Wallace, William (d. 1305). Scottish patriot and commander at the battles of
Stirling Bridge (1297) and
Falkirk (1298). Wallace came of a middling family, retainers of the Stewarts in the neighbourhood of Paisley. Nothing reliable is known of his date of birth or early life; nor is it easy to explain his emergence as a Scottish leader in 1297.
In that year there were many prominent Scots anxious to resist Edward's ‘take-over’ of the previous year, including Wallace's lord, James, the hereditary steward of Scotland. But there was no co-ordinated or open rising, only miscellaneous outbreaks in the early part of the year. In May Wallace killed the English sheriff of Lanark in an affray. He was joined by Sir William Douglas in an attack on the English justiciar at Scone. Others, including Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick, the future Robert I, were also prepared to join in. This rising might easily have achieved nothing, since determined English action quickly persuaded many of the prominent leaders of the Scots to make terms; but in May another movement had started in Moray, with an attack on Inverness led by the young Andrew
Murray, son of a leading baron. These twin risings, by Wallace and Murray, attracted increasing support, including that of the earls of Fife and
Buchan, and Bruce openly took the Scottish side. By August, Murray and Wallace had joined forces and threatened Stirling. Their astute tactics at the battle of Stirling Bridge, and the ineptitude of the English commander Earl
Warenne, resulted in a dramatic victory, which put Edward I's position in Scotland in peril. Murray, however, was wounded and died a few months later.
The Scottish kingdom existed once more, and was to maintain its existence, nominally in the name of the absent King John, till 1304. By early 1298 Wallace had been knighted, and emerged as sole guardian. By June, however, Edward was leading an army of some 12,000 men to repress what he regarded as a revolt. At Falkirk, in more open ground than at Stirling, the English knights and archers were devastating. The Scots were routed and Wallace escaped into hiding, resigning his guardianship immediately.
His next task was abroad. In 1299 he led a mission to the French court to get more active support from Philip IV, and seems to have stayed in Paris for most of the next year. By 1303 Wallace was back in Scotland, again fighting in the south. By 1304, Edward had triumphed. Almost all the Scottish leaders submitted on negotiated terms. On 24 July Stirling, the last castle to be held against Edward, surrendered, and only Wallace and John de Soules remained in resistance.
Wallace was now a fugitive. In August 1305 he was captured, and there followed a show trial on 23 August, and immediate execution for ‘treason’, of which, as he had never sworn allegiance to Edward, he could not justly be accused. From that day, Wallace has been regarded as one of the greatest heroes in Scotland's national history.
Bruce Webster
