A bloody battle depicted in ‘Braveheart’ dealt the English a devastating blow on this day in 1297

Brave heartMel Gibsons Video from 1995 about William Wallaceis infamous riddled of inaccuraciesfrom the imagined blue face paint of the Scottish warrior to the anachronistic tartan kilts worn by his freedom fighters. One of the film’s most glaring flaws is his image of the Battle of Stirling Bridge, which ended in a decisive Scottish victory on September 11, 1297. Brave heart‘s version of the battle left out two key elements: Wallace’s co-commander in the battle and the bridge of the same name. This is what actually happened in Stirling exactly 727 years ago.

The Battle of Stirling Bridge took place during the First War of Scottish Independencea conflict that lasted from 1296 to 1328. Six years before the war began, Scotland child queen died without an heir, leaving rival heirs to the throne locked in a struggle for control of the kingdom. Faced with the prospect of civil war, the Scottish nobility asked for it from England Edward I to elect a new ruler on their behalf. In return for his intervention, Edward started Treating Scotland as a feudal territory, confirming England’s dominance over its neighbor. In 1296, Edward formally took over controlwhereby he deposed the Scottish king whom he had appointed and slaughter thousands of citizens.

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While the Scots chafed at the new status quo, they found a leader in Wallace, who rose to prominence after killing an English sheriff in May 1297. History todaythis “drew the dissatisfied to it [Wallace]. … He immediately demonstrated the strength and military skill that were his trademarks.” By August Wallace, whose men were in southern Scotland, had joined forces Andrew Murraywho led a similar band of rebels in the north. On September 11, the pair’s combined forces faced the English nearby Stirling Castlea stronghold north of Glasgow.

Estimates of the size of the armies vary widely, but scholars differ widely generally agree that the English (supported by Welsh infantry) outnumbered the Scots, who also had far less cavalry. To reach the enemy, the English had to cross a bridge so narrow that ‘a few horsemen could hardly and with difficulty cross at the same time’. in the words by the contemporary chronicler Walter de Guisborough.

Wallace and Murray allowed about half of the English soldiers to cross unhindered before springing into action and attacking while their troops held the border high ground. According to Guisborough, the Scottish commanders ‘sent [their] spearmen to occupy the foot of the bridge, so that from then on no passage or retreat remained open to the English. At some point during the battle the bridge collapsed. Thousands of Englishmen died, were shot by the enemy or drowned trying to swim back across the river. Was among the dead Hugh de Cressinghamthe king’s treasurer, whose corpse was reportedly skinned to make a scabbard for Wallace’s sword. Murray was also fatally injured, although he did not succumb to his injuries for a few months.

The Battle of Stirling Bridge represented Wallace’s only major military victory in battle against the English. On July 22, 1298, the Scottish warrior forces suffered a painful defeat at the Battle of Falkirk. Wanting revenge for his loss at Stirling, Edward equipped his soldiers with long archesallowing them to rain arrows on the enemy from afar.

In the aftermath of Falkirk, Wallace resigned as guardian of Scotland and traveled to continental Europe to seek support for the Scottish cause. In 1304 he was an outlaw in his own country, wanted by the English for his attempts to drive them out of Scotland. In 1305 Wallace was captured by a Scottish knight turned over to Edward, who had him hanged as a traitor, drawn away and quartered. It was not until 1328, under the leadership of Robert de Brucea former ally of Wallace, that Scotland recognition assured of its independence from England.

Although the peace agreement only lasted four yearsboth Wallace and Bruce remain iconic figures in Scotland to this day. If Michael Browntold a historian at the University of St. Andrews Smithsonian magazine in 2018, Wallace is remembered as “the selfless patriotic hero whose only concern was the freedom and protection of his countrymen.” By comparison, “Bruce is a successful politician. He achieves more, but in some ways his hands are dirtier.”