Marmion

Marmion A Tale Of Flodden Field by Walter Scott

The narrative begins with the arrival of Lord Marmion at the castle of Sir Hugh the Heron, a Scottish lord. Marmion was sent as an emissary from King Henry VIII of England to King James IV of Scotland; he hopes to persuade King James to suspend his plans for raiding the border country. Marmion came to Sir Hugh to ask for guidance on his journey through Scotland; a palmer (ie a religious pilgrim) is sent to accompany him.

Away from Marmion and Sir Hugh, an abbess and several nuns are sailing to "St. The holy island of Cuthbert. "One of the nuns on the ship, Clara de Clare (who is often referred to as" Clare "throughout the poem), became a nun after the death of her betrothed to avoid marriage to another man who loved her only for her. inheritance. The abbess is traveling for the inquisition of two prisoners on the ship with them; one is a murderer and the other is a former nun named Constance de Beverley. Constance is about to be executed for breaking her vows and having left his convent, but before dying he tells his story.

Constance left the convent to follow a "traitor" she was in love with: this man is Lord Marmion. Despite his "votes" to Constance, Marmion fell in love with Clara de Clare because of her beauty and heredity. To win Clara for himself, Marmion accused Ralph de Wilton, Clara's fiancé, of treason against the King of England. De Wilton attempted to defend his honor by dueling with Marmion, but eventually "found overthrow or death / under a traitor's spear". At this point, Clara fled to the convent, although the King of England promised that Marmion would take her. As she tells this story, Constance produces documents proving Marmion's guilt and de Wilton's innocence. Constance is executed after finishing her story.

Meanwhile, Marmion and the palmer continue their journey to Scotland. One night they stop at an inn and Marmion spends the evening merrily until his squire sings a song that reminds him of Constance and makes him feel guilty for abandoning her. Marmion tries to allay his guilt and convince himself that Constance is safe, but towards the end of the song, he thinks he hears a "death scream", like those played in monasteries to signal the death of a nun.

That night, Marmion can't sleep, so he embarks on a night run; when he returns, Marmion's squire notices that he has run back to the inn "at full speed" and appears to have fallen. In a subsequent conversation with Sir David Lindesay, who escorted him to the court of King James, Marmion reveals that during this ride, he met someone he thought was "long dead". When Marmion fell to the ground, this man had a chance to attack him, but after a moment he "dipped [his sword] into the scabbard" and instead "disappeared".

Marmion meets King James, who refuses to cancel his battle plans and puts Marmion and his men under the care of Douglas, Earl of Angus. The abbess and her nuns, including Clara, are also under Douglas's care, as their ship was captured by the Scots that morning. The abbess fears both for Clara's safety and her when she learns that they must be escorted to England by Marmion, so she talks to the palmer in secret and tells the story of Marmion's lies and Clara's suffering. She provides the palmer Constance with the papers, which are letters that Constance had forged to Marmion involving de Wilton, and begs him to bring the forgeries to the king to acquit de Wilton and protect Clara.

Eventually, the narrator describes Marmion as "noble" and orders that any reader who has left "the right path to the wrong" in temptation should not pronounce it on him. De Wilton fights with honor and courage in the Battle of Flodden and reclaims his honor and his property. He is reunited with Clara and the two are happily married.