430 Mr Tate on Harhottle Castle. 



for, in a treaty made between tlie ambassadors of Edward IT. 

 .and Robert Bruce, it was agreed that Harbottle Castle should 

 not be repaired for the future, and that if peace wei'e esta- 

 blished by the feast of St. Michael, it should then be entirely 

 destroyed. Though peace was not concluded, yet the King, 

 in accordance with the general terms of the treaty, com- 

 manded John de Penreth, constable of the castle, utterly to 

 destroy it, and the Sheriff of the county to assist in the work,* 

 but the continuance of war, and the distracted state of Eng- 

 land caused this order to be neglected. Subsequently, it was 

 used for the custody of prisoners ; and, in 1336, the right to 

 have a gaol at Harbottle was established, by patent from the 

 King.f Scottish warfare, however, had again seriously weak- 

 ened the defences of the castle, and Gilbert de Umfreville, in 

 1381, set forth, in a petition to the King and to parliament, 

 that it was so much ruined by the wars with the Scots, as to 

 be insufficient for the custody of prisoners ; and he, therefore, 

 desired that all prisoners taken within the liberty of Redes- 

 dale, should be kept in Prudhoe Castle until he could repair 

 that of Harbottle ; and this request was granted for ten 

 years. J We find Harding, the historian, who is called 

 " squier of the Lord Umfraville," was, in 1245, resident at 

 Harbottle Castle, 



There are few other notices of Harbottle Castle until we 

 reach the sixteenth century ; but it must have been in a 

 habitable state in 1515, when a warden of the marches re- 

 sided there, and when it was the temporary abode of Mar- 

 garet, Queen of Scotland, and the birth-place of the mother 

 of the future Sovereigns of Great Britain. 



On the 7th of October she was admitted into the castle, 

 but no Scotswoman was permitted to enter with her ; and no 

 female, indeed, appears to have been in attendance ; and yet, 

 after forty-eight hours of mortal agony, " she was delivered 

 of a fair young lady, who, with such convenient provisions as 

 could or might be had in this barren and wild country, was 

 christened the next day after." And thus, on the borders of 

 the cheerless wastes of Redesdale, was ushered into the world, 

 Margaret, Lady Douglas, who afterwards was the Countess 

 of Lennox, mother of Lord Darnley, and grandmother of 

 James I. of England. The Queen's situation here is described 

 by Lord Dacre as " uneaseful and costly, by occasion of far 



* Cal. Rot. 15, Edw, II., m. 16, m. 10. 

 + Cal. Rot, 10, Edw. III., m, 53. 

 % Cal. Rot 2,5, Edw, III., m. 81. 



