Hastings to Culloden - Battles in Britain 1066-1746

by Glen Lyndon Dodds

  Instead, at dawn on the 8th, the English left Wooler and marched north with the aim, states the Trewe Encountre, of luring James from his position by threatening to cut off his line of retreat. They marched through driving rain and encamped for the night beside Barmoor Wood, about four miles northeast of Flodden Hill. But James failed to move, and so following a reconnaissance the Lord Admiral suggested that he should be attacked from the rear, that is, the north. At about 5.00am on the morning of the 9th the march resumed to do just that. Surrey had divided the army into two divisions, each of which reportedly had two wings. The foremost division was under the Lord Admiral, while the earl commanded that to the rear.

  According to the Articles of Battle, ‘at 11 of the clock’ on the 9th The Lord Admiral ‘passed over the bridge of Twizel with the vaward and artillery.’ The bridge is still extant. It has a span of 90ft and is 40ft high, an impressive monument to medieval engineering. Where Surrey crossed the Till is not stated. Some are of the opinion that he followed in his son’s footsteps and therefore likewise crossed at Twizel Bridge. Others have suggested that his less encumbered division (it had no artillery) forded the river instead. This seems more probable. It would have been a time consuming undertaking for the entire army to cross via the fairly narrow bridge and hence would have been more reasonable for Surrey to cross elsewhere. Several places have been suggested. The most likely, it seems, is Castle Heaton a mile upstream. Once across the river, the contingents of the army were marshalled into battle formation and then the advance resumed.

  And what of James? How did he react to the daring manoeuvres of the English army? As has been stated, at first he did nothing. No doubt he did not wish to forsake his strong position until he was sure of Surrey’s intentions. This was not to the liking of all his nobles. In a council of war the old Earl of Angus, believing that Surrey intended invading Scotland, argued that they should withdraw to their homeland. According to George Buchanan (whose account was published in 1582), James replied curtly: ‘Douglas, if you are afraid, you may go home.’ The earl—who was not on good terms with the king—did just that.

  It was not until James was informed by his scouts that the English were crossing the Till that he gave orders to abandon Flodden Hill. His destination? Branxton Hill, one mile to the north and almost as strong a position as the one he was leaving, and a position he understandably wished to deny to the enemy.

  Thus at about midday the Scots began moving north after setting fire to refuse, including straw which had served as bedding. At about 1.00pm the foremost Scots began taking up positions on Branxton Hill which at its highest point is 500ft above sea level.

  Meanwhile, the English were of course marching to engage James. For most of the campaign the weather had been unpleasant and the 9th was no exception. A letter written in late September by the Bishop of Durham, Thomas Ruthal, to Cardinal Wolsey, states that as the English advanced wind and rain blew into their faces, something which must have hampered their progress. Moreover another contemporary letter, written by a royal clerk called Brian Tuke, tells us that the English had to negotiate marshy terrain. This evidently refers to the valley of the Pallin’s burn not far to the north of Branxton Hill. The burn, flowing eastward towards the Till, was no great obstacle, ‘but a man’s step over’ states Hall. But the valley itself was an impediment to quick progress for it was largely a morass. The bog was about a mile from east to west, and in places about a quarter of a mile wide. There were two crossing points. One crossed its centre and consisted of a causeway leading to Branx Brig, a bridge across the burn. The other was near Sandyford, not far from where the Pallin’s burn joins the Till.

  A local guide directed the English to the former, (it is sometimes held that the artillery could not cross via Branx Brig and had to be sent east towards Sandyford instead). Upon emerging from the Pallin’s burn valley in the vicinity of a village called Branxton, the foremost troops caught sight of the Scots drawn up on Branxton Hill about half a mile to the south. At seeing this himself, the Lord Admiral was greatly alarmed. He took the Agnus Dei, a medallion which hung on his breast, and sent it to his father urging him to come up in support as quickly as possible. Surrey did as his son wished, and his men hurriedly drew up alongside the Lord Admiral’s and prepared for battle. The English had done an arduous journey of approximately eight miles. Ruthal refers to ‘the mervelous grete payn and laboure that they toke in going 8 myles that day on fote.’

