SAINT BALDRED.

Saint Baldred, the venerable subject of the following poem, was the disciple of Kentigern or St Mungo, the tutelary saint of Glasgow. According to Boece, he was of Scottish descent; and, during the reign of Brudeus, king of the Picts, held his pastoral charge in East Lothian, which then formed part of the kingdom of Pictland. His instructor in the faith was the reputed son of Thametis, a Pictish princess,[1] who was cousin to the reigning monarch; it is probable, therefore, from this circumstance, that he enjoyed the smiles of royal patronage and favour.

“The Breviary of Aberdeen,” says Dr Jamieson, in his History of the Culdees, “contains some particulars with respect to Baldred, which I have not met with 4any where else. ‘This suffragan of St Kentigern flourished in Lothian, in virtues and in illustrious miracles. Being eminently devout, he renounced all worldly pomp, and, following the example of John the Divine, resided in solitary places, and betook himself to the islands of the sea. Among these he had recourse to one called Bass, where he led a life, without all question, contemplative and strict, in which, for many years, he held up to remembrance the most blessed Kentigern, his instructor, in the constant contemplation of the sanctity of his conduct.’”—Hist. Culdees, p. 190.

“In this work,” continues the doctor, “we find a miracle ascribed to the worthy Baldred, that must have rendered him an inestimable acquisition to a people living on a rocky coast.—‘There was a great rock between the said island and the adjacent land, which remained fixed in the middle of the passage, unmoved by all the force of the waves, giving the greatest hinderance to navigation, and often causing shipwrecks. The blessed Baldred, moved by piety, ordered that he should be placed on this rock. This being done, at his nod the rock was immediately lifted up, and, like a ship driven by a favourable breeze, proceeded to the nearest shore, and henceforth remained in the same place, as a memorial of this miracle, and is to this day 5called St Baldred’s Coble or Cock-boat.”—A small rock, at the mouth of Aldham bay, still bears the name of Baudron’s Boat.

If personal safety merited consideration from the ascetic, who was all but adored in that rude age, and who lived a life of patriarchal innocence and simplicity, we may suppose that he retired to the “strong castle” of the Bass from prudential motives; for, at this period, an exterminating war raged between the Scots and the Picts, at the instigation of Ethelfrid, the pagan prince of Northumberland, who sought his own aggrandisement in the destruction of the contending nations.

While residing in this solitude, Baldred died 6th March 607–8.—See Boece’s Chron. and Keith’s Cat. He was held in such veneration by the natives, that on his demise, the three neighbouring parishes of Aldham, Tyningham, and Preston, laid claim to his remains. It being impossible to satisfy the multitude without supernatural agency, the enraged embassy were on the point of deciding their right by blows, when a Pictish sage judiciously advised them to spend the night in prayer, that the bishop of the diocese might have an opportunity of settling their dispute in the morning.

“When day dawned,” says Holinshed, “there were found three biers with three bodies decently covered with clothes, so like in all resemblance, that no man 6might perceive any difference. Then by commandment of the bishop, and with great joy of all the people, the said several bodies were carried severally unto the said three several churches, and in the same buried in most solemnwise, where they remain unto this day, in much honour with the common people of the countries near adjoining.”—Holin. Chron. vol. i.

The same legend assumes a more warlike attitude in the English Martyrology.

“The people waxing wroth took arms, and each of them sought by force to enjoy the same; and when the matter came to issue, the said sacred body was found all whole in three distinct places of the house where he died: so as the people of each village coming thither, and carrying the same away, placed it in their churches, and kept it with great honour and veneration for the miracles that at each place it pleased God to work.”[2]

In the Breviary of Aberdeen, before quoted, we are informed, that “the inhabitants of the three parishes 7which were under his charge, as soon as they knew of his death, assembled in three different troops at Aldham, where he breathed his last, severally begging his body. But, as they could not agree among themselves, they, by the advice of a certain old man, left the body unburied, and separately betook themselves to prayer. Morning being come (as aforesaid) they found three bodies perfectly alike, and all prepared with equal pomp for interment. Each of the companies, of course, departed well pleased; and each parish erected a monument over that body of the saint which had fallen to their share.”

