Hoping to keep his niece Matilda on the English throne, David I of Scotland invaded England in 1138, portraying himself as an heir of rightful English kings against Norman misrule. However, his army was ill-disciplined and violent, and squandered any sympathy that the people of northern England might have felt for David.

The Normans secured the loyalty of the people of Yorkshire against David’s Wessex Dragon by flying the banners of local saints (hence the engagement is called the Battle of the Standard). Their united army routed the undisciplined Scottish invaders, though King Stephen nonetheless thought it prudent to give David control over much of northern England.

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