Battle of Baugé

Background:

The Battle was part of the ‘Hundred Years War’ between England and France. In 1419 King Henry V of England had turned the course of the war at Agincourt, a battle that has become synonymous with Anglo French ‘sparring’ ever since. There had been a formal alliance between France and Scotland since 1295, known as the ‘Auld Alliance’ though the ties between the two nations goes back much further, indeed the tradition of a ‘Guarde Eccosais’ goes back to the time of Charlemagne.

After Agincourt the French were in disarray. Charles VI of France was mad, and his heir, the future Charles VII, was only sixteen. Normandy was lost to the English and the Dukes of Burgundy were taking Paris. With the situation getting desperate the Dauphin appealed to Scotland for help.

King James I of Scotland was imprisoned by the English and the country was being ruled in his place by Robert Stewart, first duke of Albany. Albany decided to send a force of 6,000 volunteers to France under the command of Archibald Douglas, earl of Wigtown and Albany’s second son John Steward, third earl of Buchan. A fleet of ships from Castile reached Scotland in September 1419, and on 29 October 1419 the Scottish army reached the Dauphin’s court at Bourges.

The Scots made up by far the largest component of the Dauphin’s defensive forces in the Loire Valley. The English army still recording successes in France was commanded by Henry V’s oldest brother Thomas of Lancaster, duke of Clarence. Estimates of the strength of this force vary from between 7,000 to 12,000 men, a considerable number of which were drawn from the English nobility.

In March 1421 Clarence led a series of raids through the Anjou and Maine and by Good Friday they were camped near the little town of Vieil-Baugé where their progress was halted by the Franco-Scots army who had also arrived in the area. Clarence was keen to engage them but some of his forces were dispersed and also Easter Sunday was unthinkable as a date to start a battle. The following day a party of English who had been on a foraging mission returned to their camp with some captured Scots soldiers, The party had stumbled upon the Scot’s forces and Clarence keen to press his advantage of surprise and also to avoid a conflict on a holy day decided to engage despite his weakened force.

The Battle

Carmichael Clan Crest

Clarence made the fateful decision to attack immediately with a small force of mounted men-at-arms, leaving The earl of Salisbury to gather the other troops who were still out foraging on their return. Clarence headed for the bridge at Baugé, the only crossing available to reach the Scots. It would appear he was desperate to match the exploits of his brother at Agincourt. The Franco-Scots army were largely unprepared for the attack, many were at morning prayers or playing sports. As they attempted to cross the Bridge a small Scottish force nearby raised the alarm and the English were immediately held by a rain of arrows. It took them some time to force a crossing of the river. In his haste he had not brought his own archers and the remainder of this initial force were stretched back along the road.

Despite this Clarence still pressed forward towards the village, only to be met by the main bulk of the Scots and French who were concealed behind a ridge on the approach. The Scots came over the crest and charged headlong at the English army. Clarence was an early casualty. John Carmichael of Douglasdale unhorsed him, breaking his lance in the process – an event which is immortalised in the crest of clan Carmichael. The battle was reduced to a vicious hand to hand melee and its unclear who stuck the final blow that finished off Clarence. Alexander Makcaustelayn (a Lennox highlander), the lord of Fontaines, Charles le Bouteiller and William de Swinton have all been credited with finishing off the King’s brother.

Aftermath

The result was a crushing defeat for the English which set them back on the course of the war, Henry was forced to return to France but he contracted an illness and died during the campaign. Many of the English who had never even made it to the battle were able to escape and the war raged on for many years to come with victories and defeats on both sides.

The Scots Army in France who had been largely criticised by many French before the battle were now seen in an altogether different light and this French guard in later years formed the core of the Royal Scots – the oldest regiment in the British army, honoured for their antiquity by their nickname ‘Pontius Pilate’s Bodyguard’

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“Yestre’en the Queen had fower Maries

The nicht she’ll hae but three

There was Mary Seton and Mary Beaton,

And Mary Car-Michael and me.”

It is believed that the ballad is fictional, and the four Marys come from the four ladies-in-waiting chosen by James V’s Queen, Mary of Guise, to be companions to Mary, Queen of Scots who succeeded her father at the age of just 6 days old. However, none of these woman were called Mary Hamilton; they were in fact Mary Beaton, Mary Fleming, Mary Livingston, and Mary Seton.

Mary Hamilton awaiting execution

Yet, there was a real Mary Hamilton, whose story and downfall is rather similar to that of the Mary Hamilton in the ballad.

Mary Hamilton was a Scottish lady-in-waiting to the Russian Empress Catherine I. She was a member of a Scottish Hamilton family who emigrated to Russia sometime in the sixteenth century, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. It is believed that she was the daughter of a William Hamilton. Mary became a lady-in-waiting to Catherine I in 1713, and she attracted a lot of attention around the royal Russian court due to her beauty and love life, and it wasn’t long before she became the mistress of Peter the Great. But the Tsar wasn’t her only lover, she was also having an affair with Ivan Mikhailovich Orlov, an aide-de-camp to Tsar Peter. However, Orlov had another mistress, and when Mary found out, she tried to win him back by giving Orlov gifts which she had stolen from Catherine.

