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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Herschel" data-source="post: 4832851" data-attributes="member: 78357">Bannockburn and Stirling were examples of mobility being important due to terrain. In the Battle of Stirling Bridge, the English basically got "swamped" and separated when the bridge was essentially taken out. At Bannockburn, the terrain was turned against the English when they were forced to the bottoms. These were relatively isolated occurances, yes, but they happened. There are simply times when mobility is a better defense than heavy armor. An excerpt from the very link you used:"There now occurred one of the most memorable episodes in Scottish history. Henry de Bohun, nephew of the Earl of Hereford, was riding ahead of his companions when he caught sight of the Scottish king. De Bohun lowered his lance and began a charge that carried him to lasting fame. King Robert was mounted on a small <a href="http://www.enworld.org/wiki/Palfrey" target="_blank">palfrey</a> and armed only with a battle-axe.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/#cite_note-8" target="_blank">[9]</a> He had no armour on. As de Bohun's great <a href="http://www.enworld.org/wiki/Medieval_horses" target="_blank">war-horse</a> thundered towards him, he stood his ground, watched with mounting anxiety by his own army. With the Englishman only feet away, Bruce turned aside, stood in his stirrups and hit the knight so hard with his axe that he split his helmet and head in two. This small incident became in a larger sense a symbol of the war itself: the one side heavily armed but lacking agility; the other highly mobile and open to opportunity. Rebuked by his commanders for the enormous risk he had taken, the king only expressed regret that he had broken the shaft of his axe.Cheered by this heroic encounter, Bruce's division rushed forward to engage the main enemy force. For the English, so says the author of the Vita Edwardi Secundi (Life of Edward II), this was the beginning of their troubles. After some fierce fighting, in which the <a href="http://www.enworld.org/wiki/Gilbert_de_Clare,_8th_Earl_of_Hertford" target="_blank">Earl of Gloucester</a> was knocked off his horse, the knights of the vanguard were forced to retreat to the Tor Wood. The Scots, eager to pursue, were held back by the command of the king.In the meantime, another English cavalry force under Robert Clifford and Henry de Beaumont skirted the Scottish position to the east and rode towards Stirling, advancing as far as St. Ninians. Bruce spotted the manoeuvre and ordered Randolph's <a href="http://www.enworld.org/wiki/Schiltron" target="_blank">schiltron</a> to intercept.Randolph's action was to be a sampler of the main contest the following day: unsupported by archers, the horsemen were unable to make any impression on the Scots spearmen, precisely what had happened in the opening stages of Falkirk. The difference now was that the schiltrons had learnt mobility and how to keep formation at the same time. The English squadron was broken, some seeking refuge in the nearby castle, others fleeing back to the army. The captives included <a href="http://www.enworld.org/w/index.php?title=Sir_Thomas_Gray&action=edit&redlink=1" target="_blank">Sir Thomas Gray</a>, whose son and namesake was later to base his account of the Battle of Bannockburn in his book, the Scalacronica, on his father's memories."</blockquote>

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