Battle of Bannockburn 1314
Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary. Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1314 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Scotland | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Wars of Scottish Independence | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 56.0933, -3.9378 | Wikidata P625 |
| Official record | HES Inventory BTL4 | OGL v3 |
| Registered area | 1557.3 ha | OGL v3 |
About the battle
The Battle of Bannockburn (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr Allt nam Bànag or Blàr Allt a' Bhonnaich) was fought on 23–24 June 1314, between the army of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, and the army of King Edward II of England, during the First War of Scottish Independence. It was a decisive victory for Robert Bruce and formed a major turning point in the war, which ended 14 years later with the de jure restoration of Scottish independence under the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton. For this reason, the Battle of Bannockburn is widely considered a landmark moment in Scottish history.
King Edward II invaded Scotland after Bruce demanded in 1313 that all supporters still loyal to ousted Scottish king John Balliol acknowledge Bruce as their king or lose their lands. Stirling Castle, a Scots royal fortress occupied by the English, was under siege by the Scottish army. King Edward assembled a formidable force of soldiers to relieve it—the largest army ever to invade Scotland. The English summoned 25,000 infantry soldiers and 2,000 horses from England, Ireland and Wales against 6,000 Scottish soldiers, that Bruce had divided into three different contingents. Edward's attempt to raise the siege failed when he found his path blocked by a smaller army commanded by Bruce.
The Scottish army was divided into four divisions of schiltrons commanded by (1) Bruce, (2) his brother Edward Bruce, (3) his nephew, Thomas Randolph, the Earl of Moray, and (4) one jointly commanded…
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Bannockburn (revision 1377824061), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Battlefield boundary: contains Historic Environment Scotland and OS data © Historic Environment Scotland and Crown Copyright and database right 2026, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See also this battlefield on Battlefields of Britain.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Stirling Castle (1746) 1746 · 3 km
- Battle of Sauchieburn 1488 · 3 km
- Battle of Stirling (1648) 1648 · 3 km
- Sieges of Stirling Castle 1304 · 4 km
- Battle of Stirling Bridge 1297 · 4 km
- Battle of Sheriffmuir 1715 · 11 km
Other battles of the Wars of Scottish Independence
- Battle of Dalrigh 1306
- Battle of Methven 1306
- Battle of Slioch 1307
- Battle of Inverurie (1308) 1308
- Battle of the Pass of Brander 1308
- Capture of Roxburgh (1314) 1314
- Battle of Annan 1332
- Battle of Halidon Hill 1333
- Battle of Culblean 1335
All 14 battles of the Wars of Scottish Independence →
Browse more: battles in Scotland · Europe · Medieval battles