Over the years Mary became pregnant on at least three occasions, and had two abortions – one in 1715, apparently by consuming constipation medicine. However, she did have a secret birth two years later in 1717, but afterwards killed the baby by drowning it. That same year her lover Orlov was questioned over some missing documents, and during the interrogation he confessed to having had an affair with Mary, and claimed that she had an abortion.

A rumor was spread that the Empress, Catherine, had a slightly unorthodox skin care method: it was alleged that she would eat wax to make her skin pale. And Mary Hamilton was accused of starting this rumor by Avdotya Chernysheva; Ivan Orlov’s other lover. This, unsurprisingly, annoyed Catherine, and she demanded that Mary’s room was to be searched. Unfortunately for Mary, her room was where she kept several of the items she stole from the Empress, and when they were discovered Mary and Orlov were both arrested and imprisoned in the Fortress of Saint Petersburg. Whilst in prison Mary not only confessed to the theft, but she also admitted that she murdered her new born child, however, even under torture, she refused to testify against Orlov, despite the fact he had been quick to point fingers at her.

In the November of 1718, Mary Hamilton was sentenced to death for abortion, infanticide, and theft and slander of Empress Catherine. Catherine asked Peter to overrule the death sentence, but he refused. The Tsar did, however, promise Mary that the executioner would not touch her at all, meaning that she would be beheaded with a sword instead of an axe. Mary was executed on the 14th of March, 1719, dressed all in white.

Unfortunately for Mary Hamilton, her execution was not the last indignity that she would suffer. After the decapitation the Emperor went over and picked up Mary’s head and gave the gathered crowd a lecture about its anatomy before kissing it and then throwing it down. The Russian Academy of Science were given her head and they preserved it for at least the next 50 years.

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The Carmichael Clan

Dougie Vipond meets contemporary clan chiefs to see how the clan system operates in a modern Scotland.

The post 21st Century Clan Chiefs: Carmichael appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

THE RIVERS ESK AND EWES AT LANGHOLM.

Sir John was born in 1542, son to an illustrious family which hailed from Lanarkshire. He was a direct ancestor of the Earls of Hindford.

He was Scottish Deputy March Warden at the ‘Day of Truce’ which was held on the Border in the hills aside present day Carter Bar in July 1575. The Day of Truce, a meeting to try the perpetrators of crime, both English and Scottish, was enshrined in Border Law. March Wardens from each side of the Border presided over the affairs and were charged with bringing the criminals for trial; juries were a mix of both Scots and English. Yet the ‘Day’ was a time when many men attended from both England and Scotland to witness that fair play presided throughout.

In 1575 numbers who attended were limitless; it was not unusual for a thousand men from each country to witness the events. Thus it was nigh on impossible to bring Scots and English together without inviting many who were at feud. Such was the turmoil that reigned in the Border country that even blood-feud prevailed as men from the same clans and same side of the Border rubbed shoulders at the Truce but smarted for revenge at the sight of an adversary with whom they were at odds. The atmosphere was charged with belligerence and aggression, yet there was little alternative. All invited might ostensibly be there to see fair play but there was another reason, unspoken yet acknowledged by all. Their presence was some insurance that neither side would take advantage of the other, nor resort to violence should any judgement be deemed unfair by family or friend of the accused. All who attended the Truce were to arrive unarmed but the reality was so different. No man would have been so foolish as to adhere to this code in the cauldron of ill feeling which prevailed. The Wardens turned a blind eye to the steel which swung at each man’s belt.

All took an oath to honour the precept of the Truce. They swore that they would not offend ‘by word, deed or countenance’.

THE BORDER MARCHES

At the Raid of the Redeswire Carmichael fell victim to the invective and guile of Sir John Forster, seventy-five years old, and English Middle March Warden. Reaction to the aggressive exchanges of the two Wardens soon spilled over to the men of both sides who attended and all hell let loose.

The Redeswire affair was the last battle between English and Scottish Border Reivers and the last time that the English used the longbow in warfare. The English came off the worse in this encounter and Carmichael was warded in York in an effort to appease the wrath of Elizabeth l of England. Sir George Heron of Chipchase in Tynedale, Northumberland was murdered in the affray.

There was at least one other occasion where Sir John Carmichael played a prominent part. In the Raid of Ruthven in 1582 the sixteen year old king of Scotland, James Vl, was captured by William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, and confined for ten months. Gowrie was unhappy at the influence of Catholicism and the effect this might have on the young king. Carmichael held the same views and readily espoused the cause of ridding the nation of the pro-catholic and pro-French influences epitomised in the young king’s cousin, Esme Stuart.

