Chapter I: Summary (2)

The royal bride tarried the whole of the next day, being Sunday, at Grantham, in Lincolnshire. She left that town betimes on Monday morning in grand procession, the Grantham civil authorities, in their best dresses, escorting her full three miles. Sir Robert Dymock, with thirty cavaliers, rode before her grace till within a short distance from Newark, where he surrendered his charge to Sir William Pierrepoint, Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, who was accompanied by his friends, Sir William Byron, Sir John Dunham, or Denham, and Sir John Marcaret.

“Out of Newark came the college,[58] richly attired, in procession, therefore the young Queen entered the town in her grandest array. It was a fair sight to see the people thronged in the windows and streets of Newark, and the Queen was lodged at the Hart.”

“The next day’s journey brought Queen Margaret to Tuxford, at which place the vicar and churchmen came in their best dresses. That time the Bishop of Murray gave the Queen the crosses to kiss, and she lodged at the Crown in Tuxford.”

“All the next neighbors of the place came in on horseback, with a great train of persons on foot, to see her at her departure from the town. Half a mile from Tuxford, Sir William Conyers, High Sheriff of Yorkshire, came with his white wand to bear before Queen Margaret, accompanied by Sir William Scarsgill well arrayed, his horse’s harness full of silver campanes, (little bells). Then the Sheriff of Nottinghamshire took leave, and she drew near to Doncaster, meeting half-way Sir Edward Savage and Sir Ralph Ryder, who came to greet her in fair array. Queen Margaret lodged at Scrowsby, in a manor-house of the Archbishop of York, where she slept, June 12.[59]

“There came Sir Gervase Clifton, with many persons bearing his device, well mounted. Without Doncaster the mayor and burgesses, on foot, received the Queen; and she entered the town in procession, and lodged at the convent of the Carmelites.”

“When she drew, next day, nigh to Pontefract, Sir John Milton met her with seven horsemen, all making gambades. Sir John Saville and Sir William Gaskin came with many mounted gentlemen; and at Pontefract the friar Jacobins came to her in procession. Very fair was her array when she entered that town. She passed through Pontefract Castle to the abbey; and the abbot, in pontificals, and all the convent at the door of the church, received her. The Queen kissed the abbot’s cross and entered into Pontefract Church, where she made her prayers and went to her lodging in the same place.”

The Somerset Herald leaves it in doubt whether the young Queen slept in the castle, the scene of more than one tragedy connected with her race.[60] However, the next morning (June 15) the bridal train issued out of Pontefract in grand procession. They took their mid-day meal at Tadcaster.

The progress of the Queen of Scotland became more magnificent as she proceeded further into the great northern province of Yorkshire, where many of the southern nobles and their vassals were to surrender their task of escorting her--their places being taken by the gallant guardians of the English border, who were to protect the eldest daughter of their liege beyond the stormy precincts of the debatable ground to where the laws of nations were better regarded. The Lord Scrope of Bolton met her in her afternoon stage from Tadcaster. He was riding in great state, with his lady “right richly beseen.” Their son, the Lord Scrope of Upsal, appeared at the head of almost an army of the Yorkshire chivalry, composed of knights, squires, and their retainers. The sheriffs of the West Riding likewise came to welcome her grace within their boundaries, and brought her forward till the whole party drew up within a mile of the city of York.

Here the royal state of the bride Queen’s procession began; and so grand were the preparations within the walls of the northern metropolis that she found it requisite to change her dress, for which purpose she retired to her litter, where, assisted by her tire-women, she performed her toilet by the wayside. All her ladies and maidens likewise “refreshed” their habiliments; and when they considered themselves sufficiently brightened and cleansed from the dust and stains of travel, York gates were opened, and a grand procession of civic magnates and gallant Yorkshire cavaliers poured forth to meet and welcome the royal train. The citizens were headed by the Lord Mayor of York, and the chivalry by the Earl of Northumberland, whose attention to his dress and decorations was remarkable--so much so, that Master John Young, Somerset Herald, felt himself obliged to draw the following sketch of a noble fop of the fifteenth century, in which the reality of Percy of Northumberland almost rivals the bright ideal of Sir Piercy Shafton:--

