Battle of the Standard The Battle of the Standard , sometimes called the Battle of Northallerton , in which English forces repelled a Scottish army , took place on 22 August 1138 on Cowton Moor near Northallerton in Yorkshire . The Scottish forces were led by King David I of Scotland . The English were commanded by William of Aumale . King Stephen of England ( fighting rebel barons in the south ) had sent a small force ( largely mercenaries ) , but the English army was mainly local militia and baronial retinues from Yorkshire and the north Midlands . Archbishop Thurstan of York had exerted himself greatly to raise the army , preaching that to withstand the Scots was to do God ' s work . The centre of the English position was therefore marked by a mast ( mounted upon a cart ) bearing a pyx carrying the consecrated host and from which were flown the consecrated banners of the minsters of York , Beverley and Ripon : hence the name of the battle . This cart - mounted standard was a very northerly example of a type of standard common in contemporary Italy , where it was known as a carroccio . David had entered England for two declared reasons : David ’ s forces had already taken much of Northumberland apart from castles at Wark and Bamburgh . Advancing beyond the Tees towards York , early on 22 August 1138 the Scots found the English army drawn up on open fields two miles north of Northallerton ; they formed up in four ' lines ' to attack it . The first attack , by unarmoured spearmen against armoured men ( including dismounted knight s ) supported by telling fire from archers failed . Within three hours , the Scots army disintegrated , apart from small bodies of knights and men - at - arms around David and his son Henry . At this point , Henry led a spirited attack with mounted knights ; he and David then withdrew separately with their immediate companions in relatively good order . Heavy Scots losses are claimed , in battle and in flight . The English did not pursue far ; David fell back to Carlisle and reassembled an army . Within a month , a truce was negotiated which left the Scots free to continue the siege of Wark castle , which eventually fell . Despite losing the battle , David was subsequently given most of the territorial concessions he had been seeking ( which the chronicles say he had been offered before he crossed the Tees ) . David held these throughout the Anarchy , but on the death of David , his successor Malcolm IV of Scotland was soon forced to surrender David ' s gains to Henry II of England . Some chronicle accounts of the battle include an invented pre - battle speech on the glorious deeds of the Normans , occasionally quoted as good contemporary evidence of the high opinion the Normans held of themselves . Background . David had gained the Scottish throne largely because of the support of his brother - in - law Henry I of England , and he had attempted to remodel Scotland to be more like Henry ' s England . He had carried out peaceful changes in the areas of Scotland over which he had effective control and had conducted military campaigns against semi - autonomous regional rulers to reassert his authority ; in administration , in warfare , and in the settling of regained territory , he had drawn on the talent and resources of the Anglo - Norman lands . The death of Henry I in 1135 , weakening England , made David more reliant on his native subjects , and allowed him to contemplate winning control over substantial areas of northern England . Henry I had wished his inheritance to pass to his daughter Matilda , and in 1127 made his notables swear an oath to uphold the succession of Matilda ( David was the first layman to do so ) . Many of the English and Norman magnates and barons were against Matilda because she was married to Geoffrey V , count of Anjou . On Henry ' s death , Stephen , younger brother of Theobald , count of Blois , seized the throne instead . When Stephen was crowned on 22 December , David went to war . After two months of campaigning in northern England , a peace treaty ceding Cumberland to David was agreed . Additionally , David ’ s son Henry was made Earl of Huntingdon , David declining to swear the required oath of loyalty to Stephen , since he had already sworn allegiance to Matilda . In spring 1137 , David again invaded England : a truce was quickly agreed . In November , the truce expired ; David demanded to be made earl of the whole of the old earldom of Northumberland . Stephen refused and in January 1138 David invaded for a third time . Campaigning in 1138 before the Battle . David invades Northumberland . David first moved against English castles on the Tweed frontier . Norham Castle belonged to the Bishop of Durham and its garrison was under - strength ; it quickly fell . Having failed to rapidly seize the castle at Wark on Tweed , David detached forces to besiege it and moved deeper into Northumberland , demanding contributions from settlements and religious establishments to be spared plunder and burning . Scots slave - raiding and Anglo - Norman alarm . The actions of the army that invaded England in early 1138 shocked the English chroniclers , Richard of Hexham records " an execrable army , more atrocious than the pagans , neither fearing