Encounter of Bruce and De Bohun

The main bulk of the English van had crossed the Bannock Burn and taken up position facing The Bruce's division. A young English Knight, one Henry De Bohun, spotted a lone figure riding back and forth along the Scots lines. Moving closer, he noticed that the man carried no crest upon his helmet, but a crown. Seeing that it was none other than King Robert himself, Bohun realised in his quest for glory, that he could end the battle in one go.

Moving from the English lines De Bohun, fully armoured and riding a heavy cavalry horse urged his beast to a gallop, and lowering his lance he aimed straight for the King. Robert, armed only with a battle axe and on a smaller horse, held his ground however until the last second. Just before De Bohun hit him, Robert quickly moved his horse aside and in one blow split open both the young knight's with his battle axe.

The Scots gave a sigh of relief, many shouting about how senseless Robert had been in endangering not only his own life but the future of their cause. The King however replied only with a complaint to the fact that he had broken the shaft of his favourite axe, which rather annoyed him.

This incident obviously could have had horrific consequences if The Bruce had been killed. It would have left the Scots both leaderless and Kingless on the eve of battle, probably putting to an end their long struggle. Luckily Robert remained entirely unscathed to the great relief of his men.

That night, after further small skirmishes along the front line, the English retired and made camp upon the carse, some distance from the Scots lines. For Robert, it was a time to make some very important decisions. From past experience, he knew that because of the small size of his army, to beat the English he needed to fight them at his chosen location, preferably a place where they were confined to a small front. Robert had originally intended this to be between the forest of Gillies Hill and the Bannock Burn gorge. Now that Edward's army had camped upon the carse, the battle would inevitably have to take place on the flat field that stretched down from the road towards it. This meant that the battle front was to be much larger than Robert would have liked. The only benefit to this site was the small gorge that lay between the carse and the field. Although it was not particularly deep, it's sides were steep and it would be a slow process for the large English army to cross safely. Robert knew that if he could attack the English as they were still crossing, he might be able to drive them back upon their own men still trying to cross the gorge. This would cause confusion and disorganisation among them, exactly what he needed.

Later that evening a young Scottish Knight, deserting the English side, rode into Robert's camp and asked to speak to the King, telling him he wanted to change his allegiance. The King, always happy for new recruits, especially from his enemy, accepted and let the man pay homage. With him the knight also brought news, apparently the English had been very demoralised by the events of the day and many were unhappy with young King Edward's command. For Robert, this was the final factor in his decision. He spent the evening discussing the matter with each division in turn, and asked their opinions. For him, unlike many commanders of the time, the thoughts of his men were as important as his own. And to the main question, would they follow him and fight, he was given a resounding "yes".

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