Edward I
of England
Maleus de
Scotii - Hammer of the Scots
With specific reference to Yorkshire
and the North of England
King John Balliol, Earl of Galloway [b.1249, r.1292-6,
d.1315] had been placed on the Scottish throne in 1292, the preferred
regent of 13 candidates called The Competitors one of whom included
Robert de Bruce.
Edward I of England had followed the recommendations of his commissioners
who had followed feudal law which supported the line of succession
through the eldest son. The strongest candidates were descended from
the brother of King William 'The Lion', David Earl
of Huntingdon who had died 70 years beforer8. However
Balliol proved to be a weak Scottish king of what was to become a vassal
state. Edward I of England demanded Scottish services for his campaign
in the wine rich region of Gascony, but Balliol refused, instead making
a truce with France against England which was to last 300 years8.
This initial treaty gave Edward a reason to remove the ever present
danger from the North. Edward moved against Balliol and with the
help of Scottish nobles, including Robert de Bruce, won the Battle
of Dunbar. We can see here like all nobles of his time, de Bruis was
a pragmatist as well as an opportunist, ideology of a Scottish nation
appears to form later.
Image from Edward I's great seal
In 1209 Edward expelled the Jews from England. This may be because he
owed so much interest on his national loans. They had originally arrived
like many of the financiers, with William the Conqueror but now usury was
forbidden and Jews were not allowed to act as merchants, France followed
England in 12927. Simon Schama, has called this the "first European
ethnic cleansing"3 Many were killed in York & Lincoln whilst
some were taken in boats down the Thames and left on sand banks to
drown on a rising tide.
Edward having conquered Wales decided that he would emulate
the legendary Arthur, whom we are told by a contemporary historian
Cath, took a great interest in all things Arthurian, and hence had
a desire to unify the whole of Britain. This culminated in yet another
revival of the "Round Table" in Edward III's, his grandson's
reign and subsequently was used by Henry VIII as a flambouyant show
of supposed genealogical supremacy over his noble counterparts.
In 1295 the Model Parliament was established by Edward I. This created
a pattern for the House of Commons with two knights from each county
and two burgesses from each chartered town7. In 1296 John
Balliol attacked England, as a result, Edward I's army headed north
to Dunbar to quell the disturbance.
THE
SCOTTISH WARS 1296-8
These wars are historically valuable because they were well
documented. One chronicler, Walter of Guisborough priory in the Bruce
territory in England wrote of events from 1066-1312 from the Yorkshire
perspective, using contemporary sources and the previous twenty-two
years.
The Battle of Dunbar 1296
On the 28th March 1296 Edward now sixty years old, marched
north crossing the then border at Coldstream with a large army
[25,000-30,000 infantry and 5000 cavalry] and headed for Berwick,
a major trading town. On the 30th March he destroyed the town and decimated
the population [11,000-16,000]. This was in retaliation for the widespread
carnage perpetrated on the north of England and the treachery of the Scottish-French
alliance which he determined as a stab in the back. Berwick was rebuilt
by Northumbrians and the Scottish-English border forever after remained
north of this town.
The Earl of Dunbar who had some ambition to be a king of
Scotland sided with Edward, however the Countess of Dunbar allowed
the Scottish army to defend the castle..
The main Scottish army of 40,000 men, without King John
Balliol, headed for Dunbar to prevent its fall, but John
de Warrene [8th Earl Warrene of Sandal Magna Castle]
left part of his English forces [12,000 men] to lay seige to
Dunbar castle whilst he headed north to meet this huge array of Scotsmen.
On the 27th April they met in a deep valley. The Scots saw what they believed
to be some disarray amongst the English and began blowing on their horns
and shouting and charged down from their elevated position. This gave Warrene his advantage and his troops moved into
the fray decimating the undisciplined Scottish troops who fled as far
as Selkirk Forest.
Omissions, exaggerations, the history
of battles is
never impartial, it depends on which
side is writing it.
But a thread of truth runs common to
each version. |
The following day Edward with the majority of the English troops moved
up to Dunbar, the castle had to submit. This led to the whole of Scotland
coming under Edward's control. King John Balliol, surrendered and
was stripped of his office. As a result he was nick-named Toom Tabbard
or Empty Coat [from the royal arms stripped from his surcoat]
. See John
Balliol paying homage to Edward I
Edward I managed to travel as far north as Elgin gathering the signatures
of the vanquished, removing the "Stone of Destiny" from Scone and
the "Black Rood of St. Margaret",supposedly constructed from part
of Christ's Cross#, from Edinburgh, whose castle
for the first time was garrisoned by English troops.
