On the 9th of September 1513, James IV of Scotland became the last monarch from Great Britain to die in battle, a fate that would plunge his kingdom into chaos and alter the course of British history. The battle took place near Branxton in Northumberland, where an invading Scottish army of approximately 42,000 men faced an English force commanded by the Earl of Surrey. James had crossed the border to honor the Auld Alliance with France, diverting English troops from their campaign against Louis XII, but his decision to fight on the ground he chose would prove fatal. The Scottish king, known for his intellectual pursuits and patronage of the arts, had placed himself in the front line of the fighting, a move that was out of character for a monarch who usually commanded from the rear. His body was found surrounded by the corpses of his bodyguard, the Archers' Guard, recruited from the Forest of Ettrick and known as the Flowers of the Forest. The king's death was not just a military defeat but a national tragedy that left Scotland without a king, a queen, or a significant portion of its nobility.
The Ill Raid And The Auld Alliance
The conflict began with a series of cross-border raids that soured the Treaty of Perpetual Peace signed in 1502 between James IV and Henry VII. In August 1513, a force of up to 7,000 Scottish border reivers commanded by Lord Home crossed into Northumberland, pillaging farms and villages before burning houses. The English, led by Sir William Bulmer, set an ambush in the broom bushes of Milfield Plain, killing as many as 600 Scots and leaving their booty and the Home family banner behind. This event, known as the Ill Raid, may have influenced James's decision not to fight an open battle on the same ground again. The political backdrop was the War of the League of Cambrai, where England was defending Italy and the Pope from the French. James IV, in a move to honor the Auld Alliance with France, declared war on England, despite Pope Leo X's threat of ecclesiastical censure. The Scottish navy, including the Great Michael, was sent to join the French fleet, but delays meant it played no part in the war. James had also sent most of his experienced artillerymen with the expedition, a decision that would have unforeseen consequences for his land campaign.
The Marsh That Broke The Pike
The battle's turning point came when the Scottish infantry, armed with long pikes, encountered an unforeseen obstacle: an area of marshy ground that broke up their formations. The Scots had placed their most heavily armoured men in the front rank, but the English archers had little impact on them. The Scottish pikes, described as keen and sharp spears 5 yards long, were effective in movement but required suitable terrain to be used effectively. The marshy ground, identified by modern hydrologists as a groundwater seepage zone, made worse by days of heavy rain, caused the Scots to lose cohesion and momentum. Once the line was disrupted, the long pikes became an unwieldy encumbrance, and the Scots began to drop them, so that it seemed as if a wood were falling down. Reaching for their side-arms of swords and axes, they found themselves outreached by the English bills in the close-quarter fighting that developed. The English artillery, consisting of light field guns of rather old-fashioned design, were easily handled and capable of rapid fire, while the Scottish heavy siege guns required a team of 36 oxen to move each one and were only able to fire once every twenty minutes at the most.
Flodden was essentially a victory of the bill used by the English over the pike used by the Scots, marking the last great medieval battle in the British Isles. The infantrymen at Flodden, both Scots and English, had fought essentially like their ancestors, and it was the last time that bill and pike would come together as equals in battle. Two years later, Francis I of France defeated the Swiss pikemen at the Battle of Marignano, using a combination of heavy cavalry and artillery, ushering in a new era in the history of war. The English archers, many recruited from Lancashire and Cheshire, loosed volleys of arrows into the Scottish ranks, an incident celebrated in later English ballads. The success of the Cheshire yeomanry, under the command of Richard Cholmeley, led to his later appointment as Lieutenant of the Tower of London. The battle also saw the first significant deployment of artillery in the British Isles, with the English guns firing iron balls of about 1 pound, while the Scottish guns fired iron balls weighing up to 10 pounds. The English artillery, though less powerful, was more effective due to its rapid fire and the difficulty the Scots faced in shooting downhill.
The Death Of A King And The Aftermath
James IV was killed in the final stage of the battle, his body found surrounded by the corpses of his bodyguard. The king's corpse was found to have two arrow wounds, one in the jaw, and wounds from bladed weapons to the neck and wrist. The English generals, including Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, who was subsequently restored to the title of Duke of Norfolk, stayed behind the lines in the Renaissance style, while the Scottish officers were placed in the front line in medieval style, where they were vulnerable. The loss of so many Scottish officers meant there was no one to coordinate a retreat. The English army lost 1,500 men killed in battle, while the Scottish loss was estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000. The battle left Scotland without a king, a queen, or a significant portion of its nobility, leading to a political crisis. The wife of James IV, Queen Margaret Tudor, is said to have awaited news of her husband at Linlithgow Palace, where a room at the top of a tower is called Queen Margaret's bower. Ten days after the battle, the Lords of Council met at Stirling on the 19th of September, and set up a General Council of the Realm to rule in the name of Margaret Tudor and her son James V of Scotland.
Relics And Legends Of The Fallen
The aftermath of the battle was marked by the collection of relics and the spread of legends about the fallen king. Thomas Dacre discovered the body of James IV on the battlefield and later wrote that the Scots loved him worst of any Englishman living. The body was embalmed and taken to Newcastle upon Tyne, then to York, and finally to Sheen Priory near London. James's banner, sword, and his cuisses were taken to the shrine of Saint Cuthbert at Durham Cathedral. Much of the armour of the Scottish casualties was sold on the field, and 350 suits of armour were taken to Nottingham Castle. A list of horses taken at the field runs to 24 pages. Thomas Hawley, the Rouge Croix pursuivant, was first with news of the victory, bringing the rent surcoat of the King of Scots stained with blood to Catherine of Aragon at Woburn Abbey. Legends grew that James IV had survived, with a Scottish merchant at Tournai in October claiming to have spoken with him. A demon called Plotcock had read out the names of those who would be killed at the Mercat Cross on the Royal Mile, and a former Provost of Edinburgh, Richard Lawson, threw a coin at the Cross to appeal against this summons and survived the battle.
The Flowers Of The Forest
The battle's legacy is preserved in the song and pipe tune Flowers of the Forest, which mourns the loss of the Scottish nobility. The song begins with the lines 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. Contemporary English ballads also recalled the significance of the Scottish losses, with lines such as To tell you plaine, twelve thousand were slaine, that to the fight did stand. The battle is remembered by the Flodden Window in St Leonard's Church, Middleton, now in Greater Manchester, reputedly housing the oldest war memorial in Great Britain. The Quincentennial of the battle in 2013 was commemorated by a programme of projects and events bringing together communities from both sides of the border. The battlefield still looks much as it probably did at the time of the battle, but the burn and marsh which so badly hampered the Scots advance is now drained. A monument, erected in 1910, is easily reached from Branxton village by following the road past St Paul's Church. Each year, the neighbouring Scottish town of Coldstream marks the Battle of Flodden with a traditional horse ride to the battlefield and then having a service to mark all those who perished during the fight during the town's Civic Week held in the first week of August.