by Alan Young
He was a tall man with the body of a giant, cheerful in appearance with agreeable features, broad-shouldered and big-boned with belly in proportion and lengthy flanks, pleasing in appearance but with a wild look, broad in the hips, with strong arms and legs, a most spirited fighting-man, with all his limbs very strong and firm.
This description seems to be modelled on the well-known vignette of Charlemagne given by his biographer Einhard, who in turn was influenced by the Roman writer Suetonius.
It is to Walter Bower we must turn for the popular tradition whereby William Wallace inspired Robert Bruce to take up the cause of Scottish independence in the aftermath of the English victory over Wallace’s forces at the Battle of Falkirk (22 July 1298). According to Bower, Robert Bruce was on the English side at the battle – a debatable issue – and, pursuing the defeated Scots, encountered William Wallace who accused him thus:
Robert, Robert, it is your inactivity and womanish cowardice that spur me to set authority free in your native land . . .
Bower relates that this stirred a profound reaction in Robert Bruce:
On account of all this Robert himself was like one awakening from a deep sleep; the power of Wallace’s words so entered his heart that he no longer had any thought of favouring the views of the English. Hence, as he became every day braver than he had been, he kept all these words uttered by his faithful friend, considering them in his heart.
It is important to note that no fourteenth-century source hints that Wallace had a role in rousing Robert Bruce’s dormant nationalism. John of Fordun, the most well-regarded Scottish commentator on the period during which Wallace is said to have exerted influence, does not mention the episode. Another piece written at about the same time as Fordun’s Chronicle was the epic poem The Bruce (1375), by John Barbour, the Archdeacon of Aberdeen. This comprehensive work praises in detail the life of Robert Bruce, but significantly William Wallace does not even warrant a mention.
Despite this, it is clear that the legend of William Wallace had already received some considerable development before Blind Harry’s poem The Wallace took his reputation onto another plane of hero-worship. The Wallace was not only an epic in style but also in length, comprising almost 12,000 lines. It became, as will be seen, the most well-known representation of William Wallace. However, to appreciate fully the value of Blind Harry’s work it should be placed in a number of settings – the Scottish historical context of Fordun, Wyntoun and Bower; the literary background of popular writing: outlaw ballads, the tales of Robin Hood, William Tell and Arthur and the writings of Chaucer; and the political circumstances of late fifteenth-century Scotland where the pro-English policies of James III of Scotland provoked hostile anti-English sentiments. According to M. McDiarmid, editor of a valuable critical edition of Blind Harry’s The Wallace for the Scottish Text Society (1968–9): ‘Harry’s Wallace is firstly a poetical narrative and to be read as such, but an awareness of its propagandist bearing on the Scots’ political situation of 1477–9 is essential to an understanding of the poet’s free treatment of his subject-matter.’ In the political sense, William Wallace was an ideal figurehead for the anti-English party. Indeed, in Blind Harry’s hands, William Wallace even took on the appearance of Alexander Duke of Albany, the leader of the anti-English party in Scotland during Blind Harry’s time. Thus a new layer was added to the already exaggerated physical image of Wallace that had been fashioned by Walter Bower. Blind Harry used Bower’s classical representation and contemporary knowledge of the Duke of Albany (later verified by sixteenth-century chronicle accounts) to compose a portrait that was influential for several centuries:
In stature he was full nine quarters high,
When measured, at least, without a lie.
Betwixt his shoulders was three quarters broad,
Such length and breadth would now-a-days seem odd . . .
Great, but well-shaped limbs, voice strong and sture,
Burning brown hair, his brows and eye-bries light;
Quick piercing eyes, like to the diamonds bright.
A well proportioned visage, long and sound;
Nose square and neat, with ruddy lips and round.
His breast was high, his neck was thick and strong;
A swinging hand, with arms both large and long.
Grave in his speech, his colour sanguine fine,
A beauteous face wherein did honour shine.
In time of peace mild as a lamb would be,
When war approach’d, a Hector stout was he.
