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Chapter 7
The Wars of Independence (1286–1371)
In This Chapter
Understanding why Scotland’s King John made an Auld Alliance with France
Looking at the first War of Independence
Studying the second War of Independence
Considering the return of David II to Scotland
Getting grim with the Black Death
The years 1286 to 1357 are perhaps the most decisive in Scotland’s history. The danger of being forcibly incorporated into a greater Britain was never more real than during this period. The existence of an independent Scottish kingdom was under serious attack, and it was never really guaranteed until 1357. More than 60 years of continuous warfare between Scotland and England created within the Scots a strong sense of national identity among all social groupings – from the elite to the peasantry – and linked the Church with the cause of national independence. Resistance to English aggression helped forge the nation. The campaigns of William Wallace and, later, Robert the Bruce galvanised the Scottish people in an epic struggle for independence. That story is so powerful, it resonates even today, and it’s incorporated in the country’s unofficial national anthem, ‘Flower of Scotland’. It has made national heroes of Wallace and Bruce, the superstars of Scottish history.
From 1357 onward, England would no longer forcibly try to incorporate Scotland as a province under its control. This did not mean the end of Anglo–Scottish wars, but the wars were of a different nature and fought for different reasons.
The Auld Alliance
A good way of thinking about Scotland’s alliance with France is to imagine a school playground where a smaller kid is being bullied by a bigger one. The smart smaller kid will seek to befriend another big bully, which will make the other one think twice before trying it on. This is exactly what drove Scotland into the French embrace, and it proved a smart move on more than one occasion.
The Maid of Norway
Strange as it may seem, the Anglo–Scottish conflict began as an accident. In 1286, the Scottish king Alexander III was travelling in darkness on horseback, on his way to visit his second wife, Yolande, when he fell from his horse at Kinghorn, Fife. The problem (besides the fact that he died):Alexander had lost his son and heir two years before. Cue power struggle and civil war.
There were a number of claimants to the vacant Scottish throne – some genuine and some bogus. The Scottish Parliament offered the crown to Margaret, the Maid of Norway, infant granddaughter of Alexander III. Given the fact that she was a minor, a committee of ‘guardians’ was set up to run the country; the committee included four barons and the archbishops of St Andrews and Glasgow.
The first challenge to the committee’s authority came from the southwest of Scotland and was led, ironically enough, by the Bruce family – the two Roberts, father and son. The father was the great-great-grandson of David I (see Chapter 5) and the closest male relative to the late king. In fact, he had been named successor by Alexander before Margaret was born. So, you could argue that he had a genuine claim to the throne. The Bruce rising, however, was put down by the guardians, who ran the country for the next three years.
Most people thought it was inconceivable that Margaret could rule in her own right as a female – a husband had to be found for her. The king of Norway’s choice was Edward, infant son and heir to Edward I of England. The proposal was formalised by the Treaty of Birgham in 1290. Under the terms of the treaty, the English would acknowledge Margaret’s right to the Scottish throne, but children of the marriage would inherit both thrones. In addition, Scotland would remain a separate kingdom with its own government and not subject to English jurisdiction. One problem: the Maid of Norway died in the autumn of 1290 in Orkney while making the journey from Norway to Scotland, apparently from seasickness. Bring forward a new cast of claimants –14 in all!
Finding a king
These 14 contenders for the throne of Scotland staked a claim in what was known as the ‘Great Cause’, in which they put forward legal arguments in favour of their credentials. The king of Norway even staked a claim on the basis that he was the Maid’s father and son-in-law to the late king! But there were more credible candidates. John ‘the Black’ Comyn was not only a guardian but head of one of the most powerful baronial families in Scotland as lord of Badenoch. He also could trace his lineage back to a former Scottish king, Donald III.
Despite his qualifications, Comyn chose to stand aside in favour of his brother-in-law, John Balliol, who had a stronger claim than Bruce’s on the basis that Balliol’s mother was older than Bruce’s mother and so by the law of primogeniture (in which the oldest inherits) the titles fell to her and her offspring.
With civil war looming, the bishop of St Andrews suggested that Edward I be invited to adjudicate on the various claims, and his suggestion was accepted by the Scottish Parliament. However, Edward had his own agenda:
The guardians would accept him as lord paramount of Scotland.
