What Do We Really Know About William Wallace? Part II

In our Flagship edition of the Live The Adventure Letter we gave our readers an insider’s look at the life and times of the real William Wallace. To read Part I of this exciting historical series, click here.

Wallace’s Story Continues

Sometime in the winter of 1297-98, William Wallace was knighted and declared Guardian of the Realm. Wallace believed he was acting on behalf of the exiled King of Scotland, John Balliol, and did not try to set himself up as king, based on a letter he wrote to the Hanseatic Kingdom of Lubeck in 1297. His guardianship would be put to the test in the summer of ’98.

King Edward upon his return from campaign in Flanders, summoned 29,000 infantry to gather at Newcastle. In the end, Edward was able to muster some 15,000 troops, many of them Welsh levies or French mercenaries. The English knighthood turned out in force – to march with King Edward against a cattle-thieving Scot ruffian would be great sport; “it was a roll call of the chivalry of England.” On the 25^th of June the infantry and cavalry of the English army came together at Roxburgh and marched north to find Wallace and his forces.

Wallace likely assembled and trained his volunteers in the wilds of Selkirk forest and perhaps moved them to the Torwood to block the way to Stirling Castle and await developments. Military endeavors were then, as they are now, hugely expensive affairs. Feeding an army on campaign with herds of cattle and sheep alongside or coordinating re-provision from ships along the shoreline taxed the best logicians, among whose number Edward was counted. Nevertheless, without knowledge of Wallace’s whereabouts, hungry and probably dispirited, the king prepared to turn his army back toward Edinburgh, when two Scottish knights came to him and betrayed the location of the army of Wallace near Falkirk, and their intention to fall on the English as they retreated.

Edward sprang to action and moved his army toward the Scots, a mere eighteen miles away. It seems that Wallace may have been caught by surprise, for he assumed a defensive position that did not have any real compensating opportunity for success. Historians today still do not know the exact location of the battlefield; several landscape features around Falkirk seem to meet the described criteria from the period. The accounts of the battle that have any credibility come from English sources of the period. On the 22^nd of July in 1298, William Wallace would lose his army at the Battle of Falkirk.

The Battle of Falkirk

Wallace drew his troops up in the classic Scottish “schiltrouns” – a word literally meaning, “shield wall.” It also offered a wall of spears to the attacking foe. The Scots reportedly formed in circles, indicating little in the way of flank protection in the open. The four large schiltrouns contained about 2,000 men in each and were connected by 1,500 longbow archers, “men of fine build and tall stature,” from the forests of Selkirk. The English attacked with more than 12,000 on foot and 2,000 on horse.

Among the foot soldiers were 5,500 longbow men and 400 Welsh crossbowmen. The English cavalry charged first and it appears the Scots horsemen fled without a fight – many of them nobles. A few entered the schiltrouns to “stiffen” the infantry. The knights then turned on Wallace’s archers who were virtually unarmed and unsupported against cavalry. They died by the hundreds.

Awaken Your Child’s Love of Learning, History And Adventure With The REAL Story of William Wallace!

Unable to break the shield wall and having lost 111 horses but just a few men, the English cavalry awaited their own infantry. The English archers mowed down the spearmen as gaps appeared in the Scottish lines. The cavalry moved in for the kill and the Scots streamed to the rear as thousands were cut down. Wallace and a handful of his retinue escaped to the woods. It is probable that around 10,000 Scots were slain.

New Leadership

William Wallace resigned the guardianship of Scotland after Falkirk and apparently slipped away to France. His history and whereabouts for the next seven years are shadowy and incomplete. He probably tried to raise support for Balliol’s crown in France and may have gone to see the Pope for assistance. In any event, he returned to Scotland in 1303 to return to the fray as just one among several leaders.

The new guardians of Scotland were Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and John Comyn, the younger of Badenoch. They were elected joint Guardians of Scotland but internecine struggles ensued as the Scots continued their defiance of Edward, though they would not meet the English in open battle for sixteen years. By the summer of 1304 many castles retained English garrisons and many of the nobility of Scotland swore fealty to Edward.

On the 3^rd of August, 1305, fellow Scotsman Sir John Montieth betrayed Wallace to the English. Wallace was taken to London, put on exhibition, given a perfunctory trial and tortured. He was cut down to be disemboweled alive, beheaded, and quartered. His head was put on display and his quarters sent to four different cities so that the masses would know the great Wallace was dead. And so William Wallace passed into history, a man we do not know a great deal about, but one we do know who was willing to fight for freedom over tyranny, and willing to suffer humiliating death over subjugation.

Alba gu brath!

(Scotland Forever)

To read more about the exciting life of William Wallace, consider these resources:

1. Stirling Bridge and Falkirk, 1297-98: William Wallace’s Rebellion, Peter Armstrong, illus. Angus McBride, Osprey, 2003.
2. The Scottish War of Independence, Evan Macleod Barron, Barnes and Noble, 1997 (orig. pub., 1914).