Battle of Halidon Hill Battle of Halidon Hill The Battle of Halidon Hill (19 July 1333) was fought during the Second War of Scottish Independence. Scottish forces under Sir Archibald Douglas were heavily defeated by the English forces of King Edward III of England on unfavourable terrain while trying to relieve Berwick-upon-Tweed. Following Robert Bruce' victory at Bannockburn a number of Scots nobles refused to swear loyalty to the Scots cause. Those who did not do so were disinherited and left Scotland to join forces with Edward Balliol in England or in France hoping that he would, with his vast English support, become the
Robert the Bruce years. A team of researchers, headed by Professor Andrew Nelson from University of Western Ontario have determined that Robert the Bruce did not have leprosy. They examined the original casting of the skull belonging to Robert the Bruce's descendant Lord Andrew Douglas Alexander Thomas Bruce, and a foot bone that had not been re-interred. They determined that skull and foot bone showed no signs of leprosy, such as an eroded nasal spine and a pencilling of the foot bone. The king's body was embalmed, and his sternum sawn open to allow extraction of the heart, which Sir James Douglas placed