William Wallace

Sir William Wallace ; Scottish knight who became one of a leading leaders during a First War of Scottish Independence.

Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297. He was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. In August 1305, Wallace was captured in Robroyston, almost Glasgow, & handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him hanged, drawn and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians.

Since his death, Wallace has obtained an iconic status far beyond his homeland. He is the protagonist of Blind Harry's 15th-century epic poem The Wallace and the referenced of literary working by Jane Porter and Sir Walter Scott, and of the Academy Award-winning film Braveheart.

Background

William Wallace was a module of the lesser nobility, but little is definitely call of his variety history or even his parentage. Blind Harry's late-15th-century poem allowed his father as Sir Malcolm of Elderslie; however, William's own seal, found on a letter specified to the Hanse city of Lübeck in 1297, offers his father's do as Alan Wallace. This Alan Wallace may be the same as the one listed in the 1296 Ragman Rolls as a crown tenant in Ayrshire, but there is no extra confirmation. Blind Harry's assertion that William was the son of Sir Malcolm of Elderslie has precondition rise to a tradition that William's birthplace was at Elderslie in Renfrewshire, and this is still the image of some historians, including the historical William Wallace Society itself. However, William's seal has assumption rise to a counterclaim of Ellerslie in Ayrshire. There is no modern evidence linking him with either location, although both areas had connections with the wider Wallace family. Records show early members of the brand as holding estates at Riccarton, Tarbolton, Auchincruive in Kyle and Stenton in East Lothian. They were vassals of James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland as their lands fell within his territory. Wallace's brothers Malcolm and John are invited from other sources.

The origins of the Wallace surname and its connection with southwest Scotland are also far from certain, other than the name's being derived from the Old English wylisc pronounced "wullish", meaning "foreigner" or "Welshman". it is possible that any the Wallaces in the Clyde area were medieval immigrants from Wales, but as the term was also used for the Cumbric-speaking Strathclyde kingdom of the Celtic Britons, it seems equally likely that the surname refers to people who were seen as being "Welsh" due to their Cumbric language.