“My Lord of Northumberland came to welcome her fair Grace gayly clothed in crimson velvet. At the openings of his sleeves and collar appeared large borders set with precious stone, and his boots were of black velvet worked with gold. His foot-cloth of crimson velvet, all bordered with _orfaverie_ (beaten and wrought gold), hung to the ground. Gold embossed work appeared on his arms, which were very rich, on his saddle-bow and on his harness. The steed on which he was mounted was a right fair one; and as he approached the Queen, ever and anon he made gambades pleasant to see. In company with the Earl of Northumberland rode the venerable knight, Sir Launcelot Threkeld (honorably celebrated by Wordsworth in our days), Sir Thomas Curwen, of Workington, and Sir John Pennington.”

“In fair order,” continues our indefatigable Herald, “did Queen Margaret enter York, her minstrels singing, her trumpets and sackbuts playing, and the high woods resounding; banners and bandroles waving, coats of arms unrolled to the light of the sunsetting, rich maces in hand, and brave horsemen curveting and bounding.”

Our Herald’s description of Margaret’s entry into York would make an antiquarian reader believe that he was familiar with the beautiful couplets of the historical poet of Scotland, Barbour--[61]

“There were banners right fairly flowing,
And pensils to the winds glowing,
For Sol was bright and shining clear,
On armors that high burnished were,
So blazing in the sun his beam,
That all the land seemed in a gleam.”

York was crowded with the gentry from the East and West Ridings. My Lord of Northumberland and my Lord Mayor did their best to make Queen Margaret’s reception expensive and splendid; but as they did not produce any striking variation in their pageantry, it need not be dwelt upon. The young Queen was received in the palace of the Archbishop of York after her fatiguing day was done. In the morning that prelate led her to high mass in York Minster. Margaret was gloriously attired in cloth of gold on this occasion, her gown being belted with a precious girdle, studded with colored gems; the ends of her belt hung down to the ground; her necklace was very splendid, full of Orient stones. As she went from the palace to the Minster, the Countess of Surrey bore her train; and after them followed her ladies, all very richly attired “in goodly gowns, tied with great gold chains, or girdle-belts, with the ends hanging down to the earth.”

When mass was done, Queen Margaret gave reception in the great chamber of the Archbishop’s palace, holding a drawing-room as it would be called in modern phraseology.

“Here my lady the Countess of Northumberland was presented to her, being well accompanied with knights and gentlemen. The young Queen of Scotland kissed her for the welcoming she gave her.”[62]

Dinner was set in the Queen’s own chamber; and as her Grace passed to it, trumpets and other instruments rang in the ancient manner, their sounding lasting during the whole time she sat at meat.

The Queen departed from the city of York on the 18th day of July, in very fine order, and with company richly appointed--the Archbishops and Bishops, the Lord Mayor of York, all his aldermen, and the sheriffs, attending on her. The streets and windows so full of people that it was a marvel to see them. Without the walls, the company from York took leave of her; and at the same time the Bishop of Norwich, and the lords of Kent, of Hastings, of Strange, and of Willoughby, withdrew from her train.

The royal bride then took the road to Newburgh, at the priory of which place she was received by the religious, handsomely vested. At the gate of their church they presented the cross for her salutation. The same evening she arrived at Allerton; and at her entry she was welcomed by the Vicar and “his folk of the church, with the Carmelites in procession; and the Bishop of Murray, as before, gave her the cross to kiss.” The next day she departed from Allerton. She was met by the Lord Lumley and his son, accompanied by many gentlemen and folks arrayed in their livery, well mounted, to the number of fourscore horsemen.

“Before the Queen arrived at Hexham, she met Sir Ralph Bowes and Sir William Aylton, with a fair company in their liveries; and in Hexham, without the gate, she was received by the abbess and her _religieuses_, bearing their cross. It was then the Bishop of Durham who handed her the cross to kiss--a ceremony which seems to have been of constant occurrence. Her bed was prepared that night at Darnton. Two miles before she drew nigh to the town, Sir William Bulmer, Sheriff of the lordship of Durham, met her in company with Sir William Ewers, and many people of honor of that country, who, in brave order, convoyed her to Darnton. At the gate of the church stood richly vested the Vicar and his folk of the church; and she was led to the manor of the Bishop of Durham to sleep that night.”

