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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Anglo-Scottish Wars | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Scots |
 English | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Earl of Arran | Duke of Somerset | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 22,000-36,000 |
16,800+ 30 warships | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
6,000-15,000 killed 2,000 prisoners | 200-600 killed | ||||||
| Rough Wooing | |
|---|---|
| Ancrum Moor – Pinkie Cleugh – Haddington – Broughty Castle |
The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, along the banks of the River Esk near Musselburgh, Scotland on 10 September 1547, was part of the War of the Rough Wooing. It was the last pitched battle to be fought between the Scottish and the English armies and the first "modern" battle to be fought in the British Isles. It resulted in a catastrophic defeat for the Scots caused by the use of naval artillery by the English for the first time in a land battle in Britain. In Scotland, it was known as Black Saturday.
This was historically significant as the first "modern" battle fought in Britain, demonstrating active cooperation between the infantry, artillery and cavalry with a naval bombardment in support of the land forces.
Background to the War
In the last years of his reign, King Henry VIII of England had tried to secure an alliance with Scotland, and the marriage of the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, to his young son, the future Edward VI. When persuasion and diplomacy failed, he launched a ruthless war against Scotland, an episode known as the Rough Wooing.
After Henry died, Edward Seymour, maternal uncle to Edward VI, became Protector with the title of Duke of Somerset and with initially unchallenged power. He too wished to forcibly ally Scotland to England by marrying Mary to Edward, and also to impose an Anglican Reformation on the Scottish church establishment. Early in September 1547, he led a well-equipped army into Scotland, supported by a large fleet. The Scottish Regent, the Earl of Arran, was warned by the letters of Adam Otterburn, his diplomat in London, who had seen the English war preparations.
The Campaign
Somerset's army was partly composed of the traditional county levies, summoned by Commissions of Array and armed with longbow and bill as they had been at the Battle of Flodden, thirty years before. However, Somerset also had several hundred German mercenary arquebusiers, a large and well appointed train of artillery, and 6,000 cavalry, including a contingent of Italian mounted arquebusiers under Don Pedro de Gamboa. The cavalry were commanded by Lord Grey of Wilton, as High Marshal of the Army. and the infantry by the Earl of Warwick, Lord Dacre of Gillesland, and Somerset himself. William Patten, an officer of the English army, recorded its numbers as 16,800 fighting men and 1,400 "pioneers".
Somerset advanced along the east coast of Scotland to maintain contact with his fleet and thereby keep in supply. Scottish Border Reivers harassed his troops but could impose no major check.
To oppose the English, the Earl of Arran had levied a large army, consisting mainly of pikemen with contingents of Highland archers. Arran also had large numbers of guns, but these were apparently not as mobile or as well-served as Somerset's. His cavalry consisted only of 2,000 lightly equipped riders under the Earl of Home, most of whom were potentially unreliable Borderers. His infantry were commanded by the Earl of Angus, the Earl of Huntly and Arran himself. According to Huntly, the Scottish army numbered 22,000 or 23,000 men, while an English source claimed that it comprised 36,000.
Arran occupied the slopes on the west bank of the River Esk to bar Somerset's progress. The Firth of Forth was on his left flank, and a large bog protected his right. Some fortifications were constructed in which cannon and arquebuses were mounted. Some guns pointed out into the Forth to keep English warships at a distance.
Prelude
On 9 September part of Somerset's army occupied Falside Hill (then known as Fawside, and currently as Fa'side, as in Fa'side Castle), 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Arran's main position. In an outdated chivalric gesture, the Earl of Home led 1,500 horsemen close to the English encampment and challenged an equal number of English cavalry to fight. With Somerset's reluctant approval, Lord Grey accepted the challenge and engaged the Scots with 1,000 heavily armoured men-at-arms and 500 lighter demi-lances. The Scottish horsemen were badly cut up and were pursued west for 3 miles (4.8 km). This action cost Arran most of his cavalry.
Later during the day, Somerset sent a detachment with guns to occupy the Inveresk Slopes, which overlooked the Scottish position. During the night, Somerset received two more anachronistic challenges from Arran. One request was for Somerset and Arran to settle the dispute by single combat. Another was for 20 champions from each side to decide the matter. Somerset rejected both proposals.
The battle
On the morning of Saturday, 10 September, Somerset advanced his army to close up with the detachment at Inveresk. He found that Arran had moved his army across the Esk by a Roman bridge, and was advancing rapidly to meet him. Arran knew himself to be outmatched in artillery and therefore tried to force close combat before the English artillery could deploy.
Arran's left wing came under fire from English ships offshore. (Their advance meant that the guns on their former position could no longer protect them.) They were thrown into disorder, and were pushed into Arran's own division in the centre.
On the other flank, Somerset threw in his cavalry to delay the Scots' advance. The Scottish pikemen drove them off and inflicted heavy casualties on the English horsemen. Lord Grey himself was wounded by a pike thrust through the throat and into his mouth.
However, the Scottish army was now stalled and under heavy fire from three sides from ships' cannon, artillery, arquebusiers and archers to which they could not reply. When they broke, the English cavalry rejoined the battle following a vanguard of 300 experienced soldiers under the command of Sir John Luttrell. Many of the retreating Scots were slaughtered, or drowned as they tried to swim the fast-flowing Esk or cross the bogs.