“Such was the credulity of these times,” concludes the doctor, “that it was believed, that the body of the saint was in all these places; and this, of course, afforded an irrefragable proof of the doctrine of transubstantiation. Camerarius gravely says, that, ‘for the termination of the dispute between these parochial churches, it was at length effected, by the prayers of the saint himself (for nothing is impossible with God) that each of them should enjoy this treasure.’”—Major asserts the doctrine as supported by this fact.—See Hist. Culdees, pp. 191, 188.

According to the learned Chalmers, a Saxon monastery of St Baldred was established at Tyningham, at an after period, whose diocese comprehended the 8whole of East Lothian, and whose lands, says Simeon, the monk of Durham, extended from Lammermoor to Inveresk. “Et tota terra quæ pertinet ad monasterium sancti Balthere, quod vocatur Tyningham a Lambermore usque ad Escemuthe.”

Two elegant Saxon arches, the remains of the old chapel, still ornament the beautiful domain of Tyningham, where the principal scene of the poem is laid.

SAINT BALDRED OF THE BASS.

Introductory Stanzas.

SAINT BALDRED OF THE BASS. PART I.

The Funeral.

34Hymn.

Requiem First.

Requiem Second.

Requiem Third.

END OF PART FIRST.

SAINT BALDRED OF THE BASS. PART II.

The Pilgrimage.

Spirit.

Maid.

NOTES TO SAINT BALDRED.

Introductory Stanzas.

1.

There are some ingenious observations on the sea-coast, in the appendix to the Agricultural Survey of East Lothian, wherein the writer supposes that the ancient fortress of Tantallon, which is now nearly insulated, once stood at a considerable distance from the sea. He imagines that the perpendicular shore on each side of the castle, which consists for the most part of soft earth, and upwards of two hundred feet in height, leads the mind back to the time when this shore ended in a gentle slope, and extended greatly beyond the Bass.

2.

As early as the reign of William, a chapel stood on the isle of Fidrey, near the shore of Elbotle, (now forming part of the parish of Dirleton,) dedicated to St Nicolas. The ruins still remain.

3.

Bede relates of St Cuthbert, that when on a visit to the Abbess of Coldingham, one of the monks having discovered that the saint left the monastery in the night, had the curiosity to trace his steps, when he discovered him on the sea-shore, standing up to the 74neck in water, where he spent the hours in prayer till the time of the morning devotions. Having retired from the waves, two sea calves came forth from the sea, and, approaching the saint, warmed his feet with their breath, and wiped them dry with their skins, after which, on receiving his benediction, they retired to the deep.

4.

Fenan, the successor of Aidan at Lindisfarn, built a church in the Scottish fashion, of beams and planks of oak, covered with reeds, which in those times was judged fit for the seat of a bishop.—See Bede, book iii. chap. 25. The splendid cathedral of York, which is esteemed the largest and most magnificent in Europe, owes its origin to a church built hastily of wood about the time of this poem, and dedicated to St Peter. These rustic houses of prayer were held in such veneration, that afterwards, as was the case with York Minster, when churches of stone began to be built, they commonly comprehended the old fabric within their walls. From various passages in Bede, it appears that the monks employed their leisure hours in the cultivation of agriculture and of the arts. Easterwin, colleague of the abbot of Weremouth, though a man of noble birth, and who had been the minister of King Egfrid, yet having abandoned secular affairs, he sought not to be distinguished from the other brethren, but would fan, grind, milk cows or sheep,

guide the plough, beat out iron, work in the bakehouse, &c., and employ himself in any business relative to the monastery as an example to others.—See Border Hist. Scot.

5.

The ruins of the Cistertian nunnery of North Berwick stand on an eminence south-west from the town, and command a delightful 75view of the sea, the shores of Fife, the Bass, and an immense conical hill, called North Berwick Law, which rises at least 800 feet above the level of the sea. Of this nunnery there are three views in Grose’s Scottish Antiquities. It was consecrated to the Virgin Mary, and founded by Malcolm, son of Duncan, Earl of Fife, in 1216. Besides the patronage of the church of Kilconchar, granted to this place by the Earls of Carrick, and other advowsons, Dame Isabel Home, daughter to Alexander Home of Polwart, prioress of this nunnery, gave to her kinsman, Alexander Home, in feu, the teind sheaves of Largo church in Fife, in 1532; and Dame Margaret Home, her successor, and daughter to the same family, gave a tack of the parsonage-teinds of Logie, in the diocese of Dunblane, to Sir Patrick Home of Polwart and his heirs, in 1555.—See Spotswood’s Acct. Religious Houses. But Sir James Dalrymple states, that the elder Earl Duncan, who died in 1154,

was the founder, whose father gave to the monastery the lands of Muthritht in Fife, and other lands, which were confirmed by King William, as also those of Kirkamstown, and of two hospitals. The church had been originally the cell or kirk of a religious person, called Campston.

