Callendar House, Falkirk

Posted on September 8, 2024 by JuliaH

Today the house looks like a very grand nineteenth century châteaux but it’s built around a fourteenth century tower (that’s the large square block on the right hand side of the main entrance). And there’s more history than that in the grounds. It lies on the line of the Antoine Wall that stretched from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. By the 12th century a thane’s hall stood on the site. The Callendar family held the land until the Scottish Wars of Independence. Sir John Callender was a signatory of the Treaty of Salisbury which confirmed the Maid of Norway as queen of Scotland following the death of Alexander III when he died in March 1286. He also signed the Ragman Roll in 1296 that recognised Edward I as king of Scotland following the maid’s untimely end. He was captured by those fighting for Scottish independence at the Battle of Falkirk in 1299.

Sir Patrick Callendar had his own difficulties during the Scottish Wars of Independence but Callender House passed into the Livingston family with the marriage of his daughter to William Livingston. Unfortunately it was not that clear cut because Callender had elected to support Edward Balliol’s (the son of King John Balliol) claim to the Scottish throne when David II succeeded to the throne at the age of 4-years. Ball was crowned in 1332 after which there was rather a lot of crown swaps but essentially for our purposes when David II regained his throne the Calendars found themselves in some difficulty because of their affiliation with the Balliols.

In 1345 David II regularised matters with the grant of Callendar House to William Livingston. Livingston demonstrated his loyalty to the monarch and they were all set to rise. By the 1440s the Livingstone were the guardians of James II and Alexander, 5th Lord Livingston was one of Mary Queen of Scot’s guardians. By then the originally tower house had doubled in size but still had none of the turrets and additional wings of the modern building. The fifth lord was born at the turn of the sixteenth century and had a reputation as a military commander. When Mary travelled to France in 1548, Alexander travelled with her and remained there until his death. Alexander’s daughter Mary was one of the queen’s so-called Four Marys and his son William, who was a protestant, would fight for the queen at the Battle of Languid in 1568.

William accompanied the queen into exile. William’s wife, Agnes, travelled to Bolton Castle to serve the imprisoned queen. Like William she had known Mary all the queen’s life – Agnes was the daughter of Mary’s governess Janet Stewart, Lady Fleming (making Agnes the queen’s cousin as well). She shared several years of her mistress’s captivity. The Earl of Moray seized Callendar while William set about trying to negotiate the queen’s release. The couple’s eldest son Alexander, who would become the 1st Earl of Linlithgow, also supported the queen and was captured at Dumbarton in 1571. It was another three years before the family came to terms with James VI’s regent even though William returned to Scotland in 1573.

But by 1580 Alexander was a gentleman of the king’s bedchamber. In 1592 Alexander succeeded his father as Lord Livingston. He had worked his way into royal favour as a follower of Esme Lennox and by seizing Stirling Castle in 1584 after the Ruthven Raid. In 1594 he played a part in the baptism of James VI’s eldest son Prince Henry.

Two years later he and his wife Helenor (or Eleanor)Hay were entrusted with the care of James’ daughter Princess Elizabeth. The fact that Helenor was a Catholic did not make her unsuitable. As well as spending time at Linlithgow Palace, Alexander was its keeper, the princess also spent time at Callendar House. In 1600, at the time of Prince Charles’ baptism, Livingston became 1st Earl of Linlithgow. In 1603 the Livingstons’ took Princess Elizabeth to Windsor to return her to her father.

The couple’s eldest son, Alexander, became the 2nd Earl of Livingston while his brother James, who was a similar age to Elizabeth, became 1st Earl of Callendar in 1534. He had spent his formative years as a mercenary fighting in the Low Countries and in Germany. He served James VI (and 1) as well as Charles I but his support for the Covenanters led to difficulties. Ultimately though, he took the field on the side of the royalists. His estates were seized in 1654 and he was imprisoned by Parliament. By then Callendar House had also taken something of a battering. In 1651, following his victory at Dunbar, Cromwell had seized most of Lowland Scotland. That summer Callendar House was placed under siege. General Monck stormed the building with his men killing 62 of the garrison. The house’s governor was among the dead. Having buried the dead and demolished the gatehouse Monck departed, although not before Oliver Cromwell had arrived to survey the scene. Unsurprisingly given Livingston’s affinity, the estate was sequestered and it was General Monck who received the income from it.

