Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part one Theaters of culture: political, legal, material
- Part two Cultural ideals and cultural conflicts
- Part Three Literacies, languages, and literatures
- Part four Legacies and re-creations
- 12 Literary reformations of the Middle Ages
- 13 Re-creating the Middle Ages
- Guides to further reading
- Index
12 - Literary reformations of the Middle Ages
from Part four - Legacies and re-creations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part one Theaters of culture: political, legal, material
- Part two Cultural ideals and cultural conflicts
- Part Three Literacies, languages, and literatures
- Part four Legacies and re-creations
- 12 Literary reformations of the Middle Ages
- 13 Re-creating the Middle Ages
- Guides to further reading
- Index
Summary
When Elizabeth I died in 1603, a number of preachers and commentators noted how the Scottish rule of the whole of Britain had been prophesied long before, by a man named Thomas Rhymer or Thomas of Erceldoune. It so happens that despite the Tudor ban on the publication of prophecies, this one has survived, since it was rushed into print soon after Elizabeth's death, probably in London though it was provided with a false Edinburgh imprint to be on the safe side. The text as it appears here is one item in a small book entitled The Whole Prophecie of Scotland, and the relevant lines, a question-and-answer between the narrator and Thomas, run as follows:
“Who shal rule the Ile of Bretaine
From the North to the South sey?” [sea
“A French wife shal beare the Son,
Shall rule all Bretaine to the sey,
that of the Bruces blood shall come
As neere as the nint degree.”
I franed fast what was his name, [asked
Where that he came from what countrie?
“In Erslingtoun, I dwelle at hame,
Thomas Rymour men calles me.”
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Culture , pp. 259 - 278Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011