The Reign of King John Balliol
The coronation of John Balliol
• On 17 November 1292 Edward I made his judgement in favour of John
Balliol.
• Two weeks later, on St Andrew’s Day, John was inaugurated King of Scots at
Scone. He was enthroned upon the ancient Stone of Destiny, and the
ceremony was held in the presence of the great men of the realm.
• However, despite this, King John’s position was different to that of
previous kings:
‘He was king not by unquestioned right, but by judgement of a court and
the events leading up to that judgement made him both a vassal king and a
factional king.’
The Wars of Scotland, 1214–1371, Brown, M., Edinburgh University Press,
2004.
The issue of overlordship
• From Scone, Balliol travelled
to Newcastle to spend
Christmas at King Edward’s
court.
• On 26 December 1292 he paid
homage to Edward for the
second time, saying: 'Lord
Edward, lord superior of the
realm of Scotland, I, John
Balliol, King of Scots, become
your liegeman for the whole
realm of Scotland.'
The new Scottish government
• Edward immediately began to interfere in the administration
of Scotland.
• He ordered the wording of the Royal Seal of Scotland to be
changed.
• John was made to accept Master Thomas of Hunsingore, a
Yorkshire man, as his new chancellor.
• The office of treasurer was introduced; this title had never
been used in Scotland before. This was clear imitation of
English practice
The government of Scotland under King John
• John faced a difficult situation even without the issue of
Edward’s overlordship.
• Politics within Scotland remained factional – John needed to
win the allegiance of all his subjects and to cement his
authority as king.
• In February 1293 he called a parliament at Scone; most of the
Scottish nobles accepted Balliol as king and attended.
• Three new sheriffdoms were created in the Isles and Argyll,
showing that Balliol had an awareness of the need to extend
royal authority into these areas in order to effectively rule the
kingdom.
Appeals
• Edward I made his authority over King John clear when he acted as
supreme judge in appeals from the Scottish king’s court.
• Even before John’s homage, Edward was hearing his first Scottish case.
• Master Roger Bartholomew, a burgess of Berwick, had been involved in a
case in the court of the Guardians. In three separate cases judgements
had gone against him.
• Dissatisfied with this, Bartholomew complained to King Edward at Berwick
on 7 December 1292, one week after Balliol’s enthronement.
• In one of the three cases, Edward reversed the previous judgement in
Roger Bartholomew’s favour.
How did King John Balliol react to Scottish
decisions being overturned?
• The Scots protested to Edward that he had promised to
preserve the laws and customs of Scotland, and that he had
agreed that Scottish lawsuits should not be dealt with outside
of Scotland (Treaty of Birgham).
• Edward publicly forced John to back down. On 2 January 1292
John issued letters which freed Edward from all obligations
and promises which the English king had entered into with the
Guardians.
• This meant that the Treaty of Birgham, and all other
guarantees of Scottish independence, were null and void.
G.W.S Barrow
• 'At every step he took, the new king would have to
pause, examine its implications, and find out
whether it could be allowed under the new regime…
It was John’s misfortune that he had succeeded to a
kingdom which could not have been ruled by anyone
forced to walk such a narrow tightrope.'
• Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of
Scotland, Edinburgh University Press, 2005
The Macduff case
•
The case of Macduff, younger son of Malcolm, Earl of Fife, was the most well known
example of Edward asserting his superiority over King John.
•
Macduff claimed that he had been unjustly deprived of his inheritance and then
imprisoned by John Balliol.
•
The Scottish king was summoned to appear in the English parliament to answer the
charge in September of 1293.
•
Balliol was initially defiant; he arrived at Westminster to argue that Edward’s court
had no right to judge the case. He refused to answer without consulting his ‘chief
men’.
•
In response to this, Edward threatened to charge John with contempt of court and
confiscated three royal castles.
•
Balliol gave in to these demands and renewed his homage to Edward.
The Macduff case
• English chroniclers describe the humiliation
experienced by the Scots king at the English court,
where he was not permitted to speak through a
representative.
