Battle of Stanhope Park

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Stanhope Park
partof=First War of Scottish Independence


caption=
date=August 4, 1327
place=Stanhope Park, County Durham, England
result=Scottish victory
combatant1=

combatant2=

commander1=Sir James Douglas
commander2=Edward III-nominal command
strength1=unknown
strength2=unknown
casualties1=unknown
casualties2=unknownThe Battle of Stanhope Park was fought in northern England in August 1327 and forms part of the Wars of Scottish Independence. It was the centrepiece of the Weardale campaign, the first taste of war for the recently crowned Edward III of England. It was also to be the only time in his life that he personally experienced serious military humiliation.

A Broken Peace

In January 1327 Edward II was forced to abdicate, bringing to an end a troubled and unhappy reign. He was succeeded by his fourteen-year-old son, now Edward III; but the real power lay with Queen Isabella, his mother, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, Lord of Wigmore. Although the long war with Scotland was in temporary abeyance, following the conclusion of a thirteen year truce at Bishopthorpe in 1323, the government of Robert Bruce was immediately distrustful of the new regime and its intentions.

The evidence suggests that Mortimer and Isabella were genuine in their desire for peace, but they had unwisely referred to 'Robert and his adherents' in their unilateral attempts to renew the existing truce, thereby reminding Bruce of his true status in English eyes. However, there were deeper issues at stake than wounded pride or breaches in protocol. Time was running out for the ailing Scottish king, and it was imperative that his long struggle was successfully concluded before he died. On the very day that Edward was crowned Bruce launched a surprise attack on Norham Castle, thereby signalling that he no longer felt bound by the truce of Bishopthorpe.

The Scots are Tough

The final campaign of King Robert's reign was fought as a great game of political and military chess. It was he who began the first move by leading an expedition to Ulster in April 1327. This was followed on 15 June by a large cross border raid by the Earl of Moray and the Sir James Douglas, at the head of a large formation of hobelars -mounted infantry. They were accompanied by Domhnall, Earl of Mar, James Stewart, and Sir Archibald Douglas. Weardale and an adjacent valley was ravaged. John Froissart, the French chronicler, has left a striking account of the kind of men Moray and Douglas led, and the hardships they endured:

"The Scots are tough...When they make forays into England, they cover sixty to seventy miles at a stretch, either by day or night...They never take transport on wheels with them because of the wild mountains they have to cross in Northumberland...their habits are so austere that in time of war they subsist for quite a long time on half cooked meat, with no bread, and river water, without wine...And as they know they will find plenty of cattle in the country where they go, they take no provisions with them, except that each carries a flat stone under his saddle flaps, and a little bag of oatmeal behind the saddle: when they have eaten so much meat that their stomachs feel weak and ill, they put the stone on a fire and mix a little oatmeal and water. When the stone is hot, they lay this thin paste on it to make a little cake, like a buscuit, which they eat to ease the stomach."

The English Come

As the Scots hobelars continued on their destructive passage through Weardale a large English army, under the nominal command of Edward III, left York on 10 July to intercept them. With the king were a party of soldiers from Hainault, countrymen of his intended wife Philippa, one of whom, John le Bel, wrote an account of the campaign. Continuous rain made the pursuit difficult and the English, much more heavily equipped than their opponents, floundered around for some time unable to make contact with the agile Scots. The country through which they passed had suffered heavily in the wars. Le Bel describes it as 'a savage land full of desolate wastes and great hills, and barren of everything except wild beasts.' Frustrated by their failure to catch up with the Scots, the English commanders decided to take up position at Haydon Bridge on the Tyne, hoping to block any attempt by Moray and Douglas to return to Scotland. They waited without direction and purpose. The weather continued wet and miserable: provisions began to vanish and morale plummeted. After a week the drenched army abandoned the position at Haydon Bridge, taking to the road once more, a little like an elephant in pursuit of a hare. On 1 August they finally caught sight of their elusive opponent on the southern bank of the River Wear.

tanhope Park

The Scots were in a good position and declined all attempts to draw them into battle. After a while they left, only to take an even stronger position at Stanhope Park, a hunting preserve belonging to the Bishop of Durham. From here on on the night of 4 August Douglas led an assault party across the river in a surprise attack on the sleeping English. Le Bel describes the scene:

"The Lord James Douglas took with him about two hundred men-at-arms, and passed the river far off from the host so that he was not perceived; and suddenly he broke into the English host about midnight crying 'Douglas!' 'Douglas!' 'Ye shall all die thieves of England'; and he slew three hundred men, some in their beds and some scarcely ready; and he stroke his horse with the spurs, and came to the King's tent, always crying 'Douglas!', and stroke asunder two or three cords of the King's tent."

The attack caused considerable confusion. Edward himself only narrowly escaped capture, and his chaplain was killed in his defense. A further assault was expected on the following evening, and the English were kept on edge by frequent false alarms. But on the night of 6/7 August the Scots outflanked their anxious enemies, and escaped to the north, following a route through a treacherous marsh. By the time the English realised that they had been given the slip the Scots were well out of their reach on their way to the border. Once again English arms had been humiliated, and the king is said to have wept in impotent rage. His army retired to York and disbanded.

When confronted by men like Moray and Douglas, guerilla leaders of genius, the English fared badly. However, in terms of military organisation and tactics it should be noted that all the lessons of the Scottish wars had now been fully absorbed. The army was no longer a 'feudal host' in the thirteenth century sense of the term. Many had been recruited for pay, including several thousand mounted archers-hobelars-armed with the longbow, who were to become the basis of a new military class of professional soldiers. Still more important, at the outset of the campaign the government gave instructions that even the greatest noblemen would have to be ready to fight on foot. Henry Beaumont and David de Strathbogie, both members of an Anglo-Scottish aristocracy known as the 'disinherited', were present during the campaign and would soon have the opportunity to prove themselves to be skilled practitioners of the new techniques of battle.

The Costs of War

The whole Weardale campaign had been an expensive fiasco, costing the government some £70000, a staggering figure for the time. Unable to pursue the war by other means, and seriously short of cash, Mortimer and Isabella decided to seek peace, thus began the opening moves which concluded the following year with the Treaty of Northampton. It brought to an end a war that had lasted on and off for over thirty years. But for many, including King Edward, it was a "turpus pax": a shameful peace. For Scotland the respite was to be very brief.

References

Primary

* A"nglo-Scottish Relations, 1174-1328, Selected Documents", ed. and trans. E. L. G. Stones, 1965.
* Barbour, John, "The Bruce", trans. A. A. H. Douglas, 1964.
* "Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland", ed. J. Bain, 1887.
* "Documents Illustrative of the History of Scotland," trans and arranged by J. Stevenson, 1870.
* "Edward III and His Wars: Extracts from the Chroniclers", ed and trans. W. J. Ashley, 1887.
* Froissart, Jean, "Chronicle of Froissart", trans. Sir John Bourchier, 1901 ed.
* Gray, Thomas, "Scalicronica," ed. and trans. H. Maxwell, 1913.
* "The Lanercost Chronicle", ed. and trans. H. Maxwell, 1913.

econdary

* Barrow, G. W. S. "Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland", 1976.
* Nicholson, R., "Edward III and the Scots", 1965.
* Prince, A. E. "The Importance of the Campaign of 1327," in the English Historical Review, vol. 40 1935.
* Ramsay, J. H. The Genesis of Lancaster, 1307-1399, 1913.