Hammers of the Scots A History of Scotland


Hammers of the Scots

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It's mid-winter, 1230.

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A horrific scene is played out in the middle of a busy market square.

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An infant child is held up to the crowds.

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BABY CRIES

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Seconds later, she's dead.

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Not far from the scene sits the man who ordered her murder.

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Meet Alexander II, King of the Scots.

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70 years later, the skin is flayed from the back of a hated English cleric.

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Meet the man who had that skin fashioned into a sword belt -

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William Wallace, rebel, fugitive.

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This is the story of two ruthless men -

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Alexander II, who forged Scotland in blood and violence.

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And William Wallace, whose resistance to the nation-breaking

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King of England, hammered national consciousness into the Scots.

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This is the River Tay, just north of Perth.

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It runs past Scone, the ancient inauguration site of the Kings of Scotland.

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On a cold December morning in 1214, a 16-year-old boy journeyed across this river heading for Scone.

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His elderly father William had died the night before, but there was no time for mourning.

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This quick-tempered teenager was about to become the next King of Scots, Alexander II.

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Alexander is descended from a powerful dynasty of kings, traditionally known as the Canmores.

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A family who, for generations, fought to preserve their bloodline and kingdom.

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Alexander was an only son. From a young age he had been

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destined for greatness, but he wasn't Alexander the Great just yet.

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The kingdom he inherited was smaller than the Scotland we recognise today.

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It rubbed shoulders with a patchwork of other peoples and different languages.

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To the north, the Earldoms of Caithness & Sutherland.

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To the west, the Gaels of the Hebrides and the Isles.

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And in the south, the fiercely independent Lordship of Galloway.

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But England, England was bigger, stronger, richer than them all.

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And for nearly 200 years, the English kings said the Kingdom of Scots belonged to them.

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The English were the overlords.

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It was all a game, in which what you said you owned, mattered every bit as much as what you actually held.

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The early Canmores had played the game, had recognised English superiority,

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but subservience was not Alexander's style.

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As far as Alexander was concerned, he was every bit the equal of an English king.

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Call it brash, call it arrogant,

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he was a on a mission to free his kingship from English overlordship once and for all.

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But Alexander had a problem.

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If he hoped to free Scotland from overlordship,

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he would first have to resolve a bitter dispute with the King of England,

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King John.

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Northumbria, Cumberland and Westmorland were territories

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to which both the Kings of England and the Kings of Scots laid claim.

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To settle the argument, Alexander's father had given both money

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and two of his daughters to King John of England.

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But John had reneged on the deal.

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Now Alexander was determined to take back what was rightfully his.

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Alexander wasn't the only one with a grudge against King John.

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There was a long queue of English barons with similar grievances.

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Their biggest gripe against King John was that he had bled them dry

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with his constant requests for money to fund his war in France.

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In protest, they drew up a list of over 60 demands.

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'All hostages and charters shall...'

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'All cities, boroughs, towns and ports shall enjoy...'

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'Officials will not seize any land...'

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'You shall do this without destruction or damage...'

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The document became known as Magna Carta.

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The barons added Alexander's claim to the disputed northern territories

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to the bottom of the list, in Clause 59.

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A promise to "do right" by Alexander, King of the Scots.

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"Alexander, the King of the Scots,

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"concerning the return of his sisters and hostages, and his liberties and his right,

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"according to the way in which we..."

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King John had no option but to agree to the barons' demands.

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He affixed his seal to the charter.

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But no sooner had he done so, he rejected it, calling it "mere foolishness".

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Enough was enough.

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The barons decided to rid themselves of King John.

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England plunged into civil war.

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This was too good an opportunity to miss.

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A chance to reclaim the border lands he believed were rightfully his.

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So, he invaded northern England.

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He laid siege to Norham Castle.

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He burned Newcastle to the ground, and he took Carlisle.

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This impassioned teenager meant business.

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Alexander was no stranger to the battlefield.

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Despite his tender years, he'd served his military apprenticeship aged only 14,

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when he led his father's army.

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After crushing Gaelic rebels in the north of Scotland, Alexander earned the respect of his men.

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Two years later, Alexander won the respect of the rebellious English barons as he took on their King.

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Now, with King John on the defensive,

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the barons in the north of England decided to switch allegiance and form a pact with Alexander.

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On 11 January 1216, in Melrose Abbey, the northern barons lined up

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to swear fealty to the King for their lands.

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And that king was the King of Scots.

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As far as Alexander was concerned, now that the northern barons

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had paid homage to him, the disputed border lands were his.

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He had avenged his father.

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While Alexander tightened his grip in the north,

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the English barons in the south turned to John's enemy, the French, for help.

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The barons invited Prince Louis to England to take the English crown.

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He accepted. In the spring of 1216, the French prince and his army sailed for England.

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Opportunity knocked again.

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Alexander planned to cut a deal with the French prince.

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In return for his support, Alexander intended to press Louis

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to recognise the disputed northern territories as Scottish.

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In a stroke, the English Crown's claims of overlordship would be swept aside.

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So, he did something no Scottish monarch had done before, or since.

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He marched an army all the way to Dover.

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Meeting little resistance on his way south, he joined forces

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with the French army and together they laid siege to Dover Castle -

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the key to England.

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In all the wars with England, no other Scottish king ever came so far.

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It was an incredible achievement.

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Alexander's head must have swelled with every passing day.

