The Wars of Independence and Bannockburn
Edward I of England tries to conquer Scotland; William Wallace and then Robert the Bruce lead a resistance that wins at Bannockburn in 1314 and forces England to recognise Scottish independence.
- Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland — G. W. S. Barrow, Edinburgh University Press (2005)
- William Wallace: Scotland's Hero — Fiona Watson, Tempus (1999)
- Scotland: A New History — Michael Lynch, Pimlico (1992)
- The Oxford Companion to Scottish History — Michael Lynch (ed.), Oxford University Press (2001)
A kingdom without a king
In 1286 Alexander III died after his horse went over a cliff in the dark, and his heir, the child Margaret, “Maid of Norway”, died in 1290. With no clear successor, Scotland’s leaders asked Edward I of England to judge between the claimants. He chose John Balliol in 1292, but treated him as a vassal. When the Scots allied with France, Edward invaded in 1296, sacked Berwick, deposed Balliol and carried the Stone of Destiny, on which Scottish kings were crowned, to Westminster.
- Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland — G. W. S. Barrow, Edinburgh University Press (2005)
- Scotland: A New History — Michael Lynch, Pimlico (1992)
Wallace
In 1297 William Wallace, a younger son of a minor landowner, rose in the south-west, and with Andrew Murray in the north won a stunning victory at Stirling Bridge on 11 September 1297. Wallace was made Guardian of Scotland, but Edward crushed his army at Falkirk in 1298. Wallace fought on until he was captured near Glasgow in 1305, taken to London and executed with deliberate brutality. His story was later told in Blind Harry’s fifteenth-century poem The Wallace and in the 1995 film Braveheart, both of which mix fact with legend.
- William Wallace: Scotland's Hero — Fiona Watson, Tempus (1999)
- Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland — G. W. S. Barrow, Edinburgh University Press (2005)
Bruce
Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick, came from the leading rival family to the Balliols. In February 1306 he killed his rival John Comyn in a church in Dumfries and had himself crowned king at Scone within weeks. Defeated, excommunicated, his brothers executed and his wife and daughter imprisoned, he was nearly finished. Legend says a spider trying again and again to spin its web taught him to persevere. He returned to wage a guerrilla war, picking off English-held castles and his Scottish enemies one by one.
- Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland — G. W. S. Barrow, Edinburgh University Press (2005)
- The Oxford Companion to Scottish History — Michael Lynch (ed.), Oxford University Press (2001)
On 23–24 June 1314, at Bannockburn near Stirling, Bruce’s much smaller army defeated a large English army led by Edward II. Bannockburn did not end the war, but it secured Bruce’s throne.
- Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland — G. W. S. Barrow, Edinburgh University Press (2005)
- Scotland: A New History — Michael Lynch, Pimlico (1992)
Recognition
In 1320 Scotland’s nobles sent the Declaration of Arbroath to the pope, asking him to recognise Scottish independence. Raids into northern England kept up the pressure, and in 1328 the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton recognised Scotland as independent and Bruce as king. He died the next year. His heart, carried on crusade, is buried at Melrose Abbey.
- Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland — G. W. S. Barrow, Edinburgh University Press (2005)
- The Declaration of Arbroath — National Records of Scotland
Fighting with England resumed within years and went on intermittently for two more centuries. But the wars had created a powerful idea: that Scotland was a kingdom belonging to its “community of the realm”, worth defending against a far larger neighbour. The idea of a small nation standing up to a bigger one remains at the heart of how many Scots see themselves.
- Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland — G. W. S. Barrow, Edinburgh University Press (2005)
- Independence or Union: Scotland's Past and Scotland's Present — T. M. Devine, Allen Lane (2016)
A small nation's heroic fight for freedom against a powerful, aggressive neighbour, led by a commoner who was betrayed and a king who never gave up.
- William Wallace: Scotland's Hero — Fiona Watson, Tempus (1999)
- Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland — G. W. S. Barrow, Edinburgh University Press (2005)
Historians stress that this was also a civil war among Scottish nobles, that Bruce himself changed sides, that Wallace's legend owes much to later poetry and film, and that ideas of "nation" in 1300 differed from today's. They agree, though, that the wars forged a strong sense of Scottish identity.
- Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland — G. W. S. Barrow, Edinburgh University Press (2005)
- Scotland: A New History — Michael Lynch, Pimlico (1992)
Why it matters today
Wallace and Bruce are the heroes of Scotland's national story, Bannockburn its most famous victory, and "Flower of Scotland", sung at every rugby international, is about sending "proud Edward's army" home. Independence campaigners draw on this history, but so does almost every Scot; it underpins a sense that Scotland is a nation, not a region, whatever one thinks of the Union.