The Siege of Haddington
After centuries of war between the two countries, the policy of
the Tudors was to force a union between England and Scotland. In
the 1540s it seemed a golden opportunity had come. With the death
of Henry VIII in England and James IV in Scotland, both countries
had children on the throne – the sickly Prince Edward in
England and the young Mary Stuart in Scotland.
The Earl of Somerset, Lord Protector of England, saw an arranged
marriage between the infant sovereigns as the way forward.
Initially, the Regent of Scotland, Lord Hamilton Earl of Arran and
Mary of Guise the Queen Dowager agreed. But Cardinal Beaton
persuaded them otherwise and the Scots nobles convened in Stirling
to determine that Mary would be married into the French royal
family. In 1548, the Scots Parliament was convened at Haddington
and passed the Abbey Declaration, an Act of Parliament confirming
the betrothal of Mary to the Dauphin, the heir to the French
throne.
Somerset settled on a policy of subduing Scotland by fortifying
and garrisoning key locations in the country. Haddington, lying
across the main route from the south to the capital was one of his
principal targets. “Most men thynk kepyng Haddington, ye wyne
Skotland.”
The town was fortified using earth walls on the ultra modern
Italian pattern (see “Haddington’s Italian
Walls”) under the direction of Sir Thomas Palmer. On April
18th 1548, Sir William Grey entered the town with a garrison of
2000 foot and 500 horse. It was an international force, English
soldiers along with German landsknecht troops, Albanians,
Spaniards and Italians.
In June 1548, the French commander, Andre de Montalambert, Sieur
d’Esse, landed at Leith with 6000 troops and many cannon. It
was another international force, Frenchmen alongside Germans,
Swiss, Italians and Spaniards. The French force was under orders to
evict the English from Scotland. Capturing Haddington was just one
of their objectives. It proved the hardest of the nuts they had to
crack.
The Scots Army had been roundly defeated the previous year at
the battle of Pinkie (near Musselburgh) and Scots forces were not
consistent participants in the siege. An irregular, ad hoc force,
Scots turned up in groups, fought for a while and then returned
home. De Beauge, reporting the siege to France said “Scots
never take the field but when forced to arms by
necessity…they then seek out the enemy with all expedition
and fight with invincible courage. This done, and their victuals
being consumed, they break up their camp and retire”.
Contingents came from all over Scotland at various times, including
men from Orkney armed in Viking style and Highlanders “who go
almost naked” and who were terrified by cannon fire.
The siege consisted of prolonged and heavy exchanges of
artillery and arquebus fire (see “The Beaten Steeple”)
and fierce attempts to enter the town (see “The
Camisado”). Elements of the French force were regularly
detached for action elsewhere in Scotland and a complete
encirclement of the town could not be continuously maintained. So
there were occasional opportunities for reinforcements and resupply
to be brought into Haddington. And there were sorties by the
garrison – some of them disastrous (see
“Tuesday’s Chase”).
Despite occasional relief, conditions in the town quickly became
terrible – and got worse. Heavy artillery fire destroyed
every building: “Our enemies so beat the town with shot that
they left not one whole house for our men to put their heads in,
whereby they were constrained to lie under the walls”. As
provisions ran low, the troops inside the town “were
constrained to eat horses, dogs, cats and rats…these
extremities made them look more like ugly monsters than human
men”.
For the besieging forces the fortifications proved frustratingly
strong. The earth walls absorbed shot and breaches could be easily
repaired from within, often strengthening the original structure.
The design of the fort meant that direct assaults on the walls or
attempts to countermine them were very costly in terms of
casualties.
Eventually it was a third force that brought the siege to an
end. Plague had entered the town and spread rapidly. The garrison
was reduced to fewer than 1000 men, probably at least half of them
already infected. A relief force of 6000 troops was sent from
Berwick under the Earl of Rutland. The French and Scots, without
sufficient numbers to attack the relief column, watched as the
garrison was escorted out, the fortifications levelled and what
remained of Haddington burned to the ground. It was the first day
of October 1549.
The Camisado
On 10 October, the French commander d’Esse came from
Musselburgh with a well-rested force of men to deliver a night
attack, known as a “camisado”, on the town garrison.
(The apparently odd term "camisado" - a shirt - for a night action
derives from the tactical practice of the attacking force wearing
their white shirts over their doublets and buffcoats so that they
could see each other in the dark and minimise what are now called
"friendly fire" incidents.)
The French managed to surprise and overpower the Italian guards
at one of the town “ports” (or gates) and to force
their way in without rousing further resistance. They then found
themselves in a narrow lane leading into the remains of Haddington
town. They slaughtered the Italian guards and killed some English
soldiers they found sleeping along their route, all with little or
no loss to themselves.
The French force moved forward in a close-packed body along the
passageway which narrowed further and was hemmed in by walls and
trenches. Just as d’Esse thought success was within his
grasp, the tables were turned. Facing down the narrow passage was a
cannon mounted between two gabions that otherwise closed the route.
A French deserter, a “renegado”, fired the cannon,
packed with grapeshot and chain, into the body of the French
intruders doing terrible destruction. The shot also alerted the
Haddington garrison who woke and pursued the now fleeing French
soldiers, putting many to the sword.
Although d’Esse apparently thought the camisado had come
close to success, the story of the narrow winding close, the
conveniently sited and loaded cannon and the renegado in the French
ranks ready to loose it off all suggest that the whole episode was
a trap set up by the English.
We have no way of locating any of the places associated with
camisado, so the cache is simply placed in a narrow close to give
atmosphere to the story!