[Footnote 130: _L. and P._, i., 3885, 3915. There are three detailed diaries of the campaign in _L. and P._, two anonymous (Nos. 4253, and 4306), and the other (No. 4284) by John Taylor, afterwards Master of the Rolls, for whom see the present writer in _D.N.B_., lv., 429; the original of his diary is in _Cotton MS._, Cleopatra, C., v. 64.] [Footnote 131: _Ib._, i., 4324, 4328-29.] [Footnote 132: Taylor's _Diary_.] [Footnote 133: Besides the English accounts referred to, see _L. and P._, i., 4401.] [Footnote 134: _L. and P._, i., 4431.] [Footnote 135: _Ven. Cal_., ii., 328.] Therouanne, the Battle of Spurs, and Tournay were not the only, or the most striking, successes in this year of war. In July, Catherine, whom Henry had left as Regent in England, wrote that she was "horribly busy with making standards, banners, and badges"[136] for the army in the North; for war with France had brought, as usual, the Scots upon the English backs. James IV., though Henry's brother-in-law, preferred to be the cat's paw of the King of France; and in August the Scots forces poured over the Border under the command of James himself. (p. 066) England was prepared; and on 9th September, "at Flodden hills," sang Skelton, "our bows and bills slew all the flower of their honour". James IV. was left a mutilated corpse upon the field of battle.[137] "He has paid," wrote Henry, "a heavier penalty for his perfidy than we would have wished." There was some justice in the charge. James was bound by treaty not to go to war with England; he had not even waited for the Pope's answer to his request for absolution from his oath; and his challenge to Henry, when he was in France and could not meet it, was not a knightly deed. Henry wrote to Leo for permission to bury the excommunicated Scottish King with royal honours in St. Paul's.[138] The permission was granted, but the interment did not take place. In Italy, Louis fared no better; at Novara, on 6th June, the Swiss infantry broke in pieces the grand army of France, drove the fragments across the Alps, and restored the Duchy of Milan to the native house of Sforza. [Footnote 136: _L. and P._, i., 4398; Ellis, _Original Letters_, 1st ser., i., 83.] [Footnote 137: _L. and P._, i., 4439, 4441, 4461; _cf._ popular ballads in Weber's _Flodden Field_, and _La Rotta de Scocese_ (Bannatyne Club).] [Footnote 138: _Ven. Cal._, ii., 909; _Sp. Cal._, i., 137; _L. and P._, i., 4502, 4582.] * * * * *