A History Of Scotland - Episode 02 - Hammer Of The Scots (History Documentary)
History documentary charting the birth and growth of the Scottish nation.
Neil Oliver charts the 13th century story of two ruthless men, Alexander II and William Wallace aka Braveheart who both helped transform the Gaelic kingdom of Alba into the Scotland we recognise today. While Alexander II forged Scotland in blood and violence, William Wallace's resistance to the nation-breaking King Edward I of England aka Longshanks hammered national consciousness into the Scots.
Neil Oliver charts the 13th century story of two ruthless men, Alexander II and William Wallace aka Braveheart who both helped transform the Gaelic kingdom of Alba into the Scotland we recognise today. While Alexander II forged Scotland in blood and violence, William Wallace's resistance to the nation-breaking King Edward I of England aka Longshanks hammered national consciousness into the Scots.
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TVTranscript
00:00It's mid-winter, 12.30. A horrific scene is played out in the middle of a busy market
00:19square. An infant child is held up to the crowds. Seconds later, she's dead. Her small
00:41corpse lies discarded in the mud, her brains splattered across the column of the market
00:47cross. Not far from the scene sits the man who ordered her murder. Meet Alexander II. King of
00:58the Scots. Seventy years later, the skin is flayed from the back of a hated English cleric. Meet the
01:09man who had that skin fashioned into a sword belt. William Wallace. Rebel. Fugitive. This is the story
01:19of two ruthless men. Alexander II, who forged Scotland in blood and violence. And William
01:28Wallace, whose resistance to the nation-breaking King of England hammered national consciousness
01:34into the Scots.
02:04This is the River Tay, just north of Perth. It runs past Scone, the ancient inauguration
02:24site of the Kings of Scotland. On a cold December morning in 1214, a 16-year-old boy journeyed
02:33across this river heading for Scone. His elderly father, William, had died the night before,
02:39but there was no time for mourning. This quick-tempered teenager was about to become the next King
02:44of Scots, Alexander II. Alexander has descended from a powerful dynasty of kings, traditionally
02:58known as the Canmores, a family who for generations fought to preserve their bloodline and kingdom.
03:07Alexander was an only son. From a young age, he'd been destined for greatness, but he wasn't
03:13Alexander the Great just yet. The kingdom he inherited was smaller than the Scotland
03:21we recognise today. It rubbed shoulders with a patchwork of other peoples and different
03:26languages. To the north, the heraldoms of Caithness and Sutherland. To the west, the
03:34gales of the Hebrides and the Isles. And in the south, the fiercely independent lordship
03:39of Galloway. But England, England was bigger, stronger, richer than them all. And for nearly
03:48200 years, the English kings said the kingdom of Scots belonged to them. The English were
03:53the overlords. It was all a game in which what you said you owned mattered every bit
03:59as much as what you actually held. The early Canmores had played the game, had recognised
04:07English superiority, but subservience was not Alexander's style. As far as Alexander
04:15was concerned, he was every bit equal of an English king. Call it brash, call it arrogant,
04:21but he was on a mission to free his kingship from English overlordship once and for all.
04:33But Alexander had a problem. If he hoped to free Scotland from overlordship, he would
04:39first have to resolve a bitter dispute with the King of England, King John. Northumbria,
04:48Cumberland and Westmoreland were territories to which both the Kings of England and the
04:53Kings of Scots laid claim. To settle the argument, Alexander's father had given both money and
05:00two of his daughters to King John of England. But John had reneged on the deal. Now, Alexander
05:12was determined to take back what was rightfully his.
05:24Alexander wasn't the only one with a grudge against King John. There was a long queue
05:28of English barons with similar grievances. Their biggest gripe against King John was
05:41that he had bled them dry with his constant request for money to fund his war in France.
05:47In protest, they drew up a list of over 60 demands. The document became known as Magna
06:04Carta. The barons added Alexander's claim to the disputed northern territories to the
06:10bottom of the list in Clause 59, a promise to do right by Alexander, King of the Scots.
06:26King John had no option but to agree to the barons' demands. He affixed his seal to
06:31the charter. But no sooner had he done so, he rejected it, calling it mere foolishness.
06:43Enough was enough. The barons decided to rid themselves of King John. England plunged into
06:51civil war. This was too good an opportunity to miss, a chance to reclaim the borderlands
06:58he believed were rightfully his. So he invaded northern England. He laid siege to Norham
07:04Castle, he burned Newcastle to the ground, and he took Carlisle. This impassioned teenager
07:10meant business. Alexander was no stranger to the battlefield.
