Wars of Scottish Independence
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The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between Scotland and England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of Scotland in 1296, and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328. The Second War (1332–1357) began with the English supported invasion of Edward Balliol and the 'Disinherited' in 1332, and ended around 1357 with the signing of the Treaty of Berwick. The wars were part of a great national crisis for Scotland and the period became one of the most defining moments in the nations history. At the end of both wars, Scotland still retained her status as a free and independent nation, which was her main aim throughout the conflict. The wars were also important for other reasons, such as the emergence of the longbow as a key weapon in medieval warfare.
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The First War of Independence: 1296–1328
Background to the war: 1286–1292
King Alexander III of Scotland died in 1286, leaving his three-year old grand-daughter Margaret (called 'the Maid of Norway') as his heir. In 1290, the Guardians of Scotland signed the Treaty of Birgham agreeing to the marriage of the Maid of Norway and Edward of Caernarvon, the son of Edward I, who was Margaret's great-uncle. This marriage would create a union between Scotland and England. The Scots insisted that the Treaty declare that Scotland was separate and divided from England and that its rights, laws, liberties and customs were wholly and inviolably preserved for all time.
However, Margaret, travelling to her new kingdom, died shortly after landing on the Orkney Islands around September 26, 1290. With her death, the House of Dunkeld came to an end and thirteen competitors claimed their rights to the Scottish crown. The two main competitors were Robert Bruce, 5th Lord of Annandale (grandfather of the future King Robert the Bruce) and John Balliol, Lord of Galloway. Fearing civil war between the Bruce and Balliol families and their supporters, the Guardians of Scotland wrote to Edward I of England, asking him to come north and arbitrate among the claimants in order to avoid civil war. Edward I saw this as the opportunity he had long been waiting for to conquer Scotland as he had conquered Wales and rule over all the British Isles.
Edward came north in 1291 and asserted that he had come as the Lord Paramount of Scotland to act as the adviser on the successor to the Scottish Crown and had to be recognised as Lord Paramount. This put the Scots in a very vulnerable position. All during the meeting, Edward had his army standing by in case of trouble. He gave the claimants three weeks to agree to his terms. With no King and with no army ready, the Scots had little choice, and the claimants acknowledged Edward as their Lord Paramount and were willing to receive his judgement. Their decision might have been influenced by the fact that the majority of the claimants had large estates in England and therefore would have lost these estates if they had defied Edward.
On June 11, acting as the Lord Paramount of Scotland, Edward I ordered that on a "temporary basis" every Scottish Castle be placed under his control and all Scottish officials were to resign their offices and be re-appointed by him. Two days later, in Upsettlington, the Guardians and the leading Scottish nobles gathered to swear allegiance to King Edward I as their superior and Lord Paramount. All Scots were also required to pay homage to Edward I, either in person or at one of the designated centres by July 27, 1291.
There were thirteen meetings from May to August 1291 at Berwick, where the claimants pleaded their claim before Edward in what came to be known as the 'Great Cause.' The claims of most of the competitors were rejected as they were of illegitimate descent and the choice was between Balliol, Bruce and John de Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings. Hastings wished the kingdom to be divided in three equal parts, for the three men; while Balliol and Bruce maintained that the country was indivisible. The Scots obviously wanted to keep the country together, so Hastings was disqualified. On August 3, Edward asked both Balliol and Bruce to choose forty arbiters while he chose twenty-four, to decide the case. There was then an adjournment until June 1292. Upon reconvening, the 104 arbiters wouldn't make a firm decision on the claimants. There was another recess until October 10, 1292, and at this time Edward got the arbiters to agree that as Lord Superior of Scotland, he had the right to grant the kingship of Scotland as he would an earldom or barony.
He chose Balliol on November 17, 1292 and on November 30, he was crowned as King of Scots at Scone Abbey. On December 26, at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, King John swore homage to Edward I for the kingdom of Scotland. Edward soon made it clear that he regarded the country as his vassal state. Balliol was too weak to resist, and the Scots resented Edward's demands. In 1294, Edward summoned John Balliol to appear before him, and then ordered that he had until September 1, 1294 to provide Scottish troops and funds for his invasion of France.
