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Sollom Moss - 1542

The following is part of a dissertation I (James R. Bell) wrote about Sollom Moss 1542 to persuade (successfully) English Heritage to change their battle site to the one I identified.

For secondary information, I am a Farlam (EWM) Bell directly descended from Richard, Scropes Warden Clerk, who wrote the definitive Leges Marchiarum in his Bell M.S.

Anyway to history:
  The Battle of Sollom Moss
  24th November 1542.

Historical Background:

In the middle of the 16th Century, the Anglo Scottish Borders remained the political and economic wasteland that it had been for the past 300 years. As the buffer zone between two of the most belligerent neighbours in history, the Borderland was a battleground, populated by a unique breed of people: the Border Reivers.

The frontier had been in constant dispute since Edward Ist had launcheds a series of brutal and devastating invasions over the Border in pursuance of his ambition to annexe Scotland. His armies burnt and destroyed whole communities of people, animals and crops throughout the Borderland in his attempt to subjugate Scotland. lnevitably the Scots retaliated and invading armies from both sides were met with "scorched-earth" policies. Over the ensuing years, these terrible wars of attrition continued, with both Governments encouraging their Borderers to constantly harass and raid across the frontier. Robert the Bruce, after Bannockburn in 1314, allowed his victorious armies to systematically ravage the Northern Marches of England, thus the Borderland was turned into a political and economic wasteland.

By the beginning of the 16th Century, Borderers were caught up in a never ending cycle of feuding, violence and destruction; realising that neither Government had the will nor the power to protect them they naturally turned to their families for protection. Perversely, both Governments contributed to this through their policies of installing a bulwark against the other side, encouraging settlement of their Border regions by offering land and low rents in exchange for military service. This eventually lead to overpopulation, which was aggravated by Border inheritance laws called "Gavelkind', whereby a man's lands were evenly divided amongst his sons on his demise. This resulted in many families having too little land to support themselves and their only option was to form allegiances with each other to gain strength and protection. Over the ensuing three and a half centuries the "Great Reiding" families evolved a clannish type of existence, meeting each outrage against their members with violent reprisals. Those not fortunate enough to belong to one of these powerful Border families were subject to extortion and blackmail. Such folk invariably turned to theft and reiving as a means of support and became the mercenaries or "broken men" of the Barderland, selling their reiving skills to the highest bidder. This of course, suited both national Governments, as the families raided over and around the Borders, causing the constant turmoil which provided the buffer zone both Governments needed and had so actively encouraged.

The Border Reivers had evolved from 300 years of raiding and feuding, into a race of expert light horsemen, skilled in raiding, scouting, ambush and skirmishing. They were cursed in both countries as "evell disposed personnes, Inclined to wildness and disorder', but occasionally hailed as "fine soldiers, able with horse and harness, nimble, wile and always in readiness for any service". Though despised in peace time, it was these very characteristics that made the Reiver so eagerly recruited by their respective national governments in time of war. the English army by 1540 could call on 2,500 such men and this division was called the "Border Horse". It was said that the "most remarkable of the mounted men in Henry VIll's army were the Northem Horsemen who, having been called into existence by the eternal forays of the Scottish Border were light cavalry, probably the very best in Europe".

There does not seem to have been a standard uniform, but they were expected to wear a "steill cap, jak of plate, boots, spurres," and be armed with " sword, dagger, horsemans staffe, and case of pistolles". Recruited as light horsemen or "prickers", the role of the Border Horse was simply an extension of their usual daily activities on the Borders. They scouted, ambushed enemy patrols, rustled livestock, stole supplies and provisions and plundered towns and villages. In 1544 a large English force supported by a naval fleet, under the command of the Earl of Hertford, invaded the east coast of Scotland, sacking Leith and Dunbar and capturing Edinburgh. While the main English army was burning the city, they were joined by "400 light horsemen from the Borders, by the King's Majesty's Appointment; who after their coming did such exploits in riding and devastating the country that within seven miles of every side of Edinburgh, they left neither pele, house nor village standing unburnt, nor stacks of corn, besides great numbers of cattle which they brought in daily to the army and met with such good stuff which the inhabitants of Edinburgh had for the safety of the same conveyed out of the town".

The Border Horse also served in lreland during the O'Neill and Tyrone rebellions. The Irish, fighting on their home ground, generally confined themselves to "skirmishing in passes, bogs, woods and all places to their advantage". The Border Horse were in their element here, especially as they were better mounted than the Irish, "having deep war saddles with stirrups and using pistolles as well as staffes snd swords many having jak of plate and such-like defensive arms, and being bold and strong for encounters and long marches and of greater stature than the lrish must needs have great advantage over them". In 154O, it was pointed out that a hundred English Northern spears on horseback combined with a like number of longbowmen and hack butters would be a much more effective force than 1,000 of the regular army stationed in Ireland.

By August 1542, both English and Scottish Borderers were being incited by their respective Governments to wreak as much havoc as possible on the opposite side as a forerunner to the now inevitable war. In reprisal for a particularly effective Scottish Reivers raid, Robert Bowes, the English East March Warden raided and devastated Teviotdale and the surrounding area; whilst returning with the plunder and livestock, the English were ambushed by the Earl of Huntly at Haddon Rig. The English force included Reivers from Tynedale and Redesdale, who realising the overwhelming odds, deserted Bowes and vanished into the hills with the plunder. The remaining English were badly defeated and fled, with Robert Bowes being taken prisoner. Henry VIII was furious and decided to settle the matter once and for all by force.

In October 1542, 20,000 English Northern Levies were despatched under the command of Lord Norfolk to destroy Kelso, Roxburgh and Teviotdale; after a week of destruction, the English returned to Berwick on Tweed to replenish supplies and rest. The Scottish King, James V, had already raised one army in retaliation, but on hearing that the English had retired to Berwick, his nobles, who had little faith in James anyway, disbanded. James did not give up and managed to assemble another army of about 18,000 men. Announcing that this army would commence activities in the Eastern Marches, James promptly marched towards Cumberland and the West Marches, gaining the strategic advantage. Under the veteran Lord Maxwell (the Scottish March Warden), the Scottish army descended on the wide open western Borders........

Continues as a blow by blow history of the battle...........

Kind regards to all,
James.

Quod Adsumus Meliore Est.

Source:
From: James R. Bell
Newsgroups: alt.scottish.clans
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999

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