Scotland William Wallace

Before I get to some scenes of Scotland, which, I am sure are much more interesting to look at, than a very short piece of history, let me explain what you are looking at.

The background to these pages is the Hunting Tartan of the Clan Wallace.
I didn't choose this theme, simply because I like the tartan, but because I am by Scottish standards, allowed to claim this as my clan. I won't bore you by explaining why, suffice to say, I can trace my Wallace ancestry back to the 1700's, I do hope at some point to add my family tree to this site

The images above are The Clan Badges belonging to The Clan Wallace, one on the green hunting tartan and one on the red dress tartan.

Anyone who has watched the movie Braveheart, will know what the Latin motto on the badges is.

Pro Libertate, translated directly, meaning For Liberty, but more often used as For Freedom, these being, in the movie, the last words, William Wallace spoke.

Why the 300 year war between Scotland and England, the war to which William Wallace lost his life to?
To be historically correct it was much longer than 300 years and did not begin at the time of William Wallace.
In reality it started more or less as soon as Scotland and England emerged from the Dark Ages and became countries in their own right.

The history of Scotland is both interesting and confusing, difficult to follow due to the way the Scottish Monarchy changed but fascinating at the same time.
Bloody and Brutal but still romantic.

Difficult to stay historically correct, because of the Scottish traditions of passing "stories" down through the generations.

For the moment my main interest is in the major battles and for no reason other than the fact that I do have Wallace connections, I chose to start here.

Back to this long war between England and Scotland.

Both countries are on the same Island and share a border.
As to exactly where that border was to be, is part of the reason for the long and bloody feud.

It was not a case of trying to unite the two countries, it was more simply that the English having more land than the Scots and better military resources, thought they would add Scotland to England.

Scotland then and now being rich in natural resources.

During these 300 years both countries had their own Monarchy and laws.

So who was this man, William Wallace, who after only one short year of fighting for his country became one of Scotland's best known heroes?

What drove this man to fight for the freedom of his country and ultimately die in the attempt?

A little look at the political climate at that time may help.

In the years preceding his birth and throughout his early life, Scotland had been a peaceful country.

Not at war with England as the two Kings, Alexander 111 of Scotland and his brother in law, Edward 1 of England were on good terms.

As to why a Scottish King agreed to marry an English Princess is not really known, but there would have been a reason, one that benefited either or both Kings.

Did Edward hope this would get him nearer to claiming the Scottish throne, did Alexander believe it might help unite the two countries?

Ifs and buts.

It did not go to plan, Alexander's wife, Margaret did produce three children but sadly all of them including Margaret herself died before Alexander.

Alexander married again in hope of producing a male heir to the Scottish throne, but it was not to be.

Shortly after his marriage to Yolanda, he was killed in a riding accident on route to see his new French bride.

He died in 1286, leaving only his 3 year old granddaughter, Margaret, Maid of Norway as heir to the throne.

His daughter Margaret having married King Erik 11 of Norway, but died whilst giving birth to the young Margaret.

Scotland now prepared to welcome her infant Queen.

40 days after Alexander's death the nobility of Scotland gathered at Scone to pledge their loyalty to the young Queen.

At 3 years old, too young to rule in her own right, six guardians were elected to form a ruling government of her behalf.

These six guardians did not include the two main members of the nobility, these being Robert Bruce (grandfather of the future King Robert) and John Balliol.

Both these men had claims to the Scottish throne in their own right, both being descendants of Henry, son of David 1 King of Scots.

Both also, and this was intentional, had 3 of these guardians who would, if needed, be loyal to them.

This was an attempt at keeping the peace; lets make sure the two big contenders have their supporters nicely divided in this government.

Edward of course had been keeping a watchful eye on Scotland and on learning of the death of Alexander saw his chance to bring Scotland closer to being controlled by England.

He realised that Margaret would in time marry and saw this as a chance to unite his son with Scotland's young Queen.

A union of this kind would greatly benefit England and also prevent a possible French union.

As pointed out by David R Ross in his book, On the trail of William Wallace, the Maid of Norway was also the heir to the throne of Norway.