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He was 17 and he was on the brink of achieving his family's longest-held ambition.

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Half of Britain was nearly his.

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But then fate dealt a devastating blow.

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King John died.

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On the face of it, his death should have been good news for Alexander,

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but with John out of the way, the need for the barons' war vanished.

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The barons who had once opposed King John now flocked to his son's side - the new King, Henry III.

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Both Alexander, King of Scots,

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and Louis, the French prince, had out-grown their usefulness.

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The English barons sent them packing.

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There was no deal for Alexander; all of his grand ambitions fizzled out.

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Henry III re-issued Magna Carta and all references to Alexander's claims were omitted - not even a footnote.

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Despite loud protests, the ground was cut from beneath his feet and he was left out in the cold.

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And, it got worse. The Pope gave his backing to Henry III.

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Alexander found himself excommunicated...

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..the powers of the Scottish church suspended.

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Back to square one.

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It stung. The Pope chastised him like a wayward son,

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ordering the truculent teenager to return his English conquests

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and pay homage for them to the King Of England -

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the nine-year-old King of England.

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In Northampton, on 19 December 1217,

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Alexander, bereft of allies, paid homage to the child king, Henry III.

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His ambition of ruling the northern territories of England was over.

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Deflated, Alexander returned to Scotland.

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His ambitions shattered, his morale was at an all-time low.

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He came here, to Arbroath Abbey to pay respects to his father William,

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who had also failed to regain the northern territories.

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If Alexander had learnt anything from the war in England,

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it was that the northern barons had felt English, not Scottish.

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They had chosen Henry as their king, not Alexander.

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The English barons knew instinctively who their king was.

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But could the same be said for the Scottish nobles?

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The Scottish nobles were split between two powerful factions.

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In the south were the descendents of Norman families,

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invited to settle in southern Scotland by the early Canmore kings.

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Helping to build many of the great border abbeys and cathedrals, they changed the face of Scotland,

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transforming it into a more European-looking kingdom.

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In the north were the territories of powerful Gaelic earls,

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whose ancestors had forged the Kingdom of Scots.

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But these were the very Gaelic lords that Alexander's family had rejected in favour of a Norman future.

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The old Gaelic elite became side-lined.

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Once upon a time, they'd helped run the kingdom.

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Now, they were called things like "Divider of the King's Meat",

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while the French-speaking bratpack of Norman lords

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received titles like "Chancellor" and "Constable of Scotland".

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One chronicler of the time wrote, "The modern Kings of Scotland

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"count themselves as Frenchmen in race, manners, language and culture;

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"they keep only Frenchmen in their household and following,

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"and have reduced the Scots to utter servitude".

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Some Gaelic nobles adopted the Norman ways,

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but others returned to their own lands, beyond the reach of the King of Scots.

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The semi-independent Gaelic lands of Galloway, Argyll, Ross, Sutherland

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and Caithness, sometimes subject to the King Of Scots, sometimes not.

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And beyond them, Alexander's rule petered out completely.

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The Hebrides and the Northern Isles -

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all lands claimed by another aspiring and aggressive kingdom...

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Norway.

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It was messy, too messy for Alexander's liking.

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He would never throw off English claims of overlordship

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until all the Scottish nobles acknowledged him as their king.

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It was time for a new approach and a new deal.

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Alexander decided to strike a balance

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between Norman innovation and Gaelic tradition.

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In his new Scotland, both would be allowed to flourish.

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He invited the Gaelic warlords back in from the cold.

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In return for some of the top jobs, they would fight his battles.

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They would help him conquer Scotland, territory by territory.

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His first test came from the north, when the men of Caithness roasted one of Alexander's bishops alive.

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Alexander returned the compliment in spades.

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In Ross, challengers to Alexander's succession rebelled against him.

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In response, Alexander's Gaelic warlords severed the leaders' heads and presented them to him as a gift.

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In the west, Alexander pressed on again,

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down the Great Glen to Lochaber and beyond to the Isles, to attack the lands of the Norwegian king.

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Mercy and compassion were never Alexander's strong points.

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The man who would be King of all Scotland

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proved to be utterly ruthless from the moment he set out to subdue it.

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A symbol of just how far he would go to secure his kingship was in his treatment of a baby girl.

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Alive, she represented a rival claim to his throne.

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In Alexander's eyes,

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she was just as much of a threat as any sword-wielding assassin.

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He took no chances.

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The infant was a distant relative of the Canmore line.

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Her fate was recorded by the Lanercost Chronicle.

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"The daughter, who had not long left her mother's womb,

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"innocent though she was,

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"was put to death in the view of the market place.

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"Her head was struck against the column, and her brains dashed out."

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Alexander now had what he wanted.

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Her elimination killed off the last threat to the Scottish Crown.

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This terrible and shocking act was remembered for generations to come.

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And that was the point.

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Loud and clear, the King of Scots let it be known:

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this is what will happen to anyone who crosses my path,

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however young, however innocent.

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But his actions had delivered results.

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Something new had emerged.

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Alexander's victories had not only brought peace, but something far more enduring.

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One people, one kingdom.

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Now everyone was subject to one king and that made them one people - Scots.

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Alexander had restored the esteem of his Kingdom to such an extent

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that King Henry III of England agreed to a border, established for the first time in 1237.

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Psychologically, that was a big step.

