| Siege of York | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 The Governor of York prepares the defenses. | |||
| Conflict: Scottish War of Independence | |||
| Date: 1297 | |||
| Place: York, northern England | |||
| Outcome: Inconclusive | |||
| Combatants | |||
 Scotland
|
 England
| ||
| Commanders | |||
| William Wallace | Governor of York † | ||
| Strength | |||
| thousands | Garrison of York | ||
| Casualties | |||
| one battering ram's crew | total | ||
| |||
The Siege of York was the first battle in William Wallace's invasion of England.
Battle
After the Battle of Stirling on September 11, 1297, Sir William Wallace was made guardian and High Protector of Scotland by the Scottish nobles. He wanted to invade England, rather than fight for the "scraps of Longshanks' table", and did so, despite the opposition of the other Scottish nobles. York, the staging point for every invasion of Scotland, was the first target.
Wallace forced all of northern England's towns to beg for help, after he sacked several towns and cities on the warpath. Since Edward I, King of England, was on campaign in France, his weakling son Prince Edward was in charge. He refused to send any troops to the defense of the north, so the Governor of York was alone and could not get any reinforcements. When news came that Wallace was marching towards York, he ordered for all of the food and provisions to brung inside, as well as to double the wall guards and seal the gates. He refused to leave, refusing to tell his uncle the king that he had lost the greatest city in northern England.
The Scots pushed a wheeled battering ram made of several logs tied together into the castle gates, and from the walls, the English dumped heavy rocks and vats of oil on top of them. Then the archers shot flaming arrows, igniting oil and burning the men pushing the ram. William himself took over the ram with his troops and pushed it into the gate despite repeated archer fire, and eventually pushed the gates open. Wallace sacked the city, and had the Governor of York executed. He sent his head in a basket to King Edward with the note that he had sacked York, a warning. Battles