Tales and Legends of the English Lakes Part 9

Another ballad, equally celebrated, though not so beautiful, also relates to King Arthur's residence at Carlisle, and to the truth of the imputation cast upon Queen Guinevere by the "grimme barne" of the last story. It is ent.i.tled "The Boy and the Mantle," commencing somewhat uncouthly:--

In the third day of May, To Carleile did come A kind curteous child That cold much of wisdome.

This "child" brings that wondrous mantle which no lady who is not chaste can wear; and it is tried upon all the dames of the court. When Queen Guinevere put it on, it was suddenly rent from the top to the bottom, and turned in succession all manner of colours, and is told as follows:--

G.o.d speed thee, king Arthur, Sitting at thy meate; And the goodly queene Guinevere, I cannott her forgett.

I tell you, lords, in this hall; I bid you all to "heede;"

Except you be the more surer Is you for to dread.

He plucked out of his "porterner,"

And longer wold not dwell, He pulled forth a pretty mantle, Betweene two nut-sh.e.l.ls.

Have thou here, king Arthur; Have thou here of mee, Give itt to thy comely queene Shapen as itt is alreadye.

Itt shall never become that wiffe, That hath once done amisse.

Then every knight in the king's court Began to care for "his."

Forth came dame Guinevere; To the mantle shee her "hied;"

The ladye shee was newfangle, But yett she was affrayd.

When she had taken the mantle; She stoode as shee had beene madd; It was from the top to the toe As sheeres had itt shread.

One while was it "gule;"

Another while was itt greene; Another while was it wadded: Ill itt did her beseeme.

Another while was it blacke And bore the worst hue: By my troth, quoth king Arthur, I thinke thou be not true.

She threw down the mantle, That bright was of blee; Fast, with a rudd redd, To her chamber can shee flee.

She curst the weaver, and the walker That clothe that had wrought; And bade a vengeance on his crowne, That hither had it broughte.

The lady of Sir Kay, another of King Arthur's knights, tries it on with no better success; and the ballad thus corroborates the old traditions reported by the earliest historians, that the court of the British King was anything but a pure one, "and that Queen Guinevere was noted for breach of faith to her husband," especially with her husband's friend, Sir Lancelot du Lake, the hero himself of many a goodly ballad; and of some pa.s.sages in the Morte Arthur.

Mixing the real with the fabulous history of Carlisle, and taking both in chronological order, we must leave these ancient ballads to relate that, during the period of the British Kings, Carlisle suffered from the incursions of the Scots and Picts, by whom it was ultimately reduced to ruins; it was rebuilt by Egfrid, King of Northumberland, who surrounded and fortified it with a wall; founded a monastery and a college of secular priests. It was once more destroyed by the Danes, about the year 900, who threw down the walls, burned its houses, chiefly built of wood, and killed every person in it, man, woman, and child. It remained in ruins, it is believed, for nearly 200 years. On the return of William Rufus from Alnwick, after concluding a peace with the turbulent Scotch, he pa.s.sed over the remains of this once celebrated city, and observing that it must have been a place of great strength, and could be made so again, he resolved to rebuild it for the protection of the border. He did so: and Carlisle became of more importance than it had ever been before. Its castle was built and garrisoned; and every means taken to render it a stronghold both for offensive and defensive warfare. Henry the First completed what Rufus had so well begun, erected Carlisle into an Episcopal see in the year 1132, making Athelwold, his confessor, the first bishop.

In Evans's Collection of Old Ballads is one relating to a bishop of Carlisle at this early period. It is ent.i.tled "Bishop Thurston and the King of Scots," and contains some beautiful pa.s.sages which render it worthy of all the publicity that can be given to it; especially as the whole composition inculcates sentiments of abhorrence for warfare, rare at the time it was penned, but now, happily, in the ascendant. Soon after King Stephen's departure for Normandy, A.D. 1137, the King of Scotland entered England in a hostile manner. Stephen's Government was not in a position to resist an invasion at that time; and the miseries of war were averted by the interposition of the venerable Bishop Thurston, who prevailed upon the Scotch King to meet him at Roxburgh, and used such arguments as induced him to return to his own country in peace. They are said to have been arguments of Christian charity, and not the arguments of policy and the sword, which bishops as well as barons could use in those days. A few stanzas will show the excellent spirit of the ballad.

Through the fair country of Tiviotdale King David marched forth; King David and his princely son, The heroes of the North.

And holy Thurston fro' merry Carlisle, In haste his way doth wind, With many a cross-bearer before, And many a knight behind.

The arguments used by the bishop to dissuade the invader are of universal interest, and as applicable now as then:--

Out then spoke the holy Thurston, And full of woe spake he, "O Christ, thy kingdom of heavenly bliss, Alas, when shall we see!

For here on earth is nought but sin, And kings for pride do ill, And when they with each other war The poor folks blood must spill.

What hath the husbandman done wrong That he must spoil his grain?

What the poor widow, and what the child, That they must all be slain?

And what is the simple maid to blame To be made of l.u.s.t the prey?

And what the lowly village priest That they so oft do slay?

And when the doleful day of doom Shall call ye from the grave, From the crying blood of these innocents What tyrants shall ye save?

Now think thee well, O mortal King, And thy misdeeds bemoan, And think what will save thy hapless soul, When all thy pomp is gone.

