Battle of Neville's Cross - The Battle

The Battle

The Scots only discovered the presence of the English army on the morning of 17 October. Troops under command of William Douglas stumbled upon them in the morning mist during a raid south of Durham. The two rearward divisions of the English army drove the Scots off with heavy Scottish casualties.

Upon hearing Douglas's report, David II led the Scottish army to high ground at Neville's Cross (site of an old Anglo-Saxon stone cross), where he prepared his army for battle. Both the Scots and English arranged themselves in three battalions. Though the Scots were in what is considered a rather poor position (with various obstacles between them and the English position), they remembered well their defeats in the Battle of Dupplin Moor and the Battle of Halidon Hill and thus took a defensive stance, waiting for the English to attack. The English also took a defensive stance, knowing they had the superior position and likely knowing that time was on their side. The resulting stalemate lasted until the afternoon, when the English sent longbowmen forward to harass the Scottish lines. The archers succeeded in forcing the Scots to attack, but their initial hesitation in going on the offensive appears in hindsight to have been the correct decision. The Scots' poor position resulted in their formations falling apart as they advanced, allowing the English to deal easily with the Scottish attack. When it became clear that the battle was going in favour of the English, Robert Stewart, the future King of the Scots, and the Earl of March deserted the Scottish Army, abandoning David II's battalion to face the enemy alone. Late in the afternoon, the king's own battalion attempted to retreat, but was unsuccessful and David II was captured (though not without difficulty), while the rest of the Scottish army was pursued for more than twenty miles.

Several Scottish nobles were killed, including:

• John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray
• Niall Bruce of Carrick, an illegitimate son of Robert the Bruce.
• Lord David de la Hay, The Constable
• Maurice de Moravia, Earl of Strathearn
• Lord Robert Keith, The Great Marischal of Scotland
• Lord Thomas Charteris, The Chancellor
• Lord Robert de Peebles, The Chamberlain

Scottish chroniclers Andrew of Wyntoun and Walter Bower both wrote that 1,000 Scots were killed in the battle, while the Chronicle of Lanercost said that "few English were killed".