The Restoration saw James Livingston return to Callendar and begin work on alterations and refurbishment to his home – a seventeenth century Manor House was added on to the tower. When he died in 1674 his title and estates were inherited by his nephew, another Alexander, who completed the building work that James’ began before his death. Unfortunately it wasn’t long before the house saw more soldiers – Alexander’s own views ran somewhat contrary to those of James VII of Scotland ( II of England) but he was dead before the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The third earl continued the policy of extending the house.

James, the 4th Earl of Calendar showed his ancestors’ loyalty to the Stuarts. He rose in support of the Jacobites in 1715 and was attainted for treason. His son-in-law, the Earl of Kilmarnock took possession of the property but in 1745 he supported Bonnie Prince Charlie (yup he stayed in the house which was looking a bit tatty again), was captured at Culloden and beheaded at the Tower of London.

In the latter half of the eighteenth century Callendar House was sold to the Forbes family. William Forbes was from Aberdeen and was known as Copperbottom from his business of coating the bottom of naval vessels. He was also a slave owner. He was very wealthy indeed, if not very popular with the people of Falkirk. It would be the Forbes’ family who turned Callendar House into a French Chateau.

You will notice that once again the sun did not shine! Good job I just need black and white photographs for Raising the Stuarts. The parking at Callendar House, which is owned by Falkirk Council, is free as is entry to the grounds and house. The history of the house was extremely well presented, as was the explanation of the location of the Antonoine Wall. Even better they did a very nice maple and pecan scone…

Sir Andrew Murray – Guardian of Scotland

Posted on November 14, 2021 by JuliaH

Sir Andrew Murray’s father, also named Andrew, fought with William Wallace. Our Sir Andrew was married to Christina Bruce the sister of King Robert I although his two sons were the issue of a previous marriage. He came to prominence during the Second Scottish War of Independence which started when Edward Balliol, one of the so-called ‘Disinherited’ made his claim to the kingdom of Scotland during the minority of King David II. Having won the battle of Dupplin Moor near Perth, Edward was crowned king.

However, supporters of David continued to fight on. Amongst them was Sir Andrew. In December 1332 he won the Battle of Annan which sent Edward packing to Carlisle, dressed it was reported only in his underclothes – where he presumably spent a miserable Christmas trying to drum up local support as well as some new togs. Having promised Edward III all of Lothian the king marched north with an army and besieged Berwick – not quite breaking the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton as I don’t think he crossed the Tweed.

Rather than taking Edward and his army on and lifting the siege, the Scots tried to draw the king away by raiding England. Sir Andrew got himself caught and imprisoned in Durham in April 1333. His replacement Guardian was Sir Archibald Douglas who rather unfortunately lost the Battle of Halidon Hill in July. Rather bizarrely, and in what can only be described as an own goal, the English ransomed Murray and allowed him to return to Scotland in 1334 – where he proceeded to besiege Balliol’s ally Henry de Beaumont (both names betraying their Anglo-Norman ancestry.)

Edward III was unable to bring Murray to battle, as the wily knight recognised that this was a sure fire way to lose any advantage. Instead, Murray harried the English with guerrilla tactics. When Edward and his army left Scotland he resumed the capture of castles fallen to supporters of Balliol. It was March 1337 before he recaptured his own castle of Bothwell.

The way into England was now clear and the burghers of Carlisle were faced with a Scottish army.

Having made his point, Murray retired in 1338 to Avoch Castle where he died. By that time King Edward III of England had turned his attention to France but Murray’s actions turned the tide in David II’s and Scotland’s favour. Meanwhile in Bute, Robert the Stewart was also taking action to secure the revival of the Bruce cause.

After 1341 the Second Scottish War of Independence reached a stalemate and the seventeen-year old king returned from France where he had been sent for his own safety after Dupplin Moor. The Auld Alliance would see David invading England with disastrous consequences for his rule.

