The Battle of Flodden or Flodden Field was fought in the county of Northumberland, in northern England on September 9, 1513, between an invading Scots army under King James IV and an English army commanded by Thomas Howard. It ended in a bloody defeat for the Scots.

This conflict began when King James declared war on England, to honour the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France; namely, to divert Henry VIII's English troops from their campaign against the French king Louis XII.

King James IV, many of his nobles, and over 10,000 Scottish men were killed. The English losses are estimated at between 1,500 and 4,000.

There was not a noble family in Scotland who did not lose at least someone at Flodden. They and the other dead are remembered by the pipe tune `The Flowers of the Forest';
We'll here nae mair lilting at our ewe milking,
Women and bairns are heartless and wae,
Sighing and moaning on a ilka green loaning,
The flowers of the forest are a wede away.

or in modern English:
I've heard the singing, at the ewe-milking,
Lasses a-singing before dawn of the day;
But now they are moaning on every milking-green;
"The Flowers of the Forest are all withered away".