The Battle of Bannockburn 1314 by Leonard James

Author:Leonard James [James, Leonard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bretwalda Battles
Published: 2014-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

The first blow to be struck at the Battle of Bannockburn was struck by King Robert Bruce himself when he was attacked by the English knight Henry de Bohun. Bruce famously killed the English knight with a single blow of his battle axe.

Meanwhile the rest of the English force had shaken itself into formation and moved forward. Exactly what happened is not entirely clear as none of the chroniclers gives a detailed account. What is known is that the force going forwards was made up of infantry, archers and cavalry. The conventional approach that most commanders would have used would be for the infantry to advance in a solid block, presenting a wall of shields toward the enemy. Mixed in with the infantry would be archers, mostly in the rear ranks. The heavily armoured knights would be riding behind or on the flanks of the infantry phalanx.

Ordinarily the archers would start to shoot as soon as they got within range. Their arrows would inflict casualties on the enemy, weakening their force and, it was hoped, opening up gaps in the enemy formation. If those gaps proved to be great enough, or if the commander judged the enemy to be vulnerable in some way, the knights would charge. A mass of charging knights could smash a formation apart, but was usually unleashed only when it was reasonably certain that they could triumph. If the enemy force appeared too solid for the charge to have much chance of success, the infantry phalanx would close to hand-to-hand combat to inflict casualties and so open the way for a charge.

But Hereford and Gloucester would have seen at once that there was a problem. The Scots had positioned themselves just inside the line of trees. Arrows would be ineffective as they would most likely get caught or deflected by the tree branches. Moreover, the undergrowth in The Park would make it difficult for the horsemen to charge riding stirrup to stirrup as they would normally do. Bruce had positioned his men well.

From the fragmentary comments that have survived, it seems that Hereford and Gloucester advanced with their infantry leading the way and the knights riding behind. As the infantry approached The Park they had to climb a slope to get at the Scots. The English were beaten back, but seem to have performed a reasonably orderly retreat rather than collapsing in rout. The training in which the Englishmen who answered the Commission of Array took part was proving its worth.

As the infantry fell back the knights would have moved forward to deter the Scots from following up their success. Any Scotsman who sought to dash forward to cut off stragglers would quickly be cut down by the English horsemen. It was normal practice, but it was at this point that the Earl of Gloucester fell foul of one of the hidden pits dug by the Scots the day before. His horse fell, throwing the earl to the ground, then bolted. Gloucester was quickly on his

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