Andrew de Harcla

Posted on May 8, 2013 by JuliaH

Andrew de Harcla or Harclay was knighted in 1303 by Thomas of Lancaster. As the fourth of six sons he would have to make his own way in the world and by 1312 he was on his journey to success. He was sent to Parliament as a knight for Cumberland. It wasn’t long before he became the ‘custos’ for Carlisle and the castle. He started to hold other castles for the king, including Pendragon Castle. Following the death of Robert de Clifford in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn he also found himself responsible for Appleby and Brougham Castle while Roger de Clifford was deemed too young to hold the castles in his own name.

De Harcla found himself responsible for the security of the north at a difficult time. Robert Bruce seeing the difficulties that Edward II managed to get himself into with his assorted favourites and bolshy barons (the Lord Ordainers) decided to snaffle some territory. The lifestyle of raiding and warfare was on its way to being endemic by the end of the period. Prior to Bannockburn in the year 1313 Edward Bruce raided the land around Carlisle and following Bannockburn de Harcla found himself besieged for some ten or elven days in 1315 by the Scots with siege engines. Only the rumour that the Earl of Pembroke was on his way with a relieving army and that Edward Bruce had been killed in Ireland sent the Scots on their merry way once more. This initial letter from the Carlisle Charter shows Sir Andrew defending the castle.

King Edward II initially recognised the importance of de Harcla as a stabilising force in the north of the country. In 1320 he gave de Harcla the right to help conserve a recently made truce with the Scots. This meant that there was a degree of interchange between the two sides to ensure that justice was met according to the treaty. This was reinforced in 1322 when Edward gave Sir Andrew power to treat with the Scots – again, initially this seemed to be of benefit to the King. Letters from Thomas of Lancaster to the Scots revealed that the king’s cousin was fermenting rebellion.

In 1322 de Harcla found himself taking the field against Thomas of Lancaster at the Battle of Boroughbridge. Thomas knew that he had to cross the river but when he arrived at the bridge it was held by the king’s men. After a ferocious battle the two leaders made terms. Lancaster tried to remind de Harcla that he owed his knighthood to him and that if he joined the rebellion against Edward II he would be further rewarded. Andrew said no and the two armies settled down for a sleepless night – although unusually it was de Harcla who spent the night out in the cold guarding the bridge while Lancaster and his men were billeted in Boroughbridge. Lancaster is said to have cursed de Harcla saying he would die a traitor’s death within the year.

At first this seemed unlikely, Edward loaded Sir Andrew with rewards for his service including making him the first Earl of Carlisle. Unfortunately de Harcla was not left in peace to enjoy his new title. Before long the Scots were on the march. They laid siege to Norham Castle in the East and pushed south to Byland where an English army were soundly beaten. Edward II did what he did best – he ran away. The Scots plundered Ripon and did nasty things to Beverley.

It was the final straw for de Harcla, despite the fact that his permission to make treaties with the Scots had probably expired by that point he had a cosy little chat in Lochmaben Castle about the possibility of recognising King Robert Bruce and bringing the war to an end. The Lanercost Chronicle roundly denounces de Harcla as a traitor- as indeed did the king- but at least the Chronicle makes the point that the ordinary people would have been very grateful for a bit of law and order and the chance to grow things without the Scots coming along and causing chaos.

Edward had de Harcla arrested in the great hall of Carlisle Castle by Sir Anthony de Lucy. De Lucy was probably quite gleeful about this as he’d had a bit of a land dispute with de Harcla and now got all the property that he wanted…think Monopoly but a bit more dangerous. Sir Andrew was stripped of his earldom and his knighthood and then he was taken out to the gallows at Harraby Hill where he was hung, drawn and quartered and all without the benefit of a trial beforehand. His decapitated head was, apparently, taken to Knaresborough Castle for Edward to inspect before it was placed on a spike with a nice view over London Bridge.

Eventually de Harcla’s sister was allowed to collect up the scattered body parts from their various locations – Carlisle, Newcastle and London to name but three and his remains were interred in the church at Kirkby Stephen.

Ironically Edward was eventually forced to recognise King Robert of Scotland – in part because he’d had his best commander in the north executed for trying to protect Edward’s subjects.

Castles, pele towers and bastle houses on the borders.

Posted on March 13, 2013 by JuliaH

Castle building began with the Normans – motte and bailey affairs – or in straight forward terms a huge pile of earth topped off with a wooden crown of wall and keep. The aim was to dominate the landscape and afford themselves protection (keeping their fingers firmly crossed that no one turned up with the equivalent of an early medieval box of matches).

