On the appointed day an army, such as had not been seen, it was said, for sixty years, assembled at the place of meeting. It consisted of twelve hundred lances, and forty thousand rank and file. The young Earl of Douglas was the first to arrive. After him came John, Earl of Moray, and his brother George, Earl of Dunbar and March; the Earls of Fife, Sutherland, and Mar; Douglas, the grim Lord of Galloway, the two Lindsays, Sir William and Sir James, Sir John Swinton, Sir John Sandilands, Sir Patrick Dunbar, Sir Simon Glendinning, and many another border knight and squire. Each baron led his own vassals. Each knight was attended by two or three squires. Each man-at and of every age. "I never heard," said | signed for the place of meeting. The Sir Philip Sidney — no bad judge either castle of Jedburgh, it is true, was then in of poetry or war "the old song of the hands of the English. But in the deep Percie and Douglas, that I found not my forests which encircled it, and in the wild heart moved more than with a trumpet, mountain glens which radiated from it in and yet it is sung but by some blinde all directions, a large force might muster, crowder, with no rougher voice than rude it was thought, without attracting attenskill." "I had rather be the author of tion. So secluded were the dark recesses 'Chevy Chase,'" said Ben Jonson, "than of its woods, that not many years before, of all my works." Almost within our own when all the country round was in possesday, at the firesides of Northumberland sion of the English, a body of Scottish during the long winter evenings, the mov- nobles with their followers, had, like ing recital of the exploits of the two rival Robin Hood and his men in Sherwood leaders formed a never-sating source of Forest, resided there in safety for several amusement and delight.* Yet the poem, years. despite its powerful appeal to English patriotism and English bravery, is not only unhistorical: it has absolutely no connection with the battle which it is sup. posed to describe. It is the account of a mere predatory raid for which it is hard to find even a foundation in fact. The scene is laid in the time of James I., when both Percy and Douglas were dead and buried. Times, places, and persons are confounded in an inextricable mass of jumble and confusion. Somewhat more trustworthy, indeed, is the old ballad, preserved in the Cottonian Library, known by the name of "The Battle of Otterburn." Yet here, too, its dramatic merits have destroyed its his torical worth. Altered and embellished in its descent from one generation of min-arms had his sergeants to hold his horse, strels to another, its value as evidence is small. But, fortunately for us, the subject had as many attractions for the annalists as for the minstrels. It was like the taste of a forbidden pleasure to the monkish historians of the period to turn from their jejune task of chronicling treaties and councils and the arid details of the records of their respective monasteries to describe the flash and glitter of knightly swords, and the ever-changing movements of an almost heroic conflict. And though we see the battle now only athwart the barred windows of the cloister cell, and through eyes dimmed by years of mortification and seclusion from the world, the yellow pages on which its story is written still teem with life, and are still aglow with the stroke and parry of human passion and the surge and flow of chivalrous instincts. Early in spring, at a great meeting held at Aberdeen, under the pretext of a solemn festival of the Church, a fresh foray into England was determined upon by the border lords. Summonses were issued for the gathering of the feudal host, and the neighborhood of Jedburgh was as. • White's Otterburn, App., p. 132. to buckle his armor, and to perform the Though his sons, five sons-in-law, and a nephew were among the leaders of the host, the project had been, as usual, carefully concealed from the Scottish king. It had not, however, escaped the notice of the English. Henry Percy, surnamed Hotspur then in his twenty-third year -the eldest son of the aged Earl of Northumberland, recently appointed by Richard a warden of the English marches, his father and his brother Ralph and all Kirk-Yetholm at the foot of the Cheviot Hills, or more *The Zedon of Froissart is either the gipsy town of probably Southdean on the Jed, about ten miles from Jedburgh and four from Redeswire, the place at which Douglas and his men were to enter England. (Froissart ii., note to p. 362: White's Otterburn, note to p. 23.) The the north-country chivalry, were - by | English would proceed by way of Carlisle. It was agreed to divide the host into two army corps. While the largest division with the baggage, under the command of Archibald Douglas, lord of Galloway, A certain squire, well acquainted with marched upon Carlisle, the other, consistthe country, was accordingly despatched ing of three hundred picked lances and from Newcastle for the purpose. He two thousand infantry, led by the young reached Zedon as the Scottish barons Earl of Douglas, would invade Northumwere in consultation in the church. The berland. When both had been united, a Englishman entered and heard their de- fitting time and place would be selected liberations. But before the meeting broke to give battle to the English. After tak up he thought it prudent to retire. Leaving an affectionate farewell of each other ing the church unobserved he went to the two divisions started, the one marchlook for his horse. It was gone. "Aing to the right and the other to the left. Scotsman," says Froissart, "(for they are On Friday, the 7th August, the army of all thieves) had stolen him." To have made enquiry would have been to risk detection. He, therefore, set out on foot, booted and spurred as he was. But he had scarcely gone about two bowshots when his appearance attracted the notice of two Scottish knights who were in conversation. "That fellow," said the one,"has seemingly lost his horse, and yet he is making no attempt to seek for it." the Earl of Douglas crossed the border of Redeswire. Moving forward over Ottercop's Hill and down by Rothley Crag, it swept silently but swiftly through Northumberland and forded the Tyne above Newburn.