December 2012 – The Northern Rebels of 1296, Part I

The Northern Rebels of 1296

Part I: Cumberland

 Amanda Beam, Research Associate

 

The outbreak of war between England and Scotland in 1296 was not simply a case of England versus Scotland. Many people, men and women, held lands on both sides of the border and thus had to choose whether to support one king or the other. Naturally, the majority of English landholders supported Edward I rather than John Balliol. But this was not a foregone conclusion. The following feature[1] aims to examine some Northern English landholders who, though not necessarily holding Scottish lands, sided with John Balliol and the Scots. For their rebellion against Edward I, they were forfeited. While many were restored shortly after performing homage and fealty to King Edward, some were not restored for as many as eight years later, and some not at all.

What follows focuses on these rebels in a Northern English and Scottish context as related to the People of Medieval Scotland and Breaking of Britain projects, and does not discuss other lands held elsewhere in England. Specifically, this feature examines a few documents that survive which enumerate these rebels and their lands, while also using other sources currently available in the People of Medieval Scotland database. For Cumberland there is the account of Michael de Harclay, sheriff, of ‘issues of lands of men from the kingdom of Scotland holding lands, tenements, goods and chattels in England and remaining in Scotland, and not in the kingdom of England, taken into the king’s hand on occasion of the war between the lord king and the king of Scotland, by writ, from the feast of All Saints, year 23, up to Michaelmas year 24 (i.e., 1 November 1295 to 29 September 1296)’.[2] This pipe roll account can be compared to Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland, ed. J. Bain, ii, no. 736 and J. Stevenson, ed., Documents illustrative of the history of Scotland, 1286-1306, ii, no. 358 (pp. 40-47), and to various writs of restoration in Rotuli Scotiae, volume I, pp. 24-50.

Within these documents, there are 68 rebels in total from the counties of Cumberland and Northumberland: 17 from Cumberland, 44 from Northumberland and seven who held lands in both. Six women are included, as are six religious men; 30 men appended their seals to deeds of fealty to Edward I in 1296; deeds which were later incorporated in the Ragman Roll, and only 37 rebels in total (or in some cases, their heirs or widows) appear to have been restored to their English lands, though many were restored to their Scottish lands. Surprisingly, there are no rebels who held lands in Westmorland, where about 35 rebels are mentioned from the rebellious times of 1260s England. We can assume, though, that some Westmorland lands were seized, as a writ to the sheriff there commanded that Christiana, widow of David of Torthorwald, be restored to her dower from the lands of William of Kirkton, her first husband. Her lands in Cumberland were seized on account of David’s rebellion in 1296.[3] These 68 rebels are divided into three different Features of the Month. Part I will cover those who are mentioned as holding land in Cumberland only; Part II for those who held lands in Northumberland; Part III, Cumberland and Northumberland, with a complete list of Northern rebels at the end.

 

Cumberland

The records show a total of 17 rebels who held land in Cumberland, with another seven, to be discussed in Part III, who held lands in Cumberland and Northumberland. Of these 17, one can be linked to a rebel in the 1260s, two were women and eight would later appear on the Ragman Roll (signified by (RR) below). Only eight appear to have been restored of their English lands.

 

David Arsyn

David Arsyn is mentioned as forfeited in the Harclay account of 1296. Various issues were taken from his goods and chattels found at Corby, though it is unclear what lands he held there.[4]

 

John le Blund of Esbie (RR)

John of Esbie, a Dumfriesshire man, held half of Blencogo in Cumberland, which was seized by Edward I in April 1296. John was said to be ‘staying in Scotland’ when the lands were seized, according to the Harclay account. He is one of the men from Cumberland who swore fealty to Edward I at the Berwick parliament on 28 August 1296, for which his lands in Midlothian were restored to him on 3 September 1296.[5] It is unclear if his lands in England were also restored.

 

Mary, wife of Alan of Camerton

Mary, or Mariota, held the third part of the hamlet of Camerton in dower by the heritage of her husband, Alan, which was seized in April 1296 because she was ‘staying in Scotland’.[6] The lands do not appear to have been restored to her. An Alan of Camerton, who appears in the PoMS database in the early thirteenth-century, may have been related to her husband.

