While in London the other day we walked past this memorial to that legendary revolutionary Scottish hero William Wallace. It marks the spot (or close to it) at Smithfield where, in 1305, he was hung, drawn and quartered for treason and "war crimes". It's fair to say that, unlike his character as portrayed by Mel Gibson in the film Brave Heart, he committed a number of atrocities against civilians during his military career, in particular his plundering of Northern England in the 1290s where he "fired" 700 English villages in Northumberland. I guess, sometimes, our hero's aren't always everything we'd want them to be..
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