The Flodden Disaster: Scotland's Day of Sorrow

In 1513, Scotland suffered one of its most devastating military defeats at the Battle of Flodden. James IV, the Renaissance king who had built a navy and patronized the printing press, led an army into England in support of France's war with Henry VIII. Against the advice of his commanders, he chose a poor battlefield near Branxton, where his forces were cut down by English billmen. The king himself died on the field, along with a dozen earls, hundreds of lairds, and much of the country's nobility. The loss plunged Scotland into a generation of political instability and left a deep wound in national memory, immortalized in the folk lament 'Flowers of the Forest.' This episode explores the campaign, the brutal hand-to-hand fighting, and the long shadow Flodden cast over Scottish history. #Flodden1513 #JamesIV #BattleOfFlodden #Branxton #AuldAlliance #ThomasHoward #EarlOfSurrey #ScottishHistory #TudorHistory #RenaissanceScotland #MonsMeg #Schiltron #FlowersOfTheForest #History #FexingoHistory #Scotland #Warfare #StuartDynasty Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo