At Old Byland near Rievaulx Abbey on 14 October 1322 a Scottish force under Douglas and Moray surprised an English army escorting Edward II. The Scots seized the commanding ridge position by scrambling up steep ground while the English were still deploying; English cavalry charges were repulsed and the army broke in rout. Edward II barely escaped by horse and fled to Bridlington and then York. The Rievaulx Abbey treasury was looted and the earl of Richmond captured. Byland was one of the most humiliating English defeats of the century.
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