Borthwicks - We're mostly all related!
Borthwick is a Scottish family-based name, as opposed to the Highland clan-type tribal names. Further, we're a small family in origin, compared to some of the very large families and clans. Therefore, it's quite probable all, or at least most, Borthwicks are essentially related.
But while ours is a "small" family, over many generations we've multiplied into the thousands, and spread across many family strands, many countries, and many ethnicities.
I note it's possible some unrelated Borthwick staff or tenants may have adopted the Borthwick name, but by the time the Borthwicks seem to have had staff or tenants, family names were pretty well already in place. Therefore, if any, they are probably pretty small in number.
According to the leading accepted story, Borthwicks have been in Scotland since around 1067. But I have to stress I've never seen any documentary proof of this, so I can't put this story out as truth.
Whatever, the first actual documentary mention of a Borthwick of which I'm aware is on a document from the 1200s (Thomas de Borthwick). Except the bloke in whose name the document, a charter transferring land to this Borthwick, apparently didn't exist until the 15th Century. Just another case where sources disagree, and without going back and investigating the original document I can't even guess at the truth.
As far as we can tell, my family is descended from a younger son of the third Lord Borthwick, who probably lived around the start of the 1500s. The current Lord Borthwick is not only the 24th, but is not from the same line as the 3rd Lord, but is from a younger son of the 1st Lord in the mid-1300s. So, while a cousin, he's so distant as to effectively be unrelated except for his name.
According to this tale, the first "Borthwick"*, allegedly called Andreas, although I reiterate I've never seen any evidence for any of this (!), arrived ultimately in Scotland from Hungary in the train of Margaret the Saxon, who shortly married Malcom 4 Canmore** to become queen of Scotland. Meg was accompanied by her brother Edgar Æþeling (Atheling)***, their sister Cristina, and their mother Agatha****.
* The tale has a couple of versions, in one of which this bloke or an heir either adopted the Scottish family name "Borthwick", possibly after being given land at a place already called "Borthwick Water", in which the name "Borthwick" was of Celtic origin but unclear meaning). In another, this possible Andreas or a successor "Scottified" his existing name (whatever it was) to "Borthwick" (the proponents of this story maintain "Borthwick Water" was actually named after a Borthwick). Anyway, a descendant was eventually made a baron and styled Lord Borthwick, and a very impressive massive 14th century tower house was built.
** Canmore, or Caenmore - "Big Head", or in this context, less amusingly, but more probably more accurately, "Great Chief".
*** Æþeling (Ætheling, Atheling) - an honorific, not like the English one "Prince of Wales" (sorry Wales, I don't mean you're English, but that the title is!) given to a bloke who will inherit the throne. Æþeling, on the other hand, designates a potential heir, rather than a definite heir.
Like Harold Godwinson after Edward 2's death (not to be confused with the post-Norman Edwards who started at 1 again), after Harold's death Edgar was proclaimed king by the Witan, a council of the remaining nobles, but was not crowned, although he's sometimes referenced as Edgar 2. Despite being declared king, those making the declaration were no longer in a position of complete power, even in their own domains.
Further, not all English regarded him as king, not least because Billy the Conk had not only killed the cream of Saxon nobility along with Harold at Hastings, but the cream of Saxon warriordom, and was already showing himself to be very cruel in his response to opponents.
So, after about 2 months, in December 1066, leaking supporters like water pouring over Niagara Falls, Edgar 2 and co. were chased out of England by his nemesis, the Norman, Billy 1. Allegedly, they were heading for France, but their ship was wrecked in Scotland, where Malcolm 4 found some value in them.
Edgar was particularly useful as an excuse, as if he really needed one (!), for various brutally cruel raids into northern England, particularly Northampton, which he reckoned the recently carked Normo-Saxon Edward 1 had effectively given him in 1054 while assisting his (Malcolm's) seizure of the Scottish throne from and murder of King Macbeth 1.
