The unexpected death of King Alexander III ended the long period of peace and prosperity in Scotland. And with his only heir, his sickly granddaughter
Margaret, dying four years later, the Scottish throne was left with no clear successor. In an attempt to avoid a civil war between
no less than fourteen claimants to the throne, Edward Longshanks was asked to arbitrate. Realizing that the possibility of controlling
Scotland, as he did Wales and Ireland, was within his grasp, the English King ultimately
announced in favor of John Balliol, whom he anticipated would be a reliable vassal. However, by 1295 Edward's demands for men
and money to support the war with France exasperated the Scottish nobility, who persuaded Balliol
to rebel and enter a defense pact with France. Outraged, Edward raised an army and invaded, starting the First War of Scottish Independence… As one of the strongest and ablest of kings to ever rule England, Edward crushed the Scots at Dunbar. John Balliol surrendered his kingdom before
being dispatched to the Tower of London. Although a well-garrisoned force was left
to guard the conquered lands, disturbances broke out soon after when William Wallace
fanned the flames of revolt across Scotland after he defeated an English force at Stirling
Bridge. His victory resulted in his elevation to the
guardianship of the realm and preparations began for what was to follow – a confrontation
with Edward. Determined to hammer the Scots into submission
the English King marched north, having previously signed a peace treaty with France. He mustered a powerful army and decisively
defeated Wallace at Falkirk. With the throne still vacant in 1306, Robert
the Bruce made a bid for the crown by killing his main rival John Comyn III in the Greyfriars’
Church, claiming the throne of Scotland as the great-great-grandson of David I. With the support from a section of the Scottish
Church and nobility he was crowned at Scone. But his rebellion got off to a bad start with
a shattering defeat at Methven, where most of his loyal followers died or were captured
and executed. Then at Dalrigh, Robert’s retreating force
was intercepted and nearly wiped out. With his position collapsing he escaped to
the tiny Isle of Rathlin, where he set about reorganizing his resources. Worse followed. Robert’s sisters, his daughter, and his
wife Elizabeth were captured and delivered into the hands of Edward I, and his brother
Neil was executed at Berwick. In early 1307 he ventured back toward the
mainland with a handful of followers. Meanwhile, his two younger brothers sailed
for Galloway, intending to harass English communications between Carlisle and Ayr, but
once they landed in Loch Ryan they were ambushed, captured, and later executed. Robert, on the other hand, had success against
the English at Glen Trool and more significantly at Loudon Hill, which saw his following and
his territorial gains grow significantly. Scottish fortunes took a turn for the better
when the 68-year old King Edward I, the “Hammer of the Scots”, died on July 7th 1307. His frivolous son and successor, Edward II,
lacked his father’s military and political skill, and his reliance on favorites earned
him the contempt from his leading magnates, which distracted him from the situation in
Scotland. This allowed Robert valuable time to deal
with those Scottish nobles who opposed his rule, most notably his arch-rival John Comyn,
3rd Earl of Buchan, whose rich earldom was left at his mercy after he defeated the earl
at Inverurie. Robert took Aberdeen in the summer of 1308
making his hold on the north-east unassailable and other nobles soon joined him, enabling
him to turn his attention to driving the English from his kingdom. Over the coming years, one by one English
castles fell and Robert gave those Scottish nobles, who had not yet come to his banner,
a year to swear fealty to him or they would lose rights to their lands. By early spring of 1314 only the great strongholds of Bothwell and Stirling remained in English hands. Bothwell was isolated and presented no immediate
threat, so Robert entrusted his brother Edward Bruce with the siege of Stirling. Philip Mowbray, the beleaguered governor,
realized that the fall of Stirling was but a matter of time and agreed with Edward Bruce
that if he was not relieved by June 24th he would surrender the castle. King Robert was displeased with his brother’s
chivalrous gesture towards Mowbray, understanding that this deadline would spur the English
into action. Now, only a pitched battle would prevent the
castle from being relieved and Robert knew that this could undo all that he had achieved
so far. Meanwhile King Edward II patched up relations
with some of his magnates and was now on his way north to muster an army at Berwick, under
pressure to relieve Stirling by June 24th. Money had been raised with a loan from the
Pope and a stream of men converged on Berwick, along with an immense amount of supplies and
equipment that were brought by land and sea. As the army marched towards Stirling all provisions
had to be stockpiled and transported, as the Scots would make sure to scorch the land and
leave nothing of use for the advancing English. King Robert faced an army more than twice
