- The re-capture of Berwick and a plot against Bruce, 1318-20
In the same season, James de Douglas, with the help of Earl Patrick of the March, seized Berwick from the hands of the English by the treasonous connivance of one of the townsmen, Piers de Spalding; the castle held out for eleven weeks afterwards, and then surrendered to the Scots for want of relief, as it was not provisioned…James de Douglas had a great deal of support in Northumberland. Robert de Bruce had all the castles in Scotland demolished, except for Dumbarton. He had William de Soules seized, and had him incarcerated in Dumbarton castle, in prison as his punishment, accusing him of having formed a conspiracy to bring him down, with other Scottish magnates who had submitted themselves to him as subjects, by recognisances, at which William had rejoiced. David de Brechin, John Logie and Gilbert Malherbe were hanged and drawn at the town of Perth, and the body of Roger de Mowbray was condemned, having been brought, dead, on a litter before the judges at the parliament of Scone. This plot was revealed by Murdoch of Menteith, who was subsequently the earl there, who had remained in England for a long while in the allegiance of the king; he came to the Scottish court to reveal this plot, and became earl of Menteith by quittance of his niece, the daughter of his elder brother, who was countess for some time after his death. The king of England hardly troubled himself any more about Scotland, since through apathy, he had lost as much as his father had gained, and also all the fortresses in his English Marches; and furthermore, the whole of Northumberland rose against him. [Sir Thomas Gray’s Scalacronica, ed. A. King (2005), 79]
- A Bruce letter to the Welsh, 1315
Since each Christian man is obliged to assist his neighbour in every difficulty, so also should those who proceed from a common root, who share the same race, ancestors, and country of origin. On that account we have now and for a long time been overwhelmed by sympathy with you in your servitude and oppression. Affronted by the vexations of the English, we are bound to attend to your plight, and, with the help of the Most High, to expel from the borders of your land with all force the unnatural and barbaric servitude imposed by the English, so that, as from earliest times, the Albanic and British people having expelled their enemies, should become one in perpetuity. Since no enemy is dispersed willingly or easily, and since the English yoke bears as heavily upon you as it did recently depress the Scottish people, we intend that by your own efforts and with our irresistible assistance, you will be able to recover your just rights and to possess peacefully your property and inheritance.
[C. MacNamee, Wars of the Bruces (1997), 192]
Edward II, 1307-1314
- 7th July 1307-Edward I dies at Burgh-on-Sands, Edward II’s accession.
- Edward II stays in the north until September, makes Gaveston Earl of Cornwall.
- Nov 07-Feb 08- Gaveston takes central stage in running England nobles unhappy.
- April 1308- parliamentary opposition to Gaveston-banished to Ireland.
- July 1308-brought back by Edward II.
- March 1310-Edward has to agree to Ordainers’ reforms of household and government.
- Sept 1310-campaign in Scotland with Gaveston until July 1311.
- Aug 1311- ordainers’ parliament at Northampton; Scots attack Northumberland.
- Nov 1311-second ordainers’ Parliament; civil war erupts May 1312.
- Scots capture a number of castles at this time; Linlithgow, Dundee, Perth and Dumfries.
- June 1312-Edward II arrested and Gaveston executed; Scots attack Northumberland and the bishopric of Durham. Also attempt to take Berwick.
- Nov 1312-Edward II’s first son born
- June 1313-Edward Bruce gives the English garrison of Stirling one year deadline to submit unless relieved by an English army
- October 1313- Bruce parliament declares one year deadline for Scots opponents to submit.
- 1313-death of John Balliol?
- Nov 1313- Edward II promises to relieve Stirling.
- Feb/March 1314-Scots take Roxburgh and EdinburghCastle.
- 23/24 June 1314-battle of Bannockburn.
G.W.S Barrow, Robert the Bruce and the Community of the Realm (1988) Chapters 11 and 12.
C. McNamee, The Wars of the Bruces (1997) Chapter 2 and 3.
M. Prestwich, The ThreeEdward III, Chapter 3.
M. McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, 130799 (1959), Chapter 1.
A.A.M Duncan ed,John Barbour’s The Bruce (1998).
