The
Normans were never able to penetrate
very deep into Scotland. As the land was considered to be fairly poor
and a long way from their centre of government, the Normans eventually
gave up the idea of conquering Scotland.
For the next two hundred
years relations between England and Scotland tended to be fairly friendly.
Occasionally English kings made claims to the territory, but little
effort was made to take it by force.
In 1286 the king of Scotland,
Alexander III fell from his horse and broke his neck. Alexander's
three children had already died, so his heir was his three-year-old
granddaughter, the Maid of Norway. When the Queen was six years old
it was agreed that she should marry the eldest son of Edward
I of England.
Edward hoped that in this way his son would eventually become king
of both England and Scotland. However, Edward's plan failed when in
1290 the Maid of Norway died while on the way to meet her proposed
husband.
There was now a struggle
for the throne of Scotland. Thirteen different people put forward
their claims and Edward I was asked to decide who should be the next
king of Scotland. Edward chose John Balliol. This upset the other
claimants who argued that Edward only selected Balliol because he
had a weak character and was easy to control.
This fear was justified
when Edward began to undermine Balliol's power. For example, Edward
announced that, in
future, Scottish people could appeal to him if they were dissatisfied
with decisions made by their king.
In 1296, under pressure
from his powerful lords, John Balliol told Edward that he was renouncing
the homage that
he had made to him. Edward was furious and demanded that John Balliol
meet him in Berwick, Scotland's main
trading centre. When the Scottish king did not turn up, Edward's army
killed about 13,000 people who lived in the
town. Edward ordered that the dead were not be buried but had to be
left lying in the streets as a warning to
others.
When he heard the news,
John Balliol surrendered, but many Scots were unwilling to accept
Edward as their king. In 1297, William Wallace
led a rebellion against the English. His most famous victory was at
Stirling Bridge, where Scottish infantrymen were able to defeat a
large English army of mounted knights. Wallace continued to create
problems for the English army until he was captured in 1305 and executed
for treason.
The following year Robert
Bruce became the new leader of Scotland's resistance to English
rule. Bruce avoided pitched battles and instead relied on guerrilla
warfare. His tactics against the English were very successful and
Edward had to concentrate on holding on to a few of the main towns
and castles in Scotland.
After the death of Edward
I the war continued
to go badly for England. Bruce took castle after castle and eventually
only Stirling was left in English control.
In 1314 Bruce besieged
Stirling Castle. In an attempt to save the castle Edward II decided
to march north with the largest army that had ever left England. Bruce
was waiting for him, and at Bannockburn,
just south of Stirling, Edward's army of 23,000 men suffered a
terrible defeat. Although
outnumbered, Scotland's foot-soldiers had beaten England's mounted
knights.
Bruce now controlled Scotland
and in 1320 he issued the Declaration of Arbroath. The declaration
ended with the words: "for as long as a hundred of us remain
alive, we will never on any condition be subjected to the lordship
of the English". For a while it looked as though
England was willing to accept defeat, and in 1328 Edward III recognised
Scottish independence and Robert Bruce's right to be king by signing
the Treaty of Edinburgh.
However, despite signing
this treaty Edward, like his father and grandfather before him, was
determined to conquer Scotland. After Bruce died of leprosy in 1329,
Edward launched another attack on Scotland. Although Edward III won
an important victory over King David II (Robert Bruce's son) at Haildon
Hill in 1333, the continued use of guerrilla tactics made it impossible
for the English army to subdue the Scots. With the costs of fighting
the war creating problems with
tax-payers in England, Edward III eventually decided to withdraw from
Scotland.
The
Normans: Classroom Activities
(1)
Song, The Reign of Edward I (c. 1290)
The Scots raise their spears armed in their rags... The kilted
people, numerous and savage, fell at Dunbar, and now stink like a
dog. Vain glory made the deceitful people deny the true lord of Scotland...
the wild people of Scotland soon break their faith... Scotland will
not be obedient, it forces the king with his army to return... and
reduces them to slavery... the English like angels are always conquerors.
(2)
Matthew of Westminster, Flowers of History (c. 1310)
William Wallace, a man void of pity, a robber given to arson
and murder, more hardened in cruelty than Herod, more raging in madness
than Nero... was condemned to a most cruel but justly deserved death.
He was drawn through the streets of London at the tails of horses,
until he reached a gallows... especially prepared for him; there he
was suspended on a halter; but taken down while alive, he was mutilated,
his bowels torn out and burned in a fire, his head then cut off, his
body divided into four, and his quarters transmitted to four principal
parts of Scotland.
(3)
Andreas Franciscius, Journey to England (1497)
The whole island is divided into two parts, one of which
is called England, and the other, in the north, Scotland. At the head
of Scotland is a King who rules very fierce and courageous tribes,
who are always the enemies of the English, and very frequently at
war with them.
(4)
Jean
Froissart, Chronicles (c.
1395)
The Scots are tough and very bold
and active in the use of arms and in fighting. Their opinion of the
English was low, as it still is to the present day... The Scottish
men are right hardy, and good travellers in armour and in war. When
they come into England, they will drive their whole army 24 miles
in a single day. During a war they will live for a long time on half-cooked
meat, with nothing to drink but water from the rivers. Nor do they
carry any pots or pans, since they cook animals in their skins...
Also, behind his saddle each man carries a broad metal plate and a
little sack, full of oatmeal. After they have eaten their meat, they
put this plate on the fire, and mix some oatmeal with water.
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