Battle of Falkirk (1298)

Who Fought

History & Significance

The Battle of Falkirk (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr na h-Eaglaise Brice; Scots: Battle o Fawkirk), on 22 July 1298, was one of the major battles in the First War of Scottish Independence. Led by King Edward I of England, the English army defeated the Scots, led by William Wallace. Shortly after the battle Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland.

After the Battle of Stirling Bridge, from November 1297 until January 1298 Wallace led a Scottish army south. From Newcastle upon Tyne to Carlisle, the Scots raided the countryside, bringing back the spoils.

King Edward learned of the defeat of his northern army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. After concluding a truce with the French king, Philip the Fair, in October 1297, he returned to England on 14 March 1298 to continue the ongoing organising of an army for his second invasion of Scotland which had been in preparation since late 1297. As a preliminary step, he moved the centre of government to York, where it was to remain for the next six years. A council-of-war was held in the city in April to finalise the details of the invasion. The Scottish magnates were all summoned to attend; when none appeared, they were all declared to be traitors. Edward then ordered his army to assemble at Roxburgh on 25 June. The force counted 2,000 armoured cavalry and about 12,000 infantry receiving wages, though, after the manner of medieval armies there would have been many more serving without pay either as a statement of personal independence, forgiveness of debts to the crown, criminal pardons or just for adventure. Stuart Reid estimates Edward's force at 214 knights with 900 troopers, 1,000 cavalry supplied by the Earls, 500 mercenary crossbowmen, 2,000 archers with billmen from the Lancashire and Cheshire feudal levies, though the infantry may only have totalled 8,000.

Edward left Roxburgh on 3 July and reached Kirkliston in two weeks, where he awaited supplies expected to arrive along the coastal ports, delayed due to weather. In the interim, he dealt with a Welsh mutiny. Finally, on 20 July, he advanced, reaching Linlithgow on 21 July. Edward was on the point of falling back on Edinburgh, when he received intelligence the Scots were at Torwood, near Falkirk, ready to harass his retreat. Edward reportedly said that he "would not trouble them to seek me", and placed his army south of Falkirk on the morning of 22 July. Edward wanted to make camp and feed his men while waiting for his infantry to catch up with his cavalry. His cavalry commanders though, favoured an immediate attack.

Reid calculates the Scots could have manned four schiltrons with about 1,000 men each, in addition to the cavalry and archers. These men would have come from the sheriffdoms of Fife, Kinross, Midlothian, Haddington, Stirling, Linlithgow, Lanark, Merse and Teviotdale. With that, Wallace supposedly said, "I have browghte yowe to the ryng. Hoppe yef ye canne!" Absent were forces under the Comyns and Robert Bruce. Also absent was Andrew Moray, co-victor with Wallace at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, having been mortally wounded in that battle. It was Moray who used the schiltrons offensively.

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Falkirk (1298) lies on Scottish Coal Measures Group, bedrock that formed in the Moscovian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.

Frequently Asked Questions

Scheduled Monuments near Battle of Falkirk (1298)

Antonine Wall, Callendar Park, Falkirk

Scheduled monument · ~0.6 mi

Antonine Wall at Callendar Park, Falkirk is a section of the turf-built Roman frontier constructed in the second century AD across central Scotland. The monument lies upon bedrock of the Scottish Coal Measures Group, a sequence of Moscovian-age sediments comprising mudstone, siltstone, sandstone,…

Union Canal, River Avon to Greenbank

Scheduled monument · ~1.1 mi

Union Canal, River Avon to Greenbank is a section of the early nineteenth-century navigable waterway that connected Edinburgh to the central belt of Scotland. Built to transport coal and other industrial goods, the canal follows the contours of Stirlingshire, cutting through landscapes underlain…

Bowhouse,circular enclosure,Polmont

Scheduled monument · Post-Medieval · ~1.7 mi

Bowhouse is a post-medieval circular enclosure located near Polmont in Stirlingshire, Scotland. The monument survives as a distinctive earthwork formed within the undulating landscape of the Scottish Coal Measures, where bedrock of mudstone, siltstone and sandstone underlies the site. The circula…

Blackbraes,coke ovens,Muiravonside

Scheduled monument · ~2.1 mi

Blackbraes Coke Ovens, Muiravonside is a scheduled monument in Stirlingshire that represents the industrial heritage of Scotland's coalfield landscapes. Located on bedrock of the Scottish Coal Measures Group, the site exploited the natural geology formed during the Moscovian period, when alternat…

Antonine Wall, 170m NNW to 305m NE of Falkirk High School

Scheduled monument · ~2.1 mi

Antonine Wall is a Roman frontier fortification built across central Scotland in the second century AD. This section lies in Stirlingshire, north-north-west to north-east of Falkirk High School, and forms part of the turf-and-stone rampart that once stretched 37 miles from the Firth of Forth to t…

Antonine Wall, 75m ESE of Craigellachie

Scheduled monument · ~2.2 mi

Antonine Wall, 75m ESE of Craigellachie, is a fortified linear barrier stretching across central Scotland. Built by the Roman army in the mid-second century AD, the wall extended roughly 37 miles from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde, forming the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire.…

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Battles near Battle of Falkirk (1298)

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• Battle of Falkirk · Wikidata
• Battle_of_Falkirk · Wikipedia
• Battle of Falkirk (1298) · Wikipedia
• Battle of Falkirk · BritishBattles.com