Sir Thomas de Ercildoun, better remembered as Thomas the Rhymer (fl. c. 1220 – 1298), also known as Thomas Learmont or True Thomas, was a Scottish laird and reputed prophet from Earlston (then called "Erceldoune") in the Borders.; Thomas' gift of prophecy is linked to his poetic ability.
He is often cited as the author of the English Sir Tristrem, a version of the Tristram legend, and some lines in Robert Mannyng's Chronicle may be the source of this association. It is not clear if the name Rhymer was his actual surname or merely a sobriquet.. "Robert de Brunne" here is another name for Robert Mannyng. Scott goes on to quote another source from a manuscript in French, but Thomas of "Engleterre" is likely Thomas of Britain.
In literature, he appears as the protagonist in the tale about Thomas the Rhymer carried off by the "Queen of Elfland" and returned having gained the gift of prophecy, as well as the inability to tell a lie. The tale survives in a medieval verse romance in five manuscripts, as well as in the popular ballad "Thomas Rhymer" (Child Ballad number 37).Child Ballad #37. "Thomas the Rymer", The romance occurs as "Thomas off Ersseldoune" in the Lincoln Thornton Manuscript.
The original romance (from c. 1400) was probably condensed into ballad form (c. 1700) though there are dissenting views on this. Walter Scott expanded the ballad into three parts, adding a sequel which incorporated the prophecies ascribed to Thomas, and an epilogue where Thomas is summoned back to Elfland after the appearance of a sign, in the form of the milk-white hart and hind. Numerous prose retellings of the tale of Thomas the Rhymer have been undertaken, and included in fairy tale or folk-tale anthologies; these often incorporate the return to Fairyland episode that Scott reported to have learned from local legend.
Historical figure
Sir Thomas was born in Erceldoune (also spelled Ercildoune – now Earlston), Berwickshire, sometime in the 13th century, and has a reputation as the author of many prophetic verses. Little is known for certain of his life but two charters from 1260 to 1280 and 1294 mention him, the latter referring to "Thomas de Ercildounson son and heir of Thome Rymour de Ercildoun".Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v. 1, p. 317, Dover Publications, New York 1965
Thomas became known as "True Thomas", supposedly because he could not tell a lie. Popular lore recounts how he prophesied many great events in Scottish history, including the death of Alexander III of Scotland.
Popular esteem of Thomas lived on for centuries after his death, and especially in Scotland, overtook the reputation of all rival prophets including Merlin, whom the 16th century pamphleteer of The Complaynt of Scotland denounced as the author of the prophecy (unity under one king) which the English used as justification for aggression against his countrymen. It became common for fabricated prophecies (or reworkings of earlier prophecies) to be attributed to Thomas to enhance their authority, as seen in collections of prophecies which were printed, the earliest surviving being a chapbook entitled "The Whole Prophecie of Scotland, England, etc." (1603). (Repr. Edinburgh: The Bannatyne Club 1833; Later edition: Edinburgh: Andro Hart, 1615)
Prophecies attributed to Thomas Descriptions and paraphrases of Thomas's prophecies were given by various Scottish historians of yore, though none of them quoted directly from Thomas."His prophecies are alluded to by Barbour, by Wintoun, and by Henry, the minstrel, or Blind Harry.. None of these authors, however, give the words of any of the Rhymer's vaticinations" Scott undertook creative exercise of writing in verse of his own what Thomas's prophecy might have been: "Thomas the Rhymer: Part Second" by . Scott prefaced his creation with copious notes to fend off "the more severe antiquaries".
"On the morrow, afore noon, shall blow the greatest wind that ever was heard before in Scotland."This particular rendition from Latin into English can be found in, e.g.: This prophecy predicted the death of Alexander III in 1286. Thomas gave this prediction to the Earl of Dunbar, but when there was no change in weather patterns discernible at the ninth hour, the Earl sent for the prophet to be reproved. Thomas replied the appointed hour has not come, and shortly thereafter, the news came reporting of the king's death.
The earliest notice of this prophecy occurs in Bower's 15th-century Scotichronicon, written in Latin.Bower, Scotichronicon Book X, Ch. 43: "...qua ante horam explicite duodecimam audietur tam vehemens ventus in Scotia, quod a magnis retroactis temporibus consimilis minime inveniebatur." (footnoted in ) An early English vernacular source is John Bellenden's 16th century Croniklis of Scotland, a translation of Hector Boece.
"Who shal rule the ile of Bretaine / From the North to the South sey?" "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." The lines given are structured in the form of one man's questions, answered by another, who goes on to identify himself: "In Erlingstoun, I dwelle at hame/Thomas Rymour men calles me."
Printed in the aforementioned chapbook The Whole Prophecie of 1603, published upon the death of Elizabeth I, the prophecy purports to have presaged Scottish rule of all of Britain by James I, whose mother Mary Stewart, had been raised in her own mother's native France and was briefly their Queen Consort during her first childless marriage to Francis II.