Berwick upon Tweed, Richard of Gloucester and the fate of a princess

Posted on August 24, 2018 by JuliaH

According to the Scotsman Berwick Upon Tweed changed hands some thirteen times in its turbulent history. So, it was originally part of the Kingdom of Northumbria and these are the key changes of occupier.

henry iii In 1018 following the Battle of Carham the border moved to the Tweed and Berwick became Scottish which it remained until William I of Scotland became involved in the civil war between Henry II and his sons in 1173. After his defeat Berwick became English. In all fairness Henry II had rather caused bad feeling between the Scots and English when he forced the Scots to hand Carlisle back to England – which given how supportive King David of Scotland had been to him seems rather ungracious. William I of Scotland (or William the Lion if you prefer) had simply taken advantage of the family fall out between Henry II and his sons. Unfortunately for him he was captured in 1174 at the Battle of Alnwick. He was released under terms of vassalage and made to give up various castles as well as Berwick.

220px-Edward_III_of_England_(Order_of_the_Garter) Henry II’s son, Richard the Lionheart, who, as I have mentioned previously, would have been more than prepared to sell London to the highest bidder to finance his Crusade sold the town back to the Scots where it remained until 1296 and the Scottish Wars of Independence. Needless to say it was Edward I who captured the town for the English at that time after the Scots had invaded Cumberland under the leadership of John Baliol who was in alliance with the French. There were executions and much swearing of fealty not to mention fortification building.

In April 1318 during the reign of Edward II (who was not known for his military prowess) Berwick fell once again to the Scots. By 1333 the boot was on the other foot with Edward III now on the throne. Sir Archibald Douglas found himself inside the town and preparing for a siege – no doubt making good use of the fortifications built on the orders of Edward I. Douglas was defeated at the Battle of Halidon Hill in September 1333 and Berwick became English once more.

And thus it might have remained but for the Wars of the Roses. In 1461 Edward IV won the Battle of Towton leaving Henry VI without a kingdom. Margaret of Anjou gave Berwick and Carlisle to the Scots in return for their support to help when the Crown once again. I should point out that the citizens of Carlisle did not hand themselves over to Scotland whilst those in Berwick found themselves once more under Scottish rule. Not that it did Margaret of Anjou much good nor for that matter diplomatic relations between Scotland and the new Yorkist regime although there was a treaty negotiated in 1474 which should have seen 45 years of peace – as all important treaties were this one was sealed with the agreement that Edward’s third daughter Cecily should marry James III’s son also called James. Sadly no one appears to have told anyone along the borders of this intent for peaceful living as the borderers simply carried on as usual.

Richard_III_of_England August 24 1482 Berwick became English once more having fallen into the hands of Richard, Duke of Gloucester who strengthened his army with assorted European mercenaries until there were somewhere in the region of 20,000 men in his force. Richard marched north from York in the middle of July. Once at Berwick Richard left some men to besiege the town whilst he went on to Edinburgh where he hoped to meet with King James III of Scotland in battle (it should be noted that one of James’ brothers was in the English army). It wasn’t just James’ brother who was disgruntled. It turned out that quite a few of his nobles were less than happy as they took the opportunity of the English invasion to lock James away. It became swiftly clear to Richard that he would not be able to capture Edinburgh so returned to Berwick where he captured the town making the thirteenth and final change of hands.

Meanwhile the Scottish nobility asked for a marriage between James’ son James and Edward IV’s daughter Cecily to go ahead. Richard said that the marriage should go ahead if Edward wished it but demanded the return of Cecily’s dowry which had already been paid.

Just to complicate things – James’ brother, the one fighting in the English army proposed that it should be him that married Cecily. He had hopes of becoming King himself. Edward IV considered the Duke of Albany’s proposal and it did seem in 1482 that there might be an Anglo-Scottish marriage but in reality the whole notion was unpopular. The following year, on 9th April, Edward died unexpectedly and rather than marrying royalty Cecily found herself married off to one of her uncle’s supporters Ralph Scrope of Masham. This prevented her from being used as a stepping-stone to the Crown. This particular marriage was annulled by Henry VII after Bosworth which occurred on 22 August 1485 and Cecily was married off to Lord Welles who was Margaret Beaufort’s half-brother and prevented Cecily, once again, from being used as a stepping-stone to the Crown.

Meanwhile Berwick remained relatively peacefully until 1639 when the Scottish Presbyterian Army and Charles I’s army found itself at a standoff. The Pacification of Berwick brought the so-called First Bishops’ War to an end. Unsurprisingly Charles broke the agreement just as soon as he had gathered sufficient funds, arms and men. The Second Bishops’ war broke out the following year with the English Civil War beginning in 1642.