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The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, a canon regular of the Augustinian Guisborough Priory, Yorkshire, formerly known as The Chronicle of Walter of Hemingburgh, describes the period from 1066 to 1346. Before 1274 the Chronicle is based on other works. Thereafter, the Chronicle is original, and a remarkable source for the events of the time. This book provides a translation of the Chronicle from that date. The Latin source for our translation is the 1849 work edited by Hans Claude Hamilton. Hamilton, in his preface, says: "In the present work we behold perhaps one of the finest samples of our early chronicles, both as regards the value of the events recorded, and the correctness with which they are detailed; Nor will the pleasing style of composition be lightly passed over by those capable of seeing reflected from it the tokens of a vigorous and cultivated mind, and a favourable specimen of the learning and taste of the age in which it was framed." Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
Before 1278 [his father] John Seton and [his mother] Ermina Lascelles were married.
In 1278 Christopher Seton was born to [his father] John Seton and [his mother] Ermina Lascelles.
In 1299 [his father] John Seton died.
In 1301 Christopher Seton (age 23) and Christina Bruce (age 28) were married. She the daughter of Robert Bruce Earl Carrick (age 57) and Marjorie Carrick 3rd Countess Carrick.
In 1302 [his brother-in-law] King Robert the Bruce I of Scotland (age 27) and Elizabeth Burgh Queen Consort Scotland (age 18) were married. She the daughter of Richard "Red Earl" Burgh 2nd Earl of Ulster (age 43) and Margaret Burgh Countess Ulster. He the son of [his father-in-law] Robert Bruce Earl Carrick (age 58) and Marjorie Carrick 3rd Countess Carrick. They were fifth cousin once removed. He a great x 5 grandson of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England.
On 10th February 1306 John Comyn 3rd Lord Baddenoch (age 37) was murdered by [his brother-in-law] Robert the Bruce (age 31), future King of Scotland, before the High Altar of the Greyfriars Monastery [Map]. Robert Comyn, John's uncle, was killed by Christopher Seton (age 28). Christopher's brother [his brother] John Seton (age 28) was also present.
Murder, in a church, in front of the altar, regarded as a terrible crime. The act gave King Edward I of England (age 66) cause to invade Scotland. Robert the Bruce was ex-communicated by the Pope for his actions.
King Edward I of England charged Bishop David de Moravia as being complicit in the murder.
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. In the year of our Lord 1306, [his brother-in-law] Robert de Brus (age 31), the fifth son of the son of that Robert de Brus who, as mentioned above, disputed with John de Balliol before the King of England over the kingdom of Scotland, and was, as has been shown, judicially dismissed from his claim, relying on wicked counsel, aspired to the kingdom of Scotland. Fearing Lord John Comyn (age 37), Earl of Badenoch, who was a powerful man in that land and loyal to the lord King of England, to whom he had done homage, and knowing that he could be hindered by him, sent to him deceitfully two of his brothers, namely [his brother-in-law] Thomas de Brus (age 22) and [his brother-in-law] Nigel (age 21), asking that he would deign to come to him at Dumfries to discuss certain matters which concerned them both. Now the justices of the lord King of England were sitting that same day in the castle, namely, on the fourth day before the Ides of February [10th February 1306] Comyn, suspecting no evil, came to him with a few companions, and they exchanged the kiss [of greeting], but not of peace, in the cloister of the Friars Minor [Franciscans] [Map]. When they were speaking together, in words that appeared peaceable, [Bruce] suddenly turned his face, twisted his words, and began to reproach him for his treachery, that he had accused him before the King of England and worsened his position to his harm. Comyn, speaking calmly and making excuses for himself, was not listened to; but Bruce, as he had conspired, struck him with his foot and sword, and stepped back. Then his men, following him, threw Comyn down on the floor of the altar, leaving him for dead. But a certain knight of Comyn's, Lord Robert Comyn, his uncle, ran to bring him aid; yet Christopher Seton (age 28), who had married the [his wife] sister (age 33) of Lord Robert de Brus, met him and struck his head with a sword, and he died. Lord Robert de Brus then went out, and seeing Comyn's fine warhorse, mounted it; his men mounted likewise and they went on to the castle and seized it. When what had happened became known, the Scots flocked to him. The justices, fearing for themselves, shut the doors of the hall in which they sat with the few English who were with them. Hearing this, Bruce ordered fire to be set to it unless they at once surrendered; and they gave themselves up, asking for their lives and safe departure from the land, which he granted. When these things had been done, certain ill-wishers told him that Lord John Comyn was still alive; for the friars had carried him into the vestibule of the altar to tend to him and hear his confession. When he had confessed and was truly penitent, by order of the tyrant he was dragged from the vestibule and killed on the steps of the high altar, so that his blood touched the altar slab and the altar itself. After this Bruce went around the greater part of Scotland, occupying and fortifying castles and plundering the lands of the dead man; and the relatives of the deceased fled from his face, and all the English returned to their own land.
