[MR] Wikipedia: Battle of Halidon Hill, 1333

[Garth Groff via Atlantia]

Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots:

On this date in 1333, one of Scotland's blackest days, the Guardian of 
Scotland Sir Archibald Douglas and most of his army were slaughtered by 
the English at the Battle of Halidon Hill. This battle was part of the 
Second Scottish War of Independence. In 1332 Edward III had rejected the 
1328 Treaty of Northampton with Scotland and sponsored Edward Balliol's 
attempt to regain the Scottish throne (Edward Balliol was the son of the 
disgraced former king John Balliol, placed on the Scottish throne by 
Edward I as a puppet and later sacked). As part of Edward & Edward's 
campaign, the border town of Berwick had been besieged by the English. 
Douglas arrived with a large Scottish army to raise the siege, but his 
army was massacred: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Halidon_Hill

What is most instructive about this battle is the carefully planned use 
of massed English archers equipped with the longbow. The archers were 
organized into wedges on the flanks of the three English divisions (the 
latter nearly all fighting on foot). These were the tactics experimented 
with by King Edward I some 30 years earlier, now perfected at Halidon 
Hill by his grandson. Following the victory, Edward III turned the same 
tactics on the French in what came to be called the Hundred Years War.

And Edward Balliol? Supported by the English, the pretender tried to 
hold Scotland as an English vassal. He was finally sent packing by the 
Scots in 1336. Balliol later sold his Scottish throne to Edward III for 
a pension and sank into obscurity. Balliol is believed to be buried 
under a post office in Doncaster, though nobody seems too interested in 
digging up his body: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Balliol .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge