Battle of Stirling Bridge

Battle of Stirling Bridge
Part of the Wars of Scottish Independence
Date 11 September 1297 Location Stirling Result Decisive Scottish victory
Belligerents
Scotland	England
Commanders and leaders
Andrew de Moray William Wallace	John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey
Strength
6,400 infantry and 180 cavalry	6,350 infantry and 350 cavalry
Casualties and losses
?	?

The Battle of Stirling Bridge was one of the series of conflicts of the Wars of Scottish Independence. On September 11, 1297 the forces of Andrew de Moray and William Wallace clashed with those of John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, and the English forces suffered defeat.

Battle

In numbers the Scots had around 6000 spearmen, 400 longbowmen and 180 knights and light horsemen. The English had 6350 footsoldiers (of which many were longbowmen) and 350 heavy cavalry. De Murray, with William Wallace as his captain, and their forces had come from besieging Dundee and stood situated on the high ground of Abbey Craig, across the Forth and to the north of Stirling. The English forces sought to cross the single narrow bridge and engage the Scottish force. As the English crossed the bridge, led by Hugh de Cressingham, they encountered marshy ground and slowly spread out towards the Scots. As soon as Wallace judged a sufficient but manageable number of troops had crossed the river he ordered two charges: one straight into the massed English force and another to cut their route of escape. The Scottish forces, in schiltrons, caught and destroyed the English vanguard, the English cavalry proved ineffective on the boggy ground and many were killed. The bridge collapsed as reinforcements tried to cross and the English on the opposite side of the river then fled the battlefield. The Scots suffered relatively light casualties, but the death from wounds of Andrew de Murray dealt a blow to Wallace's forces.

Aftermath

The victory here started a series of wins that gave Wallace favour amongst the Scottish nobles and soon led to the fall of almost every English-held castle in Scotland.

Fixed Bridge

A theory held to heart by many Scots is that Andrew de Murray was in position under one end of the bridge and setting it alight, causing its collapse.

Representation in the arts

The 1995 motion picture, Braveheart, has an account of this battle. The account in the movie does not accurately portray the tactics of the actual battle, and is notable for the lack of any bridge. Quote the Internet Movie Database:

When asked by a local why the Battle of Stirling Bridge was filmed on an open plain, Gibson answered that "the bridge got in the way". "Aye," the local answered. "That's what the English found." [1]