The real-life inspiration for the movie Braveheart (1995), William Wallace (c. 1270–1305) was a Scottish knight who led an armed uprising against the English. Before his capture, Wallace scored an improbable victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, a feat for which he is still remembered as a national hero in Scotland.
Despite his hero status, however, very little is known about Wallace’s life—a void that has been filled with centuries’ worth of myth and speculation. The movie, directed by Mel Gibson (1956–), was based primarily on an epic poem that was written hundreds of years after Wallace’s death and is not considered accurate. The real Wallace was born at some point in the late thirteenth century into a relatively prosperous, landowning family. He had two brothers, both of whom also became involved in the Scottish independence cause.
The roots of the conflict with England dated back to the death of King Alexander III (1241—1286) of Scotland. Because he had no living children, Alexander’s throne passed to a four-year-old Norwegian princess, Margaret, who died during the voyage to Scotland. The English king, Edward I (1239–1307), seized the opportunity presented by the power vacuum to assert control over his smaller neighbor.
But it would take the English more than fifty years to subdue Scotland. According to legend, Wallace’s animosity toward the English was sparked by an incident in which several invading soldiers tried to steal fish he had caught.
Whatever the source of his grudge, Wallace became the first major figure of popular resistance to English rule. He raised an army in 1297 and won the Battle of Stirling Bridge that September against a much larger enemy force by luring the English across a narrow footbridge and attacking them as they crossed. After the victory, he was knighted and given the title Guardian of Scotland.
The victory, and Wallace’s subsequent raids into northern England, infuriated Edward. The next year, the king personally led the English army against Wallace and delivered a victory at the Battle of Falkirk. Defeated, Wallace gave up command of the army and was sent to France as a diplomat for the Scottish. He returned in 1303, but was captured by the English in 1305 and executed. By 1357, the English takeover was complete—although England and Scotland were not formally joined as the United Kingdom until 1707.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- Unlike the character in Braveheart, Wallace did not wear a kilt. Although the garments are often associated with medieval Scotland, kilts did not become popular until the seventeenth century.
- Wallace’s nemesis, King Edward I of England, celebrated his victory by having the Latin words Scottorum malleus—“hammer of the Scots”—carved on his tombstone.
- A giant sandstone monument to Wallace was built in the nineteenth century near the Stirling Bridge battlefield. The monument also displays a sword allegedly carried by the Scottish warrior, although the authenticity of the so-called Wallace Sword has been disputed.
