Battle of Loudoun Hill

Battle of Loudoun Hill

Part of: Scottish Wars of Independence

Memorial stone and plaque for the Battle of Loudoun Hill

date	May 10, 1307
place	Loudoun Hill ( Scotland )
output	Scottish victory

Parties to the conflict
Kingdom of England	Kingdom of Scotland
Commander
Aymer de Valence	King Robert I.
Troop strength
3000 soldiers	600 soldiers
losses
Unknown	Unknown

The Battle of Loudoun Hill was a battle during the First Scottish War of Independence . On May 10, 1307, a Scottish force under Robert Bruce defeated an English force under Aymer de Valence .

Although the battle was one of the turning points in the struggle for Scottish independence, little is known about it. In the medieval chronicles the battle is only briefly described. B. apart from Bruce and Valence no other participants are known by name. So far there has been no archaeological investigation of the battlefield, which has been significantly changed in modern times by quarries and road construction.

prehistory

Robert Bruce was crowned King of Scots in March 1306. In the Battle of Methven , however, in June 1306 he suffered a heavy defeat against the troops of the English governor Aymer de Valence. He had to flee from mainland Scotland and did not return to south-west Scotland until early 1307. After the defeat at Methven, he resorted to the tactics of John de Soules and the other Guardians, who had waged a guerrilla war against the English after the defeat at Falkirk from 1298 to 1304. In addition, his troops were inferior to the English in numbers and equipment. Nevertheless he was able to inflict defeat on the English troops in March 1307 in the battle of Glen Trool in the rough terrain. At the end of April, he moved north with his force.

Course of the battle

Valence wanted to make up for Glen Trool's defeat and gathered a larger force to beat Bruce. On about May 10th, his force met the outnumbered force of Bruce on Loudoun Hill , Ayrshire . According to the information provided by the chroniclers, the English force was said to have been 3,000 strong, which is considered excessive. Bruce is said to have had only 600 men, but he succeeded in facing the English on an unfavorable, narrow battlefield on Loudoun Hill east of Kilmarnock . Presumably the battle took place on a plateau below the towering Loudoun Hill. A road led across the plateau, which was bordered by the marshy terrain with the River Irvine to the west, while moorland lay to the east. The Scots put up obstacles on the battlefield to prevent a devastating attack by the English knights on the Scottish foot soldiers. They dug three trenches and built up walls that further narrowed the space for the English riders. Ultimately, remained on the battlefield an approximately 90 m wide gap on which the Englishman who served struggling Scottish spit could attack fighter. In this room Valence could not exploit his numerical superiority. The tightly packed Scots fended off the attack of the English riders with their spears, which they could injure many horses. When the English attack stalled, the Scots counterattacked. This counterattack is said to have been so impetuous that the following English troops panicked and fled. The entire English army then fled with heavy losses. Since the Scots fought on foot, they did not pursue the fleeing English horsemen.

The battlefield with the towering Loudoun Hill

consequences

After this defeat against an inferior opponent, Valence first fled to Bothwell Castle , from where he presumably fled to England. Three days after the battle, Bruce was able to defeat another English unit under the Earl of Gloucester at Ayr . In view of the defeats Edward I decided to lead a campaign himself, during which he died, however. His son and successor Edward II broke off the campaign a few weeks later and withdrew to England. The British lost the initiative in Scotland.

literature

• Geoffrey WS Barrow : Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2005, ISBN 0748620222 .
• Evan MacLeod Barron: The Scottish War of Independence. Barnes & Noble, 2006, ISBN 0760703280 .

Web links

• Battlefield entry . In: Historic Scotland .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Battlefield entry . In: Historic Scotland .
2. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 244.