IV.

E OAT-STANEOTH N E TOMBSTONTH , T KIRKLISTONO ET I S I N : E GRANDFATHETH P O F HENGISO R. Y HORSAD . J AN TY B ? SIMPSON, M.D., PKOFESSOB OF MEDICINE AND MIDWIFERY IN THE UNIVER- SITY or EDINBUKOH, V.P. R.S A., SOOT., &o.

The Medieval Archaeology of Scotland is confessedly sadly deficient in written documents. From the decline of Boman records and rule, onward throug r eigho nexe x th htsi t centuries have w , e very few r almos,o t no written data to guide us in Scottish historical or antiquarian inquiries. No numismatiy r havan e ew c evidence whateve n conappeao I rt -. to l sequence of this literary dearth, the roughest lapidary inscriptions, be- 120 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF longin theso gt e dark period f onso r history , e investecomb o t e d with an interest much beyond their mere intrinsic value. The very want of other contemporaneous lettered documents and data imparts importance to the rudest legends cut on our ancient lettered stones. For even brief and meagre tombstone inscriptions rise into matters of historical signifi- cance othee , wheth l r al nliterar d y chroniclean n me annald e sth an f so of the times to which these inscriptions belong have, in the lapse of ages, been destroye lostd dan . needless i t I dwelo st well-knowe l th her n eo n fact, tha Englann i t d and Scotland there have been left, by the Eoman soldiers and colo- nistoccupieo wh s r islanou d d durin e firsth g t four centuriee th f o s Christian era, great numbers of inscribed stones. British antiquarian topographicad an l works abound with description drawingd san thesf so e Eoman lapidary writings. But of late years another class or series of lapidary records has been particularly attracting the attention of British antiquaries,—viz., inscribed stones of a late-Roman or post-Eoman period. The inscriptions on this latter class of stones are almost always, if not always, Sepulchral. The characteristically rude letters in which they are written consist—in the earliest stones—of debased Eoman capitals; and —in the latest—of the uncial or muniuscule forms of letters which are oldese useth n di t Englis Irisd han h manuscripts. Some stones shon wa intermixtur botf eo h alphabetical characters. These " Eomano-British" inscribed stones, as they have been usually termed, have hitherto been found principally in Wales, in Cornwall, and in "West Devon. In the dif- ferent e Welspartth f so h Principality, nearl hundrede yon I believe,, have already been discovered. In Scotland, which is so extremely rich in ancient Sculptured Stones, very few Inscribed Stones are as yet known ; diligend an e du t searca f i t institutede hb bu , others doubto n , , will betimes be brought to light. An inscribed Scottish stone of the class I allude to is situated in the county of Edinburgh, and has been long known under the name of the Cat-stane or Battle-stone. Of its analogy with the earliest class of Eomano-British inscribed stones fount full no Wales n yds i awarwa I , e opportunitn a d tilha I l f examininyo g last e meetinyearth e t th a , f go Cambrian Archajological Society valuabla , e collectio f rubbingno d san drawing thesf so e Welsh stones, brought forwar thay db t excellent anti- ANTIQUARIE1 12 SCOTLANDF SO . quary, Mr Longueville Jones ; and afterwards, in situ, one or two of the stones themselves I venture followin.e th n i , g remarks direco t , e th t attentio e Societ th Cat-stanee f th n o o yt , partl consequencn yi f thio e s belief in its analogy with the earliest Welsh inscrihed stones ; partly, also d almosorden i ,an adducd o t r tol unknown a e n descriptioe th f no Cat-stane, made in the last years of the seventeenth century, by a gentleman who was perhaps the greatest antiquary of his day; and partly because I have a new conjecture to offer as to the historical per- sonage commemorated in the inscription, and, consequently, as to the probable age of the inscription itself.

Site and Description of the Stone. The Cat-stane stands in the parish of Kirkliston, on the farm of Briggs,1 in a field on the north side of the road to Linlithgow, and between the sixtd seventan h h milestone from Edinburgh s placei t I d. withia n hundred yards of the south bank of the Almond ; nearly half a mile below the Boathouse Bridge ; and about three miles above the entrance of the stream int Eomad Frite ool th Forthf e ho n th statiot a , Cramondf no r o , Caer Amond. The monument is located in nearly the middle of the base otriangulaa f r for grounf ko d forme e meetin th Goga e y th db f go r Water wit Rivee th h r Almond G-ogae Th . r flows int Almone oth d aboux si t or seven hundred yards below the site of the Cat-stane.2 The ground on which the Cat-stane stands is the beginning of a ridge slightly elevated above the general level of the neighbouring fields. The stone itself con- sistmassiva f so e unhewn secondare blocth f ko y greenstone-trae th f po district, man yneighbourine largth f o ed boulderbe e gth f whicsn o i e hli

The farm is called " Briggs. or Colstane" (Catstane), in a plan belonging to Mr 1 Hutchison, of his estate of Caerlowrie, drawn up in 1797. In this plan the bridge (brigg) ove Almonde th rboathousee th t a , lais i , danothen i downt Bu r. older plan •which Mr H. has of the property, dated 1748, there is no bridge, and in its stead ther representatioa s ei ferry-boae th f no t crossin rivere gth . 2 In this strategetic angular fork or tongue of ground, formed by the confluence of thes riverso etw , Quee r suitn he Mar ed wereyan , accordin Eoberr M o gt t Chambers, caugh carries tBothwely wheb wa f e dof nsh l e 24tonth f Apriho l 1567. (Ses ehi interesting remark Localite sth Abductioe n "th O f yo Queef no n MaryProe th -n "i ceeding Societe th f s o f Scottis yo h Antiquaries ,. 331. volp . ii .) 122 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F F SO Y O river somewhafors n i I .mt i t prismatic r irregularlo , y triangular, with its angles very rounded. This large monolith is nearly twelve feet in circumference, about four feet five inche widthn si thred an , e feet three inches in thickness. Its height above ground is about four feet and a- Honourable halfTh . Eamsas eMr f Barntonyo , upon whose son's pro- perty the monument stands, very kindly granted liberty last year for an examination by digging beneath and around the stone. The accom- panying woodcut ,frieny takem r Drummond M y db n a copa f s o yi ,

Fig. 1.

sketch e ,e stontime madth th s exposef t ea o ,a e d when pursuing this search around its exposed basis. We found the stone to be a block seven feet three inche n totasi l length nearld an , y three feet burien i d places wa soil e t dI th upo. a basin f stonesso , forming apparently the ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 123

remain buila f so t stone grave, which, containe boneso dn r otheo 1 r relics, and that had very evidently been already searched and harried. I shall indeed have immediately occasion to cite a passage proving that a cen- tury and a half ago the present pillar-stone was surrounded, like some other ancient graves, by a circular range of large flat-laid stones; and when this outer circl s removed,—iwa e t before,—thno f e vicinitd yan base of the central pillar were very probably dug into and disturbed.

Different Readings Inscription.ofthe inscriptioe Th uppee th neastere n ro upo th hal t stone f o ncu th fn s ei narrowesd an e triangulat th fac f o e r monolith. Various descriptionf o s legene th d have been give differeny nb t authors latese Th .t published s thaaccouni t ti givef o t Professoy b n r Daniel Wilsos worhi kn i n on Scottish Archaeology. He disposes of tlie stone and its inscription followinthin etwo g short sentence westwarmiles the :— few sto " A dof oft-notee thith s si d Catt Stan Kirkliston ei n parish whicn o , painfue hth l antiquary may yet decipher the imperfect and rudely lettered inscrip- tion,—the work, most probably f muco , h younger hands than those that reared the mass of dark whinstone on which it is cut,—IN [H]00 TVMVLO IACET VETT . VICT . A. Abou . E t sixty yardo st the west of the Cat-stane a large tumulus formerly stood, which was opened in 1824, and found to contain several complete skeletons; but nearl l trace y t al havdisappeared."i w f so eno 2 In the tenth volume of the Statistical Account of Scotland, collected The comparative rapidity or slowness with which bones are decomposed and dis- 1 appear in different soils, is sometimes a question of importance to the antiquary. We all know that they preserve for many long centuries in dry soils and dry posi- tions. In moist ground, such as that on which the Cat-stane stands, they melt away far more speedily anothen O . Ramsay's r parMr f o t s property, namely policye th n i , , and within two hundred yards of the mansion-house of Barnton, I opened, several years ago, with Mr Morritt of Rokeby, the grave of a woman who had died—as tombstone th thn eo e spot told us—durin lase gth t Scottish plagu yeae th r n e1648i . The only remains of sepulture which we found were some fragments of the wooden coffin, and the enamel crowns of a few teeth. All other parts of the body and skele- d entireltonha y disappeared e chemicaTh . l qualitie e groundth f d o conses an , - quently of its water, will of course modify the rapidity of such results. 2 Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, p. 96. 124 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

by Sir John Sinclair, and published in 1794. the Rev. Mr John Muckarsie, in giving.an account of the parish of Kirkliston, alludes in a note to the " Cat-stane standing on the farm of that name in this parish." In de- scribin observee h t gi irregula n sfore a " ms Th i r -prism, wite folhth - lowing inscription on the south-east face, deeply cut in the stone, in a most uncouth manner:—

- T C O N I VMVLO IACI VETTD A VICTA

We are informed," continues Mr Muckarsie, " by Buchanan and other historians, that there was a bloody battle fought near this place, on the e Almondbank th e yea f th o s r n i ,995 , between Kennethus, natural brother and commander of the forces of Malcolm II., King of Scotland, and Constantine usurpee ,th f thao r t crown, wherein bot e generalhth s were killed. About two miles higher up the river, on tbe Dathgate road a circula s i , r moun f earto d f greah(o t antiquity, surrounded with large unpolished stones, at -a considerable distance from each other, evidently intende memordn i somf yo e remarkable event) whole Th .e inter- mediate space, from the human bones dug up, and graves of unpolished stones discovered belo e .surfacewth , seem o havt s e bee e scennth f eo many battles."l discourse th n I e whic Eare hth f Bucha lo n gav 178 n emeetini a o 0t g called together for the establishment of the present Society of Scottish Antiquaries s Lordshihi , p took occasio alludo e nCat-stant th o et e when wishing to point out how monuments, rude as they are, " lead us to cor- rect the uncertain accounts which have been handed down by the monkish writers." " Accounts r examplefo , , hav observese (h e ) been givef no various conflicts which took place towar tente close th d th hf e o century between Constantin Malcolmd an . generae eIV lawfue th , th f o l heif o r e Scottisth h Crowne e bankEiveth th f n ro so , Almond decided an , d toward s confluencit s seae th , o neat e r Eirkliston. Accordingly, from

i Statistical Accoun f Scotlandto , collecte r JolSi my db . Sinclair75 , 68 . , volpp . x . ANTIQUARIES OP SCOTLAND. 125 Mid-Calder, anciently called Calder-comitas, to Zirkliston, the banks of the rive fillee ar r d wit skeletone hth f humaso n remaine bodiesth d an ,s of warlike weapons oppositd an ; o Carlowrit e e therwell-knowa s i e n stone nea margie rivere rth th f n,o peopl e calleth y deb Catt Stane.e Th following inscription was legible on the stone in the beginning of this (the eighteenth) century; and the note of the inscription I received from the Eev r CharleM . s Wilkie, ministe e paristh f Ecclesmachanf o rho , whose father, Mr John Wilkie, minister of the parish of Uphall, whilst in his younger day inhabitann sa Kirklistonf o t carefulld ha , y transcribed :— IN HOC TUM • JAC • CONSTAN • VIC • VICT"1 Lord Buchan adduces this alleged copy of the Cat-stane inscription as valuable from having been taken early in the last century. The copy of the inscription, though averred to be old, is, as we shall see in the sequel, doubtlessly most inaccurate therd An e. exist accounte th f o s inscription both olde infiniteld an r y more correc trustworthyd an t . The oldest and most important notice of the Cat-stane and its in- scription tha I s tknopublishei f wo a wor n i dk wher woulw fe e d expect to find it,—viz., in the " Mona Antiqua Eestaurata" of the Bev. Mr Rowlands. It is contained in a letter addressed to that gentleman by the distinguished Welsh archaeologist, Edward Lhwyd. The date of Mr Lhwyd's letter is " Sligo, March 12th, 1699-] 700." A short time previously he had visitedr'Scotland, and " collected a considerable number of inscriptions." At that time the Cat-stane was a larger and much more imposing monument than it is now, as shown in the following description of it. " One monument," says he, " I met with within four miles of Edinburgh, different from all I had seen elsewhere, and never observed by their antiquaries. I take it to be the tomb of some Pictish king; though situat rivea y eb r side, remote enough frochurchy s i man t I . an area of about seven yards diameter, raised a little above the rest of the ground, and encompassed with large stones; all which stories are laid lengthwise, excepting one larger than ordinary, which is pitched on end, containd an s this inscriptio barbaroue th n ni s character fourte th d f san ho fifth centuries c TTJMTJLo N I , O JACIT VEITA E. VICTI. Thi e commoth s n 1 The Scots Magazine for 1780, p. 697. See also Smellie's " Account of the In- stitution and Progress of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland" (1782), p. 8. 126 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

people call the Cat-Stene, whence I suspect the person's name was Getus, of which name I find three Pictish kings; for the names pronounced e Britonth y b s wit , werhG e writte n Latii n fine y w b nd s a wit , V h G-wyrtheyrn, G-wyrthefyr Gwythelynd an , , which were writte Latin i n n Vortigernus, Vortimerus, and Vitelinus."1 Besides writing the preceding note to Dr Eowland regarding the Cat-stane, Mr Lhwyd, at the time of his visit, took a sketch of the in- scription itself. In the "Philosophical Transactions" for February 1700, this sketch of the Cat-stane inscription was, with eight others,'

M/LOIACIT A fVt ETT VICTI-

Fig. 2.

publishe r MusgraveD y b da brie n i f, communication entitledn "A , Accoun somf o t e Eoman, French Irisd an ,h Inscription Antiquitiesd san , lately found in Scotland and Ireland, by Mr Edward Lhwyd, and com-

Rowlands' " Mona Antiqua Restaurata," second edition inscriptio e 313. ,p Th . n 1 is printed in italics by Rowland. I have printed this and some of the following readings in small Roman capitals, in order to assimilate them all the more with each other. ANTIQUARIE7 12 SCOTLANDF SO .