07:27Despite his tender years, he'd served his military apprenticeship aged only 14 when
07:31he led his father's army. After crushing Gallic rebels in the north of Scotland, Alexander
07:38earned the respect of his men. Two years later, Alexander won the respect of the rebellious
07:45English barons as he took on their king. Now, with King John on the defensive, the barons
07:54in the north of England decided to switch allegiance and form a pact with Alexander.
08:02On the 11th of January 1216 in Melrose Abbey, the northern barons lined up to swear fealty
08:07to the king for their lands, and that king was the King of Scots. As far as Alexander
08:13was concerned, now that the northern barons had paid homage to him, the disputed borderlands
08:18were his. He had avenged his father. While Alexander tightened his grip in the north,
08:41the English barons in the south turned to John's enemy, the French, for help. The barons
08:50invited Prince Louis to England to take the English crown. He accepted. In the spring
08:59of 1216, the French prince and his army sailed for England. Opportunity knocked again. Alexander
09:08planned to cut a deal with the French prince. In return for his support, Alexander intended
09:14to press Louis to recognise the disputed northern territories as Scottish. In a stroke, the
09:21English crown's claims of overlordship would be swept aside. So he did something no Scottish
09:28monarch had done before or since. He marched an army all the way to Dover. Meeting little
09:43resistance on his way south, he joined forces with the French army and together they laid
09:48siege to Dover Castle, the key to England. In all the wars with England, no other Scottish
09:57king ever came so far. It was an incredible achievement. Alexander's head must have swelled
10:03with every passing day. He was 17 and he was on the brink of achieving his family's longest
10:08held ambition. Half of Britain was nearly his. But then fate dealt a devastating blow.
10:22King John died. On the face of it, his death should have been good news for Alexander.
10:29But with John out of the way, the need for the baron's war vanished. The barons who had
10:35once opposed King John now flocked to his son's side, the new King Henry III. Both Alexander,
10:42King of Scots, and Louis, the French prince, had outgrown their usefulness. The English
10:48barons sent them packing. There was no deal for Alexander. All of his grand ambitions
10:57fizzled out. Henry III reissued Magna Carta and all references to Alexander's claims
11:03were omitted, not even a footnote. Despite loud protests, the ground was cut from beneath
11:08his feet and he was left out in the cold. And it got worse. The Pope gave his backing
11:21to Henry III. Alexander found himself excommunicated. The powers of the Scottish church suspended.
11:33Back to square one. It stung. The Pope chastised him like a wayward son, ordering the truculent
11:44teenager to return his English conquests and pay homage for them to the King of England,
11:50the nine-year-old King of England. In Northampton on the 19th of December 1217, Alexander, bereft
12:02of allies, paid homage to the child King Henry III. His ambition of ruling the northern
12:09territories of England was over. Deflated, Alexander returned to Scotland. His ambitions
12:25shattered. His morale was at an all-time low. He came here to Arbroath Abbey to pay respects
12:31to his father, William, who had also failed to regain the northern territories. If Alexander
12:38had learned anything from the war in England, it was that the northern barons had felt English,
12:43not Scottish. They had chosen Henry as their king, not Alexander. The English barons knew
12:51instinctively who their king was, but could the same be said for the Scottish nobles?
13:04The Scottish nobles were split between two powerful factions. In the south were the descendants
13:10of Norman families, invited to settle in southern Scotland by the early Canmore kings. Helping
13:17to build many of the great border abbeys and cathedrals, they changed the face of Scotland,
13:22transforming it into a more European-looking kingdom. In the north were the territories
13:28of the powerful Gaelic earls, whose ancestors had forged the Kingdom of Scots. But these
13:34were the very Gaelic lords that Alexander's family had rejected in favour of a Norman
13:39future. The old Gaelic elite became sidelined. Once upon a time, they'd helped run the kingdom.
13:52Now they were called things like Divider of the King's Meat, while the French-speaking
13:57Brat Pack of Norman lords received titles like Chancellor and Constable of Scotland.
14:03One chronicler of the time wrote, the modern kings of Scotland count themselves as Frenchmen
14:08in race, manners, language and culture. They keep only Frenchmen in their household and
14:13following and have reduced the Scots to utter servitude.
14:21Some Gaelic nobles adopted the Norman ways, but others returned to their own lands, beyond
14:26the reach of the King of Scots. The semi-independent Gaelic lands of Galloway, Argyll, Ross, Sutherland
14:36and Caithness, sometimes subject to the King of Scots, sometimes not. And beyond them,
14:44Alexander's rule petered out completely. The Hebrides and the Northern Isles, all lands
14:50claimed by another aspiring and aggressive kingdom, Norway. It was messy, too messy for
15:00Alexander's liking. He would never throw off English claims of overlordship until all the
15:06Scottish nobles acknowledged him as their king. It was time for a new approach and a
15:12new deal. Alexander decided to strike a balance between Norman innovation and Gaelic tradition.
