Killing Fields of Scotland

by R J M Pugh

  At least relations with England remained on a friendly footing, apart from continuing Border bickering; some of James’s nobles, particularly the Border reiver families who made a lucrative profit from cattle and sheep stealing, were displeased by James’s ill-advised cultivation of low-born favourites. James revelled in the company of men like Thomas Cochrane, an architect by profession, William Roger, a musician, James Hommyle, the royal tailor, William Scheves, court physician, astrologer and Keeper of the Royal Wardrobe, and others. James’s chief critics were his brothers Alexander, 3rd Duke of Albany and John, Earl of Mar, who along with several other nobles abhorred his association with the commoners on whom he depended for advice. James would be at loggerheads with Albany during most of his reign, the latter seeking help first from France, then England, to depose his brother.

  It was in the year 1479 that James began to experience troubles within his own kingdom that would bedevil him until the end of his reign. The bad feelings he engendered in his brothers Albany and Mar developed into a deep-seated hatred; Alexander, 3rd Duke of Albany was aged twenty-five and John, Earl of Mar was aged twenty-two. The twenty-six-year-old James had a family feud on his hands, one which ended only with Albany’s death in 1485. This apart, James alienated many of his nobles by favouring commoners in preference to his courtiers. Also his love of seclusion – considered an unnatural trait in the communal life of the Middle Ages, when noble families sat down to dinner with their entire household including the inenials – an indication that the person who wished to be alone was suffering from acute melancholia, or in modern terms, depression. James also had a dislike of the activities and accomplishments expected from a feudal king and knight, which not only alienated his nobles but also the common populace, who preferred their kings to exhibit their royal superiority by outward shows of pomp, circumstance and above all else, the martial arts.

  What we know about the closing months of James’s reign in 1488 is that a full-blown conspiracy to unseat the king was made by several disaffected nobles – the Earls of Angus and Argyll, Lords Gray, Hume, Hailes, Drummond and Lyle, the Bishops of Dunkeld and Glasgow and importantly, the heir to the throne James, Duke of Rothesay. Prince James had been placed in Stirling Castle for his safety under the charge of James Schaw of Sauchie who, either by threats or promises of rewards, handed over the heir to the throne to his father’s enemies.

  Blackness

  In the north James III found a ready response to his call for support. With the the help of the Earls of Atholl, Caithness, Crawford, Errol, Huntly, Sutherland and many of the minor barons, James gathered a formidable army. He met the rebels at Blackness in 1488, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. After an indecisive skirmish in which Alexander Cunningham, 1st Lord of Kilmaurs distinguished himself in James’s service and was granted the additional title Earl of Glencairn; for his loyalty the Earl of Crawford was also honoured, becoming Duke of Montrose. However the treaty agreed at Blackness was only temporary and not worth the parchment on which it was written as the rebels still held the heir to the throne, which effectively nullified it. (It is interesting, however, that James conferred on his second son the title Duke of Ross, which tells us something about James’s view of the conduct of the heir-apparent his first son, James, Duke of Rothesay.)

  Sauchieburn, 11 June 1488, St Barnabas’ Day

  Before Blackness, James had been obliged to take refuge in the north where he had obtained the bulk of his following and support. During his absence the rebels seized Dunbar Castle which was well stocked with both artillery and gunpowder. In addition, the rebels took possession of most of James’s baggage train at Leith.

  Was it a stroke of irony or superstition that James chose the feast of Saint Barnabas – saint of consolation – to confront his enemies? Also, Sauchieburn was close to the field of Bannockburn which James perhaps thought would bring him good luck. For good measure James had also armed himself with a sword which had belonged to Robert the Bruce, trusting it would secure his victory.9 But the Bruce luck was not with him that day.