On his return to Scotland, John held a meeting with his council and after a few days of heated debate plans were made to defy the orders of Edward I. A few weeks later a Scottish parliament was hastily convened and twelve members of a war council (four earls, barons, and bishops respectively) were selected to advise King John.
Emissaries were immediately dispatched to inform King Philip IV of France of the intentions of the English. They also negotiated a treaty by which the Scots would invade England if the English invaded France, and in return the French would support the Scots. The treaty would be sealed by the arranged marriage of Edward Balliol (John's son) and Jeanne de Valois (Philip's niece). Another treaty with King Eric II of Norway was hammered out, in which for the sum of fifty thousand groats he would supply one hundred battleships for four months of the year, so long as hostilities between France and England continued. Although Norway never acted, the Franco-Scottish alliance, later known as the Auld Alliance, was effective until 1560.
It was not until 1295 that Edward I was even aware of the secret Franco-Scottish negotiations. In early October, Edward began to strengthen his northern defences against a possible invasion by a revitalised Scottish army. It was also at this point that Robert Bruce, 6th Lord of Annandale (father of the future King Robert the Bruce) was appointed governor of Carlisle Castle. Edward also ordered John Balliol to relinquish control of the castles and burghs of Berwick, Jedburgh and Roxburgh. In December, more than two hundred of Edward's tenants in Newcastle were summoned to form a militia by March 1296 and in February, a fleet of ships sailed north to rendezvous with his land forces in Newcastle.
The build up of English forces south of the Anglo-Scottish border did not go undetected and in response, King John Balliol summoned all able-bodied Scotsmen to bear arms and converge near the border at Caddonlee by March 11. Several of the Scottish nobles choose to ignore the summons, including Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, whose father had his Annandale estate seized by John Balliol and reassigned to John Comyn, Earl of Buchan.
Beginning of the war: 1296–1306
Main article: First War of Scottish Independence (1296–1306)
The First War of Scottish Independence can be loosely divided into four phases: the initial English invasion and success in 1296; the campaigns led by William Wallace, Andrew de Moray and various Scottish Guardians from 1297 until John Comyn negotiated for the general Scottish submission in February 1304; the renewed campaigns led by Robert the Bruce between his coronation in 1306 and the Scottish victory at Bannockburn in 1314; and a final phase of Scottish diplomatic initiatives and military campaigns in Scotland, Ireland and Northern England from 1314 until the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328.
The war began in earnest with Edward I's sacking of Berwick in March 1296, followed by the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Dunbar and the abdication of John Balliol in July. The English invasion campaign had subdued most of the country by August and, after removing the Stone of Destiny and transporting it to Westminster Abbey, Edward convened a parliament at Berwick, where the Scottish nobles paid homage to him as King of England. Scotland had been all but conquered.
The revolts which broke out in early 1297, led by William Wallace, Andrew de Moray and other Scottish nobles, forced Edward to send more forces to deal with the Scots, and although they managed to force the nobles to capitulate at Irvine, Wallace and de Moray's continuing campaigns eventually led to the first key Scottish victory, at Stirling Bridge. This was followed by Scottish raids into northern England and the appointment of Wallace as Guardian of Scotland in March 1298. But in July, Edward invaded again, intending to crush Wallace and his followers, and defeated the Scots at Falkirk. Although Edward failed to subdue Scotland completely before returning to England, Wallace's military reputation was ruined, and he went into hiding, resigning the guardianship.
King Robert the Bruce: 1306–1314
Wallace was succeeded by Robert Bruce and John Comyn as joint guardians, with William Lamberton, Bishop of St Andrews being appointed in 1299 as a third, neutral Guardian to try and maintain order between them. During that year, diplomatic pressure from France and Rome persuaded Edward to release the imprisoned King John into the custody of the Pope, and Wallace was sent to France to seek the aid of Philip IV, and also possibly travelled to Rome.
Further campaigns by Edward in 1300 and 1301 led to a truce between the Scots and the English in 1302. After another campaign in 1303/1304, Stirling Castle, the last major Scottish held stronghold, fell to the English, and in February 1304, negotiations led to most of the remaining nobles paying homage Edward and to the Scots all but surrendering. At this point, Robert Bruce and William Lamberton made a secret bond of alliance, aiming to place Bruce on the Scottish throne and continue the struggle.
