son. On the English side
were Sir Henry (Hotspur) and Sir Ralph Percy, sons of the Earl of
Northumberland; the Seneschal of York, Sir Ralph Langley, Sir Matthew
Redman, governor of Berwick, Sir Robert Ogle, Sir Thomas Grey, Sir Thomas
Hatton, Sir John Felton, Sir John Lillburne, Sir William Walsingham, and
many others, all good men and true. The circumstances which brought about
this famous encounter are worth recalling, as they shed an interesting
light on the history of the period, as well as on the manners and customs
of the age. The Scots, with the aid of their French allies, under the
command of Sir John de Vienne, had made frequent successful incursions
upon the English Borders, ravaging with fire and sword considerable
districts of the country, both to the east and west of the frontier. This
naturally led to retaliating expeditions. At last the state of affairs
became so desperate that the young King, Richard II., determined to invade
Scotland, and mete out summary punishment on the depredators. An army of
extraordinary power and splendour was assembled; and the King, attended by
his uncles and all the principal nobles of the kingdom, set out for the
Scottish Border. If he expected to reap a rich harvest of booty by this
invasion of the Scottish kingdom he was doomed to bitter disappointment.
As he passed through Liddesdale and Teviotdale at the head of his army he
found that the country had been cleared of everything that could be
conveniently carried off. The cattle had been driven into the forest and
mountain fastnesses; all the goods and chattels had been secured in places
of safety; nothing was left but the green crops, and these being trampled
upon were rendered practically worthless. But most wonderful of all--he
never could come within sight of the enemy! The whole region through which
he passed was lonely and desolate as a wilderness. The reason of this was
that the French and Scots forces had fallen back upon Berwick, the
commander of the Scots army being unwilling to hazard the fate of the
country by an encounter with such an overwhelmingly superior force. The
French commander, De Vienne, was impatient, and bitterly disappointed at
not being permitted to attack the invaders. The Earl of Douglas, in order
to demonstrate the hopelessness of an encounter, conveyed him to a lofty
eminence, commanding a mountain pass through which the English army was at
that moment defiling, and where unseen themselves, they