705 years ago today in 1314 A.D., the armies of
Robert the Bruce King of Scots and King Edward II
of England crashed upon each other in a storm of
blood and steel at the infamous Battle of
Bannockburn (modern depiction of the Bruce at the
frontlines by Andrew Hillhouse pictured). Though
the Scottish victory did not herald the end of
Scotland’s struggle against the Plantagenets by any
means, it was still a crushing humiliation for the
English army and to this day is arguably the most
celebrated battle in Scottish history.
With the fall of William Wallace in 1305 A.D. and
Edward Longshanks two years later in 1307 A.D.,
the grim struggle between Scotland and England
had been passed down to a new set of leaders with
Robert the Bruce claiming the Scottish throne in
1306 A.D and Edward II succeeding his father.
Though the Bruce had gotten off to a rocky start,
being forced into hiding after his defeat at the
hands of English forces he had steadily clawed his
way back by waging a highly successful guerrilla
war which saw him gradually muster greater and
greater power with every passing year. The same
could not be said of his opponent who was but a
shadow of his mighty and fearsome father, lacking
all the qualities of leadership and determination to
try and check Robert’s advance. By 1313 A.D
Robert had taken almost all Scottish castles
previously held by Edward and was demanding that
all remaining supporters of John Balliol, the weak
Scottish King whom Longshanks had used and
undermined in the previous decade, declare their
allegiance to him and that the English forces
surrounding Stirling Castle lay down their arms. The
following year Robert’s brother Edward Bruce
besieged the fortress, prompting Edward II to finally
take action and muster a vast host to bring Robert
to heel. He marched north at the head of what is
estimated to have been the biggest English army to
invade Scotland which included many longbowmen
from Wales and Ireland and hundreds if not
thousands of heavy cavalrymen. He is estimated to
have had between fifteen and twenty thousand men.
The Scottish army by contrast was much smaller,
between five and six thousand men roughly, and
had a chronic lack of such skilled archers and heavy
cavalry, relying instead, as had been the case when
they had fought under William Wallace, on their
highly effective infantry formations known as
schiltrons – square formations that bristled with
pikes and spears.
The exact location of the clash of arms is still
debated amongst historians though it is generally
accepted that it happened south of Stirling as the
Bruce attempted to stop the English from reaching
Stirling Castle. The battle took place over two days
with the fighting on the first day being more of a
skirmish than a full clash of arms. That day the
English cavalry in the vanguard attempted to barrel
their way forward across the Bannock Burn river
whereupon they encountered Scottish forces. As
skirmishing broke out here and there one of the
most infamous single combats of all time took
place as King Robert himself rode out on horseback
and charged at Henry de Bohun, nephew of the Earl
of Hereford, who with his lance couched in arm
made a dramatic gallop forward to kill the Scottish
leader. As the two passed one another, Henry
missed his target and Robert raised his axe and
brought it slicing down on his enemy’s head,
splitting his skull open. Thereupon then the Scots
surged forward and forced the English back across
the river.
That night however Edward’s forces continued their
advance and crossed the waterway, making their
camp on the expanse of land beyond. That night
however a Scottish knight by the name of Alexander
Seton who was in the service of the English,
calculated that the odds were not in Edward II’s
favour and chose to defect to the Scottish and
informed Robert about the enemy’s movements.
Just before dawn thus the Scottish force were
brought around and by daybreak were emerging out
of the woods to face their enemies. Before rushing
into battle the Scots fell to their knees in prayer
before the eyes of the English king. When Edward
reportedly said in surprise that “They pray for
mercy!” his attendant corrected him by saying “For
mercy, yes, but from God. Not from you. These
men will conquer or die.” Though the Earl of
Gloucester, Gilbert de Clare, tried to convince
Edward to postpone the battle since the sudden
appearance of the Scots had taken them off guard
and their army was still in marching rather than
battle order, Edward would have none of it and
accused the Earl of cowardice, prompting the
nobleman to prove his worth by charging the enemy
without any support. The Scots swiftly surrounded
and killed him, then with pikes at the ready they
made ready for the coming storm. After finally
deciding on who would lead the attack the English
sent their knights surging forward, the very earth
quaking and trembling beneath their beating hooves
as they swept forth in a tidal wave of cavalry.
Behind them the hastily deployed English archers
unleashed their longbows upon the enemy, the sky
becoming thick with arrows whirring and whizzing
through the air like wasps. Having been still in
marching order however they had not been able to
thin out the Scottish lines as much as they
otherwise could have and as the knights collided
with the schiltrons they were forced to cease firing
and haphazardly try and redeploy themselves so
that they would be flanking the Scots.
Amidst the thicket of skewered broken bodies,
shrieking horses, slashing swords and rattling pikes
however, the English were starting to falter in the
cramped and narrow terrain where they were
hemmed up against Bannockburn. Unable to hack or
plough their way through, the English formations
began to disintegrate, and the Scots moved in for
the kill, using their pikes to push them back. The
Welsh longbowmen who were set to fire into the
Scottish flanks were soon cut down like chaff by
the Scottish light cavalry and before long it became
apparent that the battle was not in Edward’s favour.
Though Edward stubbornly wished to stay, his
knights comprehended the situation better than he
and to save his life they dragged him away from the
battlefield for his own safety, only just managing to
escape. As he left the field one of his bodyguards,
Giles d’Argentan, reputedly the third best knight in
Europe at the time, turned to the King and said that
“since you are safely on your way, I will bid you
farewell for never have I fled from a battle, nor will I
now.” At that d’Argentan turned his horse around
and made his last glorious charge into the fray.
With their King having fled the field the rest of the
English army soon broke and ran and were forced
back across the river in a humiliating rout. Though
Edward had escaped and many more years of
fighting lay ahead, the Scottish victory at
Bannockburn paved the way for northern England to
be raided and for Ireland to be invaded to create a
second front. By 1327 A.D Edward would be
deposed and the following year Scottish
independence would be recognised with the Treaty
of Northampton.
Young-po Reporters 