SCOTTISH ROYALTIES

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 261, 4 August 1928, Page 24

SCOTTISH ROYALTIES

THEIR DISTRACTING EXPERIENCES

The laud of the mountain and the Sood could never guarantee its monarchs'a long and peaceful reign. Uneasy Tay.the heads of most of its kings and queens. From the time when Kenneth McAlpine, in the ninth century, united Scotland into one kingdom, its record until a very recent period was one of feud, competition for supreme acy, 'murder and other unhappy things. Gruoch; who became Lady Macbeth, was, a • lineal descendant" of Kenneth McAlpine, and : had for cousin one Malcolm Ir, who "waded through blood to seize the crown.” Duncan I, the S4th King of Scots, was murdered by Mact beth, and Duncan’s son married Margaret, daughter of Edward Atheling, and reigned as Malcolm 111 for live andthirty, years. Queen Margaret, known as St. Margaret, and “the Glorious Queen of. Scots,” figures in history as .the first reforming personality in the history of the court. She taught the Scots to attire themselves "so that they looked like a new race of men.” Some say she introduced the tartan into. Scotland. Her Influence for good was'great In many directions, and particularly .in the •. protection of brides from the intolerable claims of the lord of. the soil. Little wonder she was canonised. ' . >

■ Miss E.- Thornton Cook, in her latest work, ".Their Majesties of Scotland,” has given a history of Scottish kings and queens 'from ■ Macbeth to ITincq Charles Edward, a record that is highly. tempestuous, and full of "battle, murder,'and.sudden death,” yet relieved and brightened with that romance which seems-one of the rich endowments of'the northern realm. If one were to find any fault with the book it would.be that,the facts are too many, and the lack of a unifying, historic principle is somewhat serious. This is, however, atoned for by quotations from ancient documents marked by ample vividness and realism. St. Margaret’s sou, David I, had a somewhat turbulent reign of twentynine years, but he gave life in Scotland new security by a decree that no man should "be hangit for a cryme,” the financial-importance of. which was less than the value of two sheep at sixteenpence each. His passion was for the founding of bishoprics and monasteries;? and his famous descendant, James I, -surveying the long list of David’s church?'benefactions, grimly observed that’-’he was a sair saint for Scotland.” King Robert the Bruce was a grandson'of the/Robert the Bruce who had Competed for the crown against John Balliol. -’ 'Edward I of England had decided’against Bruce’s'claim to the throne,-and the snubbed candidate went to Palestine. His son, Robert, returned to England, met Martha, the fifteen-year-old'widow ,of the Earl of Carrick, and, as /the ancient chronicle says, "kisses were given on each side, as is the wont ’of courtiers.” Martha appears. to have loved him at-first sight, fortshe’besought him to stay-and ride and. walk, with her, and when she saw him-unwilling she-caught his rein and brought him to her castle. Fifteen days later he married her secretly. As she was a ward of■ Royalty, the King confiscated her property for wedding without.- his consent, but he was. appeased- by a fine, and. the son of this marriage was the saviour, champion, and king of the bruised Scottish-people. Wallace fought nobly for his country, and.his execution roused Robert Bruce to-action.- Again there was; a competition,for the throne. Bruce-slew his riyal, the Red Cornyn, and was crowned Hit Scone with a borrowed coronet. Bannockburn was fought hi? 1314. and fhe. independence of Scotland secured. Parliament established a z defence force by ’ordering evqry Scot to hold himself in,readiness for war. <A person owning land.to the’value.-of £lO had to. keep at-hand “a buff jacket and steel.head piece’’;..the owner of, a .single cow had

to provide "a bow, with a sheaf of twenty-five arrows.” With the accession of Robert 11, a grandson of Robert Bruce, a new line of kings, the famous and infamous Stuarts, came to the throne. He was the son of Walter, the hereditary high steward of Scotland, and Marjorie, daughter of the Scottish hero—King Robert Bruce. Some eight Stuarts followed him, one Robert 111, six being Jameses, up to James VI, and one the illustrious Mary Queen of Scots, daughter of James V and mother of James VI. During part of this period, which beg. a in 1370. and ran till 1603, there was much fighting with the English, and no little internal strife. There were quarrels with Franco, disagreements about marriages, festivities, military expeditions, with here and there a capture and a murder; a border raid, princesses in the marriage market, or as pawns in the political game; knights who leapt into the saddle without putting foot to the stirrup, and the glorious weddings of kings, at many of which there was a reception where the new queen had to kiss all the guests, and "the king kissed her for her labours.” When James V sat on the Scottish throne. Henry VIII of England was eager to get his nephew on his side in the religious struggle then raging, and pressed for some kind of matrimonial union between England and Scotland. James fancied Magdalene of Valois, daughter of the Kin; of France, journeyed over the sea to meet her, ami the two fell in love at first sight. They were married, the bride being but sixteen years of age. Unhappily, she died forty days after reaching Scotland. In the following year James married Mary of Guise, who became the mother of Mary Queen of Scots. From this point the story of Scotland is fairly familiar.. The religious question dominated the field. The union of the Crowns under James VI in 1603 brought the two kingdoms into a unity which can hardly be described as a success. The Stuart idea of the werogatives of the Crown did not tit well with the convictions of eithe England or Scotland. The double-dealing of James II at .last so roused the people that they ended the dynasty. Bonnie Prince Charlie made a brave attempt to regain the crown in 1745. but after some successes had to go about in disguise in the highlands and escape to France. Before long, even France had refused him asylum, and for sixteen years lie wandered from country. to country. He sank lower and lower. It was rumoured that the young Chevalier in disguise was present at the coronation of George 111. He married a girl who said the blood of Bruce was in her veins, but “Charles III” nroved a jealous husband, without self-control, and the young wife took refuge in a convent. He died in 1788. and was buried in St. Peter’s, Rome. Another’Stuart, “Henry IX," had a medal struck proclaiming himself “King of Great Britain, Franca and Ireland, Defender of. the Faith,” but on the reverse side were the ominous words, “Not by .the desire of. mankind, but by the ■ will of God.” Until he died in 1807 he kept up his pretensions to the country he had never seen. The romantic, diehard Jacobites issued placards in 1902 claiming the crown for-the Archduchess of ModeriaEste, but no one.paid any attention. < It is well to make acquaintance with Majesties as, they: are limned in the pages of Miss Cook’s volume. These Kings and Queens were very human, and took themselves right seriously. In'days like ours, when the whole conception of kingcraft is Changed.,one is saved 'from uncharitableness only’ by seeking' sanctuary in the ihistoric perspective.’ ; * ; ■