A miracle from the Lanercost chronicle (202)

Summary

[fol. 192v] Regina Scotie Margareta inter hec et alia sua grauamina, precipue de morte patris et dubio reditu fratris, profunde desolata, una uesperarum apud Chinclevin, aere serenato post cenam sumptam, solacii causa super ripam fluminis de Tay perrexit spaciari, comitantibus se armigeris et ancillis, sed specialiter confessore suo, qui mihi gesta intimauit. ¶ Affuit inter ceteros armiger pomposus cum suo garcione qui, attestantibus superioribus, sibi a fratre fuerat commendatus. Et cum sederent in quodam supercilio litoris, descendit ille ad manus abluendas quas luto infecerat ludendo. Isto sic stante semiinclinato, una ancillarum a regina incitata clam accessit et eum intra \oram/ aluei impulit. Qui alludens facto et gratum habens, ‘Quid’, inquit, ‘curo? Natare scio et si ulterius fuero.’ Spacians sic in alueo et aliis applaudens, ex inopinato sensit sibi uoraginem corpus absorbere, et clamans ac eiulans nullum habuit qui ad eum accideret nisi seruulum suum, qui prope ludens clamore assistentium impetuose cucurrit in profundum, et ambo absorti sunt in momento coram oculis omnium. Sic inimicus Symonis ac Sathane satelles, qui perditionis se dixit fuisse causam strenui militis, coram omnibus periit.

A miracle from the Lanercost chronicle (202)

London, British Library, Cotton MS Claudius D VII, fol. 192v

Amidst her various tribulations Queen Margaret of Scotland was feeling deeply distressed, especially over her father's death and with anxiety about her brother's return. By way of relief one evening after supper she went out from Kinclaven for a stroll on the bank of the river Tay while the weather was fine, accompanied by squires and maids, and in particular by her confessor, who told me what happened. ¶ With the rest of them was a certain boastful squire with his groom; according to his superiors the squire had been recommended to her by her brother. And while they were seated overlooking the water's edge, this squire went down to wash his hands, which he had soiled with mud while playing. While he was standing thus, half bent over, one of the maids, prompted by the queen, crept up and pushed him over the edge into the river. Treating the matter as a joke and taking it kindly, he said, ‘What do I care? Even if I were farther out, I know how to swim.’ Wading about like that in the water and congratulating the others, he was disconcerted to feel his body being swallowed up by a deep hole.