Tony Barton
Company Commander
SOLDIERS at FLODDEN 1513.
Two English soldiers from the great battle .
Just a little late for the 500th anniversary , but you know how it is…
My apologies to my Scots friends for even mentioning this battle , but you get your Bannockburn anniversary this year.
An account is here..
http://www.1513club.co.uk/history/
The Batttle of Flodden was a clash between new miltary technology and older methods, one of those very rare events where the dominance of new weapons was reversed .It was a very big battle, the Scots fielding perhaps 27,000 men, the English more like 15,000.
The very able King of Scotland, James IV, had promised the French to support them in the case of war with England. To that end, he had imported advisers and weapons from Europe , and remodelled his army after the latest European thinking.
Traditionally, Scots had armed themselves as spearmen.
They were now retrained to use the pike, a longer 16 foot weapon requiring coordinated drill and a level field to be truly effective. Used under those conditions, it had carried all before it in European wars for the last forty years , chiefly in the hands of the Swiss, who had defeated the pride of armoured chivalry and opened a new era of Infantry supremacy. If pikemen maintained formation, they seemed both defensively unbeatable, and offensively unstoppable.
The Scots took to it dutifully, and backed it up with an expensive train of the latest bronze-cast artillery . They also invested in a great deal of armour, as a way of protecting the pikemen against their old bugbear , the English bow. The back ranks of course, who were the poorer men , had to make do with more improvised defence , and would have resembled this man , based on detailed description of a few years later :
(Thanks to Neilson Innes and the Pinkie Cleugh Society for that pic ) .
Basically padded linen armour , reinforced with chains along the limbs , a cheap helmet and small shield.
In the summer of 1513 , Henry VIII had invaded France with his main army.
The Scots thus duly invaded England , captured some castles, then sat down as a provocation in a very good defensive position on Flodden Hill, just a couple of miles inside the English border.
The English , led by the Earl of Surrey ( so old and arthritic he travelled in a cart . I know how he felt…) who had been awaiting the invasion, quickly raised an army in the time-honoured way by calling out all the retainers of the northern counties of England , assembled it at Newcastle , and marched north to meet them .
They then manouvered round the Scots , getting between them and their escape route to Scotland.
The Scots went about face, and occupied Branxton Hill, facing north.
As the English approached, the Scots’ artillery opened fire, but for some reason shot too high.
The smaller English guns replied, firing slightly uphill , and faster , silenced the Scots guns , then cut great lanes in the Scots pike blocks standing on the hill .
Goaded by this fire , the Scots had no real choice but to attack .
They came down off the hill in echelon of three great blocks of pikemen, against three hastily reorganised battles of English who were in shallower but wider array , and entirely made up of men-at-arms, billmen and bowmen , the front ranks well armoured men-at-arms with polearms, with some 1500 light horse as a reserve.
The English arrows made little impression because of the armour worn and pavises carried by the front ranks , and the first Scots battle rolled over its English opponent, sending it in rout .The English horse reserve of Border lancers , however , charged the victorious Scots in flank , and after a stiff clash the fighting ceased , as by mutual consent, and the first Scots battle withdrew back up the hill, and the Border lancers drew back to their own line.
The larger second and third Scots blocks , however , hit an unseen bog at the base of the hill, and got into disorder, enough for the English billmen to get inside their pike points.
There followed a hideous close quarters hacking match, lasting nearly an hour , which the English won, since once disarmed of their pikes the Scots had only swords.
The fourth body of Scots, kept on the hill as a reserve , was largely of unarmoured highlanders, who were surprised in flank by Stanley’s Lancashire archers and billmen, who climbed unseen up the side of the hill , and made short work of them in a hail of arrows .
The Scots’ losses were tragic and catastrophic : their King , almost the whole of their nobility and something like 9000 others , having a profound effect on their society for the next thirty years .
It became big enough European news for the German engraver Burckmaier to make this woodcut .
