Antoine d'Arcy, sieur de la Bastie-sur-Meylan and of Lissieu, (d. 17 September 1517) was a French nobleman involved in the government of Scotland.
Antoine d'Arcy, sieur de la Bastie-sur-Meylan and of Lissieu, (d. 17 September 1517) was a French nobleman involved in the government of Scotland.
Antoine d'Arces, or d'Arcy, is usually known as "De la Bastie" or "Labatie" in Scottish history. He was the son of Jesus d'Arces, sieur de la Bâtie and Anthoinette Baile (or Huguette). In his lifetime he was called the White Knight, (Chevalier Blanc), from his white clothes, white armour, or a white scarf worn as the favour of Anne of Brittany. Antoine came to Scotland for the notable tournaments of James IV and the king's marriage to Margaret Tudor in 1502, and he was a friend of John Stewart, Duke of Albany. Antoine issued an international 'cartel' - a tournament challenge, in 1506, and travelled to Scotland where he stayed for 18 weeks at the king's expense. He jousted with James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran at Stirling Castle in January 1507. James IV gave him 400 crowns and paid for his horse's hoofs to be bathed in wine. [1] He returned to France with the Archdeacon of St Andrews, Gavin Dunbar on the Treasurer on 18 May 1507. [2]
He served in the Italian Wars and was captured at Agnadello in 1509 by the Venetians. Antoine married Françoise de Ferrières, dame de Livarol. They had two children; Jean d'Arces, baron de Livarol, and Anne.
He came to Scotland immediately after the Scots' defeat at Flodden to help form Albany's government. [3] Antoine returned with some ships of the Royal Scots Navy which had been lent to France. As a French ambassador, his instructions from Louis XII of France dated 5 October 1513 include: commiserating with Margaret Tudor; finding out the circumstances of James's death at Flodden; and going to Denmark to give an account of the state of Auld Alliance. Albany also gave him instructions. [4] With a colleague, Master James Ogilvy, de la Bastie represented French interest at a parliament or council at Perth, 26 November 1513, which called for French aid and the return of Albany to be Regent of Scotland. [5] Antoine went to Christian II of Denmark with Sir Andrew Brownhill in January 1514. He was to promote the mutual benefits of the Danish king's marriage to a French noblewoman, Madeleine de La Tour d'Auvergne, Albany's sister-in-law. [6]
Antoine was made Deputy Governor and Warden of Scottish Marches, and was the keeper of Dunbar Castle. On 25 April 1517 he was made the King's Lieutenant between the Merse and Lothian. [7] At Dunbar and at Edinburgh Castle, he was involved in the design and construction of artillery fortifications. [8] He had a company of 40 spearmen. In August 1517, during an outbreak of plague in the Edinburgh, James V of Scotland was moved to the care of De la Bastie at nearby rural Craigmillar Castle, where extra locks were bought for the royal lodging. [9]
In 1517, Antoine went to investigate the murder of a Frenchman who had been killed by the Clan Home in revenge for Albany's execution of Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home. While pursuing David Home, Laird of Wedderburn and George Home, he was forced to retreat to Dunbar, but his horse got stuck in a marsh (which was for many years after called 'Batty's Bog'). George Home lopped off the White Knight's head and, it was said, threaded the diplomat's hair to his saddle cloth, then rode to Duns and set this trophy on a pole in the centre of the village. [10] The chronicler Lindsay of Pitscottie writing in the 1570s tells the story;
"fearing ane conspiracie, he spurred his hors, and fled towardis the castle of Dunbar; thinking to have wone away, because he was weill horsed. But being ane stranger, and not knawing the ground weill, he laired his hors in ane mos, and thair his enemies cam upoun him, and slew and murthered him verrie unhonestlie, and cutted aff his head and carried with thame. And it was said that he had long hair plett in his neck quhilk David Home of Wedderburne knitt to his saidle bow and keipt it." [11]
John Lesley's version, also written in the 1570s, differs only slightly. Antoine came to break Wedderburn's siege of Langton Castle, lured by a false report by William Cockburn, tutor of Langton, [12] and according to his sixteenth century translator; "Bautie, tha heidet, and in the toun of Dunce his heid affixt on a staik, that all men mycht se it, September xix." [13] By all accounts, the head was taken to Wedderburn Castle, and remained there for three hundred years.
