Rebel King: Bannok Burn - Softcover

Bruce, Charles Randolph; Bruce, Carolyn Hale

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1467938556 ISBN 13: 9781467938556

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011

Synopsis

Using guerilla warfare, Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, has been successfully keeping England’s army, the most powerful in the European world, from taking over all of Scotland. In June 1313 Robert returns to the mainland after his success in capturing the Isle of Man only to discover that his brother, Lord Edward Bruce, has made a bargain with the Scottish warden of English-held Castle Stirling: if the English do not relieve the castle by mid-summer 1314, the warden will hand Stirling over to the Scots. Robert is furious! Now, King Edward has reason to invade Scotland in force. Elated, the English king sees the agreement as a way to reclaim his dwindling power at home. He uses the time to strengthen his ties with his magnates and draw in the best knights from across Europe with promises of lands, titles, and wealth... once the battle is won. The next June, King Edward brings north 2,500 barded knights and 20,000 men-at-arms to a place called Bannok, and a nearby stream called Bannok Burn. His train “in good order” stretches 20 miles. King Robert has no barded knights and only 5,500 men-at-arms, most of whom are armed with long spears. His only advantages are his cunning, Scots courage, and his arrival at the battlefield before the English. Far from the supposed goal of capturing Castle Stirling or the Scottish crown, Robert knows the battle at Bannok Burn is for Scotland herself.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

“Splendid! Wonderful!! Electrifying!!! The battle scene is a thriller. You know the outcome, but you will read it eagerly and find yourself caught up in the battle as if you were there on horseback with de Brus. Some of the best dialogue I’ve ever read is between the book’s undermanned heroes and those between the dreaded villains. By far Rebel King, Book III, Bannok Burn is the best of the [authors’] three volumes on Robert de Brus, and the first two are page turners in their own right! The battle is over but the story is not. Stay tuned.-Frank R. Shaw The Family Tree on www.electricscotland.com Just finished reading the book. How exciting!! I was in the midst of the battle and couldn’t go to sleep until it was done! I felt as though I was there, in the middle of the fighting. My heart was pounding with every blow. Most lucid narrative of this famous battle I’ve ever read... anywhere. Robert D. Lockwood, KTJ, FSA Scot Virginia Commissioner, Clan Stewart Society in America By 1314, Robert the Brus has waged a guerilla-style war for eight long years to regain Scotland’s independence from England. During that time he recaptured Scottish castles, one by one, to make the land inhospitable to the English invaders. His brother agreed to a treaty that will remove Stirling Castle from English control with neither siege nor battle... unless the English king relieves the fortress by June 24th.Robert’s hand is dealt. He must meet the English king, Edward II, and his tremendous might on a battlefield south of the citadel, and he knows the winner will take all of Scotland, not just Castle Stirling. In mid-June, King Edward starts the trek north. He has culled knights from among Europe’s finest and hired them to fight for him with promises of Scottish lands and titles and great wealth... once the battle is won. Included in his twenty-mile-long train are 22,500 trained men and untold tonnage of supplies and arms. Robert, King of Scots, and his ragtag army of fewer than 6,000 men are the only obstacle in the way of the English king’s overwhelming force and sheer determination to enslave the Scots. Meeting on a field of unripe wheat beside a stream called Bannok Burn, the two kings and their armies decide the fates of the generations then standing and their children yet unborn.

About the Author:

Southern West Virginia native Charles Randolph Bruce was born and raised there in the highlands in which his Scottish ancestors settled in the late 1700s. His interest in telling the heroic story of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots 1306 -1329, was sparked by his family’s tradition that they descended from the great medieval warrior king. Carolyn Hale Bruce was born in the Roanoke Valley, Virginia, where her 18th century ancestors include those with the Scottish surnames Agnew, Fraser, Thompson, and Davidson, among others. She wrote and had published two pictorial histories of her hometown. The writers were panelists on the nationally distributed Book TV (C-span 2) hour and a half segment entitled “Successful Self-Publishing” at the Virginia Festival of the Book on March 29, 2008. Now, having spent the last decade in researching, writing, illustrating, and promoting the Rebel King series of novels, Charles and Carolyn have traveled tens of thousands of miles to attend scores of games in dozens of states from Florida to Maine, Texas to Colorado, to promote their works and talk with other Scots about their hard-fought history. They have appeared on local television and radio shows in diverse markets, and have been written up in many newspapers and magazines. Every year new venues are added to their nearly nationwide wanderings.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1467938556
• ISBN 13: 9781467938556
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 520
• Illustrator: Bruce Charles Randolph