  The Sauchie Burn, or small stream, is about two miles south of Stirling. Some accounts, notably Nimmo’s History of Stirlingshire,10 put the opposing forces at 30,000 for James III and his loyal nobles, and 18,000, nominally led by the heir-apparent, James, Duke of Rothesay. Several accounts of the battle are colourful and unreliable, notably those of the chronicler Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie and the historian George Buchanan, both of whose accounts were written in the sixteenth century.11 However, it is accepted that, whatever the respective strengths of the opposing armies, Sauchieburn was a Lowland/Highland battle. The rebel army, mainly comprised of cavalry, was led by Border nobles such as Lords Home and Hailes and Galloway men led by Lord Gray. The royal army had as its leaders the Earls of Menteith and Crawford and Lords Erskine, Graham, Ruthven and Maxwell. On the eve of the battle Sir David Lindsay of Byres made a gift of a spirited grey horse to James III, assuring the king that, on account of its agility and sure-footedness, it would carry him faster than any other horse to and from the battlefield

  On 11 June the royal army was drawn up in three divisions led by Menteith and Crawford, Erskine, Graham, Maxwell, Ruthven and Sir David Lindsay, although we are not certain who led which. The rebel army was also drawn up in three divisions; the first, comprised men of East Lothian and the Merse (Berwickshire), was commanded by Lords Home and Hailes; the second contained the men of Galloway and the west Borders and was commanded by Lord Gray; the third was in the nominal command of Prince James but he was subject to the directions of his commanders.

  The battle began with exchanges by the archers until both sides closed and fought hand-to-hand with the sword. The action at close quarters at first went in favour of the royal army; James III’s front line gained advantage, driving back the rebel front line. However, the second rebel division not only stood its ground but pushed back the first line into the royal front line which fell back on the two supporting divisions. The Border levies of Home and Hailes were particularly successful and very soon their determined attack began to turn the tide of battle in the rebels’ favour. At some point in the battle James was either thrown from his horse and killed or was despatched by rebel soldiers. The colourful accounts referred to above have James’s spirited horse bolting from the field; James also lost Bruce’s sword which was later retrieved from the battlefield. There are conflicting and suspiciously romantic versions of the way James met his death. Some accounts say he was carried from the field on his horse and was murdered by an unknown assailant in a miller’s cottage at Milltown. Others contend that he reached the safety of a mill, intending to remain concealed until dusk, but the rebels discovered the king’s horse, a sure sign the rider was not far off; they eventually found him and slew him where he lay.12 Yet another account13 has James unable to control his unruly horse but managing to cross the Bannock Burn; there he encountered a woman filling a pitcher with water, she being the wife of the miller of Beaton’s Mill. She reputedly dropped the pitcher which frightened James’s horse so much that it shied and threw him to the ground with such force that he was badly injured. The miller and his wife then carried him into their house where James reputedly told the miller ‘I was your king this day at morn’.

  In her excitement the miller’s wife ran to get a priest to hear James’s confession. A ‘priest’ was brought and asked if the king was mortally wounded. James reputedly replied that he might recover but asked to receive the sacraments. The ‘priest’ did not hesitate: ‘That shall I do heartily’. Then he drew his dagger and stabbed the king in the heart.

  The hard-nosed historian must raise an eyebrow at these fanciful accounts. In all probability, James III met his end on the battlefield; his troops fought on bravely but finally gave up when rumours of the King’s death spread through the ranks. We have no details of casualties but among the royalist dead were Alexander Cunningham, Lord Kilmaurs (Earl of Glencairn after the skirmish at Blackness) and Lords Erskine and Ruthv
en. Fatalities on both sides must have been high as the battle lasted several hours. James’s followers carried his body to Cambuskenneth Abbey, where his remains were interred in the now ruined cloister. For the rest of his life, his son James IV wore a heavy iron chain round his waist and next to his skin to remind him of the part he played in his father’s death.

