The Battle of Flodden in 1513 was the largest battle ever to take place between England and Scotland. James IV himself led an army of 30,000 men over the border into England, ostensibly in revenge for the murder of a Scotsman, but in reality to assist their ally the French by diverting the forces of Henry VIII. Yet the Scots were hampered by old-fashioned weapons and tactics, whereas the English deployed more accurate artillery and their vaunted longbowmen. When King James IV was killed while leading a charge, and many of their officers died, the Scots were left in disarray and the English victory was decisive. As the first new history of the battle in a decade, this authoritative and eye-opening account marks the 500th anniversary and brings our knowledge of the conflict up to date. Expert knowledge and detailed maps look at the key events, the 1135 campaign and the minor battles of Millfield and Norham, and a full profile of the respective forces and deployments, and convey the battle's course concisely and clearly. A key read for those interested in military history or the period in general.
The Battle of Flodden in 1513 was the largest battle ever to take place between England and Scotland. James IV himself led an army of 30,000 men over the border into England, ostensibly in revenge for the murder of a Scotsman, but in reality to assist their ally the French by diverting the forces of Henry VIII. Yet the Scots were hampered by old-fashioned weapons and tactics, whereas the English deployed more accurate artillery and their vaunted longbowmen. When King James IV was killed while leading a charge, and many of their officers died, the Scots were left in disarray and the English victory was decisive. As the first new history of the battle in a decade, this authoritative and eye-opening account marks the 500th anniversary and brings our knowledge of the conflict up to date. Expert knowledge and detailed maps look at the key events, the 1135 campaign and the minor battles of Millfield and Norham, and a full profile of the respective forces and deployments, and convey the battle's course concisely and clearly. A key read for those interested in military history or the period in general.
eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
The Battle of Flodden in 1513 was the largest battle ever to take place between England and Scotland. James IV himself led an army of 30,000 men over the border into England, ostensibly in revenge for the murder of a Scotsman, but in reality to assist their ally the French by diverting the forces of Henry VIII. Yet the Scots were hampered by old-fashioned weapons and tactics, whereas the English deployed more accurate artillery and their vaunted longbowmen. When King James IV was killed while leading a charge, and many of their officers died, the Scots were left in disarray and the English victory was decisive. As the first new history of the battle in a decade, this authoritative and eye-opening account marks the 500th anniversary and brings our knowledge of the conflict up to date. Expert knowledge and detailed maps look at the key events, the 1135 campaign and the minor battles of Millfield and Norham, and a full profile of the respective forces and deployments, and convey the battle's course concisely and clearly. A key read for those interested in military history or the period in general.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780752479132 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 11/30/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 224 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The Battle of Flodden 1513
By John Sadler, Rosie Serdiville
The History Press
Copyright © 2013 John Sadler and Rosie SerdivilleAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-7913-2
CHAPTER 1
MUD, BLOOD AND MYTH: BEING INTRODUCTORY
GREEN Flodden! On thy blood-stain'd head
Descend no rain nor vernal dew;
But still, thou charnel of the dead,
Whitening bones they surface strew!
Soon as I tread thy rush-clad vale, wild fancy feels the clasping mail;
The rancour of a thousand years
Glows in my breast; again I burn
To see the banner'd pomp of war return,
And mark beneath the moon, the silver light of spears.
J. Leyden, 'Ode on Visiting Flodden'
Few battles in British history have produced such a mantle of romantic gloss, perhaps most markedly on the Scottish side, where Flodden, understandably, still rates as a major calamity. James IV who, had he decided otherwise on the day, might well have been remembered as one of the nation's most successful, rather than rashly quixotic and foolhardy monarchs, has been blamed ever since. This is in fact unfair. James was an excellent ruler in many ways and his failure at Flodden did involve a fair measure of sheer bad luck. The Flodden tradition, ably abetted by Scott and other nineteenth-century romantics, has woven itself into the consciousness of a nation. As ever with history, the reality is more complex and multi-layered. The contemporary sources are patchy, so we are frequently thrown back upon heroic assumption. Both James IV and Henry VIII are fascinating characters and it is the underlying dynamic between these two aggressive and able monarchs that lies at the root of this conflict.
James was more mature and in many ways more astute. Henry VIII's campaign in France was a vainglorious puff that emptied his father's wonderfully hoarded treasury and achieved nothing in strategic terms. The only laurels won in 1513 were garnered in cold and distant Northumberland, not the universal cockpit of Flanders and Artois. Henry's vaunted victory – the 'Battle of the Spurs' – was an insignificant skirmish whilst Flodden proved the bloodiest fight in three centuries of savage and bitter cross-border strife. Less certain is the extent of the consequences. Some writers, notably Peter Reese, see the consequences as far reaching and damaging, weakening the northern kingdom for the remainder of the sixteenth century. Whilst the evils of minority kingships were frequent visitors to Scotland, other chroniclers see the battle, despite the level of loss, as having remarkably few long-term consequences. What is remarkable is the manner in which the Scottish polity bore the loss, steadied and continued, even fighting back later the same year.
