Early Life
Walter Scott was the son of Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, 2nd lord of Buccleuch, and Elizabeth Kerr, daughter of Walter Kerr of Cessford. The elder Sir Walter succeeded his grandfather, David Scott, 1st lord of Buccleuch, as baron of Branxholme in 1492 and died before 15 April 1504.
The younger Walter was knighted on the field at the battle of Flodden on 9 September 1513, where he lost many of his kinsmen. He was named heir to his father 27 October 1517, and was appointed Baillie of the lands of the Melrose Abbey in 1519, a position that was soon after made hereditary and confirmed in Rome in 1525.
He was warded in Edinburgh in 1524 following a dispute with Margaret Tudor, the Queen Dowager of James IV, regarding her dower lands in Ettrick Forest, but he escaped the same year and associated himself with the opposing party of her husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus and Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox. He received letters of pardon under the Privy Seal, 9 May 1526, for an attempt to capture the Earl of Arran.
Later that year the young king James V enlisted Scott's help to free himself from the tutelage of the Douglas faction led by Angus. Scott led 600 lances to intercept the king and his train, which included Kerrs of Ferniehurst and Cessford, but was defeated by Angus's forces at Darnick near Melrose on 25 July. The Scotts lost 100 men and were driven off, hotly pursued by the Kerrs. In the pursuit, a rider in Scott's service killed Kerr of Cessford, an action that led to a bloody feud between the Kerrs and Scotts that would culminate 26 years later in Scott's murder. Scott was exiled for his role in the affair under a penalty of £10,000 Scots, but he was pardoned under the Great Seal on 10 February 1528, and by Act of Parliament on 5 September 1528.
In October 1532 the Earl of Northumberland burned Branxholme Tower, and Buccleuch retaliated by leading 3000 lances on a formidable raid into England. In 1535 he was accused of assisting the English Warden Lord Dacre, and warded in Edinburgh, 19 April 1535, at the King's will, but was released before 13 May 1536, though again imprisoned in 1540.
Read more about this topic: Walter Scott Of Branxholme And Buccleuch
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