Braveheart: A Historical Fact Check

Firstly, is there a more iconic Scottish film than Braveheart? Secondly, is there any film so full of historical inaccuracies? It’s safe to say that this interpretation of the life of Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace divides opinion.

I’ll always have a soft spot for the film as the first thing that got me really into Scottish history as a kid. Some people can’t see past the historical issues while others probably have no idea what they are. It’s no good just shouting that it’s a load of rubbish without explaining things in a bit more detail.

Where strong factual evidence lets us down, we rely on a book written by a man called Blind Harry around 100 years after Wallace lived. The problem is that Harry isn’t the most reliable person (we don’t even know if he was really blind) so we have to take everything he wrote with a large pinch of salt.

I can’t cover absolutely everything but let’s break down some of the main themes and events.

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The Name!

First off, the name of the film is Braveheart and the film is about William Wallace. Your average viewer would assume that Wallace himself was known as Braveheart. Unfortunately, if anybody is the “real” Braveheart then that would be King Robert the Bruce. After Robert died, his friend James Douglas took the King’s heart on crusade to honour his dying wish. The crusading Scots only got as far as Southern Spain fighting the Moors when they were surrounded with little hope of survival. The story is that James then threw the casket containing Bruce’s heart towards the enemy crying “Onwards Braveheart, Douglas shall follow thee or die” or something along those lines.

Wallace’s Childhood

This is one thing we know very little about. The film portrays Wallace and his family as poor farmers living in a Highland glen. In reality, Wallace was the son of a minor nobleman, born in either Ellerslie or Elderslie in the Southwest of Scotland. The idea of his father and brother heading off to fight the occupying English while William was just a child isn’t accurate either. The crisis in Scotland that Edward I of England stepped into didn’t take start until 1286 and didn’t turn hostile until 1292 at which point Wallace would have been around 22 years old.

Wallace’s Wife

If we give Blind Harry the benefit of the doubt then Wallace was indeed married. His wife was called Marion Braidfute but this was deliberately changed for the film to avoid any confusion with Robin Hood. While Marion’s murder didn’t start Wallace’s trouble with the English, it did allegedly draw things to a head. The story is that she was killed by the Sheriff of Lanark, William Heselrig which in turn led to Wallace killing and dismembering the Sheriff.

While the jury is still out on how accurate the account is from Blind Harry, we can at least forgive Braveheart for sticking to some form of source material here.

Jus Primae Noctis

The idea that King Edward of England introduced a law that meant nobles could sleep with their female subjects on their wedding night is a ridiculous myth. There are doubts that it happened anywhere in the world, but it certainly didn’t happen in Scotland.

The Dress Sense

Pretty short and sweet – while a form of tartan did exist back then, it didn’t look like this. The belted plaid that Mel Gibson and his pals wear didn’t come around until few hundred years later. On the other side, the English soldiers wouldn’t have been wearing matching royal uniforms either.

The Weapons

Wallace’s idea in the film to make big spears, twice as long as a man is actually very accurate. The Scots main tactic was to use incredibly long spears in tightly packed schiltron formations, and it worked to great effect. Also, the English army really did rely heavily on their cavalry and archers although the longbowmen are downplayed in the film.

The giant sword that Wallace uses is a little less authentic. The last thing you would want when packed into a close fight like in Braveheart was a sword so long that you didn’t have space to swing it.

The Blue Face Paint

Yes, it looks good in the film. No, it’s not accurate in any way. The idea comes from blue paint or swirling tattoos that some tribes living in Scotland allegedly wore into battle against the Romans. This was what earned themselves the Roman name Picti or painted people. Braveheart is around 1000 years too late for that.

The Battle of Stirling Bridge

Where was the bridge?! Of all the problems with Braveheart, this is the only one that I would declare as completely unforgiveable. Wallace’s most famous victory was achieved by waiting for just the right amount of the English army to cross the narrow bridge and then charging before they could form up. The English were caught completely unawares and the troops at the back couldn’t see that they were pushing their companions onto Scottish spears at the front.

The other problem with this battle is that the second Scottish leader is completely missing. The real mastermind behind the plan was Andrew de Moray who had been leading an equally patriotic rising in the northeast of Scotland before linking up with Wallace. Unfortunately, Moray was wounded during the Battle of Stirling Bridge and died shortly afterwards.

