(1270-1305)
The life and exploits of this most popular national hero of the Scots
have been principally preserved in a legendary form by poetry and
tradition, and are only to a very small extent matter of contemporary
record, or illustrated by authentic documents. There is no extant
Scottish chronicler of the age of Wallace. Fordun, the earliest of his
countrymen from whom we have any account of him, is his junior by nearly
a century. Wyntoun, the next authority, is still half a century later.
His chief celebrator is the metrical writer Blind Harry, or Harry the
Minstrel, whose work confesses itself by its very form to be quite as
much of a fiction as a history, and whose era, at any rate, is supposed
to be nearly two centuries subsequent to that of his hero. Some few
facts, however, may be got out of the English annalists Trivet and
Hemingford, who were the contemporaries of Wallace.
[Illustration: Sir William Wallace.]
There are contradictory statements of the year of his birth, but it is
probable he was born about 1270. His family was one of some distinction,
and he is said to have been the younger of the two sons of Sir Malcolm
Wallace, of Elderslie and Auchinbothie, in the neighborhood of Paisley.
His mother, who according to one account was Sir Malcolm's second wife,
is stated by the genealogists to have been Margaret, daughter of Sir
Raynald or Reginald (other authorities say Sir Hugh) Crawford, who held
the office of Sheriff of Ayr.
The history of Wallace down to the year 1297 is entirely legendary, and
only to be found in the rhymes of Harry the Minstrel; though many of the
facts which Harry relates still live as popular traditions in the
localities where the scenes of them are laid, whether handed down in
that way from the time when they happened, or only derived from his
poem, which long continued to be the literary favorite of the Scottish
peasantry. Harry, who, it may be observed, professes to translate from a
Latin account written by Wallace's intimate friend and chaplain, John
Blair, makes him to have been carefully educated by his uncle, a wealthy
churchman who resided at Dunipace, in Stirlingshire, and to have been
afterward sent to the grammar-school of Dundee. Here his first memorable
act is said to have been performed; his slaughter of the son of Selby,
the English governor of the castle of Dundee, in chastisement of an
insult offered him by the unwary young man; Wallace with his dagger
struck him dead on the spot. This must have happened, if at all, in the
year 1291, after Edward I. of England had obtained possession of all the
places of strength throughout Scotland on his recognition as Lord
Paramount by the various competitors for the crown, which had become
vacant by the death of the infant Margaret, the Maiden of Norway, in
September, 1290.
This bold deed committed by Wallace, who in making his escape is
asserted to have laid several of young Selby's attendants as low as
their master, was immediately followed by his outlawry. He now took to
the woods, and gifted as he was with eloquence, sagacity, and other high
mental powers and accomplishments (to this the testimony of Fordun is as
express and explicit as that of his poetical biographer), not less than
with strength and height of frame and all other personal advantages, he
soon found himself at the head of a band of attached as well as
determined followers, who under his guidance often harassed the English
soldiery, both on their marches and at their stations, plundering and
slaying, as it might chance, with equally little remorse. Particular
spots in nearly every part of Scotland are still famous for some deed of
Wallace and his fellow-outlaws, performed at this period of his life;
but for these we must refer to the Blind Minstrel. The woods in the
neighborhood of Ayr would seem to have been his chief haunt; and some of
his most remarkable feats of valor were exhibited in that town, in the
face and in defiance of the foreign garrison by which it was occupied.
Both his father and his elder brother are said to have fallen in
_rencontres_ with the English during this interval. It was now also that
he fell in love with the orphan daughter of Sir Hew de Bradfute, the
heiress of Lamington, having, it is said, first seen her at a church in
the neighborhood of Lanark. The Scotch writers affirm that this lady,
whom he appears to have married, and who at any rate bore him a
daughter, a year or two after forming her connection with Wallace fell
into the hands of his enemies, and was barbarously executed by order of
Hazelrig, the English Sheriff or Governor of Lanark, while her husband,
or lover, was doomed to witness the spectacle from a place where he lay
in concealment. Such private injuries were well fitted to raise his
hatred to an unextinguishable flame.
How far the guerilla warfare maintained by Wallace and his associates
contributed to excite and spread the spirit of resistance to the English
government, we have scarcely the means of judging; but it seems probable
that it aided materially in producing the general insurrection which
broke out in the spring of 1297. The accounts we have of the
commencement of that movement represent Wallace at its head, in command
of a considerable force, and in association with some of the most
distinguished persons in the kingdom, such as the Steward of Scotland
and his brother, Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, Sir William Douglas, etc.
