Scottish knight and champion of the independence of Scotland, probably born in Elderslie, Renfrewshire, W Scotland, UK. He routed the English army at Stirling Bridge (1297), and was knighted. He was given control of the government of Scotland as Guardian in the name of the Scottish king imprisoned by Edward I of England, but was defeated by Edward at Falkirk (1298). He was eventually captured near Glasgow (1305), and executed in London. Many legends soon collected around him due to his immense popular appeal as a national figure resisting foreign oppression, and these were the subject of the Oscar-winning film, Braveheart (1995).
William Wallace (c.1270–23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who led a resistance to the English occupation of Scotland during significant periods of the Wars of Scottish Independence. William was the inspiration for the historical novel The Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie written by the 15th century minstrel Blind Harry. This work is more of a novel than a biography and is responsible for much of the legend encompassing the history of William Wallace.
Uncertain Origins
Birth
Wallace's birthdate and birthplace are disputed. While some suggest Wallace was born around 1272, the 16th century work History of William Wallace and Scottish Affairs claims 1276 as his year of birth. Some of Wallace's earliest actions were in Ayrshire and local tradition has his first dispute with English soldiers (over fish) not in Lanark but west of Riccarton at a site known as the "Bickering Bush".
To the contrary, the Elderslie origins are defended with the arguments that Ellerslie is a former mining village, known only from the 19th century, whereas Elderslie is known from earlier. Wallace's first action was at Lanark, which is about 30 miles east of Elderslie and Ellerslie.
Lineage
Tradition often describes Wallace as "a common person" in contrast to his countryman, Robert the Bruce, who came from the upper nobility. However there is debate over Wallace's exact lineage since it has also been maintained, traditionally, that Wallace's family were minor nobles (gentry) descending from Richard Wallace the Welshman (the name Wallace means "Welsh") a landowner under an early member of the House of Stuart, which later became the Royal House of Scotland.
However, the 1999 rediscovery of William Wallace's seal further enshrouds Wallace's early history. While tradition claims Sir Malcolm Wallace of Elderslie as the father of three sons, Malcolm, John, and William Wallace, the seal identifies William as the son of Alan Wallace of Ayrshire who appears in the Ragman Roll of 1296 as "crown tenant of Ayrshire". Dr Fiona Watson in "A Report into Sir William Wallace's connections with Ayrshire", published in March 1999, reassesses the early life of William Wallace and concludes "Sir William Wallace was a younger son of Alan Wallace, a crown tenant in Ayrshire". Historian Andrew Fisher, author of William Wallace (2002) writes, "If the Alan of the Ragman Roll was indeed the patriot's father, then the current argument in favour of an Ayrshire rather than a Renfrewshire origin for Wallace can be settled".
Wallace was allegedly educated in Latin by two uncles who had become priests. Blind Harry does not mention Wallace's departure from Scotland or that Wallace had combat experience prior to 1297.
Scotland in Wallace's time
At the time of Wallace's birth, King Alexander III had reigned for over twenty years.
With Scotland threatening to descend into a dynastic war, the "leading men" of the realm invited Edward's arbitration.
Although the outcome of the Great Cause had been both fair and legal, Edward proceeded to use the political concessions he had gained to undermine the independence of Scotland and to make King John's position difficult.
Military career
Wallace's exploits begin
Blind Harry notes that Wallace's father was killed in a skirmish at Loudoun Hill in 1291.
According to local Ayrshire legend, two English soldiers challenged Wallace in the Lanark marketplace regarding his catching of fish. According to a plaque outside St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of Dundee, however, William Wallace began his war for independence by killing the son of the English governor of Dundee after he had made a habit of bullying him and his family. This story perhaps has more weight because it is speculated that Wallace may have attended what is now the High School of Dundee, and spent some of his time growing up in the nearby village of Kilspindie.
Wallace's activities between 1294 and 1296 are undocumented, but Harry states that Wallace was under the protection of his uncle Ronald Crawford, Sheriff of Ayrshire. In the period from 1291 until 1297 Wallace was involved in several actions where the English invariably lost. Wallace and 40 kinsmen slew and dismembered William Heselrig, the English Sheriff of Lanark, in May 1297, purportedly to avenge the death of Marion Braidfute of Lamington — the young maiden Wallace courted and married in Blind Harry's tale. In August, Wallace left Selkirk Forest with his followers to join Andrew Moray at Stirling.
According to Harry, these hit and run tactics eventually led King Edward to address the problem by executing most of the Council of Barons in the Barns of Ayr (June 1297), with a similar event in Renfrewshire - although these events are unattested elsewhere. Ronald Crawford was apparently first to be hanged, sending Wallace, who had arrived at the location late after running an errand for his uncle, into action and killing the entire English garrison in Ayr, locking the doors as the garrison slept and firing the structures. Wallace and his men retired to Selkirk Forest for safety. When word reached the Crawford family that Ronald had been killed, Ronald's son, William, joined Wallace in the forest.
