It's Graduation Week in St Andrews.  From now until Friday proud families will watch their grown-up children have degrees conferred upon them from the oldest university in Scotland.  How strange to think that, but for warring kings and squabbling clerics, it might have been a few centuries more before Scotland decided that it needed a university at all.

Centuries ago Scottish students travelled to England and the Continent to study, but in 1296 the Wars of Independence began.  Less Scots went to England to study, going instead to universities in France, Italy or Spain.

Then, in 1378 Pope Gregory X1 died and the Roman Cardinals elected Bartolomeo Prignano, Archbishop of Bari, to be Pope Urban V11.  They quickly regretted their decision when the new pope proved himself to be suspicious, overbearing and in possession of an uncontrollable temper.  Before the end of the year the majority of those who had elected Urban no longer supported him.  Another election was held and Robert of Geneva was elected as Pope Clement V11.  So now there were two popes.  Urban V1 remained in Rome while Clement V11 establishes a rival Papal Court in Avignon.  This was the start of what came to be known as the Western Schism.

Urban was supported by the Holy Roman Empire, Denmark, Flanders, Hungary, Northern Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden and England.

Clement was supported by France, Aragon, Castile, Leon, Cyprus , Burgundy, Savoy, Naples and Scotland.

By 1394 both of the original popes had died, but the Schism deepened.  Boniface 1X had been elected Pope in Rome and Benedict X111 in Avignon.  When Boniface 1X died in 1404 the Roman cardinals offered to refrain from electing a new pope if Benedict X111 would resign.  Benedict did not agree to this, even though France withdrew its support and tried to pressure him into resigning.  Scotland still supported Benedict, and so the only universities now open to Scots students were in Spain.

St Andrews monastery has been known as a place of learning for many years and in the early 15th century masters and doctors returning from France gathered in the town and started teaching with the support of James Bisset, Prior of St Andrews and Thomas Stewart, the Archdeacon.

On the 25th February 1412 Bishop Henry Wardlaw formally incorporated members of this school as a "university".  It could not, however, grant degrees.  The authority to do that could only be granted by the Pope or the Holy Roman Emperor.  The Holy Roman Emperor did not agree with Scotland's choice of pope and so Benedict X111 was approached on behalf of the school and the Church of St Andrews and also the King and the Estates.  Benedict needed to keep the support of Scotland, and so on 28th August 1413 issued the Papal Bulls which established St Andrews as Scotland's first university.

The Bulls arrived in St Andrews in February 1414 to great celebration in the town, and many events are planned for celebration of its 600th anniversary in 2014.
                                                                               

The most famous recent graduate of the University of St Andrews is, of course, Prince William, but the university has been responsible for the education of many mathematicians, writers, scientists, psychologists and journalists.... and, of course, Malcolm, who has left his mark on the left-hand side of the gateway into St Salvator's Quad.

Summer... or very nearly

It's June.  The students have finished their exams and gone home for the long vacation, leaving the town to its citizens and the ever-present golfers.  Fulmars roost and squabble on the cliff ledges or soar out over the waves that roll up onto the West Sands.  No children play there, busily occupied with buckets and spades.  No parents husband coffee from a thermos, brush sand from sandwiches or make the trip to the beach cafe for ice cream or crisps.

The large houses along The Scores stand quiet within their garden walls.  The largest of them all, the castle, waits patiently for a new coachload of tourists to explore its history or perhaps venture down into the darkness of its mine and counter-mine.

Flowers spring up along the clifftops of the Kirkhill leading to the cathedral, and boats wait for the turn of the tide in the harbour below.

People still go about their business on the pavements of the cobbled streets.  Shops, pubs and restaurants still fill and empty with the ebb and flow of customers, but overall there is a sense of waiting.

At the end of next week, fourth-year students and their families will return for graduation.  The hotels and guest-houses in the town will fill.  There will be graduation meals and celebrations and then the graduates and their proud parents will return home to another life.

St Andrews is always here, however, in rain and wind and storm; in snow and in sunshine.  In the week following graduation Scottish schools will begin their summer holidays.  The West Sands and the East Sands will be populated by families, no matter what the weather.  Golfers will still clatter along the streets pulling bags of clubs behind them and tourists and cadies will drink together in the bars and discuss the day's game; because it's summer... or, very nearly

A Riddle in an Enigma in a Mystery

Largo Law is an extinct volcano near Largo in the Kingdom of Fife, Scotland, and there are many legends attached to it.  I was born a few miles away and I remember as a child being told that, in a cave deep in the Law the Knights of King Arthur slept encased in silver armour, ready to be woken by a horn blast to do service to their king, should he come again.

