Siege of Berwick (1319)

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Siege of Berwick (1319)
View of Berwick (2004)
View of Berwick (2004)
date September 7th to 17th, 1319
place Berwick-upon-Tweed
output The British siege is called off
consequences Armistice of Berwick and Newcastle on December 22nd and 24th, 1319 respectively
Parties to the conflict

Flag of Scotland.svg Kingdom of Scotland

Flag of England.svg Kingdom of England

Commander

Arms of Stewart.svg Walter Stewart , John Crab

Royal Arms of England.svg King Edward II

Troop strength
unknown between 500 knights and 10,000 foot soldiers and light riders and 1,400 knights and men-at-arms , over 1,000 light horsemen and around 11,500 foot soldiers and archers
losses

unknown

unknown

Battles of the First Scottish War of Independence
Berwick - Dunbar - Stirling Bridge - Falkirk - Roslin - Stirling Castle - Methven - Dalry - Glen Trool - Loudoun Hill - Inverurie - Brander - Perth - Bannockburn -  Berwick - Berwick - Myton - Byland - Weardale

Battles of the Second Scottish Revolutionary War
Kinghorn - Dupplin Moor - Annan - Berwick - Halidon Hill - Boroughmuir - Culblean - Neville's Cross

The Siege of Berwick was a battle during the First Scottish War of Independence . From September 7 to 17, 1319, an English army under King Edward II besieged the border town of Berwick without success .

prehistory

Since 1296 there was a state of war between England and Scotland after the English King Edward I tried to fight for supremacy over Scotland. His son and successor Edward II had suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 , after which the English had to withdraw from almost all of Scotland. As a result, the Scots had undertaken numerous raids on the northern English counties, where they wreaked havoc. In April 1318 the Scots had conquered the important border town of Berwick . In May the castles of Harbottle , Wark and Mitford surrendered to the Scots, who subsequently led raids to Northallerton , then to Ripon and almost as far as Pontefract . After Edward II had settled the dispute with the oppositional Earl of Lancaster by the Treaty of Leake concluded in August 1318 , he was able to devote himself more to the defense of northern England. In November 1318 a parliament in York approved taxes to finance a campaign against Scotland, and shortly afterwards the king called his feudal army for a campaign against Scotland on June 10, 1319. In May 1319 the start of the campaign was postponed to July 22nd. With that the king had failed to retake Berwick by a quick counter-attack. The Scots used the time to supply the city with supplies and to strengthen the fortifications. The defense of the city was headed by Walter Stewart , with the active support of the Dutch businessman and military engineer John Crab . Other Scottish commanders included Alexander Seton , the Earl of Dunbar , Robert Keith and Adam Gordon . Possibly the poet John Barbour exaggerated the importance of Stewart in order to increase the fame of his son, the future King Robert II .

Preparations for the campaign

Food was procured from all over England for Edward II's campaign planned for 1319. Knights and barons who failed to fulfill their official duties as vassals were threatened with fines. The king asked for a total of 23,596 soldiers for the campaign. The information on the actual strength of the English army varies, but there is no doubt that Edward II was able to muster an impressive army, not least because the Earl of Lancaster and his entourage took part in a king's campaign for the first time after his compromise with the king. Lancaster alone brought with them 35 to 40 followers, each with an average of three other knights and ten foot soldiers. Lancaster's entourage thus comprised a total of at least 140 knights and 350 foot soldiers. In addition, the Earl had nearly 2,000 foot soldiers from his own estates. All other leading magnates such as the Earls of Pembroke , Arundel , Hereford and the Barons Badlesmere , Despenser , Damory and Audley also took part in the campaign, so that the English army, according to modern estimates, consists of 500 knights and 10,000 foot soldiers and light riders According to other sources, it consisted of about 1400 knights and men-at-arms , over 1000 light riders and about 11,500 foot soldiers and archers. In addition, the campaign along the coast was supported by an English fleet.