muuicated to the Publisher from Mr John Hicks of Trewithier, in Corn- wall." The accompanying woodcut (fig. 2) is an exact copy of Mr Lhwyd's sketch, publishes a e " Philosophicath n di l Transactions. vere th y n I " brief communication accompanyin Cat-stane th , git shortls ei y described s "Pictisa A h monument near Edinburgh TUMULc o N I ,O JACIT VETA F. VICTI. This the common people call the Ket-stean; note that the British names beginning with the letter G-w began in Latin with V [and the three examples given by Lhwyd in his letter to Dr Rowland follow]. So I suppose (it is added) this person's name was G-weth or Geth, of which name were diver sPictse kingth f ,o s whenc vulgae th e r nam f Keteo - stone."1 course lase th th t f n centuryeI o , notice r readingso Cat-stane th f so e inscription, mor lesr "e o Philososth similan e accouni th t i o -f t ro t phical Transactions," were publishe differeny db tr Bo writersSi - y b s a , bert Sibhald n 1708,i , 2—by Maitland 1753,n i , 3—by Pennants hi n i , Journey through Scotlan n 1772,i d 4—an y G-oughdb e n 1789i ,th n i , third volume of his edition of " Carnden's Britannia."5 All the four authors whom I have quoted agree as to the reading of inscriptione th nameo tw d give s an ,th e mentione s VBTTa , it n Ai d and printinVICTIn i t e Bu firs f gthes.th o t e names, VETTA, Mait- lanPennantd an d , following perhap e " th Philosophicae tex th n si t l Transactions," carelessly spell it with a single instead of a double T; and G-ough make e firssth t r voweSi n VICTi l. I insteaE n n a Ia f do Bobert Sibbald gives as a K the mutilated terminal letter in the third line, which Mr Llwyd deciphered as an F. Sibbald's account of the stone

1 Philosophical Transactions, vol. xxii 790. p . . Historical Inquiries concerning the Homan Monuments and Antiquities in Scot- 2 . land50 . p , Histore 3Th Edinburghf yo . 508p , . Tour in Scotland in 1772, Part ii. p. 237. When describing his ride from 4 Kirkliston to Edinburgh, he observes: " On the right hand, at a small distance from our road are some rude stones. On one called the Cat-stean, a compound of Celtic and Saxon signifyin e Stonth g f Battleo e s thii , s inscription HON I : C TUMULO JACET VET . VIOTAP ; Isuppose memorn di persoa f yo n slain there." Oamden's Britannia, edite Eichary db d Gough, vol. iii . 317Gougr .p M . h cites 8 also as Mr Wilkie's reading, " IN HOC TUM, JAC. CONSTANTIE VICT." 128 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

ans inscriptiondit n 1708i , s shor,i t valuablebu t s affordina ,d ol n a g independent readin legende containes th i f t g o I folis . hi on di essa r yo work entitled, " Historical Inquiries Concernin Eomae gth n Monuments and Antiquities in Scotland" (p. 50). " Close (says he) by Kirkliston water, upon the south side, there is a square pillar over against the Manno Carlowrof r y with this inscription :—

IN OC TV MVLO IAC1T VETTA K VICTI

This (Sibbald continues) seemeth to have been done in later times than the former inscriptions [viz., those left in Scotland by the Eomans]. Whether (Sir Robert adds) it be a Pictish monument or not is uncer- tain ; the vulgar call it the CAT Stane." Mr Gough, when speakin lattee e stonth th lase f n rei o gth part f o t century, states thae inscriptioth tlegible. w no t ns " "no upowa t i n It is certainly still even sufficiently legible and entire to prove unmis- takabl e accuracyth e readinth t f i giveyo f o gn upward a centur f o s y Lhwyy b Sibbaldhala o d d ag an flettere an Th . s come witt ou h special ' distinctness when examined wite morninth h n shiningsu n themgo ; and indeed few ancient inscriptions in this country, not protected by being buried, are better preserved,—a circumstance owing principally to the very hard and durable nature of the stone itself, and the depth to whic lettere hth s have been originally accompanyine cutTh . g woodcut (Plate V.) is taken from a photograph of the stone by my friend Dr Paterson, and very faithfully represents the inscription. The surface of the stone upon which the letters are carved has weathered and broken off n somi e part s; particularl y toward right-hane sth dinscripe edgth f o e - tion. This process of disintegration has more or less affected the terminal letterfoue th r e inscriptions f lineso th f so e twenty-sisth . f o Yet t ou , , letter composing the legend, twenty are still comparatively entire and perfectly legibl e; fou more ar r les o e s defective nearlo tw d y an obli; - whico teratedtw almose he ar Th t. obliterated n consisfirsi e th V t f o t TVMVLO, constituting the terminal letter of the first line, and the ANTIQUAKIES OF SCOTLAND. 129 last vowel I, or rather, judging from the space it occupies, E in JACIT. A mere impress of the site of the bars of the V is faintly traceable by the eye and finger, though the letter came out in the photograph. Only about an inch of the middle portion of the upright bar of I or E in JACIT can be traced by sight or touch. In this same word, also, the lower part of the 0 and the cross stroke of the T is defective. Bu inscriptiote eve th t bee f i nno nd reanha d when these letters were more entire, such defect particulan i s r t assuredlletterno e kina sar f ydo o makt paleographey an e rwordo entertaitw n i se th douba no t s a t which these defects occur being TVMVLO and JACIT. The terminal letter in the third line1 was already defective in the time of Edward Lhwyd, as shown by the figure of it in his sketch. (See woodcut, No. 2.) Sibbald prints it as a E, a letter without any attach- able meaning. Lhwyd read it as an P (followed apparently by a linear poin stop)r o thelsignify—wha d o t t an d,i ofteo s nF t does signife th n yi common established formul f thes o ainscriptions—F(ILIVS)d eol e Th . upright limb of this F appears still well cut and distinct; but the stone is much hollowed out and destroyed immediately to the right, where the two cross bars of the letter should be. The site of the upper cross- muco lettee to th s bahi f r o rdecaye d excavatean d y o allot dan f wo distinct recognition of it. The site, however, of a small portion of the middle cross bar is traceable at the point where it is still united to and springs from the upright limb of the letter. Beyond, or to the right of this letter F, a line about half an inch long, forming possibly a terminal sto poinr plineao a f o t r type, commence lowe e levee th th f ro l n slino e of the letters, and runs obliquely upwards and outwards, till it is now lost above in the weathered and hollowed-out portion of stone. Its site is nearer the upright limb or basis of the F than it is represented to be in r e Lhwydsketcth M f ho , wher s figurei t ei constitutins a d gpartla y continuous extension downward middle th f lettee so e th ba f rro itself. And perhaps it is not a linear point, but more truly, as Lhwyd figures it, the lower portion of a form of the middle bar of F, of an unusual though t unknowno n immediattypee Th . e descen genealogr o t thosf yo e whom these Eomano-British inscriptions commemorate is often given on the 1 In the VETTA of this line the cross bar in A is wanting, from the stone be- tween the upright bars being chipped or weathered out. I VOL . PAEIV . . TI 0 13 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F F SO O '

stones, but their status or profession is seldom mentioned. We have exceptions in the case of one or two royal personages, as in the famous inscriptio Anglesen i "o yt CATAMANUS, REX SAPIENTISSIMUS OPINATISSIMTJS OMNIUM REGCM. e ranofficd Th an kf priest" o eseveran i e sar l instances also commemorated with thei e Kirkmadrinr th names n i s a , e Stonn i e (3-alloway e churchyarth n I . f Llangiando Caernarvonshiren i , , there is a stone with an ancient inscription written not horizontally, but vertically (as is the case with regard to most of the Cornish inscribed stones), and where MELUS, the son of MAETINUS, the person com- memorated physician—MEDICVSa s ,i inscriptioe th t Bu . mucs ni h more interesting in regard to our present inquiry in another point. For— as the accompanying woodcut of the Llan- §>ian inscription shows—the F in the word is very much of the same type or form seen kv Lhwyd in the Cat-stane, and draw himy b n . (Se s presketce ehi th -n hi ceding woodcut contexe , Th positiod Fig an ) t 2. .f thi no s letten i F r the Llangian legend leaves no doubt of its true character. The form is old; Mr Westwood considers the age of the Llangian inscription s "noa t later tha e fiftnth h century." approacn A same 1 th eo ht for m of F in the same word FILI, is seen in an inscribed stone which'for- merly stood at Pant y'Polion in Wales, and is now removed to Dolan Cothy House. Again somn i , e instances Eomano-Britise th n i s a , h stones at Llandysilir, Clyddan, Lllandyssul, &c., where the F in Filius is tied succeedine th o t e conjoineth , gI d letters presen appearancn a t e similar to the F on the Cat-stane as figured by Lhwyd. While .all competent authoritie e nearlar s e letyth agree-o t s a d tering and reading of the first three lines, latterly the terminal letter of the fourth or last line has given rise to some difference of opinion. Lhwyd, Sibbald Pennand an , t unhesitatingly rea whole dth e last lins ea yiCTI. Lhwyd, in his sketch of the inscription, further shows that, followin lase , gtherth I tsto a poinr s pelineao i a f o t r e formterTh -. mina thres i lI e inches long, whil lineae eth r poin r stoo t p followint i g is fully an inch in length. Between it and the terminal I is a smooth

1 Archseologia Cambrensis (for 1848), vol. iii. .p. 107. ANTIQUABIES OF SCOTLAND. 131 space on the stone of five or six lines. Latterly this terminal I, with its superadded linear point, has been supposed by Mr Muckersie to be . E Bot n r Wilsoa hD e suppositionb y b o nt d an , anA so t appeae m o t r considerationo btw er o erroneou thif e o son d an s s; will I think, , satisfy any cautious observe wilo wh l r examine carefully eithe e stonth r e e inscriptio th e itselfcas f th o r t o , n madthas wa n t1824—copiei e f o s which are placed in our own and in other museums. Mr Muckersie and Dr Wilson hold the upright bar forming the letter I to be the primary d theEr o an ; y A thin n e remainina kth uprighf o r ba tg portionf o s these letter indicatee b o st former lineade o th y rdb stop figure Lhwydy db . That the letter is not A, is shown by the bar being quite perpendicular, and not oblique or slanting, as in the two other A's in the inscription. Besides e middlth , e croswantings i e secon th A s d stroke dth an ; f eo descending bar of the letter is quite deficient in length—a deficiency not explicable by mutilation from the weathering of the stone, as the stone happens to be still perfectly entire both at the uppermost and the lowest end of this bar or line. This last reason is also in itself a strong if no a sufficient t groun r rejectindfo e ideth ga tha e letteEn th a t; s ri inasmuch as if it had been an E, the tail of the letter would have been found prolonged downward e basth othee o st th lin f re o letter e th n si hele b n remembrance di o t s i t i wordr Fo , . that thoug forme th h f o s the letters in this inscription are rude and debased, yet they are all cut with firmness and fulness. The idea that the terminal letter of the inscription is an E seems still more objectionable in another point of view. To make it an E aonln t ca ally e suppos,w e disputeth e dlowese "th line b t e por o "t - e segmen th e lootio f th r semicirculao n po e f o t Th . E e r heath f o d line, which is about an inch long, is straight, however, and not a part of a round curve or a circle, such as we know the mason who carved this inscriptio C'sd cutnd an . s couldi witnesses ,a Besides O' d s dan hi y db , if this straight line had formed the lower segment of the semicircular loop or head of an E, then the highest point of that E would have stood so disproportionally elevated above the top line or level of the other letters in this word, as altogether to oppose and differ from what we see in the other parts of this inscription. This same reason bears equally against another view which perhaps migh takene b t ; namely, thae th t i2 132 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

straight lin n questioei taie terminar th o l s ni l right-hand stroke th f eo E, placed nearly horizontally, as is occasionally the form of this letter n somi e early inscriptions, like thos f Yarroweo Llangiand f san i t Bu . this view be adopted, then the loop or semicircular head of the E must be considered as still more disproportionally displaced upwards above the common level of the top line ; for in this view the whole loop or head must have stood entirely above this straight horizontal line, which line itself reaches above the middle height of the upright bar forming the I. Immediately above the horizontal line, for a space about an inch or mor depthn ei r twelv somo d n an ,e te e inche lengthn i s , thers eha bee nweatherina d chippin splintea aa g e surfac f e o th th f f f o rgof o e stone indicates a , commencemens it y b d abruptn a n i t , curved, rugged edge above. This lesion or fracture of the stone has, I believe, ori- ginally give semblance th idee n f th riso a o t ef thi o e s terminal letter of the inscription to an E. Probably, also, this disintegration is com- parativel lase y th recentt n centuri r fo ; y Lhwyd, Sibbald, Maitlandd an , Pennant, all unhesitatingly lay down the terminal letter as an I. But even if it were an .A or an E, and not an I and hyphen point, this would not affect or alter the view which I will take in the sequel, that the last inscriptioe worth n di a Latinise s ni de surnam th for f mo e VICTr Ao WECTA; as, amid the numberless modifications to which the ortho- graph f ancienyo t name s subjectei s r earlou yy b dchroniclers e histh ,- toric nam question ei spelles ni Aethelweary db d wit terminaha l E,—in- one place as UUITHAE, and in another as WITHEE.1 Altogether, however, I feel assured that the more accurately we examine the inscrip- tion as still left, and the more we take into consideration the well known caution and accuracy of Edward Lhwyd as an archaeologist, the more s " Chronicon,hi e 1 Se "e Monumentth n "i a Historica Britannica,d an 2 50 . "pp 505. Nouns d namean , s ending thu precede" n "i sr, a vowel y b d , were often written without the penultimate vowel, particularly in the Scandinavian branches e Teutonioth f c language Balds a ; r Baldefo rBaldur d an r ; Folkvang r Folkfo r - vanga r; Surt Snrtur fo Surtarrd an r. Glossar(See &c , th eprose th o yet Eddn ai Bohn's edition of Mallet's Northern Antiquities, and Kemble's Saxons in Eng- land, pp. 346, 363, &c.) For genealogical lists full of proper names ending in " r" wit e elisioe precedinhth th f no g vowel the ese , long table f Scandinaviao s d nan Orcadia pre-Columbiane pedigreeth wore th n o kf o d s en printe ne discoverth t da y ANTIQUAKIES OF SCOTLAND. 133

do we feel assured that his reading of the Cat-stane legend, when he visited and copied it upwards of a hundred and sixty years ago, is strictly correct, viz.:— IN OC TV MVLO JACIT VETT. F A VICTI.

