William of Newburgh

[22nd August 1138] The inhabitants, despairing of assistance from the king or the provinces beyond the Humber, and animated by the admonitions of archbishop Thurstan, of pious memory, determined to fight for their lives, their wives and their children. They unanimously assembled against a host formidable for its cruelty, and made a stand not far from the river Tees; and though they were very inferior indeed in point of numbers, yet they were greatly superior to their enemies by confidence in the goodness and justice of their cause. The Scots, setting fire to their camp early in the morning, passed the river, and, contemning the paucity of their opponents, rushed boldly to the conflict. The battle was not of long continuance, where little or nothing was done by the sword; for the light-armed troops, galled by arrows from a distance, soon turned their backs, and left the victory and the field to our countrymen. It is related that many thousands of the Scots were slain in the battle, or in the flight, and king David, accompanied by few soldiers, but with much disgrace, fled to his own country. This battle was, by the assistance of God, successfully fought against the Scots, in the month of August, in the fourth year of the reign of king Stephen.