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From: John Ritchie, Tel: 01875 822314

SHADOW OF A DREAM.

The History of the Stone of Destiny.

Written by John Ritchie and edited by Robert Brydon

Published by Chapman Magazine, Scotland. October 96 issue 85

SHADOW OF A DREAM.
The announcement by Michael Forsyth that the Stone of Scone was to be returned to Scotland surprised most people
and was hailed by all the newspapers at the time as the return of the Stone of Destiny.
It is alarming how ignorant most Scots are about their own History.Hollywood now dictates our history and we as Scots
believe it, Braveheart was a good yarn based on the legend of Wallace, although most of the story was built round
Blind Harry,s account of Wallace, it is still for the large part, fictional.
The same applies for the Stone of Scone as opposed to the Stone of Destiny or the Lia Faill, indeed, inaccuracies have
grown since the retrieval and the return of the Stone of Scone in early 1950s than probably existed before.
Now the Scottish nation are arguing about a stone that Edward the first did not want, after all he left it lying for five
years at Edinburgh castle, and contrary to present historical statements he did not take it to London that can be laid at
the door of his son Edward the second.
So at which point in history do we start to tell the story of the Two stones, the definitive date has to be summer 1296
for this is the year which created the myth of the Stone of Scone and also to the day, the month, the year that the true
Stone of Destiny was forced into hiding.
Before embarking on the story of the Stones, I believe we must first try to tell at least part of the story of the
perpetrator, Edward the first.
In the early years of Edward the firsts life, honour and chivalry had marked him as a handsome and exemplary man, tall
(nicknamed Longshanks) fair-haired with blazing blue eyes. At the age of thirty-two, accompanied by his lovely wife
Eleanor of Castille, a few mounted knights and a small force of about 1000 English soldiers and bowmen. He achieved
the impossible, succeeding where armies had failed. In 1271,when the Crusading era was waning and the Holy Land
was in a state of chaos, Edward recaptured Nazareth, the ancient holy town of Christ. Whilst in Nazareth, on the 17th of
June, dreadfully wounded, the flesh had to be cut from his gangrenous arm, in the presence of his tearful wife. This
desperate attempt to save his life was successful for miraculously Edward survived, due principally to a Saracen doctor.
Such was the reward of courage that on August the 15th,the Saracens chivalrously allowed the remnants of the small-
beleaguered English force to return home with honour under a flag of truce. Edwards flesh stripped arm however
remained his constant reminder and permanent blemish.
In 1290 at the age of forty-seven, his beloved Eleanor died. A strange mysticism and sense of destiny that had haunted
Edwards life now visited the grief-stricken king driving him to near madness.
He decided on a ritual burial tour with Eleanor’s body, a strange journey, which was to last twelve significant days. He
ordered that a stone cross of surpassing beauty be erected, at each place the body rested for the night. The first of the
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Eleanor crosses was set up by the priory of Lincoln, the second near Grantham, the third at Stanford, the fourth at
Geadington, the fifth at Harrington, the sixth at Stratford, seventh at Dunstable, eight at St.Albans, ninth at Waltham,
the tenth at Cheapside, the eleventh and most elaborate and stately of all at Charing, hence Charing Cross.The twelfth
station was back to Lincoln, not a cross but a strange stone tomb in the angel choir of the Cathedral to contain the
viscera of his dead Queen.Eleanor’s body was laid to rest in holy Westminster,Edward’s sacred arcanum.
The duplicity and treachery of the Scottish nobility in the closing decade of the 13th century plunged the Nation into
social turmoil. A condition that the powerful king of England exploited to his own full advantage.
The origin of Scotland’s regretful state, lay in the sad unexpected death of an infant princess, known to history as the
Maid of Norway.Following the tragic death of Alexander the third, killed by a fall from his horse at Kinghorn.Little
Margaret had become the sole successor to the throne of Scotland.Even before the death of Alexander, scheming
Edward had already entered in to negotiations with the King of Norway to arrange a child marriage of convenience
between the distant infant Princess and his own six year old son Prince Edward of England.
