I

II

llll'

'X

THE COEONATION STONE

Privted by R. Clark,

EDMONSTON
LONDON

S:

DOUGLAS, EDINRURGH.
AnA^L';,

HAMILTON,

AMD

CO.

Clje Coronation g>tone

WILLIAM

F.

SKENE

':<^=-f#?2l^

EDINBURGH

EDMONSTON & DOUGLAS

MDCCCLXIX.

PREFATORY NOTE.
This analysis of the legends connected with the Coronation Stone was
read by the author, as Senior Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, at a Meeting of the Society held on the 8th of

March

last.

limited

impression

is

now published with Notes and

Illus-

trations.

The
I.

latter consist of

The Coronation

Chair, with the stone under the seat, as

it is

at present seen in
II.

Westminster Abbey, im

the rover.

The reverse of the Seal of the Abbey of Scone, showing the Scottish King seated in the Eoyal Chair, on the title-page.
Ancient Scone, as i-epresented in the year 1693 in Slezer's

III.

Theatntm Scofim,
a. h.
c.

to

precede page

Chantorgait.
Friar's

Den.

Site of

Abbey.

d.
e.
/'.

Palace.

Moot Hill, with the Church The river Tay.

as

built in

1624 upon

it.

IV.

The Coronation Chair

ptoge 12.

shewn by HoUinshed

in

1577,

V. Coronation of Alexander

III.,

from the MS. of Fordun, con-

tained in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

This

is

MS.

of the Scoticronicon, as altered, interpolated,

ojyposite

and continued by Bower,

Appendix, page 47.
20 Inverleith Kow, Edinbukgh,
7///

Latin

description

in

the

Jan,' 1869.

The Prospect of
a.
/'.

the

Horn

Chantorcjait.
Fkiak's Dkn.

i.

SlTK OF AliKEV.
Pai.ack.

./.

**safl<W.-:

~^

""^|if"~^

,^>---.^-

W-

!i

and Town of
e.

SkUTN.
bih.t in 1624 upok
it.

/.

Moot Hill, with the Church The River Tay.

\ft

axomtmx
of the
at

Stout.

[he

Legend
is

Coronation Stone

of Scotland,

formerly

Scone, and

now

in

Westminster

Abbey,

intimately connected with the fabu-

lous history of Scotland.

The
its

tale of its

wanderings from

Egypt
way,

to Scone,

and of

various resting-places

by the

is,

in fact, closely interwoven with that spurious hisfirst

tory which,

emerging in the controversy with England

regarding the independence of Scotland, was ^vrought into

a consistent narrative by Fordun, and finally elaborated by

Hector Boece into that formidable

list

of mythic monarchs,

who swayed

the sceptre over the Scottish race from "the

Marble Chair" in Dunstafihage.

The mists
dispelled.

cast

around the true history of Scotland by

have now been, in a great measure,
criticism has demolished the forty kings

this fictitious narrative

Modern

whose

portraits adorn the walls of the gallery in Holyrood,

at such

and whose speeches are given

pages of Boece.

wearisome length in the

of Destiny,

But the legend of the Stone

from

or Fatal Chair, has taken such hold of the Scottish mind,

that

it is less

easily dislodged

its

place in the received

THE CORONATION STONE.

history of the country
;

and there

it

still

stands, in all its

naked

imj)robability, a solitary waif

from the sea of myth

and

fable,

with which modern criticism has hardly ventured

to meddle,
question.

and which modern scepticism has not cared

It is still believed that the stone

to

was peculiarly
it

connected with the fortunes of the Scottish race, that

was preserved
that
it

for

many

generations at Dunstaffnage, and

to

was transferred from Argyllshire

Scone in the

ninth century,

when

the Scots are said to have conquered

the Pictish nation.

But the history with which

surely an inquiry of

this legend is connected

it is

having now been rejected as unquestionably spurious,

some

interest to

what extent any part

far it

of this legend

is

really historical, or

how

must share

the

The popularly-received account of the stone may be shortly stated in the words of Pennant
same
fate.
:

" In the church

of the abbey

(of

Scone) was preserved

the

famous

chair,

whose bottom
Jacob for

was
;

the

fatal

stone,

the palladium of the Scottish monarchy

the stone, which

had

first

served

his
it

pillow,

was afterwards
as a seat of
It after-

transported into Spain, where

justice

was used
in
till

by Gethalus, contemporary with Moses.

found
its

wards

way

to

Dunstaffnage

Argyllshire,

continued there as the Coronation Chair

the reign of
it

Kenneth
There
it

II.,

who, to secure his empire, removed

it

to Scone.

remained, and in
till

every Scottish monarch was

inaugurated

the year 1296,

when Edward
it

L, to the

mortification of North Britain, translated

to

Westminster

THE CORONATION STONK.

Abbey, and with
empire of
it,

according to ancient prophecy,

the

Scotland.'"'^

The

latter part of this

account

is

unquestionably true.
;

It is true that such a stone

was preserved at Scone

it is it

true that Scottish monarchs were crowned

is

upon
to

it

and

true that in 1296

it

Edward
is,

I.

removed

it

Westminster
seat of

Abbey, where

now

and can be seen under the

the Coronation-Chair.

Fordun has

left

us a detailed account of the coronation

of Alexander III. at Scone, in the year 1249.

live to continue his historical narrative

He

did not

beyond the reign of

David

I.,

but in the MS. preserved at Trinity College,

Cambridge, are the materials collected by him for the

remainder of his history, in which this account
is

contained,

and

it

has been introduced, with some variations, by Bower,

It

in his continuation of Fordun's history.

has been

little

noticed by Scottish historians, and

it,

by those who do
is

refer to

very inaccurately represented, except by Mr. Robertson

his Scotland
;

in

under her Early Kings, who

form of

always

accurate

but he has taken his account from Bower's altered

it

version, instead of from the older

contained in the
it

Cambridge MS.
Scone.

In order to foUow^ the description,

first

will

be necessary that I should

produce to you ancient

The remains

of ancient Scone, such as they are, are all

contained within the present park of the palace of Scone,

which extends along the east bank of the river Tay from
1

Pennant's Tour in Scotland,

vol.

iii.,

]i.

116.

THE CORONATION STONE.

about a mile north of Perth for a considerable distance.

From

the

river,

the park extends with

east, till it reaches the

a gentle ascent

towards the north and

to Bridge of Isla.

road from Perth

Through the south part

of the park, a small

stream or burn flows into the Tay through a ravine called

The

Friars'

Den, and on the north side of this ravine were

situated the old abbey

and the royal

city of Scone.

The

present approach from Perth,

crosses this ravine

now

called the Queen's Drive,

by a

bridge,

and enters a broad

till it

terrace

through a gate termed the Terrace Gate,

reaches the

north-east front of the present palace of Scone, situated about

300 yards from the Den.

river,

The present palace

faces the

which here runs in a south-easterly

direction.
is

About
an old

100 yards from the south-east corner of the palace

the foundation of a small room or

burying-ground, and in 1841, in altering one of the terraces,

cell

was found between

seats about 15

the burying-ground and the palace, and within 20 yards of the former.
It

was surrounded by stone

inches broad, and might be from 10 to 12 feet in dimension.

It

was probably part of the abbey

is

buildings.

About
and

70 yards to the north of this

an oval-shaped rising ground

or hillock, called popularly the

Moot

Hill of Scone,

having on the top a

this

flat

area of about 100 yards by 60

Placiti of the

was the ancient Mons

Regiam Majesof Belief of the

tatem, and the GoUis Ci'edulitatis or

Chronicles.

Mount

About 200 yards due

is

east of the north-east

still

front of the present palace

served,

an ancient gateway

pre-

and 30

yards east of

it

stood an ancient cross,

now

THE CORONATION STONE.

removed

to another

site.

From

this

gateway proceeded

walls, built

on the foundation of other walls, which seem to

have enclosed these possessions of the abbey as well as the

Moot

Hill.

The south wall

is

on a

line

with the east wall

of the burying-ground.

The ancient palace of the abbots, with the abbey and abbey church, was entirely destroyed by a mob in 1559,

who
there
built

set fire to
is

them, and burnt them to the ground

but
is

little

reason to doubt that the present palace

the old palace.
first

on the

site of

The rebuilding

of the

palace was

commenced by the
Sir

Commendator

after the

Eeformation, the Earl of Gowrie, and extended and completed

by

David Murray, who, on the

forfeiture of the

Earl of Gowrie in 1600, received a grant of the lands of the

abbey of Scone, which were erected into the lordship of Scone in 1605. This building was replaced by the present
palace in 1803.

In 1624 Sir David Murray took

down

the

few remaining fragments of the walls of the abbey church,

and erected a new church on the top of the Moot

Hill.

The

old gateway appears also to belong to his period.

We

know from

the old descriptions that the cimiterium lay on

the north side of the abbey, and between

it and the Moot Hill, and that the abbey church was immediately west of the

cimiterium.
there
is

If the

burying-ground which
it

is

now found

the same as the old cimiterium,

;

would determine

the site of the buildings

but

it

contains no gravestones as
inconsistent with the

old as the Reformation, and

its site is

old descriptions, while the remains of the stone wall

and

seats

()

THE CORONATION STONE.

to

seem evidently

have formed part of the abbey buildings.

The abbey was

gate.
Hill,

situated, therefore, in all probability,

between

the present palace and the old wall south of the ancient

On

the north side of

it,

and almost under the Moot

Outside of

was the cimiterium

or burying-ground, and, at the

west end of the cimiterium, the abbey church.

this wall,

and extending along the

preserves the
is

Friars'
is

Den, was the

royal city of Scone, the site of

which

marked by an
at the south

avenue which

still

name

of the Chantor Gate,

leading from what

called the Gallows

till it

Knowe,

end, across the ravine,

reached the road leading to the

it

old gate from the east, which

joined 50 yards from the gate.

Through

this

avenue proceeded the old road from Perth.^

III.
11.

Fordun's description of the coronation of Alexander

is

as follows.

After narrating the death of Alexander

at

Kerreray, on Thursday, the 8 th of July, in the year

1249,

he proceeds thus :' Alexander, the

son

of

the

aforesaid
to

King

Alexander, a

boy of eight years

earls, barons,

old,

came

Scone with a number of the

"

and knights,
There were

on the following Tuesday, the 13th of July.

'

111

cimiterio ex parte orientali ec-

clesia;."

Fordun a Hearne, vol. iii. 758. " Super montem ex parte boreali monejusdem extra cymyterium. "
i.

which no female was admitted. They also mention the villa de Scmm and its tabernce and bothce; and anioiif? the feu
rights granted after the Eeformation
is

asterii

Jet

Pari. Scot.

216.

one to " Peter Jak and Alisoun Scharpe,

his spous, of that

In the chartulary of Scone are two visitations of the monastery hy the Bishop
of St.
139),

tenement of land upon

232).
is

the south-eist part of the chantourcjait,

Andrews
whicli

in 1365

and 1369

(pp. 137-

13 April 1586,"

(p.

mention the

ccclesia,

the
refec-

In Slezer's Theatrum Scotiw

a view

daustrimi,

the dormiiorium,

the

of Scone from the south, looking north,

torium, the capitulum, the infirmitormm,

which shows the position

in 1693.

of the buildings

nnd

the

dausura

vionastcrii,

within

THE CORONATION STONE.

present the venerable fathers David de Bernham, Bishop
of St. Andrews, and Galfridus, Bishop of Dunkeld, a gracious in

man

many
all,

things both

to clerg}^

and

laity, careful in

things temporal

and spmtual, one who showed himself

amiable to
factors.

both nobles and poor, but terrible to male-

There was present also the Abbot of the same

and, behold, as soon as they were

monastery of Scone;

assembled, there arose a great dissension

Some
and

of

them wished not

was
said,

to

among the nobles. make him king on that day,

it

but only a knight, saying that

this

was an unlucky day

time Justiciary of

not on account of the unlucky day, but

at

because Alan Durward,

Scotland, wished to gird

that

all

him on that day with the knightly

in council,

sword.

