This breaking of his word apparently caused some of his strong supporters to desert him, such as Huntly, Erroll, Marischal, and Glamis; they adopted a neutral stance on the issues.
[2] However, attempts to reach the prince at Linlithgow were defeated in a small skirmish, and James was forced back to Blackness, from where he fled, leaving behind those he had given as hostages to the rebels.
By 16 May he was back in Edinburgh, and began spreading money around to raise supporters, including to his half uncle, John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl.
James again took the initiative with a sudden move over to Fife with his supporters and their men, advancing on Stirling, where on 10 June he took the rebels by surprise, driving them southwards.
Persistent legends, based on the highly coloured and unreliable accounts of sixteenth-century chroniclers such as Adam Abell, Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, John Lesley, and George Buchanan, claim that James III was assassinated at Milltown,[4] near Bannockburn, soon after the battle.