Menacing, disgruntled murmurs drifted on the cold, howling wind through the grim, hard battlefield in England-ravaged Scotland.  The Scottish lords could no longer hold the faith of their warriors, and one by one, each warrior began to disband and return to their homes, defeated before the battle even started.  Suddenly, in the distance, the thunder of hooves was heard far above the clamor of the retreating Scots.  A band of legendary guerrilla warriors, lead by a fair-haired giant, entered the battle field with fire blazing from their eyes.  Awed-stricken whispers filled the frigid, misty air as they watched the woad-painted warriors advance.  Wallace!  It’s William Wallace!  The retreating Scotts quickly reunited and followed the legendary outlaw, grimly preparing to slaughter the source of their age old oppression.

            William Wallace brought a kind of gruesome, brutal justice at a time when Scotland needed just that.  Myth swathed Wallace like a woolen cloak and inspired others to flock to his command, becoming part of the legend themselves.  Many view Wallace as a violent savage; satisfied with nothing short of blood.  Surely, the English at the time of Wallace’s short lived life viewed him as such, but there must be more to him than that.  Others view him as a patron hero; a knight who truly embodies all that Scotland holds dear.  So who is to be believed?  The English, who raped and plundered Scotland’s sacred soil?  Or the Scotts, who bled and died, so that their children and children’s children could be free?  The answer is gravely clear.

            The Origin of William Wallace is as clear as morning’s mist rising from a Scottish Loch. Blind Harry the Minstrel in the fifteenth century wrote a poem entitled The Wallace [1] , entailing Wallace’s many exploits.  However, because of the many contradictory scenes in his epic, historians take little stock in its worth; even if many parts have proven true.  James Mackay, author of William Wallace: Brave Heart, “analyzed the episodes related in this  poem [The Wallace], sifting the wheat from the chaff, and comparing them with primary source matter ranging from contemporary English chronicles to the charters, writs and other documents which have survived from this period.”[2]  In his book, Scotland: The Story of a Nation, Magnus Magnusson says that “little is known about William Wallace’s early life—even the date of his birth is uncertain.”[3]

            “Most scholars now accept a date [of Wallace’s birth] of around 1271.”[4]  He was born to Sir Malcolm Wallace, Laird of Auchenbothie, and Jean Craufoord, daughter of Sir Ranald Craufoord of Corsbie.[5]  At the time of Wallace’s birth, Scotland was enjoying relative peace throughout.  Wallace, “perhaps inheriting something from his Danish ancestry,…developed into a sturdy youth and when fully grown attained a height of two metres—six foot seven inches—with proportionately large hands and feet, and a muscular physique.”[6]

            Although Wallace was incredibly intelligent as a child, receiving an education from both his mother and maybe even from Paisley Abbey. But his intellect was not what set him apart.  His skill of warfare was astonishing!  He was a natural fighter, quickly skilled with the dirk[7] and claymore[8] .  The claymore “was soon to become William’s favorite weapon.  This [claymore] relied on the reach and strength of the man wielding it for deadly effect.  … In the hands of a swordsman like Wallace, its whirling movement could hack and slash with a velocity and force which even the armour of the period could not withstand.”[9] 

            On March 18, 1286, life in Scotland changed forever.  The Scottish king, Alexander III’s body was found at the bottom of the cliffs of Pettycur.  Scotland was now without a leader.  Scottish nobles met and discussed the state of Scotland without Alexander.  Their solution came in the form of provisional government under the name of the Guardians, who “consisted of two earls, Alexander Comyn of Buchan and Duncan of Fife; two barons, James the Steward and John Comyn of Badenoch; and two bishops, Robert Wishart of Glasgow and William Fraser of St Andrews.”[10]  The Guardians swore loyalty to Alexander’s grand-daughter, Margaret of Norway.  They sent regular embraceries to King Edward the Long shanks and because of the Guardians, peace continued in Scotland, until another faction arose.

            Robert Bruce (not the later king of Scotland), his son, other nobles, and one of the Guardians banded together to form a faction known as the Turnberry Band.[11]  Because of the formation of the Turnberry Band, the Guardians appointed sheriffs, and soldiers to help uphold their claim.  Malcolm Wallace and his eldest son were called to be one of the soldiers.  “Young William, now fourteen or fifteen and already a well set-up lad, would have had his first taste of military action at this time, serving as page or esquire to his father.”[12]   The peacekeeping force set up by the Guardians made little work with the Turnberry Band, causing them soon to disperse and fade away.  With peace insured yet again, William was sent to Dunipace in east Stirlingshire, to apprentice with his uncle, a cleric of Cambuskenneth Abbey.  Here, William was instilled with a fervent love for liberty from his uncle, who said, “My son, I tell thee soothfastlie, no gift is like to liberty; then never live in slaverie.”

