Sir William Wallace

  Research Notes:

http://www.biography.com/people/william-wallace-9522479#the-rebellion-ramps-up notes:
Born circa 1270, near Paisley, Renfrew, Scotland, William Wallace was the son of a Scottish landowner. He spearheaded his country's long charge against the English toward freedom, and his martyrdom paved the way for eventual success
In 1296, England's King Edward I forced Scottish king John de Balliol, already known as a weak king, to abdicate the throne, jailed him, and declared himself ruler of Scotland. Resistance to Edward's actions had already begun when, in May 1297, Wallace and some 30 other men burned the Scottish town of Lanark and killed its English sheriff. Wallace then organized a local army and attacked the English strongholds between the Forth and Tay rivers.
On September 11, 1297, an English army confronted Wallace and his men at the Forth River near Stirling. Wallace's forces were vastly outnumbered, but the English had to cross a narrow bridge over the Forth before they could reach Wallace and his growing army. With strategic positioning on their side, Wallace's forces massacred the English as they crossed the river, and Wallace gained an unlikely and crushing victory.
When Wallace returned to Scotland in December 1297, he was knighted and proclaimed guardian of the kingdom, ruling in the deposed king's name. But three months later, Edward returned to England, and four months after that, in July, he invaded Scotland again.
Unwilling to compromise, William Wallace refused to submit to English rule, and Edward's men pursued him until August 5, 1305, when they captured and arrested him near Glasgow. He was taken to London and condemned as a traitor to the king and was hanged, disemboweled, beheaded and quartered. He was seen by the Scots as a martyr and as a symbol of the struggle for independence, and his efforts continued after his death.
Scotland gained its independence some 23 years after William Wallace's execution, with the Treaty of Edinburgh in 1328, and Wallace has since been remembered as one of Scotland's greatest heroes.

  Noted events in his life were:

• connection.