In July 1482, an English army invaded Scotland during the Anglo-Scottish Wars. The town of Berwick-upon-Tweed and its castle were captured and the English army briefly occupied Edinburgh. These events followed the signing of the Treaty of Fotheringhay, 11 June 1482, in which Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, the brother of James III of Scotland declared himself King of Scotland and swore loyalty to Edward IV of England. The follow-up invasion of Scotland under the command of Edward's brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester failed to install Albany on the throne, but Berwick has remained English ever since the castle surrendered on 24 August 1482. The English army left Edinburgh with a promise for the repayment of the dowry paid for the marriage of Princess Cecily of England to the Scottish Crown Prince.
Treaty of Fotheringhay
Edward IV was disappointed by the failure of his 1474 treaty with James III who had promised that his son, Prince James would marry Cecily of York. The betrothal was made in October 1474 with a forty-five year truce to last until 1519. Her dowry payments were to be made yearly, starting on 3 February 1475 in Edinburgh, brought by Edward's servants from Norham Castle, and a meeting was to be held to resolve the dispute over the 'fish-garth', a salmon trap on the Esk. Since February 1475, Edward's officers had delivered instalments of Cecilia's 20,000 mark dowry to James's treasurer in St Giles, Edinburgh.
However, border conflict had restarted in 1480, perhaps due to Scotland's Auld Alliance with France. According to a chronicle, the Earl of Angus had attacked Bamburgh Castle, and the Earl of Northumberland had raided in Scotland. By October, James III had written to Louis XI of France asking for guns and artillerymen to repulse further attacks. Eleven ships were put on war-footing for Scotland in February 1481 and Sir Robert Radcliffe was commanded to arm a fleet with guns and gunners on 8 July 1480. These ships made raids in Forth, attacking Blackness Castle and harassing shipping in the spring and autumn of 1481. There does not seem to have been a land-based invasion of Scotland, but there were three raids into England by a Scottish army in that year. Edward IV had made invasion preparations and began to travel north, but went no further than Nottingham.
In May, James III's brother, Alexander, Duke of Albany, landed in England at Southampton from France in a Scottish carvel, the Michael, captained by James Douglas. Edward IV seized this new opportunity to invade Scotland, hired Master Douglas and his ship on 9 May, and summoned fighting-men for the cause of the "king of Scotland" on 10 May 1482. Edward IV, Albany and Richard, Duke of Gloucester made a formal treaty at Fotheringhay Castle near Peterborough, where Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned and executed a century later. According to the treaty, Alexander, if he became King of Scotland, would reserve to Edward IV the town of Berwick upon Tweed, Lochmaben Castle with land in southern Scotland in Annandale, Liddesdale, Eskdale, and Ewesdale. He would do homage to Edward IV and break the Auld Alliance with France. If he could extract himself from other engagements in the sight of the Church, he would marry Cecily of York. He had already married Anne de la Tour, the daughter of the Count of Auvergne and Bouillon in January. On 11 June 1482, Albany signed "Alexander R.," for Alexander, Rex.
The invasion
Edward IV had been preparing an army of 20,000 men to invade Scotland by sea and land, and on 12 June Richard, Duke of Gloucester was made commander, with John Elrington appointed war-treasurer on 22 June 1482. One of his officers, Francis Lovell, had his orders before 24 June, as he wrote that he could not travel south from Tanfield near Durham for the feast of John the Baptist as he had a command in Gloucester's army. Equipped with 2,000 sheaves of arrows and ordnance brought from Newcastle upon Tyne by 120 cart horses, the English army assembled at Alnwick. Gloucester and Albany went forward to capture Berwick. The town had been in Scottish hands for the previous twenty years after the Lancastrian fugitives Henry VI of England, and his wife Margaret of Anjou gave it to James, and was held by David Lindsay, Earl of Crawford and Andrew, Lord Gray. They surrendered by negotiation, although the castle held out for Scotland.
Blackadder Castle
According to testimony made in a legal action in 1501, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, came to Blackadder Castle and his ally the Duke of Albany ordered the "great house and tower of Blackadder" to be destroyed. Albany's supporters Philip Nesbit, John Lumsden of Blanerne, and Patrick Sleich of Cumledge helped convey the Duke of Gloucester from Blackadder to Berwick. The Blackadder family sought reparations from Nesbit, Lumsden, and Sleich in 1501 and they denied their presence. According to Hall's Chronicle, "Blakater and the Branke" was one of several fortified locations to the west of Berwick captured and demolished or burnt by the two Dukes while siege was laid to Berwick Castle and before the march towards Edinburgh.
Lauder Bridge
The English army moved west from Berwick and divided into two. The Earl of Northumberland stayed on the Scottish border taking castles and bastle houses and burning farms at Kirk Yetholm, Bemersyde, Morebattle, Roxburgh, Jedburgh, Ednam, and other places. Richard, Duke of Gloucester also moved west to Kimmerghame with the support of James, Earl of Douglas. Near Duns he turned north-west to Edinburgh, or returned towards Berwick before making for Edinburgh as the Blackadder testimony suggests.
The Scottish army of James III got no further south than Lauder Bridge, to the west of Gloucester's route, where there was some kind of mutiny involving Archibald, Earl of Angus. The exact events at Lauder are unclear, but later chronicles relate that some of the king's favourites including the architect Robert Cochrane, merchant Thomas Preston, his tailor James Hommyll, and the composer William Roger were hanged from the bridge. The existence of some of these favourites as described is doubtful.