  The following day the rebel lords proclaimed James, Duke of Rothesay, James IV, then they proceeded to Edinburgh, capturing its castle which was still in the hands of James III’s supporters. As James IV was in his minority, the chief offices of State were filled from the ranks of the nobles who had supported him. The position of Chancellor was held by the Earl of Argyll; Patrick Hepburn, Lord Hailes was appointed Master of the Royal Household; Robert, Lord Lyle was made Justiciar (chief political and judicial officer) and Alexander, Master of Home was appointed as Chamberlain. The most important role of guardianship of the King was given to Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus.14

  The reign of James III, troubled as it had been at least avoided the devastations of war and there were no serious breaches in Scotland’s domestic affairs. During his reign James IV would see the beginnings of the modern Western world which followed the Middle Ages. James IV was crowned at Scone in June 1488. In July an embassy was sent to Henry VII assuring the goodwill of Scotland towards England; the truce agreed in 1486 was thus renewed. The transition from the reign of one Stewart monarch to the next was never smooth, chiefly because several of the dynasty ascended the throne as children or boys in their teens. Two of the insurgents loyal to James IV, Robert, Lord Lyle and the Earl of Lennox, Governor of Dumbarton Castle, were however dissatisfied with the distribution of the king’s favours and openly rebelled against the government; they garrisoned the castles of Dumbarton, Crookston, near Paisley and Duchal in the parish of Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, refusing to open the gates on the King’s summons. By the end of July Crookston and Duchal had surrendered, although Dumbarton still held out. Furthermore, a rising in the north by Lord Forbes in Aberdeenshire gave impetus to the rebellion of Lyle and Lennox; Forbes gathered a force of men which took as its standard or banner the bloody shirt of the late James III.

  Aberfoyle

  The Earl of Lennox, the prime mover in the short-lived rebellion, gathered a force of 2,000 in October 1488, marching north to gain new allies and increase support for the late James III. On the night of 11 October Lennox was surprised and defeated by the forces of James IV at a ford on the river Forth, in the parish of Aberfoyle.15 Dumbarton Castle was recovered in the beginning of December and by the end of the year, peace was restored.

  Henry VII made it known to James IV that he only desired peace; the English King suggested his daughter Margaret should be given in marriage to James to guarantee stability and peace between the two kingdoms. The wedding took place on 8 August 1503 at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, an event celebrated in the famous poem by William Dunbar, The Thistle and the Rose. Henry VII regarded the marriage as a ‘Treaty of Perpetual Peace’. Perpetual was hardly a word with much currency in late Medieval Scotland and England; the treaty would last only for a decade.

  Henry VII died in 1509 and was succeeded by his son, Henry VIII, aged eighteen; Henry VIII would prove to be a king of an entirely different stamp from his father. In the first two years of his reign Henry VIII’s relations with Scotland were cordial in a sense not known for some time. That would change in the next two years when Henry turned against his brother-in-law James. Yet again, the object of their quarrel was Scotland’s traditional ally, France and England’s bête noire. In his ambitions in France, Henry VIII could not afford to alienate James IV, France’s ally. To his credit, despite his alliance with France, James IV had no wish to antagonize England. He delayed any action against Henry VIII until 1512 when at the extremes of his patience James decided that only Scottish cannon and swords would decide the outcome of Henry VIII’s quarrel with France.

  In the first few months of 1513 James and Henry continued to exchange civilities. James’s Queen, Margaret Tudor, took her husband’s part, not just because she believed in him. Margaret nursed a personal grievance against her brother Henry, who had refused to give her certain jewels which were part of her inheritance. The final conciliatory letter from James to Henry was written on 24 May 1513. Henry ignored it. On 30 June he crossed the Channel to Calais to begin his invasion of France. On 26 July James sent the Lyon Herald to Henry with a message that was nothing short of a declaration of war. James then made preparations for his invasion of England; on 30 August he assembled an army of between 30,000 and 40,000 on the Burghmuir, Edinburgh.16

  James crossed the Border at Norham-on-Tweed and progressed to Twisel in Northumberland, where he took up position on 22 August on a hill called Flodden. At the battle of Flodden on 9 September the Flower of Scotland was decisively beaten by the Earl of Surrey, the same man who had brought James’s wife to him. Among the thousands slain were James himself, along with thirteen earls – Crawford, Montrose, Huntly, Lennox, Argyll, Errol, Atholl, Morton, Cassilis, Bothwell, Rothes, Caithness and Glencairn, fifteen lords and Clan chiefs, the Archbishop of St Andrews, the Bishops of Caithness and the Isles, the Abbots of Kilwinning and Inchaffray and 10,000 foot soldiers. There was scarcely a family in all of Scotland who did not lose a member of their household. English losses were between 5,000 and 8,000, with only five men of rank.

