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BORDER RAIDS AND REIVERS.
BORDER RAIDS
AND
REIVERS
BY
ROBERT BORLAND
_MINISTER OF YARROW_
DALBEATTIE: THOMAS FRASER.
MDCCCXCVIII.
PRINTED AT THE COURIER AND HERALD OFFICES,
DUMFRIES,
FOR
THOMAS FRASER, DALBEATTIE.
CONTENTS.
PREFACE xv.
I.
THE AULD ENEMY.
PAGE.
Extent of Border reiving--Plunder and reprisal--All classes
implicated--Double dose of original sin--Victims of an evil
fate--Invasions--Threatened annexation of Scotland--Edward's
twofold policy--Sacking of Berwick--Feeling of
hostility produced--Edward visits Scone and carries off
Scottish Sceptre and Crown--Douglas and Edward Bruce--
Borderers animated by a spirit of revenge 1-14
II.
PERCY'S PENNON.
Battle of Otterburn--Chief combatants--How the encounter was
brought about--Destruction of the Abbeys--Meeting of the
Scots at Aberdeen--Scottish army assembles at Yetholm--
Method of attack determined upon--Earl Douglas marches
through Northumberland--Ravages Durham--Returns to
Newcastle--Hotspur and Douglas--Otterburn--Preparations for
battle--The English assault--The Douglas slain--Hotspur
taken prisoner--Humanity of Borderers 15-32
III.
POOR AND LAWLESS.
Condition of Scotland--Ancient monasteries--Description of
country by AEneas Sylvius--Ignorance of the people--Laws
cannot be enforced--The Barons supreme--Law against
harbouring thieves--Every man's hand against his neighbour--
Pledges demanded--Banished north of the Forth--Scottish
Borderers forbidden to marry daughters of "broken men"
in England--No respect paid to the law--Execrable murders
committed--Without religion--Hand-fasting 33-54
IV.
RAIDS AND FORAYS.
Invasions constantly occurring--Many lives sacrificed--How
the reivers conducted their expeditions--Leslie's account--
Tracked by bloodhounds--Froissart's description of
Borderers--Invasion by Earl of Hertford--Raid by Sir Ralph
Eure--Battle of Ancrum Moor--Lord Dacre's devastations--
Borderers retaliate--Horrid cruelties practised--Raid of
the Reidswire--Indignation of English Queen--Morton's
concessions 55-80
V.
WARDENS OF THE MARCHES.
Generally officers of high rank--Scottish King limited in
his choice--Wardens invested with arbitrary powers--Bonds
of alliance--Of little or no value--Ignored when
convenient--Wardens well remunerated--Duties pertaining to
the office 81-96
VI.
THE DAY OF TRUCE.
Arrangements for dealing with offenders--Of a primitive
character--Prisoners could not be detained in custody--Often
took "leg-bail"--Day of Truce every month--Date and place
made known by proclamation--The meeting of the Wardens--
Regulations for conduct of business--Administering the
oath--Three ways of trying cases--Bogus bills--Value of
goods--Bills "fouled" or "cleared"--The hot-trod--
Baughling--Lord Russell shot--Foster's explanations 97-115
VII.
THE DEADLY FEUD.
Origin of the expression--Feuds of everyday occurrence--
Occasioned by trifling circumstances--Inherited--Made the
administration of the law difficult--Feud betwixt the Kers
and Scotts--How occasioned--The Maxwells and Johnstones--A
disastrous feud--Battle of Dryfe Sands--Murder of Johnstone--
Lord Maxwell imprisoned--Returns to the Borders--Betrayed by
Earl of Caithness--Beheaded in Edinburgh--Ker of Cessford
slain--Pursuit of his murderers--How feuds staunched--Bonds
of Assurance--Marriage--Pilgrimage--Assythment 116-135
VIII.
THE THIEVES DAUNTONED.
The "Family Tree"--Man's first right--The King connives at
Border reiving--The Wardens often indifferent--The King's
visit to Dumfries--Tytler's account of what transpired--The
Turnbulls of Rule Water punished--The Earl of Mar in
Hawick--Lack of trees and halters--Queen Mary at Jedburgh--
The Earl of Bothwell--John Elliot of Park--The Queen visits
Hermitage--Struck down with fever--The suppression of
Liddesdale--Buccleuch and Ferniherst--Mangerton destroyed--
The whole district given to the flames--Geordie Bourne--
Found guilty of March treason--Executed--Milder measures--
The Tower of Netherby--Cary's success 136-154
IX.
LIDDESDALE LIMMERS.
Border keeps and peels--Description of them--Hermitage--
Lord Soulis--Nine-stane-rig--Black Knight of Liddesdale--
Ramsay of Dalhousie starved to death--Armstrongs and
Elliots--Maitland's "Complaynt"--Took everything that
came to hand--The clan system--Names of Border clans--
To-names--Debateable land--The Scotch dyke--Cary's raid--
Driven to bay 155-180
X.
AFTER THE HUNTING.
