Anonymous Life of Sir William Wallace, or Scotland Five Hundred Years Ago

1. Auflage 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5183-3702-4
Verlag: Krill Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 402 Seiten

William Wallace is one of the most famous freedom fighters in history, and over 700 years after his death he is still remembered as Scotland's beloved hero. But while the movie Braveheart helped make him a household name, and he is commemorated across Scotland as a natural leader and a loyal son of his homeland, he is also 'the most mysterious of the leaders of the Scottish resistance to Edward I.' This is because, paradoxically, the very famous soldier is also one of the least well known. In fact, the mystery surrounding Wallace is figuring out precisely, or even vaguely, who he was. Where did this champion of Scottish independence come from? Who was his family? What did he do before emerging from obscurity with the brutal murder of William Heselrig, the English sheriff of Lanark, in May 1297? So little evidence on Wallace's life exists that answering even the most basic questions about him can be a challenge. 


That said, as one scholar perceptively notes, 'the facts are not the reason why he is remembered as a meaningful historical actor.' For the admirers Wallace has accumulated over the centuries, the idealized version of what he stood for - weak over strong, justice over injustice, the will of the people over the might of the powerful - is infinitely more important than the historical man himself. Similarly, his English detractors have also focused on image over substance through the years, depicting Wallace as a heartless brute, a cruel traitor, and a blood-hungry outlaw. Whether he's depicted as an icon of Scottish resistance or a symbol of disloyalty and treachery, William Wallace is as much an idea as he was an actual figure of the Scottish Wars of Independence. 

Autoren/Hrsg.

