The Battle of Neville's Cross | Hundred Years War [Episode 5] 

"This massive army, 30,000 men - is brought to a standstill with an argument between some of his noblemen" the way Kev said that makes me laugh lol

I could just listen to this guy telling stories for hours, these are all great videos, hope your having a wonderful day good sir

Slowly, but surely because of this series, Edward the third has become my favorite king

If ever there was someone who should write a book on the Hundred Years’ War, it’s this gentleman right here

Your channel is currently my favourite on RU-vid. I haven't ever been this captivated by learning about history, especially of this error. I wish my history teacher in high school had been as engaging as you are. Thank you very much for all of your great educational content.

My mother in law has vitiligo. Your channel is the highest quality in English/Scottish history period! Do not deviate from your path. We want more please! Do not concern yourself with petty things! Stay the course. We love your passion and your content.

He has a wonderful way of captivating you with his expressive way of talking . A very interesting chap indeed

That's a hell of a nickname😂 I mean David's. What a story!🤣

You know youre in for good fun when Kevin busts the landscapes, miniatures and maps out! 😎

This battle is the textbook example of "get them to attack you on ground of your choosing."

You have a real gift.The best story teller ever!

brilliant thinking and brilliant maneuvering by Edward with his defense force! this is why you always maintain a reserve force at home, even to this day 670 years later you’re a master storyteller, i’ve lost so many hours cross referencing places and generals mentioned by you that it’s embarrassing to think of the lack of knowledge that i had before listening to your stories

Really glad i found this video. I live 15 minutes from nevilles cross and was aware of the battle but knew nothing about it

This is absolutely mesmerising! Love it! I’m from Durham and very familiar with Neville’s Cross and didn’t even know this!! Love it! Keep it coming!

Kevin you are a true gent and a fantastic story teller!!!

"David the pooper"😅😂🤣😅😂🤣 It's safe to say you are far more of a gentleman than I am. If you weren’t a History teacher it was our education system's loss. I was completely enthralled all the way through, you put so much work into all these video and it’s truly appreciated.

I was not familiar with the battle, but your demonstration and description have been most useful in filling the gap in my knowledge. You bring history to life, Kevin, and I thank you for improving our education in such an interesting and entertaining manner.

I needed more teachers like you in school. Thank you for the great content.

Another excellent video, Sir! David II was told by the French that they would face only old men, monks and boys. He wasn't that daft though, and he waited until October, when the weather was turning. However, Edward had anticipated the French / Scottish move, and had sorted out a force ready to counter the threat. I'm lucky in that I actually live very close to Durham, and I often pass through Bearpark (or Beaurepair, as it was called then). Most of the battlefield has been built over, unfortunately, but you can still get to see where the English archers countered the Scots charge as it's still farmland. The English picked their terrain very well, giving them a massive advantage in keeping their bowmen hidden until the last moment, and once again the sheer power of the bow was shown. You can also see the bridge at Bearpark where reputedly David II was captured, allegedly betrayed by his own reflection in the waters of the river. Interestingly, the Prior of Durham Cathedral, Prior Fosser, also claimed he had a dream (AFTER the battle, of course!), wherein he had been told to take St Cuthbert's vestment and parade it, for, if he did so, the English army would be triumphant. He did so, taking his monks to maiden's tower (a hill which overlooked the battlefield) and there he waited until the end of the battle. So powerful a symbol did this become that the vestment was taken in the lead of every army against the Scots, and every time they did so, the English were victorious. So much did the hatred following the battle of Neville's Cross burn in the Scots, that when, much later in the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell housed the prisoners from the Battle of Dunbar in Durham Cathedral, they attempted to destroy the Neville's family tomb that lies within it. And of course, the Nevilles became famous for other reasons, with their descendant Richard Neville becoming, during the Wars of the Roses, the famous (and infamous) 'Warwick the Kingmaker'. As I said, an excellent video, and I look forward to the Siege of Calais! Huzzah! :)

This is easily among the best channels available on RU-vid. Not an exaggeration. Thank you for the work you're doing.

