Thursday, June 23, 2005

Bannockburn: the Scots victory over the English

Today in the year 1314, Edward II's English army was heading into battle at Bannockburn thinking they'd crush the Scottish uprising once and for all. Robert the Bruce and his Scots, outnumbered 3 to 1, just plain outsmarted them, if I understand this account correctly. (Of course, this is a Scottish account...)

The National Trust for Scotland preserves Bannockburn today.

"A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885" is available here.

Military History Online has a look at it, in The Bruce, Bannockburn and Independence, by Lori M. Barrett.

The Bruce Family website weighs in on it here, including the poem "Bruce's address to his captains before The Battle of Bannockburn", written by John Barbour c. 1375, presented in the original and in a modern English version.

No comments: