James IV. and His People
Don Pedro de Ayala, the writer of the following letter, was the ambassador of Ferdinand and Isabella at the court of James IV.
From: 1498 C.E. To: 1498 C.E.
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From Early Travellers in Scotland by Peter Hume Brown, 1891.
Don Pedro de Ayala, the writer of the following letter, was the ambassador of Ferdinand and Isabella at the court of James IV. He is described by Mr Bergenroth (the editor of the Simancas Papers from which the letter is taken) as "of agreeable manners, genial and light-hearted," and as one who "made friends wherever he went." He had, also, "a marked predilection for James, who on his part was so attached to him that he called him his father, and did not venture to decide on any great question of state without asking his advice." The letter, it should be said, was written by the express command of Ferdinand and Isabella, who desired a full description of Scotland and its king. It is dated 25th July 1498.
James IV. and His People (Bergenroth, Simancas Papers, vol. i. p. 169).
The king is twenty-five years and some months old. He is of noble stature, neither tall nor short, and as handsome in complexion and shape as a man can be. His address is very agreeable. He speaks the following foreign languages: Latin, very well; French, German, Flemish, Italian, and Spanish; Spanish as well as the Marquis, but he pronounces it more distinctly. He likes very much to receive Spanish letters. His own Scotch language is as different from English as Aragonese from Castilian. The king speaks, besides, the language of the savages who live in some parts of Scotland l and on the islands. It is as different from Scotch as Biscayan is from Castilian. His knowledge of languages is wonderful. He is well read in the Bible and in some other devout books. He is a good historian. He has read many Latin and French histories, and profited by them, as he has a very good memory. He never cuts his hair or his beard. It becomes him very well.
He fears God, and observes all the precepts of the Church. He does not eat meat on Wednesdays and Fridays. He would not ride on Sundays for any consideration, not even to mass. He says all his prayers. Before transacting any business he hears two masses. After mass he has a cantata sung, during which he sometimes despatches very urgent business. He gives alms liberally, but is a severe judge, especially in the case of murderers. He has a great predilection for priests, and receives advice from them, especially from the Friars Observant, with whom he confesses.
Rarely, even in joking, a word escapes him that is not the truth. He prides himself much upon it, and says it does not seem to him well for kings to swear their treaties as they do now. The oath of a king should be his royal word, as was the case in bygone ages. He is neither prodigal nor avaricious, but liberal when occasion requires. He is courageous, even more so than a king should be. I am a good witness of it.
I have seen him often undertake most dangerous things in the last wars. I sometimes clung to his skirts and succeeded in keeping him back. On such occasions he does not take the least care of himself. He is not a good captain, because he begins to fight before he has given his orders. He said to me that his subjects serve him with their persons and goods, in just and unjust quarrels, exactly as he likes, and that, therefore, he does not think it right to begin any warlike undertaking without being himself the first in danger. His deeds are as good as his words.
For this reason, and because he is a very humane prince, he is much loved. He is active, and works hard. When he is not at war he hunts in the mountains. I tell your Highnesses the truth when I say that God has worked a miracle in him, for I have never seen a man so temperate in eating and drinking out of Spain. Indeed, such a thing seems to be superhuman in these countries. He lends a willing ear to his counsellors, and decides nothing without asking them; but in great matters he acts according to his own judgment, and, in my opinion, he generally makes a right decision. I recognise him perfectly in the conclusion of the last peace, which was made against the wishes of the majority in his kingdom.
When he was a minor he was instigated by those who held the government to do some dishonourable things. They favoured his love intrigues with their relatives, in order to keep him in their subjection. As soon as he came of age, and understood his duties, he gave up these intrigues. When I arrived, he was keeping a lady with great state in a castle. He visited her from time to time. Afterwards he sent her to the house of her father, who is a knight, and married her. He did the same with another lady, by whom he had had a son. It may be about a year since he gave up, so at least it is believed, his lovemaking, as well from fear of God as from fear of scandal in this world, which is thought very much of here. I can say with truth that he esteems himself as much as though he were lord of the world. He loves war so much that I fear, judging by the provocation he receives, the peace will not last long. War is profitable to him and to the country.
I will give an account of his revenues. Although I do not know them to a certainty, I do not think that I shall be far wrong. I shall estimate them a little below their real amount.
He has a revenue from arable and pasture lands, which are let by leases of three years. The farmers pay a fine upon entry. This rent is said to amount to 50,000 pounds Scotch, each pound Scotch being worth one Castiliano. I rather believe that it amounts to 40,000 ducats.
Another revenue is that from the customs. The import duties are insignificant, but the exports yield a considerable sum of money, because there are three principal articles of export, that is to say, wool, hides, and fish. The customs are worth about 25,000 ducats a year. They have much increased, and still continue to increase. Another revenue is that derived from the administration of the law. His predecessors farmed it to certain persons called justices (justiciaries), like our corregidores. This king does not like to farm the administration of the law, because justice is not well administered in that way. It is said that this revenue amounts to more than 30,000 ducats, but I will put it down at only 25,000 ducats.
