William Wallace - Biography of a National Hero (1270-1305)

Résumé du document

There is a little historic information on William Wallace, and most of the time they are inexact. Many events in his family, his birth town and his life differ from one author to another. I bring together the most pertinent information that I found about this man who gave his life to fight for his nation's independence. In 1270, William Wallace was born in 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, Margaret of Crawford was the daughter of Sir Hugh Crawford.

Extraits

[...] William Wallace was a giant more than six and a half feet tall at the time! In 1286, when Wallace was about sixteen, the trouble in his country became harder and harder. King Alexander III die and Margaret a few years after him. In this climate of anarchy, William Wallace's father was killed by an English knight named Fenwick in 1291. We can understand that the desire of fight against the English born at this period, William Wallace wanted to take its revenge! [...]

[...] In May 1297 Wallace slew William Heselrig, the English Sheriff of Lanark. Soon his rising gained momentum, as men ‘oppressed by the burden of servitude under the intolerable rule of English domination' joined him ‘like a swarm of bees'. From his base in the Ettrick Forest his followers struck at Scone, Ancrum and Dundee. At the same time in the north, the young Andrew Murray led an even more successful rising. From Avoch in the Black Isle, he took Inverness and stormed Urquhart Castle by Loch Ness. [...]

[...] In a medieval world obsessed with hierarchy, Wallace's extraordinary military success catapulted him to the top of the social ladder. He now guided Scottish policy. Letters were dispatched to Europe proclaiming Scotland's renewed independence and he managed to obtain from the Papacy the appointment of the patriotic Bishop Lamberton to the vacant Bishopric of St Andrews. Militarily he took the war into the north of England, raiding around Newcastle and wreaking havoc across the north. Contemporary English chroniclers accused him of atrocities, some no doubt warranted, however, in Wallace's eyes the war, since its beginning, had been marked by brutality and butchery. [...]

[...] Marshall http://www.heritage- history.com/www/heritage.php?Dir=books&MenuItem=display&author=marshall&book =scotland&story=_front Book: William Wallace Braveheart, PITKIN'S GUIDES, edited by Alison Copland Key events during the life of William Wallace Sources: http://www.heritage- history.com/www/heritage.php?R_menu=OFF&Dir=characters&FileName=wallace.php Biography of William Wallace William Wallace 'This is the truth I tell you: of all things freedom's most fine. Never submit to live, my son, in the bonds of slavery entwined.' William Wallace - His Uncle's proverb, from Bower's Scotichronicon c.1440's The reputation of William Wallace runs like a fault line through later medieval chronicles. For the Scots, William Wallace was an exemplar of unbending commitment to Scotland's independence who died a martyr to the cause. [...]

[...] William Wallace, with his hatefulness for the English occupier, landed with the head of the national resistance movement. ‘Stirling Bridge' battle One of the most famous exploit of William Wallace was his victory against the English in the ‘Stirling Bridge' battle. Most of Scotland came back to the Scottish in August 1297. The only part which was again occupier, was the North. ‘Stirling Bridge' was considered as the ‘Door' to access on the North of Scotland and the ‘Key' of this door was the bridge of Stirling. [...]