The Law can be clearly seen across the Forth from Edinburgh.  Largo Law, and Law means a hill in Scotland,  was supposed to have been created when the Devil threw a rock across the Firth of Forth.  There's an outcrop near the summit of the Law that is known as the Devil's Chair; presumably because it looks like a gigantic chair with seven steps leading up to it.

Long ago, sheep who grazed on the Law appeared to have yellowish fleeces, and this was supposed to be because they were either grazing over the site of hidden treasure or a long-lost gold mine deep underground.

A spirit was also supposed to haunt the slopes of the Law, and legend had it that this spirit had a secret to share, if only anyone was brave enough to ask him the correct question.  Everybody knew this legend, but nobody had the courage to approach the spirit until one day the shepherd from Balmain farm on the northwest slopes of the Law decided to find out his secret.  He approached the rather frightening spectre and asked him what kept him from his eternal sleep.

The mysterious spirit told him to meet him later that night.  "If Auchendowie cock doesn't craw, and Balmain's herd his horn doesn't blaw, I'll tell where the gold is in Largo Law."

Balmain's shepherd was nothing if not thorough.  He went to Auchendowie and slaughtered every cockerel in the place, and then approached Tam Norrie, the cowherd of Balmain and warned him, on pain of death, that on no account should he blow his horn to call the cows back to their byre that night.

Satisfied that all the conditions had been met, the shepherd set out to meet the spirit at the appointed place.  Just as the spectre was about to tell its secret, however, the noise of Tam Norrie's horn rang out across the foothills of the Law.  Norrie had either forgotten what the shepherd had asked him or had no regard for the request.

The spirit froze on the spot for a moment, then cried, "Woe to the man who blew that horn, for out of that spot he will never be borne."

Tam Norrie dropped dead on the spot in that second and could not be moved away for burial, no matter what efforts were made.  At length, the local people decided to make a mound of stones over him for a burial plot and leave him where he lay.

Now, that in itself is a cracking good story, but, Gentle Reader, it gets stranger.  There is truth in the saying that fact is stranger than fiction, as I'm about to demonstrate.

In the early 19th century someone (perhaps a carrier) dug among the stones and gravel of Norrie's Law.  We'll never know exactly what he found, but he is said to have sold some silver articles of armour to Mr. Robertson, a jeweller in Cupar, the which silver was melted down and lost to us.

Also found on the site were Roman coins, fragments of Viking jewellery and metal inscribed with Pictish symbols.

Sometimes I think we can be too quick to dismiss legends.  Like Chinese Whispers, they can be distorted by time, but they probably do start off with some solid substance...

The Blue Stane

When St Rule brought the relics of  St Andrew to Scotland, and with them the Christian religion, it is said that the Devil was enraged; so enraged, in fact, that he appeared on Drumcarrow Range or Blebo Craigs in the form of a giant, picked up a large boulder and threw it at St Rule's cell on the Kirkhill. 

His aim was bad, and the stone fell short.  Nobody knows exactly where the Blue Stane first landed.  It is supposed to have stood, at various times, in Double Dykes Road, by the West Port and in the middle of the road opposite Hope Park Church before  being moved to its present location, behind the railings at The Raisin in Alexandra Place.

The Blue Stane may have had some ritual significance in pre-Christian Scotland; there are certainly traditions associated with it.  Fairies were said to frequent the stone, and it was a favourite meeting-place for lovers.  Men would raise their hats as they passed the stone, and women would curtsey. It is reputed to have been the coronation stone of Kenneth MacAlpine in 843 A.D., and St Andrews pikemen are said to have touched the Stane for luck before setting off for the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 and, until the early 20th, the Carter's Society of St Andrews would gather there before their annual races.

Nowadays it lies behind the railings and nobody pays it much attention...

 ... or do they?  What is the fascination with putting loose change on top of mysterious stones?  Perhaps stray golfers are hoping for help with their game but, given the Stane's history of falling short, perhaps not.

... and, on a happier note....

There must be thousands of Scottish ghosts who have been unhappy in love.  Brides who, fearing themselves abandoned, threw themselves to their deaths from a high place, unwilling brides, betrayed servants impregnated by the son or master of the house, women whose lovers rode off to war never to return. The misery and desperation of their legends echo down the ages at us.

The Grey Lady of the Inn at Lathones sets a different tone, however. Her story was told to me by Nick White, the Inn's owner, many years ago.  The Inn at Lathones is a four centuries old coaching inn approximately a mile from Largoward in Fife.  The oldest part of the Inn is the bar, which used to be the stables.  The front part of the house was built in the late seventeenth century and its fireplace has a wedding stone placed above it as its lintel.