After the capture and execution of Wallace in 1305, Scotland seemed to have been finally conquered and the revolt calmed for a period. But in 1306, after a meeting between Bruce and Comyn, the two surviving claimants for the Scottish throne, Bruce murdered John Comyn, then rallied the Scottish prelates and nobles behind him and had himself crowned King of Scots at Scone. He then began a new campaign to free his kingdom. After being defeated in battle and driven from the Scottish mainland as an outlaw, Bruce came out of hiding in 1307, defeated the English in a number of battles and his forces began to grow in strength, encouraged in part by the death of Edward I in July 1307.
From Bannockburn to Edinburgh-Northampton: 1314–1328
In 1320, the Declaration of Arbroath was sent by a group of Scottish nobles to the Pope affirming Scottish independence from England. In 1327, Edward II of England was deposed and killed. The invasion of the North of England by Robert the Bruce forced Edward III of England to sign the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton on May 1 in 1328, which recognised the independence of Scotland with Bruce as king. To further seal the peace, Robert's son and heir David married the sister of Edward III.
The Second War of Independence: 1332–1357
After Robert the Bruce's death, King David II was too young to rule, so the guardianship was assumed by Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray. But Edward III, despite having given his name to the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, was determined to avenge the humiliation by the Scots and he could count on the assistance of Edward Balliol, the son of John Balliol and a claimant to the Scottish throne.
Edward III also had the support of a group of Scottish nobles, led by Balliol and Henry Beaumont, known as the 'Disinherited.' This group of nobles had supported the English in the First War and, after Bannockburn, Robert the Bruce had deprived them of their titles and lands, granting them to his allies. When peace was concluded, they received no reparations. These disinherited were hungry for their old lands and would prove to be the undoing of the peace.
Moray died July 20, 1332. The Scots nobility gathered at Perth where they elected Donald, Earl of Mar as the new Guardian. Meanwhile a small band led by Balliol had set sail from the River Humber. Consisting of the disinherited noblemen and mercenaries, they were probably no more than a few hundred men strong.
Edward III was still formally at peace with David II and his dealings with Balliol were therefore deliberately obscured. He of course knew what was happening and Balliol probably did homage in secret before leaving, but Balliol's desperate scheme must have seemed doomed to failure. Edward therefore refused to allow Balliol to invade Scotland from across the Tweed. This would have been too open a breach of the treaty. He agreed to turn a blind eye to an invasion by sea, but made it clear that he would disavow them and confiscate all their English lands should Balliol and his friends fail.
The 'disinherited' landed at Kinghorn in Fife on 6 August. The news of their advance had preceded them, and, as they marched towards Perth, they found their route barred by a large Scottish army, mostly of infantry, under the new Guardian.
At the Battle of Dupplin Moor, Balliol's army, commanded by Henry Beaumont, defeated the larger Scottish force. Beaumont made use of the same tactics that the English would make famous under the Hundred Years' War, with dismounted knights in the centre and archers on the flanks. Caught in the murderous rain of arrows, most of the Scots never reached the enemy's line. When the slaughter was finally over, Donald, Earl of Mar, Sir Robert Bruce (an illegitimate son of Robert the Bruce), many nobles and around 2,000 Scots had been slain. Edward Balliol then had himself crowned as King of Scots, firstly at Perth, and then again in September at Scone Abbey. Balliol's success surprised Edward III, and fearing that Balliol's invasion would eventually fail leading to a Scots invasion of England, he moved north with his army.
In October, Sir Archibald Douglas, now Guardian of Scotland, made a truce with Balliol, supposedly to let the Scottish Parliament assemble and decide who their true king was. Emboldened by the truce, Balliol dismissed most of his English troops and moved to Annan, on the north shore of the Solway Firth. He issued two public letters, saying that with the help of England he had reclaimed his kingdom, and acknowledged that Scotland had always been a fief of England. He also promised land for Edward III on the border, including Berwick-on-Tweed, and that he would serve Edward for the rest of his life. But in December, Douglas attacked Balliol at Annan in the early hours of the morning. Most of Balliol's men were killed, though he himself managed to escape through a hole in the wall, and fled, half naked and on horse, to Carlisle.