• The case was not resolved in 1293, and was
adjourned until the following year.
• The case was then postponed until 1295, when it
was forced off the agenda by news from France.
The Anglo-French war
• Tensions between Scotland and England came to a head over
England’s proposed war with France.
• Edward I held land in France – the duchy of Aquitaine.
• On 19 May 1294, Philip IV of France confiscated Edward’s land
following Edward’s failure to appear in the French court.
• On 24 June Edward renounced his homage as Duke and sent
his formal defiance to the French king.
• This meant war…
Preparations for war
• On 29 June formal summons were issued to
the king of Scots, 10 Scottish earls and 16
barons to raise knights and join Edward’s army
at Plymouth in early September.
• This seemed to confirm the subjection of the
Scottish realm to their overlord.
• …Or did it??
Defiance
• Overseas service had never before been demanded of the
Scots on such a large scale.
• King Malcolm IV of Scotland had performed overseas service
for Henry II of England in 1159. This was the last time a king of
Scots had provided military service for England. On that
occasion, he had returned to find his earls angry.
• According to an English chronicle, Balliol promised to give aid.
• However, neither Balliol nor any of his barons appeared in
response to Edward’s summons, instead making various
excuses.
The Council of Twelve
• At a parliament held at Stirling in July 1295, a Council of
Twelve was appointed.
• This has been the topic of historical debate. Some historians
believe that the existence of the Council of Twelve shows that
John was being sidelined by his own nobles, lending further
weight to the argument that John was a weak king.
• However, it has been argued that the Council of Twelve may in
fact have been appointed to support the king, and that it did
not replace him.
The Anglo-French Treaty
• An embassy of four Scots was sent to Paris in July, 1295.
• By 23 October 1295 they had entered into a treaty with King Philip of
France.
• The treaty guaranteed that Scotland would maintain hostilities against
England in return for military aid from the French should Scotland be
invaded; a peace could only be made if both sides agreed.
• It also contained the agreement that King John’s son and heir, Edward
Balliol, would marry King Philip’s niece, Jean Valois.
• The Treaty was ratified by the king and a wide cross section of the Scottish
political community on 23 February 1296.
The Siege of Berwick and the Battle of Dunbar
• On 30 March 1296 the English arrived before the walls of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, an important Scottish burgh.
• The town surrendered, and thousands of the inhabitants of
Berwick are reported to have been slaughtered.
• The Scots’ response to this was formal defiance of Edward;
Balliol renounced his homage.
• In the last week of April Edward sent an army to secure
Dunbar castle.
• On 27 April 1296 a sizeable Scottish army was defeated at
Dunbar. Many Scots were killed and important nobles were
captured.
Edward’s progression north in 1296
© The Scottish Wars of Independence, 1286–1328 by Andy McPhee, reproduced by permission of Hodder Education
The subjugation of Scotland
• Edward marched north, meeting little resistance along the
way after news of the outcome of the Battle of Dunbar
spread.
• Almost 1600 Scots swore loyalty to Edward by attaching
their seal to the ‘Ragman’s Roll’. Those who paid homage
included nobles, the clergy and freeholders of land.
‘Toom Tabard’
• King John officially offered his surrender at Kincardine Castle on 2 July
1296.
• 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 stripped of his royal robes and his throne.
• Balliol was exiled to London.
• The Scottish seal was broken in two.
• The Stone of Destiny and the Black Rood of St Margaret were removed.
Was King John a weak king?
• 'It is true he was not a forceful man and certainly no
match for Edward I. But he was not a complete
nonentity nor altogether lacking in dignity.' G.W.S
Barrow
• 'Historians have been aware for some time that
Balliol’s reputation as king resulted in part from the
very difficult circumstances of his reign, but more
particularly from the effect on that reputation of the
propaganda of the man who usurped his throne,
Robert Bruce, and subsequent pro-Bruce writers, such
as John Barbour.' F. Watson, Under the Hammer:
Edward I and Scotland, 1286–1306