James V.--Border barons put in ward--Sets out for the
Borders--Hunts in Meggat--Eighteen score of deer slain--
Cockburn of Henderland--Border Widow's Lament--Adam Scott,
"King of Thieves"--Johnie Armstrong--The loving letter--
Basely betrayed--Pitscottie's account--Maxwell's
complicity--Ballad--_Blackmeal_--Increase of Border
lawlessness 181-200
XI.
THE CORBIE'S NEST.
General characteristics of Border reivers--Kinmount
Willie--Descendant of laird of Gilnockie--Encouraged
to commit depredations on English border--Present at
March meeting at Dayholm--Captured by Salkeld on his way
home--Imprisoned in Carlisle--Violation of Border law--The
bold Buccleuch determines to effect his rescue--
Arrangements made at a horse race at Langholm--Meeting at
Tower of Morton--Marches on Carlisle--Breaks into the
Castle--Carries off the prisoner--Relieves him of his
irons--Names of principal assistants--Scrope indignant--
Addresses the Privy Council--Buccleuch on his defence--
Elizabeth demands his surrender--James complies 201-219
XII.
FLAGELLUM DEI.
International complications--The Queen difficult to
pacify--Her letter to James--Scrope invades Liddesdale--
His conduct defended--Buccleuch retaliates--Invades
Tynedale--Account of his depredations--_Flagellum Dei_--
Supported by King and Council--Elizabeth peremptorily
demands his surrender--Places himself as a prisoner in
the hands of Sir William Bowes--The Governor of Berwick
afraid to undertake his safe custody--Surrender of Sir
Robert Ker--Lives with Sir Robert Cary on terms of
intimacy and friendship--Buccleuch returns to Liddesdale--
Adopts a new policy--Incurs the displeasure of the
reivers--Inaugurates a new era in Border history--Appears
before the Queen 220-236
XIII.
MINIONS OF THE MOON.
The kindly feeling with which the more famous reivers
regarded--Auld Wat of Harden--At the "Raid of Falkland"--
The consequences of this episode--Carries off 300 oxen
and kye, a horse and a nag, from Gilsland--Large demands
on his hospitality--"Wat o' Harden's coo!"--The sow-backed
hay stack--Destroys the town of Bellinghame--Marries Mary
Scott of Dryhope--His son slain by one of the Scotts of
Gilmanscleuch--The feast of spurs--Goes in pursuit of the
Captain of Bewcastle--Revenge!--Willie Scott--His raid on
Elibank--Taken prisoner--"Muckle-mou'd Meg"--Priest or
hangman--A wise choice. "Jock o' the Syde"--Prisoner in
Newcastle--Rescued by his friends--Pursued by the English--
Make good their escape.--"Christie's Will"--Two delicate
colts--Lord Traquair--Lord Durie kidnapped--Scott's account
of the incident--Description of balladist--Christie's Will
carries important papers to Charles I.--Entrapped at
Carlisle on his return--Spurs his horse over parapet of
bridge.--Willie of Westburnflat--Tried at Selkirk--Breaks
in pieces the oaken chair--Threatens to clear the court--
Dissuaded by his friends--Executed in due form of law--
Armstrong's good-night 237-266
XIV.
UNDER THE BAN.
State of the Borders--Decadence of Romanism--A strong hand
needed--The Celtic Church--Its influence permanent--The
Scots indifferent to fulminations of their spiritual
superiors--Excommunicatio major--Excommunicatio minor--
Monition of Cursing by Archbishop of Glasgow 267-279
XV.
THE TRIUMPH OF LAW.
"Broken men" drafted off to Belgic wars--Graemes banished to
Ireland--Buccleuch invested with arbitrary powers--Thieves
executed without ceremony--The Union of the Crowns--The
effect highly beneficial--Firm hand laid on the ring-leaders
of Border strife--New spirit infused into the
administration--The name _Middleshires_ substituted for
_Borders_--The law impartially administered--A happy era--
Parochial system of education--Schools before the
Reformation--Educational condition of the Borders--John
Knox's scheme--Beneficial results--Teaching and influence of
the Church--Religious state of the Borders--Decision of the
Commission--Difficulties in the way--Thomas Boston--The
unploughed field--Victory achieved 280-298
XVI.
THE HARVEST OF PEACE.
Great changes effected in habits and character of the
people--Easily explained--"Broken men" expatriated--How
reiving was regarded--Border ethics--Right to rob the
English--Statistics of crime--The Tweed Act--A hard
school--Grim and dour--Services rendered by Borderers--
Great feature of Border life--Birthplace of poetry--The
old ballads--A priceless inheritance--James Thomson, the
author of "The Seasons"--Sir Walter Scott--Hogg--Leyden--
Burns probably sprung from a Border stock--The name
"Burness"--A Western Mecca--Rural population decreasing--
Conclusion 299-310
PREFACE.
The object we have had in view in the following pages has been (1) to
indicate briefly the causes which produced Border reiving; (2) to show the
extent to which the system was ultimately developed; (3) to describe the
means adopted by both Governments for its suppression; (4) to illustrate
the way in which the _rugging and riving_--to use a well-known phrase--was
carried on; (5) to explain how these abnormal conditions were in the end
effectually removed; and (6) to set forth in brief outline some of the
more prominent traits in the lives and characters of the men who were most
closely identified with this extraordinary phase of Border life.
