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Edinburgh in 1544 121
two days later letters were sent to all the towns on the south
coast of the Firth, charging the inhabitants thereof { to mak
fowseis (or trenches) for resisting the Englishe mennis navye under
'
the paine of tinsall of all their gudis
ist of May, the very day of the embarkation at Tynemouth,
summonses were sent through Fife, Forfar, Kincardine, Stirling,
Clackmannan, and Kinross, '
all charging manner of men between
sixty and sixteen to meet my lord Governor upon the Burgh
Muir of Edinburgh the fifth day of May, to pas upon the
Inglische men.'
; and later still, on the
This was all too late : on the 3rd of May the English fleet
arrived in the Firth. They dropped anchor opposite the Isle of
May, landed a strong party, and burned the tower of St.
Monans, partly destroying the beautiful church which had been
founded by David II. in 1362 as a
thankoffering
for having
been freed from a barbed arrow, according to one account, or
for his preservation from shipwreck, according to another. They
also took away with them some small boats which were of
service to them when they disembarked. Proceeding up the Firth
they came to anchor in the lee of Inchkeith.
It is difficult to understand how the Governor and Beaton
did not use every endeavour to dispute the landing of the English
troops. But this chance was not taken advantage of; indeed
not a
single
effort in this direction seems to have been made,
and the English army, early in the morning of the 4th of May,
was disembarked and safely landed in the short space of four
hours on the coast of Wardie, a little to the east of Granton.
The force formed itself into three divisions, and had with them
some small pieces of artillery drawn by men, the larger guns
being left to be landed later. The first division was under the
command of Lord Lisle, the Lord High Admiral of England,
the second was led by Hertford himself, while the rear guard was
brought up by the Earl of Shrewsbury. They came to the
little estuary of the water of Leith, and there they found their
to a con-
progress barred by the Governor with, according
temporary English account written to Lord Russell by one of
the combatants, five or six thousand horsemen, besides some
infantry and some pieces of artillery.
It is doubtful whether
the Scottish forces really amounted to so large a number. Be
that as it may, they did not distinguish themselves, and the
whole engagement seems to have been mismanaged by the Scottish
leaders. After a few exchanges of artillery fire the Scots broke