Perang England-Scotland

Perang England-Scotland terdiri daripada pelbagai pertempuran yang terjadi antara Kerajaan beraja England dan Kerajaan beraja Scotland bermula pada Perang Kemerdekaan pada awal kurun ke-14 sehingga akhir kurun ke-16.

Meskipun Perang Kemerdekaan, di mana Scotland dua kali berjaya menghalang cubaan penaklukan oleh raja-raja Plantagenet dari England, secara rasminya tamat pada dengan penjanjian-perjanjian pada tahun 1328 dan 1357, hubungan di antara dua buah negara ini tetap bergolak. Pencerobohan oleh raja-raja England ke dalam wilayah Scotland terus berlaku semasa pemerintahan Richard II dan Henry IV dan konflik rentas-sempadan tidak rasmi masih berlaku. Pertikaian rasmi di sempadan termasuk di tempat-tempat yang berada di bawah kekuasaan England seperti istana kota Roxburgh atau pelabuhan Berwick-upon-Tweed. Roxburgh telah ditawan semula oleh Scotland pada tahun 1460 oleh Mary dari Guelders selepas kematian James II dalam kempen yang sama. Pada masa yang sama, penguasaan ke atas Berwick bertukar tangan beberapa kali, apabila sesebuah negara cuba mengambil kesempatan atas kelemahan atau ketidakstabilan pada pihak lain, dengan penawanan akhir oleh England ke atas pelabuhan Scotland oleh Richard, Duke Gloucester pada tahun 1482.

England's preoccupation with civil war during the Wars of the Roses may have been a component in the period of relative recovery for her northern neighbour during the course of the 15th century, and by the first decade of the 16th century James IV of Scotland and Henry VII of England were making overtures for lasting peace. This broke down after the accession of the more overtly bellicose Henry VIII to the English throne and James IV's catastrophically misjudged incursion into Northumbria in 1513 ending in the Battle of Flodden. Three decades later, after the death of James V in 1542, the so-called 'rough wooing' at the hands of invading English armies under the Earl of Hertford brought manifest depredations to Scotland. The last pitched battle between Scotland and England as independent states was the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in September 1547. Periods of fighting and conflict nevertheless continued.

France also played a key role throughout the period of the Anglo-Scottish Wars. Scots and English soldiers on French soil during the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) generally fought on opposing sides, with the Scots standing for the French against the English under the Auld Alliance. France in later periods, in turn, often intervened on Scottish soil for the Scots. This French involvement had increasingly complex political consequences for all sides by the later 16th century. 

The Anglo-Scottish Wars can formally be said to have ended with the Union of the Crowns in 1603, wherein England and Scotland entered a personal union under James VI and I, who inherited both crowns. Bloody conflict between the two states nevertheless continued to arise in different and more complex guise throughout the course of the 17th century.

Border wars

During the mid-15th century there were many conflicts on the border of England and Scotland, most notably the Battle of Sark in 1448.

Flodden campaign

England under Henry VIII declared war on France in 1512 (as part of the larger conflict known as the War of the League of Cambrai). James IV of Scotland invaded England in fulfillment of his alliance with France (even though married to Henry's sister Margaret).  In 1513, after preliminary raids by borderers came to grief, James's main army invaded England. His artillery quickly subdued English castles such as Norham and Wark. However, James issued a formal challenge to the English army under the Earl of Surrey and fortified his position; this perceived lack of chivalry led Surrey to warn James that no quarter would be given or accepted. Surrey's army manoeuvred around the Scottish army, which launched an attack to open a route north to Scotland. In the resulting disastrous Battle of Flodden, James IV was killed, along with many of his nobles and gentry, the "Flowers of the Forest".

1514–1523

James V of Scotland was an infant barely a year old at his father's death. Various factions among the Scottish nobles contended for power, and custody of the young king. While Henry VIII secretly encouraged some of them, English armies and some families of English and nominally Scottish Border Reivers repeatedly forayed and looted in southwest Scotland, to maintain pressure on the Scottish authorities.