  James and his Army

  James was born in 1473 and ascended the throne in June 1488 after his father, James III, had been murdered following his defeat by rebels in battle at Sauchieburn. As James IV had been on the side of the disaffected barons, he reportedly henceforth always wore an iron chain around his waist as an act of penance.

  James was an adventurous, high-spirited character who loved hunting, hawking and womanising. But there was more to him than this, much more. He was an able and popular king. He improved the administration of justice and furthered Scotland’s commerce, patronized art and science and founded a navy. Norman Macdougall has observed: ‘A review of widely varying source material...leaves no room for doubt that James IV was a ruler of great ability.’

  According to Don Pedro de Ayala, Spain’s ambassador to Scotland in 1496-7, James was ‘of noble stature, neither tall nor short, and as handsome in complexion and shape as a man can be.’ He also relates that the king was a martial figure who did ‘not think it right to begin any warlike undertaking without being himself the first in danger.’ Don Pedro de Ayala was not the only person to write well of James. The noted scholar, Erasmus, for example, did likewise. He states that the king ‘had a wonderful intellectual power, an astonishing knowledge of everything; an unconquerable magnanimity, and the most abundant generosity.’ On the other hand, the king was prone to obstinacy and extravagance. Arrogance and overconfidence also manifested themselves.

  The size of the Scottish army is uncertain. The Articles of Battle states that James had 80,000 men at Flodden. A streak of cynicism is not required to view such a figure as suspect. Other inflated figures are given by some sources. Hall, for instance, states that James had entered England with an army 100,000 strong. In contrast, the Venetian Ambassador to London relates that James crossed the border with 24,000 men, while several modern historians have given the figure of approximately 40,000 for the strength of the army at the commencement of the campaign. Irrespective of the initial figure, losses had undoubtedly sapped its strength, especially through desertion which had begun on a significant scale during the siege of Norham. Enough deserters had arrived in Edinburgh by 5 September for the fact to be noted with displeasure by the Burgh Council! Despite such losses, James may have had about 25,000 men at Flodden: a higher figure seems unlikely.

  James’ host was a disparate one comprising English speaking men from the Borders and Lowlands, and Gaelic speakers from the Highlands and Isles. There was also a French contingent under the Count d’Aussi. It was, moreover, a well-equipped one for by law periodic musters of men between the ages of sixteen and sixty were held in Scotland and at these ‘wapenshaws’ sheriffs and other officials were empowered to fine men who had failed to provide themselves with suitable military equipment.

  In general the Scots were thus well equipped. Men of rank of course possessed suits of plate armour which would have varied both in terms of quality and date of manufacture, for while some no doubt had expensive harnesses of a high calibre made on the continent in the latest fashion, most probably had to make do with less prestigious older armour. Many lesser folk also had armour, either suits of light armour ‘Almayn [German] rivets’, or body armour of other kinds.

  The Scots possessed various weapons but the principal arm was the 18ft long Swiss pike. The King of France had sent a party of officers under d’Aussi to Scotland to instruct the Scots in its use. To be effective, it had to be used en masse by phalanxes operating on ground which wo
uld make a steady advance possible.

  As has been noted earlier, James had an impressive artillery train, for he was interested in ordnance and had amassed a fine collection of cannon. Indeed at Flodden he had seventeen guns of which five were ‘great curtals’ capable of throwing shot weighing as much as 60lbs. The Bishop of Durham was to describe the Scottish cannon as ‘the fairest and best that lately hath been seen.’

  Surrey and his Army

  Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, was an able man, tough, resourceful, tried and tested, courageous and sagacious. He was born in 1443, and thus of advanced years at Flodden. He had fought on behalf of Edward IV against Warwick the Kingmaker at Barnet in 1471, and in 1483, the year after being created Earl of Surrey, had supported the usurpation of Richard of Gloucester. In fact, he carried the sword of state at Richard’s coronation. Two years later he fought at Bosworth and was among prominent Ricardians taken captive. He was incarcerated in the Tower of London until 1489 but following his release became a loyal servant of Henry VII.