The deathfall of Alexander precipitated matters already afoot in the land, for as the Scots sent a ship for the young
successor. Edward pressed ahead with his marriage plan, under what was called the treaty of Brigham on 18th of July
1290. The completion of which would place all Scotland in his grasp, with his son as child king to an infant Queen.
There is a tradition in Scotland that the waters of Treadwells loch are said to turn red with the death of one of
Scotland’s ancient Royal family. On that fateful autumn night in the year 1290,they must have turned blood, as the little
Princess expired during the rigours of a stormy North Sea voyage, and the mournful blackbannered ship entered the
port of Leith.
In the strife torn years that followed many Scottish waters would emulate the colours of Treadwells loch that night
Within days of the arrival of the ominous ship, no fewer than thirteen noble claimants to the crown of the northern
kingdom had come forward, the land was threatened by vicious civil war.
The Lords of Scotland appealed to Edward that he might graciously arbitrate, he accepted, with gilded crown and chain
in hand, the Lion would now adjudicate the Unicorn.
Edward as regal bearer of this self sought Scottish manacle was more than willing to apply it, he demanded that on the
10th of May 1291,at his castle at Norham, the Lords of the north attend him. For the purpose of a hearing of the primary
claimants, now reduced to eight. The long adjudication began, the Scottish people had desired a King with nothing but
Celtic blood and one of undivided loyalty, this was declared the issue of Edward’s mandate to arbitrate.
Weeks passed, and the finalists were reduced to the families of Balliol and Bruce. The Scots Lords now painfully aware
of their feet on alien soil and foreign king deciding the fate of their crown, silently watched as the two remaining
claimants in turn swore to abide by Edwards decision as their liege and sovereign Lord of the land. Edwards’s final
favour fell upon his dependent John Balliol. With this choice the Unicorn was finally chained and the die cast for a
suicidal war of escape from England’s strangling chains. The smile on the teeth of the Lion was warm for his new
Scottish subjects as John Balliol was crowned the puppet king at Scone on November the 30th, 1292. Dutifully, Balliol
appeared later to do homage to Edward at Newcastle bearing with him the ancient seal of Scotland. Shock however,
attended the faces of his faithful followers as Edward took the old and regal seal in his hands and broke it into four
pieces and ordered that they be placed in the English treasury as a token of his English dominion. King Edward’s
arrogant breaking of the Scottish seal in the face of Balliol, known now as Toom Tabard or empty coat. Was the ritual
act that that began those bitter wars of Scottish Independence that culminated twenty years later on Bannockburn field
1314.
Increasing bitterness and frustration with the conquest of Celtic Wales and Scotland produced a gnawing malice in the
heart of the once noble now ageing King. Edward introduced the cruel slow torture of hanging drawing and quartering,
a personal invention so that he might watch his captive Welsh nobles die. He applied this awful fate to terrified Scots,
whilst applying himself to the prophecies of Merlin, the legends of Arthur, and letters to the Pope claiming descent
from the ancient kings of Troy.As his megalomania grew, so evidently did Edward Plantagent’s desire to possess the
Stone of Destiny.
The mediaeval chronicle “De Mellsa” records a legend in Edwards lifetime that,”After declaring that the Scots brought
the Stone from Egypt,” the chronicler adds that this was done quote.”By reason that Moses prophecied, a Prince would
sit upon that throne who would rule over many islands”. This is probably a misquote from the biblical text which
ran”And God said unto Jacob, I am God almighty, be fruitful and multiply and a nation and companies of nations shall
be of thee, and Kings shall come out of thy loins,”
Biblical Legend tells us that the Stone of Destiny is said to have been the stone which Jacob used as a pillow at Bethel,
when he had a dream or vision of the ladder to heaven, it is said that when he awoke “Jacob rose up in the morning and
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took the stone that had been his pillow, set it up as a pillar and poured oil on it and vowed “this stone that I set as a
pillow, shall be God’s house, and all that thou shalt give me I will surely give a tenth unto Thee”.
The message that Jacob was said to be given, was that his seed would spread to the four corners of the world, when this
was achieved then his seed would return to this land and it would be called Israel, and through all this time God
promised to be with Jacob’s successors until the prophecy was fulfilled.
The present Coronation Stone is a roughly rectangular hewn block of coarse-grained reddish-grey sandstone, measuring
26-1/2 in. by 16-1/2 in. and 11 in. thick. It lies in a box-like space under the seat of the Coronation Chair.
