In 1278 Gilbert Umfraville, Earl of Angus, was indicted on a number of charges. These included giving aid and shelter to one Walter Denyas, a notorious robber, and his fellows in the earl’s castles at Prudhoe and Harbottle. Umfraville allegedly took £40 from Walter in exchange for protection, and appointed one Alexander of Kesterne as Walter’s ‘conductor’.
Walter Denyas was one of the most notorious outlaws of the age. He was originally from the midlands, a tenant of Earl Ferrers, and together with Roger Godberd had waged a campaign of terror and destruction in the counties of Nottingham, Derby and Leicester. His most notorious deed was the murder of William Fuiz the chaplain, a monk of Stanley Abbey in Wiltshire.
In 1266 Henry III set up the Dictum of Kenilworth, whereby rebels and outlaws such as Walter were allowed back into the king’s peace on payment of a fine. Walter had to wait another three years for his pardon. He owed it to the influence of the Lord Edward, who persuaded his father to forgive Walter for the death of the monk.
Walter went straight back to a life of crime. Like many an English outlaw in a later age, he found his way up to the Anglo-Scots border and ran with the ‘free lances’ of Redesdale, a valley in western Northumberland. The earl of Angus used the men of Redesdale as hired muscle: for instance, when he paid them to break into the house of William Douglas of Fawdon and mutilate his son.
Walter evaded the law for another three years. In 1272 he was run to earth by the king’s officers and met with the rusty axe of justice. According to the chronicle of Walter of Newburgh:
“Interea quidam maleficus, nomine Walter Devias, ducens exercitum aliquando equitum, quandoque peditum, et manifesta exercens latrocinia in villis, civitatibus et burgis ac religiosis et aliis multis infestus, tandem cum pluribus ex complicibus suis captus est et decollatus.”
(Walter Devias, a freebooter, is caught and executed)
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