William Wallace

(http://www.electricscotland.com/history/wallace.htm)

Sir William Wallace: Aye, fight and you may die, run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade all of that from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take away our lives, but they'll never take our freeeedoooomm.

This is a site to a hero, a Scottish hero. As they say in the film Braveheart, "I will tell you of William Wallace. Historians will call me a liar, but history is written by those who've hanged heroes." As a boy he saw people rise up and get crushed, their families murdered by the English army. As a man he commanded army's, driving the English out Scotland with the little weapons they had and the fire in their heart. You think that people these days are patriotic because they support their government and any action they do. Patriotism comes from people like Wallace, who’s spirit lived on in the Scottish as they drove the last of the English out of Scotland.

The records of his life are patchy, but we know that he was born around the year 1270, possibly near Ellerslie (now Elderslie), in Ayrshire, Scotland. His father was a landowner and a little known knight, and his mother was supposed to have been the daughter of the sheriff of Ayr.

When Wallace was born Alexander the third had already been King for twenty years, and after living with his priest uncle for sometime William was about to join the church himself when the king died. Since he had no children his granddaughter was named queen. However she was too young to rule so until she was old enough a government ran Scotland. King Edward I saw this as an opportunity and persuaded the guardians that were looking after the soon to be queen Margaret to marry Edwards son. Unfortunately in 1290 Margaret fell ill and died. What followed were Scottish nobles trying to take the throne but not many were successful. Eventually the English came in and in 1291 William's father was killed during a skirmish against the English.

So much was going on Edward saw the opportunity and marched off to invade Scotland in 1297. Thus grew opposition against the English, many tried to defy them but failed.

By this time William started to fight back, sometimes leading up to thirty men, and in May 1297 he found and killed the person responsible for killing his father.

Then the Scots lost a terrible battle, as things seemed up the Scots were decimated and at least 10,000 Scots were thought to have been killed. Wallace disappeared for some years, as England carried on their reign.

Wallace returned to Scotland but before long a Scottish knight betrayed him. He was denied the status of "captured soldier" and was accused of crimes against civilians. He was condemned a traitor and executed by being hung drawn and quartered. That means being hung until just before you die, drawn, (being disembowelled), and quartered, (cut up into four parts). His head was cut off and put on a spike as an example to anyone else trying to resist the English, but not much later Robert the Bruce, (who later became King), rose up a large rebellion and forced out the English once and for all.

The legend of William Wallace lives on in all the hearts of those who believe in freedom.