Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
FLODDEN FIELD
In 1513, possibly the largest Scots army ever to invade England was decimated by the English
at
Flodden Field
, just south of the border. The English king Henry VIII had invaded France and
the Scots, under James IV, opted to stand by the Auld Alliance with France and invade
England. The Scots army, numbering around 30,000, took several English strongholds before
being confronted near Branxton, three miles southeast of Coldstream.
The English artillery was lighter and more manoeuvrable, and forced the Scots to come
down off their advantageous position on
Branxton Hill
. The heavily armoured Scottish
noblemen got stuck in the mud, and their over-long
pikes
and lances proved no match for the
English
bills
(like a hooked halberd). English losses were heavy, but the Scots lost as many as
10,000, including the king himself, his son (an archbishop), nine earls, fourteen lords and
numerous Highland clan chiefs, all of whom fought at the head of their troops. After the battle,
James's blood-stained surcoat was sent to Henry, but his body was denied burial and no one
knows what became of it.
If Bannockburn was Scotland's greatest victory over the English, and Bonnie Prince Charlie's
last stand at Culloden their most noble defeat, Flodden was simply an unmitigated disaster. It
became the subject of numerous songs and ballads and remains a painful memory for Scots
even today. The English, meanwhile, have forgotten all about it.
“Stewards”, hence
Stewarts
, but thereafter a succession of Scottish rulers,
culminating with James VI in 1567, came to the throne when still children. he
power vacuum was filled by the nobility, whose key members exercised control as
Scotland's regents. he more vigorous monarchs of the period, notably
James I
, did
their best to curb the power of such families, but their efforts were usually nullified
at the next regency.
James IV
might have restored the authority of the Crown, but his
invasion of England ended in a terrible defeat for the Scots - and his own death - at
the
Battle of
Flodden Field
.
he reign of
Mary, Queen of Scots
(1542-67),
typified the problems of the Scottish
monarchy. Mary came to the throne when just one week old, and immediately the
English king, Henry VIII, sought to marry her to his 5-year-old son, Edward.
Beginning in 1544, the English launched a series of devastating attacks on Scotland, an
episode Sir Walter Scott later called the “Rough Wooing”, until, in the face of another
English invasion in 1548, the Scots - or at least those not supporting Henry - turned
to the “Auld Alliance”. he French king proposed marriage between Mary and the
Dauphin Francis, promising military assistance against the English. he six-year-old
queen sailed for France in 1548, leaving her loyal nobles and their French allies in
control. When she returned thirteen years later, following the death of Francis, she had
to pick her way through the rival ambitions of her nobility and deal with something
entirely new - the religious Reformation.
The Reformation
he
Reformation
in Scotland was a complex social process, whose threads are often
hard to unravel. Nevertheless, it is quite clear that, by the end of the sixteenth century,
the established Church was held in general contempt. Many of the higher clergy
1296
1314
1320
Edward I of England
invades Scotland.
Under Robert the Bruce, the
Scots defeat the English at the
Battle of Bannockburn.
The Declaration of Arbroath,
asserting Scottish independence,
is sent to the pope.
