The Second Scottish War of Independence

The wars of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce cast a long shadow in Scottish history. The collapse and recovery of the Bruce cause in the reign of his son, David II, has not attracted much attention among historians of medieval warfare despite the fact that the Scots were utterly defeated in three major battles. The nobility was destroyed at Dupplin Muir, the rank and file died in droves at Halidon Hill and, at Neville’s Cross, the Scottish king was captured. So how did England manage to lose the war? Drawn from English and Scottish state papers and chronicle accounts, this new book tells the story of the armies and campaigns that would develop the tactics that gave English forces the dramatic triumphs of the Hundred Years War. The fight of Edward III and his ally cum protege Edward Balliol to oust the Bruce dynasty and bring Scotland into the feudal hegemony of England provided the arena for the first chivalric war in the British Isles. It saw not only the first demonstration of the terrifying arrow storm, but was also a war of minor actions and territorial dominance in the classic guerrilla style.