robert Stuart his Nephew or Grandchild to put him to Death but he by the help of William Heriot and Iohn Gilbert was wafted over in a small Vessel into the Continent on the other side where Horses stood ready for him which carried him to Dunbarton to Malcolm Fleming Governour of that Castle Baliol having setled things at Bote at his return took Dunâ—oon a Castle seated in Coval the Neighbouring Continent whereupon the Nobility of the Vicinage were struck with so great Fear that they almost all submitted to him Marching from thence the next Spring he bent all his care to besiege the Castle of Lough Levin but this project seeming too slow he left Iohn Sterlin a powerful Knight of his Party to besiege the Castle to whom he joyned Michael Arnold David Weemes and Richard Melvin with part of his Army They built a Fort over against it where the passage was narrowest and having in vain tried all ways to subdue it by force Alan Wepont and Iames Lambin Inhabitants of St. Andrews making such a vigorous Resistance at length they endeavoured to drown it by stopping up the passage of the River for the River Levin goes out from the Lake or Loch with a narrow Girt or Neck and an open Rock This Place they essayed to stop up by making a Wall or Bank of Stones and Turfs heaped upon one another but the Work proceeded on very slowly because as the Heat did incommode the Labourers so the Brooks which flowed into the Lake were then almost dry and the Water being far spread abroad received an increase by moderate Additions By this means the Siege was lengthned out to the Month of Iuly when there was an Holy Day kept in Remembrance of St. Margaret heretofore Queen of Scotland on which day there used to be a great Concourse of Merchants at Dumferlin where the Body of that Saint is reported to be buried Thither went Iohn Sterlin with a great part of his Men some for
the loss of Learned Monuments would permit What the situation of the Countrys were What was the nature of the Soil and Air What were the ancient Names and Manners and Who were the first Inhabitants of the Islands called of old Britanny which are extended between Spain and Germany in a long Tract of Land toward France Albion and Ireland Two of them do far exceed the rest in Bigness and therefore of these Two I shall speak first afterwards as conveniency serves I will explain the site and the Names of the rest The first for bigness is Albion That now alone retains the Name of Britain which was heretofore common to them all Concerning its breadth and length other Writers do in effect agree with Caesar namely that the length of it from North to South is 800 miles and the breadth where it is widest which is as some think where it looks towards France or as others say from the point of St. Davids in South-Wales to Yarmouth in Norfolk almost 200 miles From thence it narrows by degrees till we come to the borders of Scotland The Romans who as yet knew not the furthest parts thereof believed the Island to be Triangular but when they proceeded a little further they found that beyond Adrian's Wall it extended it self broader by degrees and ran out far towards the North-East This in brief concerning its bigness The Climate of Britain is more temperate than That of France as Caesar affirms but the Climate of Iâ—eland iâ— milder than them both The Air thereof is seldom clear but commonly darkened with thick Mists the Winters are mild enough rather Rainy than Snowy The Soil brings forth Corn plentifully and besides Corn it produceth all sorts of Metals It is also very fruitful in Breeds of Cattle They who inhabit the extream parts of the Islands which are more infested with cold do eat Bread made of Oatmeal and for Drink they use a Wine or Strong Liquor made of Corn steeped into Malt Some do boil Whey and keep it in Hogsheads under Ground for some months which is counted by many of them not only an wholesom but a very pleasant Drink There was no Controversy concerning the Name of Britain amongst the Ancients except that the Greeks call'd it Brettania the Latines Britannia Other Nations have their Appellation of it some one some 'tother at their pleasure But of late some Men have started up not so much desirous of Truth as of Contention who hoped to make themselves Famous by Carping at other Eminent Persons for they imagined that they must needs obtain a great opinion of Learning amongst the Vulgar who dared to enter the Lists against and to Combate with all Antiquity And though the Dispute were of a thing of no great consequence yet because it concerned the very name of their Country they thought it worth contending for with all their might as if all the Ancient Glory of the whole Nation had lain at stake They say that three ancient Names of the Island have their several Assertors viz. Prudania Prytaneia and Britannia Lud contends with might and main for Prudania Thomas Eliot a British Knight for Prytaneia but very modestly almost all other Nations do retain the Name of Britain Lud to maintain his Assertion for Prudania useth the Authority of a certain old Paper-Fragment which rust mouldiness and length of time and nothing else have almost made Sacred with him Tho' he counts that proof firm enough of it self yet he strengthens it by Etymology by the Songs of the Bards by the custom of the Country-Speech and by the venerable rust of Antiquity But in the first place I ask him Whence came that Fragment on which he lays the stress and weight of his Cause When was it writ Who was the Author of it Or what says it that makes for his Assertion Concerning the Name the Time the Author all these may he perhaps allege are uncertain which proves he thinks the Antiquity thereof An Excellent Proof indeed where the Certainty Credit and Authority of the Testimony doth depend on Ignorance Meanness and Obscurity And that which is assumed to explain the matter in controversy hath more intricacy and weakness in it than the Cause which it is brought to maintain Who then gives Testimony in this case I know not says he What then does he pretend to in lieu of a Testimony I know not that neither replies 〈◊〉 but this I have heard that in that Fragment it is called Prudania But prithee tell me what is that Prudania Is it a Mountain or a River A Village or a Town A Man or a Woman Here I am posed too says he but I conjecture that Britain is signified by that Name Go too then let Prudania signifie Britain Yet what doth this thy Fragment make for thee I would ask this Question of thee Whether it affirms Prudania to be the true Name of the Island or else doth not rather upbraid their Ignorance who ascribe that false Name to it Here too I am Nonplust says Lud but this I am certain of that here is the sound of a British word and the force of the British Language doth appear even in the very 〈◊〉 thereof For Prudania is as it were Prudâ—ania which is in British Excellent Beauty from Pâ—â—d signifying Beauty and Cam White The asperity of the Word being somewhat mollified But for that reason it should be called Prudcamia not Prudania which Word the Bards do pronounce Pruda in their Country Speech I shall not here speak how trivial deceitful and oftentimes ridiculous this Enquiry after the Original of Words is I pass by Varro and other Learned Men who have been often derided upon this account I omit also the whole Cratylus of Plato wherein he is guilty of the same fault I will only affirm this that before equal Judges a Man may more easily prove that the Word Cambrâ— is derived from Canis and Brutum a Dog and a Brute than you shall persuade me that Prudania comes from Prudcamia For by this means you may derive Quidlibet â— Quolibet as you please And indeed Lud himself shews what little confidence he puts in his own proofs when he calls in the Bards to his Aid a race of Men I grant indeed very ancient but yet Antiquity affirms they committed nothing to Writing But of these I shall speak more elsewhere Let us now come to the last refuge of Lud Caesar says he who first mentioned the Name of this Island in Latin called it Britain whose Steps almost all Latin Writers having trod in did not change the said Name Here Lud begins with a Notorious mistake That Caesar was the first of the Latins who called it by the Name of Britain for before ever Caesar was born Lucretius makes mention of Britain and Aristotle amongst the Greeks long before him and Propertius not long after Caesar when he saith Cogor in
therefore that the Tectosages possessed the most fruitful part of Germany about the Hercynian Forest and the Bohemians as the other affirms do declare by their Names that their Founders were the Boii And sometimes the Helvetians possessed the nearer places between the Rivers Main and Rhene also the Decumates beyond the Rhene were of Gallick Original and the Gothini neer the Danow whom Claudian calls Gothunni Arrianus in the Life of Alexander calls them Getini and Flavius Vopiscus in the Life of Probus Gautunni But Claudian reckons even the Gothunni amongst the Getae and Stephanus is of Opinion that the Getes are called Getini by Ammianus so that perhaps the Getes themselves may acknowledge a Gallick Original seeing it is certain that many Gallick Nations passed over into Thrace and there resided in that Circuit thereof which the Getes are said to have possessed Tacitus also writes that in his time the Gothini used the Gallick Language besides the Cimbri as Philemon says and if we believe Tacitus the Aestâ—ones dwelling by the Swedish Sea where they gather Amber did speak British which Language was then the same with the Gallâ—ck or not much different from it There are many Footsteps of Gallick Colonies through all Germany which I would willingly recite but that what I have already alleged is enough for my purpose viz. To shew how widely France did extend her Colonies round about Brittain What then shall we say of Britain it self which did equal those Nations neither in greatness strength nor skill in Military Affairs What did she that was so neer to the Valiantest of the Gauls and not inferiour to the neighbour Nations either in the mildness of the Air or the fruitfulness of the Soil did she I say entertain no Foreign Colonies Yes many as Caesar and Tacitus affirm and as I hold all her 〈◊〉 Inhabitants came from thence For 't is manifest that three Nations did anciently possess the whole Island the Brittons Picts and Scots of which I will speak hereafter To begin then with the Brittons whose Dominion was of largest extent in Albium The first that I know who hath discovered any certainty concerning them was C. Iulius Caesar. He thinks that the inmost Inhabitants were Indigenae because after diligent enquiry he could find nothing of their first comming thither neither had they any Monuments of Learning whence he might be informed He says that the Maritime parts of the Island were possessed by the Belgae whom hopes of Prey had allured thither and the fruitfulness of the Soil and mildness of the Air had detained there He thinks this a sufficient argument to confirm his Opinion that many did retain the Names of the Cities whence they came and that their Buildings were like those of the Gauls Cornelius Tacitus a grave Author adds that their Manners are not unlike and that they are equally bold in running into Dangers and as fearful how to get out of them that there were great Factions and Sidings among them Both. And lastly that Britain in his time was in the same State as Gaul was before the coming of the Romans Pomponius Mela adds further That the Brittons used to Fight on Horseback in Chariots and Coaches being harnessed in French Armour Add hereto that Bede who lived before all those who have wrote such Fabulous things of the Origin of the Britons and is of greater Authority than them all affirms That the first Inhabitants of the Island came out of the Tract of Armorica Some Grammatists of the Greeks differ much from the above mentioned Authors for they say that the Brittons received their Names from Britannus the Son of Celto They assuredly agree in this that they would derive their Original from the Gauls of the later Authors Robertus Caenalis and Pomponius Laetus in the Life of Dioclesian an Author not to be despised do subscribe to this Opinion both of them as I suppose being convinced by the Power of Truth Yet Both seem to me to mistake in this point that they deduce them from the Peninsula of the Brittons which is now called Britany to the River Loir especially since the Maritime Colonies of Britain as Caesar observes do testifie by their very Names whence their Transportation was It follows that we speak of the Gallick Colonies sent into Ireland I shewed before that all the North side of Spain was possessed by Gallick Colonies And there are many reasons assignable why they might pass out of Spain into Ireland for either the easie passage might be a great inducement or else the Spaniards might be expelled out of their Habitations by the excessive Power and Domination of the Persians Phaenicians and Graecians who having overcome the Spaniards rendred them Weak and Obnoxious to their Oppression and Violence Moreover there were Causes amongst the Spaniards themselves for they being a People cemented and made up of many Nations and not well agreeing among themselves the desire of Liberty and the avoiding of Servitude in the midst of Civil Wars and new Tumults arising amongst a People that was greedy of War might make them willing to depart He that weighs these causes of Transmigration will not wonder if many of them did prefer a mean condition abroad conjoyned with Liberty before a Domestick and bitter Servitude and when they were once arrived there the State of Spain growing daily more and more Turbulent made them willing there to abide for sometimes the Carthaginians and sometimes the Romans did exercise all the Miseries of Servility upon the Conquered Spaniards and so compelled them to avoid those Evils by a flight into Ireland there being no other neighbour Nation into which either in their Prosperity they might so well transport their over-abounding Multitudes or else wherein in adversity they might find a shelter against their Calamities Besides the Clemency of the Air did retain them there for as Caesar says the Air of Britain is more temperate than That of France And Ireland exceeds Both in goodness of Soil and also in an equal Temperature of the Air and Climate Besides Men born and educated in a barren Soil and given to Laziness besides as all Spaniards are being transported almost into the richest Pastures of all Europe no marvail if they willingly withdrew themselves from homebred Tumults into the bosome of a Peace beyond Sea Notwithstanding all that I have said yet I would not refuse the Opinion of any Nation concerning their Ancestors provided it were supported by probable Conjectures and ancient Testimony For Tacitus upon sure Conjectures as he thinks doth affirm that the West side of Britain or Albium was inhabited by the Posterity of the Spaniards But it is not probable that the Spaniards should leave Ireland behind them being a Country nearer and of a milder Air and Soil and first Land in Albium but rather that they first arrived in Ireland and from thence emitted their Colonies