 

Gilbert of Carlisle (RR)

Gilbert held lands in Dale and Tarraby, which were seized in April 1296 on account of his being ‘of the kingdom of Scotland and remaining there.’ He swore fealty to Edward I at the Berwick parliament as ‘of the county of Dumfries’, but his lands in Cumberland do not appear to have been restored until March 1304.[7] He may be related to William of Carlisle, knight, who held Kinmount (Dumfriesshire), and was given land by Robert Bruce (d.1304) in Yorkshire.[8]

 

Walter of Corrie (RR)

Walter of Corrie, a Dumfriesshire knight, held lands in Kirkandrews-on-Eden and Kirklinton, the latter said to be ‘burnt and … waste’. From an inquisition dated 1275, we learn that he was heir of Hawise of Kirklinton, wife of Eustace de Balliol, and could claims his lands in Kirklinton as her heir, along with several others, including Patrick of Southwick (father of Gilbert below), Patrick Trump (father of Patrick below) and Matilda, widow of Roland of Carrick. Walter was called ‘of Corrie and Kirklinton’ in the Harclay account of lands seized, in which it is said that Kirklinton, having been seized on account of his staying in Scotland, was released to him at Pentecost 1296 ‘saving the king’s right’. However, it appears that before the lands were released they had been given to William English, the king’s valet. Walter performed fealty to Edward I in June 1296 at Stirling. During this period, he witnessed Bruce’s charter mentioned above to William of Carlisle, in which Bruce gave William a piece of land from the common pasture of Bruce’s holding in Newby (Yorks). Along with Gilbert of Southwick and others, he received a sixth of the lands of Kirklinton as nephew and heir of Richard of Kirklinton following the death of Richard’s widow, Sarah, in 1300.[9]

 

Thomas of Dalton or of Kirkcudbright, bishop of Whithorn (RR)

Thomas, bishop of Candida Casa (or Whithorn), called both ‘of Dalton (Yorkshire)’ and ‘of Kirkcudbright’ (Kirkcudbrightshire), was a former clerk of Robert Bruce (d.1295) and was elected to the bishopric in 1294. He performed fealty to Edward I at the Berwick parliament in August 1296. He was known to hold lands in Dumfriesshire, and a writ to the sheriff of Cumberland in September 1296 for the restoration of his lands point to holdings in that county as well.[10]

 

Abbot of Dundrennan

An abbot of Dundrennan appears to have been restored to lands in Berwickshire and Cumberland in September 1296.[11] He is unnamed but may be Walter, who appears in 1296.

 

William of Gardyne (RR)

William Jardine, or de Gardino, from Gardyne in Angus, also had his lands seized in April 1296. The Harclay account mentions that Lowthwaite was seized because he was ‘of the kingdom of Scotland and remaining there’. In June 1296 at Stirling and again at Berwick in August, he performed fealty to Edward I. On 3 September 1296, lands in Midlothian which he held of John de Vaux were restored to him. According to CDS, in 1298, the new sheriff of Cumberland was ordered to take William’s lands in Lowthwaite and Camerton into custody from Michael de Harclay, but the Camerton lands were likely a mistake as the editor of CDS had already mistakenly transcribed the third part of the hamlet of Camerton (belonging to Mary, wife of Alan of Camerton above) as part of Jardine’s lands when they were seized in April 1296. In 1303/4, Jardine petitioned the king and his council to restore his lands as he was ‘not in the first Scots war nor since … for which at another time he petitioned in Parliament … and Sir John de St John was to make inquiry.’[12] These lands in Cumberland do not appear to have been restored.

