Hello friends.
There are few battles that define the period of Scottish history known as the First Wars
of Independence better than the Battle of Stirling Bridge, fought in 1297 between an
English army under Earl Warenne of Surrey and the Scottish forces led by William Wallace
and Andrew Murray. Sadly, it also remains one of the most misunderstood battles in Scottish
history, thanks to exaggeration by later sources and inaccurate depictions in modern
cinema.
This has always struck me as a real shame, because the core narrative of the battle itself
makes for a great story in and of its own right and requires no embellishment. It's
a true underdog story, a David vs Goliath tale in which a smaller, technologically inferior
force nonetheless manages to turn the tables on its opponents through cunning and ingenuity.
I'd like to take a bit time to sit down and explain what makes this particular battle
so fascinating, and why the lessons that can be gained from it remained relevant throughout
this entire period of history.
Before diving into the battle itself its important to understand the historical context it took
place in, and to do so we must look back to the heights of the wars of Independence. By
1297, Scotland was in effect an occupied country by the standards of the time. Edward I of
England's advance north, his occupation (and sacking) of key cities and the ultimate defeat
of Scottish forces at the Battle of Dunbar in 1296 meant that Scotland was a vassal state
to its southern neighbour; its lords paid homage to the English king, English tax-collecters
operated throughout the country and cities once belonging to Scotland now fell into English
hands.
Needless to say, such sweeping changes weren't met with universal popularity.
Throughout late 1296 Scottish nobles under James the Stewart and Bishop Robert Wishart
flouted English rule and encouraged rebellion, and though they eventually backed down and
started toeing the line again some of the rebels they set loose had no intentions of
following suit. One such rebel was the second son of a minor landholder and possible bandit
or mercenary named William Wallace, alive and active within the Selkirk Forest with
a penchant for murdering English sheriffs.
Meanwhile, a young Scottish nobleman who had fought in, and been captured after, the Battle
of Dunbar escaped from captivity in the middle of England and returned to his father's lands
in the north of Scotland, raising an army from local volunteers and growing bold enough
to besiege English-occupied castles. Named Andrew Moray, he would be the other leader
of the Scottish forces that would take to the field at Stirling Bridge.
With entire swathes of Scotland now up in arms against his conquest by the middle of
1297, Edward I was determined to get his newly acquired lands back in line. As he was also
in the middle of a protracted conflict against Philip IV of France, however, he dispatched
two of his nobles to put down the rebellions in his place; Earl Warenne of Surrey, a veteran
of both the Second Barons' War in England and the campaign in Scotland the year before,
as well as Hugh de Cressingham, the treasurer of the English occupation forces in Scotland.
As the English army moved north throughout August, Wallace and Moray had combined their
forces and awaited the approaching opposition at an ideal choke point in Central Scotland;
the bridge over the River Forth, just north of Stirling Castle. It was an obvious position
for them to meet the English; many saw it as the gateway to Scotland, with maps from
the period literally showing it as the connecting point between two entirely separate countries.
If Wallace and Moray were out to cut off an advancing enemy force before they got further
north, they would have been hard-pressed to find a better place to do so.
If you had to pick which of the two armies that met at the Battle of Stirling Bridge
would be the ultimate winner, few at the time would have put money on the Scots. Warenne
and Cressingham had come north with an army totalling almost ten thousand, comprised of
experienced foot soldiers and around 2,000 cavalry units. Unlike the Scots, the English
had the use of the devastating mounted knights and their heavy horses, the tanks of the medieval
battlefield capable of demolishing entire ranks of infantry with their charges. The
Scots, meanwhile, numbered only around 6,000 and the vast majority of their army was infantry.
Even the few cavalry units they had were mounted on light horse, which paled in comparison
to their English equivalents.
Simply put, in a traditional pitched battle between the two forces the Scots stood no
chance of winning.
Which is why Wallace and Moray got creative.
