Warfare in early modern Scotland

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The earliest known image of Scottish soldiers wearing tartan, from a woodcut c. 1631

Warfare in early modern Scotland includes all forms of military activity in Scotland or by Scottish forces, between the adoption of new ideas of the Renaissance in the early sixteenth century and the military defeat of the Jacobite movement in the mid-eighteenth century.

In the

castle architecture
. In the 1540s and 1550s, Scotland was given a defended border of earthwork forts and additions to existing castles.

There were attempts to create royal naval forces in the fifteenth century. James IV founded a harbour at

major expedition to Biscay. The Scots also returned to West Indies and in 1629 took part in the capture of Quebec
.

In the early seventeenth century large numbers of Scots took service in foreign armies involved in the

trace italienne
were built.

At the

1745 Jacobite Rebellion
. The bulk of Jacobite armies were made up of Highlanders, serving in clan regiments. The Jacobites often started campaigns poorly armed, but arms became more conventional as the rebellions progressed.

Sixteenth century

Royal armies

Battle of Pinkie, woodcut illustration from William Patten (1548)

In the later Middle Ages, Scottish armies were still largely assembled on the basis of common service and

men-at-arms and archers.[3] Scotland relied on these systems longer than was the case in England. In practice, forms of service tended to blur and overlap, and major Scottish lords continued to bring contingents from their kindred.[3] In 1513 for the Flodden campaign these systems were successful in producing a large and formidable force, but in the religious and politically divided mid-sixteenth century there is evidence that the authorities were experiencing increasing difficulty in recruitment.[4]

A series of musters or

chainmail and ordinary highlanders dressed in the plaid, leaving their lower legs naked. In place of a jack, they often had a patchwork linen garment, covered with wax or pitch.[6] A clan leader like John Grant of Freuchie in 1596 could muster from his kin, friends, and servants 500 men able to fight for James VI and the Sheriff of Moray. Of these 40 had habergeons, two handled swords, and helmets, and another 40 were armed "according to the Highland custom" with bows, helmets, swords, and targes.[7]

Weapons included various forms of axes and pole arms, including spears, the

claidheamh mór) and axes.[8] The crown took an increasing role in the supply of equipment.[5] There were attempts to replace polearms with longer pikes of 15.5 feet (5 m) to 18.5 feet (6 m) in the later fifteenth century, in emulation of successes over mounted troops in the Netherlands and Switzerland, but this does not appear to have been successful until the eve of the Flodden campaign in early sixteenth century.[9] By the mid-sixteenth century the pike had emerged as the most important infantry weapon in Scottish armies. Modelling themselves on Swiss and German infantry, Scottish tactics tended to focus on rapidly engaging the enemy, particularly necessary to counter the advantage enjoyed by the English in missile power.[10]

Like most European nations the Scots in this period began to convert from the bow to gunpowder firearms.

Handguns were present in Scottish armies in small numbers from the fifteenth century and there are increasingly frequent references to handguns and arquebus in records. An account of the Scottish vanguard at Haddon Rig in 1542 suggests that half the troops were missile men and half of those were arquebusiers. Equal proportions of missile to melee troops seems to have been an aim of Scottish commanders for most of the century, although it was not always possible in the field.[11] The main source of firearms were the French, who seem to have extensively rearmed the Scottish after the English invasions of the Rough Wooing.[12]

A leather jack of the kind worn by in the sixteenth century

The English enjoyed a marked superiority over the Scots in cavalry, particularly with the resurgence of heavy cavalry with their use of demi-lancers. The feudal heavy cavalry had begun to disappear from Scottish armies after Bannockburn in 1314. It was limited by the shortage of suitable horses. James V imported great horses and mares from Denmark in an attempt to improve the quality of Scottish breading stock. In the mid-sixteenth century the Scots still lacked sufficient heavy cavalry. In their place they fielded relatively large numbers of light horse, often drawn from the Borders and usually wearing jacks of leather or mail, mounted on small horses and using light lances. As firearms became available they began to field relatively large numbers of mounted arquebusiers.[13]

