King Edward deals with William ‘Big Bill’ Wallace! The rise of Robert Bruce!
‘Having been captured, ‘Big Bill Wallace’, in chains is conveyed to London town!
His appearence is met at every turn by Englishman with a loud snarl, and an angry frown!’
August, 1305 was one of the most satisfying times of King Edward’s long reign. How he must have rubbed his hands as he gleefully pondered Wallace’s fate when the unfortunate Scot reached London. There would be a humiliating show trial in Westminster Hall and then the inevitable, slow butchery which would dispatch the wayward Scot rebel in the most drawn out, painful manner imaginable. There was however, one awful disappointment, the king could not witness the bloody spectacle in person.
‘Oh, how I wish I could be there at Smithfield and hear his cries of agony as his insides are slowly plucked from his body. To watch as he is forced to see his bowels being burnt before his eyes!
‘To be present would give me the greatest joy!
That I have ever experienced since I was but a small boy!’
But I, a king cannot be seen at such an event, standing amongst the baying multitude of rude fellows and their lowly women! It would be beneath my royal dignity!’
The trial of William Wallace for treason took place at Westminster Hall on August 23rd 1305. Wallace maintained that the charge was absurd, because he had never been a subject of Edward I.
Wallace’s trial.
Upon being found guilty, Wallace was stripped of his garments and then dragged on a horse drawn sledge to the execution site at Smithfield. There he suffered the full severity of the terrible penalty so recently introduced by King Edward for the crime of treason.
‘To be dragged to your death at the hooves of a horse!
Whilst the spectators, with pleasure screamed themselves hoarse!’
Although Edward was not present, his nobles certainly were, and they would have conveyed the experience of the gruesome proceedings to the king in graphic detail. The head was placed on a pike on London bridge, and his limbs were displayed in Newcastle and various Scottish towns.
Edward wished to make his point concerning the sentence for rebellion in the most visual way possible. Perhaps he thought that this would deter any other Scot from adopting Wallace’s mantle in opposing the English crown. But, in this respect, ‘Longshanks’ conclusion would prove to be quite mistaken.
Robert the Bruce
Edward’s dream of a pacified Scotland was shattered within months of Wallace’s execution by the Scots nobleman, Robert Bruce. In 1302 Bruce had sworn fealty to Edward, but then reversed his position in February 1306. Bruce decided that he wanted to become king of an independent Scotland and vowed to throw off the English yoke.
Robert Bruce.
Bruce’s first act was to murder his main rival for the Scottish throne, John Comyn in front of the altar in a church at Dumfries.
‘Oh dear John, you died at the foot of the Franciscan’s church’s high altar!
In order that the Bruce’s ambitions to be king of Scotland would not falter!’
He was going to terminate the careers of any potential domestic adversaries before he took on the formidable King of England. Bruce then proceeded to Scone where he arranged to have himself crowned King of the Scots with great, some would say indecent, haste. Robert Bruce’s decision to declare independence for Scotland appears at first rather puzzling given Edward I’s reputation as a great military commander. How could any sane Scottish patriot forget the example that King Edward had made of Big Bill Wallace only the summer before? It was also the case that many of the most strategically positioned castles in Scotland were in English hands. What did Bruce hope to achieve by this rebellious endeavour?
Perhaps the explanation lies in the fact that by 1306, Edward was in his sixty-seventh year, and Bruce calculated that the old king could not live much longer and would soon be replaced on the English throne by his son, Edward.
‘Was young Prince Edward a chip off of the old block?
No! You could be forgiven for thinking that he was born of entirely different stock!’
It is probable that Robert Bruce had encountered the Prince of Wales, young Ned at the siege of Sterling castle. This liaison would have occurred when Bruce was aligned with King Edward in his endeavour to subjugate Scotland. He would, in common with a good many others, have been singularly unimpressed with the young man who was heir to the throne of England, so long held by his illustrious father. An indolent fellow, much given to flippancy and spending his hours in company of the very lowest sort. Prince Edward, young Ned, was precisely the type of adversary that a man like Bruce could only dream of. Sometimes dreams can come true.
This could have been the decisive factor which ultimately determined Bruce’s strategy regarding his bid to become King of Scotland. Unlike Balliol, he intended to be king in his own right unbeholden to any other sovereign. It was a long game, and a huge risk, but one Bruce clearly thought was worth taking.