We have to acknowledge our indebtedness for much of the information
conveyed in the following pages to Scott's "Border Antiquities" and
"Border Minstrelsy," Nicolson's "Leges Marchiarum," Pitcairn's "Criminal
Trials," "Calendar of Border Papers" (recently published), "Cary's
Memoirs"--Froissart, Godscroft, Pitscottie, Pinkerton--and host of other
writers on Border themes.
It is in no spirit of mock-modesty we acknowledge how inadequately the
object we have had in view has been realised. The subject is so large and
many-sided that we have found it difficult to compress within the compass
of a single volume anything like an adequate outline of a theme which is
at once so varied and interesting.
In coming to the consideration of this subject, there is one fact which it
is well the reader should carefully bear in mind, and that is, that from
the peculiar circumstances in which Borderers were placed in early times,
the only alternative they had was either to _starve or steal_. The
recognition of this fact will at least awaken our sympathy, if it does not
always command our approval, when we come to consider the lives and
characters of the Border Reivers.
I.
THE AULD ENEMY.
"Near a Border frontier, in the time of war,
There's ne'er a man, but he's a freebooter."--SATCHELLS.
There are few more remarkable phenomena in the political or social life of
Scotland than what is familiarly known as "Border Reiving." In olden times
it prevailed along the whole line of the Borders from Berwick to the
Solway, embracing the counties of Berwick, Roxburgh, Selkirk, Peebles, and
Dumfries. During a period of some three or four hundred years these
districts were chiefly inhabited by hordes of moss-troopers, who made it
the chief business of their lives to harry and despoil their English
neighbours. On every convenient opportunity the Scottish reivers crossed
the Border, and carried off whatever came readiest to hand--horses, cows,
sheep, "insight and outsight," nothing coming amiss to them unless it was
either too heavy or too hot. Those on the English side who were thus
despoiled were not slow to retaliate, and generally succeeded, to some
extent, in making good the losses they sustained. This system of plunder
and reprisal ultimately attained an extraordinary development. All
classes, from the Chief of the clan to the meanest serf over whom he
ruled, were engaged in it. Indeed it must be frankly admitted that the
most notorious thieves were often those who had least excuse for indulging
in such nefarious practices--gentlemen in high position like the Scotts,
Kers, Johnstones, and Maxwells, and who in many cases had been chosen by
the Government to repress the reiving propensities of their clans and
followers.
Some who have made a superficial acquaintance with this remarkable phase
of Border life have rushed to the conclusion that the great Border Chiefs,
and those over whom they exercised a kind of patriarchal authority, must
have been dowered with a "double dose of original sin." In proof of this
it is pointed out that a widely different state of affairs prevailed in
other parts of the country, for example in Fife, and the Lothians, and
generally speaking, throughout the whole of the west of Scotland, and
consequently the only way in which they can account for the singular
condition of the Borders is by predicating an essentially lower moral
type. We do not believe that this theory, plausible though it may appear,
will bear a moment's serious consideration. No doubt among the "broken
men" of the Debateable land, and in some parts of Liddesdale, you will
find a considerable number of disreputable characters whose only law was
the length of their own swords. But it is a mistake to suppose that such
individuals represent the general type of the inhabitants of the
Borderland. The very fact that these men had no Chief to represent them
shows that they had, so to speak, fallen out of the ranks.
The solution of this problem must be sought in another direction. It will
be found by a careful study of the history of the country that Border
reiving was, to a considerable extent, the result of a concatenation of
circumstances over which the inhabitants of these districts had little or
no control. They were the victims of an evil fate. It was not merely their
proximity to the English Border which occasioned their misdeeds. It is an
interesting and significant fact that, till near the close of the 13th
century, the Border Counties were as law-abiding as any other part of the
realm. Petty skirmishes were, no doubt, of frequent occurrence, as might
be expected; but the deep rooted aversion to the English which
characterises the subsequent period of Scottish history had hardly at that
time any real existence. How the change was brought about will become
apparent as we bring under review some salient facts in Scottish history
which have a direct and immediate bearing on the question before us.
It must be borne in mind that for a period of more than three hundred
years Scotland was kept in a condition of political distraction by the
insane desire on the part of the English Government to reduce it to a
state of vassalage. When this policy was first determined on everything
seemed favourable to its speedy realisation. When Alexander III., a wise
and gracious King, under whose reign the country had greatly prospered,
was accidentally killed when hunting in the neighbourhood of Kinghorn, the
Crown reverted to his grand-daughter, the Maid of Norway, who was then a
child of tender years. At this unfortunate juncture Edward I. of England
resolved that the two countries should be united under one Sovereign; at
least this was the object of his ambition. He was fully convinced that so
long as Scotland maintained her political independence, England would have
to reckon with a powerful adversary. If he could only succeed, by fair
means or foul, in gaining Scotland over as a fief of England, then the
country as a whole would enjoy the immunities and benefits naturally
accruing to its position as an island. England would thus be in an
immensely more advantageous position to resist foreign invasion, and its
influence and power as an aggressive force would be indefinitely
increased. The object aimed at was an exceedingly desirable one.
