NORTHALLERTON (THE BATTLE OF THE STANDARD
August 22, 1138
In the year 1138, taking advantage of the disturbed state of England, David, King of Scotland, invaded the kingdom. The hands of King Stephen were fully occupied in keeping order among the disaffected inhabitants of the south of England. The north of England for years had periodically suffered from Scottish incursions—in fact the condition of things there may be best described as a state of perpetual apprehension. For it must be remembered that the conditions of what is called civilised warfare—bad enough in these days—were in those totally absent. An invasion meant plunder, destruction of property, and outrage of every description—the excessive cruelty of the Scotch being a marked feature.
Thurstan, Archbishop of York, an aged ecclesiastic, had been appointed by Stephen, the Lieutenant of the North. News came to him of the intended Scottish invasion, and that Yorkshire specially was the object of attack. There could, indeed, have been but little plunder to be obtained in either of the other more northerly counties. Assembling in all haste the forces available in the neighbourhood, and appealing to the dwellers further south, an army of defence was organised. In this campaign—a campaign which, on the English side, assumed almost the appearance of a holy war—the full power of the clergy was employed. Commanded by Thurstan's pastoral letter, the village priests preached resistance, and with unqualified success. Locally, the response was as it were a levde en masse. .Of the names handed down as joining in the capacity of leaders, the following list will suffice : Walter l'Espec, William, Earl of Albemarle, Robert de Bruce, Bernard de Baliol, Adam de Bruce, Gilbert de Lacy, Walter de Gaut, Roger de Mowbray, William de Peverill, Robert de Ferrers, Robert de Stuteville, Richard de Courcy, William Fossard, and Galfrid Assaline. These were, of course, accompanied by their retainers, who were presumably well armed and equipped. Baliol brought a small contingent direct from Stephen. De Stuteville hailed from the county of Nottingham, while Ferrers, Peverill, and Assaline were Derbyshire men. The place of rendezvous was York, and there the army was augmented by the personal retainers of the archbishop. Into the custody of this army was committed the cross and banner of St. Peter of York and the banners of St. John of Beverly, St. Wilfred of Ripon, and St. Cuthbert of. Durham. Numerous clergy accompanied the army when it set forth, at the head of these being the suffragan, the Bishop of Orkney, by name Ralph Nowell. The position of the Scotch king was somewhat peculiar. Son of Malcolm Canmore and Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling, he had married Matilda, widow of Simon de St. Liz, the Norman Earl of Northampton, and daughter of Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria. He received the honour of Huntingdon on his marriage, and thus became an English baron. As an English baron, though for three years King of Scotland, he swore fealty to Matilda in 1127. By the will of his brother Edgar, who died in 1107, David became Earl or Prince of Cumbria; and over this district, a wide and important one, he reigned almost as a king. Objections were raised by Alexander I. to this dismemberment of the Scottish kingdom ; but David, supported by the Norman barons, managed to retain his possession. It is curious to note that during the negotiations prior to the battle of the Standard, both Bernard de Baliol and Robert de Bruce did not hesitate to remind him of the fact while urging his withdrawal.
On the pretext of acting in the interests of Matilda, David invaded England in 1135, but, Stephen proving too powerful, a treaty was entered into at Durham which involved the cession of certain territory by David. As a recompense his son Henry was confirmed in the honour of Huntingdon, with the addition of Doncaster and Carlisle. Stephen also pledged his word that he would make no grant of the earldom of Northumbria until the claims of Henry were fully considered and legally argued. This peace was, however, broken, and for three years a bar-
barous war was carried'on. Then, in n38, came the invasion of Yorkshire—an event finally precipitated by the point-blank refusal of Stephen,'in 1137, to adjudicate without further delay on the disputed claim to the earldom of Northumbria.
On January 10th a night attack, under the command of FitzDuncan, was made on Walter I'Espec's Castle of Wark, and failed. Reinforced by fthe army under David and Prince Henry, the Scotch laid siege to the place in regular form, and beset it for a space of three weeks. David and Henry then passed into Northumbria, bent on plunder. The siege was raised.
On May 8th the garrison, still under the command of John de Bussey, the nephew of 1'Espec, sallied forth and intercepted a convoy of Scottish provisions. This brought their foes back, and the siege was recommenced. Wark surrendered on November 11th.
To return now to the battle of the Standard. The English army marched from York to Thirsk, where it encamped, while Bruce and Baliol set forth to visit the Scottish camp in an endeavour to procure the withdrawal of- the invaders. As a bribe the coveted earldom was plainly promised. David, however, would not give way ; nay, he is even stated to have laughed scornfully at the envoys. Formally renouncing their homage due to the king—Bruce held in fief the Jordship of Annandale, and Baliol the manor of Woodhorn—the two returned to Thirsk. Both men were old companions of the Scotch king ; both had been on most friendly terms with him at the court of Henry I., and Baliol had certainly been present on-the occasion of the
homage to Matilda—nay more, had himself done homage at the same time. A curious tradition states that the fief of Annandale was saved to the Bruce family through the second son of Robert Bruce, who, it is averred, fought in the Scottish ranks at Northallerton,. and, it is added, was actually taken prisoner by his own father.