the size of his own and he positioned his forces a few kilometers south of Stirling
where he waited for Edward… Robert divided his 7000 infantry into four
divisions of schiltrons - strong defensive squares of men with pikes - arraying them
along the Falkirk road that goes through the New Park forest to Stirling. On the morning of June 23rd, Sir James Keith,
commander of the 600 light Scottish horsemen, went on patrol to observe the arrival of the
English Army. Seeing 3,000 horsemen, knights, and men-at-arms,
their weapons and armor glistening in the sun, was a daunting sight. Behind them 13,000 infantry and a contingent
of Welsh archers exited the Torwood, descending onto the plain south of the Bannockburn stream. The English formation stretched for several
kilometers and Hereford’s heavy cavalry in the vanguard started making their way down the steep embankment of the considerable Bannockburn stream, and after climbing up onto the road
they sighted the Scottish footmen, apparently retreating back into the woods. Meanwhile, on the English far right, baron
of Clifford rushed along a path, hidden from view, with his armored mounted contingent
to cut off the Scottish line of retreat towards Stirling castle. Back on the Bannockburn stream, Hereford’s
nephew, Sir Henry de Bohun spotted a figure riding out in front of the Scottish infantry. It was King Robert himself commanding his
troops. Henry could not resist. He saw this as a chance to end the war by
striking down the Scottish King and achieve personal glory. He lowered his helmet, steered his fully armored
charger towards the king and pointed his lance straight at him. On his light grey palfrey, unequipped for
mounted combat, Robert had every reason to seek safety with his troops. But he set his horse towards the challenger,
who bore down full-tilt. As they closed-in Bruce quickly swerved his
nimble horse aside to avoid the lance, stood up in his stirrups and smashed through Henry’s
helmet, his axe breaking on impact. The English knight was dead before he hit
the ground. Meanwhile, Hereford spurred his men forward
along the road, confident that the Scots wouldn’t dare confront the armored horsemen on open
ground. He wanted to catch the footmen before they
retreated to the safety of the woods. But the Scots weren’t retreating. Robert had ordered large pits, covered with
branches, to be dug on both sides of the road and he waited for the enemy to come to him. Before the English could form up, Robert’s
schiltrons lowered their spears and move up in a tightly packed phalanx-like formation. Hereford’s cavalry was immediately met with heavy losses as they ran into a wall of Scottish spears. As the rest of his mounted contingent tried
to form up they experienced considerable difficulties with the pit traps. Gloucester circled back with his mounted men,
attempting to cross further upstream. Seeing the maneuver, Edward Bruce immediately
moved to protect his brother’s flank. Unsure about the extent of the pit traps and
with Edward Bruce’s troops approaching, the English fell back. Meanwhile, on the Scottish left flank Randolph noticed Clifford’s contingent almost too late. He quickly sprang into action, angry with
himself that he almost allowed the enemy to encircle his position. He led his men out of the woods and towards
the onrushing English. The Scots formed shoulder to shoulder, as
an impenetrable wall of spears. Clifford’s cavalry circled around their
formation, launching attack after attack without success and, in their frustration at not breaking
through the schiltron, the knights hurled spears, darts, and maces – even their swords
– at Randolph's men, in a vain attempt to maim enemy troops. Douglas, meanwhile, left the woods with his
spearmen and slowly advanced. This lifted the pressure on Randolph as some
of the English cavalry wheeled about to meet the incoming enemy. Randolph seized the opportunity and assumed
the offensive, charging right through the English ranks. With their formation broken and with fresh
Scottish infantrymen approaching, the English heavy cavalry dispersed. This brought the fighting of June 23rd to
an end. Although the English losses weren’t heavy
and they still retained their 2:1 numerical superiority, their morale took a big hit after
the two clashes. With the day drawing to a close, King Edward's
troops needed a place to encamp and the horses needed to be watered. He decided to move all of the cavalry and
about a half of the infantry into a marshy area across the Bannockburn, while the remaining
infantry and the baggage train would encamp south of the stream. Meanwhile, Robert Bruce gathered his officers
for a council of war. Despite the successes of the day, harsh past
experiences taught him to avoid pitched battles against heavy cavalry, and he considered withdrawing
deeper into the rugged Scottish wilderness where it would be too hard for the English
to follow. But as the talks went on, a Scottish knight
in English service defected and swore fealty to Robert Bruce. He informed the king that the English are
demoralized and disorganized, pledging his life that if Bruce attacked in the morning
