Bannockburn

It is good that history provides us with heroes, people whose courage we want to imitate but, now and then, the images get distorted and it is good to put things in perspective. For me, Bruce was a brilliant and determined general and I admire him for those qualities but a patriotic leader of all Scotland? At Bannockburn, Bruce’s men were heavily outnumbered. They were outnumbered because many of the Scottish nobles were with Edward trying to save their hold on to their English as well as their Scottish estates. One report suggests the Scottish nobles, and, by implication their subordinates were so split and disaffected Bannockburn was more the last pitched battle of a civil war between Scots than and invasion by Edward. To back this up, Bruce had some 5000 men – gathered from all Scotland. I’ve seen more watching Partick Thistle at a midweek game! I’ve mentioned it before but – If Bruce had accepted Edward’s overlordship, the result would have been a united Britain in 1314. It had been arranged that the Maid of Norway would marry the heir to the English throne, which had been accepted by the elder Bruce. There would have been no slaughter at Bannockburn. Bannockburn was not an academic exercise or great poetry, Scots as well as English died in agony from gaping wounds there. There would have been no Flodden, no Culloden. We all bemoan the indiscriminate slaughter that was WW1 yet …