To whom submitting, the Lord Walter Com^Ti,

Earl of Menteath, a
replied, saying that

man eminent and prudent

he had himself seen a king consecrated

who was yet not a knight, and had often heard of kings who were not knights being consecrated, and added, saying,
that a countiy without a king ship
in

was without doubt

like a

the

midst of the billows without a rower or

steersman.

He had
and

also this

always loved the late king, of

king on account of his
elevate
it

pious memory,

father.

He

proposed, therefore, to

this

boy

as speedily to

as possible

to the throne, as

was always hurtful

arrangements already made to defer them.

On

his advice,

the bishops and the abbot, as well as the nobles and the

whole clergy and people, gave their consent and assent with
one voice to his beino;

made

kins;.

'

THE CORONATION STONE.

And

it

was

cloue that the

this,

same Earl Walter Comyii,

clergy, the

when he heard

and the whole

Earls

Malcolm Earl of
and other nobles
led the future
in the

Fife,

and Malise Earl of Stratherne,

with them, they immediately
to the cross,

uniting

King Alexander
him

which stands
decked
St,

cimiterium or churchyard at the east end of the church

in the regal chair,

and, having there placed

with

silk cloths

embroidered with gold, the Bishop of

Andrews, the others assisting him, consecrated him king, the

king himself
that
is,

sitting, as

was proper, upon the

earls

regal chaii'

the stone

and the
feet,
is

and other nobles placing

bent knees, before the

GCo^

vestments under his

stone.

with

This stone

reverently preserved in that monas;

tery for the consecration of kings of Scotland

nor were

any of the kings

in

wont
in

to reign

anywhere

in Scotland,
fii-st

unless they had, on receiving the

name

of king,

sat

upon
that

this

royal

stone

Scone, which

was constituted
or principal seat,
being-

by ancient kings the "sedes superior"

is

to say, of Albania.

And, behold, every thing

saluted

completed, a certain Scotch mountaineer, suddenly kneeling

V)efore

the throne

with bent head,

the king

in

his

mother-tongue in these Scottish words

Benacli

de Re

Alban Alexander, Mac Alexander, Mac William, Mac Henri,

Mac

David, and thus, repeating the genealogy of the Scot-

tish kings, rehearsed

^

them
iii.

to the end.'^
757.

Fordun a Hearne,

vol.

p.

description.

He makes the meeting

of St.

solve

Bower, in his continuation of Fordun, in

the difficulty as to the knighting of the

king,

which the materials

left

by Fordun are

hy the Bisliop

Andrews both

largely interpolated, has greatly altered this

knigliting and crowning him.

He

is

then

/!?(up>w

M
1
,

/~L A'U^

^^<JA^

"'^^-' '^^*isi\^

THE CORONATION STONE.

Fordun's description
the scene.
is

9
picture

so graphic,

we can almost

Scottish July
it
;

day

the cross in the cimite-

rium

before

the fatal stone, covered with

gold-em-

broidered cloths

upon

it

the boy-king
;

at his side the

two

Bishops and the Abbot of Scone

before

him the

great

barons of Scotland, kneeling before the ancient symbol of

Scottish sovereignty
;

the eager Highland Sennachy press;

ing forward to utter his barbarous Celtic gutturals

in the

ci^k
fj
i

background the Mount of

blue range

Belief,

covered with a crowd of

;

(^

people gazing on the solemn scene

of the

and

in the distance the

Grampians, broken only by the pass

through which the Tay emerges to pass before them on the

west,
abbot,

and where the Abbey of Dunkeld

the founder
or

lies nestled,

whose

Stammvater

of his race, had,

last

by

his marriage
race,

with the daughter of the

king of Scottish

placed his descendants in the " Marble Chau\"

fatal stone

The next coronation on the

was attended
Baliol

with more humiliating circumstances.

John

was

crowned at Scone, and immediately

crowned and anointed, and has the coronato him, "prius
Latine
postea
is

after his coronation did

tion oath administered

in 1251,

Gallice ;"

and

after the

knighted by Henrj', king of England, and no Scotch king was actually crowned and anointed prior to David II.,
fact

coronation he

led to the "cimiteriiim,"

and placed on the stone merely to receive the address of the Highland Sennachy.
In short, he assimilates the coronation to
that of the
' '

first to receive the more solemn inauguration in consequence of an application by Robert I. to the Pope. The two descriptions are placed in parallel

who was the

Norman

kings of England in

columns

in the appendix, in order to

show
fal-

the church, and reduces [the scene in the

the extent to which these old writers

sified history

cimiterium" to an unmeaning ceremony,

follow

when

it

suited their purpose.

Those of our historians who have noticed

the coronation at
description
;

We
the

can only say that in matters toucliing

controversy with Scotland, English

all

Bower

in his

but Alexander was in real

writers were equally unscrupulous.

10

THE CORONATION STONE.

to the

homage
1327

King

of

Enghind
it

as his over-lord.

William

Eishanger thus describes

:

in his Chronicle, written about

feast of
St.

'

John de BalioU, on the following

Andrew's, placed upon the regal stone, which Jacob placed

under his head when he went from Bersabee to Haran, was

solemnly crowned in the church of the canons regular at

Scone

'/^

and there

is

preserved a warrant by

Edward
late

I.,

by

which, as over-lord of the kingdom of Scotland, on the

narrative that
'

Duncan, son and heir of the

Duncan,

Earl of Fife, was under age, and could not perform a certain
function in the
of placing

new

creation of the

King

of Scotland

that

him

in his royal seat at Scone,

incumbent upon

him

accordinoof Scotland o to the usacre o of the kincfdom O

he

assigned to John de St. John to place, in the

said heir,

name

of the

John de

Balliol,

King

of Scotland, to

whom he had
also

judicially restored that

kingdom
after

in his royal seat at Scone,

according to the aforesaid usage.'"

records that

William Eishanger

Edward

I.,

he had overrun Scotland in

1296, on his return from the north, 'passed by the

^

Abbey
Nos
teta-

Johannes de
regalem,

Balliolo, in festo Sancti

incumbant,

lit

accepimus, facienda.

Andrese sequenti, collocatus super lapi-

nolentes praefato Duncano, sic infra

dem

quern Jacob supposuerat

Regula(Will,

tera et in custodia nostra existenti, prajju-

capiti suo, duni iret de Bersabee et pergeret

dicium in hac parte aliqualiter generari,

ratione minoris retatis ejusdem
hseredis

Aran, in ecclesia Canonicorum

Rislianger's Chroniai
"

rium de Scone solemniter coronatur.

et

assignavinius dilectum et fidelem nostrum

Annales,

p. 135.)

Johannem de Sancto Jolianne

ad ponen-

Sciatis quod,

heredi

cum Duncano filio et dum, nomine ipsius haredis, dilectum et Duncani, quondam comitis de Fif fidelem nostrum Johannem de BallioUo
regemScotife (cuiregnumilludjudicialitcr

infra setatem et in custodia nostra exis-

nova creatione regis Scotise, de ponendo ipsum in rogiam sedem suam, apud Scone secundum consuetudinem dicti rogni Scntiir,
tenti,

quiedam

certa

olUcia,

in

reddidimus) in regiam sedem suam apud

Scone
dictam.
die

secundum

consuetudinem

pra'-

Teste rege apud

Fa'/f.

Norham
i.

xxi.

Novcmbris (Ryni.

785.)

THE CORONATION STONE.

of Scone,

1 1

where having taken away the stone which the

at the time of their coronation

Kinss of Scotland were wont

to use for a throne, carried
it

to Westminster, directing

it

to

be

made

the chair of the priest celebrant.'^

says,
'

Hemingford

At

the Monastery

of Scone

was

placed a large stone in the church of God, near the great

hollowed out like a round chair, in which future kings were placed, according to custom, as the place of their
altar,

coronation.'

And

again,

'

in returning

by Scone

[the king]

ordered that stone, in which, as has been said, the kings of

the Scots were wont to be placed at their coronation, to be

taken and carried to London, as a sign that the kingdom

had been conquered and

"

resigned.'^

Harding, in his Metrical Chronicle, says

And
The
as lie

came home by Skoon away.

regal there of Scotland than he brought,

And
'

sent

it

forthe to

Westmynstre

for ay,

lu

redeundo autem, transivit

;

per

bant poni loco coronationis

suse et

hoc in

Abbathiam de Scone ubi sublato lapide quo Eeges Scotorum, tempore coronationis,

signnm regni conquesti

Cron. T.
i.

et resignati

(Hem.

pp. 37-100).

solebant

uti

jjro

tlirono,

usque

To complete the evidence, among the

king's jewels which were in the castle of

Westmonasterium
inde
fieri

transtidit ilium, jubens

celebrantium cathedi-am sacerKish. Chron., p. 163).

Edinburgh

in

1296,

was

" una petra

468)

dotum (WUl.
^

magna super quam Eeges

Scotise solebant
i.

coronari" (Chalmers' Ceded, vol.

p.

Apud Monasterium

de Scone positus

erat lapis pergrandis in ecclesia Dei, juxta

and in the wardrobe accounts of Edward I. for a.d. 1300, is a pajTnent " Magisti-o
Waltero Pictori,
per
x^ro

magnum altare, modum rotundse

concavus
cathedrae

quidem
confectus,

ad
in

custiibus et expensis

quo futuri reges loco quasi coronationis ponebantur ex more.

In redeundo per Scone, praecepit
et
tolli

ipsum factis circa imum gradum faciendum ad pedem nove Cathedre in qua petra Scocie reponitur juxta altare ante feretrum Sancti Edwardi in Ecclesia
Abbatie Westmonaster.' (Lih. Gard., Ed-

Londoniis

cariari,

lapidem iUum, in quo,

reges Scotorum sole-

ut svipra

dictum

est,

ward

I.

p. 60.)

12
To ben

THE CORONATION STONE.

ther yiine a cliayer clenly wrought,
sitte

For masse prestes to

yn wlian hem ought,

Whiche

yit is there

stondyng beside the shiyne,

In a chaier of okle tyme made ful fyne."^

The Scotch
see

chronicles all agree in asserting the

same

fact.

So much of the legend being unquestionably

true, let us

how

far the earlier part of the tale will bear the test of

examination.
Starting with the stone at Scone in the thirteenth century,

and playing

its

traditionary part in the coronation of

its

the kings, let us trace

history back, examining the form

of the legend at each stage of our progress.

We may
fullest
it

take
:

Hector Boece as giving;

Boece's history
1

it

in its latest
in

and

form

was written
The

1527, and in 1531

which follows
is

was

MS. Bod.

Scld. B. 10.

figure of tlic chair

from Holhn-

shed'.s Chronicles,

London, 1577.

THE CORONATION STONE.

translated

13
at

by John Bellenden, Archdean of Moray, which

his fabulous history familiar to the Scottish

once

made
it

mind,

so that

was soon accepted

as the popular belief of the

country, while the polished latinity of

it
'

Buchanan commended
is

to the favour of the learned.

Boece's story

shortly this

Gathelus, a Greek, the son either of the Athenian Cecrops

or the Argive Neolus,

dus,

went

to Eg}'pt at the time of the

Exo-

where he married Scota, the daughter of Pharao, and

Egyptian army in the Red Sea,
till

after the destruction of the

fled
gall,

with her by the Mediterranean

he arrived in Portin-

where he landed, and founded a kingdom at Brigantium,

Compostella.

now

Here he reigned

in the marbile chair,

which was the "

like a chair,

lapis fatalis cathedrae instar," or fatal stone

it

and wherever

was found portended kingdom

it

to the Scots.
tion
:

In after ages
fallat

bore the follo^^^ng inscrip-

Ni

fatum, Scoti, quocimque locutum

Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem.

which Bellenden thus translates

The
Scottis sail

brwke

that realme as native ground,

is

Geif weirdis

faill

nocht, quhairever this chair

found.