At the Reformation the revenues of the nunnery were converted by operation of law into a lordship for Sir Alexander Home, a favourite of James VI. At this epoch the nunnery was inhabited by eleven nuns, who had each L.20 a year.—See Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 506.

A picturesque ruin stands on a sandy eminence, near the harbour of North Berwick. The adjacent ground seems to have been a burial place, from the number of human bones scattered around.—Grose.

At Elbotle and Golyn there were also convents of Cistertians; but what may appear remarkable, these cells belonged not to North Berwick, but to South Berwick.

6.

Bodotria Æstuarium, the mouth of the Frith of Forth.

NOTES TO SAINT BALDRED. PART I.

1.

Boece describes the Bass as “ane wounderful crag, risand within the see, with sa narro and strait hals (passage) that na schip nor bait may arrive bot allanerlie at ane part of it. This crag is callit the Bas; unwinnabill be ingine of man. In it ar coves, als proffitable for defence of men, as they were biggit be crafty industry.—Bellenden’s Boece, vol. 1. cap. xxxvii.—The ruins of the castle, or rather of later fortifications, still remain.

2.

“Ane multitude of fische was sene in Forth, the tane half of thame above the watter, na thing different fra the figour of man; callit, be the pepil, Bassinatis. Thir fische hes blak skinnis hingand on thair bodyis, with quhilk, sum time, thay covir thair heid and thair cragis, evin to thair schulderis. Quhen thir fische fletis in our seyis, thay signify gret infortuniteis to mortal pepill.—Ibid, vol. ii. 179.—These monsters were probably seals, or sea-dogs, which frequent the mouth of Tyne; but which now come and go without either breeding terror to man or murrain to cattle.

3.

“The spirit of Loda sat, in his cloud, behind the ships of Frothal. He hung forward with all his blasts, and spread the white-bosomed sails.”—Ossian.

Loda is supposed to be the ancient Odin of Scandinavia.

4.

The priest of Garmilton, or Garleton, is an imaginary character; but from the writs of Garmilton it appears, that there was a chapel of St Mungo existed there in 1457.

1. “Foundation of William Tours and his spouse in honour of the altar of St Mungo, of an annual of ten merks yearly, out of certain lands in Haddington, January 3, 1457.

2. “An indenture betwixt Sir James Tours, and Walter Henderson, chaplain of the chaplainry of his chapel of Garleton, founded of St Mungo, May 26, 1534.

3. “Charter granted by Alexander Tours of Innerleith of the chaplainry of St Mungo, situate in Garleton-Noble, in favour of Finlay Hunter, of all and hail, a tenement of land in Haddington, dated last January 14.”—Heads of the Writs of Garmilton.

Near the chapel was a mineral spring, called, from the virtue of its waters, the Vertur Well. It was much resorted to by persons afflicted with scrofulous disorders.

Anciently there were two villages or hamlets at Garleton, called Garmilton-Noble (from William Noble,) and Garmilton Alexander (from Alexander II.) or Mid Garleton, now East and West Garleton. In 1507, the Garletons passed from Lindsay of the Byres to the celebrated Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, poet, 78and Lord Lyon King at Arms, during the reign of James V.; from him it was conveyed to John Tours, next to George, Earl of Winton; in 1720 to Sir Francis Kinloch, and in 1724 to the Earl of Wemyss.—The original name is evidently derived from Gar-mull-ton, the bare rocky town, which is applicable to its situation.