Unfortunately it was a sane policy insanely pursued. Had the English King
only been gifted with more self-restraint, had he but been prepared to
wait patiently the natural development of events, and not to have struck
the iron _before_ it was hot, he might have succeeded in gaining his end,
a result which would have changed the whole complexion and current of
Scottish history. Whether this would have been better or worse, more to
our own advantage and the advantage of Great Britain, as a whole, is one
of those points about which there may be considerable difference of
opinion. Many have regretted that the Union of the Crowns was not effected
in the 14th century rather than in the 17th, as such a consummation would
have saved the country much, both of bloodshed and treasure. It may be so.
It cannot be denied that from a purely material point of view it might
have been better had Scotland gracefully complied with the wishes of
Edward. But man cannot live by bread alone. There are higher and better
things in the life of a people than mere material well-being, and in view
of these it was well that Scotland maintained her independence. The record
of her achievements, when contending against the most overwhelming odds,
and the example of those heroic personalities, which mark the progress of
her history, have been a perennial fountain of inspiration to the Scottish
people, have made them what they are. While, therefore, there may be some
cause for regret, on the ground of political expediency, that the union of
the two countries was so late in being effected, yet on other and higher
grounds there is just reason for thankfulness that things took the course
they did. What would Scotland have been without its Wallace or Bruce? or
what would it have been apart from the long and arduous struggle through
which it was destined to pass ere it gained an assured and thoroughly
independent political position? The long years of struggle and desolating
warfare constitute an important factor in the social and intellectual
evolution of the nation. The best qualities of the Scottish character and
intellect were developed in the seething maelstrom of political strife and
internecine war. It may be that "the course of Providence is also the
orbit of wisdom."
Edward in trying to bring Scotland under his sway pursued a two-fold
policy. He endeavoured to prevent as far as possible all union among the
most powerful Scottish barons. He arrayed their private and selfish
ambition against the love of their country. He sowed dissension in their
councils, and richly rewarded their treachery. Those who dared to oppose
his well-laid schemes were treated with unmitigated severity. His success
in this respect was complete. He had the satisfaction of seeing the
country torn to pieces by contending factions. His way was now open for
applying more drastic measures. He raised a powerful army and invaded
Scotland. The town of Berwick was then an important centre of commerce,
and he was determined at all hazards to make himself master of the city.
"He despatched a large division, with orders to assault the town, choosing
a line of march which concealed them from the citizens; and he commanded
his fleet to enter the river at the same moment that the great body of the
army, led by himself, were ready to storm. The Scottish army fiercely
assaulted the ships, burnt three of them, and compelled the rest to
retire; but they in their turn were driven back by the fury of the land
attack. Edward himself, mounted on horseback, was the first who leaped the
dyke; and the soldiers, animated by the example and presence of their
King, carried everything before them. All the horrors of a rich and
populous city, sacked by an inflamed soldiery, and a commander thirsting
for vengeance, now succeeded. _Seventeen thousand persons_, without
distinction of age or sex, were put to the sword; and for two days the
city ran with blood like a river. The churches, to which the miserable
inhabitants fled for sanctuary, were violated and defiled with blood,
spoiled of their sacred ornaments, and turned into stables for the English
cavalry."[1]
This ruthless massacre produced a profound sensation all over the country,
but more especially on the Borders, and had much to do in creating that
bitter feeling of hostility with which the English were ever afterwards
regarded. To harass and despoil them was looked upon almost as a sacred
duty. This miserable butchery of the inoffensive lieges instantly led to
reprisals. Under the Earls of Ross, Menteith, and Athole, the Scottish
army crossed the English Border, and ravaged with merciless severity the
districts of Redesdale and Tynedale. The monasteries of Lanercost and
Hexham were given to the flames, towns and villages destroyed, and the
surrounding country laid waste. The Scots returned laden with booty. But
the success which had crowned their arms was of doubtful utility. It only
served to fan the flame of vengeful ire in the breast of the English King,
who now resolved on the complete subjugation of the country. He marched
against Dunbar with an army of ten thousand foot, and a thousand heavy
armed horse. The Scots opposed his progress with an army much superior in
point of numbers, and occupying a position of great strategic importance
on the heights above Spot. As the English army had necessarily to deploy
in passing along the valley it was supposed that the ranks had somehow
fallen into confusion. The Scots precipitately rushed upon the enemy, only
to find, to their dismay, that the English army was under the most perfect
discipline, and ready for the attack. After a short resistance the
Scottish columns were thrown into inextricable confusion, and were routed
with great slaughter, leaving ten thousand brave soldiers dead in the
field. History has a strange knack of repeating itself. Three hundred and
fifty years after, the Scottish covenanters committed a similar blunder at
the same place when opposing the progress of Oliver Cromwell, and with an
equally disastrous result. The progress of Edward now partook of the
nature of a triumphal march. He threw his army upon Edinburgh, and in the
course of eight days made himself master of the Castle. He then proceeded
to Perth, where he received the submission of Baliol, who seemed anxious
to rid himself of an office the duties of which he was constitutionally
unfit to discharge. The King continued his march to Aberdeen, and from
thence to Elgin, without resistance. The nobles hurried into his presence
to tender their submission. With indecent haste they renounced the
alliance with Bruce, and took the oath of fealty to the destroyer of their
country's liberties. It was a dark and tragic hour in Scottish history.
