The heart has long been used as a symbol for love, emotion and romance. And nothing says Valentine’s Day more than hearts. Today, people will be sharing paper ones, floral ones, chocolate ones or possibly even Sainsbury’s cucumber ones as they celebrate their shared bliss – or secret passion.
The Egyptians believed that Anubis, the “Guardian of the Scales”, decided the fate of souls by weighing the heart against a feather: if the weight was right you got to live out eternity in paradise. The Aztecs treated hearts slightly more harshly, ripping them out still beating from their sacrificial victims in order to appease the Gods. And the Scots? Well, we have indulged in some pretty eccentric heart practices of our own.
Five miles south of Dumfries lie the ruins of Sweetheart Abbey, built in 1273 by Lady Devorgilla in memory of her beloved husband John Balliol.
They stand today as a testament to an enduring love story, with a slightly gruesome element. This couple, whose unfortunate son John Balliol is forever remembered as the cowardly puppet-king of Scotland, were very much in love – and when she was widowed, Devorgilla made sure the world could not forget her husband. First she founded Balliol College in Oxford in his memory, then she built a Cistercian abbey.
For her own private dedication, she had her husband’s heart placed in a silver and ivory casket which she is said to have worn round her neck for the rest of her days. When she died, the heart was buried with her and the monks re-christened their monastery Dulce Cor, or Sweetheart Abbey, in memory of her unfailing devotion and love.
Another heart that spent years in a casket was that of James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose, remembered in Scotland as the Great Montrose. Born in the 17th century and a fierce supporter of Charles I, he took up arms for the King in the English Civil War and then again in Scotland. He is remembered as a heroic and romantic figure who wrote poetry, led his men with courage and grit, and won many battles. He lost some, too – and was, after a long and colourful life, hanged in Edinburgh on 21 May 1650 from a 30-foot gibbet.
His head was displayed in Edinburgh whilst his limbs were sent to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Perth and Stirling for the general edification of the people. His torso was returned to his family, where it was buried in unconsecrated ground. Later his niece, Lady Napier, stole his heart, which she put tenderly in a steel case made out of his sword and then wrapped in gold. The family kept the heart for generations, until it was lost during the French Revolution.
Perhaps the most well known heart-in-a-box is that said to belong to Robert the Bruce. On his death, he is reputed to have asked that his heart be taken on one final crusade. His dying wish was granted by his lieutenant and friend Sir James Douglas – or the Black Douglas – who took the embalmed heart to Granada in Spain, where the Crusaders were fighting the Moors at the Battle of Teba.
There on the battlefield, tradition records that, seeing a fellow nobleman, William Sinclair of Roslin, isolated and vulnerable, Douglas pulled his horse round and throwing Bruce’s heart into battle charged with a shout of "A Bruce, a Bruce". He was quickly overwhelmed, and realising he was soon to die threw the casket into battle again, crying out: "Now, go in front of us, as you had desired, and I'll follow you or I'll die."
The Scots won the battle, and in the aftermath Douglas's body was found beside Bruce's heart. His men would not hear of him being buried on foreign soil, so his body was boiled in a cauldron of vinegar until the flesh fell from the bones. This was buried in Spain and his bones returned to Scotland. The heart of Robert the Bruce was subsequently buried in Melrose Abbey, where it remains to this day.
Whether or not with today’s sensibilities we agree with the notion of literally carrying around the heart of your loved one, we can at least give thanks that the hearts of these bonny laddies did not have the same fate as that which befell the heart of Louis XIV. It is said that during the French Revolution his heart was stolen and eventually sold to a Lord Hardcourt. It was at his house in the middle of the 19th century, that the rather peculiar Dean of Westminster, William Buckland, visited for dinner. Seeing the heart displayed on a silver platter he is said to have immediately picked it up and eaten it quickly before declaring: “I have eaten many strange things, but have never eaten the heart of the king before.”
History doesn’t record what the heart tasted like, so to be on the safe side we had maybe better stick with chocolate this Valentine’s Day.
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