K. De Vries, Infantry Warfare in the Early Fourteenth Century (2000), Chapter 6.
Ireland
- In 1315 Edward Bruce took an army to Ireland where Edward also claimed to be overlord. Bruce attacked and regained the Isle of Man in 1318. Scots ambassadors were sent to European countries to get support.
Papacy and the Scottish Church
- In 1316 the Pope excommunicated Bruce and all who supported him, including the four Scottish Bishops. In effect this meant that the whole of Scotland was no longer part of the Catholic Church
English problems
- In 1327 Edward II was murdered and his son Edward III became king. He was too young to rule and his mother Isabella and Mortimer, Duke of Lancaster became Regents. Bruce ordered his armies to carry out attacks on the north of England to force the English to make peace.
Treaty of Edinburgh
- In 1328 the Treaty of Edinburgh (Northampton) was agreed between Scotland and England. Bruce was recognised as King of Scots and a marriage between Bruce’s son David and the sister of Edward III. All Scottish government records were to be returned together with the Stone of Destiny (this was not done) and the Scots were to pay £20,000 pounds to England.
- King Robert died on 7 June 1329 at the age of fifty-five. Only a few weeks later the Pope removed the order of excommunication on Bruce. Bruce was buried at Dunfermline Abbey. In accordance with his wishes his heart was removed and taken on a Crusade by his most trusted supporter Sir James Douglas.
Bruce Propaganda, 1300-1357
Various types
For a big audience-proclamations;-speeches by King Robert, announcement of summonses, hostings, taxes, new laws, forfeitures, treaties of truce and peace, parliamentary enactments; tailzies of succession. These would be recorded in Latin or French on paper but read out in middle Scots (English) in burghs on market days and rural localities during harvests/court days under Sheriff or barons.
Spreading of legendary tales and song (or suppression of contrary seditious talk).
For a foreign audience-letters or Declarations by crown or by magnates/prelates in support of crown sent to papacy, French King, English Kings. Conventional European wide formula of this type of appeal, drawn up by clerical lawyers but sealed as a Barons’ Declaration (1301 English barons to Pope v. Scots; Irish Remonstrance) These also contain strong current views on Scottish nationalism? It would suggest Kingship conditional on barons support?
The political value of Court image-veneration of the saints, celebration of anniversaries, association with places, people and events-e.g Bruce marked Alexander III’s death date and was buried at royal tomb of Dunfermline; marking victories of Stirling and Bannockburn; inauguration 1306-royal wedding July 1328.
Key Documents
1289-90-treaties of Salisbury/Birgham
1291-Appeal of Seven earls
1301-Baldred Bisset’s Processus/Instructiones
1306/07-reaching of Scottish clerics in support of Bruce and war v. English, Bruce’s letter to Gaelic Irish about restoring ‘our nation’ to ‘pristine freedom’
1309-Decleration of Clergy and of Nobility
1314-Bruce’s speech before Bannockburn? November Parliament forfeiting opponents
1315-Acts of Succession; Bruce letter to the Welsh about common ancestry v. English
1318-Act of Succession; new laws enacted; consecration of St. Andrews Cathedral
1320-6 April Declaration of Arbroath; August-Black parliament
1326-Act of Succession; alliance with France; tenth tax for lifetime of King
G.W.S Barrow, Robert the Bruce and the Community of the Realm (1988) Chapters 14 and 15.
G.W.S Barrow,The Idea of Freedom in late Medieval Scotland’ Innes Review(1971).
T. Brotherstone/D. Dithburn, ‘1320 and A’that : The Decleration of Arbroath and the remaking of Scottish History’ in the same authors eds., Freedom and Authority (1999).
E. Cowan, ‘Identity and Freedom and the Decleration of Arbroath’ in D. Broun et al eds., Image and Identity-The Making and Remaking of Scotland through the Ages (1998).
G.G. Simpson, ‘The Declaration of Arbroath Revitalised’ (1977).
A.A.M Duncan, ‘War of the Scots, 1306-23’ (1992).
A.A.M Duncan, The Nation of the Scots and the Declaration of Arbroath (Historical Association Pamphlet 1970).
