The Cutting Edge

The official blog of Knife Depot

The Life of William Wallace and His Six-Foot Sword.

This post is the last in a week-long series about swords in conjunction with our first Cutting Edge product give-away.  Place a comment before midnight (Central Time) on Sunday and you’ll be entered to win a 51-inch William Wallace replica sword ($119 value).

“I could not be a traitor to Edward for I was never his subject,’ said William Wallace while being tried for treason after his capture in August of 1305.  Unfortunately, the British government thought otherwise.

After a brief trial, Wallace was stripped naked and dragged through the city by a horse.  He was then hanged until he was barely alive, castrated, sliced open and forced to watch while his entrails were burned, and eventually decapitated. His head was covered in tar and placed on a pike on a top of London bridge.

It was undoubtedly a rough way to die, but Wallace had sent many a foe to equally brutal deaths during his reign as the most notorious freedom-fighter in Scotland.

Wallace’s crusade against the British began after infighting amongst the Scottish nobility allowed England to seize Scotland in 1296.  While doing so, the British perpetrated a wide range of atrocities against the Scottish people

Historians speculate that Wallace’s wrath was additionally motivated by the murder of Marion Braidfute, a Scottish heiress that he was married to. He took revenge by slaying her murderer, William Heselright, the English Sheriff of Lanark.

From there, Wallace won a string of battles, pushing the British away from Scotland and inciting his fellow countryman to revolution.  Often outnumbered and facing armies with superior weaponry, Wallace used military strategy to his advantage.  His employment of tactical arrangements—like the Sheltron—as well as his use of strategic terrain defied military ethics of his time.

Though Wallace initially purged Scotland of the British, they eventually pushed back into the country sending Wallace and his troops into hiding.

Wallace was captured on August 5, 1305, when John De Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to England, turned him over to British soldiers.

While I’ve already covered the sordid circumstances of Wallace’s last moments, it’s intriguing to know that one of the  most compelling artifacts of his rebellion did survive.

William Wallace’s Sword ( We’re giving away two of them!)

William Wallace Sword in CaseWallace’s sword, a 52-inch claymore, was allegedly recovered by a British governor and passed onto King James IV of Scotland two hundred years later.  There is much debate over whether the sword actually belonged to Wallace, with some sword experts stating that the weapon could not possibly date from this time.

The sword measures a giant 66 inches and weighs approximately 6 pounds.  Historians think that because of its massive size, Wallace must have been at least 6 foot 5; the average height at the time was around five foot seven.  The sword currently resides in the National Wallace Monument, a tower that stands near hilltop in Stirling in Scotland.

Luckily, you don’t have to travel all the way to Stirling to feel the raw power of William Wallace.  All this week at the Cutting Edge, we’ve been running a contest in which anyone who comments on a blog post is entered to win a 51-inch William Wallace medieval replica sword.

Today is the last day to enter and since the contest has been so successful, we’ve decided to give away a second sword.  Be the first to comment on this post telling us why you think William Wallace is cool (you must comment on the actual blog and not through Facebook) and you’ll win a sword.

Good luck!

53 Comments

  1. Possibly, unless I won. Or some random third person won.

  2. Hey guys, you have to comment on the actual blog post, not on Facebook.

  3. did i win

  4. o forgot the last part well i liked william wallace because he was an excellant swordsman

  5. love anything that has to do with william wallace

  6. Wow the brittish suck but wallace was a great man and a greater warrior

  7. Wow I didn’t thing braveheart was based on historical events that just makes it more awsome.

  8. meh! that would be pretty awesome to have!

  9. Now thats a knife!!!

  10. William wallace was hella raw

  11. Those were brutal times.

  12. Dang what a bad way to die

  13. Joseph Moody IV

    April 10, 2011 at 4:34 pm

    I think it would be awsome to have a sword that is sacred. anyway, my acesters are from scotland and irland.

  14. You guys really know your history…

  15. no way we are all winners lol

  16. i think i could stand all that shit if i knew the king was gonna lose anyway.

  17. I hope i win lol for a history nerd this is awesome

  18. William Wallace was one of Britons greatest nonreligious based war hero

  19. i agree with jess plus id love to have a replica of William Wallices sword

  20. IM winnin this….william is personally gonna rise out of his grave to deliver it to me!!!!!!!right wallace?????

  21. the scotsman should win this (im the scotsman)

  22. I’m in. I’ve always loved collecting swords to put on my sword rack.

  23. I like how no one even read what the OP said:

    “Knife Depot Hey guys, you have to comment on the actual blog post, not on Facebook.”

  24. So nice going, retards. Not one of you is eligible.

  25. im eligible i followed the rules

  26. William wallace was a true hero for his country!

  27. william wallace was a great hero, and a great strategic fighter live long wallaces memory

  28. I feel that William Wallace is cool( which is really not a good term for him–brave, determined, loyal, ” scotch stubborn”, or militarily genius would honor him more. In watching Braveheart ,I was extremely inspired by the courage and audacity that was portrayed by Mel Gibson . Especially edge of chair stuff was when William Wallace cryed out freedom as his dying word. Whether true or not, it demonstrated the plight of the Scots at the time. I am also in tune with this Scotch hero , as a seniors cousin had traced our lineage back to this era and even before and found we are related to Robert Le Bruce who (in the movie, allowed his father to turn him against Wallace in a weasel kind of way but in the end, repented and helped to rally the Scotch forces against the British. So, in summary, to own one of these swords would not only be a natural honor but would hold a great deal of family sentiment. ( I’d probably get knocks on my door from cousins I hadn’t seen in ages.) Thanks,Ken Johnson (My grandmother maiden name was Small which is a sept of the Murray clan.)

  29. Forget to mention that this sword would be a big plus to my small collection of Scottish knives (sgian dubhs, dirks, a folding dirk, a bollock knife and a medieval steak knife set that consists of a knife and a pricker.) Ken Johnson

  30. Geoff Wallace

    May 6, 2016 at 8:40 am

    I named my son William after a trip to Stirling. Not sure if we are somehow related to William but my son (William Wallace) certainly appears to be while 6ft+ at 15 years old and is fierce as a back line player in Rugby and Australian Rules. Nice to dream! My son would love to have a replica of William’s Sword.

  31. Robert Freese

    June 11, 2016 at 4:34 pm

    Wallace is cool because he felt much like our US forefathers, that the cost of eternal freedom was eternal vigilance. That freedom was more than a word that we hoped for, but a man must be willing to fight for. He withstood the political hierarchy of his time and won the hearts of his countrymen. He developed tactics that are still used today, and trained specialists in various tactics. He was way ahead of his time when it came to both warfare, and the ability to lead men.

  32. If he was such a genius why did his women become or himsexually assulted for him in order to retaliate and in turn suffer crying freedom in a long and what would be seen to be dramatic way

  33. I guess I missed this contest since I am just seeing this info now. William Wallace was my grandfather’s hero…My grandparents and mother and all relatives on that side before them were born in Scotland. I have always been interested in the Wallace sword and have a replica but I’m sure it is nothing compared to this one … I wish I had seen this article while the contest was still going on 🙁

  34. pick up your sword every day and fight for freedom, freedom for our souls. put on the word of God and lean on Jesus every day is freedom for Our souls . I like the sword because it represents fighting for our freedom . What will we due without freedom, a true heart for God!

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