Traquair’s Royal Connections - Part II
We left off this 1,000 year odyssey in the 1370’s. Following David II’s death, the crown moved to a nephew - Robert Stewart. Thus ended the reign of The House of Bruce and the beginning of the Stewarts (later Stuarts). This family would maintain the crown for 343 years, through war, murder, treason, interregnum, tragedy and much more besides. So, let’s begin part two with Robert II. One thing to note, I will from now on refer to the Stewarts as Stuarts. The French spelling arrived at some point, but I have no wish to chop and change. Suffice to say, and this is important to me (a Stewart!), the original is the Scots version, anyone with the Stuart spelling has a hint of French about them! This blog will cover the period of 1371 to 1513.
13. Robert II (1371 - 1390)
The Stuart Kings are descended from the High Stewards of Scotland - Walter the Sixth in that line to be precise. The House of Traquair, also Stuarts of course, are also descended from High Stewards and their house goes back further - to Alexander, 4th High Steward of Scotland. So while they share a name and are perhaps some form of distant cousin, it should be clear that Catherine, 21st Lady of Traquair, does not have a claim to the British throne - Traquair branched off before Marjorie Bruce married into the Stuarts. That said, they are all from the same tree and it is clear that Traquair has a very noble and ancient lineage in Scotland. In this story the Stuarts of Traquair aren’t there yet - the Tower at Traquair is still a Royal Hunting Lodge, we will meet the first Laird during the reign of James IV in 100 years or so. Anyway, what of Robert II? Historians have long claimed his reign to be undistinguished, a bit of an anti climax after a long career including spells as Regent and Steward, with almost 50 years as Heir apparent - in other words its felt he was past his prime. The one thing he certainly was distinguished in was his prowess in the sack - 21 children were produced from his efforts! A very useful skill of Kings. That said, there were all sorts of quarrels about thier legitimacy which will cause fights later on, unsurprisingly. He died in 1390, aged 74, and was succeeded by one of those children - also Robert, Earl of Carrick - the new Robert III.
14. Robert III (1390 - 1406)
Robert III was up against it - there were questions about his legitimacy and he faced a serious challenge from his ruthless brother, The Duke of Albany. Think the Baratheon’s if you are a Game of Thrones fan. He had another terrifiying younger brother - Alexander “The Wolf of Badenoch”. Throughout his 16 year reign he suffered ill health and he appointed his son David to effectively rule in his place. This was a total disaster, Uncle Albany was having none of it and the young David ended up being arrested and starved to death in Falkland Palace. Old Robert III was then left with one son - James Stuart. He cocked that up as well, James was captured by the English and would spend more than 20 years in captivity. Robert III eventually died and wasn’t even allowed to be buried at Scone or Dunfermline, his remains are in the lovely, but less majestical Paisley Abbey. With the Heir (James I) in captivity down south, Uncle Albany was appointed regent of Scotland, getting the power he may well have been better suited to than poor Robert III. So, two Stuarts in and no heroic types emerging yet. Stick with me, it will get more interesting. It’s time to meet the many Jameses.
15. James I (1406 - 1437)
James was uncrowned and captive for the first half of his life, though he wasn’t left completely to rot in English fortresses - he was well educated in England and apparently a good sportsman. Basically, as a captive he was a very useful bargaining chip for the English. A strategic marriage later and he was out, with English Queen (Joan) in tow and assumed his Kingship at Melrose Abbey on 5 April 1424, with the Albany’s presenting him with the Royal seal. Thus begun a period of securing his status with high politics and ruthless execution - three of his kinsmen (The Albany Stuarts) were beheaded at Stirling castle. James himself was eventually assassinated, in the sewers of Blackfriar’s Monastery in Perth. James entered a Scotland he hardly knew with a zeal to reform and an increasing ruthlessness. But issues of legitimacy continued to haunt The Stuarts, and it was supporters of a rival claimant who eventually cornered and killed him in Perth. Queen Joan was injured in the plot but eventually escaped to Stirling Castle, along with her young son…
Stirling Castle
Fortress and gatehouse to The North of Scotland. Inextricably linked to The Stuarts.