a bloody Fight was begun betwixt them The Victory was a great while hovering and uncertain at last all the valiant Men of the Caledonians being slain the rest having their Courage cooled were forced to retreat to their Fastnesses After this Battel there was no doubt at all but that Agrippa would have subdued all Britain by the force of his conquering Arms if he had not been called home by Domitian not for the Honour of his Victories as was pretended but for his Destruction and Death After his departure Sedition arose in the Roman Camp and the Scots and Picts being glad of the occasion and somewhat encouraged thereby began to creep out of their lurking Places and perceiving that the Romans had not a General nor the same Camp-Discipline as before they sent Envoys up and down to try the Inclination not only of their own Country-men but of the Brittons also Thus in the first place being imboldned by some small successful Skirmishes they began to take heart and to assault Garisons and at last with a formed Army they resolved to venture the hazard of a pitched Field By this means The Romans were expelled out of their Territories and were forced with doubtful success to contend with the Britains for their ancient Province Galdus having obtained respite from War made his Progress all over the several Countries of the Land and resetled the old Owners in their Habitations which had been almost destroyed by the War As for the Places which were wholly void he sent his Soldiers to inhabit them And having restrained the frequent Robberies which were wont to be committed he composed the differences which began to arise betwixt Him and the Picts At length in great Glory and Endearment both with Friends and Foes he deceased in the 35th Year of his Reign Luctacus the Twenty Second King SO good a Father was succeeded by Luctacus as bad a Son who despising the Counsel of his Nobles gave up himself wholly to Drinking and Whoring No nearness of Alliance no Reverence of the Laws no respect of Nobility or of Conjugal Relation did restrain him from his vile lewdness with those Women which he had a Mind to Moreover He was inhumanly Cruel and also unsatiably Covetous The Soldiers and youthful Fry which is still more inclinable to the worse did easily degenerate into the Manners of their King So that at last when he had defiled all with Whoredom Rapines and Slaughters and no one Man durst oppose his exorbitant Power An Assembly of the States being called together and speaking freely concerning the State of the Kingdom he Commanded the Nobles as Seditious Persons to be led out to Execution but by the concourse of the intervening Multitude both He and also the loathed Ministers of his Lust and Lewdness were slain when he had scarce finished the Third Year of his Reign For the Honour had to his Father his Body was allowed to be Buried amongst the Sepulchres of his Ancestors but the Bodies of his Associats were cast out as unworthy of any Burial at all Mogaldus the Twenty Third King AFter him Mogaldus was elected King the Nephew of Galdus by his Daughter In the beginning of his Reign he equalled the best of Kings but growing older he was tainted with Vices and easily degenerated into the Manners of his Uncle When he first entred on the Government that he might with greater Facility cure the vitious Practices committed by the former King which did even contaminate the Publick Manners he made Peace with his Neighbors he restored the Ancient Ceremonies in Religion which had been carelesly neglected He banished all Pimps of Lust and Debauchery from Court and acted all things by the Advice of the Estates according to the Ancient Custom by which Deportment he procured to himself Love at home and Reverence abroad Having setled Matters at home he turned his Mind to Warlike Affairs and drove out the Romans from the Borders of his Kingdom and by his Auxiliaries assisted the Picts against the Injuries of the Romans Yea in some prosperous Battels he so weakned the Roman Power amongst the Britains that They also were erected to some hopes of recovering their Liberty and thereupon took up Arms in many places And their hopes were encreased because the Emperor Adrian had called back Severus a fierce and skilful Warrior out of Britanny into Syria to quell the Seditions of the Iews so that Adrian himself the Tumults more and more increasing was inforced to pass over from Gallia into Britain But he being a greater Lover of Peace than War desired rather to maintain the Bounds of his Empire than to enlarge them Whereupon when he came to York and found the Country beyond it to be harassed by the War he resolved to take a particular View of the Devastation and so marched his Army to the River Tine where being informed by the old Soldiers who had followed Agricola almost to the utmost Bounds of Britanny That there would be more Pains than Profit in Conquering the rest of the Island he built a Wall and Trench for the space of Eighty Miles between the Firths of the Rivers Tine and Esk and so excluded the Scots and Pâ—cts from their Provincials and having setled the State of the Province be returned back from whence he came Here I cannot but take notice that seeing there yet remain divers Marks of this Wall in many places it is a wonder to me that Bede did wholly omit to mention it especially since Aelius Spartianus hath taken notice of it in the Life of Adrian and also Herodian in the Life of Severus I cannot persuade my self That Bede could be so mistaken to think as many yet do That that Wall was not made by Adrian but by Severus This by the by Hereupon the Roman Province was quieted the Excursions of their Neighbors were prevented and Peace was observed between them for a great while The Britains did easily embrace it and the Scots and Picts had thereby opportunity to divide the Neighboring Lands as a Prey amongst themselves But that Peace besides the prejudice it did to the Body by weakening its Vigor through Sloth and Idleness did also enervate the Mind by the Baits of Pleasure which then began to tickle it For hereby Mogaldus till then Unconquered in War forgetting the Glory of his Ancestors ran headlong into all kind of Vice and besides other pernicious and foul Miscarriages prejudicial to the Publick he made a most unjust Law That the States of such as were condemned should be forfeited to his Exchequer no part thereof being allotted to their Wives or Children This Law is yet observed and pleaded for by the Officers of the King's Revenue who are willing to gratifie his Lust though they then did and yet do know that it is an unjust and inhuman Institution Mogaldus having thus made himself obnoxious and hateful to the Nobles and Commons too being unable to resist their Combinations
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
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
Angus There he landed his Men and attempted to take in some Places but being disappointed he fell a plundering Having pitched his Tents at Balbridum i. e. the Village of St. Bride word was brought him by his Spies that the Scots Forces were scarce two miles distant from him whereupon both Generals according to the Exigence of the time exhorted their Men to fight and the next day they were all ready at their Arms almost at one time The third day they fought with so great eagerness and fury as either new Hope or old Hatred could occasion and suggest At last the Scots prevailed and Camus endeavouring to secure the Remainders of his Army by flying to the Mountains towards Murray before he had gone two miles was overtaken by the Pursuers and he and all his Men cut off There are Monuments extant of this Victory in an Obeliske and a Neighbouring Village which as yet retains the Memorable Name of Camus Another Band of them were cut off not far from the Town of Breichin where also another Obeliske was erected The Remainder being few in Number under the Covert of the night made to their Ships These last were tossed up and down several days in the raging Sea by cross Winds at length coming to the inhospitable Shore of Buchan they rode there so long at Anchor till they were necessitated for want to send about 500 of their Men ashore to get some Relief out of the Neighbouring Country Mernanus the Thane of the place stopp'd them from returning to their Ships and compelled them to retire to a steep Hill where being assisted by the Conveniency of the place they defended themselves with Stones and slew many of the Scots who rashly attempted them At last the Scots encouraged one another and in several Parties in great Numbers got up the Hill and put every Man of the Danes to the Sword There also as well as at Bambreid when the Wind blows up the Sand there are Bones discovered of a greater Magnitude than can well suit with the Stature of the Men of our Times Yet Sueno was not discouraged no not with this Overthrow also but sent his Son Canutus with new Levies into Scotland He landed his Souldiers in Buchan and so preyed upon the Country Malcolm though he had yet hardly recovered his Loss sustained in former Battels yet made head against him and being not willing to hazard all by fighting a pitched Battel he thought it best to weary the Enemy with light Skirmishes and to keep him from plundering for by this means he hoped in a short time to reduce him to great want of Provisions as being in an Enemies Country almost quite wasted and desolated by the Miseries of War before He followed this Counsel for some days but at last when the Scots had got a full understanding of their Enemies Strength they less diffided their Own and both Armies being equally pressed with Want did unanimously crave a Signal to the Battel pretending unless it were given they would fall to it even without the Consent of their Generals Hereupon Malcolm set the Battel in array which was fought with such desperate Rage and Fury that neither Party came off in Triumph And though the Victory did nominally rest on the Scots side yet a great part of their Nobility being slain and the rest wearied and discouraged in their Spirits returned to their Camp giving the Danes liberty to retreat without any pursuit The next day when both Parties mustered their Men they found so great a Slaughter to have been made that they willingly admitted some Priests to be Intercessors of Peace between them Whereupon Peace was made on these Conditions That the Danes should leave Murray and Buchan and depart and that as long as Malcolm and Sueno lived neither of them should wage War with one another any more nor help one anothers Enemies That the Field in which the Battel was fought should be set apart and Consecrated for the Burial of the Dead Upon this the Danes withdrew and Malcolm took Order for the Interment of the slain A while after he called an Assembly of Estates at Scone and that he might reward those who had deserved well of their Country he divided all the King's Lands between them On the other side the Nobility granted to the King That when any of them died their Children should be under the Wardship and Tutelage of the King till they arrived at the Age of 21 Years and that the King should receive all their Revenue except what was expended for the Education of the Ward And besides that he should have the Power to give them in Marriage Or otherwise to dispose of them when they were grown up and should also receive their Dowry I judge this Custom came rather from the English and Danes because it yet continues throughout all England and in part of Normandy too Afterwards the King bent his Thoughts to repair the Damages sustained by the War he re-edified many Temples and Sacred Places demolished by the Enemy he built New Castles or else repaired the Old in every Town Having thus restored Peace to the Kingdom by his great Valour he endeavoured further to adorn it with good Institutions and wholsom Laws and in order thereunto be erected New Names for Magistrates I believe such as he borrowed from his Neighbours which served rather for vain Ambition than for any real Use. For in former times there was no Name superior in Honour to that of a Knight except that of Thane i. e. Governor or Sheriff of a Province or Country which Custom as I hear is yet observed amongst the Danes But now a days Princes keep no Mean in instituting New Names or Titles of Honour though there be no use at all of those Names but the bare Sound Thus Malcolm having finished his Toilsom Wars Reigned some Years in great Splendor and Glory But in the Progress of his Age he sullied the Beauty of his former Life with the blot of Covetousness That Vice being incident to Old Men partly grew up in him with his Age and partly arose from that Want which his immoderate Largesses had driven him to So that those Lands which he had unadvisedly distributed amongst the Nobility he did as unjustly and wickedly labour to resume by which means he put some of them to Death and reduced others to great Penury Hereupon the present sense of suffering though sometimes just drowned the Memory of all former Courtesies so that the Injury reaching to a few but the Fear to many the Friends and Kindred of those which were slain and impoverished bent all their Thoughts to revenge Them and to secure Themselves And at last bâ—â—bing the King 's Domesticks at Glammes in Angus they were admitted at Night into the King's Bed-Chamber and slew him When they had committed the Fact those bribed Domesticks together with the Parricides took Horse which they had ready
