The Battle of Flodden or Flodden Field was fought in the county of Northumberland, in northern England on September 9, 1513, between an invading Scots army under King James IV (Scottish/House of Stewart) and an English army commanded by Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey(Englisg/Howard). It ended in a bloody defeat for the Scots and was the largest battle (in terms of numbers) fought between the two nations.
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This conflict began when King James declared war on England, to honour the Auld Alliance with France by diverting Henry VIII's English troops from their campaign against the French king Louis XII. England was involved in a larger conflict; defending Italy and the Pope from the French, as a member of the "Catholic League". Using the pretext of revenge for the murder of Robert Kerr, a warden of the Scottish East March, who had been killed by John "The bastard" Heron in 1508, James of Scotland invaded England with an army of about 30,000 men.
With his muster complete King James crossed the border on August 22. Most of the soldiers who came with him were armed with the eighteen foot Continental pike, some six feet longer than the traditional Scottish schiltrom spear. In the hands of the Swiss and German landsknechts these weapons had acquired a fearsome reputation; but they could only be used to effect in highly disciplined formations. James was accompanied by the French captain the Comte d'Aussi with some forty of his fellow countrymen, who had helped to train the Scots in the use of the weapon. It is open to question, though, if the Scots infantrymen had been given enough time to master the new techniques of battle or, indeed, if the countryside into which they were advancing would allow them to make the best use of the training they had received.
Following in the wake of the army came master gunner Robert Borthwick with the artillery, seventeen guns in all, which required 400 oxen to drag them from Edinburgh. The majestic old bombard, Mons Meg, more trouble than she was worth, was left behind. Even so, the whole Scots artillery train was too heavy for a field campaign, and only slowed down the progress of the army. Although the big guns could batter down castle walls, they were difficult to manoeuvre in battle conditions. Moreover, these weapons had to be handled with skill to make them effective: unfortunately James had sent off his best gunners with the fleet.
James' army was composed in large part of raw recruits. Many had been demoralised by the high casualties sustained by the assault on Norham Castle, to which James laid siege soon after crossing the border. To make matters worse, the weather was deplorable, continuing wet and windy throughout the whole campaign. Disease began to spread and morale slumped still further. Gathering whatever spoils they could, many simply decided to make their way home. By early September men were arriving back in Edinburgh in such numbers that the town council was forced to issue a proclamation: "We charge straitli and command in our Soverane Lord the Kingis name that all manner of persons that ar cummyng fra his army that thai address thame and returne againe thairto."
By early September the Earl of Surrey's muster was complete, and the old general had approximately 26,000 men under his command, made up chiefly of archers and other infantrymen armed with the bill, the English version of the Continental halberd, an eight-foot-long weapon with a fearsome axe-like head, which could be used for cutting and slashing. All were on foot, save for the veteran campaigner Thomas, Lord Dacre, who had some 1,500 light border horsemen. Surrey was anxious that James would not be allowed to slip away, as he had during his invasion of 1497. To ensure that the Scots king remained, the commander sent a herald from his base near Alnwick, with an invitation to meet in battle on September 9. James responded with his own message, announcing his intention to wait for the Howards until noon on that day.
James's reasons for accepting the challenge are unclear, when most Scottish commanders since Robert Bruce had avoided large set-piece battles with the English unless the circumstances were exceptional. The traditional explanation is that he was blinded by outmoded notions of chivalry and honour, although two other factors may have influenced him.
First, it seems clear that James was confident in the sheer size of his army, which was at least as strong, if not stronger, than that of his enemy. He was proud of his guns and his pikemen, and eager to let them prove themselves in battle. There was always the danger of the English longbow; but many of James' troops were encased in the latest armour or carried heavy wooden shields to counter the effects of the arrow fusilades.
Secondly, he had selected a very strong position in which to meet a frontal attack by Surrey. Just across the River Till from Ford Castle lie the north-eastern outriders of the Cheviots. The highest of these is Flodden Hill, in those days a treeless slope, rising to over 500 feet above sea level. From Flodden, the ground falls away to the north-west, before it rises again to Branxton Hill. To the west the approach is covered by Moneylaws Hill. The whole position resembles a huge irregular horseshoe shape, with the open end facing eastwards towards the Till. It was here, in a great natural fortress, that James placed his army. Bannockburn had shown the importance of selecting a good position in battle; but the Flodden position was, if anything, too strong: any attempt at direct assault would have been military suicide. James was no Bruce, and Surrey was no Hotspur.
