The Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, along the banks of the River Esk near
Musselburgh, Scotland on 10
September 1547, was part of the War of the Rough
Wooing. It was the last battle to be fought between the Scottish and the English Royal armies and the first "modern"
battle to be fought in the British Isles. It was a catastrophic defeat for the Scots caused by the use of Naval artillery by the
English for the first time in a land battle in Britain. In Scotland it is known as Black Saturday.
This was historically significant as the first "modern" battle fought in Britain, demonstrating active cooperation between the
infantry, artillery and cavalry with a naval bombardment in support of the land forces.
Background to the War
In the last years of his reign King Henry VIII had tried to secure an alliance
with Scotland, and the marriage of the infant Mary Queen of Scots with his young son,
the future Edward VI. When persuasion and diplomacy failed, he launched a ruthless
war against Scotland, an episode known as the Rough Wooing.
After Henry died, Edward Seymour, uncle to Edward VI, became
Protector with the title of Duke of Somerset and with initially unchallenged power. He too wished to forcibly ally Scotland to
England by marrying Mary to Edward, and also to impose an Anglican Reformation on the Scottish church establishment. Early in September 1547, he led a well-equipped army into Scotland, supported by a large fleet.
The Campaign
Somerset's army was partly composed of the traditional county levies, summoned by Commissions of Array and armed with longbow
and bill as they had been at the Battle of Flodden, thirty years before.
However, Somerset also had several hundred German mercenary arquebusiers, a large and well
appointed train of artillery, and 6000 horse, including a contingent of Spanish mounted arquebusiers under Don Pedro de Gamboa. The cavalry were commanded by Lord Grey, and the infantry by the Earl of
Warwick, Lord Dacre of Gillesland, and Somerset himself.
Somerset advanced along the east coast of Scotland, to maintain contact with his fleet and thereby keep in supply. Scottish
Border Reivers harassed his troops but could impose no major check.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Regent, the Earl of Arran, had levied a
large army, consisting mainly of pikemen with contingents of Highland archers. Arran also had large numbers of guns, but these
were apparently not as mobile or as well-served as Somerset's. His horse consisted only of 2000 lightly equipped riders under the
Earl of Home, most of whom were potentially unreliable Borderers. His infantry were commanded by
the Earl of Angus, the Earl of Huntly and Arran himself.
Arran occupied the slopes on the west bank of the River Esk to bar Somerset's progress. The Firth of Forth was on his left
flank, and a large bog protected his right. Some fortifications were constructed, in which cannon and arquebuses were mounted.
Some guns pointed out into the Forth, to keep English warships at a distance.
Prelude
On September 9, part of Somerset's army occupied Falside Hill (then known as Fawside),
three miles east of Arran's main position. In an absurdly chivalric gesture, the Earl of Home led 1500 horsemen close to the
English encampment and challenged an equal number of English cavalry to fight. With Somerset's approval, Lord Grey accepted the
challenge, but engaged the Scots with 1000 heavily armoured men-at-arms, and 500 lighter demi-lances. The Scottish horsemen were
badly cut up, and chased west for three miles. This action cost Arran most of his cavalry.
Later during the day, Somerset sent a detachment with guns to occupy the Inveresk Slopes, which overlooked the Scottish
position. During the night, Somerset received two more anachronistic challenges from Arran. One request was for Somerset and
Arran to settle the dispute by single combat. Another was for 20 champions from each side to decide the matter. Somerset rejected
both proposals.
The battle
On the morning of September 10, Somerset advanced his army to close up with the
detachment at Inveresk. He found that Arran had moved his army across the Esk by a Roman bridge, and was advancing rapidly to
meet him. Arran knew himself to be outmatched in artillery, and therefore tried to force close combat before the English
artillery could deploy.
Arran's left wing came under fire from English ships offshore. (Their advance meant that the guns on their former position
could no longer protect them.) They were disordered, and pushed into Arran's own division in the centre.
On the other flank, Somerset threw in his cavalry to delay the Scots' advance. The Scottish pikemen successfully drove them
off with the English suffering heavy casualties. Lord Grey himself was wounded by a pike thrust to the face.
However, the Scottish army was now stalled, and under heavy fire from three sides from ships' cannon, artillery, arquebusiers
and archers to which they could not reply. When they broke, the English cavalry rejoined the battle. Many retreating Scots were
slaughtered, or drowned as they tried to swim the fast-flowing Esk or cross the bogs.
Aftermath
Although they had suffered a resounding defeat, the Scottish government refused to come to terms. The infant Queen Mary was
smuggled out of the country, and sent to France to be betrothed to the young dauphin Francis. Somerset occupied several Scottish
strongholds and large parts of the Lowlands and Borders, but without peace, these garrisons became a useless drain on the
Treasury of England.
A violent Reformation in Scotland was only a few years away, but Scots refused to have Reformation imposed on them by England.
During the battle, the Scots taunted the English soldiers as loons [persons of no consequence], tykes and heretics. A
thousand monks from various orders formed part of the Earl of Angus's division. Many died in the battle.
Of the Scottish prisoners, few were nobles or gentlemen. It was claimed that most were dressed much the same as common
soldiers, and therefore not recognised as being worth ransom.
Although the Scots blamed traitors within their own ranks for the defeat, it is probably fair to say that a Renaissance army defeated a Mediaeval army. Henry VIII had
taken steps towards creating standing naval and land forces, which formed the nucleus of the fleet and army with which Somerset
gained the victory.
It should be noted that the longbow continued to play key roles in England's battles and Pinkie was no exception. Though the
combination of bill and longbow which England used so zealously was frightfully old, the pike and arquebus tactics used in
continental armies did not make it obsolete as the bill and bow could still hold their own against them at this stage in the
development of firearms.
The battle-site is now part of East Lothian.
Clans at Pinkie
The following is a list (currently incomplete) of clans that fought at the battle of Pinkie.
Sources
Famous Scottish battles, Philip Warner, Leo Cooper, London, 1975, ISBN 0-85052-487-3
External links
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