In the month of May in the same year [1297], the perfidious race of the Scots began to rebel." – The Guisborough Chronicle
"In the month of May in the same year [1297], the perfidious race of the Scots began to rebel." – The Guisborough Chronicle
On this day in history, in AD 1297, William Wallace and Sir Richard Lundie attacked the English-held Scottish town of Lanark and assassinated the English sheriff of Clydesdale, Sir William de Heselrigg. This was Wallace's first confirmed historical act and with it he exploded onto the stage of history.
In 1297 Scotland was largely under English control. The previous year King Edward l of England had imprisoned the Scottish king, John Balliol, and placed his own officials in charge of Scotland. But the Scottish commoners grew resentful of these officials. A man of the lesser nobility, William, son of Alan Wallace, was chosen as their leader to wage war against the English and he set his sights on Lanark and the English sheriff. According to the 14th-century Scalacronica, written by Thomas de Gray whose father, also Thomas de Gray, survived the attack on Lanark:
"At which time [1297] in the month of May William Wallace was chosen by the commons of Scotland as leader to raise war against the English, and he at the outset slew William de Hesilrigg at Lanark, the King of England's Sheriff of Clydesdale. The said William Wallace came by night upon the said sheriff and surprised him, when Thomas de Gray, who was at that time in the suite of the said sheriff, was left stripped for dead in the mellay when the English were defending themselves. The said Thomas lay all night naked between two burning houses which the Scots had set on fire, whereof the heat kept life in him, until he was recognised at daybreak and carried off by William de Lundy, who caused him to be restored to health."
The Scots, led by Wallace and Lundie, infiltrated Lanark at night and gathered together before striking at the English. In the ensuing fight they killed some English soldiers and set fire to some buildings, while Wallace went straight for Heselrigg and brutally dispatched the startled sheriff. According to Blind Harry and the indictment read out against Wallace in 1305, Wallace chopped the sheriff's body into pieces. The indictment reads:
"The aforesaid William Wallace, forgetting his fealty and allegiance, pondering every possible felony and sedition against the said lord king [Edward I], and having joined and allied to himself an immense number of felons, arose and feloniously attacked and assaulted the keepers and agents of the said king, and feloniously and against the peace of the said lord king attacked, wounded and killed William de Heselrigg, sheriff of Lanark, who [was holding] the pleas of the said king in open county court, and thereafter, in contempt of the same king, he cut up piecemeal the said sheriff [who had been] killed thus."
The motive for Wallace's attack on Lanark is not known for certain. Tradition has it that Heselrigg killed Wallace's wife after she helped him escape from the English soldiers who were pursuing him following a fight in the town. But as far as we know, Wallace was not married. It is possible that the motive was revenge, but most likely it was a political attack fuelled by hatred and a desire to rid Scotland of English officials. This is backed up by Wallace's actions the following month when he and Sir William Douglas attacked Scone where another high-ranking English official, the English-appointed justiciar of Scotland William de Ormesby, was located. Clearly Wallace intended to capture or kill Ormesby, but fortunately for him he was forewarned of Wallace's approach and escaped the wrath of the Scottish warrior.
Another interesting piece of evidence that suggests the attack on Lanark was political—and is mentioned in the indictment extract above—is that Wallace killed Heselrigg on a day when the sheriff was holding the pleas of King Edward in open county court in Lanark. With his brutal slaying of Heselrigg, Wallace intended to send a clear message to King Edward and the English in Scotland.
Following the attack, Richard Lundie left Wallace and joined the Scottish nobility who surrendered to the English at Irvine. Lundie was apparently disgraced to such an extent at the attitude and lack of unity among the Scottish leaders—the future King of Scots Robert the Bruce, Bishop Robert Wishart, and James the Steward—that he changed sides and joined the English. Wallace, on the other hand, was enraged when he heard word of the capitulation at Irvine and thus attacked Wishart's palace at Ancrum. The 14th-century Guisborough Chronicle records:
"When that robber William Wallace had heard this he became angry in his mind and proceeded to the Bishop's house and drew to himself all his furniture, arms and horses, and the sons who were called by name of the bishop's nephews. And he was increased by an immense number of Scots to the point where the community of the realm began to follow him as their leader and prince."
That Wallace was angry enough to attack the palace of a fellow Scot who had surrendered without a fight, shows how ruthlessly dedicated he was to war with the English and expelling them from Scotland. It is also strong evidence of a link between the two men and their separate rebellions, and it supports the claim made by the English chroniclers that the bishop had spurred Wallace into action. Wallace, feeling betrayed, took his revenge.
At the battle of Stirling Bridge on 11 September 1297, both William Wallace and Richard Lundie were present but in different camps. Wallace, along with Andrew Moray, led the Scots, while Lundie was serving in the English army. Lundie advised the English commanders, Sir John de Warenne and Sir Hugh de Cressingham, not to cross the bridge. He clearly knew what type of a man Wallace was and he could smell the danger that was present on the north side of the River Forth. But his advice was ignored and the English vanguard crossed the bridge and was annihilated.
After the English army had been defeated, many of Scottish nobles in the English camp, and possibly Lundie himself, ever the opportunists, attacked the English camp and baggage train.
Richard Lundie, the man who had fought with Wallace at Lanark and then opposed him at Stirling Bridge, disappears from the record after the battle.
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Picture: William Wallace is accosted in the streets of Lanark by young Heselrigg, the son of the English sheriff of Lanark. Credit: Andrew Hillhouse.
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