15:19In his new Scotland, both would be allowed to flourish. He invited the Gaelic warlords
15:24back in from the cold. In return for some of the top jobs, they would fight his battles.
15:29They would help him conquer Scotland, territory by territory. His first test came from the
15:38north, when the men of Caithness roasted one of Alexander's bishops alive. Alexander returned
15:47the compliment in spades. In Ross, challenges to Alexander's succession rebelled against him.
16:07In response, Alexander's Gaelic warlords severed the leader's heads and presented them to him as
16:14a gift. In the west, Alexander pressed on again, down the great glen to Lochaber and beyond to
16:31the isles to attack the lands of the Norwegian king. Mercy and compassion were never Alexander's
16:38strong points. The man who would be king of all Scotland proved to be utterly ruthless from the
16:52moment he set out to subdue it. A symbol of just how far he would go to secure his kingship was in
16:59his treatment of a baby girl. Alive, she represented a rival claim to his throne. In Alexander's eyes,
17:07she was just as much of a threat as any sword-wielding assassin. He took no chances.
17:13The infant was a distant relative of the Canmore line. Her fate was recorded by the Lanarcost
17:21Chronicle. The daughter, who had not long left her mother's womb, innocent as she was, was put to
17:28death in the view of the marketplace. Her head was struck against the column and her brains dashed
17:35out. Alexander now had what he wanted. Her elimination killed off the last threat to the
17:44Scottish crown. This terrible and shocking act was remembered for generations to come and that
17:51was the point. Loud and clear, the King of Scots let it be known, this is what will happen to
17:57anyone who crosses my path, however young, however innocent.
18:06But his actions had delivered results. Something new had emerged. Alexander's victories had not
18:14only brought peace, but something far more enduring. One people, one kingdom. Now everyone
18:24was subject to one king and that made them one people, Scots. Alexander had restored the esteem
18:31of his kingdom to such an extent that King Henry III of England agreed to a border established
18:37for the first time in 1237. Psychologically, that was a big step. Now Scots could say,
18:44this is Scotland, that is England and we are different.
19:01Alexander's 35-year reign ended when he died on the 8th of July 1249.
19:19His kingdom stretched all the way from Caithness in the north to the Solway Firth in the south.
19:24That was the legacy of Alexander II.
19:54In the years following his death, a stronger, more confident Scotland entered a golden age.
20:06His son, Alexander III, inherited the family firm. Times were good, Scotland prospered and
20:13culture flowered. England now saw Scotland differently. Suddenly, the Scots were worth
20:20getting into bed with. Claims of overlordship were replaced by offers of marriage. And so
20:28it was that at Christmas 1251, Alexander III, King of the Scots, married Princess Margaret
20:34of England. It was an ostentatious display of wealth and power and the message was clear.
20:41Scotland was determined to be seen as an equal partner, an equal kingdom.
20:51Eyeing the proceedings was the bride's brother, the young Prince Edward. Heir to the throne of
21:00England, this long-legged, blue-eyed boy was the epitome of an English prince. But more penetrating
21:10eyes could see beyond the image. This boy's life would be less than saintly. Edward had a taste
21:19for violence. The chronicler Matthew Parris famously recalled how the young Prince got one
21:24of his followers to attack a man, cut off an ear and gouge out an eye. Parris wondered what kind
21:30of king he would make. If he does these things when the wood is green, what can be hoped for
21:36when it is seasoned? As time passed, Edward grew into a formidable and skillful warrior.
21:48He indulged his lust for war by heading off on crusade to the Holy Land.
21:54On his return, he is every inch the hero and at last crowned King of England.
22:06But while Edward's life took on the glow of a medieval boy's own story,
22:10Alexander III's life turned into a Greek tragedy.
22:14In the space of nine years, Alexander III lost his wife, Edward's sister and all three of his
22:20children. The Canmore dynasty was withering on the vine. Edward was shocked and sent a letter of
22:28condolence to his brother-in-law. Alexander's reply to that letter seems to suggest a genuine
22:34warmth between the two kings. You have offered much solace for our grief by saying that although
22:41death has borne away your kindred in these parts, we are united together perpetually,
22:46God willing, by the tie of indissoluble affection.
23:02Then, in March 1286, Edward heard about another death, Alexander.
23:07The King of Scots had finished his business in Edinburgh, but he was desperate to travel the
23:1220-odd miles to here at Kinghorn and the royal palace where his new young wife,
23:16Yolandi, was waiting for him. His advisors begged him not to go. It was a foul night,
23:22dark and stormy, but the warnings went unheeded and somewhere near here, Alexander became separated
23:28from his guides and was thrown from his horse. They found his body on the beach the next morning
23:34Edward mourned the death of his brother-in-law, though some would say that he shed crocodile tears.