The Battle of Falkirk

Unlike in Braveheart, Wallace hadn’t really gone looking for a fight when Falkirk came around. He had been carefully avoiding battle when caught by an army led by King Edward. The Irish mutiny, while a funny moment in the film, just didn’t happen. The Scots stood in their tightly packed, hedgehog-like schiltrons defending a few unsuccessful charges of English cavalry. The invaders then brought their longbowmen forward who bombarded the Scots to devastating effect.

The interesting part that Braveheart does get right is that the Scots cavalry really did abandon the field without a fight. Nobody knows why although the film portrays that they had been bribed by the English. Some noblemen would have been torn in their allegiance but it’s unlikely they would have taken the field in the first place if they had already been paid off. It’s much more likely that they hadn’t expected to find themselves in a pitched battle and just decided they had no hope of winning.

The betrayal by Robert the Bruce in the film has been taken by many as fact. It’s just not true. There is a very detailed rollcall of those who fought for the English during the Battle of Falkirk. While Bruce wasn’t fighting on the Scots side, he wasn’t against them either.

Sir John de Graham

Another odd omission from Braveheart is Wallace’s close friend Sir John de Graham of the Bright Sword. The film creates a great friendship with the fictional character Hamish, so it surprises me that Wallace’s real right hand man didn’t feature. Sir John died at the Battle of Falkirk and would even have been the perfect tragedy for a Hollywood film. Wallace disappears for a while after Falkirk and it’s reasonable to assume he was mourning the death of his best friend.

The Love Affair With The Princess

In real life, Princess Isabella didn’t get along with her husband Edward II. Eventually she would even overthrow him in favour of her son Edward III. At the time of the film however, she was just a child in France and most definitely not travelling to Scotland to negotiate with a Scottish freedom fighter.

In Blind Harry’s account, Wallace did have a secret meeting with Edward I’s young wife Margaret of France who would have been Edward II’s stepmother. The meeting is almost definitely fiction, but she did join her husband during his campaigns against Scotland so is it possible? A slim maybe.

Portrayal of Edward II

Edward I was indeed the strong and ruthless military leader portrayed in the film but was his son the weak and effeminate man shown? Edward II definitely wasn’t the warrior King that his father was and is often assumed to have favoured men over women but the character in Braveheart is over the top. Historians haven’t been kind to Edward II and he was deeply unpopular but regardless of his sexual preferences and military ability, Braveheart just comes across as homophobic.

Robert The Bruce

Bruce was a troubled man during Wallace’s life. His father did have a very legitimate claim to the throne but had lost out to John Balliol. The family had lands on both sides of the border and like many of the Scottish nobles, they switched sides more than once. The situation isn’t that clear cut though and there is a theory that Bruce was just playing the long game.

He knew that Scotland would never be at peace with Balliol as King so was biding his time until the Bruce faction could swoop in. What he definitely didn’t do was betray William Wallace who was actually captured near Robroyston by a man called John Menteith.

The Trial and Execution

This part of Braveheart is probably the most accurate of any. Wallace had been dragged down to London and when charged with treason, declared that he had never sworn allegiance to Edward I. He was right and while many other Scots could have been accused of breaking their oath, Wallace wasn’t one of them. Nevertheless, he was found guilty and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered, ensuring that his soul could never enter heaven.

First, he was hung by the neck until almost dead, if he had passed out then he would have been woken up for the next punishment. His genitals were cut off (thankfully Braveheart skipped that part) and his entrails cut out and burned in front of him while still alive. The promise of a swift death if he would just plead for mercy is a fabrication but I can forgive that for the drama every film needs. Finally, his head was cut off and placed on London Bridge while the four quarters of his dismembered body were sent to be displayed in Newcastle, Berwick, Perth and Stirling.

Summary

In summary, the film almost gets more wrong than it gets right. Would I recommend it for learning about Scottish history? Absolutely not.

Would I recommend it as an entertaining film? Without a shadow of a doubt and you can pick up a copy here.

As a boy, watching Braveheart brought history to life for me and set alight a passion that has brought me to where I am today. Add in one of the greatest movie scores of all time by James Horner and it’s a true epic. If you want a far more accurate Scottish film then read this post about Outlaw King!

If Braveheart inspires people to learn more about Scotland, then that can only be a good thing. Just as long as they are aware to take chunks of the film with a large pinch of salt. If you want to visit Scotland, see the places behind the Braveheart story and hear the real stories then you can book a Scotland’s Stories tour here!

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