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→Death of William Wallace
After the defeat at Falkirk, Wallace may have left for France or even Rome for a period of time. It is possible he was seeking assistance from the French and Pope for the Scottish cause. This is likely since there were wars between the French and English at this time and Wallace would have tried to appeal to a willing English enemy if he could. Sometime around 1304, Wallace likely returned to England and continued to raid parts of English occupied Scotland.<ref>For events after the Battle of Falkirk in Wallace's life, see: Hamilton, J. S. (2010). The Plantagenets: history of a dynasty. London ; New York: Continuum, pg. 79.</ref> The movie depicts an aging Edward I as being tormented by William Wallace. The attacks were shown as successful skirmishes in most cases, but it is likely these attacks were either negligible, failures, or were insignificant to affect the English presence in Scotland. More likely, Edward I probably did not consider Wallace a major threat at this point and Wallace was more in a desperate state trying to raise a more significant force after the disaster at Falkirk.
In fact, because he probably now had a weakened position in Scotland, Wallace was betrayed, as suggested in the movie, by a Scottish noble (John de Menteith) who was loyal to Edward in 1305. Wallace was captured and soon put on trail for treason at Westminster Palace, where he did seem to say that he was not guilty of treason, the charge he was tried with, because he never claimed loyalty to the English crown, as depicted in the movie. However, he was also charged with other offenses. Among the charges brought against him were those related to his pillaging of civilians, which was probably at least partially true. By the end of August 1305, Wallace was found guilty and drawn and quartered, a death reserved for traitors(Figure 2). Wallace's body parts and head were displayed in different parts of England to make an example against those considering of revolting against the English king.<ref>For more on the capture and execution of William Wallace, see: Ross, D. R. (2005). For freedom: the lasts days of William Wallace. Edinburgh: Luath Press.</ref>
Despite Wallace's death, he is shown as gaining revenge by impregnating the future consort of the king of England, Edward II's wife, Isabella of France. In fact, at this point shortly before Wallace's death, Isabella would have been no older than 9 years of age and not yet married to Edward II.<ref>For more on Isabella and her life, see: Warner, K. (2016). Isabella of France, the rebel queen: the story of the queen who deposed her husband Edward II. Gloucestershire, England: Amberley Publishing.</ref> In other words, she was not even in England yet. While Edward II is portrayed as effeminate, where historical records do indicate he was possibly homosexual, his role was not significant until after his father's reign. However, because Edward II was a relatively weak king, this did allow the Scots to successfully rebel against him. In fact, Robert the Bruce, in many ways, was far more successful than William Wallace, as he successfully rebelled from the English and Scotland regained its independence under his reign. The battle of Bannockburn, as suggested by the movie, was a major turning point, although many years of fighting and rebellion occurred before and after that battle between the Scots and English. Nevertheless, as the movie suggest, the Scots did gain their independence after the reign of Edward I.
[[File:Daniel Maclise, R.A. - The Trial of Sir William Wallace.jpeg|thumbnail|Figure 2. Trial of William Wallace.]]
==Conclusion==