“The next noon being the 20th of July, the Queen, a mile from Durham, was encountered by Sir Richard Stanley, and my Lady his wife, with folk in their livery, on horseback, to the number of fifty; and the bride Queen prepared herself to enter the said town, very richly arrayed, in her usual manner. And all her escort attired themselves very grandly. As for the Earl of Northumberland, he wore a gown of goodly tinsel furred with ermines. He was mounted on a fair courser, his harness was of goldsmith’s work: all over ‘that same’ was sewn small bells, making a melodious noise when he moved; and he did not spare gambades. His gentlemen of honor were dressed in long jackets of orfavery, very richly wrought with his devices, as were all his folk.” In short, our Somerset Herald indubitably considered my lord of Northumberland at once the great man and the beau of the bridal escort; nor is he ever weary of describing his tinsel jackets and gold gowns, the gambades he perpetrated, or the little belles (campanes) that chimed, sweetly tuned in unison, whenever those equestrian capers were cut. He viewed this young lord with favor, perhaps, because he entertained an officer-at-arms for the especial service of his noble line, called Northumberland Herald, who gave his quaint assistance on this grand progress. My lord of Northumberland, thus replete with bells and tinsel, in the spring-time of his youth, was no other than that solemn and consequential personage whose proceedings in his old age have been so graphically described by Cavendish, who draws no very pleasant picture of my lord of Northumberland, when he nipped in the bud the passion of his son, Lord Percy, with the fair maid of honor, Anne Boleyn.

Queen Margaret lodged in the castle at Durham under the immediate protection of the Bishop; and she reposed there until the 24th of July, when commenced her journey to Newcastle. She made her toilet afresh a mile before she entered that town, in which her reception was unusually brilliant; for, besides the religious processions, with their banners and crosses upon the bridge-end-gate, were many children vested in white surplices, who sang melodious hymns, and played on instruments of divers sorts. The streets were hung with tapestry, and all the “window-loops and ship tops were full of people;” and “there were gentlemen and gentlewomen in such great numbers it was a pleasure to see. However, no artillery or ordnance was shot off”--a remarkable omission as our Herald thought. “But in state and fair array was the Queen brought to her lodging at the Friars Austin; and when she had entered, every man departed to his own dwelling.”

The festival of St. James, the patron and name-saint of Queen Margaret’s wedded lord, was very gayly celebrated at Newcastle, that 25th of July. “She abode all day in the town, and was at the church-mass nobly accompanied.”

In the evening the Earl of Northumberland treated her with a goodly banquet: all the gentry of the neighboring counties attended it. Thither came Lord Dacre of the north with a mighty train in his livery; “and there were dances, sports, and songs, with good cheer of ypocras, _sucrés_ (sweetmeats), and other meats of many delicious manners, the entertainment lasting till midnight.”

The good cheer at Newcastle detained Margaret till the 26th of July, when she again commenced her progress. She slept at Morpeth Castle on her way to Alnwick. “Two miles from that place the Earl of Northumberland brought her through his park, where she killed a buck with her bow; after which exploit her Grace was conveyed to the Castle, and was warmly welcomed by her noble host, who made her very good cheer.” Margaret remained the whole of the next day, the 28th of July, at Alnwick Castle, “herself and company well cherished,” as Somerset Herald witnesses, by the Lord of Northumberland.

The bridal train was now on the point of entering Scotland, the renowned fortress of Berwick alone intersecting their line of march. Queen Margaret’s entry therein was more than usually pompous. She was received at the Castle gate by the Lady Darcy, wife to the Captain of Berwick.

Much sweet minstrelsy, and excellent good cheer, were provided for her Grace’s reception by the Governor or Captain of Berwick. She was entertained with “courses of chase in the inclosure of the walls, and recreated with the sports of great dogs and bears tugging each other, and loud shooting of artillery,”--amusements more suitable to the warriors who kept securely the fiercely-contested stronghold of Berwick-upon-Tweed, than to a young lady in her fourteenth year.

