Scottish History: Balliol to Bruce

On 30 November 1292, John Balliol was crowned king of Scotland by Edward I of England. He was not a politician, and many of the nobles didn’t support him. Edward made Balliol pay homage to him, and declared that he would hear legal complaints from members of the Scottish Royal Court, which undermined and humiliated Balliol.

In 1294, Edward planned to go to war with France. He told Balliol that Scotland would have to fight. Scottish nobility were outraged because they believed Scotland was an independent country and Edward had no right to ask them to fight. They also had strong economic ties with France and didn’t want to fight their trading partners. They were so unhappy that in 1295 a group of twelve Guardians of the Realm was formed. These Guardians sent messengers to France to discuss how to deal with Edward. In February 1296, an alliance was formed between Scotland and France called the Auld Alliance, which stated that if France was attacked, the Scots would invade England.

Edward was furious and decided to invade Scotland. On 12 March 1296 he besieged Berwick. Scotland’s morale was high, but England was strong, and Berwick was overrun. Edward dispatched Earl Warenne of Surrey to capture Dunbar Castle, whose lord had already agreed to surrender. However, the Scot’s wife gave possession to Scottish forces without his knowledge. Warenne decided to fight and moved his vanguard into position. The Scots mistook this as a retreat and charged, but the English defeated them easily. Many Guardians and nobles were captured and Scotland was left without leadership. Many nobles focused on protecting their own territory rather than joining together.

Edward captured Edinburgh and Stirling, and Balliol fled to the north. He finally surrendered in July 1296. He was then imprisoned in the Tower of London until 1299 when he was exiled in France.

Edward, wanting to destroy all symbols of Scottish independence, ordered important royal records to be moved to London; transported the Stone of Destiny, the Scottish Crown Jewels, and the Black Rood of St. Margaret to Westminster; and in August 1296 had leading nobles swear an oath to him in the Ragman Roll.

By 1297, two major rebellions had developed. In the northeast, Andrew Moray led a campaign; in the southwest, William Wallace engaged in skirmishes.

Andrew Moray was a nobleman who fought with his father at the Battle of Dunbar. He was in captivity in England for a while, but escaped and quickly gathered a strong force of followers. He captured Inverness and Banff, and by the middle of 1297 had driven the Englishmen south of the River Tay. As he moved south, he learned of Wallace and the submission of Scottish nobility at Irvine.

William Wallace was born in Ayrshire. He reportedly killed the English Sheriff of Lanark in May 1297. He led a rebellion which was supported by Bishop Wishart of Glasgow, Sir William Douglas, and Robert Bruce. Although many nobles supported Wallace openly at first, they surrendered at Irvine in spring 1297. Wallace hid in Selkirk Forest for the summer, then moved north to join forces with Moray near Dundee.

On 11 September 1297, Wallace/Moray’s forces faced England on the outskirts of Stirling. They took up position on Abbey Craig Hill, facing the castle. The Earl of Surrey, Edward’s lieutenant in Scotland, led the English with the support of the Treasurer of Scotland, Hugh de Cressingham. Neither saw Wallace and Moray as a threat, but Cressingham didn’t possess the military expertise to hold authority in the battle, and the English were defeated. Surrey decided to use the narrow Stirling Bridge to cross the river. The Scots were able to watch from the hilltop and allowed a significant number to cross before attacking, trapping them against the river. Following the battle, Wallace and Moray were appointed Guardians of Scotland. They were able to make official decisions and communicate with other kings on Scotland’s behalf, as well as being commanders of the army. However, Moray died of wounds just weeks after the Battle of Stirling.

In summer 1298, Edward again marched north. To avoid a battle, Wallace tried to hide his army. He destroyed crops and buildings in southern Scotland so the English would have to return home for supplies. Edward considered turning back, but then heard that Wallace was near Falkirk. The two armies met at Falkirk on 22 July 1298. The Scots were heavily outnumbered, so they positioned themselves behind a bog to slow the English down. However, the English were too strong, and the Scots fled. Wallace’s reputation was destroyed and he had to resign as Guardian.

Despite their mutual dislike, Robert Bruce and John Comyn became the new Guardians. Robert Bruce was born 11 July 1274 in an established noble family. He inherited a position of great wealth and power, but was not satisfied. He was fiercely determined and committed. John Comyn was more closely related to King John Balliol, and so had more claim to the throne. Wallace remained active, once traveling to Europe in 1299 to promote support for the Scots. Edward focused much of his attention on France.

