Standard, Battle of the

The Battle of the Standard, sometimes called the Battle of Northallerton, in which English forces repel a Scottish army, takes place on 22 August 1138 on Cowton Moor near Northallerton in Yorkshire.

The Scottish forces are led by King David I of Scotland.

The English are commanded by William of Aumale.King Stephen of England (fighting rebel barons in the south) had sent a small force (largely mercenaries), but the English army is mainly local militia and baronial retinues from Yorkshire and the north Midlands.

Archbishop Thurstan of York had exerted himself greatly to raise the army, preaching that to withstand the Scots was to do God’s work.

The center of the English position is therefore marked by a mast (mounted upon a cart) bearing a pyx carrying the consecrated host and from which were flown the consecrated banners of the minsters of York, Beverley and Ripon: hence the name of the battle.

This cart-mounted standard is a very northerly example of a type of standard common in contemporary Italy, where it is known as a carroccio.David had entered England for two declared reasons: To support his niece Matilda's claim to the English throne against that of King Stephen (married to another niece To enlarge his kingdom beyond his previous gains.David’s forces had already taken much of Northumberland apart from castles at Wark and Bamburgh.Advancing beyond the Tees towards York, early on 22 August 1138 the Scots find the English army drawn up on open fields two miles north of Northallerton; they form up in four ‘lines’ to attack it.

The first attack, by unarmored spearmen against armored men (including dismounted knights), supported by telling fire from archers, fails.

Within three hours, the Scots army disintegrates, apart from small bodies of knights and men-at-arms around David and his son Henry.

At this point, Henry leads a spirited attack with mounted knights; he and David then withdraw separately with their immediate companions in relatively good order.

Heavy Scots losses are claimed, in battle and in flight.The English do not pursue far; David falls back to Carlisle and reassembles an army.

Within a month, a truce is negotiated that leaves the Scots free to continue the siege of Wark castle, which eventually falls.

Despite losing the battle, David is subsequently given most of the territorial concessions he had been seeking (which the chronicles say he had been offered before he crossed the Tees).

David holds these throughout the Anarchy, but on the death of David, his successor Malcolm IV of Scotland is soon forced to surrender David's gains to Henry II of England.Some chronicle accounts of the battle include an invented pre-battle speech on the glorious deeds of the Normans, occasionally quoted as good contemporary evidence of the high opinion the Normans held of themselves.

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