The Scottish Wars of Independence: 1296-1341 Quiz

Answer: Edward I

In 1290 the Scottish child-queen Margaret had died leaving no clear heir. The Scottish nobles asked Edward I of England to adjudicate on the claims of the 13 men who presented themselves as Margaret's rightful heir. The two men with the strongest claims were John Balliol, Lord of Galloway and Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale. Both were descendants of daughters of David, Earl of Huntingdon, the youngest grandson of David I. All the claimants agreed to swear fealty to King Edward if chosen as king. Edward eventually chose John as being a more malleable character.

Over the next four years Edward treated King John with utter disdain until John eventually rebelled and renounced his oath of fealty. Scotland entered into an alliance with England's enemy, France, prompting Edward to march north to Scotland at the head of an army. He defeated King John at the Battle of Dunbar and later forced him to abdicate.

Answer: Berwick

The sack of Berwick took place over two days and was apparently only halted when King Edward witnessed a pregnant woman being put to death.

Edward's harsh subjugation of Scotland during the Wars of Independence earned him the sobriquet "Hammer of the Scots".

Answer: The Earl of Surrey

Having sacked Berwick, defeated the Scots at Dunbar, forced King John's abdication, stolen the Stone of Destiny (the traditional coronation stone of the Scottish kings) and forced the Scottish nobles to swear fealty to him, Edward left Scotland in the control of John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey (who was, in fact, King John's father-in law). Surrey returned to England and left most of the day-to-day rule of Scotland to his treasurer, Hugh Cressingham. Cressingham's enthusiasm for this task would have unfortunate personal consequences for him.

Answer: Andrew Moray

Andrew Moray had been captured at the Battle of Dunbar but escaped and headed north to raise resistance to English rule. He united his forces with Wallace's and together they defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. Moray, however, was wounded in the battle and died shortly afterwards.

Hugh Cressingham was killed at Stirling Bridge, his body was flayed and pieces of his skin sent around Scotland as tokens of victory over a hated regime.

Answer: William Wallace

William Wallace rose from relative obscurity as the second son of a minor landowner to become a national hero in 1297. According to legend he was waylaid by English soldiers whom he slew. In reprisal, the English sheriff of Lanark had Wallace's wife killed and Wallace in turn killed the sheriff. He then raised the south of Scotland in open rebellion against English rule. Following his surprise victory at Stirling Bridge, Wallace was chosen as Guardian of the Realm with the name of King John.

The others all served as joint guardians at various points between 1298 and 1301.

Answer: Falkirk

In part due to his relatively low birth, Wallace never received wholehearted support from the Scottish nobility in his role as Guardian: his position was based on his military success. He resigned the guardianship following his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk. He was initially replaced by Robert Bruce and John Comyn, who represented the two largest factions in the country at the time.

Answer: John Mentieth

Wallace was betrayed to the English and captured in 1305. He was taken to London, tried and executed - hung, drawn and quartered. His head was placed on a spike on London Bridge and his limbs were put on display in Edinburgh, Perth, Newcastle and Berwick.

Answer: 1306

Throughout his early career, Robert Bruce had vacillated between support for King Edward and support for the Scottish cause. After serving as Guardian of Scotland he was later reconciled to King Edward. However, in 1306 Edward came close to seizing Robert for treason while he was in England. Robert fled north to Scotland where he confronted and, in a fit of anger, murdered his arch-rival, John Comyn. Robert promptly headed for Scone and had himself crowned as King of Scots.

Answer: Loudoun Hill

Despite being one of the foremost knights of the age, Bruce waged a predominantly guerilla campaign against the occupying English forces and their Scottish allies, recognising the Scots' weakness in pitched battles with the English. Over the course of the next twenty years he would win control over the whole of Scotland, win many of his Scottish enemies to his side and lead punitive raids deep into England itself before finally concluding a peace with England in 1328.

Answer: His wife, Elizabeth

King Robert's family paid a very high price for his opposition to King Edward. His brothers Nigel, Thomas and Alexander were all captured and executed for treason. His brother Edward was killed at the Battle of Faughert in 1318. His wife Elizabeth, his daughter Marjorie and two of his sisters, Christina and Mary, were captured and imprisoned - Elizabeth, the daughter of one of King Edward's most powerful nobles was put under house arrest, Christina was kept in a nunnery, Mary was imprisoned in a cage on the side of Roxburgh Castle and twelve-year-old Marjorie in a cage on the side of the Tower of London. All four were returned to Scotland following Robert's victory at Bannockburn in 1314.

Answer: Bannockburn

After his defeat at Methven in 1306 Robert had conducted his campaign by avoiding pitched battles. It had been so successful that by 1313 only three Scottish castles were still in English hands. However, Robert's impatient brother, Edward, made a bargain with the governor of one of those castles, Stirling, that if it had not been relieved by midsummer the following year it would be surrendered to the Scots. To Robert's dismay the English king, Edward II, responded by bringing a huge army northwards. Luckily for the Scots, Edward II was not the general his father had been and the battle was a decisive victory for the Scots.

Answer: John XXII

King Robert had been excommunicated by the Pope for his sacreligious murder of John Comyn in a church. Although the Scottish church had always been very supportive of Robert, the Vatican had tended to side with the English and had refused to acknowledge Robert as king of Scots. The Declaration of Arbroath stated the desire of the Scots to maintain their independence from England and declared that, should King Robert betray that cause, they would depose him and chose another king. From then on the Pope took a more conciliatory line with the Scots and in 1324 finally recognised Robert as Scotland's king.

"It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom; for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."

Answer: Treaty of Northampton

Under the terms of the treaty (sometimes known as the Treay of Edinburgh-Northampton) the new English king, Edward III, renounced all claims to Scotland and recognised Robert as Scotland's king. Also under the terms of the treaty, Edward III's sister Joanna was betrothed to Robert's son and heir, David.

Answer: France

With the death of Robert I in 1329 and the succession of his young son David, Edward III of England saw an opportunity to restore English influence in Scotland. He invited John Balliol's son Edward back from exile in France and supplied him with troops for an invasion.

The troops landed in eastern Scotland in 1332 and met the Scots under Donald, Earl of Mar, David II's cousin and regent, at the Battle of Dupplin Moor, defeating them and setting up Edward Balliol as a rival king.

Answer: Halidon Hill

Despite having decisively defeated the Scots in battle at Dupplin Moor and Halidon Hill, the English were never able to press home their advantage and Edward Balliol was never able to fully assert his claim to the throne. He was poorly supported within Scotland and he was forced back to England on several times - apparently half-naked on one occasion.

In 1337 Edward III's attention was temporarily diverted away from Scotland by the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War with France, and David II returned from France in 1341, effectively ending the Second War of Independence. Edward Balliol resigned his claim to the Scottish throne to Edward III in 1356.