Battle of Stirling Bridge
Part of the First War of Scottish Independence
The present-day Stirling Bridge
Date 11 September 1297 Location Stirling Result Scottish victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Scotland	Kingdom of England
Commanders
Andrew de Moray† William Wallace	John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey Hugh de Cressingham†
Strength
300 cavalry 10,000 infantry	1000 - 3000 cavalry 15,000 - 50,000 infantry
Casualties and losses
Comparatively light	6,000 killed, or around 30-40% dead.

The Battle of Stirling Bridge was a battle of the First War of Scottish Independence. On September 11, 1297, the forces of Andrew de Moray and William Wallace defeated the combined English forces of John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey and Hugh de Cressingham near Stirling, on the River Forth. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Second War of Scottish Independence began properly in 1333 when Edward III overturned the 1328 Treaty of Northampton, under which England recognised the legitimacy of the dynasty established by Robert Bruce. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events 8 January - Monaco gains independence. ... Andrew de Moray, a member of the Scottish nobility, went to prison with his father, Sir Andrew de Moray, following the 1296 Battle of Dunbar. ... For other persons named William Wallace, see William Wallace (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... John de Warenne (1231? – September 27, 1304), 7th Earl of Surrey or Warenne, was prominent during the reigns of Henry III and Edward I. During his long life he fought in the Barons War and in Edward Is wars in Scotland. ... Hugh de Cressingham, was the English treasurer, who died in the Battle of Stirling Bridge. ... Broad Street at the heart of Stirlings Old Town area (called Top of the Town by locals) Stirling Castle (Southwest aspect) The main courtyard inside Stirling Castle. ... The River Forth meanders over fertile farmlands near Stirling The River Forth, 47 km (29 miles) long, is the major river draining the eastern part of the central belt of Scotland. ...

The battle

Surrey had won a comfortable victory over the aristocracy of Scotland at the Battle of Dunbar, and his belief that he was now dealing with a rabble seems to have affected his judgement. The small bridge at Stirling was only broad enough to allow two horsemen to cross abreast. The Scots deployed in a commanding position dominating the soft, flat ground to the north of the river. Sir Richard Lundie, a Scots knight who joined the English after the capitulation at Irvine, offered to outflank the enemy by leading a cavalry force over a nearby ford, where sixty horsemen could cross at the same time. Cressingham, King Edward's treasurer in Scotland, was anxious to avoid any unnecessary expense in prolonging the war, and he persuaded the Earl to reject this advice and order a direct attack across the Bridge. This article is about the country. ... Combatants Kingdom of Scotland Kingdom of England Commanders John Bailliol John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey Strength Approx. ... , For the river of the same name see River Irvine. ... A ford, with pedestrian footbridge, on a minor road near Weimar bei Kassel in Germany The ford at Brockenhurst, leading into the village centre, following heavy rain. ...

The Scots waited as the English knights and infantry made their slow progress across the bridge on the morning of 11 September. The disorderly Scottish army of 1296 was gone: Wallace and Moray's hold over their men was firm. They held back earlier in the day when many of the English and Welsh archers had crossed, only to be recalled because Surrey had overslept. The two commanders now waited, according to the Chronicle of Hemingburgh, until "as many of the enemy had come over as they believed they could overcome." When the vanguard, comprising 5,400 English and Welsh infantry and several hundred cavalry had crossed the Bridge, the attack was ordered. The Scots spearmen came down from the high ground in rapid advance towards Stirling Bridge, quickly seizing control of the English bridgehead. Surrey's vanguard was now cut off from the rest of the army. The heavy cavalry to the north of the river was trapped and cut to pieces, their comrades to the south powerless to help. Only one knight, the Yorkshireman Sir Marmaduke Tweng, showed great presence of mind and managed to fight his way through the thicket of spears back across the bridge; but over a hundred of his fellow knights were slain, including the plump Hugh de Cressingham, whose body was subsequently flayed and the skin cut into small pieces as tokens of the victory. The Lanercost Chronicle records that Wallace had^[1] "a broad strip [of Cressingham’s skin] ... taken from the head to the heel, to make therewith a baldrick for his sword". Losses among the infantry, many of them Welsh, were also high. Those who could throw off their armour swam across the river. This article is about the country. ...

Surrey, who was a valuable warrior and still had a formidable contingent of archers, had remained to the south of the river and was still in a strong position. The bulk of his army still remained intact and he could have held the line of the Forth, denying the triumphant Scots a passage to the south. But his confidence was gone. After Tweng's escape he ordered the bridge's destruction and retreated towards Berwick, leaving the garrison at Stirling Castle isolated and abandoning the Lowlands to the rebels. James Stewart, the High Steward of Scotland, and Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, whose forces had been part of Surrey's army, observing the carnage to the north of the bridge, withdrew. Then the English supply train was attacked at The Pows, a wooded marshy area, by James Stewart and the other Scots lords, killing many of the fleeing soldiers. Stirling Castle southwest aspect from the Kings Knot Parterre below the castle crags. ... James Stewart 5th High Steward of Scotland (c. ... Mormaer Maol Choluim I of Lennox ruled the Mormaerdom of Lennox, between 1250 and 1303. ...

The site of the battle is believed to have been significantly upstream of the present-day Stirling Bridge, which was only built some time later. This battle resulted in one of Wallace's greatest victories.

Aftermath

The Battle of Stirling Bridge was a shattering defeat for the English: it showed that under certain circumstances, where the conditions were right, infantry could be superior to cavalry. It was to be some time, though, before this lesson was fully absorbed.

Scottish casualties in the battle are unrecorded, with the exception of Andrew de Moray. It is usually accepted that Moray was severely wounded in the fighting, and continued to exercise joint leadership with Wallace for a number of weeks after the battle, though perhaps in name only, finally dying some time in November because of blood poisoning. This is unlikely to be correct as an inquest into the affairs of Moray's uncle, Sir William de Moray of Bothwell, in November 1300 records that Andrew Moray was "slain at Stirling". Wallace went on to lead a destructive raid into northern England, which did little to advance the Scots war, whatever effect it had on the morale in his army. By March 1298 he had emerged as Guardian of Scotland. His glory was brief for King Edward himself was coming north from Flanders. The two men finally met up on the field of Falkirk in the summer of 1298, where Wallace was defeated. For other uses, see Flanders (disambiguation). ... Combatants Scotland England Commanders William Wallace Edward I of England Strength 500 cavalry, 9,500 infantry 2,000 cavalry, 12,000 infantry. ...

The battle in fiction

The Battle of Stirling Bridge is depicted in the 1995 film Braveheart. The director, Mel Gibson, however, failed to include a bridge in the battle scenes and also put the schiltron scene at the battle of Stirling when it should have been at Falkirk. The year 1995 in film involved some significant events. ... For the moshing term Braveheart, see Wall of death (moshing). ... Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson, AO (born January 3, 1956) is an American-Australian actor, historian, Academy Award-winning director, producer and screenwriter. ... A schiltron or schiltrom is a group of men carrying pikes and polearms. ... Combatants Scotland England Commanders William Wallace Edward I of England Strength 500 cavalry, 9,500 infantry 2,000 cavalry, 12,000 infantry. ...

Notes

References

• Barrow, G. W. S., Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, 1976.
• Brown, C., "William Wallace" 2005.
• Ferguson, J., William Wallace: Guardian of Scotland., 1948.
• "The Chronicle of Lanercost 1272 - 1346", ed. H. Maxwell, 1913.
• Nicholson, R., Scotland-the Later Middle Ages, 1974.
• Prestwich, M., The Three Edwards: War and State in England, 1272-1277, 1980.