The Battle of Flodden Field, 1513.

“The Battle of Flodden Field was a battle fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, resulting in an English victory. The battle was fought in Branxton in the county of Northumberland in northern England, between an invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by the Earl of Surrey. In terms of troop numbers, it was the largest battle fought between the two kingdoms. James IV was killed in the battle, becoming the last monarch from the British Isles to die in battle.”

Kings anxious and ambitious for their dynasties, wealthy landowners wanting more, and churchmen in search of greater glory for their god; these were the dynamics of national confrontation, the forces which brought armies to battlefields, the interests that stood to gain from victory. Steel was sharpened and heads broken for the benefit of tiny groups of privileged people.