border clans, ready to fight on that side where there was the best prospect of booty, entered into the service of England; others, who were more patriotic, were compelled to purchase protection; and the English wardens became so confident that all Scotland to the Forth might be subdued, almost without a struggle, that Sir Ralph Eure and Sir Brian Layton hastened to Court and laid their views before the king. Henry was only too ready to punish still further the stubborn Scots, and, as an incentive to Eure, he granted him all the lands he should conquer in the Morse, Teviotdale, and Lauderdale—districts which were the old hereditary property of the Douglases. Angus heard of this free grant of his patrimony with such indignation, that he vowed he would write his "sasine," or instrument of possession, on his skin with sharp pens and bloody ink, if he dared touch it. Sir Ralph Eure, however, recked little of his threat. He straightway crossed the borders with 5,000 men, consisting of foreign mercenaries, English archers, and 600 border Scots, who wore the red cross of England over their armour. They tracked their way in barbarities still more savage than before. They burnt the tower of Broomhouse, and in it a noble and aged matron, its mistress, with her whole family. They wrecked and desolated the celebrated abbey of Melrose, plundering it, and reducing it to ruins, ransacking and defacing the tombs of the Douglases.
Angus rushed on in the spirit of his vow to meet these marauders, and came up with them in the midst of their destruction of the tombs of his ancestors; but, so far from writing Euro's "sasine" on his back, he was repulsed with great slaughter; and with Arran, the governor, who accompanied him, saw the ruthless foe complete their sacrilegious havoc, and commence their march to Jedburgh, without any forces to prevent them. Angus and Arran, however, hung on the rear of the retreating army, heavy with plunder, and saw Eure, confident of his superior strength, encamp on a moor above the village of Ancram, on the Teviot. The Scotch posted themselves on a neighbouring eminence, and to their great joy beheld Norman Leslie, the Master of Rothes, arrive at the head of 1,200 lances, and directly after, Sir Walter Scott, the old Laird of Buccleuch, gallop up, announcing his followers to be within an hour's march.
Thus strengthened, they resolved to give battle; but, to deceive the enemy, Buccleuch advised Arran to quit the height where he was posted, and retire to a level plain in its rear, called Peniel Heugh, as if they were about to retreat. They then dismounted, and sent their horses in the cave of the camp-boys to a hill beyond the plain. The English commanders fell into the snare laid for them. Their successes had made them careless, and they galloped forward to pursue the flying enemy. On reaching the brow of the hill, however, they saw with astonishment, not an army in retreat, but drawn up for battle, almost face to face with them. They were thrown into some disorder by their rapid advance up the hill, and their horses were blown; but, relying on their superiority, they dashed forward, and charged the foe. The Scots, who had the sun and wind on their backs, and burned with the sense of a thousand injuries unavenged, stood the shock bravely, and the battle became furious. The superior length of the Scottish spears gave them a decided advantage. Bowes and Layton were pushed back on the main body, and threw it into confusion, and that again disordered the rear. The setting sun blinded the English, and the smoke from the arquebuses of their enemies was blown in their faces. They gave way; and, on the very first symptom of flight, the 600 Scottish borderers tore off their red crosses, joined their countrymen, and made a terrible carnage amongst their late comrades. The neighbouring peasantry soon joined in the chase, animated by the spirit of a natural revenge, and the cry of "Remember Broomhouse!" rang over the field, the women being the most frantic in the exclamation. Eure and Layton, who for six months had kept the whole border country in terror, and had perpetrated the most merciless atrocities, were, to the great exultation of the people, found dead upon the field. Many knights and gentlemen were taken prisoners; and Arran, seizing the camp equipage and the enormous booty, marched on Coldingham and Jedburgh, which surrendered; and he soon saw the whole southern district freed of the enemy.
The anger of Henry VIII. may be imagined on the receipt of this news. He vowed especial vengeance on Angus, who had so long been his obsequious tool; but that chief having now executed his vow not only on Eure but on Layton, exclaimed proudly, "What! does my royal brother-in-law feel offended, because, like a good Scotsman, I have avenged upon Ralph Eure the defaced tombs of my ancestors? They were better men than he, and I ought to have done no less; and will he take my life for that? Little knows King Henry the skirts of Kernetable; I can keep myself there against all his English host."
Francis I. could not rest satisfied so long as Boulogne was in the hands of the English, and he resolved, in 1545, to make a grand effort, to recover not only that town but Calais, which had been for centuries in the possession of England. Large galleys wore built at Rouen, and as many vessels were collected as possible from Marseilles and other ports in the Mediterranean for this enterprise. He hired soldiers from the Venetian and other Italian States, and he determined to send a body of troops to Scotland to assist in making a diversion in that country. But he was not contented with endeavouring to regain his own towns; his coasts had often been harassed by the English vessels, and he now ventured to carry the war to Henry's own shores. Henry, aware of his intentions, raised fortifications on the banks of the Thames, and along the shores of Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire. The French fleet, consisting of 130 sail, under the command of Annebaut, set sail on the I6th of July, and fell down the Channel. Francis flattered himself that he could seize the Isle of Wight, and perhaps maintain garrisons there, if he should not be able to get possession of Portsmouth. Henry had himself proceeded to Portsmouth, where he had sixty ships lying, under the command of Lord Lisle. The French fleet sailed into the Solent, and anchored at St. Helen's. The sea being very calm, the French admiral put out his flat-bottomed boats and galleys that drew little water, and sailed into the very mouth of Portsmouth Harbour, daring the English admiral to come out. But Henry commanded Lord Lisle to lie still, and Annebaut, firing into the port, sunk the Mary Rose with her commander, Sir George Carew, and 700 men. On