offered him even then to stay securely in Scotland till the Tumults in England were appeased or if he would return that he should have 500 Scots Horse for his Convoy Lancaster gave them Great Thanks yet he hoped at present that he had no need to accept of either of the Conditions But as he was returning home the Governor of Berwick shut him out of the Town so that He upon the Publick Faith given returned into Scotland and there kept himself till the Sedition of the Commons was quelled in England When the Three Years Truce was ended in the Year 1384. Iune the 4th Archibald Douglas of Galway with the Assistance of Iames Earl of Douglas and George Earl of Mâ—rch laid Siege to the Castle of Loch-Maban situate near a Lake of the same Name and from whence daily Inroads were made upon the Neighbouring Country The Governor of the Castle being affected at this suddain Misfortune Articled with the Enemy That unless he were relieved in Eight Days he would surrender the Castle whereupon after the Scots had endured great trouble by reason of the Winter-Storms and continual Showres even from the 4th Day of February the Castle was surrendred according to Covenant on the Ninth Day They who lived near Roxburgh fearing lest that Castle might be also taken took care That one Grastock a Noble and Wealthy Person and much famed for his Warlike Skill should be made Governour thereof whereupon as he was sending in great Provisions thither and also all his own Houshold Goods imagining that they could no where be better kept from his Enemies use or secured for his own Dunbar being informed by his Spies of the Day of his March and the way he was to go laid his Ambushes in convenient Places and so suddainly assaulted a long confused Train made up of Soldiers Waggoners and a promiscuous Multitude and without any Fighting took the Prey and the Owner of it too and presently retreated back The English in revenge of their Losses and to prevent future Incursions by some memorable Exploits send Lancaster into Scotland with great Forces both by Sea and Land Lancaster himself came through Merch and Lothian as far as Edinburgh His Fleet was sent to waste the Maritime parts of Fife The Soldiers were desirous to burn down Edinburgh but he remembring that but a few Years before he had been liberally and bountifully entertained there when he was excluded by his own People forbad them so to do But his Fleet shewed not the same Civility for entring into the Isle of Inch-colm they robbed a Monastery of Monks and burnt it using the like Cruelty in all places where they landed till Nicholas and Thomas Erskins Alexander Lindsay and William Cuningham met them killed many took some and forced the rest to fly in such Fear to their Ships that besides the other Loss received by their hasty Flight they suffered Forty of their own Men who being upon one of the Ships Ropes after the Rope was cut to be Drowned before their Eyes Lancaster was scarce returned home before William Douglas trode almost on his Heels partly sacking partly demolishing all the Castles which the English held in Scotland after the Battel of Durham He reduced all Teviotdale except Roxburg to the Scots Obedience and restrained Robberies which the licentiousness of the Wars had multiplied and encouraged and he himself did not long outlive these Exploits but dyed of a Feavor in the Castle of Douglas His Son William Douglas succeeded him One every way worthy of so Great and Virtuous a Father In the mean time when an Annual Truce was made betwixt the French Engâ—ish and Scots near Bologne in Belgium and the French who were commanded to give the Scots notice thereof had neglected so to do the English Nobles who bordered upon Scotland thinking now they had a fit Opportunity to give their Enemy some notable and unexpected Overthrow and not leave them any time for Revenge They before the Truce was published gathered together Ten Thousand Horse and Six Thousand Archers and so entring Scotland under the Command of the Earls of Northumberland and Nottingham they made a vast Havock of the Country especially on the Lands of the Douglasses and Lindsays The Scots who upon the noise of a Truce had laid aside all thoughts of War were exceedingly offended both at their own Negligence and at the Perfidiousness of the Enemy and resolved upon Revenge assoon as they could In the Interim the noise of the English Invasion of Scotland did Alarm the French who were to give notice of the Truce and put them in mind of their slackness therein They endeavouring by a late Festination to make amends for their former Omission came to London even in the very height of the Invasion where they were Bountifully and Nobly Entertained and detained so long by Kind and Friendly Invitations till it was known that the English were returned out of the Enemies Country Then they were dismissed and came into Scotland where they declared their Message as they were commanded Whereupon almost all the Nobility especially Those who had felt the Loss sustained by the late Inroad did Murmure Storm and Cry out That this Mockery of the English was not to be endured The King did in vain endeavour to pacifie them for he was willing to observe the Truce but they so long debated on and delayed the Matter till their Friends had privately Levied almost 15000 Horse and then on an appointed Day Douglas Lindsay and Dunbar depart secretly from the Court and joyning their Countrymen invade England with a powerful Army They wasted Northumberland even unto Newcastle and returning thâ—ô the Lands of the Earl of Nottingham and the Mowbrays they spoiled all by Fire and Sword that they could not carry away Then and not before they returned home with a great Booty and many Prisoners and presently caused the Truce to be Proclaimed About the end of the Truce in the Year 1385. Monsieur Iohn de Vâ—â—nne Admiral of the French Navy was sent over by the King of France with about 2000 Auxiliaries of which an hundred were Curiassiers Armed Cap-a-pee and 200 which flung Darts out of Engines called Cross-bows in after Ages the rest were Foot of a promiscous kind They brought with them Money for Six Months Pay besides many Gifts and Presents and amongst the rest 400 Suits of compleat Armour to be divided between the most valiant Commanders Having first waited on the King he and Iames Douglas entred Northumberland and having demolished Three Castles they would have proceeded further but there was so much Rain fell that Autumn that they were forced to return Moreover they heard a Report that Richard the Second of England was coming against them which hastened their Retreat His Anger was more enflamed now against the Scots than ever because they had not only made a desolating War upon his Kingdom Themselves but had also sent for
the King 's good Liking and that on no dishonourable Terms neither no nor unrevenged one upon another To this Motion they seemed inclinable so that the Condition was proposed That 300 of each side should Try it out in Fight before the King Armed only with their Swords They that were Conquered should have an Amnesty for all past Offences and the Conquerors should be Honoured with the King's Favour and the Nobles too Both sides were well pleased with the Terms so that a day was fixed for the Combate and at the time appointed the Heads of the Families with their Parties came to Court and part of a Field on the North side of the Town of Perth which was severed from the rest by a deep Trench was appointed for the place of Combate and Galleries built round for Spectators Hereupon an huge Multitude was Assembled together and sate ready to see the Dispute but the Fight was delayed awhile because one of the 300 of the One Party had hid himself for Fear and their Fellows were not willing to engage without having just an equal number with their Adversaries neither was any one found to supply the Place of him who was absent And of the other Party not a Man would be drawn out or exempted from the Fight lest he might seem less valued and not so couragious as the rest After a little pause an ordinary Tradesman comes forth and offers to supply the Place of him that was absent Provided That if his Side Conquered they would pay him halfe a Gold Dollar of France and also provide for him afterward as long as he lived Thus the Number being again equalled the Fight began and it was carried on with such great Contention both of Body and Mind as old Grudges inflamed by new Losses could raise up in Men of such fierce Dispositions as were accustomed to Blood and Cruelty especially seeing Honour and Estate was propounded to the Conqueror Death and Ignominy to the Conquered The Spectators were possessed with as much Horror as the Combatants were with Fury as detesting to behold the ugly and deformed Mutilations and Butcheries of one anothers Bodies the Detruncation of their Limbs and in a word the Rage of Wild Beasts under the shape of Men. But all took notice that none carried himself more valiantly than that Mercenary and Supposititious Hireling to whose Valour a great Part of the Victory was to be ascribed Of that Side that he was of there were Ten left alive besides himself but all of them grievously wounded Of the contrary Faction there remained only One who was not wounded at all but seeing there was so much odds that he alone must encounter with so many he cast himself into the River Tay which was near at hand and in regard his Adversaries were not able to follow him by reason of their Wounds he escaped to the other Side By this means the forwardest of Both Parties being slain the promiscuous Multitude being left without Leaders left off their Trade of Seditioning for many Years after and betook themselves to their Husbandry again This Fight or Combat happened in the Year 1396. About Two Years after in an Assembly of the States at Perth the King made David his Son being 18 Years before old of Rothes and Robert his Brother Earl of Menteith and Fife Dukes of Albany This vain Title of Honour then was first Celebrated in Scotland a great increase to Ambition but none at all to Virtue neither did it afterwards thrive with any who enjoyed it The King would have bestowed the same Title of Honour upon the Earl of Douglas also but he being a grave and solid Person absolutely refused that nominal Shadow of empty Honour and if any Man told thim that he should be a Duke he rebuked him sharply for it Some say That the Name of Governour which was given by his Father to Robert the Kings Brother was this Year confirmed by the King as also That the Family of the Lindsys had the Earldom of Crawford added to their former Honours But they do not fully clear Whether the Name of the First Earl of that Family were Thomas or David The next Year after Richard the Second King of England was enforced to resign the Crown and Henry the Fourth succeeded him In the Beginning of his Reign before the Truce was quite ended new Seeds of War with the Scots were sown George Dunbar Earl of Merch had betrothed his Daughter Elizabeth to David the King's Son and had already paid a good part of her Dowry Archibald Earl of Douglas storming That so powerful a Man and his Corrival should be preferred before him alleging That the Consent of the Estates was not obtained in the Case which no Man ever remembred but was asked in any of the King's Marriages before offered his Daughter Mary with a larger Dowry and by means of Robert the King's Brother who could do All at Court He brought it about that the Condition was accepted and the Marriage was Consummated by the Decree of the Estates George was much affected at this Injury as well as Reproach and made great complaint to the King but seeing what was once done could not be undone he desired at least the repayment of the Dowry This his just Demand being denied and perceiving that he was not like to obtain any Right in regard the Minds and Ears of all the Court were prepossessed by his Rival he departed upon very angry yea threatening Terms and so giving up the Castle of Dunbar to Robert Maitland his Sisters Son he went for England Robert presently yielded up the Castle to an Herald sent by the King to demand it and Douglas was admitted into it with a Garison so that when George returned home he was denied entrance Hereupon he took his Wife Children and some intimate Friends and returned into England Being there as he was a Man powerful at home and famous abroad he joyned Counsels with Percy a mortal Enemy to the name of the Douglas's and in regard he was well beloved by the bordering Scots of which many were either his Tenants Allies or otherwise obliged to him he made an Inroad into the whole Province of Merch and drove great Preys from the Country especially from the Lands of the Douglasses The King of Scots first proclaimed George a Publick Enemy and confiscated all his Estate next he sent an Herald to England to Demand That he might be given up as a Fugitive according to the League made betwixt them and also to complain of the violation of the Truce Henry of England gave a peremptory Answer to his Demands That he had given the Publick Faith to George for his Protection and that he would not break his Royal Word as if a private Pact with a Runagate were more Religiously to be observed than That which had been publickly confirmed by Embassadors and Heralds for the Days of the Truce made with Richard were not yet expired In
