The Battle of Flodden, 1513: The Largest Battle Between Scotland and England

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In 1513, a pivotal clash occurred on Flodden Field, between the armies of England and Scotland. King James IV of Scotland, having already captured English border castles, faced off against the English army led by the Earl of Surrey. This confrontation, set against the backdrop of the War of the League of Cambrai, would become a defining moment. As Scottish forces descended the hill armed with pikes, they encountered unexpected marshy terrain, disrupting their formations. The battle of Flodden was the largest battle ever between England and Scotland.
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🧾 Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:05 The Battle of Flodden (Introduction)
2:34 Political background
7:12 The Battle of Flodden
15:25 Aftermath
📚 Sources:
Written by House of History
🎵 Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
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🖼 Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons
#HouseofHistory #History

[@HoH]

🔥 The first 100 people to use code HOUSEOFHISTORY at the link below will get 60% off of Incogni: incogni.com/houseofhistory

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Love your channel HoH! Always SO good vale and well done! You're one of the Best!

[@beepboop204]

[@bettylaselli2048]

​@@danielsantiagourtado3430 I agree!

[@a.m.pietroschek1972]

They should confess that the real Henry VIII must have been Afro-American, could save souls no psychiatrist cared to cure! 🤗

[@jjenfield7444]

It’s incredible that the Earl of Surrey (2nd Duke of Norfolk) served under four kings, took part in so many battles and lived to 81 years of age. Incredible!

[@PortmanRd]

Surrey was a wiley old, battle hardened, dog.

[@knutclau705]

Old soldiers never die! They fade away...😅

[@hazbojangles2681]

Wow, someone actually did Flodden. Well done man!

[@greyfells2829]

Interesting how James' defensive position worked directly against him. He hemmed himself into a corner without the assurance that his artillery could defeat that of the English.

[@Rizzlelid]

A big detail left out: James IV and his commanders fought at the front and could not properly command their troops. Which was a dumb idea but James IV was all about “chivalry” instead the English commanders were smartly, behind the line, on horseback 👍

[@MrSinclairn]

Commemorated by the Scots to the day,with their (unofficial national) anthem 'The Flowers of the Forest' ;while on the English side,the Howards, as premier non-royal peers of England regained their Duchy of Norfolk(1483),as well as being commemorated in their personal heraldry with the 1st quartering depicting the Royal Lion of Scotland pierced through the mouth with an arrow !

[@HoH]

Thank you, that's very interesting!

[@terryl858]

Thanking you

[@christophernakhoul3998]

Around two percent of the Scottish population perished at Flodden.

[@HoH]

That's insane, I didn't know that!

[@christophernakhoul3998]

@HoH Tbh all I did was check wikipedia's estimate for the kingdom of Scotland in 1500 (around 500k) and used your estimate for Scottish casualties

[@loslobos786]

Lol as much as I trust 16th century Scottish census records I have to disagree.

[@TheBigheadValley]

@@loslobos786what is your level of expertise with Scottish 15th Century census records? I’m thinking it is nil.

[@JohnCoolRoblox5754]

@@loslobos786 It's 16th century not 15th.

[@joeshmoe8345]

Thanks for sharing Big Dog!

[@simenonhonore]

Very well explained -thank you.

[@MrBennie2069]

Well done! Loved your videos.

[@KHK001]

Great video as always!

[@zetectic7968]

Pronunciation help: Alnwick is An ick as the W is silent; Scottish names are not said how they are spelt, so Home is Hume and Moray is Murray. Since this time the Duke of Norfolk has been the premier duke of the country. Every Armistice Sunday the bagpipe lament "Flowers of the Forest" is played, it was written back then to mourn the loss of King James & so many soldiers.

[@HoH]

Thank you!

[@floriangeyer1]

The 'l' is also silent; pronounced Anik.

[@thecrusaderhistorian9820]

Great video!

[@minafady3716]

Good job, keep going! I want to see more about the early life of Richard the lionheart, also his war and battles with king Philip August.

[@Makeyourselfbig]

What about the Battle of Loch Ness? It was a monster.

[@Raphael-pt7rx]

another high quality history video thanks :D

[@brokenbridge6316]

I enjoyed this video

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

Thank you (House of History)channel for sharing this wonderful introduction of a remarkable subject about Scotland and Britain Challenging..in medevil term

[@dietmarholtz188]

England, Britain is completely different eg Scotland Wales and England TOGETHER are Britain

[@vatsal7640]

Both Scotland and England are in Britain

[@chezburger1781]

amazing battle, you should cover the war of the spanish succession!

