The Battle of Ancrum Moor was fought during the War of the Rough Wooing in 1545. The Scottish victory put a temporary end to English incursions in the Scottish border and lowlands. The battlefield has been included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and protected by Historic Scotland under the Historic Environment (Amendment) Act 2011. Background As his reign drew to a close, King Henry VIII sought to secure the alliance of Scotland and the marriage of the infant Mary, Queen of Scots, to his son Edward. He had the support of some Scots nobles who had been taken prisoner at the Battle of Solway Moss and mixed diplomacy with the threat of force, but in December 1543, the Scottish Parliament, after much internal dissension, decided to reject Henry's overtures and instead renew the alliance with France. Campaign Henry's reaction was to declare war against Scotland. This attempt to cajole Scotland into alliance was another episode in England's long history of antagonism with her northern neighbour. Henry VIII desired a diplomatic marriage that would neutralise the effects of Scotland's own international relations on his borders. The war was later called the "Rough Wooing". Henry ordered the Earl of Hertford to devastate Edinburgh, Leith and many other towns. Hertford dutifully laid waste to much of southern Scotland in two expeditions in 1544, burning Edinburgh in May. In 1545, an army under Sir Ralph Eure (alternatively spelt "Evers") continued to pillage in the Borders. Perhaps their worst atrocity was the burning of Brumehous Tower with the lady of the house and her children and servants inside. The attacks had forged an unlikely alliance between the Earl of Arran, Regent for the infant Mary, and the Earl of Angus. These two Scottish nobles had long been bitter rivals for many years, and had even fought a pitched battle in the streets of Edinburgh in 1520. However, Angus's estates had been targeted during the recent border raids. Angus learned that Eure had been granted some of his lands in the Scottish borders by Henry VIII, and he declared that he would witness the title deeds with a sharp pen and red ink. Internal Scottish politics were set aside, Arran and his rival for power Mary of Guise were reconciled with the Earl of Angus and his brother George Douglas of Pittendreich at the Parliament of Scotland in December 1544, when the Douglases