The Battle
With fire and sword the country round
Was wasted far and wide.
And many a chiding mother then
And new born baby died:
But things like that, you know must be
At every famous victory
Robert Southey, 'After Blenheim'
It was on a wet, blustery afternoon in late summer that King James IV of Scotland committed his army to battle against an English force led by Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey. Only the monument atop Piper's Hill by the pleasant, if unremarkable, north Northumbrian village of Branxton marks the site of the epic clash of arms which followed. So small a village that Remembering Flodden is constructing a visitor centre in a disused phone box, the smallest information point in Britain! This proved one of the bloodiest days in British history, the most prodigious slaughter in three centuries of border warfare between England and Scotland. Despite the level of carnage, Flodden is barely remembered in England; some distant battle that no longer features on any school curriculum. In Scotland the situation is very different. Here echoes of that day still resonate, distorted by successive overlays of romance and myth. Perhaps more so now than ever, as the independance debate gathers increasing momentum.
Sir Walter Scott has much to answer for in this. He relates how, on the eve of battle, the young Earl of Caithness, with 300 of his affinity, presented himself before King James. The earl was under something of a cloud, having been outlawed for recent misdemeanours. The king, nonetheless, allowed expediency to triumph over form and admitted the Caithness contingent to his rank. Decent of him, unfortunate for them, as they fell to a man on the field. The earl's affinity wore green and the colour was, even at the time of the Minstrelsy, still considered unlucky in Caithness. Such Flodden traditions have a romantic ring and yet many may be true; no less than eighty-seven Hays fell around the banner of their chief.
This new history, coming hard upon the heels of so many others is, in part, an attempt to rip away the fustian and enter into a fuller understanding of the actual protagonists, a risky undertaking at best, since they themselves remain obdurately silent down the centuries. It is also an attempt to present a current history fitted to the 500th anniversary and taking note of recent and exciting archaeological work that remains ongoing. Further, it will attempt, and this is risky territory, to assess what the battle means today to people in England and Scotland, where perceptions clearly differ and where the prospect of enhanced devolution adds a fresh and tantalising element.
The bare facts of the campaign and Battle of Flodden may be summarised quite succinctly. It was fought as a consequence of strategic decisions made by Henry VIII of England, principally his intention to invade the realm of France in 1513 in support of his ally, the Habsburg emperor. In so doing, he was fully aware this would antagonise his brother-in-law, James IV of Scotland, who might, in support of his French ally, launch an attack on Northern England. James, stung by Henry's contemptuous rebuttal of several ultimata, pushed ahead with his plans for an invasion of Northumberland, his efforts boosted by supplies of bullion, arms and a cadre of military advisers from France. James, under the influence of his French advisers, had resolved to drill his raw levies in advanced pike tactics, developed and practised with great élan and success by redoubtable Swiss mercenaries and Imperial Landsknechts.
Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, latterly 2nd Duke of Norfolk – England's venerable senior commander, who had started his long career in arms as a Yorkist, led the English host. His available forces were undoubtedly inferior in numbers to the Scots. Most contemporary commentators give the English between 16,000–26,000 effectives. These troops were made up mainly from retainers of the magnates and shire levies from those counties north of the Trent. Surrey's eldest surviving son, the Lord Admiral, brought a stiffening of 1,200 marines from the fleet whilst Lord Dacre furnished some 1,500 border horse. Surrey also had an artillery train (though his was made up of lighter field pieces). These English guns could not compare with the Scots train in terms of weight of shot but were faster firing and more manoeuvrable. On the field, English gunners did briskly murderous service and emerged victorious from the opening artillery duel. This virtually decided the outcome.
After the initial Scottish muster on Burgh Muir, the host moved southward to the border to commence the siege of Norham. This was the Prince Bishop's great hold by the Tweed – Queen of Border Fortresses. The castellan had advised Surrey he could hold out until relieved, echoing the earlier siege of 1497. but this time the Scottish train was vastly more formidable. Following a mere five days of bombardment and infantry assault, the fortress surrendered on terms. Wark soon followed. James went on to take lesser holds at Etal and Ford, both of which were then slighted. There is no indication that James intended to seek battle. His objectives could, and indeed largely had been attained, without the hazard. He may, however, have wished to put his army to the test but the first position he chose, astride Flodden Edge and overlooking Millfield Plain, was entirely defensive. His guns were well dug in and the ground favoured the Scots.