According to legend, the Stone of Destiny was in existence long before the birth of Christ. The true history of the Stone
of Scone or the present Coronation Stone is only traceable from the thirteenth century onwards. The Scottish chronicler
John De Fordun, who wrote about 1355, has left us a lengthy account of the coronation of Alexander III of Scotland
upon the stone at Scone in the year 1249.Rishanger, another chronicler of the early fourteenth century, who was
present, also records the use of the stone in the coronation of John Balliol (1292). Walter De Hemingford who was
Edward the First’s chronicler was also present at Balliol’s coronation. Hardyng and other early historians of Scotland
describe at length how Edward I, after he had overrun Scotland in 1296, removed a stone from Scone.
Further, among the kings jewels, which were in the Castle of Edinburgh in 1296 was una petra magna super quam
Reges Scoyiae solebant coronari; and in the wardrobe accounts of Edward I for 1300 there is a payment to Magistro
Waltero Pictori, for the construction of the present Coronation Chair to Contain the Stone of Scone.
This stone has been examined by successive generations of geologists, including John Macculloch, Sir A.C.Ramsay,
Sir Archibald Geikie, and Sir J.J.H. Teall.
Unfortunately its lithological character is such that it has always been difficult to trace it with any certainty to the
locality from which it was first quarried.
Many scientists have had the opportunity of examining microscope sections of sand-grains and of a small porphyrite
pebble obtained from the stone by Sir Jethro Teall while it was being cleaned about 1892. The abundant grains of
quartz, scarce alkali-feldspar, muscovite and decomposed biotite have been compared with similar preparations from
rocks of various geological horizons, and from this study the Coronation Stone is seen to agree most closely in
lithology with sandstones of Lower Old Red Sandstone age from Scotland.
These rocks are well developed in the neighbourhood of Perth and Dundee, and there are several natural exposures
close to Scone itself. Specimens obtained from these areas frequently carry pebbles of porphyrite or andesite, some of
which are petrographically identical with the one from the Coronation Stone. One or two similar pebbles, about the size
of a pea, may be seen in the stone of Westminster.
A widespread belief that the ‘Stone of Destiny’ was once kept at Dunstaffnage, in Argyll, and was removed from there
to Scone by Kenneth MacAlpin in 843.
John Macculloch, however, in his pioneer geological work, ‘A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland’ (1819),
notes that the Coronation Stone is a calcareous sandstone exactly resembling that forming the doorway of
Dunstaffanage Castle. But from a recent examination it is evident that the sandstones forming the voussiors of it’s
doorway are not Old Red Sandstone similar to the Coronation Stone, but are of Triassic age, probably from Carsiag, in
Mull - a locality which appears also to have supplied the rock employed in parts of Iona Cathedral, the Rodel Kirk in
South Harris, and probably other Hebridean buildings of mediaeval date. The very coarse Old Red Sandstone
conglomerate on which Dunstaffnage Castle stands is quite dissimilar from the Stone of Scone, and there is no evidence
for the stone having originated from this area.
The whole balance of evidence, therefore, in favour of the stone having been quarried somewhere in the east of
Perthshire or in southern Angus, probably not far from the ancient seat of the Pictish monarchy at Scone.
The earliest mention of Scone was in 710A.D.when it was the Pictish capital, which it continued to be up to 843A.D.
When Kenneth MacAlpin amalgamated it with the Scots Kingdom after the last great battle between the Picts and the
Scots.It was Kenneth that brought the Lia Fiall or Stone of Destiny to Scone.
The Abbey of Scone was founded in 1115A.D.But, it had been an important ecclesiastical centre many centuries prior
to this date, and it received its royal charter in 906 A.D.
The ancient council of Scotland was held at Moothill in Scone. Moothill was the place where Nectan111 the Pictish
King, dedicated his church to the Holy Trinity, the official marriage of the Culdean and the Roman church, from this
union the mound received the name the Hill of Belief.
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Moothill, the mound or hill is a area of 100yds by 60yds said to have been created by the custom of the Lords, Barons
and landowners bringing to a coronation, a boot-full of earth from the area of Scotland that they were responsible for,
just enough soil to stand on.
This meant that the King was crowned on all the lands of Scotland, thus ensuring his ancient custodial right. Malcolm
the first, who gave all his land to his nobles after they won him a great battle against the Vikings, further emphasised
the importance of Moothill by stating that it was the only land he owned, but by owning Moothill he was the caretaker
of Scotland.
