John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey (1231-29 September 1304) was the Earl of Surrey under the Kingdom of England. He was one of the trusted generals of King Edward I of England, and he fought under him against the Barons' Alliance and the Scots, leading the English army at the victory at the Battle of Dunbar in 1296 and the defeat at the Battle of Stirling next year.
Biography[]
John de Warenne was born to an Anglo-Norman family, and during the Second Barons' War he fought for King Henry III of England. After the Battle of Lewes in 1264 he fled to France, and returned to England in 1265 to aid Prince Edward of Wales in crushing the rebels in the Battle of Evesham.
In 1277, 1282, and 1283 Warenne assisted Edward, now King Edward I, in his campaigns against King Llewelyn ap Gruffyd of Wales, and led the 1296 invasion of Scotland, winning the Battle of Dunbar and making Edward the King of Scotland. He returned to England later in the year, claiming that the Scottish climate was affecting his health negatively. However, in September 1297 he was sent back to Scotland with an army of 13,000 troops and met a Scottish army under William Wallace. His army was destroyed by the Scots, who used cavalry in a flanking movement to attack the English Welsh Bowmen and Warenne himself while the infantry clashed, losing the Battle of Stirling. Warenne ordered a retreat and his subordinate Hugh de Cressingham was beheaded. Warenne fled to York, but in 1298 King Edward forgave him and sent him to lead a new army north. He recaptured Roxburgh and Berwick and he was one of the commanders during the Battle of Falkirk in 1298, aiding in the English victory that avenged his embarrassing defeat a year earlier. He died in 1304, and he was succeeded by his son Earl John of Surrey.
Gallery[]
