The Battle of Linlithgow Bridge

…‘if thy body be torn to pieces , we shall have a part’

George Douglas - 1526

James V was little more than a year old when his father died at Flodden in 1513.  The following 13 years Scotland witnessed the turmoil of the regency of Albany and the political in fighting that left the kingdom at the mercy of the English and their followers north of the border.

Those who held the king held the power and it was Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, who aspired to be the kings guardian and in effect, his jailor. Margaret, the Queen dowager fought a constant political battle to free her son, raising support among the nobles for armed forays

Two such rescue attempts ended at Linlithgow. The Earl of Arran attempted the first in January 1526. He raised 5000 men at the Queen’s bequest and mustered them at the Peel but was obliged to disperse when the Queens party led by Earl of Moray was delayed in arriving and the Douglases advanced in force from Edinburgh with the King in attendance. Arran fled, but Moray arriving too late to stop the rout, declared for the King and promptly swapped sides.

Eight months later the Queen dowager persuaded the John Stewart the Earl of Lennox, the Earl of Glencairn and Cardinal Beaton to support her cause. Lennox raised an army over 10,000 and marched on Edinburgh from his base in Stirling. By this time Archibald Douglas had won over the Earl of Arran who was sent out to delay the march by mustering the people of Linlithgow and the surrounding Hamilton lands. Much to his credit Arran arrayed his followers at the strategically important Pace Hill overlooking Linlithgow. He only had a small force composed mainly of the local Hamilton retainers of approximately 2000 men. But Lennox, seeing the strength of this defensive position had to rethink his plans.

Lennox looked to out flank and destroy Arran before Douglas could arrive from Edinburgh with reinforcements. Down stream proved impassable but his scouts found a ford at Manuel Convent a mile upstream of the bridge. Lennox forced the crossing and advanced on Arran’s flank. Arran saw the threat and arrayed his troops facing south along the ridge of Pace Hill. Lennox’s attack was across the Avon, over boggy ground and finally up hill, but he so nearly succeeded in dislodging Arran’s outnumbered men. However time ran out for Lennox as Douglas reinforcements arrived followed by the much reluctant King. It is said the King dithered and made so many excuses that George Douglas, the King’s minder for that day, declared ‘Before the enemy shall take thee from us, if thy body be torn to pieces , we shall have a part’.

Many of the Lennox men were killed either on the ridge or along the river Avon. Glencairn was captured and Lennox himself was wounded. He surrendered his sword to the Patrick Hamilton, the Laird Of Pardovan, but in a wonton act of rage, James Hamilton of Finnart murdered Lennox. The location of this murder is commemorated with a cairn that now stands on the entrance to the Kettlestoun estate.

The king arrived too late to save his would be rescuers. Instead he found Lennox, his favourite uncle, dead and his supporters fleeing for their lives. The story goes that the king retired to Linlithgow Palace for the night where he attended a victory party but he appeared very sad and dolorous. Perhaps it was at this point that he made his mind up to flee his Douglas captors as soon as he got the chance. In 1528 James V escaped from Edinburgh and joined his mother in Stirling. He called together the nobles of Scotland and began his rule in earnest. The Douglas family were chased out of Scotland.

If you are looking for more information on this battle, the full account can be found in the book ‘The Heart and the Rose’ published by Partizan Press http://www.caliverbooks.com/Partizan%20Press/partizan_pb.shtml

A Composite photograph of the likely field of battle. On the right is the viaduct in the centre manuel haugh farm and in the woods to the centre left manuel convent, from this ridge you would have looked down on the flank of Lennox's men advancing along the river from left to right

If you would like to walk the battlefield of Linlithgow Bridge yourself, a guide can be found here.

Jon Cooper is a member of the Battlefield Trust and as such is their custodian for the Linlithgow Bridge battlefield site. More details of the Trusts aims and workings can be found at http://www.battlefieldstrust.com. Jon can be contacted on 01506 670 414 if you would like more details on the battle.

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