Battle of Solway Moss The Battle of Solway Moss took place on Solway Moss near the River Esk on the English side of the Anglo - Scottish Border in November 1542 between forces from England and Scotland . The battlefield is registered by English Heritage , and currently under research to be inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009 . Background . When Henry VIII of England broke from the Roman Catholic Church , he asked James V of Scotland , his nephew , to do the same . James ignored his uncle ' s request and further insulted him by refusing to meet with Henry at York . Furious , Henry VIII sent troops against Scotland . In retaliation for the massive English raid into Scotland , James responded by assigning Robert , Lord Maxwell , the Scottish Warden of West March , the task of raising an army . Battle . On 24 November 1542 , an army of 15 , 000 – 18 , 000 Scots advanced into England . Lord Maxwell , though never officially designated commander of the force , declared he would lead the attack in person . A report of George Douglas of Pittendreich who was not present , and some later chronicle accounts say that in the absence of Maxwell , Oliver Sinclair , James V ' s favourite , declared himself to be James ' s chosen commander . According to this account of battle , the other commanders refused to accept his command and the command structure disintegrated . The English commanders Sir Thomas Wharton and Sir William Musgrove made reports of the battle . William Musgrove reported that Maxwell was still in charge and fought with the rest of the Scottish nobles who were forced to dismount on the bank of the River Esk . The Scots advance into England was met near Solway Moss by Thomas Wharton and his 3 , 000 men . The battle was uncoordinated and may be described as a rout . Sir Thomas Wharton described the battle as the overthrow of the Scots between the rivers Esk and Lyne . The Scots , after the first encounter of a cavalry chase at " Akeshawsill " , now Oakshawhill , moved " down " towards Arthuret Howes . They found themselves penned in south of the Esk , on English territory between the river and the Moss , and so after intense fighting surrendered themselves and their 10 field guns to the English cavalry . Wharton said the Scots were halted at the Sandy Ford by Arthuret mill dam . The Scots were ' beguiled by their own guiding ' , according to one Scottish writer . Several hundred of the Scots may have drowned in the marshes and river . James , who was not present at the battle ( he had remained at Lochmaben ) , withdrew to Falkland Palace humiliated and ill with fever . He died there two weeks later at the age of thirty . According to George Douglas , in his delirium he lamented the capture of his banner and Oliver Sinclair at Solway Moss more than his other losses . He left behind a six - day - old daughter , Mary , Queen of Scots . Aftermath . Gervase Phillips has estimated that only about 7 Englishmen and 20 Scots were killed but 1 , 200 Scottish prisoners were taken , including Sinclair , the Earls of Cassillis , Glencairn and Maxwell . Prisoners taken to England included Lord Gray , and Stewart of Rosyth . A number of captured Scottish earls , lords and lairds were released ; they sent hostages , called " pledges " into England in their place . On 14 December 1542 , Thomas Wharton ' s report of the battle was read to Privy Council , and they ordered that Scottish prisoners entering London should wear a red St Andrew ' s cross . Among the captured guns were four falconets with the cast cipher of ' JRS ' for ' Jacobus Rex Scotorum ' and the Scottish royal arms with an imperial crown . Eustace Chapuys reported that the Scottish prisoners attended Henry ' s court on Christmas Day wearing swords and dirks . They were able to talk to the French ambassador and Henry gave them each a present of a gold chain . These hostages and prisoners were mostly well treated in England , as it was hoped that when they returned to Scotland after their ransoms were paid , they would further the English cause . Some of the high ranking prisoners taken at the battle were exchanged for their ' pledges ' at Carlisle on 10 January 1543 . Chapuys said the return of some prisoners was prevented at this time by the Scottish government which claimed they were traitors for losing the battle , or suspected they were now being influenced by Henry . As their families were arrested these prisoners could not provide their pledges and stayed on the border at Berwick - upon - Tweed . However , a modern historian Marcus Merriman sees the battle and hostage - taking more as the culmination of James V ' s war rather than the beginning of Henry VIII ' s Rough Wooing . He notes that the capture of so many Scottish nobles at the time of the birth and accession of Mary , Queen of Scots did not affect Henry ' s policy or the Scottish lords ' s subsequent rejection of the Treaty of Greenwich in December 1543 . Schedules of prisoners , keepers , and pledges . The chief Scottish prisoners were taken to Newcastle upon Tyne , and were listed with their English keepers at that time in a schedule prepared by Sir Thomas Wharton ; below the keepers of their substitute ' pledges ' or hostages are added from a list compiled later in 1543 amongst the papers of the Earl of Shrewsbury . In March 1544 , as the war of Rough Wooing commenced in earnest , Henry VIII sent his Richmond Herald , Gilbert Dethick , to the Privy Council of Scotland at Stirling Castle to demand the return to England of a number of these high - ranking prisoners who had been allowed home on licence . These were ; the Earls of Cassilis and Glencairn , Lords Somerville , Maxwell , Gray , Oliphant , and Fleming , with Oliver Sinclair , George Hume of Ayton , Robert Master of Erskine , William Seton , Patrick Hepburn , James Pringle , James Sinclair , Alexander Sinclair , John Maitland of Awencastle , Henry Maxwell brother of lord Maxwell , John Ross of Craigie , the laird of Moncrieff , John Leslie younger son of the earl of Rothes , and John Carmichael . If the council did not organise their return , Henry threatened revenge on their pledges in England , and penalties on future captives .