Artillery and siege warfare

Battle of Flodden Field.[15]

Gunpowder weaponry fundamentally altered the nature of

castle architecture from the mid-fifteenth century, with existing castles being adapted to allow the use of gunpowder weapons by the incorporation of "keyhole" gun ports, platforms to mount guns and walls being modified to resist bombardment. Ravenscraig, Kirkcaldy, begun about 1460, is probably the first castle in the British Isles to be built as an artillery fort, incorporating "D-shape" bastions that would better resist cannon fire and on which artillery could be mounted.[16] In the period of French intervention in the 1540s and 1550s, at the end of the Rough Wooing, Scotland was given a defended border of a series of earthwork forts and additions to existing castles. These included the erection of single bastions at Edinburgh (by Migliorino Ubaldini), Stirling and Dunbar; the creation of the Scots' Dike on the western end of the border; trace italienne fortresses at Leith, Inchkeith (by Lorenzo Pomarelli) and Langholm; work was also begun at Jedburgh and plans made for works at Kelso. The most aggressive move was a fortified artillery park at Eyemouth, only 6 miles (10 km) from the English border stronghold of Berwick.[17]

Royal navy

Main article: Royal Scots Navy
The captured Salamander, in the English Anthony Roll

There were various attempts to create royal naval forces in the fifteenth century. James IV put the enterprise on a new footing, founding a harbour at

Humber in 1523. Although prizes were taken by Robert Barton and other captains, the naval campaign was sporadic and indecisive.[22]

James V entered his majority in 1524. He did not share his father's interest in building a navy, relying on French gifts such as the Salamander, or captured ships like the English

Dieppe to begin his courtship of his first wife Madeleine of Valois.[27] After his marriage he sailed from Le Havre in the Mary Willoughby to Leith with four great Scottish ships and ten French. After the death of Queen Madeleine, John Barton, in the Salamander returned to France in 1538 to pick up the new prospective queen, Mary of Guise, with the Moriset and Mary Willoughby.[28] In 1538 James V embarked on the newly equipped Salamander at Leith and accompanied by the Mary Willoughby, the Great Unicorn, the Little Unicorn, the Lion and twelve other ships sailed to Kirkwall on Orkney. Then he went to Lewis on the West, perhaps using the newly compiled charts from his first voyage known as Alexander Lindsay's Rutter.[14]

A Scottish armed merchantman engaged in the Baltic trade is attacked by a Hanseatic ship. Detail from a sixteenth-century map.

Scottish privateers and

William Winter was sent north with 34 ships and dispersed and captured the Scottish and French fleets, leading to the eventual evacuation of the French from Scotland,[32] and a successful coup of the Protestant Lords of the Congregation. Scottish and English interests were re-aligned and the naval conflict subsided.[33]

Early seventeenth century

Royal and marque fleets

Main article: Royal Scots Navy
English and Scottish warships on John Speed's Map of Scotland, 1610

After the

major expedition to Biscay.[36] The Scots also returned to the West Indies, with Lochinvar taking French prizes and founding the colony of Charles Island.[31] In 1629 two squadrons of privateers led by Lochinvar and William Lord Alexander, sailed for Canada, taking part in the campaign that resulted in the capture of Quebec from the French, which was handed back after the subsequent peace.[37]

Covenanter armies

See also: Wars of the Three Kingdoms and Scotland and the Thirty Years' War
The English and Scots armies meet in the First Civil War

In the early seventeenth century relatively large numbers of Scots took service in foreign armies involved in the

Alexander and David Leslie. These veterans played an important role in training the parish recruits. Nobles were able to raise regiments, which usually bore their name as colonel, and they could appoint company commanders, but the lieutenant colonel and sergeant major of the regiment, and the lieutenant and sergeant of each company, were to be professional soldiers.[39] The returning soldiers also brought expertise in fortification and trace italliene fortifications were added at Leith, Burntisland and Greenock. They would play a major role in the siege of Edinburgh in 1650.[17]

