Meanwhile a valiant squire of Scotland, by name Alexander Ramsay, set out with forty men, determined upon performing some gallant enterprise; he and all his party were well-mounted, and, after riding the whole night through bye roads, came to Berwick at daybreak, where they concealed themselves, and sent a spy to observe the state of the castle, who soon returned, reporting that there was no water in the ditches, and no one about. Upon hearing this, Ramsay and his companions left their place of concealment, and advancing, placed their ladders against the wall of the castle, which they entered, sword in hand, and then immediately hastened to the great tower, where Sir Robert Boynton, the governor slept. Sir Robert, hearing this door being cut down, and fancying that some of his own men wanted to murder him (for at the time he was very unpopular), leaped out a window into the castle ditch, and thus broke his neck. The guard of the castle became alarmed at the noise, sounded their trumpets, and cried out “Treason! Treason!”
John Bisset, the governor of the town of Berwick, heard the cry, and apprehending the cause of it, immediately armed himself; and having given orders for the supports of the bridge, which connected the castle with the town, to be broken down, sent off a messenger to Lord Percy at Alnwick, to request his immediate assistance. “Tell my Lord Percy,” he said to the messenger, “the state you have left me in, and how the Scots are shut up in the castle, and cannot get away unless they leap the walls.” Had not John Bisset acted so wisely, Alexander Ramsay and his men would have gained the whole town; but when they attempted to leave the castle, and for this purpose let down the bridge, the chains which supported it broke, for the pillars on which it should have rested were gone. Ramsay finding himself thus caught, determined to defend the castle, thinking that it would be strong enough to hold out until succour should come from Scotland.
Source: Jean Froissart. The Chronicles of England, France, and Spain. Pp. 150-51.
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