The Battle of Flodden: The History of the Most Famous Battle Between England and Scotland

The relationship between Scotland and England has always been rocky. For most of their history they have been at loggerheads and frequently at war, and, even after the Act of Union of 1707 which united the two nations, there were at least four Scottish uprisings. Today, the Scottish threat to separate from the post-Brexit UK is well-known. England has historically viewed the northern nation as a threat, and Scotland for its part has feared, with justification, its richer and more powerful neighbor.



Famous encounters between the two countries include Falkirk (1298), Bannockburn (1314), Solway Moss (1542), Prestonpans (1745) and Culloden (1746), but the Battle of Flodden, or Flodden Field, fought on September 9, 1513, was the largest and perhaps most spectacular of the clashes between the ancient enemies. It involved the deployment of 56,000 men and vies with the 1461 Battle of Towton during the Wars of the Roses as the largest battle ever fought on British soil.



At the time of Flodden, England and Wales were ruled by the Tudor dynasty, founded by Henry VII in 1485. Henry had ended the seemingly endless war between the Yorkist and Lancaster factions of the House of Plantagenet when he defeated King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 2, 1485, but his own claim to the throne of England was shaky and easily subject to challenge. His mother was Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of John of Gaunt, third son of King Edward III, and his father, Edmund Tutor, was the son of the Dowager Queen of England, Catherine of Valois. At the time, there were numerous other candidates with stronger claims to the throne, so to strengthen his hold he married Elizabeth of York, daughter of King Edward IV. Even so, Henry was constantly looking over his shoulder to guard against the surviving Plantagenets, and he suppressed rebellions and discovered conspiracies over most of his 12 years in power.



Before he died, Henry centralized government and replenished the royal coffers, often by ruthless means, and he sought to curtail the powers of the great noblemen. A new secret court, the Star Chamber, was established to diminish the great families of England, whose autonomy had fuelled the Yorkist and Lancaster factions during the Wars of the Roses. Feudalism had been in decline since the beginning of the previous century, but the higher aristocracy retained considerable powers within their regions and employed great numbers of retainers who could be mobilized as private armies. Henry was content to allow them a certain regional influence, but he cracked down on the number of followers they maintained.

One thing Henry could not directly control was the tension with Scotland. Relations between Scotland and England had always been tempestuous. Local raiders, border disputes and competing agendas frequently put the nations at each other's throats, and periodic attempts by the English to conquer Scotland had stirred bitterness over the centuries. The English had never entirely conquered Scotland, and since Bannockburn they had been unable to claim any degree of control, but it was not until 1328 that they finally acknowledged Scotland's independence.



On top of that, the nature of political marriages in England, and Europe in general, tied nations together even as they remained enemies. Indeed, throughout the 16th century, Scottish rulers would be eyed with suspicion by English royals who were fully aware that no shortage of Englishmen considered the Scottish royals the true heirs to England's throne. Flodden Field would be one of the biggest battles in English and Scottish history, yet the two countries would still be at war a generation later. Even further down the line, Mary, Queen of Scots would be imprisoned and executed as a threat to Queen Elizabeth I's reign, and Elizabeth would ultimately be the last of the Tudors. Upon her death, the childless queen was succeeded by Scotland's King James VI.