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Battle of the Standard

1138 in England1138 in ScotlandBattles between England and ScotlandBattles of The AnarchyConflicts in 1138
Military history of North YorkshireNorthallertonRegistered historic battlefields in EnglandUse British English from April 2014
Battle of the Standard monument
Battle of the Standard monument

The Battle of the Standard, sometimes called the Battle of Northallerton, took place on 22 August 1138 on Cowton Moor near Northallerton in Yorkshire, England. English forces under William of Aumale repelled a Scottish army led by King David I of Scotland. King Stephen of England, fighting rebel barons in the south, had sent a small force (largely mercenaries), but the English army was mainly local militia and baronial retinues from Yorkshire and the north Midlands. Archbishop Thurstan of York had exerted himself greatly to raise the army, preaching that to withstand the Scots was to do God's work. The centre of the English position was therefore marked by a mast (mounted upon a cart) bearing a pyx carrying the consecrated host and from which were flown the consecrated banners of the minsters of York, Beverley and Ripon: hence the name of the battle. This cart-mounted standard was a very northerly example of a type of standard common in contemporary Italy, where it was known as a carroccio. King David had entered England for two declared reasons: To support his niece Matilda's claim to the English throne against that of King Stephen (married to another niece) To enlarge his kingdom beyond his previous gains. David's forces had already taken much of Northumberland apart from castles at Wark and Bamburgh. Advancing beyond the Tees towards York, early on 22 August the Scots found the English army drawn up on open fields 2 miles (3 km) north of Northallerton; they formed up in four 'lines' to attack it. The first attack, by unarmoured spearmen against armoured men (including dismounted knights) supported by telling fire from archers, failed. Within three hours, the Scots army disintegrated, apart from small bodies of knights and men-at-arms around David and his son Henry. At this point, Henry led a spirited attack with mounted knights; he and David then withdrew separately with their immediate companions in relatively good order. Heavy Scots losses are claimed, in battle and in flight. The English did not pursue far; David fell back to Carlisle and reassembled an army. Within a month, a truce was negotiated which left the Scots free to continue the siege of Wark castle, which eventually fell. Despite losing the battle, David was subsequently given most of the territorial concessions he had been seeking (which the chronicles say he had been offered before he crossed the Tees). David held these throughout the Anarchy, but on the death of David, his successor Malcolm IV of Scotland was soon forced to surrender David's gains to Henry II of England. Some chronicle accounts of the battle include an invented pre-battle speech on the glorious deeds of the Normans, occasionally quoted as good contemporary evidence of the high opinion the Normans held of themselves.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Standard (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Battle of the Standard
A167,

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Wikipedia: Battle of the StandardContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 54.37354 ° E -1.44734 °
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A167
DL6 2NX
England, United Kingdom
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Battle of the Standard monument
Battle of the Standard monument
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St Thomas' Church, Brompton
St Thomas' Church, Brompton

St Thomas' Church is the parish church of Brompton, a village near Northallerton in North Yorkshire, in England. There was a church on the site by the 11th century, but the oldest surviving parts of the current church are parts of the north aisle and south wall of the nave, dating from about 1180. The chancel was rebuilt in the 14th century, when the nave was lengthened, and the north aisle was raised in height. The tower was added in the 15th century. The nave was repaired in 1638, and the chancel in 1660, both occasions marked by plaques on the relevant south walls. The church was restored by Ewan Christian in 1868, which included the replacement of most of the windows, removal of the gallery, and the addition of a chancel arch, organ chamber and vestry. The building was Grade I listed in 1970. The church is built of stone with Welsh slate roofs, and consists of a nave, a north aisle, a chancel, a north vestry, and a partly embraced southwest tower incorporating a porch. The tower has three stages, diagonal buttresses, a south doorway with a chamfered surround and a basket arch, a hood mould and a small niche. Above are chamfered bands, clock faces, two-light bell openings, an embattled parapet with corner crocketed pinnacles, and a pyramidal roof. Inside the church are pre-Norman items, including three early 10th century hogback tombstones with flanking sitting bears, and two crosses. There is a 17th-century chest in the vestry, and the west window has stained glass by Charles Eamer Kempe.