Wednesday War Stories ~ Battle of Flodden, 9 September 1513

Zachary Grant, 10 September 2025

When the English king’s away, the Scotts will play! Okay, that’s a terrible summation of the Battle of Flodden, and it is a fun little rhyme. Let’s provide a wee bit of background for this battle before we discuss what happened. When King Henry VIII of England went to fight in France during the summer of 1513, King James IV of Scotland sensed an opportunity to grab some resources from the Sassenachs.

King Henry VIII knew he needed someone to keep an eye on the Scottish border and he had just the man for the job, Thomas Howard, the Earl of Surrey. Surrey had one of his men, Sir William Blumer, monitor the Scottish border while he was busy getting ready to travel north. Let’s read John Ashton’s account of one of the first Scottish raiding parties that entered England during King Henry VIII absence:

Text from John Ashton’s The earliest known printed English ballad – A ballade of the Scottysshe kynge, by John Skelton, poet laureate to King Henry the eighth, page 50. Source: Internet Archive.

click images to enlarge

Mr. Ashton’s old-timey language and long-s letters make this passage difficult to read, so let’s turn to a more modern description by Niall Barr to learn what happened:

“… Alexander, (Lord Home), Chamberlain of Scotland, led his borderers – perhaps as many as 7,000-8,000 men – on a raid of Northumberland. With many of the [English] towers which protected the Till valley still ruined and in disrepair after the Scottish incursions of 1496-7, Home and his men were able to mount a very successful plundering expedition. Sir William Blumer, who had been sent to the fieldborder by Surrey, could not prevent the raid, but mounted an ambush on 13 August when Home was returning to Scotland with his plunder. At Milfield, two miles north of Wooler, and within sight of Flodden Edge (where a few weeks later James would encamp the Scottish army), Blumer’s archers ‘shot so wholly together’ that they killed five or six hundred Scots and captured four hundred men, along with Home’s Standard and the plunder that the Scots had gathered. This inauspicious start to the Scots campaign became known as the ‘ill raid’.” (Barr, 2001, p. 62)

On the left, in stunning medieval color, King James IV of Scotland. On the right, in an underwhelming black and white, Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey. Source for Surrey: Wikimedia Commons. Source for King James: Wikimedia Commons.

The Battle

We’ll skip all the boring middle bits after this “ill raid” and get straight to the battle.

The Scottish army was mainly infantry, with a large number of the men armed with pikes. King James IV was no fool and he originally selected an excellent defensive position for the battle against the English. His army was approximately 30,000 strong and had some very heavy artillery pieces that were cumbersome and slow to operate. Surrey’s army had about 25,000 soldiers, constituted almost entirely of infantry, armed with longbows, bills, and lighter artillery pieces that were easier to operate and faster to fire. Surrey realized the Scottish defensive position would be difficult to attack and decided to march his army around the Scottish position to put his army between the Scots and Scotland itself. This blocking maneuver meant James IV had to leave his original position and reposition his forces to Branxton Hill (Tucker).

Plan of Flodden Field. Note the dotted line delineating the English army’s maneuver to Branxton. The path used by the retreating Scottish army at the end of the battle has its own separate dotted line to the west. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The battle started with an artillery duel. Between the English artillery fire and longbow volleys, the Scots couldn’t wait for the English infantry to attack, so James IV decided to advance down Branxton Hill to attack the English.

James could hope that his pike columns would sweep away the English army before the English guns could do any more damage. Thus, in this extremely stressful situation, James and his army really had only two choices, fight or flight. In fact, ordering an advance against the English was not only the logical decision, but was also enshrined in Scottish military practice. The Scots at Flodden were not used to facing an artillery bombardment, but the Scottish armies for the past two hundred years had been faced with the strom of arrows shot by English longbowmen. On each and every occasion, Scottish armies had attempted to close the range and enter hand-to-hand combat as quickly as possible to decide the battle and to prevent further casualties from missile fire. (Barr, 2001, p. 96)

Woodcut by Hans Burgkmair depicting the Battle of Flodden. Source: flickr

James IV led the attack against the English forces. At first, the Scottish attack went well, causing the English right flank to fall back and the English cavalry, led by Dacre, to rescue the retreating English infantry (Barr). However, the center of the battle was a different story:

