EVENTS
Events
King John’s inauguration
King John was officially inaugurated as King of Scots at Scone on 30
November, St Andrews Day, 1292. The ceremony was observed by all of the
important people of the realm. In accordance with established customs he was
enthroned upon the ancient Stone of Destiny.
However, John’s inauguration was significantly overshadowed by his formal
oath of fealty before Edward I. No doubt John, like all claimants to the
Scottish throne, had hoped that the submission to Edward at Norham would
be temporary, and certainly Edward had strongly hinted that at the time.
However, the formal ceremony, at Edward’s parliament in Newcastle in 1292,
suggested no such thing.
Alexander III had previously given an oath of fealty for his land in England ;
this was not an issue, and Edward himself had given an oath to the French
king for his French holdings. The issue was, rather, John Balliol paying
homage for Scotland and accepting Edward as his overlord. What was
significant was the degree of interference to which King John would be
subjected to by the English king.
If the implication was not clear from the outset, then it would soon become
apparent that Edward took this matter very seriously. To him Scotland was a
vassal kingdom, with a vassal king.
The new Scottish Government
It was clear that Edward saw the administration of Scotland as not solely the
responsibility of the King of Scots. On Edward’s insistence John was forced
to accept an English man to be his new chancellor, perhaps to help set up an
exchequer along the English lines. This man, Master Thomas of Hunsingore,
advised John and set about changing elements of the traditional Scots
customs of taxation and rendering of goods. As with the English system the
office of treasurer was introduced, changing the title from chancellor as it had
been since the time of David I. Edward ordered the wording of the Royal Seal
of Scotland to be changed. All in all King John’s reign had begun firmly
under the yoke of Edward I.
Edward I hears Scottish complaints
Edward continued his humiliation of King John by insisting that he would
hear any complaints from John’s court. Thus, there were a number of
dissatisfied claimants from Scottish courts wishing to have unfavourable
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EVENTS
verdicts from King John overturned by King Edward. Each case brought new
humiliation for John, as he was forced to climb down. The first case, in 1292,
was from a burgess from Berwick. When John complained, he tried to use the
Treaty of Birgham to insist that Edward was overstepping his bo unds.
However, Edward publicly forced John to back down and issue letters
proclaiming that the King of England was no longer bound to Birgham, or
indeed any guarantees for Scottish independence. The most embarrassing case
was when John was forced to appear in person to answer a complaint from a
subject, McDuff. Edward would not allow King John to have a representative
to speak on his behalf. English chroniclers talk about the Scots king ’s
humiliation and his return journey to Scotland to face his own nobles .
The War with France: 2 June 1294
Edward I’s proposed war with France in 1294 led to open conflict between
Scotland and England. Edward and Philip IV, King of France, clashed over
Gascony and Philip’s decision to confiscate Aquitaine from the English ki ng.
In June 1294, Edward ordered King John to head south and to bring with him
10 Scottish earls and 16 barons, with their knights. The Scots were to
assemble at Portsmouth in September. This was a significant example of the
new political landscape. While it was true that Malcolm IV had served with
Henry II in France in 1159, no other Scottish king had ever served under
English banners in such an obvious way and even then Malcolm had faced
anger from his own earls in daring to do so. It all but sealed the c lient status
the Scottish kingdom had found itself reduced to.
John and the guardians rebel: 1294–1295
Between June 1294 and July 1295 it would appear that John was effectively
sidelined by his own nobility. There is a considerable amount of debate about
this among historians, but we can say with some certainty that the Council of
Twelve was appointed to take over the running of affairs from the king. Most
of this council hailed from the Comyn side, and few if any were loyal to the
Bruce faction. Four bishops, four earls and four barons made up the council,
and they are credited with sending envoys to the French court in July 1295
asking for an alliance against King Edward. The alliance was eventually
sealed on 23 February 1296 and ratified at Dunfermline by King John, the
Comyn faction of nobles and many burgesses and bishops. Bruce and his
faction were again absent.
Meanwhile Edward was unable to punish the Scots for their defiance until
1296. He was busy putting down a major rebellion in Wales led by Ma dog
Llywelyn.
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EVENTS
The Battle of Dunbar
Edward crossed the Tweed in early March 1296 in response to John’s refusal
to provide military support and to attend court. His invasion was planned well
in advance as news of the Scottish–French alliance would not reach him until
July. The first obstacle was the walled town of Berwick. The defenders had
fortified as best they could and they scorned Edward’s offers of surrender.
The defenders grimly held on for three days, but when the English finally
took the town, the defending townsfolk were slaughtered.
The Scottish army was waiting for Edward further north along the coast at
Dunbar Castle. The wife of the Earl of Dunbar had handed over the keep to
the Scots, while her husband had rushed to Berwick to sign up with the
English king. Only one third of the English army had advanced to lay siege to
the keep. Led by Warenne, the Earl of Surrey, they prepared to meet the Scots
forces in a head-on encounter. The Scots army lacked in any real quality or
experience. Surrey’s troops were all veterans and well equipped. The Scots
were neither. The Scottish commanders mistook Surrey’s repositioning of his
troops as a retreat, and charged, leaving the relative safety of the hill they had
been dominating. Out of formation and char ging the disciplined English
ranks, the Scots were easy prey to the charging English knights and men at
arms. The battle was a complete disaster for the Scots. Many Scots died, and
over 130 Scottish nobles were captured.
The subjugation of Scotland
Edward had effectively destroyed the Scots resistance with one battle. When
word of the scale of the disaster spread, Scots refused to contemplate fighting
against Edward and began surrendering.
 Roxburgh surrendered after a few days of sporadic fighting.
 Jedburgh and Edinburgh castles held off Edward’s troops for a little
longer, but when his powerful new siege engines arrived the castles
quickly surrendered, not wishing to withstand the bombardment.
 Stirling did not even put up a fight. The caretakers of the castle were left
with the keys by the defenders as they fled an approaching army.
 King John and the Comyn lords retreated to the north east, and there they
contemplated surrender.
Only on the west coast did Alexander, head of the powerful MacDougall clan,
put up any kind of resistance.
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EVENTS
Ragman’s Roll
By late August almost 1600 leading Scottish nobles and burgesses swore a
personal oath to King Edward. This was collectively known as the ‘Ragman’s
Roll’. William Wallace never attached a seal to the Roll, giving way to the
argument that he was a patriot fighting for King John. However, to some
historians, the failure of Wallace’s seal to appear on the Roll could simply be
due to the fact that he wasn’t seen as important enough to be asked to do
homage to the king.
Toom Tabard
King John officially offered his surrender at Kincardine Castle on 2 July by
sending a letter to the English king begging for his forgiveness and blaming
his actions on poor advice from his nobles. The surrender was accepted in a
humiliating ceremony on the 10 July. John was forced to renounce his treaty
with France, apologise to Edward, and was eventually stripped of his throne,
his royal robes stripped off his body and thrown to the ground. John would
subsequently be known as Toom Tabard or ‘empty coat’.
During this invasion, King Edward also removed other items from Scotland.
He took government papers, the Stone of Destiny and holy relics.
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