Your country. He became the leader of the uprising against the dominance of the British, which took place in the 13th century. Like everything connected with the Middle Ages, the facts of his life are rather fragmentary, especially those relating to the early years when he was still unknown.

Origin

William Wallace was born around 1270. He was the second son in the family of a small estate and little-known knight. Since William was not the eldest, the titles passed him by. However, this did not stop him from learning how to wield a sword and other types of weapons, without which it was difficult to imagine a man’s life. When, at the age of 16, it was time for him to decide on his future, the unexpected happened.

The situation in the country

King of Scotland Alexander III died due to a tragic accident. He had no sons left who could legitimately inherit the throne. But there was a little four-year-old daughter, Margaret. She was ruled by regents from among the Scottish nobility. The southern neighbor - King Edward I of England - decided to take advantage of this situation and agreed that the girl would marry his son. For the time being, a compromise was reached. However, little Margaret died of illness at the age of eight. This led to turmoil within the country. Numerous feudal lords of Scotland declared their claims to power.

Some of them turned to Edward so that he could judge who had more rights to the throne. He suggested his man - Balliol. It seemed to him that his protege would obey him and, among other things, lead his own army to help the British in the war against France. However, this did not happen. Edward regarded this as treason and decided to take the opportunity to subjugate all of Scotland to himself. If he managed to restore order in the southeast of the country, the northern provinces rebelled.

Beginning of fame

Among the rebels was young William Wallace. At first he was an ordinary soldier. One day he was captured by the British, who threw him into prison. However, local Scottish peasants carried him supplies and helped him escape. Then William Wallace assembled his own partisan detachment, with which he successfully robbed and killed hated strangers.

For the young military leader, this was a matter of principle, since the British killed his father. William and his squad of thirty men tracked down the knight responsible for this and carried out reprisals against him. Rumors spread through Scottish villages about a national avenger. Many dissatisfied with the intervention responded to it. Mostly these were ordinary rural residents, tired of extortions and injustice. It was 1297. At the same time, Wallace was first mentioned in written reliable sources of the then chroniclers.

New supporters

Soon, the combat-ready detachment became attractive to the local nobility, some of whom were against English interference in the affairs of the Scots. The first nobleman to enter into an alliance with the rebels was William Hardy, who had the title of Lord Douglas. In order to calm the rebel, Edward sent north

This was the Lord of Annandale, initially loyal to the English monarch. The reason for this position was that Robert was an opponent of Balliol, whom Edward punished with his invasion of the neighboring country. But at that moment, when Bruce found himself alone against the partisan movement, he decided to join the rebels.

Battle of Stirling Bridge

The English government could not tolerate the outbreak of the uprising. This time, the 10,000-strong army of the Earl of Surrey, John de Warenne, went north, and William Wallace went across it. The history of the uprising hung in the balance: if the leader were defeated, the British would immediately find themselves in the defenseless north.

The Scots had only infantry, which, moreover, was also inferior in number to the enemy. Wallace gave the order to take up positions on a high hill opposite the bridge from Stirling Castle. This single path was very narrow, and several people could hardly fit on it in one line. Therefore, when the British began to cross the river, there were very few troops from the vanguard on the opposite bank. It was he who was attacked by partisans armed with short swords and lances several meters long. The latter weapon was especially effective against the heavily armed but slow knights of the count. When the British tried to speed up the crossing of the bridge to help their comrades, it collapsed, and with it a significant part of the army ended up in the river. After this fiasco, the king's army fled. However, the soldiers did not succeed even in this, since behind them there was a muddy swamp in which they got stuck. Because of this, the remnants of the army became easy prey for the Scots. One of the most important English viceroys named Hugh Cressingham was killed. There is a legend that he was skinned and used to bind the sword of William Wallace.

But there were also heavy losses among the Scots. Firstly, about a thousand soldiers died, which was a serious blow for a united but small movement. Secondly, one of the commanders and leaders of the partisans, Andrew de Morray, who was William’s faithful comrade-in-arms, fell.

After the victory at Stirling Bridge, the British left almost all of Scotland. The barons of the country elected William as regent, or guardian of the country. However, many of them treated the artistic upstart with distrust and agreed to his recognition only under pressure from the masses, who, on the contrary, completely sympathized with Wallace. On the wave of success, he even attacked the northern regions of England, where he destroyed small garrisons.

