... on this day... long, long ago... Sir William Wallace was put to death.... I've just had a request to post about it by Redneck... and, y'all know that I love nothing better than making each and every one of you just as happy as a bunch of clams.. so, here goes...
... damn... where to start?... I suppose with Burns... after all, the Bard said it nicely thus...
Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled, Scots,
wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victory!
Now's the day, and now's the hour;
See the front o' battle lour,
See approach proud Edward's power ”
Chains and slavery!
Wha will be a traitor-knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?
Let him turn and flee!
Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand or freeman fa',
Let him follow me!
By oppression's woes and pains,
By your sons in servile chains,
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free!
Lay the proud usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in ev'ry foe!
Liberty's in ev'ry blow!
Let us do or die!
... indeed... them thar be fighting words... but you must understand where ole Rabbie is coming from... after all, his Scotland has just experienced the Act of Union in 1707... or, as Burns himself put it... his country had just been "Bought and sold for English gold.. such a parcel of rogues in a nation".... oh, yeah.. Robbie was nothing if not a nationalist....
... so yeah, he was pissed.... and even I, on the ancient bridge spanning the North Esk river at St. Cyrus, saw the graffiti once... quoting a Roman of yore.. well, paraphrasing actually... if memory serves, I do believe the ole Roman spake in antiquity... "we have made a desert and call it peace..."... then again, I could be wrong... my reading of the great classics has fallen woefully behind recently... so, who said that?.. anyone?...
... anyway, the scrawl in the stone bridge read like this... "Scotland FREE or a DESERT!"... now... see?... shocking, isn't it... yep, it's pretty damn harsh... and hey, that was 1994!...
... as a result, Wallace is many things to many people... in Braveheart, Gibson portrayed him as THE great hero of Scotland.. and that may well be... I'm no historian, after all... but as for myself, I will love William Wallace for another reason.....
... in the granite city of Aberdeen, there is a gigantic statue of Mr. Wallace in front of His Majesty's Royal Theatre... holding his menacing 5'4" sword and scowling... it really is a beautiful thing to behold... but the inscription is what won my heart... the devil is in the details, rubberneckers... it always is...
... what does the inscription read?... well, I've just googled it and can't find it verbatim... but as I recall, it says the following...
... "on this spot in 1298, Sir William Wallace - Guardian of Scotland - murdered the High Sheriff of Aberdeenshire"....
... that totally rocks... I mean, c'mon... who among you has NOT wanted to smack whack a surly Sheriff?....
... so, in fulfilling the request made by Redneck, there you have it... on this day in 1305, Sir William Wallace was executed... and it was a damn crying shame... Longshanks should be ashamed of himself...
I knew you had it in you. It was the 5'4" sword that sold you wasn't it. ;)
You know you want one of those... Biker Steve would be in awe. I've read that he was a large man, and well educated. I reckon, just an ol' fashioned bad ass.
Sir William Wallace that is... No disrespect to Biker Steve.
The details of his execution are quite interesting. He did not go easy.
Bullshitted by Acidman on August 25, 2005 04:11 AMBraveheart was a good movie.. horribly inaccurate historically.
Love the post, being a re-enactor that plays on his Scottish herritage I love talking Scottish history and that is one of my favorite of Burns' poems.
Bullshitted by Contagion on August 25, 2005 09:21 AM