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Now Scots could say,

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"This is Scotland, that is England, and WE are different."

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Alexander's 35-year reign ended when he died on 8 July 1249.

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His kingdom stretched all the way from Caithness in the north, to the Solway Firth in the south.

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That was the legacy of Alexander II.

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MUSIC PLAYS

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# Ex te lux oritur o dulcis Scocia

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# Qua vere noscitur fulgens Norwagia

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# Que cum transvehitur Trahis suspiria... #

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In the years following his death, a stronger, more confident Scotland entered a Golden Age.

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His son, Alexander III, inherited the family firm.

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Times were good. Scotland prospered and culture flowered.

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England now saw Scotland differently.

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Suddenly, the Scots were worth getting into bed with.

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Claims of overlordship were replaced by offers of marriage.

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And so it was that at Christmas 1251,

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Alexander III, King of the Scots,

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married Princess Margaret of England.

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It was an ostentatious display of wealth and power and the message was clear.

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Scotland was determined to be seen as an equal partner, an equal kingdom.

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Eyeing the proceedings was the bride's brother, the young Prince Edward.

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Heir to the throne of England, this long-legged, blue-eyed boy was the epitome of an English prince.

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But more penetrating eyes could see beyond the image.

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This boy's life would be less than saintly.

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Edward had a taste for violence.

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The chronicler Matthew Paris famously recalled

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how the young prince got one of his followers to attack a man,

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cut off an ear and gouge out an eye.

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Paris wondered what kind of king he would make:

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"If he does these things when the wood is green, what can be hoped for when it is seasoned?"

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As time passed, Edward grew into a formidable and skilful warrior.

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He indulged his lust for war by heading off on crusade to the Holy Land.

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On his return, he is every inch the hero, and at last crowned King of England.

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But while Edward's life took on the glow of a medieval Boy's Own Story,

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Alexander III's life turned into Greek Tragedy.

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In the space of nine years, Alexander III lost his wife,

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Edward's sister, and all three of his children.

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The Canmore dynasty was withering on the vine.

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Edward was shocked, and sent a letter of condolence to his brother-in-law.

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Alexander's reply to that letter seems to suggest a genuine warmth between the two kings.

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"You have offered much solace for our grief by saying

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"that although death has borne away your kindred in these parts,

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"we are united together perpetually, God willing,

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"by the tie of indissoluble affection."

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Then, in March 1286, Edward heard about another death, Alexander.

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The King of Scots had finished his business in Edinburgh

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but he was desperate to travel the 20-odd miles to here at Kinghorn

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and the royal palace where his new young wife, Yolande, was waiting for him.

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His advisors begged him not to go, it was a foul night, dark and stormy,

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but the warnings went unheeded and somewhere near here

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Alexander became separated from his guides and was thrown from his horse.

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They found his body on the beach the next morning, the neck broken.

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Edward mourned the death of his brother-in-law.

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Though some would say that he shed crocodile tears.

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He may have been related to Scotland's royal family -

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his father may have recognised Scotland's sovereignty -

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but Edward was descended from a long line of English kings

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who claimed to be her overlord.

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A claim that Edward had not forgotten.

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And now the kingdom's future

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hung by a thread.

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Next in line to the Scottish throne

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was Alexander's three-year-old grand-daughter

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and Edward's grand-niece, Margaret, known as the Maid of Norway.

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The child Margaret was the last direct link with the Canmore dynasty.

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Her marriage to Edward's son was speedily arranged.

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As far as Edward was concerned,

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as soon as the ink on the marriage agreement was dry,

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Scotland would belong to him.

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The logic was simple.

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Medieval women were property.

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What they owned belonged to their husbands.

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What the Maid owned, once she was married, would belong to Edward's son.

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Then in October 1290, the Maid died.

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The house of Canmore was finished.

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Scotland was without a royal family.

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For Edward, this was an act of divine providence.

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The succession was in doubt because there were two leading contenders vying for the Scots throne.

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John Balliol and Robert Bruce the Elder

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were from two of Scotland's most powerful families.

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Both had enough military muscle to back their claim on the field.

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Scotland was divided.

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It fell to the Guardians, men chosen to govern the realm in the absence of a king, to prevent civil war.

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But they needed help. An impartial, friendly arbitrator.

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Someone with experience. Someone who could command respect.

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Who else but King Edward I?

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Internationally respected monarch, and master of the law.

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After all, relations between the two kingdoms were amicable and Edward was family.

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There was no reason to doubt him.

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Edward called for a parliament to be held on 6th May 1291 to decide the future of the Scottish crown,

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and the location he choose was Norham - over there, on the English side of the River Tweed.

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The Scots smelled a rat.

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The future of Scotland to be decided in England? It wasn't right.

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So the Scots stalled on the Scottish side of the river.

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It was a stand-off.

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It didn't take Edward long to reveal his true colours,

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his real intention.

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He sent word to the Scots that the parliament would not start

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until the Guardians and the claimants for the throne of Scotland

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acknowledged his position as superior overlord of Scotland.

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The Scots were stunned.

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60 years of peace and now this.

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They would not give up their hard-won autonomy.

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One of the six Guardians of Scotland was Bishop Wishart of Glasgow.

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A shrewd and powerful figure, Wishart, a bulldog of a man.

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True to style, he delivered Scotland's response in person.

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He told Edward to his face.