There is magic in these otherwise unremarkable hills. Scottish camp fires above plundered Fishes Steads were laid on top of Iron-Age cooking pits, older to them than they to us (Plate 3). The landscape remains essentially unchanged, though far more is now beneath the plough and generations of patient drainage have drawn the sting from fatal mosses. We can walk the same ground as the combatants of five centuries past, happily devoid of the irritating accretions that besmirch so many of our over-regulated heritage sites. To do so is a remarkable experience; to attempt to visualise the great Scottish army bivouacked by the farm, aptly named Encampment, to clothe these regular fields with a swarm of crude bothies for the commons and proud pavilions of the gentry, the smoke of several thousand fires, pungent aroma of cooking, human and animal waste, wet wool, sweat and the acrid tang of spent powder as the great guns practised their killing reach (Plate 4).
Surrey's decision to attempt an outflanking manoeuvre and occupy Branxton Hill was a bold one which nearly came unstuck as a significant gap opened between his and Thomas Howard's division. James chose not to exploit the opportunity but to await his enemies' full deployment. This was entirely consistent with Swiss doctrine. Combat began with a brisk artillery duel. The heavier Scottish ordnance, having been dragged over the intervening saddle, could not be properly dug in. Nor were the gunners necessarily Scotland's best as many of these were attached to the fleet. Very quickly the English gunners established fire supremacy, their Scottish counterparts fell or deserted, and round shot began to fall amongst the densely packed ranks of pikes.
For James this was intolerable: he unleashed Home and Huntly's powerful division on the Scottish left. At the outset, his choice of tactics appeared fully validated. At this point on the ground the lateral burn, running by the foot of Branxton Hill and which was to bring ruin to the king, was a far lesser obstacle and Edmund Howard's weak brigade on the English right almost instantly folded. Only Howard himself with a handful of knights stood his ground and fought on against hopeless odds. A timely intervention by Dacre's Horse restored the position, shoring up this crumbling flank. Home's unwillingness to continue the fight smacked to many of both treachery and collusion between the wardens; scarcely an unusual arrangement in border warfare!
Meanwhile, the division of Errol, Crawford and Montrose hurled themselves downhill, followed by the king's vast, bristling phalanx to smash the English centre. The ground, however, proved far more difficult than a view from the hilltop might suggest. The burn ran deeper and its banks proved more slippery than either appeared. Momentum, key to success with pikes, was lost and with it cohesion. The Scots struggled through wet and mire to find themselves slogging up a rise to meet an English line which surged forward to engage. Now crucial impetus was lost, their pikes proved no match for the formidable English bill. Most dropped staves to draw swords and Howard's men swiftly gained the upper hand. D'Aussi's reserve merely added to the scrum and many Scots began filtering away.
Only the Highland division under Lennox and Argyll remained uncommitted and the clansmen were scattered by Edwards Stanley's brigade. Though Stanley's men came late to the fight, an opportune, brilliant flank attack broke the Highlanders and killed their chiefs. Appeals to Home to bring his and Huntly's men into the ring fell on deaf ears. James had, in fact, battered a salient into the mass of the English centre, one which was in danger of being annihilated as the bills closed in. King and nobles, encased in fine harness, fought on doggedly whilst many of the commons decided upon discretion. In a final quixotic gesture, James and his household men flung themselves upon Surrey's banners. The King of Scotland died almost unseen in the ruin of his proud army. As dusk fell, the English were left masters of the field, perhaps as many as 8,000 Scots fell, with English losses far less, maybe 1,000 in all.
Today there is a car park in Branxton and the church certainly repays a visit. The monument, erected in 1910, is in the form of a large granite cross set on Piper's Hill, roughly on ground held by the English right and is now well furnished with good-quality interpretation panels. This slight eminence gives an excellent view of the field. Directly ahead of you stands the ridge itself and one can see the commanding nature of the Scottish position. Although the burn has been diminished as an obstacle by subsequent field drainage, we can perceive just how difficult this would have proved at the time coupled with the unexpected extent of the slope leading up to the English position.
Stand at the top of the ridge, however, and these obstacles are far less apparent. We can see why James, with no scouting, could have been so dangerously misled. Flodden Edge, south of the Branxton position, over the undulating saddle which links the two, is also interesting as evidence of field fortifications remains and these are now being exposed by the spade. Standing here, looking over the plain below, one can easily discern why Surrey would shudder at the thought of a frontal assault. There are now a series of excellent footpaths over the ground which is mainly under the plough. Take the track beyond the cross towards Branxton Stead and then ascend Branxton Hill, turn left by the farm and pick up the road back down to Branxton. Marden Farm is to your right and a footpath links this to the settlement.
