The road to Bothwell

In early September 1301 the war in Scotland shifted up a gear. King Edward left Glasgow on the 4 and arrived the next day outside the walls of Bothwell Castle, on the banks of the Clyde a few miles to the southeast.

Bothwell was the property of Walter of Moravia, or Walter of Moray, known as Walter ‘the Rich’ for reasons that were presumably obvious. Many of his kinsmen had been captured at the battle of Dunbar in 1296, including his younger brother Andrew, who died in the Tower in April 1298. His nephew Andrew earned fame as the chap who, along with Sir William Wallace, defeated the Earl of Surrey at Stirling Bridge in 1297. Andrew shortly afterwards died of his wounds.

The castle appears to have changed hands three times in five years, and by September 1301 was back in Scottish possession. William the Rich had died the previous year, and his nearest heir was the three-year old Andrew, son of the late Guardian. Edward seems to have identified the Morays as a specific threat, and took personal charge of the operations at Bothwell. This was part of his laborious step-by-step reconquest of Scotland; the Scots were never going to fold again as they did in 1296, so the thing had to be done piecemeal, one castle and chunk of territory at a time.

Prior to the siege, on 10 August, Edward granted the barony of Bothwell, including castle and lands to the value of £1000, to Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke and John Comyn’s brother-in-law. At this stage the castle itself probably consisted of the main donjon tower, the prison tower, and the short connecting wall. The foundations of the remainder would have been protected by a timber palisade. 

The siege lasted from 5-22 September. While it was in progress a siege tower or ‘belfry’ was constructed at Glasgow and hauled seven miles along a corduroy road to the castle; this was a log road or timber trackway made by placing logs perpendicular to the direction of the road. It was a rough mode of transport, and a danger to horses due to shifting loose logs, but an improvement on impassable mud or dirt roads. On 6 September, mindful of desertions, Edward paid out wages to his 6800 infantry.

Whatever his failings elsewhere, the king was a dab hand at siegecraft. Possibly he inherited this trait from grandpa John, who also loved a siege. The Guardians made no attempt to rescue Bothwell, and by 22 September the garrison had surrendered.