The value of The Wallace in understanding the historical William Wallace has been widely debated. In the eighteenth century, Sir David Dalrymple described Harry as ‘an author who either knew not history or who meant to falsify it’. These two strands represent the extremes of the debate. John Mair, writing The History of Great Britain (1518), thought that Harry was blind from birth and that the information within The Wallace would have been obtained from popular oral tales rather than books. The work of M. McDiarmid (1968–9) has clearly demonstrated that Harry was not blind from birth and had, in fact, access to chroniclers such as Bower, Wyntoun, Barbour and Froissart. Indeed, Harry seems to follow and elaborate upon Bower at key points in his narrative, such as the emphasis on Wallace’s personal qualities and physical characteristics, the episode after Falkirk in which Wallace awakens in Robert Bruce a latent sense of patriotism and duty, and the religious exaltation of Wallace. As far as the latter issue is concerned, Harry presents Wallace dramatically as the patriot leader appointed by God. Harry describes Wallace’s vision in Monkton church in which St Andrew confers the sword of Scotland on him:
Into that slumber Wallace thought he saw,
A stalwart man, that towards him did draw;
Who hastily did catch him by the hand;
‘I am’, he said, ‘sent to thee by command’;
A sword he gave him of the finest steel,
‘This sword’, said he, ‘son, may thou manage weel’;
A topaz fine, the plummet, did he guess,
The hilt and all did glitter o’er like glass.
‘Dear son’, said he, ‘we tarry here too long;
Shortly thou must revenge thy country’s wrong.’
This cairn in Leglen Wood commemorates both William Wallace and Robert Burns, who was influenced by Blind Harry’s writings. In The Wallace Blind Harry describes Wallace’s attacks on the English garrison at Ayr from bases such as Leglen Wood.
The focus in both Bower’s and Blind Harry’s work is passionately anti-English. Bower’s Scotichronicon ends with the words ‘He is no Scot, O Christ, that finds this book displeasing.’ As with the other themes, Blind Harry takes this a stage further, describing with relish a series of Wallace’s violent anti-English acts of vengeance. Indeed, so overwhelming is this that Wallace’s cause itself seems to become revenge against the English rather than defence of John Balliol’s right to the Scottish throne, which is barely mentioned in The Wallace.
Historians have shown that Blind Harry’s The Wallace is a complex blend of some fact with much fiction, distortions of other chroniclers and incorrect chronology. There are a number of major historical inaccuracies embedded in the poem, of which some of the most significant are: the Battle of Falkirk is dated five years (rather than one) after the Battle of Stirling Bridge and is turned into a Scottish victory; the Battle of Loudoun Hill is taken from Robert Bruce’s career, as is the threat to the English war capital at York; Wallace is said to invade England as far as St Albans (there is no evidence that he came further south than the Tyne); the ‘battles’ of Biggar and Linlithgow are added to Wallace’s war record; and he is given credit for coming to Scotland’s rescue no less than three times. Yet, despite the misleading nature of the material in The Wallace, the general lack of detailed authentic information on many aspects of Wallace’s career has led historians to hope that there might be some true facts hidden in the poem. The mystery surrounding Wallace’s background and family origins is one ar
ea that has puzzled historians as they attempt to understand the motivation for his dramatic emergence in 1297. Within the twelve books into which The Wallace is divided, the Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297) does not appear until the end of Book VII. Given that Blind Harry wrote the poem under the patronage of Sir William Wallace of Craigie, who was a descendant of William Wallace and probably familiar with Wallace family history and traditions, there may well be some accuracy in the details recorded in the first six books of The Wallace, which deal with William Wallace’s youth.
The Barnweill Wallace Monument in Ayrshire, which was completed in about 1855. This memorial preserves another tradition, again graphically established by Blind Harry, that says Wallace made a revenge attack on a barn full of English soldiers. Apparently, Wallace, having set fire to the barn, shouted ‘the barns of Ayr burn well’, which gave the area its name.
