Qualla: Battle of Homildon Hill https://qualla.com/battle-of-homildon-hill en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:24 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Battle of Homildon Hill https://qualla.com/battle-of-homildon-hill Battle of Homildon Hill: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-homildon-hill/ A hundred Scottish men-at-arms stood on Homildon Hill, watching arrows fall on their comrades like hail, and made a choice. Sir John Swinton spoke for them: "Better to die in the mellay than be shot down like deer." They charged downhill into the English line. None survived. The rest of the Scottish army held its formation, stood under the arrows, and broke apart anyway. By the end of 14 September 1402, Archibald, Earl of Douglas, lay wounded and captive, an eye gone, his three-year armour useless against an English bowman with a yew stave. Shakespeare would put this battle in the opening scene of Henry IV, Part 1.

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/y/s/battle-of-homildon-hill-wp/gcys-battle-of-homildon-hill-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Homildon Hill: The Border in 1402 https://qualla.com/battle-of-homildon-hill/ The Truce of Leulinghem was unravelling, and along the Anglo-Scottish frontier both sides had returned to the old habit of raiding. In June, the English-aligned George Dunbar caught a Scots raiding party at Nesbit Moor and gave no quarter. Archibald Douglas, fourth Earl of Dougla...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/y/s/battle-of-homildon-hill-wp/gcys-battle-of-homildon-hill-the-border-in-1402.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Homildon Hill: The Hill https://qualla.com/battle-of-homildon-hill/ When the English rushed Douglas's camp at Milfield, Scottish sentries gave enough warning. The army withdrew to higher ground on Homildon Hill, the modern Humbleton, and formed into schiltrons - the dense pike-and-spear hedgehog formations that had served Scotland for generations...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/y/s/battle-of-homildon-hill-wp/gcys-battle-of-homildon-hill-the-hill.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Homildon Hill: Swinton's Charge https://qualla.com/battle-of-homildon-hill/ Sir John Swinton of that Ilk could see what was happening and what would happen next. He gathered a hundred men and made the only decision left to him. They drew their swords and ran downhill into the English archers and men-at-arms, and they were cut down to a man. The chronicle...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/y/s/battle-of-homildon-hill-wp/gcys-battle-of-homildon-hill-swintons-charge.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Homildon Hill: The King Who Kept the Prisoners https://qualla.com/battle-of-homildon-hill/ Henry IV refused to let the Percys ransom their prisoners. Ransoms were how medieval war paid for itself, and the Percys had captured a king's worth of Scottish nobility. Henry's logic was straightforward: he did not want experienced Scottish commanders returning home to fight hi...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/y/s/battle-of-homildon-hill-wp/gcys-battle-of-homildon-hill-the-king-who-kept-the-prisoners.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Homildon Hill: The Field Today https://qualla.com/battle-of-homildon-hill/ Humbleton Hill rises above the small Northumbrian village of Wooler, inside the Northumberland National Park. The summit holds an Iron Age hillfort built fifteen hundred years before Douglas and Hotspur fought below it - the medieval combatants would have looked up at ruins alrea...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/y/s/battle-of-homildon-hill-wp/gcys-battle-of-homildon-hill-the-field-today.mp3 0:06 6 full