A confident kingdom
By 1200 Scotland was a recognized kingdom with its own bishops, courts and royal burghs. The thirteenth century opened with a period often described as stable and fairly prosperous, at least by the standards of the time. Royal power was strongest in the south and east, and kings worked to bring the north and west under firmer control.
Alexander II, who reigned from 1214 to 1249, spent much of his reign extending that authority. He pressed against rebellious areas such as Argyll and Galloway, and relations with England were generally peaceful after an agreement in 1237 settled the main border claims, though historians describe the settlement in different ways. His son, Alexander III, became king in 1249 when he was still a child, about seven years old. Early on the kingdom saw factional struggles among the great nobles over who would control the young king, but he took personal rule in his twenties.
Largs and the Treaty of Perth
The west of Scotland was the great unfinished business. The Hebrides and the Isle of Man were held under the king of Norway, and Alexander III wished to bring them into his own kingdom. In 1263 a Norwegian fleet under King Haakon IV sailed to the Scottish west coast. A clash near Largs followed, where historians disagree about its scale. It did not settle the matter by force alone, but the Norwegian expedition failed, and Haakon died soon afterward on his way home.
In 1266 the Treaty of Perth transferred the Hebrides and Man to Scotland in return for a payment, with an annual sum to follow. Orkney and Shetland stayed under Norwegian rule. The agreement is generally seen as the high point of the medieval kingdom’s territorial reach, and it fits the wider picture of a European realm becoming more clearly bounded.
The accident at Kinghorn
Alexander III had lost his wife and all three of his children by the mid-1280s. He remarried, to Yolande of Dreux, in late 1285, evidently hoping for a new heir. On a stormy night in March 1286 he rode to join her, became separated from his companions, and was found dead at the foot of a cliff near Kinghorn in Fife. His heir was his granddaughter, Margaret, the infant daughter of the king of Norway, who is known as the Maid of Norway.
The kingdom’s institutions held at first. Guardians were appointed to govern in her name, and the great men of the realm swore to accept her. But there was no adult ruler, and it was clear that rivalries could grow.
Edward I enters the picture
Edward I of England was a natural figure to involve. The Treaty of Birgham in 1290 arranged for Margaret to marry Edward’s son, with promises that Scotland would remain a separate kingdom. The plan collapsed when Margaret, then about seven, died on the voyage to Scotland, probably at Orkney in fall 1290.
With no clear heir, a number of claimants emerged, chiefly John Balliol and Robert Bruce, the grandfather of the future king. Fearing civil war, Scottish leaders asked Edward to judge between them. Edward agreed, but only after insisting that they recognize him as overlord of Scotland. This process is known as the Great Cause. In November 1292 Edward decided in favor of John Balliol, whose claim rested on descent from the eldest line. Most historians regard the legal reasoning as sound, even if the political cost for Scotland was high.
From arbitration to war
Balliol’s reign was uneasy. Edward treated him as a vassal, hearing appeals from Scottish courts and demanding military service for his French campaigns. In 1295 the Scots made an alliance with France, the beginning of what later became known as the Auld Alliance. Edward responded in 1296 by invading and sacking Berwick, then winning at Dunbar. Balliol was forced to give up the crown, and Edward took away symbols of Scottish kingship, including, according to tradition, the Stone of Scone.
Resistance followed, led first by figures such as William Wallace and Andrew Murray, who won at Stirling Bridge in 1297. These events opened the Wars of Independence, and the Edward I reign is closely linked with Welsh and Scottish wars, as the king sought to bring both neighboring lands under tighter control.
What the century shows
The thirteenth century is often described as both the making and unmaking of medieval Scotland. The kingdom reached its widest extent and had well-developed institutions. Yet its stability depended heavily on a single adult male line, and when that line failed, a powerful neighbor was able to intervene. The later story of Robert the Bruce and the Battle of Bannockburn grew directly from these years.