Paloeographic Peculiarities. The palceographic characters of the inscription scarcely require any comment n mosi s tA .othe r Eoma d Eomano-Britisan n h inscriptions, the word n intru so each other withou interveniny an t g spac o mart e k their separation. The letters all consist of debased Eoman capitals. They generally vary from 2 J to 3 inches in length ; hut the 0 in the first line is only 1J inch deep. The 0 in TVMVLO in these ancient inscrip- tions is often, as in the Cat-stane, smaller than the other letters. M. Edmond Le Blant gives numerous marked instances of this peculiarity of the small 0 in the same words, " IN HoO T VMVLo," in his work on e earlth y Romano-Gaulish inscription f France.o s 1 lettere Mosth f o st in the Cat-stane inscription are pretty well formed, and firmly though rudely cut. The ohlique direction of the bottom stroke of L in TVMVLO is a form of that letter often observable in other old Eomano-British in- scriptions, as on the stone at Llanfaglan in Wales. The M in the same word has its first and last strokes splaying outwardly; a peculiarity seen in many old Eoman and Eomano-British monuments—as is also the tying together of this letter with the following V. In the Eomano- British inscription upo e stonth n e foun t Yarrowa d d whics an , wa h brought unde e e Societnotic r Johth th r D f o eny y b Alexander Smith,

of America, " Antiquitates Americanse." &c., which was published at Copenhagen in Royae 183th y 7b l Societ Northerf yo n Antiquaries firse th t n tablI . genealogief eo s givin pedigree gth f Sigurd o e OrkneThorfinf eo n th so f o , e y th ndynasty , &c.e w , have, among other names—Olafr, Grismr, Ingjaldr, Oleifr (Rex Dublini) ; Thorsteinn Raudr (partis Scotice Rex) ; Dungadr (Earl of Katanesi) ; Arfidr, Havadr, Thorfinnr, . (Earls&c f Orkney)o . &c . &c ; Inscriptions Chre'tienne Gaulea l e sd , anterieures au VIII. Siecle Platee Se .s 1 Nos. 10, 11, 15, 16, 24, 25, &c. PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F F SO Y O

there are three interments, as it were, recorded, the last of them in these words : x . . . HIC IACENT IN TVMVLO DVO FILI LIBERALI. lettere Th thin so s Yarrow stone are — witdoubtfue hon l exception2— Boman capitals, of a ruder, and hence perhaps later, type than those Cat-stane TVMVLlettern e i th th n V t o sM t bu tiee e; cu O ar d together in exactly the same way on the two stones. The omission of the aspi- rate in (H)OC, as seen on the Cat-stane, is by no means rare. The so- called bilingual Latir o d ,Ogham an n , inscribed ston t Llanfechana e , Wales, has upon it the Latin legend TBENACATVS 1C JACET FILIVS MAG-LAGNI — the aspirate being wanting in the word HIC. It is wanting also in the same way, and in the same word, in the inscrip- e Maeth tion no n Madoc stone, near Tstradfellte, viz., DEBVACI FILIVS IVLI ITurpilliae 1th C n o IACI d n an stonT ; e near Crick- howelstonea n I ,. describe Westwoodr M y db placeroae d th an , d n do from Breco Merthyro t n e initiath , l aspirat t entireln "i e no hoc s i " y dropped, but is cut in an uncial form, while all the other letters are Boman capitals ; thus IN hOC TVMULO. Linear hyphen-like stops, such as Lhwyd represents at the end of e fourthth probabld an , thirye alsth dCat-stane f o o lin th n eo e inscription, seem not to be very rare. In the remarkable inscription on the Caerwys name Th e LIBEEALI s Sprobabli Latinizee yth d Britisfora f mo h surname 1 havin same gth e meani.-g. Eydderch, Kin Strathclydef go lattee th n re i , parth f o t sixth century thd ean , personal frien f Kentigero d d Columbaan n sometimess wa , , fro s munificencemhi , termed Eydderc s Latinizeit h n Hael,i , dor form, Eydderch Liberalis, firse Th tYarroe lineth f o sw inscriptios a r nreado fa t appea s e a , m o t r they are decipherable, as follows : — HIC MEMOR IACITF

PE : : M DVMNOGENI. fourte true th Th en hi characte linfirstG s e eSmithr wa .th D pointe f y t ro I b .t dou e famouth n i same sth G SAGBAMANVf iese o forth s ma S stone. &c , 2 The exception is the letter D in DVO, which verges to the uncial form. ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 135

stonplacew no et Downing a d ' Whitford, " Here lie gooa snobld an d e woman"—* HIC JACIT/ MVLI ER BONA NOBILI(S) an oblique linear point appear e middle legendth th n f i so e , after the word JACIT lineae Th Cat-stane .r th sto n po e inscriptiond en e th t a , of the fourth line, is, as already stated, fully an inch in length, but it is scarcely so deep as the cuts forming the letters; and the original surface of the stone at both ends of this terminal linear stop is very per- soundfecd an t , showin t extendegno tha s line th twa e d either upwards or downwards intfory letterf oan mo . Straigh r hypheo t n e linesth t a , botd f en words—especiallho e propeth f o yr names—an whole th f eo d inscriptions, have been found on various Eomano-British stones, as on thos Marganf eo , (the Naen Llythyrog), Stackpole Clydaud an , havd an ,e been supposed to be the letter I, placed horizontally, while all the other letter thesn i s e inscription placee sar d perpendicularly t morno et i s I . probable that the e merelyar theo y t d sometimes pointr yno O s? , like tied letters, represent both an I and a stop ?

iO s COMMEMORATEWH THN DI E CAT-STANE INSCRIPTION? accoune th n I t whic r GeorghM e Chalmers Antiquitiee giveth f so f so Linlithgowshir s " Caledonia,hi n ei " notictherinscriptioe o n th s f ei eo n • on the Cat-stane taken; but, with a degree of vagueness of which this autho s seldoi r m guilty remarkse h , , that this monolith "certainls i a y memorial of some conflict and of some person."2 Is it not possible, however, to obtain a more definite idea of the person who is named on the stone, and in commemoration of whom it was raised ? extracte th n I s that have been already givenbees ha n t i , suggested by different writers whom I have cited, that the Cat-stane commemorates

e 1 In the inscription all tlie words are, as usual, run together, with the exception Jacie oMulierd th f an t , whic separatee har d from each obliqu e otheth y rb e linear inscriptioe plata th point f e e "o e Se th Archseologi . n ni a Cambrensis 1865r fo " , p. 153. 2 Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 844. 6 13 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F F SO YO a Scottish king, Constantine IV., or a Pictish king, G-eth. Let us first examine into the probability of these two suggestions.

1. CONSTANTINE ?—In the olden lists of our Scottish kings, four King Constantines occurCat-stane Th . bees eha n imagine Lory db d Buchan and Mr Muckersie to have been raised in memory of the last of these— viz., of Constantine IV., who fell in a battle believed by these writers to have been fought on this ground in the last years of the tenth century, or abou tStatistica A.Bw e "Ne . th 995 n I l. Accoun f Scotland,o t e th " Beverend Mr Tait, the present minister of Kirkliston, farther speaks of the " Catstean (as) supposed to be a corruption of Constantine, and to have been erected to the honour of Constantine, one of the commanders same th en i engagement thers wa eo slai interred."d wh , nan ' In the year 970 the Scottish king Culen died, having been " killed (according to the Ulster Annals) by the Britons in open battle;" and in A.D. 994 s successorhi , , Kenneth MacMalcolm foundee th , f Brechino r , was slain.2 Constantine, the son of Culen, reigned for the next year and a half, and fell in a battle for the crown fought between him and Ken- f Malcolsite o f thien o Th sso neth m . battlI e th , e was, accordino gt r ancienmostou f o t authorities Almonde th n o , . rivero Thertw e s ear of this nam Scotlandn ei Perthshirn i Lothians e e othee th ,on th n rd i ean . George Chalmers places the site of the battle in which Constantine fell Almone oth n n Perthshiri d e; Fordun , Boece Buchanad an , n plact i e on the Almond in the Lothians, upon the banks of which the Cat-stane stands e battl s foughtTh .wa e borroo t , e Scotichroworde wth th f o s - 1 New Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. i. p. 138. For the same supposed corruption of the name Constantine into Cat-stane, see also Fullarton's Gazetteer of Scotland ,. 182 volp . ii .. briee Th 2f histor Kennethf yo , his parentage, reign modd an death,f eo gives a , n in one of the earliest Chronicles of the Kings of Scotland, quoted by Father Innes (p. 802), contains in its few lines a very condensed and yet powerful story of deep maternal affection and fierce female revenge. The whole entry is as follows:— " Kinath Mac-Malcolm 24, an. et 2. mens. Interfectus in Fotherkern a suis per perfidium Finellse filise Cunecliat comiti Angue sd s; cuju s Finellse filium unicum preedictus Kinath interfecit apud Dunsinoen." The clumsy additions of some later historian e originas th onlr yma l spoisimplicitd an l forcd f thian yo e s " three- volume" historical romance. ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 137

nicon, " in Laudonia juxta ripam amnis Almond."1 The Chronicle of Melrose gives (p. 226) the " Avon"—the name of another large stream Lothians—ae th n i e battle rive th th e sit sf n questh rei o e tha s -wa t tion. Wyntown (vol . 182 p e " . i th Awyne. )s speaka t i f "so Bishop Leslie transfers this sam e e Annabank th th figh f o n Dumt so i nt - friesshire, describing it as having occurred during an invasion of Cum- bria, " ad Annandiee amnis ostia." 2 Amon e authoritiegth speao sf wh thi ko fale sf Con th o lbattl f -o r eo stantine, some describe these events as having occurred at the source, other moute Almone th th t f sa h o r Avondo . Thu anciene sth t rhyming chronicl eScotichronicoe citeth n i d n give localite sth Constantine'f yo s fall as " ad caput amnis Amond." 3 The Chronicle of Melrose, when enterin fal e f "gth o l Constantinu s Calwus," quote same sth e lines, with such modification s followa s s :*—• " Rex Constantinus, Culeno filius ortus, Ad caput amnis Avon ense peremtus erat, In Tegalere; regens uno rex et semis annis, Ipsum Kinedus Malcolomida ferit." Wyntown cite's the two first of these Latin lines, changing, as I have said, the name of the river to Awyne, almost, apparently, for the purpose of gettin gvernaculaa r rhyme thed an ,n himself tell , thasus t Wattye th t "A r he Awynef do , The King Gryme slwe this Gonstantyne."5 wore Ith f d " Tegaler Melrose th e n "i e Chronicl trua e b ereading, 6 and the locality could he identified under the same or a similar deriva- tive name, the site of the battle might be fixed, and the point ascertained whether it took place, as the preceding authorities aver, at the source, ' water-hea' d "r " o caputHecto rivers e a th , f or ;o "r Boec Georgd ean e 1 Tom 219. p Goodall'. f .i ,o s edition. 2 De Kebus Gestis Scotorum, chap. Ixxxi. p. 200. 3 Joannis Forduni Scotichronicon, torn. 219p . i .. 4 Chronicon de Mailros, p. 226 (Bannatyne Club edition). 6 Wyntown's Orygynale Cronyki Scotlandf o l , . 183volp . i .. Scotichronicone th n I 6 , instea f Tegalere,"n dI o thire th f "thesd o e lines com- mences " Inregale regens," &c.; and it is noted that in the " Liber Dumblain " the line begins " Indegale,. "&c 8 13 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F F SYO O

Buchananl s describmoutit t entranca r h o , eit e intForte oth t Craha - mond; "ad Amundge amnis ostia tribus passuum millibu b Edina s - burgo."2 A far older and far more valuable authority than either Boece ;or Buchanan, namely Scottiscollectoe e th th ,lis e f Pictisd th o t f han ro h kings extracted by Sir Eobert Sibbald from the now lost register of the Prior t Andrews,S f yo 3 seems als placo t odeate th e Kinf ho g Constan- tine at the mouth of the Almond, if we interpret aright the entry in it of "interfectu Eathveramosnn si meanins a " g "Bath Inver Amoan,"— rate r earth-fortresth ho moute Amcen.e th th t f a sho * Even, however, were it allowed that the battle in which Constantine perishe foughs dwa t upo e Almondt upon th no e e Avon nth th d n an ,o , streaformee th f mo r Lothiane namth n ei no d Perthshiren i tsan e th t a , e source riverth th t f a e, o t thermoutno d e han still , after all, remains no evidence whatever that the Cat-s-tane'was raised in commemoration e Scottis th fale f oth o lf h king; whilst ther s abundani e t evidenco t e the contrary. The very word "Inver," in the last of the designations

1 Buchanan "s Beruhi n i , m Scoticoruin Uistoria," give localite th s Al "d s a y -a monis aianis ostium." (Lib. vi. c. 81.) 2 Scotorum Historic, p. 235 of Paris edition of 1574. Bellenden and Stewart, in their translation Boece'f so s History, both plac fighe eth t " a t Crawmond. " This document, entitled " Nomina Eegum Scottoru t mPictorium,e pubd an "- 3 lished by Father Innes in his " Critical Essay," p. 797, &c., is described by that esteeme cautioud dan s autho documena s ra vere tth registratioe y facth f o t whicf no h amon e recordth g charter d e ancienan s th f so t churc t AndrewS f ho sa ful "s li proof of its being held authentick at the time it was written, that is about A.D. 1251." (P. 607.) * The orthography of the copy of this Chronicle, as given by Innes, is very in- accurate, and the omission of the two initial letters of " z'rever," not very extra- ordinar e worth dn yi Rathveramosn . Apparentl e samyth e word Kathinveramon occurs previousl same th en yi Chronicle, when Donald MacAlpin secone ,th d kinf go the combined Picts and Scots, is entered as having died " in Eaith in Veramont" (p. .Chronicle801)d anotheol n I e . th f o r s publishe Innesy db , this kin s saigi o dt have died in his palace at " Belachoir" (p. 783). If, as some historians believe, the Lothians were not annexed to Scotland before his death in A.D. 859, by Kenneth the brother of Donald, and did not become a part of the Scottish kingdom till the time of Indulf (about A.D. 954), or even later, then it is probable that the site of King Donald's death in A.D. 863, at Eathinveramon, was on the Almond in Perth- shire territories,n withiow s nhi . ANTIQUARIE9 13 SCOTLANDF SO .

which I have adduced, is strongly against this idea. For the term " Inver," when applied to a locality on a stream, almost invariahly means the mouth of it,1 and not a site on its course—such as the Cat- stane occupies—three miles ahov s confluenceeit thers i pro y r ean - No . bability that an inscribed monument would be raised in honour of a king who, like Oonstantine, fell in a civil war,—who was the last of his own branch of the royal house that reigned,—and was distinguished, as anciene th t chronicler contemptuoue th y sb tel, lus s appellatio Calvus.f no Ther s greai e t reason, indeed believo t , eCat-stan e tha ideth e f th ta o e being connected with the fall of Constantine is comparatively modern in its origin. Oral tradition sometimes creates written history; but, on othee th r hand, written history sometimes creates oral tradition. And in the present instance a knowledge of the statements of our ancient historian l probabilital n i s y gave ris o suct e h attemptr s M thaa sf o t Willde—to find, namely, a direct record of Constantine in the Cat-stane inscription. But when we compare the inscription itself, as read a cen- tury and a half ago by Lhywd and Sibbald, and as capable of being still presene reath t da t day, wit gives editioe a hth Lort y i n b f ndo Buchan, it is impossible not to conclude that the idea of connecting the legend with the name of Constantine is totally without foundation. For, besides minor errors in punctuation and letterings, such as the total omission Lorn i d Buchan' sinscriptioe copth f yo three th f eno lastf o letter O sVL " TVMVLO," the changing of VETTA to VIC, &c., we have the two terminal letters of JACIT, viz. the IT, changed into the seven-lettered word CONSTAN, apparently wit suppore o objechth n theort a f bu to t y e persoth ao st n commemorate legene th n di d arimonolithe dth . Most

onlm a y 1ver I e awar yon f markeeo d exceptio thio nt s general law. Malcolm Canmore is known to have been killed near Alnwick, when attacking its castle. Alnwick is situated on the Alne, about five or six miles above the village of Alu- mouth e ancienth , t Twyford e Aln e th mounf Bede o th en o n , o ,t near whict S h Cuthbert was installed as a bishop. But in the ancient Chronicle from the Eegister Andrewst oS f , King Malcol menteres i d (see Innes . 803p , s ")a interfectu Inn si - ueraldan. erroe mors Th rha " e likely originate a wan n f di propeo t r local know- e chronicle th e par ledgth f o tn o e r tha Celtie nth f unusuao ics no wore us da l "inver;" for, according to all analogies, while the term is applicable to Alumouth, it is not at all applicable to Aluwick. 140 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

assuredl vere th y y t ther slightesno s ei lettere ty sur tracth an ^ n f so eo face of the stone where the chief part of the word CONSTAN is repre- sente s existing—viz.a d , after JACIT t woulI . e difficultdb , perhaps, to adduce a case of more flagrant incorrectness in copying an inscrip- tion than Mr "Wilkie's and Lord Buchan's reading of the Cat-stane legend affords. Mr Gough, in his edition of " Camden's Britannia" (17.84), only aggravates this misrepresentation whilsr Fo .incorrectl e th y states that the inscription is " not now legible," he carelessly changes Mr Wilkie's allege dleadine copth f yo g word from OONSTA CONNo t - STANTIE suppressed an , s altogethe wore th r d YIC.

