Border
Warfare
The Battle of Flodden
9 September 1513
The Battle of Flodden was the last and most bloody battle fought between
Scotland and England.
It was fought on 9 September 1513 in Northumberland, and resulted in
disaster for the Scots army.
The battle site is signposted from the A697 north of Wooler.
If you intend visiting the battlefield, first stop at the church in Branxton village. There you may collect a leaflet which will guide you on a tour of the battle site but do stay to admire the church. It was here that the body of the Scottish king, James IV, was brought after the battle.
Overlooking the battlefield is a monument, erected
in 1910. Nearby there is a small car park and an interpretation panel.
At nearby Etal Castle is a very interesting display depicting the battle
site with weapons used in the battle.
If you visit the battle site please treat the whole area with the utmost respect as it is still regarded as sacred ground by many Scots.
Map ref: 74 7930.
Click to enlarge.
1513 Henry VIII of England invaded France, and Louis XII of France sought to invoke the treaty of mutual defence which he had with King James of Scotland.
James IV was a popular king and a man of honour.
He was especially liked by the lower strata of society for his fairness
and sympathy.
He conducted affairs of state in an exemplary way and treated wrongdoers
with justice. He encouraged good behaviour by frequent remissions of
sentence, and sought to improve the life of those who were oppressed and
unfairly treated.
Under his command his country had prospered as
he demonstrated his statesmanlike abilities. He had great courage, but
was inclined to be impetuous. But he lacked one quality so vital for a
leader in those times, and this was to have dire consequences. He was no
general.
Many of his closest aides were strongly against any large scale
incursion into England, treaty or no treaty, and advised extreme
caution, well knowing they were the weaker neighbour.
But James, feeling obliged to assist his French allies, rejected the advice of his nobles and preparations were made for a substantial raid into England, to ease the pressure on the French.
James assembled an army of 35,000 (some sources put
it as high as 100.000 men) which included 5000 French regular troops.
It was well equipped and strong in artillery, cannon having been brought
from the castles of Stirling and Edinburgh, including a huge cannon
known as Mons Meg, but, being drawn from all parts of the country, it
lacked cohesion and training.
Henry was well aware of this threat to the security of the North and
entrusted its defence in the 70-year-old Earl of Surrey who was an
experienced veteran.
The southern counties of England had been virtually stripped of its fighting men who were occupied in France and Surrey initially left the south with barely a few hundred men. However, he gathered an army as he went north and was able to assemble a force of 26,000 men by the time he reached Northumberland. Contingents came from Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire and he was joined by Surrey's son, the Lord High Admiral, Thomas Howard with a force of 1000 professional soldiers.
James set his army on the move. Marching east it captured the English border strongholds of Norham and Wark, and then pushed further into Northumbria, taking Etal, Ford and Chillingham in rapid succession.
Now James paused to consolidate and to await the arrival of the English army which he knew was assembled near Newcastle under Henry's formidable general, the Earl of Surrey.
As was the custom of the time, Surrey made a gentlemanly exchange of messages by heralds with James, and formally challenged him to battle on equal terms, on any agreed site which gave no geographical advantage to either.
But, as he approached, to his dismay, he discovered that James had entrenched his army on a ridge in a strong elevated location, and James displayed no intention of abandoning his position.
Surrey protested to the Scots and urged them to give up the advantage they held and to meet his army on the plains below. James refused, so Surrey had to think of some way at least of negating James's advantage.
Surrey had problems. Not only was his army at a strategic disadvantage, it was short of supplies and many of his men were deciding they had had enough of wars and were drifting off home. Swift and unusual action was needed and Surrey was not slow to respond.
He aimed to take his army beyond the Scots positions
and behind them to the high ground between the Scots and Scotland. Thus
they would be roughly on equal terms to the Scots with the added moral
advantage of being between them and their homeland.
This would be a very hazardous manoeuvre which meant reorganizing his
army into a long column of marching men making them very vulnerable to
attack, in full of the enemy overlooking them from their high ground.
This unexpected manoeuvre by the English took the
Scots by surprise.
They had deployed for an expected attack from the south, and now the
enemy was about to be approaching them from the north.
Hastily, James redeployed his army, turning them about. Occupying the ridge at Branxton to the north, he still had the advantage of height but somewhat less organized as they took up their new situation and, with difficulty, moved their cannon to new positions.
Now Surrey began his manoeuvre. Taking his army in a
wide sweep by Duddo, Surrey crossed the Till at Twizell Bridge; his army
was the extreme risk, strung out on either side of the river. Another
section of his army forded the river further south near Crookham.
The English army was severely exposed and James's commanders, seeing a
great opportunity, urged him to attack. All was ready with their guns
trained on the enemy; they urged immediate action to cut in two the
English army while crossing the bridge. James would not. On a point of
honour James refused and the opportunity was lost.
One obvious bottleneck in the deployment of Surrey's men was the Twizell bridge. A relatively small detachment with the help of, say, one light cannon could probably have been successful in destroying the bridge and severing Surrey's army in the early stages.
This apparent colossal blunder may have been mitigated by the fact that the weather conditions were such that it may have been impossible to see the English manoeuvre. It was raining hard and there was a thick mist. It is more than probable Howard's forces were not visible until it was too late. Nevertheless James had failed to deploy scouts to monitor Surrey's movements. For this failure to take this elementary precaution James paid dearly.
The possibility of such a manoeuvre made by Surrey probably never occurred to James. In the manner of ancient chivalry, James expected Surrey to make a direct frontal attack. This was a fatal mistake and indicative of James' lack of military qualities.
