Greysteil was a medieval poem popular in 16th century Scotland, set to music and performed for James IV of Scotland and James V of Scotland. The poem was also called Syr Egeir and Syr Gryme, Eger and Grime, the names of the two knights who fight Greysteil and whose contrasted virtues are the poem's real subject. The name of the protagonist, a strong and agile knight, opulent and perhaps tainted with the black-arts, was adopted as a nickname for several 16th century courtiers, including Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie,[1] William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie,[2] and Alexander Montgomery, 6th Earl of Eglington.
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The poem has over 2500 lines. It was published from Bishop Percy's folio manuscript in 1867 and by David Laing in 1826. The text is known only from 17th century copies. Though the epic was popular in 16th century Scotland, the original Eger and Grime is thought to have been written in the North of England in the mid-15th century, although a Scottish origin is argued for one of its two versions.[3]
Sir Greysteil is a knight thought invincible who lives in the Land of Doubt or the Forbidden Country. He is challenged by Sir Eger or Eager who seeks to impress a high born lady, Winglaine. Eger is defeated, and Greysteil cuts off the little finger of his right hand. Eger is nursed by Lillias or Loosepain, who tells him his efforts are worthless if they are not reciprocated by his lady. Eger ignores this advice and decides to try again. As he is still weak from his wounds, his friend Sir Grim or Graham takes his armour and sets out, bidding farewell to Winglaine. Following the advice of a third brother knight, Pallyas, Sir Graham obtains a sword of supernatural character called 'Egeking' from Eger's aunt. Egeking was wrought far beyond the Mediterranean Sea for the price of a jewel of highest quality.[4] Armed with virtue and now the love of Lillias, he rides to the land of Doubt and overcomes Greysteil. He continues the charade, and Eger marries Winglaine. After Graham's death, when Eger tells her the truth she leaves him. In a final episode sometimes suggested to be late addition, Eger joins the crusades, and on his return marries Lillias.
When Greysteil is close to defeat, Graham asks him to yield;
Grime sayd, "yeeld thee, Sir Gray-Steele,
for thou can never doe soe weele.
the other said, thou mayest lightlye lye;
that man I shall never see;
that man was never of woman borne,
shall make me yeelde, one man to one.[5]
However, no man of woman born could abide the drawing of the sword Egeking.[6] Mabel Van Dusee reviewed the relation of this epic to the Arthurian cycle and tales of the Die Zwei Brüder type in 1963. Deanna Delmar Evans has more recently looked at the question of English or Scottish origin, noting the lack of intrinsic linguistic evidence in the surviving texts and concluding a root in cross-border ballad tradition, and the 'Huntingdon-Laing' version its Scottish branch. She also highlights possible similarities to Cumberland place-names suggesting an association at some date with the western border.[7] In the poem itself, the action is located in 'Beame', meaning Bohemia.
Although the epic may have originally been an English composition, the oldest records of its performance and reception are Scottish. The poem was sung by two fiddlers to James IV on 17 April 1498, and a lutenist called 'Gray Steil' was given 5 shillings on 22 January 1508. The poem was mentioned twice by David Lindsay of the Mount and listed in the 1549 Complaynt of Scotland. When Lindsay mentions the poem in his 1555 prologue, the Auld Man and Wife or the Cupar Banns, he has the boasting soldier Fynlaw place the Forbidden Country, which was bounded by sea and river, near Bo'ness;
This is the sword that slew Greysteill
Nocht half a myle beyond Kinneil.[8]
Lindsay also compares the valour of Sir Grim to William Meldrum of Cleische and the House of the Binns in Squyer Meldrum.[9]
A published edition was noted in the stock of an Edinburgh printer, Thomas Bassendyne, in 1577. An English writer, John Taylor the Water Poet, who came to Scotland in 1617, recorded the popularity of tales of Sir 'Degre', Sir Grime and Sir Gray Steele in Scotland as comparable with those of Bevis, Gogmagog, Chinon, Palmerine, Lancelot and Tristram "amongst us here in England; with similar stories "filling whole volumes with the ayrie imaginations of their unknown and unmatchable worth."[10] The oldest published version now existing was printed in Glasgow in 1669.[11]
The musicologist John Purser reconstructed a tune from manuscript notes and a transcription published in Robert Chamber's Book of Days, from the lost lute book of Robert Gordon of Straloch, c.1627-29,[12] and it was performed for BBC Radio Scotland's Scotland's music, broadcast in 1991.[13]