154 Transactions. 



the Priory nf Guisborough in 1119, and the Brus family* in 

 Annandale, as elsewhere, reserved their generosity for that house. 

 Otherwise Annan might have become the seat of a bishopric or 

 great monastic institution. 



III. St. MalacMs Curse (1148). 



One ancient legend breaks the monotony of the earliest annals 

 of Annan. Its narratorf was the writer of the Chronicle of 

 Lanercost,]. believed to have been a Minorite Friar of Carlisle. 



Malachi O'Morgair, a renowned Irish bishop of great sanctity, 

 afterwards canonized, was passing through Annandale on a journey 

 towards Rome. Probabilities point to 1148 as the date. On his 

 way he paused for rest and refection at Annan, which the 

 chronicler tells us was a small town, the capital of the district, 

 Anandia capitanea illius patriae villula. Inquiring where he 

 could best seek hospitality he was directed to the liall (aula) of 

 the lord of the place, Robert de Brus, son of the original grantee 

 of Annandale. A robber was on the point of being hanged. On 

 this coming to St. Malachi's ears as he sat under the Brus's roof, 

 he said to the Bius that the judgment of blood had never yet 

 desecrated his presence, and he claimed as a pilgrim that Brus 

 should grant hiui the malefactor's life. To tliis Brus, by a nod, 

 seemingly consented, but quietly went outside and ordered the 

 thief to be hanged there and then. When St. Malachi resumed 

 his journey he saw the dead body dangling on the neighbouring 

 gallows. The saint had, before setting out, invoked a blessing on 

 the Bruce and all his house. This spectacle caused a I'evulsion of 

 feeling ; the blessing was revoked and a curse denounced instead. 

 This strange narrative, whilst incidentally styling Annan a city, 

 adds the remarkable observation that in consequence of tlie 

 saint's malediction not only did the descendants of Brus long 

 suffer a blight but the town itself, Annan, " lost the honour of a 

 burgh." 



The miraculous element in the story concerns us little here, but 

 it is too interesting to be passed without notice. The curse of the 

 saint the chronicler assures us, lay on the line of Brus for several 



*See this remarked upon in Guisborough Chartulary (Surtees Society), 

 pref. xvii. 



tThe story has been dealt with in detail in my article, entitled " Saint 

 Malachi's Curse," Scots Lore, p. 124. 



XChronicon de Lanercost (Maitland Chib), KJO-lfil. 



