Friend & Foe

by Shirley McKay

  No kind of roads, and no kind of manners.

  What we. Had. Expected. From. The Scots.

  You will like England. For. Things are civil there.

  Civil.

  We burn witches there, and do not suffer them to traffic in the streets.

  Did hell, for the Scotsman, have its own attendant Englishman, petulant and querulous, pricking with complaint?

  ‘I hope you are not sick. The discomforts of this mission have been difficult enough, but your sickness in the carriage would make the thing intolerable.’

  Hew opened his eyes.

  He was in a cart, and the cart had a high ceiling to it, domed and lined with cloth. There were curtains at the side, and a little light came through. Too little light. Enough. Above him sat the Englishman, on a bank of furs. He had furs wrapped around him, from which he looked out, sallow, sour and pinched.

  Hew’s wits were blurred and shaken from the draught that he had drunk. Dizzily, he hazarded, ‘Is this how you supply your fill of foreign spies?’

  ‘Preferably, not. I am glad that you are with us. You are free to leave at any time. I should tell you though, that you are fugitive and will be killed on sight. Two of the king’s men died in the skirmish.’

  Why?

  ‘Andrew Wood has some command of the renegades in Fife, but he has no control of them. Some are enterprising, more than we would like. In truth, the king’s men did not put up a fight. Most of them believed that they had been bewitched.’

  Why?

  ‘It was all Andrew’s doing. He dared not take the chance of allowing you to testify. Nor, in truth, did I.’

  Understanding cleared the muddle in Hew’s mind. ‘He could have had me killed.’

  ‘He could have done,’ Walsingham agreed. ‘For him, that would have been by far the simplest solution. I understand that he felt under some kind of obligation to a woman he calls Clare. I do not inquire into his domestic affairs.’

  Meg. . . .

  ‘Your family are quite safe. They will, I regret, be troubled for a while, about your disappearance, but when some time has passed, you will be able to write to them. Once Colville is released, we will work towards a way to restore you both, to secure for you a pardon. Such things are sometimes possible. Until that time had come, you will work for us.’

  ‘I will never,’ Hew insisted, ‘work for you.’

  ‘As to that, we shall see. But I will point out that working for me need not, in any sense, conflict you in your principles. You need not betray your king. Indeed, you are not in a position to do so. You have never been at court, and at the present time may not return to Scotland.’

  ‘Aye?’ Hew questioned warily, conscious of the sense in that.

  ‘You might, perhaps, be sent into the Low Countries. You did good work there, with our friend Robert Lachlan.’

  ‘With your friend? Robert is not your friend,’ Hew protested. Lachlan was a man for hire who had gone with him to Ghent. Though Hew had first suspected him, the two men had grown close.

  ‘He is a man who sometimes has provided us with intelligence. I understand from Robert that he saved your life.’

  ‘Aye, from Spanish rebels.’

  ‘He has saved it once again. For if I had not had his report, you would not be of interest to us. You have met the prince of Orange, and impressed him. You have solved a riddle of a Flemish windmill, and shown yourself adept at working out such schemes. You keep your counsel close. And you have lately had instruction in the ancient languages, which shows you are adept in learning writing schemes. These things make you suitable for what we have in mind. We want a man that has a wit for ciphers.’

  ‘Ciphers?’ echoed Hew.

  ‘We will teach you how to write, and how to understand them. You, no doubt, will come up with some others of your own. Would that be so bad?’

  And Hew, struggling up to sit up upon the bench, wondered if it would. Could it be so bad to be in England for a while, knowing in his heart that his friends were safe? He felt the stirring heartbeat of a rare excitement. ‘Have we far to go?’ he asked.

  ‘We have just begun.’