Eventually, after the faction of the Earl of Angus gained control, peaceful relations were restored between England and Scotland. (Part of the reason for Henry's mellowing was that the disorders he had provoked in Scotland threatened to spill south of the border.)

Solway Moss campaign

When James V came of age and assumed control, he overthrew the Angus faction, and renewed Scotland's Auld Alliance with France. He married first Madeleine of Valois, a daughter of Francis I of France, and when she died a few months later of tuberculosis, he married Mary of Guise. Tension between England and Scotland increased once again; not least because Henry had already broken with the Roman Catholic Church and embarked upon the Dissolution of the Monasteries, whereas James held to Rome and gave authority to powerful prelates such as Cardinal  David Beaton.

War broke out in 1541. Once again there were preliminary border skirmishes, but when James sent a large army into England, its leadership was weak and divided and it suffered a humbling defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss.

Rough Wooing

James died shortly afterward the defeat. Once again, Scotland's monarch was an infant, this time Mary, Queen of Scots. Henry tried to pressure a divided Scotland into an alliance, and secure the marriage of Mary to his son Edward (the "Rough Wooing"). When Cardinal Beaton gained control of the government of Scotland and renewed the alliance with France, Henry reacted in 1544 by sending an army under the Earl of Hertford, Edward's uncle, to systematically devastate and slaughter throughout southern Scotland, as a means of inducing a change of heart. Campaigning continued the next year, but some Scottish factions reconciled and won a victory at the Battle of Ancrum Moor, which temporarily halted English attacks.

Henry died in 1547. Hertford, now Protector and Duke of Somerset, renewed the attempt to enforce an alliance, and also to impose an Anglican church on Scotland. He won a great victory at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, but Mary was smuggled to France to be betrothed to the Dauphin Francis. Fighting continued for some more years, but French troops assisted the Scots. Without lasting peace, Somerset's regime could not stand the expense of the war. He was overthrown and eventually executed.

Reformation in Scotland
Pinkie Cleugh was the last pitched battle between England and Scotland prior to the Union of the Crowns in 1603. Beaton was murdered in 1546, and within a few years, Scotland underwent a major religious reformation which was, unlike most European countries, remarkably peaceful and was never seriously threatened by counter-reformation, though neighbouring England was to undergo a counter-reformation under Queen Mary I. For a while, both countries were distracted by internal troubles. Eventually, Queen Elizabeth I came to rule England and restore stability.

Scotland remained divided. The Catholic faction under the queen mother, Mary of Guise, held Leith and Edinburgh. Elizabeth was able to ensure victory for the Protestant faction by using her fleet to blockade the Catholics and prevent French aid reaching them. 

For the later part of the 16th century, peace was ensured by the probability that James VI of Scotland, who was raised as a Protestant and was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, would become King of England on the death of Elizabeth. There was perennial trouble from Border Reivers, but Elizabeth was inclined to forgive even their depredations rather than pick a quarrel with her Protestant neighbour.

Rujukan

Bacaan lanjut
 Dupuy, Ernest R. and Dupuy, Trevor N. The Encyclopedia of Military History from 3500 B.C. to the Present. Revised ed. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1977. 
 Fraser, George MacDonald. The Steel Bonnets, Harper Collins, 1971, 
 Lynch, Michael, ed. The Oxford companion to Scottish history (2007.
 Mackie,  R. L. A History of Scotland. (2nd ed. 1978)
 Paterson, Raymond Campbell. My Wound is Deep: History of the Anglo-Scottish Wars, 1380-1560  (1997)
 Phillips, Gervase. The Anglo-Scots Wars, 1513-1550: A Military History (Boydell Press, 1999).
 Sadler, John. Border Fury: England and Scotland at War, 1296–1568, Longman, 2004.

16th-century conflicts
16th century in Scotland
16th-century military history of the Kingdom of England
Scottish
Wars involving Scotland
England–Scotland relations
Battles between England and Scotland
15th-century military history of Scotland
15th-century military history of the Kingdom of England