The Future Pope Pius II Visits Scotland, 1435
In this eyewitness account, the future Pope, AEneas Sylvius, visits Scotland on political business and writes of what he saw there.
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AEneas Sylvius
(Reign of James I)
From Early Travellers in Scotland by Peter Hume Brown, 1891.
AEneas Sylvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II.), born in 1405, is one of the most curious and interesting figures in the long line of the Papacy. "A Gil Blas of the Middle Ages " such is the character his easy morals and equivocal career have gained for him. The child of poor but noble parents, he was sent at the age of eighteen to study law at Siena, At twenty-six he accompanied a certain cardinal to the Council of Basel in the capacity of secretary; and in the service of the various masters he successively served, he visited almost every country of Europe. Keen-witted, insinuating, the most agreeable of companions, devoid of all nice scruples, AEneas was an invaluable agent in the tortuous policy that followed the long schism in the popedom. At the age of forty he took orders with the sole purpose, as he himself frankly confesses, of bettering his worldly condition. He did not miscalculate, as he was in succession made Bishop of Trieste, Cardinal of Siena, and finally Pope under the title of Pius II. AEneas ranks as one of the most distinguished of the Italian humanists; and in the bulk, as likewise the grossness of his writings, he is surpassed by none of them.
Of his visit to Scotland, which took place in the reign of James I., there are two accounts in his works, which do not in every point agree. According to the one the object of his visit was to effect a reconciliation between the king and a certain bishop; according to the other his object was to incite James to war against England. By the one account he landed in England of his own accord, and was refused a passport to Scotland; by the other he was driven on the English coast, and betrayed to the government by spies.
Both accounts agree, however, in stating that he reached Scotland by sea after a succession of storms which deprived him of all hope of reaching land. In his extremity AEneas registered a vow that in the event of his life being spared he would make a pilgrimage barefoot to the nearest shrine. No one could well be less of an enthusiast or ascetic than AEneas, and on this occasion he had good reason to regret his access of pious feeling. "In fulfilment of his vow," says one of his biographers, "he contracted the beginning of that disease, which left its results in attacks of rheumatism that afflicted him for the rest of his life. For, having gone all the way to the shrine, a distance of 10 miles, barefooted on the frozen ground, it was only by means of a litter that he could return to the town."
His mission, whatever it may have been, was not wholly successful, though the king treated him generously, defraying his travelling expenses, and presenting him with two horses, and a pearl, which AEneas destined for his mother.
Of the two extracts that follow the first is from the De Europa, a geographical description of the various countries of Europe; the second from the Commentarii Rerum Memorabilium, quae temporibus suis contigerunt.
Scotland: Its Climate, Its People, and Their Habits—AEneas’ Experiences in the Country (De Europa)
Scotland is the remotest part of that island in which England is situated. It stretches in a northerly direction, possesses no large rivers, and is separated from England by a mountain (quodam monte). Here I once lived in the season of winter, when the sun illuminates the earth little more than three hours. At that time James (I.) was king, robust of person, and oppressed by his excessive corpulence. Formerly made a captive by the English, he had been kept a prisoner for eleven years; and on his return (with an English wife) he was eventually slain by his own subjects. After his death had been fully avenged, his son succeeded him in the kingdom. I had previously heard that there was a tree in Scotland, that growing on the banks of rivers produced fruits in the form of geese, which, as they approached ripeness dropped off of their own accord, some on the ground and some into the water; that those which fell on the ground rotted, but that those submerged in the water immediately assumed life, and swam about under the water, and new into the air with feathers and wings.
When I made enquiries regarding this story, I learned that the miracle was always referred to some place further off, and that this famous tree was to be found not in Scotland but in the Orkney Islands, though the miracle had been represented to me as taking place among the Scots.
In this country I saw the poor, who almost in a state of nakedness begged at the church doors, depart with joy in their faces on receiving stones as alms. This stone, whether by reason of sulphurous or some fatter matter which it contains, is burned instead of wood, of which the country is destitute.
(Commentarii Rerum Memorabilium, p. 4.)
AEneas found the following facts relating to Scotland worthy of mention. Scotland makes part of the same island as England, stretching northwards 200 miles with a breadth of 50. Its climate being cold, it produces few crops, and is scantily supplied with wood. A sulphurous stone dug from the earth is used by the people for fuel. The towns have no walls, and the houses are for the most part constructed without lime. The roofs of the houses in the country are made of turf, and the doors of the humbler dwellings are made of the hide of oxen. The common people are poor, and destitute of all refinement. They eat flesh and fish to repletion, and bread only as a dainty. The men are small in stature, bold and forward in temper; the women, fair in complexion, comely and pleasing, but not distinguished for their chastity, giving their kisses more readily than Italian women their hands.