This was a significant international incident, as de la Bastie was both Border Warden and French ambassador. Francis I of France wrote to the Parliament of Scotland on 16 November 1517 urging punishment. In response James Hamilton of Finnart carried the reply at the end of March 1528 that his father the Earl of Arran had captured the Home family strongholds, one Home had been hung drawn and quartered, and the others had escaped into England. [14]
There is monument to Bastie at Preston, Scottish Borders, erected by General James Home in early 19th-century in honour of Antoine d'Arces. It consists of a square plinth and pedestal embossed with crosses with a classical cornice, topped by a stylised urn. Antoine's body was buried nearby, it is said, close to the scene of the murder in a field at Swallowdene farm. [15]
A drawing of Antoine d'Arces made by an unknown artist in the 1560s is included in the album known as the Recueil d'Arras. [16] The inscription mentions that he was called the White Knight, and went into Scotland with M. de Saint-Maurice, Guillaume Dorberke, and Jehan Joffroy sieur de Dompierre who was killed in the jousting. [17] [18]
Antoine d'Arces is the inspiration for the fictional character Antoine de Lissieu, the hero of 2024 historical murder mystery The Trail of Blood, by A.K. Nairn. Several other characters in the novel are also based on real historical figures from this time and place, including John Stewart, Duke of Albany, Isabella Hoppringle and Alexander 3rd Lord Hume.
James V was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England. During his childhood Scotland was governed by regents, firstly by his mother until she remarried, and then by his first cousin once removed, John Stewart, Duke of Albany. James's personal rule began in 1528 when he finally escaped the custody of his stepfather, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. His first action was to exile Angus and confiscate the lands of the Douglases.
James IV was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauchieburn, following a rebellion in which the younger James was the figurehead of the rebels. James IV is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs. He was responsible for a major expansion of the Scottish royal navy, which included the founding of two royal dockyards and the acquisition or construction of 38 ships, including the Michael, the largest warship of its time.
Margaret Tudor was Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to King James IV. She then served as regent of Scotland during her son's minority, and fought to extend her regency. Margaret was the eldest daughter and second child of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of King Henry VIII of England. By her line, the House of Stuart eventually acceded to the throne of England and Ireland, in addition to Scotland.
Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of Malcolm III in the 11th century, and the castle continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century, the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as a military garrison. Its importance as a part of Scotland's national heritage was recognised increasingly from the early 19th century onwards, and various restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half.
The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton or Brainston Moor was fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland and resulted in an English victory. The battle was fought near Branxton, in the county of Northumberland, in northern England, between an invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by the Earl of Surrey. In terms of troop numbers, it was the largest battle ever fought between the two kingdoms.
Gavin Douglas was a Scottish bishop, makar and translator. Although he had an important political career, he is chiefly remembered for his poetry. His main pioneering achievement was the Eneados, a full and faithful vernacular translation of the Aeneid of Virgil into Scots, and the first successful example of its kind in any Anglic language. Other extant poetry of his includes Palice of Honour, and possibly King Hart.
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James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran and 2nd Lord Hamilton was a Scottish nobleman, naval commander and first cousin of James IV of Scotland. He also served as the 9th Lord High Admiral of Scotland.
Andrew Forman was a Scottish diplomat and prelate who became Bishop of Moray in 1501, Archbishop of Bourges in France, in 1513, Archbishop of St Andrews in 1514 as well as being Commendator of several monasteries.
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John Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany was the regent of the Kingdom of Scotland and the count of Auvergne and Lauraguais in France.
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Preston is a small village in the ancient county of Berwickshire, now an administrative area of the Scottish Borders region of Scotland. It lies within the local Abbey St Bathans, Bonkyl & Preston Community Council area.
Alexander Home, 3rd Lord Home was a Scottish soldier and nobleman, Chamberlain of Scotland and Warden of the Eastern March. He fought at the Battle of Flodden where his forces defeated the English right wing before the Scottish army was destroyed. After the battle, he resisted the regency of John Stewart, Duke of Albany and was captured and executed for rebellion.
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