The English assembled their forces out of sight of the Scots behind the ridge, and then took up positions on the high ground to the north of the Scots army facing them about a mile away.
Twizell Bridge, over which Surrey marched his army.
Click to enlarge.
The Battle
So now we had the situation of the two armies facing each other from
their respective positions, each established on a ridge, separated
by wet and boggy valley bottom. The weather was vile. There was a thick
mist with lashing rain and wind.
It was mid-afternoon.
Surrey took control of the left front of his troops, Admiral Lord Thomas Howard the centre, and Edmund Howard the right flank. A reserve of 3000 men under the command of Lord Dacre was kept to the rear.
An additional force, led by Lord Stanley, had forded the river further south. This force had yet to be deployed and was to take up a position away to the left of Surrey, a move which was later to be decisive.
James himself occupied the right front position of the Scots with Bothwell held in reserve to his rear.
The battle began with an exchange of artillery fire,
the first English salvoes finding their targets, directing their fire on
the Scots cannon, with great accuracy. The Scots found that they were
unable to depress the barrels of their cannon sufficiently to bring them
to bear on the enemy but the accuracy of the English was devastating.
The Scots gunnery commander was killed and many of their cannon knocked
out. The English guns were then turned upon the dense mass of Scots
pikemen opposite them carving great swathes out of their ranks. This
bombardment lasted about an hour during serious damage to Scottish
ranks.
Unable to withstand being shot to pieces by the English cannon, officers in charge of the pikemen, Lord Home and the Earl of Huntley, led their men down the slope. Pikes were deadly in attack but their success depended on the men holding formation and momentum and this they were unable to do.
The grass was wet and slippery and the advance, which began in a relatively orderly fashion, soon became chaotic. Beside the hazardous conditions underfoot, the Scots were hampered by their unwieldy pikes. They were also subjected to the heavy fire from the English archers, still one of the most effective and accurate weapons of war. The English bills proved much superior in action to the Scots pikes who found that they had to rely on their short swords which, of course, could only be used at close quarters. Despite these combined disadvantages they fought on savagely with great courage.
The Scottish left wing under Home successfully thrust back the Admiral's right wing, but their subsequent movements are obscure and they may have played little further part in the battle. Being composed particularly of elements of the reiving clans who seemed to have set about plundering the baggage in the rear which they found more to their liking, taking no further part in the battle. The English secured their flanks and drove back the Scots, but the Scots' centre held firm.
All through the evening mists the fighting went on. The accuracy and fire power of the English cannon had proved superior and the English archers had inflicted serious punishment on the Scottish ranks.
James now made the fatal mistake of advancing headlong down the slope leaving his army without a leader. What an awesome sight he must been as down the hill he charged his red hair streaming in the wind brandishing his weapons in full cry. Such was the velocity of the charge that he and his men cut a deep swathe through the English line aiming at Surrey himself getting it is said, within five spears length of Surrey.
Click to enlarge.
It was down this slope that James made his fatal charge.
The outcome was inevitable. But before he was hewn down, James had suffered five sword thrusts and one arrow. At last he fell, mortally wounded. It was reported that James slew five men with his pike before it was shattered whereupon he drew his sword and slew five more.
Now only a relatively small force of Scots remained in reserve on the ridge and then came a nasty shock. The English commander Sir Edward Stanley, who had been deployed by Surrey far to his left, appeared on the spur of the ridge immediately on their right. The Scots preoccupied by the battle before them were totally unprepared for an attack from that direction. They fled, leaving the James's rear entirely unprotected.
Stanley, much to his surprise, found himself in occupation of virtually the whole of Branxton Hill and looking down at the rear of James's group battling below. The sun had set and the light was dying as Stanley crashed down the slope into the rear of the Scots.
The noise of battle died away, and by the early morning light all that could be seen was the carnage of battle with the groans and cries of dying men. Around their dead prince lay the bodies of the finest knights and nobles that Scotland ever had, and all around and beyond, lay the dead, never to return home to their native croft or castle, the men and boys of a generation.
Presently, dazed with shock, came the pathetic survivors of the gallant Scottish army, gathering up, with care and compassion, their wounded and the remains of their dead. The body of the king was wrapped tenderly in what remained of the royal standard and taken to rest in nearby Branxton Church.
Click to enlarge.
Branxton Church
But few who had marched south with their king ever returned to their homes. To many a township and homestead only a handful of men returned, and to some, none at all.
But few who had marched south with their king ever returned to their homes. To many a township and homestead only a handful of men returned, and to some, none at all.
From a position of great advantage, the Scottish army had been defeated through a series of ill judged decisions and impatience. Defeat had been grasped from the jaws of victory.
The English had lost 4000 but the Scots 9000 the flower of Scottish nobility.
Around the body of the king lay his knights and nobles, the 'cream of Scotland.'
The noise of battle slowly died away, and by the early morning light all that could be heard were the groans and cries of dying men. Emerging from the lifting mist the carnage revealed itself. Around their dead prince lay the bodies of the finest knights that Scotland ever had, and all around and beyond, lay the dead, never to return home to their native croft or castle, the men folk of a generation.
Presently, dazed with shock, came the pathetic survivors of that gallant army, gathering up with care and compassion the remains of their dead. The body of the king was taken to rest in nearby Branxton Church.
But few who had marched south with their king ever returned to their homes. To many a township and homestead only a handful of men returned, and some, none at all.
Many of the dead
were carried back across the Border to their native Scotland and laid to
rest in consecrated ground by the church at Southdean and elsewhere.
At Graden Palace, near Grinton, north west of Yetholm, were found the
remains of many men and boys-thought to be the remains of fallen Scots.
