William Wallace

William Wallace (c. 1274-1305) is a legend. The champion of the independence of Scotland, defeated by Edward I and eventually hung, drawn and quartered in London, he is revered to this day as Scotland's foremost patriot. Since his death, the Wallace story has been one to inspire, and the cult of Wallace has travelled far beyond Scotland itself. Yet Wallace's life is still a mystery. The sources are few and have been grossly distorted over seven centuries through ballads, penny histories and poems This book, based on the original research by Scottish historian Graeme Morton, is the first to fully examine both the contemporary sources that are available and the way the many strands of the Wallace myth have been constructed, communicated and appropriated from his death right up to the present day. William Wallace: Man and Myth.