[@hazbojangles2681]

You can get Flodden battlefield tours for anyone interested. Very eerie place

[@richardthomas9497]

4:46 Just one correction; it was Margaret, not Mary, whom married James IV of Scotland.

[@scottishscotsmanmk2595]

Heartbreaking to watch😢

[@shaunwalker2557]

i don't know. .cheered me up no end...now if the Scots would grow a pair and vote for independence...I'd be happy ..then all Scots in English Hospitals. .or on benefits and prisons and universities could be sent back. .and a hard border with the celts would mean Scots applying to enter England.

[@Archer-op9cp]

Imagine a king who fights his own battles

[@PortmanRd]

Imagine a stupid King who fights his own battles. At least Surrey had the sense to stay out of the fighting and so had a better view of the battle, and most importantly to engage his troops where needed.

[@terryl858]

Thanking you

[@midshipman8654]

one idea is that you could use some mods for your total war cut aways. there are a few medii ones thats greatly improved the visual fidelity and historicity of the troops.

[@paladinbob1236]

love the medieval total war2 clips ...it gives something to the video :) but a great overall video with underlining music that makes it all the better

[@HoH]

Thanks - I only started using them this video and I'd love to hear feedback. I'm happy you like them, I wasn't sure about it.

[@Gargatul0th]

@@HoH use attila total war medieval 1212 mod

[@HoH]

@@Gargatul0th is it better quality?

[@Gargatul0th]

​@@HoH kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5jFlpSQerKJlcU

[@goshtela728]

@@HoHplease keep using medieval 2

[@AlliHatter]

I found several ancestors passed in this battle… thanks for the history lesson

[@antonsokolyuk6999]

Good work. You are outmatching K&G channel in some points. It's cool that a competition between history channels is alive

[@HoH]

It's more like a mutual love, rather than a competition, I think. I am very good friends with HistoryMarche, and know some writers and animators of K&G (some are even mods on my channel). But I completely agree with you that we are living in the golden age of KZbin history!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

4:43 Loved the video man but James was married to Henry VII's elder daughter Margaret Tudor. Other than that fantastic job as always, recoomendation please do the siege of vienna of 1683!

[@davidsnowden7072]

Insult was added to injury for James. He and Henry had sworn a solemn oath in front of a papal legate not to attack the other if they were engaged in a war with a third party. As James violated his oath, he was excommunicated. In practical terms that meant that he could not be buried in hallowed ground, not even given a Christian funeral. The story goes that the victors took his body away with them and it ended up in a store room in Richmond Palace.

[@the-kilted-trucker59]

Clan Muirhead never fully recovered from that faithful day.

[@davidcunningham2074]

first video that actually properly explains why they fought this battle.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

One of my favorite battles! One of scotlands greatest humilliations! And james IV was the last of the monarchs of the British isles to die i'm battle! Thanks for this HoH!❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@DrKarmo]

Amazing video! Tho, like I've said before, your combination of square and rectangular units representing light/irregular and heavier units make your videos feel unique and have their own style! Keep up the good work!

[@ChessJourneyman]

Unique? There's a dozen other channels doing the same sht. Copy+pasted animation with a different voiceover 😂😂😂

[@DrKarmo]

@@ChessJourneyman what only watching história civilis does to a mf:

[@PortmanRd]

I suppose the final salt rubbing of the wound had to be Pinkie Cleugh. 😂

[@nilfgaardec]

Hi! How do you make such a good battle map? In what programm?

[@HoH]

Photoshop, after effects & illustrator!

[@clive3490]

ALN WICK? Dont you mean Annick? (Alnwick)

[@Raphael-pt7rx]

7:41 what was the scottish cavalry scouting? xD

[@crissagram]

I always amazes me that you have these battles with swordsmen, archers, and old style knights going against cannon and firearms. And this sort of shit still goes on for another 100+ years after this battle! Meanwhile in today's battles a country whose gear is even a decade or two out of date is at a horrifying disadvantage.

[@socratrash]

The Austrian Netherlands is in 1715. Here i would go for the Habsburg Netherlands (1482 till 1581). Great video as always.

[@bobwallace9814]

Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll, my ancestral grandfather died in this battle. What most don't realize is that the front lines of the Scottish attack were the who's who of the day from Scotland. The noblemen, the clergy, the local town leaders and the commanders all marched in shoulder to shoulder. Not mentioned in this video was the tremendous toll the English archers had on these guys dressed in traditional clothing.

[@fungaltoe3748]

Super interesting shit. I'm related to both King James the Fourth and the first Earl of Eglinton (Montgomerie Clan), who also fought and died in this battle.

