William Wallace, a la Braveheart, at Memorial, Stirling, Scotland
Attention
should be paid to the swords of famous battle leaders. Robert the
Bruce, who led the victory of the Scots over the British at Bannockburn
in 1314, see http://www.britishbattles.com/scottish/battle-bannockburn.htm apparentlyearlier (later?) received the sword of William Wallace, see http://www.forthstimeline.com/downloads/wallace_leaflet.pdf .
Scroll down the sites for representations of medieval swords. Wallace
may not have been a pivotal figure at all for Bruce, but the two later
get linked by the proximity of their memorials. See, e.g., http://www.hotelsinscotland.org/scotland/bannockburn-stirling-scotland.php/
Wallace was tortured and killed by the English in 1305 when they
finally overcame him by betrayal, capture, butchery. Wallace was known
for his own victory over the British at Stirling Bridge in 1297.
What
happened to that particular sword is not known, but the sword
attributed to Robert the Bruce in Stirling, is so long and heavy that it
is hard to imagine anyone able to lift it. I understand that a young
man began with increasingly heavy and long swords so that by the time he
was grown, he could wield such a one handily. Like lifting a cow by
beginning as a child with a calf.
Robert the Bruce, Equestrian Statue, Stirling Castle, Scotland
