Edward II differed greatly from his father. He disliked war and preferred the advice of friends rather than experienced nobles.
His father had made him promise to continue his campaigns against the new Scottish king but he broke his pledge and returned home. In 1314 however Bruce was besieging the English garrison at Stirling Castle in a drive
finally to remove the English from Scotland.Edward responded by raising a huge army and marched north to relieve Stirling Castle. Robert Bruce had organised stiff resistance and was now waiting for Edward II and his
forces. The armies met at the battle of Bannockburn on June 23rd 1314. Before it took place a famous incident occurred when the English knight Sir Henry de Bohun rode at speed towards Robert Bruce, his lance lowered and
ready for the kill. Bruce apparently side-stepped his attack and split open the knight's helmet and skull with his battleaxe. Bruce's army was less than a third of the size of the English army but he deployed his men
wisely. They formed schiltrons, (blocks of soldiers armed with twelve foot spears pointing outwards like the spikes on a hedgehog). These mobile masses of spears repelled the charges by Edward's over zealous knights and
caused mayhem amidst the English ranks leading to the total defeat of Edward's army.
Apart from his humiliation at the battle of Bannockburn, Edward's reign was plagued with other problems. Boon companions such as
Piers Gaveston and members of the Despenser family were despised by leading nobles. They exiled Gaveston in l 308 and killed him in 1312. The Despensers suffered a similar fate. Edward's wife Isabella, daughter of King
Philip the Fair of France left him and joined her lover Roger Mortimer in a plot to institute the king's downfall. They captured him and he was murdered on their orders in a most horrible manner at Berkeley Castle in
1327. He is buried in Gloucester Cathedral.
