The Battle of Bannockburn 23-24 June 1314

Monday, 23 June 2014 found us just south of Sterling at Bannockburn, 700 years to the day from the Battle of Bannockburn, arguably the greatest military victory in Scottish history. In this two day battle, Robert the Bruce of Scotland routed the much large force of King Edward II of England. Descending from Robert the Bruce were 300 years of Kings of an independent Scotland.

William Wallace
Monument near Stirling

The Wars of Scottish Independence between England and Scotland began, in 1296 and in spite of the famous victory of William Wallace (think Braveheart) in 1297 at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, by 1304 Scotland had been conquered.  However, in 1306 Robert the Bruce seized the Scottish throne and the war of independence was reopened. Initially King Robert was soundly defeated, several brothers killed, and his wife and daughters imprisoned by the English.  He fled to the islands, regrouped and eventually returned.

Stirling Castle was one of the most important castles that was held by the English as it commanded the route north into the Scottish Highlands. It was besieged in 1314 by King Robert’s forces, and an agreement was made that if the castle was not relieved by mid-summer then it would be surrendered to the Scots. King Edward II marched north with a formidable force of roughly 20,000 men, and met King Robert with only about 7,000 men just south of Stirling at the Bannock burn (stream).  The Scottish forces (composed mainly of “schiltrons” which were strong defensive groups of men bristling with long spears or pikes) repelled two limited attacks on the first day, and then caught the English off-guard by attacking the next morning. The English, hemmed in by streams on three sides had no room to maneuver, eventually fled in confusion with less than half of their men surviving.

               

On Monday we, along with Sister Bylund’s brother and some of his family, visited the wonderful new Visitor’s Center. On Saturday we (along with Sister Bylund’s sister and some of her family in addition to her brother and family) attended Bannockburn Live. In addition to a the re-enactment of the battle, this included medieval encampments and music, and other activities.

It was a very interesting and historic event to attend, we had partly sunny and party rainy weather (actually, mostly rainy), but then, welcome to Scotland.

The basic Scottish fighting unit: The Schiltron

In this short video (7 sec), Robert the Bruce defeats an opponent with his battle ax.

A schiltron attacks

 The final battle

The English defeated

A few of the variety of displays and booths