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'The Scottish Kingdom is not held in tribute or homage to anyone save God alone.'

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Edward shrugged off Wishart's words of defiance.

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Although Bruce and Balliol had the only serious claims, Edward decided to change the rules...again.

0:27:530:27:59

He produced 11 more claimants from leading noble families and declared

0:28:040:28:09

that if they didn't acknowledge his overlordship, they would be eliminated from the contest.

0:28:090:28:14

The Scots were outmanoeuvred.

0:28:150:28:17

If Bruce and Balliol wanted the job of King of Scots,

0:28:210:28:24

they had no choice but to agree to Edward's terms.

0:28:240:28:28

One by one, the now 13 claimants, along with the Guardians of Scotland,

0:28:300:28:35

swore fealty to Edward, the King of England,

0:28:350:28:37

as "superior and direct overlord of the kingdom of Scotland".

0:28:370:28:42

Edward had what he wanted.

0:28:460:28:48

It made no difference to him who was actually chosen.

0:28:480:28:52

He already had all the claimants' oaths of subservience in the bag.

0:28:520:28:56

In the end, it was John Balliol who emerged as the heir to the throne.

0:28:560:29:00

Edward had it all stitched up.

0:29:040:29:06

He was Scotland's superior overlord and not a drop of blood had been spilt.

0:29:070:29:11

Wishart's deepest fears were being realised before his very eyes.

0:29:130:29:18

He didn't hang around long.

0:29:180:29:20

He'd seen enough.

0:29:200:29:22

No longer a Guardian, Wishart returned to Glasgow.

0:29:220:29:26

The new King of Scots, John Balliol, had to pay homage and swear fealty to Edward for his kingdom...

0:29:260:29:32

a second time.

0:29:320:29:34

Edward's authority was absolute.

0:29:340:29:37

He could do exactly as he wanted...

0:29:370:29:41

and he did.

0:29:410:29:43

In 1294, Edward demanded Scottish troops for his war against France.

0:29:450:29:49

Then he summoned Balliol himself to fight.

0:29:490:29:54

The King of Scots to do military service for the King of England?

0:29:540:29:58

It seemed unthinkable.

0:29:580:30:00

At a stroke, the achievements of the Canmores -

0:30:020:30:05

the forging of Scotland, its status as a separate and distinct entity, was in peril.

0:30:050:30:12

It was time for action.

0:30:120:30:16

Bishop Wishart and the other Scots leaders realised Balliol was no match for Edward.

0:30:160:30:21

At a parliament in Stirling, they debated what to do about Balliol.

0:30:210:30:26

Wishart had no qualms.

0:30:370:30:39

By the end of the meeting, the Bishop's radical view prevailed.

0:30:390:30:43

'A new Guardianship was established. A council of 12 men was selected

0:30:450:30:49

'to run the affairs of the kingdom in Balliol's name.'

0:30:490:30:53

Balliol was to be reduced to a figurehead,

0:30:530:30:56

to be wheeled out to play the role of ruler.

0:30:560:30:59

Now, the real governors of Scotland laid plans to fight Edward.

0:30:590:31:05

As Wishart saw it, the council had two tasks -

0:31:090:31:12

negotiate a treaty with France and prepare the country for war.

0:31:120:31:16

France was Edward's enemy. Military support from them

0:31:200:31:24

would mean the Scots stood a chance against Edward's forces.

0:31:240:31:28

In the late summer 1295, a delegation left Stirling for Paris

0:31:280:31:33

to negotiate a treaty with the French king. The terms were simple.

0:31:330:31:38

Should Edward attack France,

0:31:380:31:40

then the Scots would wage war against the English.

0:31:400:31:43

In return, the French promised support should Scotland be attacked.

0:31:430:31:47

The French agreed.

0:31:470:31:50

When Edward went to war against France in 1296,

0:31:500:31:53

the Scots duly marched into England.

0:31:530:31:55

The fuse was lit.

0:31:550:31:57

Wishart waited for Edward's inevitable onslaught. It came.

0:31:570:32:02

On 30 March 1296, Edward's army crossed into Scotland.

0:32:020:32:08

Edward wasn't a man to do things by halves.

0:32:150:32:19

At around 30,000 strong,

0:32:190:32:20

this was the largest army that had ever been sent north.

0:32:200:32:24

First stop, Berwick-upon-Tweed.

0:32:240:32:27

As the Easter celebrations were drawing to a close,

0:32:320:32:35

Edward crossed the Tweed.

0:32:350:32:36

The feeble, timber fortifications offered no resistance.

0:32:360:32:40

What followed was one of the worst massacres

0:32:400:32:42

in British medieval history.

0:32:420:32:44

For two days, streams of blood flowed from the bodies of the slain.

0:32:500:32:53

For his tyrannous rage,

0:32:530:32:55

he ordered 7,500 souls of both sexes to be massacred.

0:32:550:32:59

Mills could be turned round by the flow of their blood.

0:33:040:33:08

Despite the surrender of the local garrison,

0:33:130:33:15

Edward set about the wholesale slaughter of the town's population.

0:33:150:33:19

The orgy of violence only came to an end

0:33:190:33:21

when the frantic pleading of local clergy

0:33:210:33:24

moved Edward to show at least some pity.

0:33:240:33:27

But Berwick was just a warm-up.

0:33:270:33:30

Edward's reputation would now precede him,

0:33:390:33:42

as he advanced north into the heartlands of Scotland.

