its surroundings than the majority of strongholds of early times. In
the days when men had to fight for the defence of their possessions
it was usual for the lord of the land to select a point difficult of
access--some lonely peak, some sea-beaten rock, or loch-encircled
isle--as the spot most suitable for the erection of his fastness,
so that it might afford him a secure retreat from his foes should
Fortune turn against him. Hence, the most powerful in appearance of the
Castles of Scotland are those which frown from the bleak summits of the
barren hills of the north, or face the rude blasts which assail the
storm-lashed coasts of Ayrshire or East Lothian; which overlook from
their precipitous cliffs the profound depths of Loch Ness, like Castle
Urquhart, or rest on some tiny islet in the midst of a billowy lake--
“A priceless gem, set in a silver sea.”
like Lochleven Castle. But Bothwell Castle presents none of these
characteristics. The scenery which surrounds it is essentially woodland
and pastoral, and the quiet which reigns in the vicinity seems
somewhat out of keeping with the massive towers and buttresses, which
speak of inharmonious war in the midst of peaceful repose.
The Clyde, flowing around the domain of Bothwell, forms here a winding
link, and wanders placidly betwixt verdant banks crowned with varied
foliage. From one point of view the source and exit of the water are
alike invisible, and the overhanging boughs of the trees on either
side of the river, as they seem to meet, delude the spectator into the
notion that he sees before him a still, inland loch forming a natural
moat for the Castle rather than a mighty river pouring its resistless
flood onwards to the ocean. From the margin of the river the banks rise
in gentle slopes on either side, showing patches of greenest verdure
through the over-arching leaves of beech, of birch, and of elm which
fringe the water-edge and crown the grassy summits of the confronting
eminences. On the left bank of the river the ruins of Blantyre Priory
may be seen rising from the grey rock on which it was founded about
the beginning of the fourteenth century; while the grassy mound on
the right bank is surmounted by the remains of Bothwell Castle, whose
ivy-mantled walls have looked forth upon many changing epochs of
Scottish history, and whose halls have been trodden by both the friends
and foes of Scotland.
The ruins of Bothwell Castle have been regarded by antiquaries as
affording one of the finest examples of its style of architecture
in the kingdom. The date of its erection is not accurately known,
although it was certainly in existence early in the thirteenth century.
The plan of the Castle, as well as the method of masonry employed,
distinctly show that it was not the work of native artizans; for in
those times Scottish architecture was of the rudest description.
Possibly some enterprising Southern knight had penetrated into the
remote recesses of Clydesdale, and, enamoured of the locality, had
annexed it to his property, and built the Norman Castle thereon.
The size of the building itself would forbid the idea of its having
originated with any of the Scottish nobles of that distant time; for
there were few indeed among them wealthy enough to have undertaken this
task, even had they been civilized enough to conceive it. But as no
authentic record exists of the original builders, all is but conjecture.
The social position of its first occupant may be imagined from the
idea of its magnificence which the ruins still convey. It has been
constructed as an oblong quadrangle, with inner court enclosed by
vaulted buildings, probably with circular towers at the corners, of
which the greater part of two remain, although but slight traces of
the others now appear. An examination of the existing ruins will show
that the Castle covered an area of about 240 feet in length, by 100
feet in breadth. The lateral extensions between the towers are pierced
irregularly with windows, but there are not sufficient examples left to
enable us to decide as to the nature and extent of the chambers these
walls contained. That it was devised as a stronghold is evidenced by
the strength of the outer wall, which is about 15 feet in thickness,
and stands nearly 60 feet high. Despite the almost defenceless position
which it occupies topographically, it is evident that no light force
would be necessary to win the Castle from resolute defenders.
Yet there are few Castles on Scottish ground which have more frequently
changed masters, and though we cannot tell whose brain devised or
whose hands upreared its towers, the stories which are known of its
chequered career link its history with that of Scotland; and the Barons
of Bothwell in chivalrous times for a long period exercised vast power
both in the Council and the camp of the nation. Most of the structures
of a similar kind, even if they have not their beginning recorded, have
at least accurate details of their destruction; but the date of the
erection of Bothwell Castle is unknown, and the name of its destroyer
can only be conjectured.