23:42He may have been related to the death of his mother-in-law,
23:45but he was not the only one to be mourned by the King of Scots.
23:48His father-in-law, Alexander, was also mourned by his mother-in-law,
23:53Edward mourned the death of his brother-in-law, though some would say that he shed crocodile tears.
24:02He may have been related to Scotland's royal family. His father may have recognised Scotland's
24:07sovereignty, but Edward was descended from a long line of English kings who claimed to be her
24:12overlord, a claim that Edward had not forgotten, and now the kingdom's future hung by a thread.
24:23Next in line to the Scottish throne was Alexander's three-year-old granddaughter
24:28and Edward's grand-niece, Margaret, known as the Maid of Norway.
24:35The child Margaret was the last direct link with the Canmore dynasty.
24:39Her marriage to Edward's son was speedily arranged.
24:43As far as Edward was concerned, as soon as the ink on the marriage agreement was dry,
24:48Scotland would belong to him. The logic was simple. Medieval women were property. What they
24:54owned belonged to their husbands. What the Maid owned, once she was married, would belong to Edward's son.
25:08Then, in October 1290, the Maid died.
25:12The House of Canmore was finished. Scotland was without a royal family.
25:22For Edward, this was an act of divine providence.
25:30The succession was in doubt because there were two leading contenders vying for the
25:34Scots throne. John Balliol and Robert Bruce the Elder were from two of Scotland's most powerful
25:40families. Both had enough military muscle to back their claim on the field. Scotland was divided.
25:49It fell to the Guardians, men chosen to govern the realm in the absence of a king,
25:54to prevent civil war. But they needed help. An impartial, friendly arbitrator.
26:03Someone with experience. Someone who could command respect.
26:08Who else but King Edward the First, internationally respected monarch and master of the law.
26:15And after all, relations between the two kingdoms were amicable and Edward was family.
26:19There was no reason to doubt him.
26:30Edward called for a parliament to be held on the 6th of May 1291, to decide the future of the
26:37Scottish crown. And the location he chose was Norham, over there on the English side of the
26:43River Tweed. The Scots smelled a rat. The future of Scotland to be decided in England, it wasn't right.
26:50So the Scots stalled. On the Scottish side of the river, it was a standoff.
27:00It didn't take Edward long to reveal his true colours. His real intention.
27:06He sent word to the Scots that the parliament would not start until the Guardians and the
27:13claimants for the throne of Scotland acknowledged his position as superior overlord of Scotland.
27:22The Scots were stunned. 60 years of peace and now this?
27:31They would not give up their hard-won autonomy. One of the six Guardians of Scotland was Bishop
27:36Wishart of Glasgow. A shrewd and powerful figure, Wishart. A bulldog of a man. True to style,
27:42he delivered Scotland's response in person. He told Edward to his face.
27:49The Scottish kingdom is not held in tribute or homage to anyone, save God alone.
27:55Edward shrugged off Wishart's words of defiance. Although Bruce and Balliol had
28:00the only serious claims, Edward decided to change the rules again.
28:09He produced 11 more claimants from leading noble families and declared that if they didn't
28:14acknowledge his overlordship, they would be eliminated from the Commonwealth.
28:18If Bruce and Balliol wanted the job of King of Scots, they had no choice but to agree to Edward's terms.
28:28One by one, the now 13 claimants, along with the Guardians of Scotland,
28:32swore fail to Edward's terms. Edward's claim to the throne of Scotland would not be
28:38Edward had what he wanted. It made no difference to him who was actually chosen.
28:43He already had all of the claimants' oaths of subservience in the bag.
28:48He was a man of his word. He was a man of his word.
28:52He was a man of his word. He was a man of his word.
28:56He was a man of his word. He was a man of his word.
29:00He was a man of his word. He was a man of his word.
29:04He already had all of the claimants' oaths of subservience in the bag.
29:08In the end, it was John Balliol who emerged as heir to the throne.
29:16Edward had it all stitched up.
29:19He was Scotland's superior overlord and not a drop of blood had been spilt.
29:26Wishart's deepest fears were being realised before his very eyes.
29:30He didn't hang around long. He'd seen enough.
29:35No longer a guardian, Wishart returned to Glasgow.
29:39The new king of Scots, John Balliol,
29:41had to pay homage and swear fealty to Edward for his kingdom a second time.
29:47Edward's authority was absolute. He could do exactly as he wanted and he did.
29:57In 1294, Edward demanded Scottish troops for his war against France.
30:02Then he summoned Balliol himself to fight.