 

John of Gelston (RR)

John of Gelston in Kirkcudbrightshire held the ward of Hutton John, Cumberland, seized in April 1296. Later that year, he was a juror for the inquest into the lands of Helen de la Zouche, recently deceased. And in the same year, he appeared on the Ragman Roll at the Berwick parliament as ‘of the county of Dumfries’.[13] John also appears as a witness to three charters of the period related to Holm Cultram Abbey (Cumberland) and Kirkcudbrightshire.[14] In the Harclay account, it was noted that the ‘manor of Dougal of Gelston in Hutton John, [was] taken into the king’s hand because he remained in Scotland and because he held the same by the concession of John of Gelston, his father, up to the legal age of the heir of William of Hutton’. The manor was released to Dougal on 8 September 1296 by writ of the king and at the request of Master John of Caen. Dougal, for his part, seemed to have been loyal to the English as in 1307 it was recorded that he had lost a horse in pursuit of Robert Bruce, for which he was paid an unknown sum of money by the English treasury.[15]

 

Gilbert de Glenwyn/Gletiwin

Gilbert’s lands of Brampton were taken into the hands of Michael de Harclay in April 1296, as he was ‘of the kingdom of Scotland and remaining there’. In December 1298, the new sheriff of Cumberland was ordered to take these lands, and others, from Harclay’s custody. His name is once given as ‘Cutbert’, though this is likely a mistake for Gilbert. His surname may be a corrupt form of Glenholm, Peebleshire, which may connect him to that family in Scotland. Stephen of Glenholm appeared on the Ragman Roll in August 1296, and Peter de Glenwyn (likely of Glenholm) had lands in Northumberland seized at this time (see Part II).[16] Gilbert does not appear in the PoMS database, and his lands do not appear to have been restored.

 

Henry of Malton

Henry of Malton (Yorks.) held land in Kirklinton, probably near that of Walter of Corrie (above), which was also ‘burnt and waste’ when it was seized in April 1296. Henry held the land from the son and heir of Patrick Trump.[17] In 1298/9, Henry appears as ‘steward of Annandale’ and also appears in the wardrobe accounts for 1309-11, evidently having stayed loyal to the crown after the seizure of his land. He was dead by February 1327, when his lands in Yorkshire and Cumberland were given to Dougal Macdowall. He appears to have had a son, John, who also had a son, Thomas. When Thomas inherited, it was mentioned that Henry held lands in Nithsdale and Dumfries, likely given to him after 1296 for his service to Edward II. Indeed, he does appear petitioning for lands in the area in 1298.[18] However, he does not appear on the Ragman Roll, nor in the Harclay account, where Patrick Trump of Kirklinton appears in his own right (see below). The lands were evidently released to Patrick, therefore Henry does not appear to have been restored of any lands.

 

Geoffrey de Mowbray

Geoffrey de Mowbray, knight, is a well-known figure in Scottish history. A witness to many charters of the period, he begins appearing in the records from the mid-1270s. In Scotland, he was justiciar of Lothian in 1294 and held the manor of Eckford in Roxburghshire which was seized by Edward I and given to Robert Hastang, the English-appointed sheriff of Roxburgh. Mowbray’s others lands in Scotland were given to the earl of Warwick in 1298. In Cumberland, ‘Sir’ Geoffrey de Mowbray held the manor of Bolton, as well as some lands in Yorkshire. Bolton was given to William of Muncaster in July 1299 for a period of ten years, but the following year, after Geoffrey had died, Muncaster was given the manor for life. Geoffrey had died before June 1300, and was succeeded by his son, John, who had been captured by the English in 1297.[19] He does not appear on the Ragman Roll and his lands do not appear to have been restored.

 

Alice, wife of Alan of Rule

Alice held land in Dovenby in dower, which was seized in April 1296. An Alan of Rule appears between 1203 and 1205, but it is very unlikely this was her husband. Her husband may have been a relation of Roger of Rule, who held land in Dovenby, which was lost by Roger’s rebellion against Henry III during the Barons’ War. Roger died at the battle of Evesham in 1265, fighting with Guy de Balliol.[20] There are several Rules in Roxburghshire who may also be related. Dovenby does not appear to have been restored.

