Dundee experienced periods of occupation and destruction in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Following John Balliol's renunciation (1295) of Edward I's claimed authority over Scotland, the English King twice visited Scotland with hostile intent. Edward (the 'Hammer of the Scots') revoked Dundee's royal charter, removing the town's people the right to control local government and the judiciary. He occupied the Castle at Dundee at the outbreak of the First War of Independence in 1296 but the castle retaken by siege by the forces of William Wallace in 1297, immediately prior to the Battle of Stirling Bridge.