The two armies were positioned on either side of the River Forth, with only the bridge connecting
them. The Scottish commanders had chosen the position carefully; as Michael Prestwich points
out, “the narrow bridge limited English mobility; in addition, the meadows and fields
on the north bank were unsuitable for the use of heavy cavalry. The Scots could observe
the English manoeuvres and control the position from high ground to the north”. Good positioning
was only the first step of the Scottish plan, however. They needed a way to control the
flow of the battlefield, to ensure that they got to choose the exact moment to start the
fight in order to confer the greatest advantage to them.
To do this, they needed to lure the English in.
Warenne was not a patient commander of the English forces. An older man by this point,
he complained bitterly that the Scottish climate was bad for his health and that he would much
rather be back south fighting with Edward I in France. He wanted a quick, decisive battle
to settle matters in Scotland so that he could return home as soon as possible. This was
a weakness that Wallace and Moray would exploit.
Though not traditional commanders by any means, Wallace and Moray were willing to lull their
English counterparts into a false sense of security by playing along with the conventions
of warfare at the time. We can see this through their meeting with two Dominican friars sent
by the English to negotiate, a common tradition of the time before a battle. During the discussion,
they gave every indication that they were ready and willing to fight a battle that followed
the perceived “rules of war”; the English would cross the bridge, form up their ranks
then march upon the Scots who had done likewise, something that played perfectly into Warenne's
hopes of a quick, easy conflict.
Though more astute thinkers did point out to Warenne and Cressingham the threat of a
Scottish surprise attack, the two English commanders ignored them and took the bait.
With Cressingham at its head with a division of heavy cavalry, the English army began to
advance across the narrow bridge towards the Scottish position near Abbey Craig.
They were expecting a pitched battle against an inferior force.
What they got instead was an ambush.
Wallace and Moray timed their turning of the tables carefully, ensuring that there were
enough enemy forces across the bridge to inflict a heavy blow but not so many that their own
forces would be overwhelmed. Armed with spears to counter the heavy cavalry, the Scots fell
upon the flanks of the English forces that had crossed. By the time Cressingham saw them
coming, it was far too late.
It wasn't so much a battle on the north side of Stirling bridge as it was a slaughter.
With Scottish soldiers pressing into its front and sides and their own forces behind them
preventing retreat, the English line quickly collapsed. Several knights were brought down
by the surprise attack and killed, including Hugh de Cressingham himself, but the majority
of the damage inflicted upon the English army was done to their infantry. With no horses
and heavy armour to punch a hole through their attackers and escape, the English soldiers
suffered enormous casualties; Prestwich estimates that maybe 5,000 of them were killed, though
the casualties amongst the knights were far lower.
Though Warenne probably could have made a stand on the southern side of the bridge to
prevent the Scots from advancing, the shock of the Scot's unexpected methods led him to
call a retreat. As his forces fell back south several Scottish nobles who had originally
planned to fight on the English side took the opportunity to jump ship to the victors,
breaking off from the English host before starting to raid the English supply trains
and inflict further losses upon the retreating army.
The Battle of Stirling Bridge was over, and it had ended completely contrary to expectations.
Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, Wallace, Moray and their combined armies had managed
to inflict a defeat upon a superior enemy force that would alter the direction of the
Wars of Independence for years to come.
In history we often hear a lot of talk about “bigger army diplomacy” in terms of who
is the most likely to win wars, but whilst a larger force can often be a deciding factor
in conflicts the Battle of Stirling Bridge demonstrates brilliantly how this isn't always
the case. Wallace and Moray showed the value of unconventional methods and exploiting the
enemy's perception of the situation in order to turn the tide of a battle; they deliberately
played to their opponent's expectations, only to pull the rug out from under them when they
could fully exploit the confusion this would create.
Some may argue that such tactics are underhanded, even dishonourable, but there was little honour
to be found by the Scots in lining up to be slaughtered in a battle they could not hope
to win. They didn't rely on numbers, they relied on cunning and superior methods of
warfare; Wallace and Moray played to their own strengths whilst playing up their opponent's
weaknesses, and this set a trend throughout the rest of the conflict. Though Wallace did
not return to such methods at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298 (to his detriment), Robert
the Bruce would later make great use of them in his own efforts to secure the Scottish
throne.
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