rew
Moray, son of his faithful friend of that name, who had retired with him
from the capitulation of Irvine, and who had fallen at the battle of
Stirling Bridge.

One of the most curious of the few public papers in which the name of
Wallace occurs was a few years since discovered by Dr. Lappenburg, of
Hamburg, in the archives of the ancient Hanseatic city of Luebeck. It is
a letter, in Latin, addressed to the authorities of Luebeck and Hamburg,
informing them that their merchants should now have free access to all
ports of the kingdom of Scotland, seeing that the said kingdom, by the
favor of God, had been recovered by war from the power of the English.
The letter is dated "apud Badsing tonam" (the true word, it has been
suggested, is probably Haddingtonam), October 11, 1297, that is, a few
days before the invasion of Cumberland and Northumberland. It is in the
name of "Andreas de Moravia et Willelmus Wallensis, duces exercitis
regni Scotiae, et communitas, eiusdem regni"--like the Hexham
protection--but without any mention of King John.

After his triumphal return from his incursion into England, Wallace
assumed the title of Guardian of the Kingdom in the name of King John,
whether formally invested with that dignity or only hailed as such by
the gratitude of his countrymen. In a charter, printed in Anderson's
"Diplomata," conferring the constabulary of Dundee on Alexander
Skirmischur (Scrimgeour) and his heirs, and dated at Torphichen (in the
county of Linlithgow) March 29, 1298, he styles himself, "Willelmus
Walays miles, Custos Regni Scotiae, et ductor exercituum ejusdem, nomine
praeclari principis Domini Johannis, Dei gratia Regis Scotiae illustris,
de consensu communitatis ejusdem." The grant is stated to have been made
with the consent and approbation of the nobility ("per consensum et
assensum magnatum dicti regni.")

But this supreme elevation did not last long. Supported only by his own
merits and the admiration and attachment of his humbler
fellow-countrymen, Wallace, a new man, and without family connection,
would probably have found it difficult or impossible to retain his high
place, even if he had had nothing more to contend with than domestic
jealousy and dissatisfaction. Fordun relates that many of the nobility
were in the habit of saying, "We will not have this man to rule over
us." Meanwhile the energetic English king, who had been abroad when the
defeat of Stirling Bridge lost him Scotland, had n