Scotland could make any progress in the siege, the whole power of the north was united against him, under the Earl of Albemarle, and several other nobles.  Archbishop Thurstan happening to fall sick, could not go in person to the army, but sent the Bishop of Durham in his stead; by whose encouragements the English, although in number far inferior, advanced boldly towards the enemy, and offered them battle, which was as readily accepted by the Scots, who, sending out a party of horse to secure the rising ground, were immediately attacked by the English, and, after a sharp dispute, entirely defeated.  In the heat of the battle the King of Scots, and his son Henry Earl of Huntingdon, gave many proofs of great personal valour.  The young prince fell with such fierceness upon a body of the English, that he utterly broke and dispersed them; and was pursuing his victory, when a certain man, bearing aloft the head of an enemy he had cut off, cried out, It was the head of the Scottish King, which being heard and believed on both sides, the English, who had lately fled, rallied again, assaulting their enemies with new vigour; the Scots, on the other side, discouraged by the supposed death of their Prince, began to turn their backs:  the King and his son used all endeavours to stop their flight, and made several brave stands against the enemy; but the greatest part of their army being fled, and themselves almost encompassed, they were forced to give way to fortune, and with much difficulty made their escape.

The loss on the English side was inconsiderable; but of Scots, by general consent of writers, ten thousand were slain.  And thus ended the War of the Standard, as it was usually called by the authors of that age, because the English, upon a certain engine, raised the mast of a ship, on the top whereof, in a silver box, they put the consecrated wafer, and fastened the standards of St. Peter and other saints:  this gave them courage, by remembering they were to fight in the presence of God; and served likewise for a mark where to reassemble when they should happen to be dispersed by any accident or misfortune.

  1139

Mean time the King was equally successful against his rebellious lords at home, having taken most of their castles and strong-holds; and the Earl of Gloucester himself, no longer able to make any resistance, withdrew into Normandy, to concert new measures with the Empress his sister.  Thus the King had leisure and opportunity for another expedition into Scotland, to pursue and improve his victory, where he met with no opposition:  however, he was at length persuaded with much difficulty to accept his own conditions of a peace; and David delivered up to him his eldest son Henry, as hostage for performance of articles between them.

The King, in his return homeward, laid siege to Ludlow Castle, which had not been reduced with the rest:  here Prince Henry of Scotland, boiling with youth and valour, and exposing his person upon all occasions, was lifted from his horse by an iron grapple let down from the wall, and would have been hoisted up into the castle, if the King had not immediately flown to his assistance, and brought him off with his own hands by main force from the enemy, whom he soon compelled to surrender the castle.