**** Agatha was probably a Hungarian or Germanic noblewoman - "probably" because apart from her name no-one's sure who she was, where she originally came from, to whom she was related, or how she ended up being married to an exiled Normo-Saxon potential claimant to the English throne.
Margaret and Edgar's father, Edward Æþeling, apparently known as "the Exile", was the son of Edmond 1 "Ironside", who, like Edward, was a son by Æthelred the Unr and his first wife, and was thus Edward 1's half-brother, making the Æþeling Edward's nephew. Edward the Exile arrived back in England with his family in 1057 at King Edward's invitation, upon which Edward 2 made Edward the Exile his heir. Unfortunately, the Exile died shortly after, possibly after having been poisoned*****.
***** Sorry about this, but this note requires quite a bit of background to explain. If Edward Ætheling "the Exile" was poisoned, it would not be the least surprising if it was carried out by or at the behest of of a bloke titled and named Earl Harold Godwinson (later styled, but not crowned, King Harold 2, and killed at Hastings in 1066) or his rellies.
One of these rellies was Harold's sister Ealdgyth, who in 1054 (goodness, a millenium before my birth!) was married to King Edward 2. Ealdgyth is more commonly known as "Edith", her birth name having been Gytha. I don't why her name was changed, whether that was traditional or not. However, a hint for someone who knows the language and has the time to check online sources on the English language of the time may be in the "gyth" in both names.
As usual in these matters, Gytha/Ealdgyth/Edith would have been given no choice, and neither in all probability was the groom. It's thought the marriage was forced on Edward as part of the price for winning the crown.
To explain this, in theory, at least, in the pre-Norman period English kings didn't inherit the crown automatically through descent as was the custom after the Normans took over, as it still is, although the British parliament does have some restrictions on the person chosen. For example, they can't be Roman Catholic and must head up the mostly protestant Church of England, and they must be male.
However, back in 1042 a mob possibly commonly called the Witan, more formally the Witena ġemōt or Witenaġemot ("Witan" was more correctly the title of the members) appears to have been empowered to make such an offer to the person it believed would be best able to defend the kingdom.
Modern historians argue about the actual powers and even the name of the Witan, with many preferring names like national assembly. Some even hold that the Witan's power was simply to rubber stamp the choice "made by God" through primogeniture, so the only difference pre- and post-Norman was the formalisation of "God's choice". Certainly, primogeniture appears to have been the usual means of inheritance for English kings, especially after the unification of England under the Kings of Wessex.
A couple of pre-unification kings appear to have been chucked out of power by their Witans, but after unification, until 1013 the only king who was possibly chucked out was Edward 1, who became king at 13 and died at 16. The means, if the stories are true (!), may have been by poison, but was most definitely murder, and while definitely not ordered by the Witan, was almost certainly ordered by Ælfthryth, the mother of Edward's younger half-brother Æthelred, who, with her supporters, had apparently lost the argument in the Witan that Edward was unsuitable because of his extremely bad temper (he was 13, for goodness sakes, what did people expect!) and his alleged illegitimacy.
Sadly for the English, Edward 1 was succeeded in a primogeniture-based choice rubber stamped by the Witan, perhaps seeing the writing on the wall following Edward's murder, bringing his younger half-brother Æthelred 2 to power. Mind you, some modern revisionist historians argue Æthelred wasn't as bad as he's usually painted, and the point should be made his cognomen of "Unrædy", if it was ever used during his reign seeing as it doesn't appear for some 150 years after his death, meant "ill advised" was as much a criticism of his advisory council, or Witan, as it was of him. Mind you, it may simply have been a classic English ironic pun, as Æthelred can mean something like "good advice" or "wise advice" - so he was "Wise Advice the Unwisely Advised". That was probably hilarious back in the day.
But, revised or not, I can't turn a blind eye to his 1002 genocidal attempt to rid England of its people of Danish/Viking origin, even if, as seems possible, if not probable, he was responding to a possible coup attempt against him from among his Danish-descended nobles. The extent and cause of this massacre is unclear, and the matter of some "discussion" among historians.
