Flodden: Legends & Legacy

Foreword

The Battle of Flodden took place on 9th September 1513 between the English and the Scots in a remote part of north Northumberland.

2013 was the 500th anniversary of this event and there was a desire on both sides of the border to commemorate the battle, help communities to create their own events and leave a lasting legacy which would raise the public profile of the Battle of Flodden and its place in history.

This publication gives a flavour of what has happened during the life of the Flodden Project.

Flodden 1513 Ecomuseum & The Flodden 500 Project

Chapters 1 - 14

Thanks to support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Flodden 500 Project has encouraged many local people, under expert guidance, to carry out a wide range of archaeological and archival research.

The Project also led to the expansion of the Flodden 1513 Ecomuseum. This legacy is a ‘museum without walls’ which links together over 40 sites and other aspects of heritage nationwide which have a connection to the Battle of Flodden through history, folklore or legend.

Flodden: An Ancient Landscape

Chapters 15 - 18

Without a shadow of bias the landscape around the field of Flodden is one of beauty and of variety. This diversity of landscape and the underlying geology that underpins it is also woven through the fabric of the Battle of Flodden.

The research area covered by the Flodden Project’s archaeology programme has produced material indicating human activity over a period of nearly 10,000 years. The finds are important as evidence of the human role in shaping the current landscape.

The Battle of Flodden

Chapter 19: Strategic Decisions at Flodden

Dr Chris Burgess

While much has been written about the motivations, the movements and the actions of King James IV of Scotland in the summer of 1513, leading eventually to the disastrous engagement of Branxton Moor, or Flodden, little or no consideration is given to the strategic decisions and intent of James before and during his campaign into northern England.

The 500th anniversary of this campaign spawned a wide range of commemorative and research projects which hoped to shed new light on Flodden; the campaign and the battle.

The Battle of Flodden

The Campaign

Chapters 20 - 31

The focus of much study has concentrated on the activities of the English and Scottish armies in England between the 22nd August and 9th September 1513 but very little is known about how the extensive Scottish force, its artillery train and camp followers travelled through the Scottish Borders, what route it took and where it camped.

Prior to the current investigations initiated through the Flodden 500 Project, all that was known with any degree of certainty was that James IV of Scotland departed Edinburgh on 17th August 1513 and crossed the English Border on 22nd August 1513.

The Battle of Flodden

The Battle

Chapters 32 - 42

The area designated the Registered Battlefield by Historic England was defined on the basis of a few place-names given in Tudor accounts and reports of battle-related finds.

The Flodden 500 Project earmarked areas across the designated battlefield site for metal-detecting, field-walking and archaeological excavation to record and recover artefacts datable to 1513.

Studies of related artefacts, documents and maps were also carried out in a bid to discover more about the battle.

The Battle of Flodden

After Flodden

Chapters 43 - 46

Documents written in the immediate aftermath of the battle were studied by the Project’s archivist and volunteers. These included the wills of Scots who fought at Flodden and a document, kept in the National Archives, which records the horses distributed after the battle.

In the nineteenth century there was a renewed interest in the battle, due initially to Sir Walter Scott. In 1808, in the early years of his writing career, Scott published Marmion, his narrative poem about Flodden.

The Battle of Flodden still resonates profoundly on both sides of the border today.

Flodden What have we learnt?

Chapter 47

David H Caldwell

The Flodden 500 Project contained three main areas of activity: archaeology; archival research and the routes to Flodden. Simple questions have been asked again, like how do we know what happened and where did it take place. New sources of information have been sought and old ones revisited. The actual battle has been placed in a wider context.

This chapter gives an overview of the Project’s achievements and suggests what else might be done in the future.