On 22 August 1138, English forces repelled a Scottish army on Cowton Moor in Brompton parish, around north of the town. This was the first major battle between the Scots and the English since the Norman conquest and one of the two major battles in the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Matilda. The English forces were summoned by Archbishop Thurstan of York, who had gathered local militia and baronial armies from Yorkshire and the North Midlands. They arrayed themselves round a chariot with a ship's mast carrying the consecrated banners of St Peter of York, St John of Beverley, St Wilfrid of Ripon and St Cuthbert of Durham, it was this standard-bearing chariot that gave the battle its name. The Scottish army was led by King David I of Scotland.