The appointment of Leslie as field marshal avoided a contest between inexperienced nobles for leadership and his reputation made the service by Scottish mercenaries in Covenanter armies more likely. He became an ex offico member of the Tables, enabling him to influence policy and take part in issuing dispatches. Although producing a relatively large and efficiently organised army, it was hastily assembled, and short of money and supplies. The Covenanting regime had to make assessments on parishes and relied on loans from Edinburgh merchants, making a long campaign difficult to sustain. In the view of historian James Scott Wheeler, the first Covenanter army was "marginally trained, irregularly armed, poorly paid and badly supplied", but it proved sufficient to the task.[39]

Replica of a Scottish Saltire of the War of Three Kingdoms

Between the two Bishops' Wars the Covenanters maintained one regiment of infantry and many of their officers who had drilled the local militias on half pay. The militas were now armed with firearms purchased in the Netherlands. The Tables were replaced with a committee of estates, with wide-ranging powers, and kept to same system of commissioners. One in four able bodied men were able to muster when mobilisation began for renewed confrontation in 1640. The army was paid for by more loans and a new national tax known as the "tenth" or "tenth penny".

Third Civil Wars (1649–51).[41]

Scottish infantry were generally armed, as was almost universal in Western Europe, with a combination of

firelocks (probably mainly reserved for troops defending the baggage and ammunition) and there were a handful of troops that brought more accurate rifled guns. Continental experience tended to increasingly emphasise firepower over melee and this was reflected in the greater proportions of shot to pike, usually in proportions of three to two. Scottish armies may also have had individuals with weapons including bows, Lochaber axes, and halberds. as recruits who lacked pike and shot were told to report with these.[42] Most cavalry were probably equipped with pistols and swords, although there is some evidence that they included lancers.[43]

Royalist armies, like those led by

Earls of Huntly.[48]

Covenanter navies

Main article: Royal Scots Navy
Detail of a map of Aberdeen in 1661, showing the fort erected during the Commonwealth

During the Bishops' Wars the king attempted to blockade Scotland, disrupting trade and the transport of returning troops from the continent. The king planned amphibious assaults from England on the east coast and from Ireland to the west, but they failed to materialise.[39] Scottish privateers took English prizes and the Covenanters planned to fit out Dutch ships with Scottish and Dutch crews to join the naval war effort.[49] After the Covenanters allied with the English Parliament they established two patrol squadrons for the Atlantic and North Sea coasts, known collectively as the "Scotch Guard". These patrols guarded against Royalist attempts to move men, money and munitions and raids on Scottish shipping, particularly from ships based in Wexford and Dunkirk. They consisted mainly of small English warships, controlled by the Commissioners of the Navy based in London, but it always relied heavily on Scottish officers and revenues, and after 1646, the West Coast squadron became much more a Scottish force.[50] The Scottish navy was unable to withstand the English fleet that accompanied the army led by Cromwell that conquered Scotland in 1649–51. The Scottish ships and crews were divided among the Commonwealth fleet.[51]

Fortifications

During the English occupation of Scotland under the Commonwealth, fortresses in the style of the

trace italienne were built. These were polygonal in plan with triangular bastions, as at Ayr, Inverness and Leith.[52] Twenty smaller forts were built as far away as Orkney and Stornoway. Control of the Highlands was secured by strongpoints at Inverlocky and Inverness. These were built at a massive cost in money and manpower. The citadel at Inverness, begun in 1652 and using stone shipped from as far away as Aberdeen, had cost £50,0000 when it was still unfinished by 1655. Inverlochy had a garrison of 1,000 and from 1654 became the centre for a new administrative region of Lochaber, made up of three of the most remote and lawless shires.[53]

Later seventeenth century

Restoration army

Main article:
Royal Scottish Army
A Scottish flintlock pistol made in Dundee

At the Restoration the Privy Council established a force of an unknown number of infantry regiments and a few troops of horse. The Commonwealth fortresses were abandoned, but garrisons were placed in Edinburgh, Stirling, Dumbarton and

