On the Road

All right, so for the next couple weeks, I am going to be up in the mountains where I will not get an internet connection, but my mom is going to be posting the things I would have if I had been able to. So if the formatting on the next few posts is a bit odd, it's because I have emailed them to her to copy and past from her computer. Hopefully everything will work out okay and I will be back in August to write for my Wallace Month.

Enjoy the coming posts, they are all very exciting and I enjoyed writing them a lot!

Slainte, Hazel

Our Second Birthday

Today we celebrate another birthday from Scotland's history. This time, it's Robert the Bruce, he of Bannockburn fame! In 1272 he was born on this day into the Bruce family. His father was loyal to King Edward Longshanks and Bruce, throughout the years Wallace was fighting against England, was shifting between being loyal to England and being loyal to Scotland. However, after Wallace's death in 1305, Bruce took up his sword, took up the crown and fought for Scotland as it's Hero King and won Scotland's freedom on the fields of Bannockburn. 

So celebrate Bruce's birthday! between him and Wallace, an enduring legacy has been made for Scotland, not only back in the days they still roamed the hills and glens, but now as well. Bruce is a National Hero and he deserves at least a wee happy birthday from all of us today! Even if you just read about his exploits or start reading a novel featuring him, take some time to recognize the man for who he really was.

I'll try to be back this week, but I will not make any promises because I am on vacation! ;-), but next week, I will have some more Battle reports posted for our Battle Season.

Slainte, Hazel

The First Birthday of the Month!

The first birthday celebration this month is for John Paul Jones! He was a Scottish seaman who moved to America during the time of the American Revolution and practically created the American Navy. He is known, even to this day as the Father of the American Navy, and is viewed and almost an insignia for the Navy today. His actual birthday is on the sixth, tomorrow, but I am going to be on the road tomorrow and will probably not get a chance to write this post, so I decided to write it today. So everyone wish Jones a very happy birthday!

Some quotes by John Paul Jones:

"I have not yet begun to fight!" (spoken to the English Captain when asked to surrender at the famous battle between the English Serapis and Jones' Bonhomme Richard)

"I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."

If you want to read a book about John Paul Jones, I would recommend Evan Thomas's biography, John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father of the American Navy. I read this book last summer and I thought it was fantastic. It gives you a good idea about who the real man was and a bit of the legend as well.

I will probably not get another chance to write this week, but I will surely be back next week once more, so keep checking back!

Slainte, Hazel

Declarations of Independance

As it is Independence Day in America, I thought that I might put a small post on today about the similarities of the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Arbroath. It really is uncanny how much alike they are. I suggest to you, that, if you have the time, to read them side by side to further appreciate the similarities. I've posted links to each of the texts so you can do that if so desired! I have posted things before on how much I thought the Wars for Independence in Scotland and the American Revolution coincide to the very point of the brave men who led each of the armies. I just think it's amazing that two documents, five hundred years apart, are really so much alike. 

This is a short post for the day, but if you want to know more about this subject, I would like to recommend a book to you. I am actually currently reading it, so I have not finished it, but I really like it and think it is a fantastic work. It's called Warriors and Wordsmiths of Freedom: The Birth and Growth of Democracy by Linda MacDonald-Lewis. (You can find it on Amazon, or get it from Luath Press.) It's not very long, but it's a very good read, so I suggest it highly.

I'll be back tomorrow with another post so until then, enjoy this wee history lesson!

Slainte, Hazel

Another Full Month

And now we move onto the second month of our Summer Battle Season. However, apart from the battles, July also has several other things. American Independence Day for example. I'll be back Sunday to talk about that with a special post on the similarities of the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Arbroath. And there are also three special birthdays to celebrate this month, one next week, so be sure to check back often so you can say happy birthday to some very special people!

This month has two big battles: The Battle of Falkirk (1297) and the Battle of Killiecrankie. Because there are several events this month that have to do with John Graham of Claverhouse (Bonnie Dundee) I have decided that the last couple weeks in July are going to be pretty much dedicated to him. And then, the Battle of Falkirk will tie in nice to August which I have declared my official William Wallace Month, so if you want to know a lot about William Wallace, stick around for August!

With all that said and done, here's another battle song just for fun and I will be back next week with more posts!

Slainte, Hazel

Scots Wha Hae

As a kind of sequel to the Bannockburn post, I thought I would post this wee thing about one of the most famous poems/songs in Scottish history. I imagine most of you have heard about the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, and perhaps, most of you have also heard about his "hit song" "Scots Wha Hae". This was his fictitious address of Robert the Bruce before the Battle of Bannockburn and is dear in the hearts of all the Scots since his day up to this, as one of the most memorable and heart-warming songs known in the country. It's one of my personal favorites as well, simple prose and lines, yet beautiful and heartfelt like so many of Burns poems. "Scots Wha Hae" has been one of the many candidates for the Scottish National Anthem, and I personally think it should be the official one. Here are the words to it:

Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled-

Scots wham Bruce has aften led-

Welcome to your gory bed,

Or to victorie!

Now's the day and now's the hour;

See the front o' battle lower;

See approach proud Edward's power-

Chains and slaverie!

Wha will be a traitor knave?

Wha can fill a coward's grave?

Wha sae base as be a slave?

Let him turn and flee!

Wha for Scotland's king and law

Freedom's sword will strongly draw,

Freeman stand or freeman fa'-

Let him on wi' me!