God nor regarding man , spread desolation over the whole province and slaughtered everywhere people of either sex , of every age and rank , destroying , pillaging and burning towns , churches and houses " . Monastic chroniclers often deplore depredations made by foreign armies and sometimes even those of their own rulers but some Scots forces were going beyond normal Norman ' harrying ' by systematically carrying off women and children as slaves . In the contemporary Celtic world this was regarded as a useful source of revenue , like ( and not significantly more reprehensible than ) cattle - raiding . " Then ( horrible to relate ) they carried off , like so much booty , the noble matrons and chaste virgins , together with other women . These naked , fettered , herded together ; by whips and thongs they drove before them , goading them with their spears and other weapons . This took place in other wars , but in this to a far greater extent . " In February , King Stephen marched north with an army to deal with David . David successfully evaded him , and Stephen returned south . Scots raid into Craven and the Battle of Clitheroe . In the summer , David ' s nephew William fitz Duncan marched into Yorkshire and harried Craven ; on 10 June , he met and defeated an English force of knights and men - at - arms at the battle of Clitheroe . He also destroyed the recently founded Calder Abbey in Copeland . The choice of targets has no obvious strategic logic ; it may be pertinent that William eventually inherited both the Honour of Skipton in Craven , and the Lordship of Copeland , previously held by his father - in - law William de Meschines and which should have passed to him on the death of William de Meschines ' son Ranulph Meschin , the founder of Calder . Peace feelers fail ; David enters Yorkshire . By late July David had crossed the river Tyne and was in " St Cuthbert ' s land " ( the lands of the Bishop of Durham ) . With him were contingents from most of the separate regions of his kingdom , amounting to more than 26 , 000 men . Eustace fitz John had declared for David and handed over to him Alnwick Castle in Northumberland . The garrison of Eustace ' s castle at Malton to the North East of York began to raid surrounding areas in support of David ( or Matilda ) . The magnates of Yorkshire gathered in York to discuss the worsening crisis : Archbishop Thurstan of York ( who , as will presently appear , greatly exerted himself in this emergency ) , William of Aumale , Walter de Gant , Robert de Brus , Roger de Mowbray , Walter Espec , Ilbert de Lacy , William de Percy , Richard de Courcy , William Fossard , Robert de Stuteville Much irresolution was caused by distrust of each other , arising from suspicions of treachery , by the absence of a chief and leader of the war ( for their sovereign , king Stephen , encompassed by equal difficulties in the south of England , was just then unable to join them ) , and by their dread of encountering , with an inadequate force , so great a host However , urged by the 70 - year - old Thurstan ( ' Lieutenant of the North ' in addition to his ecclesiastical duties ; Walter Espec was High Sheriff of Yorkshire ) , to stand and fight and if needs be die in a holy cause , they agreed to gather their forces and return to York , where they were joined by reinforcements from Nottinghamshire under William Peverel and Geoffrey Halsalin , and from Derbyshire led by Robert de Ferrers . They advanced to Thirsk , from where they sent Robert de Brus and Bernard de Balliol ( recently arrived with a few mercenaries sent by King Stephen ) on an embassy to David , whose army was now approaching the River Tees and North Yorkshire . The emissaries promised to obtain the earldom of Northumberland for Henry , if the Scots army withdrew . Ailred of Rievaulx gives de Brus a speech in which he tells David that the English and the Normans have always been his true friends ( against the Gaels ) , and without their help he may not be able to keep his kingdom together . Whatever was initially said , it ended in hard words being exchanged . Having failed to persuade David to withdraw , the emissaries returned to Thirsk , with de Brus angrily withdrawing his homage to David . David ' s forces crossed the Tees and moved south . The English forces moved northwards and took up a defensive position to the north of Northallerton . Battlefield and English Dispositions . Moving south from the Tees David ' s army would have had the high ground of the North Yorkshire Moors on its left , and the River Swale on its right . Nearing Northallerton , the distance between hills and river is about 8 miles , much of it low - lying and ( then ) poorly drained . The road to Northallerton from the Tees ( the Great North Road ) therefore approaches the town along a ridge of slightly higher ground running North - South . Minor ups and downs break the line of sight along the ridge , but the ' ups ' are hills only in relation to the low ground on either side of the ridge . The English army deployed across this ridge about two miles N of Northallerton in a single solid formation with the armoured men and most of the knights ( who had dismounted , and sent their horses to the rear ) to the front supported by