Ye Olde "diversionary amorous attentions"

 

April 9, 2023--Circular stair at Etal Castle's Tower

Previously mentioned, after spending Easter at Etal and Ford Estate, we took a direct route back to Galashiels on the secondary B6350 road on River Tweed's south bank from Cornhill, passing through Carham and then crossing the bridge southwest of Kelso.  

Historically, the B6350 route was not always a "less important" road.  To the contrary.  In the medieval age, the English Borders citadel of Wark Castle once stood along the route.  Wark was a key linchpin in the network of strongholds in England's fortified defense of the Borders.

Against the counsel of his court, King James IV of Scotland declared an ill-advised war against Henry VIII of England on July 26, 1513.  Allegedly, James IV was "entangled" in the Auld Alliance with France.  And over the centuries since, the Auld Alliance has been foisted as cause.  How much was "entanglement" and how much was opportunistic choice is debatable.

April 9, 2023--Etal Castle tower

In any case, James IV crossed into the English Borders on August 22, 1513 at Cornhill with a force estimated at 60,000 (estimates vary widely from 35,000 to 100,000).  Despite where sources may land in the arguments on the number of troops, this was still one of the largest Scottish forces ever to invade England.  Roughly speaking, the Scottish army marched over the present day B6350 route to lay siege and finally wreck the important English stronghold at Wark Castle.  Its ruins, now merely a tall mound, are only 1.6 miles east of Carham on B6350. 

April 7, 2023--The Black Bull in Etal; our evening meals over Easter

At least as practiced by James IV, chivalry is a thing that we don't do much of these days.  Fortunately or unfortunately depends on one's view.  Among other things, such as basic human foibles, it was chivalry that "did in" James IV.  It imposed impractical if not impossible rules on warfare...to the detriment of those who attempted to follow them.  It was folly for a nostalgia of something that never truly existed in the first place.  War is not, nor has it ever been, "gentlemanly".  

April 9, 2023--Ok, so we're tourists!  Heatherslaw Light Railway at Etal

The Scots did not strictly gain Wark Castle by force of arms.  The castle was betrayed by an Englishman who deserted its garrison.  With Wark fully invested by the Scots, the traitor hoped to curry favor with the Scottish King.  The Scots indeed made use of the Englishman's statements and identified the weakest points of Wark's defense.  As for any favors, though, Scottish King James IV hanged the Englishman--for committing treason against the enemy English.  Such was the age of chivalry. Odd ways.

April 8, 2023--Medieval Twizel Bridge, still standing!

In another example of chivalry, on the morning of 9 September 1513, the Scots watched English columns marching over Twizel bridge to form up.  Scot cannoneers were forbidden to shell these columns, as James IV chivalrously believed that the English were too vulnerable in the column movement.  Catching an enemy in such a vulnerable state, one would think, was the whole objective of the exercise.  Regardless, Scot cannons did not open.  This chivalric war-fighting cost the Scots a nation.  Many thousands of lives.

April 8, 2023--River Till from Twizel Bridge; castle on ridgeline

Twizel Bridge, with its distinctive fluted arches, was completed in 1511.  Though no longer bearing vehicular traffic, remarkably the bridge is still in decent shape.  We walked over it in our brief hike to Twizel Castle.  As the only dry crossing of lower River Till, the bridge was strategically important.  Both armies used it in the Battle of Flodden Field.

April 8, 2023--Twizel Castle above River Till

Bragging rights from razing Wark Castle were short lived.  Less than three weeks later,  James IV, King of Scotland, would be killed along with the better part of his army at Branxton Moor (Flodden Field) late afternoon September 9, 1513, thus earning James IV the dubious sobriquet of being the last British monarch killed in combat.

April 8, 2023--Ford Castle gate

Ostensibly, the casus belli for James IV declaring war was England's invasion of France...but there are notable sub-clauses.  James IV's counselors did not want a war.  And, had James IV been pragmatic, he would have reasoned that the Treaty of Perpetual Peace (enacted by James IV upon oath before the altar at Glasgow Cathedral on December 10, 1503) was more or less holding for the past decade.  So invasion was not a wise choice. 

Besides, as part of that peace deal, James IV married Margaret Tudor, sister of England's King Henry VIII.  The so-called "Marriage of the Thistle and the Rose" at Holyrood (Edinburgh), August 8, 1503.  A 30-year old Scottish King and a 13-year-old English bride. 

