BBC - History - British History in depth: Scottish Wars of Independence

On October 14, 1322, Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeated King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland's independence. From the article:

"History - British History in depth: Scottish Wars of Independence
By Dr Michael Brown
Last updated 2011-02-17

Spring 1296 saw the outbreak of savage war between the two kingdoms of Britain. While a Scottish host ravaged northern England, Edward I's English army laid waste to Berwick, Scotland's largest town. These proved to be the opening moves in a long and bloody conflict.

Scotland and England
Before 1286 Scotland was a defined kingdom with its own rights, laws and sense of identity.

The kings of Scotland had a recognised place amongst the princes of Europe. Alexander III (1249-1286) had successfully extended his realm by forcing the kings of Norway to surrender their rights over the Western Isles.

Marriage alliances with the noble families of Norway, Flanders, Brittany and France ensured that the Scottish king and kingdom were in no sense simply within the orbit of the kings of England. Instead, in its external outlook and internal character Scotland was an independent realm.

For most of the preceding century England and Scotland shared a close and stable relationship.

The English kings, who were also lords of Ireland, masters of Wales and dukes of Gascony in France, occasionally claimed to act as overlords of Scotland, but they didn't try to enforce this position.

The Scottish kings rejected any such claims, but also sought to avoid major friction with their English neighbours. For most of the preceding century these two kingdoms shared a close and stable relationship.

Alexander II (1214-1249) and Alexander III each married English princesses and political co-operation with their in-laws was encouraged by the large group of nobles who owned lands in both kingdoms.

The Scottish kings themselves possessed English estates. The oath of homage they performed for these lands formed another bond between the two royal dynasties which recognised the English king's seniority without reducing the sovereignty of Scotland itself.

The growing crisis (1286-1290)
On 19 March 1286, Alexander III was killed in a fall from his horse. His death revealed the flaws in Scottish independence.

His was the royal dynasty that had done most to forge a unified Scotland. The end of the dynasty threatened Scotland's survival as a separate kingdom.

Alexander's only surviving descendant was Margaret, the only offspring from the marriage of Alexander's daughter to King Erik of Norway.

As a female child from another land, Margaret of Norway was hardly an ideal heir to the Scottish throne, but despite some dissent, the Scots recognised her as their future queen.

The treaty of Birgham promised guarantees of Scotland's continued separation from England.

In the meantime the Scots had to govern their land and find a husband for Margaret who would become their king.

The Scottish community chose six guardians, two of them bishops and four nobles. In 1289, these guardians and the community agreed to a marriage between Margaret and an English prince, the future Edward II.

Though this match would bring Scotland under the rule of the Plantagenet kings of England, for many Scots it seemed the safest way to safeguard the peace and security of the realm.

The treaty of Birgham in July 1290 promised guarantees of Scotland's continued separation from England under its new queen and her English husband.

The crisis deepens (1290-1295)
These plans ultimately came to nothing. In early October, Margaret of Norway died en route to Scotland and her death opened up a struggle for the throne.

The leading claimants were two nobles with estates in England and Scotland, John Balliol and Robert Bruce. Since both lords were descended from the daughters of Alexander III's great-uncle, the rival claims required considerable disentangling.

Both appealed to Edward I for support, while anxieties about civil war led others to ask Edward to keep the peace. Edward hardly needed these invitations to intervene. In spring 1291, he travelled to the border to stamp his authority on the situation.

John Balliol performed homage to Edward, which allowed the English king to interfere in Scottish affairs.

While the Scots simply sought his arbitration, Edward demanded that he be recognised as superior lord of Scotland.

After initial reluctance, the Scots were forced to accept Edward's demand. They handed over the kingdom to the English king while he judged the case, known as the Great Cause, between Bruce, Balliol and thirteen other claimants.

In November 1292, Edward decided in favour of John Balliol. His choice probably reflected the strength of Balliol's claim in law, not, as later accounts claimed, the weakness of his character.

Balliol was crowned king and at Christmas he travelled to Newcastle to perform homage to Edward.

Homage allowed the English king to interfere in Scottish affairs, in legal disputes and landholding, and to demand the service of the Scottish king and his knights in war.

In the years after 1292, Edward did both. Balliol was called to Westminster to answer for his judgement in several court cases and was humiliatingly forced to renew his oath of homage to Edward.

Though he was in a difficult position, Balliol failed to provide any strong resistance to Edward and his subjects were clearly exasperated. They, rather than their king, may have sought the support of the pope and of Edward's French enemies in 1295 as ways out of the English king's control. Their growing defiance led to war.

Defeat and rebellion (1296-1305)
It was a war which the Scots lost. In just nine weeks Edward's army had overpowered the Scottish kingdom. While some Scots, including the Bruces, supported the English king, others from Balliol downwards quickly surrendered.

Balliol was stripped of his royal regalia to signify his loss of the kingship. The centrepiece of Scottish kingmaking, the stone of destiny, was taken to England to signify the end of Scotland's independent monarchy.

Leaving garrisons and governors behind, Edward turned south, confident in his conquest.

This was his mistake, as from early 1297 local rebellions broke out against the English administration in the north and south west of Scotland. These were sparked by clashes between English garrisons and local communities, who reacted against harsh foreign rule and fears of increased demands for money and service.

An English army finally took the field and was routed while trying to cross Stirling Bridge.

The leaders of these risings were a northern noble, Andrew Murray, and a man from Ayrshire, William Wallace. These leaders were successful in raising armies and Edward's officials were slow to react.