Simon Breck, a descendant

Ireland.

of Gathelus, brought the

it

from Spain to Ireland, and was crowned in

as

chan King of

(^
first

Fergus, son of Ferchard,was

land,

King of the Scots in Scotto Argyll,

and brought the chair from Ireland

it.

and was

crowned in
in

He built a town in Argyll called Beregonium,

it.

which he placed

From him proceeded

forty kings of

6^

Jk

?ur^Uf^-ar
J,

J^^o^^u.

'cn.%

'-^'^

14

THE CORONATION STONE.

Tlie twelfth king,

Scotland.

Evenus, built a town near

Beregonium, called after his name Evonium, now called

DunstafFnage, to which the stone was removed, and the re-

mainder of the forty kings are

all

crowned

in DunstafFnage,
it is

reign there, and are buried there.'

called

In Boece

usually

Evonium, but Bellenden invariably substitutes Dun-

stafFnage,

and thus

it

became familiar

to the Scottish

mind

as the ancient capital of the Scottish kingdom,

and the place

where the
'

fatal stone

was kept.

The Scots
is

are expelled to Ireland under the last of the

forty kings, but return under his

nephew Fergus Mac

Ere,

who
lona,

crowned in the marble

it

chair.

He builds

a church at

and commands

to be the sepulchre of the kings in

future.

Kenneth MacAlpin, the

Picts,

last of these kings,

conquers the

and brings the

it

fatal stone
it

from Argyll to Gowry, and

his principal

places

in Scone, because

was there that

victory over the Picts had taken place.

Some say

that he

then caused the verse to be inscribed on the stone beorinnino-

"Nifallatfatum."''

The

forty kings are purely fabulous, but with Fergus

Mac Ere
1

the stream of fictitious narrative flows into that of

Scotorum Hist.,
ed.

Boetliii

1527.

instar," or as

"

in

formam Cathedrae
it

de-

Bellendeu's Croniklis of the Scots.

cisum
a

;"

but never that

as
It

Buchanan adds
to Scone, he placed

to this account, that

chair,

it afterAvards
is

was enclosed in was at Westthat while

when Kenneth macAlpin brought the stone

it
;"

minster.

remarkable

there " in cathedram

ligncum inclusum
to

but

this is contrary

the expressions of the older writers,

describe

Hemingford calls the stone which was carried off " pergrandis," and in the inventory it is called " una magna petra,"
the present stone enclosed in the corona-

who

the

stone as

" Cathedra'

THE CORONATION STONE.

history, for he
is

15

the

first

of the historic kings of Dah'iada

who founded
tury
;

the Scottish colony of Argyll in the sixth cenhistoric kings of Dalriada are

and the

now

inter-

woven with fictitious monarchs in Boece's tale. It is remarkable that when the historical element enters, DunstafFnage
disappears,

and Icolmkill or lona takes

its

place.

A
thus
:

century and a half earlier Fordun states the legend

'

Neulus, a Greek, has a son Gaythelus,

who

goes to

Egypt, marries Scota, daughter of Pharao, king of Egypt,

and leads the remnant of the people who were not drowned
in

the

Red Sea through

Africa to

S]3ain.

One

of his

descendants, a king of Spain, has several sons, and sends

one of them, Simon Brec, to Ireland,

"

to

whom

he gave

Marmorea Cathedra," the marble

chair,

diligently

and

carefully sculptured

by ancient
in

art,

on which the kings

to
sit.

of Spain, of Scottish race, were

or

wont

This stone

chair

he

places

the

most eminent place of the

kingdom, called Themor, which became the royal seat and

principal place of the

kingdom
it

of Ireland.

He

adds, that
:

of the origin of the stone there were

two accounts
other,

one,

that

Gaythelus brought

from Egypt; the

that

Simon Brec having

tion chaii- at

cast anchor

on the shore of Ireland,

five steps,

Westminster measures only

white marble on

and with no
it
is

26 inches in length by 16| inches in

breadth and 10 1 in depth.

carving or ornament, bnt

that at coronations
it

believed

The Mar-

was covered with

morne StuJd, or marble chair, in which plates of gold. The Scotch stone may Charlemagne is said to have sat, and the liaA^e been similarly raised, and the seat Emperors of Germany were at one time alone taken to England, and inserted in crowned, is still preserved at Aix la the wooden chair made by Edward I. It is a plain heavy seat of Chapelle.

16
aiid

THE CORONATION STONE.

again

weighed anchor in consequence of a storm,

anchor, a

raised,

with his

stone

of

marble, cut

in the

shape of a chair.
fallat

Fordun then quotes the prophecy,

adds that Fergus,
son
of

"

Ni

fatum," and

Farquhar,

when he with him

led the Scots from Ireland to Scotland, brought

the royal chair cut out of marble stone, in which

first

he was crowned

king there by the Scots

after

whose

example the succeeding kings received the rite of coronation in

the same chair.'

Fordun does not say how

it

came

to Scone.^

The
Fordun
" lapis

" Cronicon
as

Eythmicum," which may be classed with

stating,
it

an authority, gives the same account,

however, that Gaythelus brought the stone, which

to it the epithet of "

calls

Pharaonis," or Pharao's stone from Egypt, and applies

anchora

vite,"
it

probably the origin of Forraised with the

dun's second account that

was

anchor.

In stating that Fergus brought the stone to Scotland, the

word Ergadia

is

substituted for Scotia

and

in the later

edition of this chronicle, after stating that the subsequent

kings were crowned upon

Ut Scona

it,

the line

is

added

testatur usque tunc lapis iste locatiir."

Neither Fordun nor the " Cronicon

Eythmicum
it

"

know

anything of DunstafFnage as the place where the stone was

kept in Argyll
;

and the former mentions

only as a strong-

hold of the Lords of Lorn in the reign of Robert the Bruce.

Neither do they
fvrn

know anything
to
-

of the removal of the stone

;

hJnr

by Kenneth mac Alpin

'

Scone in the ninth century

('hronicUs of the I'ids

and

Fordun a

Hc.iriu'.

ami

Scuts,

]i.

333.

THE CORONATION STONE.

Fordun,

17
detail,

who
it.

gives his

reiffii

great

makes

allusion to
It is

?o/iW^H^ l^'y^
belie f has

remarkable that the two features of the legend to

which popular

clung with greatest tenacity-

viz.

r^

r^

that the stone was kept at DunstafFnage, and that

it

was

removed from thence

to

Scone by Kenneth mac Alpin when

rest

he conquered the Picts

upon the statement of Hector

than Fordun,

Boece alone, and are totally unknown to the older authorities.

Wyntoun, though

his date is later

may be

considered as an independent authority, and follows more

closely the older chronicles.

He

begins his account with the

King

of Spain,

who

sent his son,

Symon

Brec, to Ireland.

gret Stane this KjTig thau had,

fore this

That

Kyngis Sete wes made

And

haldyne wes a gret Jowale

hale.

Wytht-in the Kynryke of Spayne

This stone he takes to Ireland, and

Thare he made a
gi-et C}i;e,

And
Be

in

it

syne that Stane gert he

for Jowale,

set,

and haldyne

And

Chartyr of that Kynryke hale.

fra

Fergus Ere son

hym

syne

Down

discendand ewjTi be lyne

In to the fyve and fyfty Gre,

As ewyne recknand men may

Brought
this

se,

Stane wytht-in Scotland,

;

Fyrst quhen he come and wane that Land

And fyrst it set in Ikkolmkil, And Skune thare-eftyr it was brought

^

tyle.'

Wyntoun's

Chroniclr, B. III.

c.

i,\.

18

THE CORONATION STONE.

The main

difference here

is

that the stone

is

brought

from Ireland to Scotland, not by the mythic Fergus, son of

Ferquhard, but by the historic Fergus, son of Ere
instead of being placed
;

and,

by the former

in Argyll,

is

placed

by
it

the latter in Icolmkill

but he too says nothing as to when

the stone was brought to Scone, and does not allude to

in his account of the reign of

Kenneth MacAlpin.
which was completed in the
of the

We
year

have a

still

older form of the legend in the Scala-

cronica, the compilation of

1355.

In this chronicle the legend begins with

Simon Brec, the youngest son

to Ireland,
'

King

of Spain going

who brought with him

a stone on which the

it

kings of Spain were wont to be crowned, and placed

in

the most sovereign beautiful place in Ireland, called to this

day the Eoyal Place, and Fergus, son of Ferchar, brought -the royal stone before received, and placed it where is

now the Abbey of Scone. By Fergus, son of Ferchar,

meant.

'^

it is

obvious, from the

list

of

his successors, that the historic Fergus, son of Ere,

is

here

Blind Harry, the minstrel, in his metrical

life

of Sir

William Wallace, obviously gives the legend in the same In talking of the coronation of John Baliol, he form.
y
The crown he took upon the
self-same stane,
;

That Gadales sent with his son from Spain

When

Iber Scot

first

into Ireland come,

it

At Canmor syne King Fergus has

1

won,

Chronicles of the Picts

and

Scots, p. 196.

THE CORONATION STONE.

Brought
it

19
it

to Scone,

and stable made

eiglit

there,

Where kings were crowned

Before the time that

hundred years and mair,

it

King Edward

fand,

This jewel he gart

tiirse into

England.^
tlie

By Canmor, Harry means Teamor,

Forduu, the

Tliemor of

Eoyal Place of the Scalacronica in Ireland,

;

now

called Tara

and

if it

had been more than 800 years

it

at

Scone when Edward took

placed there in
the
fifth

in 1296,

it

implies that

it

was

century, the time

when

these

chronicles brino- Fergus

Icolmkill

therefore

Mac Ere from Ireland to now drops out of the

is

Scotland.

legend as

weU

as Argyll, and the stone

brought direct from Tara

himself.

to Scone,

and placed there by Fergus

"

We

also

hear no more of the prophecy,

let

Ni

fallat

fatum," for which

us be thankful.

The only other mention

have been able to
find, is

of the legend,

and the

oldest I

by Baldred Bisset, in his document

called " Processus Baldredi contra figmenta regis Anglie,"

compiled in 1301, and he makes very short work of

indeed.
'

it

The daughter

of Pharao, king of Eg}^t, with an

fleet,

armed band and a large

goes to Ireland, and there

she sails to Scotland, tak-

being joined by a body of

Irish,

ing with her the royal seat which he, the King of England,
A\dth other

insimia of the kino-dom of Scotland, carried with

him by

violence to England.

She conquered and destroyed

;

the Picts and took their

kingdom

and from
tota.'"

this Scota the

Scots and Scotia are named, according to the line-

A
'

muliere Scota vocitatur Scocia

iv.
''

Wallace, B.

I.

e.

Filia namquf^ Pharaonis regis Egipti,

"

20
It is

THE CORONATION STONE.

remarkable that prior to Baldred not a trace of the
to be

legend

is

found in any of the older chronicles.

first

He

is

absolutely the

who mentions

it.

Another

fact is

even more remarkable.

to

Baldred Bisset
to plead the

was one of the commissioners sent

Rome

cause of the independence of Scotland before the Pope.

paper was prepared by the Scottish Government, called

" Instructiones," containing an elaborate statement of the

grounds on which the claim for independence was based,

and what Baldred did was

into a kind of memorial,

to convert these " Instructiones"

which he termed " Processus."

Now, was based,

'

in the " Instructiones," on which the " Processus

there

is

not the slightest allusion to the coro-

nation-stone or

its

legend.

The

parallel passage is this

The ancient people of the

Scots, thus called after Scota,

daughter of Pliarao, king of Egypt, went from Egypt, and

first

occupied Ireland; they occupied, secondly, Argyll in

Scotland, and having driven the Britons out of Scotland, the

part of Britain thus occupied

was

called

by them by the

new name

of Scotia, from that

first

Scota,

Queen

of the

Scots, according to the line

muliere Scota vocitatur Scotia

tota.'i

What
Ilium,

Baldred did, then, was to make Scota herself lead

et

cum armata manu

applicuit

maxima
Hibernia.

classe na-

tauit.

Ipsa deuicit et dejecit Pictos, et

obtinuit
;

in

Postea,

regnum ipsum

ac ab ipsa Scota,

assuraptis

ciam

quibusdam Hibernicis, in Sconauigauit, deferens secum sedile

iste

ScotietScocianuncupantur. Unde versus;

" A muliere Scota vocitatur Scocia tota." Chronicles of the Picts
^

regium, quod

rex Anglie, inter cetera

and

Scots, p. 280.

regni Scocie insignia, secum per violen-

ciam de regno Scocie in Angliam aspor-

(JhromrhsoJ'thePictsandScots,\\2\2.

THE COROXATION STONE.

21

the Scots to Scotland to leave out the expulsion of the

Britons

and to

interpolate

two passages
;

first,

that she

brought the

fatal stone

with her

secondly, that she herself

conquered the Picts, who, in a previous passage he says,

had driven out the Britons, and taken

Baldred's object

their

kingdom.
for the

was

to present the

argument
and
of

independence of Scotland as forcibly as possible.

derivation of the
gress from

The

kingdom from the

Scots,

their pro-

Egypt through Spain and Ireland

opposed to that of the
of

to Scotland,

was the

tale

King

England,

by whom the kingdom

the
Britons, while

Scotland was

derived

from
of

Albanactus, the youngest son of Brutus, the

that of

Eponymus

England was derived from

Both
tales
if
it

Locrinus, the eldest son.

were seriously put

forward and seriously argued, as

bearing upon the controversy, and
to Baldred that

they possessed a vital

seems to have occurred

if

he would strengthen his argument

he

made
it

the

Eponyma

of the Scots, Scota herself, bring the

I.

coronation-stone,
to England,

which Edward

himself,

by removing

had recognised

as symbolical of the Scottish

monarchy, with her in his wanderings.

necessary to

By

finding

it

make her conquer

is

the Picts and take their

kingdom,

it

plain that he only

knew

of Scone as the
;

place where the stone had been for time immemorial

and

venture to suggest that

we owe

the origin of the legend

entirely to the patriotic ingenuity of Baldred Bisset.

Once suggested,

it

was eagerly caught up and applied

development.
'A

to the Scottish fable in its different stages of

c*^

22

THE CORONATION STONE.

first

Scota

brings

it

direct to Scone.

It is

then identified with

the Lia Fail or Irish stone at Tara, and brought from thence
to Scone

by the

historic Fergus,

when

the petty kings of

the

first

colony of Dah'iada were magnified into the true

kings of Scotland.

Then

it

rests at Icolmkill

by the way.

Then, when Fordun pushed back the arrival of the Scots

for

many

centuries, it is

brought to Argyll by the mythic

''

Fergus, son of Ferchard, and the prophecy

&c.
it

ni fallat fatum,"

added to

it.

Then, when the forty kings were elaborated,

is

placed in Dunstafihage, and said to have been trans-

ferred from thence to Scone

conquered the Picts in the ninth century

latest

by Kenneth MacAlpin, when he and this is the

;

form of the

fable.

The
in

Irish legend of the origin of the

is

Lia

Fail, or Irish

coronation-stone at Tara,

very difierent.

It is contained

an old

Irish

tract

termed the Leahhar Gahhala, or

is

Book

of Conquests,

and

to

this efi"ect

Ireland

was

occupied by
possession
of

diff*erent
it.

colonies before the

Milesians took

The

monarchy was founded by the

colony of the Firholg,

provinces,
seat.

who

divided Ireland into the five

or Tara as the chief and The colony which followed them, and immediately preceded the Milesians, was that of the Tuatha Be Danaan

established

Teamar

who came from

four
cities,

the land of Lochlan, where they inhabited

Gorias,
Finias,

called Falias,

Murias.

From

thence they went to Scotland, bringing with them from the

four
cities,

four precious articles.

From

Falias they brought

the Lia Fail, which had the property of sounding under

THE CORONATION STONE.

each king at his election
if

23

he was the rightful king and

;

not a usurper.
Finias, a spear
;

From

Gorias, they brought a sworcl

from
re-

and from Murias, a cauldron.

They

mained

in Scotland seven years, inhabiting a district called to Ireland, where,

Dohhar and lardohhar and then went

after nine reigns,
It is

they were conquered by the Milesians.^

somewhat remarkable that while the Scotch legend

brings the stone at Scone from Ireland, the Irish legend

brings the stone at Tara from Scotland.
all events, are

The two

legends, at
is

quite antagonistic to each other,

and there

one historic fact certain as to each.

Irish stone, did not leave Tara,

First,

the Lia Fail, or

there in the

but was

still

eleventh century

and, secondly, the Scotch stone

was not

in Argyll during the existence of the Irish colony of Dalriada,

nor was used in the inauguration of their kings.

appears from
this,

The
a

first

that the Irish translation of Nennius,

made

in the eleventh century, has

appended

to

it

list

of

the Mirahilia or wonders of Erin,

amongwhich

are the three

is

wonders of Teamar or Tara

and the third

" the

Lia
it

Fail, or stone which sounded under every king

whom

recognised in the sovereignty of

says " there
'

Teamar"
viz.

Another version

is

a stone at Temhar,

the Lia Fail, which

by the O'Clerys in the be-

THietreict culled the LcabJiarGahhala,

is

modern

edition

a book of conquests, of the ancient

presei-ved in several

ginning of the seventeenth centnry. There

MSS. There is a is, it is believed, a prospect of this tract fragment in the Leahhar na huidhri of being published, collated with the older circa 1100 an edition in the Book of editions, but the substance of it will be Leinster of circa 1160 one in the Book found fairly enough represented in KeatIrish
; ;

of Ballymote of 1380

and two
There

in the

ing's History of Ireland.

Book

of Lcacain of 1418.

is a

more

24

THE CORONATION STONE.

used to sound under the feet of every one that assumed the

kingdom
remained

of Erin/

Petrie, in his Antiquities

of Tara Hill,
still

quotes other old documents to show that the stone

there.'^

The second

fact is

shown by the account

given by the biographers of

tion of

St. Columba of the inauguraKing of the Scots of Argyll. The account is given by two of the successors of St. Columba Cumine the AVhite, who was abbot from 657 to 669, and Adomnan, who was abbot from 679 to 704. St. Columba had obtained at the Council of Dumceat the independence of Scotch Dalriada and if ever there was an occasion on

Aidan

as

which the Stone of Destiny might be expected

prominent
part,
it

to play a
St.

was

in the

solemn

rite

by which

Columba constituted Aidan

king, in obedience to a divine

command
his

declared in a vision, and accompanied by a prohis successors.

phecy regarding

He

ordains

him by placing

hands upon his head, blessing him, using what Adomnan

"verba ordinationis;" but, throughout the whole de-

calls

scription, there is not a single allusion to the Fatal Stone.^

The
theory,

late Dr.

Joseph Robertson suggested an ingenious

to

by which he endeavoured

reconcile the non-

appearance of the stone in the inauguration of the Scottish

Kings of Dalriada with the legend which makes Kenneth

mac Alpin
1

bring the stone from Argyllshire to Scone in the

^

Irish

tonum
'^

Version of the Historia BriAr. Society, Ir. of Nennius.

Cumiue's

Vit.

Columhcc,

cap.

v.

1848, p. 201.
Petrie on the History

apud Pinkerton's Fit. Antiq. SS. Scotice, Adomnan's Vit. S. Columhce, B. p. 30

;

ties

of

and AntiquiTara //iVZ. Trans. Royal Irish

pp.
2,

iii. c.

v. pp.

197-201, Reeves' edit. , Diiblin,

1857.

Acad.,

V. xviii.

160.

THE CORONATION STONE.

25

ninth century, and his suggestion has been adopted by

Dean Stanley
nan records of

in his

posed that the stone

St.

may have

Memorials of Westminster. He supbeen the same which Adomfor a pillow, while

it

Columba that he used

and that
first

a stone slab formed his bed,

was brought by

Kenneth
stone
;

to Scone,
I

and there
is

used as a coronation-

but

think this

one of the rare occasions in which

his acuteness and sagacity were at fault.

His argument
at lona

may

be shortly stated thus

Both Cumine and Adomnan speak of a stone

which had been used by
St.

Columba

as a pillow,

and on
first
is

which he rested

his

head in his dying hours, and the

shape in which the legend of the stone of Scone meets us

as the pillow of Jacob.
pillow, he

When

Jacob slept on his stone

Columba had a

had a vision of angels ascending and descending. The vision of angels before his death.

Pictish Chronicle records that

Kenneth mac Alpin,

built,

in the

seventh year of his reign, transported the relics of St.

Columba

to a church

which he

and

it

was on the
It is

banks of the Tay, as we learn from another source. immediately after Kenneth's reign that we find Scone
tinguished as a royal city, the place where

dis-

a National

Council
pillow

or

Assembly met in 906.

Therefore the stone

may have been among

the relics which Kenneth

transported to a church on the banks of the

Tay

Scone

may have
1

been that church, and

it

may have

been subse-

quently used as the coronation stone.

Dean
Stanley's Historical

Manorioh

of Westminster Ahheij, p. 496, Appendix.

26

THE CORONATION STONE.

This tlieoiy
is

put together with

much

ingenuity, but

it

will not bear examination.

At

the very outset there

is

a fatal objection to
Professor

it.

The

coronation stone,

when examined by

Eamsay

Set 'U^U.

provedjto be_a_small block of red^sandstone, and he reports,

on the authority of Mr. Geikie, that the rocks^f lona^consist "

of a flaggy micaceous_grit or^neiss^

There

is

no red

sandstone on_it."^

This drives us to the necessity of supof the stones on

posing that

St.

Columba did not use one

it is

the island for his pillow, but brought one of red sandstone

from a distance. Further,

that the stone at Scone

no part of the Scotch legend

pillow.
It is not stated

was Jacob's

by any Scotch document, but

niclers,

solely

by the English

chro-

and we learn from Adomnan that the stone pillow

St.

used by
grave,

Columba was placed

as a

monument on
It

his

and remained

so at the time

he wrote.
after St.

seems

unlikely that
death, have
it

Kenneth should, 200 years

Further,

Columba's

removed the monument on

it

his grave,
is

and made

his

coronation stone.

hardly correct to

say that

we
is

learn from another source, that the church

Kenneth

built

was on the banks of the Tay.

The source

referred to

a Saxon document compiled not earlier than

1058, giving the localities in England in which the relics of

eminent saints were placed.

It

makes no
St.

reference to

Kenhis

neth whatever, but simply says that

relics) reposes at
1

ColumcyUe

{i. e.

Duncachan, on the river Tay.^

translated

Duncachan
Duncachan juxta

Dean

Stanley,

Meviorials of West-

by him

" Sanctus ColumcyUe

yninster Abbey, p. 450.

-

lequi^scat in loco dicto

Hickcs,

ii.

17.

The

iiassMj^^r is

thus

fiumon Tau."

THE CORONATION STONE.

is

27

supposed to be miswritten for Dimkaklan or Dunkeld,

it is

and
as

certain that
relics of St.
;^

Dunkekl was dedicated

to St.

