William Wallace Insurgency Analysis Essay

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William Wallace's Insurgency

Factors Driving William Wallace's Insurgency

William Wallace was born somewhere around 1272-1276. His childhood years were peacefully spent, without a doubt, in a large house rather than a tiny crofter's shack. William was exceptionally large and boisterous -- traits that didn't go well with the future his family had planned for him. Being the younger son, and without any lands of his own, William was bound to end up as a priest. However, the death of his father, Sir Malcolm Wallace, and his eldest brother, in a clash with the English at Irvine, marked a permanent change in his life and the beginning of his personal bitterness towards the English -- a feeling that subsequently intensified to extreme hatred (Reese).

The historic 1296 Ragman Roll, through which the English King Edward I aimed to make the whole of Scotland bow down to him, set off the events that rendered William an outlaw. Before long, he defied the English authority. An English governor's son, Selby, challenged William; William killed his opponent and went into hiding. Since his grandfather was incapable of concealing him, William was sent to Riccarton to Richard Wallace, his uncle. William found love in the 18-year-old heiress Marion Braidfute of Lamington, the daughter of Sir Hugh Braidfute. While the two never married, owing to the fact that William didn't believe war and romance should mix, they did meet clandestinely at Marion's home whenever possible (Reese; Brown).

History records that Marion was killed by, or under the orders of, Sheriff Heselrig, in a bid to bring William out of hiding. William, together with about forty companions of his, avenged Marion's murder by killing the Sheriff and gutting the English campsite. Later, they took refuge in Torwood forest, making it the base from which they recruited Scots and led a guerrilla crusade against the Englishmen occupying Scottish territory. Blind Harry is of the view that these guerrilla strategies resulted in elimination (by murder) of a majority of members of the baronial council by King Edward in June 1297 in the Barns of Ayr. Another such hanging party was, at the same time, arranged in Renfrewshire, beginning with the hanging of Sir Ranald Crauford. This motivated William, who was late to arrive at the place because of an errand given to him by his uncle, to wipe out the English battalion at, Ayr, in the typical Scottish fashion -- barricading the sleeping soldiers inside, setting fire to the buildings, and killing anybody who tried to get away from the fire. Wallace's party then withdrew for safety to Selkirk Forest. Upon hearing of Sir Ranald's hanging, his son, William, made for Selkirk forest to join forces with William Wallace (Morton; Fisher).

What factor, more than any other, drove it?

When William Wallace visited Lanark in May of 1297 to meet with Marion Braidfute, the lady he was secretly married to, the English Sheriff, William Heselrig, who, at the time, held Lanark Castle, came to know of Wallace's presence in town. Englishmen surrounded Marion's residence to capture William; though he escaped, Marion was seized and killed on Heselrig's orders. William took a party of men that night to the castle and killed the Sheriff in his bed chamber (Reese; Stead).

The year 1297 saw an emergence of Scottish leaders who revolted against the English rule; the fire of rebellion, though extremely short-lived, raged throughout Scotland. Andrew de Moray successfully headed a Scottish campaign in North-eastern Scotland against castles held by the English. Bishop of Glasgow, Wishart, and Wallace met to discuss further plans for Scotland's emancipation. Wishart is criticized in the Chronicle of Lanercost for siding with Wallace in a conspiracy to overthrow King Edward. The Chronicle states that the Bishop "ever foremost in treason conspired with the Steward of the Kingdom, named James, for a new piece of insolence, yea, for a new chapter of ruin." It is further written that while the Bishop didn't dare to overtly defy the king, he spurred a former chief of Scottish brigands, William Wallace, to rebel against Edward and unite the Scottish people under his banner (Barrow; Fisher).

William employed guerrilla warfare against King Edward's rule, leading a growing army towards Scone. When Scotland's English Justiciar, William Ormesby, heard of Wallace's approach, he fled Scone for Edinburgh, from where he then headed to England to take refuge. Wallace besieged Dundee Castle, which was in the English's grasp. King Edward, who up until then was occupied with war against France, began to focus on the trouble brewing in Scotland.