            On November 17, 1292, the kingdom of Scotland was dissolved, when Edward took control of Scotland and finally made it his own.  Scotland’s lands and titles became England’s and English oppression quickly resounded.  Scottish skirmishes exploded all over the land, and it was in one of these skirmishes that William’s father and brother were killed by the forces of a lord by the name of Fenwick.  William and his mother went to live in the castle of Dundee, but William’s hatred for the English pulsed through his young, noble heart, filling his very marrow with righteous indignation.

            William’s first reported English kill was not a knight in full plate, but the Lord of Dundee’s spoiled son by the name of Shelby.  Twenty-year-old Shelby was “a proud, overbearing young rascal, wanton in mischief”[13]  Shelby and a group of his friends regularly went into town to cause trouble with the Scots and on a December day in 1291, he met Wallace for the first, and last, time.

            Shelby insulted the fair-haired giant and demanded his fine-crafted Scottish dirk, which Wallace gladly gave him, through his belligerent heart.  Because of the crowd of onlookers, Shelby’s friends could not draw their swords, giving Wallace adequate time to give his dirk to them as well.  After that faithful quarrel, Wallace fled to his uncle’s house, running into the house keeper and told her what had just happened.  “Promptly she bundled him inside, gave him a russet gown of her own to cover him up, placed a wimple and mutch on his head, and set the beardless boy to work with a distaff and spindle.”[14]

Soldiers came for Wallace, but the housekeeper concealed him until he could escape that night.

            Upon returning home, news had spread quickly about Wallace’s exploit.  Disguised as a pilgrim and armed with a short sword, Wallace took his mother back to their home in Ellerslie.  Wallace’s uncle, Sir Ranald rode from Ayr to tell Wallace that he had been outlawed for his murder of young Shelby.  “Sir Ranald’s position as sheriff was in danger of being compromised; he hinted that while he could protect his sister, there was nothing he could do for her wayward son.  He suggested that William remove himself from Ellerslie, where the English would sooner or later seek him out, and go to Riccarton to live with his uncle, Sir Richard Wallace.”[15]

            After a deadly incident with yet another English noble over some fish, he fled to the forest east of Sir Richard’s holding.  It was then that Wallace turned from a mere outlaw to a brutal guerrilla warrior.  Every chance to kill an Englishman that presented itself, Wallace took.  He was “a cross between an avenging angle and a serial killer.”[16]

            In the midst of his extermination of the English blight in Scotland, he paid a visit to his uncle, Sir Ranald, who offered him a place to lodge.  One morning, Wallace, while in town, happened upon an English steward, who was trying to take the market-bought fish that the sheriff’s servant was carrying.  William interceded on the servant’s behalf, but was lunged at by the steward, who received Wallace’s blade in his heart.  Men-At-Arms surrounded Wallace, many dying where they stood.  However, the numbers of guards were too great and Wallace was arrested and taken to Warden’s dungeon.  There he was given “nothing but water and rotten herrings”[17].  Wallace soon fell into a comma and was thought to be dead by the dungeon guards, who threw him into a dung heap over the prison wall.. 

            William’s old nursemaid heard of his tragic end and came to retrieve the body for burial.  Upon cleaning the body, she saw a small flicker of his eyelid.  She gasped and quickly proceeded to nurse Wallace back to health.  His health was slow in returning, but upon recovering, he sent his dear nursemaid to live with his mother in Ellerslie.  

            Armed only with a rusty knife found in a corner of his nursemaid’s house, he embarked on the road to Glasgow, where he met an English Yeoman with soldiers.  Uncharacteristically of Wallace, he stepped aside, but the Yeoman was suspicious and proceeded to forcefully take Wallace to authorities.  Wallace slit the Yeoman’s throat with the rusty knife and quickly dispatched the Yeoman’s companions.  Now Wallace had armor, weapons, and a horse.  And soon Wallace would have men to follow him.

            Wallace returned to Sir Richard, who was overjoyed to see him.  It was here that Richard’s three sons joined Wallace in his mission to rid the English from Scotland.   His small group of four, including himself, soon grew to a small army and with this army Wallace finally avenged his father by destroying Fenwick’s fortress and annihilating his army.  Wallace had fifty men; Fenwick had one-hundred and eighty. 

            As a guerrilla warrior with a band of thirty battle-hardened men (twenty were lost due to an affair that went amiss between William and his mistress), Wallace roamed the Scottish countryside, killing as many English as he could find.  Wallace also secretly began visiting a young lady by the name of Marion Braidfute[18].  They fell in love and were married in 1297.  Little by little, Wallace’s force grew and by their sheer number and strength, offered him freer movement through the town.  Wallace soon grew confident and openly defied the English, losing his disguises altogether.  “Sir William Heselrig, Sheriff of Clydesdale, was not the man to tolerate a show of defiance for long, though.”[19] He devised a plan that he was sure would capture Wallace. In this, Heselrig made a grievous mistake.

