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Thomas the Rhymer

 
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Thomas of Erceldoune
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Thomas of Erceldoune (ûr'səldūn'), fl. 1220?-1297?, Scottish seer and poet, also known as Thomas the Rhymer and Thomas Learmont. Evidence of his existence is founded on the mention of his name in documents of the 13th cent. Soon after his death his reputation as a prophet became proverbial. His reputed sayings were consulted as late as the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. He supposedly predicted the battle of Bannockburn and the accession of James VI to the English throne. The poetical romance of Thomas and the Elf-Queen, attributed to him but actually composed about 1400, describes the events surrounding his receipt of the gift of prophecy.
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Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Thomas the Rhymer
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(fl. 1220)

Scottish soothsayer (prophet) of the thirteenth century. It is impossible to name the exact birth date of Thomas the Rhymer, who is well known for figuring in a ballad included in Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.

Thomas is commonly supposed to have lived at the beginning of the thirteenth century, that period being assigned because the name "Thomas Rimor de Ercildun" is appended as witness to a deed, whereby one "Petrus de Haga de Bemersyde" agreed to pay half a stone of wax annually to the Abbot of Melrose, and this "Petrus" has been identified with a person of that name known to have been living about 1220.

Erceldoune or Ercildun is simply the old way of spelling Earlston, a village in the extreme west of Berwickshire, near the line demarking that county from Roxburgh.

It would seem that Thomas held estates in this region, for he is mentioned as a land owner by several early writers, most of whom add that he did not hold his lands from the Crown, but from the Earls of Dunbar. Be that as it may, Thomas probably spent the greater part of his life in and around Earlston, and a ruined tower there, singularly rich in ivy, is still pointed out as having been his home, and bears his name, while in a wall of the village church there is a lichened stone with the inscription: "Auld Rhymour's Race Lies in this Place."

According to local tradition, this stone was removed to its present resting place from one in a much older church, long since demolished.

Nor are these things the only relics of the soothsayer, a lovely valley some miles to the west of Earlston being still known as "Rhymer's Glen." It is interesting to recall that the artist J. M. W. Turner painted a watercolor of this place, and no less interesting to remember that Sir Walter Scott, when buying the lands that eventually constituted his estate of Abbotsford, sought eagerly and at last successfully to acquire the glen in question. Naturally he loved it on account of its associations with the shadowy past, and his biographer J. C. Lockhart stated that many of the novelist's happiest times were spent in this romantic place. Lockhart related that the novelist Maria Edge-worth visited it in 1823, and that thenceforth Scott used always to speak of a certain boulder in the glen as the "Edgeworth stone," the writer whom he admired so keenly having rested there. It seems probable, however, that the glen was named "Rhymer's Glen" by Scott himself.

It is thought that Thomas died in 1297, and it is clear that he had achieved a wide fame as a prophet, many references to his skill being found in writers who lived comparatively soon after him. A Harleian manuscript in the British Museum known to have been written before 1320 disclosed the significant phrase, "La Comtesse de Donbar demanda a Thomas de Essedoune quant la guere descoce prendreit fyn," but the lady in question was not a contemporary of the prophet. In Barbour's Bruce, composed early in the fourteenth century, we find the poet saying: "Sekerly I hop Thomas Prophecy Off Hersildoune sall weryfyd be."

The historian Andrew of Wyntoun in the Originale Cronykil of Scotland, also mentions Thomas as a redoubtable prophet, while Walter Bower, the continuator of Fordun's Scoticronicon, recounts how once Rhymer was asked by the Earl of Dunbar what another day would bring forth, whereupon he foretold the death of the king, Alexander III, and the very next morning news of his majesty's decease was heard.

Blind Harry's poem Wallace, written midway through the fifteenth century, likewise contains an allusion to Thomas's prophesying capacities.

Coming to later times, Sir Thomas Cray, constable of Norham, in his Norman-French Scalacronica, compiled during his captivity at Edinburgh Castle in 1555, spoke of the predictions of Merlin, which like those of "Banaster ou de Thomas de Ercildoune … furount ditz en figure."

A number of predictions attributed to Thomas the Rhymer are still current, for instance that weird verse Sir Walter Scott made the motto of his novel The Bride of Lammermuir and also a saying concerning a family with which, as we have seen, the soothsayer was at one time associated: "Betide, betide, whate'er betide There'll aye be Haigs at Bemersyde."

It will be observed that these lines are in poetic meter, yet there is really no sure proof that the soothsayer was a poet. It is usually supposed that he acquired the nickname "Rhymer" because he was a popular minstrel in his day, but the fact remains that "Rymour" had long been a comparatively common surname in Berwickshire, and, while it may have originated with Thomas, the assumption has but slight foundation.

