Europe (c.1400-1458)

46. Scotland, Ireland

Scotland, Ireland 211 prison and began to govern the kingdom with the king’s permission . This was the cause of his final downfall. For the duke of York was provoked by this and hastened to London with more troops than before. When the king came out to meet him with the duke of Somerset, expecting to placate him with seductive words or deter him by the weight of royal majesty, he got nowhere. For, being far more powerful, the duke of York, after ordering the king to withdraw to the side, rushed upon the duke of Somerset and his cavalry, took him prisoner, and beheaded him on the spot.545 46 SCOTLAND, IRELAND 166. SCOTLAND is the farthest tip of the island that contains England; it faces north and is separated from England by rivers of no great size and a mountain range. I was there in the winter, when the sun lit the earth for little more than three hours a day.546 At that time the king was James, a stocky man weighed down by a fat paunch. He had once been captured in England and spent eleven years in custody. When he was finally released, he took an English wife and returned home, where he executed a good number of chieftains and was finally assassinated himself by members of his own household. After taking revenge on them, his son succeeded to the throne.547 167. I had heard that in Scotland there was once a tree grow545 . This battle at St. Albans (May 22, 1455) marked the beginning of the Wars of the Roses. 546. In late 1435 Aeneas traveled from Basel to the court of King James I in Scotland on a mission to persuade the king to assist the French in the Hundred Years’ War by raiding in northern England. He spent several months in Scotland and England. 547. King James I (r. 1406–37) was captured by English sailors in 1406 at age 12. He was educated in England where he met and married Joan Beaufort, Henry VI’s cousin, in 1423. In 1427 he returned to Scotland but was killed in a coup led by Walter Stewart , earl of Atholl, in 1437. The conspirators were defeated and the king’s son, James II (r. 1437–60), was put on the throne. For more on James and Scotland, see Jenny Wormald, “Scotland: 1406–1513,” CMH, vol. 7: 514–31. 212 Spain, Castile, Navarre, Portugal ing on the bank of a river which produced fruits shaped like ducks. When these were nearly ripe, they dropped down of their own accord , some onto the earth, and some into the water. Those that landed on the earth rotted away, but those that sank into the water instantly came to life, swam out from below the water, and immediately flew off into the air, equipped with feathers and wings. When I eagerly investigated this matter, I learned that miracles always recede further into the distance and that the famous tree was to be found not in Scotland but in the Orkney islands. Nevertheless, I did witness the following wonder in Scotland. I noticed that semi-naked paupers who were begging outside churches went away happily after receiving stones as alms. This kind of stone, which is loaded with sulfur or some other rich substance, is burned for fuel instead of wood, which the region lacks altogether. 168. I ought now to deal with Ireland, which is divided from Britain by a narrow strait. Part of it is independent and enjoys friendship and alliance with the Scots, whereas part is subject to English rule. However, since I have heard of nothing memorable that was done during the era with which this treatise is concerned, I hasten on to the affairs of Spain. 47 SPAIN, CASTILE, NAVARRE, PORTUGAL 169. THE HUGE expanse of Spain, a land powerful in men and arms which bears comparison with the very best, is distributed among five kings at the present time. They call the king of Castile the first and greatest of these; next to him, the king of Aragon; in third place, the king of Portugal; in fourth, the king of Navarre; the king of Granada, because it rejects548 the Gospel of Christ, is placed last. 548. Or “which rejects” (understanding quod [regnum]). Either interpretation involves a grammatical difficulty. ...