The sea-girt land of marsh and wood

In July 1300, at the height of an especially wet Scottish summer, the siege of Caerlaverock began. The English herald provides a vivid description of the castle and its surroundings:

“Mighty was Caerlaverock Castle. Siege it feared not, scorned surrender —wherefore came the King in person. Many a resolute defender, well supplied with stores and engines, ‘gainst assault the fortress manned. Shield-shaped, was it. corner-towered, gate and draw-bridge barbican’d. strongly walled, and girt with ditches filled with water brimmingly. Ne’er was castle lovelier sited: westward lay the Irish Sea, north a countryside of beauty by an arm of sea embraced. On two sides, whoe’er approached it danger from the waters faced; nor was easier the southward — sea-girt land of marsh and wood: therefore from the east we neared it, up the slope on which it stood.”

The king divided his army into three squadrons, and the forest of silken banners and pennons made a splendid sight; “aglow was all that place with gold, silver and rich colours”. The herald dwelled on the courage of King Edward’s knights, but the poor bloody infantry were sent in first. They charged at the castle, “discharging arrows, bolts and stones against the hold”. After an hour of exchanging missiles with the defenders, many of the English footsoldiers were dead or maimed. The infantry had been deserting in droves ever since the campaign began - and no wonder, if this was the treatment they could expect.

Then the English knights went in. There was nothing subtle about the assault; they simply charged on foot and tried to batter down the gates. Stones were dropped on their heads; “as caps and helms would pound to dust, shatter shields and batter targes; kill and wound was now their lust.” The herald praises the courage of individual knights (but not the peasants, naturally). Sir Robert Willoughby disdained to carry a shield, and so took a crossbow bolt to the chest. Ralph de Gorges stood under a hail of rocks and ‘refused to depart’; a knight named ‘le Kirkbride’ was virtually buried under a hail of rocks, bolts and arrows. Sir Robert Tony, dressed all in white, managed to climb onto the rampart and fight the Scots hand to hand.

Among the host were some Breton knights, led by the king’s nephew John of Brittany. These men forced the gates - “fierce as mountain lions were they, and their weapons wielded well” - but were pushed back by the defenders.

While “the fray continued fierce day and night”, a monk of Durham named Brother Robert prepared four great war-engines that had been dragged up from Berwick. One of these was called Robinet and would be used again at the siege of Stirling. These engines battered the castle, “devastating in their action, such that neither fort nor tower could withstand their mighty pounding”.

At last the roof of the gatehouse was smashed in, and most of the exhausted defenders offered to surrender. One of the Scots raised a flag to signal parley, only to be shot through the hand and face by an enraged archer who had no desire to yield. He was a lone voice, and the others agreed to surrender Caerlaverock to the king’s “mercy and grace”. Around sixty Scots survived the siege. The constable, Walter Benechase, and eleven of his fellows were sent off to prison at Newcastle. The fate of the others is unknown, though some were probably hanged.Caerlaverock was then granted to Robert Clifford, after which the army departed:

“Then the war-wise King directed how the army should be led, by what roads and by what passes, through the hostile land ahead.”