Wars of Scottish Independence The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries . The First War ( 1296 – 1328 ) began with the English invasion of Scotland in 1296 , and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh - Northampton in 1328 . The Second War ( 1332 – 1357 ) began with the English - supported invasion of Edward Balliol and the " Disinherited " in 1332 , and ended in 1357 with the signing of the Treaty of Berwick . The wars were part of a great national crisis for Scotland and the period became one of the most defining times in the nation ' s history . At the end of both wars , Scotland retained its status as an independent nation . The wars were important for other reasons , such as the emergence of the longbow as a key weapon in medieval warfare . The First War of Independence : 1296 – 1328 . Background . King Alexander III of Scotland died in 1286 , leaving his 3 - year - old granddaughter Margaret ( called " the Maid of Norway " ) as his heir . In 1290 , the Guardians of Scotland signed the Treaty of Birgham agreeing to the marriage of the Maid of Norway and Edward of Caernarvon , the son of Edward I , who was Margaret ' s great - uncle . This marriage would not create a union between Scotland and England because the Scots insisted that the Treaty declare that Scotland was separate and divided from England and that its rights , laws , liberties and customs were wholly and inviolably preserved for all time . However , Margaret , travelling to her new kingdom , died shortly after landing on the Orkney Islands around 26 September 1290 . With her death , there were 13 rivals for succession . The two leading competitors for the Scottish crown were Robert Bruce , 5th Lord of Annandale ( grandfather of the future King Robert the Bruce ) and John Balliol , Lord of Galloway . Fearing civil war between the Bruce and Balliol families and supporters , the Guardians of Scotland wrote to Edward I of England , asking him to come north and arbitrate between the claimants in order to avoid civil war . Edward agreed to meet the guardians at Norham in 1291 . Before the process got underway Edward insisted that he be recognised as Lord Paramount of Scotland . During the meeting , Edward had his army standing by , thus forcing the Scots to accept his terms . He gave the claimants three weeks to agree to his terms . With no King , with no army ready , and King Edward ' s army at hand , the Scots had no choice . The claimants to the crown acknowledged Edward as their Lord Paramount and accepted his arbitration . Their decision was influenced in part by the fact that most of the claimants had large estates in England and , therefore , would have lost them if they had defied the English king . However , many involved were churchmen such as Bishop Wishart for whom such mitigation cannot be claimed . On 11 June , acting as the Lord Paramount of Scotland , Edward I ordered that every Royal Scottish Castle be placed temporarily under his control and every Scottish official resign his office and be re - appointed by him . Two days later , in Upsettlington , the Guardians of the Realm and the leading Scottish nobles gathered to swear allegiance to King Edward I as Lord Paramount . All Scots were also required to pay homage to Edward I , either in person or at one of the designated centres by 27 July 1291 . There were thirteen meetings from May to August 1291 at Berwick , where the claimants to the crown pleaded their cases before Edward , in what came to be known as the " Great Cause " . The claims of most of the competitors were rejected , leaving Balliol , Bruce , Floris V , Count of Holland and John de Hastings of Abergavenny , 2nd Baron Hastings , as the only men who could prove direct descent from David I . On 3 August , Edward asked Balliol and Bruce to choose 40 arbiters each , while he chose 24 , to decide the case . On 12 August , he signed a writ that required the collection of all documents that might concern the competitors ' rights or his own title to the superiority of Scotland , which was accordingly executed . Balliol was named king by a majority on 17 November 1292 and on 30 November . He was crowned King of Scots at Scone Abbey . On 26 December , at Newcastle upon Tyne , King John swore homage to Edward I for the Kingdom of Scotland . Edward soon made it clear that he regarded the country as a vassal state . Balliol , undermined by members of the Bruce faction , struggled to resist , and the Scots resented Edward ' s demands . In 1294 , Edward summoned John Balliol to appear before him , and then ordered that he had until 1 September 1294 to provide Scottish troops and funds for his invasion of France . On his return to Scotland , John held a meeting with his council and after a few days of heated debate , plans were made to defy the orders of Edward I . A few weeks later a Scottish parliament was hastily convened and 12 members of a