As Edward returned on his way to Berwick, where he proposed holding a
Parliament, he visited Scone, and took with him the "famous and fatal
stone" upon which for many ages the Scottish Kings had been crowned and
anointed. "This, considered by the Scots as the national Palladium, along
with the Scottish Sceptre and Crown, the English monarch placed in the
Cathedral of Westminster as an offering to Edward the Confessor, and as a
memorial of what he deemed his absolute conquest of Scotland, a conquest
which, before a single year elapsed, was entirely wrested from him."[2]
We must now pass rapidly over one of the most eventful and stirring
periods of Scottish history, during which Wallace and Bruce, by almost
superhuman efforts, succeeded in delivering the country from the
domination and control of England. The battle of Bannockburn gave the
final blow to the lofty pretensions of the English monarch. He began to
realise that the conquest of Scotland was not to be effected so easily as
he had at one time vainly thought. But unfortunately this splendid victory
did not result in inaugurating a reign of peace and goodwill between the
two countries. After all that the Scottish people had suffered at the
hands of their enemies, it was impossible for them to remain quiescent.
They were determined on revenge. Hence we find that in the early autumn of
1314 Douglas and Edward Bruce were despatched across the eastern march,
and ravaged with fire and sword the counties of Northumberland and Durham.
They even penetrated into Yorkshire, plundered the town of Richmond, and
drove away a large booty of cattle, and made many prisoners. The
inhabitants of the north of England were paralysed with fear. Walsingham
declares that a hundred Englishmen would not hesitate to fly from two or
three Scottish soldiers, so grievously had their wonted courage deserted
them.
Another army of Scottish soldiers marched through Redesdale and Tynedale,
"marking their progress by the black ashes of the towns and villages."
In the spring of the following year this predatory mode of warfare was
again resumed, and Northumberland and the principality of Durham ravaged.
A great quantity of plunder was collected, and the inhabitants compelled
to redeem their property by paying a high tribute. The army of Bruce
seemed invincible, and the northern counties of England were made to pay
dearly for the temerity of the king in venturing to challenge the
patriotism and prowess of the Scottish people.
These events produced a profound impression on the people as a whole,
especially on the dwellers on the Scottish Border. The sacking of Berwick,
and the indiscriminate slaughter of its inhabitants, whose only offence
was that they refused to open their gates to the usurper, were not soon
forgotten, and engendered in the Border mind an undying hatred of England.
It is not to be wondered at that the inhabitants of the Scottish Border
should seldom either think or speak of the English except as their "auld
enemies." To despoil them became, if not a religious, at least a patriotic
duty. These circumstances to which reference has been made, and others of
a kindred nature, may account, in some degree at least, for the
extraordinary fact that the Border mosstrooper never seems to have been
ashamed of his calling. On the contrary he gloried in it. In his eyes it
was honourable and worthy. The undaunted bearing of the Bold Buccleuch,
for example, and his cavalier manner in dealing with the English wardens,
showed how thoroughly he enjoyed the work in which he was engaged. Eure
tells how, on one occasion, he sent his cousin, Henry Bowes, to confer
with this famous freebooter on some question in dispute, but Buccleuch
"scorned to speak with him, and gathered his forces; and if my said cousin
had not wisely foreseen and taken time to have come away he had been
stayed himself. Two several messages were sent from Buccleuch from out his
company that were in the field, part to have stayed with him and those
that were with him. Not long since some of his men having stolen in my
March, my men following their trade were stayed of his officer of
Hermitage, their horses taken and themselves escaped on foot."[3]
The English warden had evidently considerable difficulty in accounting
for Buccleuch's attitude, for we find in a letter written to Burghley a
few days after this happened that he is disposed to attribute his enmity
to England to his zeal for Romanism. "His secret friends," he says, "say
he is a papist; his surest friends in court are papists about the Queen,
and labour his grace with the King. He strengthened himself much of late,
and secretly says he will not stir till some certainty of the Spaniards
arrive. To England he is a secret enemy, mighty proud, publishing his
descent to be from Angus, and laboureth to be created Earl, and claimeth
his blood to be partly royal. His poverty is great, all which concurring
with his pride and Spanish religion, I leave to your honourable wisdom to
censure."
This picture is certainly painted in strong colours. The one point in it
which is really significant, however, is that Buccleuch was "a secret
enemy to England." This may be said of nine-tenths of the Border reivers.
It was not the mere love of plunder or mischief which impelled them to
prosecute their calling. They were animated by a spirit of revenge. Times
almost without number the armies of England had crossed the Border,
burning villages and homesteads, destroying the crops, carrying off goods
and cattle, leaving those whom they had thus ruthlessly despoiled to the
tender mercies of an uncertain climate and an impoverished soil, from
which even at the best they had difficulty in extracting a bare
subsistence.