On September 6 the English army entered the valley of the Till. From here they had a clear view of the Scots a few miles to the west. To Surrey the strength of the enemy position was immediately obvious. For a second time, Surrey sent his herald, complaining that James had taken a position "more like a fortress", and inviting him to do battle on the level plain at nearby Milfield. Naturally enough, James refused. By now it was certain that James wanted a battle. Even so, it was to be a battle on his terms: Surrey must come to him; he would not go to Surrey. Ironically, from what is known of the coming battle, James might have fared better if he had indeed accepted Surrey's invitation, and allowed his pikemen the advantage of a 'level plain'.
Surrey was faced with a stark choice. Running short of supplies, he would either have to abandon the field or take the risky step of outflanking the Scots by marching to the north and west, and taking a position across James' lines of communication. This would have the effect of forcing him out of his present position in a rapid march back towards the border. The fact that James did not abandon Flodden, or was only able to do so when it was far too late, was to give England one of the most complete victories over Scotland in her history.
Surrey began his march on the evening of September 8. During the following morning, his army crossed the Till in two places. The leading part of the army (the divisions of Edmund Howard and Thomas Howard, the Lord Admiral, with most of the artillery) crossed at Twizel Bridge; the remainder (Surrey's, Dacre's and Stanley's troops) at Milford Ford nearby. They then marched south towards Branxton Hill.
It is unclear whether or not James knew that he had been outflanked until some time after mid-day. Visibility was poor, and the weather continued to be wet and stormy. The only defensible position now was at Branxton, the northern wall of the fortress camp, and the Scottish army began its slow redeployment. Once complete, James arranged his front line in four divisions. The left, under the joint command of Lord Hume and the Earl of Huntly (Scottish/Gordon), was made up of men from the borders and the north-east of Scotland. Next came the division under the earls of Crawford (Scottish/Lindsay) and Montrose. To their right was the most powerful and best equipped unit of all, commanded by the king in person. On James's right were the Highlanders, commanded by the earls of Argyll (Scottish/Campbell) and Lennox. A fifth division, commanded by the Earl of Bothwell, was held in reserve close to the King. There was a space of about 200 yards (200 m) between each of the formations, with the artillery in between.
Surrey made his own dispositions to mirror those of the enemy. On the far right, facing Huntly and Hume, was his youngest son, Edmund Howard. Next came his eldest son, Thomas, the Lord Admiral. Close to the Admiral, possibly slightly to the rear, was Lord Dacre and the border horse. This unit was destined to perform an important task as a mobile reserve. To their left was Surrey's own division. On the extreme left, Edward Stanley (Scottish/Stanley), with the men of Lancashire and some from Cheshire, was still some way to the rear. The royal artillery was stationed with the Admiral.
The contemporary and near contemporary accounts of the ensuing battle, all of them written from the point of view of the victor, make it very difficult to build an accurate picture. It is not always possible to reconcile the contradictions within the narratives, and many of these have tended to make their way into the standard histories. Flodden is best seen as a series of smaller battles, which merged into a greater whole. Thus the English archers who were of little account on one part of the field, had an enormous impact in another. The role the artillery played may have been brief, but it was vital. The Borderers on either side did not give up the battle, as some have suggested; they simply held each other in check.
What is certain is that the Battle of Flodden began as an artillery duel about 4 o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, September 9, 1513. With the English occupying dead ground below Branxton, the Scottish artillery roared to little effect. The English artillery, some 22 guns directed by Sir Nicholas Appelby, was lighter and far easier to manipulate. It was also used with much greater accuracy. Soon all of the Scots guns fell silent. The English discharge was now concentrated in an uphill sweep, catching the Scottish divisions, silhouetted against the skyline, in a murderously accurate cross-fire. This, in effect, was the beginning of the end for the Scots. James was now caught like the fourth Earl of Douglas at the Battle of Homildon Hill. His men could not be expected to withstand the English fire for long. But any attempt to redeploy out of artillery range behind the brow of Branxton Hill involved the risk of the army disintegrating in panic. James's intentions at this point are unknown, but his mind was made up by the precipitate action of the men of Huntley and Hume on his left. In the words of The Trewe Encountre, "our gonnes did so breake and constreyn the Scottische great army, that some part of thaim wer enforsed to come doun towards our army."
