The Black Rood of Scotland

When the Anglo-Saxon princess who became the wife of King Malcolm Ceanmore landed in Scotland, about the year 1070, she brought with her what was regarded as a priceless relic,--a casket in the form of a cross, containing what was believed to be a piece of the true cross, set in an ebony crucifix, richly ornamented with gold. Of the earlier history of this relic, nothing is known; but St. Margaret bequeathed it to her children, and, when she was dying, pressed it to her lips and eyes, and expired clasping it with both her hands.

The contemporary biographer of her son, King David I., relates that the "Black Rood of Scotland," as it was called, had received the dying adoration of that saintly prince, and that in the twelfth century it had come to be regarded by the whole Scottish nation with feelings of mingled love and awe. It was kept as an heirloom of the kingdom, in the castle of Edinburgh, until, with other relics of Scotland, it was delivered to King Edward I. in the year 1291. King Edward used it to give increased solemnity to the oaths of fealty, which he exacted of the magnates of Scotland.

When the long struggle between England and Scotland was ended in 1328 by the peace of Northampton, the Black Rood was restored to Scotland as one of the national treasures.

When the hapless King David II. invaded England in 1346, he took the Black Rood with him, in belief that it would insure safety to his person, or victory to his arms. On his defeat and capture, the Black Rood of Scotland became the prize of his conqueror, Lord of Raby, and, together with other spoils of the battle, was offered up at the Shrine of St. Cuthbert in the Cathedral of Durham; and it hung there until the Reformation, when all trace of it disappeared.