DECISIVE MOMENT JUNE 24, 1314

The Battle of Bannockburn

Following the loss of Edinburgh Castle to the forces of King Robert
the Bruce in March 1314, King Edward II of England launched an
invasion to relieve Stirling Castle, the last English possession in
Scotland. The subsequent encounter at the Bannock Burn would
have a decisive bearing on Scotland’s fight for independence.

T
he army that Edward mustered in
Berwick in June 1314 was around
15,000 strong, including 10,000
infantry, 2,000 heavy cavalry, and a
large force of archers. Pushing north, on
June 23, the English arrived just south
of Stirling, where King Robert’s army
lay in wait. Robert commanded around
5,000 men, mainly infantry armed with
long spears, organized into shield
formations known as schiltrons, and
a small force of light cavalry. He set
anti-cavalry pits and spikes along the
road to Stirling, and deployed the bulk
of his forces in the wooded New Park,
which blocked the English army’s
progress. A premature English attack on
June 23, was caught in the cavalry traps.
The English then forded the Bannock
Burn, a stream to the south and east of
the Scottish position. A difficult crossing
left the English tired, and they camped
the night just across the Burn in an
open space. Probably not expecting a
direct attack, Edward gathered his
forces in a constricted space that made
it difficult for them to maneuver in the
face of any unexpected assault.
At dawn on June 24, upon Robert’s
orders, the Scottish infantry charged
from New Park, to the astonishment of
the resting English troops. The Earl of
Gloucester roused them with a cavalry
charge, but with little room to move,
its impact against the Scots was limited.
Archers attacked the Scottish flanks,
but with Robert unleashing his light
cavalry, the English scattered.
Scottish victory
Robert then inflicted the killing blow
against the disheartened English by
throwing forward his reserve of
Highlanders, while the emergence of
the “small folk”, untrained Scottish
levies, spread panic through the English
ranks. Edward fled the scene, first to
Stirling Castle, which did not admit
him, and finally to Berwick. Back on
the battlefield, a massacre took place
as the Scots cut down the disordered,
escaping English. The blow to Edward’s
prestige in Scotland was huge, although
the war would drag on for another
14 years before Scottish independence
was finally recognized by England.

“ These barons you see before

you, clad in armor, are bent
upon destroying… our whole
nation. They do not believe
we can resist.”
ROBERT THE BRUCE, ADDRESSING HIS TROOPS BEFORE THE
BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN, JUNE 24, 1314

Carnage of close combat

The Holkham Bible’s depiction of Bannockburn vividly
illustrates the violent chaos of the battle. At its end, the
Bannock Burn was bloated with bodies as the fleeing
English were butchered in their thousands. Most survivors
were captured; very few made it back to England.

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