Scotland: history 1058 to 1513

For the history of Scotland before 1058, see Scotland: history to 1058.

The history of Scotland in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century) is marked by the attempt to create national unity and establish independence from England, its more powerful southern neighbour (see medieval England and Scotland).

Malcolm Canmore and St Margaret In 1058 Malcolm Canmore became king as Malcolm III, and his reign (1058-93) is of great importance in Scottish history. His marriage to Margaret (who was canonized in 1251), sister of the English prince Edgar Atheling and granddaughter of the English king Edmund Ironside, did much to bring Scotland into the general European mainstream of culture and ideas.

Margaret had fled England following the Norman invasion of 1066, and her influence was great. During Malcolm's reign the last vestiges of the old Celtic Church were finally discarded, and from this time the Scottish church was entirely Roman in its organization. In addition, those parts of the Lowlands where Gaelic culture had prevailed were now anglicized.

Malcolm paid homage to the English king, William (I) the Conqueror, but he asserted his independence of England in the reign of William (II) Rufus, and finally died fighting against the English at Alnwick (1093).

The disputed succession The death of Malcolm in 1093 was followed by long disputes concerning the succession between pro-Celtic and pro-anglicizing factions. Malcolm's brothers, Edmund and Donald III Bane, contested the throne. Donald Bane seized the throne, but was ousted in May 1094 by Duncan II, the son of Malcolm by his first wife, who was supported by England. Donald Bane seized the throne again six months later, killing his nephew, and attempted to re-establish Celtic culture and customs. However, in 1097 Edgar Atheling led an English army into Scotland, ousted Donald Bane, and placed his nephew Edgar (son of Malcolm III and Margaret) on the throne.

Edgar was succeeded by his two brothers, Alexander I (ruled 1107-24) and David I. Alexander's reign was marked by an attempt, cleverly evaded, to establish the supremacy of the Archbishop of York over Glasgow and St Andrews.

David I Alexander was succeeded by his brother David I (ruled 1124-53), who was responsible for the feudalization of the greater part of the country (see feudalism). David had been educated in England under the influence of Normans, and introduced Norman customs and manners, Norman systems of land tenure, and many Anglo-Norman families, such as the Bruces, into Scotland. David supported the church and founded abbeys, and also encouraged architecture and helped agriculture. He gave charters to many towns (which became burghs with trading and other privileges) and divided Scotland up into numerous fiefs held on the feudal system. He was also responsible for the introduction of the idea of the king's peace.

During David's reign civil war broke out in England, and David espoused the cause of his niece, Matilda (or Maud), daughter of Henry I of England, against Stephen, the rival claimant to the English throne. In spite of a settlement in 1135, which recognized his son as earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon (a title that David had obtained by marriage), David finally invaded England, but was deserted by his vassals and defeated at Northallerton (see Standard, Battle of the) in 1138, and again in 1141. He was, however, able to keep a precarious hold on the north of England owing to the unsettled condition of England during Stephen's reign.

William the Lion David died in 1153, and was succeeded by his grandson, Malcolm the Maiden. During his short reign the power of the Lord of the Isles was subdued, but Malcolm died in 1165 and was succeeded by William the Lion.

William attempted to seize Northumberland in 1173, and allied himself with France and with Henry II's sons, Richard and John, in their rebellion against their father. William was defeated and captured at Alnwick, and signed later the Treaty of Falaise, by which he became the vassal of Henry II. For 15 years Scotland was a vassal country of England, and then in 1189 Richard I sold back the rights that his father had won, and the Scottish king again became the vassal of the English king only for the English lands that he possessed. During the rest of his reign peace was preserved with England.

Alexander II and Alexander III William died in 1214 and was succeeded by his son, Alexander II. During this and the following reign peace was maintained, and although there were intervals of factional strife, on the whole the country prospered.

In 1249 Alexander III succeeded at the age of eight, and a disturbed period of regency followed. In 1251 he married a daughter of Henry III of England, and in 1261 they had a daughter, Margaret. In 1263 the Norwegians were defeated at the Battle of Largs, and possession of the Hebrides passed to Scotland. Princess Margaret later married Eric II, king of Norway, and was the mother of Margaret, the Maid of Norway.

On the accession of Edward I to the English throne in 1272 Alexander III did homage ‘for the land which he held of the English king’. The Scottish version declares that he definitely added ‘saving my kingdom of Scotland’, but in any case the homage was as vague as Scottish homage usually had been.

The Maid of Norway In 1286 Alexander was killed in a riding accident. His son and daughter had both died before him, and his only heir was his granddaughter Margaret, the Maid of Norway, then a small child, who had been recognized by the Estates (the assembly of nobility, clergy, and commoners) as the successor to the throne. The custody of the realm of Scotland passed into the hands of a committee of six.

The great ambition of Edward I of England was to make a united Great Britain, and he therefore determined to marry the Maid of Norway to his son, the future Edward II. A papal dispensation was obtained, the consent of the Scottish Estates was given, and the Maid was brought over from Norway, but she died in the Orkney Islands in 1290. By the marriage treaty that had already been drawn up, it had been agreed that the independence of Scotland should be recognized; but Edward had introduced his saving clause, which assured to him the rights that he had or wished to have. It was obvious, therefore, what Edward intended to do.