Perhaps more important to the making and confirming of the legend from this period is the fact that Blind Harry’s narrative was generally believed until at least the eighteenth century and that The Wallace was hugely ‘popular’. Blind Harry wrote with the support and encouragement of Sir William Wallace of Craigie in order to prevent William Wallace’s career and achievement as patriot hero from being completely overshadowed by that of Robert Bruce. As is well known, it is the winners (or their friends) who write the history of a nation. It is hardly surprising that Robert Bruce was the major hero promoted by Scottish nationalist writers in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries – John of Fordun, Andrew Wyntoun, Walter Bower and especially John Barbour. Blind Harry and his patron sought to do for Wallace what Barbour had done for Robert Bruce a century earlier.
Blind Harry’s main historical influences were the Scottish nationalist writings of the period 1370 to 1470, with Walter Bower being particularly important. However, other genres of literature also had an impact on the creation of The Wallace – the outlaw ballads especially, but also the work of Chaucer. As a result, Wallace came to be seen as a hero in the mould of popular figures of the time, such as Robin Hood, William Tell and Arthur. By the end of the fourteenth century, Robin Hood’s reputation was already widespread and during the fifteenth century William Wallace came to be seen as a Scottish Robin Hood. Langland referred to the ‘rymes’ of Robin Hood in Piers Plowman in 1377 and it is important to note that two Scottish chroniclers known to have influenced Blind Harry, Andrew Wyntoun and Walter Bower, were among the first historians to mention Robin Hood and were clearly familiar with the ballads. Blind Harry’s work follows the conventions of these ballads and it is hardly surprising that they share common features. Both present their respective heroes as proud outlaws, expert archers, using the inaccessibility of woods and forests to fight guerrilla-type warfare against their oppressors. The spirit of the Greenwood is strong in both. In both the protagonist employs a variety of disguises to avoid capture, displays generosity to the poor and fights for just causes. In The Wallace and the ballads of Robin Hood, the arch-enemy is a sheriff, chief representative of their oppressors.
It is interesting to note that, apart from the legend of Robin Hood, which had been in existence for over a century, the tale of William Tell was also being embellished at about the time Blind Harry was writing. In addition, rather more well-established stories were gaining new life in the late fifteenth century. In 1485 Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur was published in England, giving greater prominence to this long-lived saga. There are certainly parallels between the amount of violence in this work and Blind Harry’s poem. The Wallace should be examined amid this array of legends and the image of William Wallace was undoubtedly affected by exposure to this literary genre. No doubt too this style was popular and perhaps enhanced with some stylistic elements from Chaucer.
The Wallace was one of the first printed books in Scotland in about 1508–9 and became one of the most successful books in that country. There were at least twenty-three editions of the poem before 1707 and, according to Dr James Moir who produced the first Scottish Text Society edition of the poem, only the Bible was found more often in Scottish homes. The popularity of Harry’s The Wallace was no doubt increased with the translation by William Hamilton of Gilbertfield in 1722, A New Edition of the Life and Heroick Actions of the Renoun’d Sir William Wallace, General and Governor of Scotland. The many editions of this version ensured the ascendancy of The Wallace throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It outstripped Barbour’s The Bruce in popularity and this also extended beyond Scotland.
The story of William Wallace inspired Robert Southey in his The Death of Wallace (1798):
He call’d to mind his deeds
Done for his country in the embattled field,
He thought of that good cause for which he died,
And it was joy in death
William Wordsworth also made reference to Wallace in his Prelude (1805):
How Wallace fought for Scotland, left the name
Of Wallace to be found, like a wild flower,
All over his dear country, left the deeds
Of Wallace, like a family of Ghosts,
To people the steep rocks and river banks,
Her natural sanctuaries, with a local soul
Of independence and stern liberty.
These words reflect the reality of Wallace’s popular association with the Scottish landscape. The name of Wallace is linked with hundreds of placenames across Scotland (though the majority of them are to be found in central and south-west Scotland) including: Wallace’s Tower, Wallace’s Monument, Wallace’s Hill, Wallace’s Stone, Wallace’s Trench, Wallace’s Cave, Wallace Moor, Wallace Seat, Wallace’s Well, Wallace Wood, Wallace Road, Wallace’s Pass, Wallace’s Leap, Wallace’s Camp, Wallace’s Rocks, Wallace’s Brae and even Wallace’s Bed and Wallace’s Beef Barrell! These names bear remarkable witness to William Wallace’s public appeal.
