Battle of Duns

Last updated

Battle of Duns
Part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars
Date1372
Location
Duns, Berwickshire, Scotland
55°46′12″N2°21′07″W / 55.770°N 2.352°W / 55.770; -2.352 Coordinates: 55°46′12″N2°21′07″W / 55.770°N 2.352°W / 55.770; -2.352
Result Scottish victory
Belligerents
Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg Kingdom of Scotland Royal Arms of England (1340-1367).svg Kingdom of England
Commanders and leaders
Modern arms of Percy.svg Henry Percy, 4th Baron Percy
Strength
thousands 7,000

The Battle of Duns or Battle of Duns Park was an engagement fought in 1372 near the site of the present day town of Duns, Berwickshire.

Contents

Background and battle

In retaliation for previous Scottish raids, Henry, Lord Percy, the English March Warden had invaded Scotland with 7,000 troops, and met little resistance. Having crossed the Merse, the English army camped at Duns awaiting reinforcements. The shepherds and farmers of Duns used a type of rattle out of dried skins with pebbles inside, which they used to scare wild animals away from their crops and beasts. These rattles were put to effect on the English encampment. By frightening the English horses, the English camp awoke in turmoil, in disarray and being harassed by the local peasantry, the English retired over the Border leaving their baggage behind. [1] [2]

The motto of the town of Duns: 'Duns dings a'!', is supposed to have come from this battle.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Brunanburh</span> Part of the Viking invasions of England

The Battle of Brunanburh was fought in 937 between Æthelstan, King of England, and an alliance of Olaf Guthfrithson, King of Dublin, Constantine II, King of Scotland, and Owain, King of Strathclyde. The battle is often cited as the point of origin for English nationalism: historians such as Michael Livingston argue that "the men who fought and died on that field forged a political map of the future that remains [in modernity], arguably making the Battle of Brunanburh one of the most significant battles in the long history not just of England, but of the whole of the British Isles."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Shrewsbury</span> 15th-century battle of the Glyndŵr Rising

The Battle of Shrewsbury was a battle fought on 21 July 1403, waged between an army led by the Lancastrian King Henry IV and a rebel army led by Henry "Harry Hotspur" Percy from Northumberland. The battle, the first in which English archers fought each other on English soil, reaffirmed the effectiveness of the longbow and ended the Percy challenge to King Henry IV of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Flodden</span> 1513 battle between England and Scotland

The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton, was a battle fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, resulting in an English victory. The battle was fought near Branxton in the county of Northumberland in northern England, between an invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by the Earl of Surrey. In terms of troop numbers, it was the largest battle fought between the two kingdoms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hector Boece</span> Scottish philosopher and historian (1465–1536)

Hector Boece, known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and historian, and the first Principal of King's College in Aberdeen, a predecessor of the University of Aberdeen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berwickshire</span> Historic county in Scotland

Berwickshire is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the time of the county's formation in the twelfth century, but became part of England in 1482 after several centuries of swapping back and forth between the two kingdoms. After the loss of Berwick, Duns and Greenlaw both served as county town at different periods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duns, Scottish Borders</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Duns is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was the county town of the historic county of Berwickshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Border reivers</span> 1200s–1600s raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border

Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their victims' nationality. Their heyday was in the last hundred years of their existence, during the time of the House of Stuart in the Kingdom of Scotland and the House of Tudor in the Kingdom of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agnes, Countess of Dunbar</span> Scottish noblewoman

Agnes Randolph, Countess of Dunbar and March, known as Black Agnes for her dark complexion, was the wife of Patrick, 9th Earl of Dunbar and March. She is buried in the vault near Mordington House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clan Hay</span> Scottish clan

Clan Hay is a Scottish clan of the Grampian region of Scotland that has played an important part in the history and politics of the country. Members of the clan are to be found in most parts of Scotland and in many other parts of the world. However, the North East of Scotland, i.e. Aberdeenshire (historic), Banffshire, Morayshire and Nairnshire Nairn (boundaries), is the heart of Hay country with other significant concentrations of Hays being found in Perthshire, especially around Perth, in the Scottish Borders, and in Shetland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Otterburn</span> 1388 battle of the Anglo-Scottish Wars

The Battle of Otterburn took place according to Scottish sources on 5 August 1388, or 19 August according to English sources, as part of the continuing border skirmishes between the Scots and English.

