Anglo-Scottish Wars of 1290–1388

At issue: English domination of Britain

Date: March 30, 1296-August 19, 1388

Location: Scottish-English border

Combatants: Scots vs. English

Principal commanders:Scottish, William Wallace (c. 1270–1305), Andrew Murray, the Elder (d. 1297), Sir Andrew Murray, the Younger (1298–1338), Robert VI de Bruce (1210–1295), Robert I the Bruce (1274–1329); English, Edward I (1239–1307), Edward II (1284–1327), Edward III (1312–1377)

Principal battles: Berwick-on-Tweed, Stirling Bridge, Falkirk, Bannockburn, Neville’s Cross

Result: Victory for Scotland; Scottish independence preserved until the seventeenth century

Background

William the Conqueror’s acquisition of England in 1066 did not extend to Wales or Scotland. These parts of Britain survived under a loose English overlordship for more than two centuries. Periodically, English kings would send armies over the borders to secure obedience, but these forays usually ended quickly with limited success.

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This period of relative peace ended in 1272 when Edward I was crowned king of England. His goal was to unite Britain under his direct rule. By 1283, this had been accomplished in Wales. His next step was across the northern frontier into Scotland.

Action

The border between England and Scotland had been established in the mid-thirteenth century. The preceding half century had been a period of unusual peace between the two areas. This peace began to crumble in 1286 when the death of King Alexander III of Scotland, without a direct heir, gave Edward I the chance to impose his will in Scotland. Through his overlordship, he chose John de Balliol over Robert VI de Bruce as king of Scotland. However, in 1294 Balliol renounced his allegiance to Edward, leading to Edward’s invasion of Scotland in 1296. At Berwick-on-Tweed on March 30, Edward overwhelmed the garrison, devastated the town, and massacred much of the population. The destruction was repeated at Durban in April. At Scone, Edward took the stone on which Scottish kings had been crowned and sent it to Westminster Abbey. These attempts to intimidate the Scots did not succeed.

In 1297, a new Scottish force led by William Wallace, whose wife had been killed by the English, and Andrew Murray, the Elder, met and defeated the English at Stirling Bridge, but the Scots were not strong enough for a sustained offensive. At Falkirk in 1298, the English defeated Wallace and forced him into hiding until 1305, when he was betrayed and taken to London for trial. Although he had never sworn allegiance to England, Wallace was convicted of treason, for which he was hanged, drawn, and quartered.

The patriots of Scotland would not give up. In 1306, they crowned as their king Robert I the Bruce, the grandson of the man rejected by Edward in 1286. Although an Anglo-Norman, Robert I the Bruce admired Scottish traditions and absorbed them as his own. His first skirmish with the English was a defeat at Bethuen in 1306. However, the death of Edward I in 1307, on his way to a new invasion of Scotland, gave Robert I several years to consolidate his power. He was not challenged until June, 1314, when the new English king, Edward II, was persuaded to lead an army of 25,000 men into Scotland.

The climax of the Scottish war of independence took place along the Stirling-Falkirk road near a winding stream named Bannockburn (1314). The English force was met and defeated at Bannockburn by 12,000 Scots under Robert I the Bruce. Scottish independence was secured and later confirmed by the Treaty of Northampton in 1328. Only then, a year before his death, was Robert I recognized by the English as the king of Scotland.

Robert I was succeeded in 1329 by his four-year-old son David (David II). The guardian for David until 1341 was Andrew Murray, the Younger, who successfully defended Scottish independence at Culblean in 1335 and at Dunbar Castle in 1338. In 1346, during the Hundred Years’ War between France and England and after King Edward III of England had defeated the French at Crécy, the king of France asked David II of Scotland to launch a diversionary invasion of England. David’s decision to do so led to his defeat and capture at Neville’s Cross in Northumbria, but it did not threaten Scottish independence. After forty more years of skirmishing, a new English invasion of Scotland ended in defeat at Otterburn in 1388.

Aftermath

Scotland and England remained separate kingdoms until 1603. Ironically, it was then that Scottish king James VI inherited the throne of England as James I. After sharing a monarch for over a century, the Act of Union in 1707 united the two countries as Great Britain.

Milestones in the Anglo-Scottish Wars of 1290–1388

1290Edward I of England, asked to mediate in Scottish succession problems after death of Margaret, names John Balliol king.
1295As a result of a dispute with Edward, John enters into an alliance with France; Edward claims the Scottish throne for himself.
1296At Berwick-on-Tweed and Durban, Edward defeats Scottish forces.
1297Scottish resistance leader Sir William Wallace defeats the English forces near Stirling, then raids Northumberland and Durham.
1298Edward advances into Scotland with a large army and engages Wallace and his forces at the Battle of Falkirk; Wallace is defeated and retreats north.
1305Wallace is captured near Glasglow, convicted of treason, and executed in London.
1306Robert I the Bruce, descendant of a disinherited Scottish noble, rebels against England; he is defeated by the Earl of Pembroke at Methven and Dalry.
1307Robert defeats the Earl of Pembroke in the Battle of Loudoun Hill, becomes King Robert I, and proceeds to drive the English out of Scotland.
1314Edward II engages Robert’s forces in the Siege of Stirling; Robert decisively defeats Edward’s forces at the Battle of Bannockburn, inflicting heavy losses and causing Edward and most of his army to flee.
1322Edward attempts an invasion but is defeated by a surprise attack by Robert at the Battle of Byland; Edward flees.
1328Scottish independence is recognized in the Treaty of Northampton.
1329Robert dies; David II becomes king.
1332Scottish nobles in exile and English under Edward Balliol invade Scotland, defeating the Scots at Dupplin Moor.
1333Edward III, supporting Edward Balliol’s bid for the Scottish throne, defeats Scots at Battle of Halidon Hill; David flees to France.
1346David, who regained his crown after the outbreak of the Hundred Years’ War in 1337, invades England but is captured at Neville’s Cross.
1350–1388Conflict consists of long truces broken by raids as English troops focus on the Hundred Years’ War.
1388Earl James Douglas, with a Scottish-French force, invades northern England, but dies while defeating an English army under Sir Henry Percy at Otterburn.

Bibliography

Fry, Plantagenet, and Fiora Somerset Fry. The History of Scotland. London: Rutledge and Kegan Paul, 1982.

Maclean, Fitzroy. Scotland: A Concise History. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993.

Webster, Bruce. Medieval Scotland: The Making of an Identity. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.