King William II's continental wars, beginning with the Nine Years' War in Flanders (1689–97).[58]

Restoration navy

Main article: Royal Scots Navy
Painting of a Scottish ship, perhaps part of the Darien fleet, by an unknown artist

Although Scottish seamen received protection against arbitrary impressment onto English men-of-war under Charles II, a fixed quota of conscripts for the Royal Navy was levied from the sea-coast burghs during the second half of the seventeenth century.[59] Royal Navy patrols were now found in Scottish waters even in peacetime, such as the small ship-of-the-line HMS Kingfisher, which bombarded Carrick Castle during the Earl of Argyll's rebellion in 1685.[60] Scotland went to war against the Dutch and their allies in the Second (1665–67) and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars (1672–74) as an independent kingdom. Scottish captains, at least 80 and perhaps 120, took letters of marque, and privateers played a major part in the naval conflict of the wars.[61]

By 1697 the English Royal Navy had 323 warships, while Scotland was still dependent on merchantman and privateers. In the 1690s, two separate schemes for larger naval forces were put in motion. As usual, the larger part was played by the merchant community rather than the government. The first was the

fifth rate, and two smaller ships, the Royal Mary and the Dumbarton Castle, each of 24 guns and generally described as frigates. After the Act of Union in 1707, the Scottish Navy merged with that of England and the three vessels of the small Royal Scottish Navy were transferred to the Royal Navy.[63]

Early eighteenth century

Royal army

Main article: History of the British Army
A private and corporal of a Highland regiment, c. 1744. The appearance of many Jacobite soldiers may have been similar.

By the time of the act of Union, the Kingdom of Scotland had a

1745 Jacobite Rebellion and would not begin in earnest until the late 1750s.[66]

Jacobite armies

Main article: Jacobitism

The bulk of Jacobite armies were made up of Highlanders, serving in clan regiments. They were 70 per cent of the forces in the 1715 rebellion and over 90 per cent of those in 1745.[67] Most were forced to join by their clan chiefs, landlords or feudal superiors and desertion was a major problem during campaigns.[68] The Jacobites suffered from a lack of trained officers.[69] A typical clan regiment was made up of a small minority of gentlemen (tacksmen) who would bear the clan name.[70] The clan gentlemen formed the front ranks of the unit and were more heavily armed than their impoverished tenants who made up the bulk of the regiment.[68] Because they served in the front ranks, the gentlemen suffered higher proportional casualties than the common clansman.[70] The Jacobites often started campaigns poorly armed. In the rising of 1745, at the Battle of Prestonpans, some only had swords, Lochaber axes, pitchforks and scythes, but arms tended to become more conventional as the campaigns progressed. Only officers and gentlemen were equipped with a broadsword, targe and pistol.[71] After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the Hanoverian commander the Duke of Cumberland reported that there were 2,320 firelocks recovered from the battlefield, but only 190 broadswords.[72]

