Battle of Ancrum Moor

King Henry VIII

 In the period following the battle of Flodden (1513) an uneasy truce existed between Scotland and England, but in 1542 tensions erupted again into open conflict. Following its reformation in 1534 England had stood independent and isolated from Catholic Europe. In response Pope Paul III had sought an alliance between Scotland, France and the holy Roman Empire against England. This caused Henry VIII to pour huge sums of money into projects for England’s coastal and border fortification. He also considered an invasion of France, but this would have left his northern border vulnerable to a Scottish invasion in support of their ally. Instead he sought to secure his northern borders through an alliance with Scotland, this involved the marriage of his son, Prince Edward to the infant Queen Mary. It was common practice for the wealthy to extend their holdings by marriage. Thus, large tracts of estate were acquired by a family adding to their wealth and power.


When in December 1542 the Scottish Parliament after much internal dissension, decided to reject Henry’s overtures, he sought to change their minds through a show of force; the so-called Rough Wooing. Declaring war, Henry ordered his northern commanders to lay waste to much of Southern Scotland, after the initial success in Leith and Edinburgh, and with the Scots shocked and demoralized the English forces pushed on deeper into Southern Scotland. They ravished the defenceless countryside, later that year, with the utmost brutality, slaughtering and destroying everything in their path, burning both Kelso and Roxburgh to the ground. These attacks forged an unlikely alliance between James Hamilton the Earl of Arran, and Archibald Douglas the Earl of Angus. These two Scottish nobles had long been bitter rivals and had fought a pitched battle on the streets of Edinburgh. However, Angus’s estates had suffered during the recent English raids with his family tombs, at Melrose Abbey being callously destroyed and vandalised.

 

    Infant Queen Mary

Archibald Douglas Earl of Angus

Melrose Abbey

James Hamilton Earl of Arran 

 ​In response to this the Earl began assembling a Scottish force to resist the relentless enemy advance. There was no shortage of volunteers now they had a leader to follow. In the first few weeks of 1545, Sir Ralph Euer and Sir Brian Laiton again crossed the border with an army of around 5,000 men including German and Spanish mercenaries, and Scottish Borderers (Reivers form Liddesdale and Teviotdale who would change sides according to who was winning at the time)

On the 27th February the English were encamped on Ancrum Moor, heavy with plunder from Melrose town and Abbey and full of confidence after a series of successful encounters. They saw a small Scottish cavalry troop moving back from Peniel Heugh Hill, to the northwest, the English army turned back to pursue them. What they didn’t know was that the Scots had a force of around 2,500, including Fife Lances and Border Reivers, along with a canon under Scott of Buccleuch, whose lands had also suffered devastation. The Scots had taken up position on 27th January they were hugely outnumbered. The Earl of Arran moved round but was not going to engage the invaders, instead they lured the English cavalry into their trap. The Scottish forces were standing on Peniel Heugh and withdrew, to deploy out of view on the lower ground to the northwest feigning retreat. This made the cavalry of the English vanguard pursue well in front of their foot soldiers, a mistake which would prove decisive. As they crossed the top of Palace Hill and chased the Scots down the other side, they were blinded by the setting sun, and the westerly wind blew the gunpowder smoke from the harquebuses and pistols towards the English. The whole Scottish army had been hidden on the far side of the hill and now had the advantage of surprise. The ground was uneven and boggy and the English infantry found it difficult to form for battle, and so were duly attacked by the full Scottish force, in battle formation. As the English again tried to rally the Scottish Borderers, Liddesdale and Teviotdale opportunists as ever chose to desert, tearing off the red crosses which signified their adherence to England and reverted to the Scots. The battle was all but over, the English army broke and was forced to scatter through a hostile countryside.​The English loses totalled around 600 to 800 killed including Euer and Laiton, with a further 1,000 taken prisoner. This had been a major defeat for the English but it did not change the balance of power in the region and had no lasting impact either militarily or politically. The only significant outcome of Ancrum Moor was to force Henry VIII to escalate his military action against Scotland, which would ultimately culminate in the catastrophic defeat of the Scots forces at the battle of Pinkie 1547. However, Ancrum does indicate that Henry was to be frustrated in his ambitions, because even the massive defeat at Pinkie had no lasting effect, and Scotland would remain an independent kingdom. The war came to an end shortly afterwards, on King Henrys death.

This has been put together by ADHS  from external sources, and is the present thinking of what happened at that time. As with all history research continues and different theories are being explored, by various organisations.