Anno Domini MCCCV Robertus de Brus, quintus filius filii illius Roberti de Brus qui, ut supradictum est, disceptavit cum Johanne de Balliolo coram rege Angliæ circa regnum Scotia, et judicialiter, ut supra patet, a sua petitione absolutus est, perverso fretus consilio ad regnum Scotia aspiravit; timensque dominum Johannem Cumyn, comitem de Badenach, qui erat homo potens in terra illa, et fidelis domino regi Angliæ, cui homagium fecerat; et sciens se impediri posse per eum, misit ad eum in dolo duos ex fratribus suis, Thomam videlicet de Brus et Nigellum, rogans ut dignaretur venire ad se apud Dunfres, super quibusdam negotiis tractaturus cum eo quæ tangebant utrosque. Sedebant enim justitiarii domini regis Angliæ eodem die in castro, IV scilicet idus Februarii. Qui, nihil mali suspicans, venit ad eum cum paucis, et mutuo se receperunt in osculum, sed non pacis, in claustro fratrum Minorum. Cumque mutuo loquerentur ad invicem, verbis, ut videbatur, pacificis, statim convertens faciem, et verba pervertens, cœpit improperare ei de seditione sua, quod eum accusaverat apud regem Angliæ, et suam conditionem deterioraverat in damnum ipsius. Qui cum pacifice loqueretur et excusaret se, noluit exaudire sermonem ejus, sed, ut conspiraverat, percussit eum pede et gladio, et retrorsum abiit. At sui extunc insequentes eum, prostraverunt eum in pavimento altaris, pro mortuo dimittentes. Cucurrit autem quidam miles ex suis, dominus Robertus Comyn avunculus ejus, ut auxilium ferret ei; sed occurrit ei Christoforus de Sethon, qui sororem domini Roberti de Brus duxerat in uxorem, et percussit caput ejus in gladio, et mortuus est. Egressusque est dominus Robertus de Brus, et videns dextrarium domini Johannis elegantem, ascendit in eum; ascenderuntque sui cum eo, et profecti sunt usque in castrum, et ceperunt illud. Cumque divulgaretur quod factum fuerat, cucurrerunt ad eum Scoti. Et justitiarii timentes sibi, clauserunt ostia aulæ in qua sedebant cum paucis Anglicis qui erant cum eis: quod audiens ipse, jussit ignem apponi, nisi confestim redderent eos; at illi dederunt se, vitam postulantes et salvum egressum a terra, quod et ipse concessit eis. Quibus ita gestis, nunciaverunt ei quidam malevoli quod dominus Johannes Comyn adhuc viveret; fratres enim asportaverant eum infra vestibulum altaris, ut medicarentur ei et confiteretur peccata sua. Qui cum confessus esset et vere pœnitens, jussu tyranni extractus est a vestibulo, et in gradibus majoris altaris interfectus, ita quod sanguis ipsius tabulam altaris tetigit, et etiam ipsum altare. Circuivit extunc the principal terram Scotia, occupando et muniendo castra, et deprædando terras mortui, fugeruntque a facie ipsius parentes defuncti, et omnes Anglici reversi sunt in terram suam.