Following the successes at Dunbar, de Warrene was given
the wardship of Scotland and he and Sir Hugh Cressingham the
Treasurer for Scotland, were left as commanders of the
English forces in Scotland whilst Edward took ship to France in August
1297.
Throughout the summer of 1296 sporadic outbreaks had occurred
in Scotland, it became the beginnings of a national Scottish uprising.
Scotland had not been defeated since the Romans invaded. Edward had
the aquiescence of land-owning nobles but not the sporadic resistance
under such manorial lairds as SirAndrew de Moray [Murray] and Sir
William de Waleys [Wallace]. Under their influence most of Scotland north
of the Clyde-Forth boundary was gained by the Scots.
Battle of Stirling-while
the cat was away Wallace did play.
In the month that Edward left for France,William Le Wallace
[Le Waleys] laid seige to Dundee. Following this, on 11th September
1297, John de Warrene vice regent of Scotland
and Cressingham the exchequer/tax collector were defeated by Wallace.
Cressingham was killed. Warrene had ignored good advice to find a
fording point to cross the River Forth and so the knights were caught
on the narrow Brig o' Stirling, many having their throats cut and those
who fell off the bridge were drowned in their chain mail. Cressingham's
skin was flayed from his body and used as a belt to hold Wallace's broadsword,
such was the barbarity of the time.
In the interim Edward had formed a treaty with France, and Philip
IV abandoned his Scottish allies.By1298 Edward I returned hastily
from Flanders and summoned a parliament [French:"parley"] at York,
where he was granted money for military engagements in Scotland.
The Battle of Falkirk
On the 22nd of July 1299 [1298]3 the English
army was victorious at the Battle of Falkirk. Here Wallace faced
an angry English king who had at his disposal 25,700 troops, half of
whom were Welsh mercenaries. Rather than the king's deputies to face,
Wallace realised this was more serious, John
de Warrene, Earl of Surrey had returned
with Edward to help defeat Wallace. The success was achieved principally
by Edward's army using the Welsh longbow [even though the Welsh Gower
mercenaries apparently refused initially to fight] The longbow could fire
volleys of arrows rapidly and deeply into the Scottish schiltrons.
The Longbow
The Welsh longbow had been recognised Edward I during the
Welsh Campaign of 1282 to be a superb weapon. Light, easily transported
and devastating in its effects. By the 1350's the longbow was six
feet tall or as tall as a man. This longer bow gave greater leverage
to the arrow whereas the crossbow depended upon extreme tension of
the string to propel the quarrell and consequently took a longer time
to 'draw'.
The range of the longbow was about 400 metres and could,
with a metal tip [bodkin] pierce chain mail. The bow was constructed
of yew, maple or oak. Yew from Spain was particularly favoured. A trained
bowman could 'loose' one arrow every 5 seconds or about 12 per minute.
This rate of firing was the decisive characteristic over
the crossbow. A fletcher would ensure the arrow had evenly propotioned
flights. These flights were made from goose feathers. A person with
the surname Fletcher today can trace the origin of their name back to
this time.
Again the Welsh archers were used by Andrew Harclay at the
Battle of Boroughbridge [1322] to successfully repel the Northern rebels
during Edward II's reign. Both these successes at home later led to Edward
III deploying archers against armoured knights at the Battle of Crecy,
repeating these resounding successes.
|
This allowed the mounted knights to enter the defensive structures such
that one witness said "that bodies covered the field like snow".
Meanwhile, a young boy who was to become known as the ballad character,
'Robyn Hode', watched the battle from the hills above Falkirk making mental
notes of the efficiency of the longbow.
Following this victory, Edward returned to York for another parliament.
In the summer of 1300 he had 5,900 Yorkshiremen summoned to serve
in the war against Scotland. This would have been like using half of
the city of York's population at this time. In 1299 Edward had been forced
by circumstances to marry Margaret, the daughter of the king of France,
his greatest love Eleanor of Castile having died. Margaret sided against
Edward.
By 1304 Stirling Castle had been captured and Edward returned to York.
