#john balliol

[nastasyafilippovna11]

augh

John Balliol

[dreamconsumer]

John Balliol. English School.

After the death of Alexander III in 1286 and Margaret in 1290, John Balliol competed for the Scottish crown in the Great Cause (when the crown of Scotland became vacant in September 1290 on the death of the seven-year-old Queen Margaret, thirteen pretenders to the throne were presented), being superior in genealogical primogeniture but not in proximity of blood.

[scotianostra]

April 27th 1296 saw Scots defeated by Edward I at the Battle of Dunbar.

After the sack of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Edward remained in the town for a month, supervising the strengthening of its defences. On 5th April, he received a message from King John renouncing his homage, to which he remarked, more in contempt than anger, “O’ foolish knave! What folly he commits. If he will not come to us we will go to him.”

The next objective in the campaign was the Earl of March’s castle at Dunbar, a few miles up the coast from Berwick. March was with the English, but his wife, Marjory Comyn, sister of the Earl of Buchan, did not share her husband’s political loyalties and allowed her fellow Scots to occupy the castle. Edward sent one of his chief lieutenants, John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, John Balliol’s own father-in-law, northwards with a strong force of knights to invest the stronghold. The defenders sent messages to King John, to the main body of his army at nearby Haddington, asking for urgent assistance. In response the army, or a large part of it, advanced to the rescue of Dunbar. John, who was showing even less skill as a commander than he had as a king, did not accompany it. The campaign of 1296 was now to enter its final phase.

According to the history books The Battle of  Dunbar was  an action between two bodies of mounted men-at-arms, the two forces came in sight of each other on 27 April. The Scots occupied a strong position on some high ground to the west. To meet them, Surrey’s cavalry had to cross a gully intersected by the Spot Burn. As they did so their ranks broke up, and the Scots, deluded into thinking the English were leaving the field, abandoned their position in a disorderly downhill charge, only to find that Surrey’s forces had reformed  and were advancing in perfect order. 

The English routed the disorganised Scots in a single charge. The action was brief and probably not very bloody, since the only casualty of any note was a minor Lothian knight, Sir Patrick Graham, though about 100 Scottish lords, knights and men-at-arms were taken prisoner. 

According to one English source over ten thousand Scots died at the battle of Dunbar, however this is probably a confusion with the casualties incurred at the storming of Berwick. The survivors fled westwards to the safety of Selkirk Forest. The following day King Edward appeared in person and Dunbar castle surrendered. Some important prisoners were taken: John “the red” Comyn, Earl of Buchan, and the earls of Atholl, Ross and Menteith, together with 130 knights and esquires. All were sent into captivity in England.

The battle of Dunbar effectively ended the war of 1296 with the English winning. The remainder of the campaign was little more than a grand mopping-up operation. James, the hereditary High Steward of Scotland, surrendered the important fortress at Roxburgh without attempting a defence, and others were quick to follow his example. Only Edinburgh Castle held out for a week against Edward’s siege engines. A Scottish garrison sent out to help King John, who had fled north to Forfar, were told to provide for their own safety. 

Edward himself, advanced into central and northern Scotland in pursuit of King John. Stirling Castle, which guarded the vital passage across the River Forth was deserted , well almost, according to the history of some chroniclers there was a janitor who stayed behind to hand the keys to the English. John reached Perth on 21st June, where he received messages from Edward asking for peace.

John Balliol, in surrendering, submitted himself to a humiliation at the hands of The English King. At Kincardine Castle on 2nd July he confessed to rebellion and prayed for forgiveness. Five days later in the kirkyard of Stracathro he abandoned the treaty with the French. The final humiliation came at Montrose on 8th July. Dressed for the occasion John was ceremoniously stripped of the vestments of royalty. Antony Bek, the Bishop of Durham, ripped the red and gold arms of Scotland from his surcoat, thus bequeathing to history the nickname Toom Tabard (empty coat) by which John has been known to generations of Scottish schoolchildren. He and his son Edward were sent south into captivity. Soon after, the English king followed, carrying in his train the Stone of Scone and other relics of Scottish nationhood.

Scotland was more or less in the hands of Longshanks army, and by all accounts, with the exception of Berwick, with little bloodshed, soon after The Comyns, The Bruces and other Scottish nobles would be free again and given lands and their titles back, after swearing allegiance to King Edward, but murmurs of discontent were beginning and the emergence of a rebellion were starting, with the often overlooked Andrew de Moray in the north, and on William Wallace in the south.

