William Wallace was merely an accidental Braveheart says expert

HE WAS famously portrayed by Mel Gibson in Braveheart as the woad-painted, undisputed warrior leader of Scotland.

But a Scottish historian now claims William Wallace emerged as the pivotal figure in Scottish resistance to the English in the 13th century only by accident and default.

Professor Dauvit Broun, of Glasgow University, also says he has uncovered new evidence that Wallace was merely a “co-leader” in the murder of Sheriff William Hesilrig, the English Sheriff of Lanark in 1297, which sparked the Scottish rebellion.

In an article published on the website Breaking of Britain, Prof Broun claims Wallace was not the sole leader of the band that killed Hesilrig, saying the deed was as much down to a knight called Richard of Lundie as it was to “Braveheart” Wallace.

He said: “Richard of Lundie was a close ally of William Wallace and rose with him in opposition to the English occupation of Scotland.

“It was Lundie who led the band with Wallace that was responsible for the killing of the Sheriff of Lanark on 3 May, 1297.

“But just a few weeks after this, when it seemed as though the most prominent leaders of the rebellion, including the future king Robert the Bruce, James Stewart and the Bishop of Glasgow, would sue for peace, Lundie decided to go over to the English, presumably to save his own skin.” Prof Broun said Lundie’s decision to switch sides meant that when the Scots, led by Wallace and Sir Andrew Murray, prepared for the decisive Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297, Lundie was part of the English force, under the Earl of Surrey.

According to a chronicle of the time, Lundie urged that a detachment be sent over the River Forth to attack the Scots from the rear. Prof Broun said that if Lundie’s advice had been taken, the outcome of the battle might have differed from the overwhelming withdrawal of English troops from the battlefield, which secured the Scottish victory and Wallace’s fame.

The academic said there could have been another “intriguing” element to the story, claiming it was possible Lundie swapped sides again. He said: “Nothing is heard about Richard of Lundie after the Battle of Stirling Bridge, but an English song of the time blames their defeat on his treachery. Could it be that Richard of Lundie swapped sides again once he saw the way the battle was going?”

He added that it was “not hard to imagine” how the knight’s name had disappeared from history as, when the “myth” of freedom fighter Wallace grew, it would have been “hard to accept that a turncoat and a renegade such as Richard of Lundie could have been responsible for the slaying of the Sheriff of Lanark that set in train the popular revolt against English rule”.

Prof Broun added: “Wallace became a legendary leader by accident; by the death, capture or surrender of his colleagues.”