THE WARS OF INDEPENDENCE
The Wars of Independence -
An Introduction (III)
Under the Hammer 1305-1306
Edward was relatively magnanimous in victory. He handed out public offices in Scotland to those who submitted to his rule, hoping to secure loyalty in return. Only William Wallace and his followers did not submit. An embarrassment to the Scottish nobles and a hindrance to their ambitions, he was outlawed, betrayed and executed after a show trial at Westminster.
On the surface it seemed the cause of Scottish independence was lost: Balliol wasn’t going to return and the English were in firm control, but under the surface, covert plans were being hatched. The details are tantalisingly sketchy, but after Wallace’s execution, Robert Bruce, the young Earl of Carrick, may have made an agreement with Bishop Wishart to spark another rising and claim the kingship.
Enter Robert the Bruce
In 1306 Robert Bruce met with the head of the Comyn family, John ‘The Red’ Comyn, at Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries. We don’t know what they discussed but an argument flared and Bruce stabbed Comyn before the high altar of the church. Within six weeks Bruce was crowned king at Scone.
It was a disastrous start for him: outlawed, excommunicated and having provoked a civil war with the Comyns, Bruce was defeated and fled to the Gaelic west. There he changed tactics and started playing to win. He launched a successful guerrilla campaign against his enemies in Scotland.
In 1307, luck was on his side when a furious Edward I, died on his way north to crush Bruce’s rising. The ‘Hammer of the Scots’ died a failure in his own eyes, having failed to bring Scotland to heel. Edward was so obsessed with the Scottish wars he ordered that he should not be buried properly until the Scots were conquered. So he remains to this day, entombed in a plain lead casket in Westminster Abbey.
Success bred success for Bruce however, and he seemed to many Scots to be the only hope of a liberated Scotland. By 1313 Bruce had taken back most of Scotland by force. In this new position of power, he now issued an ultimatum to the remaining Balliol supporters, to join him or forfeit their estates.
In England the new king Edward II had to react. He led a massive invasion force into Scotland, which met Bruce’s army at the Battle of Bannockburn - the Bruce’s finest hour and a humiliating defeat for Edward’s army, who arrived with a vastly superior force.
Bruce was now King of Scotland in most Scots' eyes, but still lacked English and papal recognition of Scotland’s independence and his own kingship. In complete military control, the Scots raided into northern England, invaded Ireland and outmanoeuvred further English invasions. On the diplomatic front they appealed to the papacy with the now famous statement of Scottish independence, the Declaration of Arbroath - all to no avail. The recognition they sought wasn’t forthcoming.
In 1328 England fell into crisis after the deposition and murder of Edward II - a man not fit to be king in many of his countrymen’s eyes. Bruce seized the moment and launched an invasion of Northern England, threatening to annex it to Scotland. It was a successful ploy. Edward III of England was forced to recognise Bruce’s kingship and Scotland’s independence. The war was won. Bruce retired to his house in Cardross near Loch Lomond and died a year later.
THE END
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