April 8, 2023--Walls at Ford Castle

The marriage began producing heirs, which meant that only the future King Henry VIII and his successors (if he was to have any) stood between James IV and succession to the crowns of both Scotland and England.  And Henry VIII was failing to produce heirs.  Patience alone would have yielded James IV or his progeny mastery over the whole of Britain.  So, contrary to heroic portrayals, James IV was not exactly an unwitting haplessly entangled victim bound by the Auld Alliance.  

That excuse does not exonerate James IV.  He had a number of options short of a large-scale invasion.  Foremost, he could have kept his oath made before the altar in Glasgow--maintain the peace.  Chivalrous behavior, it seems, is highly selective.  Instead, he foisted the Auld Alliance and war.  "Auld" was an understatement.  A mutual assistance treaty dating back to 1295, the alliance was built upon shared interests of France and Scotland...as they may have been in 1295.  Respective interests were not necessarily the same 220 years later, when James IV declared war.  Europe had changed.  So had Scotland. 

April 8, 2023--Saint Michael and All Angels; Ford Estate

If anything, James IV was an opportunist.  Looking for any pretext to exercise the Auld Alliance and an invasion, the Scots claimed they sought to revenge the murder of Robert Kerr, Warden of the Scottish East March.  Kerr had been killed by a Northumbrian (John 'the bastard' Heron) in 1508.  Invading five years after the fact was, at best, a suspect and very delayed revenge, considering Sir William Heron, Lord of Ford Castle and half-brother of 'the bastard', was being held hostage in Fast Castle (a coastal fortress in Berwickshire) for the deeds of his kinsman...as was common justice in that age.  If you can't find the fugitive, jail his next of kin.  Sir William's absence from Ford Castle would play a large role in James IV's defeat at Flodden Field.

  

April 7, 2023--Church of St. Paul at Branxton received body of King James IV

Casting about for excuses to invade, James IV next claimed revenge for English privateer seizures of Scottish merchant ships.  In that day, piracy was de rigueur.  They all did it.  Lastly, James IV alleged he only received partial payment of Margaret's marriage dowry.  Thin gruel to justify war...having remained married for the past 12 years.

April 7, 2023--Branxton church

An aside, but lessons on foreign entanglements were well studied by our American Founding Fathers.  In his farewell address (September 19, 1796), President George Washington admonished Americans "to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world."  

This is not to say that Washington sought to dishonor all existing international treaties.  To the contrary.  Washington qualified his comments, adding:  "...so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements."  He made no call for isolation, as some now claim.  It was more an appeal to caution and wisdom.  

Following the sack of Wark and the chivalric hanging of the English deserter, the Scots made an about-face.  They marched back on the same B6350 route and laid siege, bombarding and finally capturing Norham Castle after five days.  

[Norham Castle will be discussed in a separate post.]

April 8, 2023--Norham Castle

After the prize of Norham was bagged on August 29, 1513, the Scots made another about-face and marched west to the River Till, seizing Twizel Castle (or what remained of it after it was wrecked in 1496 during Scotland's abortive support for a pretender to the English throne).  James IV next took Etal Castle and Ford Castle.  At this point, the invasion was more a large-scale border raid.  That is how the Scots may have perceived it...at their own peril.

When James IV arrived at Ford Castle, it was occupied only by Lady Elizabeth Heron and her daughter.  A fortuitous circumstance for James IV.  But not so much his army.  

James IV was a known womanizer.  Besides his legitimate children, he had numerous illegitimate with many mistresses.  Unlike nearby Etal, James IV did not sack Ford.  Without definitive proof, many have speculated that Lady Heron purposely engaged in "diversionary amorous attentions" with James IV...as did her daughter. 

Robert Lindsay of Pittscottie (Scottish chronicler, c. 1532-1580, about whom very little biographical information is known beyond his authorship of the Chronicles of Scotland) crudely called the dalliance between James IV and Lady Heron a "bout of stinking adultery and fornication".  Harsh words.  And also an opinion written perhaps 40 years or more after the events had unfolded.  Still, Lady Heron did have vested interests--she wanted to spare Ford Castle and get her hostage husband released.

