Significantly, there is no bridge in the movie (due mainly to the difficulty of filming around the bridge itself), and it replaced the tactics of the battle with ones resembling the Battle of Bannockburn.
He was not Braveheart that name was given to Robert the Bruce who was falsely accused of betraying Wallace in the film. The love story never happened and Wallace did not father the future king of England. Edward the 1st of England did not die close to Wallace's execution and in fact died many years later.
Those English soldiers yet to cross the bridge fled the scene, ceding victory to William Wallace and the Scots. It was an ignominious defeat. Losses: Scottish, unknown of 2,300; English, 5,000 of 8,000-12,000.
Was there a bridge at the Battle of Stirling Bridge?
The present Stirling Old Bridge was built in the 1400s or 1500s, replacing a succession of timber bridges. Undoubtedly the best-known of these was one that stood nearby in the 1290s, when Sir William Wallace and Sir Andrew Moray defeated Edward I's forces at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.
Did the bridge collapse in the Battle of Stirling Bridge?
At some point the wooden bridge collapsed. Legend tells that the Scots sabotaged the bridge to prevent the English retreat, however there is no evidence that the bridge was deliberately destroyed. The group of horsemen led by Marmaduke de Thweng managed to force their way around the Scottish troops and flee to safety.
His head was spiked on London Bridge, and the four quarters of his mutilated body displayed in Newcastle, Berwick, Perth and Stirling, as a warning to all who transgressed against the rule of Longshanks. And there his story ended – with no final resting place for Scotland's best-known hero.
Many of the English drowned while those trapped on the wrong side were slaughtered by William Wallace, Andrew Murray, and the rest of the Scots. Since the original bridge collapsed in the 1297 battle, visitors to Stirling might be misled by the stone bridge that stands in its place.
What was the bloodiest single battle in American history?
Antietam. On September 17, 1862, one of the first major battles on Northern soil took place near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek. The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest single-day encounter in American history with over 23,000 casualties.
Wallace is then urged to beg for mercy to bring his torture to an end and hasten his inevitable death. But Wallace will not. “Freedom!” he shouts, defiant to the end.
Braveheart is one of the least historically accurate movies ever made, drawing upon a fictional account of William Wallace's life. The film misattributes the title "Braveheart" to William Wallace, when it is actually associated with Robert the Bruce and his heart's final act in battle.
Factual errors. The film depicts William Wallace as having an affair with Isabella, the wife of Edward II, and implies that he fathered her child, the future King Edward III of England. In reality, Isabella was only two years old at the time the film depicts the affair happening.
In the following year, research on visitors to the Stirling area indicated that 55% of the visitors had seen Braveheart. Of visitors from outside Scotland, 15% of those who saw Braveheart said it influenced their decision to visit the country.
Walter Bower's mid-15th century Scotichronicon, states that Wallace was "a tall man with the body of a giant ... with lengthy flanks ... broad in the hips, with strong arms and legs ... with all his limbs very strong and firm". Blind Harry's late 15th century poem The Wallace, asserts Wallace reached seven feet.
Unfortunately we also lack contemporary descriptions. Walter Bower did write about Wallace in the 14th century, saying: "He was a tall man with the body of a giant, cheerful in appearance with agreeable features, broad-shouldered and big-boned…
Robert the Bruce's character, portrayed by Scottish Actor Angus Macfadyen, has been considered by many as historically inaccurate. Robert the Bruce did change sides between the Scots and the English in the earlier stages of the Wars of Scottish Independence, but he never betrayed William Wallace directly.
Technically, Wallace was an outlaw in English eyes because his family did not sign their name to the 'Ragman Rolls', a list compiled in the summer of 1296 of all the Scottish tenants who promised allegiance to the English Crown. William Wallace, as far as we know, never married and had no children.
But in "Braveheart" it was completely historically inaccurate. Yes, Wallace and his army did win at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, but the film neglected to mention his ally, Andrew Moray, who was mortally wounded there. Nor did the Scots armies make it as far south as York in the battle's aftermath.
After his death in 1329, Bruce's body was interred at Dunfermline Abbey in Fife, whilst his heart was embalmed and carried into battle and on crusades as a symbol of Scots power, before being buried at Melrose Abbey in the Scottish Borders. This was the 'brave heart' of Scottish legend.
On 5 August 1305 Wallace was finally captured near Glasgow. He had been betrayed by a Scottish nobleman named John Menteith. On 23rd August 1305 Wallace was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death in London.
The Battle of Stirling Bridge was a battle fought between Scottish and English armies at Stirling Bridge in 1297. It was one of the most significant battles fought during the first Scottish Wars of Independence. The battle was won decisively by the Scottish forces, led by William Wallace and Andrew de Moray.
