Thomas of Erceldoune

“ That King hall deal and part all the broad lands,
To Bruce's blood, and other bold knights,
That shall go with the way to the reigning of Christ,
In the Vale of Jehoshaphat seen shall he be,
Where many Saryans shall quake with their hearts,
When the dead men shall rise, and show them a light,
As marvellous Merling hath said of before;
Take heed to this tale, that now I thee tell,
And trust it is as truly as if it were written:
When that falsehood hath foot, and freedom is lost,
And covetous hath the Kyth at his own will ”

“ SCOTLAND 'bove all shall his brave Chief bemoan,
Who all the sea-girt places rules alone:
The widow'd land of bounteous Prince bereft,
Shall twice three years and nine long months be left.
Sad Scotland mourns her old just valiant Kings,
But Merling says, after them up there springs,
One that shall not in kingly manner sway,
The royal sceptre, yet make them obey:
To Albany presaging mischief flows,
By their own frauds undone more than their foes,
Yet old Sybillia has in rhymes foretold,
She shall revive when one that doats on gold
Is lay'd to rest ”

“ Covetice shall be his name, the King of that Kyth,
For both his heart and his head, shall be of flint forged,
No Lord shall live in that land but himself alone:
But they are bereaved of bliss to keep them in baile,
Yet shall a man of more vail mar him for ever;
For suddenly he shall go down and die in a fen.
There shall no king come in that Kyth for along time,
But a figure of a flower, the fairest of the sixth,
The white flower and the red so shall be call'd. ”

“ Thou shalt thy gates yarn, thou yarns not thereafter;
Thou shalt yalmur and yell that all York shall it hear:
Then the town shall be tint trow thou not else;
Thy tops and thy turnats tumbled to the ground,
No false fortune so fell has thee at feed,
That force shall fail thee when thou best thinkest,
And lipens on London to lead thee for ever,
On Linton and Lindsay, and Lancaster shires
There shall a lion be lowsed that a lord is,
Both of London and Lorn, as the law will
He shall allege to be liege, and the law make:
Leave nought upon loft, but waste them for ever. ”

“ WHEN the ruby is raised, rest is there none;
But much rancour shall rise in river and plain,
Much sorrow is seen through a sluth hound,
That bears horns in his head like a wild hart:
Then a brock shall make a braid on a broad field,
And an hound shall bear a back with a brim face;
The slothful sluth hound shall slay him for ever ”

“ THERE shall a great King arise out of the nation of the most illustrious Lillies, having a long forehead, high brows, large eyes, and an Eagle's nose; he shall gather a great army and destroy all the tyrants of his kingdom, and slay all that fly into mountains and caves from his face, for righteousness shall be joined to him as the bridegroom to the bride ”

“ Thou shalt incline to the king that is thy kind lord:
As saint Beid of that burgh, in his book says
Thou shalt with the lion lean, and listen for ever;
Though thou be subject to Saxons, sorrow thou not,
Thou shalt be loosed at last, believe thou in Christ,
And every language shall have his lordship to brook:
It was not lost but lent for little time:
Bold Berwick be blyth with thy broad walls,
Thou shalt to the lion stoop as Lord of his own ”

“ They shall work unwise, and wit shall they lack,
Then waried their wierd, that ever they were wrought,
Then shall the ratches in this region takes,
And run their race rudely but any return,
The best of the Kyth shall cry for support;
But scarce shall they rise, they shall be fae swier:
The hound which was harmed, then missed shall be,
Who loved him worst, shall weep for his wrack ”

“ With the stern of Bethlehem shall rise in the south,
An horse and Anthelop, boldly shall abide,
A bear and a brock, with berns so bright,
A proud prince in pries lordly shall light,
With bold barrons in bushment to battle shall wend,
Then shall the prophecie prove that Thomas of tells,
Many comely knight is cast under foot,
That shall make maiden's mourn that in bowre dwells,
The dreadful day of destiny shall drive to the night:
Shall make maidens and wives in mourning be brought. ”

“ Thongh their sayings be selcouth they shall be sooth found
And there shall our glading be;
The crow shall fit upon a stone,
And drink the gentle blood so free:
Take of the ribs, and bear to her birds:
As God hath said so must it be. ”

“ Striveling that strait place, a strength of the land,
Why with Strabrock and Strathern strives thou to yarn,
When Strabogie shall destroy all the straiberries;
The strands of Strabrock shall stream them with blood,
Three storks in a stall shall stand them before,
Stuffed all is steel weed, all on horse-back. ”

