man to deal with. Their uneasy relationship was first dissolved after an attempt was made in July 1299 to retake Roxburgh Castle in Lothian. The attack failed and as the disappointed party moved back into Peebles woods to reconsider their options a disagreement occurred over lands held by William Wallace, who, as Sir David Graham (a Comyn supporter) maintained, was leaving the kingdom without the guardians’ permission and, therefore, should forfeit them. In the argument that followed John Comyn leapt upon Bruce and seized him by the throat. The quarrel was only patched up when Bishop William Lamberton agreed to be appointed senior guardian over them both.
In the light of such disunity it was as well for Scotland that the English king was experiencing serious difficulties with his own nobles over mounting another ruinously expensive expedition against Scotland. Due largely to Edward’s inactivity the Scots were able to take the initiative. By the end of 1299 they succeeded in retaking Stirling Castle and plans were raised to bring the men of Galloway over to Scotland’s national cause. The latter, however, brought additional strains on the Scottish leadership. The Gallovidians were not only traditional separatists but long-standing enemies of the Bruces, whose estates adjoined their territory. Bruce undoubtedly had other serious disagreements with John Comyn but the need to preserve his family’s interests against the Gallovidians was the likely cause of his final resignation as joint guardian in early 1300. His place was taken by Sir Ingram Umfraville, a strong ally of the Comyns, while Bruce returned to his estates in the southwest where over the next two years he continued to direct opposition against the English.
Edward I pre-empted all Scottish plans affecting Galloway, however, when, in the summer of 1300 after much lobbying with his senior nobles, he headed another army into Scotland with the intention of subduing the southwest, including Galloway. This force was almost as large as that which faced Wallace at Falkirk but because of incessant rain and the Scots’ refusal to offer battle Edward had to be content with the capture of just one castle, that of Caerlaverock. On one occasion the guardians moved to prevent him crossing the River Cree in Galloway but at the approach of his heavy cavalry they thought better of it and fled into the hills. By the end of August Edward had returned to Sweetheart Abbey near Caerlaverock and while there, as a result of Scottish approaches to the Pope, he received a visit from Robert Winchelsey, Archbishop of Canterbury. Both countries had been protesting to the Pope about whether or not Edward’s occupation of an independent Scotland was legal and, as the result of Scottish advocacy in Rome, the archbishop brought the English king a papal bull ordering him to cease inflicting injuries upon the Scots and to withdraw from their country. Infuriated as he was Edward recognised the need for a pause in his military operations to marshal his counter-arguments, and therefore agreed to the request from Philip of France for a truce until May 1301 and to the release of Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, from prison. However, it did not change his determination to conquer Scotland for, while his experts were composing his response to the Pope, Edward started preparing for his sixth invasion in the summer of 1301.
On the Scottish side, during the spring of that year Bishop Lamberton attempted to keep the Bruce and Comyn factions from breaking apart completely by persuading John Comyn and Ingram Umfraville to resign in favour of a single ‘neutral’ guardian. The proposed candidate was Sir John Soules, related by marriage to the Comyns but a close neighbour of the Bruces. Soules assumed his post in the spring of 1301 in time to meet the next English invasion. A strong indication that Soules was in fact a nominee of John Balliol came through the new procedure that was adopted for documents sent under the seal of Scotland. These were issued under the name of King John, or of Edward Balliol as his heir, with the guardian standing as witness.
For his 1301 campaign which again aimed at destroying Scottish resistance in the southwest Edward I split his invading forces in two. One detachment under his command was to advance from Berwick on the east coast towards Stirling, while his son, Edward Caernarvon, Prince of Wales, was to move along the western side of Scotland; the intention was to close the pincers near Stirling and catch the defenders in a great net. However the strategy failed, largely because Soules slowed the king by threatening his lines of communication, while in the west Robert Bruce, who had built up his forces in Carrick, succeeded in holding on to Turnberry Castle until September. As a result the Prince of Wales got no further than Whithorn on Galloway’s southern coast and eventually returned to Carlisle before joining his father, who decided to spend the winter at Linlithgow.
Edward I chose Linlithgow as a convenient base in readiness for a further campaign during the spring of 1302 but in the face of French pressure he agreed to a nine-month truce which, in fact, meant there could be no further invasion of Scotland until early 1303. Throughout 1301 political events had swung in the Scots’ favour: at the papal court their brilliant advocate, Master Baldred Bisset, effectively demolished Edward’s arguments over his right to occupy Scotland and in the summer of the same year John Balliol was released from papal custody and allowed to return to his estates at Bailleul in Picardy. There was even talk of a French army being sent to reinstate him in Scotland.
These events were not to the liking of the English king nor Robert Bruce. While as a patriot he had demonstrated he would do everything possible to oppose English invasions, the restoration of John Balliol promised to bring Balliol’s son, Edward, to Scotland who would effectively block Bruce’s claim to the throne. In any case, while Bruce had fought for Scotland since 1297 he had arguably not exercised the influence in affairs he considered his position warranted. He had been unable to exercise his due powers as joint guardian through the hostility of his fellow titleholder towards him and his supporters. His Scottish estates had been devastated and the chance of John Balliol resuming power not only threatened his ambitions for the throne but endangered his chances of inheriting Annandale on the imminent death of his sick father. The prospect of the country being run by Comyns along with French forces committed to holding in trust any lands of nobles who, like himself, had opposed Edward I, was his worst nightmare. His best chance of securing his rightful estates lay with Edward I and because the Scottish patriots had turned to the Balliol family as their regal leaders, any chance Bruce might have with regard to the Scottish throne also seemed to lie in the hands of the English king. On the basis of such reasoning Bruce left the Scottish patriots and joined his father in the service of Edward I.
Despite their undoubted successes during 1301 the loss of Bruce, a leader of outstanding potential and de facto leader of his powerful family, was a major setback in Scotland’s struggle for independence and a great bonus for Edward. The importance of Bruce’s change of allegiance can be seen in the wording of the open memorandum drafted by the English king upon Bruce’s submission. By it Bruce’s titles and claims were acknowledged, including the key one to the Scottish crown – although how much Edward would have supported the latter in reality is open to question – ‘… (if) the Kingdom of Scotland may be removed from out of the King’s hands (which God forbid!) and handed over to Sir John Balliol or to his son or that the right may be brought into dispute, or reversed and contradicted in a fresh judgement, the King grants Robert that he may pursue his right and the King will hear him fairly and hold him to justice in the King’s court.’2
Along with Bruce’s defection the Scots suffered other serious setbacks during 1302. On 11 July the French cavalry were defeated by Flemish peasant soldiers at Courtrai and the importance of France’s support for Scotland was weakened proportionately. At about the same time relations between France and the papacy broke down and by August Pope Boniface was writing to the Scottish bishops ordering them to recognise Edward I as their legal ruler.
Notwithstanding, military resistance continued to be mounted against the English. In November 1302, immediately after the expiration of the truce between the two countries, the English king despatched a large reconnaissance force into the countryside southwest of Edinburgh to gather information for his projected expedition the next year. The Scots, under John Comyn and Simon Fraser, with William Wallace a likely addition to their ranks, fell upon the leading elements and at Roslin inflicted heavy casualties upon them. However, no such reverse could prevent Edward I’s full-scale invasion in the following spring. In early 1303 the Scots took the field first and succeeded in capturing Selkirk Castle but the English appeared unstoppable;
