Wallace's place as a hero in Scottish history is assured.
There can be little doubt that he has always been revered as a
self-effacing and passionate patriot by later generations of
Scots. Unlike the conniving Scottish nobles who had
collaborated with the English in return for financial
benefits, Wallace had never sought personal fame nor benefited
from it. He had accrued neither wealth nor land.
Wallace
was born in around 1270, probably near Ellerslie (now
Elderslie), in Ayrshire, Scotland. His father was Sir Malcolm
Wallace, Laird of Elderslie and Auchinbothie, a small
landowner and little-known Scottish knight. His mother is
believed to have been the daughter of Sir Hugh Crawford,
Sheriff of Ayr, and he is thought to have had an elder
brother, also called Malcolm. Because he was the second son,
William did not inherit his father's title or lands.
At the
time of Wallace's birth, Alexander III had already been on
Scotland's throne for over twenty years. His reign had seen a
period of peace, economic stability, and prosperity and he had
successfully fended off continuing English claims to
suzerainty. King Edward I (known as Edward "Longshanks")
came to the throne of England in 1272, two years after Wallace
was born.
There is
almost no reliable information about William Wallace's early
life. He is said to have spent his childhood at Dunipace, near
Stirling, under the supervision of his uncle, who was a
priest. Wallace probably led a comfortable and peaceful life
as the son of a nobleman. He and his brother Malcolm must also
have trained in the martial arts of the time, - including
horsemanship and swordsmanship. Contemporary chroniclers say
that William was a large, powerful man. He reportedly stood
more than six and a half feet tall, - a veritable giant at a
time when the average height of an infantryman was only
slightly more than five feet.
Carrick,
in his Life of Sir William Wallace of Elderslie, consolidates
some of the available historical descriptions of Wallace as
follows:
"His
visage was long, well-proportioned, and exquisitely beautiful;
his eyes were bright and piercing, the hair of his head and
beard auburn, and inclined to curl; that on his brows and
eyelashes was of a lighter shade. His lips were round and
full. His stature was lofty and majestic, rising head and
shoulders above the tallest men in the country. Yet his form,
though gigantic, possessed the most perfect symmetry, and with
a degree of strength almost incredible, there was combined
such an agility of body and fleetness in running that no-one,
except when mounted on horseback, could outstrip or escape
from him when he happened to pursue."
In 1286,
by the time he was about sixteen, Wallace may have been
preparing to pursue a life in the church. In that year,
Alexander III died after riding off a cliff during a wild
storm. None of Alexander III's children survived him. After
his death, his young granddaughter, Margaret, the 'Maid of
Norway', was declared Queen of Scotland by the Scottish lords,
but was still only a little girl of 4 who was living in
Norway. An interim Scottish government run by 'guardians' was
set up to govern until Margaret was old enough to take up the
throne. However, Edward I of England took advantage of the
uncertainty and potential instability over the Scottish
succession. He agreed with the guardians that Margaret should
marry his son and heir Edward of Caernarvon (afterwards Edward
II of England), on the understanding that Scotland would be
preserved as a separate nation.
Margaret
fell ill and died unexpectedly in 1290 at the age of 8 in the
Orkney Islands on her way from Norway to England. 13 claimants
to the Scottish throne came forward, most of whom were from
the Scottish nobility.
Scotland
was essentially occupied by the English at this time, and was
beset by its own internal conflicts. The various aristocratic
Scottish guardians of the throne plotted against one another,
variously aligning themselves with King Edward or defying
their loyalty to him when it suited them. At the same time
English troops, including mercenaries and frequently
disgruntled Welsh and Irish conscripts, operated freely
throughout Scotland from stockaded camps and fortified
garrisons. Civilian life was precarious, and abuses by the
occupiers against the common people were rife. The Scottish
nobles did little to maintain the rule of law and protect
Scots from atrocities.
In this
climate of lawlessness, William Wallace's father was killed in
a skirmish with English troops in 1291. It is likely that the
death of his father at the hands of the English contributed to
Wallace's lifelong desire to fight for his nation's
independence. However, little is known about Wallace's life
during this period, except that he lived the life of an
outlaw, moving constantly to avoid the English, and
occasionally confronting them with characteristic ferocity.
