#emglish

[scotianostra]

On May 30th 1431 Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake in Rouen, Normandy which was then then under English rule.

What’s that got to with Scotland? I hear you ask! Well the Scots had quite a presence in medieval France, The Garde Écossaise was an elite Scottish military unit founded in 1418 by the Valois Charles VII of France, to be personal bodyguards to the French monarchy and they fought in many battles against a mutual foe, The English, including the first great campaign of St Joan of Arc in 1429. Joan was led into the besieged city of Orléans on April 28th, 1429, to the celebratory skirl of the Scottish pipes. The tune played for her was “Hey Tuttie Taiti”. The same tune that had marched Robert the Bruce into battle at Bannockburn a century before. The same tune that Robert Burns would set to his poem “Scots Wha Hae” centuries later.

Her escort consisted of 60 Scottish men-at-arms and 70 Scottish archers led by Sir Patrick Ogilvy of Auchterhouse, hereditary sheriff of Angus. And her standard, depicting God as King of Heaven, was made a few months previous by Hamish Powers, a Scotsman living in the city of Tours.

There to welcome her was the bishop of the city. And, yes, he was a Scotsman too. John Carmichael was his name although he was known to his French flock as Bishop Jean de St Michael. A priest and a native of Lanarkshire, Carmichael was amongst the victors at Baugé and the survivors of a previous battle at Verneuil. Indeed, one of his first acts upon becoming bishop was to institute a Messe Ecossais for the souls of the Scottish dead.

That pious custom continues to this day. Historians have argued about numbers but some estimate that Scottish soldiers would have made up about a quarter of Joan’s army sent to relieve Orléans. Victory after victory ensued. The military procession to Rheims continued with the Garde Ecossaise providing an escort for both Joan and the Dauphin.

And so, in the July, King Charles VII was crowned by six bishops including Bishop Carmichael.

On 23rd May 1430, Joan of Arc was captured at Compiègne by the Burgundian faction, which was allied with the English. She was later handed over to the and put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon on a variety of charges. After Cauchon declared her guilty she was burned at the stake on 30 May 1431, dying at about nineteen years of age, a very brave lady.

[mysharona1987]

[esther-pentecostal]

[irregularcards]

Hi there! Our irregular verb of the day is “Burst”, which means “to break open or apart suddenly and violently”. Easy to remember its tenses, isn't it? 😊

[roxiearth]

Them: why're you talking in English?

Me: because I'm bilingual and my bilingual brain is working in that language rn

[scotianostra]

On or around June 28th 1685, Richard Rumbold was executed in Edinburgh.

To begin with I would like to go back about 380 years to the execution of Sir William Wallace, many point to it as a barbaric act, but being hung, drawn and quartered was the normal sentence for being found guilty of treason back then, although Wallace was never an English subject, so never a traitor. The same could be said about Rumbold, who was an English subject.

Rumbold was accused in 1683 of being the main instigator of a plot to kill King Charles II and his brother James, Duke of York, in an attempt to assassinate the royal couple as they passed by Rye House, on their return from Newmarket Races, it became known as The Rye House Plot.

Historians still debate each other on the actual plot but most agree Rumbold was a minor character in a very widespread plot, involving many leading Republican members of the British aristocracy. In fact, some historians believe the plot was fabricated by King Charles in order to execute his opponents in the Whig party, which he did, and although some were no doubt guilty of conspiring, several innocent men were put to death. This was mainly part of English history, hence few of us here will know a great deal about it, so I will get to the Scottish part.

When the conspiracy was discovered Rumbold fled initially to Holland, home of many exiled opponents of the Stuarts. In 1685, after the death of Charles a further plot was hatched among the émigrés to dislodge King James VII/II, his Catholic successor, from the throne. This was to take the form of a two-pronged attack on the British Isles: the first on Scotland under the leadership of Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll (who shall crop up again in a post in couple of days) and the second on the west of England under The Duke of Monmouth.

