Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 51

The embalmed heart of a Platagenet king is preserved in a lead casket. It came from the old Abbey of Fontevrault, near Saumur. There were six members of the Plantagenet line buried in the so-called Cemetery of the English Kings at Fontevrault. They were Henry II, Richard Coeur de Lion, Jeanne (or Johanna) of England, sister of Richard, and wife of Raymond VI, Eleanor of Aquitaine, widow of Henry II, Isabella of Angouleme, widow of John (Lackland), Raymond VII of Toulouse, son of Jeanne of England and of Raymond VI. The heart is traditionally believed to be that of Henry II although there is evidence to suggest that it may be the heart of Henry III.

The cairn is one of a pair and both are much dilapidated. A central cist contained cremated human bone, oak charcoal and a Food Vessel. The age and sex of the human remains could not be determined.

Excavations were carried out over a number of seasons and included the recovery of a dug-out canoe which was serving as an underlying support of a portion of the woodwork in one of the pits. The crannog was a hunting seat of the Earls of Ross during the medieval period. When in 1476 ,the Earldom" of Ross was irrevocably annexed to the Crown, the " management of its rent" was entrusted by the King to the Earl of Sutherland, who transferred the trust to Alexander Mackenzie of Kintail, sixth chief of the Mackenzies. By the nineteenth century it was being used as a kitchen garden. It does not appear to have been a matter of common knowledge that the island was artificial. Structurally the island appears to consist of three main series of layers:, the upper structure of earth, clay, and boulders, with local seams\r\nof peat, charcoal, and burnt clay, the strata represented in the west half of the island by the platforms of timber with the intervening occupation debris, and in\r\nthe east half by the stratified layers of brushwood, clay, peat, and habitation refuse, the mass of organic material at the base of the island. Little direct evidence of the age of the crannog was obtained in course of the investigation. That wood-chips, cut with a sharp iron instrument, exist at the base of the island, is helpful only in a general way. The bones included portions of the skull of a shorthorn ox, which may be the Celtic shorthorn, Bos longifrons.

The history of the hangings can be divided into three periods. The first extends from September 1561, when the pieces are inventoried as having belonged to the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, to 1578, when they are inventoried as having been taken over\r\nfrom the Regent Morton by James VI. The second period extends from the reign of James VI. to 1692, at which date they are believed to have been acquired by Mrs Rachel Sinclair or Hog on behalf of her ward William Hogg. The third and last period covers the time from 1692 to the present day. The scenes depicted deal with the history of the rival monarchs Behoboam and Jeroboam, as related in the bible. It is highly unlikely that there should have been two sets of fine needlework dealing with an unusual subject like that of Rehoboam, and consisting of something like the same number of pieces, that one is driven to the conclusion that they are the hangings mentioned in the inventories.

The article presents a series of more or less typical examples of decorated sigillata\r\nor samian bowls, and a brief outline of the industry, its beginnings in Italy, and the general trend of its development in Western Europe. Most of the illustrated examples come from Germany.

When two pillar crosses were discovered being used as gate posts in Kirkmadrine churchyard, reference was made by local inhabitants to a third which had disappeared. Subsequently, a drawing of the third was found and showed that it bore a Chi-Rho monogram, very rare in Scotland. It was finally discovered in the nearby United Free Church Manse of Stoneykirk. It had also been re-used as a gate post.

The document is an early eighteenth century copy of the original will and testament which was written on 12th June 1562. An account of the life of Agnes Betoun is presented along with the contents of the will. A carved oak cabinet reputed to belong to Cardianl Betoun is described in detail. The door of the cabinet is in two leaves, four panels in each leaf and no two panels alike; the panels filled in with tracery. The tracery is an imitation of that usual in stonework in the windows of ecclesiastical buildings. The ancient writs of the lands of Kelly are transcribed in Latin.

The article comprises a catalogue along with an index of places.