On this day, 23 August in 1305, William Wallace was executed as a traitor to King Edward I of England. In his defence, Wallace is reported to have said, "I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject."
William Wallace was 'a half-welsh, half-scot' commoner and by a strange turn of events led a Scots resistance to English domination in the reign of King Edward I. In 1286, Scotland's king Alexander III died after falling from his horse. Sadly, he had no direct heirs, so the Scottish lords declared Alexander's 4 year-old granddaughter, Margaret (called 'the Maid of Norway'), Queen. King Edward I of England, seizing the advantage, arranged the Treaty of Birgham with the Scottish lords, betrothing Margaret to his son, Edward on the understanding that Scotland would preserve its status as a separate nation. Unfortunately, Margaret fell ill and died at only 8 years old in 1290. Thirteen 'ginger' claimants to the Scottish throne appeared from the woodwork.
The Scots invited King Edward I of England to decide the royal succession. Ever the diplomat, Edward arrived at the Anglo-Scottish border with a large army and announced that he had come as an overlord to solve a dispute in a vassal state, forcing each potential king to pay homage to him. After hearing every claim, Edward in 1292 picked John Balliol to reign over what he described as "the Vassal State of Scotland". In March of 1296, Balliol renounced his homage to Edward, and by the end of the month Edward was biffing the Scots right and left and by July he had forced Balliol to abdicate at Kincardine Castle. Edward went to Berwick in August to receive formal homage from some 2,000 Scottish nobles (aka: the Ragman Roll), having previously removed the Stone of Destiny from Scone Palace, the stone on which all of the Kings of Scots had been crowned.
Meanwhile, whilst all this high politics is taking place, Wallace was busy stealing fish. Unluckily, he was caught by two English soldiers who Wallace immediately killed. The authorities, not surprisingly, issued a warrant for his arrest shortly thereafter. Undeterred, Wallace murdered Sir William Heselrig, the English Sheriff of Lanark, in May 1297, and dismembered the corpse. The story goes that Wallace committed these murders to avenge the death of one Marion Braidfute of Lamington — the young maiden Wallace allegedly courted and married. Sadly, no evidence of any sort exists to corroborate this detail and depite being a putative Scottish hero, he probably commited three gruesome murders to avoid being punished for the theft of a couple of fish.
Whilst on the run from the English, Wallace joined the Scottish armies that were being biffed about the glens by Edward and turned out to be, probably by dint of outrageous savagery, a very successful leader. He achieved victory in battles at Loudoun Hill and Ayr. In August of 1297, Wallace left Selkirk Forest to join Andrew de Moray's army at Stirling. Moray had begun another uprising, and their forces combined at Stirling, where they prepared to meet the English in battle. At the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Wallace killed 5400 of the Earl of Surrey's professional army - thus inflicting a memorable defeat on 'proud Edwards armies - and sent them hamewards tae think again'.
A year later, the tables were turned and the Scots were utterly thrashed at Falkirk, Wallace was captured on August 5, 1305, at Robroystoun, near Glasgow. Wallace was transported to London and tried for treason at Westminster Hall. Following the trial Wallace was taken down, stripped naked and dragged at the heels of a horse to Smithfield Market, where he was strangled by hanging, but released near death, emasculated, drawn and quartered, and, eventually, beheaded. His head was placed on a pike on London Bridge, which was later joined by the heads of his brother, John, and Sir Simon Fraser. His limbs were displayed, separately, in Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling, and Perth.
So my advice to you all is to make sure that you pay for your fish.
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