Sir William Wallace guardian of Scotland

Imagine yourself to be a young recruit, enlisted in the English army during the
time of Edward I. It’s a bright cool day on September 11th 1297 in the hills of Scotland.
The birds are chirping and the sun is shining upon the gushing Stirling River and above
it, the Stirling Bridge. Nobody would have thought that this beautiful day would soon
turn into a destructive nightmare. That this serene scene would soon evolve into a bloody
battlefield that would stain the River Stirling, red -- forever. You are in the ranks of a
army led by the English general John de Warrene Earl of Surrey to crush the Scottish
rebellion. The task seems easy enough, with greater numbers and more discipline the
battle should be easy or so most people thought. Led by the ferocious warrior, William
Wallace and the equally great Andrew Moray this rebellion may prove to be a thorn in
the side of the English.
It all started when William Wallace was born in the year of 1272 during the reign
of King Alexander III of Scotland. Little is known about his childhood life but his family
may have come from Wales as followers of Walter Fitz Alan, High steward of Scotland.
During Wallace’s time Scotland was threatening to fall into a civil war over who should
be king. King Alexander had died and so had his granddaughter leaving no heir to the
Scottish throne. Immediately King Edward I of England (or Longshanks) stepped in as
arbitrator and signed the treaty of Birgham. Moreover contrary to his treaty he demanded
that he be recognized as Lord Paramount of Scotland. He then organized a great feudal
court where John de Balliol was announced king saying he had the strongest claim.
Shortly after Edward began reversing the rulings of the Scottish guardians despite appeals
to stay with the treaty, Edward countered by stating that he was no longer bound by it.
John renounced homage to Edward in March 1296 in turn Edward being swift and
ruthless sacked the town of Berwick and defeated the Scots at the battle of Dunbar in
April. In June Edward had gone so far as to force John de Balliol to abdicate from the
throne of Scotland (if you ask me things were heating up).
The early exploits of William Wallace are recorded only in Legend. One story
talks about how he was fishing in a river when he was approached by English soldiers
who demanded his catch on penalty of death. To make a long story short, William
immediately sprung into action and in a very stereotypical way, e.g. having the good guy
prevailing, Wallace cleanly whooped the English soldier’s stuck up hiny’s (mind you I’m
not saying that all English are stuck up but those nasty soldiers were). Wallace is first
noticed in history when he kills William Heselrig the English sheriff of Lanark. This
recorded in legend was an act of revenge for the death of a young maiden named Marion
Braidefute whom William had married. By this time Wallace’s rebellion against the
English were succeeding and not only had he won many skirmishes against Edwards’s
army, but Wallace’s ranks were increasing by the hundreds.
On September 11th as stated before the Scots and the English finally met in battle.
Expecting an easy victory like the one at the battle of Dunbar the English had become
overconfident if not conceited.
The Scots were well equipped for the battle and many of the men were
brandishing dirks, pikes, axes and huge claymores, swords that were so large and heavy
that they could easily kill a horse or cleave three heads off at once. Though small in
number the Scottish were well known for their uncanny ability to kill. Painted in blue and
yellow, a typical highland clansman knew no fear and was a very able killing machine.
Further more each was Scotsman brave and loyal if not to the point of recklessness and
the men had high morale. The only downfall to the formidable Scottish warriors was their
poor quality of armour compared to the English knights.
As the English army neared the bridge general Hugh de Cressingham and his
heavy Calvary advanced along with the vanguard of the army. Inch by inch they crossed
the bridge and poured out on the Scottish side. Suddenly with a loud war cry of “for
Scotland” the hardy Scottish spearmen in tough Schiltron formations descended upon the
hated English.
The sudden attack from the Scots surprised the English and the Scottish easily
crushed them with their long reaching spears and pikes, proving that at times the lowly
“infantry” can defeat cavalry. The rest of the battle continued with the Scottish destroying
the English, and soon the battle turned into a massacre. One side of the English retreated
from the onslaught while the other side charged on to the already crammed bridge. And
as you can already guess the result…………KERPLOSH!!!! the whole bridge collapsed
under the weight, drowning hundreds of English soldiers and routing many more. As the
rubble cleared so did the result of the battle. The hardy Scottish men had soundly
obliterated the vast English army with few casualties. Led by their great leader William
Wallace the Scots had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and turned the tables on
the English.
William’s success was short lived and eight month’s later he was defeated at the
battle of Falkirk. The battle of was much like the battle at Stirling bridge except this time
the English had learned and instead of using cavalry to charge headlong into the Schiltron
formations of the Scottish the English deployed welsh longbow men. This move proved
to be deadly. The close packed hedgehog formations of the Scottish made it easy for the
skilled welsh (the same welsh who’s descendants would one day win the Battle of
Agincourt) to rain arrows like a shower of death upon the Scots. From then on it was
down hill for William, and though he had eluded capture at Falkirk, he knew the end was
near. In September 1298 William resigned from the position of Guardian of Scotland and
sailed to France in an attempt to strike an alliance, sadly William did not prevail and was
finally captured by the English on August 5th 1305 due to a traitor named John Meredith,
a Scottish knight who was actually loyal to the English.
William Wallace was brave to the end and when the English declared him guilty
of treason he boldly spoke out against it. William was executed on august 23 1305. The
cruel English killed this brave man in the must vilest execution method known to man:
hanging drawing and quartering with a touch of getting dragged through the town –
naked.
Sir William Wallace is remembered as one of Scotland’s greatest patriots and he
is regarded as a national hero and is ranked #48 on the top 100 greatest Britons followed
by Sir Francis Drake. He is known as a leader during the Wars of Scottish independence.