GETUS, GWETH r GETo , H ?—I have already cite Lhwyd'r dM s conjecture that the Cat-stane is " the tomb of some Pictish King," and the opinion r HicksM d expresse ,an Latie tha th m tn hi i takinVETTy V db e gth A inscriptioe oth f equaPictiss e n e a nam e th th th o f lt , eo h letterGw r o sG Pictish king commemorate e ston Getuss th y ewa d b , whic"f o h name," observe Lhwydr M s , " I find three Pictish analogou e kings.th n I " s accoun e "r Hick tth Philosophica M sen o y t sb t l Transactions" along wit Lhwyd'r hM s sketcCat-stanee th f ho state s i t i , d thaperson'e th t s nam n "thio e s Pictish monument s Gwetwa "r Getho h f whic"o , h name," it is added,." were divers kings of the Picts, whence the vulgar name of Ket-stone." s unnecessari t I stoo d commenyt e an punsoundnes th n o t f thiso s reasoning, and the improbability—both as to the initial and terminal letters—o surname th f e VETT --thiAn i s Latin inscription being similar e Pictisth o t h surname Get r GETUSho s Lhywa , d himself gived an s writes it in its Latin form. Among the lists of the Pictish kings, whilst we have several names beginning with G, we have some also commencing in the Latinized forms of the Chronicles with V, as Vist, Vere, Vipoignamet, (fee. muca t hBu more important objection exists agains e conjecturth t f eo Mr Lhwyd, in the fact that his memory had altogether misled him as to there having been " three" Pictish namkinge th f "f eo so Getus, r "o " diver sname e Picte kingth th f f Getf so e o s o Gweth,r th ho e us o "t words employe "e Philosophicath n di l Transactions." Lists, mor lesr eo s complete Pictise th f o ,h kings have been found in ANTIQUAKIES OF SCOTLAND. 141 Historiee th Forduf so Wintond npageScalacronican e e th th f n so i , d aan Chronicle Tighernachf so Irise th hn i , cop f Nenniusyo extracte th n i , s published by Sir Eobert Sibbald and Father Innes from the lost Eegister Ohronicud ol e t Andrewsoth S f n i m d Beguan , m Pictorum, supposeo t d be written about A.D. 1020, and preserved in the Colbertine Library. Non thesf eo e lists includ Pictisea h e namkinth G-etusf f geo o , Great, 01 G-weth. Some of the authorities—as the Eegister of St Andrews, Fordun, and Winton—enter as the second king of the Picts Ghede or G-ede, the Grilgidi of the " Chronicum Eegum Pictorum;" and this latter chronicle contains in its more mythical and earlier part the appel- lations Got, G-edeol, Guidid d Brude-G-uithan , t non bu f ;thes o e e sur- names sufficiently correspond Lhwyd'r eitheM o t r s statemene th o t r o t requirements of the inscription. But whilst thus setting aside the conjectures as to the Cat-stane com- memoratin e nam a Scottisgth f eo h King Constantine a Pictis f o r ho , King Geth, I would further remark that the surname in the inscription, namely—VETTA MLTOS VICTI—is one which, appears to me to be capable of anothe a mor d ean r probable solution. With this procees vieu t wle d then to inquire who was

f VIGTUo VBiTAn so S? e th j And. first, I would beg to remark, that the word Vetta is still too dis- tinct upon the Cat-stane to allow of any doubt as to the mere name of the person commemorate inscriptioe th n di n upo. nit Secondly, The name of Vetta, or, to spell the word in its more common Saxon forms, Wett r Wittaao Teutonia s i , c surname speao T .k more definitely t pertaini , clase th f surname so o s t s which characterized these so-called Saxo r Anglo-Saxono n invader islandr ou d allief so an , d G-er- manic tribes who overran Britain upon the decline of the Eoman do- minion amongst us. Bede speaks wels i s l,a known originar ou f ,o l Teutonic conquerore th n si fifth centur comins ya g from three powerful tribe f Germanyso ; namely, the Saxons, Angles Jutesd an , . " Advenenerunt aute tribue md s Ger- manias populis fortioribus estd i , , Saxonibus, Anglis, Jutis" (lib20).. c . i . ' 1 Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglomm. (Stevenson's Edit 35.. .p ) 142 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY' OF

UboEmmius,iu his Historyof the Frisians, maintains that "more colonies from Friesland than Saxony, settled in Briton, whether under the names of Jutes, or of Angles, or later of the Saxons."1 Procopius who lived nearly two centuries before Bede, and had access to good means of information from being the secretary of the .Emperor Belisarius, states that at the time of his writing (about A.D. 548) three numerous nations possessed Britain, the Angles and Frisians (AyyeXot re /cat <£pisurnames are repetitions of the most ancient Anglo-Saxon surnames in our island, and, among others, still include tha f Vetto t Wittr ao a; thu s showin s Teutoniit g c originn I . discussin e greagth t analogies between ancient Anglo-Saxo moderd nan n Friesic r BosworthD , learnee th , d Professo Anglo-Saxof o r n Literaturt ea Oxford, incidentally remarks, " I cannot omit to mention, that the leaders

1 De Bello Gothico, lib. iv. c. 20. See other authorities in Turner's Anglo-Saxons, . 182p vol . i .. 2 Emmii Berum Friescarum Historia, p. 41. 3 History of England, vol. i.—Anglo-Saxon Period, pp. 33, 34. Ethnologe *Th Britise th f yo h Islands Latha. r 240p D t , A 259. mp , . states, "A native tradition makes Hengist a Frisian." Dr Bosworth cites (see his Origin of the Englis . Languagh&c d Nation ) Maerlanean 52 s Chronicl. p hi , n i t s doubtfua e l whethe calo rt l Hengis Frisiaa t Saxona r no . ANTIQUARIE3 14 SCOTLANDF SO .

Anglo-Saxone oth f Friesianse sth beay b re name,us n i sw whicno e har though by time a little altered or abbreviated. They have Horste, Hengst, WITTE, "Wiggele, &c., for the Anglo-Saxon Horsa, Hengist, WITTA, Wightgil, &c." i t commoWitta t Bu r Vettno a o s n awa nam e amon morr gou e leading Anglo-Saxon forefathers. Amon e mangth y historical surnames occur- rin ancienn gi t Saxon annal Englisd san h chronicles name th , Vettaf eo , as far as I know, only occurs twice or thrice. I. It is to be found in the ancient Saxon poem of " The Scop," or " Traveller's Tale," where, amon lisg a numerouf o t s king warriorsd san , Vetta or Witta is mentioned as having ruled the Swaefs— " Witta weold Swsefum." 2 Swaefe Th Suevr so i were originally knoe w ws a , from classical writers, a German tribe r confederaco , f tribeso y , located eastwar e olth d f o d Angles; and Ptolemy indeed includes these Angles as a branch of the Suevi t possiblBu . e Swaefth y s rule Wittany b d d mentionean , n i d Scopprecedine e "th Th n "i n othergi lind esan (se 123)ed linean ,9 s8 wer colonea y from this tribe settle Englandn di . anciene th lis e f o th t t n Anglo-SaxoI . II n Bishop Lichfieldf so , given by Florenc Worcesterf eo e namth , e "Huita" occure s tentth a s n o h

hie s1 Se " OrigiEnglishe th f no , German Scandinaviad an , n Languages,. 54 . "p Some modern authorities have though t philosophicai t whole objeco t l th o et t story of Hengis e allegeHorsad th an t n o ,d ground that these name e "equinear s n "i their original meaning—" henges d " hors"an " signifying stallioe horsd th nan n e i old Saxon tongueprinciplee th f I . historif so c criticis nd om ha stronge r reasonr sfo clearing the story of the first Saxon settlement in Kent of its romantic and apocryphal superfluities, this argument would serv badlys e u somr Fo . e future American historian might similaa n o , r hypercritical ground, argue agains probabilite th t Columbusf yo , a Genoese, having discovered America, and carried thither (to use the language of his son Ferdinand) " the olive branch and oil of baptism across the ocean,"—of Drak Hawkind ean s having Queen i , n Elizabeth's time, explore Wese th d t Indies, and sailed round the southernmost point of America,—of General Wolfe having taken Quebec,—or Lord Lyons being English ambassador to the United States in the eventful year 1860, on the ground that Colombo is actually the name of a dove in Italian, Drake and Hawkins only the appellations, of birds, and Wolfe and Lyons the English names for two wild beasts. Thorpe'e Se s editio Beowulf no othed an f r Anglo-Saxon Poems . 219p , , lin. e45 2 144 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

roll.* Unde yeae rth r 737, Simeo f Durhao n m enter e consecratiosth n of this bishop, spellin nams ghi Hweiccs ea Hweitta.d an aa not n eI 2 appende Florence'o dt s Chronicle, unde e yeath r r 775deats - hi re , s hi nams cordedhi d e givean , Witta.s na 3 III. The name Vetta occupies a constant and conspicuous place in the lineage of Hengist and Horsa, as given byBede, Nennius, the Saxon Chronicle, &c. In the list of their pedigree, Vetta or Witta is always represented as the grandfather of the Teutonic brothers.

The inscription on the Cat-stane further affords, however, a most important additional element r criterioo r ascertaininfo n e parth g - ticular Vetta in memory of whom it was raised; for it records the name of his father, namely, Victus or Victa. And in relation to the present inquiry s aliki t i , e interestin importand gan findo t t e , thath n i t genealogy ancienr giveou y nb t chronicle predecessore th f so Hengisf so t and Horsa, whilst Vett recordes ai theis da r grandfather, Vict Wectr ao a is, with equal constancy, represented as their great-grandfather. The old lapidary writing on the Cat-stane describes the Vetta for whom that monument was raised as the son of Vecta ; and the old parchment and paper writing r searlies oou f t chroniclers invariably describ e samth e e relationship betwee e Vett e th nforefatherVictd th a an f ao f Hengiso s t and Horsa. Thus Bede, when describing the invasion of England by Germae th n e timtribe Vortigernth f o en si , states that their " leaders were two brothers, Hengist and Horsa, who were the sons of Victgils,. whose fathe Vittas rwa , whose fathe Vectas rwa , whose fathe Wodens rwa , from whose stock the royal race of many provinces deduces its origin," " Erant autem filii Victgilsi, cujus pater Vitta, cujus pater Vecta cujus pater Voden, de cujus stirpe multarum provinciarum regum genus ori- ginem duxit."4 In accordance with a common peculiarity in his ortho- graph prop'ef yo r names owind an , g also, perhaps charactee th e o ,t th f o r

1 Mouumenta Historica, p. 623. 2 Ik, p. 659. 3 Ib., p. 544. 4 Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, lib. i. cap. 15, p. 34 of Mr Stevenson's edition n somI . e edition f Bede'o s sr Giles HistorD n i ' s Translationy(a - ex r fo , ample), the name of Vitta is carelessly omitted, as a word apparently of no moment. Such a discussion as the present shows how wrong it is to tamper with the texts of such old authors. ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 145

