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Bannockburn
Factsheet (II)
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- The Night
of 23rd/24th June, 1314
The Scots had
won the first day. Their morale was high and Bruce’s new
tactic of using the schiltroms offensively rather than statically,
as Wallace had used them at Falkirk, appeared to be working. Yet
Bruce must have been contemplating a strategic withdrawal before
the set piece battle that would inevitably follow in the morning.
- For the English
the setbacks of the first day were disappointing. Fearing Bruce
might mount a night attack, they encamped in the Carse of Balquhiderock.
The following day they still hoped to draw Bruce into a full-scale,
set-piece battle where their decisive Welsh longbowmen could be
brought to bear rather than let Bruce return to guerrilla warfare.
- At this critical
moment, Sir Alexander Seton, a Scots noble in the English army,
defected to Bruce bringing him vital intelligence of Edward’s
army: its confined position and the low morale within the English
camp. Bruce decided to risk all in the morning and face Edward
in open battle.
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The Second
Day, Monday 24th June, 1314
At dawn the Scots ate their breakfast and advanced out of the
wood to face the enemy. Medieval battles were seen as the judgement
of God; it was important to have the saints on your side, and
so, in the midst of the Scots schiltroms, Abbot Bernard of Arbroath
carried their ancient lucky talisman, the Breccbennach (or Monymusk
Relquary), which held the relics of St Columba. Bruce himself
made a speech invoking the power of St Andrew, John the Baptist
and Thomas Beckett. Then, according to the chronicler Walter
Bower: ‘At these words, the hammered horns resounded, and
the standards of war were spread out in the golden dawn.’
 Abbot
Maurice of Inchaffrey walked out in front of the
army, led mass and blessed the Scots as they knelt in prayer.
On seeing this, Edward II is reputed to have said:‘Yon folk
are kneeling to ask mercy.’ Sir Ingram de Umfraville, a Balliol
supporter fighting for Edward, is said to have replied:‘They
ask for mercy, but not from you. They ask God for mercy for their
sins. I’ll tell you something for a fact, that yon men will
win all or die. None will flee for fear of death.’ ‘So
be it’, retorted Edward.
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The Battle
An archery duel followed, but the Scots schiltrom rapidly took
the offensive in order to avoid its inevitable outcome. Edward
Bruce’s schiltrom advanced on the English vanguard, felling
the Earl of Gloucester and Sir Robert Clifford, while Randolph’s
schiltrom closed up on their left. The English knights now found
themselves hemmed in between the Scots schiltroms and the mass
of their own army and could bring few of their archers to bear.
Some broke out on the Scots flank and rained arrows into the
Scots ranks, but they were quickly dispersed by Sir Robert Keith’s
Scots cavalry; the rest were badly deployed, their arrows falling
into the backs of their own army.
- In the centre
of the field there was ferocious hand to hand combat between knights
and spearmen as the battle hung in the balance. At this crucial
point Bruce committed his own schiltrom, which included the Gaelic
warriors of the Highlands and Islands. Under their fresh onslaught,
the English began to give ground. The cry ‘On them! On them!
They fail!’, arose as the English were driven back into the
burn. The
battle’s momentum was obvious. A reluctant Edward II was
escorted away. As his royal standard departed, panic set in. The
Scots schiltroms hacked their way into the disintegrating English
army. Those fleeing caused chaos in the massed infantry behind
them. In the rout that followed hundreds of men and horses were
drowned in the burn desperately trying to escape.
- The battle
was over. English casualites were heavy: thousands of infantry,
a 100 knights and one earl lay dead on the field. Some escaped
the confusion: the Earl of Pembroke and his Welsh infantry made
it safely to Carlisle, but many more, including many knights and
the Earl of Hereford, were captured as they fled through the south
of Scotland. Edward II with 500 knights was pursued by Sir James
‘the Black’ Douglas until they reached Dunbar and the
safety of a ship home.
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The Outcome
The capture of Edward would have meant instant English recognition
of the Scots demands. As it was, they could absorb such a defeat
and continue the war. For the Scots it was a resounding victory.
Bruce was left in total military control of Scotland, enabling
him to transfer his campaign to the north of England. Politically
he had won Scotland’s defacto independence and consolidated
his kingship - as former supporters of Balliol quickly changed
sides. In exchange for Bruce’s noble captives Edward was
forced to release Bruce’s wife, daughter and the formidable
Bishop Wishart, who had been held in English captivity since
1306. For the Scots soldiers there was the wealth of booty left
in the English baggage train and the exhilaration of victory.
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