The
Rough Wooing (December 1543 – March 1551) was a conflict between Scotland and England. Following its break with Rome, England was feeling trapped and surrounded by
Catholic powers, and wished to break the
Auld Alliance in order to prevent Scotland being used as a springboard for future invasion by France. War was declared by
Henry VIII of England in an attempt to force the Scots to agree to a marriage between his son
Edward and the infant
Mary, Queen of Scots, thereby creating a new alliance between Scotland and England. Edward VI continued the war until changing circumstances made it irrelevant in 1550. It was the last major conflict between Scotland and England before the
Union of the Crowns in 1603, excepting perhaps the English intervention at the
Siege of Leith in 1560, and was part of the
Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century.