In the Footsteps of William Wallace
Page 16
Dumbarton Castle, where Wallace was imprisoned after his arrest at Robroyston. John of Menteith, who took responsibility for his capture and custody, was Sheriff of Dumbarton.
Wallace’s Well at Robroyston. There are a number of memorials to Wallace’s capture in Robroyston in 1305 in the town. These include a monument and Wallace’s Well, though there is nothing to connect Wallace with the latter.
William Wallace was eventually betrayed (by whom, it is not known) in 1305. He was captured on 3 August by John of Menteith who, since his submission to Edward I between September 1303 and March 1304, had been entrusted with the sheriffdom of Dumbarton. Although Scottish sources put all the blame for the betrayal on him (and Edward I was keen to reward him with land worth £100), it is not certain whether Menteith was doing any more than fulfilling his duties in the area of his responsibility. As Menteith later appeared in the following of Robert Bruce, it has even been suggested that Robert Bruce could have been implicated in Wallace’s arrest. Bruce undoubtedly would feel that the removal of one of the two mainstays and supporters of John Balliol’s kingship – John Soules being the other – could improve the chances of a Bruce claim. Bruce came close, indeed, to taking Wallace himself near Peebles in late February 1304. It seemed rather that the traditional ruling families of Scotland preferred to leave Wallace to his fate. Comyns, Bruces, Stewarts and the bishops of St Andrews and Glasgow were engaged in their own political games – to achieve as much independence for Scotland as they could but at the same time ensure retention of political power in Scotland for themselves. Yet the mystery over the degree of contact and cooperation between the traditional ruling families of Scotland and Wallace in 1297 (when active revolt began) still existed in 1305 (at his capture).
When he was arrested – according to Peter of Langtoft, ‘Sir John de Menteith . . . took him in bed beside his strumpet’ – documents were found in his possession that included confederations and ordinances made between Wallace and the magnates of Scotland. There were certainly plots afoot in 1304, though it is not known whether Wallace was involved in them. On 11 June 1304, for instance, Robert Bruce made a secret bond with Bishop William Lamberton, promising ‘to be of one another’s counsel in all their business and affairs at all times and against whichever individuals’. Bruce was clearly seeking wider support even if this meant making unlikely partnerships. Any conspiracy would have to take account of the Comyns’ power (still not destroyed after their tactful submission to Edward I in early 1304) and it seems possible that a similar general agreement to an alliance of mutual cooperation may have been made between Robert Bruce and his fierce rival, John Comyn of Badenoch, in 1304. Those responsible for a plot may also have sought military affiliation with William Wallace, whose popular support was known to Scottish and English leaders alike. The involvement of Lamberton (a close ally of Wallace) and Wishart (who had also been associated with Wallace in 1297) in the scheme to help Bruce usurp the Scottish throne suggests that Wallace may have been approached at some stage. It is also probable, given his loyalty to the Balliol cause, that Wallace would have rejected such overtures, as John Comyn did in 1306.
After his arrest, Wallace was sent to London in the custody of John Segrave. He arrived there on 22 August 1305 and was taken to the property of William Leyre, alderman, in the parish of Fenchurch. The intended public humiliation of Wallace started the next morning with a procession through crowds to Westminster Hall with the prisoner being led on horseback. A crown of laurels was placed on his head, a mocking riposte to the popular story that Wallace had once boasted that he would wear a crown at Westminster. There was no trial. Peter Mallory, Justiciar of England, read the indictments against Wallace who, as an outlaw, had no right to a trial and could only expect judgement and sentence. Wallace was charged with committing ‘all the felonies and seditions he possible could’ against Edward, killing the Sheriff of Lanark, usurping the power of ‘lord superior’ of Scotland, convening parliaments, pursuing a policy of alliance with the French; he was also accused of war atrocities – killing, burning, destruction of property and sacrilege. Wallace’s only known outburst during his ‘trial’ was his denial of the charge of treason, ‘that he had never been a traitor to the king of England’ because he had never acknowledged any allegiance to Edward I.
The Houses of Parliament. After his capture, William Wallace was taken to London and led to Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Houses of Parliament. One of Wallace’s offences was that he had convened parliaments in Scotland.
After John Segrave read the sentence, Wallace had to face the penalty that his crimes warranted; it was not specially devised just for Wallace. The various stages of Wallace’s ritual punishments began when he was stripped, bound to a hurdle and dragged behind a horse from Westminster to the Tower, then through the city streets to Aldgate, on to Smithfield where he was hanged, cut down while still alive, disembowelled and then beheaded. According to Matthew of Westminster, his heart and entrails ‘from which his perverse plans had arisen’ were burnt, and his corpse was hacked into four pieces. His head was hoisted onto London Bridge and his four quarters were displayed at Newcastle upon Tyne, Berwick, Stirling and Perth. Peter Langtoft outlines how Wallace was treated:
. . . judged on the following conditions: – first to be drawn to the gallows for his treasons, – to be hung for robbery and slaughter, – and because he had destroyed by burning – towns and churches and monasteries, – he is taken down from the gallows, and his belly opened, – the heart and bowels burnt to ashes, – and his head cut off for such faults, – because he had by these . . ., – maintained war, given protections, – seized lordship into his subjection – of the realm of another by his intrusions – His body was cut into four parts, – each hung by itself in memory of his name, – instead of his banner these are his standards – To finish his history, – at London is his head, – his body is divided in four good towns, – whereby to honour the isles – that are in Albania – And thus may you hear, – a lad to learn – to build in peace – It falls in his eye, – who hacks too high, – with the Wallace.
