While William Wallace was a real figure from Scottish history, the events of Braveheart are heavily fanciful. While it's a great movie, there is ongoing controversy to this day in Scotland about Mel Gibson's depiction of Wallace, and some people feel the numerous inaccuracies in the depiction are disrespectful.

There are several monuments to Wallace around Scotland, most notably the Wallace Monument. We also have several pieces of testimonial evidence recorded by Wallace's contempories to confirm his existence, copies of letters referencing the conflict, and numerous other pieces of evidence that have since been compiled and analysed by historians to give us a good idea of the timeline. I'd point you to the Chronicle of Lanercost as one of the best compilations.

Some of the largest inaccuracies from the movie:

• At the time of the war for Scottish independence, the real Wallace was already a seasoned soldier with decent military experience, not a fierce underdog as the movie suggests

• As far as we know, he never married or had any significant relationships with a woman, unlike the major motivations in the movie

• The movie makes significant use of woad, the blue dye Wallace smears on his face. This was a practise of the Pictish people, and fell out of popularity some 300-400 years before Wallace was born