The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and 14th centuries.
The Battle of Bannockburn was fought on 23–24 June 1314, between the army of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, and the army of King Edward II of England, during the First War of Scottish Independence. It was a decisive victory for Robert Bruce and formed a major turning point in the war, which ended 14 years later with the de jure restoration of Scottish independence under the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton. For this reason, the Battle of Bannockburn is widely considered a landmark moment in Scottish history.
Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcolm III in the 11th century, and the castle continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century, the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as a military garrison. Its importance as a part of Scotland's national heritage was recognised increasingly from the early 19th century onwards, and various restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half.
Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most historically and architecturally important castles in Scotland. The castle sits atop an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, giving it a strong defensive position. Its strategic location, guarding what was, until the 1890s, the farthest downstream crossing of the River Forth, has made it an important fortification in the region from the earliest times.
The First War of Scottish Independence was the first of a series of wars between English and Scottish forces. It lasted from the English invasion of Scotland in 1296 until the de jure restoration of Scottish independence with the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton in 1328. De facto independence was established in 1314 at the Battle of Bannockburn. The wars were caused by the attempts of the English kings to establish their authority over Scotland while Scots fought to keep English rule and authority out of Scotland.
The Warwolf, also known as the Loup-de-Guerre or Ludgar, is believed to have been the largest trebuchet ever made. It was created in Scotland by order of Edward I of England, during the siege of Stirling Castle in 1304, as part of the Wars of Scottish Independence. A contemporary chronicle refers to it as une engine orrible.
Clan Oliphant is a Highland Scottish clan.
Norham Castle is a castle in Northumberland, England, overlooking the River Tweed, on the border between England and Scotland. It is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The castle saw much action during the wars between England and Scotland.
Henry de Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Alnwick was a medieval English magnate.
Lochmaben Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Lochmaben, the feudal Lordship of Annandale, and the united county of Dumfries and Galloway. It was built by Edward I in the 14th century replacing an earlier motte and bailey castle, and later rebuilt during the reign of James IV of Scotland. The earlier motte-and-bailey castle was built south of the current castle in c. 1160 by the Bruce family, Lords of Annandale.
The siege of Carlisle took place from 22 July to 1 August 1315, during the First War of Scottish Independence, near the town of Carlisle, in Cumbria, England.
The sieges of Haddington were a series of sieges staged at the Royal Burgh of Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, as part of the War of the Rough Wooing, one of the last Anglo-Scottish Wars. Following Regent Arran's defeat at the battle of Pinkie Cleugh on Saturday 10 September 1547, he captured the town of Haddington. The intention was to form a network of mutually supporting English forts in lowland Scotland. The English forces built artillery fortifications and were able to withstand an assault by the besieging French and Scots troops supported by heavy cannon in July 1548. Although the siege was scaled down after this unsuccessful attempt, the English garrison abandoned the town on 19 September 1549, after attrition by Scottish raids at night, sickness, and changing political circumstance.
Sir William Oliphant, Lord of Aberdalgie and Dupplin, was a Scottish magnate, knight and leader during the Wars of Scottish Independence.
Sir William FitzWarin was an English soldier active during the First War of Scottish Independence. He was the constable of Urquhart Castle (1296-1297) and after the English defeat at the Battle of Stirling Bridge on 11 September 1297, he was appointed constable of Stirling Castle, which he later surrendered and was imprisoned in Dumbarton Castle.
Sir William Oliphant, was a Scottish knight and Governor of Stirling Castle during the Wars of Scottish Independence. He switched loyalties to the English and died in a Scottish prison.
Colonel John Cockburn was an officer in the Scottish Covenanter army in the late 1640s and early 1650s during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In this capacity he led Lowland soldiers against Montrose's Scottish Royalist forces during the First English Civil War (1642-1646), when the Covenanter parliament of Scotland was allied with the English Parliamentarians against King Charles I. Colonel Cockburn led the colourfully defiant but futile Scottish resistance at Hume Castle during the Third English Civil War (1649-1651), when a Parliamentary army led by Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland after its Covenanter government had made an uneasy alliance with King Charles II.
Sir Thomas Grey of Heaton Castle in the parish of Cornhill-on-Tweed, Northumberland, was a soldier who served throughout the wars of Scottish Independence. His experiences were recorded by his son Thomas Grey in his chronicles, and provide a rare picture of the day-to-day realities of the wars.
Alexander Pilche was a 13th-century Scottish burgess. He joined with Andrew de Moray during the 1297 uprising in northern Scotland against the administration and overlordship of King Edward I of England. He was the Governor of Inverness Castle on behalf of the English in 1304, before being replaced in 1305 and joining King Robert I of Scotland's campaign in Moray in 1307. As a reward he was appointed Sheriff of Inverness until his death.
The English invasion of Scotland of 1300 was a military campaign undertaken by Edward I of England to continue gains from the 1298 invasion, in retaliation of the Scots recapture of Stirling Castle in 1299 and the revolt in Annandale, Nithsdale and Galloway against English rule.
The English invasion of Scotland of 1296 was a military campaign undertaken by Edward I of England in retaliation to the Scottish treaty with France and the renouncing of fealty of John, King of Scotland and Scottish raids into Northern England.