The first name associated with a Castle of some kind at Bothwell is
that of Olyfard, and the connection of the family with Scotland may be
traced. The family were of long Norman descent, and the name appears
in “Scalacronica” amongst the Norman knights who fought on the side of
William I. at the battle of Hastings in 1066, and received grants of
land in Northamptonshire from the Conqueror. In 1113, when David I. of
Scotland, sixth son of Malcolm Caenmòr, when Prince, became Earl of
Northampton by marriage, he came much in contact with the Olyfards,
and was godfather to the heir, David Olyfard. This fortunate youth,
though on the English side, was able to assist David’s escape after
the Battle of Winchester in 1141, and he accompanied the fugitive King
to Scotland, and became a prominent member of the Scottish Court, and
received many grants of lands from his godfather, the King, becoming
a generous benefactor to the Church. Though Bothwell is not specially
mentioned, it is evident that he had a seat there, as he gave a
contribution from Bothwell towards Blantyre Priory, the ruins of which
are close beside the ruined Castle. David Olyfard was made Justiciary
of Laudonio, which included the lands south of the Forth and on to the
Tweed. He was one of the first to establish feudalism in Scotland.
Walter Olyfard, the third Justiciary by heredity, died in 1242, and
though there is no known clue as to the style and extent of Bothwell
Castle in his time, it must have been a place of importance as the
regular seat of the Justiciary of the South of Scotland. The statement
has been made, and not disputed, that the daughter of Walter Olyfard
was married to Walter de Moravia, who was ancestor of the Randolphs,
Earls of Moray, and thus a new race came into possession of Bothwell
Castle and the surrounding district.
In the time of Alexander II. the influence of England in the government
of the northern part of the kingdom had been experienced, and the
unfortunate imprisonment of William the Lion, the King’s father, had
suffered the English to have some claim to feudal superiority. The
boldness of Alexander had prompted him to oppose their efforts, and to
seek to undermine the power of the throne of England by joining with
the Barons against King John. That monarch, enraged at this presumption
upon the part of his vassal, gathered together an army of freebooters
and desperadoes, invaded Scotland, crossing the Humber, and laying
waste the provinces between that river and the Forth. The Scottish
King was unable to oppose his march, and presently retired until an
accession of forces should join him. Then, ordering the Castles of
the knights who had joined him to be left in a defensive position, he
pursued King John by way of Berwick and chased him ignominiously to
his own country. At this time Bothwell Castle was in the possession of
Walter Olyfard, and would doubtless be considered a post of importance,
as it lay in the midst of a fruitful country, and was sufficiently
apart from the highway of England to escape the destruction with which
the invading armies usually overwhelmed their adversaries’ dwellings.
It was not to be expected that a position of such strength as Bothwell
must have been would long escape the notice of the English. The armies
which overran this portion of the kingdom ere long discovered that
the district of Clydesdale could remain unsubdued whilst Bothwell
and Dumbarton were in the hands of the natives. Against the former of
these, therefore, they directed their endeavours, and with too fatal
success. The delusive hopes which the Scottish statesmen had built
upon the apparent amity that existed for some years betwixt Henry
III. of England and his son-in-law, Alexander III., had been rudely
shattered by the attitude which the former assumed upon the question
of the independence of Scotland. But Henry was too polite to risk an
open rupture with Alexander, and proceeded therefore by underhand means
to secure the division of the kingdom through fomenting discord while
professing friendship. His schemes were interrupted by the hand of
Death; but he bequeathed his policy to an able successor in the person
of his son and successor, Edward I.
