Siege of Berwick (1333)

Siege of Berwick (1333)

Part of: Scottish Wars of Independence

View of Berwick (2004)

date	March 20th to July 20th 1333
place	Berwick-upon-Tweed
output	Handover of the city to the English
consequences	Assignment of Berwick to England in the Treaty of Newcastle 1334

Parties to the conflict
Kingdom of Scotland	Kingdom of England
Commander
Patrick Dunbar, 8th Earl of Dunbar Sir Alexander Seton	King Edward III
Troop strength
unknown	unknown
losses
unknown	unknown

The Siege of Berwick was a battle during the Second Scottish War of Independence . From March 1333 an English army besieged Berwick on the border between England and Scotland before the Scottish occupation surrendered on July 20th.

prehistory

In the summer of 1332 Edward Balliol , the son of the Scottish King John Balliol , who was deposed in 1296 , invaded Scotland with the help of an army of the so-called disinherited to conquer the country. Balliol was crowned King of Scotland in September, but was defeated in December by supporters of the underage King David II in a skirmish near Annan . Balliol was only just able to escape to England. The English King Edward III. now started openly to support Balliol. After the end of a parliament in York , preparations began on January 30, 1333 for an English campaign to Scotland. These preparations were justified in March with the fact that they would serve to repel a Scottish attack.

The Berwick fortifications had been rebuilt during the reign of Edward II . After the city ​​was conquered by the Scots in 1318 , King Robert I had the fortifications of the city reinforced in contrast to other southern Scottish fortresses. This had reduced the town's economic importance, but ownership of Berwick was now a matter of honor for both the English and the Scots. In doing so, the Scots deviated from their previous tactics of avoiding English invasions and leaving the attackers only with scorched earth . The defenders of Berwick therefore began in February 1333 with preparations to repel an English attack. They strengthened the fortifications and were determined to repel a siege on the city. The commandant of Berwick Castle was Patrick Dunbar, 8th Earl of Dunbar , while Sir Alexander Seton was to direct the city's defense.

Beginning of the siege by Balliol

Balliol crossed the border with his supporters and several English magnates in early March 1333 and invaded Roxburghshire in mid-March . Without much difficulty he captured Oxnam , a fortress owned by Robert Colville . After his troops had sacked the area, Balliol moved on to Berwick, where he began the siege of the city. The besiegers built a fortified camp in front of the city and dug a ditch around the land side of the city to prevent news or supplies from reaching the city from the land. To provide for them, they undertook raids in the hinterland of Berwick, including Haddington . In addition, several English ships blocked the port of Berwick. On March 24th, Balliol ordered the production of two siege engines. Presumably the besiegers also used early firearms , but the catapults in particular are said to have caused severe damage to the city.

Scottish raids to England to relieve Berwick

After the start of the siege by Balliol in March 1333, the Scots undertook a raid to Northumberland , from which they could return with their booty almost unmolested. On March 22nd, the Guardian Archibald Douglas invaded Cumberland and sacked Gilsland . These attacks did not induce the besiegers to break off the siege. However, Northern English barons led a retaliatory attack on Dumfriesshire , while Edward III. used the Scottish attacks as a pretext for his planned campaign.

The deployment of the English army

Edward III. ordered his troops to Newcastle on April 18th . In addition, the king had large quantities of provisions for his army brought to the north of England. On April 17, Edward III met in Newcastle a. On April 6, John Perbroun , who had already served as admiral in 1327, was appointed commander of the English fleet . However, since numerous ships were already tied up for the transport of food, only a few warships were available to Perbroun.

Edward III moved from Newcastle. North. On May 9th he was in Tweedmouth , on the south bank of the Tweed across from Berwick. Queen Philippa , who had accompanied him to the north of England, moved into safe quarters in Bamburgh Castle . The king had taken only part of the army that had gathered at Newcastle. His army consisted mainly of forces from Yorkshire , Nottinghamshire , Derbyshire and Lancashire . Most of the army initially stayed in Newcastle, where the English magnates arrived with their retinues by May 30, including Norfolk , Cornwall , Surrey , Arundel , Warwick and Oxford , the disinherited Scottish magnates Atholl and Angus and at least seventeen other barons. The strength of the English army cannot be quantified because the pay lists have not been preserved. By May 1333, the king had asked the sheriffs of nine English counties as well as the baronies in Wales and the Welsh Marches to raise a total of 1,500 horsemen and 15,000 foot soldiers, plus the bids from four northern English counties. However, it is unknown how many soldiers were actually called up and then sent to Scotland. The British army also included the Flemish military engineer John Crab . He had been in Scottish service until 1332 when he was captured by the English and switched sides. He had previously lived in Berwick and actively supported the Scots in repelling an English siege in 1319 . He knew the fortifications of the city and, above all, their weak points.

The deployment of the English army on the Scottish border led to the fact that the French King Philip VI. sent two envoys to Berwick. They were supposed to prevent the English king from attacking Scotland, which was allied with France . The two ambassadors reached Berwick at the beginning of July 1333, but could not persuade the English to break off the siege.