Nor fancy that alms will save thy soul, Though bounteous they be given; Nor the rearing of abbeys all rich endowed Will carry thy soul to heaven."

From the time of Henry I. the place began to prosper, though it appears from Stowe that, in 1829, a great portion of it was burned down. In the year 1300, King Edward I. summoned his barons and knights to meet him here on the feast-day of St. John the Baptist, to prepare for the invasion of Scotland; which was afterwards commenced by the siege of Carlaverock castle. The same monarch also summoned a Parliament to meet here in the year 1307, the last parliament of his reign. A complete list of the members who attended is to be found in Stowe's _Annals_, including, says the historian, "eighty-seven earls and barons, twenty bishops, sixty-one abbots, and eight priors, besides many deacons, archdeacons and other inferior clerks. The subject of their deliberations was the Scottish war, and the sore annoyance given by Robert Bruce. The King remained here from January, when the Parliament was summoned, during all the winter and summer, disposing of many things concerning Scotland at his pleasure," but vexing himself to death at his inability, from sickness and other causes, to march against Robert Bruce. He had some revenge, however, for a party of his men "capturing one Thomas, that was a knight, and one Alexander, that was a priest and dean of Glasgow," who had been sent by Robert Bruce to "allure away the English people by gentle persuasion;" he had them summarily hanged, drawn, and quartered, and placed their heads upon the gates of Carlisle--those gates where the heads of so many Scotchmen were afterwards to grin in ghastly horror until 1745.

Among the poetical and historical a.s.sociations connected with Carlisle, the famous battle of Otterbourne, and the still more famous ballad which celebrates it, must not be omitted. In the twelfth year of Richard II., A.D. 1388, the Scotch made a great raid over the border, and ravaged the whole country about Carlisle, driving away large quant.i.ties of cattle, and taking no less than 300 men prisoners. Another division of them extended their ravages into the counties of Northumberland and Durham; and grew so insolent as to render a vigorous effort necessary to crush them, on the part of the English.

It fell about the Lammas tide When yoemen win their hay, The doughty Dougla.s.s 'gan to ride In England to take a prey.

The Earl of Fife withoute strife _He bound him over Solway_.

The great wolde even together ride The race they may rue for aye.

The version of the ballad, as given by Percy, is the only one of the many versions extant which makes allusion to the party that ravaged Carlisle. The main interest is centred around Newcastle, and on the doings of the other division of the Scotch. There is, however, another ballad of which Carlisle is more exclusively the theme. It is somewhat less known to the English reader, not being found in Percy's _Reliques_; and describes a scene which was very common to the border for a long period. Mr. Gilbert has ill.u.s.trated it by a picturesque sketch. The princ.i.p.al portions of this ballad, sufficient to tell the story, are here transcribed. In the year 1596, William Armstrong, of Kinmont, better known as Kinmont Willie, a noted reiver, or border trooper, and stealer of Englishmen's cattle, was taken prisoner by Lord Scrope, the Warden of the Western Marches, and safely lodged in Carlisle Castle. A truce existed at the time between Lord Scrope and the Lord of Buccleugh, who severally watched over the interests of the English and Scottish sides of the border; and the Lord of Buccleugh, incensed that the truce had been broken by the capture of Willie, demanded that he should be set at liberty. Lord Scrope refused; and the Lord of Buccleugh, with a small body of two hundred men, performed the daring feat of surprising the castle of Carlisle, and rescuing his countryman. The "fause Sakelde,"

alluded to in the ballad, was the then possessor of Corby castle, and sheriff of c.u.mberland--the chief of the powerful family of the Salkeldes; and "Hairibee" was the slang phrase for the place of execution at Carlisle.

KINMONT WILLIE.

O have ye na heard o' the fause Sakelde, O have ye na heard o' the keen Lord Scrope, How they have taken bold Kinmont Willie On Hairibee to hang him up?

Had Willie had but twenty men-- But twenty men as stout as he, Fause Sakelde had never the Kinmont ta'en Wi' eight score in his company.

They bound his legs beneath the steed, They tied his hands behind his back, They guarded him, five score on each side, And brought him over the Liddel-rack.

They led him through the Liddel-rack, And also through the Carlisle sands, They brought him to Carlisle Castell To be at my Lord Scrope's commands.

Now word is gone to the bold keeper In Branksome hall where that he lay, That Lord Scrope had taken Kinmont Willie Between the hours of night and day.

He struck the table with his hand, He made the red wine spring on hie-- "Now Christ's curse on my head," he said, "But avenged on Lord Scrope I will be.

"O is my helmet a widow's cap, Or my lance a wand of the willow tree?

Or my arm a lady's lily hand, That an English Lord should lightly me?

"And have they taken him, Kinmont Willie, Against the truce of Border tide?

And forgotten that the bold Buccleugh Is keeper here on the Scottish side?

"And have they taken him, Kinmont Willie, Withouten either dread or fear, And forgotten that the bold Buccleugh, Can back a steed and shake a spear?

"O were there war between the lands, As well as I wot that there is none, I would slight Carlisle Castell high, Though it were builded of marble stone.

"I would set that Castell in a low, And sloken it with English blood, There's never a man in c.u.mberland Should tell where Carlisle Castell stood.