The Treaty of York (1464) was made between England (under Edward IV) and Scotland (under James III) on 1 June 1464 at York and was intended to establish 15 years of peace. Previously Scotland had supported the defeated House of Lancaster in the English civil War of the Roses.
At the time of the negotiation Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany and Bishop Spens were prisoners in England. Scottish foreign policy was dominated by Bishop James Kennedy after the death of Mary of Gueldres in December 1463. As practical support from Louis XI of France was unlikely Scotland was forced to abandon its alliance with the House of Lancaster and treat with the Yorkist Edward IV of England.
Previously, the Lancastrian Henry VI of England, his wife Margaret of Anjou and son Prince Edward had found refuge in Scotland after the battle of Towton in 1461. Margaret had promised to deliver Berwick upon Tweed and Carlisle to Scotland, but these plans came to nothing permanent beyond the temporary handover of Berwick for twenty years, with a failed joint Scottish and Lancastrian siege of Carlisle and a successful expedition to relieve the Lancastrian garrison at Alnwick Castle in January 1463.
An invasion at Norham Castle in July 1463 was a failure swiftly followed by devastation in the Scottish borders by the Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and the Yorkist-supporting Earl of Douglas. Douglas had cemented his alliance by the Treaty of Westminster. Margaret and Prince Edward left Scotland for Burgundy after the defeat at Norham. Henry VI eventually made his way to England and was captured in Lancashire in July 1465. [1]
Bishop Kennedy did not attend the negotiations. The Scottish commissioners were Andrew, Bishop of Glasgow; Archibald, Abbot of Holyrood; James Lindsay, Prior of Lincluden, Keeper of the Privy Seal; Colin Campbell, Earl of Argyll; William, Lord Borthwick; Robert, Lord Boyd; and Alexander Boyd of Drumcol.
Edward IV's commissioner's were Chancellor George, Bishop of Exeter; Richard, Earl of Warwick and Salisbury; John, Baron Montague; Ralph, Baron Greystoke; Robert, Baron Ogle; Dr James Goldwell, Dean of Salisbury; Sir James Strangeways and Sir Robert Constable, with Roger Thornton.
The treaty was completed at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in December 1465 with an increased 40-year truce to last till sundown on 31 October 1519. The extension was ratified by Edward IV on 1 January 1466. [2]
The later Anglo-Scottish agreement of 1497 negotiated at Ayton Parish Church by the Spanish Ambassador Pedro de Ayala referred to trade arrangements made at York. [3] The 1464 articles relating to sea affairs were much the same as those of the Treaty of Durham of 1449 except that in cases of shipwreck, the ship and the cargo would remain the property of any survivors. The English island of Lundy and the Scottish lands of Lorne were excluded from the treaty. [4]
The treaty was broken by James III and Edward IV in 1480. In June 1480, Edward IV gave orders for a large army with artillery to be mustered in the East Riding of Yorkshire from the northern counties, to be led by Richard, Duke of Gloucester. In March 1481 Edward commissioned cannon and gunners for a naval expedition against Scotland of eleven warships under the command of Richard Simmons, Master of the Grace Dieu, and in June renewed his league with the John, Lord of the Isles and Donald Gorve (Gorm). On 11 June 1482, at Fotheringhay Castle, the younger brother of James III, Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, declared himself King of Scotland, and promised by treaty to deliver Berwick and other places to Edward and break the Auld Alliance with France. Berwick town surrendered to Edward's army in July 1482 and the castle submitted in August. [5]
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England fought between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions between 1455 and 1487.
James III was King of Scots from 1460 until his death at the Battle of Sauchieburn in 1488. He inherited the throne as a child following the death of his father, King James II, at the siege of Roxburgh Castle. James III's reign began with a minority that lasted almost a decade, during which Scotland was governed by a series of regents and factions who struggled for possession of the young king, before his personal rule began in 1469.
The Battle of Hexham, 15 May 1464, marked the end of significant Lancastrian resistance in the north of England during the early part of the reign of Edward IV.
Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset was an important Lancastrian military commander during the English Wars of the Roses. He is sometimes numbered the 2nd Duke of Somerset, because the title was re-created for his father after his uncle died. He also held the subsidiary titles of 5th Earl of Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Dorset and 2nd Earl of Dorset.
Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent, KB, English administrator, nobleman and magnate, was the son of Sir John Grey, KG and Constance Holland. His main residence was at Wrest near Silsoe, Bedfordshire.
Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, was a Scottish prince and the second surviving son of King James II of Scotland. He fell out with his older brother, King James III, and fled to France, where he unsuccessfully sought help. In 1482 he invaded Scotland with the army of King Edward IV of England and assumed control of the country. Scottish lords turned against him in 1483 and he fled after King Edward died. The second invasion, in 1484, was not supported by the new English king, King Richard III, and failed. He died in a duel with Louis XII of France, Duke of Orléans, by a splinter from Louis's lance.
Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell was Lord High Admiral of Scotland. He rose to political prominence after supporting James IV against his father, and was proxy at the King's marriage.
Mary of Guelders was Queen of Scotland by marriage to King James II of Scotland. She ruled as regent of Scotland from 1460 to 1463.
Sir Ralph Percy was an English nobleman of the House of Percy, a knight, a Governor of Bamburgh Castle and a supporter of the Lancastrian faction in the Wars of the Roses. Percy was the son of Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland and Lady Eleanor Neville, and the grandson of Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy.
Berwick Castle is a ruined castle in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England.
James Kennedy was a 15th-century Bishop of Dunkeld and Bishop of St. Andrews, who participated in the Council of Florence and was the last man to govern the diocese of St. Andrews purely as bishop. One of the Gaelic clan of Carrick he became an important figure in the government of the minority of King James III of Scotland as well as founder of St Salvator's College, St Andrews.
The Treaty of Perpetual Peace was signed by James IV of Scotland and Henry VII of England in 1502. It agreed to end the intermittent warfare between Scotland and England which had been waged over the previous two hundred years, and, although it failed in this respect, as hostilities continued intermittently throughout the 16th century, it led to the Union of the Crowns 101 years later.
The Treaty of Westminster was signed on 13 February 1462 between Edward IV of England of the House of York and the Scottish John of Islay, Earl of Ross, Lord of the Isles. The agreement proposed that if Scotland was conquered by England, the lands north of the Scottish sea would be divided between the Lord of the Isles and the Earl of Douglas to be held from the crown of England, while the Earl of Douglas would hold Scotland south of the Firth.
Norham Castle is a castle in Northumberland, England, overlooking the River Tweed, on the border between England and Scotland. It is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The castle saw much action during the wars between England and Scotland.
Events from the 1460s in England.
The Auld Alliance was an alliance between the kingdoms of Scotland and France against England made in 1295. The Scots word auld, meaning old, has become a partly affectionate term for the long-lasting association between the two countries. Although the alliance was never formally revoked, it is considered by some to have ended with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh in 1560.
In July 1482 an English army invaded Scotland during the Anglo-Scottish Wars. The town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and its castle were captured and the English army briefly occupied Edinburgh. These events followed the signing of the Treaty of Fotheringhay, 11 June 1482, in which Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, the brother of James III of Scotland declared himself King of Scotland and swore loyalty to Edward IV of England. The follow-up invasion of Scotland under the command of Edward's brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester failed to install Albany on the throne, but Berwick has remained English ever since the castle surrendered on 24 August. The English army left Edinburgh with a promise for the repayment of the dowry paid for the marriage of Princess Cecily of England to the Scottish Prince.
Sir James Strangeways was Speaker of the House of Commons of England between 1461–1462. and a close political ally of Edward IV's Yorkist faction.
Ladykirk is a village on the B6470 in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and the former Berwickshire, just north of the River Tweed and the Anglo-Scottish border. The town was formerly known as Upsettlington, but King James IV of Scotland renamed the town Ladykirk; the church is also known as St Mary's Church or Kirk of Steill. Ladykirk stands directly opposite Norham Castle, Northumberland, England
Don Pedro de Ayala also Pedro López Ayala was a 16th-century Spanish diplomat employed by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile at the courts of James IV of Scotland and Henry VII of England. His mission to Scotland was concerned with the King's marriage and the international crisis caused by the pretender Perkin Warbeck. In his later career he supported Catherine of Aragon in England but was involved in a decade of rivalry with the resident Spanish ambassador in London. Ayala was a Papal prothonotary, Archdeacon of London, and Bishop of the Canary Islands.