  Historical Note

  The Ruthven Raid

  The ‘Ruthven raid’ took place in August 1582, when a group of Scottish noblemen, the ‘Lords Enterprisers’, led by William Ruthven, earl of Gowrie, detained the young King James VI against his will at Ruthven castle, and forced a change of government, removing Catholic influence at court. The king’s beloved favourite Esme Stuart, sixth sieur of Aubigny, earl and duke of Lennox, fled to France, where he died in May 1583 ‘of a disease contracted of displeasure’. His ally, James Stewart, earl of Arran, who had overthrown the king’s last Regent, Morton, was placed under house arrest. Gowrie’s interim regime, austere and ultra-Protestant, was approved by Andrew Melville and the Scottish Kirk, and by Queen Elizabeth of England, who supported it financially. Gowrie, as Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, was motivated partly by the profligate extravagance of James’ friends at court.

  In June 1583, the 17-year-old King James broke free from his captors and escaped from Falkland Palace to St Andrews castle. He appointed a new Privy Council, with the earl of Arran once again its spokesman. Queen Elizabeth sent her first secretary, Sir Francis Walsingham as ambassador to James, ‘willing him to stay from any strict proceeding against the lords who were pricked at for the raid of Ruthven’ . . . ‘but he was of a sickly complexion, and was not able to endure riding post, therefore he was long by the way, being carried in a chariot’. Walsingham, his influence and power, were greatly underestimated by the Scots.

  Characters

  The following characters are based on real people:

  James VI of Scotland b.1566

  King of Scotland 1567–1625. King of England (as James l) 1603–25. Son of Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, and Mary, Queen of Scots

  Esme Stuart, sieur of Aubigny, earl and duke of Lennox

  Court favourite of the young King James, and cousin to his father Darnley. French convert from Catholicism mistrusted by the Protestants

  James Stewart, earl of Arran

  Follower of Esme Stuart. Accused the Regent Morton of art and part slaughter of the king’s father Darnley. Captain of the royal guard

  Robert Stewart, earl of March

  Great uncle of James VI. Commendator of St Andrews cathedral priory; assisted James in his escape from Falkland

  Robert Stewart, earl of Orkney

  Illegitimate son of James V. Unpopular ruler of Orkney; political allegiances unclear

  William Ruthven, earl of Gowrie

  Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, leading instigator of the Ruthven raid

  John Colville

  Presbyterian minister who rose to power in the Scottish court and passed on secret information to the English. Supporter of the Ruthven raid; Master of Requests to the Privy Council

  Francis Walsingham

  Principal Secretary and spymaster to Queen Elizabeth l

  Patrick Adamson

  Archbishop of St Andrews; chancellor of the university of St Andrews

  George Buchanan

  Historian and humanist scholar. Tutor to King James Vl. Author of De Jure Regni apud Scotos – on the law of kingship among the Scots

  Andrew Melville

  Presbyterian scholar and reformer instrumental in the new foundation of the University of St Andrews and in the General Assembly. Principal of St Mary’s College. Uncle of James Melville, whose diaries inspired the Hew Cullan stories

  Alison Peirson

  Accused by Patrick Adamson of curing him of sickness by the use of witchcraft. Escaped from St Andrews castle in 1583. Recaptured and convicted in 1588. Alison’s ‘confession’ gives a detailed account of her trips to fairyland

  Sir Andrew Wood of Largo

  Sheriff and Coroner of Fife. Also, Comptroller of Scotland, in which capacity he settled the king’s personal debts, bringing his own family to the brink of ruin. Great grandson of the admira
l, the first Sir Andrew Wood, from whom he inherited his property and title. The Woods were staunch supporters of the Stewart kings, and their dealings in this story are not based in fact.

  Elizabeth

  his wife

  Robert Wood

  his brother, owner of the New Mill at St Andrews

  With thanks to Dr Ian Drever of Dalkeith, for introducing me to his family name of Richan, which as a surname has apparently died out. According to George Black, The Surnames of Scotland, in early 20th century Kirkwall, Richan was ‘a very puzzling name . . . never found out of Orkney . . . yet the ch is not Norse when pronounced as in loch – as it is in this name’ which gives us a clue as to how the name should sound. The earl of Orkney, in 1574, had a William Richane on his staff.