The English had been subjeced to countless cruelties and massacres, and massive tax burdens because of Viking thefts and protection money ("danegeld"), and while the kingdom of England nominally included the Danelaw, the king's remit there was negligible. So the hatreds that came out in the pogrom, however widespread it was, and even if "only" limited to towns bordering the Danelaw, or "only" aimed at Viking warriors and nobles, may well have some rationale. But while that may provide some understanding, even a degree of sympathy, it's not anywhere near an excuse.
However, eventually that pogrom was possibly/probably Æthelred's downfall ("possibly/probably" because several of this story's "facts" are contested). One of the people killed in a burning English church in the St Brice's Day Massacre of November 13, 1002, is said to have been a woman called Gunhilde, two of whose roles may have been to be married to a bloke called and apparently titled Eorl Pallig Tokesen of Devonshire, and to have possibly been the sister of King Sweyn 2 Forkbeard of Denmark.
Pallig was a Danish Viking, not a long-settled Dane of the Danelaw. In 1001 he was acting as a hired mercenary for Æthelred, tasked with beetling around the southern coast beating up other Viking raiders, in essence using a scumbag to counter other scumbags. It seems as if at one stage he reckoned the earnings from joining in some raids with some Norwegian Vikings would be better pay than his earnings from the king. However, as the going was tougher than he thought, Pallig eventually headed back to make his peace with his erstwhile employer. Having done so, Æthelred and his English advisers appear to have stewed on the matter.
Concurrently, Sweyn had happily either personally or by proxy been raiding England for several years, and had been paid to bugger off several times with vast sums of danegeld, taxed out of the English nobility who in turn battered it out of their peasantry, and whatever Æthelred could get out of the Danelaw. But at the time of Pallig's apparent treachery Sweyn appears to have been in yet another "peace" agreement with England's king.
The English stew boiled over on November 13, 1002. The excuse appears to have been a warning received by Æthelred that Pallig was plotting a coup against him, but whether he received such a warning, or whether if he did the warning was genuine is unknown. However, people were killed in churches, as evidenced by recent findings of heartily stabbed skeletons of probable Viking warriors, young men whose bones showed signs of previous battle wounds, outside an Oxford church.
Also in Oxford, in 1004 Æthelred confirmed the rights of St Frideswide's Church, which the townsfolk had righteously burned down when occupied by Danes seeking sanctuary. One can't read this without pondering the actual christianity of these people, the ones doing the burning, especially as their victims appear to have included far more than just warriors. Some modern historians try to minimise the genocidal nature of these acts, some preferring the apparently more anodyne term "racial cleansing". I don't accept the difference, and don't believe the use of differing terms is valid.
As it happens, 1002 was important to English and, as it turned out, world history when Æthelred, whose first wife, probably Ælgifu of York, although the first mention of her name and origins came over a century after her death, possibly in 2002. Hopefully for her the year of her death was coincidental, for in that year Æthelred cemented an agreement not to provide refuge to their respective enemies with Duke Richard of Normandy by marrying Richard's sister Emma, who would via her descendants, and at a much later stage having been some sort of aunt to Billy the Bastard, come to play a very important role in this whole saga.
Whether or not Pallig was killed in the church, there are reports he may have undertaken later attacks in southern England, or was married to a sister of Sweyn who was burned in a church, Sweyn took his vengeance. Not that he really needed a reason, it seems. He and his proxies came back several times over ensuing years, which included yet another unwise act on Æthelred's part, a cleaning out of his nobility, in which quite a number were murdered.
Eventually, Sweyn turned up in 2012 and created such a stink that even with the support of the Viking Thorkall the Tall, who was conveniently available for hire because he was also raiding England at the time (!), Æthelred couldn't fight him off, so sent his sons by Emma, Edward and Arthur, off to her home place in Normandy, and buggered off to the Isle of Wight.
