Battle of Falkirk

On this day in 1298, William Wallace and his Scottish army were decisively defeated by King Edward I of England at the Battle of Falkirk. Positioned on high ground with tightly packed schiltrons of spearmen protected by a front line of wooden stakes, the Scots initially repelled English cavalry charges. However, Edward’s deployment of thousands of Welsh longbowmen proved revolutionary; their massed volleys of arrows rained down, thinning the Scottish ranks and creating gaps that the English heavy cavalry later heavily exploited.

Unique to the battle was the Scots’ lack of adequate archery support and the reluctance of many Scottish nobles and their mounted followers to fully commit, leaving Wallace’s mainly infantry force exposed. By the end of the day, thousands of Scots lay dead on the field while English losses remained relatively light. Wallace later resigned as a Guardian of Scotland.