fought with and slew him and some of his Followers Douglas took the Fact so hainously that he made a Solemn Oath never to rest till he had expiated the Murder by Colvil's Death Neither were his Threatnings in vain for he Storm'd his Castle took and plunder'd it and killed all therein that were able to bear Arms. This Fact though 't was performed against Law and Custom yet some did excuse and in effect commend as proceeding from Indignation a Passion not unbeseeming a Generous Mind Thus as it commonly happens in degenerate Times Flattery the perpetual Companion of Greatness did clothe the highest Offences with Honest and Plausible Names Moreover Douglas was so lifted up with the Flatteries of Fortune which did now incline to his Destruction that he had a great Ambition to make an Ostentation of his Power even to Foreign Nations as if the splendor of so great a Family oâ—â—ht not to be straitned within the narrow Theatre of one Island onâ—â— so that he had a Mind to go to Rome he pretended Religion but the principal design of his Journy was Ambition the Church of Rome had adopted the old Rites of the Iewish for as the Iewish Church every Fiftieth year was to forgive all the Debts of what kind soever to their Country Men and to restore all Pledges Gratis and also to set their Hebrew Servants at Liberty So the Pope taking an Example therefrom as Gods Vicar on Earth did arrogate the Power of forgiving all Offences For whereas at other times he trucked out his Pardons by Peice-Meal every Fiftieth Year he open'd his full Garners thereof and pour'd out whole Bushels full of them publickly to all yet I will not say Gratis Douglas with a great Train of Nobles who were desirous partly to see Novelties and partly allur'd by hopes of Reward sail'd over into Flanders From thence he Travelled by Land to Paris and took with him his Brother appointed Bishop of Caledonia who afterwards seeing Douglas had no Children was by the Kings Permission put in hopes to be his Heir In France he was highly caressed partly upon the account of their Publick League with the Scots and partly in Memory of his Ancestors Demerits from that Crown hereupon all Rome was filled with the Expectation of his coming About Two Months after his departure from Scotland his Enemies and Rivals began to lift up their Heads they durst not for Fear complain of him when he was present but now they laid open all the Injuries they had received from him And when it was once noised abroad that the Access to the King was easie and that his Ear was open to all just Complaints The Troop of Complainants lamenting their Sufferings did daily increase so that all the ways to the Palace were almost stopt by them The King could not well either reject the Petitions of the Sufferers nor yet condemn the Earl in his absence without hearing of him so that he gave a middle Answer which satisfi'd their Importunity for the present viz. That he would Command the Earls Proctor or Attorney to appear that so in his own Presence a fair Tryal might be had Whereupon the Proctor was summon'd but did not appear so that the Kings Officers were sent out to bring him in by force when he was brought to Court some alledged that he ought to be immediately punisht for disobeying the Kings Command in regard that by too much Patience the Kings Authority would be despis'd and run low even amongst the meaner sort for under the pretence of Lenity the Audaciousness of the Bad would increase and the Impunity of Offendors would open the way for more Crimes The King was not mov'd by those Instigations but remain'd constant to his Resolution which was rather to satisfie his greatest Accusers by the Compensation of their Losses than to satiate their Vindicative Minds with the spilling of his Blood Hereupon he caus'd the Earls Proctor to be brought out of Prison and to plead in his Masters behalf telling him That if he had any thing to allege in Purgation of the Crimes objected he should freely declare it without any fear at all When he was cast in many Suits and the King Commanded him immediately to pay the Damages The Proctor answer'd He would defer the whole matter till the return of the Earl who was expected in a few Months This he spake as 't was thought by the advice of Ormond and Murray the Earl's Brothers When the King was inform'd of his Resolution he sent William Sinclare Earl of the Orcades who was then Chancellor first into Galway and then into Douglasdale he appointed Sequestrators to gather up the Rents of Douglas's Estate and so to pay the Damages adjudg'd by Law But in regard Sinclare had not Power enough to inforce his Order some eluded others Contumeliously abus'd him so that he return'd without effecting his Business The King being provokt by this Contempt of his Authority Commands all the Favourers of Douglas his Faction to be Summon'd to appear which they refusing to do were declared Publick Enemies an Army was Levy'd against them which marcht into Galway At their first coming the Commanders were driven into their Castles but a small Party of the Kings Forces pursuing after the rest through Craggy Places were repuls'd and not without Ignominy driven back to the King The King taking it in great Indignation that a few Vagabond Thieves should dare to make such Attempts resolv'd to redeem their slighting of him by attempting their Strongs Holds he took the Castle of Maban with no great difficulty but his Soldiers were so much toil'd and weary'd in the taking of Douglas Castle that therefore he wholly demolisht it As for the Vassals and Tenants who had submitted themselves and their Fortunes to him he Commanded them to pay their Rents to his Treasurers till Douglas's Estate had fully satisfi'd what was awarded against him by Law And when this was almost done he dismist his Army having obtain'd a good Report for his Lenity and Moderation even amongst his very Enemies When these Matters were related to the Earl at Rome his great Spirit was mightily mov'd yea his Esteem did then abate amongst his own Attendants so that a great Part of them deserted him and he enter'd upon his Journy homewards with but a few Followers He came through England and drawing near to the Borders of Scotland he sent his Brother Iames to feel the Kings Pulse how he stood affected towards him And when the King was appeasable he return'd home and was kindly receiv'd only he was admonisht to abandon and subdue all Robbers especially those of Annandale who had plaid many Cruel and Avaritious Pranks in his absence Douglas undertook to do so and confirm'd his Promise by an Oath Whereupon he was not only restor'd into his former Grace and Favour but also made Regent over all Scotland so that every one was injoin'd to obey his Commands But
to what other purpose else did his Combinations with the Earls of Craford Ross Murray and Ormond tend And moreover his private Discourse with the King of England his putting Good Men to Death and his allow'd Licentiousness in pillaging the People were Indications of the same Design Now Innocency was accounted Cowardize and Loyalty to the King punish'd as Perfidiousness that the Enemys of the Common-wealth grew insolent by the overmuch Indulgence of the King That 't was time for him now to take the Reins of Government into his own Hand and to act as a King himself and then it would appear who were his Friends and who were his Enemies or if he did not dare to do it openly by reason of the Powerfulness of some Men yet by some private way or other he should punish Treachery but if he were so fearful as not to do so neither what remain'd but that they who had hitherto been constant in their Loyalty to him should now at length provide for themselves These Discourses thô the Life of the Douglas's and the Credulity of the King prone to Suspicion did confirm to be true Yet the King out of his innate Clemency or else having before laid his Design seâ—ds for Douglas to Court He being conscious of so many mischievous pranks he had plaid and calling to remembrance how often he had been pardon'd and withal understanding how distastful his new League with Craford was to the King tho' he put great confidence in the King's Clemency yet being more inclin'd to Fear refus'd to come alleging that he had many powerful Enemies at Court and some of them had lately lain in wait to take away his Life Hereupon to remove this his Fear many of the Nobles about the King sent him a Schedule with their Hands and Seals to it promising upon Oath that if the King himself should meditate any thing against his Life yet they would dismiss him in safety so that Douglas encourag'd by the King's Clemency and by the Publick Faith testify'd by the Subscriptions of so many Noble Persons with a Train of Followers came to Sterlin where he was courteously Treated by the King and invited into the Castle After Supper with great hilarity was ended the King took him aside into his Bed-chamber with but a few of his Confidents he did not so much as admit Those to whom he was wont to communicate his most secret Counsels There he ript up from the very beginning the Loyalty and Valour of his Ancestors and his own Indulgence towards their Family and especially towards himself who having committed many hainous Offences either by the Greenness of his Years or by the Persuasions of wicked Men he had freely pardon'd always hoping that either by his courteous Clemency toward him or else by the Maturity of his Age he would be Reform'd and as yet says he I despair not but it may be so and if you repent of what you have impiously committed the door of my Clemency shall never be shut against you This last League proceeded he with Craford and Ross as it is not Creditable for you so it is ignominious to me and therefore tho' I take it much amiss that you entred into it yet I put it into your Power and as yet give you liberty to cancel and break it off which tho' by my Prerogative I may command yet I had rather by fair means persuade you so to do that seeing all Mens Eyes are upon you you may avert all cause of Suspicion with greater Diligence Douglas answer'd submissively enough to all other Points but when he came to the Mention of the League he was somewhat perplext and did not clearly declare what he would do but that he would advise with his Associats neither did he see any Cause why the King at present should tye him to a Breach of it seeing there was nothing contain'd therein which might justly offend him The King either having resolv'd upon the Fact before or eâ—se provok'd by his contumacious Answer as the Courtiers say replyed If thou wilt not break it I will and immediately struck his Dagger into his Brâ—ast Those that stood at the Door hearing the Noise rusht in and destroy'd him quite with many Wounds Some say that next after the King Patrick Grey of whom mention was made before struck him into the Head with a Bill and the rest that came in to shew their Duty to the King every one gave him a Blow He was slain in the Month of February in the Year 1452. according to the Roman Account He had then 4 Brothers in Sterlin whom a great number of the Nobility had accompany'd thither they as soon as â—ver they heard of what was done ran in great amazement to theâ—â— Arms as in such suddain Hurly-burlies it uses to happen and filled the Town with Noise and Clamour but when the Tumult was appeas'd by the Nobles they were Commanded to go each Man to his respective Lodging The next Day they met to consult and First of all Iames was call'd Earl in the room of his Brother who was slain he mightily inveigh'd against the Perfidiousness of the King and the Courtiers and advises to Besiege the Castle with what Force they then had and with all speed to Levy more and so to pull out those Men out of their lurking holes who were valiant only to commit perfidious Mischiefs whilst they were yet in some Fear and Trepidation for the Guilt of their Offence The Company commended the Piety of Iames and the Couragiousness of his Spirit but were averse from his advice to a Siege because they were not prepar'd with any Materials for so great an Enterprize so that they all departed home and after Consultation with the Chief of their Friends the 6th of the Calends of April they return'd again and tyed a Cord to an Horse Tail on which they fastned the Schedule of the King and Nobles promising the Publick Faith to Douglas for his Security This they drew through the Streets abstaining from no manner of Reproach either against the King or Council when they came to the Market-place they Proclaim'd the King and Those that were with him Truce-breakers Perjur'd Persons and Enemies to all Good Men. Moreover they were angry with the Town tho' that had committed no Offence and after they had pillaged it they sent Iames Hamilton back to Burn it yea their Fury continued for some Days so that they rang'd all over the Country and made Havock of the Lands of all those who were Loyal to the King they besieg'd the Castle of Dalkeith and took an Oath not to depart from it till they had taken it for they were very Angry with Iohn the Owner of it because he and the Earl of Angus had separated themselves from the Counsels of the rest of the Douglasses The Siege lasted longer than they expected for Patrick Cockburn Commander of the Garison made a strenuous Resistance against all
