Tallen Cyenns, The Tale Of William Wallace

It is found written in the Scrolls of Taloned Claws of where Tallen was retelling some tells to his longtime friend John FitzStephen about when he was around sixteen years old and worked at a tavern that often served a type of bread and tomato dish that included cheese with meat and other vegetables as toppings.

The year was 1305 and one day when he was working Tallen overheard some of the people eating as they talked about the political crisis in Scotland. It was said to have started in the year 1286, two years before Tallen was born. King Alexander III ruled Scotland at the time and his reign had seen a period of peace and economic stability. However in March of that year he died after falling from his horse. His granddaughter, Margaret, Maid of Norway, was heir to the throne but she was still a child and in Norway. The Scottish lords set up a government of guardians for Margaret but she fell ill on the voyage to Scotland and died in September in the year 1290. This lack of a clear heir led to a period known as the "Great Cause", with several families laying claim to the throne. At the time Scotland was close to descending into civil war. King Edward I of England was invited by the Scottish nobility to arbitrate. Before the process could begin, he insisted that all of the contenders recognize him as Lord Paramount of Scotland.

The first act definitely known to have been carried out by William Wallace was when he his assassinated William de Heselrig, the English High Sheriff of Lanark, in May of 1297. Then in September of that same year an army jointly led by Wallace and Andrew Moray won the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Although vastly outnumbered, the Scottish army routed the English army. The type of engagement conducted by Wallace was characterized by opportunistic tactics and the strategic use of terrain. This was in stark contrast to the contemporary views on chivalric warfare which were characterized by strength of arms and knightly combat. Therefore, the battle embittered relations between the two antagonistic nations, whilst also perhaps providing a new departure in the type of warfare which England had hitherto employed. The numerical and material inferiority of the Scottish forces was later mirrored by that of the English in the Hundred Years' War, who, in turn, abandoned chivalric warfare to achieve decisive victory in similar engagements such as Crécy and Poitiers. Around November 1297, Wallace led a large-scale raid into northern England, through Northumberland and Cumberland.

Other battles followed and by September 1298, Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland in favour of Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick and future king, and John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, King John Balliol's nephew. Details of Wallace's activities after this are vague, but there is some evidence that he left on a mission to the court of King Philip IV of France to plead the case for assistance in the Scottish struggle for independence. Wallace evaded capture by the English until August of 1305 when John de Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to Edward, turned Wallace over to English soldiers at Robroyston near Glasgow.

Following his trial, Wallace was taken from the hall to the Tower of London, then stripped naked and dragged through the city at the heels of a horse to the Elms at Smithfield. He was hanged, drawn and quartered, strangled by hanging, but released while he was still alive, emasculated, eviscerated and his bowels burned before him, beheaded, then cut into four parts. His head was placed on a pike atop London Bridge.

Not exactly a conversation one would normally hear while people were eating but it certainly struck a cord with Tallen. It is not known if this story was one of the things that made him want to join the ranks of the Military in 1308. Tallen is said to have been of individualistic, stubborn and rebellious people though.