[@emilioglz.carrillodealborn9175]

Honestly I was disappointed that you did not say who did Henry VIII leave as a regent and it was not Surrey it was his wife;Catherine of Aragon. Otherwise good video

[@PortmanRd]

She was determined to bring James's body back to England as a present for her husband on his return from France.

[@YasserMaghribi]

It would be AWESOME to get a video about the Battle of the Three Kings between the Portuguese and the Moroccans !

[@HoH]

Good shout!

[@YasserMaghribi]

@@HoH I thought you would even not read my suggestion, but I said screw it, nothing to loose, let's try it 😆

[@christopherdenniston4868]

Great English victory, unlike Edward though, James never got the chance to 'think again'

[@EK-gr9gd]

Pity, everyone is waiting for Sardowa.

[@13141Scott]

The English-Scottish border is way off. It was and still is established along the Solway and river tweed

[@johnholmesinchesahead342]

We don't have dollars in the UK.

[@vatsal7640]

Hence, making king james the last British king to die in a battle.

[@chasechristophermurraydola9314]

I can tell that I am going to like this video and the reason is because one of my 1st cousin 2x removed in law had 2 ancestors who was killed here at flodden and one of the ancestor was my cousin in law’s 14th great grandfather Duncan Campbell 2nd of Glenorchy and the other one was my cousin in laws 13th great grandfather William Leslie 3rd Earl of Rothes and if you don’t mind me asking but can you do a video on the Battle of Worcester and I am asking because during the battle of Worcester my cousin in law’s 9th great grandfather was killed in action in the battle on the side of the royalists and I am very interested in the battle of Worcester since I have seen no videos like what you and history Marche do on the battle of Worcester and the battle of Worcester was the last major battle of the Wars of the Three kingdoms and my cousin in laws 9th great grandfathers name was John” Smooth John”(13th Chief Clan MacNab) MacNab( of Bovain) and the battle of Worcester took place in the final conflict of the wars and that conflict was The Third English Civil War aka The Anglo Scottish War (1650-1652).

[@rossmonty1911]

Boringgggggg

[@chasechristophermurraydola9314]

@@rossmonty1911 oh okay but why do you think it’s boring.

[@vladdrakul7851]

As usual great stuff but PLEASE do finish off the Bismark histories. They are my bread and butter for history. Me and my German mother wait with bated breath for yet more!

[@HoH]

That's the plan!

[@davidhughes8357]

A king at 17 Months old!! WOW!!

[@clive3490]

Lord HOME is pronounced Hume

[@SolidAvenger1290]

A small addition to the Political Background at 2:30 & beyond into the mid-16th century Despite how the Battle of Flodden destroyed the unity of Scotland for a time after King James IV's death, the loss of so many nobles & later James V's shaky reign, there were still hints of a Scottish unified power base that still existed that led to the rise of Mary Queen of Scots decades later. King James II's sister (who was James IV's great-grandmother), Mary Stewart of Arran & Hamilton, and later her descendants played much deeper conspicuous roles in 16th-century Scottish politics. Indirectly, this powerbase she created was in action amid the chaos after Flodden. Mary was more powerful than her brother, James II, and many nobles saw James II as weak, and they believed that Mary was a much better ruler. Unfortunately, that is what led to her divorce from the House of Boyd (because James feared her role in usurping his reign amid marriage arrangements with Denmark) and into the House of Hamilton (whose descendants played a role in the American Revolution). A novel series by Nigel Tranter called Mary Stewart: Omnibus gives some potential insight into Mary Stewart and her role in the later 15th-century Scottish politics into the 16th, etc.

[@alannolan5126]

Can u do the Seven years War but The Indian In (INDIA) and the American Campaigns

[@thekerr8728]

Despite their fierce reputation, the English sure have been kicking the Scots asses up and down history…

[@CFC-ur7np]

Scotland has won more victories against England than England has against Scotland. So how did you come up with that one pal

[@thekerr8728]

@@CFC-ur7np they’ve definitely lost all the ones that mattered.

[@juliantheapostate8295]

Militarily, absolutely. Politically, well that's complicated! A certain Fettes alumni yet pulls the strings of the Labour party@@thekerr8728

[@Longinusus]

I come here to watch little squares beat the living hell out of eachother.

[@HoH]

🟦⚔🟥

[@exharkhun5605]

This is a clear example how primitive campaign strategy was back then. Modern media strategy coordinators would never authorize a battle near a place called "Flodden". How can you go viral with "Flodden" in the title? How will a name like that get traction in the algorithm? How can you galvanize support from a bunch of septuagenarian world leaders around something that sounds like something you've forgotten last week?