When an English army finally took the field in September it was routed by Murray and Wallace while trying to cross Stirling Bridge. After their victory and Murray's death, William Wallace was recognised as guardian and prepared to face Edward's counter attack.

In July 1298, the English king led a massive army into Scotland. Wallace offered battle near Falkirk. The battle which followed was long and bloody and ended in the destruction of Wallace's army.

Wallace resigned as guardian and was replaced by two young lords, John Comyn and Robert Bruce. These nobles adopted a guerrilla strategy, avoiding battle, lurking in woods and hills and harrying English forces. Their methods forced Edward to lead repeated campaigns to Scotland and pay for large garrisons in an attempt to grind down resistance. The demands for men and money that Edward made on his subjects created tensions in England.

The Scots also sought to exert diplomatic pressure on the enemy. The pope and the French king both gave support to the Scots, but hopes that this would end Edward's efforts were frustrated by wider political events.

In 1301-1302 and 1303-1304 the English king led sustained campaigns through Scotland, which led many of his opponents, including Robert Bruce, to make peace. By summer 1304, when he laid siege to Stirling Castle, Edward had forced the submission of almost all Scots.

The capture and execution of William Wallace in 1305 was followed by the issuing of an ordinance for the government of Scotland. Though this ordinance gave the Scots some measure of self-government, it left them a conquered community.

The Bruce (1306-1314)
Renewed war against Edward was born out of individual ambition. Robert Bruce had not forgotten his family's claim to the throne and after shifting between Edward and Balliol's supporters, he made his own move.

Bruce murdered his main rival, John Comyn, in February 1306. This provided the impetus, and the next month Bruce was crowned king. His coup divided the Scottish nobility. Many joined the English in suppressing the rebels. Bruce was defeated at Methven near Perth in June and he was forced to flee into exile, abandoning family and friends to death and imprisonment.

Bruce's exile, probably in the Hebrides, did allow him to prepare a final rebellion. In January 1307, he landed in Carrick with his rebel supporters. Edward quickly mustered forces to crush the rebels and for the next six months, Bruce's small band desperately eluded their enemy.

Bruce out-manoeuvred Edward's poorly-led army, forcing the English king to flee for his life.

Things began to improve with the small victories at Glen Trool and Loudoun Hill, but it was the death of Edward in July which marked a turning point.

His heir, Edward II, lacked his father's determination and ability. After a brief foray into Scotland, the new king headed south and failed to return until 1310.

Bruce grasped his chance. Leading a force northwards, during the following winter, he raised support and defeated the numerous Scottish lords who opposed him in the north.

From 1308 he used the north as a base to extend his rule into central Scotland, and this improving position allowed him to hold a parliament at St Andrews and negotiate with France, Norway and the papacy.

Though Edward II campaigned in Scotland in 1310-1311, his poor relations with his nobility led to civil war which rumbled on until 1313. Once again, Bruce exploited the opportunity. Dundee and Perth were captured and Galloway was forced to submit, leaving only Lothian in English hands.

Bruce's demand that his remaining Scottish enemies should submit finally led to Edward II preparing a fresh campaign. Before it was launched, Bruce's men captured the key castles of Edinburgh and Roxburgh.

In June 1314, a massive English army came north. It marched to relieve Stirling Castle, but on 23 June its advance was blocked by Bruce's smaller host. Over the next two days, Bruce out-manoeuvred Edward's cumbersome and poorly-led army, finally sweeping it from the fields by the small Bannock burn, forcing Edward to flee for his life.

Embattled independence (1314-28)
Bannockburn gave Robert the Bruce control over Scotland, but did not secure recognition of his crown from England. It would take 14 more years before this was won.

In the years from 1314, Bruce took the war into Edward II's lands. Scottish armies marched through northern England, plundering and demanding cash for local truces, and in 1315 Robert's brother and chief lieutenant, Edward Bruce, led an army to Ireland in search of his own kingdom.

After some success, the Irish war ended in Edward's defeat and death at Fochart in 1318, but under James Douglas and Thomas Randolph the Scots were increasingly ambitious in northern England and also captured Berwick in 1318.

Intense war placed strains on both lands. Papal hostility added to Robert's problems and he faced a conspiracy from among his own nobles in 1320.

Edward was ultimately brought down by a rebellion led by his own queen, Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer.

The unified realm described in the famous letter to Pope John known as the Declaration of Arbroath was not always matched in reality. But the pressures on Edward II were just as strong. The loss of Scotland and the ravaging of the north were elements in sustained opposition to the English king.

In 1321, Edward II's policies sparked a new civil war. Robert made efforts to exploit his enemy's problems, but in early 1322 Edward's opponents were crushed. A further English invasion of Scotland in 1322 ended in retreat and humiliation when the English king was pursued across Yorkshire by the Scots and defeated at Byland.

The shadow of failure in Scotland continued to haunt Edward. He was ultimately brought down by a fresh rebellion in 1326, led by his own queen, Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer.

He was deposed in favour of his son, Edward III. Fresh efforts to deal with Bruce once again met with failure and the young king's government agreed a peace with Scotland which abandoned English claims and recognised King Robert.

Bruce had already formed a defensive alliance with France and papal recognition swiftly followed.

In the event this treaty would last only six years before Edward III revived his claim to Scotland. The result was a long war which flared sporadically for 140 years. This conflict confirmed Scotland as an independent realm allied to France and accustomed to defending itself against an English enemy."