| Battle Of Bannockburn |
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The Battle of Bannockburn ( June 23 , 1314 – June 24 1314 ) was a significant Scottish victory in the Wars Of Scottish Independence . PRELUDE Stirling Castle was besieged by the Scots in the spring of 1314. The commander at Stirling , Sir Philip Mowbray , agreed to surrender if a relieving force had not arrived by the end of June. On hearing of this agreement, Edward II Of England organized a considerable force of possibly 25,000 men, including several thousand Knights to head north. The army was mustered at Berwick-upon-Tweed before crossing the border at Coldstream and heading for Stirling. THE BATTLE On Sunday, June 23 , the English force had reached the ford at Bannockburn , a few miles south of Stirling, where the Scottish force of maybe 9,000 was waiting for them under the command of Robert Bruce . The Scots intended to fight in a narrow gap, relying on their disciplined '' Schiltron '' to blunt the advantages of the English heavy Cavalry . The actual battle spread over the few miles of poor ground between Bannock Burn and the River Forth . The battle was fought over two days and although the first encounters were relatively small compared to the major clash on the second day, the outcome was dictated by the strategically disastrous disposition of the English force, hemmed in on marshland between the Bannock Burn and the Pelstream Burn in the marshland leading down to the banks of the meandering River Forth. The Battle of Bannockburn was remembered by the English as "The Battle of the Pools". The first clash was between 500 English cavalry heading for Stirling and a force of Scottish Infantry . The ''schiltrons'' proved their worth, the English charges were repulsed for little loss and the cavalry were forced to retire. At the same time there had been a number of skirmishes around the main force as the English crossed Bannock Burn to face up to the Scots, including the clash of the English Knight , Henry De Bohun (nephew of Humphrey De Bohun , the Earl Of Hereford ) and Robert Bruce. De Bohun had seen Bruce mounted on a pony in advance of the main Scottish force. Tilting his Lance , De Bohun rode down on the solitary figure whose pony side-stepped the charging warhorse at the last moment while its rider dispatched the knight with a blow to his helmet with his battle axe. Bruce then proceeded to show his now broken axe to the troops and proclaim to all that it was his favourite axe. His advisors mentioned to him of the risk he took being so far forward, but Bruce refused to listen, appearing more concerned with the loss of his axe. As daylight was fading after some further half-hearted skirmishes, the English withdrew to set up camp between Bannock Burn and the Pelstream Burn. The main battle occurred on June 24 . The English advanced across the burn impatient to destroy what they saw as inferior force, whilst the Scots waited for them organised in ''schiltrons''. The first English cavalry charge was disorganised and resulted in a bloody shambles, few knights managed to break through the ''schiltrons'' and those that did where quickly pulled from their horses and dispatched. The Scots then advanced, still in ''schiltrons'', forcing the disorganised cavalry back into the English infantry still trying to join them across the burn. Volleys from English Archers fell on both English and Scots and before they could properly threaten the advancing Scottish infantry a sally of light cavalry drove the long bow men back. The English superiority of numbers hampered any attempts at rallying them as the Scottish force pressed the masses back towards the river. The English retreat soon degenerated into a costly rout, with the flower of English chivalry either ingloriously drowning in the Bannockburn, or being cut down by the pursuing Scots. It was the bloodiest day for the English aristocracy prior to the Wars Of The Roses and accounts speak of the Bannockburn, choked with English dead 'running red' for several days after the Battle. It is a well known myth of one recording commenting "One could walk across the burn without so much as a damp shoe." Edward II fled the field early, and after being denied entry to Stirling by Philip Mowbray on the grounds that he had failed to relieve the defense by the proscribed date and thus the castle was already surrendered to the Scots, he went to Dunbar via Winchburgh and then by ship back to England. LEGACY The Scottish victory was complete and, although full English recognition of Scottish Independence was not achieved until more than ten years later, Robert Bruce's ability to re-establish Scotland as a sovereign state was greatly strengthened by the events at Bannockburn. The actual location of the battle is disputed, as contemporaneous historical records are ambiguous about the precise site. A 2004 Archeological dig sponsored by TV programme ''Two Men in a Trench'' found circumstantial evidence that the battle had taken place across a large length of the marshy valley of the Bannock Burn, behind the current location of Bannockburn High School. A modern, abstract monument stands in a field above the battle site, where the warring parties are believed to have camped on the night before the battle. The monument consists of two hemicircular walls depicting the opposing parties. Nearby stands the 1960s statue of Bruce by Pilkington Jackson . The monument, and the associated visitor centre, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the area. Each year the Scottish Nationalist movement, primarily the Scottish National Party commemorates the battle with a march to Bannockburn field from Stirling town centre. There then follows a laying of a wreath at the statue of Robert Bruce and a rally. In 1932 the Bannockburn Preservation Committee, under Edward Bruce, 10th Earl Of Elgin and Kincardine, presented lands to the National Trust For Scotland . Further lands were purchased in 1960 and 1965 to facilitate visitor access. |
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