At the bottom of Branxton Hill there is a small boggy stream, which, like the Pallinsburn, is little more than a ‘man’s step over’ but this insignificant watercourse had a fatal effect on the Scottish columns which had to cross it. . . Unfortunately for James, this small stream was virtually imperceptible from the top of Branxton Hill. James’ decision to launch his men in an assault was probably made without realizing the existence of the stream or the disastrous effect it would have on the order of his formations. (Barr, 2001, pp. 105-106)

Once the Scots were disorganized, the English seized upon this opportunity to get in close to the Scottish and attack with their bills. The Scottish pikes were just too long to be of any use in close quarters combat. It was an extremely hard fought battle; however, at the end of the day, the Scottish army was driven from the battlefield with large casualties and the death of their king, James IV (Tucker).

Interested in gaming the battle?

Try one of these games

	The Flowers of the Forest (1995) – Originally self published by game designer Charles Vassey and later republished in Battles Magazine, this can be a difficult game to find. According to Mr. Vassey, the game is not balanced; however, it plays quickly so each player can take a turn at playing both sides.
	Renaissance: Musket and Pike – (latest updated version 2025) published by Wargame Design Studio (WDS). If you’ve never played a game by WDS, this is a turn-based, tactical wargame. There are 126 scenarios from various European battles between the years of 1490-1600 included in the game. Some of the scenarios are variations of the same battle. There are three scenarios for the Battle of Flodden, designed by Rich White. More screenshots below to give you an idea of what to expect
	Pike and Shot: Campaigns – (last updated version 2016) published by Matrix Games. This is a tactical level, turn based game which covers warfare from 1494-1698. The game does not include the Battle of Flodden in its core set of scenarios; however, there are two community created versions of this battle you can download to play. Pike and Shot (2016) plays like a miniatures wargame. Each community designer has an interesting interpretation of the battle. More screenshots below to give you an idea of what to expect.
	Finally, there are various miniature games that have scenarios for the Battle of Flodden. Consult your favorite set of rules for scenarios. Here’s one for De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA).

Additional Screenshots for Renaissance: Musket and Pike

Bird’s eye view of the battlefield. The Scots in the south will need to traverse a fair amount of marshy terrain to get to the English, which slows them down and can cause them to be disrupted.

The marshy terrain in the center of the battlefield, which also runs along a narrow strip to the east, causes headaches to whomever decides to cross over it. The difficult terrain slows down movement, can cause units to be disrupted, and prevents units from changing formations once they enter it. If the Scottish Pikemen remain in block formation while moving toward the English, they only move one hex at a time. If the Scots change to column formation, they can’t return to block formation to take advantage of their pikes. Quite the conundrum!

Close up 3D view of the center part of the battlefield. Here we see the Scottish pikemen advancing through the marshy terrain in block formation. You can see the Scottish casualties strewn behind them as the English guns fired on the approaching Scots.

Additional screenshots for Pike and Shot: Campaigns

Here are screen shots from Community designer Odenathus:

English billmen and artillery outside of Branxton waiting for the Scots to attack.

Odenathus put a lot of Scottish pikemen on top of Branxton Hill!

Here’s the terrain the two armies need to cross in order to engage in combat.

Next we have Community designer Paul59’s take on the Battle of Flodden:

Paul59 took a very different approach to modeling the English army. See all those small rectangular blocks outside Branxton? Those are all archers! The smaller square blocks are the English billmen.

Paul59 includes Scottish Highlanders on the Scottish right flank and a large group of Pikemen in the center of the Scottish army.

Here’s the main battlefield as designed by Paul59.

References

Ashton, J. (1882). The earliest known printed English ballad – A ballade of the Scottysshe kynge, by John Skelton, poet laureate to King Henry the eighth. E. Stock.

Barr, Niall. (2001). Flodden 1513: The Scottish invasion of Henry III’s England. Tempus.

Tucker, S. C. (2010). Battles that changed history: An encyclopedia of world conflict. ABC-CLIO.

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