Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle

Sir Andrew Harclay or Hartley (anglicized from Andreas de Harcla), Earl of Carlisle (c. 1270-1323) was an important English military leader in the borderlands with Scotland during the reign of Edward II.

He was the son of Sir Michael Harclay and Joan Fitzjohn, and was probably born at the family seat later known as Hartley Castle. His father was from a gentry family and had served as sheriff of that shire, while his mother was from Yorkshire gentry. Henry Harclay was his brother.

He was appointed sheriff of Cumberland in 1311, and warden of Carlisle Castle in 1313, and in that capacity he led the successful defense against the Scottish siege of Carlisle.

In 1321 he was summoned to parliament as a baron. The next year he gathered and led the northern forces that defeated and captured Thomas, Earl of Lancaster at Boroughbridge. On March 25, just three days after Lancaster's execution, Harclay was created Earl of Carlisle, being girded with the comital sword by King Edward II himself. In addition he was promised land grants suitable for that rank.

The defeat of the rebels enabled the king to turn his attention to Scotland. Harclay raised another considerable force towards this campaign, but was unable to meet up with the royal forces before their disastrous defeat at Old Byland.

Afterwards the north of England became very hard to defend against Scottish raiding, and apparently Harclay decided to take matters into his own hands, and met with Robert I of Scotland to propose peace terms. Several different versions of the resulting agreement are extant [Summerson(2004), Stones p. 308. Stones and Munch give the most complete versions; Stones also lists others] , which has led to a lack of consensus amongst historians regarding the reasonableness of the proposal.

In any case King Edward could deem it nothing less than treason. Harclay was arrested, and hanged, drawn and quartered on March 3, 1323. If in fact the severity of the charges and punishment were unjustified, then other factors may have been at work. The king seems to have felt that Harclay had not come to his aid at Byland quickly enough. His rise may have disturbed the existing aristocracy of northern England. In particular he had squabbled with the Lucy family, and it was Anthony Lucy who arrested Harclay and received his lands. [Fryde 156-157]

His brother John was executed too, although his son, also John, survived as a ward of the king. His sister Sarah successfully petitioned the king to have his body recovered from the far corners of the country that it had been sent to: Carlisle Castle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, York, Shrewsbury and his head from London Bridge so that she could 'commit them to holy sepulture'. [This whole paragraph needs references. None of it is in Summerton(2004) or Tout. Note also that Tout asserts that "no children of his are mentioned".]

Ironically, without Harclay's leadership Edward II was forced to negotiate his own truce with Scotland.

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