10 September 1547
In 1543 Henry VIII arranged a marriage between the infant
Mary Queen of Scots and his six year son Edward, the Prince of Wales. He was
enraged when the Scots repudiated the betrothal.
The resultant series of punitive expeditions intended to
restore the hand of Mary to the young English Prince were known as the 'rough
wooing'. On Henry VIII's death in January 1547 his son became Edward VI. As the
new King was still only nine years old the 'rough wooing' was resumed on his
behalf by the new Protector of the Realm, the Duke of Somerset. On 1 September
1547 Somerset crossed the border into Scotland with 80 cannons, 8,000 foot and
4,000 cavalry (including a contingent of Spanish horse). He was supported off
the coast by the English fleet, commanded by Lord Clinton.
In response to the English threat, the Earl of Arran, Mary's
Regent, summoned every Scottish man between the ages of sixteen and sixty to
assemble at Edinburgh with one month's food. Though woefully short of artillery
and cavalry, the resultant army of about 25,000 men was deployed on high ground
behind the River Esk. To their right was a marsh and to their left the sea. On
the seaward side they had also erected an earth bank to protect themselves from
the cannons of English ships. The Duke of Somerset arrived to find himself
outnumbered almost 2: 1. Reluctant to mount a frontal assault on the formidable
Scottish defences, he stalled for time.
On 9 September the Earl of Arran rashly advanced his 1,500
cavalry in order to lure the English to attack. Tragically for the Scots, this
bait worked only too well. In a relatively short space of time the English
horse, under Lord Grey, effectively destroyed the Scottish cavalry as a
fighting force.
On the morning of 10 September 1547 the English army began a
slow advance, dragging their heavy cannons over the rough ground towards the
river. The Scots responded by abandoning their impregnable position in order to
launch an attack of their own. Somerset could hardly believe his luck. On open
ground his strength in artillery and cavalry could be deployed to the best
advantage.
Three Scottish pike divisions led by the Earls of Arran,
Huntly and Angus crossed the river and crowded in upon each other until they
formed one vast pike block. It was an imposing sight, but the flanks of this
formation were very vulnerable. The Earl of Argyll's Highland division, which
should have comprised the left wing, had been driven off by the guns of
Clinton's fleet offshore. On the other side the battered remnants of the
Scottish cavalry formed a thin right wing.
As the English horse charged towards them, the Scots adopted
the defensive schiltron formation in which the mass of pike points bristled
like' ... the skin of an angry hedgehog'. Grey's cavalry floundered into a
ditch, struggled free and came gamely on to hurl themselves against the
Scottish pikes. Not surprisingly the schiltron proved impervious. Providing the
Scots kept close together, their pikemen were more than able to hold the
English cavalry at bay. In the pandemonium that followed, men and horses were
disembowelled and Grey himself was struck through the mouth by a pike point.
Then, at last, the English cannon began to pound, wreaking
bloody havoc among the dense mass of the Scottish formations. Packed together
like sardines, whole lanes of pikemen were gored and dismembered by flying
round shot. While the Scots were still reeling beneath this onslaught, Pedro de
Gamboa's contingent of Spanish cavalry sallied forth to demonstrate
state-of-the-art European tactics; firing their arquebuses from the saddle. English
arquebusers and archers rushed forward on foot to add a few volleys of their
own. Finally, as sheets of rain began to sweep in from the sea, the persistent
English cavalry rallied for another charge.
The Scots attempted an orderly withdrawal. However, with
visibility reduced by smoke and rain, and shouted commands drowned out by the
din of battle, panic swept the ranks and the army disintegrated and fled, with
the English horse in triumphant pursuit.
Surprisingly, for all the blood spilled in the 'rough
wooing', Somerset failed to consolidate his victory by taking possession of
Mary Queen of Scots. The planned matrimonial union of England and Scotland
never took place. It was not Mary, but her son James Stuart, who was one day
destined to wear the English crown.
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