NK - William Wallace -Article

[Bethor2000 at aol.com]

[I got this off todays London Times - Alton]


Braveheart tale cut down to size

BY SHIRLEY ENGLISH

IN THE Oscar-winning film Braveheart, Mel Gibson portrayed the Scottish hero
William Wallace brandishing a broadsword against the English. Now it has been
discovered that he should have been carrying a bow and arrow. 

A small green box which gathered dust in Glasgow's Mitchell Library for 88
years has been opened to reveal two forgotten metal casts of the Wallace seal,
used on the historic Lubeck Letter which he dictated in 1297 after his victory
at Stirling Bridge. 

The cast of the reverse side of the seal has created huge interest among
historians because it not only depicts hands drawing on a bow and arrow but
also bears the inscription: [Wilelm] vs Filivs Alani Walais. According Archie
Duncan, formerly Professor of Scottish History at Glasgow University, that
translates as "William, Son of Alan Wallace". 

The find suggests that Wallace's father was called Alan rather than Malcolm
and that he came not from Renfrewshire, as was thought, but from Ayrshire.
Archives show that Alan Wallace was a Crown tenant there at the time of Edward
I. 

The green box was rediscovered last week by Ashby McGowan, a Glasgow teacher
and amateur Wallace enthusiast. Yesterday the Lubeck Letter, on loan from
Germany, was put on display at the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh until April
25.