Starter

The Wars of
Independence

Learning Objective

To begin a revision of the Wars of

Independence

Recall Exercise One

Here are four
key individuals
involved in the
Scottish Wars
of
Independence
Complete the
table for each
one

Name
William
Wallace
Robert the
Bruce
Edward I
John Balliol

Key Points

How
important

1: Wallaces insurrection Battle of Stirling Bridge

2: Treaty of Brigham Edward I to decide

succession

3: Bruce becomes king

4: Death of Alexander III

5: Battle of Falkirk

6: Death of the Maid of

Norway

7: Third English Invasion

8: Edward makes Scotland a

vassal state

9: Bruce and Comyn

become guardians

10: Edward invades

Scotland Balliol abdicates

11: Battle of Bannockburn Scotland almost clear of

English

12: Balliol refuses to fight in

France for Edward

13: English invade again

14: Execution of Wallace

15: Death of Comyn and

Bruces coronation

16: Balliol Crowned

Death of Alexander III

Death of the Maid of

Norway

Treaty of Brigham - Edward

I to decide succession

Balliol Crowned

Edward makes Scotland a

vassal state

Balliol refuses to fight in

France for Edward

Edward invades Scotland

Balliol abdicates

Wallaces insurrection Battle of Stirling Bridge

Battle of Falkirk

Bruce and Comyn become

guardians

English invade again

Bruce gives in to the

English

Execution of Wallace

Death of Comyn and

Bruces coronation

Third English Invasion

Battle of Bannockburn Scotland almost clear of

English

Key Areas
When revising it is important to split your history
into manageable sections
There are five key ones in this topic
The succession crisis
The Reign of King John
William Wallace
The Scottish collapse
Robert the Bruce

The Succession Crisis

What happened?
When did it happen?
What were the consequences?

The Reign of King John

Key events
The relationship between England and
Scotland in these years
Scottish reaction to the reign of John
War with the English

William Wallace
Key information
Outline of his career
Battle of Stirling Bridge
Wallace as Guardian
The importance of Wallace - his strengths
and weaknesses

The Scottish Collapse

What happened between 1302 and 1305
The actions of the King
The actions of the nobles
The fate of Wallace and de Soulis

Robert the Bruce

Family History - Three generations of
Roberts
Murder of Comyn
Defeat of Bruce 1306-1307
The recovery of Bruce
Bannockburn

The Examination
Describe Question:
At least One or Two relevant pieces of accurate
and explained information from the source
At least One or two pieces of accurate and
explained information from your own
knowledge
Plus - two or three other pieces of information
from either the source or your own knowledge

Robert Bruce took control of Scotland in the

years up to 1313 piece by piece. He had
several important and strong enemies that he
had to defeat before he could tackle the English
king.Describe
These included
the Comyns
(Galloway
how Robert
Bruce took
control and
of
Buchan)
and the
MacDougalls
in the C
West
Scotland
up to
1313 use Source
andof
Recall
Scotland. He forced many to flee to England
through
his C
campaigns against the Comyns and
Source
defeated more of them and their supporters at
the Battle
Inverurie.
Bruce of
was
king in name but his enemies
controlled most of Scotland. He marched with
Source
tellstousthe
about
against
his Cmen
townhis
of campaigns
Perth and laid
siege to it.
the castles
held by
Through
sieges
It was taken
byhis
theenemies.
Scots when
they used
suchladders
as the one
at Perth
and through
usenight.
of
to scale
the walls
during the
The
scaling
equipment
such
as at Roxburgh
Scots
cunningly
captured
the castlehe
of was
able Roxburgh
to take control
and these
were
by ladders.
Theycastles
knocked
thevery
whole
veryof
important.
Taking
these
and just
thenas
the beautiful
castle
to castles
the ground
destroying
them
probably
had twothey
effects.
It
they did
all the
other castles
captured.
reduced their status and usefulness to his
enemies and also probably sent a message to
the others who were still resisting his

Evaluation
This is a key skill
Look at the sheet you have been given
You will need to place these in order of
how important they are
You will have ten minutes to do this

Feedback

What did you come up with?

We will see if there is a general
consensus
Remember, there is no right answer

Individual Work

Take the three most important ones

according to you
Write a paragraph explaining why those
three are the most important

Peer Assessment
Swap your work with another student
Now, read through the paragraph that
you have been given
Find two things that are really good and
one thing that could be made even
better

Relative Evaluation
Even harder and possibly more important than ordinary evaluation
Take four of your choices (two pairs)
Explain why one is more important than the one below it. Make
reference to both of them
For example: Wallaces victory at Stirling Bridge is much more
important than the defeat of King John as it gave hope to the Scottish.
It also ushered in the age of Wallace and the things that he was able to
do made an enormous difference to Scotland. He introduced reforms to
the army and he began getting international recognition for his
regime. Perhaps most important was his appointment of Lamberton as
Bishop of St Andrews. John did have an important role. Had he not
been there, Scotland may not have been in so desperate a shape but
he actually had very little impact on the actual situation. Scotland was
in the same situation after King John as before.