The mound has many names in Gaelic it is called Tom-a -mhoid, the hill where justice was administered, it is also
called the Starmount, indeed this is where the present incumbents name comes from, as does the Northern Ireland
parliament, Stormont.
The Scottish people, and in particular, the Scottish church were fervently aware of importance of the Stone of Destiny
remaining in Scotland for it was the nations most important Talisman, the sacred embodiment of the privilege of the
Scots to crown their own King.Its history in Scotland went back to Fergus the First who brought it from Tara in Ireland,
through to Columba, so it symbolised the divine right of both church and King.
As is well known the Stone of Destiny has an immense legendary history, which identifies it with Jacob’s Pillow, the
sacred stone of Ireland, and the Chair of St. Columba and that it was always referred to as the Marble Chair.
All that can be said with certainty, however, is that the stone in Westminster, was regarded as a sacred one, only as far
back as the fourteenth century. At some period the rectangular sinking has been marked out in the middle of the top
surface, and there is also a roughly cut Latin cross. On each side of the stone are iron rings which were said to be
probably so place to enable a pole to be passed through them for the purpose of carrying the stone, this in itself is
fictional for when a stone of this weight is carried in such a way it begins to pendulate and makes it impossible to carry
any distance, the only possible use for the rings would be to facilitate levitation.
To find the true description of the Stone of Destiny, we must look at the great seals of the Scottish Kings prior to
Bruce.There is a illustration in the letter D of David in the Kelso charter showing the king sitting on a round stone, in
fact all the seals show the kings,
including John Balliol, sitting on a round polished stone.
Then we must also look at Hemingford’s description of John Balliol’s coronation that describes the stone
thus,”Concavus, Quidem ad Modem Rotundae Cathedrae Confectus”.
This description concurs with Adam de Rishanger and John de Fordun’s (1320-84) description of Alexander the third’s
coronation. All these chronicles state that it was a black, round, polished stone, shaped like a chair with inscriptions.
It is very possible that Hemingford’s chronicle may have been the first case of a “D” notice being placed on a
Journalist.
Possibly the most conclusive evidence is that Edward ordered his soldiers back to Scone in 1298,after the battle of
Falkirk, and they were ordered to pull the abbey apart, this was two years after the “stone” had been deposited at
Edinburgh castle. Edward was said to have almost destroyed Scone trying to discover the Stone’s location. He had his
soldiers level several buildings to pressurise the residents into revealing the hiding place of Scotland’s palladium. We
are told that the soldiers were particularly brutal, killings and torture were perfectly exceptable in their quest.
The Abbot of Scone was said to be so disturbed by the behaviour of the soldiers that he complained to Edward. Edward
retorted that they would continue this treatment until the Stone was found. There is no doubt that the slightest danger of
the Stone being removed from Scotland would have met with the most secure secrecy in regard to its sanctuary.
The Stone’s hiding place had always been a secret known to a very few trusted people.
The only time it was seen in public was at a coronation and then only at a distance, after the coronation it would be
returned to it’s secret sanctuary. Not more than a handful of people would have been privy to that secret, those that
were would have given up their lives rather than reveal its secret resting place, probably more than a few did.
So the possibility of Edward or his English troops locating the true Stone, given that Edward only controlled a small
portion of Scotland geographically and that the news of an invading force travelled much faster than an army on foot
must run at about 100,000 to one.
King Edward was desirous of annihilating everything that represented or preserved the patriotic independence of the
country he had invaded. With this in mind, when at Scone he had the ancient chartulary of the abbey mutilated,
remembering that this was the premiere depository for the ancient history of Scotland.The historical notices and
charters, in which would have contained knowledge fatal to his pretended claim of superiority. They carried off and
destroyed both seals and charters of the abbey.
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Historians affirm that in his progress through Scotland, Edwards’s army under his direct orders industriously sought out
and destroyed every monument connected with the antiquity of the nationhood of Scotland.
Walther de Hemingford, the English chronicler tells us;” At the monastery of Scone was placed a large stone in the
church of God, near the great altar, hollowed out like a round chair, in which future Kings of Scots were placed,
according to custom, as the place of their coronation”. This would appear to be the same description he gave of John
Balliol’s coronation on St.Andrews day 1292.But, the statement that has always been reported and would appear to
have been added later,” And the King, returning by Scone, the king ordered that the stone in which was said, the Kings
of Scotland were wont to be placed at their coronation, to be taken to London as a sign that the kingdom had been
conquered and resigned”.
