My name s Bruce Fummey and thanks to the nice people  

at Perthshire Camper Hire, I m on a historical  journey along the Scottish English border.  

and today I want to take you to a castle.  

It s one of the most important  castles in Scottish history.  

It s where the fate of  Scotland was to be decided.  

Indeed the decisions made here are still a  topic of discussion and debate to this day  

but it s not even in Scotland. because THAT is Scotland  

on the opposite bank of the River Tweed If you re interested in the people,  

places and events in Scottish  history then click the subscribe  

button at the bottom right of the screen. In the meantime, let me tell you a story.  

Can you imagine what this castle  would have been like in its pomp?  

Imposing its magnificence as it cast  a watchful, yet confident eye over  

the Tweed to Scotland beyond. If you had been here in May 1291  

the castle would have been a hubbub of  activity with all the pomp of a royal visit.  

Edward I, the King of England was in town Actually at this point he  

seemed like he d be alright. Scotland and England were pretty matey.  

Edward s sister had been married to Alexander  III of Scotland, so recently deceased.  

Relations were OK. That s why Edward was here.  

Across on the other bank there would  have been an equally splendid circus of  

pageantry as the community of the realm  of Scotland gathered in its finery.  

Tents, horses, banners I m sure  would have flown in that field.  

It would have been the biggest three ring  circus the area would have seen in many a year.  

The reason they had come south. The reason Edward had come  

north was to resolve a problem that the  Scots trusted Edward to adjudicate.  

When Alexander died, his only surviving  heir was his wee granddaughter,  

who having been born to Alexander  s daughter and the king of Norway  

was known as The Maid of Norway. But catastrophe on calamity  

she had died on her way to Scotland and  Scotland was left with no royal family.  

No bad thing I hear you say, but in those days the  consequences were more than just finding homes for  

some overpampered corgis a kingdom needed a King.  

Now realistically there were two men who  had a reasonable claim to the throne.  

Robert Bruce No, not that guy, but his grandad.  

And with an even stronger  claim if only slightly  

was John Baliol, who was also supported by The Comyns  

the most powerful family in Scotland. You know that thing where you apply for  

a job and you ve got the qualifications AND you  re pally with somebody in the HR department  

So why had all these Scots come here. They wanted somebody to adjudicate  

between these two potential kings. Knowing that when one or other didn t  

get their way, there may be trouble ahead, they wanted the arbitrator to have enough  

military muscle so that the parties both of whom had lands in England  

would fall in line. Plus Edward was a good guy.  

Knows the law, stickler for  detail, honest broker  

He wouldn t do you a bad turn. What did Edward want.  

Well he wanted to turn this from a  friendly arbitration between two parties  

into the judgement of a group by a superior. That meant getting more than two claimants  

involved, getting those claimants  to accept his overlordship  

and getting the court of judgement to  sit in England rather than Scotland.  

So here in Norham Castle Edward  looked north to the Scots saying.  

Come over here. It s so lovely here. Let s settle things here.  

Across there the Scots said: No, you come over here.  

This is a Scottish dispute, to be  settled in Scottish lands and courts.  

So there s a bit of a stand off till eventually the Scots came over here.  

Then Edward says:  

Well for my judgement to have any authority  I kinda need to have authority over you,  

so if you could just acknowledge me as  your overlord, we can get on with things.  

Now Robert Bruce clicked the box to agree  the terms and conditions like he was buying  

a kindle book off Amazon. John Baliol wasn t so keen  

Now you may doubt me on this, but if you ve been following the  

channel then you ll know that each month I have a conversation with an expert,  

that can be viewed on the Patreon member pages, and I discussed the events that took place here  

in a fantastic hour and a half long  conversation with THE expert on this subject,  

Dr Fiona Watson, a friend of the channel. If you want to get a real insight then why  

not click the white tab up there to become a  Patreon member and watch the whole conversation.  

With Robert Bruce on board, Edward  brings in eleven more claimants  

including the King of Norway, the daddy of the dead Maid of Norway.  

When John Baliol and the Comyns saw  that the only way they could win  

was to have a seat at the table they fell into line too.  

But to qualify an English king to  rule on Scottish matters as a judge  

rather than arbitrator, one more thing was needed.  

The community of the realm would have to also  agree that Edward was overlord of Scotland.  

The Bishops knights and nobility on that northern  shore were going to have to accept his authority.  

That s when Edward ran into trouble. The Bruce s might go for it,  

the rag tag of other claimants with  little real chance, and often even less  

connection to Scotland might go for it. Scotland s most powerful family and their  

nominee might even reluctantly accept But the community of the realm said No!  

Eventually a deal was struck. Edward could be overlord of Scotland  

for the period of the deliberation, so that  the legal niceties could be achieved,  

but then power would revert  to its rightful place.  

The people of Scotland You probably know what happened next.  

Behind these walls Edward and his legal  team considered, pondered, reflected.  

When the deliberations were over the  decision was in favour of John Baliol.  

Then it was just a case of doctoring the  documents that limited his overlordship  

to the term of the arbitration and Edward was overlord of Scotland.  

What would have happened if the  Bruce s hadn t caved so quickly?  

If the whole community of  Scotland had all stood together  

on the other bank of the Tweed  against Edward s demands.  

If the whole nation had shown solidarity...  how might things have been different?  

This was the high point of Edward  s interventions in Scotland.  

He got what he wanted politically, but with  no violence and just a tiny bit of forgery.  

It was a cost-effective conquest indeed at least in the short term.  

It was the basis of Edward s subsequent  humiliation of John Baliol, invasion of Scotland  

and years of decimation and ravaging of this  whole area both north AND south of this border.  

The days of happy harmony  across the Tweed were gone.  

Much more was to come  

and we ll come back to Edward of England  before this border trip is over.  

If you d like more stories from the  Scotland England border then there s  

one coming up on screen now. In the meantime