Action at Lanark 1297
Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).
Key facts
| Date (year) | 1297 | Wikidata P585 point in time |
|---|---|---|
| Century | 13th century | derived |
| Period | Norman & medieval | derived |
| Country | Scotland | derived |
| War / conflict | First War of Scottish Independence | Wikidata |
About the battle
The action at Lanark was an attack at Lanark, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence in May 1297. The Scotsman William Wallace led an uprising against the English and killed the Sheriff of Lanark, William Heselrig. The attack was not an isolated incident, but rather saw Wallace joining in with uprisings taking place across Scotland.
Not much is definitely known about this incident. The best account comes from the Scalacronica by Thomas Grey, whose father, also called Thomas Grey, was present. A fracas broke out at a court being held by Heselrig, but Wallace was able to escape with help from an individual named Innes who may have been his wife. He then came back with some supporters and attacked Heselrig and his men, killed Heselrig, nearly killed Thomas Grey, Sr. and set fire to some houses. Wallace then continued with his rebellion, which culminated in his victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge four months later.
It is unclear what Wallace was doing at Heselrig's court, and whether this was a spontaneous incident or if it was co-ordinated with other uprisings in Scotland.
Visiting the battlefield
Location
- Recorded location (Wikidata; may be approximate): 55.6749, -3.7770
Battlefields are often on private farmland: please keep to public rights of way and respect landowners.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Action at Lanark (revision 1370425749), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations removed. No text added.
Battle location from Wikidata (CC0).