Walter Scott, 5th of Buccleuch, 1st Lord Scott of Buccleuch (1565 – 15 December 1611) was a Scottish nobleman and famous

border reiver Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their vi ...

, known as the "Bold Buccleuch" and leader of Kinmont Willie's Raid. Scott was the son of Sir

Walter Scott, 4th of Buccleuch Walter Scott, 4th Baron of Buccleuch (1549–1574) was head of the Border family of Scott and, despite his youth, played a prominent part in the turbulent politics of 16th century Scotland. Origin Scott was the eldest son of Sir William Scott of ...

(himself grandson of

Walter Scott of Branxholme and Buccleuch Sir Walter Scott, 1st of Branxholme, 3rd of Buccleuch (c. 1495 – killed 4 October 1552), known as "Wicked Wat", was a nobleman of the Scottish Borders and the chief of Clan Scott who briefly served as Warden of the Middle March He was an "inv ...

) and

Margaret Douglas Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox (8 October 1515 – 7 March 1578), was the daughter of the Scottish queen dowager Margaret Tudor and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. In her youth she was high in the favour of her un ...

Biography

He was knighted by

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

on 17 May 1590 at the

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

. He was later appointed Keeper of

Liddesdale Liddesdale, the valley of the Liddel Water, in the Roxburghshire, County of Roxburgh, southern Scotland, extends in a south-westerly direction from the vicinity of Peel Fell to the River Esk, Dumfries and Galloway, River Esk, a distance of . The ...

and Warden of the West March on the English border. Buccleuch was implicated in the troubles of his step-father, the rebellious

Earl of Bothwell Earl of Bothwell was a title that was created twice in the Peerage of Scotland. It was first created for Patrick Hepburn in 1488, and was forfeited in 1567. Subsequently, the earldom was re-created for the 4th Earl's nephew and heir of line, F ...

. He went abroad in September 1591, first travelling to Italy with the poet William Fowler. In November 1592 Buccleuch was allowed to return to Scotland from Flanders by the intercession of

, at the request of the old Lady Ferniehirst. In 1594, Buccleuch was re-appointed Keeper of Liddesdale. In August 1594 he performed in tournament at the baptism of Prince Henry dressed as an

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

. In January 1595 he influenced Anne of Denmark to intercede for the life of

James Scott of Balwearie James Scott of Balwearie (died 1606) was a Scottish landowner and supporter of the rebel earls. He was the son of Walter Scott of Balwearie and Janet Lindsay, a daughter of John Lindsay of Dowhill. His mother had been married to Andrew Lundie, a ...

, an agent of the rebel Catholic earls. It was suspected an English Catholic agent,

Nicholas Williamson Nicholas Williamson was an English lawyer and Catholic recusant in the 1590s. He was arrested in 1595 after planning a visit to the court of James VI of Scotland. The Jesuit William Crichton had hoped that Williamson would encourage the ambition ...

, tried to meet him in March 1595. In April 1595 and in 1597 he raided

Tynedale __NOTOC__ Tynedale is an area and former local government district in south-west Northumberland, England. The district had a resident population of 58,808 according to the 2001 Census. Its main towns were Hexham, Haltwhistle and Prudhoe. The ...

in England with 100 or 1,000 men. They killed at least 30 residents, and burnt houses at Thorneburn, Donkleywood, Stokoe, Hordley Hill House and others including the home of a widow, Catherine Dodd of Bruntbank, and caused damage valued at £191, and killed four members of the Charlton family at Bought Hill (now

Charlton, Northumberland Charlton is a village in Northumberland, England. It is about to the northwest of Bellingham, on the River North Tyne. Governance Charlton is in the parliamentary constituency of Hexham. Transport Charlton was served by ...

Kinmont Willie

As Keeper of Liddesdale he rescued

Kinmont Willie Armstrong William Armstrong of Kinmont or Kinmont Willie was a Scottish border reiver and outlaw active in the Anglo- Scottish Border country in the last decades of the 16th century. He lived at the Tower of Sark, close to the border between Scotland a ...

from prison in Carlisle, an exploit famous in

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

lore. Armstrong, a well-known

, was captured by English soldiers led by Deputy Warden Salkeld on 17 March 1596, in violation of a truce day. He was taken to

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

and imprisoned in Carlisle Castle. Buccleuch, as Keeper of Liddesdale, petitioned the English Warden

Thomas Scrope, 10th Baron Scrope of Bolton Thomas Scrope, 10th Baron Scrope of Bolton, KG (1567 – 2 September 1609) was the son of Henry Scrope, 9th Baron Scrope of Bolton and Margaret Howard, daughter of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and Frances de Vere. Biography He was knight of ...

for Armstrong's release without success. Unable to release Armstrong by diplomatic means, on the night of 13 April 1596 Buccleuch led a party of about eighty men to Carlisle. Leaving the main body of his men a small distance outside the city to ambush any pursuers, Buccleuch took a small raiding party on to the castle where Armstrong was imprisoned. Finding their ladders too short to scale the walls, the raiding party breached a postern gate — or more probably bribed a contact inside the castle to open it for them — located Armstrong's cell and freed him, returning him back across the Scottish border. No fatalities were occasioned on either side.Fraser, George MacDonald ''

The Steel Bonnets ''The Steel Bonnets'' (London: Barrie & Jenkins) is a 1971 historical non-fiction book by George MacDonald Fraser about the Border Reivers Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginn ...