As Wallace's ranks swelled, information obtained by John Graham prompted Wallace to move his force from Selkirk Forest to the Highlands. But on the way to the Highlands, Wallace met up with Andrew Moray at Stirling.
The Battle of Stirling Bridge
On 11 September 1297, Wallace won the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Although vastly outnumbered, the Scottish forces led by Wallace and Andrew Moray (a more prominent noble, being a first son), routed the English army. The narrowness of the bridge prevented many soldiers from crossing together (possibly as few as three men abreast), so while the English soldiers crossed, the Scots held back until half of them had passed and then killed the English as quickly as they could cross.
A pivotal charge was led by Hamish, Wallace's long-time companion and one of his captains.
Upon his return from the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Wallace was knighted along with his second-in-command John Graham and his third-in-command William Crawford, possibly by Robert the Bruce, and Wallace was named "Guardian of Scotland and Leader of its armies".
In the six months following Stirling Bridge, Wallace led a raid into northern England.
The Battle of Falkirk
A year later, Wallace lost the Battle of Falkirk. They plundered Lothian and regained some castles, but had failed to bring Wallace to combat. The Scots adopted a scorched-earth policy in their own country, and English quartermasters' failure to prepare for the expedition left morale and food low, but Edward's search for Wallace would end at Falkirk.
Wallace arranged his spearmen in four "schiltrons" — circular, hedgehog formations surrounded by a defensive wall of wooden stakes.
Either way, gaps in the schiltrons soon appeared, and the English exploited these to crush the remaining resistance. Wallace escaped, though his military reputation suffered badly. John Graham was killed and William Crawford became Wallace's second. According to one account, during his flight Wallace fought and killed Brian de Jay, master of the English Templars in a thicket at Callendar.
By September 1298, Wallace had decided to resign as Guardian of Scotland in favour of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and John Comyn of Badenoch, ex-King John Balliol's brother-in-law, because of the lack of support from the Scottish nobility. Bruce became reconciled with King Edward in 1302, while Wallace spurned such moves towards peace.
According to Harry, Wallace left with William Crawford in late 1298 on a mission to the court of King Philip IV of France, Le Bel of France to plead the case for assistance in the Scottish struggle for independence. Hiding in the hold of the ship while Crawford and a small contingent of men sailed, Wallace surprised the pirates as they boarded the ship.
After serving with the Scots Guard in France in two battles with the English and making a side trip to Rome to plead for Scotland, in 1303 Wallace and his men returned to Scotland. Having heard rumors of Wallace's appearance in the area, the English moved in on the farm. Here Wallace took the life of one of his men that he suspected of disloyalty, in order to divert the English from the trail.
Wallace's capture and execution
Wallace evaded capture by the English until 5 August 1305 when John de Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to Edward, turned Wallace over to English soldiers at Robroyston near Glasgow. Wallace was transported to London and tried for treason at Westminster Hall where he was crowned with a garland of oak to suggest that he was the king of outlaws. Wallace was declared guilty.
On 23 August 1305, following the trial, Wallace was taken from the hall, stripped naked and dragged through the city at the heels of a horse to Smithfield Market.
The plaque in the photograph (left) stands in a wall of St. Bartholomew's Hospital near the site of Wallace's execution at Smithfield.
A sword, which supposedly belonged to Wallace, was held for many years in Dumbarton Castle and is now in the Wallace National Monument near Stirling.
Portrayal in fiction
An insignificant amount of comprehensive and historically accurate information was written about Wallace. Many stories, however, are based on the wandering 15th century minstrel Blind Harry's epic poem, "The Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie", written around 1470. Although Blind Harry wrote from oral tradition describing events 170 years earlier, giving rise to alterations of fact, Harry's work still remains the most authoritative description of Wallace's exploits. Note that the Bishop of St. Andrew's did commission a friar to write a firsthand account of Wallace's exploits, but the disposition of this manuscript is not known.
Blind Harry's poem "Barns of Ayr", for example, describes the incident when three hundred and sixty Scottish nobles, led by Wallace’s uncle, Ronald Crawford, were summoned by the English to a conference in Spring of 1297. The incident as described by Blind Harry does appear in the 1995 film Braveheart with much less accuracy, placing the event in the childhood of Wallace and ignoring the murder of his uncle Crawford.
In the early 19th century, Walter Scott wrote of Wallace in Exploits and Death of William Wallace, the "Hero of Scotland"', and Jane Porter penned a romantic version of the Wallace legend in The Scottish Chiefs in 1810. Henty, a producer of Boys Own fiction who wrote for that magazine, portrays the life of William Wallace, Robert the Bruce, The Black Douglas, and others, while dovetailing the novel with historical fiction.
Perhaps the best known account of the life of William Wallace is the 1995 film, Braveheart, directed by and starring Mel Gibson and written by Randall Wallace.
The game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings contains several of Wallace's battles in its Campaign mode, including the Battle of Stirling Bridge. William Wallace. "Sir William Wallace ignited a flame." William Wallace: A Biography. "Exploits and death of William Wallace, the 'Hero of Scotland'." Wallace, Margaret. William Wallace: Champion of Scotland.
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