A Decisive Test Of Strength
In
1310 and 1311 Edward II campaigned in Scotland but was a mere shadow in
comparison to the mightly substance of his father.
In England Bruce�s counter-campaigns were another matter, unleashing
terror and destruction on the northern counties.
Between 1311 and 1313 northern Englishmen had to pay huge sums of money
to buy peace from the Scots. All
the time Bruce was relentlessly recovering the Scottish castles from the
English.
By the beginning of
1314 the castles were falling one by one to the Scots.
In February it was Roxburgh, in March it was Edinburgh.
Stirling however, was still garrisoned by the English under Sir Philip
Mowbray. To the annoyance of Bruce,
his brother Edward had made an agreement with Stirling�s English governor
whereby the castle would be surrendered if the English had not relieved it by
Midsummers Day. Bruce immediately
saw that this would give the English an opportunity to gather their forces at a
specific point and that he must either abandon the siege of the castleor defend
it in pitched battle. Up to that moment all his successes had been achieved
precisely by avoiding pitched battles with the English.
Both sides knew that
this was going to be a crucial encounter, a decisive test of strength.
If Edward II could not combine the might of feudal England to defend one
castle by a specific date then he would be seen as a complete failure.
If Bruce, the master of guerrilla warfare, could not for once publicly
demonstrate his strength in a pre-arranged pitched battle in his own kingdom
then he would lose not only Stirling, the gateway to the north, but his hard won
reputation as an invincible battler. Both
sides had everything to lose. Neither
side intended to leave anything to chance.
Edward II�s greatest
advantage was in the number of trained fighting men who were feudally obliged to
him. Bruce, on the other hand, had
military genius on his side and he planned the battle accordingly.
He began in March to drill his troops in the Torwood and he chose the
perfect site for blocking the expected English advance on Stirling Castle.
Bruce planted his men in the dense wood of the New Park and set his
standard in the Borestone there. This
meant he had impassable scrub on his right, the stream riddled and boggy Carse
on his left, Stirling Castle behind him and the Bannock Burn, which Edward II
would have to cross, before him. In itself, the Bannock Burn was not a
formidable obstacle, but Bruce had made it so with ditches and cruelly placed
caltrops � four pointed traps to penetrate the feet of the advancing cavalry. To get past the Scots Edward II would be forced on to the
Carse and there his numerical superiority and heavy cavalry would be of little
use to him.
Edward II and his vast
army marched into Edinburgh on 17th June 1314, stopped 5 days to
collect supplies at Leith, then had a 22 mile forced march to Falkirk.
On Saturday 23rd June 1314 they were advancing up the old
Roman road from Falkirk to take up their positions for the forthcoming battle.
The English army totalled some 20,000 men of whom 2000 were heavy cavalry
and 18,000 were archers and spear-wielding foot soldiers.
By contrast, Bruce�s own army comprised only 5,500 trained men plus
2000 untrained volunteers. Against
the English horsemen with their chain-mail and their armour Bruce had only 500
light cavalry under Sir Alexander Keith. Against
the thousands of experienced English archers, Bruce had only a few from Ettrick
forest. THE SCOTS WERE
OUTNUMBERED 3 TO 1. By
nightfall on 22nd June 1314, only 12 miles separated the two armies.
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This page created on 20th July , 2001.