Course of the siege

It is unclear whether the recapture of Berwick was the goal of the campaign from the start. On the one hand, the conquest of the city was a clear goal due to its strategic importance, on the other hand, the king only seems to have decided on Berwick as the target of the campaign after he had left Newcastle . This is supported by the fact that the English army did not have any siege engines , and there were no miners among the forces deployed . On September 7th the British reached Berwick. As early as September 8th or 9th, the English launched a storm attack on the city walls, through which they almost penetrated the city. The Scots were able to repel the attack, as well as an attack by the English fleet on the port on the same day. Only after these unsuccessful attacks did the king call in miners and order siege engines to be brought in. At dawn on September 13, the English launched a second assault on the city walls. The Scottish defenders were able to destroy a sow , presumably a mobile protective cover for the miners, by throwing incendiary devices and stones at it, and finally repelled this attack. The heavy losses caused by the two failed attacks demoralized the English soldiers. The intrigues among the English magnates proved to have more consequences. Lancaster is said to have been annoyed with the king shortly after the siege began when he assured his favorites that Hugh le Despenser would take over the administration of Berwick Castle and Roger Damory would take over the administration of the city. Lancaster had a deep hatred of Despenser in particular, and the king is said to have said that after the conquest of Berwick he would take revenge on the murderers of his favorite Gaveston , who included Lancaster.

Scottish relief attack on northern England

The Scottish King Robert the Bruce had defeated the English at the Battle of Bannockburn five years earlier, but he feared that the English king would not repeat his mistakes in the battle. That is why the Scots wanted to avoid another open battle with the English army. In order to weaken the besiegers, a Scottish army led by Sir James Douglas and the Earl of Moray penetrated via Carlisle in northern England. With this the Scots circumvented the besiegers off Berwick. In northern England, the Scots looted and burned numerous villages. Apparently the English king learned of the Scottish raid before Berwick, because on September 9 or 10 he sent about 1200 light riders and archers under the command of Sir Andrew Harclay towards Carlisle to relocate the Scots back. The Scots had already reached Yorkshire , so that the city of York itself was threatened. There, Archbishop William Melton of York and the Royal Chancellor John Hotham hastily raised an army with which they faced the invaders. This inadequately equipped army suffered a heavy defeat on September 12 in the battle of Myton against the Scots.

Departure of the Earl of Lancaster

After the besiegers off Berwick learned of the English defeat at Myton on September 14th, the king immediately convened a council of war for his magnates. During the council of war, the king did not succeed in persuading his magnates to adopt any further uniform approach. While the southern English magnates in particular wanted to continue the siege, the northern English magnates, probably out of concern for their own property, pushed for the siege to be called off. They wanted to confront the Scottish invaders with the English army. When the king decided to continue the siege, Lancaster and his troops left the siege army angrily on September 16. Through this unauthorized departure there was again an open rift between the king and Lancaster, even if the king had no way of dealing with the earl, since, unlike the other magnates, he had probably participated in the campaign at his own expense and thus more or less voluntarily.

Lancaster may have wanted to put the Scots on the march back or defend his own possessions in the north of England, but after a short time there were numerous rumors and accusations against Lancaster, especially since Lancaster could not prevent the Scots from retreating to Scotland. The rumors included allegations that Lancaster's forces were not actively participating in the assault on Berwick. Allegedly the city was on the verge of collapse, but the siege would have failed because of Lancaster's withdrawal. Lancaster is said to have been allied with the Scots for a long time, who in return would spare his property in the event of their looting. Lancaster is said to have allowed the Scots to pass unmolested after the Battle of Myton. The Scottish King would have bribed Lancaster with £ 40,000. The rumors were apparently completely unfounded, but their spread was promoted by Despenser.

