Page 164 of Bound By Honor
A small smile played about the king’s mouth. The candlelight flickered over the faces of the king’s men as each nodded in solemn agreement. “Then we are decided,” said the king. “Since the English force is already in the Carse, our job will be to keep them there, penned in by the streams like sheep for the slaughter. Accordingly, the positions of our schiltrons will change with the dawn.”
That night, Angus watched and prayed with the king and his smaller but more resolute Scots army, while the larger English force reveled, drank heartily and slept.
The next morning, Angus woke to the first bird song. He thought of his beautiful wife and asked God to let him see her again.
The sun rose into a clear blue sky, signaling to Angus the day would again be hot. Abbot Maurice of Inchaffray heard the confessions of the king and his inner circle. Angus was relieved to have his relationship with God a settled matter.
The king then commanded Mass to be heard by the army for they would need God’s protection. That done, they broke their fast, and the king ordered them into their formations with all their banners displayed.
As part of the morning’s ceremony the king knighted those of his army he considered had distinguished themselves on the previous day and made Walter Stewart and James Douglas, already knights, bannerets, allowing them to command their own forces on the battlefield. “You already command your own men,” said the king to Angus. “I but recognize it.”
King Robert then spoke to his troops, reminding them of all they had lost at the hands of the English—brothers, friends and kinsmen. “Our country’s nobility has poured forth its blood in war. Those English barons you can see before you, clad in mail, are bent upon destroying me and obliterating my kingdom, nay, our whole nation. They do not believe that we can survive. They glory in their warhorses and equipment. For us, the name of the Lord must be our hope of victory in battle.”
The king then ordered his four divisions out of the wooded New Park, across the Roman road that led to Stirling Castle, and down to the edge of the Carse, where they faced the English forces.
Randolph, Earl of Moray, led the vanguard; the second and third divisions behind the wings of the van were led by Sir Edward, nearest to the Bannock Burn, and young Walter Stewart and his cousin, the experienced James Douglas. The king’s own division, the rearguard, in which Angus, Duncan and John would fight, was situated behind the van up on the ridge at the edge of the New Park.
“You and your Islesmen will be in the center of my spearmen,” the king told Angus, “giving me a dual-armed schiltron with your large galloglass battle formation a whirlwind to be released at the right time.”
Angus inclined his head. “You can do me no greater honor.”
Thus, while the bulk of the Scots army had moved in three divisions down to the edge of the Carse, prepared to attack the English like a thick-set hedge, King Robert stayed with the reserve, allowing him and Angus to watch the battle unfolding below. Keith and his light horse were behind the king’s schiltron just inside the New Park, and the archers, between the king’s division and the other schiltrons, were to be held in reserve.
Standing in front of the Scots army, the abbot called the men to prayer. Angus and the commanders kneeled in full sight of the enemy, followed by the whole of the Scots army, thus demonstrating they were unafraid. Their souls were in the hands of God.
Facing them in the Carse, the English watched, their cavalry’s armor glinting in the early morning sun, for it would be sacrilege to attack a man in prayer.
When the prayer ceased, the Scots rose to their feet, gripped their spears—and charged. Their archers now fired over the heads of the Scots, their arrows finding targets in the huge mass of English cavalry and foot before them.
The English were slow to react, surprised by what they obviously did not expect.
First to respond was the Earl of Gloucester who scrambled onto his horse and rode out ahead of his cavalry without even his surcoat. Angus only recognized the young earl and his horse from the day before.
Spurred into action by the sound of the bugle, the Earl of Hereford and his knights charged after him, straight onto the waiting spears of Sir Edward’s schiltron.
The Scots vanguard received the English cavalry like a dense woodland of thistles, the great horses dashing themselves in vain against the solid and impenetrable schiltron that stood immovable against the English horse. Their spears clattered against the English armor until the hills rang with the sound.
Those behind the English vanguard pressed forward, only to fall to the dust under the spears and axes of the Scots.
With the strain on Sir Edward’s division, Randolph moved to support him and drew an equally heavy attack upon himself. The king then ordered the third division under Douglas and Stewart into the fray.
The English grappled with the newcomers in stubborn conflict, until blood stood in red pools on the field.
After repeated efforts to penetrate the impenetrable wedge of Scots, Gloucester’s charger was slain under him by a spear thrust forward. The earl was thrown to the ground. His men did not move to aid him to rise but stared speechless. Burdened as he was with the weight of his armor, the young earl was killed in front of the hundreds he had led into battle.
Next to Angus, King Robert inhaled sharply. “Brave, impetuous Gloucester,” he muttered. “The cowardly English did nothing to help him.”
Soon thereafter, Sir Robert Clifford was slain.
On the right flank of the English, the Welsh bowmen took up their position and loosed hundreds of arrows into the air. Placed behind the knights as they were, the volleys of arrows hit more of the English than the Scots. The Welsh bowmen then changed course. Working their way around to the right of Sir Edward’s division, they plied their bows with such energy they began to have an effect upon Sir Edward’s men. Angus searched for Brian in the schiltron but did not see him. “Rob, we must stop the English archers.”
The king said, “It is time for my light horse.” Shouting to Sir Robert Keith, the king commanded his five hundred armed horsemen into the battle. “Cut out the Welsh archers!”
Keith and his horsemen dashed upon the archers. A few archers got off killing shots but, having no weapons fit for a close encounter with mounted men-at-arms, the vast majority of them fled, some to be trodden down and the rest utterly dispersed.
More English cavalry quickly occupied the ground abandoned by their archers.
To support the assault of the schiltrons, the king ordered the Scots archers to pour volleys of arrows into the struggling English cavalry. “Force them back into the Carse!” Trapped and pressed between the Scots and the streams, the English were unable to assume their battle formations, and they soon became a disorganized mass.
