Scottish Knight William Wallace is the national hero of his country. He became the leader of the uprising against the dominance of the British, which took place in the XIII century. Like everything related to the Middle Ages, the facts of his life are rather sketchy, especially those that relate to the first years when he was still unknown.
Origin
William Wallace was born around 1270. He was the second son in the family of a small-local and little-known knight. Since William was not senior, then the titles passed him. However, this did not prevent him from learning to master the sword and other weapons, without which it was difficult to imagine the life of a man. When at the age of 16 it was time for him to decide on his future, the unexpected happened.
Situation in the country
King of Scotland Alexander III died due to tragic accident. He had no sons left who could legally inherit the throne. But there was a little four-year-old daughter Margaret. Under her rule regents from among the Scottish nobility. The southern neighbor, King of England Edward I, decided to take advantage of this situation and agreed that the girl would marry his son. For a time a compromise was reached. However, little Margaret died of the disease at the age of eight. This led to confusion within the country. Numerous feudal lords of Scotland claimed their claims to power.
Some of them turned to Edward to judge who has more rights to the throne. He offered his man - Balliola. It seemed to him that the protege would obey him and, among other things, would 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 alone. If in the south-east of the country he managed to restore order, then the northern provinces rebelled.
The beginning of fame
Among the rebels was a young William Wallace. At first he was an ordinary soldier. Once he was captured by the British, who threw him in 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 the hated strangers.
For the young commander, this was a matter of principle, since the British killed his father. William with his detachment of thirty people tracked down the knight who was guilty of this and massacred him. Rumors of avenger have spread throughout Scottish villages. Many dissatisfied with the intervention responded to it. Mostly they were ordinary villagers, tired of extortion and injustice. It was 1297. Then Wallace was first mentioned in written reliable sources of the then chroniclers.
New supporters
Soon, a combat-ready detachment became attractive to the local aristocracy, some of which 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 has the title of Lord Douglas. In order to calm the rebel, Edward sent to the north of Robert Bruce.
It was Lord Annandale, originally 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 a neighboring country. But at that moment, when Bruce was one on one against the partisan movement, he decided to join the rebels.
Battle of the Sterling Bridge
English power could not tolerate the uprising. This time, the 10,000th army of the Earl of Surrey John de Varenna went north, across which William Wallace went. The history of the uprising hung in the balance: if the leader had been defeated, the British would immediately have found themselves in the defenseless north.
The Scots only had infantry, which, in addition, 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 it could hardly fit several people in one line. Therefore, when the British began to cross the river, quite a few vanguard troops appeared on the opposite bank. It was he who was attacked by partisans, armed with short swords and pikes 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 over the bridge to help the comrades, it collapsed, and with it a significant part of the army appeared in the river. After this fiasco, the king's army fled. However, even this the soldiers did not succeed, because behind them was a swampy swamp, in which they were bogged down. Because of this, the remnants of the troops became easy prey for the Scots. One of the most important English governors by the name of Hugh Cressingham was killed. There is a legend that he was stripped of his skin, which went to a band on the sword of William Wallace.
But even among the Scots there were heavy losses. Firstly, about a thousand soldiers died, which for a united, but small movement was a serious blow. Secondly, one of the commanders and leaders of the partisans, Andrew de Morrey, was a former faithful ally of William.
After the victory on the Sterling Bridge, the British left almost all of Scotland. The barons of the country elected William as regent, or keeper of the country. However, many of them treated the artificially upstart with distrust and went to his recognition only under pressure from the masses, on the contrary, who completely sympathized with Wallace. In the wake of success, he even attacked the northern regions of England, where he destroyed small garrisons.
The invasion of Edward I
However, these were only temporary successes. Until this moment, the campaign against Wallace took place without the direct participation of Edward I, who distanced himself from the conflict while being occupied with French affairs. But in the new 1298, he again invaded Scotland with fresh strength. This time the army was attended by a thousandth detachment of heavily armed cavalry, which had enormous experience in fighting, including in France.
The rebels did not have much resources. This was understood by William Wallace. Scotland was tense to the limit. All combat-ready men have long left peaceful towns and villages to protect the Fatherland. Direct confrontation against the large royal army was like death.
Therefore, Wallace decided to use scorched earth tactics. 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 as difficult for the British as they had to chase the enemy in a destitute desert.
Battle of Falkirk
When Edward had decided that it was time to leave Scotland, which is so difficult to catch the partisans, he found out the exact location of Wallace. He stood near the city of Falkirk. There the battle took place.
In order to protect the soldiers from the cavalry, Sir William Wallace surrounded the infantry with a stockade, 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, at the same time taking their troops with them. The king’s army was twice as large as Scottish (15 thousand against 7 thousand). Therefore, the victory of the British was logical.
Recent years and execution
Despite the defeat, parts of the Scots managed to retreat. Among them was William Wallace. The biography of the commander was greatly spoiled. He decided to seek support from the king of France, where he went, having previously removed his powers as regent and transferred them to Robert Bruce (in the future he will become king of independent Scotland).
However, the negotiations did not end with 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: at the same time, hanging, quartering and evisceration were used. Despite this, the brave knight remained in the memory of the people as a national hero.