Talk:Battle of Old Byland

This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Middle Ages Mid‑importance Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale. Military history: British / European / Medieval This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status: Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met Associated task forces: /  British military history task force European military history task force Medieval warfare task force (c. 500 – c. 1500) Medieval Scotland on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Medieval ScotlandWikipedia:WikiProject Medieval ScotlandTemplate:WikiProject Medieval ScotlandMedieval Scotland articles Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the importance scale.

England Mid‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject England, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of England on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EnglandWikipedia:WikiProject EnglandTemplate:WikiProject EnglandEngland-related articles Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Yorkshire Low‑importance

Battle of Old Byland is within the scope of WikiProject Yorkshire, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to Yorkshire on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project, see a list of open tasks, and join in discussions on the project's talk page.YorkshireWikipedia:WikiProject YorkshireTemplate:WikiProject YorkshireYorkshire articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

WHere DO these numbers come from? They do not seem to be derived from any contemorary chronicles and are mosty certainly gross exaggerations. It is very unlikely that ant Scottish medielval army amounted to 20,000 men, or any Englsih one to 48,000. CB. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.166.178.156 (talk) 13:08, 15 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. The numbers are complete and utter nonsense and are not based upon any reliable data. Mediaeval chroniclers used numbers in only the loosest sense, especially when writing long after the event, and to do little more than give some sense of dramatic scale. The battlefield at Old Byland could not possibly accomodate 80,000 men, nor could armies of such size have engaged in a simplistic battle such as is described. A more likely scale is that of the (fairly well-attested) "Battle of Boroughbridge" in which the forces numbered in the low thousands. The Royal Army in that instance numbered roughly 4000 men - and that was before the invasion of Scotland in which many will have died of disease or deserted - even allowing for subsequent reinforcements. As a supposedly authoratative dictionary, Wikipedia would do best describing both armies as "substantial", Scottish losses as "light" and English losses as "heavy".