[8] After concluding a truce with the French king, Philip the Fair, in October 1297,[9] he returned to England on 14 March 1298 to continue the ongoing organising of an army for his second invasion of Scotland which had been in preparation since late 1297.

The force counted 2,000 armoured cavalry and about 12,000 infantry[11] receiving wages, though, after the manner of medieval armies there would have been many more serving without pay either as a statement of personal independence, forgiveness of debts to the crown, criminal pardons or just for adventure.

[12] Stuart Reid estimates Edward's force at 214 knights with 900 troopers, 1000 cavalry supplied by the Earls, 500 mercenary crossbowmen, 2000 archers with billmen from the Lancashire and Cheshire feudal levies, though the infantry may only have totalled 8,000.

[13] Edward left Roxburgh on 3 July and reached Kirkliston in two weeks, where he awaited supplies expected to arrive along the coastal ports, delayed due to weather.

Edward was on the point of falling back on Edinburgh, when he received intelligence the Scots were at Torwood, near Falkirk, ready to harass his retreat.

[15][16] The Scots army, again made up chiefly of spearmen as at Stirling Bridge, was arranged in four[19] great "hedgehogs" known as schiltrons.

[13] The Scots bowmen commanded by Sir John Stewart,[22] the younger brother of the High Steward of Scotland,[23] stood their ground but were overrun by the English cavalry.

[22] However, the schiltrons held firm, with the knights making little impression on the dense forest of long spears, and 111 horses were killed in the vain attempts.

[22] Pinned in place by the English cavalry and infantry, unable to retreat or attack, the battle was lost for the Scots almost as soon as the first arrows began to fall.

The English waited, this time observing the King's command, until the Scottish ranks were thinned out and disordered enough to allow them to break up the schiltrons.

Hence Edward's determination to "capture at all costs the man who was in himself the embodiment of that popular hostility, and who was in addition, a warrior of skill and daring and a leader who had won the heart and the imagination of the people.

[27] Following are a collection of modern illustrations of the Falkirk Roll based on the blazons published in Henry Gough's book, Scotland in 1298.