Note 62 — Chapter IV · ACCESSION OF BALIOL—SIEGE OF BERWICK—BATTLE OF DUNBAR.
Reading edition
The object of the greatest national importance, and of the most venerable antiquity, which he carried off on this occasion, was the Lia-faile, called also Clach na cineamhuinn (fatal stone), on which the Kings of Scotland, from the earliest ages of their monarchy, had been crowned. At the ceremony of their inauguration, a seanachaidh, or heraldic bard, clothed in a robe of sky-blue, stood before the lia-faile, and recited to the King, as he sat on it, the genealogy of the Kings of Scotland, from the foundation of their dynasty. The last performance of this ancient Celtic custom, was at the coronation of Alexander III. The person who officiated on that occasion, is said to have had on a scarlet robe. This, however, was not the colour used by the Celts, for that office. The person of the heraldic bard was sacred above all others, and he wore sky-blue as emblematic of peace. The early history of the Lia-faile is involved in the obscurity of fable, and no small degree of sacredness has been attached to it from the connection it is supposed to have with the destinies of the Scots. The following Druidical Oracle, is considered as first giving currency to this belief.
Cioniodh scuit saor an fine, Man ba breag an Faisdine. Mar a bh’ fhuighid an lia-fail, Dlighid flaitheas do ghabhail.
Which Hector Boethius has thus rendered into Latin:
Ne fallat fatum, Scoti quocunque locatum Invenient lapidem hunc, regnare tenentur ibidem.
English Translations.
Except old saws do feign, And wizards’ wits be blind, The Scots in place must reign, Where they this stone shall find.
* * * * *
Consider, Scot, where’er you find this stone, If fates fail not (or lie not), there fix’d must be your throne.
Another from Langtoft, vol. ii. p. 527.
The Scottis sall bruke that realme, as natyve Ground, (Geif weirdis fayll nocht) quhair euir this chiar is found.
That part of the history of the Lia-faile which is considered authentic, may soon be told.—It was at an early period brought from Ireland to Dunstaffnage; from thence to Scone, in 842, by Kenneth II.; and, lastly, to Westminster, in 1296. In the Wardrobe Account of Edward, for March 1299, there is the following entry of a payment to “Walter the painter, for a step to the foot of the New Chair, in which the Stone of Scotland was placed, near the altar, before the shrine of St Edward, in Westminster Abbey, and to the carpenters and painters painting the said step; and the gold and colours to paint it with; and making a case to cover the said chair, L.1: 19: 7.”—Remarks on the Wardrobe Account, page xli. Walsingham says, that the use Edward put it to, was to serve as a chair for the celebrating priests at Westminster.
In the treaty of peace between Robert Bruce and Edward III., there is a particular stipulation for the restoration of this Stone. The Londoners, however, had taken a fancy to it, and excited a commotion to prevent its removal; and Robert had no difficulty to persuade his people, to waive the performance of the agreement. Indeed, so deep-rooted has been the belief of the Scots in the augury attached to it, that many looked upon the accession of James to the British throne as the fulfilment of the prediction. Even in the present day, when there is so much anxiety evinced for the recovery of objects held in national estimation, we do not hear of any application being made to his Majesty for the restoration of the Lia-faile. There is no doubt but many of those who witnessed the original aggression, would console themselves with the reflection, that the “Lang-shanked Southerone” had caught a Tartar.