Books with title In Freedom's Cause: A Story of Wallace and Bruce

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The village of Glen Cairn was situated in a valley in the broken country lying to the west of the Pentland Hills, some fifteen miles north of the town of Lanark, and the country around it was wild and picturesque. The villagers for the most part knew little of the world beyond their own valley, although a few had occasionally paid visits to Glasgow, which lay as far to the west as Lanark was distant to the south. On a spur jutting out from the side of the hill stood Glen Cairn Castle, whose master the villagers had for generations regarded as their lord…

At the end of the thirteenth century, the oppressed people of Scotland rebelled against their despised English ruler, Edward Longshanks. In Freedom's Cause recounts the Scots' desperate but ultimately triumphant struggle in the face of overwhelming odds - a hard-fought series of battles conducted under the leadership of William Wallace and Robert Bruce.Time has burnished the feats of these great heroes to mythic proportions, but Wallace and Bruce were real people. This gripping tale of courage, loyalty, and ingenuity recounts their deeds within an accurate historical context. Readers join their company alongside a fictional protagonist, young Archie Forbes, whose estates have been wrongfully confiscated. Archie forms a group of scouts to fight alongside the legendary Scottish chieftains (who were memorably portrayed in the film Braveheart) for their country's independence.In Freedom's Cause is one among the many historical novels for young readers by George Alfred Henty. A storyteller who specialized in blending authentic historical facts with exciting fictional characters, Henty produced more than 140 books and achieved a reputation as "The Prince of Storytellers." Immensely popular and widely used in schools for many years, Henty's novels continue to fire young imaginations with their spirited tales of adventure amid exciting historical eras....George Alfred Henty (8 December 1832 – 16 November 1902) was a prolific English novelist and war correspondent.He is best known for his historical adventure stories that were popular in the late 19th century. His works include The Dragon & The Raven (1886), For The Temple (1888), Under Drake's Flag (1883) and In Freedom's Cause (1885).BiographyG. A. Henty was born in Trumpington, near Cambridge. He was a sickly child who had to spend long periods in bed. During his frequent illnesses he became an avid reader and developed a wide range of interests which he carried into adulthood. He attended Westminster School, London, and later Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge,where he was a keen sportsman. He left the university early without completing his degree to volunteer for the Army Hospital Commissariat when the Crimean War began. He was sent to the Crimea and while there he witnessed the appalling conditions under which the British soldier had to fight. His letters home were filled with vivid descriptions of what he saw. His father was impressed by his letters and sent them to The Morning Advertiser newspaper which printed them. This initial writing success was a factor in Henty's later decision to accept the offer to become a special correspondent, the early name for journalists now better known as war correspondents.Shortly before resigning from the army as a captain in 1859 he married Elizabeth Finucane. The couple had four children. Elizabeth died in 1865 after a long illness and shortly after her death Henty began writing articles for the Standard newspaper. In 1866 the newspaper sent him as their special correspondent to report on the Austro-Italian War where he met Giuseppe Garibaldi. He went on to cover the 1868 British punitive expedition to Abyssinia, the Franco-Prussian War, the Ashanti War, the Carlist Rebellion in Spain and the Turco-Serbian War.He also witnessed the opening of the Suez Canal and travelled to Palestine, Russia and India.Henty was a strong supporter of the British Empire all his life; according to literary critic Kathryn Castle: "Henty ... exemplified the ethos of the new imperialism, and glorified in its successes". Henty's ideas about politics were influenced by writers such as Sir Charles Dilke and Thomas Carlyle.

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Near the end of the thirteenth century, Scotland rebelled against its oppressive English ruler, King Edward, also known as Edward Longshanks. G.A. Henty's "In Freedom's Cause" tells the tale of the people of Scotland's desperate struggle, under the leadership of the mythical William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, in the face of the overwhelming English army. While the deeds of these two great, Scottish heroes have now turned into legend, Wallace and Bruce were indeed real, living and breathing men. Henty tells the tale of these two men through an accurate, historical lens.Readers join the protagonist, a young Archie Forbes, as he fights alongside Wallace and Bruce to free his Scottish homeland and regain his wrongfully confiscated estates.

MY DEAR LADS,There are few figures in history who have individually exercised so great an influence upon events as William Wallace and Robert Bruce. It was to the extraordinary personal courage, indomitable perseverance, and immense energy of these two men that Scotland owed her freedom from English domination. So surprising were the traditions of these feats performed by these heroes that it was at one time the fashion to treat them as belonging as purely to legend as the feats of St. George or King Arthur. Careful investigation, however, has shown that so far from this being the case, almost every deed reported to have been performed by them is verified by contemporary historians. Sir William Wallace had the especial bad fortune of having come down to us principally by the writings of his bitter enemies, and even modern historians, who should have taken a fairer view of his life, repeated the cry of the old English writers that he was a bloodthirsty robber. Mr. W. Burns, however, in his masterly and exhaustive work, The Scottish War of Independence, has torn these calumnies to shreds, and has displayed Wallace as he was, a high minded and noble patriot. While consulting other writers, especially those who wrote at the time of or but shortly after the events they record, I have for the most part followed Burns in all the historical portions of the narrative. Throughout the story, therefore, wherein it at all relates to Wallace, Bruce, and the other historical characters, the circumstances and events can be relied upon as strictly accurate, save only in the earlier events of the career of Wallace, of which the details that have come down to us are somewhat conflicting, although the main features are now settled past question.Yours sincerely, G.A. HENTY.