Continuation of the siege and armistice

The arrival of the English army increased the pressure on the city from mid-May, which had been besieged by Balliol's troops for over two months. Edward III. initially hoped to force the city to surrender by means of a blockade and shelling, but on June 27 the British also launched an assault on the city from both land and sea. When the tide was at its highest, the English ships docked at the part of the wall facing the sea, and the crews tried to storm the walls. As a defense, the Scots had prepared bundles of brushwood that were to be set alight and then thrown onto the ships. However, this maneuver failed completely, because the fire spread to the city and destroyed numerous houses. The defenders then asked the English king for an armistice, which Edward III. granted them too. It was limited to July 11th, and in return the defenders had to promise that they would surrender the city and castle if the city were not appalled until the end of the armistice. To secure the armistice, the Scots had to take twelve hostages. This truce forced the Scottish Guardian to act if it wanted to save the city from conquest.

Scottish attempts to relieve the city

After his raids into England in March had not distracted the English from the siege of Berwick, Archibald Douglas had not undertaken any new raids. Instead he had assembled a large army from all parts of Scotland, but there is no reliable information about its strength. Douglas, however, continued to hesitate to face the English in open battle. On the morning of July 11th, the last day of the armistice, the Scottish army finally crossed the Tweed by a ford at Yair and was thus on English territory. The Scottish army marched in four columns along the south bank of the Tweed to Tweedmouth, which was burned down. The English could only watch the attack passed out from the north bank. On the afternoon of July 11th, presumably at low tide, the Scots managed to get food and reinforcements across the Tweed to Berwick. Sir William Keith , Sir Alexander Gray and Sir William Prendergast managed to cross the Tweed over the remains of the destroyed bridge and to get to Berwick with about 200 soldiers. An English division led by William Montagu attacked the Scottish soldiers, but could not prevent the majority of them from reaching the city. William Keith replaced Alexander Seton as commandant of Berwick and stated that the city had been appalled in time and therefore did not need to be surrendered. The next day, July 12th, the Scottish Army formed on a hill south of the Tweed. In sight of the English, it demonstrated its numerical strength. Then they sent messages to the English king threatening the devastation of large parts of northern England if the English did not lift the siege of Berwick. Part of the Scottish army even moved to Bamburgh Castle, about 15 miles away, where Queen Philippa was staying. Edward III. However, trusted in the strong fortifications of the castle and continued the siege of Berwick.

Another armistice, battle at Halidon Hill and surrender of the city

The Berwick garrison had meanwhile sent messengers to the English king asking him to release the hostages, as a Scottish relief of the city was successful. Edward III. however did not acknowledge this. As a justification, he said that the relief had not come from Scotland, but via the Tweed from England. Since the city had not been horrified until the end of the armistice, he now demanded that the city be surrendered, otherwise he threatened the execution of the hostages. When the Scottish occupation refused to surrender, Edward III. the most distinguished hostage, Thomas Seton , a son of the former city commandant, hanging from a high gallows in front of the city in front of his parents. The king then ordered a hostage to be hanged every day if Berwick did not surrender. The Scottish garrison then resumed negotiations with the English king. On July 15, the king made an agreement with the city garrison and another with the castle garrison. In these agreements he declared another ceasefire, limited to July 20. If by this time the Scottish army defeated the English army on Scottish land or 200 more Scottish men-at-arms had reached the city, the English would lift the siege. Otherwise, the crew would hand over the town and castle at sunrise on July 20th. In the event of a handover, Eduard III. the Earl of March, William Keith, and the other knights were granted free retreat, and the citizens of the city were also assured of their property. William Keith, William Prendergast, and Alexander Gray were allowed to leave the city and seek the Scottish Army to tell them of the terms of the armistice. They found the Scottish Army pillaging the Morpeth area . The Scottish Army then moved north again to battle the English Army across the Tweed. Keith was confident of a Scottish victory given the numbers. On July 19, one day before the deadline, the Scottish Army attacked the English at the Battle of Halidon Hill . The battle ended in a crushing Scottish defeat. The Guardian Archibald Douglas, five earls and countless Scottish soldiers died.

consequences

The strategy pursued by the Scottish Guardian Archibald Douglas had proven catastrophic. When the English besiegers were still weak, he had shied away from attack. When the siege army had been reinforced by the troops of the English king, Douglas tried in vain to persuade the English to break off the siege by raids. After all, he was forced to attack the English in open battle if he wanted to prevent the surrender of Berwick. This allowed the English to choose the site of battle, and the Scots suffered a crushing defeat.

As a direct consequence of the defeat, the Scottish garrison surrendered the castle and town of Berwick the next morning. On June 12, 1334, Edward Balliol, as King of Scotland, renounced Berwick and large parts of southern Scotland in an agreement concluded in Newcastle. Even though the Scots drove Balliol out of Scotland in 1338 and recaptured most of the ceded territory, Berwick remained in English hands.

literature

• Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 110.
2. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 112.
3. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 111.
4. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 110.
5. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 119.
6. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 121.
7. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 122.
8. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 112.
9. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 113.
10. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 117.
11. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 118.
12. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 128.
13. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 129.
14. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 130.
15. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 121.
16. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 118.
17. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 123.
18. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 129.
19. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 124.
20. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 125.
21. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 125.
22. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 126.
23. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 128.
24. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 129.
25. ↑ Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. P. 138.