Scottish Blog

Braveheart

This is the second article in regards to the movie Braveheart and its historical inaccuracies.

The mistakes found in Braveheart range between the totally historically inaccurate and to the relatively unimportant, yet they all add up to paint a misinterpreted picture of the subject which Braveheart is based on.

While in my previous article on Braveheart, I had mentioned that Robert the Bruce and William Wallace did not meet and interact like it was portrayed in Braveheart, what was not mentioned is the fact that when they did stage their rebellions, they were fighting for opposite causes. William Wallace, the main character of Braveheart, fought for the cause of the exiled Scottish king John Balliol. Robert the Bruce on the other hand only supported his own claim to the throne. So, while the movie was accurate in the fact that both men fought against the English, it was inaccurate in portraying why they were doing it.

Another largely inaccurate aspect of Braveheart was its depiction of the Battle of Stirling Bridge. This is largely due to two facts, the battle is not portrayed as being held on a bridge (as it was in real life) and it makes no mention of Andrew de Moray. Both these aspects were important in reality as they both played vital roles to the outcome of the battle. The bridge location was a key role in allowing the smaller number of Scots to win over the English. While Andrew de Moray is by many considered to be an even stronger aspect of that day’s victory than William Wallace, as Moray was a better tactician and had a much higher number of troops following him.

The side story of Braveheart, which features secret meetings between William Wallace and Princess Isabella, and the possibility that Princess Isabella carried his child, are all completely false. At the time of the movie Princess Isabella was only ten years old and still lived in France, making it impossible for the two to meet.

There will be one more article on this subject, which will deal with the smaller inaccuracies found in Braveheart.