Wallace

Name: William Wallace Occupation Military leader,noble, and scholar Born: No record of his birth Died: 1305 Birthplace: Renfrew, Scotland

Was the instagator of the Scottish Revolution.

This 19th-century engraving depicts Scottish rebel William Wallace (right) advising Scottish king Robert I, also known as Robert the Bruce, to flee London, ca. 1304. Robert had pledged fealty to English king Edward I in 1302, but he maintained a secret agenda for Scottish sovereignty. Edward learned of this infidelity, and Robert was lucky to escape London with his life.

"Robert I and William Wallace." Image. Ridpath, John Clark, //Ridpath's History of the World,// 1901. //World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras//.ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.

English behavior toward the Scottish people aroused bitter hatred and prompted a 1297 Scottish uprising led by the legendary [|William Wallace]. After leading the Scottish resistance forces to victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Wallace launched raids into England, provoking the English invasion of 1298. Despite the overwhelming English victory at the [|Battle of Falkirk] in July, the English were unable to subjugate Scotland until 1305, when Wallace was captured and executed. Thereafter, [|Robert I] emerged as Scotland's leader and king, and between 1307 and 1314, the Scots largely cleared their country of the English, with only Stirling, Dunbar, and Berwick remaining under English control.

"Scottish Wars of Independence." //World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras//.ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.

There is some evidence that Wallace went to France in 1299 and thereafter acted as a solitary guerrilla leader in Scotland; but from the autumn of 1299 nothing is known of his activities for more than four years. Although most of the Scottish nobles submitted to Edward in 1304, the English continued to pursue Wallace relentlessly. On Aug. 5, 1305, he was arrested near Glasgow. Taken to London, he was condemned as a traitor to the king even though, as he maintained, he had never sworn allegiance to Edward. He was hanged, disemboweled, [|beheaded], and quartered.

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