Dr Iain MacInnes - Return of the Scots: Impact of Scottish Raiding of Northern England -1330s +1340s

The impact and legacy of Scottish raiding on Northern England during the First Scottish War of Independence (1296-1328) has been the subject of significant study. English evidence provides detailed accounts of the extent of these raids, the amounts of money and goods taken, and the impact such raids had on the economy and society of the region. Considerably less analysis has focused, however, on the raids undertaken by Scottish commanders during the next phase of conflict (1332-1357) in the later 1330s and 1340s. In part this is because of the disastrous (for the Scots) Neville’s Cross campaign (1346) which affects the perception of this period of warfare. Moreover, the short duration of this raiding phase has ensured it remains less understood. However, these raids deserve re-examination to better appreciate the nature, extent and impact of these attacks on the English countryside during a period when English focus was increasingly drawn towards France. This paper will therefore consider these raids in order to analyse the extent to which the English north returned to the bad old days of the 1310s and 1320s, or if England was better prepared, and better defended, in this later period.