Battle of Sauchieburn

 

Battle of Sauchieburn
 

 

 

This page was last updated on 12 October 2021

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The Battle of Sauchieburn was fought on June 11, 1488, at the side of Sauchie Burn, a brook about two miles south of Stirling, Scotland.

The battle was fought between as many as 30,000 troops of King James III and some 18,000 troops raised by Scottish nobles who favoured the King's then-15-year-old son, Prince James.

The 'rebels' were led by Alexander Home, 1st Lord Home, Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus, Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell and Lord Gray. The troops were largely from East Lothian, the Merse, Galloway, and the border counties.

The battle went badly for the Royalists. Persistent legends, based on the highly coloured and unreliable accounts of sixteenth century chroniclers such as Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, John Leslie, and George Buchanan, claim that James III was assassinated at Milltown, near Bannockburn, soon after the battle. There is no contemporary evidence to support this account, nor the allegation that he fled the battle, nor the tale that his assassin impersonated a priest in order to approach James.

 

Prince James ascended to the throne, and reigned as James IV for twenty-five years. Throughout his reign he wore a heavy iron chain around his waist, next to the skin, as a constant reminder of his role in the death of his father.

 

 

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