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some time. At last, just at the right moment, Howard raised his axe and dealt the earl a blow under the left arm, where the arm-piece met the cuirass, and the wretched man fell dead at his feet. The earl of Rothes70 was hastening to Crawford's assistance when he was met by William Percy, who, with his brother,71 was stationed to the admiral's left, and slain by a thrust in the thigh. Errol alone was now left to defend the colours. Upon Howard's advance the standardbearer was thrown down, and victory definitely secured to the English in this part of the field. The eight French captains who had been appointed to the command of this Scottish division were slain, and the fugitives hotly pursued by the two Percies.

It was at the moment of this successful termination of his own engagement that the lord admiral heard of his brother Edmund's discomfiture. He accordingly refrained from joining in the pursuit of the routed Scots, and turned towards where Dacre was attacked by the chamberlain, doing his best to soothe Edmund's irritation. Like a furious lion amongst a herd of cattle, not content with blood but covetous of glory,' 72 Edmund forced his way through the enemy's ranks till he reached their banner. Lord Home now found the pride of his earlier success abashed, and, leaving Dacre, fled with the rest.

On seeing the rout of Edmund Howard's division, king James could restrain himself no longer, and, without waiting for his rear-guard,73 madly came down the hillside upon Surrey, who had brought a force of about 5,000 into line to the east of the admiral.74 The English artillery had hitherto proved of little service owing to the uneven nature

70 The poet says Huntley, p. 41; but as Huntley was one of the few Scottish survivors, it is evident that Lesley was meant. The whole of the details of the personal combats are to be taken subject to poetic license.

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The second brother may have been Jocelyn, as Henry, the eldest brother, was earl of Northumberland, and was at Terouenne with Henry VIII.

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73 Leslie, History of Scotland. p. 95.

Trewe Encountre, Laing MS.; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. vii. p. 148.

BRAVERY OF JAMES IV.

369

of the ground it had been passing over,75 but now William Blackenall, the master-gunner, got his guns into good position and sent his missiles like 'sowsing tennis balls '76 into the midst of the royal division, causing it to come down faster still. Lord Sinclair, the master of the Scottish ordnance, was slain, and its misdirected fire practically silenced." The king charged at full speed with his lance couched, and had already borne down five Englishmen when it broke. He then drew his sword, and, undeterred by the entreaties of the aged earl of Douglas,78 rushed into the ranks of the enemy, striking all he met to the ground. His natural son, the archbishop of St. Andrew's, bravely followed him. Lord Herries and lord Maxwell pressed forward to the king's assistance,79 and the combined forces of the Scots forced their way to Surrey's standard. The king was challenged by Guiscard Harbottle, a young man of great strength; the archbishop was met by Surrey himself, by whose side lord Darcy's son engaged Maxwell. The proud lord Latimer fought with Herries, lord Conyers with old earl Douglas. By this time the Scottish left had been entirely defeated by lord Dacre and the admiral, and the king, roused to fury, struck Guiscard Harbottle so heavy

75 notwithstanding that othir (? otherwise) our artillery for warre coulde doe noe good nor advantage to our army because they wer contynually goyng and advansing vp towarde the said hilles and mountaines.'-Ibid. p. 147. 76 Floddon Field, 8th fit, v. 21.

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"Hall says: The Master Gunner of the English slew the Master Gunner of Scotland, and beat all his men from their ordnance, so that the Scottish ordnance did no harm to the Englishmen, but the Englishmen's artillery shot into the king's battle and slew many.' Borthwick, however, is known to have been alive three years after the battle.-Exchequer Accounts of Scotland, xiii. preface, p. clxxv.

78 Veniva appresso il signor Dalisse:

quel vecchio che con lunga oratione
lo dissuase da sta impresa, & disse
che ella seria la sua destrutione:
che era venuto como li promisse
per monstrar de sua forza parangone
e che non havea data quel consiglio,
per tema alcuna de morte o periglio.'

-Rotta de Scocesi, p. 35.

The presence of old Archibald Bell-the-Cat taking part in the actual battle is a surprise when we recall the famous account in Buchanan of his quarrel with James at the council at Ford and his consequent return home. It should, however, be borne in mind that Buchanan's story does not agree with Pitscottie who represents the earl of Angus as one of the proposed leaders of the forces of the south of Scotland in the battle. On Douglas's advice previous to the invasion, see Rotta de Scocesi, p. 11. It seems very evident that the Dalisse' in the text is Douglas, and not Hales, earl of Bothwell, as suggested in the notes.

79 El signor de Hercie, e quel de Maxuello.'-Ibid. p. 36.

a blow with both hands on the shoulder that it descended on his side and stretched him lifeless on the ground. James then gave orders for the rear-guard to be advanced, and lord Dacre, who was now coming round from the west, had only just time to form to receive them.80 The only portion of the rear-guard then available, as will be presently seen, seems to have been that commanded by the earl of Bothwell, which probably formed the major part of d'Aussi's reserve.81 This last division of the Scottish force was much stronger than the other, we are told; for the fugitives rallied, and all the troops still under discipline hastened bravely to the front,82 so that it might well be said

'The victory in doubt did stand.'83

All was to be changed by the advance of the English left under sir Edward Stanley,

'The man

on whom the matter wholly hinges.'s

Considering the very different issue that the engagement in this part of the field was to have, it seems in every way likely that Stanley's following was superior in number to the 10,000 Scots under the earls of Argyle and Lennox opposed to him, and 15,000 does not seem much too extravagant an estimate of it. The lads of Lancashire," we are told

'could hardly fast their feet,

But forced on hands and feet to creep,

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185

They thus turned the position of the Scots. Argyle fell at the first onset; Lennox, pursued by Stanley along more than half the hillside, was slain at the foot of the banner, which was only rescued by 5,000 men of the division under the Seigneur d'Aussi, which had been

so Ibid. pp. 36, 44. There is a curious woodcut of all this combat on foot with spears and swords in Holinshed's Chronicles of England, ed. 1577, p. 1492. Adamus Heburnus cum propinquiis & cætera Lothiana Nobilitate in subsidiis erat.'-Buchanan, p. 465.

