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dominion was circumscribed by the bravery of the people and by the narrow
bounds of the fortress (v). The English garrison, however, often annoyed
the circumjacent country by their frequent ravages, which were sometimes
retaliated on the English borders by incursions from Dumfriesshire. In
1380, the Scots, who were led by the Earl of Douglas, carried their ravages
as far as Westmoreland, where they plundered the fair at Penrith, and bore
away much booty. The English, in their turn, advanced with hostile steps
into Dumfriesshire; but, falling into an ambuscade, they were repulsed,
when many were taken, and some were drowned in the Solway as they
fled (w). In 1384, the Earl of Douglas, and Archibald Douglas, the lord
of Galloway, whose territories had been infested by the English garrison of
Lochmaben, assembled their followers and besieged Lochmaben castle, which
they soon took and wholly demolished (x). The destruction of this strong-
hold put an end to the English dominion in Annandale ; and this lord-
ship was at length, after so many conflicts, quietly enjoyed by the Earl of
March.
New changes were now at hand, which introduced new men and fresh
disquiet into Dumfriesshire. The potent but imprudent Earl of March,
feeling himself wronged and reparation hopeless, renounced his allegiance,
and sought protection in England during the year 1400. Henry IV. had
recently assumed the sovereignty of Annandale, and placed it in the custody
of Thomas de Neville, who seems, however, never to have taken possession of
his charge (y).
(v) See his many writs in the Rot. Scotiæ on this head. His precepts of protection in 1373 and
1376, only include the constable and garrison and the people living under their security.
(w) Fordun, xiv. 43. Wyntoun. ix. ch. 3. In those days the chief passage between Dumfries
and Cumberland appears to have been at the influx of the Esk into the Solway, which was only ford-
able at the tide's recess, a circumstance this that proved fatal to so many fugitives and passengers.
To check the incursions of the Scots, the guarding of this passage became an object of attention to
the English government. The office of keeping the passage of the water of Solvath, on the march
of Scotland, was granted by Richard II. to Richard Burgh for his lifetime. In 1396 he resigned this
office to Galfrid Tilliol and Galfrid Louther, who got an appointment from Richard II. for their
lives, and this was confirmed to them, by Henry IV. in November 1399. Rotuli Scotiæ, ii. 152.
This office fell to Galfrid Louther alone in 1404, and it was confirmed to him by Henry V. in 1413.
Id., 166, 206.
(x) It was surrendered by the English governor, Sir William Featherstone, on the 7th of February
1384. Fordun, xiv. 47 ; Wyntoun, b. ix. ch. 5.
(y) Rotuli Scotiæ, ii. 151. Archibald, Earl of Douglas, who conducted the war on the
borders, was defeated, wounded, and taken prisoner in the battle of Homildon, on the 14th of
September 1402. The renowned Henry Percy, who obtained that advantage, was gratified by
Henry IV., in March 1403, with a grant of Eskdale and other estates of the unfortunate