Scotland commemorates, and to a degree celebrates, what most people view as the most significant victory won by Scotland over an invading English army. The Battle of Bannockburn took place on 23 and 24 June 1314.

It marked a turning point in the Wars of Independence between Scotland and England: cementing King Robert the Bruce’s grip on Scotland; weakening Edward II’s grip on England; and, arguably, deferring the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland by nearly three centuries.

The general background to the Battle of Bannockburn is clearly established. The starting point was the accidental death of King Alexander III of Scotland in 1286. When his only heir, his young granddaughter, Queen Margaret, Maid of Norway, then died while sailing back to Scotland from Norway, it left Scotland torn between rival factions.

Inviting King Edward I of England to adjudicate between the competing claims for the Scottish crown probably seemed the only way to avoid civil war, but turned out to be inviting the fox into the henhouse. The complex Wars of Independence that followed saw Edward I fully justify the nickname of “The Hammer of the Scots” until his death in 1307.