It was felt that the danger from Scotland was over and as a result
the Courts of the King's Bench and the Exchequer were removed from
the city of York where they had been held for seven years and taken to
the city of London.
For the next eight years until his death, Edward made march
after march from Berwick and Carlisle into Scotland, sacking abbeys
and beseiging castles using huge seige engines with pet names such
as "The War Wolf". Even Dunfermline Abbey, a holy site for the Scottish
was sacked in 1303 until eventually "The King's Peace" was signed in
1304 at Strathmore. Lairds of manors who pledged loyalty were given
their lands back. Wallace is considered to have used 'terroristic methods'
8 until his betrayal by his own countrymen when he was taken
to London and after a show trial, in 1305, was publicly executed
and disembowelled, such was the cruelty of the day. Search for:
'The Truth about William Wallace'
[interactive participation!]
However as one danger from the north disappeared, another
in the form of Robert de Bruce [Bruis], Earl of Carrick, of Scottish-Norman
descent, appeared as a leader for Scotish Nationalism. De Bruce essentially
used guerrilla tactics, living rough, attacking castles by night,
using grappling hooks and setting ambushes. This persisted as murderous
raids into northern England well after Edward I's death in 1307. This
type of un-knightly raiding had long been used by the Scottish
but De Bruce brought it to a fine art. One of the warnings Northern English
mother's would impart to their young sons to prernt them getting into scrapes
was 'be careful or The Bruce will get ye".
Edward I & III and the "Round
Table"
The so called "Round Table' is first mentioned in 1155,
which stated it was used by King Arthur to 
seat his barons around so that they would all be equal1.
This helped to prevent any one baron gaining precedence over another.
Malory referred to it as a wedding gift from Guinevere's father to Arthur.
Edward had a vision of himself as the new Arthur, as a unifier
of all of Britain against France in his claims towards Gascony. At
this time it would be difficult to discriminate between the French leaders
and those who governed England. They all spoke French, the courts were
held in French and the royal families were all from the same basic
stock and well intermarried.
Edward enjoyed staying at Winchester Castle the present
building dating from the early 1200's, however in 1302 Edward I and
his second wife, Margaret of France almost lost their lives at Winchester
Castle when their royal apartments caught fire.
It appears from scientific investigations, such as X-ray
techniques, dendrochronology and a study of the carpentry, that the
"Round Table" hanging in the great hall at Winchester castle was made
between 1250 and 1280, possibly 1270 although the most recent
provides a date of about 1290.9 This places its construction
about the middle of the reign of Edward I [1272-1307]. The script
is in a form prevelant on brasses of the 1200's. The table later gained painted
embellishments, namely in the time of Henry VIII such as a Tudor rose
in the centre, green and white Tudor colours and a painting of the regent
in the likeness of the young Henry VIII. This suggests Henry was at
pains to impress his legitimacy to the claim that he and his Tudor
family were heirs of Arthur. Both Henry Tewdor and Arthur being of Welsh
or "British" origin. To this end Henry entertained Charles V the Holy
Roman Emperor.in 1552
Some state the Round Table depicts 24 name-places around
the table, others 25 spaces [which includes the regent] and yet others,
26 shield blazons and summaries, each named after Arthur's greatest
knights. Two blazons are for the regent, one is three gold crowns on
a red background and the other is 13 gold crowns on a purple or blue
background. The actual summaries or names in script number 24 but
if the alternating coloured blazons or segments are counted this
could be 26, a conundrum created, but also solved by the painting of the
regent over possibly two segments. One segment that the regent's image would
have to be painted over would be the same colour as its adjacent one, hence
it was probably necessary to insert the regent over these two. This gives
the painting a slightly "off-centred" appearance. On the regent's left is
named Sir Galahad and on his right Sir Mordred. The number of knights invested
by Edward III, Edward I's grandson was also 26, this is believed
to be the number of knights in two opposing jousting teams.
But see
another possible reason- The Nottingham Coup by Edward III
Under Edward III the concept of knights being called to the Order of the
Round Table was compelling following his father's disastrous reign where
civil war was the disorder. Under Edward II there could have been no Round
Table discussions. To facilitate conflict resolution, from 1344, Edward
III appears to have had a House of the Round Table constructed at Windsor
Castle. Thomas Walsingham claimed that a structure 200 feet in diameter
and capable of seating 300 knights was built here in the castle grounds.