The English were, comparatively speaking, rich and powerful. They could
command great forces, against which it was in vain, in most cases, for the
Scottish Borderers to contend. Hence when they were assailed they drove
their cattle into the recesses of mountain or forest, burned or otherwise
destroyed what they could not remove--so that the enemy might be enriched
as little as possible--and betook themselves to some distant shelter,
where they awaited the course of events. As soon as the enemy had
withdrawn, they returned to their places of abode, which, though
destroyed, were easily reconstructed--the work of rebuilding being done in
a day or two--and then they set about recouping themselves for the losses
they had sustained by making incursions on the English Border, and
carrying off every thing they could lay their hands on. This system of
plunder and reprisal went on merrily along the whole line of the Borders
for many generations. All the great Border families were involved in it,
and devoted themselves to the work with a zeal and enthusiasm which left
nothing to be desired. They doubtless felt that in plundering the English
they were not only enriching themselves, but promoting the interests of
their country, and paying back a long standing and heavily accumulating
debt.
II.
PERCY'S PENNON.
"It fell about the Lammas time
When Yeomen wonne their hay,
The doughty DOUGLAS 'gan to ride
In England to take a prey."
BATTLE OF OTTERBURN.
The Battle of Otterburn, which took place in the autumn of 1388, is
without question one of the most interesting episodes in Border history,
and is especially significant as an illustration of the prowess and
chivalry of the Border Chiefs. The chief combatants on the Scottish side
were the Earls of Douglas, Moray, March, and Crawford, the Lord
Montgomery, and Patrick Hepburn of Hales, and his son. On the English side
were Sir Henry (Hotspur) and Sir Ralph Percy, sons of the Earl of
Northumberland; the Seneschal of York, Sir Ralph Langley, Sir Matthew
Redman, governor of Berwick, Sir Robert Ogle, Sir Thomas Grey, Sir Thomas
Hatton, Sir John Felton, Sir John Lillburne, Sir William Walsingham, and
many others, all good men and true. The circumstances which brought about
this famous encounter are worth recalling, as they shed an interesting
light on the history of the period, as well as on the manners and customs
of the age. The Scots, with the aid of their French allies, under the
command of Sir John de Vienne, had made frequent successful incursions
upon the English Borders, ravaging with fire and sword considerable
districts of the country, both to the east and west of the frontier. This
naturally led to retaliating expeditions. At last the state of affairs
became so desperate that the young King, Richard II., determined to invade
Scotland, and mete out summary punishment on the depredators. An army of
extraordinary power and splendour was assembled; and the King, attended by
his uncles and all the principal nobles of the kingdom, set out for the
Scottish Border. If he expected to reap a rich harvest of booty by this
invasion of the Scottish kingdom he was doomed to bitter disappointment.
As he passed through Liddesdale and Teviotdale at the head of his army he
found that the country had been cleared of everything that could be
conveniently carried off. The cattle had been driven into the forest and
mountain fastnesses; all the goods and chattels had been secured in places
of safety; nothing was left but the green crops, and these being trampled
upon were rendered practically worthless. But most wonderful of all--he
never could come within sight of the enemy! The whole region through which
he passed was lonely and desolate as a wilderness. The reason of this was
that the French and Scots forces had fallen back upon Berwick, the
commander of the Scots army being unwilling to hazard the fate of the
country by an encounter with such an overwhelmingly superior force. The
French commander, De Vienne, was impatient, and bitterly disappointed at
not being permitted to attack the invaders. The Earl of Douglas, in order
to demonstrate the hopelessness of an encounter, conveyed him to a lofty
eminence, commanding a mountain pass through which the English army was at
that moment defiling, and where unseen themselves, they could see its
imposing array. The Scottish leader pointed out the number and discipline
of the men-at-arms, and the superiority of the equipments of the archers,
and then asked the French Knight whether he could recommend the Scots to
encounter such a numerous and completely accoutred army with a few
ill-trained Highland bowmen, and their light-armed prickers mounted on
little hackneys. He could not but admit the risk was too great. "But yet,"
said he, "if you do not give the English battle they will destroy your
country." "Let them do their worst," replied Douglas, "they will find but
little to destroy. Our people have all retired into the mountains and
forests, and have carried off their flocks and herds and household stuff
along with them. We will surround them with a desert, and while they never
see an enemy they shall never stir a bow-shot from their standards
without being overpowered with an ambush. Let them come on at their
pleasure, and when it comes to burning and spoiling you shall see which
has the worst of it." "But what will you do with your army if you do not
fight," said De Vienne; "and how will your people endure the distress and
famine and plunder which must be the consequences of the invasion?" "You
shall see that our army shall not be idle," was the reply; "and as for our
Scottish people, they will endure pillage, and they will endure famine,
and every other extremity of war, but they will not endure English
masters."
The wisdom of this course was proved by subsequent results. The English
army by the time it reached Edinburgh had got into the most desperate
straits owing to the scarcity of provisions. Multitudes perished from
want, and to escape total destruction a retreat was ordered through those
very districts "which their own merciless and short-sighted policy had
rendered a blackened desert."
