The First War of Scottish Independence was the first of a series of different wars between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. It lasted from the English invasion of Scotland in 1296 until the de jure restoration of Scottish independence with the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton in 1328. De facto independence was established in 1314 AD following an English defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn. The wars were caused by the attempts of the English kings to seize territory by claiming sovereignty over Scotland, while the Scots fought to keep both English rule and authority out of Scotland.
The First War of Scottish Independence should not be viewed in isolation from the Gascon War and Franco-Flemish War since Philip IV of France and Edward I of England sought allies in Scotland and Flanders as part of their initial conflict. John Balliol of Scotland allied himself with Philip IV of France in 1295 (the Auld Alliance) while Guy, Count of Flanders allied himself with Edward I of England.
Background
When King Alexander III ruled Scotland, the realm saw a period of peace and economic stability. On 19 March 1286, however, Alexander died after falling from his horse. The only living heir to his throne was Alexander's granddaughter, Margaret, Maid of Norway. As she was still a child, the Scottish lords prepared for her ascension by setting up a government of guardians. However, Margaret fell ill while sailing to Scotland and died in Orkney on 26 September 1290. With Alexander's line now extinct, a new period began known as the Competitors for the Crown of Scotland or the "Great Cause", with several families laying claim to the throne.
With Scotland threatening to descend into civil war, King Edward I of England was chosen by the Scottish nobility to serve as arbiter in resolving the succession dispute; he agreed to do so only after the claimants recognised him as lord paramount. A great feudal court was held in the castle at Berwick-upon-Tweed in early November 1292, at which John Balliol was judged to have the strongest claim to the throne of Scotland, based on the law of succession under primogeniture. (Other systems of succession, such as proximity of blood, would have instead favoured Robert the Bruce.) The decision to elect Balliol remains widely disputed between historians.
Edward quickly exploited his new status by interfering with and even overturning the decisions of Balliol and his advisers. He humiliated the Scottish king by forcing him to present himself as a common plaintiff before the English court when he protested Edward's actions. John's weakness disgusted the Scots, who gave him insulting names such as "Toom Tabard" or "Empty Coat". John finally renounced his homage to England in March 1296.
That same month, Edward invaded Scotland and stormed Berwick-upon-Tweed, sacking the town and directly threatening the Scottish crown. In April, an army summoned by John to repel the invasion was overwhelmingly defeated at the Battle of Dunbar in East Lothian. By July, John was deposed as king and sent into exile; though he did not formally claim the throne for himself, Edward forced over 1,800 Scottish nobles (many of the rest being prisoners of war at that time) to swear homage, thus making him, in effect, ruler of Scotland.
Andrew Moray and William Wallace
Rise of Moray and Wallace
There was widespread discontent and disorder after the English Crown extended its dominion over Scotland. Acts of defiance were targeted at local English officials. In 1297, the country erupted in open revolt. Andrew de Moray and William Wallace emerged as the first significant Scottish patriots.
Andrew de Moray was the son of a northern landowner, Andrew de Moray of Petty. Andrew and his father were both captured in the rout after the Battle of Dunbar in April 1296. Andrew the younger was initially held captive in Chester Castle on the Anglo-Welsh border, from which he escaped during the winter of 1296–97. He returned to his father's castle at Avoch on the northern shore of the Moray Firth, where he raised his banner in the name of Scotland's king, John Balliol. Moray quickly gathered a band of like-minded patriots, and employing hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, began to attack and devastate every English-garrisoned castle from Banff to Inverness. The entire province of Moray was soon in revolt against King Edward I's men, and before long Moray had secured the region, leaving him free to turn his attention to the rest of the northeast of Scotland.
William Wallace rose to prominence in May 1297, when he killed William Haselrig, the English sheriff of Lanark, and members of his garrison at Lanark. It is possible Richard Lundie helped in the attack. When news of Wallace's attack on the English rippled throughout Scotland, men rallied to him. The rebels were supported by Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, who longed for the defeat of the English. The blessing of Wishart gave Wallace and his soldiers a degree of respectability. Previously, Scottish nobles had considered them mere outlaws. He was soon joined by William Douglas and others.
In early June, Wallace and Douglas planned a symbolic strike to liberate Scone, the seat of the English-appointed Justiciar of Scotland, William de Ormesby. It was from Scone, a site held sacred by the Scots, that Ormesby had been dispensing English justice. Ormesby was forewarned of Wallace's imminent assault and hastily fled.
On hearing about the start of an aristocratic uprising, Edward I, although engaged in events in France, sent a force of foot soldiers and horsemen under Henry Percy and Robert Clifford to resolve the "Scottish problem". On receiving reports that William Douglas had defected to the rebels, Edward dispatched Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, together with his father's vassals of Annandale, to attack Douglas's stronghold in Lanarkshire. Whilst traveling north to face Douglas, Bruce began to think about where his loyalties truly lay. He decided to follow the Scottish cause, being quoted as saying, "No man holds his flesh and blood in hatred, and I am no exception. I must join my own people and the nation in whom I was born."