“ IN Scotland shall reign the most noble and valient chieftain that ever was; full of wisdom and policy, cruel in justice as a lion, and fierce. He shall be meek as a lamb, but somewhat inclined to fragility of his flesh. ”

“ A Star shall arise in Europe over the Hiberians, towards the great house of the north, whose beams shall unexpectedly enlighten the whole world: This shall be in a most desireable time, when mortals wearied with wars, shall unanimously desire peace; they shall strive indeed, by reason of a long lasting vacancy, with various studies, who shall obtain the power of empire, but at last the off-spring of the ancient blood shall overcome, and proceed victoriously by force of arms, till resisted by contrary fates ”

“ While a chiftain unchosen choose forth himself,
And ride over the region, and for Roy holden:
Then his scutifiers shall skail all the fair south,
From Dumbarton to Dover and deal all the lands:
He shall be kid conqueror, for he is kind Lord,
Of all Britain that bounds to the broad sea.
The conquessing shall be keeped, and never conquest after.
By the cost ye shall know when the knight comes,
He has a mark in the middle, where no man may know ”

“ And indeed the late sharp and bloody persecution of the Protestants in France, Savoy, and at present in Ireland, may be part of what this pious man hinted at; but if God for our sins should suffer us to fall into further affliction, we are sure the joy of the wicked shall be but for a moment, and that in due time Rome shall finally fall, And the kings of the earth shall hate the whore, and snake her desolate, and naked, and burn her with fire. ”

“ When the gled in his clift is clim to the height,
He counts not the lion that he is kind Lord:
When the griap would govern all and gapes thereafter
With great gifts of gold the flower would he get,
Come he once in his clooks, he covers him never!
Then would a poor captive be keeper of the Kyth,
Yet shall it fail the freit that the fool thinks,
When the cock crows, keep well his comb:
For the fox and the fulmast they are false both,
When the raven and the rook is rounded together,
And the kid in his clift shall accord to the same,
Then shall they be bold, and soon to bail after ”

“ For love of their dear friends lies looking on hills,
That it shall be woe for to tell the teind of their sorrow,
Then shall be wasted their chief lands,
Where God curses with his mouth, dead must follow. ”

“ Frain thou no further of my foot likes.
Of other works, as I wate, ask if thou likes:
Thine ettling thou ask may, for answer I shall,
In woods and wilderness, where my way lies,
That I heark'ned and heard; I height to thee to say,
Then frowned I fiercely of this frivole world:
What to be of war, if he wist ought?
Or who should weild us in this world, that sorrow drees
To give us of good will, and get us to peace?
If there is fruits in this world, that so much worth is?
Should have fusion on force, and any fair after? ”

“ The head of the world shall be brought down to the dust, (viz. the Pope) and the Son of Man with the Eagle, shall be exalted, and there shall be a universal peace over all the world, and the Son of Man receive a wonderful sign, and there shall be great plenty of all fruits of the earth; and he shall go into the land of the cross, viz. the Holy Land. This prophecy when first found, and many times since, has put sundry learned persons to consider when it would come to pass, and who should be meant by the Son of Man ”

“ THOUGH some may slight Prophecies and Predictions as frivolous and vain, yet not only Holy Scripture, but the experience of most ages have found their events, when time has unravelled the mysterious and ambiguous words and phrases, that make them at first seem hard and difficult to understand, whereof I might instance many, but intending only to lay down for the satisfaction of the curious, such as are not yet known to be passed, but their events expected, I come to what is material. ”

“ Shall never down on thy skin nor birs be thee left.
The thunder shall work thy hold to the cold earth,
Shall never stone upon stone nor ground be thee left,
And so that wretched work is destroyed for ever. ”

“ With a proud haitrent heart;
And shall upon the moldiwarte,
Ere the deffevre.
His bow to him shall be no bield,
All his knights shall be kild,
Himself is slain in the field,
And vincust for ever. ”

“ He tells us, that the light of the gospel, and purity of religion doth shine out clearly, overcoming the darkness of papal error; adding, that we are wow at the heighest perfection, and that the power of Antichrist and the Pope shall decay and be brought to ruin, and God, who ruleth in heaven, allo shall rule all things on earth. ”

“ The outward court, says he, Is the formal Christian, whose religion lies in performing the out-side duties of Christianity, without having an inward life, and power of faith and love, uniting them to Christ; and these God will leave to be trodden down and swept away by the Gentiles, but the worshippers within the Temple and before the Altar, are those that indeed worship God in Spirit and Truth, whose souls are made his Temples, and he is honoured and adored in the most inward thoughts of their hearts. ”

