Anglo-Scottish War (1482)

Anglo-Scottish War (1482)

PRINCIPAL COMBATANTS: England vs. Scotland

PRINCIPAL THEATER(S): Scotland

DECLARATION: None

MAJOR ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES: England’s King Edward IV
sought to put a friendly king on the Scottish throne.

OUTCOME: The Scottish king, James III, was effectively
deposed.

APPROXIMATE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF MEN UNDER ARMS:
Unknown

CASUALTIES: Unknown

TREATIES: Truces concluded 1484, 1487, 1491

In the late 1470s, King Edward IV (1442–83) of England,
always eager to see the rival kingdom of Scotland weakened,
plotted with the brother of Scottish king James III
(1452–88), Alexander Stuart, duke of Albany (c. 1454–85),
to overthrow James. Shortly after this plot was hatched,
nobleman Archibald “Red” Douglas (1449–1514), another
enemy of the Scottish king, leagued with Albany. In 1479,
however, Albany was arrested and imprisoned by James.
Albany managed to escape, fleeing first to France and then
to England. Here he gathered an army of invasion and then
allied himself with Douglas and others in a bold foray into
Scotland. At Lauder Albany made James a captive.
Albany did not execute the Scottish king but did compel
him to watch the execution of a number of his friends,
favorites, and courtiers. Following this the now powerless
James was sent packing to Edinburgh, and Albany took up
the reins of government while the English army he had
raised proceeded to retake Berwick, the English stronghold
that had been lost to Scottish forces during the SCOTTISH
WAR (1314–1328).

See also SCOTTISH BARONS REVOLT.

Further reading: David Ditchburn, Scotland and
Europe: The Medieval Kingdom and Its Contacts with Christendom,
c. 1214–1545 (East Linton, U.K.: Tuckwell, 2001);
Rosalind Mitchison, A History of Scotland, 3rd ed. (London
and New York: Routledge, 2002); Raymond Campbell
Paterson, My Wound Is Deep: A History of the Anglo-Scottish
Wars (Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, 1997).