Maybe you never heard of a bodkin or maybe you have.

. It was a particularly nasty little stabbing weapon

 

. It was a particularly nasty little stabbing weapon. It was something that a medieval warrior would keep in his belt and if the fighting got in close he could draw it out quickly and pierce it through an enemy. Often aiming for the eyes or throat. Or maybe for an opening or weakspot in an enemies armor.

This often came very much in handy for a foot soldier if a mounted enemy was unhorsed.

This was found by James Bayne from the Borestone 1314 Battle of Bannockburn. You can learn more about these battlefield digs on the site here: www.nts.org.uk/bannockburn2014/news/

 

 

 

Another find is the poleaxe end of a battleaxe as shown in the picture here. This is the spiked point that would be opposite the blade of the axe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next picture shows how that is part of a poleaxe.

 

Another find is a medieval razor. It is the object on the upper right.

 

Here is what James has to say about these finds:

The pole axe end from the battle axe is causing a bit of a "stooshie" over here as to where it was found, 60 yds from King Roberts tented pavilion on June 1314 , and the King breaking his battle axe over the head of the English Knight sir Henry De - Bohun in the world famous encounter on the afternoon of the 23rd June 1314, which resulted in De- Bohun`s skull being cleaved even to his chin and left the Bruce to rue the breaking of his beloved axe.

The million dollar question is , where i found the broken pottery and other pieces of miscellany, was it the camp midden, (dump) and was the Bruce so annoyed after his return from the encounter with De -Bohun, and near to his pavilion did he chuck the broken axe into the midden.  As king of Scotland he would have a choice of weapons at his disposal, and with a battle only 12 hours till on the Carse, was it worth keeping . That is the big question, if it was the battle axe then to us Scots its the equivalent of King Tuts gold funeral mask!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ps the next dig with the BBC will be at Cambuskenneth Abbey ,Stirling in September , and the present Lord Elgin , The Bruce, direct descendant of King Robert (now in his eighties) might come along. PS klik on this and let all the nice people of America see all the developments from the battle field digs and the count down to the event  www.nts.org.uk/bannockburn2014/news/

With the first finds ever of artifacts from King Robert the Bruce and the Scots who stopped Edward 2nds army on 23rd June 1314 before Bannockburn.   At a televised dig for the BBC  the first thing I found was shown on the BBC Scotland news programme, and was part of a pottery cooking pot, first clay pottery to be found (sorry no photo),  the second item is a little hand held bodkin, still sharp it drew blood from me when it pierced my finger.  This was used by a Scot, tucked into his waist belt, and if an English knight was unhorsed before him, this little weapon was used to penetrate chain mail then into the eye socket or the jugular vein , nasty ! 

The third item was the pole axe end of a battle axe, and as i had already found the spike end last year 1 1/2 miles away on  the carse (actual battle site on the 24th June ) all I need now is the blade part and I have a complete axe..  The 4th item I found, I had found one previously in the deep clay of the Carse last year, (see photo top R/H ), its a small medieval razor for shaving,  well if you find one in 2011 in 10 hectares of fields, then another in 2012 ,same acreage and they measure 2ins by 1in, the chances are in the region of billions to one.    P. S. A brand new state of the art battle of Bannockburn heritage center is now under construction and due for completion in 2014 to coincide with the 700 year anniversary of the battle , it will feature computer generated graphics, you will be able to walk among falling horses, swinging swords, and battle axes and it will have quad surround sound , and of all my finds will be on display.  So if any of you nice Americans decide to visit Scotland in 2014 , please drop in and take part in the battle !! no blood spilled of course !

 

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