"LIKE A SWAN FROM A RAVEN" THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL IMAGE OF WJILIAM WALLACE 1 297- 1582 A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Guelph by JAMES E. FRASER In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts April. 1999 O James E. Fraser, 1999 National Library Biblioth&que nationale I4 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliogaphiques 395 Wellington Street 395, m Wellington OrrawaON KIAW 0th~ON K1A ON4 Caneda Canade The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une Licence non exclusive Licence allowing the exclusive pennettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduke, preter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent Stre imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation, ABSTRACT "LIKE A SWAN FROM A RAVEN" THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL IMAGE OF WILLIAM WALLACE 1297- 1582 James E. Fraser Advisor: University of Guelph. I999 Dr. EL. Ewan This thesis is an examination of the development of the way in which William Wallace and his career were assessed and described in British historiography from Wallace's lifetime to the publication of George Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia in 1582. Beginning with the image of William Wallace constructed by his English contemporaries, the thesis traces the extent to which each subsequent image drew upon its predecessors, isolating four distinct stages or phases of development. The first of these, termed the Edwardian image. was constructed within the English chronicles contemporary with Wallace. The most significant influence shaping the second stage, termed the Brucean image, was exerted by Robert Bruce, whose self-interested propaganda included a consideration of Wallace and his career. In the fifteenth century, the Wallace image entered into a third stage, founded upon the Brucean image but greatly influenced by popular legend, imagination, and fifteenth-century issues. In its fourth stage, the image was altered to suit Renaissance attitudes within a Scotland that was decreasingly anti-English. I1 Acknowledgements Having benefited greatly from assistance and support from countless sources in the enterprise of completing this project, I wish to acknowledge in particular the efforts of the foilowing: Dr. Dauvit Broun of the University of Glasgow. who took the time to share the substance of his forthcoming publication on Fordun's gesta cmnalia, which greatly influenced the second chapter; Scott Moir and Dr. Scott McLean of the University of Guelph, both of whom took unsolicited time to call my attention to works they had encountered which were of great utility to this project; my advisor, Dr. Elizabeth Ewan, whose support and encouragement. including long-term access to a number of sources from her private libnry, were invaluable to me: Drs. Daniel Fischlin, Linda Marshall, and Keith Cassidy. who were willing to monitor the progress of this endeavour and to offer their advice and assistance; and the Scottish Studies Foundation of Canada, for its support in general of the Scottish Studies Program at the University of Guelph, and in particular for its generous extension to me of the 1998 Stanford Reid Bursary. I have also been sustained in my work by the support of friends and family too numerous to mention, but would be remiss if I did not recognize my colleogues at the University of Guelph for various instances of peer counselling, support, inspiration md encouragement, and for their assistance in helping me to grow as a scholar over the past two years. In particular I would like to thank Courtney Hanis for her willingness to listen and for her friendship. This work is dedicated to the memory of Jessie Gavin Fraser. i ii Table of Contents Introduction Pg*1 William Wallace: "Chief of Brigands" pe-9 The Brucem Image of William Wallace pg.38 William Wdlace: "Hammer of the English pg-75 William Wallace and "the Public Interest" pg. 1 17 Conclusion pg. 15 1 Bibliography pg. 156 Introduction In the spring of 1297. there was a Rising in Scotland, the seeds of which had been sown eleven springs earlier in 1286 when, as a result of an accident, Alexander m. King of Scots, died; he left as his only direct heir a three-year-old granddaughter, the daughter of the king of Norway. The 'community of the realm of Scotland*selected a body of six Guardians from among their number to maintain the royal government in the name of 'the Maid of Norway.' but when she died in 1290, leaving the succession in dispute (the so-called 'Great Cause'), the king of England, Edward I, became as prominent in Scottish politics as the rival claimants to the throne. Invited to help maintain order within a Scotland divided and to offer his good offices in the search for the most valid heir, Edward set about securing recognition of the age-old claim of English kings to feudal overlordship in Scotland. It was a claim he had researched well by consulting the chronicles of his own kingdom, and having secured a general assent to it from the ill-situated community of the realm of Scotland,' Edward presided over a tribunal which, in 1292, recognized the superior claim of John Balliol, Lord of Galloway, who was subsequently enthroned as John, King of Scots. Respecting the English overlordship he had already recognized, John did homage and fealty to the king of England for Scotland. By 1295, however, the community of the realm had grown weary of Edward and this arrangement; John was set aside and replaced by a council of twelve, which concluded an alliance with Philip IV of France (in effect, a declaration of war against Edward) and issued a call to arms for the defense of Scotland. Hostilities began in March 1296 with a failed see Barrow, Robert Bruce, p.31-38 for a detailed account of this process Scottish attack upon Carlisle and the savage sack of Berwick by the English army; trounced at Dunbar in April, the Scottish leaden withdrew to the northeast and sued for peace, and Edward accepted John's resignation of the kingdom of Scotland at Montrose in July and took him prisoner. After marching through the northeast of Scotland in a show of strength, Edward returned to Berwick in August, where in a parliament he established and organized a provisiond Scottish government of occupation under John de Wuenne the Earl of Surrey. Having received the written proof of the homage and fealty of "every substantial freeholder of land in s cot land."^ the king of England returned south with his many prisoners of status. It was in reaction to these circumstances, and against Warenne's provisional government. that the Rising of 1297-1304 occurred. Supported by the clergy. which also took the Scottish case before Philip IV of France and the Pope, and led largely by men who had opposed John's claim to the throne during the Great Cause (his supporters having made up most of Edward's prisoners). the Scots strove to free themselves of English control. Their principal leaders were the only two remaining Guardians from 1286, Robert Wishart, bishop of Glasgow, and James Stewart, but others would emerge, including a member of Stewart's feudal following named William wallace.' Beginning with the status which came with being the Stewart's man, in 1297 Wallace embarked upon a remarkable career which resulted in his becoming "one of those rue immortals who tower head and shoulders above their contemporaries.'* With uprisings underway throughout Scotland, Wallace led an attack on Lanark in May, killing its English sheriff, and proceeded in the company of Sir William Douglas, James Stewart's former brother-in-law, to raid Scone and put Warenne's chief ' Barrow, Robert Bntce, p.76 ' see Barrow, Roben Bruce, p.8 1-82 for Wallace's connections with James Stewart. ' Barrow, Robert Bruce, p.8 i justiciar to flight. While Wishart, Stewart, Douglas and the young Robert Bruce, after their so-called 'capitulation* at Irvine in June, discussed a resolution to the situation with the English, Scottish unrest, aided by a sympathetic nobility, was coalescing under two leaders, Andrew Murray, the son of a Moray lord, in the north and northeast, and Wallace in the south. By the time talks broke down and Wishart ilnd Douglas were imprisoned, Murray and Wdlilce were drifting together; by the time Wuenne entered Scotland with his army, they had joined up. At Stirling Bridge in September, their forces inflicted a humiliating defeat upon Warenne, dier which Wallace and hdurray. who had been badly wounded in the battle, led their army into northern England to waste. pillage and terrorize; Murray seems to have died in November. Wallace (with Murray before his death) issued letters, writs and charters and mmged for the election of a successor to the deceased bishop of St Andrews, styling himself 'commander of the army of or 'Guardian of' Scotland with the 'consent of the community of the realm' and 'in the name of' King John; while Edward was extricating himself from Randen to deal with the Rising, Wallace was knighted, very possibly by Robert Bruce,' and was presumably also formally named Guardian.