After sitting there pondering for a short while, perhaps remembering what happened to the druids who foolishly trapped themselves there to be massacred by the Roman army, and almost certainly remembering that the best thing that could happen to failed kings who fell into the hands of the Vikings was to be hung up a tree by their testicles, Æthelred headed off to join his Norman family.
Sweyn wasn't there for long, but in that time he had the Witan declare him king, thus replacing Æthelred, and to try to cement English support had his son Cnut married to Ælfgifu of Northampton, whose father, brother and quite a few other relatives had been and were about to be murdered by the unwise and poorly advised Æthelred.
However, even the fearsome have to die some time, and Sweyn 1's time came in 1014. Upon which his oldest son the Æthelred came back, murdered a few more of Ælfgifu of Northampton's relatives, among others, only to be faced with a rebellion by sons of his first wife Ælfgifu of York (not to be confused with Cnut's new wife Ælfgifu of Northampton!), which when "sorted out" resulted in Æthelred and his third son, by then his oldest remaining son, Edmond "Ironside", coming together to fight against the returning Danes under Sweyn 1's son Cnut (aka Canute, or Knut 2 of Denmark).
Shortly, in 1016, Æthelred died, probably poisoned, possibly by his son Edmond, who became King Edmond 2. But with Cnut rampaging through the country, Edmond was definitely not the only fellow with a claim to the throne. Edmond might have succeeded to Æthelred's throne, but that was not what interested Cnut. He wanted to return to Sweyn's throne, and if some bozo was determined to stand in his way because he reckoned he had a prior claim, Cnut would deal with him.
And deal he did. Edmond 2 and Cnut 1 (of his bit of England) came to an agreement, splitting the joint between them. But shortly afterwards Edmond carked it, possibly poisoned at Cnut 1's behest. This left Cnut 1 in sole charge.
Anyway, in 1042 King Harthacnut 1 died. I note Harthacnut is sometimes incorrectly designated "Cnut 3", and that may be true for Denmark where he was also king, but in England he was "Cnut 2". Harthacnut was to be the last of the Viking/Danish kings of England, but seems to have designated the Normo-Saxon who would become Edward 2 as his heir. However, the Witan, made up of the senior secular and church lords and members of the royal family, often including the women, still had to do the rubber stamping.
Cnut's first wife Ælfgifu bore him two sons, Svein and Harold. There's no indication I've seen they were twins, but they're both listed as having been born around 1016. Svein was regarded as the older. Shortly after Harold's birth, presuming him to be the younger of the two, Cnut decided he needed to cement his relationship with the English a bit more. So, in accordance with practice at the time, he "set aside" Ælfgifu and married Emma the Norman, Æthelred's widow, mother of the teenager who later became Edward 1, and great-aunt to Edmund 1 Ironside's two sons, one of whom was another Edward, to become known as "the Exile" after Cnut sent them far away from England (the other boy, Edmund, died in Hungary).
As Cnut's wife, in 1018 Emma bore Harthacnut, the future Edward 1's half-brother, who in 1040 became Harthacnut 1 (or "Cnut 2" of England, having been "Knut 3" of Denmark since 1035). "Harthacnut" means something like "Hard-knot".
Harthacnut "ruled" in Denmark on his father's behalf from 1026, when he was 7 or 8. Initially Harthacnut "ruled" under a regent called Ulf, who peeved Cnut so much he turned up and popped Ulf's clogs, but left Harthacnut in place.
Upon Cnut's death, Harthacnut was crowned king of Denmark, and expected to be crowned king of England as well. But Harold, his older half-brother by Cnut's first wife, was already in place and tried, initially unsuccessfully, to be crowned king in his own right. The Archbishop of Canterbury refused to crown him in 1035.
