Not long after 4pm on 9 September 1513, Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, led his army into battle against a numerically superior Scottish army led by King James IV of Scotland. Prompted by Henry VIII’s invasion of France in May, James had invaded England in support of his French Allies.
An attack of this sort had been anticipated by the English. However, as Henry’s primary focus was on France, the bulk of the English military leaders and senior noblemen were overseas with the royal army.
Thomas Howard thus led an army mainly made up of northern levies led by members of his own family and the northern leaders, mostly lesser lords and knights, who had been left to defend the border.
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