William Wallace, the Superhero of Scotland

A little over 7 hundred years ago, England was witness to one of Scotland's greatest freedom fighter. In may 1297 the Sheriff of Lenexa was hacked to death by young Scottish patriot. His name was William Wallace. William was the first Scottish champion in the wars for independence. He killed the Sheriff of Lenexa, he defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297, and he was appointed Guardian of Scotland and served until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk Not only have they make a movie about him, but he’s still remembered as a hero to this day.

When William was born, Scotland was not at war with England, in fact, it was prosperous. Life was good. However, on March 19th, 1286 the Scottish king Alexander was returning home to King Horn, after cruising at Edinburgh castle. His horse stumbles and fell. He was found later with his neck broken. When his only heir also died, Scotland was thrown into crisis. Powerful factions took up arms, and the country slid to civil war. They needed a king desperately.

Edward the first, the king of England, was a ruthless expansionist. He had already taken control of Wales and Ireland. This was his chance to bring Scotland into his empire. Under the ruse of preventing civil war, Edward took control of Scotland. But while the Scottish nobles caved in, the common people remained defiant. Resistance leaders emerged from nowhere. Throughout Scotland, there were spontaneous attacks on the hated English forces.

It was about this time when tales began springing up about a young scot names William Wallace. One appropriate story is when Wallace was fishing at a river when five English soldiers turned to him and demanded he gives them his catch. Wallace offers them half. One of the soldiers, enraged by his offer, draws his sword and tries to kill him. Wallace takes the sword out of his hands and cuts the soldiers’ head off. Then he kills two of the other soldiers before the last two escaped.

He was an underdog, a second son, or an unimportant knight, and yet he had something in him that people responded to. His family was more of an upper middle class. His father, Sir Malcolm Wallace, was a small landowner in Renfrew. They were miner nobles descended from the northern aristocracy.

The only records of William's youth tell us that he was being taught by monks and planned to be a priest, but the only physical evidence we have tells us that he was embarked in a pious career. Wallace saw himself as an archer. Not necessarily a soldier. By the time William completed his education his father died. Sir Malcolm was murdered by an English knight, named Fenwick. The news of William's father's death spread quickly. A few months after, William was branded an outlaw, because he killed a man taunting him of his father's death. This started whole slew of killings and Wallace's rebellion against the English. He had to make his own way, meaning he was not given any lands, which is one of the reasons many people became priests in that day and age.

Because he had to make his own way, it’s likely that Wallace was a bit of a tear away.

In 1296, Edward the first’s puppet, John Balliol rebelled. The Scotts gathered an army and invaded part of England. It was just the excuse Edward was looking for to march north.

The locals of a town called Barracks gave Edward the perfect opportunity for him to satisfy his desires to fight the rebellious Scots when a few English merchants were murdered and robbed of their stuff. Edward decided to make an example of them.

The massacre of Barracks was mortifying. Edward sent trained killers to attack poorly armed and unsuspecting civilians. there wasn't much resistance, other than a couple of men shooting arrows from a building, called the red tower. The arrow shooters managed to kill Edward’s cousin. For that Edward watched them burn.

The slaughter lasted three days. Half the population of Barrack was slaughtered but it was only the beginning. Edward trampled the Scottish army, locked John Bailey in a tower, and took the stone of destiny back to Westminster where it stayed for 700 years placed on the English coronation throne. This act by Edward was to symbolize that he was king of England and Scotland.

Edward thought that he had got rid of the problem with Scotland. Believing that conquering the nobles meant conquering the people. William Wallace was about to show him how wrong he was.

Edward thought he had taught the scots a lesson, but the battle of Barracks only made they people rebel more. The spontaneous uprising broke out everywhere.

In 1297 William Wallace made his