John Bottle's Genealogy - Miscellaneous Items
The castle, now a complete ruin and barely recognisable as a castle, is near the town of Dalbeattie in Dumfries & Galloway, on a mound on the western bank of the River Urr. It could certainly qualify as being in "South Scotland" as Lilian Annie's letter records (see the Transcripts page item A1).
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A history of the site during the medieval era.
by Alastair Penman. PIFA., FSAScot.
The place-name BOTEL is an Old English (OE) term implying a "Chief's Residence" - a house or a defensive or administrative centre on the River Urr at the first crossing-point up from the tidal estuary which, to-day, ends just down river from the site at Buittle Bridge where the modern traffic lights are. Formerly this marked the high tide level in medieval times, although the waters seem, on occasion, to have reached as far north as the Haugh of Urr.
Daphne Brooke has pointed out that the name BOTEL probably derives from the 7th or 8th century Northumbrian (or Anglian) settlement and that the site was of major importance from very early times. The OE place-name element BOTL or BODL occurs in Northumbria, Lothian and Ayrshire, qualified by a prefix such as in Hardbottle, Newbattle and Maybole, the simplex form here - the BOTL - suggests both an early Anglian settlement and a social and administrative centre.
The inference that the BOTEL was the administrative centre of the rulers of Eastern Galloway from the 8th century onwards is supported by the occupation of Buittle as the caput of their Galloway estates by John and Devorgilla de Balliol, successively lord and lady of Galloway in the 13th century, as heirs of Alan,Lord of Galloway (died 1234).
It is interesting to note the various spellings of the name BUITTLE prior to the year 1400 AD:
|
BOTLE 1304 BOTHIL 1308 BOTEL 1311 BOTYLL 1312 BOTYLL 1325 BOTILL BOTILE BUTLE BOTILL BOTILL 1350 - 60 BOTTILL 1352 |
BOTLE 1329 - 71 BOTILL 1300 - 1400 BUTILL 1367 BOCHIL (BOTHIL) 1376 - 78 BOTYL 1379 BOTYLK 1381 BOTYL 1381 BOTYLL 1383 BUTYLL 1398 |
There is no mention of Botel until 1251, that is the date of the first document which has so far come to light, and so we must assume that Fergus, his sons Uchtred and Gilbert, grandson Roland and great-grandson Alan all held Botel. One of these "Reguli" - probably Roland, who ruled from 1185-1200, built his stone-walled castle here, on what he must have been aware of as being a site of antiquity, a site on which a timber building had previously stood. This dates the curtain-walled castle to c 1185 AD. The castle was essentially on a frontier line and one could argue that the scale of fortifications simply reflects the significance of the river-crossing, but that overplays the River Urr's physical importance. Even in winter, this is a river which can be waded in most stretches above the Motte of Urr.
We may hypothesise that while Fergus was King in Galloway and ruling from the chief seat in the region, Castledykes at Kirkcudbright, he would have had a wooden tower constructed at the river-crossing on the Urr. It would have been built upon a mound or "motte" which was already there and which he probably heightened by a few feet, a mound on which, we may conjecture, there had been an earlier construction during both the Viking and Anglian eras in Galloway. By the time that John Balliol married Alan's daughter Devorgilla c 1230 AD the stone castle would have been completed, albeit in a slightly simpler form perhaps with a timber bridge crossing the fosse or ditch. This was later replaced by a drawbridge with stone abutments.
This site, at the hub of radiating valleys, once guarded the lowest crossing-point on the River Urr. Archaeological evidence has now dated it to the Mesolithic era where we may assume that a small, but permanent settlement was situated c 5000 EC at the earliest. We may speculate that the next settlement site up from Buittle would be at Motte of Urr. Although archaeological excavation here has not proved anything, it is a site which is contemporary with that at Buittle, it is another river-crossing and Geoffrey Stell is of the opinion that it also goes back into prehistory. Unfortunately the only way to prove this now would be to strip the site down in layers and examine it in its archaeological detail. As this is a scheduled site the chances of this ever happening are very remote indeed. Both sites have been reached by sea-going vessels via the deeper river which, as Bill Cormack has pointed out, would have been fully twenty-feet higher and tidal twice a day in prehistoric times. The silting of the River Urr has been very rapid as can be seen, to-day, at Dalbeattie which was once a commercial port taking ships of up to 150 tons in, its harbour at Dub o'Hass. A farm named "Meikle Firthead" just to the south of Motte of Urr would suggest that it was originally sited at the head of the firth, not in the completely inland area where it is to be found to-day.