Besides witnessing these refined entertainments, the royal train was occupied, during two days’ sojourn in Berwick, in preparations, in order to make the best possible appearance in Scotland.

At length, being rested and cleansed from the toils and stains of travel, and all attired in new garments, the northern gate of Berwick was flung open, and the bridal escort began to defile from under its grim portals into the northern kingdom.

Margaret herself sat in her litter under the Scotch gate of Berwick, while the van of the noble chivalry of the Border preceded her cortege. She was in full dress, covered with glistening apparel and sparkling gems; and the state litter, decked like an ambulating throne, was hung with its richest furniture. Her white palfrey, trapped with its gayest housings, was near her carriage, led by her master of the horse, Sir Thomas Wortley. “The captain of Berwick, and his wiff, my Lady Darcy,” were in attendance on the young Queen, as they were to accompany her to Edinburgh.

Immediately before the royal litter sat, mounted on their steeds, Johannes, the minstrel of Queen Margaret, and his companions--among whom must have been the company of players enumerated by the Herald among the officials that Princess imported into Scotland. Her chief trumpeter, Harry of Glastonbury, and his mates, headed the procession; and their notes rang high in the vigorous performance of their office, on the important occasion of ushering their Princess into the land whose throne she came to share. Then were ranked the officers-of-arms, or heralds, among whom we entreat our readers to remember that Master John Young, Somerset Herald, our faithful and pains-taking chronicler of all these picturesque circumstances, was one.

The serjeants of mace, the immediate protectors of the non-combatant part of the procession, brought up the rear of the young Queen of Scotland’s cortege, which was well guarded with English Border troopers, to the amount of two thousand men-at-arms--a force which did not often make an egress with quite such peaceful intentions through the northern gate of Berwick; but rather with the feelings excited by the favorite trumpet _mot_ of the Marches--

“And loud the warden’s war-note rang,
Oh! ‘Wha dare meddle with me?’”

The Earls of Surrey and Northumberland, with their squires and men-at-arms, having led the way through Berwick north gate--preceding the ecclesiastical processions of the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Durham--then the Lord Dacre, and the Lords Scrope, Gray, Latimer, and a great number of young nobles and squires, followed the prelates. Our Herald dwells, with characteristic unction, on the costume of these great personages, especially the silver and gold bells worn on their horse-trappings.

“All were well appointed in their devices, and displayed in their attiring cloth of gold and other rich raiment. Their horses frisked under them of their own accord. Some had silver bells, others golden bells sewn on their harness; and these little _campanes_ made a sweet chiming when they took leaps and gambades at their good pleasure.” Queen Margaret and her various attendants followed this chivalric escort through Berwick north gate, and the rear division of the Border army surrounded and guarded her equipage and those of her train. “Such,” continues our heraldic chronicler, John Young, enthusiastically, “was the fair order of the bride Queen’s entry into Scotland; and it was a joy not only to see, but to hear.”

Lammermuir was the first stage that Queen Margaret made in her new country. At Lamberton Kirk the Archbishop of Glasgow, with a grand company of Scottish nobles, were waiting to receive their Queen. But our herald, John Young, can not refrain from noting his disappointment at the absence “of gold and tinsel on their doublets, which were but made of good velvet cloth, or camlet,”--far more appropriate to the masculine character, it will be allowed, in those days.

“However, my lord the Bishop of Murray strongly did his devoir at the meeting of the Scotch and English; and there were five trumpets or clarions of the King of Scotland that blew up right merrily at the coming of the said Queen: the which melody was good to see and hear.”

“The lords, knights, and gentlemen of the English escort, defiled before the said Scotchmen, making gambades; and when the Queen followed with her procession, the Archbishop, the Bishop of Murray, and the Scottish lords advanced toward her, and there, kneeling down on the grass, made the receiving of her. There were in presence of the Queen, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Durham, and the Earl of Surrey.”

