i'm gracefully it's the 11th of
september so it's the anniversary of the
battle of sterling bridge
where william wallace won a famous
victory over the english
now some scots know that in fact it
wasn't wallace who gained that victory
or at least not him alone if you want to
hear about the other william wallace
then this is the video for you
incidentally if you're interested in the
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below in the meantime let me tell you a
story
there were two scottish leaders at the
battle of stirling bridge
from a scots point of view it was a dual
effort
two armies came together to face the
english two forces
two leaders it might not even be a
stretch to see
two people now the one that gets all the
recognition
is the man from west central scotland
william wallace
but today i want to tell you about the
man from the north
andrew de murray and to do that i'm
taking you to oak castle
you might also find it called ormond
castle
and that was a home of andrew de murray
unlike william wallace the son of a
minor knight
andrew de murray's family were nobility
his ancestor had been sent to murray by
david the first to keep these
northerners in check
his family had lands titles
and castles there's not much left of
this one
you might just be able to see the flag
on the hill behind me but it's certainly
worth the walk from the black isle
village of oak
to look across the murray forth that
shares our hero's name
for andrew as for everyone in scotland
life was disrupted in 1286 when
alexander iii
died without an air and scots having to
choose a future king started to divide
into two factions of bruce's with their
contender
and they're coming supporting john
baliel it would have been a no-brainer
for the de murrays
andrew's granddad was john of
baddener
now i'm not going to go through the
whole event the great debate over who
should be king
suffice to say the edward the first of
england trumped
all of that and in march 1296 edward
besieged
beric and committed untold atrocities
i've got a video about that if you're
interested
the following month young andrew de
murray along with his father
had traveled all the way south to face
edward's army at dunbar
it was a disaster for the scots and both
andrew
his father and his uncle were captured
as high status hostages daddy and uncle
would be taken to the tower of london
junior was imprisoned at chester but the
story goes that our enterprising young
hero
manages to escape from this english
castle is able to conceal himself from
the inevitable manhunt that follows in
the north of england
walks north crosses the border in
english occupied scotland
and makes his way undetected all the way
back here
to murray james bond or what
i have also heard it said that the
jailer who happened to be in debt at the
time
negotiated a ransom and quietly put
andrew on a boat
which sailed up the irish sea and back
to the north of scotland but you
choose the story that you like best
summary is back in the north of scotland
he has his freedom
for now what does he do with it
the thing is that dad is still a hostage
in the tower of london
there's probably a road back to
rehabilitation
does he live a quiet life in may 1297
independently of each other
two things happen in the south william
wallace kills the english sheriff of
lanark
and in the north andrew de murray raises
some men and takes back
the castle of oak and he raises his
standard
here now remember the english
or the lackeys were still in control of
the castles
all over the country the murray was back
in charge of his own
and from this castle on the black isle
sought to spread rebellion
throughout the north of scotland
this is our kirk castle now these days
the ruins are more likely to be besieged
by foreign tourists
hoping for some scenic views and a
glimpse of nessie
in may 1297 the english in the
lackeys met in verness castle on the
25th of may
to decide what to do about andrew de
murray and on his way home sir william
fitz warren the english constable of
this castle and his entourage
were ambushed by the very man that they
were supposed to be dealing with
while he lost his men and horses one
himself managed to get back here
to castle erker de murray followed them
and laid siege to the castle now without
siege engines
a frontal attack at night was de
murray's only option it was brutal
and bloody were losses on both sides but
ultimately
it failed now the murray wasn't the only
nobility in the north with family in the
tower of london
the countess of ross was keen that
edward the first should release her
husband the errol
so she provided food and supplies from
across
the loch the murray had to head back to
oak and lick his wounds
you see de murray had a problem with
geography
to break out of the black aisle he had
to get past archer castle here
or he had to get past inverness castle
both
were proven to be insurmountable
problems
but if you're resourceful enough to
escape from an english castle and walk
hundreds of miles to occupied
countryside to get home
there must be a way of getting out of
your own castle
to go the other way
the murray farth if a water was named
after you
you might as well use it instead of
going round by
land they'd cross by sea to take another
castle that belonged
to the murray family and once in
possession
of duffers castle andrew and his men one
by one took the other
castles in the area gradually creating a
murray-shaped wedge between
aberdeen and inverness now edward
in england was furious but remember he
wasn't just warmongering
in scotland he was warmongering in the
continent as well
what does he do with stretched resources
he goes to some of his imprisoned
scottish ability and says
i tell you what i'll let you go and
condition you go and get andrew to
murray
no problem say john and alexander coming
relatives of murray and imprisoned for
their well-known support for
independence
are your boys i wonder how they got on
their forces met up in aberdeen and set
out for inverness
and as they crossed the river spay they
saw the murray waiting in ambush
now de murray didn't spring the trap the
two forces continued to inverness
tracking each other but never attacking
each other
the cummins spent away on inverness
castle as de murray continued to take
castles around
then they led their forces back east
taking
some of the existing inverness garrison
with them
they sent a letter to edward to say
sorry gov
we tried but that demon is just too
slippery of fish
we'll stay here in better luck next time
with the english nalaki's in the area
weakened the murray finally
takes inverness castle and archer castle
the north
is back in scotland's hands so much so
the edwards evil tax collector
cressingham writes to edward saying
the greater part of your counties in the
realm of scotland are still
unprovided with keepers as they've been
killed or imprisoned and some have even
given up and others neither will not nor
dare not return and in some counties the
scots have established
and placed bailiffs and ministers so
that no county is
in proper order get it
up ye
now they've got to send a proper shock
and all sized english force to deal with
the problem
and it's not just the north that there's
a problem remember william wallace
he's still having english further south
and as soon as he hears that the english
are gathering together a force
he contacts andrew de murray they meet
and bring their two forces together two
leaders
one unified scottish army
standing on this hill looking out
towards stirling castle
and an english force way too powerful
for them ever contemplate taking on
commoners against noblemen pikemen
against knights
fruit soldiers against cavalry
everything in walls his history and
instincts as a skirmisher would have
backed away from taking on such a force
the nobility of scotland had capitulated
in irvine weeks before
if only there was somebody from the
nobility that still had some fighting
them
someone who would experience in pitch
battle as well as guerrilla tactics
if only there was somebody with a
legitimacy of a noble family
and the heart of a patriot if only there
was somebody
like andrew de murray
the only way for the english to go north
was across stirling bridge
this was the first point in the river
narrow enough to cross the fourth
andrew de murray escaped captivity in
march and he'd pretty much taken back
scotland north of the fourth by
september
and because of this they could stand on
this crag
with our backs to the north and face the
bridge
the english had to cross two by two all
the scots had to do
was wait let half of them cross
and the bridge the field and the odds
were narrowed i've read that the murray
chose the battle plan
and that makes sense a man who'd fought
the english in battle
who'd ridden against their cavalry and
who understood
what needed to be done in doing what
needed to be done he was mortally
wounded
he survived the battle but died from his
wounds later
would the battle of falkirk have ended
differently if he had been there to give
his tactical advice
would his noble heritage have gained
support from the nobility in a way that
wallace never could
if they'd succeeded and put john bale
back on the throne
as they intended what of robert the
bruce
william wallace's elder has been a great
scottish patriot
and of course he was but murray fought
in the bar
on gina really she didn't go over to
edward's side some others
with his dad still
he freed the north making sterling
bridge possible
he took equal billing with william walls
who wasn't part of an ability
and ultimately he gave his life in
battle for the cause of scottish
independence we're never going to know
what might have been
but we should remember sir andrew to
murray
i mean doctors could be a lamb alive