approximately “Black Andrew”

The English defeat at Bannockburn in 1314 was once not only an army defeat. It plunged the full of britain right into a country of faction combating and lawlessness from which it's going to no longer emerge for nearly two decades. King Edward II and his supporters have been regularly hostile through his cousin, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. The Northern counties of britain have been principally missed, and left to fend for themselves opposed to the raids of Robert Bruce and the effective Scots.

One Englishman emerged from these chaotic and disastrous years to guide resistance to the Scottish raids. Andrew de Harcla was once now not an outstanding manorial lord, yet he was once a really able commander, and twelve months after Bannockburn he led the profitable protection of Carlisle opposed to an immense Scottish assault. within the years that undefined, he grew to become the focal point for the English resistance to the Scots within the West March – the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland - amazing again from the depths of Inglewood wooded area and the hillsides of the Pennines and the Cumberland fells, and revising his methods of struggling with as he did so. His unswerving squaddies gave him the nickname of “Black Andrew” as their means of claiming he used to be pretty much as good a pace-setter because the infamous Scottish commander, “Black” James Douglas.

But the Scots weren't his purely challenge. He encountered a lot jealousy from different landowners within the counties, and the faction combating within the remainder of England regularly interfered with and undermined his activities. His love for Anne Neville additionally aroused the hatred of a few individuals of that influential relatives. whilst the animosity among King Edward and Thomas of Lancaster ultimately erupted into civil conflict, he raised the boys of the 2 counties to confront and defeat the rebels, which earned him the short help of King Edward.

But he couldn't defeat Robert Bruce on his personal, and Edward and his favourite-ridden court docket proved both incapable of doing so. The 12 months 1322 observed better Scottish raids penetrating deeper into England than ever ahead of, whereas Edward suffered a defeat much more harmful than Bannockburn. Andrew felt he needed to try to negotiate a extra lasting peace with the Scots, yet may by no means confirm no matter if he had the aid of King Edward and the courtroom favourites.

But with the potential for the Scots reviving an previous declare to a lot of the North of britain, it used to be a obstacle he needed to face…

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“Black Andrew” is a piece of fiction and lots of the characters within the publication are fictional. however it is predicated round actual occasions and comprises many actual humans from historical past. i've got learn via as many historical past texts as i'll locate (mostly in Lancaster collage Library) to make this tale as practical as attainable. however it is essentially written from Andrew’s standpoint, as anyone who needed to protect the border, and who used to be by no means a member of King Edward’s court.

This is the 1st e-book of a brief sequence (Lords of the excessive kingdom) that conceal the restoration of England’s fortunes from utter defeat at Bannockburn to extraordinary triumph at Crecy, 30 years later. Many top historians have pointed out the strategies that have been devised by means of Andrew de Harcla as enjoying a major half in that means of restoration, and it really is his legacy that i've got attempted to show through the series.

Jerry Bennett
Kendal - 2010