It was a decisive victory for Robert Bruce and formed a major turning point in the war, which ended 14 years later with the de jure restoration of Scottish independence under the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton.

[10] Edward's attempt to raise the siege failed when he found his path blocked by a smaller army commanded by Bruce.

[11] Bruce's friend, Angus Og Macdonald, Lord of the Isles, brought thousands of Islesmen to Bannockburn, including galloglass warriors, and King Robert assigned them the place of honour at his side in his own schiltron with the men of Carrick and Argyll.

Robert Bruce decided to launch a full-scale attack on the English forces the next day and to use his schiltrons as offensive units, as he had trained them.

Though the exact location for the battle is uncertain, a modern monument was erected in a field above a possible site of the battlefield, where the warring parties are believed to have camped, alongside a statue of Robert Bruce designed by Pilkington Jackson.

Edward I had wanted to expand England to prevent a foreign power such as France from capturing territories in the British Isles.

The armies were still eight miles apart, giving King Robert the Bruce enough time to decide whether to move northwards beyond the Forth or westwards up the river into a district of mosses and hills.

[16] In an effort to "rescue" Stirling, Edward II continued to hurry his troops: they marched seventy miles in one week.

This bad decision-making by Edward II led to horses, horsemen, and infantry becoming extremely worn out with toil and hunger.

Edward and his advisors knew the places where the Scots were likely to challenge them, and sent orders for their troops to prepare for an enemy established in boggy ground near the River Forth, near Stirling.

[20] There is first-hand evidence in a poem, written just after the battle by the captured Carmelite friar Robert Baston, that one or both sides employed slingers and crossbowmen.

[24] A large number of alternative locations have been considered, but modern researchers believe only two merit serious consideration:[25] This battle was an attempt by Robert the Bruce to legitimise his kingship through combat.

An article by Medieval Warfare states, "Robert Bruce, King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329 aged around 55, was no stranger to the battlefield.

He waged war to wear down his Scottish opponents and the English regime in Scotland, culminating in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, to legitimise his kingship and free his kingdom.

"[28] It was a battle that Robert the Bruce hoped would confirm his place on the throne of Scotland and force Edward II to recognize him King.

With Falkirk and Courtrai (1302), where the flemish footman shattered the chivalry of France—and more than either of these it initiated the change which was to come over the mediaeval art of war, in demonstrating the superiority of infantry properly handled to the mounted men-at-arms upon whom the entire stress of fighting had hitherto been laid.

[30] This shows the sheer importance of the Scottish spearman on the European stage as many countries began to adapt to this infantry dominated medieval battleground.

Bruce covered the rear to the south, Douglas to the east, Randolph to the north (the direction of Stirling), with 500 horsemen under Keith to the west, in reserve.

Henry de Bohun charged forward in full combat gear with his lance, encountering Bruce's troops.

It is stated in an article by Sidney Dean that "While controversial among his peers, Bruce earned the respect of his soldiers by leading from the front and displaying physical courage.

Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, King Robert's nephew, who was the leader of the Scottish advanced guard, hearing that his uncle had repulsed the advanced guard of the English on the other side of the wood, thought that he must have his share, and issuing from the wood with his division marched across the open ground towards the two afore-named lords.

[14] The English longbowmen attempted to support the advance of the knights, but were ordered to stop shooting to avoid additional friendly fire.

[14] It soon became clear to Aymer de Valence and Giles d'Argentan (reputedly the third-best knight in Europe) that the English had lost the battle and Edward II needed at all costs to be led to safety.

[44] Then, pursued by James Douglas and a small troop of horsemen, Edward fled to Dunbar Castle, from which he took a ship to Berwick.

Nearly as important was the surrender of Bothwell Castle, where a sizeable party of English nobles, including the Earl of Hereford, had taken refuge.

Following the battle, King Robert rewarded Sir Gilbert Hay of Erroll with the office of hereditary Lord High Constable of Scotland.

[40] These finally led, after the failure of the Declaration of Arbroath to secure diplomatic recognition of Scotland's independence by the Pope, to the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton in 1328.

[40] Under the treaty, the English crown recognised the independence of the Kingdom of Scotland, and acknowledged Robert the Bruce as the rightful king.

[49] In 1932 the Bannockburn Preservation Committee, under Edward Bruce, 10th Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, presented lands to the National Trust for Scotland.

[54] The German heavy metal band Grave Digger included a song called "The Battle Of Bannockburn" on their 1998 album Knights of the Cross.