Invasion of Edward I

However, these were only temporary successes. Until this point, the campaign against Wallace had taken place without the direct participation of Edward I, who distanced himself from the conflict while preoccupied with French affairs. But in the new year 1298 he again invaded Scotland with fresh forces. This time the army included a thousand-strong detachment of heavily armed cavalry, which had enormous experience in fighting, including in France.

The rebels did not have many resources. William Wallace understood this. Scotland was stretched to the limit. All combat-ready men have long left peaceful towns and villages to defend the Fatherland. Direct confrontation against a large royal army was like death.

Therefore, Wallace decided to use a scorched earth tactic. Its essence was that the Scots left the southern regions, but before that they completely destroyed the local infrastructure - fields, roads, food supplies, water, etc. This made the task of the British as difficult as possible, since they had to chase the enemy through a destitute desert.

Battle of Falkirk

When Edward had already decided that it was time to leave Scotland, where it was so difficult to catch partisans, he learned about exact location Wallace. It stood near the town of Falkirk. There the battle took place.

In order to protect the soldiers from the cavalry, Sir William Wallace surrounded the infantry with a palisade, in the intervals of which archers stood ready. However, his army was greatly weakened by the betrayal of some nobles, who at the last moment went over to the side of the British, taking their troops with them. The king's army was twice as large as the Scottish one (15 thousand versus 7 thousand). Therefore, the victory of the British was logical.

Final years and execution

Despite the defeat, some of the Scots managed to retreat. Among them was William Wallace. The commander's biography was greatly damaged. He decided to seek support from the King of France, where he went, having previously relinquished his powers as regent and transferred them to Robert the Bruce (in the future he would become the king of an independent Scotland).

However, the negotiations did not end in anything. William returned home, where in one of the skirmishes he was captured by the British. He was executed on August 23, 1305. The method was the most savage: hanging, quartering and disembowelling were used simultaneously. Despite this, the brave knight remained in the memory of the people as a national hero.

The situation in Scotland by 1297

The Battle of Sterlig Bridge and its consequences

The site of the Battle of Stirling in modern times. A stone bridge on the site of a wooden one of a later construction. In the background is a tower monument to Wallace, erected in 1867 on the hill where he took his position at the start of the battle.

The English mounted knights were caught crossing a narrow wooden bridge and attacked by Scottish infantry armed with long spears. Seeing the death of his vanguard, cut off from the main forces by the river, Surrey tried to speed up the crossing of the bridge, but as a result the wooden bridge collapsed. The defeat was completed by the raid of de Morrey, who with lightly armed Scottish cavalry forded the Forth River and attacked the British from the rear. However, during this raid, de Morrey was seriously wounded, from which he soon died.

The English army, which got stuck in a swamp during its flight, was almost completely destroyed, and the English governor, Hugh Cressingham, also died. The Scots tore the skin off the dead man, and Wallace himself, according to legend, made a belt from it for his sword. However, at the same time, the loss of de Morrey turned out to be irreplaceable for the Wallace movement. De Morray was an outstanding commander and, like Wallace himself, had no political or financial interest in the outcome of the war with the British, but fought as a patriot. No less important was the fact that he brought a noble name to the leadership of the movement, while the Scottish nobility himself could not forgive his low birth. Subsequently, this circumstance played a fatal role.

After the Battle of Stirling, almost all of Scotland was liberated from the British. The Scottish barons elected Wallace Guardian (Regent) of Scotland in the absence of King John Balliol. Wallace's influence rested on his enormous popularity and the people's militia, which, after the victory at Stirling, answered only to Wallace. With him, Wallace carried out a raid in Northern England (through Northumberland and Cumberland) in November, mercilessly smashing the English regions.

Battle of Falkirk, flight and death

Wallace at his trial in Westminster. Painting by Daniel Maclise, 19th century.

The so-called "Wallace Sword" is currently kept in the British historical museum. It was forged approximately 300 years after the death of the real-life Wallace and is a 17th-century two-handed claymore similar to those used by the Highlanders as early as the 1746 Battle of Culloden.

During the filming of the film, Mel Gibson held 12 copies of this sword in his hands. All copies were made in exact accordance with the original, that is, they had the appropriate dimensions and appearance, but were significantly lighter in weight.

see also

Links

(English)

• Biography of Wallace
• William Wallace at the Battle of Stirling Bridge and Falkirk
• Wallace and Bruce (English)
• Nadezhda Krasnushkina. In search of the stone of fate // World Pathfinder.