Nearby, at Etal Castle (Plate 7), English Heritage has mounted an excellent display and interpretation of the battle. The castle itself, of course, featured in the action of 1513 and the site is well worth a visit. Norham Castle should also be on anyone's itinerary (Plate 5). The castle still dominates the river crossing and the pleasant village below. The magnificent stone keep still offers note of the importance of the Prince Bishop's great fortress in border warfare.
Legend
We'll here nae mair lilting at our ewe milking,
Women and bairns are heartless and wae,
Sighing and moaning on a ilka green loaning,
The flowers of the forest are a wede away.
'Flowers of the Forest' perhaps typifies the sentiment expressed towards the battle, more on the Scottish than English side where it is less remembered, yet another 'dim, weird battle' in the north, in the unending strife between Northern English and Scots. And perhaps that is the key – Flodden was a northern battle. Losses on the English side were overwhelmingly from the northern shires whilst Scottish dead came from every corner of the nation. What is equally remarkable is that the immediate political consequences of so significant a victory were, on the Entlish side (in the opinion of the present writers), relatively muted.
King James IV's fatal decision to fight has tarnished if not damned his memory ever since. He is viewed as reckless and grossly deficient in tactical judgement.Some of this derives from his earlier biographers such as Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie who sends the doomed king to a fittingly Wagnerian final flourish led by the four horsemen who appear on the field: 'They raide the field and horsed the King and brocht him fourtht of the field on ane dune haiknay ... Quhat they did with him thair I can not tell'. Other accounts insisted that James, like Harold after Hastings, somehow miraculously escaped the wrack of his army. Pitscottie had a further twist to the moral tale – the king had brought ruin upon himself through his addiction to women, particularly his supposed dalliance with lady Heron, compounded by his wilful refusal to accept the good advice of his subordinates.
Even James' distinguished contemporary biographer Norman Macdougall takes the view that the king 'was determined to fight'. We are not as readily persuaded, particularly when we strip away the mythology. Even Pitscottie himself is not entirely confident of the more apocryphal episodes. Until the afternoon of 9 September James had conducted a very successful campaign. He had brought into being a large national army, trained and equipped in the modern fashion. Strategic objectives, the taking of Norham and tying down large English forces, denying these to his brother-in-law, had been accomplished with minimal loss.
He had cannily heeded the advice of his French professionals and avoided battle thus far, refusing to budge from his near-impregnable position astride Flodden Edge. Humbugged by Surrey's flank march and surprised by the appearance of English forces in his rear, the fight was forced upon him. Perhaps he should have retreated beforehand as more cautious counsels suggested but his forces were large, well victualled and, till that crucial juncture, unchallenged. At least one distinguished author, Gerard F. T. Leather, writing in the pre-war period, is very much of the view James was attempting to retreat and the fight came about as a series of encounters (see below).
Clearly, he did not reject the idea of battle; his attempt to deploy massed phalanxes on the field was in precise imitation of Swiss masters. However, his inexperience failed to allow any realisation of the peril of unfavourable ground. His forces were neither trained nor motivated to the level of their continental contemporaries. That he should lead his division in person was far less reckless than commentators have suggested. This was precisely how Swiss captains conducted themselves, the cult of personal leadership being a paramount concern. James appreciated his army was far less cohesive than a professional mercenary company and the example of sharp-end leadership by the sovereign carried even greater import. Had James lagged back it is still unlikely he could have exercised any further degree of personal control.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Battle of Flodden 1513 by John Sadler, Rosie Serdiville. Copyright © 2013 John Sadler and Rosie Serdiville. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Praise,Title,
Dedication,
Acknowledgements,
A Note on Sources,
Chronology,
Dramatis personae,
1 Mud, blood and myth: Being introductory,
2 Great undertakings: The road to war,
3 Valiant captains: On the art of war in the sixteenth century,
4 Able soldiers and mariners: War at sea,
5 Upon the side of a high mountain: The Scots' invasion,
6 Full boldly on the broad hills: Approach to contact,
7 All before me on a plain field: Trial by battle 1,
8 The King of Scots is killed, with all his cursed lords: Trial by battle 2,
9 Such a noise ... was never heard before: Aftermath,
10 Flowers of the Forest: Legacy,
11 The battle in history and myth,
12 By the spade provided: Archaeology of a battlefiled,
Appendix One: Orders of battle,
Appendix Two: Casualties and honours,
Appendix Three: The battlefield today,
Appendix Four: The guns speak out,
Bibliography,
Glossary,
Plates,
Copyright,