How faithfully that monarch fulfilled the desires of his much-lamented
father need not here be told except incidentally. Every one knows that
Edward endeavoured to entrap his brother-in-law, Alexander III., into
rendering homage for the kingdom of Scotland; that he took advantage
of every pretext for interfering in Scottish affairs during his life;
that he expired in the very act of leading an overwhelming army against
the defenders of her liberty; and that he directed that his tombstone
should bear as its proudest motto the self-assumed title of “Malleus
Scottorum”--“The Hammer of the Scots.” It is not, therefore, necessary
to dwell on all the details of this King’s venturous career. When he
visited Bothwell Castle in 1301 it was a very different place from
that which the Olyfards had left about fifty years before. Sir Walter
de Moravia had vast means at his command, and had determined to erect
a Castle worthy of the superb position. His wife, the last of the
Olyfards in Lanarkshire--the family were afterwards located at Newtyle,
Kinpurnie, and Gask in Perthshire--was at the Scottish Court, and had
met the second wife of Alexander II., the famous Marie de Coucy of
Picardy, who was married to the King in May, 1239, at Roxburgh. Now,
in 1230, the Queen’s father, Enguerand III., Baron de Coucy, had just
completed the splendid Chateau de Coucy, in Picardy, which evidently
has been the model for the Bothwell Castle, possibly planned by Walter
Olyfard, but certainly completed by Walter de Moravia, no doubt with
the prompting of his wife, who may have sought to rival the Queen.
It has been shrewdly suggested that Queen Marie may have brought to
Scotland some of the Mason Lodges that had been engaged on the Chateau
de Coucy, and that these may have been employed on the building
of Blantyre Priory and Bothwell Castle. The theory is by no means
incredible, and accounts for the similarity of the plans of Chateau
and Castle. In any case it seems to be fairly confirmed that Bothwell
Castle was finished in a splendid fashion in 1278 or thereby.
The second Walter de Moravia was married to a sister of John Comyn,
one of the competitors for the Scottish Crown; and he had two sons,
William, who swore fealty to Edward I. in 1291, and Andrew, the famous
patriot, who supported Wallace, and fell in September 1297 at the
Battle of Stirling. His son, Thomas Randolph, whose mother, Isabella,
was a sister of King Robert the Bruce, was also such a conspicuous
hero in the War of Independence that Robert I. conferred upon him
the Earldom of Moray, and after the King’s death he was Guardian of
Scotland. Bothwell Castle was still the seat of the Earl, though in
1299 it had been captured by the English. The place was visited in
1301 by Edward I., who resided there for three days, and then placed
Bothwell in the charge of the English warrior, Aymer de Valence, Earl
of Pembroke, who was appointed Governor; and there is a consistent
tradition that the plan for the capture of Wallace was devised at
Bothwell.
The career of De Valence was varied, for though Edward I. trusted him
with a large command, he fell under the suspicions of Edward II., who
deprived him of many of his honours. Bothwell was regarded as a safe
retreat for fugitives from Scotland, especially after Bannockburn. The
Earl of Hereford, who had commanded a wing of the English army at that
conflict, sought to save his soldiers by falling back on the Castle for
shelter. Barbour relates the incident thus:--
“The Erle of Herford frae the melle
Departed with a great menyie,
And straucht to Bothwell took the way,
That in the Inglis mennis fay
Was holden as a place of wer.”
Their attempt to withstand the victorious Scottish army, however,
was hopeless, and they were forced to abandon the Castle. At a later
date the first Earl of Moray had the strange task allotted to him to
dismantle his own Bothwell Castle and also the Castles of Leuchars and
St Andrews, to prevent them from being again occupied by the English.
The demolition was afterwards repaired by the next noble family that
came into possession of Bothwell Castle, though traces may still be
found of this incident.
Similarity of patriotic feelings as well as pursuits had long held the
families of Bothwell and Douglas together. They claimed a common origin
from some of the Flemish families which had settled in Scotland at an
early period, and their determined resistance to the encroachments of
England had saved the country from conquest on several occasions. When,
therefore, the race of the first Randolph, Earl of Moray, terminated
by the death of John, his grandson, third Earl, who was killed at the
Battle of Durham in 1346, leaving no male issue, his brother, Thomas,
who does not seem to have assumed the title, died, leaving a daughter,
it was not unnatural that a union of these two families should be
brought about by marriage. And thus it happened that by the wedding
of Archibald “the Grim,” Earl of Douglas (though an illegitimate
son), with the heiress of Bothwell in 1381, the Castle came into the
possession of this powerful family.
Marjorie, the daughter of this marriage, was united in wedlock to
the unfortunate Duke of Rothesay, son of Robert III., at the Parish
Kirk of Bothwell in 1398, and though no record exists to warrant the
conclusion, there is every probability that the marriage festivities
took place at the Castle. For nearly a hundred years the Douglas Earls
held the Castle, and the strange manner in which they came to lose it
is worthy of notice.
