KONINKLIJK ATHENEUM KEERBERGEN Vlieghavenlaan 18 3140 Keerbergen Oliver OBrien Sebastiaan Niessen Thom Bielderman 6TWe

R.C.: Scotland

2011-2012

Dhr. F. Wouter

Table of contents:
p.2: Table of contents

p.3: Preface

p.4: Research- + Sub questions

p.5: Sources p.6: What was the relationship between Scotland and England in the 13 th and 14th century? P.6-7: In which aspects were the Scottish unsatisfied with the English rule?

P.8-9: Who played a significant role in the battle for Scottish independence in the 13th and 14th century? p.10: Conclusion

p.11: A word of thanking

Preface:
In the research competence we had to make for English this year, we asked ourselves a question about the beautiful Scotland. We wanted to know in what ways Scotland was able to become a partial independent state over the years of time. We struggled very hard to find the right way of working and challenged ourselves to do better. We were given a lot of help by numerous people, and this is the result.

 Research question:

o How did Scotland become a partially independent state?

Sub-questions:

o What was the relationship between Scotland and England like between the 13th and 14th century? o In which aspects were the Scottish unsatisfied with the English rule? o Who played a significant role in the battle for Scottish independence in the 13th and 14th century?

Sources:
A History of Scotland o Writer: Neil Oliver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Oliver) o Publisher: Orion books (http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/) o Published in 2009 A Short History of Scotland o Writer: Richard Killeen o Publisher: Gill & Macmillan o Published in:1998 A History of Scotland with Neil Oliver (DVD) o Publisher: BBC o Published in 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Scottish_history http://www.lothene.org/others/independe nce.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_Scottish_Independence http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_I_van_Schotland http://www.celticbritain.net/robertbruce.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bruce_robert_the.s html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace http://www.celticbritain.net/william%20wallace.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/independence/featu res_independence_wallace.shtml

How did Scotland become an independent state in the 14th century?

What was the relationship between Scotland and England in the 13th and 14th century?
A relationship between a dominator and his dominated lands has been, throughout the whole history of man, a poor relationship. King Edward I of England (who easily conquered Scotland in 1296) had countless problems with the Scottish. For instance Edward I had troubles with taxation of a distant land full of mountains and fjords. The taxes became especially hard to inn due to the Scottish, who were becoming more and more rebellious and nationalistic. One thing was certain: opposition towards the dominator was growing Most of the lowlands (in southern Scotland) were pro-Edward I. Those lands supported him in his war against France, in contrary to the highlands that were starting to feel the need of full independence. High taxation, brutalities from the dominating force, their nobles being imprisoned and executed were some of the many reasons why that feeling for independence grew. The Scottish werent against the English kings; in fact they accepted the over-lordship of the English kings, but only in theory. Edward I wanted the theoretical to become practical, with other words: he wanted supreme control over Scotland. But of course, the Scottish rebelled. The first rebellion was a partially unsuccessful rebellion of William Wallis in 1297-1305. Then with Robert Bruces 2 rebellions, the relationship between England and Scotland rapidly declined, even though it was already in a loathsome state. The English supporting their king Edward I, and the Scottish who swore by the mentioning of his name, the hate for the enemy grew with each passing second. This brought us to the conclusion that the relationship between Scotland and England was as dreadful and horrible as the battles between the two.

In which aspects were the Scottish unsatisfied with the English rule?
The most common reason why a group of people would fight against their oppressors is because they are oppressed: the brutalities and horrors that they have to live through makes them strive for a better and safer life. And if those brutalities are the cause of an invading

force, then it is that force which the oppressed group would create a resistance against. In this case the oppressed Scottish against the Invading English. The Scottish had no need of the English crown ruling them: they already had a king named Alexander III. But with his death he left only a daughter, Margaret, behind. She would marry the Prince of Wales, who was the first in line for the English throne. So, with other words, the annexation of Scotland would have been a peaceful process (with some minor opposition of nationalistic Scots). But since Margaret died young and before she was married, the annexation was a mere dream, that dream would be realised by king Edward I (see image to the right) who conquering Scotland in 1296. Taxation was another reason that angered the Scottish, Edward I demanded over the 200,000 in taxation from the Scottish parts alone for his campaigns in France. The barons of Scotland who couldnt afford or refused to pay the tax were imprisoned; William Wallis killed an English sheriff when he too refused to pay his taxes. This is marked as the start of Wallis rebellion. Besides being oppressed and having to pay extremely high taxes the Scottish were very nationalistic (Scottish lands ruled by a Scottish king). The Scottish stilt felt defeated after Edward I conquered Scotland. Also many Scots mourned the soldiers, friends and family who died fighting Edward I. But when Wallis refused to pay taxes and killed the taxman, a feeling of hope and need for an independent Scotland grew. The Scots wanted Edward Is hands out of their Scottish pocket and his chains off their Scottish necks. Also many Scots sought revenge for the deaths caused in Edwardss conquest. During Wallis and Roberts rebellion the nationalism in Scotland grew. And the deaths during battles made the hate and need of revenge grow exponentially. Bluntly: Edward had brought this on himself. When Edward was victorious in battle: the Scottish wanted revenge for the deaths of their family and friends. And when Edward lost the Scottish felt closer to ultimate goal: independence.

