Kinmont Willie Armstrong

Last updated

William Armstrong of Kinmont or Kinmont Willie was a Scottish border reiver and outlaw active in the Anglo-Scottish Border country in the last decades of the 16th century.

Contents

He lived at the Tower of Sark, close to the border between Scotland and England, north of the centre of the border line. The tower was built for his father Sandy Armstrong, and although now demolished the site is marked by a monument unveiled in 1996. [1]

The raid on Carlisle

Perhaps the best known of the Border reivers (outlaw raiders or rustlers), William Armstrong of Kinmont's first recorded raid was against the Milburns of Tynedale in August 1583, when Armstrong was probably in his forties. In 1585 he accompanied the Earl of Angus's campaign against the Earl of Arran and pillaged Stirling. Eight years later he was in Tynedale again with 1,000 men, carrying off over 2,000 beasts and £300 in spoils.

Armstrong was captured in violation of a border truce day in 1596. At a Truce Day all who attended to witness the criminal trials were granted "safe conduct" for the Day and until the following sunrise. Kinmont was arrested by the deputies of the English warden Lord Scrope and imprisoned in Carlisle Castle. [2] The Scottish warden of the West March Walter Scott of Buccleuch, Keeper of Liddesdale, protested to Lord Scrope. When Scrope refused to release Armstrong, Buccleuch led a party of men on a daring raid into England and broke Armstrong out of the castle with inside help from the English Grahams and Carletons. Elizabeth I of England was furious that one of her Border fortresses had been broken into at a time when peace existed between England and Scotland. Her relationship with James VI of Scotland was tested. Elizabeth demanded that Buccleuch and Walter Kerr of Cessford should be sent to England. [3]

James VI was caught between allegiance to the Scots who were adamant Buccleuch had done no wrong in rescuing a man who was captured illegally and his desire to pander to his English benefactor, Elizabeth. She threatened to suspend a yearly subsidy that she sent to James VI. [4] Buccleuch eventually freely rode from King James to Queen Elizabeth. After their audience, Queen Elizabeth said: "With ten thousand such men, our brother in Scotland might shake the firmest throne of Europe."

A contemporary Scottish narrative written around 1603, after the death of Elizabeth, gives more details on Armstrong, Buccleuch, and the raid on Carlisle Castle. Armstrong was riding home in Liddesdale when he was pursued by 200 followers of the English deputy, Thomas Salkeld. He was captured after a chase of four miles and taken to Carlisle. The Laird of Buccleuch complained to the deputy and the warden Lord Scrope, and also asked Sir Robert Bowes to write to Scrope. Buccleuch received no reply and interpreted this as an insult to James VI. He sent men to Carlisle to examine a postern gate and the height of the walls. A woman went into the castle as a visitor to identify where Armstrong was held. He mustered 200 men at the Tower of Morton (Sark Tower) on the River Sark with scaling ladders and siege tools. They reached Stanwix Bank to cross the River Eden two hours before dawn. The ladders were too short so his men broke through the wall near the postern gate. They fought with the watchmen and sentinels while Scrope and Salkeld and their men held back, and then withdrew with Armstrong and some other prisoners. According to this narrative, Buccleuch returned the other prisoners and looted goods, and only the gate and prison door were damaged. [5]

In July 1596 Armstrong was said to have captured Thomas Musgrave, Captain of Bewcastle, in Scotland and transferred him to royal custody at Hawick. James VI was said to be pleased because Musgrave was a lawful prisoner in comparison with Armstrong's recent detention at Carlisle Castle. [6] In 1600, Armstrong attacked the village of Scotby with 140 riders, burning and taking prisoners and cattle. In 1602 he rode his last foray, south of Carlisle. He was still alive two years later, and his four sons who had helped to get him out of Carlisle Castle are frequently named in the later Border raids. Legend supposes he died in his bed of old age, sometime between 1608 and 1611.

The story of the raid on Carlisle Castle is told in the ballad "Kinmont Willie".

Diplomacy and the English subsidy

Since 1586 Queen Elizabeth had sent James VI a yearly sum of money or subsidy. Because of the Kinmont Willie incident, she delayed or refused to give the money to David Foulis who waited in London. [7] James VI wrote to Foulis to continue asking for the money, and pointed to agreements made in 1588 during the crisis of the Spanish Armada and a promise made by the ambassador William Asheby. [8]

A Scottish diplomat (and former court musician) James Hudson wrote to Sir Robert Cecil about the king's letter, saying that Foulis was "perplexed with fear" about the outcome. [9] Hudson suggested that Scotland's exchequer was now solvent, and withholding the money would only hurt the king and Thomas Foulis and Robert Jousie who administered the money. The Scottish financial administration known as the Octavians claimed they could manage without the English subsidy. [10] Roger Aston later noted that Thomas Foulis and Jousie had persuaded James VI not to recall Foulis before he obtained the subsidy money. David Foulis received £3,000 on 18 September. [11] There were rumours that James VI would no longer ask for payments, but the arrangements continued. [12]

The Sword and the Story

A sword in the collection of the Annan Museum collection has an old label identifying it as Kinmont Willie's sword. The sword is of the right age and typology. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Border reivers</span> 1200s–1600s raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border

Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality. Their heyday was in the last hundred years of their existence, during the time of the House of Stuart in the Kingdom of Scotland and the House of Tudor in the Kingdom of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermitage Castle</span> Semi-ruined castle in Scotland

Hermitage Castle is a semi-ruined castle in the border region of Scotland. It stands in the remote valley of the Hermitage Water, part of Liddesdale in Roxburghshire. It is under the care of Historic Scotland. The castle has a reputation, both from its history and its appearance, as one of the most sinister and atmospheric castles in Scotland.

Scrope is the name of an old English family of Norman origin that first came into prominence in the 14th century. The family has held the noble titles of Baron Scrope of Masham, Baron Scrope of Bolton, and for a brief time, the Earl of Wiltshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clan Scott</span> Scottish clan

Clan Scott is a Scottish clan and is recognised as such by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. Historically the clan was based in the Scottish Borders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Stewart, 1st Lord Blantyre</span> Scottish courtier and politician

Walter Stewart, 1st Lord Blantyre (1555–1617) was a Scottish courtier and politician. He was Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland from 1582 to 1596 and Treasurer of Scotland from 1596 to 1599.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Scott, 1st Lord Scott of Buccleuch</span> Scottish nobleman

Walter Scott, 5th of Buccleuch, 1st Lord Scott of Buccleuch was a Scottish nobleman and famous border reiver, known as the "Bold Buccleuch" and leader of Kinmont Willie's Raid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinmont Willie</span> Scottish ballad

"Kinmont Willie" or "Kinmount Willie" is a ballad from the English-Scottish border country, catalogued as Child ballad 186. It recounts the rescue of William Armstrong of Kinmont from an English prison. It is one of several border ballads dealing with the exploits of the Armstrongs. Unlike many ballads it is composed in tetrameter rather than traditional ballad metre. First recorded by Walter Scott in 1802, it has often been suspected of being Scott's own work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debatable Lands</span> Region in Great Britain

The Debatable Lands, also known as debatable ground, batable ground or threip lands, lay between Scotland and England. It was formerly in question as to which it belonged when they were distinct kingdoms. The name either signifies litigious or disputable ground, or it comes from the Old English word 'battable'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Scrope, 10th Baron Scrope of Bolton</span>

Thomas Scrope, 10th Baron Scrope of Bolton, KG was the son of Henry Scrope, 9th Baron Scrope of Bolton and Margaret Howard, daughter of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and Frances de Vere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch</span> Nobleman of the Scottish Borders

Sir Walter Scott, 1st of Branxholme, 3rd of Buccleuch, known as "Wicked Wat", was a nobleman of the Scottish Borders and the chief of Clan Scott who briefly served as Warden of the Middle March He was an "inveterate English hater" active in the wars known as The Rough Wooing and a noted Border reiver. He was killed on Edinburgh High Street in a feud with Clan Kerr in 1552. His great-grandson was Sir Walter Scott, 1st Lord Scott of Buccleuch, the "Bold Buccleuch" (1565–1611), a border reiver famed for his role in the rescue of Kinmont Willie Armstrong.

