Today, uncelebrated in Hutton as far as I can tell, is the 700th Anniversary of the death of William Wallace aka Braveheart aka Mel Gibson. Much is made of the gruesome manner of his public execution-hanged, drawn and quartered (one quarter being subsequently displayed in Berwick, and since mislaid) But the victor of Stirling Bridge (no
Not Bannockburn :Unsighted of Ullapool) was not above a bit of the grue himself as witness the following extract from the BBC's history website:
"11th September Wallace and Murray achieved a stunning victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. The English left with 5,000 dead on the field, including their despised treasurer, Hugh Cressingham, whose flayed skin was taken as a trophy of victory and to make a belt for Wallace’s sword." It may have been that this little display of triumphalism made the English a bit cross and was a factor in how they eventually decided to punish (in their eyes) a prime traitor who was no Ned Kelly type peasant revolutionary with an aussie accent but the son of a laird and a Knight of the Realm.