Again, the prophet of Earlston has been credited with a poem on the story of Sir Tristram belonging to the Arthurian cycle of romance, and the Advocate's Library contains a manuscript copy of this probably written as early as 1300. However, while Sir Walter Scott and other authorities believed in this ascription, it is quite likely that the poem is only a paraphrase from some French troubadour.

For generations, however, the Scottish peasantry continued to be influenced by the sayings attributed to "True Thomas," as they named him, as evidenced by the continuing publication of books and chapbook pamphlets containing his prophecies until well into the nineteenth century. For a detailed study, see The Romance and Prophecies of Thomas Erceldoune, edited by J. A. H. Murray for the English Text Society, London, 1875.

A beautiful legend credits Thomas with obtaining his prophetic powers after visiting fairyland. The ballad of "Thomas Ryner and the Queen of Elfland" in its various forms is classified as no. 37 of the collection of English and Scottish Popular Ballads, edited by Francis James Child, published in five vols., 1882-98.

Wikipedia: Thomas the Rhymer
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Not to be confused with Thomas Rymer, a 17th century English historian.
Search Wikisource Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Thomas Learmonth (c. 1220[1] – c. 1298;[2] also spelled Learmount, Learmont, or Learmounth), better known as Thomas the Rhymer or True Thomas[3], was a 13th century Scottish laird and reputed prophet from Earlston (then called "Erceldoune"). He is also the protagonist of the ballad "Thomas the Rhymer" (Child Ballad number 37).[4] He is also the probable source of the legend of Tam Lin.

Thomas the Rhymer meets the Queen of Elphame in an illustration by Kate Greenaway.

Contents

Historical figure

Sir Thomas was born in Erceldoune (also spelled Ercildoune - presently Earlston), Berwickshire, sometime in the 13th century, and has a reputation as the author of many prophetic verses. Little is known for certain of his life but two charters from 1260-80 and 1294 mention him, the latter referring to the "Thomas de Ercildounson son and heir of Thome Rymour de Ercildoun".[5]

Popular esteem of Thomas lived on for centuries after his death, to the extent that several people have fabricated Thomas' "prophecies" in order to further the cause of Scottish independence.[5] His reputation for supernatural powers for a time rivalled that of Merlin. Thomas became known as "True Thomas" because he could not tell a lie. Popular lore recounts how he prophesied many great events in Scottish history,[5] including the death of Alexander III of Scotland.

Thomas' gift of prophecy is linked to his poetic ability, although it is not clear if the name Rhymer was his actual surname or merely a soubriquet. He is often cited as the author of the English Sir Tristrem, a version of the Tristram legend, and some lines in Robert Mannyng's Chronicle may be the source of this association. Sir Tristrem though, is an adaptation of a mid-12th century, Anglo-Norman romance ascribed to Thomas of Britain and it may be the two Thomases are being confounded.

Prophecies attributed to Thomas

  • "On the morrow, afore noon, shall blow the greatest wind that ever was heard before in Scotland."
This prophecy predicted the death of Alexander II; the exact nature of the blow only became apparent with the king's death the next day.
  • "As long as the Thorn Tree stands
Ercildourne shall keep its lands."
Of this prophecy, Barbara Ker Wilson writes: In the year the Thorn Tree did fall, all the merchants of Ercildourne became bankrupt, and shortly afterwards the last fragment of its common land was alienated.
  • "When the Cows of o' Gowrie come to land
The Judgement Day is near at hand"
The Cows of Gowrie, two boulders near Invergowrie protruding from the Firth of Tay, are said to approach the land at the rate of an inch a year.
The biggest and bonniest o' the three"[6]
  • "At Eildon Tree, if yon shall be, a brig ower Tweed yon there may see."

Ballads

Musicologists have traced the ballad, "Thomas the Rhymer", back at least as far as the 13th century. It deals with the supernatural subject matter of fairy-folk. The theme of this song also closely relates to another song, that of Tam Lin, which follows the same general topical lines. Its more general theme relates to temptation and mortal pleasures.

Several different variants of the ballad of Thomas Rhymer exist, most having the same basic theme. They tell how Thomas either kissed or slept with the Queen of Elfland and either rode with her or was otherwise transported to Fairyland. One version relates that she changed into a hag immediately after sleeping with him, as some sort of a punishment to him, but returned to her originally beautiful state when they neared her castle, where her husband lived. Thomas stayed at a party in the castle until she told him to return with her, coming back into the mortal realm only to realise that seven years (a significant number in magic) had passed. He asked for a token to remember the Queen by; she offered him the choice of becoming a harper or a prophet, and he chose the latter.

After a number of years of prophecy, Thomas bade farewell to his homeland and presumably returned to Fairyland, whence he has not yet returned.[7]

There is also a 14th-century romance "Thomas of Erceldoune", with accompanying prophecies, which clearly relates to the ballad, though the exact nature of the relationship is not clear. The romance survives complete or in fragments in five manuscripts, the earliest of which is the Lincoln codex compiled by Robert Thornton. The romance tells a very similar story to the ballad.