Absolutely fantastic thank you for the time and effort put into these videos. The Percy family had a lot of influence later on and this is the first I've seen of them this early on. Great stuff.

Hello, Oh modesty, for someone not familiar with this subject you are a star expert in every detail.How wonderful of you to set up the soldiers in uniforms on a model battlefield! You explain everything with such passion and reality; i feel the tension, the loss of souls and sheer pain and exhaustion of the soldiers. But the Scotts were ruthless just as the English were in France and just as all invaders and defenders are historically and now in war battles - it's brutal and savage. Xxx

Like you, my ancestors were on both sides of the border. I, too, wondered about the undying hatred both sides had for each other. I believe it goes back before Cnut was king (r. 1028-35), even before the Norsemen arrived. That’s when the Picts fought the Anglo-Saxons along whatever border was established. It didn’t stop during the late Anglo-Saxon age, under Edward the Confessor. Malcolm Canmore burnt Northumbria in 1061. Then, the Normans inherited the border. Canmore never ceased his bloody raids, but continued them in Cumbria after Northumbria was turned into a wasteland by William I. It was said there was no Scottish household without an English slave. (Hyperbole, but it was what we today call “common knowledge “.). Gytha, mother of Harold Godwin’s mother escaped to Scotland, where I’m sure she proclaimed her hatred for the Normans. Canmore, whether as Lord of Cumbria and Lothian, or as King of Scotland - forever rendering a neat divide impossible- paid tribute to William I in 1072. William had settled, so he thought, the Anglo-Saxon question, and marched north to secure his border. He met his fleet at the Tay. Canmore, a brutal man, was impressed with William’s swift march north. William, thought the northern border secured. Wrong! Within a few years, he went back to invading Northumbria. It took William Rufus to turf him out of the north of England. In 1093, the raids started again. Canmore was killed Alnwick. Eventually, France got into the picture. Willing to fight to the last Scotsman, France pushed the Scottish honor and hatred/vengeance buttons, and formed an Alliance in which France was the clear winner, but because the Scots had had their buttons pushed, they were too emotional to think straight. And thus, up to Edward III.

Drive through the battlefield regularly you would never think that there had been a battle there!!. Bear park is the anglicised name by which the monks retreat from Durham Cathedral was known by. Originally called Beaurapaire. Its ruins are still there and pleasant walk from the village of Bearpark.

Neville's Cross is not far away from me in County Durham and Bear Park. It is great to hear some of the history and hard to imaging such a bloody battle on my doorstep.

You're a lean, mean, storytelling machine!

Great story about King David! Looking forward to episode six.

I really enjoyed that one! A friend of mine used to live at Neville's Cross. There is a memorial there, but unfortunately the battlefield has been completely built over.

Didn't know we had a Lidl back in them days 🤣🤣👍👍 Excellent

Ive lived in Durham all my life and this is the first time ive ever learned about the battle. Ive always been aware of it but never sat down and researched what happened.

I'm usually not so interested in battles, but Kevin Hicks makes them come to life and I feel I'm right in the thick of it, seeing the most interesting parts close up - but safely, by just listening to it. So vivid! How awful for King David II of Scotland to have what happened at the baptismal font, something he had no control over, be hanging over his head like that!

I work in Durham and pass through Nevilles Cross every day. There is actually a stone cross erected there by Neville.

Though I'm an American, my ancestors are from the English and Scotts. Your presentations are interesting and informative. Thank you for your work and I hope that more people will pay attention to history as there are great lessons to be learned in it.

I could listen to you all day, so informative and helpful.

This is my kind of history lesson! Full of meaty lessons and nuggets of surprises. Can't wait to catch up up with the rest!

I’m born and raised in County Durham. It’s great to hear of stories of it from the 100 years war

The story telling, the visual understanding that the models give. This is wonderful! Would love to learn about every battle this way

Although both of my parents are American, I have very deep roots in the U.K. My mothers maiden name is Courtenay, and is distantly related to the Earls of Devon. The name started to show up in England right after the Norman invasion of 1066. My father is a combination of Scots, Welsh and Irish, my last name being Floyd. Floyd was spelled Lloyd several hundred years ago and before that it was Llwyd ( welsh for the colour grey). I carry two passports, one American and one British. Keep the videos coming. I'm enjoying the history lessons. Take care.