he would have victory. Robert turned to his officers, saying: "Shall
we fight or not?!" In one voice they boldly answered for battle. On the morning of June 24th, among the English
a mood of caution replaced the earlier presumption of easy victory. King Edward began deploying his cavalry between
the deep ravine of the Pelstream and a thick wooded area in the south, ordering archers
and infantry to form behind them. King Robert the Bruce then gave the momentous
order to advance across the open field against the mighty English army, more than twice the strength than his own and with far superior weapons. The seemingly suicidal plan of advancing with
infantry against heavy cavalry was only possible because of the innovative way in which Robert
trained his schiltrons to move forward in echelon formation. He hoped that the English would still view
his formations as defensive and wouldn't appreciate just how vital their mobility was for his
plan of attack. As the Scots moved slowly to keep their cohesion,
Robert sent his archers forward to divert as much attention from his spearmen as possible. And the ruse worked, as English bowmen responded
by shooting at Scottish archers instead of the infantry formations. As the English were still forming their lines,
their commanders argued over who should lead the cavalry attack. Refusing to wrangle for too long, Gloucester
charged headlong across the open space between the two armies, followed by Clifford and many
other prominent knights. As they crashed into Edward Bruce’s schiltron,
Gloucester and his comrades were instantly killed by the wall of spears raised to meet
them. Most of the cavalry contingent was annihilated
in a matter of minutes. Scottish bristling hedge of steel-tipped pikes
now pushed forward. A succession of spirited attacks were mounted
by the English, but they weren’t able to break the Scottish formation. Observers said that, as the cavalry met the
schiltrons, “the horses disappeared from sight like men plunging in the sea”. Slowly but surely Edward Bruce’s formation
reached Bannockburn and anchored its’ position to the stream, allowing other schiltrons to
push forward. Robert now planned to trap the English between
the two streams. For hours the fighting continued as the Scottish
spearmen held their ground against bruising rushes of horsemen. Physical demands on individual spearmen must’ve
been enormous. The disciplined Scots showed great unity against
the attacks of the English cavalry, as they edged their way further into the narrowing
pocket between the Bannockburn and Pelstream. So far the English archers, who could’ve
potentially broken up the Scottish formations, weren’t utilized properly, but someone finally
ordered them to shoot at the schiltrons. However, with Scottish ranks being so narrow,
the arrows now flew harmlessly over them. The bowmen were then ordered to shoot past
the cavalry, directly at the spearmen. This also failed as English horsemen towered
over the Scottish footmen, in effect shielding them from arrow volleys and finding themselves
in the line of fire. Nevertheless, arrow volleys continued as English
archers gradually moved across the Pelstream to get a better angle. Seeing this, Robert ordered his light cavalry
under Marischal Keith to try and disperse them, recognizing the danger archers could
pose for his spearmen. Meanwhile, the Scots closed the pocket between
Pelstream and Bannockburn, effectively trapping the English between the deep ravines of the
two streams. After crossing the Pelstream himself, Keith’s
light cavalry galloped with their lances levelled towards the English archers. The bowmen were overrun, and those who weren’t
killed fled across the stream. Keith continued to patrol up and down the
Pelstream to prevent any further flanking attempts by archers. As the hard-fought battle reached its’ savage
attrition stage, the push of the exhausted Scots slowed and Robert now played his full
hand by sending his own two schiltrons forward, aware that he could not afford a stalemate. Some filled the gaps in Douglas’ spear lines,
while others leaned with all their strength against the backs and shoulders of men whose
knees were buckling after hours of fighting. The English finally began giving more ground. With the outcome now virtually certain to
go against them, English leaders were determined to get their king to safety, as the Scottish
spearmen were close about him on the front line. The withdrawal of 500 knights to protect the
king not only guaranteed defeat, but triggered an undisciplined flight by many others. The defeat of the English opened up the north
of England to Scottish raids and allowed the Scottish invasion of Ireland. In exchange for the captured nobles, Edward II released Robert's wife Elizabeth and his sisters Christina and Mary, as well as his
daughter Marjorie, ending their 8-year imprisonment in England. The victory at Bannockburn secured Scotland's
independence with the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton in 1328. The English crown recognized the full independence
of the Kingdom of Scotland, and acknowledged Robert the Bruce, his heirs and successors, as the
rightful rulers.
Now that our time has come to fight
Rally all the clans!