In 2007 an archaeological excavation team prepared the way by using ground
radar in the grounds of Windsor Castle. Here they found a remarkable circular
structure 298 feet in diameter beneath one corner of the upper ward of the
castle grounds. This building structure has been interpreted as the remains
of the Round Table House.9 However, the building may never have
been completed because King Edward required money for his French campaigns,
particularly the battle of Crecy [1346]. After the siege of Calais in 1347
Edward's advisors seem to have reconsidered the completion of such an elaborate
and expensive building which was essentially now purposeless. Instead, Edward
created the Order of the Garter whose ceremonies were held in St. George's
Chapel at Windsor Castle. When Windsor Castle was undergoing reconstruction
in the 1360's the House of the Round Table seems to have been demolished
by the arcitect William de Wykeham and the remains lay forgotten beneath
the castle grounds until their recent discovery.9
With the glorious victory over the French at Crecy, the baronial disunity
was dissipated and they gladly united behind their 'Perfect King'. From
being on their knees to the combined attacks of the Scots and French, the
English and their indomitable fighting spirit, under the control of their
Norman descendant rulers, emerged as a strong powerful nation.
26 Knights of Arthur
[Malory] |
26 Founder Kights
of the Garter
[Edward III] |
Arthur
Alynore
Bedwere
Blubrys
Bors
Brunor
Dagonet
Degove
Galahad
Gareth
Gawain
Hector
Kay
La Cote
Lamorak
Launcelot
Libeaus
Lucan
Lyonell
Mal Tayle
Mordred
Pellinor
Percival
Plomyd
Safer
Tristan |
"Fraternity of St George"
Edward III
Prince Edward [The Black Prince],
John of Gaunt [Duke of Lancaster]
earl of Salisbury,
earl of Stafford,
earl of Warwyk [Warwick],
Sir James Audeley [Audley],
Balle [Walter Balieley],
John de ?Beauchamp,
Bedivere
de la Boleye,
Sir Batholemew Burghersh
Sir John Chandos,
Sir Hugh Courtenay,
Sir Jean de Grailly [a Gascon],
John Grey,
Henry Grosmont,
Oties Holland,
Thomas Holland,
Santal Labrychant,
Neele Loring,
John de Lysle,
Roger Mortimer [earl of March]
Percival
Myles Stapleton,
Trotfleur.
They filed into St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
on the 10th August 1348 in pairs, the
lines parting to seat themselves behind either the king
or the Black Prince. They faced
each other across the chapel like the opposing tournament
teams they were meant to represent. |
1307-Edward I died at Carlisle whilst on his way to Scotland. He
requested that his flesh be boiled from his bones and that these then
be carried with the English army wherever it went in Scotland. To some
extent Edward the I had reformed the British Isles into what is today
called Britain and achieved the vision of an Arthurian Britain united
eventually in the 1700's under one flag.
# Note: Christ's Cross- It has
been estimated that if all the pieces claimed to be taken from Christ's
Cross as 'Holy relics' were gathered together in one place they could
be used to construct a sizeable ship!
Sources:
1. Wace, Robert. Roman de Brut.
2. Malory, Thomas. Morte D'Arthur.
3. Schama, Simon. The History of Britain, BBC Publications,
2000.
4. Bullmer's Gazeteer, The History of Yorkshire,
1892.
5. Treasures of Britain, AA Publications, 1970.
6. Bedingfield, Henry. Heraldry, 1970.
7. Johnson, Paul. The Life and Times of Edward III,
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1973.
8. Andrews, Allen. Kings and Queens of England and
Scotland,
Marshall Cavendish, 1976.
9. Article by Richard Barber, History Today vol. 57 (8),
August 2007, pp. 12-18.
The British flag of today did not appear until after the unification
of England and Wales with Scotland. This is not the English flag as
commonly misconstrued which is a red cross on a white background, there
is a difference. Within the British flag or Union flag there is also the
Scottish Cross of St. Andrews, white diagonals on a blue background.
A version of the medieval Round Table, where each member
had equal authority led by the King.
From a French medieval manuscript of
the 1400's. The painting of the regent on the Winchester Round Table bears
a resemblance to this image.
Links:
Edward
II
Edward
III
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Text copyright © Tim Midgley 2001, revised 5th April,
2009.
