SIR TRISTREM; A METRICAL ROMANCE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. BY THOMAS OF ERCELDOUNE, CALLED THE RHYMER. EDITED FROM THE AUCHINLECK MS. Now, hold your mouth, pour charitie, Both Knight and Lady fre, And herkneth to my spell; Of battaille and of chivalrie, Of Ladie's love and druerie, Anon I wol you tel.-CHAUCER. ADVERTISEMENT. day. De Brunne mentions "enterlacée." This means evidently "couplets interlaced,"-an exact description of ten lines out of eleven in every stanza of Sir Tristrem. [Ir is to be regretted that Sir Walter Scott has left no answer | Among the sorts of verso fashionable with the minstrels of his to an elaborate dissertation on his preface to Sir Tristrem, which was appended to the first volume of the octavo edition of Warton's History of English Poetry, published in 1824. It is probable that this very valuable book, being put forth without the name of the Editor, or any distinct announcement of what his researches had added to the original narrative of Warton, had never attracted Sir Walter's notice. There is no copy of it in the Library at Abbotsford. The writer in question. (Mr. Price,) expresses his opinion, 1st, That the peculiarities of style and language in the Sir Tristrem of the Auchinleck MS., are of such a character as to render it extremely doubtful that they are the same which are spoken of in the often quoted passage of De Brunne, "I see in song of sedgeing tale Of Erceldoune," &c. ; adly. That the story of Tristrem was universally known over the continent of Europe previous to the age of Thomas of Erceldoune ; and that, consequently, he was more likely, if he wrote a poem on the subject, to have followed a foreign authority, than to have been himself appealed to, as an authority, by foreigners handling the same theme at a later period 3dly, That the Thomas of the French fragment cited by Sir Walter Scott, Thomas ico granter ne vult, &c. and the Thomas von Britanie mentioned by Godfrey of Strasburg, wrote in Norman French; 4thly. That there is no trace of Sestak phraseology in the Sir Tristrem edited and concluded by Sir Walter Scott: and finally, That Sir Walter Scott has wholly faded to prove any connexion between this romance and the Rhy mer of Erceldoune. It would have been improper to lay Sir Tristrem again before the world without any allusion to this learned writer's dissertation; but the present Editor must be contented with offering a very few remarks on it. It appears to him that Sir Walter Scott's own preface and appendiers contained sufficient evidence that the story of Tristrem had been popular both in French and in German, at least as early as the period of Thomas of Ereeldoune; and before Warton's Editor published his essay, a fact more curious than any that he has brought to light on this subject had been ascertained-the existence, namely, of a romance of Tristrem in Greek versus polinci of the thirteenth century.* The Essayist seems to have been successful in the establishment of his second and third positions. He adduces, it must be admitted, distinet proof that there existed a "Chronicle of Cornwal by Thomas of Brittany," to which ancient German romancets were in the custom of appealing with reference to the heroes of the Round Table; and as Godfrey of Strasburg often quotes the French words of his " Thomas von Britanie," it is scarcely to be doubted that he drew from this Chronicle. These circumstances, however, though they may deprive Thomas the Rhymer of the early European celebrity which Sir Walter Scott claimed for him, and of course be held fatal to the notion that the Auchinleck MS. contains the original of all the Tristem romances, seem to have but a slender bearing on the estion as to the authorship of the poem edited by Sir Walter Scott. That Thomas of Erceldoune was well known in Eng land as a romance writer, is established beyond all doubt by the words of De Brunne, "Tee in song of sedgeing tale and that he is the Thomas who framed that "sedgeing tale," (story for recitation) of Tristrem, which had "the steem over gestes." appears to be hardly less certain. Assuredly that "Thomas" could never have been the Breton Chronicler of Cornwall, so favoured by Warton's Editor; since De Brunne introduces his name for the express purpose of adverting to the quaintness of his Eng Ligh the but in stanzas. But, according to this writer, the language and versification of Sir Tristrem" edited by Sir Walter Scott do not correspond with De Brinne's description of the romance that had the steem." over gestes Its English is not more quaint than that of De Brunne himself; it contains no names more selcouth than he himself is in the custom of introducing; and the complaint that careless reciters were apt to omit one member of almost every copple, could never apply to a poem composed, not in couplets, To this it may be answered, that Sir Walter Scott, from the first, expressed his