30:06The king of Scots to do military service for the king of England.
30:10It seemed unthinkable.
30:14At a stroke, the achievements of the Canmores, the fortune of Scotland,
30:18its status as a separate and distinct entity, was in peril.
30:25It was time for action.
30:28Bishop Wishart and the other Scots leaders realised Balliol was no match for Edward.
30:33At a parliament in Stirling, they debated what to do about Balliol.
30:50Wishart had no qualms. By the end of the meeting, the bishop's radical view prevailed.
30:57A new guardianship was established.
31:00A council of 12 men was selected to run the affairs of the kingdom in Balliol's name.
31:06Balliol was to be reduced to a figurehead, to be wheeled out to play the role of ruler.
31:12Now, the real governors of Scotland laid plans to fight Edward.
31:20As Wishart saw it, the council had two tasks.
31:24Negotiate a treaty with France and prepare the country for war.
31:32France was Edward's enemy.
31:35Military support from them would mean the Scots stood a chance against Edward's forces.
31:40In the late summer of 1295, a delegation left Stirling for Paris
31:45to negotiate a treaty with the French king.
31:48The terms were simple.
31:50Should Edward attack France, then the Scots would wage war against the English.
31:55In return, the French promised support should Scotland be attacked.
32:00The French agreed.
32:02When Edward went to war against France in 1296, the Scots duly marched into England.
32:08The fuse was lit.
32:09Wishart waited for Edward's inevitable onslaught.
32:13It came.
32:14On the 30th of March 1296, Edward's army crossed into Scotland.
32:20Edward wasn't a man to do things by halves.
32:31At around 30,000 strong, this was the largest army that had ever been sent north.
32:37First stop, Berwick-upon-Tweed.
32:44Just as the Easter celebrations were drawing to a close, Edward crossed the Tweed.
32:48The feeble timber fortifications offered no resistance.
32:52What followed was one of the worst massacres in British medieval history.
33:01For two days, streams of blood flowed from the bodies of the slain.
33:05For his tyrannous rage, he ordered 7,500 souls of both sexes to be massacred.
33:11Mills could be turned round by the flow of their blood.
33:25Despite the surrender of the local garrison,
33:27Edward set about the wholesale slaughter of the town's population.
33:31The orgy of violence only came to an end
33:34when the frantic pleading of local clergy moved Edward to show at least some pity.
33:39But Berwick was just a warm-up.
33:52Edward's reputation would now precede him
33:54as he advanced north into the heartlands of Scotland.
33:58After defeating the large but inexperienced Scots army at Dunbar,
34:02resistance to Edward buckled.
34:04Castle after castle fell.
34:08Most of the Scots nobility were captured and imprisoned.
34:12It was over.
34:14Now Edward wanted the man he believed responsible.
34:18Baeliol, the lamb caught amongst the wolves.
34:26It took Baeliol eight days to negotiate his surrender,
34:29which was hardly surprising as he did have a lot of explaining to do.
34:34Edward was angry.
34:35Baeliol had acted contemptibly and illegally.
34:38He was Edward's man,
34:40and yet he had conspired with the French and attacked English soil.
34:44He was a defaulting vassal who would have to be punished,
34:47along with the Scots, if they refused to submit.
34:50But Edward wanted more than a simple surrender.
34:53He wanted a show.
35:01Paraded as a penitent before Edward,
35:03Baeliol was stripped of his kingship.
35:06The royal insignia ripped from his clothing,
35:08the cruel nickname Tomb Tabard, Empty Suit, King Nobody.
35:16Broken and humiliated,
35:18Baeliol was sent to the Tower of London and then to exile in France.
35:24Not content to humiliate a man, Edward plundered the country.
35:28He set about systematically stripping Scotland
35:30of all her symbols of sovereignty and independence.
35:34The crown jewels, the black rude of St Margaret,
35:37the holiest and most venerated relic of Scotland,
35:42and the Stone of Destiny,
35:45the centrepiece of Scottish king-making.
35:53In the months that followed,
35:55Edward decided to take a tour of his newly won kingdom.
35:59But this was no tourist trip.
36:02City by city, borough by borough, castle by castle.
36:07Edward forced the Scottish nobles to sign up to his new regime,
36:12to put their names to what became
36:14the most infamous document in Scottish history.
36:23The Ragman Roll.
36:27Well, the Ragman Roll is a list of the Scottish nobles
36:31who had to give homage to Edward I of England in 1296.
36:36So it's got about nearly 1900 names on it.
36:40What is contained in all these endless lines of text?
36:43I mean, what exactly are they signing up to?
36:45Well, basically, they had to pay homage to Edward I
36:48who had defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar
36:52and he was essentially the king of Scots now
36:55and they had to acknowledge him as their lord and master.
