This field is the scene of the last pitch battle Scotland fought against
a foreign power, and possibly the worst slaughter of Scots in our history.
Scotland's had many terrible days in its history, and the tragedies of Mary, our most famous Queen
of Scots are well documented, but it wasn't until I stood in this field, that I realised how closely
two of those tragedies, and terrible days were linked, and that's why I thought I'd bring you here,
to tell you about two very different days in our history. On one day, a battle caused by a
wedding that didn't happen, and the other, where a wedding that did happen, led to a battle that
didn't. If you're interested in the people, places and events in Scottish history, then click the
subscribe button at the bottom right of the screen. In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
The narrow dip here in this field running north of the Forth Estuary is called Pinkie Cleugh. it's
crossed by the Edinburgh to London rail line. Now I'm guessing that as Scots head south to Newcastle,
Darlington, York or London, they seldom look out the windows to consider this field, but if they'd
looked out on it, on the 10th of September, 1547, they'd have seen the last pitch battle between
Scotland and England. They would have seen the first one, where a naval bombardment from sea,
affected the outcome on land. They would have seen the last hurrah of Scottish chivalric tradition,
meet a more ruthless English fighting machine as it approached modernity. If they look where I'm
walking now, they would have seen a slaughter. Now today's video isn't about the battle per se, it's
about the co-incidence of this, and another event up on the hill there, but if you want me to do a video
about the battle of Pinkie itself at some point, then let me know in the comment section below,
and I have to say a huge thanks to Brian Adamson, the delightful husband
and one of my lovely Patreon members, for showing me around here in the first place.
It was only then, that I got a real perspective on the point that I'm about to make today.
You see, the reason that the battle of Pinkie took place, was because when Mary, Queen of Scots was
born, Henry the Eighth of England, saw an opportunity. A neighbouring country to the north the English
kings had sought to subdue since, well you can watch my video '5 Times Scotland was Free',
or others on Robert the Bruce, William Wallace, William the Lion, Andrew de Moray, David the Sec ...
look the point is, that big countries tend to want to swallow up wee countries, and Henry the Eighth
saw an opportunity in the fact that Scotland was divided, between pro-English Protestants,
and pro-French Catholics, and their King had just died, shortly after defeat to Henry's army at the
Battle Solway Moss, leaving a little baby Queen. Now was the time to pounce. He wanted this baby
Queen to marry his son, Edward, and there would be assurances of autonomy of course, and blah de blah,
but the reality was, that finally Scotland would belong to the English crown. Now the pro-English
Protestants went along with this, and whilst they were in the ascendancy that would be fine, but when
the pro-French side gained control, they decided that Mary would be sent across La Manche (English Channel), to marry
the boy heir to the French rather than the English throne. Can you see parallels with today's politics?
When Henry the Eighth died, English policy didn't change. You see the regent looking after things for the
young Edward the Sixth, was the Duke of Somerset, the boy king's granddad, on the side of his mother,
Jane Seymour. Granddad was just as enthusiastic that this marriage should take place, so he invaded.
In and around this field in September, 1547, 20,000 Scots were slaughtered. Men with aspirations
for their own children and grandchildren, who died so the daughter of James the Fifth,
could sail to the royal court in France the following year. After a short occupation in the
southern part of Scotland, the English left. As I said, I'm not going to go into the details of the
battle, but I do want to draw your attention to the little castle huddled in the trees in the hills.
It's called Fa'side Castle, and the night before the main battle, there had
been skirmishing there, as Scots tried to defend that high point against approaching English, but
Fa'side Castle comes in our story again 20 years later. Mary has been to France. She's briefly
been Queen of Scots, France, and had aspirations to the English crown, on the death of her cousin,
Elizabeth. Now on the death of her husband, the French King, she returns to Scotland, and remarries
a cousin who is both Stuart and Tudor blood, just like her. Now he's been murdered and
she's been abducted, and pressed into marriage, by one of the men implicated in the murder,
and on the 15th of June, 1576, the rebel Lords of the Congregation, some of whom themselves
might have been involved in the murder of Darnley, came from the other direction towards Fa'side
seeking vengeance. As the Lords of the Congregation approached, Mary, Queen of Scots and her new husband,
Bothwell, left Fa'side Castle, east across this field on Carberry Hill, to use the same hillside
entrenchments, built by the English at the Battle of Pinkie, 20 years earlier. She was supported by
the Hamiltons, as she would be at the Battle of Langside, and the world's first assassination by
gunshot. I've got videos, you can find them in a playlist on Mary, Queen of Scots at the end.
Now the sides were reasonably well matched numerically, but Mary's stronger position on that
high ground, but the heat of the day, meant that for the most part in this field from 11am til 5pm,
there was long negotiation and standoff, whilst hot and thirsty Hamiltons, exposed to the June
sun, drifted off as the day progressed, leaving Mary more exposed herself. As Mary's position
weakened, she eventually gave herself over into the hands of the Lords of the Congregation.
These trees, mean that like many other things
notable in our history, the point at which that took place is now shrouded.
We can still find this monument that marks the spot at Queen Mary's Mount. The events of this
day led to Mary being imprisoned and forced, under threat of death, to abdicate in favour of her son,
who would be brought up Protestant, and estranged from a mother, who would fester for 19 years, in an
English prison, before execution. This day has set in train, momentous changes in Scotland's history,
and the history of the rest of these islands. So in moments that history turns.
I wonder, did Mary ever wonder, how life might have been different, as she stood on Carberry Hill,
and looked down to Pinkie Cleugh? If Mary had been married off to Edward, she would never have
been Queen of France, but she would have been Queen of England, to another boy king, who also
died early. Another search for a second husband, and still, the threat of the power to the south,
but what about the lives of the men at arms who stood for their Queen on that hill,
or in that valley? Carberry Hill altered nothing for them, but it changed everything
for Scotland. Down there at Pinkie, 20,000 Scotsmen gave everything, but it changed nothing, did it?
Now I'm guilty, like many others, of talking about history from the point of view of famous nobility,
whose lives are copiously recorded, and there can be few more documented than the son of
Mary, Queen of Scots, James the Sixth, who became James the First of England. The two countries were united by
the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, with Stuart and Tudor blood, but in a different way
than Henry the Eighth had intended, but this monument commemorates some of those ordinary men who died
in that process, here at Pinkie. I've heard it said, that we all die twice; once
when we breathe our last, and again when our name's said for the last time. They also tell
me that each year on the anniversary of the battle, the names of 20 of those ordinary men
are read out. If you're ever in the area on the 10th of September, why not come down to hear them?
If you want to hear more about tales of Mary, Queen of Scots, then there's a video coming up
on screen now. In the meantime, tha mi an dochas gum bith lath math leibh. Tiorridh an drasda.