There was an old song in praise of Garleton, which Mr Skirving, author of the fine satirical song on the battle of Prestonpans, and the father of the celebrated painter of that name, was wont to sing, but I never heard more than the two first lines, printed in italics; the other lines I have added, to give some meaning to the verses:

It is more than probable that St Kentigern or Mungo resided in this neighbourhood, as the chapel of Garleton is the only one which I have discovered, dedicated to St Mungo in East Lothian; and about a mile and a half from its site is a place still called Mungo’s Wells. I may conclude in the words of Chalmers, that “at the romantic foot of the Garleton hills stands the house of Garleton, which shows in its present ruins its ancient magnificence.”—For a strange story of an apparition, connected with this decayed mansion, see my notes on witchcraft, appended to the “Lost Drave,” in this volume; and for an account of the remains of a Pictish town or fort near this place, see notes to the “Vision of Hungus.”

While on this subject, I may be pardoned for introducing another ballad to the notice of the reader, of more importance.

David Lindsay, third son of Patrick, fourth Lord Lindsay 79and Byres, was killed at the battle of Flodden. Some of his tenants probably accompanied him to that fatal field, since the old song says,

It were devoutly to be wished that more of this ballad could be recovered. The Hule now consists of a few cottages on the farm of Prora, in the parish of Athelstaneford. The epithet rouny seems here used as a term of reproach. Old Scottish nicknames commonly terminated with that syllable; as, custroun, a poor pitiful fellow, &c.—See Sibbald’s Glossary.

5.

There was a chapel dedicated to St Columba in the isle of Troda, near the northernmost point of Sky, called Hunish. In Hadda-Chuan also, that is, Hadda of the Ocean, which is about two leagues distant from Hunish Point, there is another chapel dedicated to the same saint.

“It has an altar in the east end; and there is a blue stone of a round form on it, which is always moist. It is an ordinary custom, when any of the fishermen are detained in the isle, by contrary winds, to wash the blue stone with water all around, expecting thereby to procure a favourable wind, which the credulous tenant living in the isle, says, never fails, especially if a stranger wash the stone. The stone is likewise applied to the sides of people troubled with stitches, and they say it is effectual for that purpose. And so great is the regard that they have for this stone, that they swear decisive oaths on it.”—See Western Islands, p. 27, and Hist. Culdees, p. 184.

6.

It has been conjectured that the Culdees had a cell near Aberlady. There are still visible the vestiges of a small chapel on the north-west corner of the church-yard. “Kilspindie, the place of their settlement, near Aberlady, (observes Chalmers,) is supposed to have derived its name from the Culdees; Cil-ys-pen-du, signifying, in the British speech, the cell of the Black Heads.”

Cormac, as regards the poem, is a fictitious personage; but while St Columba resided at the court of Brudi, King of the Picts, he met with the Regulus, or petty prince of the Orkneys, whose protection he solicited for Cormac, one of his disciples, whom he foreknew was on his way to the Western Islands.—Hist. Culd. p. 179.

I may add, with respect to this monk’s being deemed a cunning artisan, that in a monastery which St Mungo founded in Wales, “there were daily entertained six hundred three score and three persons, of which number three hundred were kept at some manual work within the monastery; other three hundred did labour in the fields, and practise husbandry; and the rest being appointed for divine service, had the day and night divided among them, so that there were some always in the church praising God.”—Spotswood, p. 11.

7.

The introduction of the Bishop of Lindisfarn may in part be considered an anachronism; as, according to Chalmers, the epoch of this bishoprick did not exist till 30 years afterwards, when it extended over the ample range of Lothian, and continued till the 81decline of the Northumbrian kingdom. Tyningham belonged to this bishoprick, saith Hoveden.—Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 501. In King Duncan’s charter of grants to St Cuthbert, (who was successor to Aidan,) the following four places are mentioned: Tyningham, Aldham, Scuchale (Scoughal) and Cnolle (Knowes,) with Hetherwick and Brocesmouth.—Ibid.

8.

For an account of the Gyre Carling, the mother witch of the Scottish peasantry, see notes to the “Lost Drave” in this volume.

9.

The legend of St Serf is a specimen of the absurd tales that amused the ignorant in the early ages.

St Mungo was the disciple of St Serf. The long conversation between St Serf and the devil in a cave at Dysart, is a valuable specimen of the theology and logic of that age: When Satan found he could not subdue the Saint,

Amongst other miracles related of St Serf, when he landed in Fife, on his way to Culross,

82The story of his favourite ram must not be passed over: On the thief being brought into the Saint’s presence,

10.