A petition has been raised for the Return of a original William
Wallace Document
Today Edinburghguide received a petition which concerns the
return of an original historical document pertaining to William Wallace. There
are not many original documents involving William Wallace and they are very highly
prized by our Museums.
In this day and age of digital copying, any document could be
copied and the original sent back to Scotland
especially in this homecoming year. There are many important Scottish
historical documents and artifacts languishing in English archives neither
exhibited nor displayed. Lets make this the Homecoming year not only the homecoming
for people but for artifacts and documents which would help boost our museum
visitors. Some to start with would be the Book of Deere (Scotland's Book of
Kells), the Rosslyn Missal and the rest of the books taken from Rosslyn
Castle now residing in the Bodleian. That would be a step forward, these pieces can only
help tourism and after all they mean more to their original home than some
obscure archive. .... John Ritchie .....Editor
Should you wish to sign up for this petition then follow the
instructions below
Time to get a campaign going to get this letter back in Scotland
for all to see rather than it locked away in a drawer at the National
Archives, Kew !
I would urge everyone to get writing to those below, spread the word around
to as many friends and Forums as you can.
Background to the letter-:
Safe Conduct Letter from the King of France Philip IV (reference number SC 1/30 m.81 ) carried by Sir William Wallace on
his capture at Robroyston, 3rd
August 1305. It is patently wrong that such a valuable
artefact is held in a drawer in London,
when the person to whom it relates is Scottish. The letter itself was seized
with Sir William and was thuis stolen from Scotland in the first place. It must be returned to Scotland for display in the National Museum in Edinburgh,
so that all Scots (and visitors to Scotland)
have full rights of access to view this historic document.