The Bloody Buffer State
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The Bloody Buffer State Rough Wooing - Background Because the ancient Kingdom of Bernicia had stretched from the Forth to the Tyne, kings of both England and Scotland had claimed Northumberland as theirs. The Treaty of York in 1237 effectively settled the borderline between England and Scotland with the formation of East, Middle and West Marches. For centuries the northern English and the southern Scots pillaged among their neighbours and developed their own system of thieving and armed thuggery that has been called reiving. The whole system fi nally fell apart when James VI inherited the throne of England on the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603 and the anarchy among the families on both sides of the Borders could be quashed. The 16th century was the bloodiest in the history of the Borders and the bloodiest period of that bloody century was 1544-47 in what became known as England’s Rough Wooing. There were three campaigns, those in 1544 and 1547 were largely against Edinburgh and the Lothians. In 1513, England was fi ghting France in Flanders. France, desperate for a diversion, appealed to James IV to attack England from the north and James responded by fi elding the largest army Scotland had every seen – between 60,000 and 100,000 men. By the time the two armies met at Flodden in Northumberland, the English had already routed the French in Flanders and now proceeded, under the Earl of Surrey, to annihilate the Scots. James IV, his bastard son Alexander, 13 earls and thousands of lesser ranks were killed. After Flodden, Surrey disbanded his army, leaving the Warden, Lord Dacre and his English riders to burn villages along the Jed and destroy homes and round up cattle from Annan to the Merse. Dacre himself wrote that ‘Never had there been so much mischief and robbery in Scotland’. The child who now became James V was under two years old. His English mother, sister to Henry VIII quickly remarried to Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. Most of the Scots leadership was dead and the country was bankrupt. Henry VIII styled himself ‘Protector of Scotland’ but the Scots invited the current Duke of Albany from France as regent. In 1522 and again in 1523, Dacre unleashed the riders of Tynedale and Redesdale to lay waste to the Middle March, sacking Kelso and Jedburgh and burning Teviotdale. Although spared in 1522, Kelso Abbey was gutted the following year. When James V took up the reins of power at the age of 15, Scotland was embroiled in European politics over who was to provide a bride for James. Even Henry VIII offered the hand of his daughter, the Princess Mary. However, in 1537, James married Madeleine the frail daughter of Francis I (she had a huge dowry). His bride survived only 8 weeks in Scotland and, the following year James married Mary of Guise. In December 1541, James snubbed Henry by failing to turn up to a proposed meeting in York. A furious Henry sent Sir Robert Bowes to raid Teviotdale while the Duke of Norfolk burned Paxton, Ednam, Stichill, Nenthorn, Smailholm, Kelso and Roxburgh. Henry demanded James’ presence in London by Christmas. On 24th November 1542 the shambolic, still feudal Scots army was caught in the marshy ground of Solway Moss and overwhelmingly defeated by a small force led by the Warden of the West March Lord Wharton. Hundreds of Scots were drowned or captured. The English lost just seven men. On 7th or 8th December 1542 Mary of Guise gave birth to a daughter, and on 14th December as a result of the battle of Solway Moss James V died. His daughter, at one week old was Mary Queen of Scots. Within a few months two Treaties of Greenwich were signed: 1. At the end of her 10th year, Mary would marry Henry’s son, Prince Edward 2. There would be peace between the two countries until one year after the deaths of either Mary or Edward. Mary was crowned at 9 months old, but Cardinal Archbishop Beaton and the French Queen Mother Mary of Guise conspired to renege on the Treaty and Mary was sent to France where she married the Dauphin and briefl y became Queen of France before being widowed after which she returned to Scotland. Henry decided to teach the Scots a lesson for their intransigence and their ‘breach of promise’ in the form of the three campaigns of 1544, 1545 and 1546 in what has become England’s or Henry’s Rough Wooing. Background image: Kelso Abbey Engraving by W H Lizars 1831 The Bloody Buffer State England’s Rough Wooing The man Henry chose to lead the campaign was Edward Seymour, fi rst Earl