Easter date crucial in battle strategy
DIGGING INTO THE PAST with Dr Murray Cook
The 1314 siege of Stirling Castle
Have you been enjoying the Easter break? For many of us, Easter is now a secular holiday but for our medieval ancestors it was a major religious festival and even more so for those who lived before the Reformation and were Catholic. This, of course, included Robert the Bruce, our greatest warrior king.
Easter 1314 fell during the Bruces’ siege of Stirling Castle, the prelude to the Battle of Bannockburn, the greatest in Scottish history. On Easter itself the King’s brother, Edward, was in Cumberland cutting a swathe of destruction. Edward came back to relieve Robert who was struck ill. This must have shaken the Scots, was God giving them a sign?
Traditionally, it was a mistaken and foolish sense of honour that moved Edward to grant the Scots Keeper of the Castle, Sir Philip Mowbray, a month’s grace from the siege and proposed the idea of the castle having to be relieved by midsummer (June 24).
However, we now think that this was a carefully prepared plan by both Bruces. The geography of Stirling dictated that the English army would have to march along the Roman Road to get to the castle.
In addition, the destruction of the Peel at Linlithgow and the capture of Edinburgh Castle opened up a 95-mile gap to Stirling. Any English force would have to bring its own supplies, an incredibly expensive invasion. The question was when would they come?
This was why Sir Philip was released, to bait the trap.
Edward II now knew where the Bruces would be. He could get them both and extinguish the Scots’ rebellion once and for all. The Bruces, however, were confident that God was on their side and that they would prevail at Bannockburn field.