Scots wha' hae

Being in the Trossachs, it was inevitable that when the weather changed from sunny to dreich, we would be drawn to Stirling.   LotH found the Thistle shopping mall was the perfect way to counter the grey skies and I, with time on my hands, headed off to that triumphal(lic) symbol of Scottish nationhood, the Wallace Monument.
 Perched on the  volcanic outcrop of the  Abbey Craig, it dominates the skyline above the site of the Scots victory - the first for many a long year- over the English at Stirling Bridge.

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Delicately scented bluebells in Abbey Craig woods

  Erected in the 1830's, on a wave of Scottish proto-nationalism fanned by Sir Walter Scott’s romantic tales, it must be one of the biggest monuments to one man..
Climbing the narrow spiral staircase, an anachronism even when it was built in the Scottish Baronial style,  you come into a room with all the information about Wallace and his campaigns and subsequent betrayal by the Scottish nobility. The room is dominated by the enormous Wallace sword, a weapon that would have required great strength to use but does look a bit unwieldy. 
 Up another steep spiral stair, is the  Hall of Heroes.
 Filled with  busts of selected notables from history, the choice of Scottish “heroes”  is somewhat  idiosyncratic with a curious bias towards the Kirk.
Some of the "heroes "are -
George Buchanan, moderator of the Kirk and Thomas Chalmers, leader of the Free Church but no St Columba or St Kentigern
Robert Tannahill, songwriter but no James Hogg
William Murdock, inventor, who changed his name from its Scottish spelling, but no John Macadam
David Livingstone but no Mungo Park
Hugh Miller but no James Hutton.

…and, unforgivably, no David Hume.

The Scot who made the greatest impact on the world, who influenced Kant, Schopenhauer, Darwin, Einstein, and thinkers, philosophers and scientists to this day, is not there.   What does this say of the Scottish identity and the influence of the Presbyterian church?

 A final staircase took me out on to the crown with its magnificent views of Stirling, its castle and the Ochil hills.

The loop of the river at the site of  the Battle of Stirling Bridge with the Castle in the distance

I noted there is not a great deal made of the role of Andrew Moray who co-commanded the Scots army at Stirling Bridge.  Moray had successfully led a rebellion against Edward I in his lands in the north-east of the country at a time when Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick and future king was, with many of the Scottish nobility, swearing allegiance to Edward of England.
 The Morays were a long established, wealthy baronial family with a power base in the north, Morayshire.
Trained from boyhood as a soldier and  military commander, he would have brought some much need skill to the armies of the guerrilla fighter, Wallace. He was wounded at Stirling bridge but still able to sign the letters to the mayors of Lubeck and Hamburg of the Hanseatic League requesting trade continue between them and Scotland and letting them know that they would have safe access to ports.
“ Andrew Moray and William Wallace, leaders of the army of Scotland and the Community….”
The letter was dated 11th October 1297 and it should be noted that Moray’s name preceded that of Wallace.
It is believed that Moray eventually succumbed to his wounds and died  later in 1297.
Had Moray survived, it is open to conjecture whether he would have assumed the subsequent Guardian of Scotland role accorded to Wallace. He would have been, after all, much more acceptable to the nobility of Scotland,than Wallace, being their equal in social class.

“Scots wha hae wi’ Moray bled” ?
It still scans

Moray’s son, Andrew,  did go on to become Guardian of Scotland twice, in 1332 and 1335 and married Christina, sister of  King Robert the Bruce.

Funny… the twists and turns of history and much more complicated than the simplistic tales sometimes peddled.