- Reiver names
- [Hermitage Castle]
- Sir Walter Scott
- Abbotsford
- football match
Hermitage Castle
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Hermitage Castle |
Adapted from Hermitage Castle by Nick Bridgland, Historic Scotland, 1996
From the beginning, Hermitage was seen as a vitally important base for controlling Liddesdale in the Scottish West March and a large stretch of the Border with England. Indeed, the castle's construction, probably by Sir Nicholas de Soules, butler to King William, in about 1240, almost brought the two countries to war. De Soules' fortress was probably a motte-and-bailey castle similar to his ancestors' former stronghold, Liddel Castle, four miles to the south beside Liddel Water at Old Castleton.
Because of their key location, Liddesdale and Hermitage were much fought over during the Wars of Independence with England, which broke out in 1296. Hermitage soon fell into English hands, and thereafter ownership of the stronghold was disputed between the De Soules and their English foes.
The story is even more confused by the position of the De Soules family in the politics of the day. Sir Nicholas De Soules had been one of the claimants to the throne in the Great Cause that led to John Balliol's enthronement as John I in 1292. Almost three decades later, in 1320, Nicholas's son William was accused of conspiring to kill the then monarch Robert the Bruce in an attempt to have himself crowned king of the Scots. He forfeited all his lands and property and was executed for treason, thus ending the De Soules' association with Liddesdale and Hermitage.
The 'final peace' signed between the two warring nations in 1328 called for, among other things, English lords to have their property in Scotland restored to them. Hermitage was claimed by Sir John Wake of Liddel in Cumberland, whose father had had control of Liddesdale in the 1290s. But such was the importance the Scots attached to Hermitage that they held on to it until 1332. In that year, Edward Balliol, John's son, seized the throne and gave Hermitage to Sir Ralph de Neville, an Englishman.
Sir Ralph's tenure at Liddesdale was brief, for in 1338, Sir William Douglas -- the 'Knight of Liddesdale' -- attacked and 'reduced' Hermitage. He was a ruthless man, much admired for his victories against the English. However, he was not above envying the positions of others at court and was furious that David II had not made him sheriff of Teviotdale. He rectified the king's error by imprisoning the new sheriff, Sir Alexander Ramsay, in Hermitage and starving him to death. After this, the king appears to have decided that it was easier to agree to Sir William taking Ramsay's place.
In 1346, the English invaded again and took Sir William prisoner. To win his release, he made a deal with his old enemies: if they helped him regain control of Hermitage, he would agree not to impede English armies as they marched through Liddesdale. As a result of this betrayal, David II granted Hermitage to Sir William's godson, also called William. In 1353, the two Williams met in the Ettrick Forest where the 'Knight of Liddesdale' was murdered as punishment for his defection, making good the younger William's claim to Liddesdale.
Despite this, the English clung on to Liddesdale through the marriage of the elder William's widow to Sir Hugh de Dacre, an English lord. The battles over the previous decades had taken their toll on the old De Soules' timber fortification, and Dacre started to build himself a grand new stone residence, the remains of which lie at the heart of the present structure. Other than an attack in 1355, which he fended off, he prevented the younger William -- now 1st Earl Douglas -- from taking Hermitage until 1371. William immediately set about transforming Lord Dacre's castle into a great solid tower -- the central block of the present building.
As a result of William's death in 1384, followed by that of his son James, the 2nd Earl, four years later at the battle of Otterburn, the lordship of Liddesdale and Hermitage Castle passed to George Douglas, the illegitimate son of the 1st Earl and his mistress Margaret Stewart, Countess of Angus. George Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus and founder of the 'Red' Douglases, added corner towers to his father's great keep.
At first the earls of Angus were loyal supporters of the Crown, fighting alongside their king even when their kinsmen, the 'Black' Douglases, rose against James II. Then Archibald 'Bell the Cat', 5th Earl of Angus -- who inherited the title in 1463 -- sided, albeit cautiously, with the duke of Albany in his intrigues with the English. Even after Archibald was instrumental in putting James IV on the throne in 1488, he was still suspect. He decided to reopen secret negotiations with England, reaching a deal in 1492 whereby, in the event of war, the English would regard him as an ally in return for which he would ensure that Hermitage never fell into the hands of another Scottish lord. The agreement was exposed and James IV, unable to trust Archibald with so strategically important a castle, ordered him to exchange Hermitage with Bothwell Castle in Lanarkshire.
The new owner of Hermitage was Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell,
who had risen rapidly under James IV. However, the later earls
of Bothwell proved as fickle as the 5th Earl of Angus. The 3rd
Earl, also a Patrick, was forced to hand over Liddesdale to James
V and spent several years in prison and exile. He fared somewhat
better after James's death in 1542 and the accession of the infant
Mary Queen of Scots, but in 1530, the discovery of an agreement
to deliver Hermitage to the English was followed by another period
of exile. This meant that the castle remained in the effective
control of the Scottish Crown.
Mary Queen of Scots
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, proved just as infamous. Implicated in the murder of Henry Lord Darnley, Mary's second husband, in February 1567, he married the queen shortly after, only to desert her at Carberry that summer and flee into exile, never to return. But while he was keeper of Liddesdale, Bothwell provided Hermitage with its most romantic and scandalous event.
On 8 October 1566, Bothwell was wounded by the noted reiver Little John Elliot of the Park in a skirmish and taken to Hermitage to recover. Two days later, Mary, oblivious to what had happened, set out from Edinburgh on her annual progress, this time to the east Borders. Hearing of Bothwell's injury -- and despite rumours that were already linking them romantically -- she rode from Jedburgh on 16 October to visit the earl, accompanied by several courtiers who were to protect not only her person but also her reputation.
The tryst lasted just two hours. Since she was married to Lord Darnley, Mary could not stay at Hermitage, and so she and her party made the arduous journey back to Jedburgh -- a 25-mile ride across difficult terrain. On the way, the queen stumbled into a bog, contracted a fever and, on her arrival at Jedburgh, was confined to her bed for a week.
The 4th Earl was succeeded by his nephew Francis Stewart, a well-educated but violent and unstable man. His constant battles with James VI eventually led to his permanent exile in 1594. Hermitage then passed into the care of Sir Walter Scott of Branxholm and Buccleuch, whose family had been associated with the castle since Archibald's day. The 'Bold Buccleuch', as he is still popularly known, is famed for his rescue of Kinmont Willie from Carlisle Castle in 1596.
However, this was the twilight of the days of Border warfare and reiving. The departure of James VI to London in 1603 to become also James I of England heralded the end of Hermitage as a mighty fortress.