war council ( four Earls , Barons , and Bishops , respectively ) were selected to advise King John . Emissaries were immediately dispatched to inform King Philip IV of France of the intentions of the English . They also negotiated a treaty by which the Scots would invade England if the English invaded France , and in return the French would support the Scots . The treaty would be sealed by the arranged marriage of Edward Balliol ( John ' s son ) and Jeanne de Valois ( Philip ' s niece ) . Another treaty with King Eric II of Norway was hammered out , in which for the sum of 50 , 000 groats he would supply 100 ships for four months of the year , so long as hostilities between France and England continued . Although Norway never acted , the Franco - Scottish alliance , later known as the Auld Alliance , was renewed frequently until 1560 . It was not until 1295 that Edward I became aware of the secret Franco - Scottish negotiations . In early October , he began to strengthen his northern defences against a possible invasion . It was at this point that Robert Bruce , 6th Lord of Annandale ( father of the future King Robert the Bruce ) was appointed by Edward as the governor of Carlisle Castle . Edward also ordered John Balliol to relinquish control of the castles and burghs of Berwick , Jedburgh and Roxburgh . In December , more than 200 of Edward ' s tenants in Newcastle were summoned to form a militia by March 1296 and in February , a fleet sailed north to meet with his land forces in Newcastle . The movement of English forces along the Anglo - Scottish border did not go unnoticed . In response , King John Balliol summoned all able - bodied Scotsmen to bear arms and gather at Caddonlee by 11 March . Several Scottish nobles chose to ignore the summons , including Robert Bruce , Earl of Carrick , whose Carrick estates had been seized by John Balliol and reassigned to John ' The Red ' Comyn . Robert Bruce , Earl of Carrick had become Earl of Carrick at the resignation of his father earlier that year . Beginning of the war : 1296 – 1306 . The First War of Scottish Independence can be loosely divided into four phases : the initial English invasion and success in 1296 ; the campaigns led by William Wallace , Andrew de Moray and various Scottish Guardians from 1297 until John Comyn negotiated for the general Scottish submission in February 1304 ; the renewed campaigns led by Robert the Bruce following his killing of The Red Comyn in Dumfries in 1306 to his and the Scottish victory at Bannockburn in 1314 ; and a final phase of Scottish diplomatic initiatives and military campaigns in Scotland , Ireland and Northern England from 1314 until the Treaty of Edinburgh - Northampton in 1328 . The war began in earnest with Edward I ' s brutal sacking of Berwick in March 1296 , followed by the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Dunbar and the abdication of John Balliol in July . The English invasion campaign had subdued most of the country by August and , after removing the Stone of Destiny from Scone Abbey and transporting it to Westminster Abbey , Edward convened a parliament at Berwick , where the Scottish nobles paid homage to him as King of England . Scotland had been all but conquered . The revolts which broke out in early 1297 , led by William Wallace , Andrew de Moray and other Scottish nobles , forced Edward to send more forces to deal with the Scots , and although they managed to force the nobles to capitulate at Irvine , Wallace and de Moray ' s continuing campaigns eventually led to the first key Scottish victory , at Stirling Bridge . Moray was fatally wounded in the fighting at Stirling , and died soon after the battle . This was followed by Scottish raids into northern England and the appointment of Wallace as Guardian of Scotland in March 1298 . But in July , Edward invaded again , intending to crush Wallace and his followers , and defeated the Scots at Falkirk . Edward failed to subdue Scotland completely before returning to England . There have been , however , several stories regarding Wallace and what he did after the Battle of Falkirk . It is said by some sources that Wallace travelled to France and fought for the French King against the English during their own ongoing war while Bishop Lamberton of St Andrews , who gave much support to the Scottish cause , went and spoke to the pope . Wallace was succeeded by Robert Bruce and John Comyn as joint guardians , with William de Lamberton , Bishop of St Andrews being appointed in 1299 as a third , neutral Guardian to try and maintain order between them . During that year , diplomatic pressure from France and Rome persuaded Edward to release the imprisoned King John into the custody of the pope , and Wallace was sent to France to seek the aid of Philip IV ; he possibly also travelled to Rome . Further campaigns by Edward in 1300 and 1301 led to a truce between the Scots and the English in 1302 . After another campaign in 1303 / 1304 , Stirling Castle , the last major Scottish held stronghold , fell to the English , and in February 1304 , negotiations led to most of the remaining nobles paying homage to Edward and to the Scots all but surrendering . At this point , Robert Bruce and William Lamberton may have made a secret bond of alliance , aiming to place Bruce on the Scottish throne and continue the struggle . However , Lamberton came from a family associated with the Balliol - Comyn faction and his ultimate allegiances are unknown . After the capture and execution of Wallace in 1305 , Scotland seemed to have been finally conquered and the revolt calmed for a period . King Robert the Bruce : 1306 – 1328 . On 10 February 1306 , during a meeting between Bruce and Comyn , the two surviving claimants for the Scottish throne , Bruce quarrelled with and killed John Comyn at Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries . At this moment the rebellion was sparked again . Comyn , it seems , had broken an agreement between the two , and informed King Edward of Bruce ' s plans to be king . The agreement was that one of the two claimants would renounce his claim on the throne of Scotland , but receive lands from the other and support his claim . Comyn appears to have thought to get both the lands and the throne by betraying Bruce to the English . A messenger carrying documents from Comyn to Edward was captured by Bruce and his party , plainly implicating Comyn . Bruce then rallied the Scottish prelate s and nobles behind him and had himself crowned King of Scots at Scone less than five weeks after the killing in Dumfries . He then began a new campaign to free his kingdom . After being defeated in battle he was driven from the Scottish mainland as an outlaw . Bruce later came out of hiding in 1307 . The Scots thronged to him , and he defeated the English in a number of battles . His forces continued to grow in strength , encouraged in part by the death of Edward I in July 1307 . The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 was an especially important Scottish victory . In 1320 , the Declaration of Arbroath was sent by a group of Scottish nobles to the Pope affirming Scottish independence from England . Two similar declarations were also sent by the clergy and Robert I . In 1327 , Edward II of England was deposed and killed . The invasion of the North of England by Robert the Bruce forced Edward III of England to sign the Treaty of Edinburgh - Northampton on 1 May 1328 , which recognised the independence of Scotland with Bruce as King . To further seal the peace , Robert ' s son and heir David married the sister of Edward III . The Second War of Independence : 1332 – 1357 . After Robert the Bruce ' s death , King David II was too young to rule , so the guardianship was assumed by Thomas Randolph , Earl of Moray . But Edward III , despite having given his name to the Treaty of Edinburgh - Northampton , was determined to avenge the humiliation by the Scots and he could count on the assistance of Edward Balliol , the son of John Balliol and a claimant to the Scottish throne . Edward III also had the support of a group of Scottish nobles , led by Balliol and Henry Beaumont , known as the ' Disinherited . ' This group of nobles had supported the English in the First War and , after Bannockburn , Robert the Bruce had given them a year to return to his peace . When they refused he deprived them of their titles and lands , granting them to his allies . When peace was concluded , they received no war reparations . These ' Disinherited ' were hungry for their old lands and would prove to be the undoing of the peace . The Earl of Moray died on 20 July 1332 . The Scots nobility gathered at Perth where they elected Domhnall II , Earl of Mar as the new Guardian . Meanwhile a small band led by Balliol had set sail from the Humber . Consisting of the disinherited noblemen and mercenaries , they were probably no more than a few hundred men strong . Edward III was still formally at peace with David II and his dealings with Balliol were therefore deliberately obscured . He of course knew what was happening and Balliol probably did homage in secret before leaving , but Balliol ' s desperate scheme must have seemed doomed to failure . Edward therefore refused to allow Balliol to invade Scotland from across the River Tweed . This would have been too open a breach of the treaty . He agreed to turn a blind eye to an invasion by sea , but made it clear that he would disavow them and confiscate all their English lands should Balliol and his friends fail . The ' Disinherited ' landed at Kinghorn in Fife on 6 August . The news of their advance had preceded them , and , as they marched towards Perth , they found their route barred by a large Scottish army , mostly of infantry , under the new Guardian . At the Battle of Dupplin Moor , Balliol ' s army , commanded