of Hertford. Henry’s instructions to Hertford were precise “To put all to fi re and sword, burn Edinburgh Town, so razed and defaced when you have sacked and gotten what you can of it, as there may remain for ever a perpetual memory of the vengeance of God lightened upon them for their falsehood and disloyalty” In May 1544, Hertford landed near Leith with 10,000 men and was joined by 4,000 Borderers. At the same time English garrisons crossed the Border and generally laid waste around Kelso, also burning Jedburgh Abbey. Their only setback was at Ancrum Moor in February 1545. The third campaign of the Rough Wooing in 1547 saw the defeat of the Scots at the Battle of Pinkie, by which time Henry VIII and Francis I were both dead. Between these two campaigns came a deadly two week rampage through the Borders in September 1545. The Eye-Witness There are no records of this period from the Scots side, but we do have an important eye-witness in Bartholemew Butler who was York Herald at the time and later became Ulster King of Arms. He has left a detailed account of the campaign: Friday, September 5th. Hertford leaves Newcastle and travels via Alnwick and Chillingham to join his army camped at the Standing Stone on Crookham Moor Wednesday, September 10th. The army marches past Wark to the ford where the Tweed rises in sudden spate, overturning ordnance, sweeping away horses and soaking stores and the army was split camping on both sides of the Tweed. York Herald marches on to Kelso with Spanish mercenaries and batters the Abbey (which the Scots had fortifi ed) all day until it is taken at midnight. Thursday, September 11th The Spanish continue to ‘spoil the Abbey’ and are joined by Hertford and the rest of the army. Hertford considers refortifying the Abbey Friday, September 12th At noon Hertford orders ‘break the Abbey and take off the lead and undermine the towers and strong places and overthrow all’ He himself rides off to look at Roxburgh Castle and decides against refortifying it. Saturday, September 13th The warden of the Middle March takes 3,000 horsemen and burns Melrose and Dryburgh Abbeys, 30 towns and ‘corn worth £1,000 sterling’ Sunday, September 14th The Abbey of Kelso is razed and carts are loaded with lead from the Abbey and sent off to Wark Monday, September 15th The army leaves the ruins of Kelso Abbey and camps for the night at Roxburgh Mains Tuesday, September 16th The army heads for Bonjedward ‘burning and destroying all day’ Wednesday, September 17th It is Jedburgh’s turn. The Abbey is burned and the Friars House and all the villages within a two mile radius. They try to take Cessford Castle but the walls are too thick to undermine and so they return to Wark ‘burning and destroying the whole way’ Thursday, September 18th Carts were once again sent to Kelso for more lead and horsemen were sent out burning and destroying and and Friday, September 19th getting close to Hume Castle which the Scots were said to have reinforced. There was so much smoke that nether side could see the other and, although York Herald reports this as ‘the most dangerous day we had in Scotland’ the English return to Wark unscathed having lost just one horse. Saturday, September 20th Carts of lead from Kelso continued to arrive at Wark where the army is encamped and Sunday, September 21st Monday, September 22nd The last of Kelso’s lead has arrived and the army leaves Wark, burns the nunnery at Coldstream and heads for Fogo, burning and destroying as they went. Next to suffer was Duns and the 50 or so villages around which are destroyed, Tuesday, September 23rd The army moves on to West Nisbet, overthrows the castle and burns the town ‘along with many more churches towers, friaries, nunneries and charterhouses’ before camping for its last night at Ladykirk Wednesday, September 24th Hertford takes a muster of the whole host and creates 13 new knights before the army is disbanded The Record There exists, among the Burleigh State Papers of the “Names of the Fortresses, Abbeys, Friar-houses, Market Towns, Villages, Towns and Places burnt razed and cast down, by commandment of the Earl of Hertford, the King’s Majesty’s Lieutenant General into the Northern Parts, in the Invasion into the Realm of Scotland, between the 8th of September and the 23rd of the same, the 37th year of the King’s Royal Majesty’s most prosperous and victorious reign: • 7 monasteries • 5 market towns • 13 mills • 16 castles towers and peles • 243 villages • 3 hospitals In all … two hundred and eighty-seven places … DESTROYED Background image: Kelso Abbey Engraving by W H Lizars 1831.