The History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus is in Stewart Books.
To returne to our purpose, their difloyall practice stayed not in this fmooth letter: they double fraud upon fraud: for fo foone as Creighton knew he was on his journey, he came many miles to meet him, and inviting him to his Castle of Creighton (which was neare the way he was to go) he feafted him, hee cherisheth him, hee entertaineth him friendly, cheerfully, and magnificently: and that not for one day, but two dayes, kindly, with all the tokens and demonftrations of a friendly minde that could could be given. And to remove all fufpition of unfriendlineffe, and the more circumvein him, he admonished him familiarly, that hee would remember the royall dignity of his Prince, and his owne duty towards him. "That he would acknowledge him for his Lord and Soveraigne, whom the condition of his birth, the lawes of the Countrey, and the consent of the estates had placed at the rudder of the Common-wealth: that he would labour to tranfmit his fo great Patrimony acquired by the vertue of his Ancestours, and with spending of their bloud to his Pofterity, even fo as he had received it: that hee would be carefull to keepe the name of Douglas, which was no leffe illuftrious and renowned for their faithfulneffe, then their deeds of armes, not onely from the foule blot of treason, but even from all ftain of fufpition, or afperfion thereof: that hee himfelfe would abftain, and caufe his men to abstaine, from wronging the poore people that hee would put from about hin theeves and robbers: finally, that in time to come he would fet himselfe to maintaine juftice, that if hee had offended any thing in times paft, it might be imputed not to his naturall difpofition, but to ill counfell, and that infirmity of his youth, penitency would be admitted, and accepted as innocency." Venemous Viper that could hide fo deadly poyfon under fo faire showes! unworthy tongue, unleffe to be cut out for example to all ages! Let not the Poets bee thought fabulous, who have transformed men into beafts; loe a beaft compofed of beafts: a Lion, a Tiger, for cruelty of heart: a Wafpe, a Spider, a Viper, for fpight & malicious poyfonableneffe: a Foxe and Camelion, for falfehood and doubleneffe: a Cockatrice and Crokodile, and whatsoever nature hath brought forth, that is deceitfull and hurtfull, a fweet finging Ciren, enchanting the outward fences to the deftruction of the liftner, fo much the more odious, that it was in the shape of a man; and the more deteftable, that it durft fo pollute the image of God, fo abuse the glory of man the fpeech of the tongue therefore given him (beyond the beast) that he might imploy it well to informe aright, to fpeake truth, and to do good to others. The honeft heart of the hearer that knew what he fpake was right, and intended to follow fo good counfell, taketh all in good part, beleeveth the fpeech for the truthes fake, the man for his fpeeches fake. And who could have done otherwayes? who would not have thought that he who knew fo well what was right, would have had fome regard to doe right? fhall we account it childishneffe, that he accounted fo of them, and fuffered him to be fo deceived? nay, hee could not keep himfelfe undeceived. Good men, and wife men have often been deceived both in facred and prophane Hiftories. We must not impute it to childishneffe in Abner, that foab ftabbed him under truft, but esteeme it vile treachery in foab, of whom David fayes, Hee dieth not as a foole dieth, howbeit his hands were not bound, but as a good man falleth before a wicked man, that is by treason, which no man can eschew.
It is faid that his friends feeing fo extraordinary entertainment, so faire language above measure, fo humble behaviour, and withall fo many meffages (at every step almoft) betwixt the Governour and the Chancellour, tooke some fufpition of ill meaning, and that there arose first a still murmure through the whole company; thereafter fome began to admonish him, that if he would perfift to goe on, he would fend back his brother David, being mindefull of a precept of his fathers, That they should not come both together into one place where themselves were not masters, left they fhould endanger their whole family at once. The unwary youth (unwa ry indeed, but what warineffe could he have poore innocent?) and very well inclined, even angry with his friends, ftayed thofe murmures by a plain commandment, and affured his friends thus: That he knew well it was a perpetuall peft of great houfes that they had ever about them fome men that were impatient of peace, who made gain of the perils, travels, and miferies of their Lords and Patriarkes and becaufe in peace they were reftrained by the bridle of the law, they were ever ftirring up ftrife and fedition, that in troubled times they might have greater fcope and liberty to their wickednefle. As for himself, hee repofed more upon the known wifedome and prudencie of the Governor and Chancellour, then to ceare to their fufpicious furmifes.