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Earl of Surrey, John de Warenne, and Scotland's English Treasurer, Hugh de Cressingham, were ordered to organize a force and quell the uprising. William had to abandon the siege on hearing of the English force's approach; he got a message through to Moray to join him in battle against Edward's army at Stirling, setting the stage for the decisive Battle of Stirling Bridge, where the English army was crushed (Reese; Morton).

Why?

William was violently angered upon hearing of Marion's fate. That very night, he led his men and other Scots, into Lanark for avenging her. Heselrig, who did not anticipate retaliation so soon, maintained lax security that night, a situation that advantaged William greatly. The Scots decided to enter Lanark in little groups to evade the attention of sentinels. Upon gaining entrance, the entire team regrouped. They divided themselves into two major groups, heading different directions -- one towards Heselrig's residence (led by William), with the other heading towards Thorn's residence. Upon arriving at the Sheriff's residence, William broke in and killed the Sherriff in his bed chamber. It is recorded that Wallace beheaded the sheriff in a single stroke. The other party charged with taking care of Robert Thorn, set fire to his residence, burning him to death. William's army battled against the English, who then came to know of the invasion, slaying as many as 240 Englishmen. However, the Scottish party took care to spare the lives of women and clerics; those whose lives were spared were expelled without provisions from the town. An ancient Scottish legend states that William used Heselrig's skin to create a scabbard (sheath) for his large claymore (Scottish broadsword, normally double-edged) (Barrow; Seligman; Morton).

Explain the psychological and political dynamics of this factor

William's psychological response to Marion's death was the institution of personal boundaries, based typically on a specific order and grasp of his world. There were infrequent stressors that made him deviate from his equilibrium state; however, he would effectively react to a majority of stressors, which fell nearby or within his known equilibrium range (i.e., reacting with violence). Trauma induced can be triggered by one "severe" stressor or several "chronic" stressors. The former is often an unexpected, spontaneous, chance event. A basic example of acute stressor is crimes perpetrated by strangers. On the other hand, chronic stressors are those occurring repeatedly and driving victims every time to the threshold of their equilibrium states, or further (Seligman). The English's murder of Marion made, to Scotsmen and to William especially, a statement that Scotland was devoid of political independence. The Englishmen entered Scottish territory, perpetrating a crime aimed at hurting William personally, and concurrently, bringing him out of hiding for the purpose of capturing him (Barrow; Seligman).

Marion's execution indicates a lawless, auxiliary force. Clearly, attacking the king's men is akin to attacking the king himself'. Or, Edward probably wasn't aware of the fact that his army was taking advantage of the prima noctae rule to abuse and rape local women, causing leaders like Wallace to rebel. The rebellion may, by Englishmen, have been misconstrued as lawlessness and overreaction, aggravating the peasants' turmoil. Marion's death traumatizes William, as do the deaths of his brother and father; he wishes to remember his wife, opting to remain stuck in the trauma of her loss. Revolts are always grounded in revenge, and in the case of William Wallace, revenge equals ruthlessly slaughtering her slayers (Stead; Reese).

Using Engels' theory of "peasant wars," explain why Wallace failed. Or did he?

The 'peasant wars' theory of Engel suggests that revolt appeals when everyday terror and violence becomes a continuity and a risk. Engels explains an insurrection theory, believing that mankind never gets to the stage of revolt, unless it is prepared to deal with the consequence of revolt, which is often death. He states that rebels are commonly underdogs; if they lose, they don't just die, but suffer a horrific death. The theorist is of the view that a successful revolutionary campaign is difficult among peasants, as they are inherently disorganized and corruptible. The foremost lesson on learns from Engel's theory is that a majority of Agrarian rebellions had failed. Acquiring social justice entails excesses in nearly all cases. The loss of life after the revolt ended ensures that they do not believe the revolt did them any good (Olgin, 65).

The theory of Engel reveals that both successful and failed revolts govern exploitation. In Engel's opinion, rebellion denotes a….....

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