Steady...
Hold!
Now!
Send the infantry.
My Lord?
You lead them.
Infantry
Bastard!!
Alright.
WALLACE! WALLACE! WALLACE!....
I knight thee Sir William Wallace.
Sir William, in the name of God we declare and appoint thee guardian and high protector of Scotland and thy Captains as aides-de-camp.
Stand and be recognized.
Does anyone know his politics?
No, but his weight with the commoners can unbalance everything.
The Balliols will kiss his arse so we must.
Sir William!
Sir William, In as much as you and your captains hail from a region long known to support the Balliol clan,
may we invite you to continue your support and uphold our rightful claim.
Damn the Balliol clan! They're all Longshanks' men!
Gentlemen!
Now is the time to declare a king.
Wait! Then you are prepared to recognize our legitimate succession.
You're the ones who won't support the rightful claim. / Oh, no. That's the truth.
Those were lies when you first wrote them.
I demand recognition of these documents.
Gentlemen! Please, Gentlemen! Wait! Sir William, where are you going?
We have beaten the English, but they'll come back because you won't stand together.
Well what will you do?
I will invade England and defeat the English on their own ground.
Invade? That's impossible.
Why? Why is that impossible?
You're so concerned with squabbling for the scraps from Longshank's table
that you've missed your God-given right to something better.
There is a difference between us. You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position.
I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom.
And I go to make sure that they have it.
Wait!
I respect what you said, but remember that these men have lands and castles. It's much to risk.
And the common man who bleeds on the battlefield, does he risk less?
No, but from top to bottom this country has no sense of itself. Its nobles share allegiance with England. Its clans war with each other.
If you make enemies on both sides of the border, you'll end up dead.
We all end up dead... it's just a question of how and why.
I'm not a coward. I want what you want, but we need the nobles.
We need them? / Aye Nobles...
Now tell me, what does that mean to be noble?
Your title gives you claim to the throne of our country,
but men don't follow titles, they follow courage.
Now our people know you.
Noble, and common, they respect you. And if you would just lead them to freedom,
they'd follow you.
And so would I.
Damn it! The sodomite my cousin the prince tells me he has no troops to lend and every town in Northern England is begging for help.
He advances!
To which town?
To here my Lord.
Bring the food and provisions inside, double the wall guards, seal the gate, now!
Quickly, bring in the provisions, seal off the gate, NOW!
Sir, we can get you out if you leave now.
I am not about to tell my Uncle I've lost him the greatest city in Northern England.
Come on!
Make way for the King.
It's not your fault.
Stand up to him.
I will stand up to him and more.
What news of the North?
Nothing new, Your Majesty. We've sent riders to speed any word.
I heard the word in France,
where I was fighting to expand your future kingdom. The word, my son, is that our entire Northern Army has been annihilated.
And you have done nothing.
I have ordered conscriptions. They are assembled and ready to depart.
Excuse me, sire, but there is a very urgent message from York.
Come.
Leave us.
Thank you, sire.
Wallace has sacked York. / What?
Wallace has sacked York.
Sire, thy own nephew.
What beast could do such a thing?
If he can sack York, he can invade lower England.
We would stop him!
Who is this person who speaks to me as though I needed his advice?
I have declared Philip my High Counselor.
Is he qualified?
I am skilled in the arts of war and military tactics, sire.
Are you?
Then tell me, what advice would you offer on the present situation?
I shall offer a truce and buy him off.
But who will go to him? Not I, huh,
If I fell under the sword of that murderer that might be my head in a basket.
And not my gentle son. The mere sight of him would only encourage the enemy to take over the whole country.
So who do I send?
Whom do I send?
I'm dreaming.
Yes, you are.
and you must wake.
I don't want to wake.
I want to stay here with you.
And I with you.
But you must wake now.
Wake up, William.
Wake up.
William. Wake up...
William, a royal entourage comes, flying banners of truce, with the standards of Longshanks himself.
I am the Princess of Wales. I come as the king's servant and with his authority.
To do what?
To discuss the king's proposals.
Will you speak with a woman?
I understand you have recently been given the rank of knight.
I have been given nothing.
God makes men what they are.
Did God make you the sacker of peaceful cities, the executioner of the king's nephew, my husband's own cousin?
York was the staging point for every invasion of my country.
And that royal cousin hanged innocent Scots, even women and children, from the city walls.
Well, Longshanks did far worse the last time he took a Scottish city.
He is a bloody murdering savage.
And he's telling lies.
I never lie.
But I am a savage.
Or in French if you prefer.
You ask your king to his face, ask him,
and see if his eyes can convince you of the truth.
Hamilton, leave us.
My lady?
Leave us. Now.
Let us talk plainly.
You invade England, but you cannot complete the conquest so far from your shelter and supply.
The king desires peace.
Longshanks desires peace?
He declares it to me, I swear it.
He proposes that you withdraw your attack.
In return he grants you title, estates, and this chest of gold which I am to pay to you personally.
A lordship and titles. Gold. That I should become Judas?
Peace is made in such ways.
Slaves are made in such ways.
The last time Longshanks spoke of peace I was a boy.
And many Scottish nobles, who would not be slaves, were lured by him under a flag of truce to a barn
where he had them hanged.
I was very young,
but I remember Longshank's notion of peace.
I understand you have suffered.
I know about your woman.
She was my wife.
We married in secret because I would not share her with an English Lord.
They killed her to get to me.
I have never spoken of it.
I don't know why I tell you now except
I see her strength in you.
One day you'll be a queen,
and you must open your eyes.
You tell your king
that William Wallace will not be ruled, and nor will any Scot while I live.
Ah, my son's loyal wife returns unkilled by the heathen.
So he accepted our bribe?
No, he did not.
Then why does he stay?
My scouts tell me that he has not advanced.
He waits for you at York. He says he will attack no more towns or cities, if you are man enough to come and face him.
Did he?
The Welsh bowmen will not be detected arriving so far around his flank.
The main force of our armies from France will land here to the north of Edinburgh. Conscripts from Ireland will approach from the southwest to here.
Welsh bowmen, troops from France, Irish conscripts. Even if you dispatch them today they will take weeks to assemble.
I dispatched them before I sent your wife.