Battle of Stoke Field

‘…You have heard of the battle of Stoke, my good host, and perhaps of old Sir Roger Robsart, who, in that battle, valiantly took part with Henry VII, the Queen’s grandfather, and routed the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Geraldin and his wild Irish, and the Flemings whom the Duchess of Burgundy had sent over, in the quarrel of Lambert Simnel?’

‘I remember both one and the other,’ said Giles Gosling, ‘it is sung of a dozen times a week on my alebench below. Sir Roger Robsart of Devon — O, ay, ’t is him of whom minstrels sing to this hour —

He was the flower of Stoke’s red field, When Martin Swart on ground lay slain; In raging rout he never reel’d, But like a rock did firm remain.‘ Ay, and then there was Martin Swart I have heard my grandfather talk of, and of the jolly Alamins whom he commanded, with their slashed doublets and quaint hose, all frounced with ribands above the nether-stocks. Here ’s a song goes of Martin Swart, too, an I had but memory for it:

Martin Swart and his men,
Saddle them, saddle them;
Martin Swart and his men,
Saddle them well.’ ' …’

The Battle of Stoke Field was the end of road for Yorkist pretender to the throne Lambert Simnel, and of Yorkist efforts to take the crown from a Lancastrian, Henry VII of England.  The text above comes from “Kenilworth”.

Pretender Perkin Warbeck

‘…It was probably by an appeal to this romantic cast in James's disposition that the Scottish king was prevailed on to take up the cause of Perkin Warbeck, the pretended duke of York. He received this adventurer at the court of Scotland; he permitted him to wed a near relation to the crown, the daughter of the earl of Huntley; acknowledged Perkin's claim to the kingdom of England as authentic; and supported him with an army, at the head of which he himself marched into Northumberland, expecting a general insurrection in favour of his ally. The expectations of James were entirely disappointed: no one joined with Perkin. The Scottish king gave a loose to his disappointment, and laid waste the country. Perkin affected compassion for the subjects whose allegiance he claimed, and interceded in their behalf. "You are too merciful," answered James with a sneer, " to interest yourself for a people who are tardy in acknowledging you for their sovereign." These words intimated that James felt himself engaged in a losing adventure, which he soon afterwards terminated by a truce with England.

In the previous negotiation, James firmly refused to deliver up Perkin Warbeck to Henry; but he dismissed him from his kingdom, to pursue elsewhere that series of adventures which ended with his life on the gallows at Tyburn. His unfortunate widow was honourably supported by Henry VII., and long distinguished at the English court by the title of the White Rose, from her husband's claim to be the representative of the house of York…’

England’s own Pretender, Perkin Warbeck, claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, a son of King Edward IV.  The supposed Richard was officially recognized by Margaret of York, Edward’s sister.  It wasn’t enough to convince a Tudor king.  Warbeck enticed James IV of Scotland to rise against England’s Henry VII, as Sir Walter Scott discusses in “The History of Scotland” (text above).  After James backed off, Warbeck incited Cornish forces to invade England on his behalf.  Henry handled the challenge with little effort, and Warbeck was captured.  Warbeck, under duress, confessed to being a fraud, and was ultimately executed; November 23^rd, 1499.

Battle of Bosworth Field

‘…But the star of Lancaster, at that period, began again to culminate, and called the banished lord and his son from their retirement, to mix once more in politics. The treasured neck lace of Margaret was then put to its destined use, and the produce applied to levy those banks which shortly after fought the celebrated battle of Bosworth, in which the arms of Oxford and his son contributed so much to the success of Henry VII…’

The text above is from Walter Scott's :"Anne of Geierstein".  The Battle of Bosworth Field spelled the death of Yorkist Richard III of England, and with his death, Lancastrian Henry Tudor, the first Tudor king, acceded to the throne, as Henry VII of England. Richard is said to have fought bravely, but was the victim of subterfuge, as three of his noble supporters (two Stanleys, and Henry Percy) changed sides in the middle of the battle.

James VI of Scotland/I of England

...The reign of James I. of England possessed this advantage in a peculiar degree. Some beams of chivalry, although its planet had been for some time set, continued to animate and gild the horizon, and although probably no one acted precisely on its Quixotic dictates, men and women still talked the chivalrous language of Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia; and the ceremonial of the tilt-yard was yet exhibited, though it now only flourished as a Place de Carrousel. Here and there a high-spirited Knight of the Bath, witness the too scrupulous Lord Herbert of Cherbury, was found devoted enough to the vows he had taken, to imagine himself obliged to compel, by the sword's-point, a fellow-knight or squire to restore the top-knot of ribbon which he had stolen from a fair damsel;[Footnote: See Lord Herbert of Cherbury's Memoirs.] but yet, while men were taking each other's lives on such punctilios of honour, the hour was already arrived when Bacon was about to teach the world that they were no longer to reason from authority to fact, but to establish truth by advancing from fact to fact, till they fixed an indisputable authority, not from hypothesis, but from experiment...

Walter Scott's "The Fortunes of Nigel" covers James I's reign.  The passage above is from that novel.  James was born on June 19, 1566 to Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.  Both his parents were descended from Henry VII of England.  He became king on July 24, 1567, as part of Mary's agreement to abdicate the throne, following her defeat with Earl Bothwell at Carberry Hill.

Treaty of Everlasting Peace

The Treaty of Everlasting Peace refers to an agreement made between Henry VII and Scotland's James IV, with Pope Alexander VI binding the treaty with the threat of excommunication to whoever violated the pact.  Part of the deal involved James marrying Henry's daughter Margaret Tudor.  The treaty was signed on May 28, 1502.

