Editing Thomas the Rhymer (section)

==Prophecies attributed to Thomas==
Descriptions and paraphrases of Thomas's prophecies were given by various Scottish historians of yore, though none of them quoted directly from Thomas.<ref>"His prophecies are alluded to by Barbour, by Wintoun, and by Henry, the minstrel, or ''Blind Harry''.. None of these authors, however, give the words of any of the Rhymer's vaticinations" {{Harv|Scott|1803|loc=''Minstresy'' '''II''', pp. 281–2}}</ref><ref group="lower-alpha">Scott undertook creative exercise of writing in verse of his own what Thomas's prophecy might have been: "Thomas the Rhymer: Part Second" by {{Harvnb|Scott|1803|loc=''Minstresy'' '''II''', pp. 303–307}}. Scott prefaced his creation with copious notes to fend off "the more severe antiquaries".</ref>

*''"On the morrow, afore noon, shall blow the greatest wind that ever was heard before in Scotland."''<ref>This particular rendition from Latin into English can be found in, e.g.:{{cite book|last=Watson|first=Jean L. |title=The history and scenery of Fife and Kinross|publisher=Andrew Elliot|year=1875|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x8UHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA74}}</ref>
::This prophecy predicted the death of [[Alexander III of Scotland|Alexander III]] in 1286. Thomas gave this prediction to the [[Patrick III, Earl of Dunbar|Earl of Dunbar]], but when there was no change in weather patterns discernible at the ninth hour, the Earl sent for the prophet to be reproved. Thomas replied the appointed hour has not come, and shortly thereafter, the news came reporting of the king's death.

::The earliest notice of this prophecy occurs in [[Walter Bower|Bower]]'s 15th-century ''[[Scotichronicon]]'', written in Latin.{{sfn|Murray|1875|p=xiii}}<ref group="lower-alpha">Bower, ''[[Scotichronicon]]'' Book X, Ch. 43: "...qua ante horam explicite duodecimam audietur tam vehemens ventus in Scotia, quod a magnis retroactis temporibus consimilis minime inveniebatur." (footnoted in {{Harvnb|Murray|1875|pp=xiii-}})</ref> An early English vernacular source is [[John Bellenden]]'s 16th century ''Croniklis of Scotland,'' a translation of [[Hector Boece]].{{sfn|Murray|1875|p=xiii}}

*''"Who shal rule the ile of Bretaine / From the North to the South sey?"''
:''"A French wife shal beare the Son, / Shall rule all Bretaine to the sey,''
:''that of the Bruces blood shall come / As neere as the nint degree."''{{Refn|''Whole Prophecie'', "The Prophecie of Thomas Rymour" vv.239–244<ref name="murray-apdxI"/>}}
::The lines given are structured in the form of one man's questions, answered by another, who goes on to identify himself: "In Erlingstoun, I dwelle at hame/Thomas Rymour men calles me."{{Refn|vv. 247-8<ref name="murray-apdxI"/>}}

::Printed in the aforementioned chapbook ''The Whole Prophecie'' of 1603, published upon the death of [[Elizabeth I]], the prophecy purports to have presaged Scottish rule of all of Britain by [[James VI and I|James I]], whose mother [[Mary, Queen of Scots|Mary Stewart]], had been raised in [[Mary of Guise|her own mother's]] native [[Kingdom of France|France]] and was briefly their Queen Consort during her first childless marriage to [[Francis II of France|Francis II]].<ref>{{citation|last=Cooper|first=Helen|title=Literary reformations of the Middle Ages|editor-last=Galloway|editor-first=Andrew |work=The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Culture|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|pages=261–|isbn=9780521856898|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_j5ZOBuUiGwC&pg=PA261\ISBN}}</ref>

::This "became in the sequel by far the most famous of all the prophecies,"<ref>{{Harvnb|Murray|1875|pp=xxxiv}}</ref> but it has been argued that this is a rehash of an earlier prophecy that was originally meant for [[John Stewart, Duke of Albany]] (d. 1536),<ref>{{Harvnb|Murray|1875|p=xxxiv}}, citing [[David Dalrymple, Lord Hailes|Lord Hailes]], ''Remarks on the History of Scotland'' (1773), [https://books.google.com/books?id=6bM9AAAAcAAJ&pg=89 Chapter III, pp.89–]</ref> whose mother was [[La Tour d'Auvergne|Anna de la Tour d'Auvergne]], daughter of the [[Count of Auvergne]]. Words not substantially different are also given in the same printed book, under the preceding section for the prophecy of [[John of Bridlington]],<ref>"How euer it happen for to fall, / The Lyon shal be Lord of all./The French wife shal beare the sonne, /Shal welde al Bretane to the sea, And from the Bruce's blood shall come. /As near as the ninth degree." ({{Harvnb|Murray|1875|p=xxxvi}})</ref> and the additional date clue there "1513 & thrise three there after" facilitating the identification "Duke's son" in question as Duke of Albany, although Murray noted that the Duke's "performance of ... doubty deeds" was something he "utterly failed to do".{{sfn|Murray|1875|p=xxxv}}

===Popular folkloric prophecies===
[[Walter Scott]] was familiar with rhymes purported to be the Rhymer's prophecies in the local popular tradition, and published several of them.<ref>{{harvnb|Scott|1803}}, ''Minstrelsy'' '''II''', pp. 300–, "sundry rhymes, passing for his prophetic effusions, are still current among the vulgar"</ref> Later [[Robert Chambers (publisher born 1802)|Robert Chambers]] printed additional collected rhyme prophecies ascribed to Thomas, in ''Popular Rhymes'' (1826).