The very fact that the Lord of Galloway and Constable of Scotland occupied Botel Castle necessitated a King's man in this case Walter de Berkeley, occupying a similarly strong site nearby. Motte of Urr and Botel Castle must have been contemporary at this time, the one keeping a careful watch on the other.
When Alan of Galloway succeeded his father, Roland, and went to live in Lochfergus near Kirkcudbright, Botel Castle was occupied by his youngest daughter, the Lady Devorgilla de Balliol. Alan died at Lochfergus in 1234 and left two other daughters, Helena and Christiana, to share his vast estates in Wales, England and Ireland in addition to those in Galloway. He also had an illegitimate son, Thomas. Helena married Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, Devorgilla was married to John Balliol of Barnard Castle in Durham, and Christiana, who died childless in 1246, had married William de Fortibus, Earl of Albemarle. Christiana's inheritance passed to her two sisters thus dividing Galloway into two parts where previously there had been three. All of the lands to the west of the River Cree went to Helena's husband, while those to the east went to John Balliol. Thus through the inheritance of the Lady Devorgilla, Balliol became the most powerful baron in Galloway, Botel Castle became the administrative centre for the Lordship and it was probably during the Balliol tenure that the last phase of the building of the stone castle took place.
Under the feudal system no female could succeed as a ruler over the people of Galloway and, at first, the Galwegians refused to have Devorgilla's husband ruling them. In their eyes Balliol was not only a foreigner, an Englishman of French origin who took his name from Bailleul in Picardy, but also an opportunist. They firstly approached the King of Scotland, Alexander II, and invited him to be their liege lord, but fearing the wrath of the Normans he refused and was then asked if he would at least sanction the bastard Thomas as ruler. Again the politic King refused, but the Galwegian people proceeded to openly back Thomas and determined to have him as their ruler in succession to his father, with or without the blessing of the King of Scots. The result was bloody rebellion and King Alexander found himself faced with having to come into Galloway to put down the revolt. The conditions were so bad in the province that his army became bogged down - literally! It fell easy prey to the wild Galwegian warriors who knew their native terrain so well. Eventually the Earl of Ross was able to make a sea landing in Wigtownshire and attack the Galwegians from the rear. The Scots won a victory and the victorious army then completely despoiled the Galloway countryside. Land and churches were stripped of everything and the people were treated harshly and with terrible cruelty which was, in the years to come, to make them no lovers of the Kingdom of the Scots. The prior and sacristan of Tongland Abbey were cut down in front of their own high altar and, at Glenluce Abbey, a sick priest was stripped of everything but his hair shirt and left to die. These acts were considered to be unpardonable sacrilege and no doubt contributed greatly to the future alienation of the Galwegians for the Scottish throne.
The revolt cruelly crushed on their behalf Balliol and Devorgilla set themselves to rule wisely and well and, we are told, by their good government, love of justice, progress and peace and by generous gifts and improvements, they soon won the support of the inhabitants of eastern Galloway. Under Balliol tenure the region enjoyed a term of peace and prosperity, agriculture was encouraged and subsidised and the settlement at Buittle became the hub of a busy and successful province.
Devorgilla and her husband were mainly resident in England until the latter's death in 1268 and then she appears to have turned her attention to her patrimony in Galloway. This was her personal property and so she had a vested interest in it. It would be at this time that Buittle began to feature as an important base in her travels round the country to visit her various estates. Buittle was a close link with the old lordship which her father had ruled and offered control of the largest complex of estates in Galloway. To stand as head of local aristocratic society, however, required a suitable setting for lordly power, and it was precisely in that role that Buittle was developed by Devorgilla. She did not control any of the major centres of power formerly possessed by her father, but she did hold two ancient sites associated with some form of lordship - Botel and Arsbotl - and these became the principal seats of her family in Galloway. Evidence for this can be found, for instance, in the excavation's discovery of a Papal Bulla of Pope Honorious IV (1285-87) quite near the gateway of the castle. Post-1268 would therefore see the development of the site as a major residence dressed up in all the architectural panoply of secular lordship and this can be borne out by the artefactual evidence recovered dating to this era.
Devorgilla bore four sons, Hugh, Alan. Alexander and John. Only John was to survive to inherit his father's vast estates and it was he who was to make his mark on the history of Scotland in 1292 when he became King. It may be of interest to note that one of Balliol and Devorgilla's three daughters, Marjory de Balliol, married John Comyn of Badenoch and it was their son, Devorgilla's grandson, who died under the daggers of the Bruce faction in the kirk of the Greyfriars, in Dumfries, in 1306.