The arbitration of Edward I Scotland was on the verge of civil war between the rival claimants to the throne when Edward appeared on the border and was appointed arbitrator. He put in hand an inquiry into the various claims, and then met the Scottish representatives in Northampton. He demanded homage and acknowledgement as ‘lord paramount’ of Scotland. As he held the whip hand, all the claimants were obliged to conform. Edward himself reserved the right of putting in a claim of his own if he thought fit.

The two most important claimants were John de Baliol and Robert Bruce. Baliol was the grandson of the eldest daughter of David, earl of Huntingdon, the brother of William the Lion, while Robert Bruce was the grandson of the same David via his second daughter. He claimed that he had been selected by Alexander III, and that by Scottish custom he was the nearest heir. In November 1292 Edward gave his decision in favour of John de Baliol, who was accordingly crowned at Scone, the traditional site of Scottish coronations.

Edward makes himself king Edward regarded Baliol as merely a puppet and himself as the real ruler of the whole of Great Britain. Baliol was ordered to go to Gascony with Edward, but he refused, renounced his allegiance, and began a war with England.

In 1296 Edward took Berwick, massacred the inhabitants, then marched northwards and defeated the Scots at Dunbar. At Brechin, Baliol surrendered himself and the crown, and Edward marched back into England. He took with him Baliol as a prisoner, the Stone of Destiny from Scone (on which the Scottish monarchs sat when crowned), and many documents. He did not trouble to appoint another king; in future he was to be king of Scotland himself. Scotland was conquered as Wales had been, and was put under the governorship of Cressingham and John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey. Such at least was Edward's idea.

William Wallace In 1297 opposition to the English began to show itself in all parts of Scotland, and this opposition became effective under the leadership of William Wallace. Wallace, from Elderslie in Renfrewshire, was described as a knight in a charter of 1298. The English army under Surrey and Cressingham attacked Wallace's forces at Stirling Bridge in 1297, but the Scots caught the English army as, for the third time, it was deploying across the bridge, cut it to pieces, and drove it from the field. Surrey escaped, but Cressingham was killed. Wallace now ravaged Cumberland, and was nominated guardian of the kingdom of Scotland in the name of King John Baliol.

By 1298 Edward was moving on Scotland, and caught up with the forces of Wallace in July at Falkirk. Wallace's army had suffered from desertion, and his position had been betrayed to the English king. At the beginning of the battle his cavalry fled, but his spearmen, forming into schiltrons (tight formations), held Edward's cavalry at bay until, thinned by the persistent fire of the archers, the spearmen were broken and defeated. Wallace fled, but for some time the opposition against Edward seemed stronger than ever. By 1303, however, the English were able to overrun Scotland.

By 1304 Wallace had returned to Scotland, and he was handed over to the English king by Monteith, Sheriff of Dumbarton. Wallace was hanged, drawn, and quartered, after a trial discreditable to Edward I. Wallace was the first real champion of Scottish independence.

Bruce's guerrilla campaign For a while it seemed as if at last Scotland was conquered. The commoners longed for peace. Edward was preparing to rule Scotland wisely and well, when suddenly all was inflamed again by the rising of Robert Bruce. Bruce had fought often for Edward I, equally often against him, but now, by his murder of the Red Comyn in the church at Dumfries, he had definitely become a rebel. He was excommunicated, and in the eyes of Edward a traitor.

Bruce could look for help to no one save his own kinsmen, but he was crowned in Scone as Robert I, and for the rest of Edward's reign he fought a guerrilla war against him, now hopelessly defeated and now springing out suddenly where he was least expected and defeating the English troops. He himself escaped narrowly on more than one occasion. He was finally saved by the death of Edward I at Burgh-by-Sands in 1307.

Bruce wins independence for Scotland Although Edward left strict orders that the campaign in Scotland was to be carried on immediately, his son, Edward II, disregarded them. He wasted his opportunities, and soon found that Bruce was the centre of a national opposition to English rule. One by one the Scottish strongholds fell to Bruce, until he was almost complete master of Scotland (1311). Edinburgh and Stirling castles were still in English hands, but in 1313 the former was seized and the latter besieged. Edward Bruce, Robert's brother, granted a truce to the besieged in Stirling, the condition being that unless it was relieved within 12 months it was to surrender to the Scots.

Edward II made his last great effort. England was more or less united, the nobility supported the king, levies were drawn from all parts of the kingdom, and a huge army was thus gathered together. In 1314 a large English force marched into Scotland to relieve Stirling, and hence to conquer Scotland. In June of that year the English army was routed by the Scots at Bannockburn, and the independence of Scotland was practically assured.