36:59What are the famous names that would stand out?
37:02Well, you've got a full panoply of the Scottish nobility.
37:05You've got competitors to the throne,
37:08the head of the House of Balliol, Bruce, the stewards there.
37:12There's a complete set of bishops, people like Bishop Wishart
37:15and then, of course, there's a lot of knights, if you like,
37:18and lesser people who held land in Scotland at that time.
37:26But it isn't just the names of the nobility and bishops
37:29that appear on the Ragman Roll.
37:31Representatives across the Scottish kingdom,
37:33religious and political,
37:35were forced to fix their seals of submission.
37:40Scotland was without a king.
37:43Beaten, broken and humiliated,
37:46the winter of 1296 was one of the country's darkest.
37:50Edward left the governance of Scotland to two trusted lieutenants
37:54and returned to where he'd left off, fighting the French.
37:58As he crossed the Tweed back into England, he quipped,
38:00a man does good work when he rids himself of shit.
38:11But in the rush to be rid of Scotland, Edward missed something.
38:15Scotland had never been directly ruled by an English king.
38:19So when Edward ordered the Scots to join his war in France,
38:22the Scots grew resentful.
38:27And when Edward imposed English taxes to pay for it,
38:30the Scots grew rebellious.
38:34Alexander II had given the Scots a united kingdom with a border,
38:38a sense of who they were.
38:41But within the space of a decade, all of this was swept away.
38:45Edward had already absorbed Wales into his kingdom
38:48and conscripted the Welsh into his armies.
38:50Now he proposed to do exactly the same thing with Scotland.
38:54And it was the prospect of being absorbed by England,
38:57of being forced to fight Edward's battles,
38:59that tipped the Scots over the edge.
39:14The first spark of resistance was struck in the Gaelic north.
39:18It was a small act of defiance, a single standard raised against Edward.
39:23But soon, a myriad of flames engulfed the kingdom.
39:26And among them was one man, William Wallace.
39:37William Wallace, the Wallace.
39:40For many, he's the ultimate freedom fighter.
39:42For others, a terrorist.
39:44He's the enigmatic hero who appears from nowhere
39:47to liberate his people and to shape history.
39:50The Wallace story is one of the defining legends of Scottish identity
39:54and the epitome of Scotland's story.
39:56And yet, with all the mythologising, we've lost sight of Wallace the man.
40:01A remarkable man, but a man nonetheless.
40:11The younger son of an obscure knight,
40:13Wallace's destiny would be shaped less by himself, more by the needs of others.
40:20And what Bishop Wishart, the self-appointed chief
40:23of the Scottish resistance movement, needed right now was time.
40:33Scotland had run out of leaders.
40:35Most of our nobles were either imprisoned
40:37or had been forced to fix their seals to the ragman roles.
40:40Wishart could have been under no illusions
40:42when the pair met here at Glasgow Cathedral.
40:45Wallace was no leader of armies,
40:47but he was smart and he could fight and he had the popular touch.
40:50Most importantly, he could buy time for Wishart
40:53while the Bishop tried to raise the Scots nobles in Ayrshire.
40:57An English chronicler put it simply,
40:59Wishart caused a certain bloody man, William Wallace,
41:02who had formerly been chief of brigands in Scotland,
41:05to revolt against the king and assemble people in his support.
41:09And that's exactly what Wallace did.
41:18After killing the hated English sheriff of Lanark,
41:21the very symbol of Edward's oppressive regime,
41:24Wallace's rising swiftly gained momentum.
41:28But the men who flocked to Wallace's side weren't of noble blood.
41:36His army were peasants, humble folk, the middling sort,
41:40the kind of people who'd had first-hand experience
41:42of Edward's policies of bringing as many men and horses as they could.
41:47And they were willing to pay as many taxes out of Scotland as he could.
41:55If Wallace's army was to stand any chance against Edward's mighty war machine,
41:59they needed space, open space and time to train.
42:06Wallace knew this would be no easy task.
42:09His army was used to the hit-and-run tactics of guerrilla warfare.
42:14They had little experience of the battlefield.
42:16The only thing Wallace could offer his men was discipline.
42:22By the late summer of 1297, Wallace's army was ready.
42:27He joined forces with Andrew Murray,
42:29a nobleman's son who had led a successful revolt in the north.
42:35Together, they marched their men to intercept the English at Stirling.
42:42It was only then, when the English woke up,
42:45that the British army, with its massive numbers of rebels,
42:48had swollen into a respectable-sized army.
42:51But the English captain, Warren, wasn't alarmed.
42:53His army, with its impressive heavy cavalry, could take on any peasant rabble.
