<b>The First War of Scottish Independence (1296-1328)<b>

The Wars of Scottish Independence refer to two separate periods of instability and conflict between Scotland and its larger neighbour England. The term was not applied until later centuries, and the terms are not entirely accurate. In fact, the main difference between these wars and the multitude of other conflicts between Scotland and England throughout the Middle Ages is that they are some of the only times in which substantial English forces invaded Scottish soil rather than the other way around. Of course, as with most conflicts between these two nations, it was rarely as simple as the Scots against the English.

For most of the 13th century, Scotland and England had been at peace. Both countries had more pressing concerns than each other, with England riven by internal strife and embroiled in foreign wars, and Scotlands rivalry with Norway coming to a head. It was during the rule of King Alexander III (1249-1286), who had made it his focus to bring the nominally Norse-controlled Western Isles under Scottish control, that Norway finally lost what control it had left over the western seaboard of Scotland, and the islands exchanged nominal fealty to Norway for nominal fealty to Scotland. Alexanders rule was a peaceful one, apart from the war with Norway, helped by a marriage alliance with England, but it was blighted by the lack of a male heir. His marriage to Margaret of England produce three children, two of which was male, but their youngest, David, died in childhood and the young Alexander, the middle child, died in 1283. Although Alexander had married the daughter of Gwijde van Dampierre, the count of Flanders, the union had produced no children and the succession fell to the children of Alexander IIIs daughter Margaret, whose marriage to Eirik II of Norway had cemented peace between the two countries. In 1284, Alexander managed to get his infant grand-daughter Margaret (the Maid of Norway) recognised as heir presumptive, but he continued to hope for a male heir.

Alexander IIIs second marriage was to Yolande de Dreux, a French noblewoman, and it was in 1286, while riding to visit her in the dark, that Alexanders fell from horseback and died. He was discovered dead the next morning, but the kingdom did not plunge into chaos instantly.

At the time, Yolande was pregnant, and the Scottish Parliament appointed Guardians to oversee the Kingdom until the birth of the child. The Guardians of Scotland gathered at Clackmannan on the 25th of November 1286 to witness the birth of the heir, but no records exist of what happened. It is assumed at the child was stillborn, and succession once again passed to Margaret, Maid of Norway. A three-year-old girl was hardly a fitting monarch, however, and so in 1290 the Guardians signed a treaty agreeing to the marriage of Margaret to Edward I of Englands son, the future Edward II. By the terms of the treaty, Scotland would be in a union under England, but would retain all rights, laws, liberties, customs, and separate status for all time. Before Margaret could arrive in her new kingdom, however, she died, having come no closer than the Orkney Islands.

There were 14 competitors for the succession, with the two strongest claimants being John Balliol, Lord of Galloway, and Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale. The two families were bitterly opposed to each other and each had many supporters, and so, fearing a civil war, Edward I of England was asked to mediate and act as arbiter between the claimants.

Edward came north with his army, and agreed to act as arbiter under the condition that the claimants would recognise him as supreme monarch in the British Isles and Lord Paramount of Scotland. With no military of their own nearby, the claimants had little choice but to accept. Soon after, Edward demanded every royal Scottish castle be handed over to him for the duration of the succession crisis, that the Guardians of Scotland and the foremost nobles swear allegiance to him, and that all other Scots of consequence pay homage either directly or to representatives. While this went on, the claimants were methodically examined and dismissed, leaving only de Brus and Balliol with realistic hopes of gaining the crown. On the 17th of November 1292, John Balliol was named king, and he was crowned King of Scots on the 30th of that month. He did homage to Edward and it was clear that Edward regarded him as a vassal, more of a regulus or sub-king than a king in his own right. Edward continued to make demands of his newly-acquired vassals, and in 1294 summoned King John with orders to provide Scottish funds and armed forces to join in Edwards planned invasion of France.

Hurried councils were held by King John and it was eventually decided that the Scots would defy Edwards demands. Emissaries were sent to Philip IV of France informing him of the English plans, and a treaty was agreed by which the Scots would invade England if the English invaded France, and that both countries would support each other in the event of any war. This was the basis of the Auld Alliance, and can be counted as one of the only positive elements to come out of John Balliols brief, ill-fated reign.

In 1295, Edward got wind of the negotiations between France and Scotland, and began to mass forces on the border in preparation for an invasion. John Balliol also gathered his troops, summoning all Scotsmen to Caddonlee, but a number of nobles ignored the summons, including Robert Bruce, Mormaer of Carrick, grandson of Balliols rival claimant to the throne. Bruce and his supporters sided with Edward, seeing an opportunity to gain what they regarded as their birthright in opposing Balliol. The Bruce familys estates were seized by King John and reassigned to the Comyns, who would become Bruces fiercest rivals.