(English)

Sources

Categories:

• Personalities in alphabetical order
• Died on August 23
• Died in 1305
• Deaths in London
• Persons:Scotland
• Leaders of the uprisings
• History of Scotland
• Quartered
• Born in 1270

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✪ English steps English for beginners William Wallace

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The situation in Scotland by 1297 About him early years no evidence has survived. It is generally believed that he was born in the village of Elderslie in Renfrewshire, although Lately

a version has emerged that he came from Ellerslie in Ayrshire. It is also believed that he studied Latin at a monastery in Paisley, and then attended a grammar school in Dundee. It is believed that by the time the rebellion began, Wallace already had military experience and may have served as an archer in the campaigns of the previous years. According to legends, he was already outlawed in his youth due to the murder of an Englishman (versions differ; according to one version, he killed English soldiers on the Irvine River who wanted to take his catch from him. According to another, he killed the son of the English ruler of Dundee, who had insulted William and his family). Wallace went into hiding for some time.

The beginning of the uprising

After the murder of the sheriff of Lanark, Wallace takes active action against the English garrisons, his squad quickly grows, and other rebel squads join him. The first nobleman to team up with Wallace was William Hardy, Lord Douglas. Together they organized a raid on Scone Abbey, where they seized the English treasury, forcing the justiciar to flee. To punish Douglas, King Edward I sent the young Robert Bruce (the future king), but he joined the movement, despite the fact that it took place under the banner of the restoration of his rival Balliol.

While Wallace was active in central and western Scotland, in the north the head of the movement was Andrew de Moray, and in the south the rebellion flared up under leaders such as James, High Steward of Scotland, Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, and Robert the Bruce. True, this last movement turned out to be unstable: on July 9, the army of the Scottish nobility (under the command of the young Bruce, William Douglas, etc.) converged with the English army of Henry Percy at Lake Irwin, but the lords, who did not want to either lose their estates in England or submit to the noble Wallace, concluded a compromise agreement with Edward I (the so-called “surrender at Irvine”), abandoning the fight on the terms of an amnesty and a guarantee of a number of benefits and privileges.

Wallace went north to join de Moray and united with him in August 1297. By this point all of Scotland north of the River Forth was in rebel hands, with only the fortress of Dundee remaining under English control but being besieged by Wallace and de Moray. Having learned that a 10,000-strong army under the command of the English governor Hugh Cressingham and John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey (victor at Spotsmoor), had been moved against them, Wallace and de Moray left the siege of Dundee to the townspeople and set out to meet the enemy, positioned on a high hill on the river bank Fort near Stirling Castle.

Battle of Stirling and its aftermath

English mounted knights were caught crossing a narrow wooden bridge and attacked by Scottish infantry armed with long spears. Seeing the death of his vanguard, cut off by the river from the main forces, Surrey tried to speed up the crossing of the bridge, but as a result the wooden bridge collapsed. The defeat was completed by the raid of de Moray, who with lightly armed Scottish cavalry forded the Forth River and struck the British from the rear. However, during this raid, de Moray was seriously wounded, from which he soon died.

The English army, which got stuck in a swamp during its flight, was almost completely destroyed, and the English governor, Hugh Cressingham, also died. The Scots tore the skin off the dead man, and Wallace himself, according to legend, made a sling for his sword from it. However, the loss of de Moray proved irreparable for the Wallace movement. Andrew de Moray was an outstanding commander and, like Wallace himself, had no political or financial interest in the outcome of the war with the British, but fought as a patriot. No less important was the fact that he brought a noble name to the leadership of the movement, while the Scottish nobility could not forgive Wallace himself for his artistry. Subsequently, this circumstance played a fatal role.

After the Battle of Stirling, almost all of Scotland was liberated from the English. The Scottish barons elected Wallace Guardian of Scotland (regent) in the absence of King John I. Wallace's influence rested on his enormous popularity and the people's militia, which, after the victory at Stirling, obeyed only him. With him, Wallace carried out a raid across Northern England (through Northumberland and Cumberland) in November 1297, mercilessly smashing the English regions.

Battle of Falkirk, flight and death

Based on the poem by Blind Harry, it was created in 1995 Feature Film"Braveheart" (director and performer leading role- Mel Gibson). This film largely created the current image of Wallace in the public consciousness, although it is very different from real prototype(William is represented as a peasant who fights without armor, etc.).