In April 1333, Edward III and Balliol, with a large English army, laid siege to Berwick. Archibald Douglas attempted to relieve the town in July, but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Halidon Hill. David II and his Queen were moved to the safety of Dumbarton Castle, while Berwick surrendered and was annexed by Edward. By now, much of Scotland was under English occupation, with eight of the Scottish lowland counties being ceded to England by Edward Balliol.
At the beginning of 1334, Philip VI of France offered to bring David II and his court to France for asylum, and in May they arrived in France, setting up a court-in-exile at Château-Gaillard in Normandy. Philip also decided to derail the Anglo-French peace negotiations then taking place (at the time England and France were engaged in disputes that would lead to the Hundred Years' War), declaring to Edward III that any treaty between France and England must include the exiled King of Scots.
In David's absence, a series of Guardians kept up the struggle. In November, Edward III invaded again, but he accomplished little and retreated in February 1335 due to bad weather. He and Edward Balliol returned again in July with an army of 13,000, and advanced through Scotland, first to Glasgow and then Perth, where Edward III installed himself as his army looted and destroyed the surrounding countryside. At this time, the Scots followed a plan of avoiding pitched battles and evacuated the inhabitants of the lowlands as much as possible, moving them to the safety of the hills. Some Scots leaders, including the Earl of Atholl and Robert Stewart, 7th High Steward submitted to Edward at Perth.
Following Edward's return to England, the remaining leaders of the Scots resistance chose Sir Andrew Murray as Guardian. He soon negotiated a truce with Edward until April 1336, during which, various French and Papal emissaries attempted to negotiate a peace between the two countries. In January, the Scots drew up a draft treaty agreeing to recognise the elderly and childless Edward Balliol as King, so long as David II would be his heir and David would leave France to live in England. However, David II rejected the peace proposal and any further truces. In May, an English army under Henry of Lancaster invaded, followed in July by another army under King Edward. Together, they ravaged much of the north-east and sacked Elgin and Aberdeen, while a third army ravaged the south-west and the Clyde valley. Prompted by this invasion, Philip VI of France announced that he intended to aid the Scots by every means in his power, and that he had a large fleet and army preparing to invade both England and Scotland. Edward soon returned to England, while the Scots, under Murray, captured and destroyed English strongholds and ravaged the countryside, making it uninhabitable for the English.
Although Edward III invaded again, he was becoming more anxious over the possible French invasion, and by late 1336, the Scots had regained control over virtually all of Scotland and by 1338 the tide had turned. While 'Black Agnes', Countess of Dunbar and March, continued to resist the English laying siege to Dunbar Castle, hurling defiance and abuse from the walls, Scotland received some breathing space when Edward III claimed the French throne and took his army to Flanders, beginning the Hundred Years' War with France.
So, in just nine years, the kingdom so hard won by Robert the Bruce had been shattered. Many of her experienced nobles were dead and the economy which had barely begun to recover from the earlier wars was once again in tatters. It was to an impoverished country in need of peace and good government that David II was finally able to return in June 1341.
When David returned, he was determined to live up to the memory of his illustrious father. He ignored truces with England and was determined to stand by his ally Philip VI during the early years of the Hundred Years' War. In 1341 he laid a led into England, forcing Edward III to lead an army north to reinforce the border. In 1346, after more Scottish raids, Philip VI appealed for a counter invasion of England in order to relieve the English stranglehold on Calais. David gladly accepted and personally led a Scots army of over 12,000 men southwards with intention of capturing Durham. In reply, a English army, of 5,000 men, moved northwards from Yorkshire to confront the Scots. On October 14, at the Battle of Neville's Cross, the Scots were defeated. They suffered heavy casualties and David was wounded in the face by two arrows before being captured. He was sufficiently strong however to knock out two teeth from the mouth of his captor. After a period of convalescence, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he was held prisoner for eleven years, during which time Scotland was ruled by his nephew, Robert Stewart, 7th High Steward. Edward Balliol returned to Scotland soon afterwards with a small force, in a final attempt to recover Scotland. He only succeeded in gaining control of some of Galloway, with his power diminishing there until 1355. He finally resigned his claim to the Scottish throne in January 1356 and died childless in 1364.
