Transcript

Translation

Now King Ebain was overcome with anger and fury.
Ah! Ah! he cried in Heaven's name -
what grief for two orphaned girls
(that has caused) my barons to have been lost to me.
I am, truly, distraught.
But here, by the faith, with which I am bound to Saint Peter ¹
(I swear) that never again will a woman inherit
in the Kingdom of England.
Therefore, for as much as I do hold this land,
And, as I have now adjudged, from now on this will be the retribution
for this, our loss, and our plight.
All were summoned (as was the custom) to swear to uphold
that the pronouncement that the King had made that day would remain in force.
Some did it very angrily
But most did it quite gladly.
for (of course) in having nothing to give they would (gladly) give an axe.
But for those who had no more than a daughter
and who held great estates from the King
Who would say that their hearts were not filled with bitterness?

1. Swearing by St Peter would probably be a solemn oath in the presence of witnesses, with hand laid on relics or on a manuscript of the Gospel