|
Scotland's
'Bravehearts' There
are two men whose names were a clarion call to all Scots. Robert
the Bruce, who took up arms against both
Edward I and Edward II
of England and who united the Highlands and the Lowlands in a
fierce battle for liberty: and a humble Lowland knight, Sir William
Wallace. Sir
William Wallace 1272 - 1305
Wallace
killed the English Sheriff of Lanark who had apparently murdered
Wallace's sweetheart. A
price was put on his head, so Wallace took the bold course and
raised the Scottish Standard. Supported by a few of the Scots
barons, he inflicted a resounding defeat on the English at Stirling
Bridge in 1297. The
jubilant Scots made him Guardian of Scotland but their joy was
short-lived. Wallace
made a fatal mistake, he took on the English Army who greatly
outnumbered his men, and in a pitched battle at Falkirk in 1298
Edward I of England annihilated the Scots battalions and Wallace
became a fugitive for 7 years. While
in Glasgow in 1305 he was betrayed and taken to London where he was
tried for treason in Westminster Hall. He was one of the first
to suffer the fearsome penalty of hanging, drawing and quartering.
His head was
'spiked' on London Bridge and fragments of his body distributed
among several Scottish cities as a grim reminder of the price of
revolt.
 Robert
the Bruce 1274 - 1329
Robert
the Bruce, as every school-child knows, was inspired by a spider! Bruce
had paid homage to Edward I of England and it is not known why he
changed his allegiance later. Maybe it was ambition or a
genuine desire to see Scotland independent. In
1306 in the Greyfriars Church at Dumfries he murdered his only
possible rival for the throne, John Comyn, and was excommunicated
for this sacrilege. Nevertheless he was crowned King of
Scotland a few months later. Robert
the Bruce was defeated in his first two battles against the English,
and became a fugitive, hunted by both Comyn's friends and the
English. Whilst hiding, despondent, in a room he is said to
have watched a spider swing from one rafter to another, time after
time, in an attempt to anchor it's web. It failed six times,
but at the seventh attempt, succeeded. Bruce took this to be
an omen and resolved to struggle on. His
decisive victory over Edward II's army at Bannockburn in 1314
finally won the freedom he had struggled for. Bruce was King
of Scotland from 1306 - 1329. Robert
the Bruce is buried in Dumferline Abbey and a cast taken of his
skull can be seen in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
©
E.P.C |