Finally, on October 3, 1357, David was released under the Treaty of Berwick, under which the Scots agreed to pay an enormous ransom of 100,000 merks for him (1 merk was 2/3 of a Scottish pound) payable in ten years. Heavy taxation was needed to provide funds for the ransom, which was to be paid in instalments, and David alienated his subjects by using the money for his own purposes. The country was in a sorry state when; she had been ravaged by war and also the Black Death. The first instalment of the ransom was paid punctually. The second was late and after that no more could be paid.
In 1363, David went to London and agreed that should he die childless, the crown would pass to Edward (his brother-in-law) or one of his sons, with the Stone of Destiny being returned for their coronation as King of Scots. The Scots rejected this arrangement, offered to continue paying the ransom (now increased to 100,000 pounds) and threatened to depose David. A twenty five year truce was agreed and in 1369, the treaty of 1365 was cancelled and a new one set up to the Scots benefit, due to the influence of the war with France. The new terms saw the 44,000 marks already paid deducted from the original 100,000 with the balance due in instalments of 4,000 for the next fourteen years.
When Edward died in 1377, there were still 24,000 marks owed which was never paid. David himself had lost his popularity and lost the respect of his nobles when he married the widow of a minor laird after the death of his English wife. He himself died in February 1371.
References
Major battles and events
- Battle of Dunbar (1296)
- Battle of Stirling Bridge, 1297
- Battle of Falkirk (1298)
- Battle of Roslin, 1303
- Battle of Happrew, 1304
- Fall of Stirling Castle, 1304
- Battle of Methven, 1306
- Battle of Dalry, 1306
- Battle of Glen Trool, 1307
- Battle of Loudoun Hill, 1307
- Battle of Slioch, 1307
- Battle of Inverurie, 1308
- Battle of Pass of Brander, 1308
- Battle of Bannockburn, 1314
- Battle of Connor, 1315
- Battle of Skaithmuir, 1316
- Battle of Skerries, 1316
- Battle of Faughart, 1318
- Capture of Berwick, 1318
- Battle of Myton, 1319
- Declaration of Arbroath, 1320
- Battle of Boroughbridge, 1322
- Battle of Old Byland, 1322
- Treaty of Corbeil, 1326
- Battle of Stanhope Park, 1327
- Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, 1328
- Battle of Dupplin Moor, 1332
- Battle of Halidon Hill, 1333
- Battle of Dornock, 1333
- Battle of Boroughmuir, 1335
- Battle of Culblean, 1335
- Battle of Neville's Cross, 1346
- Treaty of Berwick, 1357
Important Figures
Scotland
- King David II
- King John Balliol
- Edward Bruce
- John Comyn — Guardian (1298–1301, 1304)
- Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas — Guardian (1332–1333)
- James Douglas, "the Black"
- Agnes Dunbar, 4th Countess of Moray
- William Lamberton — Bishop of St Andrews (1298–1328)
- Bernard de Linton — Chancellor (1308–1328)
- Donald Mormaer, 8th Earl of Mar — Guardian (1332)
- Andrew de Moray
- Sir Andrew Murray — Guardian (1332, 1335–1338)
- Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray — Guardian (1329–1332)
- King Robert I the Bruce
- John de Soulis — Guardian (1301–1304)
- Robert Stewart, 7th High Steward — Lieutenant (1346–1357)
- Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward
- William Wallace
- Robert Wishart — Bishop of Glasgow (1272–1317)
England
- King Edward I
- King Edward II
- King Edward III
- Edward Balliol
- Henry Beaumont, '4th Earl of Buchan'
- Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford
- John de Bretagne, 1st Earl of Richmond
- Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster
- David of Strathbogie, '10th Earl of Atholl'
- David of Strathbogie, '11th Earl of Atholl'
- Gilbert de Umfraville, '9th Earl of Angus'
- Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
- John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey
Other important figures
External links
- Wars of Independence (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/independence/features_independence_arbroath.shtml)de:Geschichte_Schottlands#Die_Unabh.C3.A4ngigkeitskriege