New take on Wallace

When it was released 23 years ago, the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart was nothing more than a fanciful romp, a highly fictionalised and – if you liked that sort of thing – perfectly entertaining Hollywood take on the life of William Wallace.

These days Braveheart has a certain potency in Scotland. It has become part of the fabric of our frequently constitutional debate.

All the while, Wallace himself has become something of a caricature. So we are intrigued by plans to put on show a 700-year-old letter that offers what’s described as a “tantalising glimpse” into Wallace’s life.

The document, which some experts believe was among a number of letters found on him at the time of his capture in 1305, was written by King Philip IV of France to urge the Pope to offer hospitality during a visit by Wallace to Italy.

The notion of a King writing to a Pope on Wallace’s behalf is a world away from the rather unsophisticated view of his life taken in the Mel Gibson movie. William Wallace’s is a complex and nuanced story and it belongs to us all.