Peace benefitted both kingdoms.  Henry, for his part, had recently taked the throne in battle over Richard III.  The Wars of the Roses were not out of mind.  In Scotland, James consolidated his power over the Lord of the Isles.  Peace eternal; until 1513.  In that year, King Henry VIII invaded France, forcing James into an invasion of England under Scotland's Auld Alliance with France.  James died in that invasion, at the Battle of Flodden.

Everlasting peace gave way to centuries of warfare, and there is some sentiment in opposition to the prospect of peace in the poem below, which was included in "A Legend of Montrose".  The poem was written by Sir Alexander Boswell; biographer James Boswell's son, and a friend of Walter Scott's.

"IV. APPENDIX.


No. I

The scarcity of my late friend's poem may be an excuse for adding the spirited conclusion of Clan Alpin's vow. The Clan Gregor has met in the ancient church of Balquidder. The head of Drummond-Ernoch is placed on the altar, covered for a time with the banner of the tribe. The Chief of the tribe advances to the altar:

And pausing, on the banner gazed;
Then cried in scorn, his finger raised,
"This was the boon of Scotland's king;"
And, with a quick and angry fling,
Tossing the pageant screen away,
The dead man's head before him lay.
Unmoved he scann'd the visage o'er,
The clotted locks were dark with gore,
The features with convulsion grim,
The eyes contorted, sunk, and dim.
But unappall'd, in angry mood,
With lowering brow, unmoved he stood.
Upon the head his bared right hand
He laid, the other grasp'd his brand:
Then kneeling, cried, "To Heaven I swear
This deed of death I own, and share;
As truly, fully mine, as though
This my right hand had dealt the blow:
Come then, our foeman, one, come all;
If to revenge this caitiffs fall
One blade is bared, one bow is drawn,
Mine everlasting peace I pawn,
To claim from them, or claim from him,
In retribution, limb for limb.
In sudden fray, or open strife,
This steel shall render life for life."
He ceased; and at his beckoning nod,
The clansmen to the altar trod;
And not a whisper breathed around,
And nought was heard of mortal sound,
Save from the clanking arms they bore,
That rattled on the marble floor;
And each, as he approach'd in haste,
Upon the scalp his right hand placed;
With livid lip, and gather'd brow,
Each uttered, in his turn, the vow.
Fierce Malcolm watch'd the passing scene,
And search'd them through with glances keen;
Then dash'd a tear-drop from his eye;
Unhid it came--he knew not why.
Exulting high, he towering stood:
"Kinsmen," he cried, "of Alpin's blood,
And worthy of Clan Alpin's name,
Unstain'd by cowardice and shame,
E'en do, spare nocht, in time of ill
Shall be Clan Alpin's legend still!"

Henry VIII Acceeds to the Throne

Henry VIII took the throne of England upon the death of his father Henry VII, on April 21, 1509.  Aspects of Henry VIII's reign are used as material for Walter Scott's "Marmion".  Marmion himself is portrayed as a favorite of King Henry.  The action takes place around the Battle of Flodden Field (September 9, 1513), in which King James VI of Scotland declared war on England to honor an alliance with France.  James marched into Northumberland, where he was met by English forces under Earl Thomas Howard of Surrey.  Surrey carried the day, in a very one-sided battle.

From Marmion:

CANTO FIRST.



THE CASTLE.


Day set on Norham's castled steep,
And Tweed's fair river, broad and deep,
And Cheviot's mountains lone:
The battled towers, the donjon keep,
The loophole grates, where captives weep,


The flanking walls that round it sweep,
In yellow lustre shone.
The warriors on the turrets high,
Moving athwart the evening sky,
Seem'd forms of giant height:
Their armour, as it caught the rays,
Flash'd back again the western blaze,
In lines of dazzling light....

John Russell, Earl of Bedford

John Russell is a man who rose from a relatively prominent non-noble family to become an integral member of King Henry VII's privy chamber.  Russell later served in this role for Henry's son, Henry VIII.  Russell's accession developed from a special circumstance that allowed his talent for speaking foreign languages to reach the appreciation of Henry VII.

The circumstance that allowed Russell to shine occurred in 1506, when three vessels under the command of Austrian Archduke Philip appeared off the shore of Dorset, England.  Philip and his new bride, Juana, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Castile and Aragon had been sailing to Spain when a storm overtook them.    They took shelter in Weymouth harbor.  Sir Thomas Trenchard was the Governor of the region, and when he met the travelers, he sent for John Russell to translate and accommodate the foreigners.  Russell had grown up abroad, and had great facility with language.

The grateful Archduke, when he later met with Henry VII, asked that Russell accompany him.  Henry took an immediate liking to Russell, and thus began Russell's rise in society.  Henry VII knighted him.  Edward VI made him Earl of Bedford.  He continued serving the crown under Queen Mary.  John Russell died on March 14, 1556.

Russell had a son, Francis, Second Earl of Beford, that appears in Walter Scott's collection "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border".  On June 7, 1575, a Scotch-English Border skirmish known as the Raid of Reidswire occurred.  Scott provides a history, and presents a poem of the affair.  The poem includes Francis Russell, who was present at the skirmish.

"Sir Francis Russell ta'en was there,
And hurt, as we hear men rehearse;
Proud Wallinton was wounded sair,
Albeit he be a Fennick fierce..."