James III was brought back to Edinburgh on 22 July 1482. There were now three clear factions in Scotland; Albany's party, the loyalists, and the Lauder mutineers. The Queen at Stirling with Prince James may also have had independent influence. A London merchant, George Cely, wrote a letter with exaggerated news of the campaign in July;
"the Dewke of Albany ys comyn ynto Ynglond and he has sworne to Kyngys good grace, and the King hasse sent hym ynto Scottland wyth 60,000 men yn iii battelles and many lordys of Ynglond wyth hym, ... Wythyn an monyth ther hasse ben about 44 townus and velagys brent en Scottlond and many lordys takyn and slayne, Donfryss ys brent."
Richard, Duke of Gloucester at Edinburgh
At the beginning of August, Richard's army entered Edinburgh but he could not establish Albany as King. James III remained safe in Edinburgh Castle apparently as a prisoner of the lords who had mutinied at Lauder, although he had secretly contracted with the Keeper Lord Darnley and the garrison for his safety. Richard, not expecting to meet this coup d'état, did not have resources to besiege the castle.
As the details of the Fotheringhay treaty became known, vital Scottish support for Albany as king evaporated. Albany, his brother's party, and the keepers of the castle became reconciled. On 2 August 1482 Albany and Gloucester signed a bond with Colin, Earl of Argyll, Archbisbop Scheves, Lord Avandale, and the Bishop of Dunkeld which promised a pardon for Albany and the restoration of his previous dignities.
The English army made a truce on 4 August 1482 and withdrew with an undertaking from the town of Edinburgh to repay an advance on Cecilia's dowry which Edward had given to James III. The money had been paid as James III had previously promised his son Prince James would marry Cecilia. Albany was left to take possession of Edinburgh Castle and become for a time his brother's keeper. Gloucester left 1,700 men to assault Berwick Castle on 11 August and the castle was captured after a fortnight's siege.
Edward IV wrote to Pope Sixtus IV on 25 August describing the campaign in Scotland, explaining that Richard had spared all the citizens of Edinburgh, helped by the intercession of Albany, who was restored to his estates by the power of the English army. Edward explained that the taking of Berwick was the chief advantage he had gained. Berwick Castle, Edward writes, was taken on the army's return, not without slaughter and bloodshed. This letter was written before news of surrender of the castle could have reached him, according to the date 24 August given in the chronicles of Raphael Holinshed, John Lesley, and Edward Hall.
Siege of Edinburgh Castle
After Gloucester's departure, Albany seems from the chronicle stories to have looked for supporters for his faction, possibly including discussions with the Queen Margaret of Denmark at Stirling Castle, then besieged Edinburgh Castle. James III came out on 29 September 1482, but Lord Darnley, who had joined James's party, held it in defence till 7 October 1482.
The historian Norman Macdougall supposed that James III came out of the castle after Albany made a deal with his half-uncles and rebels at Lauder, John Stewart, Earl of Atholl and James Stewart, Earl of Buchan. James wrote an official letter to Lord Darnley on 19 October 1482 which confirmed that he was brought from Lauder and held in the castle against his will. The letter exonerated the garrison from any censure. Darnley, James III wrote, had made a compact with him for his safety, and held the castle against Albany's siege on James's orders.
Aftermath
For some months Albany remained powerful in Scotland, and on 11 December 1482, James III made him "Lieutenant-General of the realm" to defend the borders from English raids. When James III was restored to power, on 8 January 1483 he rewarded the Provost of Edinburgh Walter Bertrahame, who had underwritten the bond to repay Cecilia's dowry while the King was captive and warded in Edinburgh Castle, with a pension of £40. He also paid bills from July for minting an unpopular base-metal copper "black money" coinage and £214 for iron used for making serpentines and other guns, and arranged for the repayment of money seized from George Robison, the customs officer of Edinburgh, at Lauder.
Albany went to Dunbar Castle and renewed his treaty with Edward IV in February. The new treaty was made at Westminster by Henry Earl of Northumberland, John Lord Scrope and William Parr with the Earl of Angus, Andrew Lord Grey and James Liddale of Halkerston. This had the unintended effect of strengthening home support for his elder brother. Albany was forfeited as a traitor by the Parliament of Scotland in June, for making this new treaty, not for the events of the previous summer. After a period of exile, Albany joined with the Earl of Douglas in a new attempt at Scotland, which was defeated at the Battle of Lochmaben Fair.
Planned repairs to Berwick castle and town in 1483 were entrusted to Alexander Lee, a royal chaplain. The master carpenter of Berwick, George Porter, was ordered to build 120 houses in the town, with chambers, a hall, and a lodging in the castle. In England the boast "I was a captain when Barwycke was wonne" became a commonplace saying and was included in the Eton headmaster William Horman's 1519 Latin phrasebook Vulgaria as "Duxi ordinē qň Berwikũ venit in potestē."
The Scottish chronicles and Berwick Castle
The sixteenth century Scottish chronicles present a differing story. All accounts emphasise the coinage of the "black metal" currency and its devaluation as major factor in the King's unpopularity at Lauder, along with his favouritism of non-noble upstarts. Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, probably writing in the 1570s, misunderstands the Treaty of Fotheringhay and presents Albany as his brother's rescuer after the coup at Lauder Bridge, seeking English support at the King's request. After Gloucester comes to Edinburgh and James III is released, the royal brothers ride together from the Castle to Holyroodhouse. Then Pitscottie has the brothers and the Duke of Gloucester travel to Stirling and tour Scotland. This may represent Albany's labours to build his faction while James III remained in Edinburgh Castle after Gloucester's departure.