Latest / The Story of Scotland: Clans, Crowns, and the Fight for Identity — Fexingo History / The Wars of Independence: William Wallace and the Guardians
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've covered Bannockburn, the Declaration of Arbroath, the Black Dinner, the Jacobites—but I realized we've never properly dug into the first act of the Wars of Independence. The generation before Bruce, when Scotland was just a broken kingdom after Alexander III's death. Luna: You mean before Bruce even claimed the throne? The chaos of the 1290s? Lucas: Exactly. Alexander III dies in 1286, falling off a cliff in the dark. His heir is a three-year-old girl in Norway—the Maid of Norway, we covered her in episode 37. She dies on the way to Scotland. Suddenly there's no clear king, and Edward I of England steps in as arbiter of the succession. Luna: He saw it as a chance to become overlord. Lucas: Exactly. He forces the claimants to acknowledge him as Lord Paramount of Scotland. Then he picks John Balliol—weak, pliable, at least he thought. Balliol is crowned in 1292, but Edward humiliates him, treats him like a puppet. So Balliol rebels, and Edward storms north in 1296, sacks Berwick, defeats the Scots at Dunbar, and effectively conquers the kingdom. Lucas: He takes the Stone of Destiny, the Honours of Scotland, the records, everything. Scotland is an occupied country. And it's in that climate that a minor knight from Elderslie—William Wallace—emerges. Luna: What do we actually know about Wallace before the rebellion? The myths kind of swallow the man. Lucas: Very little. We know he was the younger son of a knight, likely educated in Latin, experienced in swordsmanship. There's a story that he killed the English sheriff of Lanark in 1297, possibly after an altercation involving his wife or lover. That's the spark. Then he bands together with a small force, starts raiding English outposts. Lucas: What's interesting is that he wasn't acting alone. In the north, Andrew Moray—a baron's son—raised his own rebellion after escaping captivity. They didn't coordinate initially, but both were fighting the same enemy. Luna: And they meet at Stirling Bridge, right? That's where everything changes. Lucas: September 11, 1297. The English army under John de Warenne and Hugh de Cressingham marches north to crush the rebellion. They reach Stirling Castle, and the Scots are camped on the other side of the River Forth. There's a narrow wooden bridge—only two horsemen can cross abreast. Lucas: The English commanders argue. Some want to wait, or send a force across by boat. But Cressingham, the treasurer, is impatient—worried about the cost of delay. So they start crossing. The Scots wait until about half the English are over, then attack. Luna: It's a classic trap. But how did the Scottish infantry—mostly spearmen—hold against English knights? Lucas: They used the schiltron—dense circles of spearmen. The knights charge but can't break the hedge of pikes. Meanwhile, the English on the bridge are packed tight, unable to form up. Many drown or are cut down. Cressingham is killed, and legend says the Scots flayed his skin and made a belt from it. Luna: Ok, that's grim. Lucas: Absolutely. But it works. The English army routs. Andrew Moray is mortally wounded, though. He dies later that year. So Wallace becomes the sole leader, and he's knighted, made Guardian of Scotland. Luna: But he doesn't stay Guardian long. What happens next? The invasion of England? Lucas: In the winter of 1297, Wallace leads a raid into northern England, devastating Northumberland and Cumberland. It's brutal—they burn villages, take plunder. But it's not a conquest. He's trying to force Edward to negotiate. Edward doesn't negotiate. He returns from Flanders in early 1298 and marches north with a huge army. Lucas: The two armies meet at Falkirk on July 22, 1298. Wallace arranges his spearmen in four large schiltrons, with archers in between. But Edward brings Welsh longbowmen—the first major use of the longbow in Scotland. Luna: So the schiltron is vulnerable to archery. Lucas: Exactly. The arrows shred the Scottish formations. Then English cavalry charge into the gaps. The archers are scattered, and the spearmen are slaughtered while trapped in their circles. Wallace escapes, but his military reputation is shattered. He resigns as Guardian. Luna: And then what? He goes into hiding? Lucas: He disappears for a while. Some say he went to France, possibly to seek support. But he returns, and for the next few years he's a guerrilla leader—ambushing English patrols in the forests of Ettrick and Selkirk. But the political landscape is changing. The Guardianship passes to others—John Comyn, Robert the Bruce, and William Lamberton, the bishop of St Andrews. Luna: I hadn't thought about Lamberton. He's not as famous, but he was key, right? Lucas: Absolutely crucial. Lamberton was a brilliant diplomat. He kept the church behind the rebellion, negotiated with the papacy, and later became a close ally of Bruce. He even sealed a bond with Bruce in 1304, agreeing to support each other 'against all persons.' That bond becomes pivotal. Lucas: Meanwhile, Wallace is still out there. But in 1305, he's betrayed—probably by a Scottish knight, John Menteith—and captured near Glasgow. He's taken to London, tried for treason, and executed in the most brutal way: hanged, drawn, and quartered. His head is displayed on London Bridge. Luna: And his body parts sent to different towns in Scotland. The standard medieval message. Lucas: Exactly. But it backfires. Wallace becomes a martyr. His death galvanizes the resistance. And the next year, 1306, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn—his rival for the throne—in Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries. That act of sacrilege forces Bruce into open rebellion. He's crowned king at Scone just weeks later. Luna: So Wallace's death directly leads to Bruce's coup. The torch passes. Lucas: In a way. Bruce's early years are disastrous—he's defeated, his family captured, he flees to the Hebrides. But he learns from Wallace's mistakes. He avoids pitched battles against Edward's full army. He uses the schiltron but in more flexible formations. And he wins at Bannockburn in 1314. But that's a story for another episode. Luna: I'm struck by how much of this is about individuals—Wallace, Moray, Lamberton, Bruce—but also about a whole generation of Scots who refused to accept English rule. Lucas: That's the deeper truth. The Wars of Independence weren't just a few famous battles. They were a long, grinding struggle—twenty years of occupation, resistance, betrayal, and hope. Wallace's real legacy isn't just the battles, it's that he showed Scotland could fight back. He proved the English were not invincible. Lucas: And that inspiration carried through even after his death. The Guardians like Lamberton kept the flame alive. Without them, Bruce might never have had a kingdom to claim. Luna: It makes you wonder what history would look like if Andrew Moray hadn't died at Stirling Bridge. He might have changed everything. Lucas: That's the great what-if. Moray was the strategist, the one with the noble background. Wallace was the folk hero. Together, they complemented each other. But we'll never know. And that's part of what makes this history so compelling—it's full of roads not taken.