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Greysteil
''Greysteil'' ("Graysteel") is a medieval poem popular in 16th century Scotland. Set to music, it was performed for James IV of Scotland and James V of Scotland. The poem was also called ''Syr Egeir and Syr Gryme'', Eger and Grime being the names of the two knights who fight Greysteil and whose contrasted virtues are the poem's real subject. The name of the protagonist, a strong and agile knight, opulent, tainted with the black-arts, and vanquished by a magic sword provided by a powerful woman, was adopted as a nickname for two 16th-century courtiers, Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie who was said to have been dominated by his wife Isobel Hoppar, and William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, and Alexander Montgomery, 6th Earl of Eglinton in the 17th-century, and was a given name of the 20th-century 2nd Earl of Gowrie. Text Though the poem was popular in 16th century Scotland, the original ''Eger and Grime'' is thought to have been written in the North of England in the mid-15th centu ...
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Grey Ruthven, 2nd Earl Of Gowrie
Alexander Patrick Greysteil Hore-Ruthven, 2nd Earl of Gowrie, (26 November 1939 – 24 September 2021), usually known as Grey Gowrie or Lord Gowrie, was an Irish-born British hereditary peer, politician, and businessman. Lord Gowrie was also the hereditary Clan Chief of Clan Ruthven in Scotland. He was educated at Eton and Oxford, and held posts in academia for a period, in the US and London, including time working with poet Robert Lowell and at Harvard University. Gowrie was a Conservative Party politician for some years, including a period in the British Cabinet. He held ministerial posts under Margaret Thatcher, in the areas of employment and Northern Ireland, and was Minister of State for the Arts, as well as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with responsibility for Civil Service reform. Offered a promotion to full Secretary of State, with responsibility for education across the UK, he turned it down. Previously an arts dealer, he moved to Sotheby's for a reputed s ...
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Archibald Douglas Of Kilspindie
Sir Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie (c. 1475 – bef. 1536), also known as ''Greysteil'', was a Scottish nobleman and courtier, who served as Treasurer of Scotland, and was three times Provost of Edinburgh. Life Rise Kilspindie was the fourth son of Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus, and his second wife, Elizabeth Boyd, herself a daughter of Robert Boyd, 1st Lord Boyd. In 1513, Kilspindie's two older brothers were killed at the Battle of Flodden, along with King James IV. His nephew, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus married the King's widow, Margaret Tudor, and was regent for the young King James V, during this time Kilspindie became very popular with the boy-king, who knew him as ''Greysteil'', the name of the subject of a popular ballad of the time. Kilspindie married Isobel Hoppar, described in 1515 as a "rich widow of Edinburgh" by Baron Dacre. While the Douglas family were in power, Kilspindie became Lord High Treasurer of Scotland. He was Provost of Edinburgh i ...
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Isobel Hoppar
Isobel Hoppar or Hopper (born c.1490, died after 1538) was a Scottish landowner and governess of Margaret Douglas. She was a powerful political figure in Scotland during the youth of King James V, and her wealth and influence attracted misogynous comment from her faction's enemies. Family background Isobel Hoppar was the daughter of an Edinburgh merchant Richard Hoppar. Katrine Hoppar who married Andrew Moubray of Moubray House in Edinburgh was probably her niece. Her family connections are shown in a 1510 transaction when Katrine Hoppar's father William Hoppar, Isobel's husband John Murray of Barony and the royal secretary Adam Otterburn husband of Eufamia Moubray were witnesses together. Richard Hoppar exported goods to Andrew Halyburton at Middelburg in Zeeland. Andrew Halyburton's surviving ledger mentions Isobel Hoppar's brother, William Hoppar, as Richard Hoppar's's agent and Halyburton's 'gossop' (colleague and relative) in Antwerp and Bergen op Zoom. In September 1498 Ric ...
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William Ruthven, 1st Earl Of Gowrie
William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, 4th Lord of Ruthven (c. 1541May 1584) was a Scottish peer known for devising the Raid of Ruthven. Life and career William Ruthven was born in 1541 in Ruthven Castle, in Perthshire, Scotland, the son of Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven and Janet Douglas. On 23 August 1581, he was named Earl of Gowrie by James VI of Scotland. He and his father had both been involved in the murder of David Rizzio in 1566; and both took an active part on the side of the Kirk in the constant intrigues and factions among the Scottish nobility of the period. William had been the custodian of Mary, Queen of Scots, during her imprisonment in Loch Leven Castle, where, according to the queen, he had pestered her with amorous attentions. Ruthven wrote a friendly letter to his "great aunt" Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox in June 1571 during the Marian Civil War. He asked about the health of her son Charles Stuart, 1st Earl of Lennox and hoped for peaceful times i ...
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Alexander Montgomery, 6th Earl Of Eglinton
Alexander Montgomerie, 6th Earl of Eglinton (1588–1661) was a Scottish aristocrat and soldier, originally known as Sir Alexander Seton of Foulstruther. Life He was the third son of Robert Seton, 1st Earl of Winton by his wife Lady Margaret Montgomerie, daughter of Hugh Montgomerie, 3rd Earl of Eglinton. In July 1606 he was involved in an incident at Perth, during Parliament. In the evening he went with his older brother, the Master of Winton, to the lodging of the Earl of Eglinton with nine or ten companions. On the way they met the Earl of Glencairn who had thirty followers coming the other way. The Master of Winton and the Earl passed each other, but the servants at the rear of the two companies started to fight, only because of a long-standing feud between the Eglinton and Glancairn families. The town and royal guard stopped the fighting. There were few injuries, except to John Mathie, a servant of Glencairn. In 1612, after spending some time in Paris, and visiting the ...