Aftermath
Although they had suffered a resounding defeat, the Scottish government refused to come to terms. The infant Queen Mary was smuggled out of the country and sent to France to be betrothed to the young dauphin Francis. Somerset occupied several Scottish strongholds and large parts of the Lowlands and Borders but without peace, these garrisons became a useless drain on the Treasury of England.
A violent Reformation in Scotland was only a few years away, but the Scots refused to have Reformation imposed on them by England. During the battle, the Scots taunted the English soldiers as loons , tykes and heretics. A thousand monks from various orders formed part of the Earl of Angus's division. Many died in the battle.
David H. Caldwell wrote, "English estimates put the slaughter as high as 15,000 Scots killed and 2,000 taken but Huntly's figure of 6,000 dead is probably nearer the truth." Of the Scottish prisoners, few were nobles or gentlemen. It was claimed that most were dressed much the same as common soldiers and therefore were not recognised as being worth ransom.
Caldwell says of the English casualties, "Officially it was given out that losses were only 200 though the rumour about the English court, fed by private letters from those in the army, indicated that 500 or 600 was more likely.
Although the Scots blamed traitors within their own ranks for the defeat, it is probably fair to say that a Renaissance army defeated a Mediaeval army. Henry VIII had taken steps towards creating standing naval and land forces which formed the nucleus of the fleet and army with which Somerset gained the victory.
The longbow continued to play a key role in England's battles and Pinkie was no exception. Though the combination of bill and longbow which England used was old, it could still hold its own against the pike and arquebus tactics used in Continental armies at this stage in the development of firearms.
The battle-site is now part of East Lothian.
The Scottish artillery
Warned of the approach of the English army, the Scottish artillery was prepared at Edinburgh castle. Extra gunners were recruited and 140 pioneers, workmen, were employed by Duncan Dundas to move the guns. On 2 September carts were hired to take the guns and the Scottish tents and pavilions towards Musselburgh. There were horses, and oxen were supplied by the Laird of Elphinstone. John Drummond of Milnab, master carpenter of the Scottish ordinance, led the wagon train. There was a newly painted banner, and ahead a boy played on the swesche, a kind of drum.
William Patten described the English officers of the Ordnance retrieving 30 of the Scottish guns after the battle, which lay in sundry places, on Sunday 11 September. They found; one brass culverin; 3 brass sakers; 9 smaller brass pieces; and 17 other iron guns mounted on carriages. Some of these guns appear in the English royal inventory of 1547-8, at the Tower of London where sixteen Scottish brass guns were recorded. There were; a demi-cannon; 2 culverins; 3 sakers; 9 falconets; and a robinet.
Notes
- ^ MacDougall, p.73
- ^ MacDougall, p.68
- ^ MacDougall, p.86
- ^ MacDougall, p.87
- ^ Phillips, p.193
- Phillips, pp.178-83
- Cameron, Annie, Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine, SHS (1927), 192-194.
- ^ Phillips, p.186
- Phillips, p.183
- Phillips, pp.181-82
- Phillips, pp.191-92
- Phillips, p.196
- Phillips, pp.197-199
- Phillips, p.252
- Fraser, George Macdonald (1995). The Steel Bonnets. London: Harper Collins. p. 86. ISBN 0-00-272746-3.
- Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 9 (1911), 112-120.
- Patten, William, The Expedition into Scotland, 1547, London (1548), unfoliated: reprinted in, Tudor Tracts, (1903), 136.
- Starkey, David, ed., The Inventory of Henry VIII, vol. 1, Society of Antiquaries (1998), p.102, nos. 3707-3712.
References
- Burke's Country Gentry under Henderson of Fordell.
- Bain, Joseph ed., Calendar of State Papers, Scotland, vol. 1, Edinburgh (1898).
- MacDougall, Norman (1991). Scotland and War, AD 79-1918. Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-85976-248-3.
- Patten, William, The Expedition into Scotland in 1547, Richard Grafton, London (1548), reprinted in; Tudor Tracts, London (1903) 53-157.
- Phillips, Gervase. The Anglo-Scots Wars 1513-1550. Boydell Press. ISBN 0851157467.
- Stephen, Rev. William (1938). History of Inverkeithing & Rosyth. Edinburgh: The Moray Press.
- Teulet, Alexandre (1862). Relations politiques de la France et de l'Espagne avec l'Écosse au XVIe siècle, vol. 1. Paris: Société de l'Histoire de France.
- Warner, Philip (1996). Famous Scottish Battles. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Leo Cooper. ISBN 0850524873.
External links
- Battle of Pinkie entry in the Scottish Government Inventory of Historic Battlefields
- History magazine website
- Teulet, A., ed., Relations politiques de la France et de l'Espagne avec l'Écosse au XVIe siècle, vol. 1 (1862) pp. 124-158, Latin account following William Patten.
55°55′59″N 3°01′23″W / 55.933°N 3.023°W / 55.933; -3.023 (Battle of Pinkie)
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