There is no wine in the country unless what is imported. All the horses are amblers, and are of small size. A few are kept for breeding, the rest being gelded. They are never touched either with an iron brush or a wooden comb, and they are managed without bit. The oysters of the country are larger than those found in England. Hides, wool, salted fish, and pearls are exported to Flanders. Nothing pleases the Scots more than abuse of the English. There are said to be two distinct countries in Scotland the one cultivated, the other covered with forests and possessing no tilled land. The Scots who live in the wooded region speak a language of their own, and sometimes use the bark of trees for food. There are no wolves in Scotland. The crow is unusual in the country, and consequently the tree in which it builds is the king's property. At the winter solstice in Scotland (the season when AEneas was there) the day is not above four hours long.
His business in the country being finished, when he was on the point of departure, the captain who had brought him to Scotland came to him with the offer of the berth he had previously occupied. AEneas, thinking rather of his former dangers than divining fresh ones, replied: "If he has no right to accuse Neptune, who has twice risked his life, what shall we say of him who should suffer shipwreck thrice? For my part I prefer the tender mercies of man to those of the sea." So saying he dismissed the sailor, and decided to make his journey homewards through England. As it happened, the ship, which sailed immediately afterwards, had hardly left the harbour when she foundered in a storm and went down in sight of the shore. The master (who was returning to Flanders to celebrate his second marriage) was lost with all his crew save four, who escaped to the shore by floating on boards. On hearing of this disaster AEneas at once concluded that he owed his life to the special goodness of God.
Disguising himself as a merchant, he now made his way through Scotland into England. A river, which descends from a lofty mountain, forms the boundary of the two countries. Crossing this river in a boat, he turned aside to a large town, where he alighted at a farm-house. Here with the priest of the place, and the host, he was entertained to supper. There was abundance of hens, geese, and various relishes, but no wine or bread.
During supper the women from the surrounding houses flocked to look on as if they had never seen such a sight before, and stared at AEneas, as in Italy the people stare at an Ethiopian or an Indian. "Of what religion is he," they ask; "what has brought him here; is he acquainted with the Christian religion?" Having been cautioned beforehand, AEneas had provided himself with a number of loaves and a mensure of wine at a certain monastery. When these were laid on the board, the wonder of the barbarians was greater than ever, since wine and white bread were sights they had never seen before. Pregnant women and their husbands approaching the table handled the bread and smelt the wine, and prayed that a portion might be given them. As there was no avoiding it, the whole had to be distributed amongst them.
At two o'clock in the morning (for the meal was protracted to that hour), the priest and the landlord, rising hastily, quitted the house, leaving AEneas behind. "They were going," they said, "to a distant keep l for fear of the Scots, who for purposes of plunder were in the habit of crossing the river at ebb-tide during the night," AEneas besought eagerly to accompany them; but they gave no heed to his entreaties. They were equally deaf to the prayers of the women, though there were many handsome ones amongst them, both married and unmarried. They give out that strangers are safe at the hands of the Scots; and as for the women, they do not regard outrage done to them as any great misfortune.
Accordingly, with two male domestics and his guide, AEneas was left among some hundred women, who, forming a circle round the fire, spent the night in cleansing hemp, and in lively conversation carried on through an interpreter. A great part of the night had thus passed, when an uproar arose from the barking of dogs and the cackling of geese. The women at once fled in all directions and the guide along with them. The confusion was as complete as if the enemy were at the door. To AEneas the thought occurred that his best course was to await the event in bed that is to say, in the stable; since, ignorant as he was of the country, any attempt to escape would have placed him at the mercy of the first marauder he met.
In no long time, however, the women returned, and announced through the interpreter that there was no need for alarm, and that the newcomers were friends and not enemies. At daybreak AEneas continued his journey, and reached Newcastle, which is said to have been built by Caesar. Here for the first time it seemed to him that he once more beheld civilisation, and a country with a habitable aspect; for Scotland and that part of England adjoining it bear no resemblance to Italy, but are nothing but a rugged wilderness, unvisited by the genial sun.
Brown, Peter Hume. Early Travellers in Scotland. David Douglas, 1891.
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