The Rough Wooing meets its match
The Battle of Ancrum Moor on 27 February 1545 was one of the most satisfying Scottish victories of the 16th century — a decisive defeat of an English army during the brutal Rough Wooing campaign. Sir Ralph Evers, commanding a force of English soldiers and Scottish collaborators, was lured into a trap by Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, on the rolling hills near Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders.
The Rough Wooing was Henry VIII's punitive campaign to force Scotland into a marriage alliance between the infant Mary Queen of Scots and his son Edward. English armies had burned Edinburgh, destroyed the great Border abbeys, and terrorised the Lowlands. Evers was leading one of these raiding forces, burning and pillaging across the Borders with particular savagery. He commanded around 5,000 men, including a substantial contingent of Scottish Borderers who had switched sides.
Angus chose his ground carefully. He positioned his smaller force on the crest of a hill, then withdrew as the English advanced, drawing them uphill into the setting sun. When the English reached the ridge, the Scots turned and charged. The Scottish collaborators in Evers's army — their consciences perhaps pricked or their loyalty tested — switched sides mid-battle, turning their jackets inside out to distinguish themselves from the English. The English line collapsed. Evers was killed, along with his lieutenant Sir Brian Layton and over 800 English soldiers. A thousand more were captured.
Ancrum Moor was a rare bright spot in a period of sustained English aggression. It demonstrated that the Scots could still beat the English in open battle, even during the darkest days of the Rough Wooing. The battlefield, south of Jedburgh on the A68, is marked by a monument. The turned jackets of the Scottish collaborators gave rise to the expression "turncoat," which entered the English language from this battle.