Iona Kirk married Ewan Lindsay in front of the fireplace in 1718 and the couple ran the Inn together until Iona's death in 1732.  It's said that such was the love between them that the wedding stone cracked when Iona died and that Ewan died shortly afterwards.

Noises have been heard in the bar and the Grey Lady has been seen and her horse heard there.  Nick has often wondered if this is Iona settling her horse in its stall.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term "wedding stone", the picture above is an example of one that can be seen in Newburgh, Fife. They usually incorporate the year of the mariage, the initials (or in this case the full names) of the married couple and some symbol of the husband's profession.

Falkland Palace lies at the foot of the Lomond Hills in Fife.  It was originally used as a Royal Hunting Lodge in the 12th Century, having originally belonged to the MacDuff Family.  The surrounding area had plentiful amounts of deer and wild boar.  The wild boar have long gone, but deer can still be seen in the area.
In the 16th century the Palace was extended and embellished until it became the beautiful example of Renaissance architecture we can see today.

The Tapestry Gallery in the Palace is reputedly haunted by the ghost of a lady surrounded by a grey glow.  It is said that her lover was a soldier who bade her farewell then rode off to battle and never returned, and she is doomed to pace the Tapestry Gallery until he is reunited with her.

Diagonally across the road from the Palace is what used to be the Covenanter Hotel, so named, presumably, because the Covenantors who opposed the Episcopalian Church held secret meetings in the Lomond Hills behind the hotel.  Now known as Luigino's, the Covenanter Hotel was reputed to be haunted by the spirit of a young woman who would drift through the bedrooms.  Nobody knows who she was, but it has been suggested that she may be the ghost of Mary, Queen of Scots who was a regular visitor to Falkland Palace.

A few miles from Falkland, Fernie Castle stands in its own wooded grounds.  Again, the original castle which stood here belonged to the MacDuff family in the 13th century.

The tower to the west of the existing castle is said to be haunted by the ghost of a Green Lady.  She is supposed to be associated with lights turning themselves on and off and has appeared in front of startled guests and staff with a sad look upon her face.  Legend has it that her father disapproved of the man she loved, and so she ran away with him to Fernie Castle. 

Her father gathered troops and followed the pair of lovers, and when the Green Lady looked out of the west tower and saw them approach, she fell to her death.

The Lovers' Festival

It won't be long until St Valentine's Day which, for those of you with no romance in your souls, falls on February 14th.  Although Valentine is  a well-known name, not much is known about the saint himself.  There were three Valentines who were Christian martyrs.  One was martyred with some companions in Africa and all that is known about him is his name.  The other two were St Valentine of Terni and St Valentine of Rome.  Both of them were martyred and buried on the Via Flaminia.

The legend of Valentine is that he was a priest who lived in Rome around 270 AD.  Rome at that time was under threat from various neighbouring states and it was imperative that the Empire should have a strong army.  To this end, the EmperorClaudius II made a decree that young people should not be allowed to marry because he believed that a married man's loyalties would always be divided between the State and his wife and family.

Valentine, on the other hand, believed it was his duty under God to marry young lovers who wished to be united and he conducted marriage ceremonies in secret.  Nothing is ever truly a secret if more than one person knows it, however, and it was inevitable that Claudius II would find out what Valentine was doing.  Incensed, the emperor had the young priest captured and thrown into jail.

Valentine's jailer  had a daughter who was blind.  He had heard that the young priest had healing powers and he begged Valentine to try to heal his daughter.  Valentine duly obliged, the girl's sight was restored and a strong friendship was formed between the young couple.

Eventually Claudius II visited Valentine in his jail and was impressed by the way he had clung to his beliefs despite the floggings and beatings he had endured.  He was less impressed, however, by the young priest's attempts to convert him to Christianity and sentenced Valentine to death by beheading.

On the eve of his execution Valentine is said to have written a letter to his jailer's daughter and signed it "from your Valentine".  Some say the tradition of sending Valentine's cards originates from this story.

There are various superstitions linked to St Valentine's Day.  It is traditionally supposed to be the day when birds choose their mates and it is said that the first man that an unmarried girl sees on Valentine's Day will either become her husband or will resemble the man that she will eventually marry.  It is (of course) considered lucky to be woken with a kiss on Valentine's Day.

Although red roses are sent as a token of love on Valentine's Day, violets are said to have grown outside the window of his jail cell, and this is the flower most associated with him.  The violet also represents faithfulness.

Over the next few posts I'll tell the story of some ghostly lovers in Fife.