A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



Enough were sent to London for examination, as Norfolk was doubtful 

 about their guilt. 



The results of these insurrections had a tendency to aggravate the 

 differences that existed between Henry VIII. and James V. Many of 

 the ' rebellis and brokin men,' ' grey freris, uther doctouris, and religious 

 men ' took refuge beyond the Border and were there ' resett wythin the 

 reaulme of Scotland,' to the great indignation of the English king. 1 The 

 death of his sister, Queen Margaret, in 1541 removed an influence that 

 served to maintain peaceful relations between the two kings. James 

 was unable to approve of his uncle's attacks on the church, and the two 

 countries gradually drifted into a renewal of war. In the autumn of 

 1 542 the Duke of Norfolk was commissioned to enter Scotland from the 

 eastern side. King James proceeded at once to organize a counter 

 attack against the West March, the main brunt of which was to fall 

 on Carlisle. The Scottish army of about 14,000 men left Lochmaban 

 on 24 November, but without a responsible leader, James himself 

 coming no nearer to the scene of conflict than ' a hill caulid Burnswarke,' 

 whose square-topped height overlooks the district from Burdoswald to 

 the Solway, from whence he witnessed the complete overthrow of his 

 forces. As the army crossed the Esk, the smoke of the burning houses 

 of the Grahams * soon made the presence of the invaders known and 

 roused the garrison of Carlisle who had been already forewarned. 

 Rapidly gathering together what gentlemen and borderers he could 

 find, Sir Thomas Wharton, captain of the castle, despatched them across 

 the Line under the leadership of Sir Thomas Dacre, a natural son of 

 Lord Thomas and founder of the Dacres of Lanercost, and Jack Mus- 

 grave, the captain of Bewcastle. The Scottish troops, retiring upon 

 ' Arthureth tower,' were quickly dislodged and forced across the Esk 

 ' at a strate ford which is called Sandyforde.' Beyond this was the 

 Solway Moss, from which the disastrous day was to take its name, 

 lying between the Esk and Sark, in the bogs of which those who 

 had escaped drowning or capture soon lay at the mercy of their 

 pursuers. Never before had there been a more pitiful defeat. Fourteen 



and buried them in churchyards by night or in ditches, the priests refusing burial. In order to pacify 

 the king's wrath at this new offence, inquiries were held at Carlisle, Penrith and Cockermouth, to ascer- 

 tain the names of the culprits and the circumstances of the crime. The depositions of these wretched 

 wives, mothers and daughters who cut down or gathered up the decaying remains and buried them in 

 secret, in some cases ' with the chynes about them,' furnish one of the most gruesome episodes on record. 

 One instance may be given. Richard Cragg's wife deposed ' that she knowyth not of hys lowsyng furthe 

 of the chyne, but she sayth that she brought hym home upon a carre and had with hyr Jenet Harres, 

 wedow, and Jenet Newcom of Egyllsfelde, and the prest wolde not suffer hym to be bureyd, and so in 

 the nyght she bureyd hym in a dyke as she says ; she further stated 'yt a cosyn of hys afterward died 

 of the corruption of hyr husband and takyn hym down' (ibid. xii. [i.], 1214, 1246). 



i Hamilton Papers (Scot. Rec. Pub.), i. 41, 84. 



1 The Grahams of Esk supported the king against the rebellious commons in 1536-7. The Duke 

 of Norfolk wrote on 16 May 1537, that the ' fowre bretherne of the Greymes ' were ' the furst that did 

 set uppon the Kinges highnes rebelles at th'assault of Carliell ' and ' the furst that ever brake spere uppon 

 any of the commons after th'assault ' (L. & P. of Hen. VIII. xii. [i.], 1215). In a curious petition to 

 the king from Arthur Graham and his brethren for reward, their valiant deeds are picturesquely 

 described, the most notable of which was that they had taken seven score prisoners during the rout of 

 the rebels in 1537, ' and I the forsaid Arthur Grame toke one of the chief capteyns named Thomas 

 Tebold,' the notorious leader of the Westmorland insurgents (ibid. xii. [i.], 1217 [ij). 



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