Northumbrian dialect of the Anglo-Saxon tongue, Bede spells the pre- ceding and other similar surnames with an initial V, while by most other Anglo-Saxon chroniclers mosn i d t an ,othe r Anglo-Saxon dialects, e surnameth e madar s o commenct e e wit hWa . Thus e Vilfridth , , Valchstod, Venta, &c., of Bede,1 form the Wilfrid, Walchstod, Wenta (Winchester) othef o . r &c ,Saxo n writers thin I .s respect Bede adheres so far to the classic Eoman standard in the spelling of proper names. Thus r examplefo , e Isl Wightf th , o e , whic writtes hwa Wects a n y b a e Saxons th Vecte th Vectid s i ,aan f Ptolemso Eutropiusd yan e th d an , Vecta alsname Bedef th oo d e Ventaan ; , referrejusw spelles no a t o dt d so by Bede, is also the old Eoman form of spelling that word, as seen in the Itinerary of Antonine. The Saxon Chronicle gives the details of the first advent of the Saxons under Hengist and Horsa in so nearly the same words as the " Historia Ecclesiastica," as to leave no doubt that this, like many other passages in the earlier parts of the Saxon Chronicle, were mere transla- tions of the statements of Bede. But most copies of the Saxon Chronicle were writte dialece Wese th th n f i to t Saxons, and, consequently, under A.D. 449, they commenc e surnameeth pedigree Saxor th n ou si - f nin eo vaders with a W,—as Wightgils, Witta, Wecta, &c.; telling us that Hengist and Horsa, " waeron Wihtgilses suna, Wihtgils waes Witting, Witta Wecting, Wecta Wodning,. "&c Aethelweard, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman, who himself claimed to be a descendan royae th f lo t stoc Wodenf ko a Lati s lefs u ,ha nt historr yo Chronicle, " nearly the whole of which is an abridged translation of the Saxon Chronicle, with a few trivial alterations and additions."2 In re- translating back into Latin e Anglo-Saxoth , n namegenealoge th n si f yo Hengist and Horsa, he makes the Wecta of the Saxon Chronicle end wit E,—n ha a matter principall f interesyo t because have w es a ,alread y seen, some have suppose e correspondindth g e Cat-stannamth n i e o t e terminat e witE. Speakin han Hengisof g t as Angles,leadethe of r 3 Aethelweard describes his pedigree thus : " Cujus pater fuit Wihtgels these 1Se e name f Stevenson'o pag n i 4 s e41 s editioe " th Histori f no a Ecclesi- astica." 2 Monumenta Historica Brit., preface, p. 82. 3 Ethelwerdi Chromcorum, lib. ii. c. 2, in " Monumenta Historica," p. 505. K VOL . PARIV . . TI 146 PROCEEDINGS OP THE SOCIETY OF

avus Wicta; proavus WITHER, atavus Wothen," &c. In'a previous page,1 the same author tells us that " Hengest et Horsa filii Uuyrlitelsi, avus eorum Uuicta, et proavus eorum Uuithar, atavus eorum Uuothen, qui est. rex multitudinis barharorum." In the preceding paragraphs we find the same authors, or at least the scribe copieo swh d their writings, spellin same gth e name vern si y diverse waysl kno verw Al wy.ho various sometimed ,an s almost endlesse th s ,i orthography of proper nouns and names among our ancient chroniclers, and among our mediaeval writers and clerks also. Thus Lord Lindsay,- in his admirable " Lives of the Lindsays," gives examples of above a hundred different way familn founwhics n sow i ha ys e dnamhi h h e spelled. In the " Historia Britonum," usually attributed to Nennius, the pedi- gree of the Saxon invaders of Kent is given at greater length than by traces i t i Bedr d fo bac e; k fou fivr o r e generations beyond Wodeno t p 2u Geat, and the spelling of the four races from Woden to Hengist and Horsa varies i d accordin Celtie th o gt c standar orthographyf do cites ,a d already from Edward Lhwyd,—namely, the Latin and Saxon initials V and W are change same Cymrie th th en o dt I Britisr way cIslo e . th ,e hGU Gr o , of Wight, "Vecta r "o " Wecta, s spellei " Nenniun i d s "Guithd "an " Guied;" Venta (Winchester) writtes i n Guincestra; Yortigernus, Guor- thigernus; Wuffa, king of the East Angles, Guffa; &c., &c. In only one, as far as I am aware, of the old manuscript copies of the " Historia Britonum, e pedigreth s i "f Hengis o e Horsd y an tb a s i spelle t i s a d Bed e Saxoeth anl nal d writers s Wictgilsa , , wit W initian a hr o , V l Witta, Wecta, and Woden. This copy belongs to. the Eoyal Library in Paris, and the orthography alone sufficiently determines it to have been made by an Anglo-Saxon scribe or editor. Of some twenty-five or thirty other known manuscript f tho se same work ,t allmostno , f i , spel ancestore lth Hengisf so t wit initiae hth l Keltic GU,—as " Guictgils, Guitta, Guechta,"—one among other arguments for the belief that the original and most ancient part of this composite " Historia" was penned,

1 Ethelwerdi Chronic. "f o Monument, 2 lib.60 . i.p , a Historioa." historicae Th l personag leaded ean r "Wode representes i n l thesal n ei d genea- 2 logies as having lived four generations, or from 100 to 150 years, earlier than the age of Hengist and Horsa. ANTIQUARIE7 14 SCOTLANDF SO .

if not, as asserted in many of the copies, by Gildas, a Strathclyde Briton, at least by a British or Cymric hand. The account given in the work of the arrival of the Saxons is as follows :—" Interea venerunt tres ciulae a Germania expulsse in exilio, in quibus erant Hors et Hengist, qui et ipsi fratres erant, filii Guictgils, filii Guitta, filii Guechta, filii Vuoden, filii Frealaf, filii Fredulf, filii Finn, filii Folcwald, filii Geta, i fuitqu , aiunt filius Dei. Non ips Deue ees s Deorum Amen, Deus exer- citum, sed unus est ab idolis eorum quaa ipsi colebant."1 In this pedi- ancestore greth f eo f Hengiso s Horsad an s deservinti t i , remarkf go , that Woden, from who e varioumth s Anglo-Saxon king f Englando s , and other e north-weskingth f o s f Europo t e generally claimed their royal descent, is entered as a historical personage, living (according usuae th o lt reckoning applie o genealogies)dt abou e beginninth t f go the third century, and who could count his descent back to Geat; while the Irish and other authorities affect to trace his pedigree for some gene- rations even beyond this last-named ancestor.2 According to Mallet, the true name of this great conqueror and ruler of the north-western tribe Europf so "s JridulpSigge f assumee o wa h n t so , bu hd; the name

1 See p. 24 of Mr Stevenson's edition of " Nennii Historia Britonum," printed for the English Historical SocietyGaelie th n I c . translatio "e Historith f no a Bri- tonum," known as the "Irish Nennius," the name Wetta or Guitta is spelled in various copie s "Guigtesa d " Guite.an " lase tTh for" m irresistibly suggeste th s Urbs Guid Bedef o i , situate Firte th Forth f hn do i . Mighhave h t e thutno s written Keltie th r Pictiso c hname cita forth strongholr f yf o emo o d founde Vitty db r ao Vecta doed an ;s thi se factaffor th cluy ,o an t edtha t the waterForte th e f har so spoken of as the Sea of Guidi by Angus the Culdee, and as the Mare Fresicum by Nennius, while its shores are the Frisicum Litus of Joceline? In the text I have note transformatioe dth analogoue th f no s Latin nam eIsle oWightf fth e o , " Vecta," into " Guith," by Nennius. The "urbs Guidi" of Bede is described by him as placed in the middle of the Firth of Forth, " in medio sui." Its most probable site is, as I have elsewhere (see " Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland," . 254pp vol . , ii .255 ) endeavoure showo dt , Inch Keith; and, phonetically tere th ,m " Keith certainl"a i greaa t ytno variation from " Guith " r " Guidi.o pagt A oe"7 f Stevenson's edition of Nennius, the Isle of Wight, the old " Insula Vecta " of the Roman authors is written " Inis Gueith. "—a term too evidently analogous to " Incb Keith requir"o t commenty ean . 2 See Irish Nennius, p. 77 ; " Saxon Chronicle," under year 855, &c. K 2 148 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF of Odin, who was the supreme god among the Teutonic nations, either to pass, among his followers, for a man inspired by the gods, or be- chies causwa f e priesteh presided an , d ovee worshith r p pai o that d t deity."conquerins hi n I 1 g progress toward north-wese sth f Europeo t , he subdued, continues Mallet, " all the people he found in his passage, giving them to one or other of his sons for subjects. Many sovereign familie e norte addse descende th (h b e s sai f ar ho o )t d d from those princes. Hengisd An "Horsd an t a wer mans e thuswa ys a centurie, s ago observed by William of Malmesbury, "the great-great-grandsons of that Woden from whom the royal families of almost all the barbarous nations derive their lineage whoo t Anglee d mth an , s have consecrated weee th kf fourte o (Wodens-day)th y da h e sixtth d h untan , wifs ohi e Frea (Frey-day) sacrilega y b , e which lasts eve thiso nt time."2 Henry of Huntingdon, in his " Historiee Anglorum," gives the pedigree of Hengist and Horsa according to the list which he found in Nennius ; e changeh t bu s bac e spellin e th kSaxo th o ngt form. They weree h , says, " Filii Widgils, filii Wecta, filii Vecta, filii Woden, filii Frealof filii Fredulf, filii Fin, filii Flocwald, filii leta (deta)." Florence of Wor- cester follows the shorter genealogy of Bede, giving in his text the names e ancestoroth f f Hengiso s Horsd an t Wictgils s a , Witta Wectad an , ; e pedigree tabls th e hi kinganf o th en di f Ken f o so s t spelling these same names Wihtgils, Witta, and Wehta.3 givinn I anciene gth t genealog f Hengisyo Horsad an tthu e w , s find our old chroniclers speaking of their grandfather under the various ortho- graphic form f G-uittao s , Uuicta, Witta, Vitta theid an ; r great-grand- fathe Guechtas a r , Uuethar, Wither, Wechta, Wectae Vectad th ,an n I . Cat-stane inscription the last—Vecta orVicta—is placed in the genitive, and construed as a noun of the second declension, whilst Vetta retains, as a nominative, its original Saxon form. The older chroniclers fre- quently alter the Saxon surnames in this way. Thus, Horsa is some- times made, like Victa, a noun of the second declension, in conjunction Hengistf o e witus e ,h th Vortimer , &c. unalteres ,a d nominatives. Thus,

1 Northern Antiquities, Bohn's edition. Sigg71 . s generallp ei , ye helth s da name of one of the sona of Woden. 2 Gest . 5llI § , .. .I 3 Monumenta Historioa Britannica . 707p , . ANTIQUARIE9 14 SCOTLANDF SO . Nennius tells us,1" Guortemor cum Hengist et Horso .... pugnabat." (Cap. xlvi.) Accordin Henro gt Huntingdonf yo , " Gortimer ...x .e obliquo aciem Horsi desrupit," &c. (Lib. ii.) double distinctivTh d ean e nam "f eo Vett a films Victa," occurrings a , it thus does, in the lineage of Hengist and Horsa, as given both (1) in our oldest written chronicles and (2) in the old inscription carved upon the Cat-stane itseln i s a stroni f, g argumen e belieth r f fo t thae samth t e personag indicates ei thesn d i distinc o etw t varietie f ancienso t lettered documents. This inference, however, becomes still stronger whee nw consider the rarity of the appellation Vetta, and the great improbability of there having ever existed two historic individuals of this name both of Victastheo t stillsone tw m Bu th f t musi so ,. confessede b t , various arguments naturally spring up in the mind against the idea that in the Cat-stan have ew memoriaea grandfathee th f o l Hengisf o r Horsad an t . loos u t somt ka Le thesf eo e reasons consided ,an r their forc bearingd ean . Some Objections considered. Perhaps, as one of the first objections, I should notice the doubts which some writers have expresse o suct s ha d leader s Hengisa s Horsd an t a having ever existed, and as to the correctness, therefore, of that genea- logy of the Saxon kings of Kent in which Hengist and Horsa are in- cluded.2 mosto tw e ancienTh t list f thao s t lineage exist wels i s la , knownn i , "Historie th a Britonum f G-ildao " e " r Nennius Historith o s n i d aan , Ecclesiastica" of Bede. formee Th f theso r e genealogical lists differs fro lattee mth beinn ri g much longercarryinn i d an e pedigre, gth e several generations beyond e greath t Teutonic leader Woden, backward s easterhi o t sn forefather, 1 See his " Chronicon ex Ohronicis," in the " Monumenta Historica," pp. 523 and 627. 2 See preceding note (*), p. 143. In answer to the vague objection that the alleged leaders werbrotherso etw r ThorpM , e observes thae circumstancth t f o e two brothers being joint-kings or leaders, bearing, like Hengist and Horsa, alliterative names fa,is r from instance as unhearannal nortthe the and addsin h s; of s(he dof ) may be cited, Ragnar, Inver, Ulba, and two kings in Eumedal—viz., Haerlang and Hrollang.—See his Translation of Lappenberg's " History of the Anglo-Saxons," vol. i. pp. 78 and 275. 150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

Geat, whom Mr Kemble and others hold to have been probably the hero Wo.den, whose semi-divine memor e northerth y n tribes worshipped. Both genealogical lists agree in all their main particulars back to Woden r —ancorroboratfa o s d e accuraceth f eacyo h other Whenc. . e orieth - ginal autho"e BListorith f ro a Britonum" derive unknow s lists a ds hi i , n as the original authorship of the work itself. Some of Bede's sources of informatian are alluded to by himself. Albinus, Abbot of St Augus- tine's, Canterbury, and Nothhelm, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, " appear," observes Mr Stevenson, hav"o t e furnished Bede with chronicles in which he found accurate and full information upon the pedigrees, acces- sions, marriages, exploits, descendants, deaths buriald kinge an , th f f so so Kent."1 That the genealogical list itself is comparatively accurate, there t wanting.stronno e ar g reason believingr sfo kingdifferene e th Th f so . t seve r eighno t small Anglo-Saxon kingdom Englanf so d all claimed—as the very condition and charter of their regality—ra direct, descent from Woden throug severas other hi o kinf e a o re hon lgb sons o amonT .r gou Anglo-Saxon forefathers, it was necessary, and indeed indispensable, both descendana e b o t able b Woden f provo o ett o t d e tbian , s descente Th . chronicle f moso s t ancient people e Jewsth s a , Irish, Scots, &c., show us how carefully the pedigree of their' royal and noble families was anciently kept and retained. And surely there is no great wonder in the Saxon kings of Kent keeping up faithfully a knowledge of their pedigree,—say from Bede's time backwards througn e te nin th hr o e generations up to Hengist, or the additional four generations up to Woden wondee Th . r would perhaps have been much greate f thei r y had omitted to keep up a knowledge, by tradition, poems, or chronicles, oa pedigref e upon whic e otherh th they d , e Saxokingan , th f so n hep- tarchy, reste founded—ad dan s descendant Woden—theif so r whole title to royalty, and their claim and charter to their respective thrones.2

1 See Mr Stevenson's Introduction, p. xxv., to .the Historical Society's edition of Bede's "Historia Ecclesiastica;e th alsd r o Harde t Preface an o"M , th 71 n yi . p , " Monumenta Historica Britannica." The great importance attached to genealogical descent lasted much longer than 2 the Saxon era itself. Thus the author of the latest Life (1860) of Edward I., when speaking of the birth of that monarch at London in 1239, observes (p. 8), " The kind of feeling which was excited by the birth of an English prince in the English ANTIQUAKIES OF SCOTLAND. 151