0:33:420:33:45

After defeating the large, but inexperienced Scots army at Dunbar,

0:33:450:33:50

resistance to Edward buckled.

0:33:500:33:52

Castle after castle fell.

0:33:520:33:54

Most of the Scots nobility were captured and imprisoned.

0:33:560:33:59

'It was over.

0:33:590:34:02

'Now, Edward wanted the man he believed responsible.

0:34:020:34:05

'Balliol, the lamb caught amongst the wolves.'

0:34:050:34:09

It took Balliol eight days to negotiate his surrender,

0:34:140:34:17

which was hardly surprising, as he had a lot of explaining to do.

0:34:170:34:21

Edward was angry.

0:34:210:34:23

Balliol had acted contemptibly and illegally.

0:34:230:34:26

He was Edward's man, and yet, he had conspired with the French

0:34:260:34:30

and attacked English soil.

0:34:300:34:32

He was a defaulting vassal, who would have to be punished,

0:34:320:34:35

along with the Scots, if they refused to submit.

0:34:350:34:38

But Edward wanted more than a simple surrender.

0:34:380:34:40

He wanted a show.

0:34:400:34:42

Paraded as a penitent before Edward,

0:34:490:34:51

Balliol was stripped of his kingship.

0:34:510:34:53

The royal insignia ripped from his clothing,

0:34:530:34:56

earning him the cruel nickname, Toom Tabard. Empty suit.

0:34:560:35:00

King Nobody.

0:35:000:35:02

Broken and humiliated, Balliol was sent to the Tower of London

0:35:040:35:09

and then to exile in France.

0:35:090:35:12

Not content to humiliate a man, Edward plundered the country.

0:35:120:35:15

'He set about systematically stripping Scotland

0:35:150:35:18

'of all her symbols of sovereignty and independence -

0:35:180:35:22

'the crown jewels, the black rood of St Margaret,

0:35:220:35:25

'the holiest and most venerated relic of Scotland.'

0:35:250:35:29

And the Stone of Destiny,

0:35:290:35:32

the centrepiece of Scottish king-making.

0:35:320:35:35

In the months that followed,

0:35:410:35:43

Edward decided to take a tour of his newly won kingdom.

0:35:430:35:46

But this was no tourist trip.

0:35:470:35:49

City by city, burgh by burgh, castle by castle,

0:35:500:35:55

Edward forced the Scottish nobles to sign up to his new regime -

0:35:550:35:58

to put their names to what became

0:36:000:36:02

the most infamous document in Scottish history.

0:36:020:36:05

The Ragman Roll.

0:36:110:36:12

Well, the Ragman Roll is a list of the Scottish nobles

0:36:140:36:19

who had to give homage to Edward I of England in 1296.

0:36:190:36:24

So, it's got about 1,900 names on it.

0:36:240:36:27

What is contained in all these endless lines of text?

0:36:270:36:31

What exactly are they signing up to?

0:36:310:36:33

Well, basically they had to pay homage to Edward I,

0:36:330:36:36

who had defeated the Scots at the battle of Dunbar,

0:36:360:36:40

and he was essentially the King of Scots now,

0:36:400:36:43

and they had to acknowledge him as their lord and master.

0:36:430:36:47

What are the famous names that would stand out?

0:36:470:36:50

Well, you've got a whole panoply of the Scottish nobility.

0:36:500:36:53

You've got the competitors for the throne,

0:36:530:36:56

the head of the house of Balliol, Bruce, the Stuarts are there,

0:36:560:37:00

there's a complete set of bishops, people like Bishop Wishart,

0:37:000:37:03

and then there's of course lot of knights

0:37:030:37:05

and lesser people who held land in Scotland at that time.

0:37:050:37:11

But it isn't just the names of the nobility and bishops

0:37:140:37:17

that appear on the Ragman Roll.

0:37:170:37:19

Representatives across the Scottish kingdom, religious and political,

0:37:190:37:23

were forced to fix their seals of submission.

0:37:230:37:26

Scotland was without a king.

0:37:280:37:30

Beaten, broken and humiliated.

0:37:310:37:34

The winter of 1296 was one of the country's darkest.

0:37:340:37:38

Edward left Scotland's governance to two trusted lieutenants

0:37:380:37:42

and returned to where he'd left off, fighting the French.

0:37:420:37:45

But in the rush to be rid of Scotland, Edward missed something.

0:37:520:37:56

Scotland had never been directly ruled by an English king,

0:37:560:38:01

so when Edward ordered the Scots to join his war in France,

0:38:010:38:04

the Scots grew resentful.

0:38:040:38:06

And when Edward imposed English taxes to pay for it,

0:38:080:38:11

the Scots grew rebellious.

0:38:110:38:13

Alexander II had given the Scots a united kingdom with a border,

0:38:160:38:21

a sense of who they were.

0:38:210:38:23

But within the space of a decade, all of this was swept away.

0:38:230:38:26

Edward had already absorbed Wales into his kingdom

0:38:260:38:29

and conscripted the Welsh into his armies.

0:38:290:38:32

Now, he proposed to do exactly the same thing to Scotland.

0:38:320:38:35

And it was the prospect of being absorbed by England

0:38:350:38:38

and being forced to fight Edward's battles

0:38:380:38:41

that tipped the Scots over the edge.