[lothiriel84]

Don't laugh at “bum”. Terry. It demeans us both. 

[nastasyafilippovna11]

I wish more historical events had fandoms because I am hyperfixating on the Scottish wars of independence and the internet IS NOT pulling through

I know technically there is braveheart but no.

[scotianostra]

May 30th 1291 saw claimants to the Scottish throne meet King Edward I of England at Norham on Tweed to resolve succession, this became known as The Great Cause.

Following a period of prosperity for the Scottish Kingdom, tragedy struck when Alexander III died and left no heir. The nobles of Scotland agreed to oversee the coronation of Alexander’s granddaughter Margaret, Maid of Norway, as well as selecting a regent to rule and a husband for her to marry.

In the meantime, in order for the kingdom to function properly, ‘Guardians of the Realm’ had to be appointed.

The men chosen were: the Bishops Fraser of St Andrews and Wishart of Glasgow, the barons John Comyn of Badenoch and James Steward, and the Earls of Buchan and Fife. It was agreed amongst the Guardians that the nobility of the realm would swear an oath of loyalty of the young queen, but in the meantime they would rule in the name of the Scottish crown.

Tragedy struck when Margaret died travelling from Norway to Scotland. This left the future of the Scottish Kingdom in jeopardy as without her, the Treaty of Birgham was meaningless.

Edward I was informed, by the Bishop of St. Andrews, that Robert Bruce and the Earls of Athol and Mar were scheming and that war was a distinct possibility. The bishop asked Edward for assistance in order to stop a civil war. Bishop Fraser clearly favoured Balliol, but Bruce and his followers appealed to Edward by writing the 'Appeal of the Seven Earls.’

At Norham, Edward showed his intentions of being made Overlord of Scotland, demanding that the Scots make him their feudal overlord before he would make any judgement on who would become the new King of Scots.

The Scots were worried because Edward had a large military presence with him. The Guardians replied stating that only a king could deal with such a demand which could only happen after Edward had selected one. Edward wrote to English monasteries asking them to search for legal evidence in their documents for English overlordship over Scotland. He also threatened to blockade Scottish ports with his navy and summoned men to form an army.

Fourteen claimants petitioned Edward for the throne of Scotland, but two emerged as having serious claims – John Balliol and Robert Bruce. To make sure that he became overlord of Scotland, Edward demanded that all the claimants accept this before he would pass judgement. This agreement is known as the 'Award of Norham’.

This was an important moment because the claimants acknowledged Edward’s overlordship; by giving him legal possession of the kingdom, Scotland was his to give freely away.

The original contenders for the crown are seen in the image below, the second pic are the ruins of Norham Castle.

[scotianostra]

On July 8th 1296 King John Balliol was unceremoniously stripped of his office and forced to abdicate at Montrose.

To understand this event we have to look back on how it came about. The disastrous deaths of Alexander III and his heirs left Scotland with a power vacuum and several candidates willing to fill it. No less than fourteen contenders put themselves forward as potential heirs to the Scottish throne, among them Robert de Brus (grandfather of Robert the Bruce), John Balliol and yesterdays man, England’s Edward I, yes he really did put himself forward to be our monarch!

Anyway Edward himself knew that his own claim was weak but his chance to take control of the Scottish throne, by other means came when the Scottish magnates requested that he arbitrate in their dispute as to who had legitimacy to rule, with "The great cause"

Edward insisted on the loyalty of the Scottish nobles, landowners and other influential people by making them swear an oath of loyalty to him. This oath was repeated in 1296, and was signed by most of those who were asked. The treaties became known as the Ragman Rolls, possibly because of the ribbons each signatory attached to his parchment, those amongst the 2,000 signatures were the aforementioned Robert de Bruce,the 2nd Earl of Carrick and, William Wallace's uncle, Sir Reginald de Crauford, this was and still is one of the most important documents in Medieval Scotland and a hive of information for historians.

Edward, meanwhile, finally settled on John Balliol as his choice of king, and Balliol was duly crowned at a ceremony at Scone on 30th November 1292. Finally, after six years, Scotland had its king and any English interference should have halted to allow the Scots to get on with the governance of their own country.

But Edward had other ideas and made a series of humiliating demands on Balliol, demanding that John pay him homage and to cede legal authority to the English throne. This undermining of the Scottish king was to continue, with taxes being levied against the Scots to pay for Edward’s increasing campaigns, and leaving Balliol with no real option but to agree to each and every demand made.