conviction that the Rhymer's Sir Tristrem had passed orally through several hands," and been consequently greatly modified as to language, before it was committed to writing atal: that selenuth names, as well as quaint Inglis may in the course of this process, have disappeard-most probably did so other persons who recited the tale endeavouring to render it intelligible to the lewed man," by adopting the example of De Brinne, as desented by himself: and that even if it were proved that copple in De Brunne's language could mean nothing but couplet, it by no means follows that the Tristrem of the Auchinleck MS. could not be talked of as containing copples liable to mutilation. • See Von der Hagen's " Monumenta mediiæ vi, plerumque inedita." 1821. 2 E has in it nothing distinctively Scottish-this is a point on which Erceldoune in the first stanza of Sir Tristrem was rash, and at- On the whole, though this critic appears to have overthrown one part of Sir Walter Scott's preface-that in which he claimed for the Rhymer of Erceldoune certain French and German citations, belonging of right, as it now turns out, to a Chronicler of Bretagne-and disturbs a few incidental statements and views of less importance, it leaves the question as to the authorship of the Auchinleck Sir Tristrem very much as Sir Walter Scott himself had left it. How attentively he had studied the language and versification of this ancient poem, is proved by the exquisite imitation of it in Fytte the Third, which gives it a right to a place among his poetical works. It was, at one time, his intention to execute a series of imitations of the chief Scottish poets subsequent to Thomas of Erceldoune, and prior to Allan Ramsay, thus presenting a complete view of the history of the language, to which the Waverley Novels have since, in a great measure, restored its original cha racter of Inglis." Sir Tristrem was reviewed in the Edinburgh Review for 1804, by the late accomplished antiquary. Mr. George Ellis. The following is an extract:-" Upon the whole, we are much disposed to adopt the general inferences drawn by Mr. Scott from his authorities, and have great pleasure in bearing testimony to the very uncommon diligence which he has evinced in collecting curious materials, and to the taste and sagacity with which he has employed them. With regard to the notes they contain an almost infinite variety of curious information, which had been hitherto unknown or unnoticed; and we are persuaded, that they would afford much amusement even to those readers who may be too indolent to derive any from the superannuated poetry of Thomas of Ercildoune." An article in the Annual Review for 1804 was not less favoura- "Oh! long shall Scotland sound with Rhymer's name, His harp shall ring with wo, and all the land shall weep ;" the Reviewer proceeds as follows:-"If this hiding place could be discovered, many are the curious points of history and romance who sleep, and have long slept, in a den under the cliff of Ocean, which true Thomas could elucidate. Is he one of the seven men in the uttermost parts of Germany, where there is snow all the summer time, and in the winter, though men see the light of the sun, yet the sun is not seen! All men may see them there; they are sound in body; their colour is not changed; neither do their garments wax old; and therefore the people have them in great wor ship and reverence. A covetous wretch once attempted to strip one of them of his clothing, and his impious arm was dried up in the attempt. Or is he in the cavern under the roots of the hazeltree on Craig y Dinas, where King Arthur and all his knights are lying asleep in a circle; their heads outward; every one in his This line is copied at the upper-part of the facsimile of the Auchinleck MS which is given at page 258. The line runs thus: "Y was at Ertheldoun." armour, his sword and shield and spear by him; ready to be taken up whenever the Black Eagle and the Golden Eagle shall go to war, and make the earth tremble with their affray; so that the cavern shall be shaken, and the bell ring, and the sleepers be awakened and come forth? Till, however, the Prophet of Ercildoune can be found, that he may give an account of himself, we must be contented with such of his works as remain, and such scanty information respecting him as can be gleaned from old authors and contemporary records. He has been peculiarly fortunate to remain for so many centuries the favourite of his countrymen, and have his genuine remains elucidated by an Editor so eminently qualified for the task, by his peculiar taste, and talents, and erudition." Sir Walter Scott, in his Introduction, has made particular men tion of the charter of Peter de Haga, or Haig of Bemerside, to which Thomas Rimour de Ercildun, among others, is a witness. The original charter was recently discovered in the General Register House, Edinburgh, when a transcript of it was obligingly