English were conducted by the Earl of Hertford and Sir Ralph Eure. The
former invaded the country both by sea and land. Edinburgh and Leith
suffered severely. The Abbey and Palace of Holyrood were given to the
flames. All along the east coast, and southwards as far as Merse and
Teviotdale, marked the steps of the retreating and relentless invaders.
Henry's savage instructions were faithfully carried out. When Hertford set
out on this expedition he was commanded "to put all to fire and sword, to
burn Edinburgh town, and to raze and deface it; when you have sacked it,
and gotten what you can out of it, as that it may remain for ever a
perpetual memory of the vengeance of God lighted upon it, for their
falsehood and disloyalty. Do what you can out of hand, and without long
tarrying, to beat down and overthrow the Castle, sack Holyrood-house, and
as many towns and villages about Edinburgh as ye conveniently can; sack
Leith and burn and subvert it, and all the rest, putting man, woman, and
child to fire and sword, without exception, where any resistance shall be
made against you; and this done, pass over to the Fife land, and extend
the extremities and destructions in all towns and villages whereunto you
may reach conveniently, and not forgetting amongst all the rest so to
spoil and turn upside down the Cardinal's town of St. Andrews, as the
upper stone may be the nether, and not one stick stand by another, sparing
no creature alive within the same, specially such as in friendship or
blood be allied to the Cardinal."[22]
This hideous policy on the part of the English King was fruitful mainly of
bitter memories. He did not accomplish the object he had in view, but he
certainly succeeded in engendering in the Scottish mind a feeling of the
most bitter hostility. It produced, however, one good result. It alienated
from the English monarch some of those nobles who had for some time been
wavering in their allegiance to the Scottish throne, and had been, either
secretly or openly, lending their aid to further the machinations of the
English government.
But destructive as Hertford's invasion proved (which has been well
described as only a foray on a large scale), it was totally eclipsed by
the raid undertaken by Sir Ralph Eure in the following year, 1544. He
crossed the Scottish Border with a considerable army, and laid waste
nearly the whole of Merse and Teviotdale, reducing that large and
important district to a blackened desert. Jedburgh and Kelso were burnt
to the ground, and the surrounding country plundered and destroyed. "The
whole number of towns, towers, stedes, barnekins, parish churches,
bastel-houses, seized, destroyed, and burnt, in all the Border country,
was an hundred and ninety-two, Scots slain four hundred, prisoners taken
eight hundred and sixteen, nolt ten thousand three hundred and eighty-six,
sheep twelve thousand four hundred and ninety-six, gayts (goats) two
hundred, bolls of corn eight hundred and fifty, insight gear--an
indefinite quantity.
"The great part of these devastations were committed in the Mers and
Teviotdale.... The other commanders of chief note, besides Sir Ralph Eure,
were Sir Brian Laiton and Sir George Bowes. On the 17th July, Bowes,
Laiton, and others burnt Dunse, the chief town of the Mers, and John
Carr's son with his garrison entered Greenlaw, and carried off a booty of
cattle, sheep, and horses. On the 19th of the same month, the men of
Tyndale and Ridsdale, returning from a road into Tiviotdale, fought with
the laird of Ferniherst and his company, and took himself and his son John
prisoners. On July 24th the Wark garrison, the Captain of Norham Castle,
and H. Eure, burnt long Ednim, made many prisoners, took a bastel-house
strongly kept, and got a booty of forty nolt and thirty horses, besides
those on which their prisoners were mounted, each on a horse. August 2d,
the captain of Norham burnt the town of Home, hard to the castle gates,
with the surrounding stedes. September 6th, Sir Ralph Eure burnt Eikford
church and town, the barnekyn of Ormiston, and won by assault the Moss
Tower, burnt it, and slew thirty-four people within it; he likewise burnt
several other places in that neighbourhood, and carried off more than five
hundred nolt and six hundred sheep, with a hundred horseload of spoils got
in the tower. September 27th, the men of the east and part of the middle
march won the church of Eccles by assault, and slew eight men in the abbey
and town, most part gentlemen of head sirnames; they also took several
prisoners, and burnt and spoiled the said abbey and town. On the same day
the garrison of Berwick brought out of the east end of the Mers six
hundred bolls of corn, and took prisoner Patrick Home, brother's son to
the laird of Ayton. November 5th, the men of the middle march burnt
Lessudden, in which were sixteen strong bastel-houses, slew several of the
owners, and burnt much corn. November 9th, Sir George Bowes and Sir Brian
Laiton burnt Dryburgh, a market town, all except the church, with much
corn, and brought away a hundred nolt, sixty nags, an hundred sheep, and
much other booty, spoilage, and insight-gear."[23]
This record is an instructive one. It shows how these merciless raiders
were dominated by the spirit of destruction and revenge. Nothing was
spared which it was possible for them to destroy. This invasion must have
proved peculiarly vexatious and disheartening to the Scottish Borderers.