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Magic Sword
In mythology, legend or fiction, a magic sword is a sword with magical powers or other supernatural qualities. Renowned swords appear in the folklore of every nation that used swords.Josepha Sherman, ''Once upon a Galaxy'' p 113 In some traditions, the sword is ascribed no powers of its own. It is famous because it is the hero's sword, or because of its origin, as when a god gives it to the hero. Other swords keep their wielders safe or destroy their enemies. A more localized motif is the sword that has been broken and must be reforged, commonly found in Northern Europe. Such a sword symbolizes the initial defeat and loss of honor of its wielder. Subsequent victory and the restoration of honor is achieved by reforging it, either at the wielder's hand or that of his heir. History It is probable that the roots of the sentient weapon myths stem from ancient peoples belief that sword making and metallurgy was in fact a magical process. Through the fires of the forge (''fire was ...
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James IV Of Scotland
James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauchieburn, following a rebellion in which the younger James was the figurehead of the rebels. James IV is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs. He was responsible for a major expansion of the Scottish royal navy, which included the founding of two royal dockyards and the acquisition or construction of 38 ships, including the ''Michael'', the largest warship of its time.T. Christopher Smout, ''Scotland and the Sea'' (Edinburgh: Rowman and Littlefield, 1992), , p. 45. James was a patron of the arts and took an active interest in the law, literature and science, even personally experimenting in dentistry and bloodletting. With his patronage the printing press came to Scotland, and the Royal College of Surgeons of Ed ...
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Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 1974 until 2023, Cumberland lay within Cumbria, a larger administrative area which also covered Westmorland and parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire. In April 2023, Cumberland will be revived as an administrative entity when Cumbria County Council is abolished and replaced by two unitary authorities; one of these is to be named Cumberland and will include most of the historic county, with the exception of Penrith and the surrounding area. Cumberland is bordered by the historic counties of Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish counties of Dumfriesshire and Roxburghshire to the north. Early history In the Early Middle Ages, Cumbria was part of t ...
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Romance Of Yder
The ''Romanz du reis Yder'' (''Romance of King Yder'') is a medieval Anglo-Norman Arthurian romance, of which 6,769 octosyllablic verse lines survive. It was characterised in 1946 as 'equal in merit to some of Chrétien's best work, and deserves to be better known; the author's style is attractive and full of picturesque detail'. Provenance The romance survives in only one copy: a vellum manuscript of the second half of the thirteenth century, now Cambridge University Library Ee.4.26, probably copied in England by a scribe of Continental origin during the reign of King John (1199-1216). The beginning of the romance is missing. The poem was thought by Alison Adams possibly to have been composed in western France at the end of the twelfth century or the beginning of the thirteenth. Believed to have been meant to serve as Anti-King John national propaganda, through deteriorating the character of King Arthur and making him into a villain as a representation of King John. Summary The ...
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Grimms' Fairy Tales
''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', originally known as the ''Children's and Household Tales'' (german: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, lead=yes, ), is a German collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, Grimm brothers or "Brothers Grimm", Jacob Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm, first published on 20 December 1812. This first Edition (book), edition contained 86 stories, and by the seventh edition in 1857, it had 210 unique fairy tales. It is listed by UNESCO in its UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, Memory of the World Registry. Origin Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were two of 10 children from Dorothea (''née'' Zimmer) and Philipp Wilhelm Grimm. Philipp was a highly regarded district magistrate in Steinau an der Straße, about from Hanau. Jacob and Wilhelm were sent to school for a classical education once they were of age, while their father was working. They were very hard-working pupils throughout their education. They followed in their father's footsteps and started to p ...
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Ægir
Ægir (anglicised as Aegir; Old Norse 'sea'), Hlér (Old Norse 'sea'), or Gymir (Old Norse less clearly 'sea, engulfer'), is a jötunn and a personification of the sea in Norse mythology. In the Old Norse record, Ægir hosts the gods in his halls and is associated with brewing ale. Ægir is attested as married to a goddess, Rán, who also personifies the sea, and together the two produced daughters who personify waves, the Nine Daughters of Ægir and Rán, and Ægir's son is Snær, personified snow. Ægir may also be the father of the beautiful jötunn Gerðr, wife of the god Freyr, or these may be two separate figures who share the same name (see below and Gymir (father of Gerðr)). One of Ægir's names, ''Hlér'', is the namesake of the island Læsø (Old Norse ''Hléysey'' 'Hlér's island') and perhaps also Lejre in Denmark. Scholars have long analyzed Ægir's role in the Old Norse corpus, and the concept of the figure has had some influence in modern popular culture. Names ...
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Marie De France
Marie de France ( fl. 1160 to 1215) was a poet, possibly born in what is now France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court of King Henry II of England. Virtually nothing is known of her life; both her given name and its geographical specification come from her manuscripts. However, one written description of her work and popularity from her own era still exists. She is considered by scholars to be the first woman known to write francophone verse. Marie de France wrote in Francien, with some Anglo-Norman influence. She was proficient in Latin, as were most authors and scholars of that era, as well as Middle English and possibly Breton. She is the author of the ''Lais of Marie de France''. She translated Aesop's Fables from Middle English into Anglo-Norman French and wrote ''Espurgatoire seint Partiz'', '' Legend of the Purgatory of St. Patrick'', based upon a ...
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