In the spring of 1296, Edward began his invasion and sacked the border town of Berwick. Moving up to besiege Dunbar, the English forces were attacked by a relief column of Scottish heavy cavalry. A brief cavalry fight ensued, where the disciplined English knights and troopers decisively routed the Scots, with more than a hundred Scottish lords and knights taken prisoner. The Battle of Dunbar effectively signalled the end of the Scottish feudal army, and John Balliol abdicated in July. By the following month, most of Scotland was subdued, and Edward removed the Stone of Scone, Scotlands coronation stone, to Westminster Abbey. A parliament was convened at Berwick, and the Scottish nobles were made to swear homage once again. English officials were appointed to govern Scotland, and Edward finally left Scotland in mid-September, remarking that he who rids himself of shit does a good job. John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, was left in overall command of the forces in Scotland, and Edward turned his attention to war with France.

The conquest was not fully accomplished, however. Early in 1297, revolts sprang up, with the two most notable leaders of resistance being William Wallace and Andrew de Moray. Both men led guerrilla campaigns, with Moray operating in the north and Wallace throughout the central belt. Garrisons were attacked, castles were besieged, holdings were raided, and hit-and-run tactics whittled down the English presence in Scotland. Andrew de Moray was particularly successful, with the entire province of Moray in open revolt as a result of his leadership, and castles the length of the Grampians taken and the garrisons slaughtered. As a result of this, Edward I decided to reinforce the occupation forces in Scotland, and ordered Robert Bruce to lead an attack on the estates of the rebellious knight William Douglas, who had joined Wallaces forces. On his way north, Bruce switched sides, abandoning his familys allegiance to Edward and leading the forces of Carrick and Annandale to join the rebellious Scots.

By the late summer of 1297, only Dundee remained in English hands north of the River Tay. Moray and Wallace joined forces at Cambuskenneth Abbey, and jointly led a small army, against which the Earl of Surrey marched in September. On the 11th of September, the two armies met at Stirling Bridge, where tactical arrogance on the part of de Warenne saw the mounted English vanguard crossing the narrow bridge and being overwhelmed by the Scots on the other side. The collapse of the bridge while English reinforcements attempted to cross led to a general rout, and English authority in Scotland collapsed. John de Warenne fled south, and Hugh Cressingham, the treasurer, was killed in the battle. On the Scottish side, Andrew de Moray was severely wounded and died shortly afterwards, leaving Wallace in sole command of the army. Wallace was also effectively ruler of Scotland at this point, and following a morale-boosting raid into northern England which burned down many villages and acquired a lot of plunder but failed to achieve much else, Wallace was knighted and named Guardian of Scotland in the name of King John, who was in exile.

In 1298, the war between England and France was resolved with a truce which did not include Scotland, and Edward I was free to focus on Wallaces fragile position to the north. At Falkirk, the two armies met, and Wallaces smaller force was ill-equipped to deal with the tactics Edward employed. With little cavalry, the static Scottish schiltrons were simply whittled down by the numerous English archers before being overrun with infantry. Wallace escaped, with perhaps a third of his army intact, but although Edward failed to subdue Scotland entirely before returning to England he had broken Wallaces power. Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland and went abroad, possibly to seek aid from Philip IV of France and the Pope, into whose custody John Balliol had been reluctantly released by Edward.

Two joint Guardians were appointed following Wallaces departure: Robert Bruce the elder and John Comyn. The two men were bitterly opposed on many issues, as the families were wont to be, and the rivalry was to have more direct consequences later. Edward led campaigns in Scotland twice more in 1300 and 1301, leading to a truce between the two countries in 1302. This peace did not last long, however, for in late 1303 Edward invaded Scotland once more with the aim of capturing the last major strongpoint in Scottish hands  Stirling Castle. After a protracted siege, the castle fell, and the tiny army of the Guardians did not even attempt to give battle. Scotland was once again defenceless, and a process was begun once again of assimilation into England. Justiciars and sheriffs were appointed in pairs of one Englishman and one Scot, and a parliament was called in May 1305 to meet with the English parliament later in the year to establish rules of governance by England.

A few months later, William Wallace was finally captured near Glasgow. He was taken south to London and after a show trial was hanged, drawn, and quartered. The last symbol of Scottish resistance had been removed, and displayed bloodily throughout the realm. However, resistance to the English was not dead. Robert Bruce, now 7th Lord of Annandale, who had submitted to Edward in the previous years and done homage following the destruction of Wallaces army and all realistic hopes of continued independence, approached John Comyn (the Red) with a proposal that the two of them would work together, with Comyn supporting Bruces right to the throne in return for Bruces lands, or vice versa. Bruce had already made a pact with William Lamberton and the Scottish church. However, Comyn revealed the plan to Edward I, possibly out of a desire to ruin Bruce and to get both the throne and the lands, and Bruce was forced to flee Edwards court and return to Scotland.

