unable to think quickly in battle be relied upon to be the guardian of a country? In order for a man to become a leader, he had to either be born into such a title, or earn his rank with feats of battle. At times such as these battle prowess depended upon your quick thinking, physical strength, and daring feats. It is hard to imagine William Wallace as a weak man if this is true.Some scholars debate about the way William Wallace fought in battle. This is also part of the debate about his physical stature. It is portrayed in the movie that he fought with an intense anger. An anger brought about by the killing of his love, Marian Braidfoot (even the spelling of this womans name is debated. It is found in many different spellings). This is untrue. It is known that in 1291 William Wallace got into a skirmish with a young Englishman named Selby. Selby attempted to pick a fight with William and Wallace proceeded to kill Selby and either murder or wound the few friends that accompanied Selby. He ran to his uncles house and was hidden from the clutches of the English. From here William fled and joined another uncle, Sir Richard Wallace and stayed with him until April 1292. After living with this uncle for quite some time he yet again encountered Englishmen. This time it was five English soldiers passing by as he was fishing. The men attempted to take his fish and when William stood up for himself one of the soldiers lunged at him. William struck him with his fishing pole and stole his sword with which he smote down 2 of the other soldiers. The other two escaped. With these two scenarios being before he met his love, Marian, it is quite believable that this rage against the English came from something other than the killing of Marian. Quite possibly it was the tyrannical rule of Scotland or the constant presence of English soldiers in his homeland.A lot of debate is also centered around who actually betrayed him into the hands of the English. In...