Carrick's
describes Wallace's skills as a warrior:
"All
powerful as a swordsman and unrivalled as an archer, his blows
were fatal and his shafts unerring: as an equestrian, he was a
model of dexterity and grace; while the hardships he
experienced in his youth made him view with indifference the
severest privations incident to a military life."
In the
absence of a clear successor to the Scottish throne, the
claimants to the Scottish throne requested Edward I's
arbitration. The three main candidates were all descendants of
David, Earl of Huntingdon, who was the brother of William the
Lion, king of Scotland from 1165 to 1214. John de Balliol was
the grandson of David's eldest daughter; Robert de Bruce was
the son of David's second daughter, and John de Hastings was
the grandson of David's youngest daughter. In 1292, Balliol
was chosen as king by a special commission one half of whose
whose members were chosen by Bruce and the other half by
Balliol.
Balliol
took an oath of fealty, paid homage to Edward, and was
accepted in Scotland. However, Edward I's motives had not
really been to help the Scots as an arbitrator. He saw himself
as the feudal superior of the Scottish crown, and wished to
install a Scottish monarch whom he could manipulate.
Edward
underestimated the Scots' belief in their own sovereignty.
When he sought to exert his suzerainty by taking law cases on
appeal from Scottish courts to his own court in England, and
by summoning Balliol to do military service for him against
France, he turned the Scottish throne against him. In the
meantime, England had been at war with France. In 1295, a
treaty was negotiated between Edward I and the French that
provided for the marriage of John de Balliol's son Edward to
the French King's niece. Edward demanded the surrender of
three castles on the Scottish border and, on John's refusal,
summoned him to his court. John did not obey, and war was
inevitable.
Edward
marched north with his armies. After a five-month campaign, he
conquered Scotland in 1297. Following his victory, he
appointed his own agents to enforce peace in Scotland. He
deposed and imprisoned John de Balliol and declared himself
ruler of Scotland. He also had the Stone of Destiny, the
coronation stone of Scone, taken south to Westminster. The
government of Scotland was placed in the hands of Englishmen
led by Hugh Cressingham, the Earl of Surrey.
Outside
the south-east corner of Scotland, there was widespread
disorder, and defiance against the English was increasing.
Wallace was involved in a fight with local soldiers in the
village of Ayr. After killing several of them, he was
overpowered and thrown into a dungeon where he was slowly
starved. Wallace was left for dead, but sympathetic villagers
nursed him back to health. When he had regained his strength,
Wallace recruited several local rebels and began his
systematic and merciless assault on the hated English and
their Scottish sympathisers.
As his
support grew, Wallace's attacks broadened. In May 1297, with
as many as 30 men, he avenged his father's death by ambushing
and killing the knight responsible and some of his soldiers.
Now, he was no longer merely an outlaw but a local military
leader who had struck down one of Edward's knights and some of
his soldiers. William Wallace had become the king's enemy.
Although
most of Scotland was in Scottish hands by August 1297, Wallace
successfully recruited a band of commoners and small
landowners to attack the remaining English garrisons between
the Rivers Forth and Tay. Wallace and his co-leader, Sir
Andrew de Moray, marched their forces towards Stirling Castle,
a stronghold of vital strategic importance to the English. The
English commanders must have been falsely confident that the
upstart Scots would retreat or surrender. On Sept 11, 1297,
the English army under John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey,
confronted him near Stirling. Wallace's forces were greatly
outnumbered, but Surrey had to cross a narrow bridge over the
River Forth before he could reach the Scottish positions.
Wallace's men lured the English into making an impulsive
advance, and slaughtered them as they crossed the river.
English fatalities are reported to have approached 5,000,
gaining Wallace an overwhelming victory. He had shown not only
that he was a charismatic leader and warrior, but also that
his tactical military ability was strong. Never before had a
Scottish army so triumphed over an English aggressor. Wallace
captured Stirling Castle and for the moment Scotland was
almost free of occupying forces.
