The boarder Reivers were curse by the church >Here's the translation: > >We should all remember this day, when we celebrate our Scots heritage that many of the Scots upon the border were >cursed forevermore. Upon those riding clans the Bishop of Glasgow pronounced the mother of all curses. >THE BORDER REIVERS CURSE: > >Good folks, (herewith) my Archbishop of Glasgows letters, under his round seal, directed to me, or any other chaplain, making >mention with great regret, how heavy he bears the piteous, lamentable, and dolorous complaint that passes over all realms and comes >to his ears by open voice and fame, how our Sovereign Lords true lieges, men, wives, and children, bought and redeemed by the >precious blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and living in his laws, are innocently, some murdered, some slain, burned, hurt, >despoiled and cut, openly by daylight and under silence of night, and their farms and lands laid waste, and themselves banished >therefrom, also church lands as well as others, to be common traitors, rapists and thieves, dwelling in the south part of this >realm, namely, Tevidale, Esdale, Liddesdale, Ewisdale, Nedisdale, and Annandereaill; they have been, in diverse ways, pursued for >punishment by the temporal sword of our Sovereign Lords authority, and they fear not the same. (The church has condemned them in >fear for their souls, and it has no prohibitory effect on their actions) > >And therefore, my said Archbishop of Glasgow has thought it necessary to strike them with the terrible sword of Holy Church, that >they may not long endure and resist; and has charged me, or any other chaplain, to denounce, declare and proclaim them openly and >generally cursed, at this market crossroads, and all other public places. > >Herefore, through the authority of Almighty God, the Father of Heaven, His Son our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost; >through the authority of the Blessed Virgin, Saint Mary, Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, and all the angels; Saint John the Baptist, >and all the Holy patriarchs and prophets; Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Andrew, and all holy apostles; Saint Stephen, Saint >Lawrence, and all holy martyrs; Saint Giles, Saint Martin, and all holy confessors; Saint Anne, Saint Katherine, and all holy >virgins and matrons; and of all the saints and holy company of Heaven; by the authority of our Holy Father the Pope and his >cardinals, and of my said Lord, Archbishop of Glasgow, by the advice and assistance of my lords, archbishop, bishops, abbots, >priors, and other prelates and ministers of Holy Church: > >I denounce, proclaim and declare all the commiters of the said senseless murders, slaughters, burning, torturing, plundering, >raping and pillaging, openly by daylight and under silence of night, even on such peaceful ground as church lands; together with >their families, henchmen, suppliers, and willing conspirators who give them refuge, their receivers of goods stolen by them, and any >benefit or part thereof, and their counselors and defenders of their evil deeds, generally CURSED, denounced, execrated, in sum >total, with the GREAT CURSING. > >I curse their head and all the hairs of their head; I curse their face, their brain (innermost thoughts), their mouth, their nose, >their tongue, their teeth, their forehead, their shoulders, their breast, their heart, their stomach, their back, their womb, their >arms, their legs, their hands, their feet, and every part of their body, from the top of their head to the soles of their feet, >before and behind, within and without. > >I curse them going and I curse them riding; I curse them standing and I curse them sitting; I curse them eating and I curse them >drinking; I curse them rising, and I curse them lying; I curse them at home, I curse them away from home; I curse them within the >house, I curse them outside of the house; I curse their wives, their children, and their servants who participate in their deeds. > >I (bring ill wishes upon) their crops, their cattle, their wool, their sheep, their horses, their swine, their geese, their hens, >and all their livestock. > >I (bring ill wishes upon) their halls, their chambers, their kitchens, their stanchions, their barns, their cow sheds, their >barnyards, their cabbage patches, their plows, their harrows, and the goods and houses that are necessary for their sustenance and >welfare. > >May all the malevolent wishes and curses ever known, since the beginning of the world, to this hour, light on them. > >May the malediction of God, that fell upon Lucifer and all his fellows, that cast them from the high Heaven to the deep Hell, light >upon them. > >May the fire and the sword that stopped Adam from the gates of Paradise, stop them from the glory of Heaven, until they forebear, >and make amends. > >May the evil that fell upon cursed Cain, when he