Without accepting wholly the fanciful tales which Hume of Godscroft
relates as to the origin of the Douglas family, it must be admitted
that they can claim a very respectable antiquity. Their historian
maintains that they were almost the only family of note that could
trace back their ancestry to a purely Scottish source, but his theory
will hardly bear critical investigation; and the notion that their
progenitor was a man of mark “in the days of Solvathius, about the year
767,” will scarcely receive credence in these days. Hector Boetius--not
the most credible of historians--relates that Malcolm Ceanmòr held a
Parliament at Forfar in 1061, at which he restored the estates that
had been reft from the Thanes by Macbeth, and empowered them to adopt
surnames from the localities where their lands lay. Amongst them was
a certain “Gulielmus à Douglas,” who was created first Lord of
Douglas, and from him are derived the many and honourable men who have
bore a similar title. Their influence throughout the struggles for
Scottish Independence is very visible, and their growing power upon the
Border ultimately induced a rivalry with the reigning family.
[Illustration: BOTHWELL CASTLE _Valentine & Sons, Ltd._]
Latterly the Douglases held the position of make-weight in all
contests between England and Scotland; for the series of Forts and
Castles which they held throughout Lanarkshire and Dumfriesshire could
oppose a formidable barrier to either party, as the Lord of Douglas
willed. Perhaps the most romantic portion of their history is that
which relates to the “Good Sir James,” the trusty fellow-warrior of
Bruce, and the chosen custodian of that monarch’s heart when on its
_post-mortem_ journey to the Holy Land. Of him the old rhyme still
declares:--
“Good Sir James Douglas,
Who wise, and wight, and worthy was,
Was never over-glad for winning,
Nor yet over-sad for timing,
Good fortune and evil chance
He weighed both in one balance.”
But the story of the early adventures of the Douglas family belongs
rather to the traditions of Douglas Castle than to Bothwell Castle,
which is our present theme.
The fortunes of the Douglases culminated in the person of Archibald,
fourteenth Lord and fifth Earl, and with him they began to waver and
decline. Through his active service in France he had won glory and
wealth, and added several titles to those which he had inherited. His
full style was--Earl of Douglas, Earl of Wigton, Lord of Bothwell,
Galloway and Annandale, Duke of Touraine (in France), Lord of
Longueville, and Marshal of France. But when James I. returned from his
long imprisonment in England to assume the Crown of Scotland, he found
some of the more prominent nobles too powerful to be tolerated, and
suddenly cast many of them into prison, and the Earl of Douglas among
them. So far as can be judged, the chief offence of that nobleman,
besides his power, was a certain freedom of speech which he used in
advising the King, which that monarch could not endure. Disappointed
by this treatment, the Earl retired to France, and did not return till
after the assassination of the King.
He found Scotland in a most pitiable condition. The policy of James I.
had taught him to elevate men of parts and understanding to places of
trust in the kingdom despite their inferior birth; and for the slight
thus passed on their nobility the upper grades of the Scottish nobles
did not readily forgive him. When, therefore, the Earl of Douglas found
that the government of his native land had been committed to Crichton
and Livingstone of Callander--men of good family, but of low degree
in the peerage--whilst he had been excluded from all share in the
Councils of Scotland, he was not unnaturally moved with resentment. It
was shrewdly suspected by the nobles that these men had been elevated
to this high position as much for the purpose of curtailing the power
of the nobility as for any special faculties they possessed; and the
appointment of the Earl of Douglas to the post of Lieutenant-General of
the Kingdom was too evidently an extorted concession to pacify them.
The Earl by this time was too far advanced in years to meddle with
paltry matters of dispute. He retired in 1438 to Restalrig, and died in
that year.
William, sixth Earl of Douglas, was only fourteen years old when he
succeeded his father. He had inherited all the late Earl’s courage and
daring, and as the oppressions of the Douglas family by the Stewart
Kings was a frequent topic in Bothwell Castle, the young Earl was
somewhat unguarded in his speech about them. Livingstone and Crichton
became alarmed, and determined to have him removed. Crichton wrote to
him a hypocritical letter regretting the discord betwixt the Earl and
his kinsman, the King, and inviting him to meet James II. at Edinburgh
Castle, and aid him with advice. The young Earl fell readily into the
trap, and set out with his retainers for Edinburgh. Crichton met him
on the way, and lured him to his Castle of Crichton, which he had just
erected. For two days was the feasting and revelry maintained there,
and then the followers of Douglas, with David, his younger brother, and
his friend, Malcolm Fleming of Biggar, joined Crichton’s band, and all
set forth for Edinburgh. Arrived at the Castle, Douglas was introduced
to the King by Livingstone, and James felt, or affected, strong
attachment to the two brothers, sole heirs of an ancient line. Several
days were spent in entertaining them, and every mark of attention was
bestowed upon them.
At length the time arrived for the consummation of the plot. One day,
while at dinner in the presence of the King, Crichton and Livingstone,
with many of their followers, suddenly rose upon the Douglases, and, as
their attendants had been carefully disposed of beforehand, they seized
the unfortunate noblemen, carried them out to the western courtyard of
the Castle, and beheaded them, without even the pretence of a trial.
To give an air of legality to the foul deed, Fleming was kept for four
days, then beheaded on a plea of treason. The traditional rhyme made
upon the occasion is thus preserved:--
“Edinburgh Castle, Town and Tower,
God grant thou sink for sin,
And that even for the black dinner
Earl Douglas gat therein.”
By this double murder the direct line of the Douglases was terminated,
and the title went to the grand-uncle, mentioned by the historian of
the family as “James the Gross.” His tenure of the title only lasted
three years, when he was succeeded by his eldest son, William, whose
character more resembled that of his uncle and cousin than of his weak
and imbecile father. The plot of Crichton and Livingstone had been
devised astutely so as to terminate the male direct line of successors,
on the notion that the possessions of the Douglases would probably be
distributed amongst heiresses, and thus wipe out the family. But their
scheming was overturned to some extent by Earl William, who reunited
the dissevered portions of the vast estates of his family by his
marriage with Beatrix of Galloway, his first cousin, and chief heiress
of the alienated lands of Douglas. By this union the Earl found himself
in the position of the first subject of the realm. The intention of
the Stewart Kings had been to centralize all power in their hands,
and hitherto they had not scrupled to reduce the independence of the
greater nobles by flagrant acts of injustice. Fate had selected James
II. to be the chief instrument for the overthrow of the ancient house
of Douglas. The story of the King’s consenting to the murder of the two
young Douglases in November, 1448, has just been narrated; but the more
disgraceful murder by the King’s own hand in February, 1451-2, when
William, eighth Earl of Douglas, “was stabbed by King James II., and
was despatched by some of his courtiers in Stirling Castle.” The story
is told in the account of “Stirling Castle” in this volume.
With James, ninth Earl of Douglas, brother of the murdered Earl, the
proud name of Douglas of Douglas was brought nearly to extinction. Earl
James, wishing to avenge the murder of his brother, called out his
retainers and also his three younger brothers, and made a demonstration
against the King; but some of his allies deserted him, and when the
King’s forces came out under George Douglas, Earl of Angus, in May
1455, James, the ninth Earl, was defeated at Arkinholme, and two of his
brothers slain, and one made prisoner. In June of this year Parliament
passed sentence of forfeiture on James, ninth Earl, and other members
of the family.
For a long period after 1455 Earl James remained in England, and took
no action against the Scottish King. In 1483 he joined with Alexander,
Duke of Albany, brother of the new King, James III., in an expedition
aimed at the deposition of the King. But the times were sadly altered
when Douglas found that Annandale, Nithsdale and Clydesdale alike
refused to rise at his bidding. The Englishmen whom he had brought
to invade the land of his birth were no match for the hardy Border
warriors, and fled at their approach. The Earl, weary of the exile
which he had been enduring, and ashamed of the disgrace which had
fallen upon him, yielded himself prisoner to one of his old servants
that a friend might have the advantage of the price put upon his head.
With a refinement of cruelty James III. condemned him to be confined in
the Abbey of Lindores during the remainder of his existence. He felt
most acutely that his life had been wasted when he heard the dread
words pronounced:--
“Go thou and join the living dead!