Edward I of England's efforts to take over Scotland in the 1290s sparked off a long sequence of cross-border invasions and raids punctuated by some devastating battles; but neither side could force the other to give in. The main war zone stretched across middle Britain, roughly from the Tyne north to the Forth. But the regions beyond that zone were perhaps more significant: Scottish raids could never get far enough south to put unbearable pressure on the English Crown (nor, though it was tried in 1315, could that be done via Ireland); conversely, it was beyond English power permanently to dominate Scotland north of the Forth, yet without that Scotland could never be conquered. This was understood by Edward I, whose northern campaigns of 1296 and 1303 (map A) produced massive (but temporary) Scottish submissions; and by Robert I (Robert Bruce), whose great achievements in the south—including victory at
Bannockburn (1314), and English recognition of Scottish independence (1328)—were only possible after he had won northern Scotland from his English and Scottish enemies (1307-13) (map A). And when the war reopened in 1332 after Robert I's death, Edward III soon accepted the impossibility of conquering the north; instead, he overran and annexed about half of southern Scotland (map B). By the later fourteenth century, the main issue in Anglo-Scottish warfare (border raiding apart) was the Scottish recapture of this English-held territory. It was mostly achieved by 1384, and thereafter the warfare gradually petered out. But some places stayed in English hands until well into the fifteenth century; the last to be regained by the Scots was Berwick, in 1461—which was lost again, permanently, in 1482 (map B).
A. Grant
World History
