General Notes

Nickname:<NICK> BRAVEHEART
2nd son of Malcolm Wallace and Jean Crawford, b. 1276; became the Heroic Defender of Scottish Independence. William was 15 years old when his father defied King Edward I. At the age of 20 he married Cornellia Bradfute, the heiress of Bradfute; had dau. Elizabeth. Gov. Hazelrig, the English Governor at Dundee, murdered Cornellia. To avenge her death, Sir William slew several of the governor's attendants and also the sheriff of Dundee. When he was pursued, he fled to the woods and was outlawed. Gathering together a great number of followers, he drove the English out of a great section of Scotland and in 1297 defeated the English at the battle of Stirling. It is on this site that the Wallace monument was erected. Sir William
was appointed one of the Commanders-in-Chief of the Scottish armies and penetrated into England with fire and sword. King Edward was in Flanders when he heard of the insurrection and hurried home to march his armies against Sir William whom he finally defeated. Sir William carried on guerilla warfare against England for several years but was finally betrayed, captured and executed in London on August 23, 1305, at the age of 31. His father, Sir Malcolm, and brother, Andrew, met the same fate. It is presumed that they were captured and executed together. [Wallace Family Genealogy, p. 5-7]

BURR LINE

Down in the Selkirk forest William Wallace, son of a knightly family from the parish of Paisley, was living an outlaw life since neither he nor his eldest brother, Sir Malcolm, had bowed their heads at Berwick. A giant of a man with a mane of brown hair and piercing eyes, Wallace had become a magnet for the discontented. He had recently married a young woman who lived in lanark. Visiting her by stealth, as a marked man, he clashed with an English patrol. Fighting his way clear, he retreated to her house and as his pursuers hammered on the front door he escaped by the back to the rocky Cartland Crags. Enraged by the failure to capture him, Sir William Heselrig, Sheriff of Lanark, ordered the house to be burned and all within it, wife and servants, to be put to the sword. From that day Wallace vowed an undying vengeance against the English. Gathering together a band of desperate men, he fell by night on the sheriff and his armed guard, hewed the sheriff into small pieces with his own sword and burned the buildings and those within them. Men flocked to Wallace's banner and with a growing force he turned eastward to where the chief justice was holding his courts at Scone. On the way there he was joined by the stormy Sir William Douglas and a body of mounted men. [Robert the Bruce, p. 39]

Following the Battle of Stirling, his armed forces, the earls, barons and knights, the bishops, abbots and friars who were then in Scotland met to resolve the future of the realm. In the presence of them all, William Wallace was dubbed knight by Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and by the general voice of those assembled proclaimed guardian of the kingdom. [Robert the Bruce, p. 48]

Murdered Sir William Heselrig, English sherif of Lanark, in May 1297. Wallace cut him to pieces, perhaps to avenge Marion's death at the hands of Heselrig. Well-documented evidence survives of his first use of round schiltrons of spearmen. Even Sir Winston Churchill admired his fighting skills. After the Scots' brilliant victory at Stirling Bridge on 11 Sept 1297, Wallace was knighted and elected Guardian of Scotland, a position he resigned after his army's defeat at Falkirk. According to historical accounts, Wallace went to France in 1299 to plead dethroned Scottish King John Balliol's case with King Philip IV. He may also have travelled to Rome to meet the Pope on his behalf before returning to Scotland 4-5 years later. Upon his return, Wallace continued to harass occupying English troops, although on a much smaller scale than before. In 1305, Sir John Menteith, a former friend, betrayed Wallace and as a result, Edward