Battle of Falkirk

The Battle of Falkirk on 22 July 1298 was a battle of the First Scottish War of Independence fought near the town of Falkirk. It ended in a clear English victory.

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There had been a full-scale uprising against English rule in Scotland in 1297. Led by William Wallace and Andrew Morray, an army composed of Scottish peasants had defeated an English army under the governor Earl Warenne at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Morray died a few weeks later, presumably from wounds sustained at Stirling. Wallace was then elected the undisputed Guardian of Scotland and sole leader of the Scottish army. After the English King Edward I returned from his campaign in Flanders in March 1298 and concluded an armistice in the war against France, he raised a large army for the summer of 1298 to break Scottish resistance.

advance of the English army

The English army was to assemble at Roxburgh on the 25th of June. Accounts of the army's strength vary. They range from 2000 horsemen and 12,000 foot-soldiers, 10,000 of whom were enlisted in Wales, to 3000 horsemen, 15,000 English and 10,000 Welsh foot-soldiers. It was certainly a very large army with which the English king passed through Lauderdale into Lothian at the beginning of July. Wallace had assembled a strong Scottish army to repel the expected English attack, but he did not initially present himself for battle. Wallace had followed scorched earth tactics, and since the Scottish population had fled from the English, no one could report to the English king where to find the Scottish army either. To this end the English could not obtain supplies from the country by plundering. Though stores of grain had been procured from Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, and food was also to be delivered to Carlisle from Ireland, yet these stores were insufficient for the great army. To this end the few ships which were to carry provisions to the ports of eastern Scotland were held up by contrary winds. Among the few supplies that reached the starving English soldiers was wine, which the king ordered to be distributed to his troops. Riots then broke out among the undisciplined foot soldiers from Wales, whereupon the king used his cavalry against the agitators. In the process, 80 Welshmen are said to have been killed. Edward I was about to retreat with the army to Edinburgh to wait for supplies. Then the Scottish Earl of Dunbar and the Earl of Angus, who were on the English side, arrived with the information that the Scottish army was only about 20 kilometres away in Callendar Wood near Falkirk. Presumably Wallace intended to attack the English by surprise as they retreated. Thereupon Edward I set his army in march to the west. The army spent the night in an open field near Linlithgow, and to this end Edward I was slightly wounded by a horse kick, but he was able to ride, thus disproving rumours that he was seriously injured. Bishop Antony Bek of Durham said mass at dawn, after which the English army passed through Linlithgow at dawn on 22 July. A little later the English saw the Scottish army already drawn up for battle.

Formation of the Scottish Army

There are also contradictory statements about the strength of the Scottish army. It is said to have been between 6000 and 8000 men and 15,000 to 20,000 strong. William Wallace had deployed it in a strongly defensive position, awaiting the English attack, though the exact location of the battle is not clear. Four years earlier, the English had already defeated a defensively positioned Welsh army at Maes Madog. Wallace tried to do the same but better than the Welsh. He had instructed his men to kill the horses first when attacked by horsemen. He probably placed his army on firm ground on the flank of a hill facing southeast. Behind him lay Callender Wood. In front of the hill flowed the Westquarter Burn and a stream tributary to it, which created a damp ground in front of the Scottish line. The left flank was covered by a steep slope, and the road from Falkirk to Stirling ran there. On the right Scottish flank was forest. The mass of the army consisted of spearmen fighting on foot, drawn up in four schiltrons. The Scots feared the attack of mounted knights from England and Gascony, so they had driven wooden stakes into the ground and created other obstacles to make a mounted attack on their positions more difficult. Between the Schiltroms were the Scottish archers under John Stewart. The light cavalry, consisting of the magnates' retinue, were in reserve. The English not only had cavalry superior to the Scots, but also archers from Sherwood and Wales, and crossbowmen from Ponthieu and Guyenne, far superior to the Scottish archers.

course of the battle

Edward I initially wanted to let his army have breakfast, but a majority of his commanders, the Earls of Norfolk, Hereford and Lincoln considered this too dangerous and urged an immediate attack. Thereupon the king ordered the attack, for which purpose he ordered his cavalry to charge in two detachments. The first division, led by Norfolk, Hereford, and Lincoln, attacked from the west. They were late in noticing the damp ground in front of the Scottish line and swung west. The English right wing under Bishop Bek with 36 Knight Bannerets led the second division. These skirted the damp ground on the eastern side. The Bishop was struggling, as a clergyman, to keep the Knights under his command. Baron Ralph Basset of Drayton told him to hold back and pray. The two English detachments met the two outer Scottish schiltrons. Faced with superior English cavalry, the Scottish cavalry fled in disgrace and panic without having engaged in battle. However, the accusation of treachery, often made, is considered to be false. The chronicler John Fordun used it to discredit the Comyns, Robert Bruce's later opponents.

Exactly how the battle continued is unclear. First, however, the English rode down the Scottish archers, who were all killed. This isolated the four schiltrons, who were now under constant attack from English horsemen and foot soldiers. The shelling to this by English archers and crossbowmen, as well as by slingshots, killed many of the Scots, who were only lightly armoured at best, and weakened the Scottish lines, which fell into disorder and were then unable to withstand the attacks of the English knights. According to another account, a mounted attack on the rear of the Scottish positions was decisive. The English foot soldiers fought a hard battle and suffered heavy casualties with nearly 2000 killed. The Welsh foot soldiers, on the other hand, were not initially engaged. Only when the Scottish army disbanded did they pursue the fleeing Scots and cut them down along with the horsemen. As the Scottish horsemen had fled early, few Scottish nobles died, including John Stewart, who was killed with his archers, and Macduff, who led the posse from Fife. For the Scottish foot soldiers, the prolonged battle became a slaughter. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Scottish foot soldiers were killed. Only two English Templars, Brian le Jay and John of Sawtry were killed. However, 110 English horses are also said to have been killed by the Scottish lances. Wallace and the magnates escaped into the forest of Tor.

Thereafter, the English horsemen, archers, and foot soldiers continually attacked the Scottish schiltrons until the Scots took flight


The beginning of the battle of Falkirk: the attack of the English horsemen on the Scottish schiltrons and the flight of the Scottish cavalry

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After the victory at Falkirk, Edward I moved on to Fife. Out of consideration for St Andrew, St Andrews was not sacked, but Perth was. From Stirling the English were able to obtain food, which was nevertheless insufficient. Then Edward I divided his army. While the infantry were sent to Carlisle, Edward I moved with the cavalry to Ayr to subdue the areas where Wallace had the most support. However, Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, who had previously submitted to the English king like his father Robert de Brus, had changed sides. Carrick had burned Ayr Castle and retreated to the hill country of south-west Scotland. As a result, Edward I also retreated to Carlisle. Thus, despite the victory at Falkirk, the English king had failed in his aim to subdue Scotland. Although the Scots had clearly lost the battle and suffered heavy casualties, unlike in 1296, when Scottish resistance had collapsed after the defeat at Dunbar, the Scots continued to fight for the independence of their country. However, Wallace resigned as Guardian because he had failed as a military leader.

Edward I granted extensive Scottish lands to the Earl of Warwick and other magnates at Carlisle on 25 September 1298. In doing so, he drove the Comyns and most of the Scottish magnates into further resistance. The magnates now took the lead in the struggle against the English and continued it bitterly for over five years. Thus, despite its clear outcome, the Battle of Falkirk was not a decisive English victory. It was, however, a turning point in the war. The Scots now dared not face the English in open field battle for many years. Instead they started a small war and a scorched earth policy against the English occupation.