0:38:410:38:43

The first spark of resistance was struck in the Gaelic north.

0:38:550:38:59

It was a small act of defiance,

0:38:590:39:01

a single standard raised against Edward,

0:39:010:39:04

but soon, a myriad of flames engulfed the kingdom.

0:39:040:39:07

And among them was one man, William Wallace.

0:39:070:39:10

William Wallace. The Wallace.

0:39:180:39:21

For many, he is the ultimate freedom fighter, for others, a terrorist.

0:39:210:39:26

He is the enigmatic hero who appears from nowhere

0:39:260:39:29

to liberate his people and to shape history.

0:39:290:39:32

The Wallace story is one of the defining legends

0:39:320:39:34

of Scottish identity and the epitome of Scotland's story.

0:39:340:39:38

And yet, with all the mythologizing, we've lost sight of Wallace the man.

0:39:380:39:43

A remarkable man, but a man nonetheless.

0:39:430:39:47

The younger son of an obscure knight,

0:39:530:39:55

Wallace's destiny would be shaped less by himself,

0:39:550:39:58

more by the needs of others. And what Bishop Wishart,

0:39:580:40:03

the self-appointed chief of the Scottish resistance movement

0:40:030:40:07

needed right now, was time.

0:40:070:40:09

Scotland had run out of leaders.

0:40:130:40:16

Most of her nobles were either imprisoned

0:40:160:40:18

or had been forced to fix their seals to the Ragman Rolls.

0:40:180:40:21

Wishart could have been under no illusions

0:40:210:40:24

when the pair met here, at Glasgow Cathedral.

0:40:240:40:26

Wallace was no leader of armies,

0:40:260:40:28

but he was smart and he could fight, and he had the popular touch.

0:40:280:40:32

Most importantly, he could buy time for Wishart,

0:40:320:40:35

while the Bishop tried to raise the Scots nobles in Ayrshire.

0:40:350:40:38

An English chronicler put it simply,

0:40:380:40:40

"Wishart caused a certain bloody man, William Wallace,

0:40:400:40:43

"who had formerly been a chief of brigands in Scotland,

0:40:430:40:46

"to revolt against the King and assemble people in his support."

0:40:460:40:50

And that's exactly what Wallace did.

0:40:500:40:53

After killing the hated English sheriff of Lanark,

0:41:010:41:04

the very symbol of Edward's oppressive regime,

0:41:040:41:08

Wallace's rising swiftly gained momentum.

0:41:080:41:11

But the men who flocked to Wallace's side weren't of noble blood.

0:41:110:41:16

His army were peasants - humble folk, the middling sort.

0:41:200:41:23

The kind of people who had first hand experience

0:41:230:41:26

of Edward's policies of wringing as many men

0:41:260:41:28

and taxes from Scotland as he could.

0:41:280:41:30

If Wallace's army was to stand any chance

0:41:350:41:37

against Edward's mighty war machine, they needed space, open space,

0:41:370:41:42

and time to train.

0:41:420:41:43

Wallace knew this would be no easy task.

0:41:450:41:48

His army was used to the hit and run tactics of guerrilla warfare.

0:41:480:41:52

They had little experience of the battlefield.

0:41:520:41:55

The best he could offer his men was discipline.

0:41:550:42:00

By the late summer of 1297, Wallace's army was ready.

0:42:000:42:06

He joined forces with Andrew Murray, a nobleman's son

0:42:060:42:11

who had led a successful revolt in the north.

0:42:110:42:14

Together, they marched their men to intercept the English at Stirling.

0:42:140:42:19

It was only then, when the English woke up, they realised the handful

0:42:230:42:26

of rebels had swollen into a respectable sized army.

0:42:260:42:29

But the English captain, Warenne, wasn't alarmed.

0:42:290:42:32

His army, with its impressive heavy cavalry,

0:42:320:42:34

could take on any peasant rabble.

0:42:340:42:36

To confront the Scots, the English army had to cross the river Forth.

0:42:360:42:42

Easier said than done.

0:42:420:42:44

Deep and impassable, the Forth rises in the west

0:42:440:42:47

and flows east to meet the North Sea,

0:42:470:42:49

almost cutting the country in half.

0:42:490:42:51

The crossing point - a narrow, wooden bridge at Stirling.

0:42:550:42:59

When the English arrived, Wallace and Murray were waiting.

0:43:030:43:06

They knew the land and they understood the strategic importance

0:43:060:43:11

of the bridge across the Forth as the gateway to the north.

0:43:110:43:14

They positioned their army on the slopes of Abbey Craig,

0:43:140:43:17

about a mile from the bridge.

0:43:170:43:19

On September 11th 1297, both armies faced each other.

0:43:280:43:33

In bald terms, Warenne told the Scots to surrender.

0:43:380:43:42

Wallace told them,

0:43:440:43:45

"Go back and tell your people

0:43:450:43:47

"that we have not come for the benefit of peace,

0:43:470:43:50

"but to do battle to defend ourselves and liberate our kingdom.

0:43:500:43:54

"Let them come to us, and we will prove this in their very beards."

0:43:540:43:58

The English horsemen began to ride across the bridge.

0:44:010:44:05

Warenne suddenly exploded, he hadn't actually given the order to cross.

0:44:050:44:10

So he made his men come back to his side and regroup.

0:44:100:44:13

Then, on his command, they began to cross for a second time.