Columba,
as late

and that
1500

Columba were preserved there but there is no trace of any dedication

to St.

Columba

at Scone, or of its ever

having borne a name ap-

proaching in sound to Duncachan.

Lastly, I think
as
it

can be shown that Scone was

known

royal city before the reign of Kenneth.

Forduu,

in his account of the coronation of Alexander III., states

that

Scone had been constituted by ancient kings the

"sedes superior" or principal seat of Scotland; and in accordance with this statement

we

find

Malcolm

IV., in his

charter to the monastery of Scone confirming the grants of

previous kings, states that

sede regni nostri.""

it

was founded

" in principali

We

find

that the

kings of Scotland were not only

there.

crowned at Scone, but held parliaments

liaments met on the

These parII.

Moot

Hill of Scone,

Thus Eobert

was crowned
earls,
1

at

Scone on the 26th day of March 1371, by

presence of the
prelates,

the Bishop of St. Andrews, in

barons, and other nobles of Scotland, and of a great

paste laborantes,
ticis

Alexander Jlybie, who was a canon

in teriis suis ecclesia^i-

of Dunkeld,

and died in 1549, nan-ates

(pp.

de Capeth, \nsitavit [episcopus], et

ecclesiastica
eis

the following in his Lives of the Bishops

of

Dunkeld

40-43)

"In

sacramenta
fecit;

ministrari
fecit

anno

altera vero die

aquam

bene-

domini millesimo quingentesimo, ssevissima regnavit pestis, per totum regnum

Scotise,

dictam, in qua lavavit os Beati Columhce

et

et

ut fama fertur, civitas

illasa,

Dun-

misit,

cum cancellario eis ad bibendum quam multi recipientes sani facti

keldensis

meritis

divi

pati-oiii

sunt."

Columbse a contagione pestifera semper

permansit

qnosdamque

CItartulari/ of Scone, p.

5.

"

28

THE CORONATION STONE.

;

multitude of the people

the prelates,
earls,
is,

and on

tlie

following day convened

'

barons,

and nobles before him,

the king

sitting, as use

in the royal seat,

upon the Mount of Scone ;'^

and on the 18th of March 1390, Robert III. held a parliament at Scone, upon the Mount of Scone, on the north side of the monastery beyond the cemetery.'^ The parliaments held at Scone consisted of what were called the two Estates of Scotland viz. the barons and the
*

higher clergy.
the expression

Thus, in a parliament held at Scone in 1303,

is "
;

congregatis et comparentibus prelatis et

proceribus regni

"

and of another held

at Scone in 1285,

Wynton

says

Alexander the thryd oure king

Gert

mak

at

Scone a gret gadryng,

Tlie sextene

day eftyr Pasce,

statis

Quhair thare the

^

gadryd was. 3
;

Rege

sedeute in Sede Regia super

est

montem de Scone ut

moris. Act Pari. Scot., p. 181. This " Sedes Regia" must not be confounded with the stone seat which was used at the coronation only, and was kept in the Abbey Church, to which the name of " Cathedra" is always
applied.

now at Westminster (2) a stone which it would seem the Stone of Fate was placed when kings were to be inaugurated," but there seems no ground
of Fate,

chair in

for this supposition.

is

The "Sedes Regalis"

was removed,
is

mentioned

after the stone

It

never bears the name proper to the

The

royal seat here referred to

latter of

"Cathedra."

There

nothing

was placed on the Moot Hill, and used when the king presided at a parliament or
court of justice.
It

to to

shew that it was of stone, and it seems have been the throne on which the king

was on

this seat

the

Moot

Hill that Robert

on Bruce was

usually sat

when

presiding over his nobles,

is

while the fatal stone

of the
*

by

its

legends in-

crowned in 1306, " in sede positus regali,

after the seat called the

delibly connected with the inauguration

"Cathedra," or

new king

only,

stone had been removed to England."

Apud
super

Sconani Sancti

Andree

dio-

Fordun a Hearne,

vol. iv. p. 997.

cesis
terii

montem ex
extra

parte boreali monas-

Dr. Joseph Robertson adds, "that there

ejusdcm

cymyterium.
B. VII.

Act

appears some reason to suppose that there

Pari. Scot., p. 216.

^

were two stones

at

Scone (1) The Stone

Wyntoun's

C/(?-o.

c.

x.

THE CORONATION STONE.

In 1209

29

King William
'

the Lion held an assembly of

the prelates, earls, barons, and freeholders at Scone, in which

it

was ordained that the holy Scottish Church, the holy

and
entire
clergy, should be maintained,

reall

ligion,

with

their rights, liberties,

and

privileges, in
^

quiet peace, and

always under royal protection.'

in the Pictish Chronicle in
It

Now the assembly recorded

near the Royal City of

906 was obviously of this nature.

Belief,

was held on the Mount of

Scone, and there Constantine the King, and Cellach, Bishop

of St. Andrews, issued an ordinance for the preservation

of the laws, faith, discipline,

and rights of the Church.^

We

can here recognise a national assembly held upon the

Hill of Scone exactly similar to that held

Moot

by King

William the Lion.

This Dr. Joseph Robertson seems to

earliest

have regarded as the

mention of Scone as the

it is

" sedes principalis regni;" but

not

so,

for

Flann of
than the

Bute, in his Synchronisms of the Kings, written in the reign

of

Malcolm

II.,

and therefore very

little

later

Pictish Chronicle, states of

Kenneth macAlpin that he was

acquired the kingdom of Scone."^
of the Picts
is

the

first

of the Scots "

who

By
1

this expression the

Statuit

kingdom

meant, and

Rex Willelmus apud Sconam

consilio et deliberacione pre-

C'ellachus episcopus, leges disciplinasque

fidei

de

communi

atque jura ecclesiarum evangeliorpariter

latorum comitum et baronum ac libere

unique,

cum

Scottis,

in

colle

tenentium quod ecclesia sancta Scoticana

et

credulitatis

prope

regali

civitati

Scoan

sancta religio et universus clerus in

devoverunt custodiri.
Scots, p. 9.

Chrmi. Picts and

suis juribus libertatibus ac privilegiis

om-

nibus mauuteneatur

in

quiete

pace et
^

semper sub protectione

Scot.,
"
-p.

regia.

Act. Pari.

Cinaet macAilpin

ise cet rig

hro gab
Chron.

60.

Riglie
Pirfs

Sgoinde

do

Gaidelaib.

Ac

in

VI. anno Constantinus Eex et

and

Scots, p. 21.

30
the

THE CORONATION STONE.

name

of the capital

is

used for that of the kingdom, just

as the Irish annalists use the expression of the

Kingdom

of

Tara for the Kingdom of Ireland.

This passage shows, that

when Kenneth conquered

of the Pictish kingdom.

the Picts, Scone was the capital

But, further, Tighernac,

records in 728
'

who wrote

in the

same century,

an unfortunate battle between the Picardach

or Picts, at Gaislen Credi,

and the victory was against Alpin

(King of the
taken,

Picts),

and

his territories
Derili,

and

all his

men were
event,

and Nectan, son of

obtained the kingdom of

the Picts.' ^

The Annals of Ulster, in recording the same

the Irish for " Castellum," and Credi
is

uses the expression "juxta Castellum Credi.""

The word
the Irish

Gaislen

is

form of " credulitas" or belief.

Credulitatis," or

This was therefore the " CoUis

Mount

of Belief, at Scone,

and here

also the

taking of Scone implied that the conquerors obtained the

kingdom
that

of the Picts, showing that Scone

" sedes principalis" of the

is,

a century earlier,

was still the kingdom of the Picts in 728, and that the Moot Hill then bore
the assembly in 906,
this

the

name of " the Mount of Belief." The Pictish Chronicle, in recording

expression,
viz.,
'

has the remarkable

from

day the

hill

merited
1

its

name
itir

the

Mount

of Belief.'^
gestum
est

This does
juxta Castellum
Chron. Fids

Cath truadh
Credhi

Picardachaibh ac
ro

(Pictores)

Caislen

ocu.s

mebaigh

ar in

Credi ubi Elpinius effugit.

aiid Scots, p. 355.

Alpin cetna ocus ro bearadh a cricha ocus a duine de uile, ocus ro gab Nechtain

mac
-

Derili Righi

na Picardach. CAro?;.
id
intei'

'^

Ab

hoc die
collis

collis

hoc mertiit nomen,

Picts

and

Scots, p. 75.

est,

credulitatis. CTrow.

Fids

Bclluiii

lacriniMbilf

eosdcni

njid Scats, p. 9.

THE CORONATION STONE.

not imply that the

31
hill,

name was then

first

applied to the
to

but that

it

was peculiarly appropriate

and

a hill on which

an assembly was held regulating the

rights of the church
;

faith, discipline,

and

it is

remarkable that a similar

assembly affecting the church appears to have been held by

the same Nectan, son of Derili, not long before the
Hill
first

Moot

appears under the

name

of the Castle of Belief.

Bede

tells

us that in 710 this Nectan, king of the Picts,

till

renounced the error in which he and his nation had

then been held in relation to observances of Easter, and

sent messengers to Ceolfrid,

Abbot of Jarrow, requesting

arguments by which

him
him

to write

him a

letter containing

he might convince those opposed to him, as well as to send

architects to build a church after the
it

Roman manner, proletters

it

mising to dedicate

to St. Peter.

The abbot sends the

us that 'when

and the

architects^;

and Bede

tells

was read

in presence of

Nectan and many of his most learned men,

to him, he rose

and interpreted
sat about him,

from among

his nobles

who

and declared that he would always observe the

true Easter with his nation.

A decree was
all

accordingly sent

by public command through The expressions

that
1

the province of the Picts.'

in this passage leave little

room

to

doubt

we have

here an assembly precisely similar to those in

c.

Bedie ff is. Ec. An., B. V.

21.

de

medio

optimatum suonim consessu

Haec epistola

cum

prsesente

rege

genua flecteret in terram, Deo gi'atiasagens, quod tale munusculum de terra Anglorum
mereretur accipere.
.
.

Naitono, multisque viris doctioribus esset

lecta, ac diligenter

Statimnam-

ab his qui
de
ejus
;

iiitelligere

poterant, in linguam ejus propriam interpretata,

que jussu publico mittebantur ad transcribendum, discenduni, observandum, per

imiversas Pictorum provincias circuli Paschre decennovenales.

multum

exhortationc

ga-visus esse perhibetur

ita ut

exsurgens

32

THE CORONATION STONE.

906 and in 1209

the king
is

in the

midst of his nobles, with

his clergy, issuing a decree regulating the faith

and

rites of

the church and there

;

every probability that it likewise took

place on the

name
to
it

of the

Moot Hill of Scone, and that it then received the Mount of Belief, a name which we find applied

within but a few years after the date of this transaction.

also to

Nectan appears

have founded the church at Scone.^

In 717, in consequence of his adoption of the

usages,

Eoman

Nectan expels the Columbian clergy beyond Drum-

alban, the

mountain range which

at that time separated the

provinces of the Picts from

cates the throne

Dalriada,'"^

and

in 724 he abdi-

and becomes himself an

ecclesiastic,^ retiring

probably to the church he had founded at Scone.

sessor in the Pictish is Drust,

His sucis

and by him Nectan

is

seized

and bound in 726.

Alpin,*
'

In the same year Drust

after
is

expelled by

and two years

who
is

in turn driven out

Ceolfrid,

by Nectan
to dediII.

