Another archival gem from the vaults! In the mid '80's I had the pleasure of illustrating rubber stamp designs for the Abracadada Rubber Stamp ...
How is William Wallace reputed an ambitious historical figure?
I'm trying to write an essay on ambition, and I need to include a paragraph about William Wallace.
Wallace supposedly slew and dismembered William Heselrig, the English Sheriff of Lanark, in May 1297, purportedly to avenge the death of Marion Braidfute of Lamington — the adolescent maiden Wallace courted and married in Blind Harry's tale. Soon, he achieved victory in skirmishes at Loudoun Mound (near Darvel, Ayrshire) and Ayr; he also fought alongside Sir William Douglas the Hardy at Scone, routing the English justiciar, William Ormesby. Towns such as Aberdeen, Perth, Glasgow, Scone, Dundee, and all domain north of the Firth of Forth were freed by Moray, not Wallace.
In 1296/97, he was allegedly involved in an event which would eventually come to be known as Wallace's Larder. He is said to have lured the English occupiers of Ardrossan Castle out of their possession and into the town whereupon he set upon them one at a time. After successfully retaking the castle, Wallace had the bodies of the English thrown into a tunnel which can still be seen now.
Supporters of the growing revolt suffered a major blow when Scottish nobles were forced to come to terminology with the English at Irvine in July. In August, Wallace left Selkirk Forest with his followers to join Andrew Moray at Stirling. Moray began another revolt, and their forces combined at Stirling, where they prepared to meet the English in battle.
According to Harry, these hit and run tactics sooner led King Edward to address the problem by executing most of the Council of Barons in the Barns of Ayr (June 1297), with a homogeneous event in Renfrewshire - although these events are of questionable veracity.[citation needed] Ronald Crawford was apparently first to be hanged, transmission Wallace, who had arrived at the location late after running an errand for his uncle, into action and killing the entire English garrison in Ayr, locking the doors as the garrison slept and incitement the structures. Wallace and his men retired to Selkirk Forest for safety. When word reached the Crawford family that Ronald had been killed, Ronald's son, William, one Wallace in the forest.
As Wallace's ranks swelled, information obtained by John Graham prompted Wallace to move his manhood from Selkirk Forest to the Highlands, though there is no historical evidence to suggest that Wallace ever left the Lowland areas of Scotland other than his resort to France and his trip to the scaffold in London.
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