Scottish Blog

The Battle of Otterburn was a battle fought between the English and the Scottish in 1388.

The Battle of Otteburn took place in the year 1388, at a time of great unrest and constant border fighting between Scotland and England. The exact date that the battle took place is disputed by the both sides, while the English contest that the battle was fought on the 19th of August, the Scottish believe the date to be the 5th of August.

The Battle of Otterburn occurred near the valley of Rede, at the place called Otterburn, near the village of Ponteland and the Otterburn tower. It was the resting place of the Scottish army led by James Douglas, the 2nd Earl of Douglas, after he led a raid on the English port of Newcastle.

The Battle of Otterburn began when the English armies, led by Henry Percy, that were pursuing the Scottish forces came upon the Scottish resting place. As the Scottish leader was confident that the English would not pursue, posted no sentries around his forces. Subsequently as the English discovered the resting army they attacked, hoping to capitalize on the element of surprise that such an attack would entail.

Although by all records the Battle of Otterburn began with the Scottish in a mass of confusion with many men not having time enough to either arm themselves with weapons or even don their armor, it was still a victory for the Scottish. It is thought that this was primarily due to the poor visibility of the battlefield due to the hills and setting sun, in fact part of the battle was actually fought under moonlight, not allowing the English to fully utilize their longbows.

In amidst the Battle of Otterburn the Scottish leader, James Douglas, was killed. As he was stripped of his armor, he had no distinguishing symbols on him and his army was unaware of his death until the next morning. Even with the loss of their leader and being initially outnumbered by 2000 men (the Scottish had 6000 soldiers), the Scottish still won. The English suffered almost one and a half thousand death, captures and wounds.