Flodden had left them terribly crippled. The damage they had sustained was
not only of a material kind--the loss of men and resources--it was also,
to a certain extent, moral and intellectual. They had become utterly
disheartened, and it was some considerable time before they regained their
wonted confidence and intrepidity:
"Dool and wae for the order, sent our lads to the Border!
The English, for ance, by guile wan the day:
The flowers of the forest, that fought aye the foremost,
The prime of our land, are cauld in the clay.
"We'll hear nae mair lilting, at the ewe milking;
Women and bairns are heartless and wae:
Sighing and moaning on ilka green loaning--
The flowers of the forest are a' wede awae."
The darkest part of the night precedes the dawn. Help was forthcoming from
an unexpected quarter. Henry had promised to give Eure a grant of all the
land he could conquer in Merse, Teviotdale, and Lauderdale, and it so
happened that the greater part of the district named belonged to Angus,
who was then in disgrace at the Scottish Court, and for some time had been
currying favour with the English King. When he learned what had taken
place, his indignation was unbounded. He swore that "if Ralph Eure dared
to act upon the grant, he would write his sasine, or instrument of
possession, on his skin with sharp pens and bloody ink." Scotland has not
unfrequently been deserted by her nobles at the most critical periods of
her history, but just as often has she been saved by their valour and
patriotism. On the present occasion, Angus was not moved to action,
perhaps, by any really patriotic feeling. Had his own interests not been
imperilled, he would in all probability have remained an idle spectator of
the ruin and devastation which, like a flood, was rushing over the land.
Be this as it may, he acted with promptitude and effect. Having been
joined by the Regent, who brought with him a small and hastily-gathered
force, Angus challenged the English army at Melrose; and, though at first
he was compelled to retreat, he hung upon the rear of the enemy until,
joined by Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch and the redoubtable Norman Leslie,
he gave them battle on Ancrum Moor. The English, flushed with confidence
by their former successes, rushed precipitately upon the Scottish army,
believing that their ranks had fallen into confusion, and were preparing
for flight. It was not long ere they were undeceived. The Scots were ready
for the encounter, and in a short time completely routed the formidable
host by which they were assailed. The battle speedily became a slaughter.
Sir Ralph Eure and Sir Brian Layton both lay dead on the field, a thousand
prisoners were taken, among them being many persons of rank, for whom high
ransoms were exacted. It is said that the peasantry of the neighbourhood,
hitherto only spectators of the short conflict, drew near to intercept and
cut down the English; and women, whose hearts had been steeled against the
fugitives by their atrocious barbarities, joined in the pursuit, and
spurred on the conquerors by calling upon them to "remember Broomhouse."
One of these heroines has been immortalized. Her monument may still be
seen in the neighbourhood of Ancrum. On it were inscribed the following
lines:--
"Fair maiden Lilliard lies under this stane,
Little was her stature, but great was her fame;
Upon the English loons she laid many thumps,
And when they cutted off her legs she fought upon her stumps."