com municated to Sir Walter Scott, by Mr. Macdonald, of that admirable establishment. The charter, unfortunately, like the copy of it contained in the Melrose Chartulary, has no date, but from the hand writing and other circumstances, it may be assigned to the reign of Alexander the Third; and as an interesting document, it is therefore subjoined to this advertisement. It is only further necessary to state, that in the present edition, the text of Sir Tristrem has been carefully collated with the Au chinleck MS. Carta Petri de Haga Domini de Bemerside de Petra Cere. OMNIBUS hoc scriptum visuris vel audituris Petrus de Haga dominus de Bemerside salutem in domino Noveritis universi quod cum olim convenissem cum viris religiosis Abbate et Conventu de Melros pro quibusdam transgressionibus eisdem per me et meos il· latis quod eisdem singulis annis ego et heredes mei decem salmo | nes quinque videlicet recentes et quinque veteres in perpetuum solveremus; Tandem iidem religiosi pietate ducti perpenderunt hoc esse in exheredacione mei et heredum meorum mediantibus viris bonis consenciente et concedente Johanne filio et herede meo cum dictis Abbate et Conventu taliter conveni, scilicet quod ego et heredes mei tenemur et presenti scripto in perpetuum obligamur ipsis Abbati et Conventui solvere singulis annis dimidiam petram Cere bone et pacabilis ad capellam Sancti Cuthberti de veteri Melros die beati Cuthberti in quadragesima, vel triginta denarios sub pena triginta denariorum singulis mensibus solvendorum ad luminare dicte Capelle, quibus in solucione dicte cere aut inginta denariorum predictorum fuerit cessatum post diem et ter minum memoratos; Subiciendo me et heredes meos jurisdictioni et potestati domini Episcopi Sancti Andree qui pro tempore fuent ut me et heredes meos per censuram ecclesiasticam qualemcumque possit compellere ad solucionem dicte cere aut triginta denariorum predictorum unacum pena si commutatur, Renunciando pro me et heredibus meis in hoc facto omni actioni defensioni et excepcioni et omnium legum auxilio canonici et civilis, beneficio restitucionis in integrum et omnibus aliis que michi et heredibus meis prodesse poterunt in hoc facto, et dictis Abbati et Conventui obesse quo minus solucio fieri valeat dicte cere aut triginta denariorum predictorum una cum pena si commutatur. In cuius rei testimonium presenti scripto sigillum meum una cum sigillo domini Oliueri tunc Abbatis de Driburg est appensum TESTIBUS DOmino Oliuero Abbate de Driburg domino Wilhelmo de Burndun milite Hugone de Perisbi tunc vicecomite de Rokisburg Willielmo de Haiteley Thoma Rimor de Ercildun et aliis. From the Original preserved in the General Register House-to which the Seals of the Laird of Bemerside, and of the Abbot of Dryburgh, still remain attached, but shghtly broken.] July, 1833. INTRODUCTION. THE Romance of Sir Tristrem was composed by THOMAS of ERCELDOUNE, called the RHYMER, who flourished in the 13th century The only copy, known to exist, is contained in a large and valuable collection of Metrical Romances, belonging to the Library of the Facuity of Advocates, and called, from its donor, the Aucrunleek MS. A correct edition of this ancient and curi-lary, i. e. 1189, de Haga must then probably have been twenty years ous poem is now submitted to the public. This prefatory memoir is designed to contain, 1. Sme account of Thomas of Erceldoune ; IL History of the romance of Sir Tristrem; III Observations on the copy now published. I THOMAS OF ERCELDOUNE derived his territorial appellation from the village of Erceldoune, in the Merse, or county of Ber wick, situated on the river Leader, about two miles above its junction with the Tweed. It appears that this small village was once a place of some importance, and, at least occasionally, honoured with the royal residence. The foundation charter of Melrose Abbey, granted by King David I., dated June, 1136, is subscribed at Erch: ldun.* The confirmatory charter of the same abbey granted in 1143 by Prince Henry, son to David, is dated at Erched-HUTCHINSON, vol. i. Append. p. iii. The family of Lindket appears anciently to have had an interest in Erceldoune; for among the charters granted to the abbey of Coldingham, and preserved in the archives at Durham, occurs Carta Withemi Lanseta de Ecclesia de Ercheldoun, dated in the time of David L., or Malcolm IV., his successor.