Bruce was now master of the whole country. Ireland was invaded, but the attempted conquest under Edward Bruce failed. In 1320 the Scottish nobles declared their loyalty to Robert Bruce, and proclaimed Scotland's independence (see Arbroath, Declaration of). Finally the excommunication was removed from Robert Bruce, and he was acknowledged as king of Scotland by the pope. In 1328, after the murder of Edward II, the independence of Scotland was recognized by the Treaty of Northampton, and in the following year, after seeing his ambition realized, Bruce died.

English wars, the French alliance, and internal weaknesses The early part of the reign of David II (1329-71), the son of Robert Bruce, was taken up with struggles against Edward Baliol and Edward III of England, who reverted to the aggressive policy of his grandfather, Edward I. The battles of Dupplin and Halidon Hill (1333) were lost by the Scots, and for a time it seemed as if the anarchic conditions of the time of Edward I would return. But Edward III left Scotland to pursue his ambition in France, where he embarked on the Hundred Years' War (1337).

The policy of a Scottish alliance with France (the ‘Auld Alliance’) dates from the time of William the Lion. It had been prominent during the reign of Edward I, and during all the successive wars of England with France or Scotland it was to play an important part. The net result of the Scottish struggle for independence was the welding together of the somewhat disparate peoples of Scotland into a Scottish nation. The war with France, although it withdrew the attention of the English king from Scotland, did not end the struggle for independence, which, however, developed simply into a struggle on the border, often amounting to no more than a series of cattle-stealing expeditions.

The next 200 years of Scottish history is a record of disaster and disorder. The country was weakened by the inability of the crown to establish a strong central authority over the quarrelsome nobles, often at odds among themselves and with the crown. The task of the crown was made more difficult by the fact that so many kings died young, leaving young children to succeed them; the series of regencies and minorities brought more quarrels in their train, and the central authority was unable to quell the resultant disorders. For a time it seemed that the only thing that would bring anything like unity to the Scottish nation was war with England.

The first Stuarts David II was defeated and captured by the English in 1346 at the Battle of Neville's Cross, and was imprisoned for 11 years. He seems to have been ready to sacrifice the independence of Scotland that his father had established. His reign was remarkable mainly for the struggles between the house of Douglas and the Ramsays.

In 1371 David II died childless. He was succeeded by Robert II, who had acted as regent during the period of David's captivity. Robert II was the grandson of Robert Bruce, the son of Marjory Bruce and Walter, the steward of Scotland; and thus the Stewart (Stuart) line was established on the Scottish throne.

It would be difficult to find a royal house that suffered such an unparalleled series of disasters. Of the first six Stewart kings only one died a peaceful death, and even his reign was a disturbed one. The crown was continually at war with the nobles.

Robert III ruled from 1390 to 1406, and died peacefully after having witnessed the murder of his elder son. His younger son, James I (reigned 1406-37), succeeded him, but his treatment of the nobility made him enemies, and he in turn was murdered by Sir Robert Graham.

James II and the Black Douglases James II ascended the throne as a boy of six years old. A regency in Scotland at this time invariably meant a continual quarrel among the nobles. The early part of the reign of James II was seized as an opportunity for continual disorder by the great house of the Black Douglases (see Douglas (family)). The king struggled feebly, but found himself without support. Then he adopted a different policy. The followers of the Douglases were bribed, and as one by one they fell away, every opportunity was seized for dealing with the Douglases themselves. Two were murdered in Edinburgh Castle (one stabbed by the king himself), and, finally bereft of their followers by the royal policy of bribery, they were defeated at Arkenholme in 1455. The power of the Black Douglases was at an end. James II died in 1460, killed by the bursting of a cannon at the siege of Roxburgh Castle.

James III and the Red Douglases James II was succeeded by his son, the nine-year-old James III. The turbulence of the nobility reached its greatest point during this reign. No sooner had the power of the Black Douglases been overcome than there arose in its place what was practically a coalition of the nobility of Scotland led by the house of the Red Douglases. The king tried to rule through upstart favourites, but the nobles hanged these favourites and marched against the king, who was defeated and killed at Sauchieburn (1488). It was during the reign of James III that Orkney and Shetland were transferred from Denmark-Norway to Scotland (1468-69).

James IV and the disaster at Flodden The reign of James IV (1488-1513) was for the most part one of peaceful government, and the king was able to keep down the power of the nobility. James was a noted patron of poets and architects, and is often regarded as Scotland's first Renaissance prince. Yet one of the greatest of all disasters in the annals of Scotland took place during the reign, and the king must bear most of the blame for plunging the country into a disastrous war with England in support of Scotland's French alliance.

In 1513 James IV led an army representing a united nation into northern England - the best army that Scotland had produced, numbering some 30,000 men. At Flodden, near Coldstream in Northumberland, he was met by the Earl of Surrey, and, after a strenuously contested battle, defeated and killed. The Battle of Flodden left Scotland weak and unsettled: from the royal family downwards there was not one great family that had not suffered loss; and the death of the king again plunged Scotland into the disaster of another minority.

For subsequent events in Scottish history, see Scotland: history 1513 to 1603, Scotland: history 1603 to 1746, and Scotland: history from 1746. For the history of England during this period, see England: history to 1485 and England: history 1485-1714.