There are no surviving records of his birth, but it is commonly accepted that he was born sometime between 1270 to 1275 and that his mother was the daughter of Hugh Crauford. William Wallace is believed to have been born at Elderslie, Renfrewshire, to Malcolm Wallace and Margaret Crauford. What little is known can be found in a few surviving documents and published works. With that has come numerous traditions and stories which may contain glimpses of the truth, but are for the most part completely fictional. With the passage of time there has been a loss of the historical record pertaining to the life of Sir William Wallace, the patriot and Guardian of Scotland. Winner of a Scottish Arts Council Award.This profile won Profile of the Week the Fourth week of October 2013. Montrose For Covenant and King (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1977 reprinted Edinburgh: Canongate, 1995) 326pp.The People's Past: Scottish Folk, Scottish History (Edinburgh: Polygon, 1980 reprinted 1995) 223pp. with Douglas Gifford (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1999) 310pp. The Polar Twins: Scottish History and Scottish Literature, ed.Scotland Since 1688: Struggle for a Nation, with Richard Finlay (London: CIMA, 2000) 192pp.The Ballad in Scottish History (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2000) 184pp. McDonald (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2000 reprinted 2003) 282pp. Alba: Celtic Scotland in the Medieval Era, ed.Scottish Fairy Belief: A History, with Lizanne Henderson (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2001 Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2007) 242pp.

with Richard Finlay (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002) 279pp. Scottish History: The Power of the Past, ed.' For Freedom Alone': The Declaration of Arbroath 1320 (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 2003) 162pp.The Wallace Book (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2007) 240pp. Folk in Print: Scotland’s Chapbook Heritage, 1750-1850, with Mike Paterson (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2007) 438pp.Cowan died from lung cancer on 2 January 2022, at the age of 77. He lived in the Glenkens area of Kirkcudbrightshire. A fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he was also a Visiting Professor in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. He had previously taught at the University of Edinburgh and at the University of Guelph, Ontario. He was a professor of Scottish History at the University of Glasgow and Director of the University's Dumfries Campus. JSTOR ( January 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Įdward James Cowan FRSE (15 February 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Scottish historian.Ĭowan was born on 15 February 1944 in Edinburgh, Midlothian.

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The Wallace Book by Edward J. Cowan