16. James II (1437 - 1460)
Queen Joan was pissed off. She had just seen James I, King of Scots, stabbed to death by conspirators in the sewer of a Monastery so this regicide had to be paid back. And it was, she maintained enough support to round up the conspirators over time and have their heads lopped off. And who said Queen Mother’s just waved politely and drank gin? James II was crowned and thus began a 23 year reign, albeit again with Regents involved given his young age. These regents (Crichton and Livingston) used James as a bit of a pawn in their own power games, notably in a notorious episode in Scottish history. The Douglas family had long been one of Scotland’s most powerful families, too powerful thought the scheming Regents. So, in November 1440 they invited the very young Earl William Douglas and his wee brother David to dine with James (himself only 10) at Edinburgh Castle. After a friendly meal, William Douglas was presented with the severed head of a black bull, a traditional sign of death. The Douglas boys were then given some form of mock trial and executed within the castle walls, with the young James watching. History records this shocking betrayal of trust as the Black Dinner. Cripes.
As he matured, James travelled well and tried to consolidate his power over Scotland, including getting revenge on his regents, and the new Earl of Douglas who has been implicated in the plot to murder the two youngsters in the Black Dinner. Indeed, James invited the new Earl into Stirling Castle, before slashing him to bits with a knife. He loved his big guns as well, investing heavily in cannons as this new technology began to change how sieges and battles were fought. He was presented with a massive, ludicrous cannon called Mons Meg as a wedding gift and it remains a popular draw at Edinburgh Castle to this day, albeit quite impractical in reality. It was this obsession with firepower that did for him in the end. Keen to win back the key Border castle at Roxburgh, he sieged it from the north, using his muckle gun called ‘The Lion’ to bombard the Castle. It backfired, and he was killed by a bit of shrapnel. The place where he fell was marked with a tree for years, on land now belonging to the Duke Of Roxburgh, near Floors Castle. James was only 29, so it meant yet another James and yet another child took on the role of King of Scots.
The Haughland near the River Tweed where James II met his demise
17. James III (1460 - 1488)
Like his father he assumed the throne very young so more Regents, plotting and backstabbing with James II widow, Maria of Guelders (modern day Netherlands), pulling many of the strings as Queen Joan had done for the young James II. One very significant thing about James III reign is that due to a marriage to Margaret of Denmark in 1472, we got Orkney and Shetland back, giving Scotland the recognisable shape we see on a map today, with the exception of Berwick which he promptly lost in humiliating fashion in 1482 and they’ve had it since - even though, in my opinion, Berwick-Upon-Tweed really has no business being an English town. He survived this loss and an attempted coup, but his reckoning eventually came by Lords fed up of his reign who used his Son, James (another one???!?!?) Duke of Rothesay as the figure head in a final rebellion, which ended with James III being stabbed to death at The Battle of Sauchieburn, near Stirling. How keen the young Duke of Rothesay was to overthrow his father and have him killed is hard to say, but he then became King, with the backing of powerful nobles, while suffering terrible guilt for his part in the plot. Thus it’s time for our penultimate James, who has a strong case to be the most successful of all the Stuart Kings.
18. James IV (1488 - 1513)
James IV was Scotland’s renaissance man. A prince who was educated, a patron of the arts and sciences of the day and reformer in Education, forming a new University at Aberdeen and the College of Surgeons in Edinburgh - both world class institutions to this day. As King he sought peace with England through marriage and politics, he raised Scotland’s profile in Europe with cordial relationships with The Pope, French King and Royal Houses in Denmark and across the continent. He spoke many languages, including being the last Scottish Monarch to be fluent in Scots Gaelic - which was already being shunned in favour of French and English. James also assembled a mighty navy, including building the Great Michael, the largest ship in the world, far larger than anything his English neighbours could launch. As I mentioned earlier, he felt tremendous guilt for his father’s death, and paid penance every day of his life by wearing an iron belt around his waist, to which an additional weight was added each year, adding to his discomfort. He believed in chivalry and honour, was careful with the countries purse and was poised, in my own opinion, to take Scotland forward as one of the great nations of Europe, despite our small size and location. So, with all that in mind, why don’t we see huge statues of James as we do with Robert The Bruce, or William Wallace, other great Scots heroes? Well, we will come to that shortly - first we need to head back to Traquair…
“The marriage of Stuart with the widowed Queen Joan brought to Traquair a very ancient royal pedigree”
The grant of Barony of Traquair was granted to James Stuart in 1491, during the reign of James IV. He was given the house from its previous owner, the Earl of Buchan, James became first Laird of Traquair and The Stuarts (today the Maxwell-Stuarts), are still there in 2023. Buchan was James Stuart’s father, and his granny was Joan, the not so merry widow of James I (the one who had the sewer killing conspirators killed if you are still following this madness). So we again see ‘The Ancient Royal Pedigree’ of the Stuarts of Traquair. James became the first Laird of Traquair, marrying Catherine Rutherford (The Rutherford’s arms are included in Traquair’s to this day). James Stuart, first Laird of Traquair was to die on the same day as his King James IV, 9 September 1513. Back to The King…
The Great Hall at Stirling Castle.
