Battle of Methven
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 Scone on March 25 1306. King Edward I of England responded by sending an army of 3000 cavalry, under the dreaded Dragon Banner, to capture Bruce and anyone who supported his cause.
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.
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.
