Hugh de Cressingham

Who was Hugh de Cressingham?

Hugh de Cressingham was the treasurer of the English administration in Scotland from 1296 to 1297. He was hated by the Scots and did not seem well liked even by the English. He was an advisor to John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. He suggested a full-scale attack across the bridge, which cost the English the battle and led to his own demise.

According to legend, his body was flayed by the Scots as he had flayed Scottish war prisoners, and William Wallace made a sword belt out of his skin. The Lanercost Chronicle states the Scots dried and cured his hide and

The Scalacronica merely states that

Walter of Hemingburgh recorded,

In the 1995 film Braveheart he is portrayed by the actor Gerard McSorley, and dies of beheading by William Wallace.