This "became in the sequel by far the most famous of all the prophecies," but it has been argued that this is a rehash of an earlier prophecy that was originally meant for John Stewart, Duke of Albany (d. 1536),, citing Lord Hailes, Remarks on the History of Scotland (1773), Chapter III, pp.89– whose mother was Anna de la Tour d'Auvergne, daughter of the Count of Auvergne. Words not substantially different are also given in the same printed book, under the preceding section for the prophecy of John of Bridlington,"How euer it happen for to fall, / The Lyon shal be Lord of all./The French wife shal beare the sonne, /Shal welde al Bretane to the sea, And from the Bruce's blood shall come. /As near as the ninth degree." () and the additional date clue there "1513 & thrise three there after" facilitating the identification "Duke's son" in question as Duke of Albany, although Murray noted that the Duke's "performance of ... doubty deeds" was something he "utterly failed to do".
Popular folkloric prophecies Walter Scott was familiar with rhymes purported to be the Rhymer's prophecies in the local popular tradition, and published several of them., Minstrelsy II, pp. 300–, "sundry rhymes, passing for his prophetic effusions, are still current among the vulgar" Later Robert Chambers printed additional collected rhyme prophecies ascribed to Thomas, in Popular Rhymes (1826).
"At Eildon Tree, if yon shall be, a brig ower Tweed yon there may see." Scott identifies the tree as that on Eildon Hill in Melrose, some five miles away from today's Earlston. Three bridges built across the river were visible from that vantage point in Scott's day.
"This Thorn-Tree, as lang as it stands, Earlstoun sall possess a' her lands." or "As long as the Thorn Tree stands / Ercildourne shall keep its lands". This was first of several prophecies attributed to the Rhymer collected by Chambers, who identified the tree in question as one that fell in a storm in either 1814 or 1821, presumably on the about the last remaining acre belonging to the town of Earlstoun. The prophecy was lent additional weight at the time, because as it so happened, the merchants of the town had fallen under bankruptcy by a series of "unfortunate circumstances". According to one account, "Rhymer's thorn" was a huge tree growing in the garden of the Black Bull Inn, whose proprietor, named Thin, had its roots cut all around, leaving it vulnerable to the storm that same year.. Murray received detailed report on the tree from Mr James Wood, Galashiels.
"When the Yowes o' Gowrie come to land, The Day o' Judgment's near at hand" The "Ewes of Gowrie" are two boulders near Invergowrie protruding from the Firth of Tay, said to approach the land at the rate of an inch a year. This couplet was also published by Chambers, though filed under a different locality (Perthshire), and he ventured to guess that the ancient prophecy was "perhaps by Thomas the Rhymer." Barbara Ker Wilson's retold version has altered the rhyme, including the name of the rocks thus: "When the Cows o' Gowrie come to land / The Judgement Day is near at hand."
"York was, London is, and Edinbruch 'ill be, the biggest and the bonniest o' a' the three"Modernized as: "York was, London is, and Edinburgh shall be / The biggest and bonniest o' the three", Collected from a 72-year-old man resident in Edinburgh.
The Weeping Stones Curse: "Fyvie, Fyvie thou'se never thrive, lang's there's in thee stanes three : There's ane intill the highest tower, There's ane intill the ladye's bower, There's ane aneath the water-yett, And thir three stanes ye'se never get."Modern variant "Fyvie, Fyvie thou'll never thrive / As long as there's in thee stones three;/There's one in the oldest tower,/There's one in the lady's bower/There's one in the water-gate,/And these three stones you'll never get." in: Tradition in Aberdeenshire said that Fyvie Castle stood seven years awaiting arrival of "True Tammas," as the Rhymer was called in the local dialect. The Rhymer arrived carrying a storm that brewed all around him, though perfectly calm around his person, and pronounced the above curse. Two of the stones were found, but the third stone of the water-gate eluded discovery. And since 1885 no eldest son has lived to succeed his father.
"Betide, betide, whate'er betide, Haig shall be Haig of Bemerside. This prophesied the ancient family of the Haigs of Bemerside will survive for perpetuity. Chambers, in a later editions his Popular Rhymes (1867) prematurely reported that "the prophecy has come to a sad end, for the Haigs of Bemerside have died out." In fact, Field Marshal Douglas Haig hails from this family, and was created earl in 1919, currently succeeded by the 3rd Earl (b. 1961).
Ballad
The ballad (Roud 219) around the legend of Thomas was catalogued Child Ballad #37 "Thomas the Rymer," by Francis James Child in 1883. Child published three versions, which he labelled A, B and C, but later appended two more variants in Volume 4 of his collection of ballads, published in 1892. Some scholars refer to these as Child's D and E versions. Version A, which is a Mrs Brown's recitation, and C, which is Walter Scott's reworking of it, were together classed as the Brown group by C.E. Nelson, while versions B, D, E are all considered by Nelson to be descendants of an archetype that reduced the romance into ballad form in about 1700, and classed as the 'Greenwood group'. (See §Ballad sources).
Child provided a critical synopsis comparing versions A, B, C in his original publication, and considerations of the D, E versions have been added below.
Ballad synopsis The brief outline of the ballad is that while Thomas is lying outdoors on a slope by a tree in the Erceldoune neighborhood, the queen of Elfland appears to him riding upon a horse and beckons him to come away. When he consents, she shows him three marvels: the road to Heaven, the road to Hell, and the road to her own world (which they follow). After seven years, Thomas is brought back into the mortal realm. Asking for a token by which to remember the queen, he is offered the choice of having powers of harpistry, or else of prophecy, and of these he chooses the latter.