****************************************************************************************************************************************************
The figures :
The Yorkshire Billman :~
Most of the soldiers like this man were essentially part-timers , called out by their local masters to serve, for pay, for a particular campaign , as they had for centuries. To use a bill required no great skill, but a certain bodily strength . Some of them were small tradesmen from towns, including York . He’s stopped for a snack in Newcastle.
He has an old helmet ( about forty years old, and lacking a few rivets ) and a jack of plates , the cheapest kind of armour, of similar vintage. The iron plates inside several layers of canvas are held in place by cord sewn in a lattice, and proof against most things short of a bullet . The bill is the typical English type, and he has a short sword, an eating knife and food bag , and his cloak tied in a bundle for the march.
PIC helmet
He wears a white coat , the standard issue to English troops in the 15th and 16th centuries, since it was undyed cloth and thus cheap.The cap is one of several styles known as Milan bonnets, either knitted or made from felt.
The Lancashire Bowman
....is remarkable because of the detail we can reconstruct, very unusual for the period .
In Middleton church in Lancashire ( near Manchester ) is a unique memorial window, the first such pictorial war memorial in English history , showing Ralph Assheton and his company of archers. The men, who are probably captains of companies, are named , and are shown wearing blue livery coats.
Since they were , like most inhabitants of Lancashire , retainers of the Stanley family, I have added the eagles claw and crowns of their livery badge, which is described as being worn at Flodden in a ballad .
He has his arrows in an arrow bag, and a bracer based on an original one, and his clothes are a bit more fashionable than the billman, with a slashed yellow plackart to his doublet , beneath the coat. He has a falchion and a bollock knife for eating .Archers had to practise, which made them much closer to being professionals , but it’s uncertain whether the Stanleys maintained their men fulltime .
Both our men probably rode from home on little nags, which would be consigned to the baggage park once the battles were arrayed.
His bow is yew , and the arrows are headed with pewter cast heads , and fletched with pigeon feathers . So far I have managed to shoot one about twenty feet……..but the bow is too strong to get the figure to hold it at draw !
*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Two English soldiers from the great battle .
Just a little late for the 500th anniversary , but you know how it is…
My apologies to my Scots friends for even mentioning this battle , but you get your Bannockburn anniversary this year.
An account is here..
http://www.1513club.co.uk/history/
The Batttle of Flodden was a clash between new miltary technology and older methods, one of those very rare events where the dominance of new weapons was reversed .It was a very big battle, the Scots fielding perhaps 27,000 men, the English more like 15,000.
The very able King of Scotland, James IV, had promised the French to support them in the case of war with England. To that end, he had imported advisers and weapons from Europe , and remodelled his army after the latest European thinking.
Traditionally, Scots had armed themselves as spearmen.
They were now retrained to use the pike, a longer 16 foot weapon requiring coordinated drill and a level field to be truly effective. Used under those conditions, it had carried all before it in European wars for the last forty years , chiefly in the hands of the Swiss, who had defeated the pride of armoured chivalry and opened a new era of Infantry supremacy. If pikemen maintained formation, they seemed both defensively unbeatable, and offensively unstoppable.
The Scots took to it dutifully, and backed it up with an expensive train of the latest bronze-cast artillery . They also invested in a great deal of armour, as a way of protecting the pikemen against their old bugbear , the English bow. The back ranks of course, who were the poorer men , had to make do with more improvised defence , and would have resembled this man , based on detailed description of a few years later :
(Thanks to Neilson Innes and the Pinkie Cleugh Society for that pic ) .
Basically padded linen armour , reinforced with chains along the limbs , a cheap helmet and small shield.
In the summer of 1513 , Henry VIII had invaded France with his main army.
The Scots thus duly invaded England , captured some castles, then sat down as a provocation in a very good defensive position on Flodden Hill, just a couple of miles inside the English border.
The English , led by the Earl of Surrey ( so old and arthritic he travelled in a cart . I know how he felt…) who had been awaiting the invasion, quickly raised an army in the time-honoured way by calling out all the retainers of the northern counties of England , assembled it at Newcastle , and marched north to meet them .
