Arnold-Forster - Bannockburn - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Next week is the 176th annual St. Andrew's Society of Detroit Highland Games. Because I again will be telling in an area dedicated to Scottish heritage, I'm especially looking forward this year to telling the story of the Battle of Bannockburn. That battle is called by James Johonnotone one of the Ten Great Events in History.

In A History of England from the Landing of Julius Caesar to the Present Day by H.O. (Hugh Oakley) Arnold-Forster is the chapter, "Bannockburn." While it's from the point of view of the English, it's one of the easiest Public Domain summaries of the major facts. I omit the previous chapter, "Edward II" but it not only talks about King Edward II, but gives information about Robert the Bruce and William Wallace.

This chapter opens with a poem by Sir Walter Scott, but the actual coverage of the battle is right after it.

Here's "The Bruce killing de Bohun at the Battle of Bannockburn." from yet another resource, Scotland's Story: A history of Scotland for Boys and Girls by H. E. (Henrietta Elizabeth) Marshall.

The chapter, "Bannockburn" from Arnold-Forster's A History of England...  (It might be necessary to use the Zoom feature to read the text on some of the chapter.)

 

 

 

I also highly recommend The Scotsman.com article "Five things you may not know about the Battle of Bannockburn". It especially tries to point out the many errors in the movie, Braveheart. 

For way more than you probably care to know, there's also Wikipedia on the Battle of Bannockburn.  

To see Bannockburn today, while the official National Trust site is factual, Must See Scotland.com eventually gives the best view into what a visit there is like.

Hope to see some of you in the Wee Bairns area! 

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This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, “Keeping the Public in Public Domain.” The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20^th century. My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy discovering them.

At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."