References

Notes

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-85115-746-7
    p. 53.
  2. ISBN 1-85285-052-3
    , pp. 9–11.
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-7486-1238-6
    , p. 58.
  4. ^ Phillips, The Anglo-Scots Wars, 1513–1550, p. 60.
  5. ^ a b Phillips, The Anglo-Scots Wars, 1513–1550, p. 61.
  6. ^ a b Phillips, The Anglo-Scots Wars, 1513–1550, p. 62.
  7. ^ David Masson, Register of the Privy Council, Addenda 1545-1625, vol. 14 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 376-7.
  8. ^ Phillips, The Anglo-Scots Wars, 1513–1550, p. 63.
  9. ISBN 1-84603-325-X
    , p. 23.
  10. ^ Phillips, The Anglo-Scots Wars, 1513–1550, p. 64.
  11. ^ Phillips, The Anglo-Scots Wars, 1513–1550, p. 68.
  12. ^ Phillips, The Anglo-Scots Wars, 1513–1550, p. 69.
  13. ^ Phillips, The Anglo-Scots Wars, 1513–1550, pp. 69–70.
  14. ^
    ISBN 0-7486-1455-9
    , p. 76.
  15. ISBN 1-59884-429-6
    , p. 156.
  16. ISBN 0-85263-748-9
    , p. 27.
  17. ^
    ISBN 0-19-211696-7
    , pp. 637–8.
  18. ISBN 0-85976-663-2
    , p. 235.
  19. ^
    ISBN 0-85976-338-2
    , p. 45.
  20. ^
    ISBN 90-04-18568-2
    , pp. 33–4.
  21. ^ a b J. Grant, "The Old Scots Navy from 1689 to 1710", Publications of the Navy Records Society, 44 (London: Navy Records Society, 1913–14), pp. i–xii.
  22. ^ Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, pp. 36–7.
  23. ^ a b c Dawson, Scotland Re-Formed, 1488–1587, pp. 181–2.
  24. ^ Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, p. 39.
  25. ISBN 0-85976-611-X
    , p. 164.
  26. ISBN 1-904607-78-0
    , p. 239.
  27. ^ Cameron, James V, pp. 152–53.
  28. ^ Andrea, The Princelie Majestie, pp. 158–9.
  29. ISBN 1-86232-090-X
    , p. 181.
  30. ^ Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, pp. 50 and 76.
  31. ^ a b Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, p. 172.
  32. ISBN 0-14-029724-3
    , p. 197.
  33. ^ Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, p. 69.
  34. ^ Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, p. 169.
  35. ^ Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, p. 168.
  36. ISBN 0-19-926149-0
    , p. 118.
  37. ^ Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, p. 174.
  38. ISBN 0-415-27880-5
    , p. 183.
  39. ^
    ISBN 0-415-22131-5
    , pp. 19–21.
  40. ^ Wheeler, The Irish and British Wars, 1637–1654, p. 29.
  41. ^ Wheeler, The Irish and British Wars, 1637–1654, p. 48.
  42. ISBN 90-04-12823-9
    , p. 240.
  43. ISBN 0-521-46686-5
    , p. 28.
  44. ISBN 0-901824-92-5
    , p. 51.
  45. ISBN 0-7509-2027-0
    , p. 144.
  46. ISBN 0-7190-4317-4
    , p. 148.
  47. ISBN 0-8108-5100-8
    , pp. 223–5.
  48. ISBN 1-84415-128-X
    , p. 169.
  49. ^ Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, p. 198.
  50. ^ Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, pp. 204–10.
  51. ^ Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, p. 239.
  52. ISBN 0-7486-0849-4
    , p. 70.
  53. ISBN 1-4464-7563-8
    , p. 283.
  54. ^
    ISBN 0-19-211696-7
    , pp. 637–8.
  55. ISBN 0-7486-3335-9
    , p. 14.
  56. ISBN 0-85045-059-4
    , pp. 1–3.
  57. ISBN 0-19-211696-7
    , pp. 24–5.
  58. ISBN 1-84415-405-X
    , p. 85.
  59. ISBN 0-8139-3352-8
    .
  60. ISBN 0-7486-1790-6
    , p. 44.
  61. ^ Murdoch, The Terror of the Seas?, pp. 239–41.
  62. ISBN 90-04-14711-X
    , p. 349.
  63. ^ Grant, "The Old Scots Navy from 1689 to 1710", p. 48.
  64. ISBN 0-7134-7484-X
    , p. 38.
  65. ISBN 0-8108-7497-0
    , p. 485.
  66. ISBN 0-19-211696-7
    , pp. 25–6.
  67. ISBN 0-19-211696-7
    , pp. 25–6.
  68. ^
    ISBN 0-85045-432-8
    , pp. 17–18.
  69. ISBN 1-85532-158-0
    , pp. 35–40.
  70. ^
    ISBN 1-85532-660-4
    , p. 58.
  71. ^ Reid, Highland Clansman 1689–1746, pp. 20–22.
  72. ^ Reid, Highland Clansman 1689–1746, p. 50.

Bibliography

External links
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