SCOTTISH MILITARY HISTORY

Scotland's growth to nationhood was slow and violent.Threats and rivalries of all kinds meant that for the most of the country's early history armed conflict was almost a way of life.The 16th century saw ,if anything,increased turmoil.England encroached more savagely than ever before and the Scottish barons competed for power ,even fighting each other in Edinburgh's High Street !

  At this time the the aristocracy and clan chiefs of Scotland had their own retinues of fighting men.The country had no standing army,and these retainers,though often engaged in their masters' private quarrels,also followed them into wars on behalf of King,country or church.They had to provide their own weapons and equipment. Most of the male population was accustomed to bearing arms.Armed men was a familiar site.In some parts of the country,especially the Borders and the Highlands,folks were used to raids and skirmishes,even pitched battles. Scotland was well known as a warrior nation.England saw her as a threatening neighbour and in the 16th Century constantly invaded.The Scots suffered bad defeats at Flodden in 1513,Solway moss in 1542 and Pinkie in 1547.For much of the Century there was no strong ruler to resist the English or unite the fighting forces. In 1561 Mary,Queen of Scots returned to a Scotland disrupted by conflict between Catholic and Protestant.Mary herself ,a Catholic,had to fight to hold what litle power she had but in the end she was defeated and captured.She depended on the armed men who were raised by those barons who supported her,but her army was not strong enough to cope with the powerful opposition. The barons could choose which religion or which monarch they wished to support,changing sides was not uncommon.Their retainers had no choice,nor,in many cases,could they choose not to fight at all.In the next century there were changes in the way armies were organised,but these changes made little difference to the life of the ordinary fighting man. In 1603 Mary's son James became King of England as well as of Scotland- James I and and VI.Based in London he was a long way from Scottish problems and Scottish conflicts.He claimed that he was ruling Scotland successfully by the pen rather than by the sword more to follow.....