Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle

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Andrew Harclay Coat of Arms

Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle (also Harcla ) (* around 1270; † March 3, 1323 with Carlisle ) was an English military and rebel. He was a capable military man who rose from simple knight to earl . However, he overestimated his position and diplomatic ability to end the hopeless war for supremacy over Scotland and was executed as a traitor.

origin

Andrew Harclay came from a knightly family . He was believed to be the eldest son of Sir Michael Harclay , a knight from Westmorland who served as Sheriff of Cumberland for many years , and his wife Joan , daughter of William Fitzjohn of Yorkshire . One of his siblings was the theologian Heinrich von Harclay .

Advancement as a military

Andrew Harclay is first mentioned in 1292 during a court hearing in Westmorland, so he was of legal age at that time. During the first Scottish War of Independence , he took part in campaigns to Scotland in 1304 and 1310. In 1309 he supported Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford in the defense of the western Scottish Marches against Scottish attacks. In 1311 he was appointed Sheriff of Cumberland and in 1312 he was elected Knight of the Shire for Cumberland. In 1313 he succeeded Bishop John Halton in command of Carlisle Castle. In December 1313 he resolutely led the defense of Cumberland against a Scottish raid. In July and August 1315 he successfully led the defense of Carlisle against a Scottish army led by King Robert himself. For successfully defending the important frontier fortress, he received a reward of 1,000 marks (around £ 666). In late 1315 or early 1316, Harclay was believed to have been captured by John Soulis in a Scottish raid . For his release, Harclay had to pay at least 2000 marks (about £ 1333) ransom, with financial support from King Edward II . However, his rapid rise had led to envy and resentment both in northern England and at the royal court. During his captivity, his opponents, including the royal favorite Hugh le Despenser , tried to discredit him with the king.

Andrew Harclay (with escutcheon and spear raised) defending Carlisle. Depiction of 1316

Further climb and battle at Boroughbridge

After his release, Harclay does not appear to have regained full favor with the king until 1319, when the king appointed him Sheriff of Cumberland, administrator of the castles of Carlisle and Cockermouth, and custodian of the western Scottish March. For his expenses he received 1,320 1,000 marks. In 1321 the king called him to parliament by writ of summons , which raised him to Baron Harclay . He reached the high point of his career in the following year when the king ordered him to block the path of the rebels fleeing northwards under the Earl of Lancaster with his troops . Harclay blocked the bridge over the River Ure with his army, based on the Scottish model as Schiltron , and in the following battle at Boroughbridge the rebels were completely defeated on March 16 and 17. For his success, Harclay was made Earl of Carlisle by the king on March 25th and gifted with lands that should bring him annual income of 1,000 marks. The king himself girded Harclay with a new sword belt as a sign of his new position. This rise from simple knight to earl, without at least being married to a woman from a noble family, was unprecedented. This uprising was probably also against the background that after the suppression of the rebellion, the king needed Lancaster magnates as military commanders. After the death of Lancaster, he was now one of the most powerful nobles in northern England. For the following campaign against Scotland he posted 113 men-at-arms , 1,435 light riders and 2,069 foot soldiers, and after the campaign he received funds for 240 men-in-arms and 500 light riders to defend the western Scottish Marches.

Arbitrary negotiations with Scotland

The king's campaign to Scotland, which began in August 1322, was unsuccessful. On the march back, the English army, decimated by disease, was pursued by the Scots, who defeated and dispersed the English rearguard on October 14 at the Battle of Byland . Harclay had failed to join the main army despite royal orders. The king had to flee from the Scots to York , even leaving his wife behind the enemy lines. The queen barely escaped capture. Presumably this further defeat, as well as the general failure of the king to protect northern England from the devastation of Scottish raids, led Harclay to realize that the war for English supremacy over Scotland could not be won. He therefore started negotiations with the Scottish king on his own initiative. On January 3, 1323 he concluded a peace treaty with King Robert and Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray in Lochmaben , in which the respective property of both countries and thus the independence of Scotland was recognized. If King Edward II. Also recognize the treaty, King Robert would create a convent for the victims of the wars and pay the English king within ten years 40,000 marks (about £ 26,666.), Plus he offered a marriage of the Prince of Wales Edward with a of his relatives. Disagreements between the two kingdoms were to be resolved by a body made up of six Scots and six British. With this, Harclay had negotiated a seemingly conciliatory peace, one of which was written in English and the other in Scottish. The Scottish version, however, differed significantly from the English version in its emphasis. It was written much more warlike than the conciliatory sounding English version. According to the Scottish version, the treaty was more of an alliance between the Scottish king and the English earl designed to force the English king to make peace. This interpretation is supported by the fact that in February 1323 Sir Philip Meldrum , an important Scottish nobleman, was staying at Carlisle Castle, probably on behalf of the Scottish king. There were further deviations via the twelve-member body intended for dispute settlement. In the English version it had greater powers than in the Scottish version of the treaty.

Failure and execution

King Edward II knew that Harclay was conducting illicit negotiations with the Scottish opponent, and he was by no means willing to recognize these negotiations. After his half-hearted attempt to arrest Harclay failed, he sent messengers to Carlisle. Harclay tried to secure the allegiance of his troops, but the king gradually removed him from office, thereby weakening Harclay's position. On February 25th, he was finally surprised and captured in Carlisle Castle by a small group of soldiers under Sir Anthony Lucy , whom he had mistakenly believed to be one of his supporters. Without further trial, he was charged with high treason on March 3rd. His title was stripped from him by royal judges, who subsequently sentenced him to death by hanged, drawn and quarterred . Even before the gallows, Harclay defended himself that he had signed the treaty with the Scots in good faith, and that it was better if both empires could exist in peace and freedom than if there were raids, slaughter and destruction every year. He endured the execution on Harraby Hill, near Carlisle, with composure. His severed skull was taken to the King at Knaresborough , who had him taken to London, where he was impaled over London Bridge . The other four parts of Harclay's corpse were exhibited in Carlisle, Newcastle , Bristol and Shrewsbury . His remains could not be buried until 1328, but despite a petition from his nephew Henry to King Edward III. he was never rehabilitated even posthumously.

Harclay had few supporters in his negotiations with the Scots, almost all of whom were pardoned after their leader was executed. His secretary William Blount was able to flee to Scotland, where the Scottish king gave him a small estate. Harclay's desperate attempt to end the war with Scotland single-handedly had failed. King Edward II persisted in claiming supremacy over Scotland, but only three months after Harclay's execution he was forced to agree to a thirteen-year truce in the face of Scottish resistance. The text of the treaty that Harclay had signed still served as a model for the peace made between England and Scotland in 1328 .

Web links

Commons : Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 123.
  2. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 338.
  3. ↑ RC Reid, T. M'Michael: The Feudal Family of De Soulis. In: Transactions and journal of the proceedings of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society. Series III, Volume 26 (1947-48), p. 186.
  4. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 344.
  5. ↑ Michael Prestwich: Plantagenet England. 1225-1360. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007. ISBN 0-19-822844-9 , p. 362.
  6. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 122.
  7. ↑ Michael Prestwich: Plantagenet England. 1225-1360. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007. ISBN 0-19-822844-9 , p. 243.
  8. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 352.
  9. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 351.
  10. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 362.
personal data
SURNAME Harclay, Andrew, 1st Earl of Carlisle
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Andrew de Harcla; Andrew Harclay, 1st Baron Harclay; Carlisle, Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English military and rebel
DATE OF BIRTH around 1270
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 1323
Place of death at Carlisle