the archers and the more lightly equipped men of the local levies . The barons stood with the remaining dismounted knights at the centre of the line around the standard . Their left is thought to have straddled the road , with its flank protected by a marsh ; it is not known if the low ground to the east of the ridge was similarly boggy , or if the English formation extended that far . Scots Arrive and Deploy . John of Worcester says that David intended to take the English by surprise , there being a very close mist that day . Richard of Hexham says simply that the Scots became aware of the standard ( and by implication the army underneath it ) at no great distance . " In front of the battle were the Picts [ ie the Galwegians ] ; in the centre , the king with his knights and English ; the rest of the barbarian host poured roaring around them . The king and almost all his followers were on foot , their horses being kept at a distance . " Ailred of Rievaulx gives the eventual deployment of the Scots as being in four ' lines ' . The Galwegians [ from Galloway in South - West Scotland ] – described by a later chronicler as " men agile , unclothed , remarkable for much baldness [ shaven heads ? ] ; arming their left side with knives formidable to any armed men , having a hand most skillful at throwing spears and directing them from a distance ; raising their long lance as a standard when they advance into battle " – were in the first line . " The second line the King ' s son Prince Henry arranged with great wisdom ; with himself the knights and archers , adding to their number the Cumbrians and Teviotdalesmen . . . The men of Lothian formed the third rank , with the islanders and the men of Lorne [ in the South - West Highlands ] . The King kept in his own line the Scots and Moravians [ men from Moray in North - East Scotland ] ; several also of the English and French knights he appointed as his bodyguard . " Henry of Huntingdon ' s account of the battle would imply that the men of Lothian with their ' long spears ' were in the first line ; however , the generally accepted view is that the long spears were those of the Galwegians . Scots argue . Ailred says ( but this may be a literary device ) that this order of battle was decided at the last minute ; David had intended to attack first with his knights and armoured men - at - arms , but had faced strong protests from the Galwegians that they should be given the honour of attacking first , since they had already demonstrated at Clitheroe that the vigour of their attack was sufficient to rout Normans in armour . David , however , paid more attention to the counter - argument of his Normans ; that if the Galwegians failed the rest of the army would lose heart . The Galwegians resumed their protest , and the debate was not aided by a " mormaer " ( one of David ' s native ' great lords ' ) asking why David listened to ' foreigners ' when none of those with armour on would this day outdo the mormaer who wore no armour . And Alan de Percy , base - born son of the great Alan – a most vigorous knight , and in military matters highly distinguished – took these words ill ; and turning to the earl he said , ' A great word hast thou spoken , and one which for thy life thou canst not make good this day . ' Then the king , restraining both , lest a disturbance should suddenly arise out of this altercation , yielded to the will of the Galwegians . Anglo - Normans orate . Both Ailred and Henry of Huntingdon report a speech made to the Anglo - Normans before battle was joined . The speech may well be a literary device of the chroniclers , to present the reasons why it was fit and proper that the Normans should win , rather than accurate reportage of an actual speech . Ailred of Rievaulx says the speech was made by Walter Espec , Sheriff of York ( and founder of Rievaulx ) . Henry of Huntingdon and after him Roger of Hoveden say the speech was made by Radulf Novell Bishop of Orkney as the representative of Thurstan . The speaker first reminds the Normans of the military prowess of their race ( especially when compared to the Scots ) : " Most illustrious nobles of England , Normans by birth , . . . consider who you are , and against whom , and where it is , you are waging war ; for then no one shall with impunity resist your prowess . Bold France , taught by experience , has quailed beneath your valour , fierce England , led captive , has submitted to you ; rich Apulia , on having you for her masters , has flourished once again ; Jerusalem so famed , and illustrious Antioch , have bowed themselves before you ; and now Scotland , which of right is subject to you , attempts to show resistance , displaying a temerity not warranted by her arms , more fitted indeed for rioting than for battle . These are people , in fact , who have no knowledge of military matters , no skill in fighting , no moderation in ruling . There is no room then left for fear , but rather for shame , that those whom we have always sought on their own soil and overcome . . have . . . come flocking into our country . " He next assures them that God has chosen them to punish the Scots : " This . . has been brought about by Divine Providence ; in order that those who have in this country violated