With Henry VIII away fighting in France, the Scottish King James resolved to invade England. The decision was to cost him his life.
In 1513, King Henry of England, together with Maximilian, the Holy Roman Emperor, was besieging the city of Therouanne during the Catholic’ League’s war against France. The French Queen Mary persuaded James IV, the Scottish king, to revive “The Auld Alliance” and divert Henry’s attention by invading England and sent him money and weapons to arm and equip his army. Henry had recently angered James and opened old wounds by claiming to be the overlord of Scotland and the Scot relished the opportunity to get back at Henry, despite being married to Margaret Tudor, Henry’s sister.
When Pope Leo X learned of the Franco/Scottish arrangement, he wrote to James, threatening excommunication for breaking his treaties with England, but without effect. James was then excommunicated which only made him more determined and he collected a force of warships which he sent to help the French. On the 26th July, James wrote to Henry asking him to cease his attacks on the French, but Henry dismissed the request and warned that any retaliatory move against England would be resisted.
In August James crossed the River Tweed near Coldstream with an army of some 30,000 men. He dressed up the reason for his invasion by claiming that he came to seek revenge for the murder of Robert Kerr, Warden of the Scots Marches, by John “The Bastard” Heron, Lord of Ford Castle. By the end of August he had captured the castles of Norham, Etal and Ford.
James made his headquarters in Ford castle and remained there for some days and in the words of the Scots chronicler, Robert Lindsay, “Enjoyed the company of Lady Heron and her daughter”. Some sources maintain that the two women dispensed their favours in return for an undertaking that the castle would not be destroyed.
Up to now, his invasion had amounted to little more than a border raid and many of his men, content with the plunder so far gained, returned to Scotland with their booty.
On the 27th August 1513, Henry’s wife, Catherine of Aragon, acting as Regent, issued warrants for the property of all Scotsmen in England to be confiscated and, when on the 3rd September she learned that James’s forces had crossed the border, she ordered Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey, who had been put in charge of England’s defences in Henry’s absence, to muster a force in London and her Chancellor, Thomas Lovell, to raise an army in the Midland counties. The two armies, now numbering around 25,000, met at Pontefract and held a Council of War. They then marched to Durham where Surrey and his officers prayed in the Cathedral and collected the sacred banner of St Cuthbert. This ancient flag had been carried by the English in great victories over the Scots in 1138 and 1346 and was reckoned a powerful talisman.
Surrey then moved on to Newcastle where he was joined by the men of Northumberland and Durham, including retainers of the mighty Earl of Northumberland, Henry Percy. Lord Percy was himself in France with the king, but his brothers, Lionel and William Percy joined Surrey’s force and together they marched to Alnwick and on to Wooler where they made camp.
In keeping with the custom of the day, the English herald, Roger Croix came to Ford to agree a place for battle and suggested the 4th September as a suitable date, James however, favoured moving south to Berwick on Tweed, but some of his officers felt that they had “done enough” for France and, with winter approaching, wanted to return to Scotland. James moved his men south, crossed the River Til and camped at Flodden Edge outside the village of Branxton.
The Earl of Surrey sent his herald to James complaining that the Scot’s position was akin to a fortress and requested that the two sides meet in battle between 12 and 3 pm on Friday 9th September on Millfield Plain as previously agreed between heralds. Surrey then moved some troops to block James’ route north and by doing so, threatened the Scot position.
On the 9th September, the English began to cross the Twissel Bridge and in another example of the strangely chivalric rules of war at the time, the historian Pitscottie records that King James would not allow his artillery to fire on the vulnerable English during this manoeuvre. Instead, he ordered the burning of the camp rubbish creating clouds of smoke that obscured the view of his camp from the English. Behind the smoke he moved his troops to a new position on Branxton Hill, where they placed their artillery consisting of Five Curtals, two Culverins, four Sakers and six Serpentines, a formidable array. With the advantage of high ground and with a wide marsh at the foot of the hill, James felt that he had command of the battleground. The English however, with their local knowledge, used Branxton Bridge, a route not known to James, to cross the marsh and arrived at the foot of the hill looking up at the formidable army that faced them.
At 4 pm, the Scots began their artillery barrage on the English lines, but the inexperience of the gunners meant that little damage was caused. The English artillery, with its experienced gunners, soon found the range of the enemy and in a short time had destroyed many of the Scots guns. Some of the Lancashire and Cheshire men in the English army had been on the march for some days and were hungry and disorganised. Seeing this weakness in the English right wing, James sent his left wing, commanded by Lord Home, charging down the hill to attack and was initially successful in breaking the English line, but, learning nothing from history, they ran straight into a wall of Cheshire archers, whose longbows caused havoc among the attackers. When James saw the attack faltering he decided on an “All or nothing” charge at the English. He led his main force in a headlong rush down the hill, abandoning the advantage of the high ground. His charge was slowed down by an unexpected ridge and a marshy area at the foot of the slope and all momentum was lost as he reached the English line.
With the English right wing and centre divisions now engaged, the left wing under Lord Stanley ascended the hill and fell upon the wild highlander rearguard of the Campbells and the McLeans. The Scots put up a fierce resistance, but Stanley’s force proved too strong and most were killed, including the clan chiefs. James, seeing the battle was going against him, led his troops in a wild charge towards the English banners and, fighting valiantly, was killed within a spear’s length of Earl Howard, reportedly being hit first by an arrow and then being struck by a billhook.
The defeat became a bloodbath with more than 9,000 Scots killed, including many of the country’s clan chiefs and leaders. English losses were reckoned at 4,000. The battle is thought to be one of the last true medieval clashes fought with bows, pikes, bills and swords. It is also the first battle in which artillery was significantly deployed. The Scots infantry, armed with pikes of some 15 feet long, while a fierce weapon to oppose cavalry, proved no match for the English bill, a six foot long weapon combining spear, axe and hook, which proved more useful in close combat and on the boggy ground.
Most historians attribute the defeat more to Scottish inexperience rather than English valour. The charge by James was foolhardy and did lead to the destruction of his army, made worse by the Scots habit of placing their officers and leaders at the front of a battle while the English commanded from a central point at the rear. An official English report on the battle noted the Scot’s iron spears, but concluded, “The English halberdiers decided the whole affair, so that in the battle the bows and ordnance were of little use”.
The herald Thomas Hawley, the English Rouge Croix pursuivant, brought news of the victory to Queen Catherine, together with the bloodstained surcoat of the dead Scottish king which, together with his iron gauntlets, she had delivered to Henry in France.
James’ body was taken to Berwick on Tweed where it was viewed by captured Scots courtiers who acknowledged it was the king’s. It was then embalmed in Newcastle and finally brought to Sheen Castle near London, where, in a lead coffin, he remained unburied for some years. By the time that James V1 united the English and Scottish thrones in 1603, the bones of his ancestor had long vanished, His banner, sword and armour were taken to the shrine of Saint Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral. In the manner of the time, much of the armour of the Scottish dead was stripped by the Border Reiver factions of both the English and Scottish armies and was sold on the battlefield, and some 350 suits of armour were taken to Nottingham Castle.
The role of Scottish dead included twelve earls, fifteen lords, many clan chiefs, three bishops, two abbots, an archbishop and the king himself. Perhaps the last word should go to the Scot Lord Lindsey, who before the battle, advised the king to withdraw, comparing their situation to “An honest merchant playing dice with a trickster and wagering a gold rose-noble against a bent halfpenny”. James being the gold piece, England the trickster and Earl Howard the halfpenny.
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