The Battle of Holmedon Hill or Battle of Homildon Hill was a conflict between English and Scottish armies on 14 September 1402 in Northumberland, England. The battle was recounted in Shakespeare's Henry IV, part 1. Although Humbleton Hill is the modern name of the site, over the centuries it has been variously named Homildon, Hameldun, Holmedon, and Homilheugh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas</span> Scottish noble

William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas was a Scottish nobleman, peer, magnate, and head of the Black Douglas family. Under his leadership, the Black Douglases continued their climb to pre-eminence in Scottish politics begun under his uncle, Sir James the Good, as well as their military dominance of the south of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Piperdean</span> 1435 battle of the Anglo-Scottish Wars

The Battle of Piperdean was an engagement in the Scottish Borders, fought on 10 September 1435 between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Douglas, Lord of Balvenie</span>

John Douglas, Lord of Balvenie was the youngest of the five Black Douglas brothers, who rebelled against King James II of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Barry</span> Legendary battle in 1010 AD

The Battle of Barry is a legendary battle in which the Scots, purportedly led by Malcolm II, defeated a Danish invasion force in 1010 AD. Its supposed site in Carnoustie, Angus can be seen in early Ordnance Survey maps. The history of the event relies heavily on tradition and it is considered to be apocryphal. The battle was named for the Parish of Barry, rather than the village, and was formerly thought to have taken place at the mouth of the Lochty burn, in the vicinity of the area that is now occupied by Carnoustie High Street. While the battle is not historically authentic, its romantic appeal continues to capture the popular imagination.

Camus, in historic literature, was a Scandinavian general dispatched to engage the Scots in battle, reportedly in the early eleventh century AD. The legendary engagement was called the Battle of Barry, and was first alluded to by Boece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Sark</span> Battle fought between England and Scotland in October 1448

The Battle of Sark, alternatively called the Battle of Lochmaben Stone, was fought between England and Scotland in October 1448. A large battle, it was the first significant Scottish victory over the English in over half a century, since the Battle of Otterburn in 1388. It placed the Scots in a position of strength against the English for over a decade, until Edward IV ascended the English throne, and it brought the powerful Douglas family to even greater prominence in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gavinton</span>

Gavinton is a small settlement in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south-west of Duns, the former county town of Berwickshire. The hamlet sits on a minor road off the A6105 Duns to Greenlaw road at grid reference NT767521.

The Burning of Edinburgh in 1544 by an English sea-borne army was the first major action of the war of the Rough Wooing. A Scottish army observed the landing on 3 May 1544 but did not engage with the English force. The Provost of Edinburgh was compelled to allow the English to sack Leith and Edinburgh, and the city was burnt on 7 May. However, the Scottish artillery within Edinburgh Castle harassed the English forces, who had neither the time nor the resources to besiege the Castle. The English fleet sailed away loaded with captured goods, and with two ships that had belonged to James V of Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Berwick (1333)</span> Second War of Scottish Independence battle

The siege of Berwick lasted four months in 1333 and resulted in the Scottish-held town of Berwick-upon-Tweed being captured by an English army commanded by King Edward III. The year before, Edward Balliol had seized the Scottish Crown, surreptitiously supported by Edward III. He was shortly thereafter expelled from the kingdom by a popular uprising. Edward III used this as a casus belli and invaded Scotland. The immediate target was the strategically important border town of Berwick.

References

Notes

  1. Ridpath, p.347-348
  2. Boece, p.396-397

Sources