had not refus'd to give him entrance so that the Enemy was almost at his Heels and before he knew whither to betake himself he was forc't with that Strength which he had to run the hazard of a Fight At the beginning they fought stoutly and the first Ranks of the Nobility's Army began to give ground but the Men of Annandale and the Neighbouring Parts inhabiting the West of Scotland came boldly up and having longer Spears than their Adverse Party they presently routed the Kings Main Battel he himself was weakned by the Fall of his Horse and fled to some Water-Mills near the place where the Battel was fought his Intent was as is suppos'd to get to his Ships which lay not far off there he was taken and a few more with him and slain there were Three that persued close after him in his Flight i. e. Patrick Grey the Head of his Family Sterlin Car and a Priest named Borthwick 't is not well known Which of them gave him his Deaths Wound When the News of his Death though as yet not fully certain was divulg'd through Both Armies it occasion'd the Conquerors to press less violently upon those who fled away so that there were the Fewer of them slain For the Nobles manag'd the War against the King not against their Fellow Subjects There was slain of the Kings Party Alexander Cuningham Earl of Glencarn with some Few of his Vassals and Kindred but there were many wounded of Both sides Thus Iames the Third came to his end a Man not so much of a bad Disposition by Nature as corrupted by ill Custom and Acquaintance For having at first given forth a Specimen of great and notable Ingenuity and of a Mind truly Royal he degenerated by degrees the Boyds being the first Occasion thereof into all manner of Licentiousness When the Boyds were taken off then Persons of the Lowest Sort were his Advisers to all kind of Wickedness and besides the Corruption of the Times and the evil Examples of his Neighbour Kings contributed not a little to his Overthrow and Ruin For Edward the Fourth in England Charles in Burgundy Lewis the Eleventh in France Iohn the Second in Portugal had all laid the Foundations of Tyranny in their respective Kingdoms also And Richard the Third exercised it most highly and cruelly in England His Death was also branded with this Ignominy that in the next Assembly the whole Parliament voted that he was justly slain and Provision was made for all that had born Arms against him that neither They nor their Posterity should be prejudic'd thereby He died in the Year of our Lord 1488 in the Twenty Eighth Year of his Reign and the Thirty Fifth of his Age. The Thirteenth BOOK JAmes the Third being thus slain near Sterlin in or about the Month of Iune they who were his Contrariants being as yet uncertain what was become of Him retreated to Linlithgo There Word was brought them that some Boats had passed to and fro from the Ships to the Land and that they had carried off the Wounded Men. Whereupon a Suspicion arose amongst them that the King himself also was gone a Shipboard which occasioned them to remove their Camp to Leith From thence the Prince for that 's the Title of the King of Scot's eldest Son sent some Agents to require the Admiral of the Fleet to come ashore to him His Name was Andrew Wood he was a Knight and being mindful of the King's Kindness towards him remained constant in his Affection to him even after he was dead but he refused to come ashore unless Hostages were given for his safe Return Seaton and Flemming two Noblemen were appointed as Hostages When he landed the King 's Council asked him if he knew where the King was and who were they that he carried off to his Ships after the Fight As for the King he told them he knew nothing of him but that he and his Brothers had landed out of their Boats that so they might assist the King and all his good Subjects but having endeavoured in vain to preserve him they then returned to the Fleet He added if the King were alive they resolved to obey none but him but if he were slain they were ready to revenge his Death He uttered also many reproachful Speeches against the Rebels yet nevertheless they sent him away in Safety to his Ships that so their Hostages might not suffer When the Hostages were returned the Inhabitants of Leith were called up to the Council and pressed by Promises of great Reward to rig out their Ships and subdue Andrew Wood. They all in general made answer that he had two Ships so fitted with all Things for a Fight and so well furnished with valiant Seamen and withal that he himself was so skilful in Naval Affairs that no ten Ships in all Scotland were able to cope with his Two So that that Consultation was put off and they went to Edinburgh There they were fully informed of the King's Death and appointed a magnificent Funeral to be made for him at Kambus-Kenneth a Monastery near Sterlin on the 25 th day of the Month of Iune IAMES the IVth the CV'th King IN the Interim an Assembly was summoned about creating a new King There were few which came together to perform this Service and those were mostly of the Party that had conspired against the former King The new King at his first entrance sent an Herauld to the Governour of Edinburgh-Castle for him to surrender it which he did and then he passed over to Sterlin and that Castle was also delivered up to him by the Garison-Souldiers When the Vogue was up in England how troublesom Matters were in Scotland five Ships were chosen out of that King's Fleet who entred into the Firth of Forth and there made havock of the Goods of all Merchants making many descents on both Shores they mightily infesting the Maritime Parts for they expected greater Disturbances on Land by the sidings of the Scots one against another For seeing the adverse Party were rather shattered than broken in the late Fight in regard they were not all there and of those that were there were but few slain they thought a feircer Tempest would have arisen from Minds which yet continued to be inflamed with Hatred and Envy and which were elevated by confidence in their own Strength And it encreased the Indignation that now the power over so many Noble and Eminent Persons was so easily fallen not into the King's but to a few particular Mens Hands for tho the King might retain the Name and Title of a King yet being but a Youth of 15 Years old he did not govern but was himself governed by those that killed his Father For the whole management of Matters would reside in Douglas Hepburne and Hume and their Confidence was the more encreased because all the Shores were infested with the two Fleets the Scottish and the English To obviate this
that impregnable Castle and so waited for a change of Affairs which they did not doubt but shortly would come to pass But he was resolved for England where he was honourably received by the King who besides his other Respects gave him Margaret Douglas in Marriage she was Sister to Iames last King of Scotland begot by the Earl of Angus upon the Sister of Henry King of England a Lady in the Flower of her Age of great Comeliness and Beauty In the mean time the Queen-Dowager received into her Protection That Scotish Faction which by the Departure of Lennox was left without an Head and which did obstinately refuse to come under the Power of Hamilton whose Levity they knew before and now feared his Cruelty for she was afraid that they might be inrag'd in such an hurry of Things and so desperately ingage in some new Commotion The Hamiltons were glad at the departure of so potent an Enemy but yet not satisfied with the Punishments already inflicted they used their Prosperity very intemperately For in the next Convention held at Linlithgo they condemned him and his Friends confiscated their Goods and banished them the Land A great Sum of Money was raised out of the Fines of those who redeemed their Estates out of the Exchequer but not without great Disgust and the high Offence of all good Men. In the midst of these Domestick Seditions The English entred Scotland and committed great Spoil and Desolation on Iedburgh Kelso and the Country thereabout from thence they went to Coldingham where they fortified the Church and the Tower as well as they could for the time by making Works and leaving a Garison and so departed And the Garison-Souldiers made great havock in all the adjacent parts partly out of a greediness for Plunder and partly that the Country thereabouts might not afford Provisions to the Enemy when they besieged them Hereupon they who ruled the Roast in Scotland the Queen-Dowager Cardinal and Regent by the advice of the Council sent forth a Proclamation That the Nobles and the most discreet and ablest of the Commons should come in armed with eight Days Provision to march whither the Regent led them In a short time about 8000 met together and in a very sharp Winter too who having battered the Tower of the Church of Coldingham with their great Guns stood in their Arms all that Day and Night to the great wearying of Horse and Man The Day after the Regent either out of Tenderness and Inability to indure Military Toil or fearing the Invasion of the Enemy for he was informed from Berwick a Neighbour-Town that the English were upon their March unknown to his Nobles and with but a few in Company mounted on Horse back and with full speed fled back to Dunbar They who endeavour to excuse the baseness of this Flight say that he was afraid lest his Army out of Hate preconceived on many former Accounts would have given him up to the English His Departure made a great Disturbance in the whole Army and the rather because the Cause of his Flight was unknown and therefore many thought that 't was the more considerable and that they had greater Reason to fear Hereupon some were obstinately resolved to run home the nearest way they could and leave their Guns behind them Others who would seem a little more provident and stout were for overcharging them that so they might break in pieces at a Discharge and become useless to the Enemy But Archibald Earl of Angus withstood them all telling them that they should not add so foul an Offence to their base Flight but not being able to retain them either by his Authority or Entreaty he burst out into these Words with a loud Voice so that many might hear him As for me said he I had rather chuse a noble Death than to enjoy my Life tho opulent and secure after the admission of so foul a Fact You my Friends and Fellow-Soldiers consider what you will do as for me I will bring back these Guns or else I will never return back hence alive my Honour and my Life shall go together This Speech affected some Few whose Honour was dearer to them than their Lives but the rest was so disheartened by the shameful Flight of the Regent that they broke their Ranks and went every one scatteringly home Douglas sent the Guns before and he with his Party followed in good Order in the Rear and tho he was prest upon by the English Horse whom the Tumult had excited yet he brought the Ordnance safe to Dunbar This Expedition rashly undertaken and as basely performed discouraged abundance of the Scots and raised up the English to an intolerable height as drawing the Cowardise of the Regent to Their Praise And therefore Ralph Evers and Brian Laiton two brave English Cavaleers overran all Merce Teviot and Lauderdale without any Resistance and made the Inhabitants of those Countries submit themselves and if any were refractory they wasted their Lands and made their Habitations desolate yea the undisturbed course of their Victories made them so resolute and insolent that they propounded the Bay of Forth to be the Boundary of their Conquest And with this hope they went to London and crav'd a Reward from Henry for their good Service Their Petition was referred to the Council and in debate thereof Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk who had made many Expeditions against the Scots and had done them much Mischief understanding that in that troublesom Posture of Affairs in Scotland it was no hard Matter to over-run naked and unguarded Countries and to compel the Commonalty when they had no other Refuge to take an Oath of Fealty to them and withal knowing the constancy of the Scots in maintaining their Country and their Resolution in recovering it when lost upon these Considerations 't is reported that he advised the King to give them all the Land which they could win by the Sword and also to allow them a small Force to defend it till the Scots therein were inured to the English Government This Gift they willingly receiv'd and the King as willingly gave upon which their vain boasting being as vainly requited they return'd joyfully to the Borders having obtain'd 3000 Souldiers in pay besides the Borderers who are wont to serve without any Military Stipend Their return mightily disturb'd all the Borderers because they had no hopes of any help from the Regent in regard he was influenc'd in all his Counsels by a Priest especially by the Cardinal Hereupon Archibald Earl of Angus being much affected with the Publick disgrace and also concerned upon the Account of his own private Losses for he had large and fruitful Possessions in Merch and Teviotdale sent to the Regent to prevent it The Regent deplor'd his own solitude and complain'd how he was deserted by the Nobility Douglas told him it was his own not the Nobilities fault for they were willing to spend their
if they sent away the Queen they must expect perpetual War from England and Bondage from the French others were of opinion that by reason of Agreement in Religion and the Condition of the present Times it was best to embrace the Terms offered by the English which were a Ten Years Peace with no bad Covenants or Obligations on the Scots For the whole of the League was That if the King of England or Queen of Scotland died within ten years all things should be on both sides as they were before and though no fortuitous Event should happen between yet the Kingdom might be hereby freed from its present Pressures which had almost broke its Strength and the Souldiery which were almost all lost in the late Battel might have time to grow up and increase in a long continued Peace and that intestine Discord being laid asleep they might more maturely consider of the Grand Affairs than they could do amongst Drums and Trumpets And in such Consultations Delays were oftentimes of great Advantage and rash Festination was attended with speedy Repentance Thus They. But all the Papists favoured the French and some others too whom French Bounty had either forestalled or else had rais'd up to great hopes of Advantage amongst whom was the Regent he had an yearly Revenue of 1200 French Pistols promised him and the Command of an 100 Curiassiers so that the most Voices carried it for the Queen 's going into France The Fleet which was to convey her rode at Leith and making as if they would go away they sailed about all Scotland and came to Dunbarton where the Queen went on Ship-board having staid some Months for its Arrival in the Company of Iames her Brother Iohn Erskin and William Levingston She was tossed with much foul Weather and contrary Winds but at last landed in Bretaign a Peninsule in France and by easy Journies went to Court In Scotland whilst the War stopp'd at Hadington yet the Common People in several Places were not wanting to the present Occasion For the Garisons of Hume and Fascastle doing great hurt to the Neighbourhood the Scots observing that Hume was negligently guarded by Night got up to the Top of a Rock where the Confidence of the Unaccessibleness of the Place made those within less watchful and so they killed the Sentinels and took the Castle And not long after when the Governor of Fascastle had commanded the Country thereabouts to bring in a great quantity of Provisions into the Castle at a certain Day The Country upon this occasion came numerously in and unlading their Horses they took up the Provision on their backs to carry them over a Bridg made betwixt two Rocks into the Castle assoon as ever they were entred they threw down their Burden and upon a Sign given slew the Guards and before the rest of the English could come in they seized on their Arms and placed themselves in the Avenues and thus setting the Gates open for their whole Party to enter they made themselves Masters of the Castle In the mean time the Naval Force of the English was not idle for the whole stress of the Land-War lying upon Hadington their Commanders thought that the neighbouring Parts were weakned and spoiled of all Defence so that they resolved to land in Fife And accordingly they pass'd by some Sea-Towns which were well inhabited and came to St. Minnans Kirk a Place peopled well enough that from thence they might march by Land to greater Towns but less fortified where the Pillage might be more worth their Labour Iames Stuart the Queen's Brother receiving the Alarum which the People of Saint Andrews and a few of the Country-men which were left at home made towards them and in his way many of the Neighbourhood struck in with him The English were already landed and about 1200 of them stood ready in their Arms for the Encounter The great Guns which they had landed struck such a fear into the Country-men that they quickly fled but Iames after he had a little stopp'd their Fear charged the Enemy so briskly that though he had but a raw and tumultuous Band along with him he soon routed them and drove them toward the Sea killing many upon the Place and many in the pursuit not a few of them were drowned in hastning to their Ships one Boat with all its Passengers was sunk whilst they endeavoured some in Throngs to get on board 'T is reported that there were 600 slain in the Fight and 100 taken Prisoners Whereupon the Fleet presently saâ—led to Mern a Country less inhabited their Design was to surprise Monross a Town not far from the Mouth of the River Dee They resolved to land in the Night and therefore they staid at Anchor out of sight of Land as long as there was any Light in the Sky But as they were making to Shoar in the dark they discovered themselves by their own Imprudency by hanging out Lights in every Boat Iohn Erskin of Downe Governour of the Town commanded his Men to arm without making any Noise and he divided them into three Bodies he placed some behind an earthen Bank which was rais'd on the Shoar to hinder their landing he with some Archers lightly arm'd made directly towards the Enemy and a third Band of Servants and promiscuous Vulgar he plac'd behind a Neighbour Hill adding a few Souldiers to them to govern the Rabble Matters being thus order'd he with his Archers fell upon the Enemy in their Descent and maintain'd a sharp Dispute with them till in a tumultuary kind of Fight he had drawn them on to the Banks there he join'd his other Party who stood ready at their Arms and they all fell on the Enemy yet they had not given Ground unless the last Body had shewn themselves with Colours flying from the next Hill then they made such haste to their Ships that of about 800 which came on Shoar hardly the third part escaped to their Ships In the mean time great Salleys were made about Hadington not without loss on either side but most of the English whereupon they being in some want of Provisions and fearing a greater and perceiving also that the Relief prepared came slowly on and that they were so weakned as to be hardly able to admit of the Delay In the Interim two brave Souldiers Robert Bovy and Thomas Palmer were commanded to march thither from Berwick with 1000 Foot and 300 Horse and to make all the Speed they could These all fell into an Ambush laid for them and scarce a Man of them escaped alive The English resolved to send more Aid but the French discovering their Design beset the narrow Passages by which they were to march but Dessius being deceived by one of the Enemies Scouts which he had taken who told him that the English were far off and were marching another way to relieve the Besieged left the Straits he had possess'd and went to another Place in the
leave him behind him neither could he find sufficient cause to put him to Death And therefore he by means of his Friends persuades the Young-Man who was not versant in such ill Arts to commit his cause wholly to him For by this means Gordon's Honour and his own Safety might be secured Gordon being thus made Master of the Life and Death of his Enemy dissembled his Anger and deals with his Wife to put the Young-man to Death in his absence for by this means he thought to cast off the Odium of the Fact upon her but it fell out quite otherwise for all Men knew the paultry Disposition of Gordon and they were as well satisfi'd in the Integrity of his Wife who was a choice Woman and had carried her self like a Regular and Noble Matron in all the rest of her Life so that every Body was satisfied that Gordon was the Author of that Counsel to his Wife Gordon being thus in Prison the Queen Regent's Council were of different Opinions as to his Punishment some were for his Banishment during some Years into France others for putting him to Death But both those Opinions were rejected by Gilbert Earl of Cassils the chief of his Enemies For he foreseeing by the present State of things that the Peace betwixt the Scots and French would not be long-liv'd was not for his Banishment into France for he knew a Man of so paultry a Spirit and so revengeful of those who did scandalize or emulate him would in the War which the Insolency of the French was like speedily to occasion be as a Firebrand and a Commander for the Enemy And he was more against his putting him to Death because he thought no private offence worthy of so great Punishment as to inure the French to spill the Blood of the Nobility of Scotland And therefore he went a middle way that he should be fin'd and kept in Prison till he yielded up the Right which he pretended to have over Murray And that he should suffer all the Royal Revenues arising out of the Orcades Schetland Isles and Mar to be quietly gathered by such Collectours as the Queen-Regent did appoint and he himself should not meddle with any of the Publick or Regal Patrimony and likewise surrender up his Presidency over some Juridical Courts which did bring him in great Profit Upon these Conditions he was dismiss'd and having thus addulc'd the Mind of the Regent and those that could do most with her at last he was admitted into the Privy Council In the mean time all Court-Offices which had any thing of Gain to move Competitorship were by Gordon's Advice given to Strangers on purpose that he might breed a Disgust betwixt the Queen Regent and the Nobility of Scotland and so take Delight though not an honest or creditable one in their mutual Contest and destroying one another and the Earl of Cassils who foresaw this Tempest before it came began now to be accounted as a Prophet After this Matters were quiet till Iuly in the Year 1555. and the Queen-Regent having gotten this respite from War apply'd her self to rectify the Disorders of the State She went to Inverness and held publick Conventions in the Nature of Assizes in all accustom'd places wherein many Disturbers of the publick Peace were severely punish'd she sent Iohn Stuart Earl of Athol against Iohn Murderach to effect that which Gordon in his Expedition had failed in He besides that Fortitude and Constancy Virtues proper to him was also so prudent and successful that he took him his Children and whole Family and brought them to the Queen But Murderach being impatient of sitting still or else excited by the sting of an evil Conscience deceiv'd his Keepers scap'd out of Prison and fill'd all places again with Blood and Rapine The Regent hearing of this was forced to undertake a Voyage sooner than she determined to bring him and other Malefactors to Justice which having done she returned and in a publick Assembly restored some of those who slew Cardinal Beton that were popular Men whom the late Regent had banish'd from their Exile by which Fact of hers she procur'd not so much applause as she did Ill-will from the many new Taxes she devised It was thought that D'Osel Ruby and those few French about the Regent put Her upon those new Projects to raise Mony i. e. that Mens Estates should be survey'd and registred in Books made for that purpose and that every one should pay yearly a certain Sum tax'd upon him out of it into a Treasury to be set apart for that end as a Fund for War for with that Mony thus kept in a peculiar Treasury Mercenary Souldiers were to be raised to guard the Borders and so the Nobility might remain quiet at home except some great Invasion were made by the Enemy which an ordinary Force could not resist The poorer sort were much aggrieved at this new pecuniary Imposition and inveigh'd openly against it with bitter Words but the greatest part of the Nobles kept their Disgust within their own Breasts every one fearing that if he should first oppose the Will of the Queen Regent the whole Envy of the Refusal would fall upon him alone But the next Rank of People were as angry with the Nobles for betraying the publick Liberty by their Silence as they were with the Queen and thereupon about 300 of them met together at Edinburgh and chose Iohn Sandeland of Calder and Iohn Weems out of their whole Body and sent them to the Queen-Regent to represent to her the Ignominy in paying this Tax and therefore they desired it might not be sessed nor levied upon them because of their Poverty both publick and private and also to inform her how their Ancestors had not only defended themselves and their Substance against the English when much more powerful than now they are but also had made often Inrodes into England and that themselves had not so far degenerated from their Ancestors but that they were willing to lay down their Lives and Fortunes for the Good of their Country if need required And as for the levying of Mercenary Auxiliaries that 't was a matter full of Danger to commit the State of Scotland to Men without either Lands or Hopes but who would do any thing for Mony and if occasion were offered their profound Avarice would invite them to attempt Innovations so that their Faithfulness hung only on the Wheel of Fortune but suppose they were well qualified and had a greater Love to the Country than Respect to their own Condition yet was it likely nay was it not incredible that Mercenaries should fight more valiantly to defend the Estates of others than the Masters of them would do each Man for his own Or that a regard to a small Stipend or Pay which was likely to cease in time of Peace would raise up greater Courage in the Minds of the Ignoble than in the Nobility who sought every Man