William Wallace was born around 1270 ( exact date birth unknown) in the family of not a peasant at all, but a knight, Malcolm Wallace, who was a vassal of Lord James Stewart, descended from a line of future Scottish kings. According to another version, William Wallace was youngest son important Scottish aristocrat Allan Wallace.



When the English king Edward I invaded Scotland in 1296, he managed, thanks to pro-English nobles, to conquer the country. King John Balliol of Scotland abdicated the throne, was placed in the Tower, and then exiled to France, where he spent the rest of his life. English garrisons were introduced into Scottish fortresses, and the local clergy began to be replaced by English ones. However, already in the next year, 1297, an uprising against the English occupation broke out in several places in the country. In the north it was led by Andrew Morray, and in the south by William Wallace. It is interesting that Wallace was joined by barons who were in opposition to the king during the reign of John Balliol, such as Wallace’s overlord James Stuart and Robert Bruce.
On September 11, 1297, Wallace's troops completely defeated the 10,000-strong punitive expedition of the Earl of Surrey on Stirling Bridge. The English troops were caught at the crossing and, without much difficulty, were massacred piece by piece by the Scots who surrounded them. In this battle, Wallace lost his only comrade-in-arms, de Morray, who, like Wallace himself, had no political or financial interest in the outcome of the war with the British, but fought as a patriot. Most of the country was liberated. The Scottish barons elected Wallace Guardian of Scotland in the absence of King John I. Wallace's influence rested on his enormous popularity and the people's militia, which, after the victory at Stirling, answered only to Wallace.
In 1298, Edward I again invaded Scotland. The king brought over 12 thousand soldiers (including more than 1000 heavily armed cavalry) and at the Battle of Falkirk defeated a small rebel army, which also did not have a single command. There is also a version that the Scottish lords, bribed by the king, at the most decisive moment, took their personal squads away from the battlefield, abandoning Wallace and the people’s militia. As a result, Wallace was forced to resign as regent and probably went to France to negotiate a Franco-Scottish alliance. The French king had just concluded an agreement for the marriage of his daughter Isabella with the son of Edward Longshanks (the future King Edward II), so he did not want England to become his enemy. Guerrilla warfare continued for several years and Wallace's forced emigration did not, however, stop the national movement for the liberation of Scotland. The banner of the fight against England was raised by John Comyn, and later by Robert the Bruce.

Returning to Scotland, William Wallace was betrayed by the Scottish knight John de Menteis in 1305, arrested by the English and executed by hanging, drawing and quartering in London on August 23. His body was beheaded, cut into pieces, which were displayed in largest cities Scotland.
Interesting Facts:

William Wallace is an ideologist and active participant in the struggle for Scottish independence, the hero of a number of outstanding works of Scottish literature, most notably the 15th century epic poem “The Acts of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie.”
In 1869, a 67-meter tower known as the Wallace Monument was erected in honor of Wallace in the Scottish city of Stirling.

Built in gothic style, it is located 1.5 km from Stirling on Abbey Craig hill on the road to Dunbly. According to legend, it was from this hill that Wallace watched the English army before the Battle of Stirling Bridge before giving the order to the Scottish army to attack.


The monument is a year-round museum where you can learn about the Battle of Stirling Bridge, as well as famous Scottish personalities. Right next to front door stands a large figure of Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace, speaking to the figure English king: “You have my body, but not my devotion and my respect.”
On the second floor is a 3D animation of William Wallace's head that tells visitors the story of Wallace and the Battle of Stirling Bridge. In addition, William Wallace's sword and Mel Gibson's costume from the movie "Braveheart" are on display. Since the film's release, the Wallace Monument has seen its visitor numbers triple. On the third floor is the Hall of Heroes, an exhibition dedicated to other prominent Scottish figures, especially those of the 20th century. The fourth floor shows the history of the monument itself. In addition, there you can find out where else in the world there are monuments to William Wallace. At the very top of the tower there is an observation deck, the so-called “Crown,” which offers excellent views of the city and Stirling Castle.

Wallace's sword is currently kept in the British History Museum. During the filming of Braveheart, Mel Gibson held 12 copies of this sword in his hands. All copies were made in exact accordance with the original, that is, both size and appearance, but much lighter in weight.


Sources: Wikipedia, toscotland.ru