Flodden: The Battle That Changed Britain

Flodden has been referred to as both the last medieval battle and the first early modern battle to be fought in the British Isles. Whichever it might be, it was certainly a battle of firsts and lasts. It was, for instance, the first battle in which counter-battery fire (cannons firing at cannons) took place in the British Isles, and was the last in which a monarch from the British Isles fell in combat. The loss of James IV, King of Scotland, while fighting on the front lines, was accompanied by the death of numerous Scottish earls and lords, along with two bishops and an Archbishop. Although this devastating Scottish defeat, just inside the English border, was not followed up by an invasion, the power vacuum created by the loss of James was to bring about a period of internal strife as factions fought for influence over an infant monarch (James V). Flodden is one of the best preserved battlefields in the British Isles and in this latest offering from The Wars Beneath Our Feet we explore this hallowed ground and see what it still has to tell us about this extraordinary event. A variety of images are used to enhance this video, and while many of them do not directly depict Flodden, they do give a good flavour European warfare during the 16th century - as will be usual practice on this channel, beyond the title card, AI has not been used. The Two Men in a Trench episode mentioned in this video can be found elsewhere on YouTube.