            One day, instead of being in armor, Wallace wore “a new suit of green cloth,”[20], to a church service.  Upon leaving, Wallace was stopped by a group of English soldiers sent by Heselrig, and they exchanged good natured insults.  The Englishmen soon went too far.  Wallace saw that he was quickly becoming outnumbered and was in danger of being arrested.  He lashed out at the first soldier and soon left piles of bodies in front of the church.  Two of Wallace’s men, who were with him at the service, but in back of the crowd, fought their way to his side.  They fought valiantly, but were still too outnumbered.  They retreated and ran through Marion’s house, escaping out of the back into the forest.  And outraged Heselrig, followed by a large number of English soldiers, went to Marion’s house, demanding Wallace and his men.  When he found out that Wallace escaped, he ordered the doors to Marion’s house knocked down.  He then dragged Marion into the square and put her to death.  In disguise, Wallace witnesses the incident and is “maddened beyond control….Wallace was determined that the death of the sheriff should be such a frightful spectacle that it would strike terror into the hearts of the hated enemy.”[21]

            That night, the soldiers in the town were not expecting a vengeful husband and his band of battle-lusted soldiers to retaliate so soon.  Wallace went straight to Heselrig’s residence, “smashing in the brass-bound door with his foot.  Wallace rushed upstairs and found the sheriff in his bedroom where he felled him with a single downward stroke of his great sword, cleaving his skull right down to the collar bone.”[22]   Wallace and his men massacred all the English men that night and sent the women and clergy away before destroying the entire town.  This incident sent a shockwave that shook the very walls of London themselves.  Scotland would  soon fight for her freedom!

            September 11, 1297, marks the beginning of William’s rise to power, when he heard about a large English army on their way to Stirling.  With the aid of another rebel army, lead by Andrew Murray of Inverness [23], they arrived before the English and set up a battle array on the other side of a small bridge.  The English, haughty by their superior number, decided to take the bridge by force.  A very grave mistake.  With the slope and boggy ground working for them, the Scotts enjoyed a relatively easy victory, taking down the horses first with pikes and then shredding the English with swords.  The victory was complete and William Wallace became Scotland’s champion.  William Wallace was soon knighted, and given the title Guardian of Scotland.  As Guardian of Scotland, Wallace put together a very large army.  In the thousands, the “nucleus of the army was based on spearmen; trained infantry equipped with twelve-foot spears.”[24]

            Wallace was thought to be immortal and undefeatable, but at the battle of Falkirk, on July 22, 1298, he was defeated.  The battle went well until, for some unknown reason, Wallace’s cavalry left without striking a blow.   Some historians speculate on treachery, others on cowardice, but the fact remained that Scotland’s Guardian “had failed in his greatest test—and failed disastrously.”[25]  

            With this loss, Wallace soon stepped down from being Guardian of Scotland and all but disappeared.  Edward the Long shanks would not let Wallace go that easily, though.  Edward put a price on Wallace’s head and Wallace soon became a more desperate outlaw than he was before.  On August 3, 1305, Wallace was taken by surprise in a small barn where he was to meet, who he thought was a good friend.  Wallace’s “friend” sold him out, and soon a very large group of English soldiers attacked and overpowered Wallace.  On August 23, 1305, Wallace was brought before an English court and received the punishment of being “hanged, drawn and quartered.”[26]

            “As soon as sentence had been pronounced, Wallace was taken outside and stripped, then bound to a hurdle, face up, and thus dragged through the crowed, jeering streets at the tails of two horses.  It was a hideous journey, an especially long, circuitous route of more than four miles in order to expose the prisoner to the maximum insult and indignity.”[27]  He was then hanged until just before strangulation, and then cut loose.  Still alive, he was gutted, where he remained alive until the executioner ripped out his heart.  Finally, he was beheaded, the remainder of his body quartered and sent to the four corners of England.  Edward wanted to rid himself of a vermin, but instead created a martyr.

            William Wallace did not give Scotland her freedom; he merely paved freedom’s way and gave Scotland’s people a source to draw their courage from.  Was Wallace a hero?  Ask the free people of Scotland and see what they say.  Was he a savage?  Some may call the vengeance of his murdered father and the defense of his beloved Scotland, savage.  Was he both?  That decision can only be left to those who know the truth of his life.  In Wallace, the English saw a savage, but the Scottish found a hero. 

 [1] Magnusson, Magnus, Scotland: the Story of a Nation (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2000), 132.

 [2] Mackay, James,  William Wallace: Brave heart ( Edinburgh:  Mainstream Publishing, 1999), 12-13.

 [3] Magnusson, 132.

 [4] Ibid.

 [5] Mackay, 20.

 [6] Ibid, 29

 [7] Dagger.

 [8] A very large, two handed, Scottish sword.

 [9] Mackay, 32.

 [10] Ibid, 33.

 [11] Ibid, 36

 [12] Ibid.

 [13] Ibid, 62.

 [14] Mackay, 62.

 [15] Ibid, 63.

 [16] Ibid, 85.

 [17] Mackay, 89.

 [18] Mackay, 105.

 [19] Ibid, 112.

 [20] Ibid.

 [21] Mackay, 113

 [22] Ibid, 114.

 [23] Magnusson, 135.

 [24] Magnusson, 142.

 [25] Ibid, 145.

 [26]Ibid, 156.

 [27] Ibid.