The Rough Wooing (; December 1543March 1551), also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following the English Reformation, the break from the Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland, partly to break the Auld Alliance and prevent Scotland being used as a springboard for a future invasion by France, partly to weaken Scotland, and partly to force the Scottish Parliament to confirm the existing marriage alliance between Mary, Queen of Scots (born 8 December 1542), and the English heir apparent Edward (born 12 October 1537), son of King Henry VIII, under the terms of the Treaty of Greenwich of July 1543. An invasion of France was also contemplated.
Henry declared war to force the Scottish Parliament to agree to the planned marriage between Edward, who was six years old at the start of the war, and the infant queen, thereby creating a new alliance between Scotland and England. Upon Edward's accession to the throne in 1547 at the age of nine, the war continued for a time under the direction of the Lord High Treasurer, the Duke of Somerset, before Somerset's removal from power in 1549 and replacement by the Duke of Northumberland, who wished for a less costly foreign policy than his predecessor. It was the last major conflict between Scotland and England before the Union of the Crowns in 1603.
Naming the war In Scotland, the war was called the "Eight" or "Nine Years' War".Amy Blakeway, War and Governance in Scotland, 1543–1559: Destruction, Reconstruction and Reform (Edinburgh, 2026), p. 13: James Maitland, A Narrative of the Minority of Mary Queen of Scots, Ipswich (1842), "callit be uss the nyne zeiris warre" The idea of the war as a "wooing" was popularised many years later by Sir Walter Scott, and hides the extreme nature of the war.Walter Scott, Tales of a Grandfather (1866), 103 (Chapter 29). The phrase "Rough Wooing" appeared in several history books from the 1850s onwards."A Review of Teulet's France & Scotland", North British Review, vol. 24 (February 1856), p. 167.
The phrase appears to derive from a famous remark attributed to George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly by Patrick Abercromby in his edition of Jean de Beaugué's history of the war: "We liked not the manner of the wooing, and we could not stoop to being bullied into love", or as William Patten reported, "I lyke not thys wooyng."Jean de Beaugué, History of the campaigns in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1707), lii: George Crawfurd Lives and Characters of the Officers of State, 1 (Edinburgh, 1726), p. 84 citing Robert Gordon's manuscript History of the House of Sutherland.John Graham Dalyell, "Expedition into Scotland, 1547", Fragments of Scotish History (Edinburgh, 1798), p. xxiii. The historian William Ferguson contrasted this jocular nickname with the savagery and devastation of the war,
More recently, Marcus Merriman titled his book The Rough Wooings to emphasise the division of the conflict into two or three distinct phases.Marcus Merriman, The Rough Wooings (East Linton: Tuckwell, 2000), pp. 6–10. Historians including Lorna Hutson object to the name as a "joking diminutive" which diminishes and trivialises the conflict.Lorna Hutson, England's Insular Imagining: The Elizabethan Erasure of Scotland (Cambridge, 2023), pp. 52–53.
From Solway Moss to Ancrum
In November 1542, a Scottish army suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss and James V died soon after.Paterson, pp. 166–168 He was succeeded by his six-day-old daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots. A plan for an English marriage for Mary proposed by the Treaty of Greenwich was conditionally accepted by the Scottish government led by Regent Arran. However, Arran was slow to advance the marriage due to strong internal factions favouring an alternative alliance with France and the continuance of the Catholic religion in Scotland. The English diplomat Ralph Sadler reported Adam Otterburn's comment on the Scottish opinion of the marriage:
The French-leaning faction of Cardinal Beaton met at Linlithgow in July 1543 to oppose Regent Arran, and signed the "Secret Bond" against the marriage.Letters and Papers Henry VIII, 18:1 (London, 1901), no. 945: Hamilton Papers, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 630 no. 446. Mary and her mother, Mary of Guise, moved from Linlithgow Palace to the security of Stirling Castle.Rosalind K. Marshall, Mary of Guise (Collins, 1977), p. 130: Joseph Bain, Hamilton Papers, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1890), pp. 593 no. 425. Regent Arran celebrated the Treaty of Greenwich at Holyrood Abbey on 25 August 1543.Rosalind K. Marshall, Mary of Guise (Collins, 1977), p. 132. A kind of civil war continued with the Regent opposed by the Douglas faction in the east and Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox in the west, with the Battle of Glasgow.Letters and Papers Henry VIII, 19:1 (London, 1903), no. 299 (3) & footnote. In November 1543, Regent Arran besiged Alexander Drummond and members of the Douglas family at the Castle of Dalkeith because of "their affection to England".Sadler State Papers, 1, pp. 334–335.
The Scots faced the anger of Henry VIII, after the Parliament of Scotland renounced the Treaty of Greenwich on 15 December 1543.David M. Head, "Henry VIII's Scottish Policy: A Reassessment", Scottish Historical Review, 61:171, Part 1 (April 1982), p. 21. The reason given was that English ships had attacked Scottish merchants.Margaret Sanderson, Cardinal of Scotland (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1986), pp. 175–176. On 20 December, war was declared in Edinburgh by the messenger Henry Ray, Berwick Pursuivant.Marcus Merriman, Rough Wooings (Tuckwell, 2000), p. 137. Henry VIII released some Scottish noblemen who had been captured at the Battle of Solway Moss on licence, hoping they would build consensus for the royal marriage. In March 1544, Henry sent Richmond Herald to the Privy Council of Scotland to demand their return.
