[1] [2] [3] They that were the deuiſers of the murder alſo, & procured the doers therevnto,The procurers of the murder were ſtaked. were thruſt through vpon ſharpe ſtakes, and after hanged vpon high gybettes: and other of the conſpira|tors were put to other kindes of death, as the caſe ſeemed to requyre. The death of Malcolme chaunced in the yeare after the bieth of our Sa|uiour .959. Here we haue thought good to put you in remembrance,959. that either the Scottes are deceyued in their accompte of yeares,The miſta|king of the names and times of the Engliſh kings, in the Scottiſh wryters. or els mi|ſtake the names of the kings of Englande, for where they waite that this Malcolme [...]equyted this life about the .xxij. yeare of Athelſtane king of England, that can not be if Malcolmes de|ceaſſe chaunced in the yeare .95 or for Athel|ſtane was dead [...]ing before that time, to witte in the yeare .940. and [...]ygned but [...] yeares. Moreouer where the [...]tiſhe wryttes ma [...]e mencion of ther warres Scotiſhe king Edmond that ſucceeded Athelſtan had againſt A [...]lafe and the Danes of Northumberland, in the dayes of king Indulfe, that ſucceeded Malcolme it can not ſtande by [...] meanes (if they miſtake not theyr accompt of yeares,) for the ſame Edmond was ſlayne in the yeare .1948. But verily th [...] fault in [...] of yeares is but to cõ|mon in the Scottiſhe, hiſtorie, and thenfore to him that ſhould take vpõ him tore for [...] the ere|rours thereof in this behalfe, it we [...] neceſſarie to alter in a maner the whole courſe of the ſame hi|ſtorie and therefore we will not wiſhe any man to giue any credite vnto theyr accompt in yeares touching the regines of the Engliſhe kings fur|ther [page 204] than they ſhall ſee them to agree with our wryters, whome in that behalfe wee may more ſafely followe, and by conferring the ſame with the Scottiſhe wryters in ſome places, happely perceyue the true time aſwell of the reygnes of theyr kings as of actes done, to fall out in yeares and ſeaſons, much differing from their accompt: whereof to admoniſh the Reader, aſwell here as in the Engliſh hiſtorie, wee haue thought it not impertinẽt. And albeit that ſome may aſke what reaſon we haue to moue vs to doubt of their ac|compte of yeares, more than we do of that in our owne writers, we wil referre the ſame vnto their iudgements that are learned, and haue trauay|led indifferently alike, aſwell in peruſing the one as the other without affectiõ. But as the errours are ſooner founde than amended, ſo haue wee thought good to ſet downe in the margent of this booke, the yeares as we finde them noted in the Scottiſh wryters, ſpecially in places where wee differ any thing from them, bicauſe we will not ſeeme by way of controlment, to preiudice the authours further, than by due conſideration the well aduiſed Reader ſhall thinke it expedient.