Anonymous

Leseproben

THE WALLACE MONUMENT,AT BARNWEILL, AYRSHIRE.
.................. THE WALLACE MONUMENT, A VIEW of which adorns the title page of this publication, is situated on the hill of Barnweill, in the parish of Craigie, distant about seven miles from Ayr, and six from Kilmarnock. The site has been happily chosen, the summit of the gently swelling hill being more elevated than any of the neighbouring grounds, the magnificent and richly-diversified prospects which it commands are unobstructed in every direction; while from the same cause, the Tower is a significant object in the landscape several miles around. It becomes, too, all the more conspicuous when from above its parapet, on certain specified anniversaries, the Wallace Flag is beheld high, waving over the tuft of trees in the midst of which the Monument stands. That no monumental honours in the least worthy of his fame should at any time have been awarded our National Hero in Ayrshire—a district so rich in traditionary records of his youthful exploits, and the scene of several of his valorous achievements, and so abounding withal in places with which his memory, after the lapse of centuries, continues to be associated, seems little creditable to the patriotic spirit of the county. True, it may be said, that in having had within the present century two statues of Wallace erected in the town of Ayr, however unworthy of their object these may be deemed, they have set the county, in respect to honouring his memory, in advance of any other in the kingdom. The defence, such as it is, cannot well be gainsayed, inasmuch as, prior to the erection of the Monument we are about to describe, there were only other three, in as many different counties, commemorative of Wallace to be met with in Scotland. Indeed, until the construction, in 1855, of the monument alluded to, the country had nothing to show that could with strict propriety be termed a public memorial reared in honour of her “great Heir of Fame,” and expressly for the benefit and gratification of the community at large. The gigantic statue of the patriot erected in 1814 by the Earl of Buchan at Dryburgh, is of course private property, and as such it may be removed, or the public excluded from visiting it, at the will of the proprietor; while the statue at Lanark—the gift of the late Mr Forrest, sculptor, in 1837, to the burgh—the only other sculptured representation of the chieftain we are aware of in the kingdom, is as little entitled to be considered a public memorial in any way worthy of Wallace, as either of those referred to at Ayr. In addition to these four statues, a slender square-sided stone, reared in 1810 at Redding Ridge, parish of Polmont, on the spot where Wallace beheld, on the morning of the battle of Falkirk, the advance of Edward’s army from Linlithgow, made up, (we believe, until 1855,) the whole of the insignificant memorials consecrated by his country to the cherished memory of him whose glowing history has to many a successive generation been familiar as “household words.” Of the proposed National Monument, it would perhaps be out of place here to say more than to express the hope, that before the lapse of many seasons, a pile may be raised on the Abbey Craig near Stirling, alike worthy of the nation and the resplendent memory of the great “patriot hero” to whom, under Heaven, we owe our form of social life, and the possession of national existence. Still, whatever may be the result of the strenuous efforts yet to be made, ere the promoters of this highly laudable undertaking be cheered with the prospect of success, we cannot conceal from ourselves the discouraging fact, that all attempts of the kind on a smaller scale have hitherto failed. Though there lurks a fear, it has been observed, lest the fame of Wallace should be lost sight of through our neglect, we try rather unsuccessfully to excuse ourselves on the plea that he needs “no such weak witness of his name,” as “the labour of an age in piled stones,” when so many objects of a more permanent nature than statue, tower, or pyramid, serve to remind, us of his honoured name. A much greater number, however, we believe decline assistance to all such undertakings, not so much for the above reason as from the most impenetrable apathy to every enterprise, not of a decidedly utilitarian purport. To such cold and sordid objections may be ascribed the indifference with which every proposal regarding the erection of a Monument to Wallace in Ayrshire has been uniformly received. The gentleman to whom this volume is inscribed, finding, after waiting a good many years, none of his appeals or suggestions on the subject in the local newspapers responded to, abandoned the idea of further invoking the aid and concurrence of numbers, and magnanimously resolved to discharge the debt himself, so long due by the district to the memory of “Freedom’s best and bravest son.” Accordingly, early in 1635—a site for the memorial, and a lodge within the same enclosure, having been previously granted by the late General Neill, on his estate of Barnweill—plans of a Monument, in the form of a square Tower, etc., were advertised for; and from among a goodly number which in a short time the occasion brought forward, a design by Mr Robert Snodgrass, Beith, proving the most appropriate, was adopted. The execution of the design having devolved on the architect, the work was carried forward with so much perseverance that the structure was covered in by the close of the year. And thus was devised and arose within the compass of 1855, at the energetic command of one patriotic individual, on the hill of Barnweill, a Monument which shall to future generations tell of “Wallace and independence.” From the reproaching wail of the poetess, Ayrshire must henceforth be exempted, howsoever long and justly the following lines may be applicable to the country at large:— “The stranger comes, his eye explores The wilds of thy majestic shores; Yet vainly seeks one votive stone, Raised to the Hero all thine own.” “No man,” says a spirited writer in one of the county newspapers, who visited the Tower shortly after its construction, “No man that we know of ever before erected unaided a public Monument.” “This,” he continues, “Mr Patrick has done, and he has done more. He has erected a noble Monument, and with true greatness of mind has not sought to identify his own name with the deed. Actuated solely by admiration for the virtues of the great departed, he has sought to perpetuate the memory of Scotland’s Hero in the county, and has carefully avoided all mention of himself; but though no formal tablet tells of him who raised the trophy, well we know that the name of the generous founder will long be gratefully remembered in Ayrshire, and that many loving hearts will in future ages speak with pride of the man who delighted to honour the noblest historical character of his country.” The Tower is about seventeen feet square at the base, and fully sixty feet in height. The body of the structure is of squared ashlar, and the mouldings and projections of polished workmanship. The details as well as the leading features of the design being so distinctly displayed in the engraving, further notice of either is rendered unnecessary. The style being a modification of the early Baronial Architecture of Scotland, the design, considering the limited bounds of the subject, is not wanting in picturesque effects. The entrance door faces the east, and in each of the other sides of the Tower is a compartment, bearing an inscription, of similar dimensions and form to the upper half of the doorway. Over the latter, though, from the smallness of the scale, but imperfectly indicated in the engraving, are beautifully sculptured the armorial honours of the Hero, with crest, mantlings, and the motto “Pro Libertate Patriae.” This is a piece of first-class workmanship, and was, along with the several inscriptions, executed by Mr J. Logan, an artizan gifted with superior taste, and a natural professional dexterity of hand. The inscriptions in the compartments on the north, west, and south sides of the Tower, are respectively as follows:— ERECTED, MDCCCLV. In honour of Scotland’s great National Hero, the renowned Sir William Wallace—born mcclxx.—who, after performing numerous exploits of the most consummate bravery in defence of the independence of his country, was basely betrayed into the hands of his enemies, by whom, to their everlasting disgrace, he was most unjustifiably put to death on the xxiii. of August, mcccv. Centuries have not dimmed the lustre of his heroic achievements; and the memory of this most disinterested of Patriots shall, through all ages, be honoured and revered by his countrymen. “A soul supreme, in each hard conflict tried, Above all pain, all passion, and all pride; The frown of power, the blast of public breath. The love of lucre, and the dread of death.” SIR WILLIAM WALLACE, REGENT OF SCOTLAND, MCCVCII. In resistance to treacherous invasion, and in defence of the laws and liberties of his Country, he fought against fearful odds, the desperate battles of Biggar, Stirling, Black Earnside, and Falkirk, and between these actions, in little more than a year, he stormed and took from the invaders every fortress, castle, and town which they had seized in the kingdom. Though worsted at Falkirk by...