 Felly yma yng Nghymru yng Nghymru yng Nghymru, William Wallace a Andrew Murray, dillwydd yma yng Nghymru yng Nghymru yng Nghymru yn 1297. Felly, yn ymweld yn Llyfrgelliaeth Slyf, Llyfrgell yn gweithio'r Gwylodau, yn y ddechrau'r Llyfrgell yn ymlaen. Yn ymweld yma yng Nghymru, o'r llyfrgell yn yma yng Nghymru. Y Llyfrgell yn Llyfrgell yn ym 11 ym 10 oed, 1297. The leaders on the Scottish side were William Wallace, a man who needs no introduction. The other leader on the Scottish side however was Andrew Murray, and no, not that Andrew Murray. This Andrew Murray is somewhat of a forgotten hero of the First Scottish War of Independence. William Wallace has a statue and of course films have been made after William Wallace. Andrew Murray however is somewhat forgotten, a footnote at best. This Andrew Murray was from the ability who owned lands in the north of Scotland. He had led an uprising in the north, taking castle after castle, and forced the English south of the River Tay by 1297. He had heard of Wallace's exploits, and in the same year Wallace and Murray met at Dundee. They joined forces in the march on Stullland. The English side was led by John Du Warren, the sixth hero of Surrey, a military commander and English nobleman, and Hugh de Cresingham, the treasurer of the English administration from 1296 to 1297. The Battle of Sturlam Bridge took place within the First Scottish War of Independence, a war that was sparked in part due to a succession crisis that caused instability. In 1296, King Edward I, also known as Longshanks, sacked Berwick upon Tweed and quickly moved throughout Scotland. In nine weeks, King Edward had pretty much conquered all of Scotland. While some Scots, including the Brises, supported the English king, others quickly surrendered. Happy with his conquest, he left garrisons and governors in charge of major points in Scotland, and went south to England. This English order did not last long. Small rebellions erupted across the kingdom shortly after Edward went south, as Scots clashed with English officials. The taxes that were imposed on Scots and attempts to conscript Scots were the two main reasons for the clashes. These small rebellions soon turned into larger armies, with two leaders emerging. You guessed it, Wallace and Murray. To quash the rebellion, King Edward sent an army north. The English army that marched on Stirling was much larger than the four sort of Wallace and Murray. The English had between eight and twelve thousand men, with the Scots only having around two thousand three hundred. Wallace and Murray took the high ground and camped on the Abbey Forth north of the river, where Wallace Monument stands today. This gave Wallace and Murray the strategic advantage, as the English army would have to cross the narrow Stirling bridge, made of wood at that point. The English camped to the south of the river. The English delayed crossing the bridge for days, knowing that it would put them at a disadvantage, and they tried to sue for peace. Wallace is reported to have told the English emissaries that we are not here to make peace, but to do battle, to defend ourselves and liberate our kingdom. Let them come and we shall prove this to their very beards. Stirling bridge at that point, with the original bridge no longer here, was a narrow wooden bridge, with horsemen only able to cross to a breast. It literally would have taken hours for an army of thousands to cross the bridge. On the morning of the 11th of September 1297, the English army slowly began to cross the narrow bridge. Cresingham is thought to have been the one who advised a full scale attack against the Scots at Stirling. This movement that the English army was soon split by the river Forth, with some forces across and others waiting to cross. The size advantage of the English force was suddenly lost. From their vantage point Wallace and Murray waited, until as many of the enemy had come over, as they believed they could overcome. As soon as the English soldiers crossed the bridge, they were trapped on three sides by the loop of the river. Then Wallace and Murray ordered an attack. The Scots spearmen came down from the high ground in rapid advance and fended off a charge by the English heavy cavalry and then counter attacked the English infantry. They gained control of the east side of the bridge and cut off the chance of English reinforcements to cross. The English force on the Scottish side of the Forth were obliterated, with a few hundred only escaping by swimming across the river. Warren, who was still on the south side of the river, lost his confidence and ordered retreat to Berwick. At some point Stirling Bridge collapsed. None of the Stirling Bridges of today are the same as the one discussed in this story. The original Stirling Bridge was a wooden bridge that did collapse during the battle. Exactly why it collapsed is debated. Some argue that William Wallace and Andrew Murray, it was a strategic ploy by them, where they deliberately sabotaged the bridge at some point in the battle to stop English forces coming over the bridge to save those that were trapped at the other side. Others argue that Warren ordered the bridge to be destroyed when the English retreated. Yet it may also be the case that the bridge simply collapsed due to the weight of the army that it went over it. The English may have been well fed if you know what I mean. Regardless, Warren retreated to Berwick, leaving Stirling Castle isolated and abandoning much of the lowlands to the Scots. Cresingham was killed at this battle in many legends report that it was flayed and his skin cut into pieces and taken as tokens of victory. Wallace himself was said to have fashioned a belt or a holder for his sword out of his skin. I hope you're not eating your dinner. This was done in response to Cresingham flaying Scottish prisoners of war. He was also disliked because he was essentially the tax man and many Scots believed that the taxes that were imposed were unjust. The losses on the Scottish side are unknown but it is estimated that around 5,000 English soldiers were killed in total. Any remaining English soldiers fled to Berwick. Murray was mortally wounded in the battle however and died in the months after due to his wounds. Although the precise date of this is not known, Wallace was appointed guardian of Scotland in 90. He began issuing letters to other kingdoms declaring Scotland's independent status, seeking friendship and offering trade. One of these letters is the Lebec letter of October 1297, a letter sent to the mayors of Lebec and Hamburg to build trade relationships between Scotland and the German cities. Interestingly, the letter is signed by both Wallace and Murray, suggesting that Murray may still have been alive in October 1297. Wallace, however, may have simply signed Murray's name as an act of homage to a fallen comrade. Wallace was guardian of Scotland until his defeat in the Battle of Falkirk the following year. This will be the subject of a future video. Thanks for watching. If you would like to support this work through Patreon, buymeacoffee.com, or donate through PayPal below. Please find all the links in the description below. If you enjoy these videos and find them valuable, please tell your friends and family about this channel. Subscribe and hit the bell. Thanks again for watching and I'll see you next time.