Bu a stronget r objection agains e Cat-stan e ideth f th to a e beinga monument to the grandfather of Hengist and Horsa rises up in the ques- tion,—Is there any proof or probability that an ancestor of Hengist and Horsa fough fel d thin i lan t s norther nislande parth generationf o o t ,tw s befor e arrivaeth thesf o l e brother Kenn si t? generallw no s i y t I allower besou t y historiansdb , that before th e arrival of Hengist and Horsa in Kent, Britain was well known at least to the Saxons and Frisians, and other allied Teutonic tribes. Perhaps from a very early period the shores and comparative riches of our island were known to the Teutons or Germans inhabiting the opposite Continental coast. "t seemI s hardly conceivable," observe Kembler sM , " that Frisian occupieo swh coase f dmoderth (o t n Holland earls a ) s ya time th f Cfflsareo , shoul t havdno e foun dBritain."o t theiy e rwa W 1 know from an incident referred to by Tacitus, in his Life of Agricola, l eventsthatal t passage a , e oppositth , th n ei e direction from Britaio nt north-wese th t shoreContinente th f so accidentalls wa , y revealed—if not, indeed, known long before—durin firse gth t Eomayeare th f so n conquest of Scotland r TacituFo . s tell , tha us A.Dsn a cohori t 3 .8 Usipianf o t s

e king'metropolisth y sb evidend an , t desir o connect e e younth t e g th hei o t r throne wit s Saxohi h n ancestors e s Worcesteshowi ,th n i n r Chronicl f thao e t date. The fact is thus significantly described :— calende th f o Julyf so 14te y th da h, n Eleanor"O , Quee Englandf no , gave birth r eldest oEdwarhe n so t dwhos; e fathe Henrs wa r ywhos; e fathe Johns wa r ; whose father was Henry; whose mother was Matilda the Empress; whose mother was Matilda, Queen of England; whose mother was Margaret, Queen of Scotland; whose fathe s Edwardwa r ; whose f fatheo s Edmunn wa so r e dth s Ironsidewa o wh ; Ethelred ; who was the son of Edgar ; who was the son of Edmund; who was the f Alfred.o n so "e th so (Ths Edwarf no wa e o eldee Greatesd th wh Plane r; th f -o t ) 9. tagenetsd an 8 . pp , Here we have eleven genealogical ascents appealed to from Edward to Alfred. The thirteen or fourteen ascents again from Alfred to Oerdic, the first Anglo-Saxon king of Wesaex, are as fixed and determined as the eleven from Alfred to Edward. See them quoted by Florence, Asser, &c.) But the power of reckoning the lineage of Cerdic up through the intervening nine alleged ascents to "Woden, was indis- pensable to form and to maintain Cerdic's claim to royalty, and was probably pre- served with as great, if not greater care, when written records were so defective and wanting. 1 The Saxons in England, vol. i p. 11. 2 15 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F F SO YO

f aised in Germany, and belonging to Agricola's army, having seized some Koman vessels, sailed acros Germae sth n Ocean werd ,an e seize piratess da , Suevie th afterwardfirs d y an b ,t Frisiane th y b s s (Vita Agricolai, xlv, 2 . and xlvi. 2). In Agricola's Scottish army there were other Teutonic or German conscripts. According to Tacitus, at the battle of the Mons Gram- pius three cohort f Batavianso cohorto tw d f Tungriano ssan s specially distinguished themselve Caledoniadefeae e th th f n si o t n army. Various inscription thesy sb e Tungrian cohorts havt Cramonda p e u bee g d ndu ,an t stationa Eomaso alontw e ngth walls t Castlecara s a , Housesteadsd yan . At Manchester, a cohort of Frisians seems to have been located during nearly the whole era of the Koman dominion.1 Another cohort of Frisian auxiliaries seems, accordin Horsleygo t havo t , e been statione Bowest da s in Richmondshire.2 Teutonic officers were occasionally attached to other Koman corps than those of their own countrymen. A Frisian citizen, for example, was in the list of officers of the Thracian cavalry at Cirencester.3 The celebrated Carausius, himself a Menapian, and hence probabl f Teutonio y c origin, was, befor - e assumeh eem e th d perorship of Britain, appointed by the Roman authorities admiral of e fleeth t which thed collecteha y r thefo d . purpos f repressino e e th g incursions of the Franks, Saxons, and other piratical tribes, who at that date (A.D. 287) ravaged the shores of Britain and Gaul.4 famoue th n I s Koman document termed " Notitia utriusque Imperil," the fact that there were Saxon settlers in England before the arrival of Hengist and Horsa seems settled, by the appointment of a " Comes Littoris Saxonici in Britannica."5 The date of this official and imperial Koman document is fixed by Gibbon between A.D. 395 and 407. About forty years earlier we have—what is more to our present purpose—a notic Ammianuy eb s Marcellinu Saxonf so s being leagued wit Picte hth s

1 See the inscription, &c., in Whittaker's " Manchester," vol. i. p. 160. .thesn O 2 e Frisian cohorts consequentld an , y also Frisian colonist Englandn i s , see the learned " Memoir on the Boman Garrison at Manchester," hy my friend Dr Black. (Manchester, 1849.) 3 Buckma Newmarch'd nan s wor "n Ancienko t Corinium, . 114"p . 4 Palgrave's " Anglo-Saxons," p. 24. 5 For fuller evidence on this point, see the remarks hy Mr Kemhle in his " Saxons in England," vol. i. p. 13, &c. ANTIQUABIE3 15 SCOTLANDF SO . and Scots, and invading the territories south of the Forth, which were e Romanth hel y theid b d an s r conquered allie d dependents—than s e Britons. understano T d properl e remarkyth Ammianusf so s necessari t i , o yt remembe greao rtw tha t e divisionath t l military walls whic Eomane hth s erecte Britainn di , stretched wels i s la , known, entirely acros islane sth d —the most northerly froe seconClydeForte e th m th th d d o dhan t an , stronger fro Solwaye Tyne mth largth e o et Th e. trac countrf o t y lying between thes o militartw e y walls formed from tim o timt e a regioe n possessioe th f whicno h seem havo st e been debated betwee Eomane nth s anmore dth e northerly tribes Romane th ; s generally holdin countre gth y up to the northern wall or beyond it, and occasionally being apparently content with the southern wall as the boundary of their empire. About the year A.D. 369, the Roman general Theodosius, the father of future th e empero same th f ero name, having collecte disciplineda d army in the south, marched northward from London, and after a time con- quered, or rather reconquered, the debateable region between the two walls ; erected it into a fifth British province, which he named " Valen- tia," in honour of Valens, the reigning emperor; and garrisoned and fortifie bordere th d s (limites que vigiliis tuebatu t praetenturis).e r e Th

notices whic excellene th h t contemporary historian, Ammianu1 s Marcel- linus, has left us of the state of this part of Britain during the ten years of active r rebellioprecedinwa d an n g this erectio e provincth f o n f o e • Valenti certainle aar y ver yt ver briefye yt interestingbu , . Unde yeae rth r 360 statee h , s that "n BritainI stipulatee th , d peace being brokene th , incursion Scote Pictsth d f san so , fierce nations, laid wast grounde th e s lying next to the boundaries ("loca limitibus vicina vastarent"). " These grounds were," says Pinkerton, " surel yfuture thosth f eo e provincf eo Valentia."2 Four years subsequently, or in 364, Ammianus again alludes

1 Ammiani Marcellini Historic, lib poee .Th t xxviii.Claudian . 1 . c , perhaps wit fule hth l libert poeta f yo , sing f Theodosiusso ' force thin r havini s swa g pursued e Saxon vere th th yo st Orkney s :— • maduerunt Saxone fuso Orcades. 2 Inquiry int Histore oth Scotlandf yo , . 116alsvole p . oi Se . .Gibbon' s " Decline and Fall," chap. xxv. 154 PROCEEDINGS OF. THE SOCIETY OF

Britone toth s being vexe continuey db d attacks fro e sammth e tribes, namel Picte e describeScotsyd h th t san bu , s thes assistew e no las s da t leaguer o , by d with e Attacotth , witd e Saxons—"an shth Picti, SAXON- ESQUE t Scottie , t Attacottie , , Britannos aerumnis vexavere continuis." Again, under the year 368, he alludes to the Scots and Attacots still ravaging many parts; but now, instead of speaking of them as leagued with the Picts and Saxons, he describes them as combined with the Picts divided nationsinto otw e Dicaledoneth , Vecturioned ean s :— terno "E - pore Pict n duai s gentes divisi, Diacaledons t Vecturionese s , itidemque Attacotti, bellicosa hominum natio t Scotte , diversr pe i a vagantes, multa populabuntur." In both of these two last notices for the years 364 and 368, the in- vader e describear s s consistina d f fougo r different tribese ScotTh .s and Attacots are mentioned under these appellations in both. But whilst, in the notice for 364, the two remaining assailants are spoken of s Picta d Saxonan s s (Picti, Saxonesque)e th 8 e notic36 th r n fo ei , remaining assailant e describear se " Pictsth s da , divide- dDi inte th o caledona Yecturiones.d an s t possibli s I " e thae Saxoth t n allies were now amalgamated with the Picts, and that they assumed the name of Vecturiones after their leader Vett r Vectao a? The l eventsideaal t a , , of naming nations patronymically from their leaders or founders was common in ancient times, though the correctness of some of the in- stances adduced is more than doubtful. Early Greek and Eoman his- tor s fulyi f suc o l h alleged example e Trojanth s a s; s from Trose th ; Acheeans from Achseus ; the .ZEolians from 2Eolus ; the Peloponnesians from Pelop e Dorianth s; s from Dorus e Eomanth ; s from Eomulus, &c. &c.; and so is our own. The Scots from Ireland are, observes Bede, named to this day Dalreudins (Dalriads), from their commander Keuda.1 The Irish called (according to some ancient authorities) the Picts "Gruithne," after their alleged first king, Crudne or Cruthne. In a still more apocryphal spirit, the word Britons was averred by some of the older chroniclers to be derived from a leader, Brito—" Britones Bruto dicti," to use the expression of Nennius (§ 18); Scots from Scota (" Scot Scota,x "worde e e i Chronicoth th f n so "i n Eythmicum"). &c ,

1 Histor. Eccles., lib. i. c. 1, § 8. ANTIQUAKIES OF SCOTLAND. 155 The practice of eponymes was known also, and followed to some extent amon Teutonie gth c trihes, both n regari , o royat d l raced an s whole nations e kingTh Kenf .s o t were know Aescingass na , fromAesc, the son of Hengist;1 those of East Anglia were designated Wuffingas, after Wuffa ("Uffa, a quo reges Orientalium Anglorum Vuffingas appellant. s formsr othehi o n somI 2f e )o r, eon Wode n (observer M s Kemble eponymue )th "s i tribef so races d san . Thus Greats a , througr o , h Geat, he was the founder of the G-eatas ; through Gewis, of the Gewissas; through e ScyldingasScyldth f o , e Norsth , e Skjoldungar; through BrandBrodingase th f o , ; perhaps, through Baetwa Bataviaus."e th f o , 3 t I could therefore scarcel regardee yb vers a d y exceptiona t leasta l f i , Vetta, one of the grandsons of Woden, should have given, in the same way s nam combinea hi , o et d trib f Saxoneo Pictsd an s , over whoe mh had been elected as leader.4 That a Saxon force, like that mentioned by Ammianus as being joined to the Picts and Scots in A.D. 364, was led by an ancestor of Heii- gist and Horsa is quite in accordance with all that is known of Saxon laws and customs. As in some other nations, the leaders and kings were generally, if not always, selected from their royal stock. " Descent" (observe r KembleM s ) " fro me Spartan th Heracle o t s s wa whas- de t scent from Woden was to the Saxons—the condition of royalty."5 All varioue th s Anglo-Saxon royal families that- , durinso e time th gth f eo called Heptarchy, reigne differenn di t part Englanf so d certainly claimed this descent from Woden. Hengist and Horsa probabl e bauth dd yle of their countrymen who invaded Kent, as members of this royal lineage; and a royal pre-relative or ancestor would have a similar claim and Bede's Hist. Eccles., lib. ii. cap. v. (Disc, a quo reges Cantuariorum solent 1 Oisoiugas cognominare.) 2 Ibid., lib. ii. cap. xv. 3 The Saxons in England, vol. i. p. 341. In his account of the kings of the Picts, Mr Pinkerton (Inquiry into History of 4 Scotland, vol. x. p. 293) calculates that the sovereign " Wradech Vechla" of the Chronicon Pictorum reigned about A.D. 380. philologican In ow suppor s hi f o tl views, Mr Pinkerton alters the name of this Pictish king from " Wradech Vechla" to "Wradech Vechta." There is not, however, I believe, any real foundation what- ever for this last reading, interesting as it might be, in our present inquiry, if true. 5 The Saxons in England, vol. i. p. 149. 156 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

chance of acting as chief of that Saxon force which joined the Picts and precedine Scotth n si g century. thue w sf I allowsake th argument f r eo ,fo , tha Victusf o t n Vettaso ,e ,th the grandfather of Hengist and Horsa, is identical with Vetta the son of Victus commemorate e Cat-stanth n di e inscriptione th s thawa d e an ,h t leade f thosro e Saxons mentione Ammianuy db s that were allied wite hth Picts in A.D. 364, we shall find nothing incompatible in that conjecture descene th f o a t upowiter e hth n Ken f Hengisto Horsad tan . Bede, con- fusing apparently the arrival of Hengist and Horsa with the date of the second instea firse th tf do visi Sf o t Germanu Britaino st places ha , t da too late a date the era of their first appearance in Kent, when he fixes it in the year 449. The facts mentioned in the earlier editions or copies of Nenniu verr s havou y d learneele accuratd dan e colleagu r SkeneeM d an , others, to transfer forwards twenty or more years the date at which Hen- gist and Horsa landed on our shores.1 13ut whether Hengist and Horsa arrived in A.D. 449, or, as seems more probable, about A.D. 428, if we sup- pose the meithen i r cas havo t e e been born about A.D. 400 shale ,w l find no incongruity, but the reverse, in the idea that their grandfather Vetta was the leader of a Saxon force thirty-six years previously. Hengist was in all probability past the middle period of life when he came to the Court of Vortigern, as he is generally represented as having then a daughter, Eowena, alread marriageabla f yo e age.