The siege was broken off and the English withdrew

Without the support of Lancaster, the siege of Berwick had become pointless, so the king broke off the siege on September 17th. Edward II withdrew to Newcastle, which he reached on September 20th. There the soldiers received their pay and were dismissed, with which the king ended the unsuccessful campaign. This ended the large-scale campaign for the English king with a humiliating defeat and a renewed rift with the Earl of Lancaster.

On September 18, the King had commissioned Chancellor John Hotham and Archbishop William Melton of York to raise troops in Yorkshire and thus pursue the Scots. In Newcastle he had assigned Badlesmere and Roger Northburgh , the administrator of the royal wardrobe , to supply the castles of the Scottish Marches with soldiers and supplies in order to be able to repel further Scottish attacks. These commissioned John Cromwell and the Earl of Angus with the defense of Northumberland . Cromwell and Angus were able to fall back on 140 men-at-arms each, in addition to their own retinue, who were paid by the king. On September 28th the king moved on to York. He wanted to stay there for the winter with Henry de Beaumont , John de St John and the Earl of Atholl in order to defend northern England against Scottish attacks with 600 men-at-arms.

consequences

At the end of October 1319 a new Scottish army crossed the English border. It burned down the granaries at Gilsland and then withdrew to Scotland via Brough in early November , without the English apparently making any attempt to catch or pursue the attackers. This attack made it clear how unsuccessful Edward II's measures to defend northern England were. Edward II could not make a new advance to Scotland without the support of Lancaster, and he was under further pressure when the French King Philip V urged him to come to France to pay homage to his possessions there. Therefore Edward II was now ready to conclude an armistice with Scotland. Negotiations had already started in Newcastle and Berwick at the end of October. On December 1, the King officially appointed Pembroke, Robert Baldock , Chancellor John Hotham, the Younger Despenser, Badlesmere, Henry le Scrop , William Airmyn , William Herle and Geoffrey le Srop as members of the English negotiating delegation. This delegation agreed on December 22nd in Berwick and on December 25th 1319 in Newcastle an armistice with the Scottish delegation of twelve. After the armistice, which was to last for at least two years, neither the Scots nor the English were allowed to strengthen or rebuild castles in Berwickshire , Roxburghshire and Dumfries . The Scots handed over Harbottle Castle to the English on the condition that the castle either be razed or returned to the Scots by the end of September 1320 . Edward II accepted the armistice a little later, and on January 20, 1320 a parliament met again in York. Lancaster did not attend the meeting, which further increased tension between him and the king.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 244.
  2. ^ A b c John Roland Seymour Phillips: Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324. Baronial politics in the reign of Edward II. Clarendon, Oxford 1972, ISBN 0-19-822359-5 , p. 184.
  3. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 216.
  4. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 232.
  5. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 120.
  6. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 207.
  7. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 42.
  8. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 245.
  9. ↑ a b John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, from 1307 to 1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 246.
  10. ↑ a b John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, from 1307 to 1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 247
  11. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 248.
  12. ↑ Seymour Phillips: Edward II . New Haven, Yale University Press 2010. ISBN 978-0-300-15657-7 , pp. 349.
  13. ↑ a b John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, from 1307 to 1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 250
  14. ↑ John Roland Seymour Phillips: Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324. Baronial politics in the reign of Edward II. Clarendon, Oxford 1972, ISBN 0-19-822359-5 , p. 186
  15. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 249.
  16. ↑ Natalie Fryde: The tyranny and fall of Edward II, 1321-1326 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003. ISBN 0-521-54806-3 , p. 42.
  17. ↑ John Roland Seymour Phillips: Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324. Baronial politics in the reign of Edward II. Clarendon, Oxford 1972, ISBN 0-19-822359-5 , p. 185.
  18. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 251.
  19. ↑ John Robert Maddicott: Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-1322. A Study in the Reign of Edward II. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1970, p. 252.
  20. ↑ John Roland Seymour Phillips: Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, 1307-1324. Baronial politics in the reign of Edward II. Clarendon, Oxford 1972, ISBN 0-19-822359-5 , p. 187.