Scottish knight William Wallace is a 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 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 prevent him from learning the skill of owning 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 Alexander III of Scotland died due to a tragic accident. He left no sons who could legally inherit the throne. But there was a little four-year-old daughter, Margaret. Under her reign, regents from among the Scottish nobility ruled. 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 a while, a compromise was reached. However, little Margaretdied of illness at the age of eight. This led to confusion within the country. Numerous feudal lords of Scotland declared their claims to power.
Some of them turned to Edward to judge who has more rights to the throne. He offered his man - Balliol. 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 he managed to restore order in the southeast of the country, then the northern provinces rebelled.
Beginning of fame
Among the rebels was the young William Wallace. At first he was an ordinary soldier. Once he was captured by the British, who threw him into prison. However, local Scottish peasants carried supplies to him and helped him escape. Then William Wallace gathered his own partisan detachment, with which he successfully robbed and killed hated strangers.
For the young commander, this was a matter of principle, since the British had killed his father. William, with his detachment of thirty men, tracked down the guilty knight and massacred him. In the Scottish villages there was a rumor about the people's avenger. Many dissatisfied with the intervention responded to it. Mostly they were simple villagers, tired of extortion and injustice. It was 1297. At the same time, Wallace was first mentioned in writtenreliable 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 ally with the rebels was William Hardy, who has the title of Lord Douglas. In order to calm the rebel, Edward sent Robert the Bruce north.
This was the Lord of 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 the neighboring country. But at the moment when Bruce found himself alone against the guerrilla movement, he decided to join the rebels.
Battle of Sterling Bridge
The British authorities could not tolerate the inflamed uprising. This time, the 10,000th army of the Earl of Surrey, John de Warenne, went north, against which William Wallace set off. 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, 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 could hardly accommodate several people in one line. Therefore, when the British began to cross the river, there were very few troops from among the vanguard on the opposite bank. It was hispartisans attacked, armed with short swords and pikes several meters long. The latter weapon was particularly effective against the count's heavily armed but slow-moving knights. 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 troops ended up in the river. After this fiasco, the king's army fled. However, even this was not possible for the soldiers, as behind them was a marshy 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 governors named Hugh Cressingham was killed. There is a legend that he was skinned, which went to the baldric on 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 to a cohesive but small movement. Secondly, one of the commanders and leaders of the partisans, Andrew de Morrey, who was a loyal ally of William, fell.
After the victory at Stirling Bridge, the British left almost all of Scotland. The barons of the country chose William as regent, or guardian of the country. However, many of them treated the geeky upstart with distrust and agreed to his recognition only under the pressure of the masses, on the contrary, who completely sympathized with Wallace. On the wave of success, he even attacked the northern regions of England, where he destroyed the small garrisons.
Edward's Invasion I
However, these were only temporary successes. Up to this point, the campaign against Wallace had beenwithout the direct involvement of Edward I, who distanced himself from the conflict while being preoccupied with French affairs. But in the new year 1298, he again invaded Scotland with fresh forces. This time, the army was attended by a thousandth detachment of heavily armed cavalry, which had tremendous experience in fighting, including in France.
The rebels didn't have many resources. William Wallace understood this. Scotland was stretched to the limit of their capabilities. All combat-ready men have long since left peaceful towns and villages to defend the Fatherland. Direct confrontation against the large royal army was like death.
So 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 the destitute desert.
Battle of Falkirk
When Edward had already decided that it was time to leave Scotland, in which it is so difficult to catch partisans, he learned about 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 palisade, in the intervals of which archers stood ready. However, his army was greatly weakened by the betrayal of some of the 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 the size of the Scottish (15 thousandagainst 7 thousand). Therefore, the British victory was logical.
Last years and execution
Despite the defeat, part of the Scots managed to retreat. Among them was William Wallace. The biography of the commander was badly spoiled. He decided to seek support from the King of France, where he went, having previously removed the powers of regent and transferred them to Robert the Bruce (in the future he will become the 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: hanging, quartering and gutting were used at the same time. Despite this, the brave knight remained in the memory of the people as a national hero.