[24th November 1440] This fpeech thus uttered, teftifying both an acknowledging of the evill paft, and a refolution to amend, was it not fufficient to have purged whatfoever errour had been, or might have been thought to have escaped him before? And certainly it would, if these men had regarded Juftice, or the good of the Common-wealth, and had defired to reclaim him from his errours, and winne him to his Countrey. But his fo full confidence thus repofing on their credit, was it not enough to have tied them to have kept their credit? If there had been any spark of humanity or nature of man left in them: and if they had not beene worse then favage beafts. Truft deferveth that we should prove worthy of that trust, and credit procures keeping of credit; where all humane nature is not extinct, and even fimplicity deferveth favour and pitie. Neither can a man that is not altogether given over, and hath not fold himfelfe to wickednes choose but favour it, and have compaffion of it; yea though he had been otherwife difpofed in the beginning, it would even move any mans heart (that were indeed a man, and not changed into a beaft) to favour and commiferate, and would have tamed and calmed any former difcontentment, and have wrung from them any evill intention which they might (perhaps) have conceived before. However, this noble youth goeth on in the innocency of his heart, and that the more quickely, to cut off all occafion of fuch speeches, and with his brother, and with a few other principall friends goeth directly to the Castle, (being led as it were and drawne by a fatall destiny) and both enter, and fo come in the power of thofe their deadly enemies and fained friends. At the very inftant comes the Governour (as was before appointed betwixt them) to play his part of the Tragedy, that both might bee alike embarked in the action, and beare the envie of fo ugly a fact, that the weight thereof might not lie on one alone: yet to play out their treacherous parts, they welcome him moft courteoufly, fet him to dinner with the King at the fame table, feaft him royally, intertain him chearfully, and that for a long time. At laft about the end of dinner, they compaffe him about with armed men, and cause present a bulls head before him on the boord the bulls head was in thofe dayes a token of death (fay our Hiftories) but how it hath come in ufe fo to bee taken, and fignifie, neither doe they, nor any elfe tell us, neither is it to be found (that I remember) any where in any History, fave in this one place: neither can wee conjecture what affinity it can have therewith, unleffe to exprobrate groffeneffe, according to the French, and Our owne reproaching dull, and groffe wits, by calling him Calves-head (tefte de Vean) but not Bulls head. So that by this they did infult over that innocencie which they had fnared, and applaud their owne wifedome that had fo circumvented him: a brave commendation indeed, and an honeft! yet I wonder what they meant by entertaining him fo well at that time, there was fome reason for it why they fhould have done it by the way, that they might worke out their treafon, untill he were within their thongs: but being now within the Caftle, and fully in their power, I wonder what it fhould mean to make him to faire a welcome, to feaft him fo liberally and folemnely at the Kings table, and from thence to bring him tothe fhambles: what could have beene their intention? might they not have conveyed him to fome private chamber? might they not have carried him to the place of execution? what needed all this proceffe? what needed they to have let him fee the King at all? It would feem as if they had not been fully refolved upon the bulinelle before; and that their intentions and purpofes were not treafonable, but that they tooke occafion to be treasonable from the facility to atchieve it: but our Writers are cleare against that, and fay onely it was pre-concluded, when he was written for. It might feeme alfo that they did this to communicate the matter, or to transferre it altogether upon the King: but he was too young, and purges himselfe by difproving of it. So that I can see no other reafon of it, but as the Lion with his prey, or(to ufe a more bafe, yet a more familiarexample, and the bafer the fitter for them) as the cat with the mouse, which he might devoure immediately, yet it pleaseth her to play a little with it: So they for their greater fatisfaction, and contentment, delight to play out their Steane; fo ftrangely notwithstanding that fuch proceffe and uncouth formes of doing might feem to import fome myfteand deeper reach then ordinary: which I confeffe is fo profound and deep a folly, and mifchantneffe, that I can no wife found it, unleffe it were that the Noblemans place, and his worth forced their wicked hearts to acknowledge it notwithstanding their wickedneffe: And although the acknowledging could not prevaile fo farre, as to make them leave off the enterprise, yet did it in fome fort brangle their refolution, and wrung out this confeffion of his worth: as all the actions of wickedneffe, and all wickedneffe in the acting, are full of contradictions, as this fame is most clearly for if this