* Journeying through byeroads, attacking neither town, castle, nor manor, it reached the rich bishopric of Durham, without encountering opposition. So suddenly and secretly had the march been conducted that the first intel "On my troth!" replied the other, "Iligence of its arrival which the northdoubt much if he belongs to us. Let us follow and question him." He was soon overtaken. They asked him whence he came, whither he was going, and what he had done with his horse. His answers were contradictory and confused, and he was accordingly taken before the council of war. There, under the threat of death, he was made to reveal the purpose for which he had come, and to supply his enemies with much the same sort of information which he had expected to obtain from them. The barons of Northumberland, he said, had determined not to meet the Scotch. But as soon as they had crossed the border, an English army would enter Scotland and mete out retaliatory devastation upon the lands of the Border lords. If the Scots marched upon Cumberland, the English would advance upon Edinburgh by Berwick. If they pressed on towards Newcastle, the country barons received, was the smoke of burning houses and the crowds of fugi. tives hastening towards Newcastle. The Earl of Northumberland immediately despatched his two sons- Hotspur and his brother Ralph to defend the city, while he himself remained at Alnwick to rouse the district. Meantime, the Scots advanced through the fertile tract of country between Durham and Newcastle, levelling peel and fortalice, devastating village and grange, slaughtering and capturing the inhabitants, and driving or carrying away all the booty which they thought worth appropriating. The flower of Northumberland had by this time collected within the walls of Newcastle. Barons and knights and squires all the gentry of the district from York northwards had rallied round * White's Otterburn, pp. 24-25. Hotspur's standard; and the town was filled with more than it could lodge. On the 14th August, the Scottish army encamped before Newcastle, and took up its position on that side of the town which looks towards Scotland.* It was the earl's intention to have attacked the place. But so strong were its defences, that with out the assistance of Archibald Douglas's division he saw but little prospect of success. For three days he lay waiting for reinforcements. During that time there were almost constant skirmishes between the besiegers and the besieged. Outside the moat which surrounded the town, the English had erected a species of wooden fortification after a fashion which was then common on the Continent, and which their recent wars with France had probably taught them. It consisted of upright grated palisades with openings about half a foot wide, and so low that a horse might without much difficulty leap over them. At these barriers the young knights on both sides fought daily. Many valiant deeds were done with lances hand to hand. The two gallant sons of the Earl of Northumberland were always the first to arrive, and generally the last to leave. In one of these many encounters, the Earl of Douglas, after a long conflict with Harry Percy, won his spear with its silken pennon attached, adding insult to the injury by the assurance that he would carry it with him into Scotland. 66 Nay, Earl of Douglas!" retorted Hotspur, "that shall you never do." "You must come this night and seek it then," replied the earl. But the night passed, and no effort was made to redeem the banner. When the morning broke, its pearl-embroidered folds emblazoned with the white lion of the Percys, was still floating above the pavilion of the Earl of Douglas. Long before the sun was up, the Scots were on their way home. About four they reached the castle of Pontelands, which they took and burned. Then turning off in a northwesterly direction, they made through Redesdale to Otterburn, and encamped on a little height, the site of an ancient Roman camp, above Greenchesters.§ On the north their position was somewhat exposed, but on the south and west it was protected by natural woods, some remains of which, in the shape of a few straggling birch and rowan trees, are still to be seen at no great distance from the spot.