Rumbold accompanied Argyll to Scotland, and was made a colonel in the small army. But the whole enterprise, badly mismanaged, fell apart. Argyll and Rumbold were both captured. Rumbold was executed in either the June 26th or 28th, there are differing accounts.

The following is an account of his execution…..

In a cart, bareheaded, and heavily manacled,he was conveyed from the Water Gate to the Castle, escorted by Graham’s City Guard, with drums beating, and on the 28th of June he was hanged, drawn, and quartered, at the Cross, where his heart was torn from his breast, an exhibited, dripping and reeking, by the executioner, on the point of a plug-bayonet, while he exclaimed, “Behold the heart of Richard Rumbold, a bloody English traitor and murderer!”

Afterwards his head,was placed on the West Port, then sent to London on the 4th of August, while his quarters were gibbeted in the four principal cities in Scotland.

Rumbold made his own defiant declaration on the scaffold:

“This is a deluded generation, veiled in ignorance, that though popery and slavery be riding in upon them, do not perceive it; though I am sure that there was no man born marked by God above another; for none comes into this world with a saddle on his back, neither any booted and spurred to ride him...[1]”

You can find the condemned mans full speech on the link below, although he didn’t finish it, complaining that the drum beats (were) “so disingenuous as to interrupt a dying man.”https://www.bartleby.com/268/3/15.html

[scotianostra]

On 12th June 1298 William Wallace defeated Sir Aymer de Vallance, Earl of Pembroke.

Or did he? There is conflicting accounts of this Battle, or skirmish as it has also been described. By now Wallace was the most hunted man in Scotland and he must have been involved in many skirmishes, few have made it to the history books, and those that have, like this one are a bit vague.

Wiki have this encounter as happening in September 1304, but a plaque at a site called "Black Earnside" near Newburgh in Fife have today's date, hence I am plumping for this! There is a mention in English records of compensation being paid for horses lost in a flight from William Wallace at "Yrenside" another tells of a "Constable" from Dundee pursuing Wallace, but why would someone from Dundee be that far south?

My main source states that “Sir Aymer de Vallance, Earl of Pembroke, and Sir John Sieward, son of the Earl of March, landed with an army in Fife, and proceeded to burn and waste. They were met by a Scotch force under Wallace in the forest of Black Ironside, and were totally defeated."

It's not just modern historians who question whether the battle happened at all, this is from 1876...... Later historians find difficulty in reconciling the date assigned... (12 June, 1298) with other facts in Wallace's history; but Blair, (Wallace's chaplain )... distinctly states that on the 12 June 1298, the guardian of the kingdom (Wallace) vanquished the English... at Ironside..., with their general... Aylmer de Valance, Earl of Pembroke.(Information from a Book 'Relations... Arnaldi Blair, capellani',) The battle is described by Blind Harry, the minstrel. The name of Wallace's Den... immemorially attached to a deep gully on the farm of Parkhill... affords presumptive evidence of the site of the battle. (There is no good historical evidence for this battle, which apparently rests only on the authority of Blair, and Blind Harry (Henry the Minstrel).) A Laing 1876.

The people of Newburgh have marked the area with the plaque seen in the photo which is in a layby above “Wallace’s Bridge”, on the Gauldry to Newburgh road, high road above River Tay, it reads “Black Earnside 12th June 1298 On this site a major tactical battle was fought and won for Scotland by their guardian, Sir William Wallace, against the Earl of Pembroke, who was acting on the orders of his English master, Edward Plantagenet. This plaque has been erected by the people of Newburgh in recognition of the part played by their forebears in assisting Sir William Wallace in defence of our country. More details here http://ptc2506.com/featured_sites/william_wallace/battles.html

Each year on this day I try to find out more about Black Earnside, and each year I end up just going round in circles, this post shows you how difficult a job it can be at times trying to make sense of our history.

I salute the Black Earnside Tartan army who turn up each year to remember the occasion.

[yvonnebiopsy]