'' The raid on Carlisle created a diplomatic incident between

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and Scotland, and war between the two nations appeared imminent until Buccleuch surrendered himself to the English authorities. Tried and found guilty, Buccleuch was placed in the custody of the English Master of the Ordnance at Berwick, Sir William Selby, and was afterwards sent to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. When Buccleuch reached London, and, having been presented to Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

, was asked by her how he dared to undertake an enterprise so desperate and presumptuous, Buccleuch is reported to have replied, "What is it that a man dare not do?" Unaccustomed though she must have been to such rejoinders from her own courtly nobles, Elizabeth not only did not resent the answer, but turning to a lord-in-waiting, said, "With ten thousand such men, our brother in Scotland might shake the firmest throne of Europe". Buccleuch's kinsman, the author

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

, transcribed a well-known

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

about the raid entitled ''

Kinmont Willie William Armstrong of Kinmont or Kinmont Willie was a Scottish border reiver and outlaw active in the Anglo- Scottish Border country in the last decades of the 16th century. He lived at the Tower of Sark, close to the border between Scotland a ...

'' in his collection ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Vol. 1''.

Lord Scott of Buccleuch

He was created a

Lord of Parliament A Lord of Parliament ( sco, Laird o Pairlament) was the holder of the lowest form of peerage, entitled as of right to take part in sessions of the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland. Since that Union in 1707, it has been the lowest rank of the P ...

, as Lord Scott of Buccleuch, in 1606 (pursuant to a commission from King James dated 18 March 1606). From 1604 until the truce of 1609, Buccleuch led a company of Borderers in the service of

Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange Maurice of Orange ( nl, Maurits van Oranje; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was ''stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death in 1625. Before he became Prince o ...

during the

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) (Historiography of the Eighty Years' War#Name and periodisation, c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and t ...

. Buccleuch died on 15 December 1611, and was interred at St Mary's Kirk,

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

Family

Scott married (contract dated 1 October 1586) Mary, daughter of Sir William Kerr of Cessford and Janet Douglas. They had four children: #

Walter Scott, 1st Earl of Buccleuch Walter Scott, 1st Earl of Buccleuch, 2nd Baron Scott of Buccleuch (before 1606 – 20 November 1633) was a Scottish nobleman. He was born the son of Walter Scott, 1st Lord Scott of Buccleuch Walter Scott, 5th of Buccleuch, 1st Lord Scott of ...

(d. 20 November 1633) # Margaret Scott (died 5 October 1651) married first

James Ross, 6th Lord Ross James Ross, 6th Lord Ross of Halkhead (died 17 December 1633) was a Scottish nobleman. Origins Ross was the eldest son and heir of Robert Ross, 5th Lord Ross, who died in October 1595, by Jean, daughter of Gavin Hamilton of Raploch. The Rosses o ...

; married secondly

Alexander Montgomerie, 6th Earl of Eglinton Alexander Montgomerie, 6th Earl of Eglinton (1588–1661) was a Scottish aristocrat and soldier, originally known as Sir Alexander Seton of Foulstruther. Life He was the third son of Robert Seton, 1st Earl of Winton by his wife Lady Margaret ...

# Elizabeth Scott, who married (contract dated 22 November 1616) John Cranstoun, later 2nd

Lord Cranstoun Lord Cranstoun was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created on 17 November 1609 for Sir William Cranstoun of that Ilk, sometimes designated 'of Morristoun', Berwickshire. On the death of the eleventh lord, unmarried, in 1869, the peera ...

# Jean Scott (died after 21 November 1613). Scott also had (apparently by Delia, daughter of Captain Thomas Butler in Holland) an illegitimate daughter, Jean, who married Robert Scott of Whitslaid. He had an illegitimate son, John (probably to be identified with John Scott, Provost of Crichton, who died in 1646).James Balfour Paul, ''The Scots Peerage'', vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 233.

References

thepeerage.com
Accessed 19 June 2007

Accessed 19 June 2007

Biography

Kinmont Willie

Lord Scott of Buccleuch

Family

References

See also