slew his brother Abel, needlessly, fall on them for the needless slaughter that >they commit daily. > >May the malediction that fell upon all the world, man and beast, and all that ever took life, when all were drowned by the flood of >Noah, except Noah and his ark, fall upon them and drown them, man and beast, and make this realm free of them, for their wicked >sins. > >May the thunder and lightning which rained down upon Sodom and Gomorrah and all the lands surrounding them, and burned them for >their vile sins, rain down upon them and burn them for their open sins. > >May the evil and confusion that fell on the Giganteus for their oppression and pride in building the Tower of Babylon, confound >them and all their works, for their open callous disregard and oppression. > >May all the plagues that fell upon Pharaoh and his people of Egypt, their lands, crops and cattle, fall upon them, their equipment, >their places, their lands, their crops and livestock. > >May the waters of the Tweed and other waters which they use, drown them, as the Red Sea drowned King Pharaoh and the people of >Egypt, preserving Gods people of Israel. > >May the earth open, split and cleave, and swallow them straight to hell, as it swallowed cursed Dathan and Abiron, who disobeyed >Moses and the command of God. > >May the wild fire that reduced Thor and his followers to two-hundred-fifty in number, and others from 14,000 to 7,000 at anys, >usurping against Moses and Aaron, servants of God, suddenly burn and consume them daily, for opposing the commands of God and Holy >Church. > >May the malediction that suddenly fell upon fair Absalom, riding through the wood against his father, King David, when the branches >of a tree knocked him from his horse and hanged him by the hair, fall upon these untrue Scotsmen and hang them the same way, that >all the world may see. > >May the malediction that fell upon Nebuchadnezzars lieutenant, Olifernus, making war and savagery upon true Christian men; the >malediction that fell upon Judas, Pilate, Herod, and the Jews that crucified Our Lord; and all the plagues and troubles that fell on >the city of Jerusalem therefore, and upon Simon Magus for his treachery, bloody Nero, Ditius Magcensius, Olibrius, Julianus >Apostita and the rest of the cruel tyrants who slew and murdered Christs holy servants, fall upon them for their cruel tyranny and >murder of Christian people. > >And may all the vengeance that ever was taken since the world began, for open sins, and all the plagues and pestilence that ever >fell on man or beast, fall on them for their openly evil ways, senseless slaughter and shedding of innocent blood. > >I sever and part them from the church of God, and deliver them immediately to the devil of Hell, as the Apostle Paul delivered >Corinth. > >I bar the entrance of all places they come to, for divine service and ministration of the sacraments of holy church, except the >sacrament of infant baptism, only; and I forbid all churchmen to hear their confession or to absolve them of their sins, until they >are first humbled/subjugated by this curse. > >I forbid all Christian men or women to have any company with them, eating, drinking, speaking, praying, lying, going, standing, or >in any other deed-doing, under the pain of deadly sin. > >I discharge all bonds, acts, contracts, oaths, made to them by any persons, out of loyalty, kindness, or personal duty, so long as >they sustain this cursing, by which no man will be bound to them, and this will be binding on all men. > >I take from them, and cast down all the good deeds that ever they did, or shall do, until they rise from this cursing. > >I declare them excluded from all matins, masses, evening prayers, funerals or other prayers, on book or bead (rosary); of all >pilgrimages and alms deeds done, or to be done in holy church or be Christian people, while this curse is in effect. > >And, finally, I condemn them perpetually to the deep pit of hell, there to remain with Lucifer and all his fellows, and their >bodies to the gallows of Burrowmoor, first to be hanged, then ripped and torn by dogs, swine, and other wild beasts, abominable to >all the world. > >And their candle (light of their life) goes from your sight, as may their souls go from the face of God, and their good reputation >from the world, until they forebear their open sins, aforesaid, and rise from this terrible cursing and make satisfaction and >penance. > No curse has ever surpassed this one for pure orneryness or cussedness. >> >>http://www.rootsweb.com/~sctbew/cursing.htm > Nelda, IBSSG; List/Board manager for: lists Beattie, Beaty, Beatty, Bodine, Bonstein, Divine, Gillock, Gilpin, Lykins; boards: Beattie, Bonstein, Breeding, Gillock, Gilpin, Wolfensbarger, Wooten, Ourancestors@yahoogroups.com & a member of GILPINsearch@yahoogroups.com and rwerelated@yahoogroups.com my website; 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