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 attac