And þat was her owen folie þat þai had þat meschaunce, for þai passede þe water of Swale.

 

How Sir Hughe, þe Spenseres sone, was made þe Kyngus Chamberlain; and of þe bataile of Miton. Capitulo Centesimo Nonogesimo Secundo. 

AND hit was nouȝt longe afterward, þat þe Kyng ne ordeynede a parlement at ȝork;
and þere was Sir Hugh, þe Spensereȝ sone, made Chamberlein.

And in þe menetyme, 
while þe werr last,
the Kyng went aȝeyne into Scotland,
þat hit was wonder forto wete,
and bisegede þe toun of Berwik;
but þe Scottes went ouer þe water of Solewath,
þat was iij mile fram þe Kyngus host, 
and priuely þai myght,
and sparede no maner þing til þat þai comen to ȝork.

And when þe Englisshemen þat were laste at home
wist of þis þing, 
alle þo þat might trauaile
- as wel monkes and prestes and ffreres 
and chanons and seculars - 
and come and mette wiþ þe Scottes
at Miton op Swale,
þe xij day of Ottobre.

Allas!
what sorwe for þe Englisshe hosbonde-men 
þat couþe noþing in werr,
þere were quellede
and drenchede in þe Ryuer Swale.

And her chyueteynes,
Sir William of Melton,
Erchebisshop of ȝork,
and þe Abbot of Selby with her stedes,
fledde,
and come unto ȝork.

And þat was her owen folie
þat þai had þat meschaunce,
for þai passede þe water of Swale;
and þe Sccottes sette in fire iij stackes of hey;
and þe smoke þerof was so huge
þat Englisshemen myght nought see þe Scottes.

And when þe Englisshemen were gon ouer þe water,
þo come þe Scottes wiþ her wenge,
in maner of a shelde,
and come toward þe Englisshemen in a rawe;
and þe Englisshemen fledde,
for vnneþes þai hade eny men of armes;
for þe Kyng hade ham alle
almost loste atte þe sege of Berwik;
and þe Scottes hobilers went bituix þe brigge
and þe Englisshemen.

And when þe grete host had þaim mette,
þe Englisshemen fledde
bituene þe hobilers and þe grete host;
and þe Englisshemen almost alle were þere slayn.

And he þat might wende ouer þe water was sauede;
but meny were drenchede, 
allas, for sorwe!
for þere was slayne meny men of religioun,
and seculars,
and ek prestes and clerkes;
and wiþ miche sorw
the Erchebisshop scapede;
and þerfore
þe Scottes callede hit
the White Bataile. 

How Sir Hugh the Spenser's Son was made the King's Chamberlain, and of the Battle of Myton. Chapter 192. 

AND it was not long afterward
that the King ordained a parliament at York,
and there was Sir Hugh the Spenser's son,
made Chamberlain.

In the meantime,
the war continued,
and the King went again into Scotland,
a wonder to behold, 
and bisieged the Town of Berwick. 
But the Scots went over
the Waters of Solway,
three miles away from the King's host,
and privily they stole away by night,
and come into England,
and robbed
and destroyed
all they might
and spared no manner of thing
til they came to York. 

When the Englishmen left at home
realised this thing, 
all who could go forth, 
monks and priests 
and friars as well
canons and seculars, too
came and met the Scots
at Myton-on-Swale,
the xij day of October.

Alas!
what sorrow for the English husbandmen
who knew nothing of war,
who there were quelled and drenched
in the River of Swale.

And their chieftains,
Sir William of Melton,
Archbishop of York, 
and the Abbot of Selby
on their steeds fled,
and came unto York.

Theirs was the folly
that they had that mischance,
for they passed the Waters of Swale, 
and the Scots set on fire iij stacks of hay,
and the smoke thereof was so huge
the Englishmen mighy not see the Scots.

And when the Englishmen
were gone over the water,
on came the Scots in their wings
in the manner of a shieldwall,
and came toward the Englishmen, 
rank on rank,
and the Englishmen fled, 
for want of men-at-arms, 
for the King had them 
almost all lost
at the Siege of Berwick.

And the Scots hobilers
went between the bridge 
and the Englishmen,
and when the great host 
had them met,
the Englishmen fled 
between the hobilers
and the great host,
and the Englishmen 
almost all were there slain.

And he
that might make it over the water
was saved,
but many were drowned. 

Alas!
for sorrow,
for there wwas slain many men of religion,
and seculars,
and also priests and clerks, 
and with much sorrow
the Archbishop escaped, 
and therefore the Scots
called it
the White Battle. 

In the aftermath of the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the English under Edward II were rapidly pushed out of their strongholds and over the border. In 1318, the Scots pressed the attack, carrying Berwick-on-Tweed by storm. 

No settlement in Britain has changed hands during war more than Berwick, a measue of its exposure on the border, and of its significence as a garrison, working port and centre for regional commerce. It's loss was no small thing, and Edward himself led the expedition to retake it. He settled his court in York in October 1318 (hence the note on the appointment of a Chamberlain and the calling of a parliament), and put together his army, which he eventually led out against Berwick in August 1319. That it took him so long is an indication of why he was eventually deposed; his father Edward I would not have tarried. 