They then manouvered round the Scots , getting between them and their escape route to Scotland.
The Scots went about face, and occupied Branxton Hill, facing north.
As the English approached, the Scots’ artillery opened fire, but for some reason shot too high.
The smaller English guns replied, firing slightly uphill , and faster , silenced the Scots guns , then cut great lanes in the Scots pike blocks standing on the hill .
Goaded by this fire , the Scots had no real choice but to attack .
They came down off the hill in echelon of three great blocks of pikemen, against three hastily reorganised battles of English who were in shallower but wider array , and entirely made up of men-at-arms, billmen and bowmen , the front ranks well armoured men-at-arms with polearms, with some 1500 light horse as a reserve.
The English arrows made little impression because of the armour worn and pavises carried by the front ranks , and the first Scots battle rolled over its English opponent, sending it in rout .The English horse reserve of Border lancers , however , charged the victorious Scots in flank , and after a stiff clash the fighting ceased , as by mutual consent, and the first Scots battle withdrew back up the hill, and the Border lancers drew back to their own line.
The larger second and third Scots blocks , however , hit an unseen bog at the base of the hill, and got into disorder, enough for the English billmen to get inside their pike points.
There followed a hideous close quarters hacking match, lasting nearly an hour , which the English won, since once disarmed of their pikes the Scots had only swords.
The fourth body of Scots, kept on the hill as a reserve , was largely of unarmoured highlanders, who were surprised in flank by Stanley’s Lancashire archers and billmen, who climbed unseen up the side of the hill , and made short work of them in a hail of arrows .
The Scots’ losses were tragic and catastrophic : their King , almost the whole of their nobility and something like 9000 others , having a profound effect on their society for the next thirty years .
It became big enough European news for the German engraver Burckmaier to make this woodcut .
****************************************************************************************************************************************************
The figures :
The Yorkshire Billman :~
Most of the soldiers like this man were essentially part-timers , called out by their local masters to serve, for pay, for a particular campaign , as they had for centuries. To use a bill required no great skill, but a certain bodily strength . Some of them were small tradesmen from towns, including York . He’s stopped for a snack in Newcastle.
He has an old helmet ( about forty years old, and lacking a few rivets ) and a jack of plates , the cheapest kind of armour, of similar vintage. The iron plates inside several layers of canvas are held in place by cord sewn in a lattice, and proof against most things short of a bullet . The bill is the typical English type, and he has a short sword, an eating knife and food bag , and his cloak tied in a bundle for the march.
PIC helmet
He wears a white coat , the standard issue to English troops in the 15th and 16th centuries, since it was undyed cloth and thus cheap.The cap is one of several styles known as Milan bonnets, either knitted or made from felt.
The Lancashire Bowman
....is remarkable because of the detail we can reconstruct, very unusual for the period .
In Middleton church in Lancashire ( near Manchester ) is a unique memorial window, the first such pictorial war memorial in English history , showing Ralph Assheton and his company of archers. The men, who are probably captains of companies, are named , and are shown wearing blue livery coats.
Since they were , like most inhabitants of Lancashire , retainers of the Stanley family, I have added the eagles claw and crowns of their livery badge, which is described as being worn at Flodden in a ballad .
He has his arrows in an arrow bag, and a bracer based on an original one, and his clothes are a bit more fashionable than the billman, with a slashed yellow plackart to his doublet , beneath the coat. He has a falchion and a bollock knife for eating .Archers had to practise, which made them much closer to being professionals , but it’s uncertain whether the Stanleys maintained their men fulltime .
Both our men probably rode from home on little nags, which would be consigned to the baggage park once the battles were arrayed.
His bow is yew , and the arrows are headed with pewter cast heads , and fletched with pigeon feathers . So far I have managed to shoot one about twenty feet……..but the bow is too strong to get the figure to hold it at draw !
*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************
