The Fall of King James the First of Scotland, Murdered by His Own Subjects

If for example’s sake thou wrote thy booke,
I charge thee, Baldwine, thou forget mee not,
Whom fortune alwayes frowardly forsooke,
Such was my lucke, my merite, or my lot:
I am that Iames, king Robert’s sonne, the Scot
That was in England prysoner all his youth,
Through mine vncle Walter’s trayterous vntruth.

For when my father through disease and age,
Unwieldy was to gouerne well his land,
Because his brother Walter seemed sage,
Hee put the rule thereof into his hand:
Than had my father (you shall vnderstand)
Of lawfull barnes mee and one only other,
Nempt Dauy Rothsay, who was mine elder brother.

This Dauy was prince of Scotland, and so take
Till his aduoutry caused men complayne:
Which that hee might by monishment forsake,
My father prayed mine uncle take the payne,
To threaten him his vices to refrayne:
But hee false traytor, bucherly, murdering wretch,
To get the crowne began to fetch a fetch.

And finding now a proffer to his pray,
Deuised meanes my brother to deuour,
And for that cause conuayde him, day by day,
From place to place, from castle vnto towre,
To Faulkland fort, where like a tormentour
Hee starued him, and put to death a wife
Whom through a reede hee suckt to saue his life.

O wretched death, fye cruell tyranny,
A prince in pryson lost for want of foode!
Was neuer enmy wrought such vilany,
A trusty brother destroy his brother’s bloode:
Woe worth so friendly, fye on double hoode:
Ah, wretched father, see thy sonne is lost,
Starued by thy brother whome thou trustedst most.

Of whom when some beganne to finde the fraud,
(And yet the traytor made himselfe so cleare,
That hee should seeme to haue deserued laud,
So woefull did hee for his prince appeare)
My doubtfull father, louing mee full deare,
T’avoyde all daunger that might after chaunce,
Sent mee away, but nine yeares olde, to Fraunce.

But windes and weather were so contrary,
That wee were driuen to the English coast,
Which realme with Scotland at that time did vary,
So that they tooke mee as prysoner, not as hoast:
For which my father, fearing I was lost,
Conceiued shortly such an inward thought,
As to the graue immediatly him brought.

Then had mine uncle all the regiment
At home, and I in England prisoner lay:
For to himselfe hee thought it detriment
For my release any ransome for to pay,
For as hee thought hee had possest his pray:
And therefore wisht I might in duraunce dure
Till I had died, so should his raigne be sure.

But good king Henry, seeing I was a childe,
And heyr by right vnto a realme and crowne,
Did bring mee vp, (not like my brother, wilde)
But vertuously, in feates of high renowne,
In liberall artes, in instrumentall sowne:
By meane whereof when I was after king,
I did my realme to ciuill order bring.

For ere I had beene prysoner eighteene yeere,
In which short space two noble princes dyed,
Whereof the first in prudence had no peere,
The other in warre most valiaunt throughly tryed,
Whose roume his sonne babe Henry, eke supplyed:
The peeres of England which did gouerne all,
Did of theyr goodnes helpe mee out of thrall.

They maryed mee to a cosin of theyr king,
The duke of Somerset’s daughter rich and fayre,
Releast my ransome saue a trifling thing:
And after I had done homage to th’heyre,
And sworne my frendship neuer should appayre,
They brought mee kingly furnisht to my land,
Which I receaued at mine vncle’s hand.

Whereof my lords and commons were full glad,
So was mine vncle chiefly, as hee sayde,
Who in his mouth no other matter had,
Saue punish such as had my brother trayed:
The fault whereof apparauntly hee layed
To good duke Murdo, his elder brother’s sonne,
Whose father dyed long ere this was done.

My cursed vncle, slyer than the snake,
Which would by craft vnto the crowne aspire,
Because hee sawe this Murdo was a stake
That stayed vp the top of his desire,
(For his elder brother was duke Murdoe’s syre)
Hee thought it best to haue him made away,
So was hee sure (I gone) to haue his pray.

And by his craftes the traytour brought to passe,
That I destroyde duke Murdo and his kin,
Poore innocents, my louing friendes, alas:
O kinges, and princes, what plight stand wee in,
A trusted traytour shall you quickly win,
To put to death your kin and friendes most iust:
Take heede therefore, take heede whose reede yee trust.

And at the last to bring mee whole in hate
With God and man, at home and eke abrode,
Hee counsayl’d mee, for suraunce of my state
To help the Frenchmen, then nigh ouertrode
By Englishmen: and more to lay on lode,
With power and force all England to inuade,
Against the oth and homage that I made.

And though at first my conscience did grudge,
To breake the boundes of friendship knit by oth,
Yet after proofe (see mischiefe) I did iudge
It madnes for a king to keepe his troth,
And semblably with all the world it goth:
Sinnes oft assayde are thought to bee no sinne,
So soyleth sinne the soule it sinketh in.

But as diseases common cause of death,
Bring daunger most when least they pricke and smart,
Which is a signe they haue expulst the breath
Of liuely heate, which doth defend the heart:
Euen so such sinnes as felt are on no part
Haue conquered grace, and by theyr wicked vre
So kild the soule, that it can haue no cure.

And grace agate, vice still succedeth vice,
And all to haste the vengeaunce for the furst,
I areade therefore all people to bee wise,
And stop the brake when it begins to burst:
Attast no poyson (vice is venim worst,
It mates the minde) beware eke of too much,
All kill through muchnes, some with onely touch.

When I had learnde to set my oth at nought,
And through much vse the sence of sinne exiled,
Against king Henry what I could, I wrought,
My fayth, my oth, vniustly foule defiled:
And while slye fortune at my doings smyled,
The wrath of God, which I had well deserued,
Fell on my necke, for thus loe was I serued.

Ere I had raygned fully fifteene yeare,
While time I lay at Pertho, at my place,
With the queene my wife and children mee to chare,
My murdring uncle with the double face,
That longed for my kingdome and my mace,
To slay mee there suborned Robert Grame,
With whom his nephue, Robert Stuard, came.

And when theyr time fit for theyr purpose founde,
Into my priuy chamber they astart,
Where with theyr swordes they gaue mee many a wound,
And slue all such as stuck vnto my part:
There loe my wife did shew her louing heart,
Who, to defend mee, felled one or twayne,
And was sore wounded ere I coulde bee slayne.

See Baldwine, Baldwine, the vnhappy endes
Of such as passe not for theyr lawfull oth:
Of those that causeles leaue theyr fayth and frendes,
And murder kinsfolkes through their foes vntroth:
Warne, warne all princes, all like sinnes to loth,
And chiefly such as in my realme be borne,
For God hates highly all that are forsworne.]