Scotland William Wallace

There are very few records of William Wallace, most of what was written was lost or destroyed during the reign of Edward 1 of England.

A man who had a dramatic impact on Scotland remains shrouded in mist and myths.

Some of his story can be proven, other parts of it are taken from the accounts of the minstrels and storytellers of that time.

Born circa 1270 in Elderslie, Renfrewshire, second son of Sir Malcolm Wallace, he was most probably destined to become a priest, the younger sons not being in line to inherit the estate of their father.

This was normal practice for these times when one estate would not produce the revenue necessary to support more than the eldest son.

In later years, the same applied, but with the option of the younger sons joining either the church or a branch of the military, however at the time of William Wallace there were no organised Scottish military forces.

Born before his time, perhaps, and though not able to join a military force, he instead created his own.

What is known with certainty is that William Wallace was a well-educated man, with knowledge of Latin and French, not a Gaelic speaker as he was a lowland Scot.

What motivated William Wallace to do what he did? Was it simply revenge or was it a love of his country and her independence?

As we already know, neither he or his brother or father signed the Ragman's Roll, from that we know he did not agree with what Edward wanted and was therefore outlawed.

This would have forced a conflict between the newly appointed, English sheriff of Lanark, William Heselrig.

Heselrig was responsible for the administration of the area he was sheriff of and responsible for obtaining the pledges of alliance to Edward.

This included the lands of the Wallace family at Elderslie.
Two events now took place that would have made William Wallace very determined to oppose Edward.

Malcolm Wallace, his father, was murdered because of his refusal to swear alliance.

As was portrayed in the movie Braveheart, it was thought that William Wallace had married Marion Braidfoot, heiress to the estate of Lamington, the minstrels say that he was visiting her and his baby daughter, in Lanark.

The sheriff found out about this and took the opportunity to have William Wallace murdered as his father had been.

The sheriff's men found Wallace at mass, unarmed and defenceless.

Naturally enough Wallace did not wait around to be killed, he eluded his would be captors, went to the home of his wife, Marion, in through one door and escaped through the back.

Marion also tried to flee but was caught, raped and then executed, her home burnt to the ground.

William Wallace already irate over the murder of his father was, when he found out about this, understandably furious.
Oh yes, this was most definitely a case of revenge and who could blame him.

Marion's only crime was to refuse to divulge where William Wallace had fled to, if in fact, she actually knew.

In one door and out the other, did he have time to stop and discuss his plans with his wife? Or was he just a little more interested in avoiding being murdered?

William Wallace called upon his friends for help, fully aware he could not take his revenge alone due to the guards of the sheriff. He waited till nightfall then approached the sheriff's residence. While the guards were occupied dealing with the disturbance of the break-in, Wallace went to the room where the sheriff was asleep.

He was not murdered in his sleep, as that would have been the act of a cowardly man, Wallace was not that and wanted the sheriff to know he was about to face death at his hand.

If he had been outlawed by Edward before he was now in a far worse position.

These sheriffs were vital to the way Scotland was controlled, they were needed for tax collection and other administrative duties.

The murder of this sheriff, William Heselrig, caused major problems for Edward and caused a lot of unrest among the Scots of the south west of Scotland.

Edward was already having problems maintaining his hold over Scotland, right across the country the Scots were growing ever more frustrated by the English rule and were as stated in this excerpt from a letter to Edward from his English treasurer based in Scotland, taking action to remedy this.

The treasurer wrote in the summer of 1297.
"By far the greater part of your counties in the Kingdom of Scotland are still not provided with keepers, because they have been killed, besieged or imprisoned, or have abandoned their bailiwicks and dare not go back. In some shires the Scots have appointed and established bailiffs and officials."

Scotland was already in a state of near revolt and the actions of William Wallace gave the people a focus.

They joined him in his fight to free Scotland from English rule.

While these events were taking place, further north another rebel was stirring.

Andrew Murray.
Both Andrew Murray and his father had been at the battle of Dunbar and both were captured and imprisoned.

Andrew escaped and went back to his own lands in the North East of Scotland, once there he proceeded to gather his supporters and drive the English out of the many castles and garrisons in this area.

Andrew Murray was a wealthy noble holding land from Inverness all the way down to the huge Bothwell Castle.
It most certainly did Wallace no harm to have a noble with wealth join in his cause to free Scotland.

Many other men of importance joined Wallace, giving Wallace and his followers much more authority and the necessary funds to continue.

Now rather than acting in secret Wallace was able to openly continue his rebellion.

Wallace was not fighting to become King of Scotland; his reasons was simple, remove the English from his country and give her back her freedom, whatever the cost.

Scone Abbey, coronation seat of the Scottish Kings was at this time under English control, an insult to the Scots.
Wallace now aimed to remove the English from there.

Not long after the murder of Heselrig, Wallace and his men rode to Scone, with little or no warning they dispatched Edward's justiciar, William Ormesby, back to England, said justiciar barely escaping with his life.

William Wallace and his men continued to rid the castles of Scotland of the English forces that occupied them.

While in Dundee, Wallace received word that the English army were on route to Scotland.

Now we begin to face the battles that Braveheart the movie, brought to life.

The rebellions of 1297 and 1298.

The Battle of Stirling Bridge and the Battle of Falkirk.

Please press next to continue to the battles.