  As such, he moved against James at the head of a powerful army in 1497 when the king was besieging Norham Castle. Alarmed by his approach, James abandoned the siege and Surrey proceeded to cross the border and conduct a punitive raid in the neighbourhood of Berwick. A battle with James threatened, but the king decided against it and after a few days Surrey withdrew to Berwick at the head of an army whose morale had begun to collapse owing to continual rain and cold weather.

  In 1503 Surrey entered Scotland again in happier circumstances following an improvement in Anglo-Scottish relations which resulted in James marrying Henry VII’s daughter, Margaret Tudor. Surrey escorted her north, an event which not surprisingly was surrounded by much pomp and ceremony.

  The strength of Surrey’s army is uncertain. The Trewe Encountre gives the only comprehensively precise figures for its strength. It states that the English approached the battlesite in two divisions. The Admiral’s was 9,000 strong, Surrey’s 5,000. Moreover, each division had two wings, both 3,000 strong, giving a total of 26,000 men. This figure also appears in a later work, Hall’s, and is accepted by some modern historians. On the other hand, W.M. MacKenzie has highlighted that the figures given in the Trewe Encountre are at variance with what can be gleaned from other early material such as the Articles of Battle. He thus estimates that Surrey had 13/15,000 men, and that he was not significantly outnumbered. Another student of the campaign, Robert MacKie, has likewise rejected the figure of 26,000 men, but has concluded that the English army was just under 20,000 strong and this view is accepted here.

  Part of Surrey’s army consisted of his own men—a force 500 strong— but the bulk were northern levies, many of whom were accustomed to bearing arms and using them in the feuds which were a characteristic feature of life in much of the border region. Inevitably, all classes of society were represented. Persons of rank were encased in plate armour, but at least some of the rank and file no doubt also wore plate armour, mostly of low quality and primarily intended to protect the torso and arms, though humbler armour such as brigandines and jacks (the latter consisting of several layers of stout fabric stuffed with soft material secured in place by stitched quilting) must have been more commonplace.

  As normal, the men-at-arms carried various weapons such as swords, poleaxes, maces and battleaxes. The longbow was still a popular weapon in England (Flodden was to be the last major engagement in which it was used), and would have been the chief weapon of many of the rank and file. A novel feature of this period was the widespread use of quivers. It seems that they were suspended from the waist by ‘girdles.’ Some archers would also have possessed swords, though for most a dagger would have had to suffice as a secondary weapon. To use the longbow effectively required a great deal of practice. This was not true of another traditional weapon, the bill (which resembled the agricultural scythe), and was 8ft long with a heavy jagged blade suitable for cutting or slashing, and there can be little doubt that the majority of the men in Surrey’s army were billmen. Many such would also have carried swords or daggers.

  Finally, Surrey had an artillery train. It was rather larger than that of his opponent though the guns were not as impressive.

  Description

  The Scottish army on Branxton Hill was arrayed in four divisions (with a fifth in support) and we are told by the Articles of Battle that a bow shot— probably around 200 yards—separated each division from the next. The cannon were placed in the intervals. The division on the left comprised Highlanders and Borderers under Lord Home and the Earl of Huntly. Then came a division commanded by the Earls of Crawford and Montrose. The king’s division, the largest, was next in line, while the fourth comprised Highlanders under the Earls of Argyll and Lennox. The reserve was led by the Earl of Bothwell. According to the Trewe Encountre the Scots discarded their shoes to fight in the vamps of their hose to gain a greater footing on the muddy ground.

  The army was well-fed. Provisions were abundant and included beef, mutton, cheese and good quality beer. This, coupled with the fact that the Scots were well-rested and occupied a strong position, no doubt indicates that morale was high.

  The English deployed on a ridge, the highest point of which is known as Piper’s Hill, just to the south of Branxton village. With the exception of the western side of the battlefield, the ground in front of the English position (which was lower than that of the Scots) sloped down to what was perhaps rather boggy terrain before rising steeply toward the commanding position occupied by the enemy.