April 7, 2023--View toward Scotland; St. Michael's; Ford Estate

Over the ensuing five centuries, many have speculated that Lady Heron was part of an elaborate English scheme to delay James IV.  If she was, it worked.  James did stay too long at Ford "dallying".   By the time he finally moved, the English had assembled their forces, were on the march and were nearly in position.   

Scottish accounts cast Lady Heron as a villainess and lay the defeat at Flodden Field entirely at her feet.  Yet, while she may have distracted or delayed James IV with "diversionary amorous attentions," she had far less to do with the outcome than did James IV himself.  Branxton Moor would have largely been avoided had James IV opened a cannonade upon Lord Surrey's English vanguard with its limbered artillery in tow as they crossed River Till on Twizel bridge the morning of September 9, 1513.  The English would have been caught dead to rights, one might say.

April 7, 2023--Farm at Flodden Field in burn where thousands of Scots perished

Instead, a misguided unrequited chivalry intervened and Scotland was lost with The Fluuers o the Forest.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some battles worth fighting

On Easter Monday, after having spent Easter weekend at Ford and Etal Estate in the English Borders, we headed back to Galashiels.  Our chief goal was to return the infamous Peugeot e-208 car hire to Enterprise and then board Borders Rail that afternoon/evening for a couple overnights in urban Edinburgh, before catching our transatlantic flight home.  Anything that could be tacked on this bare bone travel itinerary for Easter Monday was extra...within some tight constraints.  

https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2023/08/theory-verus-practice-car-hire.html 

Previously mentioned, when we dropped off the e-208, it was nearly drained...the dashboard showed 29 miles of range remained.  In other words, about as much room for error as one wrong turn's worth of backtracking.  Skinny.  Worse was the fact that, being Easter Monday, many places were closed.  

Mindful that we needed to insure we had enough juice left to get the rented rig back to Galashiels precluded us from making detours that might push us past a literal point of no return.  Unfortunate.  We would have visited a couple more places in the Borders if we had had more range in the batteries. 

April 9, 2023 Gate; Ford Estate

We dispensed with any notion of a circuitous route back to Galashiels.  (After all, except for the depleted battery charge, we had a whole day of travel available.)  We resigned to take a secondary road (B6350) along the south bank of River Tweed from Cornhill-upon-Tweed to Kelso and then on to Galashiels.  The route, to be honest, was not entirely chosen due to our need to conserve distance.  The secondary route we took avoided traveling over the same "A roads" we had just driven on Good Friday, through Coldstream toward Flodden Field and our eventual accommodation at Ford Estate.  

Secondary "B roads" are not always the best direct routes.  Nor are they always in the best of shape. In this instance, however, B6350 was the most direct road and it was surprisingly in decent repair.  (Scotland's secondary roads often are not.)  Apparently, B6350 is a "belt around," a cutoff of sorts.  Running on the south bank, it avoids traffic bottles in Coldstream and crossing the Tweed bridge.  B6350 was certainly a step above typical B-roads. 

April 10, 2023--Carham (St. Cuthbert's) churchyard

The route was well chosen.  Scenic.  While traversing it, we made an unscheduled stop to walk at Carham.  A small village rarely found on most tourist radars, Carham is a quintessential Border village.  On the south side of River Tweed, Carham is in Northumbria, England.  North and directly across the river lies Birgham in The Borders, Scotland.  Here, the border is more or less a suggestion so to speak.  Not much difference between the sides.  For example, according to the 2011 United Kingdom Census, Carham holds England's greatest proportion of Scottish-born residents (at 33% of the local population).  

Watercolor by M.L.B. The Holme, Carham Sept 3, 1878

Before delving into Carham's historical importance, a few words on A and B roads might be warranted.  The Borders is in Zone 6 of U.K.'s road numbering scheme.  Thus, most roads in the Borders begin with 6; like B6350.  These are called "numbered distributor roads".  Once, perhaps 100 years ago, shorter numbered roads were allocated for the more important roads, whereas longer numbers (like B6350) were for the less.  They built more roads than they had shorter numbers, so the distinction is less important today. 

Main trunks are the "A roads" and, as expected, they carry heavier traffic as Class I roads, similar to state highways.  B-roads are generally Class II, similar to county roads.  The A-roads are fairly straight forward in terms of portside driving in mainland Scotland.  Not so the B roads.

