352 Field Meetings. 



The castle was first built by Nicholas de Soulis, a member of 

 a family which in the thirteenth century possessed Liddesdale, 

 or according' to other authorities it was built by Walter 

 Comyn, Earl of Menteith. Nicholas de Soulis lived in the 

 reigns of Alexander II. and Alexander III. The approxi- 

 mate date of the erection of the castle is indicated by the fact 

 that in 1244 Henry III. assigned as a reason for invading 

 Scotland that a castle called Hermitage had been erected by 

 the Scots in the marches between England and Scotland in 

 the valley of the Liddel. Nicholas, the traditional builder of 

 it, was reputed to be the wisest and most eloquent man in 

 Scotland during his time, but in spite of that he fell out of 

 favour with the King in 1255, and died eleven years later at 

 Rouen. The castle remained in the hands of the Soulis 

 family for about a century, the last member of the family to 

 hold it being the notorious William de Soulis, who in 1320 

 was convicted of treason, having been discovered in a con- 

 spiracy to capture the Scottish throne for himself from Robert 

 the Bruce. For this he was confined in the castle of Dum- 

 barton, where he died, though a local tradition which formed 

 the subject of a ballad written by Leyden and published by 

 Sir Walter Scott in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 

 says that the conspirator was boiled alive at the Ninestane 

 Rig, near the castle. Tradition also credits William de 

 Soulis with being a tyrant and a sorcerer, who, in the words 

 of Scott, was " constantly employed in oppressing his 

 vassals, harassing his neighbours, and fortifying his castle 

 of Hermitage against the King of Scotland ; for which pur- 

 pose he employed all means, human and infernal ; invoking 

 the fiends, by his incantations, and forcing his vassals to 

 drag materials (for the extension of the castle) like beasts 

 of burden." 



After the forfeiture of the Soulis family, the castle came 

 into the hands of a long succession of owners, and at various 

 times was held by Scots and English alternately. In 1338 it 

 was stormed and taken by Sir William Douglas, known to 

 history as the " Flower of Chivalry," a flattering title which 

 was scarcely in keeping with an act which he committed 

 while resident at Hermitage. The Sheriffdom of Teviotdale 