In 1286 King Alexander III fell from his horse, tumbled over a cliff to his death and left Scotland to be plunged into civil strife over a disputed succession. Two main claimants to the throne emerged, John Balliol and Sir Robert de Brus of Lochmaben. Both claimed descent from King David I and, incidentally, Fergus, Lord of Galloway. The Galwegian people naturally supported Balliol and the Dumfriesians de Brus, so it was decided to invite King Edward I to arbitrate and closely examine each claim. While this was being done, de Brus and his son the Earl of Carrick, rose in insurrection, attacked Dumfries Castle and expelled the garrison, supporters of the young Queen Margaret, grand-daughter of the late King. They then marched on Botel Castle and took the garrison, there, by stealth and surprise. After its surrender one Patrick McGuffok was appointed custodian and the de Bruses "caused him to make a proclamation inside the bailey".
As umpire in the rival claims for the Scottish throne King Edward I ordered a court to assemble at Norham Castle on the 3rd of June, 1291. This comprised forty men chosen by de Brus and another forty chosen by Balliol. A further twenty-four were elected by the English king. There was so much discussion and argument that it was not until the 14th day of October in 1292, that a judgement could be given that: "In every heretable succession, the more remote by one degree, lineally descended from the eldest sister was preferable to the nearer in degree issuing from the second sister. "
What in effect he was saying was that because de Brus's mother had been Isabella, younger daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, aunt of Devorgilla de Galloway, Lady of Balliol, so both Robert de Brus and John Balliol had a common ancestor in Earl David, who was de Brus's Great, Great, Great Grandfather and Balliol's Great, Great Grandfather! Balliol was therefore the closer by one "Great" so King Edward adjudged in favour of John Balliol, Devorgilla's youngest and only surviving son, who was duly crowned King of Scotland at Scone, on St.Andrew's Day, 1292. Botel Castle became a royal residence, but as part of his fee for making Balliol the King of the Scots, the English king promptly claimed sovereignty over Scotland and ordered that all of the castles in Galloway be given up to Balliol. The Scots nobility looked upon this as a rather high-handed act and they then proceeded to pressurise Balliol into renouncing his allegiance to the English king who had put him in place. Edward, when he learnt of this, ordered his army to assemble in Newcastle reiterating that he had never meant Balliol to be King of Scotland in anything but name only. His own people, realising how weak he was and knowing him to be nothing more than an English stooge, called Balliol "Toom Tabard" or "empty coat". However before King Edward could act news reached him that "Toom Tabard" had struck first, crossed the Border, burnt Hexham and Corbridge and had attacked Carlisle from where he had been repulsed. The English king gathered an army which included amongst its officers Robert de Brus, and defeated Balliol at the Battle of Dunbar in 1296. Taken south to London in chains, King John was forced to abdicate his Scottish throne in favour of King Edward in July of that year.
Henry de Percy was appointed governor or warden of Galloway and was made custodian of the castles of Ayr, Cruggleton, Wigtown and Botel. So, in 1296, Botel became an English royal castle and Patrick McGuffok, now called "Patrick of Botel" had to swear fealty to the King of England. He was succeeded in 1297 by John de Hodelston.
In 1298 Botel and other lands were granted to Sir John de St John by King Edward and he continued to hold the castle through the Wars of Scots Independence until he was eventually forced to surrender to the de Brus's in 1313.
In 1300 King Edward - "The Hammer of the Scots" - marched into Galloway and seized all of the castles there. The whole province was ordered to pay homage to him. The Galwegians, who still had no love for Scotland, found that it suited their purpose to be lieges of England mainly for the very advantageous benefits which trade with England brought them. One of King Edward's staunchest supporters was now the young Robert de Brus, a man who was both anti-Balliol and anti-Wallace and who had, in the past, made a lucrative living out of hunting down Scots patriots who carried English bounties on their heads. It would have been quite soon after this that the Norman de Brus family changed its name to its Anglicised form of Bruce.
Galloway was now really an English province, a fact easily borne out by an English document which states:
"..Whereas our Lord the King is very anxious about situation of the people of Galloway, on this side of the Cree, to save and defend them from their enemies it is accorded that the Earl of Buchan look to those parts, and is ready with xxx men-at-arms; also John de St John with xx men-at-arms; also the Commons of Galloway with xx men-at-arms; also Alexander de Balliol with x men-at-arms; also Ingeram de Umphraville with xx men-at-arms. The xx men-at-arms of Galloway, when on duty, to be at the king's charge. Moreover, 1000 foot-soldiers from Galloway, this side of the Cree, are to be always ready when men-at-arms mount; but not to be paid when not employed. However eight score men are to be always ready, receiving 2d.a-day from the king."
