History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 64

In England, in 1154, King Henry II had expelled all aliens as encroachers on English
trade and many Flemings were thus compelled to seek fortune and refuge in Scotland.
King David I was then busy assisting the great southern monasteries of Jedburgb,
Kelso, Dryburgh, Melrose and Newbattle. These great religious houses obtained most
of their revenue from wool. The arrival of these banished Flemings was remarkably
opportune, for they were favoured in the knowledge of weaving all manner of articles
from wool, and thus trade became opened up, through them, with the rich wool
*merchants in Flanders. Many Flemings were acting as Baillies for the monks as far
west as Turnberry and Carrick, and in Tweeddale, Annandale, and Clydesdale. The
monasteries rapidly developed into powerful successful trading corporations, and with
their international affiliations and agencies became keen competitors, enjoying
peculiar privileges from the State.
During the excavations in 1927 of a new theatre at Hide Hill, Berwick, a quantity of
human bones was discovered, recalling the dramatic circumstances of Flemish
settlement there. They are believed to be the bones of heroic Flemings. On this site
stood Red Hall. It was the headquarters of the wealthy Flemings, who traded in wools
and hides. Under the fostering care of King David I, Berwick had risen into great
importance as a place of commerce and was peopled by merchants from all over the
Continent. The Flemings were, however, by far the most important section, and were
the only people to form a separate and influential trade-guild. When the infuriated
monarch of England captured Berwick in 1296 he instituted a wholesale sack and
slaughter. In the midst of the bloodshed, 30 Flemings, under oath never to surrender
to the English, put up a magnificent defense. In their last stand, Red Hall was set on
fire by Edward I and, fighting to the end, the Flemings were buried in its ruins.

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