Edward's assertion that the King of Scotland owed feudal allegiance to him,
and the embittered Anglo-Scottish relations leading to war which followed,
were to overshadow the rest of Edward's reign in what was to become known as
the 'Great Cause'. Under a treaty of 1174, William the Lion of Scotland had
become the vassal to Henry II, but in 1189 Richard I had absolved William
from his allegiance. Intermarriage between the English and Scottish royal
houses promoted peace between the two countries until the premature death of
Alexander III in 1286. In 1290, his granddaughter and heiress, Margaret the
'Maid of Norway' (daughter of the King of Norway, she was pledged to be
married to Edward's then only surviving son, Edward of Caernarvon), also
died. For Edward, this dynastic blow was made worse by the death in the same
year of his much-loved wife Eleanor (her body was ceremonially carried from
Lincoln to Westminster for burial, and a memorial cross erected at every one
of the twelve resting places, including what became known as Charing Cross
in London).
In the absence of an obvious heir to the Scottish throne, the disunited
Scottish magnates invited Edward to determine the dispute. In order to gain
acceptance of his authority in reaching a verdict, Edward sought and
obtained recognition from the rival claimants that he had the 'sovereign
lordship of Scotland and the right to determine our several pretensions'. In
November 1292, Edward and his 104 assessors gave the whole kingdom to John
Balliol or Baliol as the claimant closest to the royal line; Balliol duly
swore loyalty to Edward and was crowned at Scone.
John Balliol's position proved difficult. Edward insisted that Scotland was
not independent and he, as sovereign lord, had the right to hear in England
appeals against Balliol's judgments in Scotland. In 1294, Balliol lost
authority amongst Scottish magnates by going to Westminster after receiving
a summons from Edward; the magnates decided to seek allies in France and
concluded the 'Auld Alliance' with France (then at war with England over the
duchy of Gascony) - an alliance which was to influence Scottish history for
the next 300 years. In March 1296, having failed to negotiate a settlement,
the English led by Edward sacked the city of Berwick near the River Tweed.
Balliol formally renounced his homage to Edward in April 1296, speaking of
'grievous and intolerable injuries ... for instance by summoning us outside
our realm ... as your own whim dictated ... and so ... we renounce the
fealty and homage which we have done to you'. Pausing to design and start
the rebuilding of Berwick as the financial capital of the country, Edward's
forces overran remaining Scottish resistance. Scots leaders were taken
hostage, and Edinburgh Castle, amongst others, was seized. Balliol
surrendered his realm and spent the rest of his life in exile in England and
Normandy.
Having humiliated Balliol, Edward's insensitive policies in Scotland
continued: he appointed a trio of Englishmen to run the country. Edward had
the Stone of Scone - also known as the Stone of Destiny - on which Scottish
sovereigns had been crowned removed to London and subsequently placed in the
Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey (where it remained until it was
returned to Scotland in 1996). Edward never built stone castles on strategic
sites in Scotland, as he had done so successfully in Wales - possibly
because he did not have the funds for another ambitious castle-building
program.
By 1297, Edward was facing the biggest crisis in his reign, and his
commitments outweighed his resources. Chronic debts were being incurred by
wars against France, in Flanders, Gascony and Wales as well as Scotland; the
clergy were refusing to pay their share of the costs, with the Archbishop of
Canterbury threatening excommunication; Parliament was reluctant to
contribute to Edward's expensive and unsuccessful military policies; the
Earls of Hereford and Norfolk refused to serve in Gascony, and the barons
presented a formal statement of their grievances. In the end, Edward was
forced to reconfirm the Charters (including Magna Carta) to obtain the money
he required; the Archbishop was eventually suspended in 1306 by the new
Gascon Pope Clement V; a truce was declared with France in 1297, followed by
a peace treaty in 1303 under which the French king restored the duchy of
Gascony to Edward.
In Scotland, Edward pursued a series of campaigns from 1298 onwards. William
Wallace had risen in Balliol's name and recovered most of Scotland, before
being defeated by Edward at the battle of Falkirk in 1298. (Wallace escaped,
only to be captured in 1305, allegedly by the treachery of a fellow Scot and
taken to London, where he was executed.) In 1304, Edward summoned a full
Parliament (which elected Scottish representatives also attended), in which
arrangements for the settlement of Scotland were made. The new government in
Scotland featured a Council, which included Robert the Bruce. Bruce
unexpectedly rebelled in 1306 by killing a fellow counsellor and was crowned
king of Scotland at Scone. Despite his failing health, Edward was carried
north to pursue another campaign, but he died en route at Burgh on Sands on
7 July 1307 aged 68.
According to chroniclers, Edward requested that his bones should be carried
on Scottish campaigns and that his heart be taken to the Holy Land. However,
Edward was buried at Westminster Abbey in a plain black marble tomb, which
in later years was painted with the words Scottorum malleus (Hammer of the
Scots) and Pactum serva (Keep troth). Throughout the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, the Exchequer paid to keep candles burning 'round the
body of the Lord Edward, formerly King of England, of famous memory'.