0:44:130:44:16

Wallace must have been amazed

0:44:160:44:18

by this comic display of arrogance and complacency.

0:44:180:44:21

But Warenne didn't care how it looked.

0:44:210:44:24

He didn't rate Wallace's army. As far as he was concerned,

0:44:240:44:28

this would be little more than a good training exercise for the men.

0:44:280:44:32

What they learned was how to die.

0:44:360:44:38

The English were trapped,

0:44:400:44:44

caught in the loop of the river with nowhere to go.

0:44:440:44:46

As the chronicler Guisborough said,

0:44:550:44:57

"There was indeed no better place in all the land

0:44:570:44:59

"to deliver the English into the hands of the Scots,

0:44:590:45:03

"and so many into the power of the few."

0:45:030:45:05

By nightfall, 5,000 English infantry and 100 knights had perished.

0:45:190:45:24

Among the English dead lay the body of the hated treasurer.

0:45:260:45:29

He'd been flayed alive.

0:45:290:45:31

The treasurer had taken the skin off Scots' backs,

0:45:310:45:34

and now they had done the same to him in return.

0:45:340:45:37

Wallace kept the skin. He had it fashioned into a sword belt,

0:45:370:45:41

a memento of the day's victory.

0:45:410:45:43

The defeat was a huge loss of face for Edward.

0:45:530:45:55

The great English army, the vast, Edwardian war machine

0:45:550:45:59

that had conquered Wales, that was famed throughout Europe,

0:45:590:46:02

had been defeated.

0:46:020:46:03

But hardest of all to swallow was the fact it had been defeated

0:46:030:46:06

by a bunch of peasant amateurs. Scots peasant amateurs, to boot.

0:46:060:46:11

It was at this time

0:46:110:46:12

that Edward first heard the name William Wallace.

0:46:120:46:15

We can be sure of one thing, he'd never forget it.

0:46:150:46:19

'The Scottish nobles were dumbfounded.

0:46:280:46:31

'Now they were forced to rub shoulders with the middling folk

0:46:310:46:34

'to make this man Guardian of Scotland.'

0:46:340:46:37

Murray, the noble who commanded the army with Wallace,

0:46:400:46:43

would have been their preferred choice,

0:46:430:46:45

but his death after Stirling Bridge ruled that out.

0:46:450:46:49

Here at Kirk of the Forest,

0:46:530:46:54

Wallace the outlaw became Sir William Wallace,

0:46:540:46:57

the Guardian of Scotland.

0:46:570:46:59

He was the hero of the hour, for now.

0:46:590:47:01

But despite his victory, there were those who didn't approve

0:47:030:47:06

of a mere commoner being given such a big job.

0:47:060:47:09

After all, what did he know about politics and kings?

0:47:090:47:12

But none of that mattered at the moment.

0:47:120:47:14

What did matter was that he had proved himself in battle

0:47:140:47:17

and his job was only half done.

0:47:170:47:19

Only when John Balliol was restored to the throne

0:47:190:47:23

could Scotland be free.

0:47:230:47:24

Wallace had proved to be Edward's equal in every regard except status.

0:47:320:47:36

He was brutal, he was ruthless, he fought on Edward's terms.

0:47:360:47:41

He played dirty.

0:47:410:47:43

The defeat at Stirling Bridge had angered Edward.

0:47:430:47:46

Now he wanted revenge.

0:47:460:47:48

By July, his vast military machine,

0:47:530:47:55

composed mainly of newly conquered Welsh, crossed into Scotland.

0:47:550:48:00

As Edward advanced north, he encountered a wasted landscape.

0:48:000:48:05

There was no sign of Wallace,

0:48:050:48:07

but he could see his handiwork in every burnt-out farm.

0:48:070:48:09

Weeks passed, there was still no sign of him.

0:48:090:48:13

But then, the logic of Wallace's strategy became obvious.

0:48:130:48:16

Denied food supplies, the English army started to starve,

0:48:160:48:19

and fighting broke out between the English and Welsh infantry.

0:48:190:48:23

Edward's army was close to disintegration

0:48:230:48:27

when it finally arrived at Linlithgow's town walls.

0:48:270:48:32

He realised he might have to abandon the war altogether,

0:48:320:48:36

unless he could find Wallace, and fast.

0:48:360:48:39

'The scouts reported that the Scots army

0:48:410:48:43

'was less than 20 miles away, at Falkirk.

0:48:430:48:46

'Edward force-marched his men until they came upon Wallace.

0:48:460:48:49

'The Scots were dug in - four schiltroms, bristling with spears.'

0:48:490:48:54

Edward's propaganda machine had gone into overdrive.

0:48:540:48:57

The English troops weren't expecting to see Wallace the man,

0:48:570:49:01

rather, Wallace the monster,

0:49:010:49:03

an ogre who would quite literally skin them alive.

0:49:030:49:06

And of course, it was Edward who had unleashed the monster.

0:49:060:49:10

He had unmade Scotland, taking it apart bit by bit,

0:49:100:49:14

and Wallace was the result.

0:49:140:49:17

Edward was unconcerned - it would all be over soon. And it was.

0:49:270:49:31

In a hail of arrows,

0:49:310:49:33

Edward's archers began the slaughter of the infantry.

0:49:330:49:36

It was said the Scots fell

0:49:360:49:38

like blossom in an orchard when the fruit had ripened.

