Flodden

Flodden, BATTLE OF, fought between James IV. of Scotland and an English army under the Earl of Surrey, September 9, 1513, the most grievous defeat ever Scotland suffered. King James, with 30,000 men, had taken up a strong position on Flodden Hill, one of the east and lowest spurs of the Cheviots, about 6 miles south of Coldstream, and on the morning of the 9th the Earl of Surrey, with 32,000 men, advanced from the south-east, crossed the Till by a skilful movement, and thus cut off all communication between King James and Scotland. James neglected the opportunity of attack while the English were crossing the river, but, seeing that they were aiming at taking up a strong position to the north-west of Flodden Hill, ordered his tents to be set on fire, and advanced to the attack about four o'clock in the afternoon. The Earls of Huntly and Home, who commanded the left wing of the Scottish army, charged the English right, which was led by Sir Edmund Howard, and entirely defeated it, but Home's borderers threw away the advantage of their success by commencing to pillage the baggage of both armies. On the Scottish right the clansmen under Lennox and Argyll, goaded to fury by the English archers, rushed heedless of order upon their opponents, but were routed with great slaughter and put to flight. Meantime a desperate resistance was made by the Scottish centre, where the king fought on foot among his nobles. Night fell upon them still fighting heroically, the ring still unbroken, though within it the king lay dead. The Scots held the hill during the night, but at dawn retreated with a loss of from 5000 to 12,000 men, including the flower at once of bravery and of rank. The Archbishop of St Andrews and as many as twelve earls were among the slain, and long after, indeed, there 'was not a worshipful Scots family that did not own a grave on Brankstone Moor.' The English loss amounted at most to 4000; but Surrey's victory was so nearly a defeat that he was unable to prosecute the war with any vigour. The sixth canto of Sir Walter Scott's Marmion contains a splendid and fairly accurate description of the battle. See Robert White, The Battle of Flodden (Newcastle, 1859).