When, oh when, did Henry Percy fight the “battle” of Duns….?

If, like me, you had never heard of the Battle of Duns, here’s a brief outline. Late in the 14^th century Henry Percy, 4th Baron Percy (created 1st Earl of Northumberland in 1377) led an army of 7,000 over the border into Berwickshire and made camp at Duns to await reinforcements.  One night the sleeping English were surrounded by the local Scots, who were armed only with the rattles (consisting of dried skins with pebbles inside) they used to keep predators away from their flocks.

The racket they made scared the bejesus out of the English horses, which bolted in all directions, including right through the sleeping troops. The result was complete panic and the English were forced to retreat over the border—on foot and leaving much of their baggage behind.

That, ladies and gentlemen, was the “battle” of Duns. Not a battle at all, more a farcical rout. For the victorious Scots, of course, a high old time was had by one and all. They must have chortled their way home, where many a dram was no doubt raised to their simple triumph over the loathed English.

Why am I interested in this unimportant event in English history? Because I want to feature it in my wip. Why? Because it was supposedly the first military experience of my main character, John Holand (stepson of the Black Prince, half-brother of Richard II, and to be Earl of Huntington and Duke of Exeter). So why don’t I simply mention it and get on with the story? Because there is a mystery about which year the battle took place. There’s the rub. Was it 1372, 1376 or 1377? After all, if I’m trying to stick to the true events of John Holand’s life, I have to get Duns right.

As an introduction to military life it must have been humiliating. All I know is that it happened around about the Feast of St Laurence (10 August) and for various plot reasons I wish to have an angry John Holand lamenting the loss of his beloved blue roan horse and envisaging a “thieving Scot” riding around on it.

Well, I assembled as much evidence as possible, including the advice I sought from my Facebook friends, two of whom came up with answers. Cris Reay Connor sent this site, which indicates it was 1376. The archaeologists in question were seeking the site of the battle and definitely name the year as 1376. Dan Moorhouse sent another link that said it was 1377, and gives a lengthy account of the whole incident. I also had this other link in my records already, which gives more or less the same account as Dan’s.

So, here, in reverse order,  is my “evidence” for the three years. Whichever it was, the monarchs of both countries at the time were Robert II of Scotland, about whom you can read here, and either Edward III or his grandson Richard II in England, depending upon whether or not the year was 1377.

1377

The whereabouts of Henry Percy are obviously the key to everything. For the first half of 1377 he seems to have been firmly fixed in the south of England. He is recorded as being with John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, for the trial of John Wycliffe at St Paul’s in February, and shortly after that Percy and Gaunt were dining on oysters at the London house of Sir John Ypres when they heard that a mob, enraged by events at St Paul’s, was coming to lynch them . They barely escaped with their lives; indeed, so hasty was their departure that Gaunt clouted his shin on the dining table! It’s a famous anecdote.

The above events are firmly recorded, as is the death that summer of Edward III (at whose deathbed Percy is noted). He was also present at the consequent accession of the boy king Richard II. On the eve of the coronation, i.e. 15 July 1377, Percy was elevated to 1st Earl of Northumberland.

OK. Bearing in mind that Duns occurred around 10 August, and Percy’s army was 7,000, it means that pdq after the coronation he had to get himself to his lands in the north, and then get both himself and his army over the border into Berwickshire. And even then he awaited reinforcements, so by the size of this great force he certainly meant to teach those pesky Scots a lesson. 🙄 This period of barely a month from the coronation to the final assembly of such a sizeable army, getting it over the border and then dilly-dallying for reinforcements makes me hesitate about 1377.

1376

A year earlier takes us firmly into the final period of Edward III’s long reign. Here we find Percy attending the Good Parliament at Westminster. This was in session from 28 April to 10 July 1376, so once again Percy had to leg it some to get himself up to Duns with his great army by 10 August. Aos this brief time slot makes me makes me hesitate again about where this year is concerned.

The above slogs from south to north in barely one month aren’t impossible, of course, but on the whole, I think the weight of evidence points to 1372. Oh, pretty please, for it is the year I want.

1372

Going back to my above link concerning The History of the House of Percy, I noticed for the first time that after the account of Duns, it states that in 1373 Percy “….found time to cross channel and draw his good sword in France. He took with him a picked company consisting of 12 knights, 47 squires and 160 mounted men.* With him too went his son Harry, a boy of eight—afterwards to hew his way to fame as ‘Harry Hotspur’….” This is a very specific record of his army, and as it was after Duns, then Duns had to be in 1372.

To back up this timing, in The Red Prince, her biography of Gaunt, Helen Carr states that Percy “….followed Gaunt across the Channel on 17 July 1373….” This was the start of what is known to history as Gaunt’s Great Chevauchée, in the course of which he marched his marauding English army from Calais to Bordeaux, cutting, slashing, burning and looting as he went. It reached Bordeaux in December 1373, bedraggled and minus a huge number of men, horses, oxen and much of its loot.

If this dreadful campaign was indeed after Duns, for Percy it must have felt like the Scottish skirmish all over again, but with mortifyingly huge foreign knobs on! John Holand wasn’t there this time but his elder brother Thomas Holand was, so no doubt John heard all the awful details. He must have thanked his lucky stars that he’d been left in England.

Anyway, for my plot I want the Battle of Duns to have been in 1372, and it feels like the right year….but are my conclusions above still open to challenge?

Oh crud, I fear they are, because I now find myself with yet another timing problem. Why? Because according to the Luminarium link above Percy joined the abortive expedition of Edward III’s that sailed from Sandwich in September 1372. If Percy was part of this fleet, presumably with a force of his own, he again had to leg it mightily, this time in the opposite direction from the Scottish Borders in August to be in Sandwich for September.

None of the above overland journeys through England are impossible, of course, but they do stretch my credulity. After all, in 1066 King Harold proved how ill-advised it was when, after confronting the Danes in the north, he then had to get his army down to the south coast asap to take on the invading Normans. Naturally enough his men were exhausted and not really in the best state for a battle. Surely the same had to be said of Percy’s force?

My only real reason for deciding on 1372 is the fact of Gaunt’s 1373 chevauchée being less than a year after the Battle of Duns. 1376 and 1377 are four and five years after respectively. So, for me, 1372 wins the day.

* Perhaps I should mention here that on page 155 of Memorials of the Most Noble Order of the Garter by Beltz, it’s said that in 1370 Percy took to France a retinue of “sixty men-at-arms, including himself and twelve knights, forty-seven esquires and one hundred ounted archers”. The numbers don’t quite match those of 1372 above, but are quite close.

PS: Some years later Percy and Gaunt, once firm pals, had a monumental falling-out, but that’s another story.