In Dumfries, Robert Bruce met with the Red Comyn once again, in Greyfriars Church. Bruce accused Comyn of treachery, which he furiously denied, and in a rage Bruce stabbed Comyn before running from the church. His attendants entered the church to find out what had happened, and seeing Comyn still alive, finished him off. Bruce was now faced with no choice but to become an excommunicated fugitive or to claim the throne for himself. He approached the sympathetic Bishop of Glasgow, Robert Wishart, who absolved him and agreed to support his claim. Word spread quickly and on the 25th of March, 1306, Bruce, Wishart, and many other churchmen and nobles gathered at Scone Abbey, where Robert was crowned King of Scots. The Papacy issued an excommunication, but the church in Scotland ignored this for the most part.

Bruce gathered men and arms to his banner, and prepared to lead the reconquest of Scotland. Not all of Scotland was under Bruces allegiance, however. The Comyns in particular were a great thorn in his side, and Bruces small army was engaged in civil war with them when Aymer de Valence, Comyns brother-in-law and Edwards appointed commander in Scotland, arrived at Perth to take command, where many of the Comyns joined him. Bruce invited de Valence to meet him in battle, and was refused. Possibly believing this refusal to be a sign of weakness, Bruce retired only a short distance to nearby Methven. Upon learning of this, de Valence launched a night attack on Bruces camp and destroyed Bruces force. Subsequently intercepted by the pro-Comyn MacDougalls of Lorn, the remainder of Bruces force was entirely annihilated, with only Bruce and a handful of retainers escaping capture. By 1307 Bruce was king in name only, a fugitive in the Hebrides, with Angus Og MacDonald of Islay becoming a particular friend of his during this time. In the Spring of that year, Bruce landed a tiny force of Islesmen in south-west Scotland, and managed against all odds to secure a foothold in Carrick, his own mormaerdom. Robert had learned that he could not hope to beat the English in open battle when his forces were so small, and so he led a guerrilla campaign against the occupiers and their Comyn allies. This was very successful, and at Loudoun Hill Bruces force routed Aymer de Valences English-supported army. Shortly after this, Edward I of England died, his attempted conquest of Scotland incomplete and looking shakier than before.

With the English presence in Scotland negated at least temporarily, Bruce turned his attention to the Comyns and their domestic allies. At the Battle of Inverurie, in 1308, the Comyns force was defeated, and this was followed by the Herschip of Buchan, an orgy of destruction in which the Comyns powerbase was systematically burned, razed, and stripped of resources. All of the peasantry loyal to the Comyns were killed, and Bruce made sure that there was no possibility that the county would rise against him ever again. The worst excesses of the English army in Scotland were nothing compared to what Bruce himself exacted on his disloyal countrymen.

For the next five years, Bruce began cementing his position in Scotland. Much of his attention was taken up with equipping and training a proper army, as the feudal Scottish army had proven woefully inadequate at the battles of Dunbar and Falkirk when faced with the cream of English knighthood and their developing combined arms tactics. The Scottish pike and spear schiltrons, which were formidable defensive positions but almost entirely immobile, were modified to be offensive formations as well, and mandatory archery practice was instituted, with the intention of negating the English advantage in bowmen. 

Bruce also turned his attention to securing the castles of Scotland, and by 1314 only Stirling Castle remained in the hands of Scots loyal to Edward II of England, who had been facing civil war at home and had been in no position to send military forces north. In the spring of that year, Edward Bruce, brother of King Robert, began his siege of the castle, and an agreement was made between Edward and Sir Philip Mowbray, the castle garrisons commander, that if no relief arrived by midsummer, then the garrison would surrender to the Scottish royal forces. This period of time was more than enough for Edward II to muster his forces and come north with the first major English army in Scotland since his fathers campaigns a decade earlier, with the stated aim of relieving Stirling Castle but with the added, and more important, effect of hopefully destroying the Scottish army once and for all and ending the war.

Edwards army met Robert the Bruces smaller force at Bannockburn, near Stirling, on the 23rd of June 1314, and the Scots bloodied the English cavalry vanguard significantly while remaining steadfastly in schiltron. The battle resumed at dawn the next day with a Scottish counter-attack, which marched forward in formation and cut down the English cavalry and infantry which tried futilely to stem the advance. A general rout ensued once the English archer force was ridden down by Sir Robert Keiths light horse, and of the entire English army only a small contingent of mounted men-at-arms and a group of Welsh footmen kept some semblance of order, managing to escape. The rest were killed, captured, or drowned in the Bannock Burn. Edward escaped narrowly, having one horse killed under him, and he and his few remaining followers withdrew to Dunbar and thence by ship to England. Bruce took the initiative and launched a campaign in northern England, winning significant further victories over the English forces, but after Bannockburn the Scottish victory in the war was all but assured. In 1320, the Declaration of Arbroath was issued by the Scots nobles, asserting Scotlands status as an independent kingdom, and by the time of Robert the Bruces death in 1329, Edward III of England had signed a treaty giving up all claims of sovereignty over Scotland. Although hostilities between the two kingdoms would flare up once more before the half-century was out, the long period of conflict during which Scotland had come close to being assimilated into England just as Wales had been beforehand came to a close.