Ensigns of the Kings and that the Queen's Husband should be created King of Scotland according to Custom To whom the Embassadors answer'd in short That they had receiv'd no Commands concerning those Matters The Chancellor reply'd That no more was desir'd of them at present than what was in their Power viz. That when these Matters came to be debated in the Parliament of Scotland that they would give their Suffrages in the Affirmative and give it under their Hands that they would so do That demand seem'd to be fuller of Peremptoriness than the former and therefore they thought it best to reject it with great vehemency and disgust Insomuch that their Answer was That their Embassy was limited by certain Instructions and Bounds which they neither could nor would transgress but if they had been left free from any restriction at all yet it was not the part of faithful Friends to require That of them which they could not grant without certain Infamy and Treachery tho there were no danger of Life in the Case That they were willing to gratify the French their old Allies as far as the just Laws of Amity requir'd and therefore they desir'd them to keep within the same Bounds of Modesty in making their Demands Thus the Embassadors were dismiss'd the Court and tho they hasten'd home assoon as they could yet before they went a Ship-board four of the chief of them Gilbert Kennedy George Lesly Robert Reed and Iames Fleming all very virtuous and true Patriots departed this Life as also did very many of their Retinue not without suspicion of Poison It was thought that Iames the Queen's Brother had also taken the same Dose for altho by reason of the Strength of his Constitution and his youthful Age he escap'd Death at that time yet he lay under a dangerous and constant weakness of Stomach as long as he liv'd That Summer Matters were at that dubious pass in Britain that there seem'd rather to be no Peace than a War For there were Skirmishes on both sides Preys driven and Villages burnt Incursions were mutually made and not without Blood Two of the Nobility of Scotland were carry'd away Prisoners by the English William Keith Son to the Earl of Merch and Patrick Grey chief of a Family so call'd amongst the Scots the rest of the Military damages fell upon mean Persons About the same time the English sent a Fleet under the Command of Sir Iohn Clare to infest the Coasts of Scotland they came to the Orcades intending there to Land and to burn Kirkwall a Bishops See the only Town in that Circuit When they had made a descent with a good part of their Force a fierce Tempest suddenly arose which carry'd their Ships from the Coast into the Main where after a long contest with the Winds and Waves they at length made Sail for England back again They which were put a Shore were every one Slain by the Islanders This year and the year before the Cause of Religion seem'd to lie Dormant for it being somewhat crush'd by the Death of George Wiseheart one Party accounted themselves well satisfy'd if they could worship God in their own Tongue in private Assemblies and dispute soberly concerning Matters of Divinity and the other Party after the Cardinal was slain shew'd themselves rather destitute of an Head than undesirous of Revenge For he who succeeded in his Place did rather covet the Mony than the Blood of his Enemies and was seldom Cruel but when it was to maintain his Licentiousness and to expend on his Pleasures In April Walter Mills a Priest none of the most learned was yet suspected by the Bishops because he left off to say Mass whereupon he was haled to their Court Though he was weak by Constitution of Body and Age extream Poor and also brought out from a nasty Prison and lay under such high Discouragements yet he answer'd so stoutly and prudently too that his very Enemies could not but acknowledg That such greatness and confidence of Spirit in such an enfeebled Carkase must needs have a support from on High The Citizens of St. Andrews were so much affected at the wrong done him that there was none found who would sit as Judg upon him and all the Tradesmen shut up their Shops that they might sell no Materials toward his Execution which was the Cause of his Reprieve for one day more than was intended At last one Alexander Somerval a Friend of the Archbishop's was found out a naughty Fellow who undertook to sit as Judg upon him for that Day This is certain the Commonalty took his Death so hainously that they heap'd up a great Pile of Stones in the Place where he was Burnt that so the Memory of his Death might not end with his Life The Priests took Order to have it thrown down for some Days but still as they dissipated it one Day it was rais'd up the next till at last the Papists convey'd the Stones away to build Houses with about the Town Iuly the 20 th was the day appointed by the Bishops for Paul Meffen an eminent Preacher of God's Word in those days to come to his Answer There was a great Assembly of the Nobles at the time so that the Matter seem'd to tend towards a Tumult whereupon the Process was deferr'd to another time several were condemn'd but it was of those which were Absent who that they might not be terrify'd with the severity of the Punishment were commanded to come in by the 1 st of September and pardon was promis'd them if they recanted The same 1 st of September was St. Giles day whom the Inhabitants of Edinburgh do venerate as their Tutelar God carousing to him in great Goblets and making high Entertainments for their Neighbours and Guests The Regent fearing lest in such a confus'd Rable some Tumult should arise was willing to be present her self at the Wake The Papists were very glad of her Coming and easily persuaded her to see the Show and Pageant wherein St. Giles was to be carried about the City but St. Giles alas did not appear for he was stol'n out of his Shrine by some body or other However that St. Giles might not want a Pageant nor the Citizens a Show upon such a Festival Day there was another young Gilesling forsooth set up in his room After the Regent had accompanied him thro the greatest part of the Town and saw no danger of any Insurrection she retired weary as she was into an Inn to repose her self But presently the City-Youths pluck'd down the Picture of Giles from the Shoulders of those who carried him threw him into the dirt and spoiled the Glory of the whole Pageantry The Priests and Friars running several ways for fear created a belief of a greater Tumult but when they had understood that there was more Fear than Danger in the thing and that the whole Matter was transacted without Blood they crept again out
their Country The Earl of Sussex their General besieged Hume-Castle where the Owner of it had laid up much Provision and all the Neighbourhood had brought in their best Goods to that Fort as into a Place of Safety It was valiantly defended by the Garison within and the English the next day after were about to raise the Siege when lo Letters were brought to the Garison-Souldiers written a while before by Alexander Owner of the Castle which disturbed all their Measures For therein he commanded them to obey the Orders of William Drury an English Knight and to do what he commanded them without any Dispute Drury acquainted Sussex herewith whereupon the Castle was surrendred and plundered and Sussex placing a Garison of English therein with a great Booty returned to Berwick Thus Hume who was so far from being afraid of the English that rather he thought them his very Friends as knowing that Drury and Sussex Both did secretly favour Howard's Affairs did almost undo himself by his own Credulity for at last being forsaken of all his Friends and Kindred who were mostly Royalists he came with One or Two in his Company to Edinburgh and shut up himself as a Recluse in the Castle there On the other Side of the Borders Scroop an English Commander entred Annandale and ransack'd the Lands of one Iohnston who also had made Incursions into England but Iohnston himself with a few of his Companions being well acquainted with the Passes of the Country made a Shift to escape from the Horse that pursued him Iohn Maxwel who had gathered together 3000 Men out of the Neighbourhood yet durst not adventure to come in to his Aid but only stood upon his own Guard A while after the English that were at Berwick having received Hostages and thinking that Matters would have been carried with Fidelity towards them sent in 300 Horse and a 1000 Foot under the Command of Drury against the common Enemy Upon the Bruit of their March the Hamiltonians went to Glasgow resolving to demolish the Castle of the Arch-bishop there that it might not be a Receptacle to the Earl of Lennox then returned out of England and so that Country be made the Seat of War They knew that it was kept but by a few raw Souldiers that the Governor was absent and that it was unprovided of Necessaries so that they thought to surprize it by their sudden Approach for they flew into the Town in such Haste that they shut out a good part of the Garison-Souldiers from entring the Castle but being disappointed of their Hope they began to batter and storm violently and were as valiantly repulsed for the Garison Souldiers which were but 24 did so warmly receive them for several Days that they slew more of the Assailants than they themselves were and the rest they beat off sorely wounded of their Own they lost but one Man and none of the rest received so much as a Wound But the Hamiltonians hearing that the English were already at Edinburgh and that Iohn Erskin was come to Sterlin with a Design speedily to relieve the Castle though they had received some additional Force even from the remote Parts of the Kingdom yet toward Evening they raised their Seige and in great fear pack'd away Hamilton and Argyle himself posted into Argyle's Country Huntly went home over the almost impassable Mountains the rest shifted for themselves and ran several Ways to save their Lives But the English two Days after they came to Edinburgh went to Glasgow and in their Passage through Clydsdale they wasted all the Lands of the Hamiltons and any others that had consented to the Death of the Regent as also of those who had harbour'd the English Fugitives and drove great Preys from them making havock in all the Country when the Engines to beat down the Castle that was scituated near a Village called Hamilton were bringing to Sterlin Drury who privately favoured the English Rebels had almost rendred the whole Expedition fruitless for he was so far from quieting the English who mutinied because their Pay was not paid them at the Day whereupon they threatned immediately to lay down their Arms That 't was thought by many he himself was the Author of the Mutiny But the Souldiers were appeased upon the receiving their Pay down upon the nail and the great Guns being planted and playing against it the Castle was surrendred in a few Hours Amongst the Booty some there were that knew the Apparel and other Houshold-stuff of King Iames the 5 th that the Owner of the Castle when he resign'd up his Regency had so solemnly sworn he had none of The Castle was left half demolish'd and the Town together with the stately Mansion of the Hamiltons therein the wild common Souldiers burnt to the Ground against the Will of their Commanders Whereupon the Army march'd back the English to Berwick and the Scots each to their own home Drury interceded for the Garison that they should march away in Safety who being dismiss'd took Robert Semple Prisoner the chief of his Family out of the House of his Son-in-Law who was quietly returning home as if the Service had been ended which Passage greatly increas'd the Suspicion on Drury These Matters were scarce finish'd before Petcarn return'd from his Embassy out of England and brought this Answer That the Queen wonder'd they never made her acquainted with the â—tate of their Affairs till now four Months after the Death of the Regent and by reason of this delay she was uncertain in her Hopes concerning them In the mean time that she had been often solicited by the Importunity of the French and Spanish Embassadors in the Name of their Kings and that she was even tired out with the daily complaints of the Scots Queen that she had promis'd them Audience but upon Condition that the Queen of Scots should write to her Party for a Cessation of Arms till the Conference was ended That those Innovations which they had attempted by their publick Edicts they should revoke by other Edicts contrary to the former and so suffer things to stand as they were when the Regent was slain That the English Exiles should be given up without fraud and if upon the Conference Matters were accorded betwixt them Hostages and other Pledges should be given on Both sides for the faithful performance of Agreements Upon these Conditions a Conference was promised and having oblig'd her self in such Circumstances she could not join with them in their Design in making a new Regent lest she might seem to condemn their Queen without hearing Her But in general she said That she had a great Affection for them and their Affairs In the mean time She desir'd that they would abstain from Arms and from making a Regent and she would take care that such a small delay should be no damage to them This Answer being reported to the Scots did variously affect them On the one hand the