Major hostilities began with an attack on Edinburgh on 3 May 1544, led by the Earl of Hertford and Viscount Lisle.Marcus Merriman, Rough Wooings (Tuckwell, 2000), p. 145. Hertford had instructions to burn Edinburgh and issue Henry's proclamation of 24 March 1544, which laid the blame on Cardinal Beaton's "sinister enticement" of Regent Arran.Letters & Papers of Henry VIII, 19:1 (London, 1903), nos. 319, 348, 389. Hertford considered establishing an English garrison at Leith but the English Privy Council vetoed this plan. Henry VIII also asked him to destroy St Andrews, but Hertford pointed out the extra distance would be troublesome. After burning St Monans on the north side of the Firth of Forth and taking fishing boats for landing-craft, the English army landed at Granton, then occupied Leith.Margaret Sanderson, Cardinal of Scotland (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1986), p. 182: The Late Expedition in Scotland, 1544 (London, 1544), reprinted in Tudor Tracts (London, 1903) 41, 44: Joseph Stevenson, The History of Mary Stewart by Claude Nau (Edinburgh, 1883), pp. 318, 338–339. Hertford parleyed with Adam Otterburn, the Provost of Edinburgh, but he had been instructed not to make terms or accept a surrender. The next day the troops entered Edinburgh's Canongate, and set the city on fire. Edinburgh Castle was defended by cannon fire commanding the Royal Mile. Hertford decided not to lay siege but thoroughly burn the city. According to the English contemporary account, all the houses within the suburbs and city walls were burnt including Holyroodhouse and the Abbey. The English ships at Leith were loaded with looted goods and sailed with the captured Unicorn and Salamander. The army returned to England by land, burning towns and villages along the way.Richard Grafton, A Chronicle at Large, 1569, vol. 2 (London, 1809), pp. 490–491: Expedition into Scotland (London, 1544).
Soon after the English force had landed, Regent Arran released the Earl of Angus and George Douglas of Pittendreich who had been imprisoned in Blackness Castle. Although they had been supporters of the English marriage, Arran now needed the support of Clan Douglas against an English invasion. Following this attack, Sir William Eure and Ralph Eure made raids across the border from Berwick upon Tweed, burning houses and buying the loyalty of Scots who became "assured men".Marcus H. Merriman, 'The Assured Scots: Scottish Collaborators with England during the Rough Wooing', Scottish Historical Review, 47:143 (1) (April 1968), pp. 10-34.
Arran's power struggle against Mary of Guise led to internal conflicts. In September 1544, John, 5th Lord Borthwick, an ally of Arran, was captured and held at Dalkeith Castle by George Douglas. His wife, Isobel Lindsay, Lady Borthwick, invited Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell to Borthwick Castle and imprisoned him there until her husband was released in an exchange. A spy told William Eure that Bothwell came to the castle because "the Lady Borthwick is fair, he came to her for love, but she made him to be handled and kept". Thomas Wharton heard that Bothwell was invited to a newly-built lodging outside the castle, where he was taken by Gavin Borthwick.Rosalind K. Marshall, Mary of Guise (Collins, 1977), p. 152: Joseph Bain, Hamilton Papers, 2 (Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 466, 469–470.
Against these English invasions, the Scots won a victory at the Battle of Ancrum Moor in February 1545.Paterson, pp. 182–184 Scotland was included in the Treaty of Camp, or Treaty of Ardres, of 6 June 1546, which concluded the Italian War of 1542–1546. This brought 18 months of peace between England and Scotland.Marcus Merriman, Rough Wooings (Tuckwell, 2000), pp. 163, 195–201. In May 1546, Fife lairds had murdered the Francophile Cardinal Beaton at St Andrews Castle. These Protestant lairds became known as the Castilians, and garrisoned the castle against Regent Arran, hoping for English military support.Elizabeth Bonner, 'The Recovery of St Andrews Castle in 1547: French Naval Policy and Diplomacy in the British Isles', English Historical Review (1996).
Pinkie to the peace Henry VIII died in January 1547 and the war continued under the Lord Protector Somerset for Edward VI. A Scottish diplomat in London, Adam Otterburn, described new preparations for war against the Scots.David Caldwell, Vicky Oleksy, Bess Rhodes, The Battle of Pinkie, 1547 (Oxbow, 2023), pp. 16–20, 24. The English had established a fort at Langholm in the Scottish borders; unable to secure its return by diplomacy, Regent Arran reduced it by force on 17 July 1547 following an unsuccessful attempt in June. At the same time, a French naval force took St Andrews Castle from the Castilians.Merriman, Marcus, The Rough Wooings (Tuckwell, 2000), pp. 221–229. On 24 July Arran ordered seven signal beacons to be prepared to warn of an expected English invasion by sea. The first was at St Abb's Head, the second at Dowhill near Fast Castle, next on the Doun Law near Spott, North Berwick Law, 'Dounprenderlaw', at Arthur's Seat or Edinburgh Castle, and at 'Binning's Craig' near Linlithgow. The keepers of these 'bailes' were instructed to have horsemen ready to carry news of the invasion to the next beacon if it came in daylight. The towns of Lothian, the borders and the Forth valley were ordered to ensure that all men between sixty and sixteen living in sight of the beacons were ready to respond to the signal.John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 73–75.