A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



string were abandoned at this period ; the new engine seems to have 

 been confined at first to purposes of defence. The archer had his useful- 

 ness as well as the artillery, for at the above date fifty men-at-arms and a 

 hundred mounted archers were maintained at Carlisle as a permanent 

 garrison, and in 1488 hobelars and archers, ' bumbards ' and artillery 

 were reckoned as the munitions necessary for the fortification of Carlisle 

 and Bewcastle. 1 



One of the causes of exasperation between the two peoples was a 

 small strip of territory on the frontier, variously called the Threapland, 

 Eatable or Debatable land, sometimes the Batail land, which had never 

 been properly determined by bounds nor acknowledged as belonging to 

 either kingdom. In the fifteenth century several attempts were made 

 by means of friendly negotiations to bring this thorny controversy to a 

 close. By a convention at Durham in 1449 between English and Scot- 

 tish commissioners it was agreed ' that all the claymers and chalongours 

 of the landez called Eatable landez or Threpe landez in the West 

 Marchez' should have free entry and use of the district in dispute with- 

 out prejudice of the right of the King of Scotland. 1 At subsequent dates 

 between 1451 and 1457 this international understanding was renewed. 3 

 A new element of strife, however, was introduced in 1474 when a 

 fishgarth or dam was constructed by the inhabitants of Cumberland in 

 the lower waters of the Esk, whereby salmon were prevented ascending 

 the river to the detriment of the fishing industry in the upper or Scot- 

 tish waters. The fishgarth was complained of as a nuisance, and as 

 often as it was removed, it was replaced by the Cumberland men. In 

 the heat of the crisis a commission was appointed * to visite and see the 

 place and by inquisition and recorde taken of the eldest and feith- 

 fullest persoones of the Marches there ' to inform themselves of the 

 truth and how ' the said fishgaert hath been kepte,' and thus to finish 

 and determine the quarrel, safe conducts to the envoys having been 

 guaranteed by both sovereigns. 4 English subjects maintained that they 

 had the right by law and custom to erect and hold the fishgarth, while 

 the Scots asserted the contrary. The fishing of the Esk, being but a 

 part of the greater dispute about the international boundary, continued 

 to be a burning question of debate for many generations. The larger 

 issue was the subject of inquiry during a truce in 1493 when Thomas 

 Lord Dacre, Sir Richard Salkeld, and Sir John Musgrave were appointed 

 to meet the delegates of the King of Scots for the purpose of settling the 

 disputes which had arisen afresh in the West Marches, both as to the 

 fishings of the Esk, the bounds of the Debatable Land, and the site, limits 



and a lesser gun in the angle of the outer bailey, mounted on wooden frames (bocbez de fuistez) and 

 bound with iron ' ligatures.' Richard Potter was paid for casting three brass cannon in the city, for 

 which Robert Delmane, probably a German, supplied the iron hoops. Purchases of ' poweder de salt- 

 petre ' and ' live ' sulphur were made at York, and a mason was employed for five weeks polishing 

 (scapulantf) 120 stones for the guns. These munitions of war were handed over to John de Thirlwalle, 

 deputy warden of the castle, by indenture dated 4 December 1 384 (Cal. Scot. Doc. [Scot. Rec. Pub.], iv. 

 71, 74-6). 



1 Chancery Signed Bills, 3 Henry VII. No. 35. a Rymer, Fcedera, xi. 244. 



3 Ibid. xi. 288, 336, 399. Chancery Signed Bills, 5 Hen. VII. No. 27. 



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