plunder seeing the Town fortifi'd and the Royalists ready for the Encounter return'd the nearest Way they could to their Own-homes and the Rebels with their Vassals and a Company of Foot retreat to Hawick never thinking that the Enemy would in the least attempt any thing against them there and their Hopes were increas'd by the Winter-season which was sharper than ordinary by reason of a great Quantity of Snow lately fallen which cover'd all the Ground But Ruven intended to make use of the Opportunity and in the third Watch drew out his Party and march'd so speedily towards Hawick that he was in a Mile of it before the Enemy took the Alarum They at Hawick were so amaz'd that there was no room for Counsel left but Foot and Horse were immediately drawn out and following the Current of the next River endeavour'd to retreat to a Place of more Safety But the Swiftness of their Pursuers prevented them the Horse knew the Country and made a shift to escape but the Foot were left for a Prey they possest themselves of a small Wood on a Rock near the River there they were surrounded by the Horse and not adventuring to stay till the Foot came up they all surrendred themselves at Mercy But seeing that other Dangers were to be prevented and they could not be carried up and down in so sharp a Winter having past their Words to return at an appointed Day and leaving some Hostages to that purpose they were sent home without their Arms When they were discharged Kircade made sleeveless Pretences to elude their Promises and so hinder'd them from returning at the time appointed The rest of the Winter and the following Spring was wholly spent in light Skirmishes wherein Few fell but more of the Rebels than Royalists For the Rebels when they saw an Advantage would draw out on the Hills near the City and before they had scarce begun a skirmish would retire sometimes again in to the City In the interim frequent Embassies came from England to reconcile the Factions but without effect For the Queen of England tho she most favour'd the King's Party yet she was willing so to make Peace as to ingage both Parties to her but the French were wholly inclin'd to the Queen's Cause and therefore by large Promises hindred Peace and advis'd to continue the War Some Mony they sent at present not enough to do the Business but only to feed Hope and a great Part of what was sent was still nibbled away by those that brought it In the mean time light Skirmishes past for some Months betwixt the Parties but not at all contributing to the main Chance Neither were other Parts of the Kingdom free from Plunderings and Firings Adam Gordon gather'd a Party and entring Angus besieg'd Douglas's House of Glembervy and finding that himself was absent they miserably Burnt and Destroy'd all that he left behind which struck such a Fear into those of Dundee that they call'd in the Garisons from the adjoining Parts of Fife to their Assistance they were Enemies to the Gordonians as having been highly Faithful continually to the King's Cause About this time Blackness was betray'd by the Governor thereof to the Hamiltons 'T is a Castle that hinders commerce betwixt Leith and Sterlin The Regent broke down all the Mills about Edinburgh he also garison'd all the Noble Men's Houses about it and stopt all Passages into the City many Prisoners were taken on both sides Archibald Douglas one of Morton's familiar Friends was apprehended on Suspicion which was increas'd upon him by the Baseness of his former Life and also by some Letters found about him yea even after he was taken entercourse of Letters past betwixt him and the Enemy which evidenc'd that he had assisted the Rebels by Advice and Action too as having transmitted to them both Mony and Arms. THE END An ALPHABETICAL TABLE of the Principal Matters contained in the foregoing HISTORY NB. FOR the Reader 's Ease and Conveniency in the speedy finding out of the Quotations in the following Table as also in the Catalogue of the Scotish Kings preceding this History he is desired to take notice That whereas a new Alphabet and Folio doth begin at the later Part of this History viz. at Book 13. and so continues to the End all the Quotations marked between Parentheses's do belong to the Folio's and Pages of the said later Part only The rest do all belong to the former Part. A Page ABercorn-Castle 22 Aberdeen 19 Famous for Salmon-Fishing ibid. Aberdone ibid. Aberbrothock or Abrinca ibid. Abernethy wherein was the old Palace of the Picts Kings 16 18 Abria or Abyr a Country or Shire the Etymology thereof 19 Abridic or Erisbach-Isle 25 Abthane an old Name of Magistracy and Dignity amongst the Scots See Thane 187 206 Achaius King of Scotland 164 He makes a defensive War against the Irish ibid. The First of the Scotish Kings that ever made a League with France 165 Achnar-Isle 26 Acho King of Norwey lands in Air with a great Fleet 241 Is overthrown and dies of Grief ibid. Achmode-Isles See Aebudae Adams Isle 30 Adamannus 161 Adam Huntly taken Prisoner by the Earl of Murray 170 Ado Viennensis quoted and corrected 87 Adrian passes out of France into Britain 112 His Wall ibid. Adrian the Pope's Legate in England 433 Advatici Who 10 Aebudae Islands 22 Their Number ibid. Aelius Pertinax in Britain 117 Aelius Spartianus quoted 118 Aemodae Isles the same with Aebudae Aeneia 18 170 Air 14 Aestions spake the British Language 50 They inhabited Prussia 77 Aetius the Britains crave Aid of him 93 Afulla Isle 31 Agnes Keith Daughter of the Earl of Merch married to James Earl of Murray 161 Agathyrsi painted their Bodies 53 Aidan King of Scots invested in that Dignity by Columb 155 Ailmer Edward of England's General overthrows Bruce 12 61 Air County 20 Alan of Lorn keeps his Brother Prisoner 407 408 He is imprisoned himself ibid. Albanact Son of Brute from him the Scots called Albani 42 Albinick the Scots so called 11 Albium or Albion Isle retains the Name of Britanny 1 More Islands than one anciently so called ibid. It s Etymology 11 12 Album or White the Name of Height as well as of Colour whence many Words are derived as Albingaunum Albula Albici Albini c. 11 Alcluyth 92 Alexander I. King of Scots 221 222 Why Sirnamed Acer ibid. His Iustice to a poor Woman 222 He is relieved by Hermites ibid. Alexander II. 237 Enters England and takes Carlile ibid. He and his Queen visit Henry of England 239 His Queen dies at London 239 He marries a French Lady ibid. Alexander III. 240 The Nobles combine against him 241 He hath an Interview with Henry of England 240 Is made Knight by him and espouses Margarite his Daughter ibid. Assists the King of England 243 He and his Queen present at the Coronation of King Edward I. He marries Joleta a French Lady 244 He forbids
h Lagos i Inhabitants of the Kingdom of Leon in Spain k Cape of St. Vincent in Portugal l Langroiâ—a m Dwelling by the River Anas in Portugal n Laâ—sanne o Monâ—briga p Santâ—ago de Lacem q Maâ—abriga r Inhabiting the Country of La Mancha in New-Castile s Villa de Capilla t Esâ—â—remedâ—ra u Inhabiting part of Algâ—bâ—a and Meaâ—na 〈◊〉 x Vaâ— de Nâ—bro y Valera z Almunâ—a a Spaniards lying beyond the River â—â—erus in Arragon and Castile b Segorve as Clasius thinks c Talega or Talâ—ga in Portugal d Alcantara e Braganza as some or rather Bâ—gâ—a de Regoa f The Gallicians living near Braga in Portugal g Inhabitants in and about Spire in High Germany h Dwelling in and about â—rianzon i Bregentz * Or Bavarians k Monti de Brianza l Bodensée or Lake of Constance m Inhabitants of Galway Waterford and Tipperary n Brianzon o Capo de Finâ— terrae or Nerium in Gaâ—icia * Almeria * Words compounded of Dunum * Or Lugdunensis the Country about Lâ—ons in France * Highlanders or Islanders a Autun in Burgundy b Chasteaudun c Melun d Lyons e St. Bertrand de Comminges f Noyon * Or Alsatians g Cadâ—nac h Lodun or London i Dunâ—e Roy. k Tours l Rodez * Or Roverguâ—â—â—s m Some take it for Chasteau London n Sela. o Campredon in Catalonia p Almondbury in Yorkshire as Cambden but West Chester as some others * The old Inhabitants of Yorkshire Lancashire Durham Westmerland and Cumberland q Maldon in Essex r Dorchester called also Durnium and Durnovaria from the River Vare gliding by it which ariseth at a Town some few Miles distant called Evarsholt i. e. the head of Vare and passing by Dorchester runs into an Arm of the Sea at Varbam i. e. a Town on the Vare now Warham s Old Inhabitants of Pembroke Cardigan and Carmarthen-Shires formerly called West-Wales a Yverdon b Sedan * Which Anciently comprehended Austria Stiria Carniola c. c Baâ—ryon d Korburgh e Linez or as some Gastenâ—al f Iudenburgh as some Idenaw as others but Windisch Matray as Sanson g Neumarck h Partenkirck i Kâ—rburgh k Semendria or Zinderin l Neupurgh * Words declined from Dur. m Metz. n Inhabitants of Pâ—ïs Messin o Wyck te Duersteden p Briare q Constance r Laufenburgh s Martenach t People of Gallia Narbenensis near the Rhosne a Psullendorff as some but Beyerne Castle as Cluverius b Korburgh c Olmuâ—z d Câ—stenitz e Instat f Fermosello g Duero h Guadalaviar near Valentia i Ledung in the West of Ireland k Inhabitants of Redborn in Hertfordshire l Of Rochester in Kent m Of Leneham in Kent n Of Canterbury o Godmanchester by Huntington p Dorsetshire Men. q Cirencester in Gloucestershire r Laiton in Essâ—x s Dorchester in Dorsetshire t Lutterworth or as some Longborough in Liecestersh u Vald ' Osta x Issoir y Auxerre * Names of Places ending in Magus z Badajox a City in Spain where once the Romans had a Colony 'T is also called Pax Augusta a Noviomagus is a Proper Name for so many places that it is hard to distinguish Them severally in English for it signifies Odenheim Newenburgh Nâ—mmegen Spire Solac Bourg c. b Xuntâ—gners in France c Inhabitants at Lisieux a Town in Normandy and the Country there about called Le-Lieuvin d Nivernois e About Spire f Living at St. Paul de trois Chasteaux a City in Daulphin g Living in and about Berry h Angiers i L'Anjouans k Roven l Beauvois m Beauvoisins n Tournois o Wormes p Living in Armagnac q Argenton r Memmingen s Chelmesford t Thetford u Wood-Cote near Croydon x Inhabitants of Surry as Leland of Sussex as Camden y People about Sterling or as some of Murray in Scotland z Ashwel in Hertford-shire as some or Dunstable in Bedford-shire as others a Ireland hath several Names b Camden thinks it to be the River Maâ—re in Munster in the County of Desmond but why not Loch-Earn in the County of Fermanagh c Earn arising out of Loch-Earn d Strath-Earn e Millain f Xantoign g D'Eureux h Duesburgh or Asburgh i Metelew k Lancaster as Lud Lanvellin in Mongomery-shire as Camden others Midland l Malck on the River Shanon m Wye n Râ—o d' Aves * Awe o Cabo de S. Vincem p Ban in the County of Wexford q Spurnhead in York-shire r Fermosel s Ocel-Hills t Esilles or Exilles u Lestâ—thiel in Cornwal x Cadenac in France y Or Tambre z Tamerton by the River Tamar in Cornwall a Or Ars. b Sarck or Sars in Annandale c Evora d S. Lucar de Barameda * Of d' Eureux * d ee or Die * Cornish * Caâ—â—hness-Men * Three Nations besides the Brittons anciently inhabited this Isle * Saxons invited in by the Brittons * Where by Stratagem they and their General treacherously Murder the English Nobility * Danes invade and Conquer Engâ—and under Swain * William the Norman Conquers the Danâ—s and is Crowned King of England * Three other Nations came into Bâ—itaiâ— * The Authors Ingenuity * Lud fâ—rther câ—nfuted * Mamertinus * All the Inhabitants oâ— iâ—â—Iâ—â—land anciently called Scots * Marcellinus divides the Picts into Dicaledones and Vecturiones See p. 18. * Caledonians Picts and Scots are sometimes called Britains * Bâ—â—tians a People oâ— Magna Grecia in Italy heretofore possessing the two Calalaprâ—â—â— * Romans inhabiting the District abouâ— Rome * 〈…〉 Men. * Scutabrigantes for Scotobrigantes according to Ioseph Scaâ—iger * Hector Boâ—tius mistaken Iron * Ludd censured * Aestiones inhabiting Pâ—ussia Livâ—nia a Miâ—esian Fables o◠〈◊〉 For the Inhabitants of Mâ—â—tum in 〈◊〉 were infamous for telling Tales so far from being true that they had not the least shadow oâ— Truth in them a When Marius by Sylla's Faction was driven out of Rome he hid himself stark naked in the Mud Weeds of the River Liru now Garigliano in the Kingdom of Naples where being found out he was carried to prison at Minturnae a Town hard by whither a Gaul or Cimber being sent to kill him he saw such a Majesty in his Countenance that he return'd without perpetrating the Homicide b Switz â—â— c Iron d Sicambri or Westphaâ—sâ—â—â—s Irony e Brennus's Two f Hector Boâ—tius and Lud compared and Both of them censured for some Mistakes 〈◊〉 taken by Caesar. The description of Britain according to Tacitus b It doth not appear how this resemblance holds and therefore some think those Autâ—â—rs to be better Historians than Resemblancers and indeed â—f the whole Island were not conquered by the Romans as confessedly it was not I do not see how they could give us the perfect Form and Shape thereof a Later Aâ—thoâ—â— can haâ—dly reconcile this reason with the Principles of
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