“The pavilion prepared for recreation was then opened for the Queen of Scotland. Near it stood other three officers--one for her pantry, the other for her buttery, and the third for her kitchen--ready to officiate to her Grace in their several vocations. The Queen herself was then brought in state to the pavilion arranged for her refreshment. When she came nigh to it she was helped to alight; and she was kissed by the said lords, and by them led therein, when no one entered excepting the said lords and the Queen’s ladies.” Within the pavilion was a Scottish dame of high rank clothed in scarlet, “with gentlewomen appointed after their guise, who had brought from King James, for the Queen, some new fruits.”

The officers of the royal _bouche_ made right good cheer. There was plenty of bread and wine dispensed, and every one was content. The Queen’s solemn reception by her husband’s deputation was quickly followed by the ceremonial of farewell, which she had to take of the chivalry of the English Border--her escort from Berwick north gate. Margaret mounted again on her palfrey and sat thereon, surrounded by her suite; while each commander, at the head of his troopers, defiled before her on their return to the south, each making before her his “devoir of adieu.” My lord of Northumberland, the leader of the feudal army, Lord Scrope, the elder, and Lord Dacre, with other lords, took of her their _congé_, and departed for England with many leaps and gambades, and feats of noble horsemanship. Above a thousand of the chivalry of the Scottish Marches came instead, to guard the person of the Queen. Thus escorted, Queen Margaret quitted the church of the great sheep-feeding plain of Scotland.

Lamberton Kirk is now a melancholy ruin, surrounded by dismal trees. Tradition affirms that Margaret and James were married there, and that, as the parish priest made a dispensation of banns in their case, the King gave the like privilege to every one else. But tradition has mistaken the place of the royal meeting.

The Somerset Herald’s narrative thus proceeds:--“That afternoon’s stage[63] led to Fastcastle, where she was destined to bedward. Her train was lodged in the Abbey of Coldingham, but the Queen herself passed the first night of her arrival in her new dominions in one of the most extraordinary fortresses in the island”--for such was Fastcastle, which in part belonged to her own dower settlement.

In those days of semi-civilization, it was a breach of etiquette, as it is now among the Orientals and the North American Indians, for exalted personages to testify surprise at any thing unusual which presented itself before their eyes; therefore it can not be expected that Margaret’s herald chronicler should mention her natural astonishment at the romantic scene which now opened to her view. Yet, reared as she had been among the soft meads of Shene, and never accustomed to raise her eyes to higher ground than Richmond Hill, she must have been struck with her progress through the bold defile of Cockburnspath, anciently Colbrand the giant’s path--for it is connected with the earliest superstitions of the island. Royal letters in those days were devoted to other purposes than recording impressions of the beauties of nature; no trace of any such feeling can be found in Margaret Tudor’s innumerable epistles. Still her eyes must have rested, as ours have done, on the wild and wondrous scenery through which she was brought “to bedward” that night.

Fastcastle is no other than the veritable Wolf-Crag Tower, celebrated in Scott’s _Bride of Lammermoor_ as the abode of the Master of Ravenswood. It is seated on a lofty promontory, which commands the lonely indented bay of which St. Abb’s Head forms the extreme point to the right, with a wild array of rifted rocks terminating in the Wolf-Crag, which soars high in mid air above the fortress--black, gloomy, and inaccessible. The way by which the southern bride and her company reached this rugged resting-place lay across the Lammermuir, several miles of wild heath and treacherous bog, which no stranger might traverse in safety without guides well acquainted with the track. Before they entered on this pass, they had to descend a hill which was so steep and precipitous that, even within the last century, it was customary for the passengers by the mail-coach between Berwick and Edinburgh to alight and cross it on foot, while the carriage was taken off the wheels and carried over by a relay of men, stationed on the spot for that purpose. Of course the roads were not better in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Fastcastle is approached by one or two descents and ascents of this kind, and is separated from the mainland by a cleft between the rocks, which has to be crossed by a natural bridge formed of a ledge of rock, without rail or guard, with the vexed billows boiling and thundering sixty feet below.