* It was now the height of summer, and all over the rich upland pastures the husbandmen were gathering in their hay. The heat, too, was very great, and the Scots, fatigued by their exertions, were not unwilling to rest for the remainder of the day. They had work, too, before them on the morrow. Not far from where they were camped, in the midst of a piece of marshy ground, stood the tower of Otterburn; and this they were determined to raze. By all the unwritten laws of chivalry the challenge to the Percy would have been incomplete had a single ground of provocation been left untried. On the following day, Wednesday, the 19th August, 1388, the light had scarcely dawned when their trumpet sounded for the attack. But the peel withstood all their efforts. In the afternoon, weary and worn out, and to say the truth, not a little dispirited at their non-success, the troops returned to their quarters. A council of war was hurriedly called to consider their further movements. Many were of opinion that the attack should be abandoned, and that the army, leaving its present position, should turn off to join the other division of the Scottish forces. But Douglas took a different view. It was cowardly, he thought, to decamp without accomplishing the enterprise they had undertaken. Besides, he was still in hopes that Hotspur would make an endeavor to recover his pennon before the Scots finally left the country. His views prevailed. The troops proceeded to fortify their position. They entrenched themselves behind a double earth work towards the north. They laid down felled trees wherever their rampart was weak. The baggage and servants, with their booty of sheep and cattle, they placed on the side of the camp at the entrance of the marsh on both sides of the road to Newcastle.† The twilight came. The sun went down over the Cheviots. Many of the men, exhausted with the labors of the day, retired to rest. The lords were supping in their tents. They had laid aside their armor on account of the closeness of the weather, and were clad in their "side-gowns only." All of a sudden, a watchman on an untrapped horse ‡ was seen spurring towards the camp. The enemy was upon them, + Ibid., p. 31. Wyntoun ix. 8. † Scotichronicon xiv., c. 53. Battle of Otterburn, Percy's Reliques i. 25. he cried. His abrupt call to arms threw | having obtained an almost bloodless victhe whole encampment into confusion. tory. The knights flew to their armor. The Meanwhile the Scottish leaders, observ. Earl of Douglas hurried to marshal his ing his error, hastily ordered a body of men. In the disorder which everywhere infantry to join the servants and keep up prevailed cuissarts and greaves and bra- the skirmish. They themselves having siers were forgotten. The Earl of Moray completed their arming and separated had not time to don his helmet. The their men into three divisions, under the Earl of Douglas had no leisure to give his respective pennons of the Earl of Douglas own arming a thought. Above the din and the two gallant brothers the Earls of and bustle, the clang of armorers closing March and Moray, his kinsmen, left the rivets up, the bugle calls summoning the camp in silence, and crossing round its troops to their respective standards, the rear, marched along a mountain ridge covneighing of horses and the tramp of hurry. ered with hot and scrub, till they had ing feet, cries of "A Percy! a Percy!" reached the higher ground. Then falling were now distinctly heard; and soon on upon the English flank, with wild shouts the crest of a hill, disposed in two divi- and banners displayed,* they charged into sions, with banners flying, and the dying the midst of their enemies. Their opposunset glinting on the bright armor of the nents, taken aback, speedily turned and knights, the forces of Hotspur might be faced their foes. seen pricking forward to meet their foes. The Percy had at last come to retrieve his pennon. Impatient to wipe out the insult to his chivalry, without waiting for the Bishop of Durham, who, eager to avenge the devastation of his bishopric, had collected his vassals and was hastening to his as sistance, he had left Newcastle in the forenoon after dinner, and, with six hundred spears of knights and squires and upwards of eight thousand infantry, had travelled the eight short leagues which separated him from the Scots.† With this force, which stood in the proportion of three to one to that of his enemies, victory, he thought, was certain. The battle now raged. Cries of "A Percy!" "A Douglas!" "St. George! "St. Andrew!" and many another warlike slogan resounded over the field. Lances were shattered, saddles emptied, battleaxes broken. Under the bright light of the harvest moon, the shimmer of flashing swords gleamed on every side. So close. was the impact of the contending forces, that the English archers had not room to draw their bows. As the Scots, discomfited in the first onset, were in the act of retiring, Douglas, burning to win renown, ordered his banner to advance. Hotspur and his brother Sir Ralph immediately hastened forward to oppose him. The banners met, and a deadly struggle ensued It had been arranged that the first "bat- between the knights and squires on either tle," consisting of the greater part of the side. "There was no ho between them," troops, under the command of Hotspur says Froissart, "so long as spears, swords, bimself and his brother Ralph, should axes, or daggers endured." t "Cowards meet the Earl of Douglas if he was dis- there had no place, but hardiness reigned posed to fight. While they were thus with goodly feats of arms." The banner engaged, the other, under Sir Matthew of Douglas with its crowned heart, surRedman and Sir Robert Ogle, would at- mounted by the three stars, was at one tack the tents and destroy and slay all time in imminent danger, and would have they found. Percy accordingly pressed been captured but for the valiant defence on towards the camp; but mistaking the of Sir Patrick Hepburn and his son. At huts of the servants, which were partially length the Scots, unable to resist the suconcealed by trees, for the pavilions of the perior number of the English, began to lords, his first attack was directed against give way. At this juncture the Earl of the cooking galleys and camp kitchens. Douglas, seizing a double-handed battleFor a time those who were in charge were axe, closely followed by his warlike chap. able to withstand the onset of the En-lain, Richard Lundie, afterwards Archdeaglish, but overpowered at length they were forced to flee. Seeing this Sir Matthew Redman with his followers immediately started in pursuit, whilst Hotspur, rejoicing in the sight, congratulated himself on • Scotichron. xiv., c. 53. † Wyntoun ix. 8. con of Aberdeen, and a devoted handful of his personal friends, dashed, like an Ibid. ix. 8. † Ho, hoo, an interjection of stopping or desisting: hence stoppage. (Glossary, Percy's Reliques, i. 357) "So in Langham's letter concerning Queen Elizabeth's entertainment at Kellingworth Castle, 1575, 'Heer was no ho in devout drynking.'" (Percy's Reliques i., note to p. 20.) other Hector, into the midst of his ene- knight.