Kinmont Willie's Sword Comes Home Dr
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The Holywood Trust RSE Outreach Programme A Rank Reiver: Kinmont Willie’s Sword Comes Home Dr Valentina Bold University of Edinburgh Thursday 7 September 2017 at Annan Museum Report by Kate Kennedy Recently discovered in Dumfries Museum, ‘Kinmont Willie’s’ sword is a material culture object with strong links to intangible culture; specifically, The Ballad of Kinmont Willie, first printed in the Minstrelsy of Walter Scott. In this Lecture, Dr Bold addressed key questions about the sword, its provenance, its history and its owner. Why did the unknown custodian feel the need to label it as ‘Kinmont Willie’s’? What are the hidden messages in this ‘celebrity sword’ and how does it relate to the cult of such objects which gained momentum with George IV’s 1822 visit to Edinburgh? Why would the collector of such an object value it so much, and why remember Kinmont Willie, a ‘rank reiver’ according to the ballad? Dr Bold argued that the sword embodies key cultural messages relating to the way we remember reivers, reiving culture, and the infamous story of Kinmont Willie, captured on a day of truce in 1596, and liberated a month later, in a well recorded and notorious jailbreak. This Lecture was the follow-up to a previous RSE event at Dumfries Museum in May 2017, My Hands are Tied but My Tongue is Free: Swords with Stories & Kinmont Willie, and largely covers the same detail. Willie Armstrong of Kymont, described as ‘a rank reiver’ in the associated ballad, was known for his violent behaviour and was guilty of ‘grievous murders’. He was captured during a day of truce on 17 March 1596, taken to Carlisle Castle and incarcerated under the supervision of Lord Scrope, Warden of the English Western March. Despite the best diplomatic efforts of Walter Scott of Buccleuch, Keeper of Liddesdale, Willie was held prisoner in the castle until the night of 13 April 1596, when Buccleuch and his men broke into the Castle’s jail and took Willie back home over the Border. A sword allegedly belonging to Kinmont Willie was recently rediscovered in Dumfries and Galloway Museums’ collection. It is unknown precisely when the object became part of the collection but, until recently, it had long been forgotten and classified as part of a collection of agricultural equipment. However, the vellum label accompanying the sword identifies the object as belonging to Kinmont Willie Armstrong. Whilst further investigation regarding the origin of the sword is necessary, it is likely that, prior to arriving at the Museum, the sword was in a private ‘cabinet of curiosities’ belonging to an unidentified antiquarian. Indeed, Dr Bold described how the early 19th Century saw an increased interest in collecting ‘celebrity swords’ throughout Europe: Walter Scott made prominent use of the Marquis of Montrose’s sword in ceremonial events; William Wallace’s sword was sent to the Tower of London for repairs; and new attention was given to Arthur’s Excalibur and swords belonging to Charlemagne, Durandal and El Cid. It 1 seems, however, that Kinmont Willie’s sword may have been forgotten after the death of its unnamed 19th Century owner, passing back into circulation in Annan, at an as-yet-unidentified time. Although not yet confirmed as definitely belonging to Kinmont Willie, it has been authenticated as an excellent example of a 16th Century sword, created at the time of the ‘flowering of Scottish craftsmanship’. It measures approximately one metre long, is heavily rusted and resembles a practical weapon built to intimidate and ideal for reiving and battle. It has been examined by a range of experts, who concur on its age and style; the blade and pommel are characteristic of the late 16th and early 17th Centuries and it comprises a section at the top of the blade, known as a ricasso, and grooves, or fullers, on the blade itself. Dr Bold further commented that the sword is a symbol of the ‘power of resistance’, exemplified in the Border Ballad of Kinmont Willie. Dr Bold ascertains that, in addition to the sword being an important example of material culture, its most significant and interesting aspect is the associated story of notorious ‘freebooter’ Kinmont Willie Armstrong. The late 16th Century is an era rife with tales of ‘border reivers’. As Bishop John Leslie wrote, in 1577, the men of the Marches (Kinmont being based in the West March, which included Dumfries) were men who sought “their subsistence by robberies, or rather by plundering or rapine”. They saw no disparity between this lifestyle and their faith; they preferred reiving – for the pragmatic reason that they were as likely to be reived – to cultivating crops. In his Border Minstrelsy, Scott also commemorated and celebrated the reiving lifestyle, drawing