By: Ian Chisholm

Ian Chisholm — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 19:16:20 +0000

Its well known in Scotland as a disaster. In the Borders there are still songs about the revenge Surrey took on the population. “After Flodden was decided……Surrey had his troops divided….then oh heaven why slept thy thunder” paraphrased but it refers to the battle at Hornsehole near Hawick where only youths were left to fight the plundering English. The real significance of the battle was to ensure a weakened Scotland would succumb to English pressure to unite…..otherwise Scotland would have remained Independent to this day. The support for the French in the Auld Alliance was always very one sided and we got no promised French support in many other conflicts. James was a poor general ….the Scots still had more troops left after the slaughter and had James delegated one of his nobles as second in command the army could have fought on but with no leader it was impossible. It was James who ordered the new 18 foot pikes, common in France but the Scots were used to the shorter 12 foot pikes……a disastrous battle to test new weapons. James coming off the hill was of course the biggest mistake of all. The song Flooers of the Forest are a wede awa….refers to Flodden ……its untrue to say the battle was not remembered ….maybe so in England but then the victor writes the history.

By: me

me — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 18:05:19 +0000

Well done. ‘T is true the battle is not well known. A few months ago I led a few-weeks-long discussion of Scottish history, which I titled “Beyond the Castles and Distilleries” and I mentioned that battle.

Comments on: Flodden – The little known battle that changed history

By: Ian Chisholm

By: me