this virtual taking off the excommunication had a great effect upon the people. The little band of patriots increased by degrees. The strongholds were won back, till at last only _Stirling_ was left to the English, and it was so sorely pressed that the governor agreed to give it up to the Scots if he were not relieved before St. John Baptist's Day, 1314. Roused by the fear of losing this, the most prized of all Edward the First's conquests, the English gathered in great force, and marched 100,000 strong to the relief of the garrison. =20. Battle of Bannockburn, June 24, 1314.=--The Scots were posted so as to command the plain or carse of Stirling, which the English must cross to reach the Castle. They were greatly inferior to the English in numbers, and had scarcely any cavalry, in which the chief strength of the English force lay. Robert divided them into four battles or divisions. Their leaders were _Sir James Douglas_; _Randolf_, his nephew; _James the Stewart_, and Bruce's own brother _Edward_. Bruce himself commanded the fourth division, which was placed behind the others, as in it were the men he least trusted, and a small body of cavalry. One flank of the army rested on the _Bannock_, a small stream or burn, from which the battle took its name. Before the battle joined, as King Robert was reviewing his line, he was challenged to single combat by _Henry of Bohun_, an English knight, and raised the spirit of his followers by cleaving his adversary's skull. The English began the fight by a volley of arrows, but their archers were dispersed by the small body of the Scottish horsemen whom King Robert sent to charge them. The English cavalry then charged the Scots, but they tried in vain to break the compact bristling masses of the Scottish spearmen, and themselves fell into confusion. Some Highland gillies and camp-followers just then appeared on the brow of a neighbouring hill. The English took them for a reserve of the enemy, were seized with terror, fled in wild disorder, and the defeat became a total and shameful rout. The horsemen in their flight fell into the pitfalls which the Scots had cunningly sunk in the plain. King Edward and 500 knights never drew rein till they reached Dunbar, whence they took ship for Berwick. Great spoil and many noble captives fell that day to the share of the victors.