The confederacy of men that Bruce joined included James the Steward, Robert Wishart and William Douglas. Dissension broke out in the Scottish camp when the Scottish and English armies met in July 1297 near Irvine. The aristocratic revolt apparently halted before it even started, but its leaders led long and futile negotiations. It has been suggested that this was a deliberate move in order to provide space and time for Wallace to levy and train men. Percy and Clifford assumed that this was the end of the problem and retired back to the south, only to be followed once more by Wallace and Moray. These two divided their forces and in a short time again forced the English south of the Forth, leaving them holding only the castle of Dundee.
While laying siege to Dundee Castle, Wallace heard that an English army was again advancing north, this time under John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey. Wallace put the leading men of the town of Dundee in charge of the castle's siege and moved to halt the advance of the English army. Wallace and Moray, who had recently combined their forces, deployed on the Ochil Hills overlooking the bridge crossing the River Forth at Stirling and prepared to meet the English in battle.
At the time, Wallace and Moray were both in their late twenties and neither could yet claim to be Scottish national heroes. Whereas some of the Scottish nobility had given in to English demands for allegiance (whilst still supporting the Scottish cause), Wallace's force remained unequivocally dedicated to the struggle for Scottish independence.
Stirling Bridge and Guardian of Scotland
On 11 September 1297, Scottish forces, under the joint command of Moray and Wallace, met the Earl of Surrey's army, at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. The Scottish army deployed to the north-east of the bridge, and let the vanguard of Surrey's army cross the bridge before attacking. The English cavalry proved ineffective on the boggy ground around the bridge, and many of them were killed. The bridge collapsed when English reinforcements were crossing. The English on the opposite side of the river then fled the battlefield. The Scots suffered relatively light casualties, but the death from wounds of Andrew Moray dealt a profound blow to the Scottish cause. Stirling Bridge was the first key victory for the Scots.
After clearing the English out of Scotland, Wallace turned his mind to the administration of the country. One of his early intentions was to reestablish commercial and diplomatic ties with Europe and win back the overseas trade that Scotland had enjoyed under Alexander III. Any evidence of his administrative acumen was probably destroyed by Edward's officials after his execution. There is, however, one Latin document in the archives of the Hanseatic town of Lübeck, which was sent on 11 October 1297 by "Andrew de Moray and William Wallace, leaders of the kingdom of Scotland and the community of the realm." It told the merchants of Lübeck and Hamburg that they now had free access to all parts of the kingdom of Scotland, which had, by favour of God, been recovered by war from the English.
Only one week after this document was signed, Wallace mounted an invasion of England. Crossing into Northumberland, the Scots followed the English army fleeing south in disarray. Caught between two armies, hundreds of refugees fled to safety behind the walls of Newcastle. The Scots laid waste a swathe of countryside before wheeling west into Cumberland and pillaging all the way to Cockermouth, before Wallace led his men back into Northumberland and fired 700 villages. On his return from England, laden with booty, Wallace found himself at the pinnacle of his power.
In March 1298, Wallace was knighted, reputedly by one of the leading nobles of Scotland, and was appointed Guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland in the name of the exiled King John Balliol. He began preparations for a confrontation with Edward.
In January 1298, Philip IV of France had signed a truce with Edward that did not include Scotland, thereby deserting his Scots allies. Edward returned to England from campaigning in France in March and called for his army to assemble. He moved the seat of government to York.
On 3 July he invaded Scotland, intending to crush Wallace and all those daring to assert Scotland's independence. On 22 July, Edward's army attacked a much smaller Scottish force led by Wallace near Falkirk. The English army had a technological advantage. Longbowmen slaughtered Wallace's spearmen and cavalry by firing scores of arrows over great distances. Many Scots were killed at the Battle of Falkirk. (It is impossible to give a precise number of the dead.) Despite the victory, Edward and his army soon returned to England and thus failed to subdue Scotland completely. However, the defeat had ruined Wallace's military reputation. He retreated to thick woods nearby and resigned his guardianship in December.
From Falkirk to execution
Wallace was succeeded as Guardian of the Kingdom jointly by Robert Bruce and John Comyn, but they could not see past their personal differences. This brought another shift in the political situation. During 1299, diplomatic pressure from France and Rome persuaded Edward to release the imprisoned King John into the custody of Pope Boniface VIII. The papacy also condemned Edward's invasions and occupation of Scotland in the papal bull Scimus, Fili. The bull ordered Edward to desist his attacks and start negotiations with Scotland. However, Edward ignored the bull.
William Wallace was sent to Europe to try to gain further support for the Scottish cause. Wallace went to France to seek the aid of Philip IV, and he possibly went on to Rome. William Lamberton, Bishop of St Andrews, was appointed as a third, neutral Guardian to try to maintain order between Bruce and Comyn. The Scots also recaptured Stirling Castle.