[@ronhall9394]

It should be called the Battle of Branxton Brig - the pesky Angles refused to do a head on attack against those wholesome Celts and is some dastardly fiendish plan outmanoeuvred the Braveheart's, typical perfidious Albion. I t might have been slicker but there was a outage on the broadband - bloody Post Office Telephones - and both sides lost their PowerPoint and Excel, hence the hack and slash - where's Google maps when you need them....

[@highlander085]

I don’t believe the centre Scottish division or the kings division got that far. They barely got through the marsh and the English had advanced off pipers hill and occupied a rise just before the marsh. If you walk the battlefield you realise what a massive effect this had. It was a perfect position for archers and the bills finished off anyone who got through.

[@Armistitium]

👍

[@beepboop204]

[@TheBobPeyton]

Alnwick is pronounced Anick

[@Wilhelm-100TheTechnoAdmiral]

It was total war. Medieval, too.

[@casadelosotte]

What I understood that the kilts were not there for much later.I think for more than half a century later. This is a huge error for a historical documentary

[@Knight860]

Margaret Tudor married James IV not Mary, the latter would marry Louis XII of France.

[@notthefbi7932]

The Prussian's had the Austrians where they wanted them last week, and now we're in England 😢 Such a great teaser, making us wait 😁

[@jp-um2fr]

I did subscribe, however I do NOT subscribe to channels hat interrupt with adverts, sorry.

[@HoH]

Welcome aboard. About the adverts: I publish these videos for everyone free to watch, however they generally take 50-60 hours to create. It is a fulltime job and adverts are a way to ensure I can continue this work. If you like you can support HoH on patreon to help me make more videos, and you will gain access to all of them ad free.

[@Historic_Events.Explained]

Hi! I also make history videos and I have a question, do you need permission before getting Total War clips? Also what's your opinion on my videos?

[@MDP1702]

The scots should have fallen back a bit the moment they lost the cannon duel, both to evade the English cannon fire and to maybe entice the English into thinking they were fleeing and trying to go after them through the marchy terrain and the hillslope.

[@juliantheapostate8295]

Aye but it was said that the morale was failing. A fall-back may have precipitated a rout. James made the right decision not accounting for the terrain. It was a redeployment which cost Pompey the battle of Pharsalus

[@MDP1702]

@@juliantheapostate8295 If morale was failing at that point, they indeed likely were already lost. If their commanders can't explain a tactical fall back move of just a few 100m to get out of cannon range, yeah there is a problem.

[@PortmanRd]

The Scottish cannons were a joke.

[@cpj93070]

A great English victory, Scotland wouldn't dare attack England again.

[@PortmanRd]

If only, and maybes. History is full of them.

[@trasnulachemumulache8590]

Margaret was married to James.

[@gnosticbrian3980]

Solway Moss? Another battle not made into a movie by Mel Gibson - one wonders why?

[@stevenduffy599]

TBH solway moss wasn't much of a battle..the Scots spent most of it arguing about who should be in charge and 3000 against 18000 isn't something a Mel Gibson style movie would be happy about especially as the 3000 won

[@gnosticbrian3980]

@@stevenduffy599 Mel makes Brit bashing movies suchh as "Patriot" and "Braveheart". I have read that Solway Moss was seen as such a catastrophic defeat [large national army beaten by a small number of bar bums] that the King of Scotland died a couple of weeks later of a broken heart.

[@sabrclan3903]

ah look historymarche 2.0 :)

[@LewisPulsipher]

I doubt that this is fair, but sometimes it seems to me that the medieval Scots just weren't very good at commanding battles.

[@SolidAvenger1290]

Like Washington for the US during the American Revolution, it took longer for the Scots to understand the ways of military warfare til Robert the Bruce learned from his defeats. It's almost similar to the Germanic tribes that later slowly got better with tactics and used hit & run attacks until they/Germany became a military powerhouse.

[@DavidBroadley-tw7ks]

What about Stirling Bridge Bannockburn killiekrankie Prestonpans Falkirk the 2nd time Loudon hill

[@juliantheapostate8295]

The Bruce predates James IV by over 200 years?@@SolidAvenger1290

[@wargey3431]

@@DavidBroadley-tw7ksprestonpans wasn’t a Scottish victory against England it was a Dynastic struggle between the army of the old pretender James Stuart who was basically French and George a German prince

[@hayley8715]

Maybe I missed it but wasn't Catherine of Aragon Queen regent of England at this time whilst Henry VIII was in France, riding North with the troops and recruiting more along the way?