We find another reference, in 1310, to one William Hoderbenison receiving 1 shillings and 6 pence from the Royal Wardrobe for carrying the King's letters to Buittle. This would have been about the time that Edward Bruce was laying siege to the castle, although as Professor Duncan points out, there was a truce between 1308 and 1310. Edward Bruce had invaded the province in 1308, in company with Sir Robert Boyd, and they are reputed to have captured thirteen English-garrisoned castles forcing most of the survivors to seek asylum behind the strong fortifications of Botel Castle, the last of the English strongholds to hold out. Sir John de St John rushed south to his King to beg for more troops and returned in a few months with what has been described as "armed men of great company". Whether this force came by land or water we cannot be sure, but there is evidence of an English agent or "spy" who was living in Dumfries in 1312 and who sent a secret message to his masters to the effect that Robert Bruce himself was attacking Botel, Dalswinton and Caerlaverock. The information was too late to be of any great use, for by March of 1313, Botel Castle, along with many of the other English strongholds had been "dismantled".
King Robert I (The Bruce) granted Botel Castle and all of its lands with the exception of Corbieton, the property of the McGilbertson family, to his dear friend Sir James (The Good) Douglas, in 1324, subject to a yearly tribute of one pair of gilded spurs which were to be left on the altar in Buittle Kirk. This is the first time that we find a reference to the "Royal Burgh" of Buittle.
After King Robert's death in 1329 Randolph, Earl of Moray, was appointed Regent of Scotland for the 5-year old King David II and Galloway again threatened to rise in rebellion this time in support of the Balliol faction. Twice Moray had to invade the province to put down pockets of revolt, but he died in 1332 and was succeeded by the Earl of Mar - a very weak-kneed Regent. Edward Balliol, son of the deposed King John Balliol, landed at Kinghorn in Fife and raised an army of disaffected nobles - "Les Querrelleurs" - with all their followers and met the army of Regent Mar in battle at Dupplin, defeated them, killed Mar, and on the 24th of September, 1332, had himself proclaimed and crowned King of Scotland at Scone. He was welcomed in Galloway with open arms and there was much celebration at his success, but his hour of "triumph was short-lived when, on the 16th of December, after having sworn allegiance to the King of England at Roxburgh he went on to Annan and was spending the night there in company with his brother Henry Balliol and Walter Comyn, when they were attacked while asleep in their lodgings by Archibald Douglas, younger brother of "The Good" Sir James, and the Earl of Moray, son of the late Regent, Randolph. Only Edward Balliol escaped the trap with his life thanks to the spirited resistance of Henry de Balliol and the "Royal" bodyguard. He fled, half naked, into the night to England. Strange fortune perhaps! In less than a month he had both gained and lost a crown. Balliol got English assistance and led an army back over the Border. He met the Scots army at Halidon Hill where he avenged the deaths of his brother and friends by defeating and killing both of the new joint Regents of Scotland, the Earl of Moray and Sir Archibald Douglas.
With English backing and the support of the "Wild Scots of Galloway" Edward Balliol overran Scotland, burning and pillaging, until he became so universally detested, along with his Galwegian soldiers, that any support from within Scotland was not forthcoming. He was a weak ruler who only held his crown by the favour of King Edward III and his whole reign was punctuated by the fiercest and the bloodiest warfare which Scotland had ever seen. The price he had to pay King Edward was high. The counties of Edinburgh, Roxburgh, Peebles, Dumfries and Kirkcudbright, including his own lands of Buittle, were all handed over to England and English sheriffs were immediately put in to govern them and all of the castles, Botel included, were garrisoned with English-paid soldiers. Balliol did manage to obtain from King Edward a fief of his paternal estates in Galloway comprising Botill, Kenmore, and Kirkandrews which his forebears had exercised in heredity since the days of King Alexander and past memory of man: "which lands in our lordship (dominum) of Dumfries lately granted by the said king" (Rot.Scot., 1., 715,720). Edward Balliol then proceeded to take up residence in Botel Castle from where he governed his kingdom of Scotland for a time.
We find confirmation of this in a reference to "King" Edward Balliol coming to reside in the Castle of Botel in 1349 where, according to an old charter, he was granted privilege of "regality" over the lands there. Another charter is dated 1352 "at his Castle of Botle" so he was still there then. He also granted Letters Patent there at his "Castle of Botille" on the 1st of December 1352. Two charters dated Nov 29 1352 and Dec 1 1352, both signed "at castle of Botill" are also in existence. We find other charters of Edward Balliol dated "at the Isle of Estholme" in 1343, so we may deduce that he also lived there in the manor house which was built for him in 1342. The island was held by Duncan MacDouall for the English king. The island of Estholme in Balcary Bay is now called Heston Island and it is still possible to discern the platform where the mansion once stood.