0:49:380:49:42

The cavalry completed the rout.

0:49:420:49:44

'Wallace resigned as Guardian. Scotland descended into five years

0:49:580:50:01

'of exhausting, costly, protracted fighting.'

0:50:010:50:05

Then the Scots lost their ally, the French.

0:50:050:50:08

Alone, they could not defeat Edward.

0:50:080:50:12

It was pointless going on - the Scots sought terms.

0:50:120:50:17

Equally, Edward was tired and old. He was in his 60s,

0:50:170:50:21

and the war was burning a very large hole in his pocket.

0:50:210:50:25

He wanted to draw a line under the whole sorry business.

0:50:250:50:28

But naturally, he wanted that on his own terms.

0:50:280:50:32

He wanted Wallace.

0:50:320:50:34

"As for William Wallace," said Edward,

0:50:410:50:44

"it is agreed that he shall render himself up at the mercy and will

0:50:440:50:48

"of our sovereign lord the King, as it shall seem good to him."

0:50:480:50:52

Wallace's fate was sealed the following month.

0:50:560:50:59

At the St Andrew's Parliament of 1304,

0:50:590:51:01

he was declared an outlaw by the Scots nobles.

0:51:010:51:04

129 landowners took Edward as their liege lord.

0:51:050:51:10

Among their ranks was the man who had helped create Wallace -

0:51:130:51:16

Robert Wishart, the Bishop of Glasgow.

0:51:180:51:23

In truth, the document they signed up to, the Ordinances of 1305,

0:51:270:51:30

marks the completion of the second conquest of Scotland.

0:51:300:51:34

This time, there was no mention

0:51:340:51:36

of a king or a kingdom, merely a land.

0:51:360:51:39

As for Wallace, Edward had singled him out for special treatment.

0:51:560:52:00

No words of peace were offered.

0:52:000:52:02

Wallace must submit to Edward's pleasure.

0:52:020:52:06

Edward played every dirty trick in the book.

0:52:060:52:10

He threatened and blackmailed Wallace's friends,

0:52:100:52:13

forcing them to hunt down the fugitive.

0:52:130:52:15

Finally, Wallace was betrayed.

0:52:220:52:24

On 3rd August 1305, he was seized in a house near Glasgow.

0:52:260:52:30

According to an English source, Wallace was surprised in his bed.

0:52:300:52:34

In the Scots version of what happened,

0:52:370:52:39

Wallace put up a huge fight before he was eventually taken.

0:52:390:52:43

Three weeks later, Wallace stood here, Westminster Hall,

0:52:470:52:51

before Edward's judges.

0:52:510:52:53

The King, ever the master of the law,

0:52:530:52:55

was determined to destroy Wallace's reputation.

0:52:550:52:59

A crown of laurel leaves had been placed on his head,

0:52:590:53:02

to mock, it was said, Wallace's boast

0:53:020:53:04

that one day he would wear a crown.

0:53:040:53:07

As an outlaw, he was already legally condemned -

0:53:070:53:11

no plea, no jury, no witnesses, no defence.

0:53:110:53:15

He was merely presented with the indictment.

0:53:150:53:17

That he had notoriously committed killings, arson,

0:53:190:53:22

destruction of property,

0:53:220:53:24

and sacrilege during the war with England.

0:53:240:53:27

That he had assumed the title of Guardian,

0:53:270:53:30

and seduced the Scots into an alliance with France.

0:53:300:53:33

The charge of treason was an innovation,

0:53:330:53:35

but if it was on the King's Record, then it was law.

0:53:350:53:38

If Edward said he was a traitor, then he was.

0:53:380:53:41

It was only then that Wallace spoke.

0:53:410:53:43

He had never been a traitor. He had never sworn allegiance to Edward.

0:53:430:53:47

Like Scotland, Wallace was trapped by Edward's laws.

0:53:470:53:51

The outcome was a forgone conclusion.

0:53:510:53:54

He suffered a traitor's death.

0:53:560:54:00

There was no Christian burial.

0:54:000:54:02

Wallace's boiled head was spiked on London Bridge

0:54:020:54:06

and his quartered body sent north

0:54:060:54:08

to Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling and Perth

0:54:080:54:10

as an example of the fate that would befall anyone who challenged Edward.

0:54:100:54:15

What are we to make of Wallace?

0:54:250:54:27

What is important is what he became after his death.

0:54:270:54:32

He became a brand, repackaged and rolled out in the centuries to come

0:54:320:54:36

to suit both nationalist and unionist agendas.

0:54:360:54:40

700 years later, the basic vision of a free, independent Scotland,

0:54:400:54:46

for which William Wallace fought,

0:54:460:54:48

still haunts the collective Scots imagination.

0:54:480:54:51

For many, Wallace remains Scotland's greatest patriot.

0:54:550:55:00

But what had he actually achieved?

0:55:000:55:03

In the end, Wallace had failed.

0:55:040:55:07

Scotland's king remained in exile, her nobles under oath.

0:55:070:55:11

Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots, had conquered Scotland.

0:55:110:55:15

You might even say he had turned it into an English region.

0:55:150:55:18

But in his fixation with the crown and the kingdom,

0:55:180:55:21

he'd underestimated the people.

0:55:210:55:24

Edward's determination to crush them

0:55:240:55:26

had served only to define for the Scots who they really were.

0:55:260:55:30

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