Between 1300 and 1302, there were rumors of King John returning to Scotland. He had been released to the French and many believed he would come to Scotland with an army. Bruce saw this as a threat to his ambition to become king and resigned the Guardianship to support Edward. Comyn continued to lead the Scots with John Soules.

Edward began to refocus on Scotland, but his success was limited. The Scots were unwilling to face the English in the open, instead opting for hit-and-run tactics. After falling out with the king of France, the Pope shifted his support to Edward and blamed the Scottish bishops for continuing the war. His support increased Edward’s strength, and Edward invaded Scotland in 1303. By 1304, Stirling had fallen to the English. Edward treated most surrendering Scottish nobles favorably, returning their lands, but Scotland ceased to be independent.

Edward offered a ransom to anyone who killed or captured Wallace. Wallace was eventually betrayed and captured near Glasgow in 1305. He was taken to London and charged with treason. He was hanged, drawn and quartered at Smithfield on 23 August 1305, and his limbs were displayed in Stirling, Perth, Newcastle, and Berwick as a warning to the Scots.

Bruce and Comyn had been trying to decide how Scotland should be ruled for some time before winter 1305. They arranged a meeting in Greyfriar’s Kirk in Dumfries on 11 February 1306. They met as rivals, and by the time Bruce left, Comyn had been fatally injured, though it’s uncertain whether this was by Bruce’s hand. If Bruce killed him, it would have been a crime against the church. So the Pope excommunicated Bruce, which meant he would have trouble holding power without the church’s support.

However, Bruce still had the support of Bishop Wishart of Glasgow, who pardoned him. Bruce was inaugurated king of Scotland on 25 March 1306 at Scone. However, few supporters were present. Many nobles were allied to Comyn or Balliol. Because of this, Bruce suffered a number of early setbacks. In June 1306 he was defeated by an English force in Methven Wood and retreated southwest, but before he reached it, his supporters were virtually wiped out by John MacDougall, a supporter of Comyn. There were also a number of attacks on his family members. Bruce fled the mainland for the winter. He gained the nickname “King Hob,” or “King Nobody.” He returned in early 1307 and gathered support, managing to defeat a small English garrison and then a larger force at Loudoun Hill.

In July 1307 Edward went to crush the new resistance, but fell ill and died at Burgh-on-Sands. His son, Edward II, decided to return to England to secure his position before waging war. This gave Bruce time to solidify his own position.

In winter 1307 Bruce captured castles in the Great Glen, including Inverlochy, Urquhart, and Inverness. In spring 1308 he captured Banff, Balvenie, and Duffus before besieging the Black Isle. Despite him being dangerously ill, his forces defeated the Earl of Buchan at the Battle of Inverurie.

In what is known as the Herschip of Buchan (the Harrying of Buchan), Bruce ordered the destruction of the lands of Buchan. In August, he turned against the MacDougalls and wiped out their army in the Battle of the Pass of Brander in Argyll. By March 1309, Bruce controlled all of Scotland north of the Tay. He held a parliament in St. Andrews in which the Scottish bishops recognized his support from the nobles and the French king in the Declaration of the Clergy, confirmed him as king, and absolved him of past sins.

By 1314, Bruce had managed to recapture all the Scottish castles from the English apart from Stirling and Berwick. His brother Edward besieged Stirling and the English commander agreed to surrender if Edward II did not send an army by midsummer.

By June, an English force arrived. On the 23rd Edward II sent two scouting parties out, one of which found Bruce. English knight Henry de Bohun charged Bruce, who sidestepped and killed him with a battleax blow to the back of the head. The rest of Bruce’s men forced the English back to their camp. That evening Edward II moved his army closer to the banks of the Bannockburn, but it was so marshy that no one could sleep. The next day the Scots attacked, and the English struggled to fight in the marsh. Edward II was forced to retreat and managed to make it to Dunbar, where he arranged safe passage to England.

In 1315 Bruce sent his brother Edward to invade Ireland as a diversion of English focus. Edward died in an ill-advised attack on Irish nobles at the Battle of Faughart in 1318.

After years of fighting, Bruce decided to secure Scotland’s independence through diplomacy. In 1320, the nobles sent a letter to Pope John XXII to argue for Scotland’s freedom. It was called the Declaration of Arbroath.

In 1327 Edward II was deposed by his wife, Isabella of France, and English noble Roger Mortimer. Edward III became king when he was a young boy. Bruce sent an invasion force, to which Isabella and Mortimer requested a truce. In 1328 the parties signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, which renounced England’s claim over Scotland, recognized Bruce as King of Scots, and contracted a marriage between Bruce’s son David and Edward III’s sister Joan. The following year, Bruce died from an undiagnosed disease, probably leprosy.