Thanks, Kevin. I'm really learning a lot in this series.

I had a good laugh hearing about David II. I always find those personal details interesting in that you wouldn’t expect it to be recorded if it could be detrimental to a monarch’s image of majesty. Reminds me of Constantine V of the eastern Roman Empire who had the sobriquet “Copronymus” which is Greek for “the poop named” for pooping in the baptismal waters during his christening

“There are no English here!!” I can’t imagine being Douglas and hearing those words, as though I hadn’t barely escaped slaughter earlier that day by those same apparently nonexistent English. Absolutely crazy

Enjoying this awesome series on the 100 year war!

Sir, I absolutely love your story telling, the future spectators (I suppose) have little to no idea how precious it is to do what you do. Thank you! It’s a joy to listen to a passionate person, using every atom of his soul to teach something to the lesser knowledge, at least transfer a message or a mere story, whether it be true or false, just a great story to listen to or watch. And by the way, if you ever have any further issues of French/English pronunciation, please contact me, but…you’re doing pretty good I must say. Cheers!

being a County Durham lad myself i found this really interesting ,the battle sites are marked out now.... great stuff 👏

Your a natural...... Fascinating ..... Thank you yet again.

Duuude your perspective on the Scor/English divide is really interesting too. And it matters. People need to unite with other good people, above all these days.

Always great to see an upload from you Kev. I think people also appreciate your replies to their comments, the interacting will make your channel grow. 👍🏻

This guy can narrate a story 👌

Been brought back to listen to these - as I'm listening to "Essex dogs" on audible and can't help wanting to hear more background

As trivia. When Sir William Douglas' raiding party ran face first into the main English army it was close to Ferryhill. As they fled and the survivors were hunted down by cavalry, they didnt get far. The ground they failed to escape over is now called Butchers race. Guess why? The Back of the Scots lines during the battle of Nevilles cross were on the reed hills. Theyre now permanently renamed as Redhills.although this maybe coincidental. Probably!

Great work I thoroughly enjoy this! As an American I haven’t had much exposure to European history and this is incredibly fascinating!

You tell it al! so well Sir, this is how history should be taught, 😎🏹🙏

Well done mr. Hicks well done !

Another great video, Kev! I understand your comment about the"split loyalties". My dad's side is from Oban (his father was on the convoys out of Scapa Flow) and my mum's side is from Yorkshire (RAF pilot in the 50s and 60s). Brilliant content!

Edward no doubt had an incredible intelligence and intelligence network. He knew David "The D" would try the invasion. To not recruit men from the northern counties completed the illusion that England was undefended. This, among the numerous tactical innovations he introduced, set a new course for how battles were fought and kingdoms secured. A true military, political and logistics genius. Thank you my good sir for an enlightening journey through history.

Thank you for a very informative video about a period of our history that I know very little of. You have a great talent for getting the information across and, dare I say it, making history fun?

Superb presentation! Thank you. Like you, my roots are on both sides of the border, and Wales to boot. Some of my ancestors come out of Staffordshire, your old stomping grounds. Cheers!

I too descended from both the English and Scottish and feel the same about reading these accounts of the wars between them. But, if things did not turn out like they did, we would not be here. So, thank you to all those men who did what they did so we could live!

So, let me get this straight: King David of Scotland has a dream warning him not to proceed. He tells someone about it, or we wouldn't know about it. Yet, having told them, he says, "Nah... It'll be fine," and carries on? As for Graham, either he wasn't worth a decent ransom, or he was so reviled for what the Scots had been doing that he ended up decorating a pike on London Bridge. Still, the fact that there was an army left in England speaks well to King Edward's foresight. Neither the French nor the Scots gained anything from this campaign, and the war went on. By the way, enjoying every episode, especially those with models or miniatures. They remind me of the days, many years ago, when I was the youngest member of a wargaming group, fascinated by all the little metal men and the terrain on the sand tables in the back room of the hobby store. Good times, those. =^[.]^=

These are so well put together and well spoken! I love them

Just found your videos and I am loving them! Thank you!