He has another revenue from his wards, which is very considerable, and which offers good opportunities for rewarding his servants. If lords, or gentlemen of the middle class, in whatever part of the kingdom they may be, die and leave children under twenty-two years of age, the king is the guardian of them. He receives all their revenues till they come of age. He lets or sells such guardianships. He even sells the marriages of his wards, male and female. When the ward comes of age, and the king gives him the title of his father, or brother, or testator, he pays the amount of one or two year's rent, or any other sum that is agreed upon, into the exchequer of the king. I am told that this is the richest source of revenue, but I will estimate it at only 20,000 ducats.
He enjoys one year's revenue from the bishoprics and abbacies for the presentation. He likewise receives all the revenues of them during the vacancy of the see. The same is the case with respect to other livings, for they are all in his gift. I do not know to how much this amounts.
He has a rent from the fisheries, not in money, but in kind, for his kitchen, and likewise from meat and poultry, &c. This is his income, according to what I have been able to ascertain, and to what I have seen. He is in want of nothing, judging from the manner in which he lives, but he is not able to put money into his strong boxes. I shall speak hereafter of this.
The country is large. Your Highnesses know that these kingdoms form an island. Judging by what I have read in books and seen on maps, and also by my own experience, I should think that both kingdoms are of equal extent. In the same proportion that England is longer than Scotland, Scotland is wider than England; thus the quantity of land is the same. Neither is the quality very different in the two countries, but the Scotch are not industrious, and the people are poor. They spend all their time in wars, and when there is no war they fight with one another. It must, however, be observed, that since the present king succeeded to the throne they do not dare to quarrel so much with one another as formerly, especially since he came of age. They have learnt by experience that he executes the law without respect to rich or poor. I am told that Scotland has improved so much during his reign that it is worth three times more now than formerly, on account of foreigners having come to the country, and taught them how to live. They have more meat, in great and small animals, than they want, and plenty of wool and hides.
Spaniards who live in Flanders tell me that the commerce of Scotland is much more considerable now than formerly, and that it is continually increasing.
It is impossible to describe the immense quantity of fish. The old proverb says already "piscinata Scotia." Great quantities of salmon, herring, and a kind of dried fish, which they call stock fish (stoque fix), are exported. The quantity is so great that it suffices for Italy, France, Flanders, and England. They have so many wild fruits which they eat, that they do not know what to do with them. There are immense flocks of sheep, especially in the savage portions of Scotland.'" Hides are employed for many purposes. There are all kinds of garden fruits to be found which a cold country can produce. They are very good. Oranges, figs, and other fruits of the same kind are not to be found there. The corn is very good, but they do not produce as much as they might, because they do not cultivate the land. Their method is the following: they plough the land only once when it has grass on it, which is as high as a man, then they sow the corn, and cover it by means of a harrow, which makes the land even again. Nothing more is done till they cut the corn. I have seen the straw stand so high after harvest, that it reached to my girdle. Some kind of corn is sown about the feast of St John, and is cut in August.
The people are handsome. They like foreigners so much that they dispute with one another as to who shall have and treat a foreigner in his house. They are vain and ostentatious by nature. They spend all they have to keep up appearances. They are as well dressed as it is possible to be in such a country as that in which they live. They are courageous, strong, quick, and agile. They are envious (jealous?) to excess.
There are four duchies in the kingdom. Three of them are in the possession of the king; the fourth is held by the eldest brother of the king, who is Duke of Ross and Archbishop of St Andrews. There are fifteen earls, not counting the younger brother of the king, who holds two counties.
Nine other counties are in possession of the king. Some of the fifteen earls are great men. I saw two of them come to serve the king in the last war with more than 30,000 men, all picked soldiers and well armed. And yet they did not bring more than one-half of their men. Many others came with five or six thousand followers; some with more, and some with less. As I have already observed, this army does not cost the king a penny.
There are two principalities; one of them is the principatus insularum, and the other the principatus Gallovidiac. Both are held by the king. There are five and thirty great barons in the kingdom, without counting the smaller ones.
There are two archbishoprics and eleven bishoprics, sixty- three monasteries, which they call abbeys, and many other religious houses, which are endowed with property and rents. The abbeys are very magnificent, the buildings fine, and the revenues great. All of them were founded by kings. There are seventy seaports. The harbours between the islands are not included in this number, though they are said to be very secure.
Sixty-four of the islands are inhabited. Some of them are 60 miles long, and as many miles in width. Besides, there are the Orcades towards Norway. It is said they are very numerous.
