The end of the Rough Wooing
Henry VIII of England died on 28 January 1547 at Whitehall Palace. For Scotland, his death brought relief from one of the most brutal episodes in Anglo-Scottish relations: the "Rough Wooing." Henry had demanded that the infant Mary Queen of Scots be betrothed to his son Edward. When Scotland refused, he sent armies north to change their mind.
The English campaign, led by the Earl of Hertford, was devastating. Edinburgh was burned. The great Border abbeys of Melrose, Jedburgh, Kelso, and Dryburgh were destroyed. Towns and villages across the Lowlands were sacked. The strategy was simple and savage: terrorise Scotland into submission. It didn't work. The Scots sent Mary to France instead, where she married the French Dauphin.
Henry's death did not end the English pressure — the Earl of Hertford (now Duke of Somerset and Protector of England) continued the campaign, winning the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547. But without Henry's obsessive personal drive, the policy eventually lost momentum. Scotland and France's Auld Alliance held firm.
The Rough Wooing left deep scars on southern Scotland. The ruined Border abbeys, still standing today, are a visible reminder. It also reinforced the centuries-old Scottish instinct that England was a threat to be resisted. That instinct would shape Scottish politics for generations to come.