Battle of Solway Moss

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Date	November 24, 1542
Location	Solway Moss
Result	Decisive English Victory

Belligerents

Kingdom of Scotland

Kingdom of England

Commanders

Robert, Lord Maxwell,
Sir Oliver Sinclair de Pitcairns ^#

Sir Thomas Wharton

Strength

15,000 - 18,000

3,000

Casualties and losses

few killed
1,200 Prisoners

v • d • e Anglo-Scottish Wars

Piperdean – Sark – Flodden Field – Haddon Rig – Solway Moss – Ancrum Moor – Pinkie Cleugh

The Battle of Solway Moss took place on Solway Moss near the River Esk in the Scottish Borders in November 1542 between forces from England and Scotland .

When Henry VIII of England broke from the Roman Catholic Church, he asked James V of Scotland, his nephew, to do the same. James ignored his uncle's request, and further insulted him by refusing to meet with Henry at York. Furious, Henry VIII sent troops against Scotland. In retaliation for the massive English raid into Scotland, James responded by assigning Robert, Lord Maxwell, the Scottish Warden of West March, the task of raising an army.^[1]

On November 24, 1542, an army of 15,000-18,000 Scots advanced south. Maxwell, though never officially designated commander of the force, declared he would lead the attack in person. However, he fell sick, never reaching the scene of the battle.^{[citation needed]}

The Scots advance was met at Solway Moss by Sir Thomas Wharton and his 3,000 men. With the earlier loss of Maxwell, Sir Oliver Sinclair de Pitcairns, James V's favourite, declared himself to be James's chosen commander. Unfortunately, the other commanders refused to accept his command and the command structure totally disintegrated.^[2]

The battle (better described as a rout) was uncoordinated and resulted in few deaths^[3], but the English captured twelve hundred prisoners, including Sinclair and the Earls of Cassill and Glencairn.^[4]

James, who was not present at the battle (he remained at Lochmaben), withdrew to Falkland Palace humiliated and ill with fever. He died there two weeks later at the age of thirty. He left behind a six-day-old daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots.

[edit] Notes

^ Phillips, p. 150
^ Phillips, p. 151
^ "perhaps only seven Englishmen and twenty Scots (not counting those drowned)", Phillips, p. 153
^ Phillips, p. 153