SCOTLAND’S SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE (1332-57), Part 1: Two Kings, One Kingdom
Many people know about the First Scottish War of Independence (1296-1328), although they may perhaps mistakenly think that it was the only war for Scotland’s medieval independence. For while there is popular knowledge of Wallace and Stirling Bridge, of Bruce and Bannockburn, there is arguably far less understanding of what happened next.
There appears little knowledge that the peace Robert I negotiated in 1328 lasted for less than four years. And there is little awareness that the war that had been ‘won’ in that same year would recommence once again in 1332, based in large part on all the unresolved issues of the first period of conflict. And that is part of the problem. The legend of Robert I has become so allencompassing that any suggestion that he did not actually unify Scotland during his reign seems to go against accepted wisdom. But the second war did not begin as continued war between England and Scotland. Instead, it was a resumption of civil war within Scotland, of the Bruce-Balliol conflict that had been part of the Wars of Independence before they had even begun.
The fight between both noble houses kicked off by Alexander III’s death in 1286 was never truly resolved, even if Robert I had tried his best to eradicate any mention of the Balliols, and King John, from the historical record. And the ultimate proof that the Balliols had not gone away was represented in the person of King John’s son and heir, Edward. The history of the second Anglo-Scottish conflict is intrinsically tied up with that of Edward Balliol, his claim to the Scottish throne, and the claims of those who had been forfeited during the years of Robert I’s reign. King Robert’s death in 1329 would give these men the chance they had been looking for to take back what they had lost.
The legend of Robert I has become so allencompassing that any suggestion that he did not actually unify Scotland during his reign seems to go against accepted wisdom
Background to war
The peace between England and Scotland that had been thrashed out in the treaties of Northampton and Edinburgh (1328)