The Tower of London. The first part of William Wallace’s punishment involved being dragged from Westminster to the Tower. Following the English victory at Dunbar in 1296 and John Balliol’s submission, Balliol, his chief supporters, Scottish royal regalia and all records were brought to the Tower of London.
Whitehall. Wallace was paraded through the streets of London from Whitehall to the Tower.
Eleanor Statue, Charing Cross. This is one of a number of Eleanor crosses commemorating Edward I’s first queen who died in 1290. There is an effigy of Queen Eleanor (by William Torel) on her tomb in Westminster Abbey. Edward I’s grief at Eleanor’s death may have been an important contributory factor in the changing nature of his regime after 1290.
A similar punishment was meted out to Simon Fraser a year later, and is described in the Song on the Execution of Sir Simon Fraser:
To be a warning to all the gentlemen who are in Scotland . . . the head [Wallace’s] to London Bridge was sent – to prison there, – Afterwards Simon Fraser, who was traitor and fickle, – Sir Edward our king, who is full of piety – sent the Wallace’s quarters to his own country, to hand in four parts (of the country) to be their mirror, thereupon to think, in order that many might see – and dread – Why would they not take warning – of the battle of Dunbar – how ill they sped
Found on the Elderslie Wallace Monument, this is a copy of the plaque on the wall of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, close to the spot where he was executed (see following page).
The monument commemorating the death of Edward I in July 1307 at Burgh-on-Sands. Earlier in the year the English King had recognised that his policy for settling Scotland may have been ‘harsh and rigorous’. This was Edward I’s way of explaining the continuing levels of resistance that he was still experiencing after 1305 when he established a new government for Scotland. He was campaigning against the new opposition movement
led by Robert Bruce at the time of his death.
St Bartholomew’s plaque, St Bartholomew’s Hospital, near Smithfield, London. This panel commemorates William Wallace as ‘Scottish patriot . . . put to death near this spot’.
The English had firmly established William Wallace’s as the symbol of Scottish resistance by focusing attention on his capture, ritual trial and savage punishment in 1304 and 1305. There is no evidence that Wallace’s death caused Robert Bruce to come out in open rebellion in 1306. Bruce was already developing his own plans in 1304, with or without Wallace’s assistance. Undoubtedly, Wallace’s savage execution on 23 August 1305 raised the political temperature in Scotland and perhaps expedited Bruce’s own plans for revolt. Bruce and Wallace, however, represented two very different sides of the Scottish ‘patriot’ coin. Nationalist histories of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries have placed them closer together than they were at the time. Yet Bruce, by going it alone in 1306, and gaining some military success in 1307, soon found himself on a similar journey to the one that Wallace embarked on in 1297. It was not, however, until 1307–8 that Bruce gained the same degree of popular support enjoyed by Wallace between 1297 and 1298.
It is clear that Robert Bruce was not the natural successor of William Wallace. Wallace and Robert Bruce deserve entirely separate reputations as Scottish ‘patriot’ heroes. The number of Wallace placenames, statues and memorials found in Scotland attest to the popular appeal of William Wallace. While, however, Blind Harry and Braveheart have undoubtedly exaggerated Wallace’s efforts and somewhat distorted his reputation, there is no denying the real historical achievement of William Wallace. The Scottish political elite of Comyn, Balliol, Stewart and Bruce (albeit on it’s fringe) wrote and spoke the language of nationalism and Scottish independence but no one acted on those words more passionately and with such utter lack of compromise than William Wallace between 1297 and 1305.
APPENDIX ACCESS TO SITES
HISTORIC SCOTLAND
The sites listed below are manned and therefore subject to entry fees. All have the following standard opening times unless otherwise stated:
SUMMER: April–September, daily 9.30 a.m.–6.30 p.m.
WINTER: October–March, Monday–Saturday 9.30 a.m.–4.30 p.m., Sunday 2–4.30 p.m.
Caerlaverock Castle
Dirleton Castle
Linlithgow Palace
Melrose Abbey
WINTER: closed Thursday p.m. and all day Friday
Bothwell Castle
Dumbarton Castle
Dunfermline Abbey
Sweetheart Abbey
WINTER: daily to 5 p.m. (not 4.30 p.m.)
Stirling Castle
WINTER: closed
Balvenie Castle
All other sites are unmanned and open at any reasonable time.
ENGLISH HERITAGE SITES
SUMMER: April–September, daily 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
WINTER: November–March, daily 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Carlisle Castle
Clifford’s Tower, York
Lanercost Priory
Norham Castle
SUMMER: regularly
Alnwick Castle
Bamburgh Castle
OCCASIONAL OPENING
Bywell Castle
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(in translation except where stated)
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