Some may be disposed to think that the devastations caused by Hertford and
Sir Ralph Eure must be exceptional; that the raiding and reiving must have
gone on much more quietly than such accounts would lead us to suppose. But
this is not so. The Borders were kept in a constant state of turmoil. They
had no sooner recovered from one invasion than they were subjected to
another. Long before Hertford's time, for example, Lord Dacre, one of the
English wardens, made a succession of the most disastrous raids on the
Scottish Border, and carried off immense quantities of booty. He was
exultant over his good fortune. Writing under date October 29, 1513, he
says:--"On Tewsday at night last past, I sent diverse of my tennents of
Gillislande to the nombre of lx. personnes in Eskdalemoor upon the Middill
Merches, and there brynt vii. howses, tooke and brougth away xxxvj. head
of cattle and much insight. On weddinsday at thre of the clok efter noon,
my broder Sir Christopher assembled diverse of the kings subjects beyng
under my reull, and roode all night into Scotland, and on Thurisday, in
the mornynge, they began upon the said Middill Merchies and brynt
Stakeheugh, with the hamletts belonging to them, down, Irewyn bwrne, being
the chambrelain of Scotland owne lands and undre his reull, continewally
birnyng from the Breke of day to oone of the clok after noon, and there
wan, tooke and brought awey cccc. hede of cattell, ccc. shepe, certaine
horses and verey miche insight, and slew two men, hurte and wounded
diverse other persones and horses, and then entered Ingland ground again
at vij. of the clok that night."[24]
Such a record as this ought to have given great satisfaction to the
Government. Lord Dacre had evidently done his utmost to impoverish and
ruin the unfortunate Scottish Borderers. But the English appetite at this
time was not easily satisfied. Naturally enough Dacre's invasion led to
reprisals, and so successful had the Scots been in their forays on the
opposite Border that the English Government blamed their representative
for not having prevented these raids. In reply to these rather unjust
complaints, Dacre wrote saying that "for oone cattell taken by the Scotts
we have takyn, won and brought awey out of Scotland a hundreth; and for
oone shepe two hundreth of a surity. And has for townships and housis,
burnt in any of the said Est, Middill, and West Marches within my reull,
fro the begynnyng of this warr unto this daye,... I assure your lordships
for truthe that I have and hes caused to be burnt and distroyed sex times
moo townys and howsys within the West and Middill Marches of Scotland, in
the same season then is done to us, as I may be trusted, and as I shall
evidently prove. For the watter of Liddall being xij. myles of length,...
whereupon was a hundreth pleughs;... the watter of Ewse being viij. myles
of length in the said Marches, whereupon was vii. pleughs,... lyes all
and every of them waist now, noo corn sawn upon the said ground.... Upon
the West marches I have burnt and distroyed the townships of Annand
(together with thirty-three others mentioned in detail), and the Water of
Esk from Stabulgorton down to Cannonby, being vi. myles in lenth, whereas
there was in all tymes passed four hundreth ploughes and above, which are
now clearly waisted and noo man duelling in any of them in this daye, save
oonly in the towrys of Annand Steepel and Walghapp (Wauchope)."[25]
As might be expected these inroads were not allowed to pass unredressed,
as the Scots never missed an opportunity of retaliating. During the latter
half of the fifteenth century they were considerably weakened by the
successive wars in which they were compelled to engage in their own
defence; but we find that a century later, during the reign of Elizabeth,
they had completely recovered, and made their power felt in no uncertain
manner. They raided upon the opposite Border without intermission,
plundering all and sundry, sparing only those who were prepared to pay
them blackmail, "that they might be free from their cumber." The English
wardens were comparatively helpless, owing to their lack of men and horses
to defend the Marches. The Scottish reivers were not easily captured; and
when it came to an encounter, unless matched against a greatly superior
force, they almost invariably gave a good account of themselves. We find
Eure affirming, in a letter to Cecil, under date May, 1596, that the
spoils of his March amounted to the sum of L120,000, "the redress for
which is so cunningly delayed that the Queen's service is ruined."[26] Sir
Robert Cary, who was warden of the East March, has a still more doleful
tale to relate. He says that when he applied to the opposite warden for
redress he "got nothing but fair words." He furnished his Government with
a note of the "slaughters, stouthes, and reafes," committed within his
wardenry, which shows that the Scottish reivers were ever ready to make
the most of their opportunities. The following is the suggestive list:--
"Nicolos Bolton of Mindrum slain in daylight at his own plough by Sir
Robert Kerre of the Spielaw and his servants.
"Thomas Storie of Killam slain there by night by Sir Robert Kerre and his
servants.
"John Selby of Pawston slain by the Burnes defending his own goods in his
own house there.
"John Ewart of Corham slain on English ground at the rescue of Englishmen
bringing their own goods.
"'Reafes.'--In Hethpoole in daylight by the Davisons, Yonges, and Burnes
of 40 kyen and oxen, and hurting Thomas and Peter Storye, &c., in peril of
their lives. Another there by daylight by the Kerres, Yonges, and Taites,
of 46 head of neate, shooting John Gray with a 'peice' in peril of death,
and hurting one of the Brewhouses following, and taking his horse. In
West Newton in daylight by James Davidson of the Burnyrigge, &c., of 5
horse and mares; another there at night taking up 2 horses, 20 neate, and
insight worth 20 nobles.