Probably taking advantage of this schemozzle, in 1036 Emma the Norman's two Normo-Saxon sons by Æthelred, Edward and Ælfred (Alfred), who, although unrelated to Harold were Harthacnut's half-brothers, invaded England to pursue their claims to the English throne in 1036. Apparently, Edward saw Harold was able to put together a more substantial army than they could, so beetled off back over the Channel. Ælfred, however, either didn't get the message, or decided to take his chances anyway, and managed to fall into the hands of, even in this caste of characters, the man who must have been the most duplicitous, two-faced, self-seeking, toadying, and cruel man in England, Earl Godwin.
Godwin, a noble under Æthelred, switched sides to become a supporter of Æthelred's son Edmund when he rebelled, then joined back up with Æthelred again along with Edmond. Following Æthelred's possibly suspicious death, Godwin sided with Edmond against Cnut. Then, after Edmond 1's suspicious death, he toadied up to Cnut and became a trusted adviser.
In 1036, having observed the way things were going, he decided to throw in his lot with Harold. After capturing Ælfred and some hundreds of his supporters, Godwin had their eyes burned out with red hot pokers. Ælfred died not long afterwards. Inevitably, this really endeared Godwin to Edward, and his and Ælfred's mother Emma, although she tended strongly to favour Harthacnut over either of her older sons.
In 1037, Harold was able to get himself crowned king, allegedly because Harthacnut took too long to turn up, but it's possible the witan (council of nobles, which had the task in Anglo-Saxon society of choosing the king upon the previous king's death - theoretically the role did not have to go to a descendant) didn't fancy him for king because of his age - he was only around 17 at the time of his father's death. Further, its members may have been impressed by Harold's handling of Edward and Ælfred's invasion. Not to mention the fact they may have had regard to Godwin's red hot pokers, I'm damned sure I would have!
However, Harold suddenly carked it in 1040. Harthacanute took the opportunity to pop in, get tyhe witan's approval and be crowned in his own right, while allegedly chucking his brother's remains in a sewer. They were allegedly retrieved by some London-resident Danes and planted in their local cemetery. Godwin, of course, made sure he gave Harthacnut a good welcome, probably preferring him as king over Edward, considering what he had done to poor Ælfred.
The Normo-Danish Viking Harthacnut 1, probably aware he was dying, recognised as his heir his half-brother Edward, the Normo-Saxon last remaining son of the weak, cowardly, and cruelly genocidal Æthelred the Unrædy. But in England, a king's recognition of an heir was insufficient for that person to become king. He had to be elected by a council of the major men of the land. While Edward was the open candidate, there was another finagling behind the scenes. The incredibly powerful, treachorous, and ghastly Earl Godwin. , as second prize for her father, When I say "forcibly married", I don't mean she was forced, I don't know about her, although it wouldn't surprise me, but such was life for noblemen's daughters I'm afraid, but that Edward was forced - and, frankly, that wasn't all that unusual for the sons of noblemen either. It was a condition of Godwin not rebelling, although he did later anyway. As Edward and his wife didn't have any children, it's said, and it may well be true, Edward refused to have sex with her. Mind you, there could be other reasons, Edward does appear to have been weirdly religious, or may have been gay, although that didn't necessarily stop gay noblemen and kings breeding, or of course one of them may have been infertile. Not forgetting Godwin had been responsible for gouging out the eyes of one of Edward's brothers and hundreds of his supporters as an act of support for the Danish Viking King of England Canute's son
Edward never after made an open announcement of an heir, possibly wanting to save lives, so didn't pass on the right as heir to Edgar, who at the time of the Exile's death would only have been about three. However, as his father had the honorific Æþeling, the honorific was passed on to him, at least by those who supported any potential claim by him. By the time they arrived in Scotland, Edgar (still only about 15), with both Edwards and the powerful Earl Harold Godwinson, the uncrowned Harold 2, dead, so having been declared king as Edgar 2, but also having been uncrowned and fleeing Billy the Conk, Edgar (still only about 15) appears to have been demoted back to Æþeling as being the "rightful" king of England, at least by those who recognised him as such.