Selkirk plaque. Selkirk Forest, the ancient Ettrick Forest, was often used as a base by William Wallace during his campaigns against English forces in Scotland. Tradition has it that this was the site where Wallace was created Guardian of Scotland but it is not known precisely where or when he received this honour.
The popularity of William Wallace was also perpetuated through Robert Burns. Blind Harry’s The Wallace was the most renowned work in Scotland before the era of Burns and Walter Scott. Robert Burns was, like many others, influenced by the life of William Wallace and ranked him alongside Hannibal as one of his chief heroes (as cited by Elspeth King in Blind Harry’s Wallace, William Hamilton of Gilbertfield [Edinburgh, Luath Press, 1998]):
The face of the Dryburgh Statue. The image of Wallace depicted here, typical of many nineteenth-century portraits, tends to add both years and gravitas to him.
The story of Wallace poured a Scottish prejudice in my views which will boil along, there until the floodgates of life shut in eternal rest.
It might be thought that the formal political Treaty of Union between England and Scotland in 1707 would lead to the need for a different kind of symbolic national hero in Scotland. During the long periods of actual or threatened warfare between Scotland and England during the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it was natural to promote figures who would be held up as fighting symbols of resistance. Blind Harry’s portrait of Wallace at the end of the fifteenth century represented an extreme form of violently anti-English hero and divinely appointed martyr for his country’s cause. However, the Treaty of Union did not bring to an end Scotland’s need to defend and maintain a distinct identity. Marinell Ash noted in The Strange Death of Scottish History (Edinburgh, Ramsay Head Press, 1980) that the nineteenth century was a time ‘that Scotland was ceasing to be distinctly and confidently herself . . . also the period when there grew an increasing emphasis on the emotional trappings of the Scottish past’.
One aspect of this was the raising of monuments to national heroes, and William Wallace was central to this movement. Wallace statues and memorials were set up as enthusiastically as Wallace p
lacenames were adopted. A number of structures were erected in the early nineteenth century including the Wallace Monument at Wallacestone on 2 August 1810 and more notably the 21-ft memorial at Dryburgh on 22 September 1814. Even more magnificent was the National Wallace Monument which was built by public subscription on Abbey Craig at Stirling and promoted by the Revd Charles Rogers, founder of the Royal Historical Society. Constructed between 1861 and 1869 and eventually rising to a height of 220 ft, the National Wallace Monument attracted much public attention from the outset – a crowd of over 50,000 people attended a great ceremony to mark the laying of the foundation stone.
Many other monuments testify to the cult of William Wallace in the nineteenth century. The Wallace Tower in Ayr, for example, was renovated in Gothic style in 1834. Another Wallace statue in Stirling town centre depicts Wallace in Grecian fashion. The Wallace Memorial Window in Paisley Abbey, set up in 1873, portrays Wallace as Samson. Wallace was seen as a hero in classical and biblical style. It is apparent from the monuments and memorials of this time that Wallace was represented with a seniority of years and a certain ‘gravitas’, which was in keeping with the Victorian period.
The Dryburgh Statue, commissioned by the eleventh Earl of Buchan in 1814, was sculpted from red sandstone and is 21 ft high.
This window at Paisley Abbey depicts Wallace as Samson and dates from 1873. The Cluniac abbey of Paisley was founded by Walter Fitz Alan, Steward of Scotland, in about 1163. The nearness of Elderslie and the Wallace link with the Stewarts has led to the tradition that William Wallace may have received early schooling here.
William Wallace was still a cult figure in Scotland in the nineteenth century, but his image had changed to suit the time. Nationalism in nineteenth-century Scotland meant something quite different from what it had in Blind Harry’s time and the symbol of William Wallace adapted too. The Scottish Patriotic Society through the Revd David MacRae played a key role in the funding of the monument to Wallace’s capture at Robroyston, which was unveiled in 1900. The National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights supported the National Monument to Wallace but could also, without any sense of incongruity, voice admiration for Scotland’s partner in the Union, England. Recent research has revealed that backing for the Union was the majority view in Scotland and that supporters of this were as fervent as any in promoting the cult of William Wallace.