The Battle of Roslin, fought on 24 February 1303, was a Scottish victory during the First War of Scottish Independence, taking place near the village of Roslin. The engagement arose after an Anglo-Scottish truce expired on 30 November 1302, prompting the English to prepare a fresh invasion of Scotland. King Edward I appointed John Segrave as his lieutenant in Scotland and ordered him to conduct a large-scale reconnaissance as far as Kirkintilloch ahead of a larger royal campaign. Segrave's force assembled at Wark on Tweed and moved northward in three divisions, several miles apart, harassed throughout by the Scots.
The two Scottish commanders, John Comyn and Sir Simon Fraser, led their men on a night march from Biggar to Roslin and fell upon the English encampment, capturing Segrave and several other nobles. A second English division under Robert Neville then moved towards the action, and in the subsequent fighting the Scots freed Segrave, though the English paymaster Manton was killed. According to the 1303 chronicle, a later stage of the fighting saw the English army defeated again, with sources claiming English losses of between 28,000 and 30,000 men, though later historians noted that Walter Bower and John of Fordun seriously exaggerated the size and importance of what was possibly more a victory over a large-scale raid than a full invading army.
A monument cairn erected by the Roslin Heritage Society at the end of the 20th century marks the site of the battle. At the start of the 21st century, the battlefield was under research to be inventoried and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009.
Scottish historian John of Fordun captured the spirit of the night assault in vivid terms, writing that John Comyn and Simon Fraser, wishing to steal a march rather than have one stolen upon them, came briskly through from Biggar to Rosslyn in a single night with chosen men who chose death before unworthy subjection to the English nation, and all of a sudden fell fearlessly upon the enemy, in a struggle he declared so desperate that the stoutness of knightly prowess shone forth so brightly as had never before been seen.
English paymaster Manton killed; English losses claimed at between 28,000 and 30,000 men according to sources, though these figures were considered serious exaggerations by later historians
This battlefield is listed on the Register of Historic Battlefields — a national designation identifying Britain's most significant battle sites for protection and further research. Reference: HES BTL37.
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