Documents Illustrative of the Life of William Wallace

Additional Manuscript, 5444, fol. 138, C.^q

This exceedingly interesting narrative, embodying the legal proceedings (if they may be so styled ) against Wallace, is taken from a manuscript, itself of modern date, but a transcript from one of the Cottonian MSS., which has subsequently been destroyed by the fire of 1731. That MS. was of considerable antiquity, and had belonged to some institution connected with the city of London, the successive officers of which had from time to time entered an account of those events which most attracted their attention. Hence we are here supplied with a contemporaneous account of the last, and perhaps the most interesting, period of the life of Wallace, his arrival in London, his treatment, the accusations brought against him, the grounds on which he met them, and the sentence which was pronounced by the agents of the English Justinian. That the compiler, whoever he was, had access to the best and most authentic information, is obvious, for a general inspection of his whole work, and, in this instance, by the introduction of the legal proceedings of the court by whom Wallace was condemned. Another copy, less perfect and correct than that above referred to, is contained in the Hargrave MS., 179, p. 292.

22nd August 1305. In the same year, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of September (August 22), Sir William Wallace, a knight born of Scottish nationality, came to London, where a multitude of men and women met him, and he was hosted in the house of William de Leyre, a citizen of London, in the parish of All Saints at Hay.

Eodem anno xj.^r Kalendas Septembris, dominus Willelmus Waleis, miles, ex natione Scotica natus, venit London, cui multitudo hominum ac mulierum fibi obviavit, et hospitabatur in domibus Willelmi de Leyre, civis London, in parochia Omnium Sanctorum ad Fœnum^s.

Note r. Nono, MS. Harg.

Note s. Fenchurch Street.

On the next day, which is called Monday [23rd August 1305], on the eve of Saint Bartholomew, he was led on horseback to Westminster; John de Segrave and Geoffrey de Segrave, knights, the Mayor, sheriffs, and aldermen of London following and leading him, along with many others walking and riding. He was placed in the Great Hall of Westminster on the southern bench, crowned with laurel leaves, because he had previously claimed that he should bear the crown in the same hall, as it was commonly said. Immediately, he was summoned to judgment and was accused by Lord Peter Maluree, justice of the Lord King of England, of being a traitor to the same king. He responded that he had never been a traitor to the King of England but admitted to the other crimes charged against him. Finally, the said Peter, along with other justices, decreed the sentence to be executed on the following day.

In crastino vero, qui dicitur dies Lunæ, in vigilia Sancti Bartholomæi, [Aug. 23] ductus fuit equitando apud Westmonasterium; Johannes de Segrave et Galfridus de Segrave, milites, Major, vicecomites et Aldermanni London eum sequentes ac ducentes, cum pluribus aliis eundo et equitando, et in Aula Magna Westmonasterii super scamnum australe positus, ac cum soliis lauri coronatus, pro eo quod ipse asseruit tempore præterito coronam in eadem aula portare deberet, sic^t vulgariter dicebatur. Statim ipso vocato ad judicium, et per dominum Petrum Maluree, justiciarium domini regis Angliæ, pro traditore ejusdem regis aggressus, qui respondit se nunquam traditorem regis Angliæ suisse, sed alia crimina sibi imposita concessit. Tandem dictus Petrus cum aliis justiciariis decrevit judicium ferie qua sequitur.

Note t. Perhaps sic, that is, sicut.

By virtue of which writ, the aforementioned justices proceeded to the deliverance of the said prison concerning the aforesaid William in the following manner.

Prætextu cujus brevis præsati Jufsiciarii ad deliberationem prædictæ prisonæ de præfato Willelmo processerunt in hunc modum.

Taking with him certain of his accomplices, he entered the kingdom of England, particularly in the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland, and feloniously killed in various ways all whom he found there loyal to the King of England, including religious men and nuns dedicated to God, and churches built to the honor of God and His saints, along with the bodies of saints and other relics honorably housed within them, which he feloniously and seditiously slaughtered, burned, and devastated. He spared no one who spoke the English tongue, but afflicted all, from the old to the young, brides with widows, infants with those nursing, with a death more grievous than could be imagined. Thus, he seditiously and feloniously persisted every day and hour in plotting the death of the said lord king and in the manifest overthrow and destruction of his crown and royal majesty.

Quosdam etiam de complicibus suis fecum assumens, regnum Angliæ, ut in comitatibus Northumberland, Comberland, et Westmerland, ingrediebatur, et omnes quos ibidem de fidelitate regis Angliæ invenit, diversis mortis generibus felonice interfecit, viros religiosos et moniales Deo dicatos, et ecclesias ad honorem Dei et suorum sanctorum constructas, una cum corporibus sanctorum et aliis reliquiis eorum in eis honorifice collocatis, felonice et feditiose mactavit, combussit et devastavit, nemini qui lingua Anglicana utebatur pepercit, sed omnes senes cum juvenibus, sponfas cum viduis, infantes cum lactantibus, graviore morte quam excogitare sciverat assiciebat. Sicque singulis diebus et horis in machinationem mortis ipsius domini regis et in coronæ et regiæ majestatis suæ annullationem et enervationem manifestam, seditiose et felonice perseverebat.

And although, after such enormous and horrible deeds, the aforementioned lord king, with his great army, had invaded the land of Scotland, and had defeated the aforesaid William, who was bearing the banner against him in mortal battle, along with his other enemies, and had granted his firm peace to all in that land, and had mercifully sought to recall the aforesaid William Wallace to his peace, the same William, stubbornly and resolutely persisting in his aforementioned wickedness, seditiously and feloniously refused to submit himself to the peace of the said lord king and to come to it. Therefore, in the court of the said lord king, as a seducer, robber, and felon, according to the laws and customs of England and Scotland, he was publicly outlawed. And it is unjust and contrary to the laws of England that anyone so outlawed and placed outside the law, not having been restored to the king's peace afterward, should be admitted to defend his status or to respond.

Et licet post tam enormia et horribilia facta prædictus dominus rex cum magno suo exercitu terram Scotia invasisset, et prædictum Willelmum vexillum contra eum in bello mortali deferentem et alios inimicos suos divicisset, sirmamque pacem suam omnibus de terra illa concessisset, et prædictum Willelmum le Waleis ad pacem suam misericordiser revocari secisset, idem Willelmus in sua prænotata nequitia seditiose et felonice concorditer et animose perseverans, paci prædicti domini regis se submittere et ad eam evenire contempsit, et sic in curia ipsius domini regis ut seductor, prædo et selo, ssecundum leges et consuetudines Angliæ et Scotiæ, publice fuit utlagatus. Et injustum et legibus Anglicanis dissonum existat et creditur aliquem sic utlagatum et extra leges positum, nec postea ad pacem ipsius restitutum, et defensionem status sui seu responsionem admitti,