During the early years of King David II's reign much of Scotland was subjected to a terrible famine and Galloway was no exception. The causes of this had been the various wars which had devastated much of the land. The troubles after the death of King Robert I had resulted in a scorched earth policy being applied in a number of places. For instance we hear that in January 1347, Edward Balliol was residing in Botel Castle and that he recruited a force of Galloway men and with the support of Henry Percy and Ralph Neville, who both brought men-at-arms and archers, he invaded Lothian and got as far as Glasgow before returning south through Ayrshire and Nithsdale where, as Fordun tells us:
"..he wasted the country in the most destructive and ferocious manner."
Incidentally; it is interesting to note that in Haile's "Annals" there is a reference to the recruiting of this force in Galloway:
"..In 1347, Edward Baliol, and many others, were engaged to serve the King of England. The daily pay of Baliol was sixteen shillings: of a banneret, four shillings: of a knight, two shillings: of an esquire, one shilling: and of an archer on horseback, four pence. Twenty-eight days were reckoned to the month, and ninety days to the quarter."
In 1346 King David II attempted to regain his rightful possessions and marched into England at the head of a force of 2,000 men-at-arms and many "hobelars" or light cavalrymen and pikemen. He met the English king and Balliol at Neville's Cross and was defeated in the ensuing battle. King David and many of his nobles including the Earl of Wigtown were captured and taken south. Balliol pursued the shattered remnants of the Scots army back over the Border, laid waste Nithsdale, Galloway and Carrick, and then installed himself inside Caerlaverock Castle, near Dumfries, whose owner, Sir John Maxwell, had been amongst those prisoners taken at Neville's Cross. He then garrisoned the castle with his Galwegian troops and claimed it for himself. He continued to hold onto South-West Scotland until, in August 1353-, William, Lord of Douglas, invaded Galloway at the head of a force powerful enough to overawe the Galloway barons. In January of the following year Edward de la Vale was instructed to maintain the castle of Botill in the company of Balliol (Rot.Scot.,1.,763) and it is possible that an attempt was then made to restore the castle to its former glory. Balliol was attending court in England at this time and before he really knew what was happening the majority of his Galwegian followers had been "persuaded" to swear fealty to King David, still held prisoner in England.
Still living on Estholme, his position parlous, Edward Balliol made one last attempt to seek help from England and, when this was not forthcoming, weary of the incessant warring and shattered by the desertion of his Galwegian barons, he surrendered his crown and estates to King Edward III at Roxburgh on the 20th of January, 1356. By 1355 things had been in a sorry state for Balliol. Much of Galloway had been taken from him and his kingdom of Scotland had shrunk to the coastal strip around the Buittle, Caerlaverock and Estholme strongpoints. A month after his meeting with the King of England, at Bamburgh, he agreed to an indenture for 5,000 merks in gold and a pension of 2,000 merks a year in return for making King Edward III his universal heir "on account of his great age and feebleness and inability to continue the great labours he had to sustain". (Rot. Scot., 1.,800.).
He then left Scotland never to return, and died at Whitely near Doncaster on the 17th of March,1363. Botel again became an English royal castle, was later returned to Scotland, and, in 1372, passed into the hands Archibald Douglas, afterwards of Threave, and remained in his family until the fall of the House of Douglas in 1456 when it reverted to the Crown of Scotland. McKerlie tells us, and history also points to the fact, that it must have been given to Queen Margaret by King James III as part of her dowry and it passed from her into the Maxwell family.
We hear no more of Botel Castle until the feud between Lord Herries and the Gordons of Lochinvar in 1595 when we are told that "Buittle Castle was spulzied" by Herries who was adjudged to pay Gordon of Lochinvar the sum of 1,000. After this episode the castle became uninhabitable and for centuries has been a convenient quarry for the supply of building stone for both the present tower-house and two bridges across the River Urr built at the end of the 17th century and in the early 18th century.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
"The Parish of Buittle" - Daphne Brooke.
Notes from Richard Oram.
"Records of the Medieval Parish of Buittle" - Daphne Brooke (1993) .
"Buittle" by James Affleck. Proceedings D&GNHAS 1909-10. No 22.
Research by David Sowerby.
"Lands and their Owners in Galloway" - McKerlie.
"History of Galloway" - MacKenzie.
"Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway" - Agnew.
"For the Lion, A History of the Scottish Wars of Independence 1296-1357." - Raymond Campbell.