Nobleman was guilty of death, why is he brought into the Kings prefence why is he fet at his table? If he was not guilty, why was he put to death? So difficult a thing it is in a lie to keep conformity, either in a lie of actions (fo to fpeake) or in a lie of words! In words it is difficult fo to fpeake that the attentive hearer fhall not perceive contrariety: In actions it is impoffible that they can be diffembled. This action is a lie, for it faith he is guilty of death, but their welcomming of him, their fetting of him at the table with the King, and their feafting, fayes, he is an innocent, Noble, worthy man; Indeed onely truth in word and action can accord with it felfe: as it is uniforme, it floweth from unitie, tendeth to it, and endeth in it, and keepeth the tafte of the fountain from which it cometh. So they having given this confeffion of his worth, and again, (by that ominous figne) contradicted their confeffion, muft needs be falfe witneffes however it go. The young Nobleman either understanding the figne as an ordinary thing, or aftonished with it as an uncouth thing, upon the fight of the Buls head offering to rife, was laid hold of by their armed men in the Kings prefence at the Kings table, which should have beene a Sanctuary to him. And fo without regard of King, or any duty, and without any further proceffe, without order, affife (or jurie) without law, no crime objected, he not being convicted at all; a young man of that age that was not liable to the law in regard of his youth, a Nobleman of that place, a worthy young Gentleman of fuch expectation, a guest of that acceptation, one who had repofed upon their credit, who had committed himselfe to them, a friend in mind, who looked for friendship, to whom all friendship was promifed; against dutie, law, friendship, faith, honefty, humanitie, hofpitalitie; against nature, against humane fociety, against Gods Law, against mans law, and the law of nature, is cruelly executed, and put to death: They, (in defpight as it were) fpitting in the face of all duty and honefty, proclaiming (as farre as lay in them) there was no dutie to God nor man to bee regarded. And that the measure of their wickedneffe thus heaped and fhaken, and preft downe might also runne over; all this was done (as it fhould feem) without the confent, nay, against the will of their King and Soveraigne, who wept at their execution, and forbad them to meddle with his Coufin: the shameleffe men chid him for weeping at the death of his enemy (as they call him) during whofe life (fay they) hee needed never to looke for peace, whereas they themselves were his chiefeft enemies, and greatest traitours to him, and befides him to God and nature, and to the office of Juftice which they bore; bringing a blot on the and the other, and bloud-guiltineffe upon his Crowne, fo farre as lay in them.
This is that deteftable fact never enough to be extracted, which I have laboured indeed to fet forth in the owne fimple colours, ftripping it naked of all farding (though I confeffe no words can equall the wickedneffe of it) that men may learn to deteft fuch things wherein may bee feen what refpect they have carried either to juftice, to equity, to common peace, or Common-wealth; that thought it better to root out fuch a plant, then to dreffe and to cherish it; to ruine fuch a house rather then to gain it, which they never would have done, if their private pride and avarice had not had the greateft fway with them. I thinke all honeft minds fhould disdain to reade what they gave out before of their love to the publike good, having here fo terribly belied it: neither fhould any man speake of it indifferently without a note of deteftation; neither extenuate it by the Earles fimplicity, which feemes to diminish and leffen this execrable perfidie, and cruelty. If this were the wifedome, whereof they had purchased an opinion and name under the former King James the firft, and if they had practifed practifed fuch things as this, it hath been a bitter root, and hath brought forth a very bitter fruit, and hath, in all appearance been no fmall part of the caufe of haftening his death, and the emboldning of his enemies unto it, as indeed I finde fome of our Writers inclined to fay, for luch new men goe commonly about to perfwade Princes, that ancient Noblemen are enemies to them, and barres to their abfoluteneffe, which is it that these men here mean, in faying that the Earle Douglas was an enemy to the King. Not that he bare any ill will to the Kings perfon (for that they could no wayes make appeare) but because he was fo great a man: According to that generall rule, that greatneffe in the Nobility is dangerous for the Prince, and as it to be a great man were by infallible confequence to be an enemy to the King. Which maxime I feare they have beaten into his head afterwards, not fo much to ftrengthen and provide for his fecurity, as to draw him to their party for ftrengthening of themselves for we fee all their intentions aime but at their owne particulars; and fo in this they intend nothing else, onely they colour their particulars with the Pretext of the Kings fervice, as they doe this wicked fact alfo.
