Scottish Achievements During the First War of Scottish Independence

In Stirling, Scotland, there is a narrow bridge over marshland and river. The English knights tried to cross the River Forth through this bridge right in front of the Scottish army. Inspired by and led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray, they embraced their higher position on a hill and threw long spears and rocks and missiles onto the English army.

Most of the army was slaughtered in this way, and whoever was left, fled out of fear of Wallace and the Scots. The English had their first major defeat here, and the Scottish gained their first overwhelming victory. After capturing the bridge and defeating the English forces, Wallace captured Stirling Castle. Scotland was then free from occupying forces. A month later, he invaded northern England with his small army and took control of two counties.

Before the year was over, William Wallace went back to Scotland and was immediately knighted and named guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland and began ruling. However, Scottish nobles didn’t entirely support him, as they all believed they held some claim to the throne. Wallace still hadn’t confronted King Edward I. The following year, in July, Edward I returned from campaigning in France and invaded Scotland.

King Edward I invaded Scotland with “an army of 2,500 mounted knights and 12,500 infantry, including large numbers of Welsh and English archers armed with longbows.” Wallace’s army was much smaller, at “1,000 mounted knights and 5,000 infantry.) (Encyclopedia Britannica) He attempted guerrilla warfare but was forced into battle. He formed the spearmen into circular forms standing shoulder to shoulder, spears outward, with a wall of armored men guarding each formation. Whoever wasn’t in these formations was an archer standing in the dead space between then.

They managed to hold off the English cavalry and infantry, but Edward had a new tactic. Longbowmen hadn’t made significant strides in battle up until this point, slowly beating down Wallace’s schiltrons. As the schiltrons became more and more broken up, the cavalry became more and more successful in charging through. The Scottish had no choice but to flee into the woods. After this, William Wallace’s reputable military prowess was destroyed and he soon after resigned his guardianship of the Kingdom of Scotland. Robert de Bruce succeeded him in taking the throne.

Past 1299, William Wallace seemingly disappeared from history. There is no recollection in any documents or stories about where he was or what he was doing. After he disappeared, most of Scotland’s nobility surrendered to King Edward I and gave up their land to England. Despite this, the English continued to hunt Wallace. “On August 5, 1305, he was arrested near Glasgow.” (Encyclopedia Britannica) He was soon taken to London, England, and was a condemned traitor to the king. He argued that he never swore allegiance to Edward or to England. After this, the English tortured him: he was hung, disemboweled, and beheaded. This was part of the English tradition for punishing those who committed treason called drawing and quartering. Drawing and quartering, according to Wyatt Red, was a multi-step process.

First, they would be hung, and on the verge of death, be cut down. They would then pull the intestines out of the body as they were being drawn by a horse through the square, and then they would cut off the genitals of the traitor. They would throw the body parts into a fire, behead the traitor, and then cut off all four limbs of the body and scattered them around Great Britain as a warning to others. This happened to William Wallace, who was accused of “...treason … robbery and homicide, … sacrilege, being an outlaw, … “divers depredations.” (Encyclopedia Britannica) In 1306, in an attempt in avenging Wallace, Robert the Bruce led the Scottish in an open rebellion that eventually won their independence.

Robert the Bruce was born in 1274 into a direct line of Scottish nobility. Between 1295 and 1304, he was believed to be a leading supporter of William Wallace, but later he betrayed Wallace and gained the support of King Edward I. He was crowned King of Scotland on March 25, 1306. He appeared to once again be loyal to hate late friend Wallace and started rebelling against English rule. His armies were destroyed twice in Perth and Perthshire. His wife and most of his supporters were captured by the English, and his three brothers were executed after being captured. He then hid off the Irish coast on a small island, hopeless and alone, and this is where the story of gaining inspiration from a weaving spider originated from. In 1307, he returned to Scotland and defeated John Comyn who was in line for the throne. Six years later, with valuable fighters, he captured Perth and destroyed the English. At this point, England was weak. Edward I died in 1307 and his son, Edward II, was weak and bad at ruling. He attempted to send an army out to crush this new Scottish rebellion, but it was defeated badly at Bannockburn and marked victory for King Robert I.

Scotland owes its independence to William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. If Wallace hadn’t become fed up with England’s tyrannical practices, and if King Robert had given up on that small island in Ireland, Scotland would most likely be ruled by England even today. The rebellions were a typical grassroots campaign. The English had fine swords and spears, but the Scottish had sticks and stone. With Wallace’s determination and integrity, they fought and died for their independence.