April 10, 2023--River Tweed at Carham

First, bear in mind, road shoulders are not exactly the norm.  U.K. standardized maps make an important distinction in B-roads--their width.  Orange colored roads are "generally" over 4 meters wide.  Yellow roads are under 4 meters wide...if not considerably under.  Then there are Unclassified roads, "narrow roads with passing places".  These are supposed to be colored as red-dashed roads, being single tracks which may have pull outs to permit two way traffic.  To be honest, the Unclassified designation isn't applied nearly enough.  Roads to Flodden Field are prime examples.  Realistically, unimpeded two-way traffic is questionable, even though the roads to Flodden Field are mapped in yellow.  They shouldn't be.

Because a limited number of bridges cross the Tweed's course, traffic flow in this part of The Borders runs east-west, following River Tweed, the natural barrier separating the north (Scotland) from the south (England).  Regardless of whichever bank one decides to drive to return to Galashiels from Ford Estate, the distance was the same. So, we took B6350 and stopped at Carham.  

April 10, 2023--"The wee car park" at Carham

Carham was a free 'fer.  It met our tight distance requirement that we not travel too far afield on our return to Galashiels.  Check.  The diminutive car park at Carham (room for perhaps two vehicles...if they squeezed) was literally right on the rural secondary B-road--maybe five feet from what we call the fog line.  As such, the Carham stop added nothing to our mileage concerns.  Check.  

April 10, 2023--St. Cuthbert's viewed from the lower Holme

Given Carham's historical significance to Scotland's Borders, the lack of tourist interest in the village is surprising.  There is one upside to that...visitors to Carham have the place almost entirely to themselves.  The village church (Saint Cuthbert's) and the pastured grounds (The Holme) sloping down to the edge of River Tweed alone are worth a stop and walk.  While there well over an hour, we met one villager walking her dog by the river.  Another local was in the river's edge fly fishing.  And...one pesky village golden retriever trying to locate a gate to join its owner who was at a distance further up the Tweed--the dog walker reassured us that was all too common an event for the particular pooch in question.

April 10, 2023--Timeless Carham (compare to 1878 watercolor above)

The current church at Carham was built in 1798 to replace a former medieval structure.  But the church's presence is much older.  Some suggest St. Cuthbert himself built a church nearby (of wood construction). On the grassy Holme, undulations can be seen below the church tower to the banks of the Tweed.  These are assumed to be foundations of an earlier "black canon" monastery from the Middle Ages.  The site has yet to be archeologically excavated. 

Carham is said to be derived from an Old English place-name, with 'carr' meaning rock, and 'ham' meaning homestead.  Like everything else, that too is not without controversy.  And it has been argued for centuries.  Twelfth-century chronicler Richard of Hexham did not consider the name to be English, suggesting it was derived from the Cumbric word 'kair' which meant 'fortification'.  Perhaps.  But no fortification has been identified.  Nor has an ancient bridge which lent its name to Birgham in Scotland, directly across the Tweed from Carham.  On the other hand, a number of tall rocks do break the surface in the River Tweed, making Carham a lucrative and popular salmon fishing beat.  So, if unsure on the name, go with what is known..."Homestead at the rocks". 

The first written reference to Carham was from 670 AD, when it was granted to the Lindisfarne church by King Ecgfrith of Northumbria.  Before Northumbria was divested of its kingdom (by Scots, Vikings and finally the English) Northumbria's realm stretched from River Tees in England through Lothian to the gates of Edinburgh.  A significant part of that divestment took place in the pivotal battle fought at Carham in 1018 AD.  It ended in a decisive victory for the Scots, and Lothian was ceded to them.  The battle at Carham firmly fixed the border between England and Scotland as the center of River Tweed.  The border has been kept along this stretch of the Tweed for over 1000 years. 

Humans seem to be destined or condemned to repeat violence forever.  Throughout human history, from Cain and Abel to Bakhmut, Ukraine, violence has been omnipresent on every single page.  Doubtless, it may always be so. Yet paradoxically, some of those battles are worth fighting.  One such battle was at Carham, Northumberland on the south bank of River Tweed in 1018 as kingdoms were being formed.  River Tweed is now the divide between two nations--Scotland and England.  It has has not always been a border, even though "tweed" is taken from the Anglo-Saxon (Northumbrian) word for "boundary".  Only the future will tell if it remains so.

April 10, 2023--bench on River Tweed at Carham; Scotland opposite bank