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From: "Janice Walker" <>
Subject: [FOLKLORE-L] Origin of Flowers of The Forest
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 22:51:58 -0500

On Friday, September 9, 1513, the Battle of Flodden Hill was
fought by English and Scottish armies in Northumberland, the
northernmost county of England, near what is now Berwick
and Tweed.

Scotland's King James IV had agreed to create a diversion for
Louis XII of France who was at war with England's King Henry VIII.
France sent 5,000 troops to Scotland to assist.

It was a grand battle, marked with bravery and valour on both sides.
The Scots lost, but even to this day, the songs and traditions of
Scotland recall that terrible contest unsullied by disgrace, even
though it terminated in disaster and defeat.

Killed at Flodden Hill were King James IV; the son of the Archbishop
of St. Andrews; two bishops; ten abbotts; twelve Earls; fifteen Lords;
fifteen Knights; twenty-five gentlemen heads of families of note; and
sons and sires of every good family in the land. Scarcely a Scottish
community was spared. More than 12,000 Scots were lost in
battle and many family lines ended. The English did not capitalize
on their victory. Severely battered, they withdrew.

A poem describing the event was written by Jane Elliot, witness to
the battle's aftermath. The first verse is as follows:

I've heard them lilting at the ewe-milking,
lassies a 'lilting before dawn of day;
But no they're a-moaning on ilka green loaning*
The Flowers of the Forest are a'wede**away.

*=(every green path to pasture)
**=(all withered)

Thus it persists that when Scots conduct a memorial, the
honored dead are often remembered as the Flowers of the
Forest.

>From a church service program at Salado, TX., by Rev. Paul Allen

Janice

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• [FOLKLORE-L] Origin of Flowers of The Forest by "Janice Walker" <>