Ocause nth r dateo Vetta'f eo s deat have hw f cours o e historicao en l information positioe monumens th hi t f bu no ; t render t nexsi cera o t -t tainty tha e fel h battltn i l have e; for w es ,a alread y seen Ca.t-stane ,th e stands worde th Lhwydf n so i , , " situat rivea n eo r side, remote enough fro church.y m an burrowe Th "pillad san r stones place miler dfo s along that river prove how frequently it had served as a strategic point and boundar n ancienyi t warfare. e fiel n Th whicdi 2 Cat-stane hth e itself

1 Mr Hardy, in the preface (p. 114, &c.) to the " Monumenta Historioa Britannica," maintains also, at much length, that the advent and reception of the Saxons by Vortiger A.Dn i t 449contests e . no H 428earlie wa n a.a d r an ,s fo r Saxon invasion of Britai A.Dn ni .als e 374oSe .Lappenber s Historhi n gi f Englan yo d undee th r

Anglo-Saxon. Kings63 , 62 . , volpp . i . 2 Two miles higher up the river than the Cat-stane, four large monoliths still ANTIQUAKIE7 15 SCOTLANDF SO .

stand shav e wasw es ,a alread y foun Wilsor dD n stating site ,th e formerly olarga f e tumulus opposite fielda th n n I o , .e Almond e banth f ko y m , frien

vulgae Th r monumente namth f eo Cat-stanee th , , seems I hav s a ,e already hinted, to be a name synonymous with Battle-stane, and hence, also, so far implies the fall of Vetta in open fight. Maitland is the first author, as far as I am aware, who suggests this view of the origin of the word Cat-stane. According to him, " Catstean is a Gaelic and English compound formee th , r part thereof (Cat) signifyin a battleg stead an , n or stan a stone; so it is the battlestane in commemoration probably of battla e being foughr neao t ra t this place, wherein Yet Yictir ao - in , terred here, was slain." J I have already quoted Mr Pennant, as taking same th eorigie vie th characted f wr Georg no an namee M th d f eo an r; Chalmers s " hi Caledonia, n i , " propound same sth e explanatioe th f no word:—" In the parish of Liberton, Edinburghshire, there were (he observes) several large cairns, wherein were found various stone chests, including urns, which contained ashe weaponsd san ; som thesf eo e cairns which still remai callee nar CW-stanee th d Battle-stanes.r o s 2 Single stones in various parts of North Britain are still known under the appro- priate nam Corf-stanesf eo name addse Th .e (h plainls )i y derived froe mth British Cad, or the Scoto-Irish Caih, which signify a battle."3 But the

stand near Newbridge. They are much taller than the Cat-stane, but contain no mark r letterso thein o s r surfaces. Thre f theo e place e mar d aroun da larg e barrow. 1 Histor Edinburghf yo . 609p , . 2 Transaction e Societth f f o Scottisso y h Antiquaries, . 308volp . .i . Maitland s " hi Histor n i Edinburgh,f yo 307. "p , calls these cairn "e Cat-heaps.sth " 3 Caledonia, vol. i. p. 86. The only references, however, which Mr Chalmers givea "singl o t s e stone n Scotland"i , bearin e namth g Cat-stanef o e l relatal , e 8 15 PROCEEDING SSOCIETE OFTH F YO

word unde Welss i fore t th rr mBritish Ca ho wels a ,Gaelics a l . Thus, in the "Annales Cambria," under the year 722, the battle of Pencon is entered as " Cat-Pencon."1 In his edition of the old Welsh poem of the G-ododin, Williams (verse 38) prints the battle of Vannau (Manau) as " Cat-Vannau." The combination of the Celtic word " Cat" with the Saxon word " stane" may appear at first as an objection against the preceding idea of the origin.and signification of the term Cat-stane. But many of our local names sho wa simila r compound origi Celtin ni Saxon d an cn I . e immediatth e neighbourhood r examplefo , Cat-stane,e th f o , e hav2w e instances of a similar Celtic and Saxon amalgamation in the words Gogar-burn, Lenny-bridge, Craigie-hill oldese th f to knowe , &cOn .n

to this monument in Kirkliston parish. The tallest and most striking ancient monolith in the vicinity of Edinburgh is a massive unhewn flat obelisk, stand- g abou in n feete t t e parishighth f Colintonn i o h, . Maitland (Histor f Edinyo - burgh Whytr . 507)M p , d e, an (Trans. of'Scottish Antiquaries, vol308. p . .i ) desig- nate this monument the Caiy-stone. ." Whether this (says Maitland) be a corrup- Gatsteae tioth f no nI kno w .not.tale lTh " monolitneighbourhoo e th n i s hi thf do e cairns called the Cat-stanes or Cat-heaps .(see preceding note). Professor Walker, in an elaborate Statistical Account of the Parish of Golinton, published in 1808, in his " Essays on Natural History," describes the Oat-heaps or cairns as having been each found, when removed, to cover a coffin made of hewn stones. In the coffins were found mouldering human bones and fragments of old arms, including two bronze spear-heads. " Whe turnpike th n e road which passes nea above rth e cairns was formed, for more than a mile the remains of dead bodies were everywhere thrown up." Mos f theo t m had; been interre n stoni d e coffins mad f coarso e e slabso T . use wordeth f Professoso r Walker, " No fror e threfa tm th e cairnso-callee th s si d 'Caiy-stone' of Maitland and Whyte. It has always, however," (he maintains) " been known, amon people countre Ket-stane.e namge th th th th f f eo y e o y b t I " whinstonef o s i d "inscriptioy chisele appearan ,th an havo r t d o t , eha s no n upon it." craie adds"e Th gstee(h r o ) p rocky mountain which form northere sth n extre- Pentlane mitth f yo d Hills d makean , a conspicuous s figur t Edinburgha e , hangs over this fiel f battles calleo di t I d. Caer-JTeian Craig. This name appeare b o t s derived from the Ket-stane above described, and the fortified camp adjacent, which, in the old British, was termed a Caer." (P. 611.) "e Annale1Se s Cambrias, Monumente th n "i a Hist. Britannica 833. p , . 2 In Maitland's time (1753) , farm-housa ther s ewa e termed " Catstean," stand- ing near the monument we are describing. And up to the beginning of the present century e propertth , e opposit r th faryo n mo Almonde th sid f o e , above ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 159

specimens of this kind of verbal alloy, is alluded to above a thousand years ago by Bede,1 in reference to a locality not above fourteen or fifteen miles west from the Cat-stane. For, in his famous sentence regarding the termination of the walls of Antoninus on the Forth, he states that the Picts called this eastern "heawalle th f d"o Pean-fahel Anglee th t sbu , calle t dFennel-tawi a contracte o T . d variet thif yo s Pictish word sig- nifying head of the wall, or to its Welsh form Pengual, they added the Saxon word " town," probabl designato yt e " villa,th e " which, accord- n earla o yt additiog in Nenniuso t n s placewa , d there. " Pengaaul, quse villa Scottice Cenail [Kinneil], Anglice vero Peneltun dicitur." 2

e palseographiTh c peculiaritie inscriptioe th f so n sufficiently beat ou r the idea of the monument being of the date or era which I have ven-

Cserlowrie, was designated by a name, having apparently the Celtic " battle " noun s a preficomposition—viz.it s a n i x , Oat-elbock. This find Celtiol e c nams ha e latterly been changed for the degenerate and unmeaning term Almond-hill. Historia Ecclesiast., lib. i. c. xii. " Sermone Pictorum Peanfahel, lingua autem 1 Anglorum Penneltun appellantur." Historia Britonum time on eI fancie . xix t c , A . t possibldi e tha mutilatee th t d 2 and enigmatical remains of ancient "Welsh poetry furnished us with a name for the Cat-stane older still than that appellation itself. Amon e fragmentth gd ol f o s Welsh historical poems ascribed to Taliesin, one of the best known is that on the battl f Gwen-Tstrado e n thiI .s compositio e poenth t describes, from professedly personal observation, the feats at the above battle of the army of his friend and great patron, TJrien, Kin f s Ehegedsubsequentlgo wa o wh , y e killesiegth f t Medeo a d - caut, or Lindisfarne, about A.D. 572. Villemarque places the battle of Gwen-Tstrad between A.D an7 .d54 A.D. 560. The British kingdom of Eheged, over which Urien ruled, ia by some authorities Britisconsidered ol e r Welsho th s a dh kingdo f Cumbriamo r Cumberlando , ; but, accordin otherso gt t musi , t have been situated further northwards e poeth mn I . e battloth f f Gwen-Tstrao e d (se Myvyriae eth n Archaiology, vol. 72)p . .i , TJrien defeats the enemy—apparently the Saxons or Angles—under Ida, King of Bernicia. e poemth f o line , Taliesid on e en nean I e ruth describes Urie s attackinna s ghi foes " by the white stone of Galysten:"— "Pan anwyt i aloha n yn Llec Galysten.n hwe " wore Th d " Galysten," when separated into such probable original components as "Gal" and "lysten," is remarkable, from the latter part of the appellation, " lysten," corresponding witnamee th h , barond " ol Listen, e r parisyo th f n hi "o 0 16 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F F SO YO

ture assigo dt it—o nt a poin weighe th timportanc d an t f whiceo s i t hi unnecessary to insist upon. " The inscription," says Lhwyd, " is in the barbarous character fourte th fift d f so han h centuries." Professor West- wood, who is perhaps our highest authority on such a question, states

whic Cat-stane hth e stand prefie th s; x Kirk (Kirk-liston) being wels i s l a ,known , a comparatively modern addition. The word " Gal" is a common term, in com- pound Keltic words, for " stranger," or " foreigner." In the Gaelic branch of the Keltic, " lioston" signifies, accordin r JameSi o gt s Ponlis, inclosur"n a e th n o e side of a river." (See Mr Muckersie on the origin of the name of Kirkliston, in the " Statistical Accoun f Scotland,o t e Highlan . 68."Th p vol. ) x . d Society's Gaelic Dictionary gives " liostea lodgingna "s a , tent Cymric boothe r ,o th n I . , "lystyn " sig- nifies, according to Dr Owen Pughe, " a recess, or lodgment." (See his Welsh Dic- tionary, sub voce.) The compound word Gal-lysten would perhaps not he thus over- strained, if it were held as possibly originating in the meaning, " the lodgment, inclosure resting-placr o , foreigner;e th linf e eo th e d quotean " d would, under such an idea, not inaptly apply to the grave-stone of such a foreign leader as Vetta. Urien's forces are described in the first line of the poem of the battle of Gwen- t wit e dawn.Cattraethf ou h o th t n Tstradse "o me e wh s Cattraet," th a , w no s hi believed by many eminent archaeologists to be a locality situated at the eastern end of Antouine's wall on the Firth of Forth—Oallander, Carriden, or more probably the castle hill at Blackness, which contains various remains of ancient structures. Urien's foes at the battle of Gwen-Ystrad were apparently the Angles or Saxons of Bernicia—this last ter f Berniciamo , wit s capitahit t Bamborougha l , includint ga that tim districethe moderof t n Northumberland probabland , y also Berwickshire Lothianse d parth f an o tn arm A .y marching from Cattraeth eastere th r d o ,n en of Antonine's Wall meeo t , t suc n armyha , 'would t tooi e shortesf i ,kth coasr o t t line, pass threr ,o afteo e tw hoursr ' march, ver yCat-stanee nea th site f th ero A . poem e neighbourinforalludee a e th for ar td Th n i . dan o dt g Almon plents dha f yo fords; and on its banks the name of two forts or " caers" are still left, viz. Cserlowrie (Caer-1-Urien ?) and Caer Almond, one directly opposite the Cat-stane, the other three miles below it. But no modern name remains near the Cat-stane to identify the name of " the fair or white strath." " Lenny"—the name of the immediately adjoining barony on the banks of the Almond, or in its " strath" or " dale"—pre- sents insurmountable philological difficultie s identificatioit o t s n with Gwene th ; t beinno gW interchangeableG r o , G d L an vallee Th Strath-Brof .yo c (Broxburn) —th e twelfte th sea n i ht centur f Freskyyo f Strath-Brocno d consequentlan , y the cradle of the noble house of Sutherland—runs into the valley of the Almond abou mileo tw t s abov e Cat-staneth e n othen i thisI s .a r, Wels d Gaelian h c names, the word Strath is a prefix to the name of the adjoining river. In the word " Gwen-Ystrad," the word Strath is, on the contrary, in the unusual position ANTIQUARIE1 16 SCOTLANDF SO . e th e samf o th f e o ag opinios i thae e e th m Lhwys h ta no o t t s a d lettering in the Oat-stane legend.

To some minds it may occur as a seeming difficulty, that the legend or inscriptio Latie th nn i languages i n , thoug e leadehth r commemo- rate s Saxoni d t thiBu s . form kino n sf vali o d d objection e facTh t . e earl , th tha l is y al tEomano-Britis h inscription t founye Greas n di a s t Britain, are, as far as they have been discovered and deciphered, in Latin. t morno Anes i strangt di e tha Lothiane Saxona t th n i s shoul- re e b d corded in Latin, and not in Saxon or Keltic, than that the numerous

affin oa f ; xshowin g tha appellatioe tth descriptivs ni heaute th f e fairneso r yo e th f so strath which it designates. The valley or dale of the Almond, and the rich tract of fertile country stretchin south-wese miler gth fo o st Oat-stanee th f o t , certainly well merit such a designation as " fair " or " beautiful" valley—" Gwen-Tstrad;" but we slightese th hav t eno t evidence whatever that suc hnama eves ewa r applie thio dt s learnes tracthi n I d. editio "f no Le s Bardes Bretons, Poeme viu s"d SiScle, Vise "th - count Villamarque, in the note which he has appended to Taliesin's poem of the battle of Gweu-Ystrad, suggests (page 412) that this term exist modera n si n form undee rth name of Queen's-strad, or Queen's-ferry—a locality within three miles of the Oat- certais i t i stane t n thaBu name . th t f Queensferryeo , appliewell-knowe th o t d n passag r lateefa acrosre th datForthe f f th Queeso o e s i , n Margaret wife f th ,o e Malcolm Canmore. Numerous manors and localities in the Lothians and around Kirkliston, end in the Saxon affix " ton," or town—a circumstance rendering it probable that Lis-ton had possibly a similar origin. And further, against the idea of the appellation of " the white stone of Galysten" being applicable to the Cat- I hav facstane,e s a th et , s thai is alread t i t y stated a bloc, f greenstono k e basalt; and the light tint which it presents, when viewed at a distance in strong sun- light, owins surfacit o gt e being covered with whitish lichen s scarceli , y sufficient to have warrante a dpoet , indulgin e utmosth n gi t poetical license havo t , e sung whit e s "a th ot ei f stone." After all, however adjective th , e " wen, r "o "gwenn, " as Villamarqu esignify writema , yit s " fair "r o beautiful" " when appliee th o t d stone, just as it probably does when applied to the strath whieh was the seat of the battle—" Gwenn Tstrad." "Winchburgh, the name of the second largest village in the parish of Kirkliston, statioe a Edinburg th d n an o n d Glasgoan h w .Railway s perhapi , s worth f noteyo , fro beins mit g placesame th en di distric stone th Vettaf s eo a t soe Victaf nth ,o d an , froe appellatiomth n possibly signifying originally, accordin r KemblM o gt e (our highest authorit sucn yi hquestion)a burge th , Wodenf ho Wodensburghr ,o . (See his History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. p. 346.) VOL. IV. PART I. L 162 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