King Robert Bruce, raids, state and acceptance 1314-29
Reading
G.W.S. Barrow, ‘Lothian in the First War of Independence’, in Barrow, Scotland and its Neighbours in the Middle Ages (1988) [RBR]
G.W.S. Barrow, ‘The Clergy in the War of Independence’, in Barrow, The Kingdom of the Scots (1973/2005)
A. Beam, ‘One Funeral and a Wedding: the neglected history of Scotland’s forgotten kings’,
History Scotland, Vol. 3, no. 1, Jan/Feb 2003
A. Beam, ‘Edward Balliol: A Re-evaluation of his Early Career, c.1282-1332’, in A. King and M. Penman eds., England and Scotland in the Fourteenth Century: New Perspectives (2007)
M. Brown, The Black Douglases: War and Lordship in Late Medieval Scotland, 1300-1455 (1998)
M. Brown, ‘Scoti Anglicati: Scots in Plantagenet Allegiance during the Fourteenth Century’, in A. King and M. Penman eds., England and Scotland in the Fourteenth Century: New Perspectives (2007)
K. DeVries, Infantry Warfare in the Early Fourteenth Century (2000)
S. Duffy, 'The Bruce Brothers and the Irish Sea World, 1306-29' (1991), reproduced in S. Duffy
ed., Robert the Bruce’s Irish Wars (2002) [RBR]
A.A.M. Duncan, ‘The Scots’ Invasion of Ireland, 1315’, in R.R. Davies ed., The British Isles, 1100-1500 (1988)
A.A.M. Duncan, ‘The War of the Scots, 1306-23’, TRHS 6th series, 2 (1992)
N. Gallagher, ‘The Franciscans and the Scottish Wars of Independence: an Irish Perspective’, Journal of Medieval History, 32 (2006)
A. King, ‘Englishmen, Scots and Marchers: National and Local Identities in Thomas Gray’s Scalacronica’, Northern History, xxxvi (2000)
A. King, ‘Bandits, Robbers and Schavaldours: War and Disorder in Northumberland in the Reign of Edward II’, in M. Prestwich et al eds., Thirteenth Century England IX (2003) [photocopy]
J. Lydon, 'The Bruces in Ireland, 1315-8', Irish Historical Studies xix (1974), reproduced in S.
Duffy ed., Robert the Bruce’s Irish Wars (2002) [RBR]
J. Lydon, ‘The Scottish Soldier in Medieval Ireland’, in G.G. Simpson ed., The Scottish Soldier
Abroad (1992), reproduced in S. Duffy ed., Robert the Bruce’s Irish Wars (2002) [RBR]
A.J. MacDonald, ‘Kings of the Wild Frontier? The earls of Dunbar or March, c.1070-1435’, in S. Boardman and A. Ross eds., The Exercise of Power in Medieval Scotland, c.1200-1500 (2003) [RBR]
R.A. McDonald, The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland’s Western Seaboard, c.1100-c.1336 (1997)
C.J. Neville, 'The Political Allegiance of the earls of Strathearn during the Wars of Independence', SHR, lxv (1986) [RBR]
C.J. Neville, Violence, Custom and Law: the Anglo-Scottish Border Lands in the Later Middle Ages (1998)
R. Nicholson, ’A Sequel to Robert Bruce’s Invasion of Ireland’, SHR xliii (1963), reproduced in
S. Duffy ed., Robert the Bruce’s Irish Wars (2002) [RBR]
R. Nicholson, ‘The last campaign of Robert Bruce’, EHR lxxvii (1962)
R.Oram, ‘Bruce, Balliol and the Lordship of Galloway’, TDGHAS, 4th series (1992) [RBR]
M. Penman, ‘The Soules Conspiracy c. 1318-20’, IR, 50 (1999) [RBR]
N. Reid, ‘Crown and Community under Robert I’, in A. Grant & K.J. Stringer eds., Medieval Scotland (1993)
A. Ross, ‘Men for all Seasons? The Strathbogie Earls of Atholl and the Wars of Independence, c. 1290-c.1335’, Northern Scotland, 20 (2000). [RBR]
J. Scammell, 'Robert I and the North of England', EHR lxxiii (1958) [RBR]
M. Shaw, ‘Patrick Dunbar: the case for the defence’, History Scotland, Vol. 6, no. 5, Sept/Oct 2006
R.J. Tanner, ‘Cowing the Community? Coercion and Falsification in Robert Bruce’s Parliaments, 1309-18’, in R.J. Tanner and K.M. Brown eds., Parliament and Politics in Scotland, 1235-1560 (2004)
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THE GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND UNDER ROBERT I
The king: the centre of government, who made policy with the advice of his great
men. He upheld the law and organised the defence of the kingdom. Scotland was not
strongly centralised (unlike England) and so central government had less to do. The
king could, however, use his position as the fount of patronage to balance one family
against another (or others) in particular areas. Robert I’s redistribution of land began
rather moderately: grants were made predominantly to members of his own family,
such as his brother Edward, and his nephew, Thomas Randolph. It is significant that
long-term supporters like James Douglas did not receive large grants of land in the