There is one important fact brought before us in this connection which
demands a passing notice. The Reformers have often been severely censured
for the wholesale destruction of the ancient Abbeys so intimately
associated with the "fair humanities" of the ritual and worship of the
Church of Rome. The saying attributed to Knox, about pulling down the
rookeries to prevent the crows building, has served as a convenient text
for many a philippic on the iconoclastic spirit and tendency of
Protestantism. But the truth is that Knox had as little sympathy with what
he calls the "rascal multitude," which sometimes engaged in this kind of
work, as any of those opposed to him. Our Abbeys for the most part owe
their destruction not to Reforming zeal, but to Catholic England's
cupidity and revenge. The beautiful Abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, and
Newbattle were given to the flames by the English soldiers at this time,
and the wanton destruction of these noble edifices created in the Scottish
mind a feeling of deep and bitter hostility. Jedburgh, too, owes its
destruction not to Scottish iconoclasm, but to English invasion. It was
pillaged and partly burned by the Earl of Surrey in the year 1523, and its
destruction was practically completed by the Earl of Hereford twenty-two
years afterwards; so that, so far at least as the Border Abbeys are
concerned, the charge so often preferred against the Reformers is a base
and stupid calumny.
It was this invasion of the English army which led the Scottish nobles to
organise the expedition which may be said to have terminated so gloriously
at Otterburn. "The Scots," says Godscroft, "irritated herewith boyled with
desire and revenge, being at that time very flourishing with strong youth,
and never better furnished with commanders." The barons did not think it
politic, for various reasons, to take the King into their confidence. He
was of an essentially pacific disposition, and moreover was well stricken
in years, and it is almost certain, had the matter been laid before him,
he would have opposed the movement to the utmost of his power. His sons,
however, were prepared to give every encouragement and assistance, and the
barons in order to allay suspicion, and especially to prevent the English
getting to know their purposes and plans, assembled at a great feast in
Aberdeen and took counsel together. But, as Froissart says, "Everything is
known to them who are diligent in their inquiries." The English nobles
sent spies to Aberdeen, who, appearing in the guise of heralds and
minstrels, became familiar with the plans of the Scottish barons, and
speedily carried the information back to their own country. When the
Scottish army ultimately assembled at Yetholm, close to the English
Border, the English lords were well informed on nearly every point on
which information could be desired. Such a muster had not been seen, so it
was said, for sixty years. "There were twelve hundred spears, and forty
thousand other men and archers. These lords were well pleased on meeting
with each other, and declared they would never return to their homes
without making an inroad on England, and to such an effect as would be
remembered for twenty years."[4]
The English had arranged that, if the Scots entered the country through
Cumberland and Carlisle, they would ride into Scotland by Berwick and
Dunbar, for they said, theirs is an open country that can be entered
anywhere, but ours is a country with strong and well fortified towns and
castles. It was therefore important they should know what route the Scots
had determined upon. To ascertain this they sent a spy to the Scots' camp
that he might report to them not only their intentions, but their speeches
and actions. The English squire who came on this errand had a singular and
exciting experience. He tied his horse to a tree in the neighbourhood of
the church, where the barons were assembled, and entered into the church,
as a servant following his master. When he came out he went to get his
horse, but to his consternation the animal had disappeared, "for a
Scotsman (for they are all thieves) had stolen him."[5] He went away,
saying nothing about his loss, a circumstance which at once excited
suspicion. One who saw him remarked, "I have witnessed many wonderful
things, but what I now see is equal to any; that man yonder has, I
believe, lost his horse, and yet he makes no inquiries after it. On my
troth, I doubt much if he belongs to us; let us go after him, and see
whether I am right or not." He was immediately apprehended, brought back,
and examined. He was told that if he tried to deceive them he would lose
his head, but if he told the truth he would be kindly treated. Being in
dread of his life, he divulged all he knew, and especially explained with
minuteness of detail the plans which had been concocted by his compatriots
for the invasion of Scotland. "When the Scottish lords heard what was said
they were silent; but looked at each other."
