page_title: English invasion of Scotland (1400)
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: English invasion of Scotland (1400) / Background
caption_attribution_description: King Henry IV, by unknown artist. See source website for additional information. This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch have an unknown author, but there is strong evidence it was first published before 1923 (based mainly on the NPG's estimated date of the work).
context_page_description: The English invasion of Scotland of August 1400 was the first military campaign undertaken by Henry IV of England after deposing the previous king, his cousin Richard II. Henry IV urgently wanted to defend the Anglo-Scottish border, and to overcome his predecessor's legacy of failed military campaigns.
  A large army was assembled slowly and marched into Scotland. Not only was no pitched battle ever attempted, but the king did not try and besiege Scotland's capital, Edinburgh. Henry's army left at the end of the summer after only a brief stay, mostly camped near Leith where it could maintain contact with its supply fleet. The campaign ultimately accomplished little except to further deplete the king's coffers, and is historically notable only for being the last one led by an English king on Scottish soil.
context_section_description: War with Scotland had started under Edward I,  cross-border raids and fighting had been the norm in Anglo-Scottish relations since the 1370s, generally in the form of Scottish incursions over the border and English attempts to repel them. The 1399 revolution, which eventually deposed Richard II, created further opportunity for Scotland to regain the land between the River Tweed and the Solway Firth. As Historian Chris Given-Wilson has put it, 'England's confusion was Scotland's opportunity,' and in May 1399 Wark Castle was destroyed by a Scottish raid. The invasion, then, started being planned almost as soon as Henry took the throne.
  At least one historian has noted a tradition, by then, of newly crowned kings of England launching military campaigns at the beginning of their reigns. Edward III had done so the same year his reign commenced; Richard II immediately on reaching his majority, and Henry V would do so within three years. These campaigns have been summarised as "enforcing....royal will and testing loyalty towards a newly established regime" as well as for established strategic goals. Although it has been suggested that Henry 'hoped to maintain peaceful relations' with the Scots, elements among the English nobility were not averse to a pre-emptive strike, either. In particular the Percys – the Earl of Northumberland and his son Henry Percy (called 'Hotspur') – who were Wardens of the East and West March, saw a Scottish war as an opportunity for their own dynastic aggrandisement. Indeed, some contemporaries believed that the invasion was actually instigated by them; the King was forced to deny it, in person, to the sitting parliament in November 1399. A.L. Brown has suggested that this indicates the personal interest the King felt in the affair: that this was in fact his own personal plan, and 'that it meant a lot to him, and that it had met with criticism.' He pledged to fulfil this vow before god. At almost the same time, Henry had received a letter from the Scottish king in which Henry was referred to as duke of Lancaster rather than king of England; this, it has been suggested, fuelled his martial enthusiasm towards Scotland.
  Perhaps even more persuasive to Henry than the wishes of his northern nobility were the visible divisions within the Scottish nobility. George Dunbar, Earl of March had felt that he had been betrayed by the then regent of Scotland, Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, over the proposed marriage of Dunbar's daughter to David Stewart, Earl of Carrick, heir to the Scottish throne, and Albany's nephew.  This marriage never came to pass, however; Carrick married Mary Douglas, the daughter of  Dunbar's rival on the march, the earl of Douglas. Dunbar, in his 'outraged honour,' appealed to Henry IV for assistance. Already known as 'one of the finest soldiers of his age [and] until now an implacable enemy' of England, Dunbar travelled to London and pledged allegiance to Henry IV. When Henry invaded Scotland, he was accompanied by Dunbar. Dunbar was not only an example of the divisions within the Scottish nobility, but one of Scotland's own greatest military commanders.
caption: Henry IV of England (painted 1597-1618)
exif: {}