The Day It Changed: William Wallace, the Real Braveheart (1297)

On 11 September 1297, at a narrow wooden bridge over the River Forth below Stirling Castle, William Wallace and Andrew Moray destroyed an English army. The real story of William Wallace, told through the records: Edward I's conquest of 1296, Lanark, the tactics of Stirling Bridge, Wallace as Guardian, defeat by the longbow at Falkirk, his years abroad, his capture, trial and execution in London on 23 August 1305, and the legacy carried on by Bruce, Bannockburn and the Declaration of Arbroath. An honest note on the sources: almost nothing is recorded about Wallace before 1297. His birth year (about 1270), birthplace (Elderslie in Renfrewshire by tradition; some historians argue for Ellerslie in Ayrshire) and father (Malcolm, in Blind Harry's poem; Alan, on Wallace's own seal) are uncertain. Blind Harry's "The Wallace" was written about 1477, some 170 years after his death, and is a poem, not a record. The accounts of Stirling Bridge and Falkirk come mainly from English chroniclers (Walter of Guisborough, the Lanercost Chronicle). His words at Falkirk and at his trial are as reported by chroniclers. The film Braveheart (1995) took many liberties; we show no images from it. About the pictures: no portrait of Wallace made in his lifetime survives. Paintings, engravings and statues are labeled as artists' imaginations. Film shots are real modern footage of Stirling shared on YouTube under CC BY 3.0, credited below. The Old Stirling Bridge seen in the film dates from about 1500; the wooden bridge of 1297 stood nearby. Medieval manuscripts show warfare of his era, not his battles. Maps and battle diagrams are our own and labeled. Which day in history should we cover next? Tell us in the comments. If you like history told with real sources, subscribe to The Day It Changed and give the video a like. CHAPTERS 0:00 11 September 1297 0:49 The real Braveheart 1:13 Who was William Wallace? 2:24 A kingdom conquered, 1286-1296 3:43 The rising of 1297 4:32 The Battle of Stirling Bridge 6:35 Guardian of Scotland 7:20 Falkirk, 22 July 1298 8:51 The fugitive years 9:49 Betrayal, trial and execution, 1305 10:59 Why he matters: Bruce, Bannockburn, Arbroath and Braveheart 12:39 The verdict CREDITS Film (CC BY 3.0, via YouTube): An Irishman In Scotland:    • Why Stirling Is One of Scotland’s Most Und...   Colin McMurray:    • DJI 0098   milleracer41:    • Stirling Castle Drone & Kings Knot Jan 201...   András Sándor:    • Wallace Statue sunrise   and    • Stirling Castle Timelapse_June 2012   HolidayVideo:    • Stirling Castle Schottland 2019   and    • The National Wallace Monument Schottland 2019   Photos (CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons / Flickr): Ronnie Macdonald; Graham van der Wielen; Steve Collis; Son of Groucho; Glenn J. Mason; John Knight; Jim Linwood; Matt Brown; Shadowgate; Steve Shook; Stirling Council. Sahaib (CC BY 4.0). Also public domain or CC0: Library of Congress, Cornell University Library, Yale Center for British Art, Rijksmuseum, Morgan Library, British Library and others; paintings and prints by Maclise, Bell Scott, Noel Paton, David Scott, Blake, Nasmyth, Blair Leighton, Hollar, Fouquet and others. All via Wikimedia Commons. No share-alike, non-commercial or no-derivatives material is used. Full list: credits file. Maps and diagrams: our own, with Natural Earth data (PD). AI narration: the narrator is a synthetic voice (Kokoro TTS, voice bm_george), not a real person. Quotes are read by the narrator. Music: original score. SOURCES Walter of Guisborough, Chronicle (account of Stirling Bridge and Falkirk) The Chronicle of Lanercost, tr. Herbert Maxwell (1913): https://archive.org/details/chronicle... Moray and Wallace's letter to Lübeck, 11 October 1297 (Lübeck city archives) Letter of Philip IV of France, 7 November 1300 (The National Archives, Kew) The Declaration of Arbroath, 1320, National Records of Scotland (translation): https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/researc... Blind Harry, The Wallace (about 1477) National Wallace Monument: https://www.nationalwallacemonument.com/ Historic Environment Scotland, Inventory of Historic Battlefields G. W. S. Barrow, Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland Andrew Fisher, William Wallace (2nd ed., 2002) Fiona Watson, Under the Hammer: Edward I and Scotland, 1286-1307 (1998) #WilliamWallace #StirlingBridge #ScottishHistory