-NICOLSON'S Scottish Historical Library, App. No. vii. The Earls of March were afterwards Lords of Erceldoune, where they had a strong hold, called the Earl's tower. It-tood at the east end of the village, but is now demolished. From this circumstance the original name of Ercheldon, or Erceldoune, has been corrupted into the modern appeilation of Earlstoun. In a tower at the western extremity of this village, the ruins of which are still shown, after the lapse of seven centuries, dwelt Thomas of Erceldoune, the earliest Scottish poet. Of his history It is rather surprising that we should know so much, than so little, considering that he seems only to have been distinguished for his talects and for that supposed prophetic skill, which all barbarous ages have judged an attribute of the poetical character. We stumble, however, at the very threshold of our inquiry. All later writers have affirmed, that our author bore the family name of Learmont; and it must be owned that an unvarying tra dition corresponds to their assertion. Nevertheless, the ingenious Mr. David Macpherson, and other modern antiquaries have been led to doubt whether Thomas ever bore any other appellation than his territorial designation of Erceldoune, and the personal epithet of Rhymer, acquired, probably, by his poetical fame. In a charter, presently to be quoted, he is called Thomas Rhymer de Ercelduin; in another, granted by his son, Thomas Rhymer de Erceldon. Robert de Brunne, Fordun, Barbour, and Wintoun, term him simply Thomas of Erceldoun; and Henry the Minstrel, Thomas the Rhymer. From this concurrence of the more ancient authorities, there seems no foundation for believing that Learmont was the family name of the prophetic bard. Mr. Macpherson supposes, that Toomas, or his predecessor, had married an heiress of the family of Learmont, and so occasioned this error. It may also have ansen from some family of that name tracing their descent from him by the female side. Surnames were not become hereditary and unalienable in the days of Alexander III Besides those which arose from the place of abode, an individual might have a name derived from his person, his talents, or his office, and all these might be combined with the name of his sept. or clan. But these personal appellations only descended to their posterity in so far as they corresponded with their circumstances. Thus, in the charter granted by Thomas's son to the convent of Soltre, he calls his father Thomas Rymour de Erceldoune, but himself only Thomas de Erceldoune. The reason of the difference is obvious-he had succeeded to the lands of Erceldoune, but not to the poetical talents of the Rhymer. By alienating the lands to the convent, the son of our poet would cease to be even Thomas of Erceldoune; and it seems no improbable conjecture, that he might then, for some reason, adopt the surname of Learmont. But we may distinctly conelade the name of the bard to have been Thomas, called, from his property, de Erceldoune, from his works. the Rhymer. The time in which the Rhymer flourished may be ascertained with some plausibdity. He was witness to a charter granted by Petrus de See facsimde in Anderson's Diplomata, tab. xiv., procured from EdWard Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, and another in Hutchinson's View of Northumberland, vol. i. Append. p. ii. la removing and arranging some ancient papers, lodged in the offices of the Clerks of Session, the following genealogical memoir was diecovered, among many writings belonging to the family of Learmonth of Balcony, which is now extinct. It is in a band of the seventeenth century; and, if the writer was correct in his reference to the contract of marriage, may be considered as throwing BCS light upon the Rhymer's name and lineage: "The genealogy of the honourable and ancient Sirname of Leirmont. "Lermont bears Or, on a chevron S, three mascles voided of the first; the name is from France. The chief of the name was the Laird of Ervilmont in the Mere, whose predecessor, Thomas Leirmonth (lived] in the reigne of K Alex ader II. He foretold his death. One of whose soris married Janet de Darsie, and bed the lands of Darsie, in Fyfe, be that marriage; the contract is yet extant, coufrued be the King. The house of Darsie bear a rose in base for difference. It is now extinct; only Leirmont of Balcomie, in Fyfe, is chief now; whose prodecor was master of howshold to King James IV. His predecessor was the eldest son of Daire, and took to himselfe the estate of Balcomie, leaving Darste to the second brother. Upon this account, Baleomie is holden of the Haga de Bemersyde, which unfortunately wants a date; but Petrus de Haga was himself a witness to another charter, by which Kichard de Moreville, constable of Scotland, granted certain serfs to Henry St. Clair. Moreville was constable from 1162 to 1189. Supposing the charter dated in the last year of Moreville's constabu old, in order to be a witness. If we suppose de Haga attained the age of seventy, and that the charter, to which the Rhymer was a witness, was granted in the last year of his life, its date must be 1239. Assuming, therefore, the poet to have been twenty when he witnessed that charter, his birth will be fixed to 1219. Thomas the Rhymer was certainly alive, and in the zenith of his prophetic reputation, at the death of Alexander III. in 1286. On the other hand, he must have been dead before 1299, the date of the charter, in which his son calls