5. If Your Leader Didn’t Give a Motivational Speech, A Medieval Chronicler Made One Up
Hollywood likes to portray Medieval military leaders as bold, inspiring figures who rallied their troops before a battle by giving a motivational speech. Consider the words allegedly spoken by William Wallace before leading his troops into action in the blockbuster Braveheart: They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom! Every year, fans of the movie make trips to Scotland to try to discover for themselves what Wallace was talking about in the film. However, Wallace probably never said those words, and we don’t actually know how he or other Medieval military leaders inspired their troops before a battle.
What we do know is that for a soldier to be willing to fight to the death, he had to believe in a cause that was greater than himself. The king or whoever was leading the charge had to inspire the troops. However, many of the “speeches” that leaders supposedly gave before a battle were probably invented by historians or other literary figures. One was William Shakespeare, who put the following words into the mouth of Henry V before the Battle of Agincourt:
If we are marked to die, we are enough
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honor.
