Battle of Sark
Battle of Sark | |||||||
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Part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars | |||||||
![]() Battle of Sark, miniature from a manuscript of the Chronicle of Charles VII, king of France, c. 1470s | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Kingdom of Scotland | Kingdom of England | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Earl of Ormonde | Earl of Northumberland | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
ca. 4,000[2] | ca. 6,000[3] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
up to 600 | around 3,000+ killed and drowned, most of the army killed or captured. | ||||||
Registered battlefield | |||||||
Designated | 3 August 2016 | ||||||
Reference no. | BTL40 |
The Battle of Sark, alternatively called the Battle of Lochmaben Stone, was fought between England and Scotland in October 1448. A large battle, it was the first significant Scottish victory over the English in over half a century, since the
Precursors
After the 14th century's
Engagement
The stage for the battle was set when, in October, the Earl of Northumberland led a troop of 6,000 men into Scotland, where they made camp near the
Casualties
Different sources report the number of Scots who lost their lives in the engagement variously: from as few as 26 [4] to as many as 600.[5][6][7] The number of English deaths in the same sources varies from 2,000 (1,500 killed in battle; 500 drowned)[8] to 3,000 killed and drowned.[9] In the light of the nature of the battle 26 casualties for the Scots seems far too low, given the barrage of arrows and the death of Wallace of Cragie and Reidman, both Scottish and English commanding officers respectively. This wouldn't happen unless there was a fairly heavy engagement. A larger number of scholarly sources also seem to prefer numbers higher than those given by Pitscottie.
References
- ^ Site Record for Battle Of Sark; Lochmaben Stone; Old Graitney; Stormont, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
- ISBN 1842124854.
- ^ Rose (2002), p.481
- ^ Thomas Thomson (ed)(1819), Auchinleck Chronicle, Edinburgh pp.18-19
- ^ George Buchanan, "The History of Scotland: With Notes, and a Continuation to the Present Time : in Six Volumes, Volume 2" earlier recorded as "Rerum Scoticarum Historia 1582" (ed) (1829) [1]
- ^ Dalyell, John Graham, ed.(1814), The Chronicles of Scotland by Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, vol. 1, Edinburgh [2]
- ^ David Hume, "The history of the house and race of Douglas and Angus" (ed) (1820)[3]
- ^ Thomson, 1819
- ^ Dalyell, 1814;Buchanan, 1829; Hume 1820
Further reading
- Brenan, Gerald A History of the House of Percy, from the Earliest Times Down to the Present Century, Volume 1 1902. pg.101 |[4]
- Griffiths, R. A., The Reign of Henry VI, 1981.
- Hodgkin, T., The Warden of the Northern Marches, 1908.
- Neilson, G., The Battle of Sark, in Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Antiquarian and Natural History Society, vol. 13 1898.
- Paterson, Raymond Campbell, My Wound is Deep: History of the Anglo-Scottish Wars, 1380-1560, 1997.