himself Filius et hæres Thoma Rymour de Erceldon, and, in that capacity, conveys to the Trinity House of Soltre all the lands which he held by inheritance (hereditarie tenui) in the village of Erceldoune. If the father had been alive, this family property could not have been disposed of by the son, without his concurrence. We may, therefore, with some confi dence, place the death of Thomas the Rhymer betwixt 1286 and 1999; and, if we may believe the testimony of Henry the Minstrel, he must have survived 1296, in which year Wallace took arms, and died within three years after. According to the above calculation, he must then have been near eighty years old. Supposing him to have composed the romance of Sir Tristrem about the age of thirty, the date of the composition will be about 1250. Such was the reasoning which the Editor had founded upon the few facts which history and ancient records afford concerning the Rhymer.-But another authority, pointed out by Mr. Henry Weber, seems scarcely reconcilable to the above hypothesis, and gives ground for assigning a date considerably more ancient to the Romance of Thomas of Erceldoune. There is a German romance of Sir Tristrem, written by Gotfried of Strasburgh, who repeatedly quotes Thomas of Eritannia as his authority. Now, Gotfried of Strasburgh is believed to have flourished about 1232; in which case, if Thomas of Britannia be the same with the Rhymer, (which will hardly bear a doubt,) his romance must have been composed as early at least as 1220, for twelve years is but a very moderate space for its travelling to Germany. Under this supposition, the Rhymer must have been born about the end of the twelfth century; and, as he certainly survived 1286, his life must have been extended to ninety years and upwards. The anecdotes which have been transmitted to our time, concerning Thomas the Rhymer, are partly historical, and partly preserved by tradition. They relate principally to his prophetic charac ter; for it is only to Robert de Brunne that we owe the preservation of his poetic fame. The most noted instance of prediction regards the death of Alexander III., and is thus narrated by Fordun: Annon recordaris quid ille vates ruralis, Thomas videlicet de Ersildon, nocte præcedenti mortem regis Alexandri, in castro de Dunbar, obscure prophetando de occasu ejus, dixerat Comiti Marchiarum interroganti ab eo, ut solitus, quasi jocando, quid altera dies futura novi esset paritura? Qui Thomas, attrahens de imo cordis singultuosum suspirium, sic fertur Comiti, coram aulicis, plane protulisse: Heu diei crastina! diei calamitatis et misere! quia ante horam explicitè duodecimam audietur tam vehemens ventus in Scotia, quod a magnis retroactis temporibus consimilis minime inveniebatur. Cujus quidem flatus obstupescere faciet gentes, stupidos reddet audientes, excelsa humiliabit, et rigida solo complanabit. Propter cujus seria affamina comes cum aulicis crastinum observantes, et horas diei usque ad nonain considerantes, et nullum vestigium in nubibus vel signis ventosis cœli auspi cantes, Thomam tanquam insensatum reputantes, ad prandium properarunt. Ubi dum comite vix mensæ collocato, et signo horologii ad meridianam horam fere approximato, affuit quidam ad portam, et, importunis pulsibus aures comitis concutiens, aditum sibi ocius fieri flagitavit. Intromissus igitur advena, et de novis impetitus,- Nova,' inquit, habeo sed nocivs, toti regno Scotia deflenda, quia inclitus, heu! rex ejus finem præsentis vitæ hesterna nocte apud Kingorn sortitus est, et hæc veni nunciare tibi.' Ad hane narrationem, quasi de gravi sono excitatus, comes una cum familiaribus tutiderunt pectora, et dicti Thomæ experti sunt credibilia nimis facta fore vaticina."-FORDUNI Scott Chronicon, lib. x. c. 43. is said, the day afore the kiagis deith, the Erle of Merche deman Bocce, as translated by Bellenden, gives us the same story. "It dit ane propheit, mamit Thomas Rimour, othirwayis namit Ersil. toun, quhat weddir suld be on the morow. To qubome answerit this Thomas, That on the morow afore noun, sall blaw the gretest wynd that ever was hard afore in Scotland. On the morrow, King, and Dairsis of the Archbishop of St. Andrewa; so Balcomie bears the simple coat without the rose in base, since the distinction of Dairsie. They have been famous, learned, good, and great; It must not, however, be appreesed, that Rymer actually existed as a proper name in the Merse at this time; for John Rymour, a freeholder of Berwickahire, occurs among those who did homage to Edward 1., in 1296. See this charter, printed from the original, recently discovered, at page 242 Advertisement. The Rhymer appears not to have possessed the whole of Erceldoune; for Adam Le Feure de Ercekloune did homage to Edward in 1296. Thomas the Rhymer himself does not appear in Ragman-Roll. Perhaps he was dead, and his son under age; or it may be that he held his estate of the Earl of Dunbar. |