Stick to thy mass, bishop!

The spring of 1296 witnesses two important sieges in Scotland and Gascony. On Easter Monday (26 March) the Scots descend upon Carlisle, the gateway to northwest England. Here the garrison is commanded by Sir William Keith, a knight in the retinue of Robert de Bruce, Earl of Carrick. At this stage the Bruces are fighting for Edward I, in the vain hope that he will put a Bruce on the Scottish throne after deposing John Balliol.

Carlisle castle

Nicholas Trivet, a Dominican friar, supplies a vivid account of the siege:

“Therefore, with the king spending the solemnity of Easter at the aforesaid castle, seven earls of Scotland, namely the earls of Bowan, Meneteth, Straderne, Lewenos, Ros, Athel, Mar, and John, son of John Comin of Badenau, after a strong army had been gathered in the valley of Anandia, on the second feast day of Easter entered England, and were laying waste to everything by slaughter and burning, not sparing age or sex; and coming to Carlisle, they surrounded the same city with a siege. Moroever, after they had burnt the suburbs, they heaped up combustible things at the gate of the city, and a certain noble of Galwidia, while he was approaching the gate of the city, was dragged by an iron hook by the men, who were upon the gate, and was killed after he had been stabbed by lances. Indeed, a certain spy, who had been detained in the prison of the city, when he had heard about the arrival of these men, set fire to the prison, the fire of which was carried down by the force of the wind onto other houses, and a great part of the city was burnt. However, men and women, running together to the walls, propelled the Scots from the walls with stones and missiles, manfully defending the city. The Scots, seeing that they were not making progress, gave up the siege on the fourth feast day and returned to Scotland.”

In Gascony, a few days later, the French lay siege to Bourg on the Gironde. If the town falls, English power in northern Gascony will collapse. The French throw everything at Bourg: surviving accounts show payments for stones purchased from local stone-cutters, and for a siege engine dragged up to the site. Meanwhile a French fleet blockades the Gironde to prevent supplies getting through. The large sum of 23, 141 livres tournois is spent on this operation.

The blockade fails. Barran Sescar, a Bayonnais privateer in charge of the Anglo-Gascon fleet, smashes through the line of French warships and delivers a constant flow of victuals from England: corn, hay, beans, bacon, stockfish, everything the defenders require.

King Edward’s resources are strained on all fronts, not least in terms of manpower. One of the English captains serving in northern Gascony is Ralph Basset of Drayton, a lord of the Welsh Marches. He was one of those present at the death of Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1282, and his military record shows how Edward I’s fighting men were dragged about all over the place. Ralph will be recalled to fight at Falkirk in 1298, where he delivers a crushing putdown to Antony Bek, the fighting bishop of Durham:

“Stick to thy mass, bishop, and don’t teach us the art of war!”