  Glossary of Old Scots words

  Ain (one’s) own

  Almery a cupboard

  Aquavite whisky

  Art and Part participation in (a crime)

  Bairnlie childlike

  Bangstrie bullying behaviour

  Bannock a round, flat cake of oat or barley

  Barnelike childish

  Baxter a baker

  Belly-blind blindfolded

  Billie a close friend, comrade

  Bisket hard biscuit or rusk

  Blawn blown

  Blether a bladder

  Blockhouse a small fort or defensive building; one of two circular gun towers built on the south face of St Andrews castle, largely destroyed in 1547

  Bluiter a beggar

  Bluther to weep, blubber

  Brave fine or elegant

  Braw variant of brave, fine or elegant

  Brigue to intrigue

  Bruck rubbish, trash. An Orkney word

  Bruit clamour, noise or rumour; to spread rumour

  Bursar student who receives a ‘burse’ or bursary

  Burse a purse; an endowment for support of a student or scholar

  Butter saps bread fried in butter and dipped in sugar

  Caich tennis

  Caichpell a tennis court

  Carcage a dead body

  Cawk to smear with excrement

  Chap to rap or knock

  Cleng to clean out

  Close an enclosure, court or courtyard next to a house

  Clout (1) a cloth

  (2) a small patch of land

  Clubbit clumsy

  Collop a slice of meat

  Compear to appear before a court

  Complice a partner, accomplice

  Convicted convinced

  Craw a crow

  Crownar a coroner, district officer charged with maintaining certain rights of the Crown, such as keeping the king’s peace, serving writs on malefactors. Usually combined with the office of sheriff

  Curator the legal guardian of a minor between the age of 14 and 21

  Defiance a challenge or dare

  Delicat a delicacy

  Ding to strike or beat violently

  Dissimil to cover up by pretence

  Distracted deranged, disturbed in mind

  Doubt to think

  Douce sweet

  Dow a dove

  Draucht draught and draft, in all senses related to draw. Here:

  (1) a plan or design

  (2) an architectural plan

  (3) a receptacle for excrement, channel for drawing off filth

  Draucht-raker a cleaner of privies; nightsoilman

  Dry stool a chamber pot set in a stool, a commode

  Economus a college steward or bursar (in the modern sense); housekeeper

  Elusion a delusion

  Falland ill epilepsy

  Falset falsehood

  Fazart a coward

  Fedity foulness, corruption, both physical and moral

  Filthsum filthy

  Fleume phlegm

  Flux excessive discharge from the bowels

  Flyting railing or scolding; a battle in words

  Fosse a ditch built for defence

  Fou full [of drink] = drunk, intoxicated

  Foulsum loathsome

  Fra/frae/fae from

  Fremmit foreign, strange

  Fruel weak, feeble

  Fu full

  Fuillie excrement, manure

  Fummill to fumble

  Futeman a footman as attendant, or as an infantry soldier

  Futless useless, footless

  Gang to go

  General Assembly Supreme Court of the Church of Scotland following the Reformation of the kirk in 1560, marking the beginning of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland; in 1583 meeting twice a year in Edinburgh

  Gerslouper a grasshopper

  Gingiber ginger

  Girdle a griddle; a circular round plate for baking cakes or bannocks

  Gong a latrine

  Gong-fermer/gong-scourer a cleaner of latrines

  Gooseturd a shade of yellowish green

  Gowk to stare

  Granks and granes moans and groans

  Greit to shed tears

  Grening yearning or longing

  Guid neighbours good neighbours: name given to the fairy folk, intended through flattery to guard against malevolence

  Haar sea mist common on the east coast of Scotland

  Hale whole; sound in body, healthy

  Haly holy

  Hammermen members of the metal workers’ craft

  Haud to hold

  Haven a harbour

  Heckleback a stickleback

  Heugh a hill

  Incarnatene flesh-or crimson-coloured

  Jak a soldier’s sleeveless jerkin, padded or plated

  Jakes a latrine

  Jayne an instrument of torture

  Jolie at the goose an early version of the board game, Goose

  Joukerie trickery; underhand dealing

  Juglar a magician or sorcerer who works by sleight of hand (here, punning on jugular)