David Douglas the younger brother was alfo put to death with him, and Malcolme Fleming of Cumbernald his speciall Counsellour. They were all three beheaded in the back Court of the Castle, that lieth to the Weft. This augments yet their wickedneffe, that they execute his brother alfo, whofe age behoved to be leffe then his owne, who was but very young too, as wee have faid. These were good Tutors and bringers up of a young Prince, thus as it were to bait him with the bloud of his Nobility, and to imprint fuch a leffon in his tender minde that they were his enemies. But for conclufion of this matter, concerning these young men, as there was no law laid against them, fo is there no Hiftory that beareth witneffe that they were guilty of any capitall crime. And Major faith exprefly, Apud Annales legi, quod viri illi non erant rei mortis, fed confilio & dolo Gulielmi Crighton, Scotia Cancellarii hac perpetrata funt: That is, I reade in our Annales that these men were not guilty of death, but this matter was atchieved by the counfell and fraud of Crighton Chancellour. It is fure the people did abhorre it, execrating the very place where it was done, in deteftation of the fact of which the memory remaineth yet to our dayes in these words.
Edinburgh Castle, Towne and Tower,
God grant thou finke for finne;
And that even for the black dinner
Earle Douglas got therein.
Now fith these youths were not guiltie, whereof were they not guilty that put them to death? and with what note of infamy to bee branded ? Though fome feeme to blame this innocent young man (as they cannot deny him to have beene) with halfe words, as guided by flattery, given to infolency, prefumptuous in his Port, yet is there no effect, or affection brought importing either his being addicted to flattery, or that hee was more infolent, prefumptuous or arrogant, then became a man of his ranke. But contrary, that he was of a gentle nature, a repulfer of flatterie (now as hee grew in age) and of due magnificence, fuch as well became him. Let us therefore account of him fo, as one that was fingular in respect of his yeares. And let the blame lie fully on his enemies, who shall finde fome meeting hereafter from their Coufin; that they may finde all the house perished not with him, though indeed the punishment was not proportionated to that which they deferved.
In Gulielm. & David. fratres in Arce Edinburgena trucidatos1.
Veftra Sophocleo cades eft digna cothurno,
Veftra Thyeftea cana cruenta magis,
Vos fcelere atque dolis, vos proditione necati,
Infontes, puerique & patria proceres:
Regius & veftro eft fædatus funere vultus:
Qui fertur ficcas non tenuiffe genas.
Haccine (Rectores) veftra eft prudentia tanta?
Haccine laudatur juftitia? hacne fides?
Exemplum aternis nunquam delebile faftis
Perftat fraudis atra, perfidiaque trucis.
In English thus,
Your murther may deserve a tragick Muse,
Your horrid dinner justly might excuse
Thyeftes feast, by a more treacherous train
Drawn to the axe, more barbaroufly flain
Then was his fonne: your Princes guiltleffe eye
Stain'd with the fight, wept at the cruelty.
Is this thefe Rulers wifedome? this their love
To Juftice? this the prudence men approve
So much? O! blacke example fit to be
Mark't in eternall fcroules of infamy. of
Note 1. John Johnston (Johannes Jonstonus), 'Heroes ex omni historia Scotica lectissimi' (Amsterdam, 1603), a collection of Latin epigrams on notable Scots. One of his epigrams is titled exactly: "In Gulielmum & David, fratres in Arce Edinburgensi trucidatos." i.e. "On William and David, brothers murdered in Edinburgh Castle".