Battle of Neville's Cross - Background

Background

In 1346, England was embroiled in the Hundred Years' War with France. In order to divert his enemy Philip VI of France appealed to David II of Scotland to attack the English from the north in order to create a second front for the English. Despite Philip VI's especially desperate pleas in June 1346 (when the English were amassing troops in southern England), David II of Scotland waited until October, when he felt few English troops would be left to defend lucrative Northern English cities. Waiting until he believed most English troops were fighting France and with winter approaching David II of Scotland invaded England.

On 7 October, the Scots invaded England with approximately 12,000 men. They were expecting to find northern England relatively undefended because Edward III was by then conducting a major campaign in France. (Philip VI went so far as to characterize northern England as a "defenceless void".) Unfortunately, David II's strategic and tactical abilities were not up to the task of making good use of the Scots' element of surprise. Perhaps, though, they did not feel the need for haste. After taking Liddesdale (and bypassing Carlisle after being paid protection money), the Scots moved on toward their ultimate goal of Durham and Yorkshire after more than a week's march. Along the way, they sacked the priory of Hexham and burned the territory around their line of march. They arrived at Durham on 16 October and camped at Beaurepaire, where the Scots were offered £1,000 (£490,000 as of 2012) in protection money to be paid on 18 October.

Without the Scots' knowledge, however, the English had already arrayed troops for just such an invasion. Once the Scots invaded, an army was quickly mobilized in Richmond under the supervision of William Zouche, the Archbishop of York. It was not, however, a large army and what men were available were split into two separate groups: 3,000–4,000 men from Cumberland, Northumberland and Lancashire, with another 3,000 Yorkshiremen en route. Given the demands of the Siege of Calais, no further men could be summoned for the defence of Northern England. Worse still, on 14 October (while the Scots were sacking Hexham), the Archbishop decided not to wait for the Yorkshiremen and made haste toward Barnard Castle.