Flodden - The Riding Families

Here we have Alexander, third Earl Home surrounded by his retainers.  Behind him are the dismounted men of the Scottish border clans.  I say dismounted because mostly they fought mounted.  It follows then, that Alexander must have had some powers of persuasion to get them off their cuddies.  Presumably, it was the lure of new technology - the pike.  That he was also Warden of the March would have helped too.  The instruction of the King of Scots?  Well, alright, that as well.

 

There is much informed debate about pikes and pike men.  Military contemporaries expressed a range of views.  All had a favourable view of the weapon.  They diverged as to the amount of training needed.   Later in the century an English commander thought three years experience would produce a fine pike man. Such a fellow could hold his own against the very best pike men. Alexander's men didn't need that level of competence as they were not destined to face opposing pike men.  No, they would face Bow and Bill.

I think the border clans pike training was more akin to the Spanish light pike model.  That is, they could form up, advance in order, make an attack and stand firm to see off cavalry.  According to the accomplished Irish Captain Tyrrell this could be satisfactorily learned in six weeks. I suspect this is what Home's lads imbibed during their training. More or less.  

The other attraction was that wealthier and better armoured fellows would bear the initial brunt of pike led combat.  Loot was a big factor in border warfare and you had to survive to get any.  Let me add, courage was never in doubt.  It wasn't that sort of place.  You did have to do or die.

The best way to combat pike men was to shoot them down before they closed.  As an alternative, attacking the flanks of a pike formation was a good road to success.  

At the Battle of Flodden the English opponents of Home's forces tried both.  Without success. The reasons for this were straight forward.  Let's consider them.

The ground favoured pike fighting allowing a steady and ordered Scots advance. Bad ground could play havoc with a pike blocks formation.  Order was everything.

The Scots were drawn up on a narrow frontage, headed by exceptionally well armoured men. The arrows of the English longbow men could not pierce their armour. 

The English Bill men could not attack Home's flanks because they were protected by Gordon clansmen.  The Gordon's were armed with Great Swords, axes and bows and could match the Bill men.  That's Ray's Gordon flag you can see.

The English were stymied for options and, outnumbered, were routed.  Artillery would have helped but none was available for this part of the English line.

Elsewhere on the Flodden battle field it was a different story. The ground was bad for pike, the English artillery was good. Archery still failed for the same reasons.  It didn't matter, the English Bills hacked down the disrupted pike formations. 

Home is sometimes faulted for not capitalizing on his victory and turning the English flank.  I do not think this would have been easily accomplished.  

There were at least one thousand English border cavalry to his front. Had he attempted a flanking move they could have flanked him. That would have compelled him to stand to fight them off. A series of threatened charges could have consumed the time available for any attempt on the English open flank.

As it was, Home was able to retire unmolested with his forces intact. Given the scale of losses in the Scots Army that was no small thing.  The border was, as for the English, the first line of national defence. Home may have intended to secure his side of it.

The Borderer toys all from QRF. The unit represents a two unit pike block in Bill Hooks speak. The flag is from Ray at Don't Throw a One.  

The Gordon's are a mixture but mainly QRF.

Ray has a nice portfolio of Flodden flags free to download. The Don't Throw a One link is in the side bar. We will see more of them as we go.

I do have some Border horsemen.  They will trot along at some stage in this project.