 

Gilbert of Southwick (RR)

Gilbert, from Southwick in Kirkcudbrightshire, was the son and heir of Patrick of Southwick, and was born in 1270 in Tinwald, Dumfriesshire. Before receiving his inheritance in England, he had already received lands ‘held of the earl of Buchan’ in Scotland.[21] In Cumberland, he held lands in Skelton and Kirkandrews, which were seized in April 1296 as Gilbert was ‘of the kingdom of Scotland and remaining there’. These lands appear with others in the hands of Michael de Harclay, sheriff of Cumberland, and his successor two years later. He performed fealty to Edward I in July 1296, at Elgin, and again at Berwick in August as ‘of the county of Dumfries’. His lands do not appear to have been restored. But, he was nephew and co-heir of Richard of Kirklinton and after the death of Richard’s widow, Sarah, in 1300, he and his co-heirs, including Walter of Corrie above, each received a sixth of Richard’s lands in Cumberland. However, two of his co-heirs, sisters Matilda and Emma of Carrick, nieces of Richard, were denied their share of the lands as they were ‘dwell[ing] with the enemy in Scotland.’ In 1302, Matilda was restored along with her nephew, Patrick Trump (see below). With John of Gelston above, Gilbert served as a juror for the inquest into the lands of Helen de la Zouche after her death that year.[22]

 

John, abbot of Sweetheart (RR)

John appears as abbot of Sweetheart in Dumfriesshire between 1280 and 1290 and again on 28 August 1296 when he appeared on the Ragman Roll at Berwick. A writ was issued shortly afterwards to the sheriff of Carlisle to restore his lands, although it is unknown what lands he held.[23]

 

David of Torthorwald (d.1296)

David of Torthorwald, a Dumfriesshire knight, held the manor of Cumrew in Cumberland by heritage of Christiana, his wife, and also seemed to have held the manor of Cargo with 14 bovates of land. Cumrew was seized in April 1296, but it was said David ‘had died in the Scottish war and, after the death of the said David, the said manor was restored by writ of the king to Christiana, his wife’ in September 1296. Cargo and the other lands were seized at the same time, and were restored to William of Carlisle by writ of the king.[24] It is unclear how David came in to possession of Cargo, as the manor was evidently held by Robert de Ros (d.c.1274), though it was disputed by William of Carlisle, who claimed that his mother, Sapienta, widow of William of Carlisle junior, demised the land to Robert. Indeed, in 1296, Robert de Ros (d.1296) is recorded as holding the vill, which was seized by the king (see part III).[25] Before his death, David appeared frequently in the PoMS database from about 1273, including as steward of Annandale in 1272×73. As he was dead by April, he does not appear on the Ragman Roll. On 25 May 1297, Edward I commanded John de Warenne, his guardian of Scotland, to restore to Thomas, son and heir of David, lands of his father in Scotland, as Thomas had come into Edward’s peace.[26]

 

Patrick Trump of Kirklinton

Patrick Trump was the son of Patrick Trump ‘of Carrick’ and was also related in some way to both Gilbert of Southwick and Walter of Corrie (above). He was a tenant of Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick. His lands in Kirklinton, held in wardship of Henry of Malton (see above) were seized in April 1296 because he was remaining in Scotland, and they were released to him by writ of the king in December 1296, at which time he appears as ‘falconer’. He does not appear in the Ragman Roll. In 1302, it was attested that Patrick and his aunt, Matilda of Carrick (see above under Gilbert of Southwick), had come into Edward I’s peace and claimed rights to land in the manor of Kirklinton. He and Matilda, as well as other ‘tenants of [the king’s] liege, Robert de Bruce, earl of Carrick’, were restored to that land at the same time.[27]

 

 

As mentioned earlier, these 17 men and women do not represent all of those rebels who held lands in Cumberland. Seven men were said to hold land in Cumberland and Northumberland and they will be discussed in Part III of this feature together with final conclusions on all the rebels. They include John Balliol, king of Scots, Alexander of Bunkle, Thomas of Moralee, William Murray of Drumsargard, Robert de Ros, Patrick of Selkirk, abbot of Melrose, and Adam of Swinburne. In Part II of this feature, which will be published online shortly, we will examine the 44 rebels who held land in the county of Northumberland.