S C OT L A N D ’ S I N D E P E N D E N C E S T R U G G L E
Having placed garrisons in many
Scottish castles, Edward I then left for
Gascony in August 1296. Already the
rumblings of resistance were growing
louder and a series of risings broke out
in spring 1297, with an able leader
emerging in the shape of William
Wallace, who defeated the English
at Stirling Bridge in 1297. Wallace
overreached himself and risked another
pitched battle at Falkirk in July 1298,
where he was soundly beaten.
For a while, the protection of their
French ally Philip IV kept Longshanks
at bay, but the French defeat at Courtrai
in 1302 and the subsequent Peace of
Amiens, which excluded Scotland, gave
Edward I free rein once more. In 1303,
the English came north again and by
early 1304 the Scottish leader John
Comyn had surrendered. At a meeting
called at Greyfriars’ Church in Dumfries
in February 1306 to discuss their tactics,
Robert Bruce struck Comyn dead and
assumed the leadership of the anti-
English party. On March 27, 1306, he
declared himself King at the traditional
royal coronation site of Scone, but it
was an inauspicious first year and
by early 1307, he was a fugitive in
western Scotland.
7,000 The number of inhabitants
of Berwick killed by
Edward I’s army on his way north to
Scotland in March 1296.
Return of Robert Bruce
King Robert’s comeback began with
a victory at Loudon Hill in May
1307, and from then he won an
uninterrupted string of victories, aided
by the accession of Edward II to the
English throne in 1307, a man who
SCOTTISH LEADER (C.1272–1305)
WILLIAM WALLACE
Wallace emerged to lead the Scottish
resistance movement in 1297, following
his murder of the English sheriff of Lanark.
His defeat of the English against the odds
at Stirling Bridge in September 1297
cemented his reputation, but his luck did
not hold, and after losing at Falkirk the
following year he never led another
Scottish army. Wallace left on a
diplomatic mission to France, but after his
return to Scotland, he was betrayed and
handed over to the English. He was
hanged, drawn, and quartered in London.
r Tay
ve
Ri
S C OR T L A N D
ive
r Forth Stirling 1297
Bannockburn 1314 Dunbar 1296
Falkirk 1298
Halidon Hill 1333
Riv Berwick 1318
er
Cly
d e River Tweed
Homildon Hill 1402
Neville’s Cross 1346
KEY
Scottish victory ENGLAND
English victory
Battles between England and Scotland
The Anglo-Scottish wars saw dramatic swings of fortune
0 100km
and civil wars between the rival contenders for the N 0 100 miles
Scottish crown were often as damaging to Scotland’s
interests as the armies of the English kings.
lacked the firm resolution of his father of the English position by an outbreak
and who did not adequately fund the of civil war there in 1326–27 finally
Scottish garrisons. Aberdeen fell to the brought about a negotiated peace.
Scots in July 1308, and in 1309 Bruce In spring 1328, by the Treaty of
felt able to call his first Scottish Edinburgh, Edward III renounced
Parliament at St. Andrews. his claim to lordship over Scotland.
By spring 1314, only Stirling Castle The country’s independence seemed
remained in English hands, and it finally secured.
was to save this last redoubt of
English power in Scotland that
Edward II finally stirred himself AF TER
to a counterstrike. This ended in
disaster, with the English army
being cut apart at Bannockburn on The English invaded Scotland shortly after
June 24, 1314 (see pp.94–95). the Treaty of Edinburgh. However, Scotland
By 1315, Robert had taken the retained its independence until the Union
offensive against northern England, of the Crowns in 1603.
besieging Carlisle. In the same year
his brother Edward landed in Ulster ENGLISH GAINS IN POWER
in an attempt to topple English rule Robert died in 1329, but in 1324 he had fathered
in Ireland. The invasion bogged down, a son David, who became king. In 1332, Edward
and though Edward was declared Balliol, the son of John,
High King of Ireland in 1316, it invaded Scotland with
was a hollow title and the Scots the encouragement
occupation was largely confined of Edward III. He
to the north. By the time Robert defeated the army
recovered Berwick, the last Scottish of Bruce loyalists
possession occupied by England, and had himself
in 1318, Edward Bruce’s forces crowned King at
were nearly exhausted and in Scone. A victory at
October 1318 he was killed in Halidon Hill in 1333,
battle near Dundalk. led to Edward III taking
COIN OF DAVID II much of southern
The declaration of Arbroath Scotland. The young King
A succession crisis ensued as Robert David II was sent to France for safety. Robert Stewart
still had no direct heir, and he feared rallied and drove the English out by 1341.
that Edward II, who was grooming
John Balliol’s son Edward for the THE STEWART RULERS
Scottish throne, might invade. These Robert became king in 1371 after the death of
anxieties led to a formal Scottish David II without an heir. The Stewarts ruled
statement of independence by the Scotland until James VI succeeded his cousin
Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, and Elizabeth I of England in 1603 158–59 ❯❯, and
the choice by Robert of his grandson became king of both countries. As a result, a
Robert Stewart as his successor. The descendent of Robert Bruce ruled over England.
failure of an attempt by Edward II
to invade Scotland and the weakening
93