Welshme d otheran n s recorde e earlth yn o d Welsh inscribed stones should be recorded in Latin and not in the Cymric tongue. Doubtlessly, the Eomanised Britons and the foreign colonists settled among them were, with their descendants, more or less acquainted with Lati botn ni spoke s hit writted nan n forms secone earls th A s .y a d year s marcohi f h northwar e conquesth r fo d f thio t s more distant parf o t Britain, or A.B 79, Agricola, as Tacitus takes special care to inform us, too l possiblal k e mean o introducet s e purposeth r fo f conques,o s t d civilisationan knowledga , Eomae th f eo n liberae languagth f o l d an e arts among the barbarian tribes whom he went to subdue.1 The same policy was, no doubt, continued to a greater or less extent during the whole era of the Eoman dominion here as elsewhere ; so that there is no wonder that such arts as lapidary writing, and the composition of brief Latin inscriptions, should have been known to and transmitted to the native Britons. There was, however, another class of inhabi- tants, besides these native Britons kno e wereo w ws wh ,a , fro altare mth s and stone monuments which they have left, sufficiently learnee th n di formation and cutting of inscriptions in Latin,—a language which was then, and for some centuries subsequently, the only language used in this country, eithe lapidarn ri other yo r form writingf so militare Th . y legions and cohorts which the Eoman emperors employed to keep Britain under due subjection, obtained, under the usual conditions, grants of lands in the country, married becamd an , e betimes fixed inhabitants. When speak- ing of the veteran soldiers of Borne settling down at last as permanent proprietors of land in Britain—as in other Eoman colonies,—Sir Francis Palgrave remarks, " Upwards of forty of these barbarian legions, some of Teutonic origin, and others Moors, Dalmatians, and Thracians, whose forefathers had been transplanted from the remotest parts of the empire, obtained their domicile in various parts of our island, though principally upon the northern and eastern coasts, and in the neighbourhood of the Roman walls."'1' Such colonists undoubtedly possessed among their ranks, and were capable of transmitting to their descendants, a sufficient know- ledge of the Latin tongue, and a sufficient amount of art, to form and cut such stone inscription have w es a sbee n considering d perhapan ; s 1 Vita Agricolae, xliv. 2 . 2 History of England—Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 20. ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 163 addy ,ma tha I n suci t mixeha d population Teutonie th , c elementsn i ' particular, would, towards the decline of the Eoman dominion and power, not perhaps be averse to find and follow a leader, like Vetta, belonging to the royal stock of Woden ; nor would they likely fail to pay all due respect e raisinth monumena y f b ,g o r otherwiseo t memore th a o t , f yo chief of such an illustrious race, if he fell amongst them in battle. Besides, a brief incidental remark in Bede's History proves that the erectio monumena f no t like Gat-staneeth recoro t , resting-place dth f eo e earlth y Saxo t nunknown no chiefs s r aftewa Fo , r. tellin s thagu t Hors s slai e Britonsn awa battlni th y b e , Bede adds that this Saxon leade burieeasters e th rwa n di n part Kentf so , wher emonumena t bearing his nam stils e i existence"n i l 2 (hactenu n orientalibui s s Cantise parti- bus monumentum habet suo nomine insigne).3 The great durability of the stone forming Vetta's monument has preserved it to the present day; whil more eth e perishable materia whicf o l h Horsa' constructes swa s dha made it a less faithful record of that chief, though it was still in Bede's time, or in the eighth century, " suo nomine insigne."4 e chieTh f point f evidenco s e whic hI hav e attempte o adduct d n i e idefavoue th a f o thar e Cat-stanth t e commemorate grandfathee th s f o r Hengis summee Horsb d follows y an ta ap ma d u s :— 1. The surname of VETTA upon the Cat-stane is the name of the grand- father of Hengist and Horsa, as given by our oldest genealogists. 2. The same historical authorities all describe Vetta as the son of Victa; anpersoe dth n recorde Cat-stane th n do same spokes eth i en i f no distinctive terms—" VEITA F(ILIUS) Vim." 3. Vetta is not a common ancient Saxon name, and it is highly improbable that there existed in ancient times two historical Vettas, Victaso sone tw th f so . probable th n O e great extenTeutonie th f o t Germar co n elemen f populatioo t n 1 Grean i t Britain as earl s abouya t A.D Wrightr . 400M e hi,n se i , s excellend an t interesting work " The Celt, the Boman, and the Saxon," p. 385. 2 Historia Bcolesiastica Gilesr , D lib. r 1c o ;' . Translationi Bolm'n i , s edition, p, 5. Gilesr D 3 ' Translation Bonn'n i , s edition. 24 . p , 4 Historia Ecclesiastica. ,15 lib. c . .i L2 4 16 PROCEEDING SOCIETE TH F F SO YO generationo Tw . 4 s before Hengis d Horsan t a arrive Englandn di a , Saxon host—as tol Ammiamis—way db s leagued wit othee hth r racef so modern Scotland (the Picts, Scots, and Attacots) in fighting with a Roman army under Theodosius. . Thes5 e Saxon allies were very probably unde leadea r claimeo wh r d royal descent from Woden, and consequently under an ancestor or pre- relativ Hengisf eo Horsad an t . battle-groune 6Th . d armiebetweeo tw e s nwasth parn ,i t leasta t e th , district placed betweeEomao tw e nnth walls consequentld an , y included the tract in which the Gat-stane is placed ; this district being erected by Theodosius, afte s subjectionit r , int ofifta h "Eoman province. paleeographie Th . 7 c character inscriptioe th f so n accord wit idee hth a that it was cut about the end of the fourth century. 8. The Latin is the only language1 known to have been used in British inscriptions and other writings in these early times by the Romanized Britons and the foreign colonists and conquerors of the island. occasionae Th . 9 l erectio f monumentno Saxoo st n leader proves si y db face th t mentione Bedey b d times thn ,i hi ethar o ,eightn i t h century, there stoo Kenn di monumena t t commemoratin deate gth Horsa.f ho 2

, thenIf s thesa , e reasons ten t leasa d rendeo t t r probable Cate th , - stane be the tombstone of Vetta, the grandfather of Hengist and Horsa, this venerable monolit rios hi t onl mosyr interestinou tf ancieno e on s gta national historic monuments t i corroborate t bu , e floatinth s g accounts of the early presence of the Saxons upon our coast; it presents to us the two earliest individual Saxon names known in British history; it confirms, so far as it goes, the accuracy of the genealogy of the ancestors of Hen- 1 Perhap righs i t poinsi o t t t out exceptions a , thio st s general observation vera , y few Greek inscription Astarteo st , Hercules, Esculapius, &c., lefBritain e i t th y nb Roman soldiers and colonists. e supposeth n O d site, &c. f thio , s monumen Horso t t Coler Kentn aM i e - se , 2 brook's pape "rin Archseologia, " 167Halsted' volp. and ;ii. . s " Kent, "177 volp. .ii. . In 1631, Weaver, in his " Ancient Funeral Monuments," p. 317, acknowledges that " storme timd an se have devoured Horsa's monument. 1659n I " , Phillpot, when describin e cromlecgth h called Kits Coty House—the alleged tom Catigernf bo — speak Horsa'f so s tom utterls ba y extinguished "by storm tempestd san s undee th r conduc time.f o t " ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 165

gisHorsad an t recordes a , earlr ou Bedy ydb d chroniclersean ; whilt a e same th e tim t formei itseln si connectina f g linkt werei s a , , betweee nth two great invasions of our island by the Eoman and Saxon—marking as e finath f l o declinatur a er t doe i e Komae th th s f eo n dominion among us, and the first dawn and commencement of that Saxon interference affaire swad th f an Britainn o ysi , whic s destinehwa o givt d o Enget - inhabitantsw w ne kingne lan w d a ne a rac dan laws w d f o ene an s, language.

MONDAY, llth March 1861. PROFESSO . SIMPSONY . RJ , M.D,, Vice-President Chaire th n i ,.

The following G-entlemen were balloted for and elected Fellows of the Society:—

Eight Hon. EOBEET ADAM CHRISTOPHER NISBET HAMILTON, of Biel and Dirleton. ADAM SIM of Oultermains, Esq., Lanarkshire. ALEXANDER AUCHIE, Esq. A communicatio reas wa dn fro e Secretarmth e Eoyath f yo l Scottish Academy, and a copy of a letter from Mr William Chambers, on the subjece proposeth f o t d restoratio e Market-Crosth f o n f Edinburgho s . A committee, consisting of Professor Simpson, Mr J. H. Burton, Mr James Drummond, and Mr Joseph Eobertson, was appointed for con- ference with a committee of the Academy in regard to the plans of the proposed Cross. The Donations to the Museum were as follows :— Sepulchral Urn or Drinking-Cup of yellowish clay; found at Inve- ramsay Parise e Chapeth th f n o f i hGarioch,o l , Aberdeenshirey B . PATRICK IRVINB, Esq. of Inveramsay, through T. G-RAHAM WEIR, M.D. The urn measures 7 inches in height, 6 inches across the mouth, and 3J- inches across the bottom. It is contracted a little in shape about 166 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

two inches below the wide mouth, and is ornamented with lines, herring- bone d doublan , e Vandyke patterns, alternately plain covered an , d with incised lines. Along with the urn were found human bones, which were carefully examined by Dr P. Eedfern, Aberdeen, who concludes that they were the bones of a man of about thirty years of age. Water-coloux Si r Sketche f portionso f Sculptureo s d Stones fount a d Burghead ; and a Coloured Sketch of a Well, also at Burghead. By Lady DUNBAR of Duffus. Curious Carved Centre Groin-Stone, or Boss, displaying double-headed winged dragons clustering round a central rose. In the centre of the

ros n iroa e n hook is fixed, apparentl r suspendinyfo s a glampwa t I . procure e demolitio e timth th f e chapeo e t t th a dEligiuS f f o no l r so Eloye the Confessor, patron of the craftsmen of Edinburgh; when alter- ations were made on St Giles' Church in 1827. This chapel was erected in the year 1387, on the north side of the Collegiate Church of St Giles, Edinburgh; A Plaster Cast fro antiqun ma e bronze bust, with Greek inscription. By JAMES T. GIBSON CJIAIG, Esq., V.P.S.A. Scot. ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 167

Original mode clayin l Busof , Johof t n Napie Merchistonof r the , inventor of Logarithms. By Messrs ALEXANDER and EOBEBT BRYSON, watchmakers, &c., Princes Street. This Bust was modelled by Mr Peter Sclater, sculptor, formerly of Edinburgh, now of London, who designed and executed the monument recently erected in memory of Napier in the parish church of St Cuth- bert's, Edinburgh. Small piec f Boneo e , ornamented wit f concentria hdoublo w ro e c circles, 2J inches long by 5-8ths in breadth ; brokeA n portio Sun-diala f no , with square hol r gnomenfo e , which had apparently been used as a building stone ; A broken portion of Polished Stone, 8J inches long by 5 inches broad, ornamented with the letters I-H- S in relief, enclosed in a circle. Above e monogra th d opposit e lettean t th anothei , s mV o ri t e r letterw no , defaced, each enclosed in circles. The lettering appears to be of a style aboue fourteente us date th n th f ti eo h century; An Irregularly-shaped Stone, abou inche8 t diametern si inche4 d an ,s thick, wit hcup-shapea d hollocentree th wn i ; and Two iron Halberts or Bills, and piece of Iron, greatly corroded. l thesAl e relics wer ecourse founth f makinn o ei d g excavationt a s Broughty Castle, near Dundee. By Colonel C. F. SKYRITO, E.E. Circular-shaped Silver Highland Brooch 3 inche, s diameter, orna- mented with engraved circles. Inscribe bace . th C. kC y n , o B d1760 . the Eev. J. H. POLLEXFEN, Colchester. Beautifully-executed Meda Bronzen i l , 1\ inche diametern si , display- ing female head looking to the left, with mural crown and olive leaves, emblematic of Hamburg. Rev.—A shield, displaying arms of the city of Hamburg. Inclosed in a large wreath of oak and olive leaves. By ADOLPH EOBINOW, Esq., Hanseatic Vice-Consul, Leith.—The medal was struck in gold in honour of Colonel Hodges, Her Britannic Majesty's late Charge d'Affaires at Hamburg, and presented to him by the Senate of Hamburg tokea s f a esteem, o n , upo s retirinnhi g into private life, after having, during nineteen years, represented the British Government Hanseatie ath t c Eepublic. Pair of Lady's Black Satin high-heeled Shoes, ornamented with small rosette satif so n ribbod an n; 168 PBOCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY OF

Two pairs of Lady's high-heeled Shoes, of lemon-coloured kid, orna- mented with tassels of yellow silk and small steel buckles ; fashionable toward lase close th st th f centuryeo . y JOHB N ALEXANDER SMITH, M.D., Sec. S.A. Scot. Fluted Dis r Breao h d Plate, 13-^ inches diameter d 2£an ,inche n i s height, of ancient Delft ware, painted, Cupid and landscape in centre, and wreat f flowere o turned-oveh th d frui n an so t s r borderMr y B . JESSIE PAPE f Coltbridgo , e House, Edinburgh whosn i , e famil e disyth h beed r severaha nfo l generations. Lady's high-heeled Sho f coloureeo d silk damask; - wit em pairha f o broidered flat-soled YUMClogss Mr t JohS y ,. B ' n Street, through ALEX. BRUCE, Esq., S.S.C. Leather Brogue or single-soled Shoe, found in a bog in Ireland. By ERSKINE NICOL, Esq., E.S.A., F.S.A. Scot. Gold St Andrew of James II. JACOBUS . D . GEACIA REX SCOTOE. Eoyal Arm f Scotlanso d crowned, between two crowns. Eev.—SALTVUM . FA C. POPULUM TDTJM. St Andrew with nimbus on his head, extended on his Cross, reaching to the edge, between two fleurs de lis; Gold Lio Jamef no . sII JACOBU S. DE . IGRACI s Afleur. . RE li o Xe s d . s between the words. Arms of Scotland crowned, in a lozenge shield. Eev.—SALVVUM . FA C. POPULU M TUU crescentsx orln si M a f eo DNn i - E; em , bracin gquatrefoila terminatind an , fleurn g i Andrew't lise S sd ,a s Cross; with I in the centre between two fleurs de lis. Found, in the month of August 1815, wit numbeha f otherso r , nea e Castle ruinth th r f f o so e Cadder, in the county of Lanark. EGBERy B T DUNDAS f Arnistono , , Esq. Oval Silver Medal, 2J inches lon y 1%gb inch broad, with chased r suspensionfo e medap th to loo n s t engravei la pO . d " LOYAL EDIN- BURGH SPEARMEN," and it displays a spearman in uniform, with hat and feathers, cutaway coat, and breeches, and in the right hand a spear. Rev. —BEWARD OE MERIT. By the Bev. ALEX. W. BROWN, Minister of Free t Bernard'S s Church, Edinburgh. e corp Th Edinburgf so h Spearme e manth f nyo wacompaniee son f o s volunteers raised in Edinburgh shortly after the French revolution. It was embodie 1805n di r Joh,M n Bennet, surgeon, being appointed lieu- tenant-colonel biographicaA . l Bennenoticr M f eo gives i t n "ni Kay's ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND. 169

Portraits," vol. i. p. 402, and also a portrait of the Earl of Moira, Com- mander-in-cliief, addressing this regiment upon the occasion -when " a stand of colours was delivered to this band of citizen warriors in Heriot's Hospital G-reen."

The following Communications were read :— fLATK V.

E CAT-STAKETH , KIRKLISTON, FKOM A PHOTOGRAPH.

proceeding tlif so e Societ Antiquarief yo f Scotlando s .