Home > Battle of Methven
1 Background
Despite the excommunication of Robert the Bruce -- for the killing of John Comyn of Badenoch in the chapel of the Minorites at Dumfries in February 1306 -- he was crowned King of Scots at SconeA scone is a bread thicker than a bannock. It is made of wheat, barley or oatmeal, usually with baking powder as leavening agent. The pronunciation in the United Kingdom is open to debate. Most British people pronounce it as sk'on (to rhyme with gone), bu on March 25March 25 is the 84th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (85th in leap years). There are 281 days remaining. Events 708 Constantine is consecrated Pope. 1306 Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scotland. 1409 The Council of Pisa opens. 1634 The first s 1306. King Edward I of EnglandYork Minster King Edward I of England ( June 17, 1239 July 7, 1307), popularly known as Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots , achieved fame as the monarch who conquered Wales and who kept Scotland under English domination. He reigned from 1272 to 1307, responded by sending an army of 3000 cavalry, under the dreaded Dragon Banner , to capture Bruce and anyone who supported his cause.
2 Battle
Perth had fallen to the English in mid-June and Bruce decided retake the city with the 4500 men he had mustered since his coronation. Bruce's army reached the city walls on 18 June but agreed to Pembroke's proposal for a postponement of battle to the following day. The Scottish army camped for the night a few miles west of Perth at Methven, but during the night the English forces conducted a surprise attack on the Scots. In the ensuing chaos only a few hundred Scots left with their lives.
3 Aftermath
Guided by monks sent by Abbot Maurice of Inchaffray Abbey , Bruce and his small band of followers fled westward, constandly harassed by warriors of John Macdougall , son of the Lord of Argyll and Lorne , sworn enemy of Bruce. After finally escaping to the Western Isles where he and a few friends spent the winter, he returned to the Scottish mainland the following spring to continue the fight for Scottish independence.
Methven
