The Flodden Battle monument near Branxton in Northumberland. These are the fields where thousands of Scots, as many as ten times the number of their opponents, ended their lives on that miserable day in September, 1513.
EARLY in the 16th century, Pope Julius II of Rome and King Louis XII of France were at war, and King Henry VIII of England had sided with the Pope. So Louis begged the Scottish King James IV to invade England, reminding him of the ‘Auld Alliance’, the Scots’ long-standing friendship with France.
Even though James was married to Henry’s sister Margaret, he honoured his alliance with the French. Observing the courtesies of a bygone age, the King sent formal ‘defiance’ to London, allowing Queen Catherine (since her husband was in France) time to organise an army under the Earl of Surrey.
On the 9th of September 1513, the two sides met just south of the village of Branxton in Northumberland, close to Flodden Edge. The Scots, once again displaying a chivalry worthy of a nobler cause, were cut down in their thousands by the more pragmatic English, and King James himself fell in battle, the last British monarch to do so.
Précis
In 1513, the French King invoked the ‘Auld Alliance’ with Scotland, hoping that if James IV invaded England from the north, that would draw Henry VIII of England away from war in France. However, Catherine of Aragon proved a capable defender of Henry’s realm, and on 9th September James was defeated at Branxton in Northumberland, and died in the battle. (59 / 60 words)
