James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran
On 23rd August 1548, Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury, arrived at the Siege of Haddington, in East Lothian, Scotland, with a large army.
The siege was actually part of a series of sieges at Haddington, which were all part of the Anglo-Scottish war known as the War of the Rough Wooing, so named because it was had been started in 1543 by Henry VIII in a bid to secure a marriage agreement between England and Scotland, between Prince Edward and Mary, Queen of Scots.
James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran and Regent of Scotland, had taken Haddington in September 1547, with the help of the French, but English troops led by William Grey, 13th Baron Grey de Wilton, and Sir Thomas Palmer took Haddington in February1548, and set about fortifying it. It came under heavy attack from French and Scots troops in July 1548, so English reinforcements became necessary. Shrewsbury’s arrival led to the French and Scottish armies abandoning the siege and moving to Edinburgh and Leith.
The English troops eventually withdrew in September 1549. They had used up their supplies and suffered heavy losses from the plague, and from attacks by the Scots.
Leave a Reply