Battle of Bannockburn
After the death of Edward I (warmly received in Scotland, at least), his weak son, Edward II, came to the English throne. Robert the Bruce had retaken the Scottish throne in 1306, shortly before the elderly Hammer of the Scots died, and Edward II struggled to inspire a successful campaign against him, eventually withdrawing large numbers of troops. Bruce set about ridding his country of the remaining English overlords. Edward’s response to this was characteristically weak and half-hearted. After the successful capture of strategically-important castles ruled by the English, Bruce turned his attention to the last English stronghold, Stirling Castle.
Stirling Castle guards an important crossing of the River Forth – the Stirling Bridge at which William Wallace had been so successful in 1297 – and thus controlling the castle, in the very centre of Scotland, was hugely important. When Robert the Bruce began besieging Stirling, Edward II responded by coming to Scotland in person to see about defending it. He had an army of 2-3, 000 knights on horseback and 15, 000 archers and spearmen. The heavily-armed cavalry was the decisive part of the army, for it could quickly devastate infantry in short, strategic manoeuvres. Not, however, at Bannockburn.
Bruce’s men were heavily outnumbered. He had, at his disposal, only 500 cavalry, archers, and infantry, numbering no more than 10, 000 in total. Bruce’s army dug a ‘honeycomb’ of postholes in order to confine the English cavalry to a narrow thoroughfare on the marshy field of Bannockburn, not far from the bridge, where the battle took place. On the first day of the battle, 23rd June 1314, the cavalry clashed, and Bruce scored an important strategic victory when he personally cleaved in twain the skull of Henry de Bohun, nephew of the hated Earl of Hereford, in single combat.
At the start of the second day, the English occupied a position on marshy ground at the bottom of the hill guarded by the Scots. The infantry, armed with spears, advanced a little way down the slope towards the cavalry before driving the shafts firmly into the earth (a schiltron). Foolishly, the cavalry was convinced that it had enough to overcome the Scottish infantry, and made the terrible decision to charge up the slope. They were run through with the spears. The Scots continued their advance, hemming the English in the short space between themselves and the large burn (stream).
The cramped conditions meant that the English could not use their longbows against their enemy. A slaughter ensued, resulting in the deaths of at least 700 cavalry and around 7, 000 infantry from the English army. It was said that the flower of English chivalry was slain that day. Edward II surrendered, and left the battlefield under a guard of 500 knights. Defeat at Bannockburn left Northern England vulnerable to Scottish raids, and the Scots made the most of the opportunity, also invading Ireland. Eventually, the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton was signed in 1328, recognising Scotland as an independent country.