William Wallace And All That Read online

  Wallace was convicted of ‘treason’ against the king of England. But Wallace pointed out that it was impossible for him to commit treason against Longshanks. ‘The king of England is not my king,’ he roared.

  Yet the judgement had been passed – Wallace was condemned to die a horrible, grisly, blood-spattered death.

  18

  The ultimate price

  After the judgement was passed, Wallace was taken outside the hall and stripped naked. Then the brave hero was shackled to a hurdle, which was a device used to drag him along the ground on his back. The hurdle was attached to the tails of two horses.

  For four hours, in the sweltering conditions of a hot summer’s day, Wallace was dragged through the streets of London. People threw rubbish, rotten food and stones at him as he bumped and scraped along the cobbles. Others struck him with cudgels and whips. His pain must have been agonising.

  Eventually, Wallace arrived at a place called Smithfield – the place of execution. The naked prisoner was unshackled and shaken to his feet. With his hands tied behind him, Wallace was forced to climb the ladder to a high scaffold, where he would be hanged.

  From the dizzying heights of the scaffold, Wallace could see the huge crowd that had gathered to watch him die. The bloodthirsty mob was about to be greatly entertained by the execution of the Scottish patriot, because Wallace was to be killed three times over. He was first to be hanged, then drawn and finally quartered.

  It was a horrible way to go. Even reading about it is enough to make your blood run cold and the hairs on the back of your neck bristle. Just imagine it.

  First, the hanging. Wallace’s head was placed in the hangman’s noose. As the rope tightened around his neck, Wallace was strangled until nearly dead.

  Then, the drawing. Wallace was revived after his encounter with the hangman’s noose by a bucket of cold water, thrown over his head. This was done to make sure he could feel the next bit of agonising pain. A deep cut was then made in his belly and Wallace’s intestines were drawn out slowly like a long string of sausages.

  In front of Wallace was a bonfire. The long sausage-string of his guts was thrown into the bonfire and burned. Then Wallace’s heart was plucked out while it was still beating and shown to the mob, who cheered. After that, Wallace’s head was cut off and held up for all to see, and the mob cheered even louder.

  Finally, the quartering. A big, shiny meat cleaver was brandished by the executioner. He used it like a butcher, to chop Wallace’s body into four parts, each with an arm or leg still attached.

  Just in case you were in any doubt, poor Wallace was well and truly dead by now! His head was stuck on a spike on London Bridge, where his grisly features looked out over the city until his skull was pecked clean by gulls and crows. Well, at least they had good taste.

  So what happened to the other bits of Wallace’s body?

  His right arm was taken to Newcastle, in northern England, and was hung above the town’s smelly sewers.

  The rest of Wallace’s body was taken to Scotland. His left arm was hung up at Stirling. His right leg was put up at Berwick and his left leg at Perth.

  This was a WARNING to anybody else in Scotland who had ideas about trying to end the tyranny of Longshanks. Wallace had battled to save Scotland from slavery and paid the ultimate price. And Scotland was still under Long-shanks’ iron fist.

  But does all this mean Wallace had sacrificed his life for nothing? Certainly not! In fact, Wallace’s story doesn’t end here at all. His life inspired others to begin a long quest to free his country . . .

  Epilogue

  Wallace’s heroic life and brave death made the Scots realise it was possible to stand up for themselves. They didn’t have to be slaves if they really didn’t want to.

  Wallace had died because his people didn’t stick together and he was betrayed. But now the Scots understood that if they DID stick together to help each other, they could get their country back and be rid of their conquerors forever.

  The Scots figured out that what they needed was a strong king who had Wallace’s courage and skill as a warrior, as well as some special gifts that only a king can possess.

  So just a few months after Wallace was executed, a new monarch stepped forward to restart the struggle for Scotland’s freedom. His name was Robert the Bruce.

  Bruce was a member of one of Scotland’s most powerful noble families, and he was inspired by Wallace’s bravery and patriotism. In fact, it was probably young Bruce who knighted Wallace after Wallace’s victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge all those years ago.

  There isn’t enough room in this book to squeeze in Bruce’s brilliant adventures. But if you want to find out how Bruce beat the English army and made Wallace’s dreams come true . . . hunt down a copy of Robert The Bruce And All That !

  But this story has not really been about Scotland beating England, or England beating Scotland. It’s about much more than that.

  Thanks to Wallace, the Scots and the English eventually learned to live side by side as good friends – because Wallace showed that one group of people should never try to make slaves of another.

  In fact, thanks to heroes like Wallace, people all over the world are inspired to stand up for anyone who is bullied or treated unfairly.

  In Scotland, Wallace’s memory lives on in the new national parliament in Edinburgh. It’s a place where every Scot has a say in how the country is run. The Scots decided to build the parliament in 1997 – exactly 700 years after Wallace’s great victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

  And Wallace doesn’t just live on in Edinburgh, but all over Scotland – in his statues, monuments and paintings. As we have also discovered, there are legendary Wallace caves, Wallace stones and Wallace forests scattered all around.

  Open up a good map, and it should reveal which Wallace treasures might be lurking near your or your relatives’ and friends’ homes. If you visit these places and bring your imagination, you’ll find Wallace’s world is still all around you.