Built by James IV at the height of his powers
I mentioned in my intro to James IV that he sought peaceful relations with England. Two facts bear this out - a treaty he signed with the English King Henry VII (Henry Tudor) in 1502, and the subsequent marriage of King James IV to Henry’s daughter - Margaret Tudor. The treaty was given the ludicrously bombastic (and it transpires totally inaccurate) name The Treaty of Perpetual Peace. To me, this was canny statecraft from James - intermittent warfare had been going on for hundreds of years by this point and it feels sensible to work a bit closer together. The penalty for breaking the treaty would be excommunication by the Pope. Spoiler alert - it was broken, and how. But before we get to that, let’s consider the marriage of the Scottish King to the daughter of the English King, and sister of his son Henry VIII. Margaret was just a child (13 when they were wed) but her role in history was pivotal - clearly the path was now being set for the Stuarts and Tudors to merge and become Kings of Scotland and England. The wheels were now in motion for the United Kingdom - with Henry Tudor going on record as saying Scotland would become absorbed by England, something that James clearly didn’t have in mind. As an aside, if you are researching The Stuarts anywhere you may well think this is the case as any documentaries or books tend to start when they assumed the English throne 100 years after this marriage. Hopefully this blog shows that Scottish history is equally as mad and worth hearing about as English history is!! Anyway, Margaret was showered with praise and lavish gifts on her arrival - including much of Ettrick Forest in The Borders. This is symbolically portrayed each year in Galashiels at The Braw Lads Festival with the poignant mixing of the Roses recalling the mixing of the royal lines of the two Kingdoms. James and Margaret were a handsome couple and toured their Kingdom extensively, including much of The Borders and would have stayed at Traquair at least once.
James’ downfall as King was, in my view, his chivalrous nature. Henry VIII (his wife’s brother remember) fell into that old cliché of English Kings - he invaded France. The English have an obsession with France, it’s not a recent phenomenon, it goes back 1,000 years. This put James in a quandary - he had a longer standing agreement with France to support them in the event of attack from neighbours. This agreement is known to history as The Auld Alliance, which Scots of a certain hue will discuss with a sort of misty eyed fondness - perhaps if they understood more of the ramifications of what happened next they would be less inclined to romanticise it. Anyway, James was written to by the French King (Louise XII) and Queen, with the Queen in particular appealing to James’ chivalrous nature - go to England and break a lance in the North, distract them a little to make it easier for us here. Our countries go back so far together and honour must be upheld - all this sort of stuff. The French Queen (Anne) also sent a torquoise ring to James as a token of her love and fealty to the King. In fact, the letter was probably doused in Chanel Number 5. So he was in this fix - treaty with France on one hand, treaty with England and English wife on the other. He backed France - despite knowing it meant war with Henry VIII (or more accurately his first wife Catherine of Aragon with the young King away causing hell in France). Why make the call to declare war on England? Henry VIII had, true to his fathers prophecy, been claiming dominion over Scotland and Border raids were becoming frequent - the treaty was creaking and James gambled on a decisive strike into the North to assist ally France and give the English a bloody nose to remind them that Scotland was a powerful Kingdom. War was declared and the largest army ever mustered by Scotland was formed - more than 40,000 men are reputed to have answered the Kings call. Included in that number was James Stuart, first Laird of Traquair and his men - men o’ the Ettrick Forest, which surrounded Traquair 500 years ago.