82 Questa ultima acie de Scocessi grossa
era piu assai che l'altre che la gente
fuggita a quella tutta se e riscossa.'
-Rotta de Scocesi, p. 45.
94 Ibid. 5th fit, v. 57.

83 Floddon Field, 9th fit, v. 4.

85 Lancashire like Lyons: Laid them about.

All had been lost by our Lord: had not those leeds beene.'

-Scotish ffeilde, 11. 383, 384.

86 Floddon Field, 9th fit, vv. 5, 7.

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posted in a clough to give assistance where required.87 This stand made by d'Aussi can have been of little avail. Stanley charged down the hill on the rear of the king's forces, while Dacre pressed in from the west. The fate of the battle was sealed by the death of king James beneath the banner of St. Audrey.88 The Scots fled and were killed

'like Caitiues, in Clowes all about.

all the lords of their lande were left them behind,

beside brinston in a bryke: breatheless thé lyen,
gaping against the moone: theire guests were away."

189

It is said that the iron gauntlets were still on the king's body when it was found;90 and removed to the nearest church, which is the only faint reference we have to the church of Brankston, that would seem to have been so close to the battlefield.91 His rent surcoat was

sent to Tournay, stained with blood and chequered in the English fashion.92 The fatal torquoise ring and his sword and dagger are shown at Herald's college. The sword bears on the blade the motto:

Espoir conforte le Gueval.

to be translated 'Hope encourages a leader, '93 and it might almost seem that a contemporary writer alludes to this when he ascribes James's defeat to the fact that he had impiously placed all his hope in his French captains.94

87'sel signor de Ausy quella schiera rotta

non soccorrea, con cinque millia in frotta.'
-Rotta de Scocesi, p. 37.

8their King was downe knocked: & killed in there sight
vnder the banner of a Bishoppe: that was the bold standlye.'
--Scotish ffeilde, 11. 385, 386.

On the back of a list of 'ffranche prisoners taken at Turwine' is the note The
Kynge of Scotts was fownd slayn by my lord Dakers in ye fronte of his batayll
& also ye lord maxwill & his brother ye lord harryes erle Crauford who is knowen.
And ye kynge of Scotts body is closed in lede & be kept till ye kyngis plesure be
knowen in Barwicke. And y' were slayn xjml scotts beside yem yet were slayn
in ye chace, and ij bisshops. And of English men but ij C psons slayn.'-
Harl. MS. 369, p. 94 d.; quoted, but not correctly, in Galt, Life of Wolsey, p. 17.
89 Scotish ffeilde, 11. 391, 400-403. 'Clowes' means 'cloughs,' or small
valleys; bryke,' a 'brake' or thicket; guests,' 'gasts' or spirits.
90 State Papers, Venetian, ii. p. 130.
91 Ibid. p. 128.
92 Lacerata paludamenta Regis Scotorum huc missa fuerunt, tincta sanguine
et variegatijs (sic) more nostro.' Brian Tuke, clerk of the signet to Richard
Pace, secretary of the cardinal of England, Tournai, 22 Sept.-Ibid. p. 135, n.
The variegatia' seems to refer to the tartan, and the 'more nostro' to assert its
English origin.
93 Archaeologia, xxxiii. p. 335.
94Scotorum rex, qui majorem auxilii spem in gallicis praefectis (quorum
XL numero habuit) quem in deo reposuit.'-Letter to Cardinal Bainbridge,
Rotta de Scocesi, app. p. 3.

VOL. XVI.

V V

While the battle was going on, the good folks of the English marches are said to have taken the opportunity of plundering Surrey's camp.95 They also appear to have laid their hands on the riderless horses. The Baggaley ballad complains

'many a wye wanted his horsse: and wandred home a ffoote;

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all was long of the Marx men; a Mischeefe them happen." As some mitigation of this charge we have The booke of the horses and mares takyn by the inhabitantes of Cumberland and Northumberland of the ffelde of Branston the ix. day of September, the fyfthe yere of the reigne of our souverain lord King Henry the Eighth, being within the boundes and Auctorite of Thomas Lord Dacres, &c., of Graystok, Wardain of the Marchies.97 There were delivered by Dacre's officers in Cumberland before the 26th of November, 221 horses and mares to the claimants on their 'book-oath.' The list of these embraces the whole of the North of England, but the only notices relating to Northumberland are the recovery of a grey mare by Thomas Blyth of Rennington, of a bay gelding by Nicholas Ridley of Wollemontswyke,' of five horses and mares by Thomas Horsley for himself and neighbours, and of a horse by Ralph Widdrington. The inhabitants of Northumberland restored seventy-six horses and mares to their owners at Morpeth; Leonard Thornton of Shilbottle is the only local claimant in the list.

95 Letter of Bishop Ruthal, Arch. Ael. v. p. 179.

96 Scotish ffeilde, 11. 414, 415.

97 P.R.O. Chapter House Books, B.

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