42:59To confront the Scots, the English army had to cross the River Forth,
43:03easier said than done.
43:05Deep and impassable, the Forth rises in the west and flows east
43:09to meet the North Sea, almost cutting the country in half.
43:15A narrow wooden bridge at Stirling.
43:22When the English arrived, Wallace and Murray were waiting.
43:26They knew the land and they understood the strategic importance
43:30of the bridge across the Forth as the gateway to the north.
43:33They positioned their army on the slopes of Abbey Craig,
43:36about a mile from the bridge.
43:46On September the 11th, 1297, both armies faced each other.
43:55In bold terms, Warren told the Scots to surrender.
44:02Wallace told them,
44:03go back and tell your people that we have not come for the benefit of peace,
44:08but to do battle to defend ourselves and liberate our kingdom.
44:13Let them come to us and we will prove this in their very beards.
44:20The English horsemen began to ride across the bridge.
44:24Warren suddenly exploded.
44:26He hadn't actually given the order to cross,
44:28so he made his men come back to his side and regroup.
44:31Then, on his command, they began to cross for a second time.
44:35Wallace must have been amazed by this comic display of arrogance and complacency.
44:41But Warren didn't care how it looked.
44:43He didn't rate Wallace's army.
44:45As far as he was concerned,
44:46this would be little more than a good training exercise for the men.
44:54What they learned was how to die.
44:59The English were trapped.
45:02Caught in the loop of the river with nowhere to go.
45:11As the chronicler, Gisbera, said,
45:13there was indeed no better place in all the land
45:16to deliver the English into the hands of the Scots,
45:19and so many into the power of the few.
45:35By nightfall, 5,000 English infantry and 100,000 men
45:39and the English infantry and 100 knights had perished.
45:45Among the English dead lay the body of the hated treasurer.
45:48He'd been flayed alive.
45:50The treasurer had taken the skin off Scott's backs,
45:53and now they'd done the same to him in return.
45:56Wallace kept the skin had it fashioned into a sword belt,
46:00a memento of the day's victory.
46:09The defeat was a huge loss of face for Edward.
46:12The great English army,
46:14the vast Edwardian war machine that had conquered Wales,
46:17that was famed throughout Europe, had been defeated.
46:20But hardest of all to swallow was the fact
46:22it had been defeated by a bunch of peasant amateurs,
46:25Scots peasant amateurs to boot.
46:28It was at this time that Edward first heard the name William Wallace.
46:32We can be sure of one thing, he'd never forget it.
46:39The Scottish nobles were dumbfounded.
46:43Now they were forced to rub shoulders with the middling folk
46:46to make this man guardian of Scotland.
46:53Murray, the noble who commanded the army with Wallace,
46:56would have been their preferred choice,
46:58but his death after Stirling Bridge ruled that out.
47:03Wallace's death would have been the end of the war.
47:06Here at Kirk of the Forest, Wallace the outlaw
47:08became Sir William Wallace, the guardian of Scotland.
47:12He was the hero of the hour for now.
47:16But despite his victory, there were those who didn't approve
47:20of a mere commoner being given such a big job.
47:22After all, what did he know about politics and kings?
47:26But none of that mattered at the moment.
47:28What did matter was that he'd proved himself in battle.
47:30He was a man of honour.
47:32He was a man of honour.
47:34What mattered was that he'd proved himself in battle
47:36and his job was only half done.
47:38Only when John Balliol was restored to the throne
47:41could Scotland be free.
47:50Wallace had proved to be Edward's equal in every regard except status.
47:55He was brutal.
47:57He was ruthless.
47:58He fought on Edward's terms.
48:01He played dirty.
48:03His defeat at Stirling Bridge had angered Edward.
48:06Now he wanted revenge.
48:12By July, his vast military machine,
48:15composed mainly of newly-conquered Welsh,
48:18crossed into Scotland.
48:20As Edward advanced north, he encountered a wasted landscape.
48:24There was no sign of Wallace,
48:26but he could see his handiwork in every burnt-out farm.
48:29Weeks passed, there was still no sign of him.
48:31But then the logic of Wallace's strategy became obvious.
48:35Denied food supplies, the English army started to starve
48:38and fighting broke out between the English and Welsh infantry.
48:44Edward's army was close to disintegration
48:47when it finally arrived at Linlithgow's town walls.
48:51He realised he might have to abandon the war altogether
48:55unless he could find Wallace.
48:57And fast.
48:59Scouts reported that the Scots army was less than 20 miles away at Falkirk.
49:04Edward force-marched his men until they came upon Wallace.
49:08The Scots were dug in, four shiltrams bristling with spears.
49:12Edward's propaganda machine had gone into overdrive.
