1314 CE - Battle of Bannock Burn

by Sorcha NicAnTsaoir bean Hamultun

The Battle of Bannock Burn was fought near the end of June in 1314 under the leadership of Robert the Bruce. On the 21st or 22nd of June, Robert the Bruce drew his men on top of the ridge that straddled the Stirling-Falkirk road. South of that area was the winding stream known as the Bannock Burn, there it joined the Forth River a mile or two northeast across some marshes. There, nearly 12,000 men waited ready for battle under their commanders, Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, Edward Bruce, James Douglas and Robert Keith.

Meanwhile, the English were coming up along the old Roman road from Falkirk towards Bannock Burn. Edward II sent out a 3,000 strong force of horsemen and infantry, under the Earl of Gloucester, to attack the Scots on their hill. At the same time, he sent a smaller force of cavalry around to the back of the ridge to deal with any fleeing Scots. However, Gloucester's attack was rebuffed and Edward had to come up with another plan.

He led his main army, some 20,000 strong, further towards Stirling. In the low-lying ground between the ridge held by Bruce and the bend in the Forth where the Bannock Burn entered, he and his men camped for the night with intentions of assaulting the ridge the next day.

Dawn rose and the English King had the call to arms sounded. The main English force began to move under the leadership of Gloucester, a frontal attack with very little reserve. The Scots, with the advantage of going downhill, advanced in good order. When Gloucester charged into the frontline, the Scots infantry men formed themselves into their famous schiltron (rings of men with spears 'levelled at every point of assault'), likened to a bristling hedgehog; this action forced the English back. At the same time, the three commanders, Douglas, Edward Bruce and Moray, led their men forward and, with a tremendous succession of "shoves", broke the English front lines. As they pushed them back to their rear lines, chaos ensued as they hit the swampy marshes by the stream.

King Edward set out a squadron of archers to the left of the Scots, where they did some damage to Douglas' men, but Robert Bruce countered by sending Keith's cavalry squadrons among the English bowmen and scattered them.

Recognizing the signs of defeat, Edward of England promptly fled and headed for Stirling. The English soldiers remaining either surrendered where they stood or were run into the marsh and stream where they died.

The battle of Bannock Burn was the most crucial military success in all Scottish history. Although it did not end the war between Scotland and England, it did put Robert Bruce firmly in as an admired and well-respected King.

Sources:

The History of Scotland, Plantagenet and Fiona Somerset Fry, ISBN 0-7100-9001-3

Robert The Bruce King of Scots, Ronald McNair Scott, Peter Bedrick Books

prepared Sorcha NicAnTsaoir bean Hamultun

Back to Top

'Clannada na Gadelica' is a registered trademark of the Clannada na Gadelica. The following specific definitional phraseologies are Service Marked (SM) for the exclusive use of Clannada na Gadelica:

Gaelic Traditionalism, Gaelic Traditionalist, Diasporal Gaelic Traditionalism, Diasporal Gaelic Traditionalist, Diasporan Gaelic Traditionalism, Diasporan Gaelic Traditionalist, GT, Traditional Gaelic Polytheism, Gaelic Traditional Polytheism, Gaelic Cultural Tradition, Gaelic Cultural Traditions, Hearthlands, GCT

are ALL as of today Service Marked Clannada na Gadelica.

A service mark is "any word, name, symbol, device, or any combination, used, or intended to be used, in commerce, to identify and distinguish the services of one provider from services provided by others, and to indicate the source of the services."

Since the early 1980s privately, and since 1993 publicly, Clannada na Gadelica, and ONLY Clannada na Gadelica, have used this terminology, (and more terminology which we are also Service Marking), as specific definitional phraseologies to explicate and expound upon the Gaelic Cultural Traditions of the Gaelic Hearthlands. Clannada na Gadelica have provided this original work and original service exclusively, and can documentably prove we were are the originators of the modern re-employment in the Diaspora of this terminology. We specifically do NOT grant permission to use this terminology to any other entity or individuals.

I am Service Marking this work because Kathryn Price a.k.a Kathryn nic Dhana, and the Celtic Reconstructionist identity thieves, and now other neo-pagans, as well as now a Canadian on-line t-shirt company, have been poaching this terminology and trying to crassly commercialize it.

Enough is enough. Clannada coined it and if it takes registering it as a commercial service mark to protect it, then, so be it, and I'll take the inevitable ass-whipping from the authentic Tradition Bearers in the Hearthlands for it. When and if authentic cultural entities in the Hearthlands want to assume the mark for themselves, I'll release it to them. Until then, this is the line.

Kathleen O'Brien Blair, Taoiseach
Clannada na Gadelica,
A Confederation of Gaelic Traditionalists in the Hearthlands and Diaspora

WWW Clannada.org