  Scotland was prostrated. The defeat at Flodden was commemorated in a poem Lament for Flodden written and published in 1756 by Jean Elliot (1727 – 1805) which captures the desolation and sadness in a constantly repeated line: ‘The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede [wasted] away.’

  Yet again a child wore the crown of Scotland; James V was only one year old when he ascended the throne. Although James IV had appointed his wife Margaret as regent in his will, with councillors James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow and the Earls of Huntly, Angus and Arran, a faction of nobles turned to a person who would suit their own ambitions to advantage – James V’s cousin, John, 4th Duke of Albany living in France. But Albany was already acting on his own behalf. Louis XII of France sent two ambassadors to Scotland proposing that the Auld Alliance should continue and that Albany would come to Scotland with men and arms for the defence of Scotland against Henry VIII. (Albany’s incompetence, coupled with the intrigues of Margaret Tudor, the Queen mother, would plunge Scotland into gross misgovernment and lawlessness during James V’s minority.)

  On 30 April 1314 Margaret Tudor gave birth to a posthumous son; then, on 6 August, she married the nineteen-year-old Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. Against Margaret and Angus were ranged the powerful Lord Chamberlain Hume, the Earl of Arran, next in line of succession to Albany, and James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow and Chamberlain of the Realm. In July 1515 Albany arrived in Edinburgh and was proclaimed regent. As Margaret’s marriage to Angus had invalidated her position as tutrix of the infant James V, Albany turned this to his advantage; he claimed the child. From that point on, Queen Margaret did her best to turn the affairs of Scotland into a family tug-of-war. For the next nine years she and Albany would be at loggerheads until in 1524 Albany left Scotland for good, returning to France and a less stressful life. To his credit, during the years he governed Scotland, Albany had saved Scotland from England’s aggressive policy which threatened the country’s continuing independence.

  With Albany gone, matters grew even worse. The Earl of Arran, next in line to the throne after Albany formed a confederation with Queen Margaret with a view to working towards his family’s future in the succession. To this end he threw in his lot with Henry VIII. On 26 July 1524 Margaret and Arran retrieved the young James V from Stirling and brought him to Edinburgh where some of the leading nobles declared the twelve-year-old de facto king of Scotland. By 1524 Margaret had divorced her husband the Earl of Angus and was casting her eye on a third husband. Angus, one of the councillors appointed to rule Scotland along with Margaret had returned from a stay in France; what he found angered him
. He immediately entered into a compact with the Earl of Lennox against Margaret and Arran; in the space of a few months, Angus was virtual leader of the country.

  Linlithgow Bridge

  Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, head of the House of Red Douglas, had swiftly stamped his authority in Scotland; he took James V into custody in Edinburgh. The politics of this period are both confused and confusing; Angus and Lennox had acted in concert for a time but there was no love between the two families. Lennox was a special friend of the young King and he made it his mission to rescue James V from the clutches of the Red Douglases. At the beginning of September 1526 Lennox led a strong force from Stirling with the intention of rescuing James in Edinburgh; he was met at Linlithgow by the Hamiltons led by the Earl of Arran, head of the House of Hamilton. Lennox advanced from Stirling at the head of an army of about 12,000. At Linlithgow Bridge he was confronted by the Earl of Arran and 2,000 men who held the crossing at the river Avon. Knowing that more troops were coming from Edinburgh, Lennox decided to outflank Arran by fording the river. Arran, realizing Lennox’s intention deployed his men to meet the threat; the Earl of Angus arrived with a further 2,000 troops from Edinburgh in time to place his men on Arran’s left wing, launching an attack on Lennox’s flank. The ensuing battle lasted two hours until Lennox’s men broke. Lennox was captured, disarmed and probably murdered by Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, Arran’s illegitimate son. The King would remain in the custody of the Red Douglases of Angus for another two years.17