"On Thomas Routledge of Killam, at night, by the Yonges, of 30 kyen and
oxen. On Adam Smith of Brigge mylle at night by the Kerres, Yonges,
Burnes, &c., of 20 neate, and 5 horse and mares. In Cowpland, by the
Yonges, Burnes, and Kerres on Gilbert Wright, 'by cutting up his doores
with axes,' of 30 neate, 4 horses and mares, and insight worth L10. In
Haggeston by the Yonges, Halles, Pyles, and Amysleyes, 'by cutting up
their doores with axes,' of 30 neate, 5 naegs, and hunting 4 men in peril
of death. On Ralph Selby, of West wood, by the Yonges, &c., 'by breaking
his tower,' and taking 3 geldings worth L60 sterling 'and better.'"[27]
Then follows a long list of "Stouthes," which it would only be a weariness
to repeat. These incidents had all occurred in this March within a brief
period, and may be accepted as an illustration of what was going on almost
every day in the year within the respective wardenries. This game, it may
be said, was indulged in with equal spirit and pertinacity on both sides.
We read of two men in the Middle March in England coming into Liddesdale
and carrying off 30 score kye and oxen, 31 score sheep and "gait," 24
horse and mares, and all their insight--"the people being at their
schellis, lipning for no harme, and wounded twa puir men to their deid."
At the same time, Captain Carvell, with 2000 "waigit" men, by Lord
Scrope's special command, burnt "six myle of boundis in Liddisdale, tuik
sindrie puir men and band them twa and twa in leisches and cordis, and
that 'naikit,' taking awa a 1000 kye and oxen, 2000 sheep and 'sex scoir
of hors and merris,' to the great wrak of the puir subjects."[28]
These forays, it must be admitted, were sometimes conducted in the most
relentless and cruel spirit. We read, for example, of one "Sowerby," near
Coldbeck, having his house broken into, and himself most cruelly used.
"They set him on his bare buttocks upon an hote iron, and then they burned
him with an hote girdle about his bellie, and sundry other parts of his
body, to make him give up his money, which they took, under L4."[29]
Some of the most interesting episodes in Border history were not the
outcome of any deep laid scheme, but the result of some sudden and
unexpected emergency. It was difficult for the inhabitants of the opposite
Marches to come into close contact without the greatest danger of an
outbreak of hostilities. Individual families were often on friendly terms,
and were ready even to assist each other on occasion. The Scots sometimes
brought the English to help them to rob those who lived in their own
neighbourhood; and the English, on the other hand, were equally ready to
avail themselves of the assistance of those on the opposite Border when
they had a similar object in view. But when they came together in their
hundreds or thousands, as they sometimes did on a "Day of Truce," then it
was a matter of supreme difficulty to keep them from flying at each
other's throats. Feeling ran high, and a word, a look, was sometimes
sufficient to change an otherwise peaceful meeting into one of turmoil and
bloodshed.
One notable instance of this kind is known as the "Raid of the Reidswire."
Sir John Foster, the English warden, and Sir John Carmichael, the warden
on the opposite March, had a meeting for the regulation of Border affairs,
on the 7th July, 1575. Each warden was attended by his retinue, and by the
armed clans inhabiting the district. As the balladist describes it:
"Carmichael was our warden then,
He caused the country to convene;
And the Laird's Wat, that worthy man,
Brought in that sirname weil beseen:
The Armestranges, that aye ha'e been
A hardy house, but not a hail,
The Elliots' honours to maintaine,
Brought down the lave o' Liddisdale.
"Then Tividale came to wi' spied;
The Sheriffe brought the Douglas down,
Wi' Cranstane, Gladstain, good at need,
Baith Rewle water and Hawick town,
Beanjeddart bauldly made him boun,
Wi' a' the Trumbills, strong and stout;
The Rutherfoords with grit renown,
Convoy'd the town of Jedbrugh out."
The two parties had apparently met on the best of terms. Mirth and good
fellowship prevailed. The pedlars erected their temporary booths, and sold
their wares. The gathering presented the appearance of a rural fair. No
one could have suspected that so much bad feeling was hidden under such a
fair exterior, and ready to burst forth in a moment with volcanic fury.
Yet such was the case. A dispute arose betwixt the two wardens about one
Farnsteen, a notorious English freebooter, against whom a bill had been
"filed" by a Scottish complainer. Foster declared that he had fled from
justice, and could not be found. Carmichael regarded this statement as a
pretext to avoid making compensation for the felony. He bade Foster "play
fair." The English warden was indignant. Raising himself in the saddle,
and stretching his arm in the direction of Carmichael, he told him to
match himself with his equals!
"Carmichael bade them speik out plainlie,
And cloke no cause for ill nor good;
The other, answering him as vainlie,
Began to reckon kin and blood:
He raise, and raxed him where he stood,
And bade him match with him his marrows;
Then Tindaill heard them reason rude,
And they loot off a flight of arrows."
The cry was raised, "To it, Tynedale," and immediately the merry meeting
was turned into a Donnybrook fair, where hard blows were given and
received. The Scots at first had the worst of the encounter, and would
have been completely routed had it not been for two circumstances. The men
of Tynedale, conscious of their superior strength, began to rifle the
"merchant packs," and thus fell into disorder. At this juncture a band of
citizens of Jedburgh, armed with fire-arms, unexpectedly, but most
opportunely, appeared on the scene, and in a short time the skirmish ended
in a complete victory for the Scots. Sir John Heron was slain, and Sir
John Foster and many other Englishmen of rank taken prisoner.
"But after they had turned backs,
Yet Tindaill men they turn'd again,
And had not been the merchant packs,
There had been mae of Scotland slain.
But, Jesu! if the folks were fain
To put the bussing on their thies;
And so they fled, wi' a' their main,
Down ower the brae, like clogged bees."
The prisoners were sent to Dalkeith, where for a short time they were
detained in custody by the Earl of Morton. He ultimately dismissed them
with presents of falcons, which gave rise to a saying on the Borders that
for once the Regent had lost by his bargain, as he had given live hawks
for dead herons,--alluding to the death of Sir John Heron.
"Who did invent that day of play,
We need not fear to find him soon;
For Sir John Forster, I dare well say,
Made us this noisome afternoon.
Not that I speak preceislie out,
That he supposed it would be perril;
But pride, and breaking out of feuid
Garr'd Tindaill lads begin the quarrel."
"The Queen of England," says Ridpath, "when informed of these proceedings,
was very much incensed, and sent orders to her Ambassador, Killigrew, who
had a little before gone to Scotland, to demand immediate satisfaction for
so great an outrage. Killigrew was also directed to inform the Regent that
the Queen had ordered the Earl of Huntingdon, who was then president of
the Council at York and lieutenant of the northern counties, to repair to
the Borders for the trial and ordering of the matter; and that she
expected that Morton would meet him in person for that effect. Morton,
ever studious to gratify Elizabeth, readily agreed to the proposal. The
two Earls accordingly met at Fouldean, near the Berwick boundary, and
continued their conferences there for some days, in the course of which
Morton made such concessions, and agreed to such conditions of redress, as
entirely healed the offence. Carmichael, who was considered as the
principal offender, was sent as a prisoner into England, and detained a
few weeks at York; but the English Court being now convinced that
Forrester had been in the wrong in the beginning of the fray, the Scottish
warden was dismissed with honour, and gratified with a present to
effectuate the restitution of goods which Morton had engaged should be
made by the subjects of Scotland, he summoned all on this side of the
Forth to attend him with twenty days' provision of victuals in an
expedition to the Borders, but this summons sufficed to awe the offenders
to make of themselves the restitution required."[30]
V.
THE WARDENS OF THE MARCHES.
"The widdefow wardanis tuik my geir,
And left me nowthir horse nor meir,
Nor erdly guid that me belangit;
Now, walloway! I mon be hangit."
PINKERTON.
Owing to the peculiar circumstances in which the Borders were placed, it
was found necessary, for the preservation of order, and the detection and
punishment of crime, to appoint special officers, or wardens, armed with
the most extensive powers. On either side of the Border there were three
Marches, lying opposite each other, called the East, West, and Middle
Marches. The wardens were, as a general rule, officers of high rank,
holding special commissions from the Crown. The English government had
little difficulty in finding gentlemen of high station and proved ability
to undertake the duties of such an office; but in Scotland the King was
considerably circumscribed in his choice, as the Border Chiefs were
accustomed to carry things with a high hand, and in any arrangements
relating to the management of affairs in their own districts, their wishes
and interests had, perforce, to be respected. The office of warden was
regarded as belonging, by a kind of prescriptive or hereditary right, to
one or other of the more prominent and powerful Border families. This
policy was fraught with many disadvantages, and, it must be frankly
admitted, produced the very evils it was designed to suppress. The
Scottish wardens had other objects in view besides the maintenance of a
certain semblance of law and order in the districts over which they ruled.
They seldom lost sight of their own pecuniary interests, and frequently
prostituted their high office to secure their own ends. The wardens
themselves were often the principal offenders.
In the East March the warden was most generally either an Earl of Home or
a Ker of Cessford. The Middle March was long under the supervision of the
Earls of Bothwell and the Lords of Buccleuch. The West March was usually
represented either by a Johnstone or a Maxwell.