Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn Pt 4

He ordered his knights, with the archers and infantry behind them, to make their way around the east side of the New Park. His hope was that the woodland would cover their movements, until they'd out-flanked the Scots and made it to Stirling Castle.

What his intelligence had plainly missed was that that same woodland was where the main bulk of the Scottish army had their camps.

The Scottish army at Bannockburn was largely split into thirds.  Robert, his brother Edward and Sir Thomas Randolph (later Earl of Moray) each controlled a division.

However there was a smaller group too. Headed by Walter the Steward on paper, in reality it had the much more experienced Sir James Douglas at its helm. Walter might have out-ranked him, but he was also only seventeen years old.

Upon Robert's order, the divisions belonging to Edward, Thomas and James each began to edge east through the woodland. Edward the Bruce's men were in the vanguard and, as they reached the tree-line, they all knelt down to pray.

Edward II is said to have exclaimed, "They pray for mercy!"

"For mercy, yes." One of his antagonistic nobles responded, "But from God, not from you."

The English were barely given time to draw breath, before Douglas and Randolph both gave the order for their infantry to join those led by Edward Bruce.  All three divisions charged down the escarpment, heading straight for the front lines of the English army.

Exhausted, stiff and some quite soggy from wading through the Bannock Burn to get there, the English weren't exactly quick on the uptake. The Scots plowed into them, coming dangerously close to Edward II himself.

As was the norm, the lethal Welsh archers began unleashing a volley of arrows onto their fellow Celts. But the bottle-neck configuration of the English front line - forced into being by the 'pots' lining the wayside - meant that their own side couldn't get out of the way fast enough.

The Welsh killed more English at Bannockburn, than they ever did Scots. Which has given more than one historian some pause for thought.

Nor could the English infantry make it through to relieve the knights fighting in brutal hand to hand combat. There was very little room to maneuver. For those trapped at the front, it was fight until death with no other possible recourse.

The order went out for the Welsh long-bowmen to head north.  Scouts had found slightly higher ground, where those famed arrows could sight the Scots without risking an English human shield.

The Cymru duly took up this position, but it too had been anticipated by Robert the Bruce. He had kept back a small detachment of horsemen against this very eventuality.  Now Sir Robert Keith, the Earl Marischal of Scotland, rode out of the woods straight towards the Welshmen.

Naturally those archers fled back towards the safety of their own camp. Their shouts alerted the waiting English infantry, who panicked and began to race south themselves, fleeing for the relative safety of the other side of the Bannock Burn.

That was when Robert the Bruce deployed his own division, which had been waiting in reserve.

Most of Bruce's men were highlanders, brought to Bannockburn by Angus Og MacDonald of Islay. Their centuries old Gaelic style of fighting had been tempered by Bruce's Anglo-Norman training during the previous two months. But the battle cries they screamed, as they began their charge, owed much more to the Celts than their king.

Even those English knights who could physically stand to be fighting were disturbed by this. Many more immediately began to attempt the retreat themselves.

"Lay on!  Lay on!" The Gaelic resounded through the woodland. "They fail!"

It was heard by the camp followers back in the woods. The women, children and elderly, who had accompanied their men to battle, suddenly appeared racing through the tree-line, looking to witness the final routing of the English.

They did too. Because those knights still left assumed that this was yet another fresh Scottish division being called onto the field. As one, they all sounded the retreat and fled.

Meanwhile, the water rising against that grisly dam had turned blood red.

To the north and west, boggy ground trapped many more English, as they became sitting ducks in the swamps for the pursuing Scots. Those who made it through found themselves confronted with the River Forth. Drowned bodies dotted it by mid-morning.

The final tally reckoned that only a third of the 16,000 strong English Army made it home. The majority of them were lone individuals, who'd somehow managed to survive long enough to reach the border.

The only large group to arrive home safely were Welsh spear-men, under the command of Sir Maurice de Berkeley. It was his experiences at Bannockburn, which were to cause Berkeley to eventually rebel against Edward II. Though he was captured and executed, it was his castle to which the usurped Edward was eventually brought, and killed.

A group of Scottish cavalry were hurtling towards them intent upon seizing the English king. Edward II and his cohort fought fiercely in order to escape. It was a close thing. Edward II was unhorsed during the skirmish and only his own swordsmanship saved him long enough to mount again.

At each turn, they expected more Scots to realize what was occurring and overwhelm them, but finally luck was on the English side. They managed to flee north, then wheel around to the west. Finally they were cut off by the River Forth.

A Scottish fisherman was persuaded - with a king's ransom in wealth - to sail them down the Forth and around the coastline to the safety of Berwick. 

His personal safety must have been very cold comfort to Edward II, who knew that he had failed so badly in his father's shadow, and had sown the seeds that made an English uprising against their monarch now inevitable.

Thousands more Scots now flocked to his banner, finally convinced that this was the man who could bring Scottish independence from England.  That wasn't the spoils of Bannockburn itself, but the battle was most certainly an important stepping stone towards it.

It would take six more years before the Declaration of Arbroath sealed the deal, and another four after that before the English deigned to recognize Scotland as an independent sovereign state.

On a more personal level, Bannockburn had led to the capture of the Earl of Hereford. The terms of his ransom included the return of Bruce's wife, daughter and sisters. He had his remaining family home again.