BATTLE OF FLODDEN 291 



In briefly considering what led up to the battle of Flodden, 

 two points had to be specially borne in mind — first, the 

 Scoto-French Alliance, and, secondly, the character of King 

 James IV., together with the existence of several alleged serious 

 grievances or provocations at the hands of the English of 

 which he complained, but which could not be enumerated 

 within the compass of an hour's lecture. The Alliance,^ which 

 was of very long standing and of the closest and most intimate 

 offensive and defensive character, lasted till the death of Mary, 

 Queen of Scots, in 1587. Her first husband, it would be remem- 

 bered, was the Dauphin. To this day we were reminded of 

 it by many French words, such as giyot, ashet, aum7-ie, which 

 had become naturalized in the Scottish vernacular. James IV., 

 "a monarch whose faults were few but fatal, whose virtues 

 were many but useless," was forty-one years of age, brave, 

 handsome, brilliant, popular, accomplished, but obstinate and 

 headstrong. Lastly, he was of a very highly chivalrous nature. 

 The predominance of the chivalrous element in his constitution 

 was destined to lead him to ruin, because it impelled him, 

 in the teeth of prudent counsel, to plunge into his rash 

 enterprise, and later on, as would be explained, to refuse 

 to kick the football of fortune, when, on the very eve of 

 the battle, it lay at his feet. It should be understood, 

 therefore, that except for the headstrong nature and over- 

 strained chivalry of James, the invasion of England would 

 almost certainly never have taken place ; at all events, after 

 it did, the battle of Flodden would have been nipped in the 

 bud. The Queen of Scotland was Henry VIII. 's sister. As 

 Princess Margaret her progress through Berwick on Tweed in 

 1502, under conduct of the Earl of Surrey, the future victor 

 of Flodden, to be married to James IV., was one of the most 

 brilliant episodes in the history of that ancient town. Much 



^ As an illustration of tlie Alliance ; in 1419, 6,000 Scots under the 

 Earl of Buchan were sent to fight the battles of the King of France. 

 Again, in 1513, when Henry VIII. invaded France, James IV. oi-dei-ed 

 his fleet to take 3,000 troops to assist his French ally — that being the 

 only sea-going fleet which Scotland ever equipped. There were many 

 French captains in the Scottish army at Flodden, besides La Motte, 

 the French Ambassador. 