“ Then shall the counsel, which cumbered hath the kith
Call for comfort, but long they may crave;
The marked to the highest, and to overhaile the old,
But all in vain they work, they shall not prevail ”

“ A Predicton of Dooms-day, upon these words, viz. Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Saviour.
IN sign of Dooms-day the whole world shall sweat,
Ever to reign a King in heaverly seat;
Shall come to judge all flesh, the faithful and
Unfaithful too before his God shall stand. ”

“ Here followeth a prophecy pronounced by a noble Queen and matron, called Sybilla, Regina Austri, that came to Solomon, through the which she compiled four books at the instance and request of the said king Solomon and others. And the fourth book was directed to a noble king called Baldwin, king of the broad Isle of Britain. Of the which she maketh mention of two noble princes and emperors, the which is called lyons, of these two shall subdue and overcome all earthly princes to their diadem and crown, and also be glorified and crowned in heaven among Saints. ”

“ Italy breathing after sceptres so high, shall stretch to him her languishing hand: But this bright beam with the vast desire of men, shall abscond itself in the clouds of God; after which many dire misfortunes and calamities shall befal mankind, &c. ”

“ That wears the Cross as red as blood,
On every side shall be sorrow seen,
Defiled in many doughty food,
Besides a loch upon a lee,
They shall assemble upon a day,
And many doughty men shall die,
Few in quiet shall be found away. ”

“ THIS great divine, in a time when it was least expected the Papists should gain any power or advantage, declared, that he confidently expected great calamities, and that a sad persecution would fall upon the Protestant churches of Europe ; therefore, said he to his friend that made further enquiry: Fool not yourself with hopes of its being over, I tell you that all you have yet seen, is but the beginning of sorrows, to what is yet to come upon the Protestant Churches of Christ, who will ere long fall under a sharper persecution than ever has yet been upon them ”

“ The barges of clear barons down shall be sunken
Seculars shall fa' in spiritual seats,
Occupying offices anointed as they were,
The true title to purchase that the truth holds,
They shall torment them with torments a new. ”

“ That is Saint Michael, much of might:
The Knights two the field to tae,
Where many men in field shall fight:
Know you well it shall be sae,
That die shall many a gentle Knight:
With death shall many a doughty deal. ”

“ And the idle of Britain shall be in all joy and peace, and the just shall be glad in the suppressing of their adversaries; and then shall all good men and women give perfect laud and praise to God omnipotent; for God doth suffer men to be punished for sin. ”

“ In the last persecution of the Romish church, (says he) one Peter a Roman, shall possess the chair, and feed the sheep in many tribulations; which being accomplished, the seven-hill'd city shall be destroyed, and the dreadful Judge shall call the people to judgement: And this, according to his account, is computed to happen in the year 1800, if we allow 7 years to the reign of every Pope ”

“ A Certain Prince as religious as a Turk, shall overspread that peoples territories, and war and desolation will be occasioned by the unruly nobility, who by their civil dissentions shall occasion the ruin of the French monarchy ”

“ Hudge and hideous on every side high;
These three shall rake and rave in the wild north:
There shall none other ride these ryotons beasts.
A cock with a keen comb shall compass them with
All whole the wayes where the land lyes. ”

“ Also they shall thrust him out of his realm, and make all the four chief foods of his realm to run blood, and after that the moldiwart shall flee, and take a ship to save himself: for he shall have no more power of his realm: and after that he shall be glad to give the third part of his realm, to have the fourth part in peace, and he shall not get it: for the will of God is, that no man shall have mercy, but he that is merciful, and after that he shall live in sorrow all his life time, and die by adventure suddenly in a flood of the sea ”

“ There shall the lion lie full still,
Into a valley fair and bright:
A lady shouts with words shril,
And says woe worth thee cruel knight,
Thy men are slain upon yon hill,
The dead are many doughty dight. ”

“ Till he and the swan be met,
They shall work woe with wounds wide,
Thro' wounds wide their weeds hath set,
So boldly will their bairns bide.
It is no reck who gets the best,
They shall both die in that same tide. ”

“ Before butler the bargane shall begine;
All it is bootless his bags he ript.
Then shall the yle of Royfay be rank full of side bushes,
Then each man rues them, for rueth of his heart,
That would rend from the rood, and no rest thole. ”