Edward Longshanks & William Wallace at Falkirk

By John Walker After the disastrous Battle of Dunbar in April 1296, the Scottish revolt against England stalled for more than a year until a rebel force led by Andrew de Moray and William Wallace rekindled the flames of rebellion with a stunning victory over the English at Stirling Bridge. The impact of that battle induced King Edward I, known as “Longshanks” for his extraordinary height, to return from France to deal with the fractious Scots. After assembling a huge army, Edward marched north on his second invasion of Scotland in two years. Dubbed the English Justinian because of his legal codes, which initiated significant changes to feudal law, strengthening both the crown and Parliament to the detriment of the old nobility, Edward was first and foremost a warrior king. His combat expertise, and that of his war machine, lay in campaigning. On campaign, in Wales, Scotland, southern France, and his native England, Edward had an innate ability to assemble an army and hold it together in the field. He was a man of stern character, jealous of his honor but true to his word only when it suited his end. His conduct toward the Welsh and Scots was marked by cunning, duplicity, and ruthlessness. The Successor to Edward the Confessor Born in June 1239 at Westminster, Edward was named after England’s last Anglo-Saxon king, Edward the Confessor. At the age of 15 he traveled to Spain for an arranged marriage to 13-year-old Eleanor of Castile. The marriage was a political union