Scottish Blog

The Battle of Bannockburn was an important encounter in the Wars of Scottish Independence.

It is easy to forget the events that brought the Scottish culture to where it is today, from the smallest written word to the most important battle, it has all played a part in the sum part of the Scottish Clan (http://www.scottish-heirloom.com/scottish_clans_data/index.html) identity.

Basically, the Battle of Bannockburn was an engagement between England and Scotland. The English were commanded by King Edward and the Scottish were lead by Robert the Bruce.

The Battle of Bannockburn took place in 1314 and lasted two days, from the 23rd to the 24th of June. The location was bannock Burn, near Stirling. The English forces greatly outnumbered that of the Scottish. This was in part due to the fact that King Edward could incite feudal laws which mandated a necessary donation of soldiers from his followers. Further, England was experiencing a time of relative unity, in which patriotism could greatly be appealed to, drawing an even higher donation of troops from the English. In the end, it is estimated that the English had in excess of two thousand horses and roughly seventeen thousand footmen. Robert the Bruce on the other hand is believed to have a\roughly a third this number, comprising mostly of footmen armed with spiked spears.

The battle began with a very memorable and symbolic act. Robert the Bruce rode out to meet the English by himself, armed only with a battle axe. He was met by a heavily armored knight. The knight charged, only to be swiftly dealt a blow to the head with Robert’s axe. The greatly raised the morale of the Scots and acted as an indicator of things to come in the battle of Bannockburn.

A small number of exploratory attacks were mounted by the English in the opening day of the Battle of Bannockburn, each were faced with utter defeat to the now experienced Scottish troops.

Having lost faith in the direct approach to the Scottish camp, the English took a route through the Bannock Burn. Robert the Bruce then did an unorthodox thing for the Scottish Army. They came out of their cover and attacked the English head on. The tight conditions and hard terrain made it impossible for the English to move.

The English were defeated. Although the Scots did not receive full independence until a later date, the events at the Battle of Bannockburn brought them a step closer.