Good folks, I have here a letter received from the Archbishop of Glasgow, marked by his round seal, directed to me and all other chaplains, making mention, with great regret, how heavy he bears the piteous, lamentable, and dolorous complaint that passes over our realm and comes to his ears, in person and by rumor, of how our Lord's faithful sovereigns-- men, women and children, bought and redeemed by the precious blood of our Savior Jesus Christ, and leavened in his laws, are innocently murdered, slain, burnt, hurt, despoiled, and robbed-- openly in daylight and under the silence of night-- their farms and lands laid waste, and therefore turned out, with churchlands as well laid waste by common traitors, reivers, thieves, dullards in the south part of this realm, such as Teviotdale, Eskdale, Liddesdale, Ewisdale, Nithsdale, and Annandale. While they have been pursued and punished by the temporal sword under our Sovereign Lord's authority, they dread them not and these reivers continue their wicked ways.

 

Therefore, my Lord, the Archbishop of Glasgow, has thought it expedient to strike them with the terrible sword of

the Holy Church, which they may not long endure and resist; and charged me, or any other chaplain, to denounce,

declare, and proclaim them openly and generally cursed, at this market-cross, and all other public places.

 

Therefore, through the authority of Almighty God, the Father of Heaven, his Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of

the Holy Ghost; through the authority of the Blessed Virgin Saint Mary, Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel & all the angels; Saint John the Baptist and all the holy patriarchs and prophets; Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Andrew and all the holy apostles; Saint Stephen, Saint Lawrence, and all the holy martyrs; Saint Gile, Saint Martin, and the holy confessors; Saint Anne, Saint Katherine and all the holy virgins and matrons; and of all the saints and holy company of heaven; by the authority of our holy father the Pope and his cardinals and of my lord, the Archbishop of Glasgow, our bishops, abbots, priors, and other prelates and ministers of the Holy Church,

 

the committers of those senseless murders, slaughters, burning, kidnappings, reivings, thefts and spoilings, whether done openly in daylight or under the silence of night, in temporal lands as well as in church lands, plus their partners, assisters, suppliers, knowing receivers of their persons and the goods reived & stolen by them, those who counsel them and defend them of their evil deeds-- all of them I hereby denounce and proclaim to be CURSED, execrated, aggregate and reaggregate with the GREAT CURSING.

 

I curse their heads and all the hairs of their heads; I curse their faces, their eyes, their mouths, their noses, their tongues, their teeth, their necks, their shoulders, their breasts, their hearts, their stomachs, their backs, their wombs, their arms, their legs, their hands, their feet, and every part of their bodies. I curse them from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet. I curse them front and behind, inside and out.

 

I curse them walking and riding; I curse them standing and sitting; I curse them eating and I curse them drinking; I curse them waking and sleeping, rising and lying; I curse them at home; I curse them away from home; I curse them inside their houses and outside their houses; I curse their wives, their children, and their servants who help with their evil deeds. I curse their crops, their cattle, their wool, their sheep, their horses, their swine, their geese, their hens and all their livestock. I curse their halls, their rooms, their kitchens, their stalls, their barns, their cowsheds, their barnyards, their cabbage patches, their plows and their harrows. I curse all the goods and every building necessary for their sustenance and well-being.

 

I beseech God that all the curses that ever troubled worldly creatures since the beginning of the earth to this hour might fall upon them;

that the malediction of God that falls upon Lucifer and all his followers, striking them from the highest heaven to the deepest hell, might fall upon them;

that the fire and sword which stopped Adam before the gates of paradise might keep them from the glory of heaven until they beg forgiveness and make amends;

that the curse which fell upon Cain when he senselessly slew his brother, the just Abel, might burden them for the senseless slaughter they commit daily;

that the malediction which falls upon all the world, man and beast, for all who ever took life, as when all were drowned by Noah's flood except Noah and his ark-- such a curse might light upon them and drown them all, man and beast, and free this realm of their wicked sinning.

 

I beseech God that the thunder and lightning that rained upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and all the lands nearby, that burned them for their vile sins, might rain on these reivers and burn them for their wicked ways;

that the curses and confusion that fell upon the Giants, for their oppression and for their pride in building the tower of Babylon, might confound them and all their works, due to their blatant reivings and oppression;

that all the plagues that fell upon Pharaoh and his people of Egypt, not to mention their lands, crops and cattle, might fall upon these reivers, as the Red Sea drowned Pharaoh and his people of Egypt who were pursuing God's people of Israel;

that the earth might open, cleaving, and swallow them quick to hell, as it swallowed the accursed Dathon and Abiron, who defied Moses and the command of God;

that the wildfire which burned Thor and his two hundred & fifty followers as well as the fourteen thousand & seven hundred who rose up against the servants of God, Moses and Aaron-- that that wildfire might suddenly burn and consume these reivers who daily defy the commands of God and the Holy Church.

 

I beseech God that the malediction which fell suddenly upon fair Absalon, who defied his father, King David, servant of God-- when Absalon was riding through the woods and the branches of one tree knocked him from his horse and hanged him by the hair-- that that maledcition might fall upon these reivers who ride against Scotsmen true to the faith and that they might hang by their hair for all the world to see;

that the malediction which fell upon Olifernus, lieutenant to Nebudchunezzar, when he was making war and kidnapping faithful Christians and the malediction that fell upon Judas, Pilot, Herod and the Jews that crucified our Lord, and all the plagues and troubles that fell upon the city of Jerusalem thereafter, and upon Simon Magus for his simony, bloody Nero, accursed Ditius Makcensius, Olibruis, Julianus Apostita and the rest of

the cruel tyrants that slew and murdered Christ's holy servants-- that those same maledictions might fall upon these reivers for their cruel tyrrany and murder of our Christian people.  

 

I beseech God that all the vengeance that ever was taken since the world began for blatant sinning and all the plagues and pestilence that ever fell upon man or beast might fall upon them for their open reiving, merciless slaughter and their shedding of innocent blood.

 

I sever and remove them from the Church of God, and deliver them quick to the devil of hell, as the Apostle Saint Paul delivered the Corinthians. I prohibit the places they come to for divine service to administer the sacraments of the Holy Church, excepting only baptism, and I forbid all churchmen to absolve them of their sins, until they repent and are absolved of my curse.

 

I forbid all Christian men and women from accompanying them in eating, drinking, speaking, praying, lying, walking, standing, or in doing any other deed, under the pain of deadly sin. I discharge all promises, acts, contracts, oaths and obligations made to them by any person, either out of loyalty, kindness or personal fealty, so long as they sustain this curse. No man will be bound to them nor will they be bound to any man. I take from them and denounce all the good deeds that they have done or shall do, until they repent. I declare them excluded of all masses, evensongs, dirges or other prayers on book or bead. All pilgrimages and almshouse deeds done or to be done in the Holy Church or by Christian people will exclude them to the end of this cursing.

 

And, finally, I condemn them perpetually to the deep pit of hell, to remain with Lucifer and all his followers, and condemn their bodies to the gallows of Burrow Muir, first to be hanged, then ripped and torn by dogs, swine and other wild beasts abominable to all the world. Their candles are to be gone from your sight just as their souls are gone from the sight of God.  Likewise, their good fame should be hidden from the world until they stop their blatant sinning and rise from this terrible cursing to make amends and repentence.