Soon after this he was joined by the younger Robert Bruce (afterward
King Robert I.) who had hitherto, as well as his father, who was still
alive (the son of the original competitor for the crown), professed to
adhere to the English king.
This, however, appears to have been but an ill-cemented confederacy.
When the force despatched by Edward to quell the revolt presented itself
before the Scottish army posted near Irvine, in Ayrshire, the leaders of
the latter, throwing off the authority of their nominal chief, could no
more agree what to do than whom to obey: and the result was that Bruce,
the Steward, Douglas, and others of them, availing themselves of the
diplomatic talents of the Bishop of Glasgow, concluded a treaty on July
9th, by which they agreed to acknowledge Edward as their sovereign lord.
All the rest ultimately acceded to this arrangement, except only Wallace
and his friend, Sir Andrew Moray, of Bothwell. The treaty of Irvine,
which is printed by Rymer, is, we believe, the first of the few public
documents in which mention is made of Wallace; to the instrument (which
is in French) are subjoined the words, "Escrit à Sir Willaume," the
meaning of which Lord Hailes conceives to be, "that the barons had
notified Wallace that they had made terms of accommodation for
themselves and their party." The words, moreover, on the supposition
that they refer to Wallace, of which there seems to be little doubt,
show that he had before this date obtained the honor of knighthood. It
had probably been bestowed upon him (as was then customary) by some
other knight, one of his companions in arms, since his elevation from
being the captain of a band of outlaws to be the commander-in-chief of
the national forces.
Wallace now retired to the north, carrying with him, however, a
considerable body of adherents, to whom additional numbers rapidly
gathered, so that he soon found himself in a condition to recommence
aggressive operations. Directing his force to the northeastern coast, he
surprised the castle of Dunottar, cleared Aberdeen, Forfar, Brechin, and
other towns of their English garrisons, and then laid siege to the
castle of Dundee. While he was engaged in this last attempt, news was
brought that the English army was approaching Stirling; upon which,
leaving the siege to be carried on by the citizens of Dundee, he
hastened to meet the enemy in the field. The result was the complete
defeat and rout of the English, at the battle of Stirling Bridge, fought
on September 11, 1297--a battle which once more, for the moment,
liberated Scotland. The English were immediately driven or fled from
every place of strength in the country, including Berwick itself.
Availing himself of this panic and of the exhilaration of his
countrymen, Wallace pursued the fugitives across the border; and putting
himself at the head of a numerous force, he entered England on October
18th, and, remaining till November 11th, wasted the country with fire
and sword from sea to sea, and as far south as to the walls of
Newcastle. It was during this visitation that the prior and convent of
Hexham obtained from him the protection preserved by Hemingford. It is
dated at Hexildesham (Hexham), November 7th, and runs in the names of
"Andreas de Moravia, et Wilhelmus Wallensis, duces exercitus Scotiæ,
nomine præclari principis Joannis, Dei gratia, Regis Scotia illustris,
de consensu communitatis regni ejusdem," that is, "Andrew Moray and
William Wallace, commanders-in-chief of the army of Scotland, in the
name of King John, and by consent of the community of the said kingdom."
The John here acknowledged as King of Scotland was Baliol, now in the
hands of Edward, and living in a sort of free custody in the Tower of
London. Wallace's associate in the command was the young Sir Andrew
Moray, son of his faithful friend of that name, who had retired with him
from the capitulation of Irvine, and who had fallen at the battle of
Stirling Bridge.
One of the most curious of the few public papers in which the name of
Wallace occurs was a few years since discovered by Dr. Lappenburg, of
Hamburg, in the archives of the ancient Hanseatic city of Lübeck. It is
a letter, in Latin, addressed to the authorities of Lübeck and Hamburg,
informing them that their merchants should now have free access to all
ports of the kingdom of Scotland, seeing that the said kingdom, by the
favor of God, had been recovered by war from the power of the English.
The letter is dated "apud Badsing tonam" (the true word, it has been
suggested, is probably Haddingtonam), October 11, 1297, that is, a few
days before the invasion of Cumberland and Northumberland. It is in the
name of "Andreas de Moravia et Willelmus Wallensis, duces exercitis
regni Scotiæ, et communitas, eiusdem regni"--like the Hexham
protection--but without any mention of King John.