[@davidsnowden7072]

Hi Hayley. There is a theory that part of the rancour Henry had against Catherine was down to the fact that, while he took the cream of English arms to France and achieved very little, she deployed what was left (many second-line forces) and gave the Scots a near-terminal kicking.

[@guidance6769]

Atleast James had the balls to fight with his men unlike other European monarchs.A true Scotsmen

[@wargey3431]

Can’t really expect Catherine to ride into battle with the English army surely Henry VIII was in France fighting English monarchs have a great history of fighting on the battlefield hell the kings we despise the most are the ones who were ok but shocking at fighting (John) and the king who was arguably awful but was a brilliant commander of men his brother Richard is remembered in England as a hero

[@veryfieddoctor7450]

Key to success for British, they don't attack first

[@hugh-hoof-hearts4360]

English and Scot’s are British. Scots are not English and visa versa . Don’t get confused as you get a punch in the face and may offend you.

[@drejade7119]

​@@hugh-hoof-hearts4360The funny thing is... He's still mostly right.

[@clive3490]

there are no British in the video, though

[@drejade7119]

@@clive3490 all of them are technically british

[@veryfieddoctor7450]

@@hugh-hoof-hearts4360 English are British, Scotts, welish and Irish are not British...

[@yahyaaltalby3908]

Please make videos of the white companies that fought in the Italian wars.

[@rtk3543]

This is a poor representation of the events of this battle. I suggest reading The Battle of Flodden 1513 by John Sadler and Rosie Serdiville to anyone interested in a more comprehensive study.

[@culloden23]

Rule one of a Scottish rebellion: Don’t invade England

[@iseeyou5061]

Another shouting man thumbnail haha

[@YOUPIMatin123]

How hard is it to find historical illustrations and not bullshit ai illustrations?

[@HoH]

Very difficult.

[@Tony-ih1pg]

Sorry but this video is biased. 'Charismatic leadership' there, always saying Brits are good. They were lucky, not better.

[@dale6947]

Lucky? In this battle the English were clearly superior to the Scots, particularly in leadership. The Scots were greater in number but were outmanoeuvred and outgunned.

[@clive3490]

There were no "Brits" The Union hadn't occurred yet. This was a battle Between England, Scotland, and Borderers

[@ronhall9394]

@@clive3490 Good point about the Borderers, they had their own agenda. Apparently after the battle the victorious English had a lot of problems with outlying units getting picked off, robbed, murdered or put up for ransom by the English reivers - not quite 'patriotic' however given the way both Crowns used the Border Marches in a similar way to the USSR and the US using proxy nations to stir up trouble, not surprising. You don't condition a dog to be aggressive then expect it to herd ducklings.

[@clive3490]

@@ronhall9394What was missing from the video was the fact that Thomas Dacre, who was appointed Warden-general over all the marches in 1509, after the battle he personaly found the body of James IV and had him removed to Wark Castle. He later wrote that the Scots, "love me worst of any Inglisheman living, by reason that I fande the body of the King of Scotts." There was another battle in which the Reviers from both sides were involved in, I can't remember where. One of the English commanders noted the English reivers had charged their Scottish compatriots and both were seen milling around and chatting with each other. They didn't want to get involved with fighting the other sides reviers because everyone knew each other and were terrified of the consequences if they were identified

[@101Mant]

​@@clive3490national identity is such a major thing in modern times people forget it really wasn't a thing once you go back more than a couple of centuries. People owed feudal obligations and largely fought for those, or money and plunder. Just because someone came from the same Kingdom as you and maybe spoke more or less the same language doesn't mean any real sense of shared identity. So we talk about English fighting Scots but the people involved would probably primarily identified themsleves as the local region they came from. For the people living around the border that would have been thier primary identity and more important to them

[@ryanvouche254]

Those game clips are garbage and add nothing to the video. Also why use medieval 2 when Total war Attila with mods would look better.

[@HoH]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm just trying it out. I don't play games myself but received feedback that adding footage of knights/battles would add to the immersion of the strategic overview of the battle.

[@juliantheapostate8295]

On the contrary, I think they work well, if used sparingly@@HoH

[@pajserlatacchini9400]

Could you do a video about the Scots when the King who was in exile gatherd a little man to fight the English and was outnumberd but he won the battle ? I cant remember the name but I saw it in a movie and I think its a pretty cool story. They picked a muddy battlefiled and had lots of pikeman and it helpd vs English heavy caverly and knights. The King didnt want to surrender and most Scots didnt want to follow him but he managed to get a hand full of troops and win the battle that was defenetly not in his favor. Btw im loving your content keep up the good work ❤ I just check it was Battle of Bannockburn 1314