The King Is Dead Long Live The King!

In the early Middle Ages Castle was a royal residence where Kings held court and entertained important visitors. The royal burgh of Roxburgh, full of wealthy merchants and busy craftsmen was one of the four most important towns in . Its great annual fair - St James’ Fair - drew visitors from all over Britain and Europe. However, by the late Middle Ages Roxburgh had become a headache for the Scottish government. Since the Wars of Independence which started at the end of the 13th century, wars between Scotland and England had become a regular event. Roxburgh, just 6 miles from the frontier and dominating the central Borders, was a prime target for the English. In 1296 took over Roxburgh. In 1313 James Douglas captured Roxburgh from the English for King and its walls were pulled down to stop the English using it as a base. However, by the 1330s Roxburgh had again been lost to the English who refortifi ed it. Apart from one brief spell in 1342, it remained in English hands for over a hundred years and English garrisons sitting in Roxburgh and Berwick threatened the people of the lower Tweed Valley. In 1436 James I gathered an army to try to retake Roxburgh, but the expedition ended in a miserable failure, and soon after he was murdered by some disaffected nobles at Perth. His son James II decided in 1460 to see if he could do better. He had already succeeded in destroying the power of the Earls of Douglas, the chief internal threat to his rule. Now he turned his attention to driving out the English occupiers. He arrived to lay siege to Roxburgh Castle in late July 1460, with a large army which included a big train of artillery. At least some of his cannons and bombards would have been imported from Flanders, for James’s wife was Marie de Gueldres a niece of the Duke of Burgundy the ruler of Flanders. The cannons reportedly included one named the “Lion” which weighed 3,000 lb. “Mons Meg” at is a surviving example of what James’s artillery looked like, and was almost certainly one of the pieces he brought to the siege. James is reported to have installed his cannon on the north side of the Tweed (now the grounds of Floors)and the siege began. However, according to an early account: “The King, more curious than became him or the majesty of a king, did stand near the gunners when the artillery discharged: his thigh bone was dung in two with a piece of a gun that brake in shooting, by which he was stricken to the ground and died hastily.” [Lindsey of Pitscottie] The fatally injured king was carried to the Friary which gave its name to Friarshaugh - it stood just across the Teviot from Springwood - and here James II was given the last rites. He was just twenty-nine years old. When the news was brought to her, James’s widow, Marie de Gueldres hurried to join the army, bringing with her the new king, James III who was just eight years old. (A local tradition says that she paused for a rest near Stichill, thereby giving Queenscairn its name). She presented her son to the Scottish nobles and urged them not to give up the siege but to complete the task the dead king had started. The siege carried on and Roxburgh was captured on the 8th of August, fulfi lling an old prophecy that a dead king would win the castle. Once again the castle was pulled down to make it useless to the English. Roxburgh never recovered from this and the once prosperous Royal Burgh dwindled away and eventually disappeared. On the 10th of August, barely a week after the death of James II, his son was crowned king in a hastily arranged ceremony at . We know nothing defi nite of the details of James III’s coronation, but it must have been quite a splendid affair, despite the tragic circumstances. The army which had gathered to capture Roxburgh had been drawn from all over Scotland and would have included members of all the great noble families. Moreover, despite the loss of their late king, the local people had much to celebrate, for the threat from the English soldiers at Roxburgh had been lifted.

Background image: Kelso Abbey Engraving by W H Lizars 1831