Battle of Flodden - Tactics and Aftermath

Tactics and Aftermath

Soon after the battle, the council of Scotland decided to send for help from Christian II of Denmark. The Scottish ambassador, Andrew Brounhill, was given instructions to explain "how this cais is hapnit." Brounhill's instructions blame James IV for moving down the hill to attack the English on marshy ground from a favorable position, and credits the victory to Scottish inexperience rather than English valour. The letter also mentions that the Scots placed their officers in the front line in medieval style who were vulnerable and killed, contrasting this loss of the nobility with the English great men who took their stand with the reserves and at the rear. The English generals stayed behind the lines in the Renaissance style. The loss of so many Scottish officers meant there was no one to coordinate a retreat.

However, according to contemporary English reports, Thomas Howard marched on foot leading the English vanguard to the foot of the hill. Howard was moved to dismount and do this by taunts of cowardice sent by James IV's heralds, apparently based on his role at sea and the death two years earlier of the Scottish sailor Andrew Barton. (A version of Howard's declaration to James IV that he would lead the vanguard and take no prisoners was included in later English chronicle accounts of the battle. Howard claims his presence in "proper person" at the front is his trial by combat for the Leith Captain's death.)