attention to the elements of reciprocity of crime between Scotland and England and even between Scots. Indeed, the historical ballads found in the Minstrelsy are heavily dominated by reiving, or riding ballads, whilst others relate to their people and world view. These riding ballads celebrate, and commemorate, the violence of the Marchmen – but also their cunning, trickery and the punishments they faced for their actions, when and if caught (and they were often caught by trickery themselves). Kinmont Willie was a fine representative of his freebooting type. He was the great grandson of Thomas Armstrong, the 15th Century Laird of Mangreton, grandson of ‘Ill Will’ Armstrong, and son of Sandy Armstrong, notorious for his gang of reivers, ‘Sandy’s Bairns’. His family were linked to the Grahams; another ‘lawless’ family of the Borders. Kinmont Willie lived at Morton Rig, a bleak spot surrounded by hills, well positioned for Border reiving, being eleven miles from Carlisle and three miles from Gretna Green. In a 1583 raid on Tynedale, Kinmont Willie attacked eight villages, killed six men, wounded eleven more, took thirty prisoners and stole eight hundred cattle and £200-worth of goods. He returned a year later, attacking eight villages, stealing eighty cattle and oxen, sixty horses and mares and five hundred sheep, burning sixty houses, causing £2000-worth of destruction and killing ten men. In 1585, he rode out with the Earl of Bothwell against King James VI at Stirling, pillaging in this area and taking back substantial booty; and in 1592 he was described as having a hundred followers in what was, in effect, a deadly private army. Dr Bold described him as the “bane of the English Western March”. In the era of Border reiving, truce days were held about every forty days, allowing wardens of opposing marches to meet and resolve differences in safety. During a truce day in March 1596, Willie was riding home through Armstrong country with a group of around twenty followers when, heavily outnumbered, he was captured in an attack by English soldiers, led by Thomas Salkeld, deputy to the Warden of the Western Marches, Lord Scrope. According to the ballad, he was bound to a horse with his hands tied behind him and taken to Carlisle Castle. These actions were met with public outrage and were widely perceived as having broken Border law, 2 given that this had happened on a day of truce. Thus, Walter Scott of Buccleuch, Keeper of Liddesdale, immediately demanded Willie’s release in a letter of complaint to Lord Scrope. Scrope replied, stating that until “good security” was given for Willie’s behaviour, they would keep him in custody. Further diplomatic attempts to secure Willie’s release were met with the same stance and thus Buccleuch decided to take a more direct form of action. Dr Bold reports that Buccleuch allegedly sent a woman into Carlisle Castle to visit Willie and, in the process, to find out where he was being held, how he was being guarded, and how high the walls of the castle were so that it was possible to estimate the height of the scaling ladders. A plan to raid the Castle and free Willie was devised during a meeting attended by members of notorious local reiving families, including the Grahams and the Scotts and, indeed, members of the English branch of the Graham clan, with whom Buccleuch spoke at Langholm horse races. On 13 April 1596, Buccleuch and his supporters, many of whom could be described as ‘reiving royalty’ assembled at Kinmont Willie’s home, about ten miles from Carlisle, and carrying ladders, crowbars, pickaxes and sledgehammers, they rode through the Debateable Lands across the Border where, upon reaching Carlisle, they attempted to scale the walls of Carlisle Castle. However, their ladders were too short and so they broke down the postern gate. Dr Bold described how, in the ballad, they used ‘coulters’ and ‘forehammers’ to reach Willie in the inner prison and once there, they managed to overpower the Castle guards, broke down Willie’s door and set him free, sounding a trumpet to give the appearance of a larger force. Lord Scrope and Thomas Salkeld took refuge, barricading themselves inside. The raid was over by daybreak and, as signal beacons were being lit in Carlisle, the rescue party escaped. It was said that a thousand men pursued them, but the raiding party managed to cross the Eden Water and get away. In The Ballad of Kinmont Willie, Buccleuch flings his glove at Scrope and mocks him: stating “if ye like na my visit in merry England, in fair Scotland come visit me!”. In addition to the report contained in the ballad, historical records exist, detailing the costs for the replacement of the postern gate, and Lord Scrope also wrote an account of Kinmont Willie’s rescue. Scrope never really recovered from the embarrassment.