By oppression's woes and pains!

By your sons in servile chains!

We will drain our dearest veins,

But they shall be free!

Lay the proud usurpers low!

Tyrants fall in every foe!

Liberty's in every blow!

Let us do or die!

And here is a link to the song on Youtube sung by Scocha. 

I will be back next month for more of the Summer Battle Season! Until now, have a good week!

Slainte, Hazel

Bannockburn

And now we come to the big event of this month: The Battle of Bannockburn.

A little backstory before I go into the actual battle:

When William Wallace was executed in 1305, six months later, Robert the Bruce stepped onto the scene. Well, he had been on the scene before, but was fluctuating throughout all of Wallace's campaign as to which side he was on. After Wallace's death, however, he took up his sword against England, and was crowned King of Scots at Scone in 1306. His campaign was a long and bloody one. He was always on the run, often fighting illness and the bitter climate, but in 1314, eight years since he had been crowned at Scone, eighteen years since William Wallace began his fight, Bruce and his men charged the fields of Bannockburn and won Scotland's freedom.

It happened on the twenty-fourth of June, in the middle of summer, on a battlefield not too far from Wallace's victory at Stirling bridge almost eighteen years earlier. The battle was actual fought on two days total, starting on the twenty-third and ending gloriously on the twenty-fourth. 

Edward II of England (Son of the notorious Edward Longshanks) led an army northwards to defeat the Scots army once and for all. It is said--though the actual numbers are not known-- that he had somewhere around fifteen thousand men including the infantry, cavalry and archers. Bruce on the other hand, had about six thousand men. He had about five hundred light cavalry led by Robert Keith besides his infantry, and then he had some "small folk"--the poor farmers and such--waiting in reserve. As was usual, he was outnumbered.

Bruce did not want to originally engage the English army in full scale battle. He did however, set up the field at Bannockburn with booby traps in the form of spiked trenches to ward off the heavy English cavalry. His vanguard was led by his nephew, Thomas Randolph, the Earl of Moray and behind him two devisions, one led by his brother Edward Bruce, and the other by his trusted general, James the Good the Black Douglas. The "small folk" were camped as a reserve on the Coxet Hill out of sight, guarding the extra supplies until they were needed in battle.

When the English army appeared from the Torwood on the afternoon of the twenty-third, they watched the Scots deploying in the southern fringes of the New Park ahead of them. As this was happening, one of the most talked about stories of this battle took place. One of the English knights, Sir Henry de Bohun, saw Bruce on the back of his small gray pony mustering his men and getting them into position. Sir Henry, thinking, most likely of the praise he would get if he were able to kill the Scottish king before the battle even started, charged forward, meaning to strike Bruce off his pony. Bruce however saw him coming and before Sir Henry could strike at him, he sidestepped his pony and raised his battle axe, striking out at the English knight. Sir Henry de Bohun, was cleaved to the breastbone, and the force of the blow was so hard that Bruce's axe broke in half. When he went back to the Scottish ranks, the men were shocked at what he had done saying something along the lines of "Why did ye do that? Ye're the king, that was stupid!!" And then Bruce just says, "I know, I broke my good axe."

Bruce also used a tactic that William Wallace had used at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298. The Schiltron. This was a group of spear men who would stand in a circle, some standing, some kneeling and they would form a huge spiked circle that could withstand cavalry charge. And that's what it did at the Battle of Bannockburn. The English cavalry thought they would have a go, but ran into more trouble then they had imagined. The Scots did now break formation as the English thought they would, and their horses were impaled on the spears of the schiltron men. Eventually, after several tries and heavy losses, the English gave up retreated for the night.

That night, the Scots would rest on a reasonably comfortable spot of the field while the English would sleep on the carseland where it was wet and uncomfortable, made even more so by the fear of a night attack.

The next day, Bruce, having seen that his men wanting to fight or die, decided the best thing would be to charge. He gathered all his men up, said a few profound words, and then led the charge against the English.  

The English longbowmen set up their volley of arrows, trying to take down the schiltrons as they had at the Battle of Falkirk, but Bruce's schiltrons were no longer standing still. They were marching across the field in perfect unbreakable formation. Every time the English tried to charge one, they ended in defeat. The Earl of Moray and James Douglas as well were fighting off the rest of the English army with their brigades, forcing the Englishmen to be pressed back and caught between the Scottish brigades and the schiltrons. Unable to maneuver properly, the English ranks were cut down at an alarming rate. This was what Bruce had been waiting for. He released his light calvary under Sir Robert Keith who's charge was so fierce that they sent the English archers running. 

Bruce then sent his own brigade into the fight, mainly Highlanders and Islanders under Angus Og MacDonald of Islay. It was then that the English began to realize they were loosing the battle. They were now desperate to do whatever needed to be done to win. But then, Bruce sent out his "small folk" who had been hidden behind the Coxet Hill and waiting with anticipation for their part in the battle. 

It was done by then. The English could not withstand the might and energy of the Scottish people. They fell into a retreat, dragging their unwilling king off the field with them and left Bruce and his men to revel over their victory that had won freedom for their country that they had not possessed for far too long.

So that was how the battle of Bannockburn went down. Before this month is over, I will try to have at least one more post to go along with this one, so I will probably be back next week sometime.

Slainte, Hazel