This appears from the Legend of St.

said to have been a mis-

which Nectan promised

;

Boniface,

cate to St. Peter

but when Alexander

sionary to the Picts,

and

to

have con-

verted them and their king Nectanius to

Christianity.

conveys the Church of Scone to the Canons of St. Augustine, it is described as " ec-

This is obviously the same clesiam in honorem Sancta; Trinitatis and by the conversion of the dedicatam qufe est in Scona. " This, thereand their king, the rejection of fore, appears to have been the place conthe Columban usages and the adoption of veyedtoSt. Boniface, "in nomine Sancte
transaction,

Picts

the

Roman

are really meant.

Trinitatis."
717. Eximlsio familie le trans

Nectan meets the missionaries at Restinoth, and is converted and it is added

" Kex vero ipsorum virorum timencmm

;

,,

-r,

Britannie, a Nectano rege. Tigh.

Ueum locum
T

baptistern in nomine Sancte

^

...

rn n- * Chron. Picts a7id Scots,

"^^^^

jo.

V).

%< 7 i.

dorsum apud

Trinitatis Beato Bonifacio tradidit ct deli-

<-'lericatum [N]echtain regis Pic-

berauit" (Chron. Picts

and

Scots, p. 423.)

^"^*

Druxst post eumregnat. (/5ic^.)

Nechtain mac Derili constrin-

Restinoth, however, was dedicated to St.

Peter,
is

726.

and not

little rea.son to

church built

and there was the by the architects sent by

to the Trinity
;

doubt that

it

apud Druist regem. Druist de regno Pictorum ejectns ot Elphin pro eo

gitur

rpgnat (Ibid.)

"

THE CORONATION STONE,

33

who, in the battle near the Moot Hill of Scone, recovers

his

kingdom and

territories,

and

his death

is

recorded in

732.'

The events of Nectan's

centre

reign, therefore, appear all to

his reign at least, if not
it

upon Scone, and from

earlier

from

much
"

period in the Pictish monarchy,^

was

the

sedes principalis regni," where the assemblies of the

nation
^

were held,

and the possession of which placed

Tiiortuns
ster,

732.

Nechtan mac Derile

Teamar

or Tara
;

in that from Con-

{Ibid).
-

This was the belief in ForJuu's time.

In narrating the foundation of the monastery of Scone

by Alexander

I.,

he says,

quo resedem regni primam constituerunt " (Fordun a Heame, vol. ii. p. 441) and again, " Fundata enim est, sedificata et dedicata, ut dictum est, apud Seonam, ubi antiqui reges, Cruthino primo Pictorum rege, sedem regni Albaniae constituerant
ffidificavit loco,

"

Quam fundatam

and iu that from Ulster, Tailteann. Tara was the sedes principalis, or chief seat, where the Ardrigh, or supreme monarch, was inaugurated. Now, of the seven provinces of which
naught, Uisneach the Pictish kingdom was composed, the
four southern

ges antiquitus tam Scoti

quam
;

Picti

'S'iz.

(1) (2)

Fortren, extending

from Forth to Tay

(3)

Atfodia or Atholl
;

and (4) Fife and meet in GowTie and in a charter by Malcolm IV. to the
Forthref,

Angus and Mearns

may be

said to

canons of Scone, " in principali sede regni

nostri fundata," he conveys to
tithe

(vol.

iii.

p. 680).
is

There

probably more resemblance

sight

them the " de quatuor maneriis meis de Goude Scon et de Cubert et de

Straderdel."
first

than at
dition,

first

appears between the

erin

scilicet

circumstances by which, according to tra-

Forgi-und et de

Scone

is

Tara became the chief seat of

Ire-

separated from the

province by the

land,

and those which gave Scone the same

is

Tay.

Cubert, or Cupar- Angus, adjoins

character in Scotland.

Angus.

Forgrund, now Longforgan,

is

Tara

in the province of Meath,

and

separated by the Taj' from a parish in Fife

according to old tradition this provance

bearing the same

ary of Athol.
I

name

and Straderdel

or

was formed by taking a portion from each

of the four provinces of Munster, Leinster,

Strathardel stretches along the east bound-

Connaught, and Ulster, as mensal lands

the support of the Irish monarchy.

for

venture, therefore, to suggest that

likewise
foi-med
as

In

Gowry was

mensal

each of the four poi-tions forming the

province of Meath was a place where
semblies were held.
as-

lands for the support of the Crown from

four provinces, of which these four

manors

In that taken from

;

respectively formed a part, and that Scone

Munster was Tlachtga

in that from Lein-

was the "sedes principalis."

34
its

THE CORONATION STONE.

occupant at the head of the Pictish peoph^
n.s

their

monarch.
It

was

in this sense that

Fhxnn of Bute, in recording

throne

the

possession

of the

Pictish

by Kenneth mac
'

Alpin, a king of Scottish race, says that he

obtained the

kingdom
to

of Scone. '^

He
;

is

said

by Giraldus Cambrensis
Irish chronicle,

have assembled the Pictish nobles to a banquet and cut

off

them

by stratagem

and the metrical

St.

termed the Prophecy of

place at Scone.

Berchan, implies that this took

By him

are deceived in the East the fierce ones,

He
On

shall dig in the earth, powerful the art.

pillage,

Dangerous goad-blades, death,

the middle of Scone of higli shields.o

Fordun
but there

states that

Donald, the brother and successor

of Kenneth, died at Scone, the " sedes regia," or royal seat f

is

a remarkable variety in the old chronicles as

to the place of his death.

The

Pictish Chronicle, the oldest

of them, says that he died in his palace of CimihelacJwir.

St.

Berchan, the next oldest authority, says

1 Convocatosque tanquam ad convi- rum sociis quicquam tale timeutes, statini Citron. Picls vium magnates Pictorum cunctos, captata trucidaverunt universos. tam cibi ([uam potus crapula et ingurgita- and Scots, p. 165.

cioneforsannimia

et,

opportunitate notata,

clavorum extractione qui tabulata te.iebant, in bancorum concavitatem quibus ^

'

, ^^^^^_ ^.^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ g^_ ^^^^^ ^^^.^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^
,-,

^^^^

sedebant, mira decipula popnte tenus, ita

'

,.

the Picts
_,.

t,-

"Cestifust
ri
.

^^

x-

j.

le

j daram roy dez

i

Picys,

SI

fust tue a

quod

se nullatenus

engere possent, com''

c< Scone par treisoun.

..

mimiter undique lapsos, de subitos, quidem et improvisos, nee ab affinibus et confederatis

Apud Sconara

vero sedem regiam.

i.

suoque beneficio coufpodatis

et bollo-

Foi'flun a Iloanip, vol.

p. 306.

THE CORONATION STONE.

Three years
to the

35

king
;

And three months who .shall iniml>er them On Loch Adhbha shall be his grave. He dies of disease suddenly,
i

century

after,

one of the later chronicles says he died

at Rathinveramon,

which
^

is

repeated in subsequent lists;-

and the Chronicon Elegiacum confirms Fordun's account

that he died at Scone.

These names, however, can

in the

all

be referred to

localities

immediate neighbourhood of

military

ways constructed by the

of the

Scone. One of the great Romans leads from the

Roman
the

station at Strageath, in Stratherne, to the Tay, at

mouth

Amond, where
There

there are the remains of

is
it

another

Roman

station.

here a ford on the

Tay

called Derder's Ford,

and above
is

the remains of an old

bridge.
side

The Roman road

continued on the opposite

of the river, through a

;

Roman camp
river,

called
it

Grassy

Walls

and on the bank of the

between

and the
the

road, are the remains of a small fort, laid

down on
crosses

Ordnance map under the name of Gold

Castle,

but generally
the
it

known

as Silver Castle.

This military
of Scone;

way

river about half-a-mile north

and between

and Scone there appears to have been formerly a small lake, the situation of which is indicated by a farm termed
Lochtown.

Now

the

word Belach

is

an old

Irish

word
and

originally applied to
1
'^

any leading road

''

or highway,

Chron. Picts and

Scots, p. 85.

Qui Scone fertur subditus

Picts

esse neei.

IJhrun. Picts

Mortmis e.st in Eathinueramon. and Scots, pp. 151 and 174.

Chron.

and

Srota, p. 178.

M
ill

THE CORONATION STONE.

the

modern form

of

Bealach

to

mountain-pass
therefore,
at
it.^

and oir means gold.

The name of BelacJioir seems,

to be connected with this military way,

and the palace

Cinnhelachoir to have been at no great distance from

Rathinveramon means the Rath or

fort at the

mouth

of the
there.

Amond, and clearly refers to the Eoman station Adhhha means a palace, and Loch Adhbha the loch
palace;

of the
is

and

in its

corrupted form of Locheye

it

laid

down
road.

in the

Ordnance map between Scone and the Roman

all

These places probably

belonged to the defences

and possessions of that

generally
Grig,

central seat of the

monarchy known
Kenneth,

by the name of Scone.

the fourth

king in succession from

Ciricius,

termed by the Pictish Chronicle,

and elaborated
to

by Fordun

into

Gregorius,

is
;"

said

by him

have been
from

solemnly crowned at Scone

and, immediately after, to

have regulated the

state of the
it

church by freeing

it

the servitude to which

Picts.^

had been subjected under the

is

The
l^ut

precise
is

import of what he did

not very

clear

Fordun

corroborated by older authority, and

first

'

The name
other

of Belachoir only occurs

in

one

Cadroe
of
tical

the Life of document where it is mentioned as the last

to be a series of ecclesias-

mentioned likewise under the name

of Ciiidrighmonaigh.
"

Ibid.

i).

76.

what appears

Idem vero Gregorius, cum regni regimen, pluribus majorum annuentibus,

optinuisset,Sconasolemnitercoronatusest.

foundations by the Scots, the imme-

diately preceding foundation being Rig-

mont

in

St.

Andrews.

" Rigmonath
se procul positas,

Fordun a Hearne, vol. ' Hie primus dedit

illud

ii.

p. 310.

libertatera Ecclesie

quoque Bellethor urbes, a

petentes,
Picts

Scoticane que sub servitute erat usque ad

possessuri
Scots,

vicerunt. "
St.

CJiron.
is

and

108.

Andrews

tempus ex consuetudine et more Pictorum. C7(ro. Picts and Scots, pp.

151, 174.

THE CORONATION STONE.

it

37

seems to point to an assembly held at Scone similar to

to.

those already referred

In the reign

of

Coustantine,

not

many

years

after

took place, in 906, the meeting between the King and the

Bishop of

St.

Andrews, when the rights and laws of the

Belief,

church were again regulated on the Mount of

the royal city of Scone. ^

near

Constantiue

mac

Culen,

who
is

seized the throne towards said

the end of the same century,

by Fordun
and
to

to

have

invaded the " sedes regia

the crown
of Scone

"

or royal seat,
;

have placed

upon

his

head there

'

and that he took possession

is

corroborated by

St.

Berchan,

who

says

Woe Men

to

Albau

tliiuugli his alioit time.

will be feeble

around him
shield^;.^

In the land of Scone of sounding

By
mouth
Scone.
^

the chronicles of the twelfth century he

is

said to
at

have been slain at Rathinveramon, or the

of the

fort

the

Amond, which

is

thus again connected with

On

the legend narrated by Fordun, that

Malcolm the

Second bestowed the whole of the territory of Scotland,

which had hitherto

''ritu

priscorum" remained in the proper

possession of the crown, in grants to the barons

1

and knights,
capiti

See antea,

p.

29.
tilius

proceruni
Culeuii,

anuitentibus,

proprio

Constantinus Calvus,

i^S^i coronam imposuit.-Ford. a Hearne,

^^'

de quo superius

fit raencio, duceus secum quos habuit fautores, publica constituciono

^*^'
'

'Jhron.

Pids and

Scots, p, 97.

de.specta,

sedem invasit regiam

et

paucis

Ibid. pp. 151, 174, etc.

"

38
retaining only
tlic

THE CORONATION STONE.