Carmichael was soon pardoned for his part in the affair. In 1588 he was one of the ambassadors sent to Denmark to negotiate the marriage between James Vl and Anne, daughter of the king of Denmark.

When Carmichael was made Warden of the Scottish West March in 1598 he had come of age. For all his turbulent past he was respected as a Warden who would see fair play between the English and Scots. There were many in the Scottish Border Lands who resented his impartial approach; none more so than the Armstrongs of Liddesdale.

LIDDESDALE

In 1600 Carmichael made it plain that he would use his power as March Warden even against his own people and especially the Armstrongs whose raids south of the Border were a particular embarrassment to a man dedicated to bringing peace to the Borders. The Armstrongs decided to plead for leniency on the promise of amendment to their nefarious ways and sought an audience with Sir John. They sent a brother of William Armstrong of Kinmont to parley with Carmichael, one Alexander Armstrong, known as Sandeis Ringane. Carmichael had heard the promises too many times before and would have no truck with the Armstrong clan. Their past outrages deserved the punishments he held in store.

THE RUINS OF MANGERTON TOWER; THE MAIN ARMSTRONG STRONGHOLD

At the meeting with Carmichael were a few of his young followers. They began to taunt the elderly Armstrong and endeavoured to humiliate him at every opportunity. It would seem that Carmichael did little to curb their youthful pranks and overt hostility to the once powerful warlord. At one stage they removed his sword and filled his scabbard with egg yolks. Having replaced the sword it was now impossible to remove it from the scabbard.

Sandeis Ringane was besides himself with fury and swore that should any of the present company of Carmichael ever stray on Armstrong land he would have no compunction in pulling his sword and ridding the world of their odious presence.  The meeting broke up with acrimony.

On his return home Sandeis Ringane told his sons of his mistreatment. His eldest son, Thomas Armstrong, said little in the way of comfort to calm the distress and shame of his unfortunate father but the thought of revenge was soon at the forefront of his mind.

He knew that next morning Sir John Carmichael was to leave Langholm and ride for Lochmaben where he was to preside over a Warden Court. The journey, through hilly woodland, would surely present the perfect opportunity to confront the illustrious March Warden.

THE RUINS OF LOCHMABEN CASTLE

Accordingly next morning a party of Armstrongs including Thomas Armstrong and his father along with a Taylor, a Forrester, a Scott and a Graham lay in wait for Carmichael at a place still known to this day as the Raesknowes, on the way to Lochmaben. As the March Warden passed the ambush party a number of hagbutts rang out and Carmichael fell dead.

The ambush party scattered and sought refuge at the homes of friends who had been apprised of the intention to kill Carmichael but they were relentlessly pursued on the orders of King James.

Carmichael was a king’s Warden of the Marches and the perpetrators of the murder were therefore considered as traitors. Murder in the Border lands was pretty commonplace in the 16th century but this one was different. Murder of a man appointed by the King himself was not to be tolerated. The wrongdoers would pay the ultimate price for their rash and impetuous crime against a King’s man.

In 1601 Thomas Armstrong, son to Sandies Ringane, was apprehended, taken to the Mercat Cross at Edinburgh and hanged. Before he stood the drop that ended his life his right hand was cut off. Subsequently his body was wrapped in chains, the lifeless corpse hung up at the Borroughmuir.

‘And Thomas Armstrang, “sone to Sandeis Ringane” was condemned to be “tane to the mercat croce of Edinburgh, and thair his richt hand to be stricken fra his arme; and thaireeftir, to be hanget upoune ane gibbet, quhill he be deid; and thaireefter, to be tane to the Gallows on the Burrowmure, and thair his body to be hangit in irn chains…

Thomas Armstrong was the first man ever to be hanged in chains after death; at least he is the first recorded as such in the Scottish records. Even in death he was to suffer for his crime, his body subject to the butt of endless atrocity by the Edinburgh populace.

One man evaded capture until 1606.

Should you ever find yourself taking the road from Canonbie to Newcastleton in the Scottish Borders, you will come across a statue to Lang Sandy as you pass through the village of Rowanburn. It is on your right as you pass through the village.

Lang Sandy, as his name implies, was a huge man. His real name was Alexander Armstrong, the board at his feet simply declaring that he was hanged in 1606.

He took part in the ambush and murder of Sir John Carmichael in June 1600 but was not caught until six years later.

At his trial he admitted the murder but not before saying that the crime was brought on against his will.

The murder of Sir John Carmichael would herald the end of the Armstrongs as the superior force in the Scottish Border Lands. Within three years of the murder, James Vl of Scotland would also rule in England on the death of Elizabeth l. He would not forget the atrocity committed by a clan that had often been the bane of his endeavours to cement a lasting and firm relationship with the English queen before her death. Many of the Armstrongs would be unjustly hounded and persecuted, evicted from their lands, deported and executed without trial.

Carmichael‘s death would signal their demise.

LANG SANDY OF ROWANBURN

Border Reivers

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