Hiya I'm Bruce Fummey. Now today I'm in Berwick-upon-Tweed.
In medieval times this side of the river was Scotland
and that side was England and I've brought you here for part two of my
three-part series on the Second Scottish War of Independence.
Now in the last episode, Robert the Bruce died and Scotland had been invaded from
the south. Now if you haven't seen the first
episode and you don't want a spoiler, then click on the white tab
above. If you've seen it and you want to know what happens next, then this
is the video for you. Now if you're interested in the people, places and
events in Scottish history, then you can click on the subscribe
button at the bottom right hand side of the screen
at any time during this video, also don't forget you'll find additional
information, books to read and ways to support the channel
in the description below. In the meantime, let me tell you
a story. Okay, so Scotland was invaded. Normally the English invaded by sacking
Berwick here first, but this time a group of adventurers had
sailed to Fife. A large Scottish force lost a
humiliating battle against what essentially amounted to a small
mercenary force led by Edward Balliol, the son
of John Balliol, the former King of Scots, but though Balliol had himself crowned at
Scone, he didn't really have the support of the
country. Gradually he retreated closer to the
border and then precipitously crossed it
Something's alright again eh? Almost! Edward the Third of England had wanted to
invade himself in the first place, the only reason he
didn't was that the Treaty of Edinburgh Northampton precluded him,
and that's why he sent up a private army under John
Balliol. He couldn't believe his luck when Balliol got himself crowned.
It must have been like winning a scratch card!
So there are now two Kings of Scotland; David the Second, the son of Robert the Bruce, who
had succeeded his dad and Edward Balliol. He'd just crowned
himself at Scone, but he seemed an ineffectual king, a bit like his dad.
The thing is that Edward the Third now had an excuse to invade Scotland at the request
of that ineffectual King of Scots. True Edward's
King of Scots had had to flee Scotland in the night in his underwear,
but ... Edward sent Balliol back north on the 10th of March 1333 and he crossed
the border with his disgruntled, disinherited Scottish knights and
some English magnates in this case. Edward the Third was splashing out this time,
not only that but he himself would follow a couple months later.
If you're an English King wanting to take over Scotland, what do you do?
That's right, you lay siege to Berwick just like your grandad, let's face it I
didn't bring you here for the football! Incidentally can you let me know in the
comments section below if you think Berwick should be a Scottish town
or an English town? Now the Scots hadn't been hanging about either;
Archibald Douglas was now the Guardian of Scotland and in charge
of the Scottish army. The problem was that the English had positioned and
entrenched themselves very well and even as more and more
arrived to swell the Scottish ranks, it was looking like a difficult task.
Balliol had arrived in March to start the Siege of Berwick.
Edward the Third appeared in May. By June a combination of siege engines,
starvation and the English King's naval blockade out there, meant that Berwick was
close to falling. To encourage the Captain of the town
Edward had the Captain's two sons executed in front of him outside the
town walls. A truce had been agreed on condition
that if the town wasn't relieved by Scottish forces
entering by the 11th then it would be handed over
to the English. This was Bannockburn in reverse.
The English held Halidon Hill here and besieged the town of Berwick.
Douglas sent a cavalry force south of the border, across the Tweed
to approach Berwick over the bridge from Tweedmouth in England,
yah dancer! We did it didn't we? The English said 'no that doesn't count'.
What?! No you have to relieve the town from the north, from Scotland.
What?! How come is it that they get to make up the rules all the time?
Time was running out. The Scots and Archibald Douglas were in a bit of a
bind. Edward had one force besieging the town
and another well positioned up here in Halidon Hill. To get to Berwick,
Douglas had to go through these English forces and that meant attacking
from the other side of the hill up through a boggy field into withering
fire from English longbows. This seemed like a suicidal nightmare,
but it had to be done, and we did have more men than them.
Advancing shilterns that had worked so well at Bannockburn 30 years before
but that was when English archers were bogged down and out of the way,
they wouldn't be as successful today. Many of the Scots were cut down well
before they even reached the crest of this hill
where the fresh English men at arms were waiting for them.
It was a disaster! Thousands of Scots were killed.
Archibald Douglas, the Guardian of Scotland was amongst them.
Edward Balliol was reinstated as the puppet king of Scots.
He gave us fealty and allegiance to Edward of England
as he'd promised. He gave Berwick to the English
as he'd promised, but Edward wanted more; Roxburgh, Haddington, Edinburgh,
Peebles, Dumfries, Linlithgow, all fell into English hands. It was Edward
Plantagenet, not Edward Balliol who ruled the Scots.
The nine-year-old David the Second and his 12 year old wife Joan were sent to France
for safety. Now look at the disaster of Halidon
Hill. The defeat may seem complete, but that's because you don't understand
Scottish people or Edward Balliol's unpopularity for that
matter. Little by little loyalists took back
control of Scotland, pushing Balliol back to the border again. Disputes
amongst Balliol's supporters about who was entitled to what led to
defections and slowly but surely he had to retreat
back here to Berwick. I sometimes wonder if it was
Edward Balliol's character that was weak, or the memory of Robert the Bruce that
was still strong? Either way we were back in control.
Unfortunately that just annoyed Edward of England.
He didn't invade again? Aye, he did. Burning? Aye. Looting? Aye.
Buying up all the hooses in Skye? Aye. What about dodgy southern accents? The
lot!
Relief came from an ironic source. Back in 1297, Edward Balliol's dad, King John
Balliol, had struck an alliance with France. Now
if I don't have a film about that already it'll be
there shortly. The Auld Alliance was the reason that Edward the Third's granddad
Longshanks sacked Berwick and invaded Scotland in the first place,
and now it was that treaty, struck by daddy Balliol that would come back to
haunt baby Balliol. Philip the Sixth of France
raised an army of six thousand men and told Edward the Third, that if he didn't
agree to the arbitration of the Pope, then Philip would land that army in
Scotland. Not only that, but Edward was struggling to make inroads beyond the
lowlands of Scotland, I lied about the houses in Skye. He'd
burned Aberdeen to the ground but he'd done some bad stuff as well. The
French King provided resources for the Scots
loyalists and threatened the English from across the channel. Ultimately
Edward had to return south to deal with the French threat and little by little
the loyalists once more took Scotland back.
By winter 1338, loyalists controlled all of Scotland.
In 1341, the now 18 year old David came back to Scotland. The Bruce dynasty
was back on the throne and Scotland was free of the English yolk forever.
There's another episode. What do you mean there's another?
Oh shit, so Scotland's not free of the English yoke for .... aww?
Okay so there's one more episode in this series. If you like this one, then
watch that and give this one the thumbs up. You can also
support the channel - links below. in the meantime
Tha mi an dochas bum bith lath math leibh. Tiorridh an drasda.