This is a depressing paragraph:
William Wallace was a failure who only won one key battle; Robert the Bruce was a usurper struggling to retain power; Scotland was a willing entrant into the Act of Union. Such claims will infuriate nationalists and unionists alike when the BBC seeks to explode myths in Scottish history in a landmark series.
It is, of course, depressing that such judgments might be considered “controversial”. Why they should infuriate anyone remains a mystery given that they are, well, true.
I don’t think I need re-iterate my objections to the Braveheart fetish. Suffice it to say that it is all too typical that we should concentrate upon the noble failure (Wallace) rather than the complex – and oft conflicted – victor (Bruce). What one may say for Wallace is that he made Bruce possible.
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