Battle of Bannockburn

Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke [-1360]. On the following day [24th June 1314], the Scots, having secured a battlefield location most advantageous to the victors, dug trenches three feet deep and of the same width,¹ extending lengthwise from the right to the left wing of the army. They covered them with fragile interwoven branches and wicker hurdles, what they called herdeles, layered with turf and grass on top. These pits were passable for infantry who were aware of the ruse, but they were incapable of bearing the weight of charging cavalry.

In crastino Scoti, campi locum nacti victoribus maxime oportunum, subfodiebant ad mensuram trium pedum in profundum et ad eiusdem mensure latitudinem fossas protensas in longum a dextro in sinistrum cornu exercitus, operientes illas cum plexis fragilibus ex virgulis et viminibus sive cratibus, id est 'herdeles,' cespite et herbis superstratis, peditibus quidem perviis saltim consciis cautele, set equitum pondera non valentibus sufferre.

Note 1. In crastino Scoti, etc. Harbour's Brits (Spalding Club), 262, describes the stratagem of the pitfalls in the following lines:

And in ane plane feld by the way,

Quhar he thocht ned behufit a way

The Inglishmen, gif that tha wald

Throu the Park to the castell hald,

He gert men mony pottis ma

Of ane fut bred round, and all tha

War dep up till ane manis kne,

Sa thik that tha micht liknit be

Till ane wax-cayme that beis mais.

Thus all that nicht travaland he was

Sa that or day was he had mad

Tha pottis, and tham helit had

With stikis and with gyrs [foliage] all grene

Sa that tha micht nocht wele be sene.

....

The king, quhen that the mes was done,

Went furth to see the pottis sone,

And at his liking saw tham mad:

On athir sid the way wele brad

It was pottit as I haf tald.

Gif that thar fais on hors will hald

Furth in that way, I trow tha sail

Nocht wele eschap [escape] forouten [without] fall.

The account of the battle as given in the Chronicle of Lanercost 225.

The chronicler seems to know nothing of the artificial pits. According to his account, the English fell into the channel of the burn, Chronicle of Lanercost 226.

So also the writer of the Vita Edward II, 205.

The Brute chronicle (Harl. MS. 2279) has an interesting note of a popular song commemorating the victory: "And when kyng Edward herde this tithing, he lete assemble his hoste, and mette the Scottis atte Est Revelyn, in the day of the Nativite of seint John the Baptist, in the yeer of his regne the VII, and in the yeer of oure Lorde Jesu Criste MCCCXIIIJ. Alias the sorowe and lost that ther was done! For ther was slayn the noble erle Gilbert of Clare, sir Robert of Clifford, baron, and many other; and of other peple that no man couth nombre. And the kyng Edward was scomfitede. and sire Edmunde of Maule, the kyng stiward, for drede wente and drenchid him selfe in a fressh ryver that is callede Bannokesburne. Wherfore the Scottis seide in reprofe and dispite of kyng Edward, for as moche that he lovede for to gone by water and also for he was descomfitede atte Bannokesbourne, therfore maydenes maden a songe therof, in that cuntre, of kyng Edward of Engelonde, and in this maner songe:

"Maydenes of Engelonde, sare may ye mourne,

For tynte ye have youre lemmans atte Bannokisbourne.

With hevalowe.

What! wende the kyng of Engelonde

[To] have gete Scotlande?

With rumbelowe."'

Life of Edward II by a Monk of Malmesbury. [24th June 1314] While therefore our people were fleeing, while they pursued the footsteps of the king, behold, a certain ditch swallowed many; a great part of our men perished in it. When the king arrived at the castle, believing he would find refuge there, he was repelled as if he were an enemy: the drawbridge was raised, and the gate shut. Because of this, many believed that the castle's keeper was not free from suspicion of treachery, especially since he had been seen that very day, armed in the field, apparently ready to fight for the king. Yet I neither absolve the keeper, nor do I accuse him of treason; but I confess it happened by the counsel of God that the King of England did not enter the castle, because if he had been admitted at that time, he would not have escaped without being captured.

Dum igitur gens nostra fugeret, dum vestigia regis arriperet, ecce quædam fossa multos absorbuit, magna pars nostrorum in ipsa periit. Veniens namque rex ad castrum et credens ibidem habere refugium, tanquam hostis repellitur; pons attrahitur et porta clauditur. Unde custos castri a plerisque proditionis expers non esse credebatur, et tamen in acie armatus quasi pro rege pungnaturus ipso die videbatur. Verum nec custodem absolvo, nec proditionis accuso, sed consilio Dei fateor evenisse regem Anglize castrum non intrasse, quia si tunc admissus fuisset sine captione nequaquam evasisset.

Life of Edward II by a Monk of Malmesbury. [24th June 1314] When the moment came that they had to join battle, James Douglas, who commanded the first division of the Scots, fiercely attacked the line of the Earl of Gloucester. And the earl met him manfully; once and again he broke through the wedge of the enemy, and indeed would have won triumph—if only he had had loyal companions. But behold, as the Scots suddenly charged, the earl's horse was killed and he fell to the ground. He, having no defender and being burdened by the weight of his body, could not easily rise. And so, among the five hundred armed men he had brought to battle at his own expense, he alone was left to die. For when they saw their lord thrown from his horse, they stood as if stunned, offering no aid. Cursed be the knighthood whose courage fails in the moment of greatest need.

Cum autem ad hoc ventum esset ut congredi simul oporteret, Jacobus Douglas, qui prime turmæ Scotorum præerat, aciem comitis Gloucestriæ acriter invasit. Et comes ipsum viriliter excepit, semel et iterum cuneum penetravit, et triumphum utique reportasset si fideles socios habuisset. Sed ecce, subito irruentibus Scotis, equus comitis occiditur et comes in terram labitur. Ipse etiam defensore carens et mole corporis nimis oneratus faciliter exsurgere non potuit, sed inter quingentos armatorum quos suis sumptibus duxerat ad bellum, ipse fere solum occubuit. Cum enim viderent dominum suum ab equo dejectum, stabant quasi attoniti non ferentes auxilium. Maledicta militia cujus summa necessitate perit audacia.