Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 5.djvu/167

SIR WILLIAM WALLACE 103 honor of knighthood. It had probably been bestowed upon him (as was then customary) by some other knight, one of his companions in arms, since his ele- vation from being the captain of a band of outlaws to be the commander-in-chief of the national forces. Wallace now retired to the north, carrying with him, however, a considerable body of adherents, to whom additional numbers rapidly gathered, so that he soon found himself in a condition to recommence aggressive operations. Directing his force to the northeastern coast, he surprised the castle of Dunottar, cleared Aberdeen, Forfar, Brechin, and other towns of their English garrisons, and then laid siege to the castle of Dundee. While he was engaged in this last attempt, news was brought that the English army was approaching Stirling ; upon which, leaving the siege to be carried on by the citizens of Dundee, he hastened to meet the enemy in the field. The result was the complete defeat and rout of the Eng- lish, at the battle of Stirling Bridge, fought on September 11, 1297 a battle which once more, for the moment, liberated Scotland. The English were imme- diately driven or fled from every place of strength in the country, including Ber- wick itself. Availing himself of this panic and of the exhilaration of his countrymen, Wallace pursued the fugitives across the border ; and putting himself at the head of a numerous force, he entered England on October i8th, and, remaining till November nth, wasted the country with fire and sword from sea to sea, and as far south as to the walls of Newcastle. It was during this visitation that the prior and convent of Hexham obtained from him the protection preserved by Hemingford. It is dated at Hexildesham (Hexham), November ;th, and runs in the names of " Andreas de Moravia, et Wilhelmus Wallensis, duces ex- ercitus Scotiae, nomine prgeclari principis Joannis, Dei gratia, Regis Scotia illus- tris, de consensu communitatis regni ejusdem," that is, " Andrew Moray and William Wallace, commanders-in-chief of the army of Scotland, in the name of King John, and by consent of the community of the said kingdom." The John here acknowledged as King of Scotland was Baliol, now in the hands of Ed- ward, and living in a sort of free custody in the Tower of London. Wallace's associate in the command was the young Sir Andrew Moray, son of his faithful friend of that name, who had retired with him from the capitulation of Irvine, and who had fallen at the battle of Stirling Bridge. One of the most curious of the few public papers in which the name of Wallace occurs was a few years since discovered by Dr. Lappenburg, of Ham- burg, in the archives of the ancient Hanseatic city of Liibeck. It is a letter, in Latin, addressed to the authorities of Liibeck and Hamburg, informing them that their merchants should now have free access to all ports of the kingdom of Scotland, seeing that the said kingdom, by the favor of God, had been recovered by war from the power of the English. The letter is dated "apud Badsing tonam" (the true word, it has been suggested, is probably Haddingtonam), Octo her ii, 1297, that is, a few days before the invasion of Cumberland and North- umberland. It is in the name of "Andreas de Moravia et Willelmus Wallensis.