Lord Borchard de Herle

Lord Borchard de Herle (1268-1305) was a medieval diplomat under the English King Edward I of England,(r: 1272-1307). He began his service to the King at the age of 20 in which he was sent to other European countries to sign peace treaties, free hostages and deal with trade. After being sent to Scotland to aid the English hostages in a Scottish peasant uprising in 1305, Lord Borchard de Herle took a surprising turn in position, siding with the Scottish peasants, whom he had secretly pitied. After returning to England empty-handed, without the hostages, he was beheaded for his betrayal to the crown.
Early life
Borchard was born in Cornwall England on June 17, 1268 to Borin and Helena de Herle. As a child, he was noted to be shy and reserved, mostly concealed in his home, perhaps due to his abusive father. Thus, perhaps preventing his primary education of going to Colchester Royal Grammar School, in which many upper class children went to. His father being a knight in the crusades, and his mother a descendant of Cynethryth (the wife of Offa of Mercia, English King in the 9th century), Borchard was raised among the gentry and destined to receive a governmental job. In 1280 his father, Lord Borin died of typhoid fever, leaving Borchard, at age 12, to care for his mother and his younger brother, Leofrick. But during this time, the remaining family was also having more issues. Borchard's mother, Helena was also suffering from typhoid fever, crippled for five years. And by the age of 17, Borchard and Leofrick (age 16), started to have quarrels over their inheritance of their father's fortune, ending in a duel to Borchard's victory. As soon as Borchard turned 18, he abandoned his sick mother and took his father's money and left to read law at University of Cambridge.
Career
Due to his father's close connection to Edward I of England, Lord Borchard was almost immediately appointed to be the royal diplomat as soon as he graduated and his predecessor, Brom of Wykeham died. As a diplomat, Lord Borchard de Herle possessed the skill of professional reading, writing, speaking and knowledge to be involved in the politics of the English monarchy and have the high honor of serving the king. As a diplomat, Borchard's main duties were to serve his king by travelling and speaking on behalf of his country to rival leaders of various countries. His various tasks were to deal with treaties, commerce and trade. However, Lord Borchard, known to have become rather sly and greedy during his late teens, often took his profession to his advantage. As diplomats were wealthy people during the 13th century, Borchard often made agreements with rival countries based not only the king's, but his own interests. His decisions were often biased to his financial benefits, thus, adding to his wealth and purchase of a large mansion in London.
The Scottish Peasant Uprising
Lord Borchard was sent to Scotland by the English crown to deal with the small scale peasant uprising of 1305. Since late 13th century, it was common for wealthy Englishmen to acquire large amounts of farmland in Scotland. Naturally, their workers were the local Scottish peasants who worked to obtain wages that were only enough to feed their family. Dissatisfaction in their salaries and poor treatment from the wealthy Englishmen, the Scottish peasants became violent, capturing, and occasionally killing, their employers.
Lord Borchard arrived at the scene on February 17, 1305. The English crown believed that he had intentions to act against the peasants with force if necessary. Instead, Borchard acted in the way that made him famous. He began to negotiate with the peasants in order to retrieve the English hostages. He suddenly changed his intentions and helped the peasants plan another uprising that would appear that they rebelled against Borchard and other English owners of Scottish farmland. This second uprising occurred on March 15 and left 10 English land owners dead. Histories believe that Borchard's sudden change in view points are the result of psychological issues from his childhood ordeals with an abusive father.
Borchard returned to England on March 29 in hopes that no one would discover his traitorous acts. However, Sir Henry de Bohun, who was traveling with Borchard, noticed his suspiciously friendly behavior with the peasants and immediately told the English crown. As a result, Borchard was beheaded for betrayal.
Despite Lord Borchard's short time with the Scottish peasants, some historians argue that he encouraged peasants to stand up to their employers during difficult times. This pattern is evident in the Peasants' Revolt in 1381. Though this uprising resulted from decreased wages and tensions from the black plague, the rebellious tendencies in the Scottish stem from Borchard's influence.

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