282 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 48. 



stood on the crown of this monument. The urn 

 was smashed and the contents scattered over the 

 jrround, during the French Revolution. A much 

 more important loss to posterity was incurred by 

 the destruction of the manuscripts entrusted by 

 James to the keeping of the brotherhood he loved. 

 The trust is alluded to with mingled pride and 

 affection in the noble and touching inscription on 

 the royal monument. 



J.D. 

 Earl's Court, Kensington. 



HAXDFASTING. 



(Vol. ii., p. 151.) 



Your correspondent J. M. G. has brought for- 

 ward a curious subject, and one well deserving 

 attention and illustration. A fair is said to have 

 been held at the meeting of the Black and White 

 Esks, at the footof Eskdalemuir, in Dumfriesshire, 

 when the singular custom of Handfasting was ob- 

 served. The old statistical account of the parish 

 says : 



" At that fair it was the custom for unmarried per- 

 sons of both sexes to choose a companion according to 

 their liking, whom they were to live with till Hint time 

 next year. This was called liandf.istbig, or hand-in-fist. 

 If they were pleased with each other at that time, 

 then they continued together for life ; if not, they 

 separated, and were free to make another choice as at 

 the first." 



John Maxwell, Esq., of Broomholm, in a letter 

 (dated April 15th, 1796) to the Rev. Wm. Brown, 

 D. D., of Eskdalemuir, says, in reference to this 

 custom : 



" No account can be given of the period at which 



the custom of handfasting commenced ; but I was told 



by an old man, John Murray, who died at the farm of 



Irvine (as you go from Langholm to Canobie), and 



had formerly been a proprietor in Eskdalemuir, that 



he was acquainted with, or at least had seen an old 



man, I think his name was Beattie, who was grandson 



to a couple who had been handfasted. You perhaps 



know that the children born under the handfasting en- 



' gagement were reckoned lawful children, and not bastards, 



though the parents did afterwards resile. This custom 



I of handfasting does not seem to have been peculiar to 



I your parish. Mention is made in some histories of 



i Scotland that Robert II. was handfasted to Elizabetli 



1 More before he married Euphemia Iloss, daughter of 



Hugh, Earl of that name, by both of whom he had 



children : bis eldest son John, by Elizabeth .'More, viz., 



King Kobert III., commonly called Jock Ferngyear, 



succeeded to the throne in preference to the sons of 



Eupliemia, his married wife. Indeed, after Euphemla's 



death, lie married his former handfasted wife Elizabeth." 



Sir J. Chardin observes that contracts for tem- 

 porary wives are fre(|uent in the East, which con- 

 tracts are made before the Cadi with the tbrmality 

 of a measure of corn, mentioned over and above 

 the stipulated sum of money. 



Baron du Tott's account of "Marriages by 

 Capin," corroborated by Eastern travellers, corre- 

 sponds with the custom of Handfasting. He says : 



" There is another kind of marriage which, stipu- 

 lating the return to be made, fixes likewise the time 

 when the divorce is to take place. This contract is 

 called capin : and, properly speaking, is only an agree- 

 ment between the parties to live together fur such a 

 price, during such a time," 



This contract is a regular form of marriage, and 

 is so regarded generally m the East. 



The Jews seem to have had a similar custom, 

 which perhaps they borrowed from the neighbour- 

 ing nations; at least the connexion Ibrmed by 

 the prophet Hosea (chap. iii. 2.) bears a strong 

 resemblance to Hand/astiitg and Capin. 



Jarltzberg. 



ADAM OF BREMEN S JDLIN. 



In reply to V. from Belgravia (Vol. ii., p. 2.30.), 

 I am partially at a loss to know the exact bearing 

 of his Query. Adam of Bremen's account of Julin 

 is no legend, nor does he mention it at all as a 

 doomed city. On the contrary, his description is 

 that of a flourishing emporium of commerce, for 

 which purpose he selects very strong superlatives, 

 as in the following account (-De Situ DamcB, lib. ii. 

 cap. ii.) : 



" Ultra Leuticos qui alio nomine Welzi dicuntur 

 Oddera Flumen occurrit ; amnis dilectissimus Sla- 

 vonic* regionis. In cujus ostro, qui Scythicas alludet 

 paludes, nobilissima civltas Julinum celebcrrimam 

 Barbaris et Gra'cis qui in circuitu prcestet stationem. 

 De cujus prajconio quia magna et vix credibilia reci- 

 tantur, volupe arbitror pauca inserere digna relata. 

 Est sane masime omnium quas Europa claudit civita- 

 tum, quam incolunt Slavi cum aliis gentibus Gra;cis et 

 Barbaris. Nam et advenae Saxones parcm cohabitandi 

 legem accepcriMit, si tamen Christianitatis titulum ibi 

 morantes non publicaverint. Omnes enim adhuc pa- 

 ganicis ritibus aberrant, celerum moribiis et hospitali- 

 tate nulla gens honestior aiU benignior poterit inveniri. 

 Urbs ilia mercibus omnium septentrionalium nationum 

 locuples nihil non habet jucundi et rari." 



As Adam is supposed to have been a native and 

 a priest at ISIagdeburg, whence he was translated 

 by Archbisliop Adalbert to a benefice in the cathe- 

 dral of Breuien, he must, from his comp.arative 

 ])roximity to the spot, be supposed a competent 

 witness ; and there is no reason to suppose why he 

 should not have been also a creditable one. He 

 died about 1072, and the legends, if any, concern- 

 ing this famous place, here described as the most 

 extensive in Europe, must have been subsequently 

 framed. 



For about one hundred years later (1 1 84) we have 

 from Helmold, the pari.-.h priest of IJosan, a small 

 village on the eastern confines of Holstein, a repe- 

 tition of Adam's words, for a place which he calls 