by Henry Beaumont , defeated the larger Scottish force . Beaumont made use of the same tactics that the English would make famous during the Hundred Years ' War , with dismounted knights in the centre and archers on the flanks . Caught in the murderous rain of arrows , most of the Scots didn ' t reach the enemy ' s line . When the slaughter was finally over , the Earl of Mar , Sir Robert Bruce ( an illegitimate son of Robert the Bruce ) , many nobles and around 2 , 000 Scots had been slain . Edward Balliol then had himself crowned King of Scots , first at Perth , and then again in September at Scone Abbey . Balliol ' s success surprised Edward III , and fearing that Balliol ' s invasion would eventually fail leading to a Scots invasion of England , he moved north with his army . In October , Sir Archibald Douglas , now Guardian of Scotland , made a truce with Balliol , supposedly to let the Scottish Parliament assemble and decide who their true king was . Emboldened by the truce , Balliol dismissed most of his English troops and moved to Annan , on the north shore of the Solway Firth . He issued two public letters , saying that with the help of England he had reclaimed his kingdom , and acknowledged that Scotland had always been a fief of England . He also promised land for Edward III on the border , including Berwick - on - Tweed , and that he would serve Edward for the rest of his life . But in December , Douglas attacked Balliol at Annan in the early hours of the morning . Most of Balliol ' s men were killed , though he himself managed to escape through a hole in the wall , and fled , naked and on horse , to Carlisle . In April 1333 , Edward III and Balliol , with a large English army , laid siege to Berwick . Archibald Douglas attempted to relieve the town in July , but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Halidon Hill . David II and his Queen were moved to the safety of Dumbarton Castle , while Berwick surrendered and was annexed by Edward . By now , much of Scotland was under English occupation , with eight of the Scottish lowland counties being ceded to England by Edward Balliol . At the beginning of 1334 , Philip VI of France offered to bring David II and his court to France for asylum , and in May they arrived in France , setting up a court - in - exile at Château Gaillard in Normandy . Philip also decided to derail the Anglo - French peace negotiations then taking place ( at the time England and France were engaged in disputes that would lead to the Hundred Years ' War ) , declaring to Edward III that any treaty between France and England must include the exiled King of Scots . In David ' s absence , a series of Guardians kept up the struggle . In November , Edward III invaded again , but he accomplished little and retreated in February 1335 due primarily to his failure to bring the Scots to battle . He and Edward Balliol returned again in July with an army of 13 , 000 , and advanced through Scotland , first to Glasgow and then to Perth , where Edward III installed himself while his army looted and destroyed the surrounding countryside . At this time , the Scots followed a plan of avoiding pitched battles , depending instead on minor actions of heavy cavalry – the normal practice of the day . Some Scottish leaders , including the Earl of Atholl , who had returned to Scotland with Edward Balliol in 1332 and 1333 , defected to the Bruce party . Following Edward ' s return to England , the remaining leaders of the Scots resistance chose Sir Andrew Murray as Guardian . He soon negotiated a truce with Edward until April 1336 , during which , various French and Papal emissaries attempted to negotiate a peace between the two countries . In January , the Scots drew up a draft treaty agreeing to recognise the elderly and childless Edward Balliol as King , so long as David II would be his heir and David would leave France to live in England . However , David II rejected the peace proposal and any further truces . In May , an English army under Henry of Lancaster invaded , followed in July by another army under King Edward . Together , they ravaged much of the north - east and sacked Elgin and Aberdeen , while a third army ravaged the south - west and the Clyde valley . Prompted by this invasion , Philip VI of France announced that he intended to aid the Scots by every means in his power , and that he had a large fleet and army preparing to invade both England and Scotland . Edward soon returned to England , while the Scots , under Murray , captured and destroyed English strongholds and ravaged the countryside , making it uninhabitable for the English . Although Edward III invaded again , he was becoming more anxious over the possible French invasion , and by late 1336 , the Scots had regained control over virtually all of Scotland and by 1338 the tide had turned . While " Black Agnes , " Countess - consort Dunbar and March , continued to