English invasion of Scotland (1400)

The English invasion of Scotland of August 1400 was the first military campaign undertaken by Henry IV of England after deposing the previous king, his cousin Richard II.

Henry's army left at the end of the summer after only a brief stay, mostly camped near Leith (near Edinburgh) where it could maintain contact with its supply fleet.

War with Scotland had started under Edward I, [1] cross-border raids and fighting had been the norm in Anglo-Scottish relations since the 1370s, generally in the form of Scottish incursions over the border and English attempts to repel them.

[2] The 1399 revolution, which eventually deposed Richard II, created further opportunity for Scotland to regain the land between the River Tweed and the Solway Firth.

[9] Already known as 'one of the finest soldiers of his age [and] until now an implacable enemy' of England,[10] Dunbar travelled to London and pledged allegiance to Henry IV.

[10] Although Henry had announced his plans at the November 1399 parliament, he did not attempt a winter campaign, but continued to hold quasi-negotiations 'in which he must have felt the Scots were profoundly irritating.

[5] In June 1400, the king summoned his Duchy of Lancaster retainers to muster at York,[10] and they in turn brought their personal feudal retinues.

[13] As the campaign progressed, bad weather exacerbated the problem of food shortages, and Brown has speculated that this was an important consideration in the short duration of the expedition.

[6] This was "one of the largest raised in late medieval England;"[5] Brown notes that whilst it was smaller than the massive army assembled in 1345 (that would fight the Battle of Crécy), it was larger than most that were mustered for French service.

[21] Henry took a personal interest in his convoys, at one point even verbally instructing that two Scottish fishermen fishing in the Firth of Forth were to be paid £2 for their (unspecified) assistance.

[21] John Sadler has described this expedition as 'like so many of its predecessors, fail[ing] to yield any significant results,' neither forcing the Scots onto a battlefield nor making any major territorial gains.

'[4] Sadler has ascribed the Scottish success in part to their reliance on a Fabian strategy to wear out the English whilst avoiding direct confrontation.

[17] Henry's lacklustre campaign was condemned by contemporary observers, with Welsh chronicler Adam of Usk saying that the Scots did more damage to the English than had been done to them.