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On 25th March 1306, [his brother-in-law] King Robert the Bruce I of Scotland (age 31) was crowned King Scotland at Scone Abbey [Map] by Bishop of St Andrews and Bishop Robert Wishart. Elizabeth Burgh Queen Consort Scotland (age 22) was crowned Queen Consort Scotland. Christopher Seton (age 28) and Bishop David de Moravia were present. He was wearing royal robes and vestments previously hidden from the English by Bishop Robert Wishart.
The following day, 28th March 1306, King Robert the Bruce I of Scotland was crowned by Isabella Countess Buchan whose family held the hereditary right to place the crown on the King's head; she had arrived too late for the coronation the day before. The right was held by her brother Duncan Fife 4th Earl Fife (age 18) who was under-age and held by the English so she assumed the right in his place.
After 27th March 1306 Christopher Seton (deceased) was drawn, hanged and beheaded.
On 19th June 1306 the forces of Aymer de Valence 2nd Earl Pembroke (age 31), including Robert Pierrepont, ambushed and routed the Scottish army of [his former brother-in-law] King Robert the Bruce I of Scotland (age 31) including Simon Fraser, Christopher Seton and John Strathbogie 9th Earl Atholl (age 40) at Methven. John Strathbogie 9th Earl Atholl was captured as well as many others.
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. [Around September 1306] Christopher de Seton, who had married the new king's sister Mary [a mistake for [his former wife] Christina Bruce (age 33)], and was an Englishman, having been captured in the castle of Loch Doon, and afterwards his wife and many others as well, the king ordered to be brought to Dumfries, where the knight [John Comyn] had been killed, and there to be drawn, hanged, and beheaded. The same sentence was passed on two of his brothers and on all the others who had agreed to and taken part in the death of Lord John Comyn; and this was done by the special command of the king.
Christoforum autem de Sethon, qui sororem novi regis duxerat nomine Mariam, et esset Anglicus, cum in castro de Lochdor captus esset, et post uxorque sua et multi alii, jussit rex adduci apud Dunfrees ubi militem occiderat, ibique trahi, suspendi et decollari. Simile judicium habuerunt duo fratres sui, et omnes alii qui morti domini Johannis Comyn consenserunt et interfuerunt; et hoc ex speciali præcepto regis.
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The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
In July 1326 Andrew Murray (age 28) and [his former wife] Christina Bruce (age 53) were married at Cambuskenneth Abbey. The difference in their ages was 25 years; she, unusually, being older than him. She the daughter of [his former father-in-law] Robert Bruce Earl Carrick and Marjorie Carrick 3rd Countess Carrick.
Around 1357 [his former wife] Christina Bruce (age 84) died.
Scalaronica. In the same year [1306] the King made his son Edward, Prince of Wales, a knight at Westminster, with a great number of other noble young men of his realm, and sent him with a great force to Scotland with all these new knights. Thomas Earl of Lancaster and Humfrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford, passing through the mountains of Scotland, invested the castle of Kildrummie and gained it, in which castle were found Christopher de Seton with his wife [Christina Bruce], the sister of Robert de Brus, who, as an English renegade, was sent to Dumfries and there hanged, drawn and decapitated, where he had before this caused to be slain a knight, appointed sheriff of a district for the King of England.1 The Bishops of Glasgow and St. Andrews and the Abbot of Scone were taken in the same season and sent to ward in England.
Note 1. There seems to be some confusion here between Sir Christopher de Seton, who certainly was hanged at Dumfries, as his brother Sir Alexander was at Newcastle, and [his brother] John de Seton, also hanged at Newcastle, for having captured Tibbers Castle in Dumfriesshire, and making captive Sir Richard de Siward, Sheriff of that county.