Five Hundred Years

Today the news was full of stories about the commemoration of the five hundredth anniversary of the battle of Flodden. Interested to see that the casualty figures given made no reference to the alternative view that proposes that the numbers killed on the Scottish side were perhaps only a fifth of the 10,000 dead claimed in many places. Apparently the primary source for the higher figure also claimed that the Scottish army numbered 80,000. A figure largely accepted as a considerable overestimate considering that the total Scottish population at the time was probably only 500,000. Most historians now think the Scottish army was less than 30,000. But the inflated casualty figures seem to be regularly trotted out - like right now on Newsnight Scotland. What seems clear is that many of the nobles of Scotland, including the king, James IV, were killed in the battle. Did their deaths lead to an extrapolation that assumed many commoners must have died with them? Whereas the king and his nobles were fighting on foot, at the front of their army, and therefore perhaps suffered disproportionately. I'm not saying I know that the numbers are over-estimated but I'd just like a bit more balance in reporting the range of casualties as between 2000-12000. There is no denying the cultural impact of the battle - remembered in the lament The Flowers of the Forest. And that in turn is mentioned in the modern folk song No Man's Land by Eric Bogle.
Edinburgh was worried after the battle, allegedly leading to the building of the Flodden Wall shown here (although there is also debate about that).
Oh, and football was very good tonight - once again a no-show meant the sides were uneven. I was on the understrength six and to start with it looked like the seven were going to buck the trend and use the extra man to win comfortably. But we kept plugging away. I was playing up front, chasing and harrying, holding the ball up for team-mates to make an attack, sending in crosses. My favourite sort of game. Even if I say so myself, my corners were particularly effective and I took great pleasure in crossing the ball in for several goals. I then put away a rebound and scored a breakaway goal in a one-on-one with the keeper. Most satisfying was a series of one-twos down the wing with I. His final return pass to me was actually headed for the goal so rather than take his goal I just made sure it went in without anyone stopping it. And I scored the final equaliser when I redirected a slightly wayward shot into the roof of the net. A good game.