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The Bridge of DeeIt fell about the month of June, On Tuesday, timouslie, The northern lords hae pitch?d their camps Beyond the Brig o? Dee. In 1636 Scotland was in great strife as King Charles 1 attempted to impose Anglican reforms onto the strongly Calvinist Presbyterian Scotland. This was going down very badly and there were riots in the streets of all major towns and cities, but Charles under the influence of James, 3rd Marquis of Hamilton and the misguided Bishop Laud pressed on with his wishes. He had also invoked his Act of Revocation that alienated most of the nobility of Scotland upon whom a King depended for counsel.After two equally disastrous General Assemblies, in 1638 and 1639, in which it was the deposition of Bishops amongst other things that caused the most upset. (The Scots were opposed to this, and even wanted to destroy the control that the bishops had over the church.) the Scottish Assembly at Glasgow rejected Charles? reforms By 1638 all had chosen sides and the National Covenant signed. Contrary to popular myth Montrose was not the first to sign! The Covenanters made an effort to induce the Marquis of Huntly to join them; offering him the leadership of the movement, and also promised to discharge the family debt, which by then exceeded ?100,000. The Marquis avowed his intention to stand fast to the King?s cause, as his ancestors had done. Huntly then proceeded to Aberdeen in endeavour to keep the citizens loyal, and encouraged them to take up arms against the Covenanters. On the 16th of March 1639, the Marquis mustered his followers and on the 25th of March, he was at Inverurie with a force of 5000 men. There he received news that the Covenanters were marching to the north under the command of the Earl of Montrose, who had studied warfare in Italy and France, and had been slighted by the King at Court due to the machinations of Hamilton. Montrose marched into Aberdeen on the 30th of March, at the head of an army of 6000 men; and the Covenanters of the surrounding country joined him with another 3000 men. Leaving a garrison in Aberdeen, he advanced on Inverurie, where he quartered his troops upon the opponents of the Covenant. Huntly, seeing no hope of aid from England knew that, without assistance, he could not face the enemy. Sought an interview with Montrose. On the 5th of April a compromise was arranged, by which Huntly agreed to maintain the laws, liberties, and religion of the Kingdom, but his Roman Catholic friends were not to be pressed to sign the Covenant. Montrose agreed to withdraw from the north if Huntly disbanded his army, which he did. A few days later, the Marquis was invited to Aberdeen under a safe-conduct signed by Montrose. Montrose then treacherous entrapped Huntly, and made him a prisoner. The Marquis and his eldest son, Lord Gordon, were immediately conveyed as prisoners to Edinburgh Castle. Thus the King?s hopes of a rising in his favour in the North were thwarted
Following the imprisonment of his father and elder brother Huntly?s second son, James, the young Viscount Aboyne, mustered the clan himself. He raised a considerable number of men, and took possession of Aberdeen. But he was soon forced to disband his army. He then went on board a ship and proceeded to the King, who promised him assistance. Aboyne returned to Aberdeen, and there being joined by the Farquharsons of Strathdee, he mustered a force of about 2000 men. He advanced to Kintore, and compelled the people to swear allegiance to the King. but shortly after this Earl Marischal in the vicinity of Stonehaven defeated his army. A few days later a party of the Gordons defeated the advance guard of Montrose?s army, which encouraged Aboyne to resolve to make a stand and dispute Montrose?s passage of the Bridge of Dee. On the 17th of June he again ordered his men to muster, but only a small number assembled. Aboyne marched to the bridge with 200 musketeers and a small number of mounted men, throwing up barricades hastily at the south port of the bridge. Montrose arriving with the Covenanter force encamped on nearby Kincorth Hill and immediately commenced operations against the defending Royalists, however despite a great inferiority in numbers Aboyne, and his men held the bridge for two daysFinally Montrose sent a body of foot and horse along the south side of the river, moving as if they intended to ford it. This had the desired effect, Aboyne, with a company of the defenders, left the bridge and advanced up the north side of the river; then Montrose opened fire upon them, and at the same time redoubled the attack on the bridge. At four in the afternoon the bridge was taken. and Montrose marched in triumph into AberdeenWith some difficulty Aboyne managed to escape and fled to England.At this time though Charles gave in and signed The Pacification of Berwick, which should have solved everything but no body trusted anyone by then, least of all the King, so armies were kept in commission on both sides.
Battle of Newburn 1640To pay for a continuation of the war against the Covenanters King Charles was compelled to recall Parliament. to raise the funds required for a new army. The King however had made many enemies amongst the Members of Parliament because of his uncompromising conviction that it was his divine right to rule, and the members were in no mood to grant the King?s requests without significant changes to the constitution.Charles secretly appealed for a loan from Spain, while the Queen appealed to her brother, the King of France and even to the Pope, but all these appeals were in vain. Charles was forced into making a number of promises to the House (none of which he meant to keep) in order to obtain the desired funding.The King?s adviser Strafford advised disbanding the unimpressive northern militia who had been shown to be so unsuccessful in the First Bishops' War and raising a new levy in the south. But these new southern levies were untrained and poorly disciplined and many deserted on the march to the north whilst others were prone to mutiny. Two Catholic officers were lynched by their own men, who then dispersed.By August 1640, around 12,000 troops were assembled in Yorkshire, most of them unpaid and underfed. Another 12,000 foot and 2,000 horse were stationed on the River Tyne under the command of Lord Conway and Sir Jacob Astley. The Scots in the meantime had responded to the treat from England by raising a new Covenanter army 25,000 strong on the border under the capable command of General Alexander Leslie, the Earl of Leven With the Covenanter nobles Argyll and Montrose engaged in a bitter personal feud, Leslie decided to advance southwards. He crossed the Tweed with 25,000 men in three divisions with Sir Thomas Hope?s College of Justice? troop of horse, consisting of one hundred and sixty gentlemen, riding on the right wing. and entered England on 20 August 1640, the same day that King Charles left London for York. The Scottish officers were much concerned during the march that their army did not offend the English nation, with which they had no quarrel. Marching unopposed through Northumberland they arrived at the River Tyne on the 27th. where Lord Conway encountered them with a small force of 2,000 horse, 1,500 foot and 4 cannon that attempted to block the Scots from crossing of the Tyne at Newburn ford. Sir Jacob Astley brought up 2,000 reinforcements the next day, but the English were hopelessly outnumbered and unable to prevent the Scots from crossing the Tyne. The English being utterly defeated and with Conway and Astley retreating south in the aftermath of the battle, the Covenanters pressed on towards Newcastle, which surrendered on the 30th of August without a shot being fired.With Leslie now in control of Newcastle, Tynemouth, Shields, Durham, and several large magazines of provisions the King assembled a Great Council of Peers at York on the 24th September, who almost unanimously advised their monarch to negotiate a truce with the Scots, and to summon another Parliament. At the Treaty of Ripon, signed on the 14th of October, the Scots exacted an indemnity of ?850 a day from the English government for their quarters in Northumberland and Durham, and demanded that the Scottish provisional government negotiate for a permanent settlement with the new Parliament in London, who would be required to reimbursed the Scots for their expenses in prosecuting the war against England. The second bishops' war was to expose the divisions in English political and religious life, which would two years later, result in the catastrophe of the First Civil War
