England and Scotland had seen nearly 100 years of peace, before the death of the Scottish King Alexander III (who accidentally rode off a cliff on a stormy night) in 1286, left a sickly minor on the throne, Margaret the Maid of Norway. Her death in 1290 then opened the dispute over who should take the throne, this was known as the Great Cause. The two main rival factions in Scotland each had a preference and Edward I of England was asked which he thought had the greatest claim. He determined King John Balliol, as opposed to Robert Bruce (the grandfather of Robert Bruce of Bannockburn). Edward I then began to interfere with Scotland, more than the Scottish approved of and so Scotland form an alliance with the King of France. This angered Edward I who invaded Scotland in 1296. Edward I took Scotland, removed John as King, imprisoned him and set up a government. In 1297, William Wallace and other Scots rose up against the English control. After the defeat of the Earl of Surrey, Edward I returned from France and re-defeated the Scottish, taking control again. Scotland then had a troubled and turbulent 9 years. In 1306, Robert the Bruce killed his rival John Comyn and became King (many Scots opposed how he came to the throne). In 1313, King Robert gave an ultimatum to Scottish nobility, either they accept his rule over Edward II (who has succeeded his father) or eternally lose their lands; Edward needed act to now to save those loyal to him and began massing his vast army.

In 1314, Stirling Castle, loyal to England, was under heavy siege by Robert. An agreement was made between the Castle and Edward, the castle will surrender unless the English army comes to relieve them before Midsummer’s day. Edward’s force, around 15,000 infantry and cavalry move northwards. Meanwhile Robert trained his forces, around 8,000 infantry, in revolutionary tactics for the Scottish; he instructed them to be offensive and attack, using their most effective weapon of spears, against the English Cavalry (often Scottish forces avoided open battles with larger English armies and Robert is expected to retreat). The forces met near Bannockburn and a two day battle is then commenced. The English Cavalry was broken by defenses built by the Scots, the boggy ground of the battlefield and the manoeuvres of the Scottish. At the end of the first day Edward moved his forces onto an open slightly swampy ground, the Scottish saw this and launched an early surprise attack. At first the English archers overthrew the Scottish, but when the main Scottish army approached quickly, the English had no room to charge or manoeuvre and tried to escape. Many English were slaughtered or drowned (around 100 English Knights, some very prominent were killed, a horrifically large number), although Edward escaped.

The Battle of Bannockburn stands out in Scottish history for two reasons. Firstly, Scotland won back their independence from the English and secondly, a Scottish army faced an English head on and was victorious. Edward makes some future attempts at Scotland, but non are successful. However, Robert does not face him again in an open fight.