The leading Scottish nobles would swear allegiance to him as lord paramount.
Every royal Scottish castle would be placed temporarily under his control.
Every Scottish official would resign and be reappointed by him.
He would preside over the court held in the Great Hall of Berwick Castle.
The convention was made up of 24 English bishops and barons hand-picked by Edward, together with 80 representatives from Scotland –40 picked by Bruce and 40 by Balliol – and lasted six months. After all the submissions and investigations into the rival claims had taken place, Edward chose John Balliol to be Scotland’s new king, and he was duly crowned at Scone with the support of the Scottish nobility on St Andrews Day in 1292.
The trouble with John
From the begi
By forcing John to pay homage to Edward at Newcastle in December 1292 as king of Scots
By encouraging appeals to Edward’s court, undermining the Scottish king’s position as the fount of justice
By demanding in September 1294 that John and his barons perform military service against the French king
The last demand was untenable – the king of Scotland couldn’t force nobles to take up arms for another monarch abroad. Plus, France controlled Flanders, the chief source of Scottish revenue for wool sales. It was also a repudiation of the Treaty of Birgham.
The only road was open defiance. In 1295, John made overtures to Philip IV of France for a treaty of mutual aid, which was to be formalised through the marriage of John’s son and heir, Edward, to the niece of the French king, Jea
However, there was a price: as a condition of the Alliance, Scotland was to invade England in the spring of 1296. When news of the Franco–Scottish Treaty reached him, Edward had only one thing on his mind after this show of disobedience: give them a lesson they will never forget. He met with a band of 80 Scottish nobles at Wark Castle, 24.1 kilometres (15 miles) south of the River Tweed, all of whom held lands on both sides of the border and had agreed to pay homage to the English king. Those present included the 7th Robert Bruce and his son, the future king. In retaliation, King John confiscated all Bruce’s lands in A
If you hate the English, clap your hands
After the meeting at Wark Castle in Northumberland, Edward took Berwick and, in the process, slaughtered hundreds of its inhabitants, including 30 Flemish artisans who had established themselves in the town. Every building was sacked, and it was rebuilt as an English garrison town. In April 1296, the Scots were defeated at the Battle of Dunbar by an English army that include Robert the Bruce on its side.
Scotland was rapidly conquered in 1296 as first Roxburgh Castle fell, then Edinburgh, then Stirling, and finally Perth, in fairly rapid succession. Brutality at Berwick was not an isolated event – the English showed no respect for the chivalric code of honouring your enemy. The garrison holding Stirling Castle under Sir William Oliphant finally succumbed in 1304.They were paraded with ropes around their necks like traitors.
It was only due to repeated requests that Edward I spared them execution and disembowelling. Contrast this kind of barbarism with the Scottish treatment of the starving English garrison of Stirling Castle, which was successfully besieged in 1299; there, the garrison was given a safe conduct and left unharmed for England.
At Montrose on 8 July, the formal surrender of King John and his abdication was completed when the bishop of Durham in a humiliating gesture ripped the Scottish arms from his jacket. The symbolism was clear: the king was king no more. He died in obscurity in 1313 on his estate in Picardy, France.
Exalting in his triumph, Edward, as the Malleus Scottorum (Hammer of the Scots), returned to England with the Black Rood of St Margaret and the Stone of Scone to lie in Westminster Abbey beneath the throne of England. The official records of Scotland were burnt or taken to London. John Balliol was locked up in the Tower of London for three years.
In August 1296, Edward convened a Scottish Parliament at Berwick, in which he received the homage of most of the Scottish nobility, including the Bruces. Scotland was under direct control of England and no longer a kingdom. The victorious commander at Dunbar, the earl of Surrey, was made governor, and Sir Hugh de Cressingham was appointed treasurer.
The arrogance and brutality shown by the English toward their ‘subjects’ didn’t just create a feeling of animosity among the Scots toward them; it generated a burning hatred.
The First War of Independence (1296–1328)
Resistance was the only thing left for the Scots. First, through William Wallace and Andrew de Moray, and then through Robert the Bruce, the Scots took the struggle to the English, inflicting heavy defeats on them. Eventually, Scotland forced the English to agree to recognise the integrity of the Scottish realm.
William Wallace and the Scottish resistance