Sir John Carmichael was a Scottish soldier, the Keeper of Liddesdale, a diplomat, and owner of Fenton Tower at Kingston, East Lothian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richie Graham</span>

Richie Graham of Brackenhill (1555-1606) was a prominent Reiver active in late sixteenth century Great Britain.

Sir David Foulis was a Scottish baronet and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Scott of Harden</span> Scottish landowner, border reiver and outlaw

Walter Scott of Harden, also known as Auld Wat, was a notorious border reiver along the Anglo-Scottish border in the 16th century.

Thomas Foulis was a Scottish goldsmith, mine entrepreneur, and royal financier.

Robert Jousie was a Scottish textile merchant, financier, and courtier. He was involved in the collection and administration of the English subsidy of James VI.

George Nicholson or Nicolson, was an English diplomat in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English subsidy of James VI</span>

Queen Elizabeth I of England paid a subsidy to King James VI of Scotland from 1586 to 1602. This enabled her to influence James by delaying or deferring payments to his diplomats in London. Records survive of the yearly amounts, and details of the expenditure in some years. A large proportion of the money was spent on the royal wardrobe of James and Anne of Denmark. Some royal expenses were met by Anne of Denmark's dowry, which was known as the "tocher". The regular incomes of the Scottish crown were feudal rents, customs, and "compositions" charged on grants of land. Accounts for royal incomes and payments survive as the exchequer rolls and lord treasurer's accounts and have been published as historical sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mangerton Tower</span> Tower house, now ruined, in Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK

Mangerton Tower is a ruined Scottish tower castle house formerly belonging to the Armstrong family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Musgrave of Bewcastle</span>

Thomas Musgrave, Captain of Bewcastle was an English landowner and soldier involved in Scottish border politics. He was keeper of Bewcastle Castle for Elizabeth I.

References

  1. ↑ Valentina Bold, his grave is in the cemetery opposite the modern dark tower farm.The Kinmont Willie Sword and other Tales of Mettle (Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, November 2018), p. 11-13.
  2. ↑ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1952), p. 244.
  3. ↑ HMC 6th Report: Earl of Moray (London, 1877), p. 659.
  4. ↑ M. S. Giuseppi, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1952), p. 253 no. 212.
  5. ↑ Annie I. Cameron, Warrender Papers, vol. 2 (SHS: Edinburgh, 1932), pp. 285, 292-299 scanned by National Library of Scotland.
  6. ↑ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1952), p. 292 no. 239.
  7. ↑ Wallace T. MacCaffrey, Elizabeth I: War and Politics, 1588-1603 (Princeton, 1992), pp. 320-1.
  8. ↑ Susan Doran, Elizabeth I and Her Circle (Oxford, 2015), p. 106.
  9. ↑ Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1952), p. 278 no. 225.
  10. ↑ Julian Goodare, The Octavians, Miles Kerr-Peterson & Steven J. Reid, James VI and Noble Power in Scotland, 1578-1603 (Routledge, 2017), p. 182.
  11. ↑ Thomas Birch, Memoirs of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 1 (London, 1754), p. 146; vol. 2, p. 184.
  12. ↑ Thomas Birch, Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 2 (London, 1754), pp. 183-4.
  13. ↑ Valentina Bold, The Kinmont Willie Sword and other Tales of Mettle (Society of Antiquaries of Scotland / Mettle, November 2018), p. v, pp. 5-10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.