  Edmund Howard, one of Surrey’s sons, commanded the division on the right. The next division was under the Lord Admiral. Then came that of Surrey himself, while somewhere to the left was a division under Sir Edward Stanley, which all things considered, seems to have only appeared on the scene after battle was joined. Lord Dacre may have been stationed just to the rear of the line to give ‘succour when need should seem to appear’ as Holinshed’s Chronicle (published in 1577) states. Some are of the opinion, however, that Dacre was in line with the rest of the army having been posted with Edmund Howard. The cannon were placed between the divisions along the line.

  Unlike the Scots, the English must have been rather tired. They had, after all, been far more active, and to make things worse, had eaten little or nothing during their march owing to the failure of the commissariat. Indeed, they had been on short rations for a couple of days or so. Moreover, the Bishop of Durham tells us that they had run out of beer and for three days had had nothing to drink other than water. Nonetheless the performance of Surrey’s men in general during the subsequent engagement indicates that the army was not unduly dispirited. Morale was no doubt buoyed up by an event that had occurred in mid August just prior to James’ invasion. A large Scottish raiding force had been intercepted and routed nearby by Sir William Bulmer, an event known to the Scots as the ‘Ill-Raid.’ Knowledge of this incident must have been a source of encouragement to many in Surrey’s ranks, including Bulmer himself who was now once again to come to grips with the enemy.

  According to the Articles of Battle and the Trewe Encountre, the battle began between 4.00 and 5.00pm. The weather had remained unsettled, a southerly wind still blew in the faces of the English and there was intermittent rain.

  The battle opened with a cannonade. According to Tuke this was ineffectual: the guns ‘were of little use.’ However there is reason to believe that the cannonade was more significant than Tuke believed. Dacre subsequently stated in a letter to Henry VIII that ‘at the first shot of the Scottish guns’ some of his command, levies from Tynemouth and Bamburghshire, panicked and fled. On the whole, though, it seems that the English had the best of the contest. James, it is true, had the superior cannon but the crews were generally inexperienced—he had sent his best gunners with the fleet to France—and consequently most, if not all, of the Scottish shot flew over the heads of the English. On the other hand the English guns inflicted some fairl
y significant damage. We hear, for example, in the Trewe Encountre that ‘our gonnes did so breake and constreyn the Scottisshe great army, that some part of thaim wer enforsed to come doune [Branxton Hill] towards our army.’

  It was Home and Huntly’s division on the Scottish left which came to blows first. Likely, the division managed to maintain the momentum of its assault right up until the point of impact for the English right flank under Edmund Howard was stationed on virtually level ground. If so, little momentum was required. Doughty resistance was not encountered. Far from it: Howard’s men performed lamentably. The Articles of Battle states that ‘the Cheshire and Lancashire men never abode stroke, and few of the gentlemen of Yorkshire abode, but fled.’ Edmund’s command simply collapsed and thus Howard and some of his men decided, or were compelled, to make for the Lord Admiral’s division. Whether they would make it was touch and go. Howard was felled to the ground on three occasions but survived to tell the tale. His standard-bearer was less fortunate for he was slain. The standard itself was hewn in pieces.

  Howard’s survival was likely due to intervention by Dacre, who restored the situation on this flank. Tuke comments that Dacre came to Howard’s relief with 1,500 horsemen. Other sources also refer to action by Dacre. For example, an account by Paolo Giovio published in 1553 refers to Dacre’s ‘blast of horsemen’ against the victorious Scots. Some have challenged whether Dacre’s men were mounted. Whether they were or not is rather incidental (on the whole it seems likely they were). What really matters is that Dacre’s intervention prevented Home and Huntly from moving against the Admiral’s division with at least part of their command —some of their men had resorted to plundering the dead—and indeed drove them back somewhat. A standoff ensued. In fact Dacre and his opponents were to remain inactive for the rest of the battle, something which besmirched their reputations. Hall, for example, erroneously believed that: ‘The Lord Dacre with his company stood still all day unfoughten with all.’ Rumours that Dacre had behaved ignobly moved Bishop Ruthal, who sympathized with him, to suggest to Wolsey that the king should send him a letter of encouragement.