Execution of Sir Simon Fraser

Fraser was a veteran soldier; his life had been spent in war both at home and on the continent, and he enjoyed a high reputation. With a small force which he had collected, he made a last effort for the national liberty at Kirkencliff, near Stirling, but was entirely routed, and forced to surrender himself prisoner to Sir Thomas de Multon. Many knights and squires were taken along with him, whilst others fell on the field, or were drowned in the river.  This warrior enjoyed great popularity in Scotland, as the last friend and follower of Wallace, and the severity, and studied indignity, with which he was treated by Edward, remind us of the trial and execution of that heroic person. He was carried to London heavily ironed, with his legs tied under his horse's belly, and, as he passed through the city, a garland of periwinkle was in mockery placed upon his head. He was then lodged in the Tower, along with his squire, Thomas de Boys, and Sir Herbert de Morham, a Scottish knight of French extraction, whose courage and manly deportment are commemorated in a contemporary English ballad.

Fraser was tried and condemned, after which he suffered the death of a traitor, with all its circumstances of refined cruelty. He was hanged, cut down when still living, and beheaded; his bowels were then torn out and burned, and his head fixed beside that of Wallace upon London bridge. The trunk was hung in chains, and strictly guarded, lest his friends should remove it. Herbert de Morham, who had been imprisoned and forfeited in 1297, and liborated under the promise of serving Edward in his Flemish war,next suffered death, and with him Thomas Boys. To these victims of Edward's resentment we may add the names of Sir David Inchmartin, Sir John de Somerville, Sir Walter Logan, and many others of inferior note. After the disgusting details of these executions, the reader will be disposed to smile at the remark of a late acute historian, that the execution of the Scottish prisoners is insufficient to load Edward's memory with the charge of cruelty.