It was now resolved to divide the army into two sections; one section, and
that much the larger of the two, to go into England through Cumberland,
the other to proceed along the valley of the Tyne to Durham. The latter
company, under the command of the Earl of Douglas, made a rapid march
through Northumberland, keeping a "calm sough" all the way, but as soon as
they got into the neighbourhood of Durham the fiends of war were let
loose. The first intimation the garrison in Newcastle had that the enemy
was within their gates, was the dense volumes of smoke which ascended from
burning towns and homesteads. Having gathered together an immense quantity
of booty, the Scots set out on their return journey, and crossing the Tyne
assaulted Newcastle, filling the ditches with hay and faggots, hoping
thereby to have drawn out the enemy to the open fields. But the English,
being in doubt as to the real strength of the Scots' army, were afraid to
challenge an encounter. But Sir Henry Percy, better known as _Hotspur_,
being desirous to try his valour, offered to fight the Douglas in single
combat. "They mounted on two faire steeds, and ran together with sharp
ground spears at outrance; in which encounter the Earl Douglas bore Percie
out of his saddle. But the English that were by did rescue him so that he
could not come at himself, but he snatched away his spear with his guidon
or wither; and waving it aloft, and shaking it, he cried aloud that he
would carry it into Scotland as his spoil."[6] The account which Froissart
gives of this notable encounter differs in some particulars from the
foregoing. He says:--"The sons of the Earl of Northumberland, from their
great courage, were always the first barriers, when many valiant deeds
were done with lances hand to hand. The Earl of Douglas had a long
conflict with Sir Henry Percy, and in it, by gallantry of arms, won his
pennon, to the great vexation of Sir Henry and the other English." The
Earl of Douglas said, "I will carry this token of your prowess with me to
Scotland, and place it on the tower of my castle at Dalkeith that it may
be seen from far." "By God, Earl of Douglas," replied Sir Henry, "you
shall not even carry it out of Northumberland; be assured you shall never
have the pennon to brag of." "You must come then," answered Earl Douglas,
"this night and seek for it. I will fix your pennon before my tent, and
shall see if you venture to take it away." As the balladist has vigorously
put it--
He took a long spear in his hand,
Shod with the metal free,
And for to meet the Douglas there,
He rode right furiouslie.
But O how pale his lady look'd,
Frae aff the castle wa',
When down before the Scottish spear
She saw proud Percy fa'.
"Had we twa been upon the green,
And never an eye to see,
I wad hae had you, flesh and fell;[7]
But your sword sall gie wi' me."
"But gae ye up to Otterbourne,
And wait there dayis three;
And, if I come not ere three dayis end,
A fause knight ca' ye me."
"The Otterbourne's a bonnie burn;
'Tis pleasant there to be;
But there is nought at Otterbourne,
To feed my men and me.
"The deer rins wild on hill and dale,
The birds fly wild from tree to tree;
But there is neither bread nor kail,
To fend[8] my men and me.
"Yet I will stay at Otterbourne,
Where you shall welcome be;
And, if ye come not at three dayis end,
A fause lord I'll ca' thee."
"Thither will I come," proud Percy said,
"By the might of our Ladye!"
"There will I bide thee," said the Douglass,
"My troth I plight to thee."
They lighted high on Otterbourne,
Upon the bent sae brown;
They lighted high on Otterbourne,
And threw their pallions down.
And he that had a bonnie boy,
Sent out his horse to grass;
And he that had not a bonnie boy,
His ain servant he was.
The Earl of Douglas having withdrawn his gallant troops to Otterburn, in
the parish of Elsdon, some thirty-two miles from Newcastle, and within
easy reach of the Scottish Border, was strongly urged to proceed towards
Carlisle, in order to join the main body of the army; but he thought it
best to stay there some three or four days at least, to "repell the
Percy's bragging." To keep his soldiers from wearying, he set them to take
some gentlemen's castles and houses that lay near, a work which was
carried out with the greatest alacrity and goodwill. They also
strengthened and fortified the camp where it was weak, and built huts of
trees and branches. Their baggage and servants they placed at the entrance
of a marsh, which lay near the Newcastle road; and driving their cattle
into the marsh land, where they were comparatively safe, they waited the
development of events.
Nor were they long kept in suspense. The English having discovered that
the Scottish army was comparatively small, resolved at once to risk an
encounter. Sir Henry Percy, when he heard that the Scottish army did not
consist of more than three thousand men, including all sorts, became
frantically excited, and cried out--"To horse! to horse! for by the faith
I owe to my God, and to my lord and father, I will seek to recover my
pennon, and to beat up their quarters this night." He set out at once,
accompanied by six hundred spears, of knights and squires, and upwards of
eight thousand infantry, which he said would be more than enough to fight
the Scots.
If Providence is always on the side of the heaviest battalion, as Napoleon
was wont to affirm, then the Scots on this occasion are in imminent danger
of having "short shrift." But it has been found that the fortunes of war
depend on a variety of circumstances that are frequently of more
importance than the number of troops, either on the one side or the other.
Discipline and valour, when combined with patriotism and pride-of-arms,
have accomplished feats which the heaviest battalions are sometimes
impotent to achieve. We by no means wish to imply that the English were
deficient in these desirable qualities; far from it. They were splendidly
led, and in the encounter displayed the most heroic qualities; but they
were matched by a small body of men, of the most dauntless courage and
invincible determination who were thoroughly inured to battle, and ever
ready at the call of duty, to encounter the most powerful foes. The Scots
were taken by surprise. Some were at supper, and others had gone to rest
when the alarm was given that the English were approaching.
But up then spake a little page,
Before the peep of dawn--
"O waken ye, waken ye, my good lord,
For Percy's hard at hand."
"Ye lie, ye lie, ye liar loud!
Sae loud I hear ye lie;
For Percy had not men yestreen,
To dight my men and me.
"But I have dream'd a dreary dream,
Beyond the Isle of Sky;
I saw a dead man win a fight,
And I think that man was I."
He belted on his guid braid sword,
And to the field he ran;
But he forgot the helmit good,
That should have kept his brain.