Source.—The Book of Pluscarden, pp. 117 et seqq. (Historians of Scotland, vol. x.)

The same year, that renowned champion William Wallace, the terror of the English, the son of a noble knight of the same name, rose in Scotland. He was very tall of stature, of great bodily strength, pleasant and merry of countenance, of kindly seeming to all his friends, but terrible to his foes, bounteous in gifts, most righteous in judgment. Being a true Scot, he loathed the English nation and their ways; and at the outset of his rebellion against the English nation, he slew the Sheriff of Lanark and many others with him. From that time there were gathered unto him all who were bitter in spirit and weighed down by the burden of most wretched thraldom under the unbearable domination of the English nation. He became their leader and one of the Wardens of Scotland; for he was a man of wonderful courage and daring, of knightly origin. His brother, Sir Andrew Wallace, was girded with the belt of knighthood, and was a very distinguished and gallant knight; and his patrimony is still in the possession of his descendants. He himself, however, overthrew the English on all sides and was always successful against them, so that by force and by dint of his prowess he in a short time brought all the magnates of Scotland under his control, whether they would or no; and, when all had thus been gained over, he held out manfully, and devoted himself with all his might to storming the stronger castles and bringing under the sway and dominion of the Scots the strongholds where the English were in power, for his aim was ever skilfully to overthrow and undo the English, always sagaciously casting about to compass by tact and cunning all he was unable to achieve by force and the strong hand. In all his doings, and in the carrying out of every undertaking, he would exhort his comrades always to have the cause of the freedom of Scotland before their eyes in battle, and to charge in its name. He also told them off by fives, appointing one to have command and maintain discipline over four under him, and another over ten, and so with each of them; and he gave instructions that whoever would not obey his superiors in the ordering of the battle should be summarily put to death; and so on up to twenty-five and fifty and a hundred in their several ranks.... At length the renown of William Wallace's name was so spread about that the noise of the damage done by him to the natives of England reached the ears of the King of England, who sent into Scotland a large force of men-at-arms, with his Treasurer, Hugh Cressingham, to curb the daring of this William Wallace. On hearing this, William Wallace, who was then engaged on the siege of Dundee Castle, entrusted it to the burgesses, and, mustering his forces, set himself without much ado to oppose the aforesaid Treasurer with all haste. He accordingly engaged him at Stirling Bridge on the 11th of September, 1297, and made great havoc among his train. Sir Hugh was killed there, and the remnant of his army who escaped were put to flight, and returned to England; many were drowned in the rout. So the said William happily gained the victory; and here the noble Andrew Murray fell by the sword, with a few others of Scottish birth. After this, however, William Wallace returned to the siege of Dundee Castle, and brought that place under his sway; and, finding there much treasure of the King of England, he generously distributed it among his companions in arms. Thereupon so great fear and trembling fell upon the enemy, that some of the wardens of castles left their castles and fled from the fortified places, while others, after sacking the castles, demolished the strongest towers and withdrew to their own country. Now from lack of grain there was a great dearth before the autumn, on account of which the General gave orders that the army should make its way into England and live there at the expense of the enemy, so as to save their own provisions and keep them for the winter. The aforesaid William Wallace likewise appointed that a gallows should be set up in every domain, so that all under orders to fight, if absent or flying from battle at a critical time without leave or reasonable cause, might be hanged thereon without mercy. When these matters had been settled and completed, he made his way towards England, and overran and ravaged the whole of Northumberland as far as Newcastle; thus he wintered in England at the expense of the enemy, and saved his country's substance; and he got home again safely with much riches and honour....

During the time of his rule the Kingdom of Scotland prospered wonderfully in happiness and in manifold ways; everyone dwelt in safety with his own, and agriculture began to thrive everywhere. In spite, however, of all his good deeds and deserts in the interests of the state and the independence of the crown, certain sons of wickedness and imps of the devil conspired and devised mischief against him, framing lies and backbiting him behind his back while speaking him fair to his face and meditating treachery, saying within their hearts, "We will not have this man reign over us." But the lower orders and the populace were exceedingly fond of him, as were also a good many of the older and wiser of the great men of the kingdom. For God of His loving-kindness sent this leader to snatch them from the snare of the fowler; and, whereas the whole of Scotland was unable at that time to defend herself, he, supported by the help of God and aided by the assistance of S. Andrew and S. Cuthbert, did his best to free her from the chain of perpetual slavery, and strove to exalt her with uplifted arm. So the death of the guileless lamb was devised by those envious haters of the happiness of mankind; and hard upon his death there followed struggles, the shipwreck of the clergy of Scotland, the ruin of the people, the downfall of the kingdom, and the destruction of the state.