‘Naked and Unarmoured’: A Reassessment of the Role of the Galwegians at the Battle of the Standard
By Ronan Toolis
Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, Third Series, Volume 78 (2004)
Introduction: And the column of Galwegians after their custom gave vent thrice to a yell of horrible sound and attacked the southerns in such an onslaught that they compelled the first spearmen to forsake their post, but they were driven off again by the strength of the knights…the southern flies swarmed forth from the caves of their quivers and flew like closest rain…like a hedgehog with its quills, so you would see a Galwegian bristling all round with arrows and none the less brandishing his sword and in blind madness rushing forward now smite a foe, now lash the air with useless strokes…then the Galwegians could sustain no longer the shower of arrows, the swords of the knights and took to flight after two of their leaders had been slain. ~ Ailred of Rievaulx
Accounts of the Battle of the Standard, fought in 1138 between the army of David I, King of Scots and the northern English forces rallied by Thurstan, Archbishop of York, have unvaryingly placed the blame for the Scottish defeat on David’s Galwegian warriors who, against armoured English ranks, fled in confusion. Medieval chroniclers such as Ailred of Rievaulx, Richard of Hexham, Henry of Huntingdon, John of Hexham and John of Worcester all stressed the ineptitude of the Galwegians during the battle, culminating in the rout and defeat of the entire Scottish army. Although the Galwegians’ role in David’s campaign has been reviewed with more insight by some the traditional Anglo-Norman interpretation of events is still widely accepted. However, as no Galwegian account of the battle survives (or indeed was probably ever written), one cannot help but maintain a sense of scepticism for what has been argued was part of a deliberate campaign of Anglo-Norman propaganda created with the intent of discrediting the customs, people and leaders of Galloway during the twelfth century.
While the apparent Galwegian debacle at the Battle of the Standard has become a classic example of victorious new feudal military technology over an old fashioned ‘tribal’ style of warfare, there are grounds, based on the varying twelfth century accounts of the battle and what is known of the competing Celtic and Anglo-Norman cultures of the British Isles, to question this view. Indeed, it is possible, as will be set out below, to argue that it was not the Galwegians’ failure but rather the failure of David’s Anglo-Norman retinues that resulted in the Scottish retreat from the battlefield.
Click here to read this article from the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society
‘Naked and Unarmoured’: A Reassessment of the Role of the Galwegians at the Battle of the Standard
By Ronan Toolis
Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, Third Series, Volume 78 (2004)
Introduction: And the column of Galwegians after their custom gave vent thrice to a yell of horrible sound and attacked the southerns in such an onslaught that they compelled the first spearmen to forsake their post, but they were driven off again by the strength of the knights…the southern flies swarmed forth from the caves of their quivers and flew like closest rain…like a hedgehog with its quills, so you would see a Galwegian bristling all round with arrows and none the less brandishing his sword and in blind madness rushing forward now smite a foe, now lash the air with useless strokes…then the Galwegians could sustain no longer the shower of arrows, the swords of the knights and took to flight after two of their leaders had been slain. ~ Ailred of Rievaulx
Accounts of the Battle of the Standard, fought in 1138 between the army of David I, King of Scots and the northern English forces rallied by Thurstan, Archbishop of York, have unvaryingly placed the blame for the Scottish defeat on David’s Galwegian warriors who, against armoured English ranks, fled in confusion. Medieval chroniclers such as Ailred of Rievaulx, Richard of Hexham, Henry of Huntingdon, John of Hexham and John of Worcester all stressed the ineptitude of the Galwegians during the battle, culminating in the rout and defeat of the entire Scottish army. Although the Galwegians’ role in David’s campaign has been reviewed with more insight by some the traditional Anglo-Norman interpretation of events is still widely accepted. However, as no Galwegian account of the battle survives (or indeed was probably ever written), one cannot help but maintain a sense of scepticism for what has been argued was part of a deliberate campaign of Anglo-Norman propaganda created with the intent of discrediting the customs, people and leaders of Galloway during the twelfth century.
Click here to read this article from the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society
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