England thinks again on Wallace letter

Published on Friday 21 January 2011 15:18

IT IS a little over the size of a postcard, more than seven centuries old and firmly locked away in a drawer in the Home Counties.

• William Bell Scott's depiction of the trial of Wallace at Westminster before King Edward I in 1305

But hope is mounting that a letter widely believed to have been in the possession of William Wallace when he was captured by the English in the early 14th century could finally be on its way back to Scotland.

A team of academics called in by the Scottish Government to examine the "Safe Conduct" document have concluded the document is genuine, and a member of the group has revealed they believe there is a high probability it was in Wallace's possession.

The preliminary findings will increase the pressure on the National Archives of England and Wales to return the letter from Surrey to Scotland.

The Kew-based organisation has long argued the letter may be an English copy and that there is no evidence it was held by the legendary freedom fighter.

The case is set to inflame cross-border tensions in a manner befitting Wallace himself. Some campaigners for the return of the letter predict Kew will fight tooth-and-nail to hang on to the document.

The letter is crucially important because it is one of very few surviving possessions of Wallace. It is said to have been written by King Philip IV of France, granting Wallace safe passage to visit the Pope. But Wallace was betrayed by the Earl of Menteith and arrested in Robroyston, near Glasgow, in August 1305.

He was taken to London, found guilty of treason, stripped, dragged through the city, and hanged, drawn and quartered as depicted in the Hollywood blockbuster Braveheart. The letter he is said to have been carrying has been in English hands ever since.

Last year, the Scottish Government said it was considering making a formal request for the return of the Safe Conduct document.

Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop asked a team of historians and experts from north and south of the border, including Kew, to investigate the matter.

Notes of their first meeting reveal they are now "unanimous in judging that the letter itself, far from being a 'copy', is an 'original' produced in the French royal chancery".

The experts say the document is a writ in Latin ordering the French king's representatives to request the "Pope to favour William 'le Walois' of Scotland, knight, in the (unspecified) business that William had to expedite" and date it as "almost certainly" November 7, 1300.

The group says Wallace had a number of documents with him when he was arrested and it was at that point that it could have come into English possession. One member of the team, who asked not to be named, said: "There is a very good chance it was in Wallace's possession. I would put it at 70/30."

The expert group will now complete its investigation and is due to report its findings formally to ministers in the spring. But Nationalist MSP Christine Grahame, who has petitioned the Scottish Parliament to have the document returned, said the case had been proven.

She said: "To say there is a 70/30 chance of it being in Wallace's possession is proof on the balance of probability. How else would it have got into English hands?"

Grahame claimed Kew's refusal to return the document was "not founded in anything vaguely academic".

She said: "I think the Scottish people would want it returned. Wallace was one of the greatest men in Scotland's history and it is wrong that something that was in his possession is kept in a drawer and does not see the light of day."

Duncan Fenton, chairman of the Society of William Wallace, said the academics' findings were a "huge leap forward".

He said: "Kew kept fobbing us off with ‘It's an English scribe's copy'."

But Fenton predicted a huge fight ahead before it is returned north of the Border. He said: "I think they will hang on to it tooth-and-nail. Someone at Kew told us unofficially: ‘There is no way we are letting it go.'" He added: "England seems to have this ‘British Empire, you're not getting it back' attitude."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said ministers were looking forward to receiving the group's final report "which should help establish the letter's place in Scottish history".

The spokeswoman said: "There has always been tremendous interest in this letter and repeated claims that it should rightfully reside in Scotland's National Archives. However, its origins and precise link to William Wallace is a mystery, one which this expert group is working to solve."

A spokesman for the National Archive at Kew confirmed a panel of experts had met to try to establish where and why the letter was produced. "Following the meeting, additional research and analysis was required and the findings will be presented at the next meeting in March. After which, a report of the panel's conclusions will be published on The National Archives of Scotland's website [www.nas.gov.uk]."