Massacre of Berwick

Look at http://www.lonympics.co.uk/

The Massacre of Berwick 1296 Look at http://www.lonympics.co.uk/

The massacre of Berwick occurred in 1296, when the English King, sent an invasion force to conquer Scotland. He ended up massacring the population of Berwick The massacre killed 15/30,000 people. Over 10,000 of the victims were hung, in the worst massacre by a state in the history of the island of Britain. More than Romans, Saxons, and Vikings. Berwick, was later annexed to England, and made part of that country, though there was some feeling that it was a seperate entity, but this fact was never really believed properly, and was undone, by certain acts.The isle of man was also annexed off Scotland in this era to the English nation, but Scottish independence survived. Some claim that Scotland did as much in return, but this is not right, indeed one source claims that in 1296, just after the Scottish army had been beaten a Scottish army could possibly have massacred people across Northumberland, this is ridicolous, that is like saying Poles could have massacred German in 1944, even though they had no army, that could have gotten into Germany, as they were being occupied, Surely no Scottish army could have massacred English people, when a huge army was in Berwick, as it would have been annhialted. To give the truth is what historians should do. And another time, a person critising the film braveheart said braveheart was innacurate as they said it was so anti English, and they said a classic example, is how it does not mention the terrible sige of york, they said this on a radio programme the type that says big nations should wave flags more, and little nations are dangerous if they are nationalistic. In the end, the fact is the siege of Berwick, never happened, the only thing it ever happened in was the Film Braveheart., a film which did not mention the massacre of Berwick, even though it was good movie, in many ways, It occurred on the 30th March 1296. It is often called the sack of Berwick. it occurred after a siege, and it occurred partly on Good Friday Look at

The massacre of Berwick March 30th 1296.
At the time it had a history that century of being the most prosperous town in the nation. At the centre of a thriving trade with the low countries. At times that century it produced a customs revenue equal to a quarter of England's as a whole according to the book William Wallace by James Mackay, It also traded with Scandinavia and Northern Germany, and England. At the time it was larger than a Edinburgh almost as large. The massacre it is said lasted 3 days. On direct order of the English King.
Mathew of Westminster claimed 60,000 were murdered.
But most people say the population was only 20,000 at the time.
At the time, some members of the elite took a perverse pride in a high body count of enemy dead, so the Scottish writer of the time, John of Fordun claimed only seven thousand were massacred. Most historians so feel that it is somewhere in between the total. Most say 17000 to 20000 died, The rubble of the not that well defended town was used to build English fortifications. The town never regained it's prosperity. Corpses were dumped in huge numbers in the sea. There were massacres after by the Scottish army in revenge which may have massacred 100s, in towns on Northern England, but no more. To some degree some say this helped unite the Scots against the English, but some say it helped reduce some's moral. In the end though Scotland won the war. So that was the story of the sack of Berwick, the sacking of Berwick, or Massacre of Berwick, however you want to term it.

Berwick had some doubts as to whether it was in England, later, or was united with it, but by now it is regarded as part of it. But Berwick Rangers play in the Scottish League, a last vestige of it's Scottishness. Look at http://www.lonympics.co.uk/

THere were also massacres by the English King in the Peasants Revolt, in 1381, when 2500-7000 locals in South East England were massacred.

http://www.marxists.org/history/england/peasants-revolt/story.htm Look at http://www.lonympics.co.uk/

For Berwick pages

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/leith/4.htm

http://sinclair.quarterman.org/history/med/battleofrosslyn.html

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4173980.stm

www.todayinliterature.com/biography/william.wallace.asp

The Worst Regimes of the 20th Century at http://www.lonympics.co.uk/

The Worst Crimes, by Political leaders in British History

A Multiple Choice Quiz on Scottish History

A site on the Scottish Empire, lands once ruled by Scotland

A site on massacres after Culloden