The campaign went well, a huge muster of Borderers met the Kings army at Duns in August 1513. What a site this must have been - 40,000 marching south complete with huge guns on carriages. At it’s head, James IV, noble King of Scots, wearing the ring of the French Queen. The Tweed was forded at Coldstream and Norham Castle was firmly in the sites of James and his cannons. After 5 days of bombardment, it fell. The English were of course not taking this invasion lying down - they despatched an army North under the command of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey - or just Surrey as history recalls him. The garrison at Norham were hoping to hold out for Surrey’s forces to relieve them, but to no avail. Following this, the Scots army travelled along the River Till, taking and destroying the smaller castles of Ford and Etal. An apocryphal tale states that James IV had his wicked way with the beautiful Lady Heron, of Ford Castle, before he burnt it to the ground. There is no evidence of this, it’s likely post war propaganda but adds another wrinkle of interest to the campaign. And with that, the job was pretty much done - James’ forces had done what was requested of them by France and were already dwindling, numbers slowly dropping with the inevitable diseases that also followed armies around taking a toll. They could have at this point retreated to Scotland, but opted instead to face Surrey’s forces by digging in to a commanding position on Flodden Hill. Even today a walk around this wooded hill of only 500 feet, but overlooking a great plain shows how well positioned the Scots were. It was perfect for them to wipe out the English forced by cannon and close packed pikemen. News of this reached Surrey via his messenger Rouge Croix - this wasn’t great for the English. But Surrey was wily (already in his 70’s), and also blood thirsty - he would much rather have been in France than dealing with Scots in Northumberland. So he tried James’ weak spot - chivalry. I paraphrase again but the message was along the lines of “don’t sit in a fortress like a coward, come and face me in the open field to see who is the better man”. This enraged James, but did not make him budge. The English were in trouble as morale dropped and they could hear the Scots gunners practising their range from the top of Flodden Hill…
Etal Castle, still bearing the scars of James IV’s sacking in Autumn 1513
At this point a pivotal decision was made, The Scots were in a great position if the English stayed on the low plain, however if they could outflank them and come up behind them (from the North) then it would be the Scots in trouble. The English army would be blocking their route home and would be able to obtain high ground of their own, near Branxton Hill. So, this is exactly what they did - the whole army moved north west at first, towards the dangerous River Till and small hills shielding them from Scottish eyes. The Scots could not understand this move - were they heading to Berwick? This must have caused some alarm among the Scots, in particular Earl Home of The Hirsel whose Berwickshire estates were vulnerable with him and his men here on Flodden Hill. Tensions rose among the Scots nobles.
The English on the other hand, had their tales up. They were using the local knowledge of Lord Heron (known as The Bastard) to manoeuvre their way to a commanding position of their own and were ready to dispense some justice to these arrogant Scots, who were encamped it must be recalled on English soil as an invading force. Having evaded the Scots lookouts they camped up and on the very early morning of September 9 they broke camp and marched West then South. They passed the ancient stones at Duddo (still standing, and magnificent - TVB Tours can take you there ;)) before crossing The Till at Twizell Bridge (whish also still stands, and is magnificent - again it’s one TVB covers!). They entered battle formations on what is known as Pipers Hill. They now faced South, tired, wet and bedraggled but hungry for the fight and waiting for The Scots to make their move…
Twizell Bridge over the River Till. Still magnificent in 2023.
Tens of thousands of English troops crossed here on September 9 1513, heading for Branxton
James eventually got word of this outflanking manoeuvre by the early afternoon. He rode to see it for himself. True enough, the English were now in a Northern position on a small hill. He had two options - stay where you are or move to a new position on Branxton Hill where you still have the high ground. He chose the latter and his massive army, guns, horses and men move themselves from dug in positions on Flodden Hill to Branxton Hill, a mile or so away. Even at this point the Scots were it seemed in a strong position - and must have been an arresting site, even for the pumped up English - a mile long wave of banners, smoking heavy guns, pikes and horses forming up on Branxton Hill, shrouded in the smoke from the burning camps left hours before on Flodden. James wanted to have his battle, retreat was not an option, honour must be upheld.