The second part of this reported chronicle would suggest that Hemingford was not present at Scone, and that he was
merely reporting on Edwards issued order, as the stone taken by Edwards soldiers bear no resemblance to Hemingfords
earlier description.
It is chronicled that at that point the Abbot decided to give the soldiers a stone from the altar of one of the ruined
church buildings, a stone already dressed with an iron ring on each end, swearing to the commander of the soldiers that
this was the sacred stone. However perhaps the proper version is that the soldiers found a large stone lying on top of the
main altar with two iron rings, they then took it to the Abbot who was under guard, and made him swear that it was a
sacred stone, the soldiers convinced, transported it in triumph, back to Edward at Edinburgh castle.
Edward would have been very aware of what the real stone looked like, he would have questioned both Rishanger and
Hemingford and he was also familiar with the Royal seals.
Edward did not find what he was looking for, and instead of a triumphant procession down to London, we find that the
wardrobe master at Edinburgh castle writing to Edward in 1301 asking what he wants done with the “Petra Magnum”
in his care.
Another piece of evidence is that Edward had ordered Walter the Artist in 1295 to create a magnificent bronze throne to
be made to contain the Stone of Destiny.Walter created the present wooden throne, but not as a throne, but as a casting
pattern for the bronze throne.
By 1300 when Walter was finally paid œ5.00 for the work, Edward’s enthusiasm for the magnificent bronze throne had
waned, why?
The stone from Scone still lay at Edinburgh castle, why?
As we have stated earlier Edward was well acquainted with Hemingford’s chronicle, so he was well aware that it was
not the Stone of Destiny.However not many people would have this information.
Is it possible that Edward pulled off one of the greatest con-tricks in written history?
It is not generally believed to be the case, Edward was far too involved in the symbolism of the true Stone to became
involved in such a sham. It is believed that circumstances and time played their part in this the greatest of historical
confidence tricks.
Two major factors balance out the History of the Stone, first Robert the Bruce was crowned in a ceremony at Scone on
March the 25th 1306,in which it is recorded the Abbot of Scone, the hereditary keeper of the Fatal Chair, produced the
chair for his Coronation.Secondly, many years later at the Treaty of Edinburgh March 17th 1328, between Robert De
Bruce and Edward the Third, ratified later that year on the 4th of May as the Treaty of Northampton, between the Scots
and the English recognising the sovereignty of Scotland as an Independent Nation.The English offered to give the
Stone from Westminster back,the Scots politely declined their offer,asking for the Holyrood of Margaret instead.
So we now we arrive at another door in Scottish history, the Westminster Stone is being returned to us principally
because Robbie the Pict raised sufficient funds and wrote enough letters to worry the establishment, into returning the
Stone, and all he wanted to know was who has due title to the Stone. That same government that takes its lineage from
Edward’s *Model Parliament of 1295, created to raise money to for the invasion of Scotland.Is sending us back the
piece of Perthshire sandstone that certainly has more significance with the coronations of English Kings and Queens
from Edward the second to the present Monarch, than it ever it ever had with the early lineage of the Scottish Crown.
But, perhaps this Stone has another symbolism; perhaps it symbolises the chip that the Scots have always had on their
shoulder about the English.
As to the Stone of Destiny, the true Lia Faill.The prophecy stands, that it will not appear until Scotland is a separate and
independent nation and reaffirms its own Destiny.
1 October 1996.
John Ritchie.
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Braeside Cottage
Robertson Bank,
Gorebridge, EH.23 4JT.
Midlothian.Scotland.

*Model Parliament
English parliament set up 1295 by Edward I; it was the first to include representatives from outside the clergy and
aristocracy, and was established because Edward needed the support of the whole country against his opponents:
Wales, France, and Scotland. His sole aim was to raise money for military purposes, and the parliament did not pass
any legislation.
The parliament comprised archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, and barons (all summoned by special writ, and later
forming the basis of the House of Lords); also present were the lower clergy (heads of chapters, archdeacons, two
clerics from each diocese, and one from each cathedral) and representatives of the shires, cities, and boroughs (two
knights from every shire, two representatives from each city, and two burghers from each borough).