Also on this day, while it is the anniversary of Elizabeth Os christening, today also marks the anniversary of a bloody battle which formed part of what became known as the rough wooing (Henry VIIIs attempt to capture the Queen of Scots to marry her to his only son. This continued well into his sons early reign before her mother sent her away to France). The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh with the English forces led by Edward Seymour in 1547, by then Lord Protector. According to the Seymours biographer, William Seymour, after his army had reached Cockburnspath one of Somersets numerous spies had brought intelligence that the Scots had been preapring defence works here and that the English might be brought to battle...Safely through the glen, Somerset indulged himself in his favorite sport of castle-burning...It did not take the English pioneers very long to reduce these two small keeps and by midday the army was passing Dunbar. By 8 September his army reached Fawside and Carberry Hills and Somerset drew the army out of the camp to occupy the forward slopes of these two features. As Arran tried his best to fight them off, the Lord Protector and Duke of Somerset along with John Dudley, Earl of Warwick kept advancing until the Saturday morning of September tenth which came to be known as Black Saturday, the two armies met. They fought near Musselburgh on the banks of the River Esk. Most of Somersets cavalry was on his left wing and at a time when the Scots, who had advanced from the river at a great pace, had momentarily halted, Lord Grey led his troops against Huntlys division, which was positioned at the North East of the phalanx. The Scots fought bravely, contemporaries noted, but Somerset and Dudley also fought vigorously and after their first wave, they took out their artillery and charged on Arrans forces. His pikemen were the first one to fell followed by a hail of arrows on what remained of the Scottish forces. The end result was a major defeat of the Scottish forces by Somerset and Warwick with seven to ten thousand dead. A contemporary account by William Patten accurately describes this battle: Dead corpses lying dispersed abroad. Some with their legs cut off; some but ham strung and left lying half dead; others with the arms cut off; divers, their necks half asunder; many, their heads cloven; of sundry, the brains smashed out; some others again, their heads quite off; with a thousand other kinds of killing ... And thus, with blood and slaughter of the enemy, the chase was continued. And you thought your favorite fantasy and gory shows were violent or too exaggerating, look to this battle, this battle shows history far outweighs anything that is shown on television. Many noblemen died during this battle, as Linda Porter notes many prominent Scottish families lost one or more of their sons and heirs at Pinkie, where a generation of promise and the hope of continuity vanished almost as completely as Flodden forty years before. (Tudors vs Stewars p.326) The English only lost 500 and they were mostly from the cavalry. Those who didnt die were captured and taken prisoners, among the very few who managed to escape was Margaret Douglas father (Margaret Tudors second husband) the Earl of Angus who feigned he was dead until the danger passed then he grabbed a horse and ran. Like with Flodden, the English did not advance any further. Really? He had victory in his hands and he didnt advance? How stupid is that? There are many reasons why, mostly political and pragmatic. The main reason was he did not want to leave matters unattended, the second was that like Katherine of Aragon and the Earl of Surrey thirty four years before, he thought that reaching the capital was going way too far. Foolish? Not really. The way England was back then, the Protector and Warwick couldnt afford to leave the country unattended, there were many revolts brewing in the North of England, a lot of discontent and tensions between moderates and radical Catholics and Protestants alike. And the wars with Scotland were already taking a toll on English finances and it would be one of the reasons why the nobles rebelled against the Protector when they conspired to overthrow him.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 09:49:23 +0000
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