*''"At Eildon Tree, if yon shall be,''
:''a brig ower Tweed yon there may see."''{{sfn|Scott|1803|loc=''Minstrelsy'' '''II''', pp. 301–}}
::Scott identifies the tree as that on [[Eildon Hill]] in [[Melrose, Scotland|Melrose]], some five miles away from today's Earlston.{{sfn|Scott|1803|loc=''Minstrelsy'' '''II''', p. 343}} Three bridges built across the river were visible from that vantage point in Scott's day.

*''"This Thorn-Tree, as lang as it stands,''
:''Earlstoun sall possess a' her lands."''{{sfn|Chambers|1826|pp=78–79}}
::or "As long as the Thorn Tree stands / Ercildourne shall keep its lands".<ref name="wilson017">{{Harvnb|Wilson|1954|p=17}}</ref> This was first of several prophecies attributed to the Rhymer collected by Chambers, who identified the tree in question as one that fell in a storm in either 1814<ref name="murray-thorn"/> or 1821,{{sfn|Chambers|1826|pp=78–79}} presumably on the about the last remaining acre belonging to the town of [[Earlston|Earlstoun]]. The prophecy was lent additional weight at the time, because as it so happened, the merchants of the town had fallen under bankruptcy by a series of "unfortunate circumstances".<!--ref name="chambers1826-079"/-->{{sfn|Chambers|1826|p=79}} According to one account, "Rhymer's thorn" was a huge tree growing in the garden of the Black Bull Inn, whose proprietor, named Thin, had its roots cut all around, leaving it vulnerable to the storm that same year.<ref name="murray-thorn">{{Harvnb|Murray|1875|pp=xlix, lxxxv}}. Murray received detailed report on the tree from Mr James Wood, Galashiels.</ref>

*''"When the Yowes o' Gowrie come to land, ''
:''The Day o' Judgment's near at hand"''{{sfn|Chambers|1826|p=96}}
::The "Ewes of Gowrie" are two boulders near [[Invergowrie]] protruding from the [[Firth of Tay]], said to approach the land at the rate of an inch a year. This couplet was also published by Chambers, though filed under a different locality ([[Perthshire]]), and he ventured to guess that the ancient prophecy was "perhaps by Thomas the Rhymer."{{sfn|Chambers|1826|p=96}} [[Barbara Ker Wilson]]'s retold version has altered the rhyme, including the name of the rocks thus: "When the Cows o' Gowrie come to land / The Judgement Day is near at hand."<ref name="wilson017"/>

*''"[[York]] was, London is, and [[Edinburgh|Edinbruch]] 'ill be,''
:''the biggest and the bonniest o' a' the three"''{{sfn|Chambers|1826|p=81}}<ref>Modernized as: "York was, London is, and Edinburgh shall be / The biggest and bonniest o' the three", {{Harvnb|Wilson|1954|p=17}}</ref>
::Collected from a 72-year-old man resident in Edinburgh.{{sfn|Chambers|1826|p=96}}

The Weeping Stones Curse:
*''"[[Fyvie]], Fyvie thou'se never thrive,''
:''[[wikt:long|lang]]'s there's in thee [[wikt:stone|stanes]] three :''
:''There's [[wikt:one|ane]] intill the highest tower,''
:''There's ane intill the ladye's bower,''
:''There's ane aneath the water-[[wikt:gate|yett]], ''
:''And thir three stanes ye'se never get."''{{sfn|Chambers|1842|p=8}}<ref name="welfare">Modern variant "Fyvie, Fyvie thou'll never thrive / As long as there's in thee stones three;/There's one in the oldest tower,/There's one in the lady's bower/There's one in the water-gate,/And these three stones you'll never get." in: {{cite book|last1=Welfare|first1=Simon|others=John Fairley|title=Cabinet of Curiosities|publisher=St. Martin's Press| place=New York|year=1991|page=88|isbn=0312069197}}</ref>
::Tradition in [[Aberdeenshire]] said that Fyvie Castle stood seven years awaiting arrival of "True Tammas," as the Rhymer was called in the local dialect. The Rhymer arrived carrying a storm that brewed all around him, though perfectly calm around his person, and pronounced the above curse. Two of the stones were found, but the third stone of the water-gate eluded discovery.<!--ref name="chambers1842-008"/-->{{sfn|Chambers|1826|p=8}} And since 1885 no eldest son has lived to succeed his father.<ref name="welfare"/>

*''"Betide, betide, whate'er betide,''
:''Haig shall be Haig of Bemerside.''{{sfn|Scott|1803|loc=''Minstrelsy'' '''II''', p. 301}}
::This prophesied the ancient family of the Haigs of Bemerside will survive for perpetuity. Chambers, in a later editions his ''Popular Rhymes'' (1867) prematurely reported that "the prophecy has come to a sad end, for the Haigs of Bemerside have died out."{{sfn|Murray|1875|p=xliv}}{{sfn|Chambers|1870|p=296}} In fact, [[Field Marshal]] [[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Douglas Haig]] hails from this family,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Benet|first=W. C.|title=Sir Douglas Haig|journal=The Caledonian|volume=19|number=1|date=April 1919|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A-ARAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA12|pages=12–14}}</ref> and was created [[Earl Haig|earl]] in 1919, currently succeeded by the 3rd Earl (b. 1961).