After his triumphal return from his incursion into England, Wallace
assumed the title of Guardian of the Kingdom in the name of King John,
whether formally invested with that dignity or only hailed as such by
the gratitude of his countrymen. In a charter, printed in Anderson's
"Diplomata," conferring the constabulary of Dundee on Alexander
Skirmischur (Scrimgeour) and his heirs, and dated at Torphichen (in the
county of Linlithgow) March 29, 1298, he styles himself, "Willelmus
Walays miles, Custos Regni Scotiæ, et ductor exercituum ejusdem, nomine
præclari principis Domini Johannis, Dei gratia Regis Scotiæ illustris,
de consensu communitatis ejusdem." The grant is stated to have been made
with the consent and approbation of the nobility ("per consensum et
assensum magnatum dicti regni.")
But this supreme elevation did not last long. Supported only by his own
merits and the admiration and attachment of his humbler
fellow-countrymen, Wallace, a new man, and without family connection,
would probably have found it difficult or impossible to retain his high
place, even if he had had nothing more to contend with than domestic
jealousy and dissatisfaction. Fordun relates that many of the nobility
were in the habit of saying, "We will not have this man to rule over
us." Meanwhile the energetic English king, who had been abroad when the
defeat of Stirling Bridge lost him Scotland, had now returned home, and
was already on his march toward the borders at the head of a powerful
army. A body of English, which had landed in the north of Fife, led by
Aymer de Vallois, Earl of Pembroke, is said by the Scottish authorities
to have been attacked and routed by Wallace on June 12, 1298, in the
forest of Blackironside, in that county; but when the two main armies
met on July 22d, in the neighborhood of Falkirk--the Scots commanded by
Wallace, the English by their king in person--the former, after a
gallant and obstinate resistance, were at last forced to give way, and
the battle ended in a universal rout accompanied with immense slaughter.
This defeat did not put an end to the war; but it was taken advantage of
by the Scottish nobility to deprive Wallace of his office of guardian or
chief governor of the kingdom. The Scottish accounts say that he
voluntarily resigned the supreme power; it is certain, at any rate, that
Bruce, his rival Comyn, and Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrew's, were now
appointed joint guardians of Scotland, still in the name of Baliol. For
some years after this our accounts of Wallace are slight and obscure;
but he appears to have returned with a chosen band of followers to the
practice of the desultory warfare in which he had originally
distinguished himself. The legendary histories continue to detail his
deeds of prowess performed in harassing the enemy both on their marches
and in their camps and strongholds. And to fill up the story, they also
make him to have paid two visits to France--the first in 1300, the
second in 1302. The next well-ascertained fact regarding him is that
when the Scottish leaders were at last obliged to submit to Edward at
Strathorde, on February 9, 1304, Wallace was not included in the
capitulation, one of the clauses of which (printed in the original
French in Ryley's "Placeta Parliamentaria") is to the effect that as for
Wallace (Monsieur Guillaume de Galeys), he might, if he pleased, give
himself up to the king's mercy ("quil se mette en la voluntè et en la
grace nostre seigneur le Roy, si lui semble, que bon soit"). He was soon
after summoned to appear before a parliament or convention of Scotch and
English nobility, held at St. Andrew's; and upon their not presenting
themselves, he and Sir Simon Frisel, or Fraser, were pronounced outlaws.
For some time his retreat remained undiscovered, although his active
hostility still continued occasionally to make itself felt. A principal
person employed in the attempts to capture him appears to have been
Ralph de Haliburton; but how he was actually taken is not known. Sir
John Menteith (a son of Walter Stewart, Earl of Menteith), to whose
treachery his delivery to the English king is attributed by Blind Harry
and popular tradition, appears to have really done nothing more than
forward him to England after he was brought a prisoner to Dumbarton
Castle, of which Menteith was governor under a commission from Edward.
On being brought to London, Wallace was lodged in the house of William
Delect, a citizen, in Fenchurch Street; and on the next day, being the
eve of St. Bartholomew, he was brought on horseback to Westminster, and
in the hall there, "being placed on the south bench," says Stow,
"crowned with laurel for that he had said in times past that he ought to
bear a crown in that all," he was arraigned as a traitor, and on that
charge found guilty, and condemned to death. After being dragged to the
usual place of execution--the Elms, in West Smithfield--at the tails of
his horses, he was there hanged on a high gallows, on August 23, 1305,
after which he was "drawn and quartered." His right arm was set up at
Newcastle, his left at Berwick; his right leg at Perth, his left at
Aberdeen; his head on London Bridge. Wallace's daughter, by the heiress
of Lamington, married Sir William Bailie, of Hoprig, whose descendants
through her inherited the estate of Lamington.