William Wallace to Wycliff

You’ve probably seen Braveheart. How much of it is true? Let’s look at the characters.  Edward I, “Longshanks” because he was 6’2 in an era of men who were 5’5, was a terrific soldier and ambitious.  He was indeed the archetype cruel English oppressor.  Brutal and violent, he was autocratic and wanted all of Britain under his control.  Yet his wife, Eleanor of Castile, was very devoted and it kept him unusually (for that era) monogamous.  He conquered Wales and went to Crusade in the Holy Land where he was wounded with a poison dagger.  Eleanor had gone with him and tended him back to health by licking his wounds sucking out the poison.  She bore him at least 14 children. When she died in 1290 he was heartbroken.  Edward’s problem is that he needed big armies and in those feudal days, the only way to get one was when his vassal lords met their obligations of military service in return for their lands.  2^nd problem, how to pay the soldiers? Parliament kept denying the king funds.  So he would conquer and then plunder the conquered.  In Braveheart, Longshanks has devastated Scotland, killing her sons and raping her daughters. Historically these hideous abuses were by his underlings.  Longshanks sneakily took over Scotland.  Scottish King Alexander died in 1286 leaving infant Margaret as an only heir.  Edward used manipulation to betroth her to his son, who was only 5.  But the girl died.  Presenting himself as an honest broker, he convinced the Scottish lords that he would decide impartially who should be their king.  He put a puppet in place named John Balliol.  Balliol however, later decided to challenge Longshanks hence provoking war.  Balliol was defeated and several towns were massacred by Edward.  He put Scotland under direct English rule.

            The Scottish nobles piled heavy burdens on the backs of the commoners to pay for the war and weaseled to make a deal with Edward.  It was at this point that William Wallace stepped in, a lesser nobleman and farmer who had had enough.  He had a secret weapon, Highlanders.  Those were the tribal people who lived in the northern hills of Scotland. What did he tell them? We don’t know, but Braveheart’s words were romanticized by bards as the movie quotes: “And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that to come, and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!” He was a brave man with a sufficient number of followers but armed only with pointed poles against knights.  They met, not on open field, as in the movie, but at Stirling Bridge, bottle-necking the force under John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, from crossing the Forth River. More English tried to cross the open river and the Scots muscled them down.  The English retreated, and Wallace was crowned Guardian of the Kingdom. It didn’t last. Earl Surrey regrouped and defeated Wallace the next year at Falkirk in 1298.  Then Wallace’s army disbursed and he became a hunted man. Edward’s men found him in 1305, took him to London, executed and quartered him.  So brutal was his execution, and the Church protested.  Wallace was considered a good Christian.

            Thereupon the Scots became so angry, they rallied behind Robert VIII de Bruce, a man who actually did have some claim to the Scottish throne, but constantly wavered.  A year later, Longshanks died.  On his grave is the title, “Hammer of the Scots”.  He may have hammered them but he failed to crush them. Robert the Bruce went on to win the Scottish independence.  In the aftermath of Edward I’s brutal ruthlessness, Wallace became a martyr, England lost claim to Scotland, English finances were in ruin, the English nobles distrusted the monarchy, and Parliament established the precedent of no new law without their consent.  In the vacuum the English Church became more powerful, which led to resentment of the laity.   A young professor of theology, John Wycliff, began to find explosive ideas 150 years before the Reformation. God is sovereign over all and predestines men.  Man’s relationship to God is direct and requires no priest. Bread and wine are also present in the Mass. And he produced a clandestine Bible translation into English.  This rehearsal of the Reformation was protected by John of Gault and his anti-clerical party in Parliament. Even after Wycliff, England hungered for change, and was ready for Protestanism.