Music

The German version of Tom der Reimer by Theodor Fontane was set as a song for male voice and piano by Carl Loewe, his op. 135. The following have each made recordings of the ballad in recent times:

An outstanding earlier recording, in German, is by Heinrich Schlusnus, on Polydor 67212, of 1938 (78 rpm).

The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams left an opera by the title of Thomas the Rhymer incomplete at the time of his death in 1958. The libretto was a collaboration between the composer and his second wife, Ursula Vaughan Williams, and it was based upon the ballads of Thomas the Rhymer and Tam Lin.[8]

Literature

  • Criticism: Composer and teacher R J Stewart provides a full esoteric exegesis of the ballad in his book The UnderWorld Initiation.
  • Works about:
    • Rudyard Kipling's poem The Last Rhime of True Thomas features Thomas Learmounth, and a king who's going to make Thomas his knight.
    • Ellen Kushner's Thomas the Rhymer is a full-length novel based on the ballad and associated folklore.
    • Scottish author Nigel Tranter's 1981 novel True Thomas is based on the known facts and legends of Thomas the Rhymer.
    • Thomas is a major character in Alexander Reid's play The Lass wi the Muckle Mou.
    • "Erceldoune", a novella by Holy Blood, Holy Grail co-author Richard Leigh, is based on Thomas the Rhymer, and features a folk-singer named Thomas "Rafe" Erlston. Found in Erceldoune & Other Stories. ISBN 978-1-4116-9943-4
    • William Croft Dickinson wrote a children's book titled "The Eildon Tree" about two modern children meeting Thomas the Rhymer and traveling back in time to a critical point in Scottish history.
  • Books referring to:
    • Patricia Wrede's Snow-White And Rose-Red makes use of elements of the ballad, with the Queen of Elfland and two of Thomas's sons appearing as major characters.
    • The character True Tom (also Thomas Learmont, Thomas of Erceldoune, Thomas the Rhymer) makes an appearance in Raymond E. Feist's popular 1988 fantasy novel Faerie Tale.
    • Other fantasy novels, including Diana Wynne Jones's Fire and Hemlock, use elements from, and allusions to, the ballad.
    • Thomas appears as True Thomas in the comic book Aria: Summer's Spell. He is the lost love of the series' protagonist, Kildare, and finally reunites with her in 1960s London.
    • True Thomas has a brief appearance in The Books of Magic, Book III, "The Land of Summer's Twilight".
    • Thomas 'Tom' Learmont is a major character in Mark Chadbourn's fantasy series The Age of Misrule. The character returned in the Kingdom of the Serpent series. He is often referred to in the stories as True Thomas or Thomas the Rhymer.
    • In the novel Final Watch by Sergey Lukyanenko, Thomas Rhymer appears as the Grand Light Mage Thomas 'Foma' Lermont, head of Scottish Night Watch in Edinburgh.
    • Seven Soldiers of Victory, a graphic novel series by acclaimed author Grant Morrison, quotes extensively from the ballad and features an alternate depiction of the Queen of Faerie; Spyder, the protagonist to whom the poem is read (who is later employed by the Queen) is named Thomas.
    • Thomas the Rhymer (here with the alternative name Tom-lin) also appears in Sheri S. Tepper's novel Beauty.
    • Sir Thomas Learmont de Ercildoune is a character in Elizabeth Hand's novel Mortal Love.
    • Thomas Learmont appears in James A. Owen's Starchild comic series under the name of "Old Tom" as a somewhat major character.
  • Authors named/related:
    • The novelist Thomas Learmont (b. 1939) uses the pen name Tom Rymour.
    • The Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov believed he was a distant relative of Thomas.

References

  1. ^ Facts On File Online Databases
  2. ^ Significant Scots - Thomas Rymer
  3. ^ He is also known as Thomas Rhymer, Thomas Rymour, Thomas Rymer, Thomas de Erceldoune, Thomas Rymour de Erceldoune or Thomas of Erceldoune
  4. ^ Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Thomas Rymer"
  5. ^ a b c Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v. 1, p. 317, Dover Publications, New York 1965
  6. ^ Barbara Ker Wilson, Scottish Folk-tales and Legends, p. 17, Oxford University Press, London 1954
  7. ^ Thomas the Rhymer, Part Third in Alfred Noyes (ed), The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border: Collected by Sir Walter Scott, London: Melrose, 1908
  8. ^ Ursula Vaughan Williams, R.V.W.: A Biography of Ralph Vaughan Williams (Oxford University Press, 1964), p. 393.

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Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Copyright © 2001 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Thomas the Rhymer".  Read more

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