Balliol was duly enthroned in November 1292 and during the next month paid homage for his kingdom to the English monarch. Edward, giving Balliol no opportunity to establish himself as king, rapidly let it be known that authority to hear appeals from Balliol’s courts lay with him and Balliol was, therefore, required to defend the judgements in his own courts by making the long journey from Scotland to London where he was also liable for any damages if the verdicts were amended.
Edward appeared determined to goad the Scottish king into rebellion, a situation which would, of course, allow him to seize Scotland as a forfeited fiefdom. The final insult came in June 1294 when he openly treated Scotland as his feudal property by summoning Balliol, together with ten earls and sixteen barons including Robert Bruce, the Competitor, to serve with him against France. In July 1295 a council of twelve leading figures assumed the direction of Scottish affairs from their timid king. They reasserted the rights of the northern kingdom by declaring forfeit the lands of English nobles in Scotland and followed this by making overtures to France for assistance; they also proposed that John Balliol’s son, Edward, should marry King Philip’s niece, Jeanne Valois, thus marking the formal beginning of the ‘auld alliance’. At the same time summonses were put out across Scotland to raise an army in its defence to be led by a representative of the powerful Comyn family.
In February 1296, under Edward’s command, a formidable English army, with a large component of armoured cavalry and stiffened by veterans from the Welsh and French wars, began a deliberate move towards the Scottish border, but on Easter Monday it was pre-empted by the Scottish feudal host that crossed into England. Their traditional means of recruitment had enabled the Scots to raise quickly a respectable army from able-bodied men aged between sixteen and sixty which in the main came from the country’s earldoms north of the Forth. However, because their last encounter – no more than a skirmish – had been against the Norwegians at the Battle of Largs twenty-three years earlier, it was understandably inexperienced. Less excusably, its supporting equipment and level of discipline were also lacking. With the Comyn Earl of Buchan as the senior commander, the use made of what was predominantly an army of footsoldiers was also disappointing. Buchan was not much gifted militarily and, lacking siege equipment, he failed to capture the border fortress of Carlisle commanded for the English on this occasion by the Competitor’s son, Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale. In fact, the Scottish soldiers could do no better than ravage the countryside of Northumberland. In any case, their forces were weakened by the number of influential Scottish nobles who were out of sympathy with John Balliol and the Comyns and who remained loyal to the English king, including the earls of March and Angus, and the Bruces, both of Carrick and Annandale.
In contrast, the English army, with the king at its head, moved against the prime target of Berwick, Scotland’s main port and the centre of its wool trade. The English soon pierced the town’s long-neglected defences but, as it still refused to yield, the king granted his troops three days of pillage, rape and murder. It was said he did not finally give the order to stop until he saw a pregnant woman put to the sword and her dead infant sprawled beside her.5 Chroniclers varied in their estimates of the dead, from 7000 by Hector Boece to 60,000 by Matthew of Westminster,6 but corpses were piled high in the streets. Whatever the actual casualties, from his behaviour Scotland could have no illusions about Edward’s intentions.
The first clash between the two main armies occurred at Dunbar, where the Earl of March had his castle. The opportunity came about due to the Scottish nobility’s divided loyalties at this time. March was an English supporter but his wife, Marjorie Comyn, allowed the Scots to occupy the castle, thus prompting the English king to send one of his commanders, John Warenne, Earl of Surrey, together with a strong contingent of armoured knights, to retake it. The defenders appealed for help and the main Scottish army set out to relieve them. Warenne decided to meet the challenge by threatening the garrison with detachments of soldiers under his more junior commanders, while his veteran horsemen met the advancing Scottish army as it came over the crest of nearby Spottsmuir Hill. As the two sides closed with each other the English had to cross a steep valley intersected by the Spot burn, and when they disappeared from sight the Scots thought they were either withdrawing or had lost cohesion. Not for the first time their horsemen left a commanding position as, blowing wildly on their horns, they galloped down the hill in their anxiety to meet the enemy. Those with the strongest horses pulled their way to the front but by the time they came within striking distance, the English cavalry had regained their close formation. In the ensuing encounter they put the piecemeal Scottish attack to such flight that some of the cavalry did not stop until they reached Selkirk Forest, about forty miles away. Abandoned by their horse the unfortunate Scottish infantry were ridden down and suffered heavy casualties, which English sources put as high as 10,000 men. As a result of his conclusive victory Edward received the surrender of Dunbar Castle on the following day, together with that of three earls, Atholl, Ross and Menteith, as well as 130 knights and esquires.
Scotland’s feudal host had proved wholly inadequate against the superior discipline and skilled leadership of the English; their defeat laid the country open to Edward’s further conquest and he went on to occupy its central region without meeting more than token resistance. The formidable castle of Stirling, for instance, was deserted except for a porter who tamely handed its keys over to the invaders. On 21 June the English king reached Perth where he received two Franciscan friars sent by John Balliol to ask for peace. Their request was granted, although the price paid by Balliol was exorbitant. On 8 July at Montrose he was forced to surrender formally the Kingdom of Scotland and to acknowledge his errors ‘through evil counsel and our own simplicity’, followed by a humiliating public ceremony in which the arms of Scotland were ripped off his surcoat. Ever afterwards he was given the harsh soubriquet of ‘Toom Tabard’ – empty coat. This accomplished, Edward proceeded on a triumphal march northwards to the Moray Firth.
Having traversed the conquered kingdom, Edward left no one in any doubt about his respect for Scotland’s independence when he had its sacred relics, the symbolic Stone of Destiny upon which the kings of Scots had traditionally been enthroned along with the fragment of the true cross bequeathed by Margaret, wife of Malcolm III, sent to Westminster Abbey. Edward also sent the Scottish royal records and plate to England, never to be seen again. At a parliament held in Berwick during August 1296 the English king endorsed his authority by requiring all substantial Scottish landowners to pay an oath of fealty to him as lord of Scotland. About 1500, including clergy, signed what became known as the Ragman’s Roll – from the mass of tangled ribbons that carried their seals of authority – following which Edward issued his orders for garrisoning the country.
The short war was apparently over. In both its main engagements English leadership had proved markedly superior. Given their limitations in equipment the Scots could never have reasonably hoped to seize their chosen objective, the strong border fortress of Carlisle, and they were compelled to content themselves with the lesser one of burning and looting the surrounding countryside while the English experienced no such difficulty with their own chosen prize, the preeminent trading centre of Berwick. Similarly, at Dunbar, Warenne kept his military priorities clearly in mind. When it came to a choice between destroying the main Scottish army or relieving Dunbar Castle he much favoured meeting the army. He knew that if he could defeat the Scottish army they would have the greatest difficulty in retaining the castle. Warenne therefore attempted to prevent any sally from the castle’s garrison against his rear by dividing his forces. However, in this he was careful to use his less-seasoned personnel to threaten the castle, keeping his experienced leaders and the bulk of his troops to face the advancing Scottish cavalry. One can only speculate about the possible outcome if the English and Scottish leadership had been equally competent but in their eagerness to exchange blows the Scots revealed startling naïveté and over-optimism, playing directly into Warenne’s wily hands and allowing themselves to be caught at a massive disadvantage.
In September 1296 the English king crossed the Channel to conduct his war in Gascony. The country he now liked to think of as northernmost England seemed cowed; its nobility had sworn their loyalty to him and their disgraced king, John Balliol,