THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN 1314

By Harry X, Year 6

Inspired by their recent studies of British History from 1066, Harry undertook some independent research on The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 and has written this piece: 

At the beginning messengers notified the king (Edward II) about the Scottish cities and the taking of castles. Edward acted quickly and had a meeting with all the important people of the kingdom. When they finished, they decided to invade Scotland and overtake them. When they got the materials and needs for the trip, they set off the Scotland. When they got there, they quickly travelled all the way to where the Scots were. The older and more experienced advised Edward to wait and rest for a day and attack. But the king and the less experienced men refused and said that was idle and cowardly. While the king and his men was getting ready to attack the Scots, the Scots were having a party for their successes of invading the castes. Robert Bruce (the leader of the rebellion) was giving everyone bread and wine and cheering them as much as he could. When his messengers told him about the English and he soon told everyone to get ready for war. The soldiers wore an iron skull-cap and a padded gambeson. They used arming swords, war swords, great swords, daggers, etc. The Scots wore light armour, not easily penetrable by swords, axes and lances. Robert Bruce split his men into 3 groups. In total there was about 40 thousand men, double the men the English brought. They marched to the English in a very tight formation. James Douglas who commanded the first group of men, attacked the earl of Gloucester’s line. In the sudden attack, the English panicked and the earl’s horse was knocked down and the earl was killed. Then when the king found out that the earl’s line was broken and his men was ready to run, he ordered to retreat. The whole army was like a ramped. Unfortunately, for the English, lots of them got trapped in a ditch and they got killed in it. The rest of the army kept on running while the Scots chased them on for 50 miles. Then, the Scots captured a lot of the important people so that they could hold them for ransom and gain lots of money while there are at it.

On that day, lots of people were lost for the Englishmen and that was a Victory for the Scots. In my opinion, I think that the Scots were more tactical and luckier than the English because they were in a tight formation so that the English couldn’t get past. The Scots also wore lighter armour so that they could move faster and do other stuff faster than the English because they wore heavy armour and they were slower. The Scots were also luckier because the English got trapped in a ditch and that wasn’t planned. Robert Bruce was also more relaxed and nicer than Edward II and he made better decisions than Edward because he was more relaxed. Edward II was the absolute opposite to his father, Edward I. he didn’t like wars and was a poor leader. He made bad decisions when he was pressured and that caused the English to lose.