Greetings once again from nova Scotia, thank you for another great film, I love history and you bring it to life with your stories. I am looking forward to the next chapter....Thank you for your time and attention to this comment, blessings

I am a New Yorker but from Dunboyne. There was a battle in 1690 a few miles down the road between King James and William of Orange. Bloody dutchman. James lost but he was no use anyway.

You always know just when to upload when I'm feeling in a bit of a rut, thanks Kevin!

Great explanation of the battle, you mentioned a lot of points left out of several text books I have on the Hundreds Year War. BTW.I loved use of the bodkin point as a pointer.

Thank for another great video! Great work

John de Coupland is an ancestor of mine! Still live in the same area too! According to a source on the Battle, he refused to hand over King David to the Queen at the time while the English King was on his campaign in France. She was furious with him but when King Edward returned he understood why and rewarded him even more so for his loyalty, hence becoming a Sheriff etc as well as other titles and rewards. John was ambushed and murdered in the end by a gang of mercenaries and it’s unknown whether it was the Scots getting revenge or somehow linked back to the King as he was a bit of a handful and caused a few problems over time which required him to cover up for him. As well as always wanting to wage war against the Scot’s rather than peace. The book by David Rollason on The Battle or Neville’s Cross has some fantastic details in it. This video was just as good if not better!

History never made more interesting this guy is a master too his craft

Great story telling. Could listen to this stuff over and over. Like a Surrogate uncle.

I have been reading about this history in Bernard Cornwell's novel "Vagabond".

I truly appreciate these bits of history. Thanks for sharing

What can I say, my foresight is incredible.

Loving this series

The earlier Weardale campaign of 1327 is worth talking about as well. With the futile ride to the Tyne and the Battle of Stanhope Park. It lead to the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, which is one of the causes of the fall of Roger Mortimer and could even be one of the reasons that Edward II died in suspicious circumstances in September 1328 (or did he?).

About the christening of King David, let us not forget that, at the time, baptism was done by complete immersion of the baptised into a baptismal bowl. His pooping would sure have been noticeable as a worthy anecdote.

Awesome, loving the miniatures and terrains to go along with the stories, great vid as always 😎👍

Absolutely love this series!

Thanks Kevin, brilliant as ever, top model battlefield! Cant wait for Calais!

Loving this channel, keep this series up please! Thanks Mr. Hicks.

Finally!!!! Easily my favorite series on the Hundred Years War

Your videos are a just fantastic. I appreciate that the bodkin on your arrow, you use as pointer, is case hardened.

You are wonderful to watch and listen to.

awesome as always. Good job Kevin and props to your camera person for the map/model visuals - very engaging :-)

I loved watching this video living about 20 minutes south of Neville's cross it always amazes me when I drive through there to think all this went on years ago

Kevin is here to tell us more about history and I’ve got a cup of tea (with a chocolate hobnob or two).. Mr B is very happy. Have a fantastic day and thanks for the awesome video😺

Excellent as always, thanks

Amazing video!😄

Thanks Mr Hicks

Excellent as always keep up the great work!!

Thank you for another wonderful video.

I just found your channel and wanted to say I am loving it. Hands down one of my new favorite channels. Please keep up the good work.

Another great video! You have a real talent for making history come come alive

This is my favourite RU-vid channel

Great story telling skills. By the way, I love the tunic. Quite beautiful.

Good Darn Job! feels un biased and truthful to the best info available at the time!

I’m on a total binge with this channel. Man it’s fantastic!

Still here with you! Always a great watch after work

Another masterpiece. 👍

MORE enjoyable, & listenable than most history vids I've watched on YT, & the models are a great addition!

I used to drive through Nevilles Cross regularly and it's hard to believe a battle was fought there. I suppose the same could be said about most battlefields!