That part of the field occupied by the borderers and the Gordons was a little less steep than the rest of the Scottish position, and the ground flattened out towards the place where Edmund Howard's men were situated. With levelled pikes, the Scots made good progress towards their enemy. The wind and rain were blowing in the faces of the longbow men, who loosed their weapons with only limited effect. Keeping up momentum, Hume and Huntly sliced into Howard's division, which disintegrated under the impact. Many were killed; many more fled from the field. At this critical point, the advance of the Scots, now disorganised in victory, was checked by the charge of Dacre and the light horse. Folklore has it that Edmund Howard himself, fighting off several Scots intent on taking him prisoner for ransom, was rescued by some of Dacre's men under "the bastard Heron". Hume and Huntly drew off. In this part of the field, the Battle of Flodden was over.
Observing the success on their left, the next two divisions began their own descent down the slope of Branxton, with Errol and Crawford making for the Lord Admiral and the King for Surrey. But in this part of the field, conditions were altogether different from those on the left. The hill was steep, wet and slippery, forcing many to remove their shoes to obtain a grip on the ground. The ranks of pikemen, advancing in the style of the German landsknechts, were probably beginning to lose formation before they reached the bottom of the hill. All momentum was lost when they reached a little burn, which had to be negotiated before the army could ascend the slope towards the English around Piper's Hill. Presumably they were also harassed by continuing artillery fire. With the formations breaking up, the billmen were able to penetrate the gaps to begin hacking and chopping, lopping the heads off the pikes. Rather than long spears, each man was left with a sixteen foot pole. Swords were drawn; but these could not match the range of the murderous swinging bills. Before long, Crawford, Errol and Montrose were dead and their division all but destroyed, allowing the Admiral to turn on the exposed flank of the king's division
Surrey's battle was particularly hard. Ranged against him were the best troops in the Scottish army; and despite the problems the pikemen had in keeping formation, he was forced to give some ground. But James and his men were eventually brought to a standstill, allowing the bills to begin work. What happened to Bothwell's reserve is something of a mystery. It is known that the earl was slain at some point in the fight, so it must be assumed that he advanced in support of the king shortly after the battle began, or after he saw his progress arrested by Surrey.
Meanwhile, on the English left, Stanley was a considerable way behind Surrey and arrived late. His approach was completely unobserved by the Highlanders under Argyll and Lennox, who were apparently transfixed by the bloody struggle in the centre. Stanley noted that Argyll and Lennox were in a strong position; but he could also see that the eastern part of the ridge where they stood, some 500 yards to the south of Mardon, was unoccupied. A dip in the ground here would enable him to approach the enemy flank under cover. His tactics were bold: part of his force was detached to begin a frontal attack, while he led the remainder around the side. The climb Stanley made was steep and the ground so slippery that, like the Scots in the centre, his men removed their shoes, even clambering up on hands and knees. To the front, the less well-armed Highland troops were already falling to English arrow fire: when arrows began to descend from an unexpected direction it was simply too much. Argyll and Lennox were both killed, and their shattered brigade melted away to the west, across the central part of the battlefield, now thick with the dead and wounded.
It is not known exactly when King James was cut down. As he was in the front rank, it might have been early in the struggle. He had, as in the past, gone into battle without allowing for the proper direction and management of his army. He had been out-manoeuvred, out-generaled and out-fought; and in the end, against this background, his personal bravery counted for nothing.
James' charge is said to have brought him to within a spear's length of Surrey, though this seems a little too much like the story of Richard III at Bosworth, added to illustrate the danger in which the elderly victor had been placed. In fact, his body was only discovered the following day, and only after some difficulty, stripped, as it was, of his armour and mangled by several wounds.
The battle of Flodden ended shortly after six o' clock, when the autumn darkness began to fall. Surrey, still uncertain of the outcome, held his men in check; it wasn't until the following morning he realised how complete his victory had been. There before him around Piper's Hill lay the mountain of dead. Some Scots horsemen appeared on Branxton Hill, but were quickly driven off, and Surrey's men took possession of Borthwick's silent guns. What was left of the Scottish army made its way across the Tweed.
Many had been left behind, to rest in England forever. James was joined in death by nine earls, as well as fourteen Lords of Parliament and several Highland chiefs. His son, Alexander, the Archbishop of St. Andrews, had also been killed, along with other prominent churchmen. In all some 10,000 men, a third or more of the Scottish army, had been killed. There were few prisoners. English casualties, amounting to some 1,500 dead, were particularly high among the men of Cheshire who had fought with Edmund Howard.
Every noble family in Scotland was supposed to have lost a member at Flodden. The dead are
remembered by the song (and pipe tune) "The Flowers of the Forest";
We'll hae nae mair lilting, at the yowe-milking,
Women and bairns are dowie and wae.
Sighing and moaning, on ilka green loaning,
The flowers of the forest are all wede away.
Scottish ancestors killed in the Battle of Flodden in 1513: