"In which battle were slain seven earls of Scotland.... and also
lost _the said cross_, and many other most worthy and excellent
jewels ... together with the Black Rood of Scotland (so termed)
with Mary and John, made of silver, being, as it were, smoked
all over," &c., p. 22.
4. If they were the same, how is the legend concerning its discovery by
the king, upon Holyrood day, when hunting in a forest near Edinburgh, to
be reconciled with the fact of its being taken by St. Margaret into
Scotland? If they were not the same, what was the previous history of
each, and which was the cross of St. Margaret?
5. How is the account of Simeon of Durham, that the Black Rood was
bequeathed to Durham Priory by St. Margaret, to be reconciled with the
history of its being taken from the Scotch at the battle of Neville's
Cross?
6. May there not be a connexion between the legend of the discovery of
the "Holy Cross" between the horns of a wild hart (_Rites of Durham_, p.
21.), and the practice that existed of an offering of a stag annually
made, on St. Cuthbert's day, in September, by the Nevilles of Raby, to
the Priory of Durham? May it not have been an acknowledgement {309} that
the cross won at the battle of Neville's Cross was believed to have been
taken by King David from the hart in the forest of Edinburgh? In the
"Lament for Robert Neville," called by Surtees "the very oldest rhyme of
the North" we read--
"Wel, qwa sal thir hornes blaw
Haly rod thi day?
Nou is he dede and lies law
Was wont to blaw thaim ay."
7. Is it known what became of the "Holy Cross" or "Black Rood" at the
dissolution of Durham Priory?