At the
time of the battle of Stirling Bridge, Wallace and de Moray
were both in their late twenties. Neither could yet claim to
be Scottish national heroes, and they were not recognised by
their aristocratic enemies in Scotland as anything more than
local commanders. Under Wallace, the Scots, - commoners and
knights, rather than nobles, - were united in a focused fight
for freedom from foreign rule. Whereas the Scottish nobility
had usually given in to English demands for allegiance,
Wallace's patriotic force remained unequivocally dedicated to
the struggle for Scottish independence.
In October
of 1296, Wallace invaded northern England and ravaged the
counties of Northumberland and Cumberland. Upon returning to
Scotland early in December 1297, he was knighted and
proclaimed guardian of the kingdom, ruling in Balliol's name.
In less than six years, he had risen from obscurity to become
Sir William Wallace, holder of one of the most powerful posts
in the kingdom. Nevertheless, many Scottish nobles lent him
only grudging support, and he had yet to meet Edward I in a
head-on confrontation.
Wallace's
acclaim following the battle of Stirling Bridge was
short-lived. Edward returned to England from campaigning in
France in March 1298. On July 3 he invaded Scotland, intending
to crush Wallace and all those daring to assert Scotland's
independence. On July 22, Edward's 90,000-strong army attacked
a much smaller Scottish force led by Wallace near Falkirk. The
English army was at a technological advantage. Its longbow-men
decimated Wallace's spearmen and cavalry by firing scores of
arrows over great distances. As many as 10,000 Scots may have
been killed. Although Edward failed to subdue Scotland
completely before returning to England, Wallace's military
reputation was ruined. He retreated to the thick woods nearby
and resigned his guardianship in December. He was succeeded as
guardian of the kingdom by Robert de Bruce (later King Robert
I) and Sir John Comyn "the Red".
From the
autumn of 1299 until 1303, nothing certain is known about
Wallace's activities. There is some evidence to suggest that
he went to France with several loyal supporters on a
diplomatic mission to seek support from King Philip IV. Philip
may have furnished him with letters of recommendation to Pope
Boniface VIII and King Hakon of Norway. Then, in 1303, the
Treaty of Paris effectively ended hostilities between England
and France.
Having
made peace with the French, Edward renewed his conquest of
Scotland in earnest. He captured Stirling in 1304, and
although most of the Scottish nobles pledged allegiance to the
English crown, he continued to pursue the outlaw Wallace
relentlessly. Edward's refusal to acknowledge Wallace as a
worthy enemy from a separate country meant that the English
could officially regard Wallace as a traitor to the English
nation.
On Aug 5
1305, Wallace was betrayed by a Scottish knight in service to
the English king, and arrested near Glasgow. He was taken to
London and denied the status of a captured soldier. He was
tried for the wartime murder of civilians (he allegedly spared
"neither age nor sex, monk nor nun"). He was
condemned as a traitor to the king even though, as he
correctly maintained, he had never sworn allegiance to Edward.
On 23rd
August 1305, he was executed. At that time (and for the next
550 years), the punishment for the crime of treason was that
the convicted traitor was dragged to the place of execution,
hanged by the neck (but not until he was dead), and
disembowelled (or drawn) while still alive. His entrails were
burned before his eyes, he was decapitated and his body was
divided into four parts (or quartered). Accordingly, this was
Wallace's fate. His head was impaled on a spike and displayed
at London Bridge, his right arm on the bridge at
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, his left arm at Berwick, his right leg at
Perth, and the left leg at Aberdeen. Edward may have believed
that with Wallace's capture and execution, he had at last
broken the spirit of the Scots. He was wrong. By executing
Wallace so barbarically, Edward had martyred a popular Scots
military leader and fired the Scottish people's determination
to be free.
Almost
immediately, Robert I the Bruce revived the national rebellion
that was to win independence for Scotland. He succeeded and
was crowned king of Scotland in 1306.
On his way
to reconquer Scotland, Edward died near Carlisle.
Several
hundred years later in the 19th century, statues
commemorating Sir William Wallace were erected overlooking the
River Tweed and in Lanark. In 1869, the 220-foot high National
Wallace Monument was completed on a hill near Stirling. This
huge tower now dominates the area where the Scots fought their
most decisive battles against the English in the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries at Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn.
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