Who played a significant role in the battle for Scottish independence in the 13th and 14th century?
In the Fight for independence one can find many people who played a big role in this war, yet two stand out as the most important. First was William Wallis, whose name Waleis meant Welshman. He was born as a son of a knight and a land-owner, but little is really known of his youth, except he was educated (he could speak, read and write in French and read Latin) and he had some military experience. One should not base ones knowledge of Wallis using the movie Braveheart which only gives little information (most of which is false or exaggerated) on Wallis rebellion. But after killing the Taxman he soon got support: soon his rising gained momentum, as men oppressed by the burden of servitude under the intolerable rule of English domination joined him like a swarm of bees (http://www.bbc.co.uk). His headquarters were based in Ettrick Forrest, and he stuck at Scone, Ancrum and Dundee. With support from Andrew Murray in the north, and MacDougall in the west he soon drew strength in the south. With most of Scotland liberated he then faced the English army. On the 11th of September he and Murray achieved a victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, over 5,000 dead. But they were not fully victorious; Andrew Murray died two months later of a wound he suffered in that battle. What was remarkable was that Wallis, a mere knight, had power over the Scottish nobles especially in medieval times when everyone was obsessed with Hierarchy. When he was victorious in all of Scotland he took the battle to England, raiding the north of Newcastle. And because of the defeat at Stirling Bridge, the English nobles, who despised Edward I because of his conquests in France and Scotland, started to fear the new threat that was Wallis and stood behind Edward I. Due to misjudgement of the enemys tactics Wallis lost the battle of Falkirk. After the defeat in Falkirk Wallis became a diplomat for the Scots to the courts of Europe. He gained support of the French, but they eventually betrayed Scotland because they needed help from England to stop the revolts in Flanders (now Belgium). He also lost his Scottish support because he saw the English only as an enemy, but the Scottish nobles eventually wanted to make a deal with the English, so he was regarded a nuisance for both his fellow Scotsmen and the English. Edward I died in 1290 and his son Edward II followed in his footsteps, trying to re-gain control in Scotland.

He was soon betrayed by Sir John Menteith, who was later regarded as the great traitor of Scotland, and was brought to London for a show-trial. He was never offered a lawyer nor was he allowed to speak during the trial. One of his famous sayings was from that trial: when he was named a traitor to the English crown he spoke up and said I was never Edwards subject in the first place! His execution was slow and painful, all to represent his crimes. First he was wrapped in ox hide and dragged by horse though London, and then he was hung (to represent his crimes as a thief). Afterwards he was disembowelled, had his genitals cut off, his carcass was torn to pieces, his entrails, heart, lungs, lungs, etc. thrown on a fire then his head was chopped off and put on a pike on London bridge. Wallis successes were soon to be a reason for another significant player in the game of independence: Robert Bruce. He was born in 1274 and had French ancestry. Although he was a player in the Scottish independence, he supported Edward I in his invasion of Scotland (because his rival, John Balliol, was chosen to be king of Scotland after it was left without an heir because of Margret (daughter of Alexander III). But afterwards Bruce supported Wallis in his rebellion. After Wallis defeat Robertss lands werent taken away and he became a guardian of Scotland together with his rivals nephew John Comyn. While quarrelling with John over the Scottish throne Bruce stabbed and killed John, and was outlawed by Edward I. He claimed the throne but was soon disposed of by Edwards army, causing him to flee to Northern Ireland. Returning to England he launched a successful guerrilla war against the English, then later defeating Edward II (while being outnumbered) in the Battle Bannockburn in June 1314, this confirmed the re-independence of Scotland. But Edward II refused to give up his overlordship of Scotland and persisted. In 1320 Scotland wrote to the pope asking for recognition as an independent state (this is known as the Declaration of Arbroath); four years later they get it. But the pope also stated that the Scottish were allowed to attack England, only if England attacked France (this was made to settle things between England and France). The English disposed of Edward II in favour of his son, and peace was restored. King Robert died on 7th of June 1329.

Conclusion
The Scottish got their independence in the end, but with gallons of blood, sweat and tears. Their victories mark one of the most important in whole Scottish history, and also was a reason for the future struggles for independence, which they lost in 1333. After Bruces death his five-year-old son, David II, took his place. Edward III, seeing his chance took it and regained Scotland as a province of England. All the struggles of the Highlanders were lost, gone... But not forgotten...

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A word of thanking:

We would like to thank our English teacher Mister Wouters for helping us throughout this whole project, he has given us very good advice and he has given us the correct materials to help us. Also we would like to thank our parents for helping us where they could. Miss Tournaye also helped us, for which we also thank her. It has been a rough way, but we managed to deliver with your help.

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