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How historically accurate is Braveheart

3 bytes removed, 02:29, 8 December 2016
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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). <i>Isabella of France, The Rebel Queen: The Story of the Queen who Deposed her Husband Edward II.</i> 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 suggests, the Scots did gain their independence after the reign of Edward I.
 
 
==Conclusion==
 
Much of William Wallace's life has now been steeped in myth, where in actuality very little is known about him. Most of what we do know deriving from primary accounts center around the battles from 1297-1298 and when he was captured in August 1305. Nevertheless, William Wallace did, for various reason, gain a symbolic importance. Later stories, such as <i>Exploits and Death of William Wallace </i> helped to create a romantic and tragic character, perhaps more similar to later figures rather than William Wallace. Nevertheless, the significance of William Wallace is evident to the national character of Scotland where today many statues and monuments are dedicated to him.

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