Things came to a head, however, when Edward declared war on the French king, and demanded that King John muster an army and send it south to London to assist him in his campaign in France.

Tired of his treatment by Edward, Balliol finally took the decision to resist the demands of the English monarch and shortly thereafter concluded a treaty with the French instead. A further little known treaty was signed with Erik II of Norway and mutual aid was promised if any of the countries were attacked by England.

Matters then descended into open war, with Scots forces conducting raids across the border. An attack against the English castle at Carlisle failed though and the Scots had to make do with the usual excesses of destruction and pillage against the poorly defended towns and villages of the north of England.

King John had finally tried to shake off the overbearing southern ruler. He now faced the real possibility of invasion. The only question remaining was whether or not his country would be strong enough to resist.

On 30th March 1296, Edward led his army north to attack the rebel Scots. The Scottish Wars of Independence had begun. Edward’s first action was to take Berwick, the largest city in Scotland at that time, and its most prosperous port.

The attack, allegedly led by the monarch himself, was a devastating assault on a poorly-defended town. Edward’s seasoned troops easily overran the feeble earthworks and engaged in an orgy of murder and butchery, which saw men, women and children slaughtered in a three-day rout.

It is probably unfair to call the action a battle, since the garrison surrendered almost immediately and was given quarter. Little other organised resistance was offered by the inhabitants, except for a small contingent of Flemish men who were trapped within a building and burned to death for their defiance. It is said that Edward only called a halt to the carnage when he saw one of his soldiers cutting off the head of woman who was in the process of giving birth.

The exact death toll from the attack on the town varies wildly, as they tended to do in such times, but it is generally accepted that between 17-23,000 perished. This would account for a huge percentage of the population and the news of the deaths of so many was the catalyst for the Scots to rally behind their king, albeit briefly.

A month later, on 27 April 1296, the Scots assembled in support of King John and took to the field near Dunbar. The English forces were commanded by John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, one of Edward’s most distinguished and trusted professional soldiers.

The Scots were positioned well, with a height advantage and, if some historical sources are to be believed, an advantage in numbers of three to one. What they lacked, however, was discipline. Taking no heed of the ground they held, the Scots infantry charged downhill towards the English lines.

The English knights, hardened by years of campaigning in France and Wales, easily managed to sidestep the headlong lunge of the Scots and brought their mounts to bear in a shattering assault, dispersing the Scots infantry. The attack by the English knights was so comprehensive that they overwhelmed their enemy and destroyed them completely.

Scottish casualties were high and in this one action alone, the Scots resistance all but crumbled and many of their nobles were captured and imprisoned. With the near disintegration of resistance, Edward easily subdued the rest of the country in a matter of months, capturing the country’s most strategic castles and strongholds in a fairly effortless operation.

And thus began the occupation of Scotland.

(The ‘Stone of Destiny’, or An Lia Fail, on which Scottish kings for centuries had been crowned, was also taken south by Edward and fitted into a chair known as Edward’s Chair. This was intended as a symbolic gesture by Edward and the stone would remain at Westminster Abbey for 600 years. It would only return to Scotland in 1996, except for a brief period in the 1950s when it was repatriated by a group of Scottish students.)

On 7th July 1296, three months after the Battle of Dunbar, King John formally surrendered his kingdom to Edward the day after he was humiliatingly stripped of his royal insignia in a ceremony at Montrose, giving rise to his nickname of Toom Tabard or ‘empty coat’. His reign had lasted less than four years.

The defeat of the Scots was complete. Edward I was now the ruler of Scotland.

John Balliol was imprisoned for a time in the Tower of London before being held under a form of house arrest. The Scottish rebellions under William Wallace in 1297, meant that Balliol was again imprisoned and he was eventually allowed to leave England to go and live in France, where he died on 25th November 1314.

[littlehistorian]

John Balliol (1249-1314) was King of Scots from 1292 to 1296.

John Balliol secured the support of Edward I of England to seize the Scottish throne, which he ascended to as John of Scotland (John I) on November 17, 1292.

From that point on, Scotland was in the service of England. This caused problems for his reign, as he could not make decisions without the approval of the King of England.

Following Scotland’s attempt to form an alliance with France, Edward I of England decided to invade Scotland, marking the beginning of the Scottish Wars of Independence. After the Scots suffered a defeat at the Battle of Dunbar in 1296, John Balliol was forced to abdicate the throne and was imprisoned in 1297