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Berwick, and Dunbar ; even the frontier provinces 

 of England were ravaged by the triumphant Scots ; 

 and Edward, -oused at length from his lethargy, de- 

 termined to muster the whole force of his kingdom, 

 and, by one decisive blow, to quell for ever a people 

 whom he found such inveterate and troublesome ene- 

 mies. For this grand enterprise troops were even 

 enlisted in Flanders and other foreign countries : his 

 military vassals in Gascony, Ireland, and Wales, were 

 summoned to repair to the royal standard ; and the 

 whole military force of England was commanded to 

 assemble, on a stated day, at Newcastle upon Tyne. 

 At length, on the 18th of June 1314, he began to 

 march from Berwick, with an army of more than a 

 hundred thousand men ; followed by an incredible 

 train of waggons, loaded with all sorts of provisions. 

 Scotland had been so much exhausted by its recent 

 wars, that Robert, with all his efforts, could not 

 bring into the field more than thirty thousand men ; 

 but they were men of tried valour, inured to all the 

 hardships and vicissitudes of war, and headed by a 

 prince whose undaunted courage was seconded by 

 the cool self-command, and consummate skill of an ex- 

 perienced general. The castle of Stirling had for some 

 time been invested by Edward Bruce ; and the governor, 

 Philip de Mowbray, after a gallant defence, was com- 

 pelled to capitulate, and promised to open the gates of 

 the castle on a certain day, if he should not be relieved 

 before that time by an English army. Aware, then, 

 that Edward would advance immediately towards 

 Stirling, Robert determined to intercept him on his 

 march ; and fixed upon a most advantageous posi- 

 tion, where he waited to give him battle. He had 

 a hill on his right hand, a morass on his left, and 

 a rivulet in front. As the English were greatly 

 superior to him in cavalry, he employed a very in- 

 genious stratagem to deprive them of this advantage. 

 He commanded deep pits to be dug along the banks 

 of the rivulet, in which were fixed sharp pointed 

 stakes ; and the whole was carefully covered over 

 with turf and rushes. On the evening of the 24th 

 of June, the English arrived on the opposite bank of 

 the river ; and the two armies, fired with all the ran- 

 cour of national animosity, rushed immediately to 

 battle. A smart conflict ensued between two bo- 

 dies of cavalry. That of the Scots was headed by 

 Robert in person, who engaging in close combat 

 with Henry de Bohun, a gentleman of the family of 

 Hereford, with one stroke of his battle-axe cleft his 

 adversary to the chin. The English horse fled with 

 precipitation ; and the Scots, exulting in the valour 

 of their monarch, regarded the favourable result of 

 this encounter zj a presage of a more complete vic- 

 tory. 



Darkness gave a short respite from hostilities ; 

 and never was suspense more interesting than that in 

 which the armies were now placed. The English, 

 elated with former victories, and exasperated by the 

 least appearance of defeat from a people whom they 

 had already considered as subdued, longed eagerly 

 for a combat which wa3 to annihilate the power of 

 their enemies. The Scots saw their independence, 

 and even their existence as a nation, depending on the 

 issue of a single battle ; and undaunted by the gigan- 

 tic power of their enemy, were determined to restore 



the liberty and the glory of their country, or not to sur- 

 vive its fall. The night, short as it is at that season 

 of the year, appeared extremely tedious to the impa- 

 tience of the combatants. At break of day Edward 

 drew out his army, and advanced against the Scots. 

 His nephew, the Earl of Gloucester, who command- 

 ed the left wing of cavalry, impelled by the ardour 

 of youth, and disputing the post of honour with the 

 Earl of Hereford, rushed impetuously to the attack, 

 and fell among the covered pits which Bruce had 

 prepared on the bank of the river. Gloucester him- 

 self was dismounted and slain ; his cavalry were 

 thrown into disorder ; and Sir James Douglas, who 

 commanded the Scottish body of horse, giving them 

 no time to recover from their consternation, drove 

 them off the field with great slaughter. The infan- 

 try, alarmed by this unfortunate commencement of 

 the action, and afraid of some similar stratagem 

 against themselves, were yet hesitating to advance, 

 when they perceived another army marching slowly 

 along the heights as if with the intention of surround- 

 ing them. This was a number of waggoners and 

 sumpter boys, whom Robert had provided with mi- 

 litary standards, so as to give them at a distance the 

 appearance of a large army. The stratagem succeed- 

 ed : the English, distracted by various fears, threw 

 down their arms and fled; the slaughter was prodi- 

 gious j and as they were at least eighty miles from 

 any place of safety, very few of them would have 

 escaped, had not the Scots returned from the pur- 

 suit to seize on the rich spoil of the English camp. 

 Various accounts are given of the number slain in 

 this decisive battle. Some of the Scottish historians 

 assure us that fifty thousand English perished in the 

 action, or were destroyed in flight ; and, according 

 to the most moderate calculations, the number of 

 captives amounted to lot lords and knights, 700 

 gentlemen, and 10,000 common soldiers. During 

 the whole of the engagement Edward shewed no 

 want of personal bravery, and was with difficulty per- 

 suaded to quit the field. He was closely pursued 

 by Sir James Douglas, who was eager to revenge 

 the wrongs of his family; and narrowly escaped by 

 reaching Dunbar, whose gates were opened to him 

 by the Earl of March ; and from thence he took 

 shipping for Berwick. The loss of the Scots, too, 

 was by no means inconsiderable ; for even their own 

 writers allow that 4000 of them fell, among whom 

 there were only two of equestrian rank. 



Such was the great battle of Bannockburn, which 

 completely secured the independence of Scotland, es- 

 tablished the family of Bruce on the throne, and in- 

 spired the English with such a dread of Scottish va- 

 lour, that for many years they never would venture 

 to oppose any number of Scotsmen in the field. 

 Robert availing himself of his present advantage, 

 marched directly to England, and ravaged, without 

 opposition, all the northern counties ; besieged Car- 

 lisle, and took Berwick by assault. In return for 

 some of his noble prisoners, he received his wife, his 

 daughter, and sister, and all the Scottish nobles and 



fentlcmen who had been prisoners since the reign of 

 Idward I. ; the liberty of his other captives was pur- 

 chased at immense ransoms, which were a new acces- 

 sion of wealth to the kingdom. See Hume's Erig- 



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