Battle of the Standard

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Battle of the Standard
Battlefield monument at grid reference SE360977
Date 22 August 1138 Location Cowton Moor near Northallerton in Yorkshire Result English victory
Combatants
Kingdom of England	Kingdom of Scotland
Commanders
Archbishop Thurstan of York	David I of Scotland
Strength
about 10,000	about 16,000
Casualties
unknown	unknown; as high as 12,000

The Battle of the Standard, sometimes called the Battle of Northallerton, in which English forces repelled a Scottish army, took place on 22 August 1138 on Cowton Moor near Northallerton in Yorkshire.

The English were led by Archbishop Thurstan of York, who had gathered local militia and baronial armies from Yorkshire and the north Midlands. They arrayed themselves round a chariot carrying the consecrated banners of St Peter of York, St John of Beverley, St Wilfrid of Ripon and St Cuthbert of Durham, it was this standard bearing chariot that gave the battle its name.

The Scottish army were led by King David I of Scotland, who was also known as David, Earl of Huntingdon. David had entered England in support of his niece, Matilda, who was viewed as the rightful heiress to the English throne usurped by King Stephen. With Stephen fighting rebel barons in the south, the Scottish armies had already taken Cumberland and Northumberland, the city of Carlisle and the royal castle at Bamburgh.

Finding the English in a defensive position on a hill, David elected to force a battle counting on his superior numbers. Repeated attacks by native Scots failed, taking withering casualties from the English archers, and a subsequent attack by mounted knights met initial success but fell back due to lack of infantry support. The battle ended when David's reserve deserted, forcing him to retreat. The English elected not to pursue, and the Scots apparently recovered in sufficient order to besiege and capture Wark castle. David later retired to Carlisle and negotiated peace.

Some sources describe the defeat as relatively unimportant to the outcome of the war, others as a crushing blow with around 12,000 Scots being killed (numbers for both combatants and casualties should be considered very rough estimates) although it is likely that the Scots in fact suffered minor casualties, most of these being among the men of Galloway after a brave but futile charge. The notion that the Scts had 16,000 men in the field or anything like hat number boarders on rediculous. It is thought that the dead were buried near the village of North Cowton.

[edit] Sources

• [1]
• Richard of Hexham (English traditional chronicle)
• Battlefields Trust

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.