the temples of God , stained the altars with blood , slain his priests , spared neither children nor pregnant women , may on the same spot receive the condign punishment of their crimes ; and this most just resolve of the Divine will , God will this day put in execution by means of your hands . Arouse your spirits then , ye civilized warriors , and , firmly relying on the valour of your country , nay , rather on the presence of God , arise against these most unrighteous foes " Any keenness of the Scots to attack is because they don ' t understand the superiority of Norman equipment : " And let not their rashness move you , because so many insignia of your valour cause no alarm to them . They know not how to arm themselves for battle ; whereas you , during the time of peace , prepare yourselves for war , in order that in battle you may not experience the doubtful contingencies of warfare . Cover your heads then with the helmet , your breasts with the coat of mail , your legs with the greave s , and your bodies with the shield , that so the foeman may not find where to strike at you , on seeing you thus surrounded on every side with iron . " Furthermore , the Scots ' advantage in numbers is no advantage at all , especially when they are up against properly trained Norman knights : " [ I ] t is not so much the numbers of the many as the valour of the few that gains the battle . For a multitude unused to discipline is a hindrance to itself , when successful , in completing the victory , when routed , in taking to flight . Besides your forefathers , when but few in number , have many a time conquered multitudes ; what then is the natural consequence of the glories of your ancestry , your constant exercises , your military discipline , but that though fewer in number , you should overcome multitudes ? " These preliminaries over , the battle begins . Galwegian attack is held and fails . The battle began with a charge by the Galwegian spearmen who " after their custom gave vent thrice to a yell of horrible sound , and attacked the southerns in such an onslaught that they compelled the first spearmen to forsake their post ; but they were driven off again by the strength of the knights , and [ the spearmen ] recovered their courage and strength against the foe . And when the frailty of the Scottish lances was mocked by the denseness of iron and wood they drew their swords and attempted to contend at close quarters " The English archery caused disorganisation and heavy casualties in the Scottish ranks . Ailred records the bravery and determination of the Galwegians , together with its ineffectiveness : " like a hedgehog with its quill , so would you see a Galwegian bristling all round with arrows , and nonetheless brandishing his sword , and in blind madness rushing forward now smite a foe , now lash the air with useless strokes " . The Galwegians finally fled after the death of two of their leaders ( Domnall and Ulgric ) ; the men of Lothian similarly broke after the earl of Lothian was killed by an arrow The King retreats ; Prince Henry attacks . David wished to stand and fight , but was forced onto his horse and compelled to retire by his friends . Ailred simply says that the English were advancing ; Henry of Huntingdon says that David ' s ' line ' had been progressively melting away . Prince Henry led mounted men in a charge on the Anglo - Norman position , as or just after the Scots foot broke . According to Ailred , Henry successfully broke through and attacked the horse - holders in the rear of the Anglo - Norman position ; the ' unarmed men ' ( i . e . unarmoured men ) were dispersed , and only rallied by a claim that the Scottish king was dead . Since Prince Henry was unsupported and the rest of the army was withdrawing , for the most part in great disorder , he hid any banners showing his party to be Scottish , and retreated towards David by joining the English pursuing him . Henry of Huntingdon is keener to stress Henry ' s inability to shake the armoured men ; again the attack ends in flight Scots Rout & Casualties . The battle lasted no longer than between prime and terce , i . e . between daybreak and mid - morning . In Northern England at the end of August sunrise is roughly 6 a . m . and hence the battle lasted no more than 3½ hours ; by not long after 9 a . m . all elements of the Scottish army were in retreat or flight . No numbers are given for total English losses but they are said to have been light ; of the knights present , only one was killed . Scottish casualties during the battle proper cannot be separated from losses whilst fleeing in the 10 or so hours of daylight remaining . The chroniclers talk variously of the fugitives scattering in all directions , of their attempting to cross the Tees where there was no ford and drowning , of their being found and killed in cornfields and woods , and of fighting between the various contingents . Richard of Hexham says that of the army which came forth from Scotland , more than ten thousand were " missing " from the re - mustered survivors . Later chroniclers built upon this to claim 10 – 12 , 000 Scots " killed " . John of Worcester gives more details on the fortunes of the Scots knights " But of [ David ' s ] army nearly ten