Sack of Berwick (1296)

Sack of Berwick (1296)
Part of the First War of Scottish Independence
Date30 March 1296[1]
Location
Berwick-upon-Tweed
55°46′30″N 2°00′47″W / 55.775°N 2.013°W / 55.775; -2.013
Result English victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Scotland Kingdom of England
Commanders and leaders
William, Lord Douglas Robert, Baron Clifford
Strength
10,000 soldiers[2]
12,000 civilians[3]		 30,000 soldiers
5,000 horses[4]
Casualties and losses
c. 4,000 to 17,000 civilian and military Light

The sack of Berwick was the first significant battle of the First War of Scottish Independence in 1296.

Background

Upon the death of Margaret, Maid of Norway, in late September 1290, there arose a number of claimants to the throne of Scotland. The Guardians of Scotland were the de facto heads of state[5] until a king was chosen. The late king, Alexander III, had been married to Margaret of England, sister to Edward I, and he was asked to conduct the court proceedings in the dispute, though not to arbitrate; the decision was to be made by a jury of 104 "auditors".[6]

John Balliol, a descendant of King David I, was chosen and was inaugurated at Scone, on St. Andrew's Day, 30 November 1292.[7] Edward I treated Scotland as a feudal vassal state, claiming contributions toward the cost of the defence of England. When he demanded military support for his war against France, the Scots responded by forming an alliance with the French, and launched an unsuccessful attack on Carlisle.[5]

Battle

After the raid on Carlisle was committed by the seven invading Scottish earls (Buchan, Menteith, Strathearn, Lennox, Ross, Athol and Mar),[8] the English, under Edward I, began the initial conquest of Scotland in the first phase of the war. On 28 March (the Wednesday in Easter Week), Edward passed the river Tweed with his troops and stayed that night in Scotland at the priory of Coldstream. From there he marched on the town of Berwick.[9]

Berwick, a royal burgh just north of the border, was Scotland's most important trading port, second only to London in economic importance in medieval Britain at that point. Berwick is referenced to be called "Alexandria of the North". Estimates also show that Berwick was, if not the most, one of the most populated towns in Scotland.[10] Its garrison was commanded by William the Hardy, Lord of Douglas, while the besieging party was led by Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford. Contemporary accounts of the number slain range from 4,000 to 17,000. Women by some sources were spared.[9] Other accounts such as that of the monks of the English monastery of Lanercost say women were not spared.

Much booty was seized, and no fewer than fifteen thousand of both sexes perished, some by the sword, others by fire, in the space of a day and a half.

— The Chronicle of Lanercost

Douglas surrendered the castle on the agreement that his garrison would be spared, but he was imprisoned.[11]

When the town had been taken in this way and its citizens had submitted, Edward spared no one, whatever the age or sex, and for two days streams of blood flowed from the bodies of the slain, for in his tyrannous rage he ordered 7,500 souls of both sexes to be massacred.... So that mills could be turned by the flow of their blood.

— Account of the Massacre of Berwick, from Bower’s Scotichronicon

The Battle of Dunbar led to the English occupation of the Scottish Lowlands.

References

  1. ^ James H. Webb (2005). Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-7679-1689-9. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  2. ^ "The subjugation of Scotland – John Balliol and Edward I – Higher History Revision".
  3. ^ "Undiscovered Scotland: Timeline of Scottish History: 1200 to 1300".
  4. ^ "Journal of the Movements of King Edward I in Scotland, 1296 » de Re Militari".
  5. ^ a b Barrow, G. W. S. (2005). Robert Bruce and the community of the realm of Scotland. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748620227.
  6. ^ Powicke, F. M. (1962). The Thirteenth Century, 1216–1307 (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press. OCLC 3693188.
  7. ^ Dunbar, Sir Archibald H., Scottish Kings – A Revised Chronology of Scottish History 1005–1625, Edinburgh, 1899
  8. ^ Scalacronica p. 14
  9. ^ a b Prestwich, Michael (1997). Edward I. New Haven, US: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07209-0.
  10. ^ Nicholson, Ranald (January 1983). "Kingship and Unity: Scotland 1000–1306. G. W. S. Barrow". Speculum. 58 (1): 145–146. doi:10.2307/2846619. ISSN 0038-7134. JSTOR 2846619.
  11. ^ John Parker Lawson (1849), "Siege of Berwick, 1296", Historical Tales of the Wars of Scotland, and of the Border Raids, Forays, and Conflicts, pp. 113–116