first decade of the reign, presumably because the king did not want to upset the status
quo after the defeat of the Comyns. However after Edward Bruce’s death in 1318, the
king found it necessary to intrude loyal men, such as Douglas, Stewart, Boyd and
Keith into the south-east and south-west. By the end of the reign there had been a
major shift in political and landholding power, particularly in favour of the Stewarts
and the Douglases. There was greater trust on the part of the king that the magnates
could be relied on to run the localities than there was in England. The new king was
traditionally inaugurated at Scone, but was granted by the pope the right to be
anointed (i.e. consecrated as God’s representative in the work of government) only in
June 1329. Anointing was therefore first used at the coronation of David II.
The Council: of very great importance in the work of government. Its composition
was not fixed, but presumably consisted of whichever great men the king chose to
consult. No records of its proceedings from this period survive.
The Household: this existed partly to serve the domestic needs of the king and his
family, and partly to deal with aspects of government. It had various departments
under particular clerks. Money collected locally by government officials such as the
sheriffs was either spent locally or forwarded to Household officials.
The King’s Chapel: the chancery or writing office under the control of the
chancellor, who kept the Great Seal. It issued formal documents, such as charters, and
brieves (writs) for initiating law-suits, for which a payment had to be made. Brieves
had to be returned to the Chapel by the appropriate official, as did reports from local
juries (retours). This was perhaps the first part of royal government to be restored
after the upheavals of 1306-7, and was of great importance in the restoration of royal
authority. The first surviving acts date from 1308. Under Robert I, there was an
increase in less formal documents such as letters patent and unwitnessed letters. There
was a new type of charter, the inspection: when the king confirmed a grant made by
someone else, his charter would include the whole text of the original grant instead of
simply referring to its terms. There was a revival of the practice of recording
documents on parchment rolls. While Abbot Bernard of Arbroath was chancellor, the
Chapel was fixed at Arbroath Abbey.
Seals: used to authenticate documents. Robert I had three Great Seals. The first seems
to have been crudely made; by about 1311 or 1312 there was one based on the English
seal; the third probably came into use about 1316 and was based on the French seal.
The Privy Seal was used much more in Robert’s reign than previously. It was used to
History Support Materials: Scottish Independence: 1286 - 1329 (AH)
authorise the king’s immediate commands, and was normally kept by an official who
accompanied the king. It was certainly in existence by 1309 and there were four or
five versions during the reign. Its greater use was probably the result of the long
period of warfare, when the king was often on campaign.
The Exchequer: an accounting office. There, about once a year, the chancellor, with
councillors and clerks, audited the accounts submitted by the sheriffs and constables
of castles.
Finance: the main source of revenue was rents from Crown lands, including the royal
burghs. There were customs duties on exports of wool and leather. There were feudal
incidents, due to the king from those who held land directly from him (e.g. the relief
payable when an heir inherited). Much royal revenue was paid in produce, used to
feed the royal household, rather than in coin. Taxation on the population was rare: in
Robert’s reign only the contributions which the king asked for in the Cambuskenneth
parliament of 1326 and which were only for the duration of King Robert’s life, and
the money which had to be raised to pay for the peace treaty of 1328. Revenue was
needed to pay for the royal household, the maintenance of castles, diplomacy, salaries
and expenses of officials and the costs of the Exchequer audit. There were also the
grants made by the king to laymen and the Church. Despite grants of land to
supporters, which reduced revenue from the Crown lands, by the 1320’s royal
finances were in good order. That was due to the grant for life made in 1326 and also
to the fact that fines financed the judicial system and armies were unpaid.