thousand fell in different places , and as many as fifty were captured of his picked men . But the king ' s son came on foot with one knight only to Carlisle , while his father scarce escaped through woods and passes to Roxburgh . Of two hundred mailed knights whom [ David ] had , only nineteen brought back their hauberk s ; because each had abandoned as booty to the foe almost everything that he had . And thus very great spoils were taken from his army , as well of horses and arms and raiment as of very many other things " . Aftermath . End of the Campaign . David regrouped his forces at Carlisle ; the nobles of Yorkshire did not move North against him , and their local levies dispersed to their homes rejoicing at the victory . Thus , although militarily the battle was a " shattering defeat " , it did not reverse David ' s previous gains . David had the only army still under arms and was left to consolidate his hold on Cumberland and Northumberland . On 26 September Cardinal Alberic , bishop of Ostia , arrived at Carlisle where David had called together his kingdom ' s nobles , abbots and bishops . Alberic was there as a papal legate to resolve a long - running dispute as to whether the bishop of Glasgow was subordinate to the archbishop of York . However , Alberic also addressed more temporal matters : he persuaded David to refrain from further offensive action until Martinmas ( 11 November ) whilst continuing to blockade Wark to starve it into submission , and the ' Picts ' to ( also by Martinmas ) return their captives to Carlisle and free them there . At Martinmas , the garrison of Wark surrendered on the orders of the castle ' s owner ( Walter Espec ) , conveyed by the abbot of Rievaulx . The garrison had eaten all but two of their horses ; King David rehorsed them and allowed them to depart with their arms . Another Peace Agreement . Negotiations between David and Stephen continued over the winter months , and on 9 April David ' s son Henry and Stephen ' s wife Matilda of Boulogne met each other at Durham and agreed a settlement . Henry was given the earldom of Northumberland and was restored to the earldom of Huntingdon and lordship of Doncaster ; David himself was allowed to keep Carlisle and Cumberland . However , King Stephen was to retain possession of the strategically vital castles of Bamburgh and Newcastle , and Prince Henry was to perform homage for his English lands , while David himself was to promise to " remain loyal " to Stephen at all times . Stephen released those who held fiefs in the lands Henry now held to do homage to Henry , saving only their fealty to Stephen . Northern England Under Scottish Rule . This arrangement lasted for nearly 20 years , and would appear to have been beneficial to both sides . David was able to benefit from the resources of Northern England ( for example , the lead mines of the northern Pennines gave him silver from which he was able to strike his own coinage ) . Northern England did not become involved in the civil war between supporters of Stephen and those of Matilda , although magnates with holdings further south were drawn in . This included David , who despite his promise to Stephen was a loyal supporter of Matilda , but he did not go South with a Scottish army . The new southern border of David ' s realm appeared to be permanently secured in 1149 , when Matilda ' s son Henry was knighted by David at Carlisle he having first given an oath that , if he became king of England , he would give to [ David ] Newcastle and all Northumbria , and would permit him and his heirs to possess in peace without counter - claim for ever the whole land which lies from the river Tweed to the river Tyne . Status Quo Restored . However , Prince Henry died in 1152 , King David in 1153 , and King Stephen in 1154 . This brought to the throne of Scotland a 14 - year - old Malcolm IV of Scotland now facing a young Henry II of England who had at his command the resources not only of an England free from civil war , but also of much of Western France . In 1157 , Malcolm travelled to Chester to do homage to Henry who declared that " the king of England ought not to be defrauded of so great a part of his kingdom , nor could he patiently be deprived of it . . . " " And [ Malcolm ] prudently considering that in this matter the king of England was superior to the merits of the case by the authority of might . . restored to him the . . territories in their entirety , and received from him in return the earldom of Huntingdon , which belonged to him by ancient right . Things being so arranged , England enjoyed for a time her ease and security in all her borders . And the king ruled more widely than all who were known to have ruled in England till that time , that is from the furthest bounds of Scotland as far as to the Pyrenees " . Significance of the Battle . The Battle did not stop David achieving his declared war aims . We now know that achieving those aims while England was in turmoil did not prevent all David ' s gains having to be surrendered when Henry II made the Scottish monarch an offer he could not refuse . Unless David had other undeclared aims and ambitions which defeat at the Standard thwarted , therefore , the battle had no long - term significance .