* The pursuit lasted for the re mies, dealing such blows around him that all rushed from him on every side. Few in the darkness recognized in the central figure of that little band, round which the tide of battle now eddied with renewed and ever-rising vehemence, the gallant leader of the Scottish forces. At last he fell, pierced by three spears which had been pointed at him at once. He was thrown to the ground fighting desperately. No sooner was he down than his head was cleft with a battle-axe. A fourth spear was thrust through his thigh. Then the main body of the English, pressing over his prostrate form, carried the surging wave of combat to another part of the field. When all were gone he strove to raise himself, but fell back powerless. He was alone and unattended save by his lionhearted chaplain, now wounded himself, who, battle-axe in hand, had never left him the whole night through. By his side, covered with fifteen wounds from lances and other weapons, lay the dead body of his squire, Robert Hart. He too had fought by his master so long as the power to fight remained. As he lay there in mortal agony, there came up to him his cousins, Sir John Lindsay and Sir John and Sir Walter Sinclair, and one or two others of his knights and squires. "Cousin!" said Sir John Sinclair, kneeling by the side of the dying man, "how fares it with you?" "But indifferently," he replied. "I have little hope of living. My heart becomes every moment more faint. But, thanks to God! I die like most of my ancestors, on the field of battle! Raise up my banner," he continued, "it is lying on the ground, and shout ‘Douglas!' as if I were with you. They say a dead Douglas will win a field. To-night it shall be accomplished. Farewell!" He was dead. Throwing a cloak over the body, Sir John Sinclair lifted his standard; and once more the cry of "A Douglas! a Douglas!" rallied the disheartened Scots. The knights came spurring together from every part of the field. The Earls of Moray and March, with their banners and men trooped round the uplifted pennon. There was one desperate and collective charge, one crash of splintered lances, and then slowly and sullenly the English.commenced to retreat. The dead man had gained the day. Hotspur himself was captured, and like his brother Sir Ralph, had to yield himself prisoner to a Scottish mainder of the night,† and was continued for a distance of five English miles.‡ When at length the Scots returnnd to their camp, the numbers of the captured exceeded that of the captors. It was reckoned that the English loss amounted to fifteen hundred men; § while the Scots computed theirs at only a hundred slain, and two hundred taken prisoners.|| It "Never since the battle of Bannockburn," says Froissart, "did the Scots gain a more complete or gainful victory." was told me," he continues, "and I believe it, that they gained two hundred thousand francs for their ransoms." Nor can he, although no friend to their race, abstain from adding a word of commendation to the Scots on their treatment of their prisoners. "When the Scots," he says, "saw the English were discomfited and surrendering on all sides, they behaved courteously to them, saying, 'Sit down and disarm yourselves for I am your master,' but never insulted them more than if they had been brothers." Many of the prisoners were ransomed before they left the field. "Eche of them is so contente with other, that at their departynge curtoysly they will saye, God thanke ye?" Yet, after all, when the debit and credit sides of the account are summed up, what had the nation gained by the victory? It is difficult, indeed, to say. That the engagement had been conducted in strict accordance with those artificial rules of honor which it was the fashion of the times to approve, or that in courage and courtesy both parties had satisfied the most exacting rules of chivalry, was scarcely adequate compensation for the lives of a hundred Scots lost in a battle fought in defence of no principles and undertaken in support of no claim. That it indeed diminished for a short season the severity of the border raids is perhaps the greatest commendation which can be bestowed upon it. Before the dawn of day the field was * Sir John Montgomery, son of John, lord of Montgomery, the lineal ancestor of the present Earl of Eglinton. He was soon afterwards exchanged for Sir Hugh Montgomery, and for his ransom built the castle of Penoon in Ayrshire. † Scotichron. xiv. 54. Froissart ii. 127. § Scotichron. xiv. 654; Wyntoun ix 8; Froissart, ut supra, says, a thousand and forty. The victory has been claimed by the English chroniclers, Walsingham, Hist. Ang. Rich., ii. 361, who also feign a personal combat between Percy and Douglas, in which the latter receives his death-blow. See also poem entitled "Battle of Otterburn," Percy's Rel. i. 21-34 |