resist the English laying siege to Dunbar Castle , hurling defiance and abuse from the walls , Scotland received some breathing space when Edward III claimed the French throne and took his army to Flanders , beginning the Hundred Years ' War with France . In the late autumn of 1335 , Strathbogie , dispossessed Earl of Atholl , and Edward III set out to destroy Scottish resistance by dispossessing and killing the Scottish freeholders . Following this , Strathbogie moved to lay siege to Kildrummy Castle , held by Lady Christian Bruce , sister of the late King Robert and wife of the Guardian , Andrew de Moray . Her husband moved his small army quickly to her relief although outnumbered by some five to one . However , many of Strathbogie ' s men had been impressed and had no loyalty to the English or the usurper , Balliol . Pinned by a flank attack while making a downhill charge , Strathbogie ' s army broke and Strathbogie refused to surrender and was killed . The Battle of Culblean was the effective end of Balliol ' s attempt to overthrow the King of Scots . So , in just nine years , the kingdom so hard won by Robert the Bruce had been shattered and had recovered . Many of her experienced nobles were dead and the economy which had barely begun to recover from the earlier wars was once again in tatters . It was to an impoverished country in need of peace and good government that David II was finally able to return in June 1341 . When David returned , he was determined to live up to the memory of his illustrious father . He ignored truces with England and was determined to stand by his ally Philip VI during the early years of the Hundred Years ' War . In 1341 he led a raid into England , forcing Edward III to lead an army north to reinforce the border . In 1346 , after more Scottish raids , Philip VI appealed for a counter invasion of England in order to relieve the English stranglehold on Calais . David gladly accepted and personally led a Scots army southwards with intention of capturing Durham . In reply , an English army moved northwards from Yorkshire to confront the Scots . On 14 October , at the Battle of Neville ' s Cross , the Scots were defeated . They suffered heavy casualties and David was wounded in the face by two arrows before being captured . He was sufficiently strong however to knock out two teeth from the mouth of his captor . After a period of convalescence , he was imprisoned in the Tower of London , where he was held prisoner for eleven years , during which time Scotland was ruled by his nephew , Robert Stewart , 7th High Steward . Edward Balliol returned to Scotland soon afterwards with a small force , in a final attempt to recover Scotland . He only succeeded in gaining control of some of Galloway , with his power diminishing there until 1355 . He finally resigned his claim to the Scottish throne in January 1356 and died childless in 1364 . Finally , on 3 October 1357 , David was released under the Treaty of Berwick , under which the Scots agreed to pay an enormous ransom of 100 , 000 merk s for him ( 1 merk was ⅔ of an English pound ) payable in 10 years . Heavy taxation was needed to provide funds for the ransom , which was to be paid in instalments , and David alienated his subjects by using the money for his own purposes . The country was in a sorry state then ; she had been ravaged by war and also the Black Death . The first instalment of the ransom was paid punctually . The second was late and after that no more could be paid for . In 1363 , David went to London and agreed that should he die childless , the crown would pass to Edward ( his brother - in - law ) or one of his sons , with the Stone of Destiny being returned for their coronation as King of Scots . However , this seems to have been no more than a rather dishonest attempt to re - negotiate the ransom since David knew perfectly well that Parliament would reject such an arrangement out of hand . The Scots did reject this arrangement , and offered to continue paying the ransom ( now increased to 100 , 000 pounds ) . A 25 - year truce was agreed and in 1369 , the treaty of 1365 was cancelled and a new one set up to the Scots benefit , due to the influence of the war with France . The new terms saw the 44 , 000 merks already paid deducted from the original 100 , 000 with the balance due in instalments of 4 , 000 for the next 14 years . When Edward died in 1377 , there were still 24 , 000 merks owed which were never paid . David himself had lost his popularity and the respect of his nobles when he married the widow of a minor laird after the death of his English wife . He himself died in February 1371 . By the end of the campaign , Scotland was independent and remained thus , until the unification of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland to create the single Kingdom of Great Britain was completed in the Treaty of Union of 1707 . References . Notes Citations