The Scots conducted a masterful campaign. Rather than meet Edward beneath the walls of Berwick, a large column of 10 - 20,000 men by-passed the town by crossing a little downstream, and raided down into Yorkshire. This tactic of taking the war to the civilian population in order to draw the enemy into a battle at the time and place of the raider's choosing was to become known later in the fourteenth century as a chevauchée, a jaunt, or a canter, and became the signature of English armies in France. The 'English Way of War' during the Hundred Years War was born on the Scots borders, a case of the English doing unto the French and Scots what the Scots had first done unto them. 

In another account, a Scots spy is apprehended, and informs the Archbishop of York that the Scots host is moving on York to seize the court, and especially Queen Isabella, in a coup de main. The Archbishop mobilises what manpower he has from the city and its environs,  and its various religious houses and colleges, and army reckoned around the 20,000 mark, and so more or less the size of the army they marched to confront. However, while the Scots had a fair proportion of steely-eyed killers, the Archbishop's men had never been called out to serve before; the fighting was usually done by men levied from the northern counties, and those further south keen for the fight, all of whom were in garrison or with Edward at Berwick. 

On 20 September, 1319, the Archbishop's men found the Scots encamped beyond the River Swale at Myton, perhaps led by their prisoner. According to the Brut, the battle which ensued was a debâcle which nonetheless demonstrated the Scots' tactical finesse. 

The conventional course would be to hold the bridge at Myton, a wooden footbridge like the one at Boroughbridge; whether there was a corresponding ford is something I need to look into, because the sources don't say. However, the Archbishop led his men over the bridge onto the meadow beyond, whose grass had been cut and gathered into stacks. 

The Scots shook out into wings, what we would now call brigades or divisions, and set the hay alight to create a smokescreen high and wide, to mask their movement. This honestly was a stroke of genius; not only did it allow them to deploy and advance on their own terms, but also must have been utterly disconcerting for the inexperienced soldiers crossing the river; it must have been as if the Scots emerged from a stormcloud into their faces. 

At the same time, the hobilers, infantry mounted on ponies, swung round their flank, masked perhaps by the smoke, and came between the Archbishop and the bridge he had just crossed. Here they would have dismounted and deployed; the Archbishop's army was now caught between two formed battlelines. 

This again is something the English paid attention to. The chevauchée was made possible by mounting infantry - generally and increasingly archers - alongside the men-at-arms, and taking to the roads. When they offered battle, they dismounted and formed into their wings. 

A note about my translation of þo come þe Scottes wiþ her wenge, in maner of a shelde, and come toward þe Englisshemen in a rawe. Wenge here is wings, so they came on in the conventional manner for the day, in two or more formed bodies. This is reinforced by in a rawe, which I figured out with reference to a Scots dictionary and corpus; they came on in their rows, stressing again to their discipline and experience. In the maner of a shelde is oft-quoted, and is taken to refer to the schiltron. This is a whole topic unto itself, but looking at the collected instances of the term in Middle English and Scots, it appears to mean a 'shieldwall', which is a kenning for the Latin acies, line of battle. Whether this betokened something peculiar to Scots warfare in the 13th and 14th centuries is wide open for debate. That's something we'll come back to along the way. 

At the time, Scots commoners would take to the field in disicplined bodies of men with long spears, a de facto phalanx capable of resisting cavalry and bearing down on the opposing lines, accompanied sometimes by conventional men-at-arms, archers, and the ribauds, a rabble of raiders. What hit the Archbishop's men, therefore, was formidable. And they were now trapped. 

The Archbishop's army disintegrated, and broke for the bridge they now couldn't cross. Those who made it across the river survived, others drowned in the attempt; those trapped on the meadow were massacred. The Archbishop and his court ran for it. I suspect at least some of the survivors found the ford I suspect was thereabouts, which the Scots had perhaps not scouted. 

I'll be translating the Scots account later this week, but we'll see there Barbour calls it 'the Chapter of Myton', which is gorgeous dry wit, a chapter being a gathering of ecclesiastics or people in the religious life. Here it is called the 'White Battle' for the vestments the clerical soldiers must have worn, their albs and surplices. 

Myton is one of the most strange and dramatic battles in Anglo-Scots history, and illustrates the skill with which the Scots in particular handled their men in the field. This is very much at odds with the 'Braveheart' image of a spicy rabble running about as a mob; these were seasoned soldiers, tested and hardened, led by Thomas Randolph and James Douglas, men who knew their trade. It speaks volumes that their way of war was to form the basis for the English victories in France, and against themselves very soon afterwards; lessons were learned, and applied with ferocity. 

One of the most important archaeological questions is always where the dead were buried. This is something I'm looking into, too, and a glance at the Lidar surveys might point to some anomolies on the ground. Will get back to you about that. 

Pictured: Haystack fire at Woodham Walter in Essex, September 2021.