Death of Alexander III and the succession crisis, 1286-1290
John Balliol, king of Scotland, 1292-1296
Edward's invasion of Scotland, 1296-1297
Wallace's victory at the battle of Stirling Bridge, 1297
Lübeck letter, 1297
Battle of Falkirk, 1298
Years of diplomacy, 1298-1301
Death of William Wallace and the rise of Robert Bruce, 1302-1306

Death of Alexander III and the succession crisis, 1286-1290
In 1286 King Alexander III of Scotland fell from his horse at Kinghorn and was killed. He died leaving no immediate heir to succeed him. His younger son David had died in 1281. Two years later, his daughter Margaret, who was married to Eric II of Norway, died leaving an infant daughter, Margaret, known as the Maid of Norway. In February 1284, after the death of the king's elder son, parliament met at Scone and declared the Maid of Norway heir to the throne of Scotland.

A month after the king's funeral, parliament appointed six Guardians (two earls, two bishops and two barons) to govern the country until the young Queen could be brought to Scotland. In 1289 the Guardians opened negotiations with King Edward I of England for his son, Edward, to marry the Maid of Norway.

In October 1290 news arrived that Margaret, aged eight, had died in Orkney on her way to Scotland. The country was without a monarch again and with no clear heir to succeed. Civil war between rival claimants to the crown was a real possibility. The Scots turned to King Edward for help in deciding the succession.

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John Balliol, king of Scotland, 1292-1296
In 1291, King Edward began a long process of judging who should succeed to the Scottish throne. Thirteen people registered their claim. The list was reduced to two main contenders - Robert Bruce, lord of Annandale and John Balliol, lord of Galloway. Bruce had his powerbase in Ayrshire and Annandale and was backed by the powerful Stewarts. Balliol headed the powerful Balliol/Comyn faction that controlled much of the north and Galloway.

Edward took 16 months to come to a decision during which time, he acted as lord of Scotland. On 12 November 1292, he chose John Balliol who was crowned king of Scotland in Scone on 29 November. Edward did not want to lose his position of authority over Scotland and called himself overlord. After his coronation, Balliol travelled to Newcastle to pay homage to the English king.

Relations between Scotland and England were difficult. Edward was at war with France. In 1294 he ordered Balliol and both Scottish and Welsh nobles to perform military service in France. Both countries opposed this and none turned out to fight for Edward.

In July 1295, the Scots nobles, concerned at Balliol's failure to stand up to the English king, appointed a council of bishops, earls and barons to rule in his name. The same parliament sent envoys to France to negotiate an alliance with Edward's enemy. Scotland and France sealed a treaty on 23 October 1295 promising joint support against English aggression. The Scots had not only defied Edward's summons to fight against France, but they had sided with his enemy.

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Edward's invasion of Scotland, 1296-1297 Edward and his army marched north to deal with the Scots. In March 1296, they attacked the border town of Berwick and killed hundreds of the townspeople. Edward's army then attacked Dunbar and proceeded north as far as Elgin. Edward moved Scotland's symbols of nationhood - the regalia, historical records and the Stone of Destiny - to England. On 2 July 1296, John Balliol was forced to surrender his kingdom to Edward. After he resigned, Balliol was stripped of his royal insignia. The royal arms were taken from his tabard, leading to his nickname of Toom (empty) Tabard. He was sent to England and kept there for three years before he was allowed to go to Europe. Edward returned to Berwick where he appointed English officials to run Scotland on his behalf, including John de Warrenne as his lieutenant and Hugh Cressingham as his treasurer. He demanded oaths of fealty [allegiance] from Scots in acknowledgement of his overlordship. Many nobles, clerics, knights and burgesses, including Robert Bruce, renounced their alliance with France and swore fealty to Edward.