  Jummil a muddle or confusion

  Keek to peek, glance

  Keeker a peeping Tom

  Kendal green wool cloth from the town of Kendal; a particular shade of green

  Kenning knowing; knowledge

  Kernels ‘kirnels of the thie’: the groin

  Kichin a kitchen; an allowance of cooked food, such as meat or fish, that supplements a staple such as bread

  Kirk a church; here, especially, the Reformed Church of Scotland

  Kirtle a simple woman’s dress of skirt and bodice, worn on its own or underneath a gown

  Kist a large chest or box

  Kittill fickle, sensitive or difficult to handle

  Knotless futile, pointless, groundless

  Laic a layman

  Laich house ‘low house’: a cellar

  Laird a lord; the Lord

  Latton a kind of yellow brass hammered into plate; a thin sheet made of this

  Laureate a graduate

  Laver a basin for washing

  Lettrin (1) a lectern or book rest

  (2) a small, lockable writing desk

  Libber a sorcerer

  Lidder cowardly

  Limmar a villain or rogue

  Loun a lout or rogue

  Loup/lowp to leap, jump, spring at

  Lour to lie low, lurk

  Lourd heavy

  Louse-leech a doctor, physician [from Gaelic lus, ‘herb’]

  Lubbard a lout

  Lug an ear

  Lum a chimney

  Ly-by an onlooker, bystander

  Magistrands students in their fourth and final year of study for the degree of MA

  Man/maun must

  Manchet the finest wheat bread

  Manna/maunna must not

  Master of Requests Scottish officer of state whose role includes receiving petitions from subjects of the Crown and presenting them for consideration by the Privy Council

  Matrix a womb

  Mauchtless feeble, weak

  Mellit dealt, had intercourse with

  Midding-sted a midden

  Mindit d
isposed, inclined

  Miniard effeminate

  Minnie child’s name for mother

  Mow to joke, engage in banter

  Muckle great big

  Muckle mair much more

  Muff a covering of fur; pubic hair; vagina

  Murther murder

  Nacket a stripling, youngster

  Nether lower

  Nether (vb) to abase, humiliate

  Nether hose stockings

  New foundation reform of the universities following the Reformation of the kirk

  Norish Norse, of the Norn language

  Norn variety of Norse language native to Orkney, now extinct

  Notar a notary; here, more generally, a scribe or clerk

  O’ergrowin overgrown

  Overstraught overstretched

  Paddock a frog or toad (a shell paddock is a tortoise)

  Pantons velvet slippers

  Pedagogy place of instruction; name given to the teaching body of St Andrews University, at its earliest date; name given to the College of St John

  Pellock a pellet

  Pend an arched roof or vault

  Petuous compassionate

  Physick medicine

  Piked spiked or pointed

  Piker a petty thief

  Pistolett a small firearm; former name for pistol

  Placard a sheet of paper printed or written on one side, for public display; a poster or handbill

  Placket an apron or an underskirt; a slit or an opening in a woman’s dress to give access to a pocket or for sexual intercourse; by extension, the vagina

  Plaister a medicinal plaster; ointment spread on muslin and tied to the body

  Plat (1) a plan

  (2) a dish or plate

  Pluck a mouthful

  Port a gateway or entrance, especially to a town

  Posset a drink of hot milk curdled with wine

  Pothecar an apothecary

  Potingar an apothecary

  Pottle a pot or vessel, and its contents

  Privily secretly, privately

  Privy (adj) intimate; private; secret

  (noun) a latrine

  Privy Council the board of advisors to the king, with economic, administrative and judicial powers

  Quail to grow weak

  Quair a quire; a measure of paper

  Quelp a whelp

  Quent crafty, cunning; queer

  Quhimper to whimper

  Quhingar a dagger or short sword

  Raker a cleaner or scavenger; a clearer of cesspools