49:15The English troops weren't expecting to see Wallace the man,
49:18rather Wallace the monster.
49:21An ogre who would quite literally skin them alive.
49:25And of course, it was Edward who had unleashed the monster.
49:29He had unmade Scotland, taking it apart bit by bit.
49:33And Wallace was the result.
49:45Edward was unconcerned.
49:47It would all be over soon.
49:49And it was, in a hail of arrows.
49:52Edward's archers began the slaughter of the infantry.
49:55It was said the Scots fell like blossom
49:58in an orchard when the fruit had ripened.
50:00The cavalry completed the rout.
50:16Wallace resigned as Guardian.
50:18Scotland descended into five years of exhausting, costly, protracted fighting.
50:24Then the Scots lost their ally, the French.
50:27Alone, they could not defeat Edward.
50:31It was pointless going on.
50:33The Scots sought terms.
50:35Equally, Edward was tired and old.
50:39He was in his 60s and the war was burning a very large hole in his pocket.
50:44He wanted to draw a line under the whole sorry business.
50:47But naturally, he wanted that on his own terms.
50:51He wanted Wallace.
50:57As for William Wallace, said Edward,
51:00it is agreed that he shall render himself up
51:03at the mercy and will of our Sovereign Lord, the King,
51:05as it shall seem good to him.
51:11Wallace's fate was sealed the following month.
51:14At the St Andrew's Parliament of 1304,
51:16he was declared an outlaw by the Scots nobles.
51:21129 landowners,
51:24129 landowners took Edward as their liege lord.
51:32Among their ranks was the man who had helped create Wallace.
51:38Robert Wishart, the Bishop of Glasgow.
51:44In truth, the document they signed up to,
51:47the Ordinances of 1305,
51:49marked the completion of the second conquest of Scotland.
51:52And this time, there was no mention of a king or a kingdom.
51:56Merely a land.
52:15As for Wallace, Edward had singled him out for special treatment.
52:19No words of peace were offered.
52:21Wallace must submit to Edward's pleasure.
52:26Edward played every dirty trick in the book.
52:29He threatened and blackmailed Wallace's friends,
52:32forcing them to hunt down the fugitive.
52:40Finally, Wallace was betrayed.
52:44On the 3rd of August 1305,
52:46he was seized in a house near Glasgow.
52:49According to an English source,
52:50Wallace was surprised in his bed.
52:55In the Scots version of what happened,
52:57Wallace put up a huge fight before he was eventually taken.
53:05Three weeks later, Wallace stood here,
53:08Westminster Hall, before Edward's judges.
53:12The king, ever the master of the law,
53:14was determined to destroy Wallace's reputation.
53:18A crown of laurel leaves had been placed on his head.
53:21To mock, it was said,
53:22Wallace's boast that one day he would wear a crown.
53:26As an outlaw, he was already legally condemned.
53:29No plea, no jury, no witnesses, no defence.
53:33He was merely presented with the indictment.
53:38That he had notoriously committed killings,
53:41arson, destruction of property,
53:43and sacrilege during the war with England.
53:46That he'd assumed the title of guardian,
53:48and seduced the Scots into an alliance with France.
53:52The charge of treason was an innovation,
53:54but if it was on the king's record, then it was law.
53:57If Edward said he was a traitor, then he was.
54:00It was only then that Wallace spoke.
54:02He had never been a traitor.
54:03He had never sworn allegiance to Edward.
54:06Like Scotland, Wallace was trapped by Edward's laws.
54:10The outcome was a foregone conclusion.
54:16He suffered a traitor's death.
54:19There was no Christian burial.
54:22Wallace's boiled head was spiked on London Bridge,
54:24and his quartered body sent north to Newcastle,
54:27Berwick, Stirling, and Perth,
54:29as an example of the fate that would befall anyone
54:32who challenged Edward.
54:44What are we to make of Wallace?
54:46What is important is what he became after his death.
54:51He became a brand,
54:52repackaged and rolled out in the centuries to come
54:55to suit both nationalist and unionist agendas.
55:01700 years later,
55:02the basic vision of a free, independent Scotland
55:05for which William Wallace fought,
55:07still haunts the collective Scots imagination.
55:09For many, Wallace remains Scotland's greatest patriot.
55:15But what had he actually achieved?
55:19In the end, Wallace had failed.
55:22Scotland's king remained in exile,
55:24her nobles under oath.
55:26Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots, had conquered Scotland.
55:30You might even say he had turned it into an English region.
55:34But in his fixation with the crown and the king,
55:37But in his fixation with the crown and the kingdom,
55:40he'd underestimated the people.
55:42Edward's determination to crush them
55:44had served only to define for the Scots
55:47who they really were.
56:36you