to his vanguard, and they fell an easy
prey to the Scots, while the English general, with the remnants of his
army, retreated to Berwick.

Stirling was the great military key of the country, commanding all the
passes from south to north, and the great defeat which the English had
sustained placed the country in the power of Wallace. Along with an
Andrew de Moray, of whose identity we know nothing, he undertook the
government of the country, corresponded in the name of Scotland with
Luebeck and Hamburg, and took the offensive against England in an
expedition which ravaged as far south as Hexham. To the great monastery
of Hexham he granted protection in the name of "the leaders of the army
of Scotland",[45] although he was not successful in restraining the
ferocity of his followers. The document in question is granted in the
name of John, King of Scotland, and in a charter dated March 1298,[46]
Wallace describes himself as Guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland, acting
for the exiled Balliol. In the following summer, Edward marched into
Scotland, and although his forces were in serious difficulties from want
of food, he went forward to meet Wallace, who held a strong position at
Falkirk. Wallace prepared to meet Edward by drawing up his spearmen in
four great "schiltrons" or divisions, with a reserve of cavalry. His
flanks were protected by archers, and he had also placed archers between
the divisions of spearmen. On the English side, Edward himself commanded
the centre, the Earls of Norfolk and Hereford the right, and the Bishop
of Durham the left. The Scottish defeat was the result of a combination
of archers and cavalry. The first attack of the English horse was
completely repulsed by the spearmen. "The front ranks", says Mr. Oman,
"knelt with their spear-butts fixed in the earth; the rear ranks
levelled their lances over their comrades' heads; the thick-set grove of
twelve-foot spears was far too dense for the cavalry to penetrate." But
Edward withdrew the cavalry and ordered the archers to send a shower of
arrows on the Scots. Wallace's cavalry made no attempt to interfere with
the archers; the Scottish bowmen were too few to retaliate; and, when
the English horse next charged, they found many weak points in the
schiltrons, and broke up the Scottish host.

As the battle of Stirling had created the power of Wallace, so that of
Falkirk completely destroyed it. He almost immediately resigned his
office of guardian (mainl