The Scottish Wars of Independence arose following the death of the Scots King Alexander the Third. His legitimate heir to the throne was his granddaughter the Maid of Norway. She was but an infant but in the medieval days age was considered no barrier to marriage and her Great Uncle, King Edward the First of England, made preparations for her to sail to Scotland to marry his son. Medieval politics as was this marriage would have united the crowns of England and Scotland.

The Maid of Norway sadly did not survive to see either Scotland or her marriage. This left a power vacuum that would easily have provoked a civil war among no less than thirteen would be monarchs of Scotland. In an effort to at least decrease the chances of a civil war the Scots invited Edward of England to judge upon whom should rightfully become their sovereign. Their faith in Edward was proven to be not as they had thought as he duly proclaimed that it was he himself who should be regarded as their overlord. To support his claim the English had an army on Scottish soil. It would have been unwise for Edward to directly rule both the Scots and the English at this time and so he chose Balliol as 'his' King of Scotland. In 1306 all this changed as Robert the Bruce claimed the crown for himself. He had had at least an equal claim to the rights of succession following the deaths of Alexander and the Maid of Norway. In 1307 Edward the First died.

It was following a series of battles that the opposing English and Scots faced up to each other at Bannockburn. The English had a new King in Edward the Second and the Scots were led by Robert the Bruce.

As a military commander Edward the Second proved the weak spot in the otherwise strong English force. Robert the Bruce had proven to be a good leader and the rally cry for Scottish freedom was a strong motivation to his forces.

It was the siege of Stirling Castle that led to the Battle of Bannockburn. Stirling had become the last stronghold of the English in Scotland, such had been the success of Robert the Bruce and his followers. The relief of Stirling was the primary concern for the English and they arrived some 3 miles south of the castle on the banks of the Bannock. It was a disastrous choice of battlefield by Edward the Second and one he would live to rue.

The English numbered some 1,000 mounted knights in their ranks while the Scots could muster but 500. In these days the mounted knight was considered the 'shock trooper' on the battlefield and on paper at least things looked bleak for the Scots. The English were mostly professional soldiers and the Scots counted many 'small folk' or militia in their ranks.

The English plan was to divide into two groups with one group forcing the Scots onto the lances of the other. Edward chose The Earls of Gloucester and Hereford to lead the 'driving' force. Sir Henry Beaumont and Sir Robert de Clifford were to command the 'waiting' force. Gloucester and Hereford quarrelled over whom should take the lead of their force. It was the over-enthusiastic Sir Henry de Bohun who found himself some distance in front of the force when he came upon none other than Robert the Bruce himself. The impetuous young knight charged at the Bruce and was killed by the merciless swing of the more experienced Scot's battle-axe.

The English vanguard then found themselves attacked by the Scots with such a rage inspired by their King's action that they began to fall back almost immediately. The ' waiting' force had meanwhile encountered a force led by the Earl of Moray on the left flank of the Scots position. The spears of Moray's men proving impregnable to the English force and they withdrew upon the sight of reinforcements commanded by Sir James Douglas. There would be no more combat on the 23rd.

It says a lot for the arrogance of the English knights, passed along by their king perhaps?, that the next morning found them almost oblivious to the reality of the situation. They considered the Scots little more than irritants and some, such as the Earl of Gloucester, paid for this early morning arrogance with their lives. The one type of soldier that even the cavalryman feared was the archer and it says a lot for Edward's incompetence in manoeuvrability and effective communication that he did not make the best use of his archers. The Earl of Gloucester had at one stage found his infantry under attack from the English archers! The archers that did manage to injure the Scots force were killed or scattered by Scots horse. The English had become trapped with the brutal bloodshed of hand to hand fighting confined to a relatively small area. This style of fighting suited the Scots more, they had been guerrilla fighters whereas the English knight was relatively cumbersome at close combat. It is said the Edward had to be rescued from the carnage by his personal bodyguard. The day, the battle and to all intents and purposes Scotland belonged to Robert the Bruce.