OTTER BURN

BATTLE OF.—Fought, July 31st, 1388. The following is a graphic account of this engagement:— “One of the Scotch inroads into England, in the time of Robert II, led to the famous battle of Otter burn, or “Chevy Chase.” This was considered, by the judges of fighting in those days, to have been the best fought, and, for the numbers engaged, the most severe of all the battles of that age. There was not a man, knight or squire, that did not acquit himself gallantly, fighting hand to hand with his enemy. It was about the time of Lammas, when the moor men were busy with their hay harvest, that the Earl of Douglas rode into England to drive a prey. The warders on the walls of Newcastle and Durham saw, rising in all directions, thick columns of smoke. This was the first intimation of the presence of the Scots. In their return homeward they halted three days before Newcastle, where they kept up an almost continual skirmish. The Earl of Douglas had a long combat with Sir Henry Percy, and took his pennon. “Hotspur, I will carry this pennon into Scotland,” said the Douglas, “and fix it on the tower of my castle of Dalkeith, that it may be seen from far.” “That shall you never, Earl of Douglas,” said Hotspur; “be a ured you shall never have this pennon to boast of.” “I will fix your pennon before my tent,” said Douglas, “and shall see if you will venture to take it away.” The Scots resumed their march homeward. They encamped at Otter burn, “upon the bent so brown,” and Douglas declared his resolution to wait there for two or three days, and see if the Percy would come to recover his pennon. On the evening of the second day the Scots were supping, some, indeed, had gone to sleep, when a loud shout of “Percy! Percy!” was heard, and the English were upon them. It was a sweet moonlight evening in August, clear and bright, and the breeze blew soft and fresh. The Scots, though somewhat taken by surprise, rose to the fight cool and “siccar,” as at Bannock burn itself. The lances cro ed, and many on both sides went down at the first shock. Douglas, shouting his war cry, ordered his banner to advance. Percy, eager to encounter the Douglas, advanced his banner also. The two banners met, and many valiant deeds of arms were done around them. But the English were three to one, and the Scots were beginning to be forced back. Seeing this, the Earl of Douglas seized a battle-axe with both hands and dashed into the midst of the enemy, his men following close. He struck right and left, and cut a lane deep into the battalion of the English. At last three spears were thrust against him all at once. One struck him on the shoulder, one on the breast, and the stroke glanced off his armour down into his groin; the third struck him in the thigh. With these three strokes he was borne to the earth, and as soon as he fell a battle-axe hewed deep into his head. The English marched over him without knowing who he was. Sir John Sinclair, cousin to the Earl, knelt beside him, supported his bloody head, and asked, “Cousin, how fares it with you?” “Indifferently,” said he. “Thanks be to God, there are but few of my ancestors who have died in their beds. I bid you revenge my death, for my heart grows every moment more faint. Lift up my banner, which is on the ground, from the death of the valiant squire who bore it. Shout ‘Douglas!’ and tell neither friend nor foe but what I am with you.” Having spoken thus he expired. His orders were obeyed. They cast a mantle over his body, took his banner from the dead hand of the squire, raised it, and shouted, “Douglas!” The Scots came thronging up to the cry. They levelled their lances, and pushed with such courage that the English were soon driven beyond the spot where the Douglas lay. Again the shout of “Douglas!” rose more vehement and loud. The Scots in a dense ma renewed the onset, bore the enemy before them, and broke them so completely that they never rallied again. Percy himself was made prisoner. He and his pennon, too, had to go to Scotland. Thus the dead Douglas won the field. The Scots laid the body of their leader in a coffin, which they placed on a car, and began their march home. They came without interruption to Melrose, and there, in the fair abbey, the Douglas was laid. The banner, about which his dying charge had been given at Otter burn, was hung above the place of the warrior’s rest.”