Moot
;

Hill of
it

Scone/ probably

little

de-

pendence can be placed

fiction

has more the aspect of a legal

than of a tradition.

Fordun, however, after narrating that Malcolm Cannior had, with the assistance of

Edward, Earl of Northum-

berland, defeated Macbeth, driven

him

across the

Mounth,

and

slain

him

at

Lmnfanan, adds that the adherents of

Liilach to Scone,

Macbeth took
placed

his relation

and having
king.^

him

in the royal seat, declared

him

After

four months,

however, he too was

all his

slain,

and Malcohn

Canmor, having prostrated

enemies, was himself, in

presence of the magnates of the kingdom, placed in the

royal throne at Scone, and solemnly crowned.'*
'

Nichil

iiide

possideiiduiu

sibi

re-

regni

Barones, aliique subditi

ibi

foin-

tiuuit,

prater regiic sedis Scoiue

Ford, a Hearne,
ii.

iiionti-

pareutes, vel coronandi regis causa, vel ad

culum.
2

365.

comitia publica, vel ad causas agendas et

dicendas,

The spurious laws

of

Malcolm Mac-

cumulum

kenneth begin with the following : 1 Dominus rex Malcolmus dedit, et distribuit totam terram regni Scotise,
liominibus
2.

coram rege, in et monticulum ^^^ Maq. 1597 p. 1.

^

unum

quasi

coiiferebant.

Subito nanKjue post mortem

j\Iacli-

suis.

abei,

convenerunt quidam ex ejus parensceleris

Et

nihil sibi retinuit in proprietate,

tela

hujusmodi

fautores,

suum

nisi

regiam dignitatem et
de Scona
Sir
:

montem

consobrinum nomine Lulach, cognomine

fatuum, ad Sconam ducentes, et impositum
sede regali regem constitimnt.

placiti in villa

To which
following note
'

Jolm Skene adds the

Ford, a

Hearne,

ii.

398.

'

Montem placiti.
et

Montem seu locum

regia?,

intelligit,

ubi placita, vel curise

querelis

de
vel

Prostratis

ubique cunctis hostibus,

saepe-

placitis

subditonim

solent
et

ad suam deductis pacem, idem

teneri.

Ubi
[the

Barones

compareant
of
;

dictus Malcolmus,

apud Sconam,

prcesen-

homagium
offerant.

ac alia servitia Eegi

debita,

tibus

regni majoribus, in throno regali

mute

hill

Scone].

Et
tcrrtr

positus est, et in

omnium Scotorum gloriam

-

vulgo, omnis term vocatur

quia ex
;

ethonorem, eodem Aprili mense, die sancti

Maici eoroiiatus.
7'';VA

mole

ct

congerie

exfedificatur

quam

p. 399.

THE CORONATION STONE.

St.

39

Berclian implies in his obscure language, purposely

veiled to preserve the fiction of

a prophecy, that ^lac:

beth had been attacked and defeated at Scone

"

Twenty years and ten years

Over Alban
tlie

sovereign reigned
it

On

the middle of Scone,

will vomit blood,

The evening

of a night in

much

contention."

Although JMalcolm Canmor was crowned at Scone,

txppears

it

in his

reign to have ceased to be the ordinary

residence of the kings.

The towns which had been

rising

in importance in other parts of Scotland gradually

became

both the occasional residence of the monarch, and the place

where
held
;

his courts and the assemblies of the nation were and the numerous monasteries founded by Malcolm his race

and the kings of

places

were frequently selected as the

where

their

court

was from time

and here he

to

time held.

Dunfermline, where Malcolm

frequently his residence
cessors
;

founded a monastery, was

himself,

and

his suc-

on the throne, were buried.

or

The
his

"

Castrum puelas

larum,"

Edinburgh
his
reign.

Castle,

also

appears

royal

residence

in

Edgar,
I.

successor,

died at

Dundee

and though Alexander

founded a monastery at
is

Scone in 1115, and his charter, which

granted with the

earls,

consent of his queen, two bishops, and six

a council

implies that

had probably been held

at Scone, of the three

is

other charters he granted to the monastery, one

Stirling,

dated at

another at Perth, and the third only at Scone.

'

Chtoii.

rids and

Scots, p. 102.

40

THE CORONATION STONE.

1.

Duriug the reign of David

Scone.

we

find,

little

mention of

Under

his auspices feudalism

was rapidly acquiring

and
instituideas,

predominance in Scotland, and

tions were

its social state

becoming assimilated

to feudal forms

and

while the old Celtic element in her constitutional history

was gradually

retiring into the background.

The reign

of

David

I. is

the true

commencement
;

of Feudal Scotland

and

the termination of Celtic Scotland

and with

it,

to a great

extent, the old traditionary position of Scone, as the scene

of her national assemblies,

and the

seat of the royal court,

became

less

prominent,

although

the

kings were
title

still

anxious not to

endanger the

traditionary

of

the

monarchy by dispensing altogether with the

in their inauguration,

Celtic element

and continued

to be crowned,

and

occasionally to hold parliaments, there.

Fordun narrates that on the death of David

and constituted him king
father.^

I.

the people

took his grandson Malcolm, a boy in his thirteenth year,

at Scone, in

room

of his grand-

This passage

is

taken by him from John

of

Hexham, a contemporary authority, and is therefore authenThe only assembly which is recorded to have been tic. held in the reign of Malcolm was summoned to meet at Perth,' and the charter granted by him to Scone, in which
'

Tollens quoque

oiniiis

populus Maifili-

692.

John
is

of

Hexham

adds

tlie

expression,
est,"

colmuni, puenun tredecini annorum,

" Sicut consuetude

illius

nationis

um

Henrici

comitis

Noithumbrise

et

which

omitted by Fordun.
i.

Priory of

Huntingdon i?c, iilii ipsius regis David, et apud Sconam constituerunt regem pro Pavidavosuo. Fordun a Hearne, vol. iii.

Hexham,
-

170.

Furdun a Henrnr,

iii.

p. 695.

THE CORONATION STONE.

it is

41
is

said to

be the

"

principalis sedes regui,"

deatli,

dated at

Stii'liug,

On

Malcolm's

Fordun

tells

us that the
his brother

prelates

and nobles met at Scone and declared

to be king,

William

and that he was blessed by the Bishop

in the royal chair\

of St. Andrews,

and inaugurated

The
Out of

traces of the assemblies of the estates

and the meetings of

frequent.

the " curia regis "

now became much more

twenty-four such assemblies which are recorded, only one

was held
"

at Scone, but that

was the meeting

in

1209 of the

commune

consilium regni," at which various laws were

rights

passed,
teed.^

and the

and privileges of the church guaran-

In the coronation of Alexander the Second,

distinct intimation of the

we have

the

first

seven earls of Scotland

taking a part in the ceremony, for

that on the day after the death of

we are told by Fordun Wilham the Lion, the

Andrews, took his son

Earls of Fife, Stratherne, AthoU, Angus, Menteth, Buchan,

and Lothian, with the Bishop of

St.

Alexander, a youth of sixteen and a half years old, to Scone,

and there solemnly inaugurated him as king

Alexander hold;^
702.

ing high festival at Scone on that and the succeeding day

Porro, post Malcolmi regis obitum,

regem

benedicitui-, atque regali cathedra

conveneriuit apud

Sconam

jirelati Scocise,

sublimatur.

Fordun a Hearne,

iii.

cunctique

proceres,

ejusdem

germani
-

Willelmi luandaute prsecepto, tunc regni

custodes,
erigunt.

Act. Pari. Scot. p. 59.

quem ibidem unanimes

Igitui- in vigilia natalis

in

regem
^

Domini,

In crastino quoque post regis obitum

die

viz.

xv.

post regis

mortem,
leo

idem

summo

mane,

episcopo

Glasgrvensi

Willelmus,

amicus

Dei,

justiciar,

Waltero, electo de Rossa Roberto, Regina,

princeps pacis, a Ricardo episcopo Sancti

Andrese, et
aliis officio

Willelmo de Boscho cancellario, plerisque

familiaribus

coadjuvantibus, in

cum

corpore regis defuncti re-

42

THE CORONATION STONE.

fifteen assemblies

but of

recorded to have been held in his

reign only one

met

at Scone.^

Fordmi's graphic account of the coronation of Alexander

the Third has already been given.
fifteen assemblies in his reign,

There are notices of

but only two were held at

Scone
first

both, however, of great national importance.

in

The

was the meeting of the Estates

1283

for the settle-

ment of the succession to the throne in favour of the Maiden of Norway; and the other held in 1285, when "the States
gadryd was.""

John
tion in

Baliol held an assembly at Scone after his corona-

1292,^ which
is

is

the

first

to

which the name of

Parliament

distinctly given,

and

in

1296 the coronation-

stone was removed to Westminster.

Such
to

is

a rapid sketch of the part which Scone appears

it

have played, and the position which

occupied, in the

constitutional history of Scotland, for at least six out of the

eight centuries during which, according to Blind Harry, the

fatal stone

was preserved there

prior to

its

removal to Eng-

land in 1296.
raanentibus,
Atholia,

de

Fife,

cle

Stratheriie,

de
de

contrudicente.

Kex Alexander apud Scousexta,

et

de Angusia,

de

Menteth,

am

eo die, feria scilicet

sequenti,

sab-

Buclian, de

Laudonia comites, una cum

et semis

bato

festo scilicet
et

Sancti Ni-

ei)iscopo Sancti Andreas Willelrao, filium

cholai,

necnon

imminenti Dominica,
tenuit honorifice sicut
iii.

regis

Alexandrum, XVI.

adolescentem,

assumpserunt,

annorum et secum

festivitatem
decuit.
,

suam
,

Ford, a Heanie, vol.

,

739.

usque ad Sconam adduceutes, sublinuus et gloriosius, tam honorifice quam padflee,

,,

^,

^^^.,

quam

eo u-sque quisquam, et secun-

'"
^

^<:.

P"'"'^-

^'f-

P-

^'

'

^yntoun,

dum Deum et homines in regem sublimatus

est,

^'^>'0"- vii. c. x.
''

omnibus congiatulantibu-s

et

iieniini'

Art. Par!. -Sv/. p. 89.

THE CORONATION STONE,

43

The corouation stone

a few small

is

described by Professor

Ramsay
with

" of a dull reddisli or purplish sandstone, as consisting

imbedded pebbles. One of which is of quartz and two others of a dark material, which may be Lydian stone. The rock is calcareous, and is of the kind that masons would
caU freestone."^

3^^^ 5t<J^
is

formed of old red sandAccount " For Statistical the in described It is thus stone. burn the outAnnaty the of course the along miles several crop has been laid bare by the stream, and exhibits w^ell-

The country around Scone

also

^4^

l^

"h^

c^yk,
/,,j^,^^^^^^.

^
V^
>^^
'

defined sections of the

deposit.

It

is

one of the lower

7)^'

members

of the old red sandstone formation,

which abounds
variety in the

in this part of the country.

There

is

little

aspect or structure of the rock, except that here and there

a bed of lighter or darker colour, more or less abounding

in

comminuted

scales

of mica, occasions slight apparent

variations."^

The conclusion

have therefore come to

is,

that there

^ (/c^^^

/ ^s/ t^y^^

was no connection between the stone at Scone and the Lia Fail at Tara, and that the legends of their wanderings, like
those of the tribes with

7Ui>-*aj>^.M4^ i^^
.^^^y-- -^/^-^^

whom

they are associated, are no-

^U^^.-^^tc/^*^*^

f^.WW'-

'

thing but
It

myth and

fable.
t ribes

>^uJ^v^_j,
to in augurate^ their

J.
jr

was the custom ofCeltic

st'one

kings upon a sacred

archy!
^

supposed to symbolise the mon-

fTVf^

The

Irish

kin^'were inaugurated on the Lia Fail,

tinguished geologist Mr. Archibald Geikie, has, at my request, kindly examined the
stone,

C ^^ JUi4/ ^>^
^ ^^*^'^"'*^

Dean

Stanley's J/eu>yvV6Z5 of West-

.ninster Ahhey, p. 499,

AppendLx.

and

his accoimt of

it

will he

found

Stat.