Did this also influence Edward, not wanting Scotland to have such strong ties with Norway, as this would have lessened the power of England over Scotland?

Edward set about contacting the Pope for permission and thereafter began to draw up his documents to present to the Scottish guardians.

Without going in to too much detail, the basics were to rule England and Scotland as two, independent nations.

The Scots, agreeing to the terms stated within it, signed the treaty, known as the Treaty of Birgham, in 1290.

The young Queen was sent for, commencing her voyage by sea in September 1290.
Sadly she became ill on the voyage and died on her arrival in the Orkneys.

A tragedy for Scotland.

No heir to the throne and the country was now in turmoil, the treaty negated and again no assurance of separate rule for Scotland.

Bruce and Balliol, plus another 11 Scottish nobles, immediately declared that they had the right to the throne.

Someone had to decide who was to rule Scotland and preferably before civil war broke out.

In steps the ever-helpful Edward, still at this point believed by the Scots to be sympathetic to their cause.

Edward agreed to listen to the claims of those who wanted the Scottish throne but only on condition that he himself be recognised as supreme overlord of Scotland.

This was agreed and in June of 1291 the Guardians of Scotland handed over their duties and the castles of Scotland to Edward, not for one minute foreseeing what this would lead to.

Edward knew, but Edward was not disclosing his plans.
He stated that all the land and Castles would be returned to the new Scottish King once that decision was made.

The Scots still believed Edward to be a trustworthy man when in truth he was later to be renowned as the most ruthless man ever to rule England.

The decision to appoint Balliol to the Scottish throne was made, Balliol paying homage to Edward.

Once that was done, Edward quickly renounced all pledges and treaties made during the time Scotland had no monarch.

Scotland was now under English rule.
Not for long though, the Scots realised what they had innocently been led into and decided enough was enough.
Scotland prepared to fight for her independence.

The nobility declared King Balliol not competent to rule and again, similar to what was done for the infant Queen, formed a governing body.

At this time Edward was at war with France, the Scots renewed their alliance with France thereby declaring war on England.

Edward was now facing precisely what he had wished to avoid, war with Scotland, however being the ruthless and arrogant King that he was did not see this as a problem.

He gathered a huge army and advanced to the border to attack Berwick, a town he had long had his eye on due to the amount of trade it generated for Scotland.

He ordered his troops to destroy the town and the people within it, men, women and children, none were spared, all were ruthlessly slaughtered.

Edward achieved his aim at the cost of more than 15,000 lives; Berwick was under English rule and remains English to this day.

The border conquered, Edward advanced northwards to face the Scots at Dunbar on the east coast of Scotland.

The Scots stood no chance against these English troops, Scotland was not used to war but England had already honed their skills in France.

Again the battle was lost to England, members of the Scottish nobility captured and either killed or imprisoned.

Edward thought he had succeeded but Edward was about to discover all he had done apart from killing and destroying, was to alienate the Scots.

Was he really so arrogant that he though Scotland would give up her freedom so lightly??

Apparently he was, on his way back South he decided to add insult to injury and took the Stone of Scone, Scotland's Coronation stone, to Westminster Abbey to lie beneath the Throne of England.

Or at least that was what the English thought they had got, but had they???
There are some who believe that Edward got just a bit of any old stone.
However the people of Scotland at that time believed it to be the real stone.

Once back in Berwick, Edward organised a meeting of parliament to plan how he intended to implement his Scottish administration.

He demanded oaths of featly from all the Scottish landowners, and not having a lot of choice around 2000 Scots submitted.
The document recording their names became known as the Ragman's Roll.

It is noted that the names of William Wallace, his brother and his father were not on this roll; this refusal to sign automatically outlawed them.

Bruce did sign with the hope that by doing so he might claim the Scottish throne as indeed he was entitled to.

Not so, in the eyes of Edward, Scotland is no longer a separate Kingdom, it now is a simply an annex of England.

Scotland was ruled by England, her castles filled with English garrisons and her sheriffs and other officials, Englishmen chosen by Edward.

All of this served to sow the seeds for a hatred of the English that was to last 300 years and beyond.

The Scots became much more patriotic than before and here enters the most famous of Scotland's freedom fighters.

William Wallace.

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