When the young Tudor Queen made her passage across this Al Arat of the Caledonian coast, she had the German Ocean before her, which beats against the rocky battlements and defenses with which the basement of the castle is surrounded. One of these masses resembles the upturned keel of a huge man-of-war stranded among other fragments, which, like the relics of a former world, lay scattered at the foot of the precipice, with the wild breakers rushing through their clefts, forming a grand _jet-d’eau_, and tossing the light feathery foam on high. The larger rocks are the haunt of innumerable sea-birds. Fastcastle had formerly been the stronghold of some of those ferocious feudal pirates who may be regarded as the buccaneers of the Caledonian coast. Many a bloody deed had been perpetrated within its isolated and inaccessible circuit; but the festive solemnities and ceremonials that surrounded the royal bride allowed no leisure or opportunity for whispers of the dark tales and romantic traditions connected with its history. Thoroughly tired must she have been with her long journey, and the onerous task of playing the Queen, instead of tossing her ball and joining in the loud laughter and jocund sports of the companions of that gay and happy childhood, from which she had suddenly been compelled to step into the more than womanly cares and responsibilities of a crowned head in a land of strangers.

Lord and Lady Home, the castellan and castellaine of Fastcastle, received the young Queen with the utmost homage. The lady was connected with Margaret’s after-life, when she traversed this district again.

With the morning light Margaret rejoined her escort at Coldingham. It appears that, as she proceeded further into Scotland, pioneers preceded her on her progress, leveling and smoothing roads to facilitate the advance of her little army. At least such seems the import of the quaint words of Master Young, Somerset Herald--“And through the country, in some places, were made by force ways for the Queen’s carriages.”

“Great numbers of people,” he adds, “assembled to see their Queen, and lined the wayside where we passed. They brought with them plenty of drink, and served with it every one that wished for it, if so be that person was willing to pay for the same.”[64]

On the road to Haddington the royal cortege left the strong fortress of Dunbar to the right, nevertheless it saluted as the Queen passed, and “shot off loud ordnance for the love of her.”[65]

As the evening of August 2d closed in, Queen Margaret and her ladies were received at the gate of the convent of nuns near Haddington, by the Abbess and her holy sisterhood. Of course the lords and gentles of the royal escort had to seek another abiding-place; they slept at the Gray Friars of Haddington. Great satisfaction is expressed in the Herald’s Journal at the good cheer the bridal train had had from both communities. Early on August 3d, Queen Margaret and her people were all astir; the procession being put in fair order, they passed through the town of Haddington to the admiration of all beholders.

The castle of Acquick, or Acqueth,[66] not far from Edinburgh, was to be the place of their noontide meal. It was the residence of the Earl of Morton, one of the greatest nobles of Scotland; and as they were to learn there the plans of the King of Scotland for future arrangements, it was felt that their personal appointments ought to be cared for, and rendered proof against critical inspection. The whole caravanserai, therefore, came to a halt by the wayside, half a mile from Dalkeith. The ladies held a cabinet-council round the royal litter, and finally they equipped their little Queen in a new fresh dress, which they deemed very magnificent. Every body likewise dressed, and set themselves off to the best advantage, and then took their appointed places. At last the whole cortege moved forward toward Dalkeith Palace gates, where their reception was very solemn indeed.

The Earl of Morton, attended by many gentlemen, was standing at the castle gateway. When the Queen arrived he welcomed her “as lady and mistress,” presenting her at the same time with the keys of the castle. Between the two gateways of the quadrangle stood Lady Morton, the castellaine of Dalkeith, surrounded by a number of ladies and gentlemen. The whole group knelt down as their Queen approached, who very graciously went to the Lady Morton, raised her up, and kissed her.

The Queen was conducted by Lady Morton in grand state to her suite of apartments within the castle, where every thing was in fair array, although the building was a strong place, meant for purposes of defense.[67]

Scarcely was the royal bride in possession of her chamber and withdrawing-room, when a hurrying sound in the quadrangle announced that some unexpected event had happened. The tumult ran through the castle, till it reached the ante-room of the royal suite, where the cry soon greeted the ear of Margaret--“The King, the King of Scotland has arrived!”