Ac,

vol. X. p. 1044.

The

dis-

in the Appendix, P- 50.^^^

Gj.U2^

U^ :)U-iA^K^^ ^O/KatvejZLt'

'^^'^^^-^'^

O^VKi^Ant^^^

44

THE CORONATION STONE.

princi-

which never was anywhere but at Tara, the " sedes

palis" of Ireland
;

and the kings

in Scotland, first of the

Pictish monarchy,

and afterwards of the Scottish king-

it, were inaugurated on this stone, which never was anywhere but at Scone, the " sedes prin-

doms which succeeded

cipalis" both of the Pictish

and of the Scottish kingdoms.

APPENDIX.

2E1
,,.^ji>.-jUv

I
''-;,,

W
"IS

I.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CORONATION OF

ALEXANDER
As LEFT BY FORDUN
in Italics.

III.
IN 1447.

IN 1385.

As ALTERED BY BoWER
p-nnted in Italics.

The passages mnitted by Botner are jrn'nted

The passages interpolated by Bower are

Alexander,
dri filins,

prsDdicti

regis

Alexan-

FiLius istius regis Alexandri, Alexander nomine, eidem in regno successit. De quo potest verifcari quod scriptum est : mortuus est 2^ater illius, et quasi non est mortuus; similem enim sibi In vita sua vidit, et reliquit post se.
hetatus
est

in

illo, et

in obitu sua, non

baronum norum octo,

ciim mnltitudine comitum, et militum, puer etatis anveiiit

est

contristatus, nee confusus est

:

coram

inimicis

reliquit

enim
et

defensorem

ad

Scoiiam die

domus contra

inimicos,

amicis red-

Martis proximo sequenti, scilicet iii Idns Jiilii. Interfuerant itaque venerabiles patres, David de Bernham episcopus Sancti Andres, et Galfridus
episcopiLS Dunkeldensis, vir tarn clero quam popiilo in multis graciosus, in

Hie post Hcec Hi. mortem pii patvis, cum mnltitudine prcesidum, prcelatorum Comitum, Barodentem gratiam.

num et militum, puer Alexander, setatis

annorum octo constip)atus, Sconam die Martis proximo
tertio sciz.

venit

ad

sequenti,

temporalibus et spiritualibus sollicitus, qui omnibus tarn magnatilus quam pauperihus amalilem, mahfactoribus
vero se terribilem exhibehat.

Idus
ceteros

Julii.

Interfuerunt

autem iyiter

David de Bernliame
sospes,
;

episcopus Sancti Andrese, et Galfridus episcopus Dunkeldensis adhuc

vir

Tnterfuit

etiam ibidem Abbas ejusdem monasterii Et ecce statim postquam Sconeiisis.

congregati fuerant, orta est inter magnates discensio. Quidam enim illorum
illo

tam

clero

quam populo

gratiosus

in temporalibus et spiritualibus soliciEt ecce, statim posttus satis erat. quam congregati fuerant, orta est dissentio inter magnates.

die non regem sed militem facere voluerunt, dicentes, quia dies Egipet hoc, non propter diem ciacus est Egipciacum, dictum est, sed quia Dorainus Alanus Dorwart, tocius tunc
;

Quidam enim

illorum, illo die, non regem, sed militem, facere voluerunt, dicentes, quia
dies Egyptiacus est
ter
et hoc non propdiem iEgj'ptiacum dictum est, sed Durward regni Alanus quia Dominus justiciarius, et tanquam flos militice
;

Scocise j usticiarius, ipsum eo die cingere voluit gladio militari.

48

APPENDIX.
reputatus,

regem ipso die

cui^iebat in-

sigiure gladio militari.

Jiinc
incle

Cum

ic/itur
et

magna

Jieret

altercatio,

magnatum quasi ad
Quihus supponentihus, vir providiis in
consilio et perspicuus

partes tunudttwsa

se/)a?-a<2'o,virprovidusconsLlio,strenuiis

terus

Dominus WalComyn, Comes de Menteth,

Walterus Comyn, fortis satis animo, jmrtes ad concordiam prudenter

miles
fiectere

respondit, dicens, se vidisse regein

tunc sategit, dicens se habere

debere voceni in consilio, quia ipse comes

de Menteth experientia plura prcevide-

consecratum non tamen militem, sed

et

vidisse

ssepius

audisse

reges
;

consecratos,

bat : unde libera voce protestatus est se regem consecratum, nondum tamen militem sed et ssepiiis audisse,
;

qui non fuerunt niilites

acp>-o certo cognovisse reges consecratos,

qui
dito,

nunquam
quod
et

ceremonialiter
:

ordine

militari insignirentur
eo ipso

hoc tamen ad-

quod rex coronatus

scep)-

aureis militaribus decoratur, sicut

trum

corona significare attestantur;

similitudinem faciens ad illud Decretorum, viz. " qitod et filius regis rex

appeUari

deheat,

quamvis regnum non

habeat^' a fortiori rex miles debeat cen-

Et addidit inquiens, quod regie sine

rege procul dubio quasi na^^s est in

seri.

quod

sicut navis inter fluctus

Et addidit exemplijicare, dicens marinos

mediis maris fluctibus sine remige, sen

rectore.

quatitur sine remige, sic

regnum
.

des-

Diligebat
et

regem

pice memorice

defunctum, sed
patrcm.

enim semper Alexandrum jam hunc eciam propter

tituitur sine rectore vel rege

Dilige-

bat supra

modum regem
;

defunctum
raleni

patrem jam filium etiam non solum

et

jjropter patrem, sed

propter natudilec-

ad proprium dominum
Ideo,

quamcicius potuit ipsum puerum in regem sublimare proposuit, quia differs paratis semper nocet.

Idioque

tionem.

quantocitius

potuit,

puerimi in regem sublimare proposuit,

attendens pericxdum illud poeticum ;

Et nocet et nocuit semperdififere paratis. Et Qui non est hodie, eras oninus aptus erit. Caute igitur studuit partes ad xmum reducere, ne, si non lites celerius sopirentur, ira cresceret in odium, et trabetn
traheret de festuca,
et

animas faceret

h omicidas, et proceres paricidas.

Tan -

dem ad hoc utramqve partem

fexit, nt

APPENDIX.
rex ab episcopo
officium

49
Sancti
in

Andrea;, qui
impleret,

inunctionis

regis

ipsum

etiam

militem

consig-

naret; ad

modum

Willelmi Rufi regis

Anglice, militaribus insigniti a Lanfranco Cantuariai archiepiscopo, et ah eodem coronati : pro quo ride supra,
lib. vii.

cap. xxxi. et infra cap.

iv.

Quod

Cujus comilio dicti Ejnscopi, et Abbas, necnon et magnates, omnis clerus el populus, una voce, ipsum in regem
erigere

factum est. David namque episcopo de S. Andrea i^isum coram magnatihus

et
terrce balth eo militari prwcingen te, etjura

consensicm

prcehiienint et

as-

ac vota, quce

ad regem
benigne

spectant, prius
ipjso

sensum.

Latine, postea Gallice

exponente,

concedeas et acceptans a dicto episcopo, benedictionem et

rex omnia

Et factum est, quocl cum hoc idem Comes Waltenis Coonyn audisset, et
omnis
clerus,

ordinationem libens subiit et admisit. Siciit ab antiquitate usque ad ilia tempora mos regno inolevit, post solemnitatern
regice

adjungentes

eis

Comites,

coronationis, iJi'aesides

scilicet

Domimim Malcolmum Comitem

cum

comitibus

de Fyff et Dmninmn Malisium Comitem de Stratheme et ceteros phires

nobiles,

Alexandrum regem mox futuregem ad crucem, in cemeterio ex parte orientali ecclesias stantem, adduxerunt quem ibidem in cathedi-a regaU i^ositum, pannis sericis auro textis omata, reverenter sedere fecencnt
;

ru7n ad crucem, in cimiterio ex parte

oriental! ecclesise stantem,adduxerunt,

quern ibidem in regali cathedra jjositiun, pannLs sericis auro textis omata, episcopus Sancti Andreas et ceteri coadjuvantes in regem, ut decuit, consecranmt ipso quoque rege,
;

super cathedram regalem, scilicet, lapidem, sedente, sub cujus pedibus comites ceterique nobiles sua vestistemebant.

Ipso vero rege super banc cathedram

regalem
habente

lapideam
in capite,
regia

sedente,
et

c&ronam
solenniter

sceptrum manu,

menta coram lapide curvatis genibus Qui lapis in eodem monaster io r ever enter ob regum Alhanice consecracionem servatur. Nee usjnam aliquis regum in Scocia regnare solebat, nisi super eundem lapidem regium in
accipiendum
Scona, Sede

purpuraque

induto,

prmsedente, sub cujus pedibus comites ceterique nobiles sedilia sua, pro ser-

mone audiendo,

collocantes:

nomen prius
vero

sederet
viz.

in

supenori

Al-

hanice constituta regibus ab antiquis.

Et

ecce, peractis singidis,

quidam Sco-

Et ecce subito quidam Scotus rem

50

APPENDIX.
rabilis canitiei. senex,
et

tus montanus ante tlu-ouum subito

quamvis

Silvester

genuflectens materna lingua regeni inclinato

montanus, hoiuste
indutus,
et

tanien, pro

modulo
cu-

capite salutavit

liiis

Scoticis

suo,

pallio
satis

scarletico

verbis

oj)ertus,

morose

genu

iiectens,

materna lingua regem, inclinato

salutavit

capite,
satis

liujusmodi

verbis

curialiter, dicens;

" Benacli

cle

Re Alban Alexander mac

Alexander mac Vleyhame mac Hemi mac David" et sic pronunciando regum Scotorum genealogiam usque in finem
legehat.

Benach de Ee Albane Alexander mac Alexander mac Willam mac Henri mac David :" et sic, pronimciando regum Scotorum genealogiam, usque in
"

iineni perordbat.

11.

LETTER

from Mr. Geikie.

28 Jermyn Street, London, S.W. 2Zd A2}ril 1869.

'

'^^^^

'

I have again looked at the Coronation Stone. not throw any certnin \\y)\t on its own history. So far as one can judge from the external surface, this block of sandstone may have been taken from almost any of 'the red sandstone districts of It cannot have come from lona, I think, unless western or eastern Scotland.

Dear Sir

This afternoon

As

I suspected, it really does

we

suppose that

it

supposition which

had previously been carried thither from the mainland its size and ordinary commonialace appearance seem

to

Nor does its character resemble that of the red sandstones render unlikely. of the north-west Highlands, while it is equally unlike the usual red sandThere are san ds tones like i t stones of the south and south-east of Scotland. in the west of Argyleshire and similar rocks abound in the southern half of "Terthshii-e, in Forfarshire, and southward in the great Lowland valley. I do not see any evidence in the stone itself why it may not have been taken indeed, it perfectly resembles some of the from the neighbourhood of Scon e
,
;

sandstones of that

district.

a geologist I would say that the stone is almost certainly of Scottish that it has been quarried out of one of the sandstone districts between the coast of Argyle and the mouths of the Tay and Forth, but that there is no

As

origin

clue in the stone itself to fix precisely

its

original source.

This

is all I

can send you on the subject.

Yours

veiy truly,

Arch. Geikie.

>W^

^'^^ Jv*4e~i

i^-J

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