To understand what happened next, you really need to visit the battlefield. The two hills run downhill towards each other, with Branxton Hill (Scots) being much longer slope than the English (Pipers Hill). In between today is a small burn, with the fields drained to allow crops to be grown, but in 1513 it was a boggy morass. You can sense the issue this would caused when you walk the field today. The Scots started well on one flank, with Earl Home’s forces engaging and crushing the Western flank before, controversially, leaving the battle. But that’s where the good news ended for Scotland. I have tried to summarise the main points I believe from my research caused the defeat.
The trajectory of their guns was all wrong, with the heavy shot going too high or simply thudding into the slope and doing minimal damage. The English were able to use their nimbler guns much more effectively, skimming the shot across the upwards slope and scything through the Scots, leaving a bloody mess of limbs, bodies and multiple casualties. The English easily win the opening artillery exchange.
The Scots were using extra long pikes, loaned to them by the French. Ironically these would have been far more effective in the open field proposed by Surrey days earlier, using the hedgehog like schiltren formation. As it was the English axes were able to smash the top of these unwieldy lances and then cut down the vulnerable onrushing Scots with swords. This caused huge casualties, with the already swollen stream becoming choked with gore.
The ground conditions caused huge issues on engagement for both sides, however The Scots second engagement were led by nobility (Errol, Crawford and Montrose) and on seeing them being slaughtered it caused many of their followers to flee for their lives.
Having abonded the useless pikes, The Scots attacked with swords but these were easily outmatched by English billhooks, which could decapitate an onrushing enemy, or hack off a limb at decent range.
The English were able to encircle and overwhelm the Scottish centre, causing them to flee or be slaughtered.
There is, of course, much more to this battle than those points, I am not an academic historian (that much is clear!), but this gives you a sense of the scale of the battle and the carnage that unfolded in just a few short hours. And what of James? It is reported that he fought valiantly, leading a final charge to try and take Surrey in single combat, knowing that the battle was lost without this fatal blow to The English. He did not get there, he was shot in the face with an arrow, his arm near severed by a blade and his throat slashed by English hooks. James had failed as a commander, but not as a Knight - he was brave until the end. The same fate befell his nobility, and his archers all taken from the Ettrick Forest who had followed him in this desperate action - we will never know if James Stuart, 1st Laird of Traquair, died in this quixotic charge but for me it seems likely given his associations with the King and Ettrick Forest. The King dead, the battle went on for an hour or so - few prisoners were taken, the English looted those who had anything of worth and claimed James’ cannons. It was not the most deadly battle ever fought in Britain, but not far off. We simply do not know the numbers killed - estimates for Scotland range from 10,000 to 17,000 and on the English side 500 to 5,000. In four hours of battle. The Borders suffered particuallry, no family was left without sorrow after this catastrophe. It was a decisive victory for Surrey and England, and a calamitous loss for Scotland and the reputation of James IV to history. All of his achievements, and there were many, have been overshadowed by the Battle of Flodden. His mutilated body was taken to England and eventually buried many years later in a church, since demolished.
We will deal with the aftermath and the reign of James V in the next part of this blog, but my final advice to anyone is to visit Branxton where a monument to the dead of both nations stands and you can walk round the battlefield. There is a sense of atmosphere unlike anywhere else, Culloden doesn’t come close despite the romance of Outlander etc. Despite the drainage and crops in the field you are left in no doubt as to what happened that day - it is a remarkable place, which seems seldom visited despite the massive impact this battle would have on Scotland, and indeed the whole of Britain. TVB Tours will happily take you on a day tour of Northumberland, or you can join special guided walks run by locals in the summer months.
I think after that long essay on Flodden we will end Part II here. I am indebted to John A Anderson for his chapter on the Stuarts in his wonderful (and long out of print) book “The Cleikum”, a copy of which should be in every Innerleithen household. I also borrowed extensively from John Sadler’s excellent book “Flodden 1513 - Scotland’s greatest defeat” for battle details. I am a blogger, not a historian, and have attempted to tell the stories of these events in an accessible and interesting way - any mistakes are my own, as are my views. I look forward to Part III of this trip through Traquair’s history where we will meet Mary Queen of Scots among others.
Thanks for reading.