On the islands there are many flocks, and great quantities of fish and of barley. The inhabitants are very warlike and agile. I saw them in the last war. They do not know what danger is. The present king keeps them in strict subjection. He is feared by the bad, and loved and revered by the good like a god. None of the former kings have succeeded in bringing the people into such subjection as the present king. He went last summer to many of the islands, and presided at the courts of law.
The prelates are very much revered; they have the larger share in the government. Spiritual as well as secular lords, if they have a title or a dignity, belong to the General Council. It meets four times a year in order to administer justice. It is a very good institution. All causes are decided after debating them. At the same time the king receives his revenues derived from the administration of the law. Both spiritual and secular lords have a certain number of followers, recorded in the books of the king, who are entitled to have their meals in the palace when they come to court. They have no other advantages. The king selects some of them for his Privy Council, and they always remain at court. They receive, nevertheless, no salary, except for other offices, which they may happen to hold. But they and their servants eat in the palace. The reason why they do so is, that the king may be always accompanied by them. It causes great expense.
The kings live little in cities and towns. They pass their time generally in castles and abbeys, where they find lodgings for all their officers. They do not remain long in one place. The reason thereof is twofold. In the first place, they move often about, in order to visit their kingdom, to administer justice, and to establish police where it is wanted. The second reason is, that they have rents in kind in every province, and they wish to consume them. While travelling, neither the king nor any of his officers have any expenses, nor do they carry provisions with them. They go from house to house, to lords, bishops, and abbots, where they receive all that is necessary. The greatest favour the king can do to his subjects is to go to their houses.
The women are courteous in the extreme. I mention this because they are really honest, though very bold. They are absolute mistresses of their houses, and even of their husbands, in all things concerning the administration of their property, income as well as expenditure. They are very graceful and handsome women. They dress much better than here (England), and especially as regards the head-dress, which is, I think, the handsomest in the world.
The towns and villages are populous. The houses are good, all built of hewn stone, and provided with excellent doors, glass windows, and a great number of chimneys. All the furniture that is used in Italy, Spain, and France, is to be found in their dwellings. It has not been bought in modern times only, but inherited from preceding ages.
The queens possess, besides their baronies and castles, four country seats, situated in the best portions of the kingdom, each of which is worth about fifteen thousand ducats. The king fitted them up anew only three years ago. There is not more than one fortified town in Scotland, because the kings do not allow their subjects to fortify them. The town is a very considerable borough and well armed. The whole soil of Scotland belongs to the king, the landholders being his vassals, or his tenants for life, or for a term of years. They are obliged to serve him forty days, at their own expense, every time he calls them out. They are very good soldiers. The king can assemble, within thirty days, 120,000 horse. The soldiers from the islands are not counted in this number. The islands are half a league, one, two, three, or four leagues distant from the main land. The inhabitants speak the language, and have the habits of the Irish. But there is a good deal of French education in Scotland, and many speak the French language. For all the young gentlemen who have no property go to France, and are well received there, and therefore the French are liked. Two or three times I have seen, not the whole army, but one-third of it assembled, and counted more than twelve thousand great and small tents. There is much emulation among them as to who shall be best equipped, and they are very ostentatious, and pride themselves very much in this respect. They have old and heavy artillery of iron. Besides this, they possess modern French guns of metal, which are very good. King Louis gave them to the father of the present king in payment of what was due to him as co-heir of his sister, the Queen of Scotland. This is all I am able to tell your Highnesses.
Now I shall describe where Scotland is situated, and by what countries she is surrounded. She borders on England by land, and by sea on Brittany, France, Flanders, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Ireland. She is surrounded by these countries. Scotland is powerful enough to defend herself against her neighbours should any one of them attack her without fear of God. No king can do her damage without suffering greater damages from her, that is to say, in a war on land; for they know that on the sea there are many kings more powerful than they are, although they possess many fine vessels. On land they think themselves the most powerful kingdom that exists; for they say the King of Scots has always a hundred thousand men ready to fight, and they are always paid. Towards the west there is no land between Scotland and Spain. Scotland is nearer to Spain than London, and the voyage is not dangerous. Scotland has succoured most of her neighbours. With respect to France and Flanders this is notorious. The Dukes of Burgundy wear the "tan of St Andrew," in memory of the succour which Scotland sent to Duke [blank].
Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. On the other hand, Scotland has never wanted foreign assistance. There is as great a difference between the Scotland of old time and the Scotland of to-day as there is between bad and good, .as I have already written.
Ayala goes on to say that he is afraid his description . of Scotland may appear partial ; his intention, however, is to tell the truth. Feels himself the more obliged to do so when he considers what may happen. If the third daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella be not yet engaged, it would be a service to God to marry her to the King of Scots. He would be always a faithful ally, near at hand, and ready to assist, without causing any inconvenience to Spain. The kingdom is very old, and very noble, and the king possesses great virtues, and no defects worth mentioning.
Brown, Peter Hume. Early Travellers in Scotland. David Douglas, 1891.
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