Leighton Library, Dunblane

Scotland's oldest purpose-built independent library founded in 1687

Leighton Library has 1740 edition of “Metrum de praelio apud Bannockburn” by Robert Baston

Added at 06:56 on 23 June 2025

The Battle of Bannockburn began #OnThisDay 23 June 1314. The Leighton Library has a 1740 edition of a contemporary account, in verse form in Latin from 1314, by the poet Robert Baston “Metrum de praelio apud Bannockburn”. Robert Baston had been brought along by the English forces to write about their anticipated victory; but was instead captured by the Scots and commanded to write about their victory, as the ransom to then be released, which he was in successful completion of the poem! The battle was fought on 23–24 June 1314, between the army of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, and the army of King Edward II of England, during the First War of Scottish Independence, and was a decisive victory for Robert the Bruce

< Leighton Library has 1755 edition of “A collection of sermons, mostly preached at sacramental occasions” by Ebenezer Erskine