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Wallace's victory at the battle of Stirling Bridge, 1297 In May 1297, armed resistance to English occupation broke out again with disturbances in the north-east and the south-west of the country. William Wallace killed William Heselrig, the English sheriff of Lanark. His followers attacked the English justiciar [judge] in Scone. While Wallace was gathering men in the south of Scotland, Andrew Murray led a parallel rising in the north with an attack on Urquhart Castle. In August, Warrenne and Cressingham gathered their forces and advanced on Stirling. On 11 September 1297, Wallace and Murray scattered the English army as they tried to cross Stirling Bridge. The victory temporarily ended the English occupation of Scotland. After the Scots victory at the battle of Stirling Bridge, William Wallace and Andrew Murray took over the reins of government. They were keen to restore Scotland's trading links abroad and encourage the resumption of trade. On 11 October 1297, they wrote to the town of Lübeck in Germany telling the officials that Scotland was now free from the power of the English and was able to re-open its ports to overseas merchants.

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Read more about the Lübeck letter

Battle of Falkirk, 1298
In March 1298, William Wallace was appointed sole Guardian of the kingdom on behalf of John Balliol whom Scotland still recognised as king. Edward I had returned from fighting the French in Flanders and by summer had arrived in Scotland with a large army. On 22 July the two forces met at Falkirk. The English had more cavalry and archers so won the day. The Scots were defeated and many were killed. Edward went south in the autumn and did not return to Scotland again until 1300.

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Years of diplomacy, 1298-1301
After his defeat, Wallace was replaced as Guardian by Robert Bruce and Balliol's nephew, John Comyn of Badenoch. Unity among the Scottish nobles did not last. In August 1299, fighting broke out between the Bruce and Comyn factions. William Lamberton, the bishop of St Andrews, was appointed as a third Guardian to provide a balance between the rival groups.

In the years following the battle, the Scots directed their efforts towards a diplomatic mission in Europe to put pressure on Edward to stop his harassment. Wallace joined the Scots ambassadors in France in autumn 1299 and a year later went on to Rome. Before his arrival in France, the Scots had some success when the Pope issued a papal bull [official order] demanding that Edward stop the war against Scotland.

Despite this, in the summer of 1300, Edward advanced into south west Scotland. He took the castles of Caerlaverock and Lochmaben but achieved little else. Most of the country remained in Scots control. Meanwhile the Scots succeeded in persuading the French king to ask Edward to grant the Scots a truce. Edward did so on 30 October 1300.

Shortly after, an English delegation arrived in the Vatican and during 1301 both sides put their cases to the Pope. One of the aims of the Scottish diplomatic mission was the restoration of John Balliol as king. They had some success as Balliol was released from papal custody where he had spent the last two years. He then went to live on his family estate in Picardy in France.

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Death of William Wallace and the rise of Robert Bruce, 1302-1306
In early 1302 the Scots suffered a blow when Robert Bruce went over to the English side. He had resigned the Guardianship in 1300 and by 1301 was concerned about moves to restore Balliol to the Scottish throne. Such an event would put an end to his own hopes of the crown and could lead to the loss of his lands.

The following year, the Scots received a further disappointment when England and France sealed a peace treaty. Having deprived the Scots of Bruce's services and destroyed their expectations of French help, Edward invaded Scotland again. His takeover of Scotland in 1303-1304 was thorough. He marched as far north as the Moray Firth and by March 1304 most of Scotland had surrendered to him.

Edward handed out public offices in Scotland to those who submitted to his rule, hoping to secure loyalty in return. By this time, Wallace had returned to Scotland. He and his followers refused to submit. Wallace was outlawed, pursued relentlessly, betrayed and finally captured in August 1305. He was taken to London, where he was tried for treason at Westminster.

There were no witnesses and no pleadings at the trial. On 23 August, Wallace was put to a hideous death at Smithfield where he was hanged, drawn and quartered. His head was placed on London Bridge and the four parts of his body displayed at Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling and Perth to discourage others from opposing Edward.

Meanwhile Bruce was reconsidering his allegiance to Edward. In February 1306 Bruce broke out in revolt. He killed John Comyn, the leader of Balliol's supporters, in Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, and seized the throne.

Read on about what happened next in the Wars of Independence, part 2, 1306 - 1318

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