_In_ Jedwort _wod for saiffgard he had beyne._-- Jedwort _thai tuk; and Ruwan lewit he,_ _At Wallace will captane off it to be._--V. 1277. 1289.
It is _Iedbrugh_ in Edit. 1594 and 1620. The name of this place assumes a great variety of forms; Gedword, Geddeworde, Gedewrde, Geddewerde, Gedworth, Gedeworth, Gedewurth, Gedewrze; Jedworth, Jedwurth, Jedword, Jedwort, Jedewrth, Jedwod, Jeddeburch. V. Macpherson’s Geogr. Illustr. The latter is merely the modern name. The vulgar, and indeed almost universal, pronunciation, q. _Jethart_, points out what was the original designation. Here were two monasteries, one of them founded so late as A. 1513; the other was established in the year 1147. Another place, not far distant, retains the name of _Auld Jedworth_. According to Simeon of Durham, these two Jedworths were built by Ecgred, bishop of Lindisfarn, about the year 840. Dec. Script. 13. 28. 119. 121. Simeon writes it _Geddeword_.
The name, it has been conjectured, might be traced to the _Gadeni_, a tribe who anciently inhabited the whole tract of country that lies between Northumberland and the river Tiviot. Stat. Acc. I. 1. But the Gadeni have been placed, with far more probability, in Dunbartonshire. V. Pinkerton’s Enquiry, I. p. 35. 224. 320. It is obvious, that the name of the place is formed from that of the stream, which probably claims a British origin. _Gwyth_ signifies a channel or drain. But whatever might be the origin of _Ged_, or _Jed_, Ecgred having chosen this river as the seat of his mansion, had given it a name by adding the Saxon term _weorth_, or _worth_, denoting a possession, or hamlet; Fundus, praedium; vicus; Lye. In the same manner the names of many places in England have been formed; as _Worth_am, _Worth_ington, Wandes_worth_, Kenel_worth_, &c. Old German _wart_, and Alemannic _werts_, signify locus.
--“_He had sic message seyldyn seyne,_ “_That Wallace now as gouernowr sall ryng:_ “_Her is gret faute off a gud prince or kyng._ “_That_ kyng off Kyll _I can nocht wndirstand;_ “_Off him I held neuir a fur off land._”--V. 18.
That Corspatrick, Earl of Dunbar, used this provoking language, appears highly probable; as it is certain from other documents that, “when summoned by the guardian of Scotland, to attend a convention at Perth,” he “contemptuously refused. Blind Harrie is supported by the Tower Records.” Caledonia, II. 246.