There wew two varieties of Scottish Kings: those who were crowned
as infants and those who ascended the throne as relatively elderly
men. The first Stuart king, Robert II, fell into the latter
category, ascending the throne aged 54 in 1371 upon the death of
King David II. Robert's priority was to secure the succession for
his eldest son, in doing so he renewed the alliance with France,
and that meant only one thing - war with England.
The hostilities between England & Scotland lead to a lawless
zone along the frontier - so that raid & counter-raid could be
carried on without causing any 'problems' to either Crown.
Richard II of England was more than happy for the House of Percy
to represent his interests (and bear the expense) in the border
area, very much as the Clan Douglas was encouraged to do on the
Scottish side of the border by Robert II.
In 1385, the Scots appeared to be on the back foot so the French
sent a number of knights and supplies to bolster the flagging
Scots. The Scots did not welcome the French as expected, and their
style of warfare was much different to the 'ethical' style pursued
accoring to the French code of chivalry. When the French returned
home, having been treated poorly by the Scots throughout their
stay, they were no doubt amazed to receive a bill for the cost of
their food & lodgings.
Low-level hostilities continued until Summer 1388, when James,
2nd Earl Douglas, amassed an army in Jedforest just on the Scottish
side of the border. Douglas' plan of campaign was much assisted by
the capture of an informant, who revealed that whichever route to
England Douglas didn't take to invade England (Liddesdale or
Redesdale), the English would counterattack along it.
Douglas accordingly divided his army and sent the larger part
via Liddesdale toward Carlisle under the control of Sir William
Douglas, and took his own command of around 6,000 down Redesdale
toward Newcastle.
The "Redesdale" raid proved to be a great success (for the
Scots) with his compact army crossing the Tyne at Corbridge and
reaching as far south as Brancepeth near Durham City. A few days
later (after the customary pillaging) the Earl returned northwards
pausing only to attack the city of Newcastle.
Newcastle was stoutly defended by Henry (Hotspur) Percy &
Sir Ralph Percy (Henry's brother), and Douglas withdrew having
captured Hotspur's standard. With this prize Douglas set off for
the border only halting briefly to sack the pele tower at
Ponteland. The evening of August 18th 1388 found Douglas camped at
Greenchesters - about a mile from present day Otterburn.
Hotspur must have been well informed of the movements &
whereabouts of the invasion force, because on August 19th - in the
early afternoon, he left the gates of Newcastle at the head of a
force of around 8,000 men including his brother - Sir Ralph, Sir
Robert & Sir Thomas Umfraville and Sir Thomas Gray. A forced
march of 32 miles brought them to the Scottish camp near
Otterburn
Hotspur arrived on the scene toward evening on August 19th. A
detachment under Umfravilles' command was ordered to work it's way
around to the north of the Scottish postion, while Hotspur with the
main body made a frontal assault. To his consternation he found
himself to be attacking a campsite of servants, attendants and camp
followers. Douglas, it was afterwards suspected, had planted them
in the direct (and only) line of approach to that in the event of
attack, his fighting men had time to don their armour and not be
caught unawares.
This plan worked, because with the English busily slaughtering
the non-combattants, the Scottish knights readied themselves for
combat.
Douglas and his forces took to the high ground, north of his
camp, and missing the Umfravilles (who had taken too wide a sweep),
he managed to manoeuvre into a postion where he could attack
Percy's right flank. The tired and hungry English, weakened by a
forced march were pushed back towards Otterburn.
By this time the Umfravilles had arrived in the camp and found
it almost completely deserted. Their cause not being assisted at
all by the fact that night had fallen and the moonlight being
partially obscured.
Eventually the Umfraville force joined with the Percy force
again and a charge was mounted on the Douglas standard. Hotspur
fought his way toward it believing that to be the place most likely
to find Douglas himself.
Legend has it that Hotspur slew Douglas with his own hand.
However both Hotspur and his borther, Sir Ralph, were captured and
according to the Scots, Hotspur was persuaded to surrender to a
bush behind which the corpse of Douglas lay.
The cross you see today is neither the original monumnet nor in
it's original location. It stands around 200 yards from it's
original position and was rebuilt in the 1770s when the Redewater
Turnpike (now the A696 that you see today) was built.