In Stirling, Scotland, there is a narrow bridge over a marshland and a river. The English knights tried to cross the River Forth across this bridge right in front of the Scottish army. Inspired and led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray, they embraced their highest position on a hill and hurled long spears, rocks and missiles at the English army. Most of the army was massacred in this way, and anyone who remained fled in fear of Wallace and the Scots. Here the English suffered their first major defeat and the Scots achieved their first crushing victory. After capturing the bridge and defeating the English forces, Wallace captured Stirling Castle. Scotland was then free from the occupying forces. A month later, he invaded northern England with his small army and took control of two counties. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Before the end of the year, William Wallace returned to Scotland and was immediately knighted and appointed guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland and began to rule. However, the Scottish nobles did not entirely support him, as they all believed they had some right to the throne. Wallace had not yet faced King Edward I. The following year, in July, Edward I returned from campaigning in France and invaded Scotland. King Edward I invaded Scotland with "an army of 2,500 mounted knights and 12,500 infantry, including a large number of Welshmen". and English archers armed with longbows. Wallace's army was much smaller, with “1,000 mounted cavalry and 5,000 infantry.” (Encyclopedia Britannica) He attempted guerrilla warfare but was forced to fight. He arranged the spearmen in circular shapes, side by side, with their spears facing outward, with a wall of armored men guarding each formation. Anyone not in these formations was an archer standing in the dead space in between at that moment. They managed to hold off the English cavalry and infantry, but Edward had a new tactic. The longbowmen had made no strides in battle thus far, slowly cutting down Wallace's schiltrons. As the schiltrons were increasingly divided, the cavalry was increasingly able to charge. The Scots had no choice but to flee into the woods. Subsequently, William Wallace's respectable military prowess was destroyed and he soon after resigned his guardianship of the Kingdom of Scotland. Robert de Bruce succeeded him on the throne. After 1299, William Wallace seemed to disappear from history. There is no memory in any document or account of where he was or what he was doing. After his passing, most of the Scottish nobility surrendered to King Edward I and ceded their lands to England. Despite this, the British continued to hunt Wallace. “On 5 August 1305 he was arrested near Glasgow.” (Encyclopedia Britannica) He was soon taken to London, England, and was convicted of treason to the king. He maintained that he had never sworn allegiance to Edward or to England. Subsequently the English tortured him: he was hanged, disemboweled and beheaded. This was part of the English tradition of punishing those who committed treason called drawing and quartering. The picking and quartering, according to Wyatt Red, was a multi-step process. First, they would be hanged, and on the brink of death, they would be cut down. Then they would extract the intestines from the body while being dragged by a horse across the square, and then they would cut off the traitor's genitals. They threw the body parts into the fire, beheaded the traitor, then cut off all four limbs of the body and scattered them around..