How Did William Wallace Impact Society

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Fernando Claudio-Lopez
Mr. Jamison // Mr. Casselius
Honors English II – 4th hr. // AP Euro – 3rd hr.
Feb. 15, 2017
William Wallace: Guardian of Scotland How much of an impact did William Wallace really make in terms of history and culture Scotland during the War of Scottish Independence? With the lack of primary accounts about Wallace’s life, more specifically his early life, many aspects of his existence are littered with ambiguity. What does have documentation though, is his impact made on the sovereignty of Scotland in the late-13th and early-14th century during the War of Scottish Independence. His fight for Scotland during a leadership crisis against Edward I who lead the English, made him one of the most, if not the most, known and …show more content…

One example during William’s lifetime is seen in the Lübeck letter as shown previously. In the events that a patriot such as William Wallace fights for his country and benefits its people, the people support him strongly as well as the country in turn. A considerable amount of the nationalism ascribed to Wallace’s fight is seen in literature. Much of that literature is seen in the abundance of myths and greatly exaggerated stories about Willam and his battles. One of the greatest stories about him was an epic verse of 11,861 lines written in the span of 5 years by a writer known as Blind Harry, stating what is possibly the most comprehensive and influential accounts of William Wallace’s exploits known to date (Morton, 1998). Harry’s story helped bring about the several different variations of the accounts of Wallace’s life, popularizing the heroism of Wallace and his rebellion against the English. In the eighteenth-century there was even a decline in reprints of Harry's “The Wallace” as many of the Scottish people had already owned the book -- it was the book next to the Bible most frequently found in Scottish households (Morton, 1998). On the occasions of when there happens to be a clear lack of evidence in facets of somebody’s life who happens to be regarded highly, …show more content…

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