A 700-year-old letter believed to have once been in the possession of William Wallace has returned to Scotland.
The letter has been held in England since being discovered in the Tower of London in the 1830s. It is now on long-term loan to the National Records of Scotland after an agreement was reached with The National Archives in Kew.
Unveiling the fragile document in Edinburgh, Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop confirmed it will go on display to the public this summer at the Scottish Parliament, alongside the famous Lübeck letter was sent in the name of William Wallace and Andrew De Moray shortly after the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 and informed European trading partners that Scottish ports were once again open for business.
Ms Hyslop said: ”I am delighted to welcome the Wallace letter back to Scotland. It is one of the few surviving artefacts with a direct link to William Wallace and a fascinating fragment of our nation’s history. To have it here in Scotland, where it can be viewed by the Scottish public, is very significant indeed.
George MacKenzie, head of National Records of Scotland added: “This document is an enigma. It’s a letter from the French king to his officials at the Vatican mentioning Wallace, but we don’t know what his business was with the Pope. What we do know is that the document still fascinates, 700 years after it was written.”