From Thtrsk the English army marched towards Northallerton, and took up a position on Cowton Moor, distant three miles north-west of the town. Here, on a small rising ground, was raised the historic standard from which the battle takes its name. This standard was thus composed : A mast was affixed to a small, low waggon-; on the top of the mast, in a pix, a consecrated wafer was enclosed, while from cross-pieces nailed to the mast lower down were hanging the four sacred banners previously mentioned. A discrepancy exists in the accounts of these banners ; some authorities name four, others only mention two, but of these that of St. Peter of York is always named one. On a scroll nailed to the pole, and within reading distance for those who could read, was the legend—
" Dicitur a stando standardum, quod stetit iltic Militia; probitas vinccre sivc mori" ;
the author of these quaint lines being Hugh Sotevagina, the precentor and archdeacon of York.
This remarkable and conspicuous standard, posted as it was upon the crest of the little hill, formed, as it was intended to form, a"rallying-point for the English. Of the site of the battle little description is needful. The Standard Hill is the highest point, and from it down to the town the ground gently slopes. The English were drawn up in three lines half way down the hill. The front rank was composed of archers, the second professedly of spearmen, but doubtless considerably leavened with men armed with all kinds of weapons, such as scythes, bills, axes, and the like.* Behind these were drawn up the knights, squires, pages, and men-at-arms, all being dismounted. On the top of the hill the standard was guarded, and the ecclesiastical division offered prayers. In the rear again the horses were collected and picketed. David, who knew well both the value of mailed knights and the value of archers, at first disposed his army in a rational manner, i.e., with the mail-clad troops and the archers in the front line. National jealousy, however, caused a most angry altercation and a fatal alteration in the dispositions. It appears that the Galwegians, i.e., men of Galloway, who fought almost naked with the utmost ferocity and disregard of their lives, had been wont ever to fight in the front Jine. They, in common with their chiefs, utterly despised mail-clad troops, and, headed by Malise, Ear] of. Strathearn, they angrily, complained of the slight. Earl Alan de Percy rejoined, and words nearly led to blows. The king was compelled to give way, if only to prevent disaster. The men of Galloway were placed in the front rank, supported by his bodyguard of French and English knights and the Scotch troops. This was the composition of the centre. One wing (the right), chiefly derived from Cumberland and Teviotdale, consisting of archers, spearmen, and knights, was commanded by Prince Henry ; the leader of the other, furnished from the west of Scotland, the Isles, and the Lowlands, is unknown, though it may have been Ear] Alan.
The battle commenced by a savage charge on the part of the centre, the Galwegians rushing up the gentle slope with loud war-cries and nearly into the English Jine of spears which were levelled between the archers. ' Then the archers who had reserved their fire poured out volleys in quick succession and at short range. The execution done was terrible, and it was a method of warfare to which the savage men of Galloway were entirely unaccustomed. They recoiled and fell into confusion— in the hail of shafts blindly striking at friend or foe alike. At this point, when his presence was most needed, the Earl of Lothian was fatally wounded by an arrow, and this loss completed the discomfiture of the Galwegians. Wounded and without a leader, they gave way; next some fled, and soon the relics of the tribe were in full retreat. The flight of the centre had by this time become general. Still in the circumscribed space, for the battle-ground is ot small dimensions, it was impossible that the wings should not have known the fate of the centre. A sort of panic occurred which was only checked by the personal intrepidity and influence of Henry, who rallied his men, and, more than that, led them in a charge which went far to redeem the fortunes of the day. Henry, with a few followers, cut his way through the English lines, and had some difficulty in disengaging himself therefrom. It is stated that he was compelled to cover his armour with a cloak in order to pass as a friend among the enemy, with whom he mixed, and that thus he escaped.
Standard Hill
By the time Prince Henry had succeeded in returning to-his own side of the field his wing was in full flight, and similar defeat had been sustained by the other wing. The Galwegians' had vanished from rhe battle, leaving their two chiefs, Ulgeric and Dunewald, dead. .Only the royal bodyguard, a picked corps of English and French knights, stood firm. It is said that Prince Henry, placing. himself at the head of this forlorn hope, endeavoured in a fruitless charge to avert complete disaster.
The Battlefield
This gallant effort, fruitless in one way as it was, yet served the purpose of covering the flight of the king. All was lost. The entire army, in utter rout, throwing away baggage and heavy arms, made off in the direction of Carlisle. David reached the place in safety, but was not rejoined by his son for two days. Considering the amount of slaughter and the hard ighting while it lasted, it is wonderful to think that the battle occupied a space of little more than two short hours. The retreat of the Scotch was, in the main, unmolested, but stragglers and wounded men, especially Galwegians and tribesmen, were ruthlessly slain when met with or discovered in hiding. Some fifty of the Scottish knights were taken prisoners and held to ransom, while of those who escaped it is reported that only nineteen out of two hundred saved their armour. The total loss on the Scotch side may be computed as having approached eleven thousand. Chroniclers vary from ten to twelve thousand in thdr estimate. On the English side the casualties were few, and the only man of rank recorded as killed was De Lacy.
The battlefield in the present day has been cut up into fields ; .one of these, the burial-place of the slain, is known still by the name of Scot Pits, and the lane along it is called Scot Pits Lane. Hedgers and ditchers have frequently found fragments of weapons and bones there. The graves in the field, thanks to the plough and other causes, are no longer visible. The name Red Hill suggests connection with memories of the fight, and local tradition upholds this view. Recently, i.e., within the last two years, on the Standard Hill itself a beautiful littJe bronze cross, about four inches in length and ornamented on its face with a knot decoration, was discovered. This cross is now believed to be in Edinburgh, whither, having been borrowed, it was sent professedly to be examined. The results of this battle may thus be summed up : Northumbria was henceforth English, yet so weak and powerless was Stephen that, after the Peace of Carlisle, Prince Henry was granted the previously refused earldom. David died in 1153, having tost his gallant son within the year.
Scot Pits Lane
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