The key to Cumberland is Carlisle Castle which was begun by William Rufus during the eleventh century. It’s history reflects the political upheavals of the medieval period as well as the fact that the border between England and Scotland was sometimes apt to shift quite dramatically!

In 1122 Henry I ordered that it should be strengthened with stone. By the time of his death it was still unfinished and making the most of the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, King David of Scotland moved into Carlisle and finished the building. He died in Carlisle Castle in 1135. Carlisle was regained by the English.

Henry II commanded that there should be further strengthening which was just as well because William the Lion of Scotland attacked Carlisle twice with a large force in an attempt to regain the territory that his brother had lost.

King John stayed in the castle on several different occasions reflecting the fact that having lost his continental possessions he was the first Plantagenet king who really turned his attention to the north and the northern English barons – it wasn’t a happy relationship leading as it did to rebellion and for a time Carlisle ending up in the hands of the Scottish again – the town made no resistance to Alexander III but the castle garrison did. It fell to the Scottish because miners sapped the south curtain wall. The Scots also bombarded it with missiles but when John died in 1216 the Scots withdrew. The fact that the roof of the castle needed repair by the mid thirteenth century demonstrates that the borders did undergo a period of peace.

That all changed with the death of Alexander III. Edward I visited Carlisle many times, eventually dying at Burgh-By-Sands on his way to yet another campaign against the Scots. The next two hundred and fifty years were pretty turbulent if you happened to live on the border and this is reflected once again in the Castle’s history.

July 1315 – Robert Bruce besieges Carlisle but it is ably defended by Sir Andrew Harclay who tried to establish peace but got himself hung, drawn and quartered for his efforts.

It was during this period of increased militarization that Hexham Goal was built and also Thirlwall Castle which used dressed stone from a rather large nearby wall… It is situated near the Tyne-Irthing Gap a way used by Scottish raiders so its strategic position is immediately obvious. Some miles down the road, Aydon Castle turned from being a manor house into a fortified manor with its own barmkin wall.

In fact, those who could fortify their dwellings did so on both sides of the borders. Peles or peel towers dot the border region and the Eden Valley. They were not built to stop raiders they were built to keep families and their livestock safe during incursions. They tend to be rectangular with a barrel-vaulted basement and two further stories above including a roof with a beacon to summon help. The Vicar at Corbridge had his own pele tower and there’s one in the grounds of Carlisle Cathedral. In other locations churches included fortified protection for local villagers in their design creating a landscape of romantic looking ruins today but which reflect the difficulties of living on the border until the two kingdoms came under the rule of one monarch.

Bastle Houses are very similar to peels but built on a smaller scale – they tended to be owned by better off tenant farmers. Most of them were built in the Sixteenth Century and lie within 15 miles of the border.

Carlisle Castle and medieval Scots

Posted on February 25, 2013 by JuliaH

In 1092 William Rufus (William II) established a motte and bailey fortress in Carlisle. The castle was strengthened with stone during the reign of Henry I but fell into Scottish hands during the reign of King Stephen. He was somewhat occupied in a nineteen year-long civil war with his cousin the Empress Matilda, the daughter of Henry I and heir nominated by him. These years were the years of the nineteen long winters.

King David I of Scotland came into the war on his niece’s side- he knighted Matilda’s son, the future Henry II in Carlisle. The Scots strengthened the city’s defences as well as those of the castle. He died in Carlisle Castle in 1153 and was succeeded by his grandson, Malcolm (known as Malcolm the Maiden), who lacked the strength to hold the Cumbrian and Northumbrian lands that he grandfather had maintained.

Scottish claims to the castle didn’t die with David though even though they signed the Treaty of York in 1237 giving up their claims to Cumberland and Northumberland.

1174 William the Lion crossed into England with up to 80,000 men and besieged the castle for three months. Thanks to his grandfather’s building work, the castle remained in English hands.

1216 King Alexander II of Scotland took Carlisle from King John who was having problems with his barons at the time. Upon the accession of Henry III, Alexander gave the castle back once he had been suitably compensated. Carlisle castle has remained in English hands there after with one or two slight hiccoughs.

In 1596 Kinmont Willie Armstrong, a notorious border reiver, was rescued by the Bold Buccleuch much to Queen Elizabeth I’s irritation.

Following the fall of Carlisle in 1645 after a year-long siege during the English Civil War the city and castle were occupied by a Parliamentarian force led by General Leslie and his Scots.There was also a brief occupation in 1745 by Bonnie Prince Charlie.