1331-2: Scotland
1331-2: 'AND WHEN EDWARD NEXT LOOKED ROUND, ON HIS HEAD THERE WAS A CROWN'
"In popular romances, the great fight of Robert the Bruce was a simple battle against English invaders, a bold struggle to free Scotland from its alien masters. Like most nationalistic myth, it is a convenient simplification. Edward Longshanks held sway in most of Scotland for over two decades--that rule was not based only on foreign soldiers but included numerous suborned Scottish lords. Indeed, it was easy to forget now that it had been the Bruces that had called Edward into the dispute over the crown to begin with, and indeed had been among his earliest supporters against John Balliol. As so often happens in civil wars, local feuds and personal grudges became incorporated into the greater struggle. Some men found themselves fighting for the English because their own opponents were fighting against them--others had allied with the English to further their goals and then found themselves unable to extricate themselves as skillfully as the Bruces had. Such people lost frequently lost everything--and not unfrequently watched newly-minted Bruce supporters take their lands. They called themselves the 'Disinherited', and they would tear down all that Robert Bruce had wrought...
"Any cause needs a leader, and in Henry Beaumont, the de jure earl of Buchan, and former Constable of Scotland, it had one, save for one slight flaw. An able soldier, a skilled general, and a capable politician, he was also a French-born adventurer who had achieved his titles through advantageous marriage, and friendship with Edward I of England. This meant any effort he personally lead would be easily tarred as nothing more than the acts of a feckless foreign adventurer. If Beaumont wished to regain what he'd lost, he needed a figurehead--and a perfect one existed, living in a heavily mortgaged estate in France.
"Edward Balliol was the son of John Balliol, the famed (or infamous) Toom Tabard, who had lost the throne and his estates to the games of Bruces and the English. While his early life is obscure, it is believed Edward had been a soldier, and even earned some reputation for courage--what is certain is that the man had nothing to lose. Arriving in England in late 1331, he settled in Yorkshire and with Beaumont's assistance, gathered the Disinherited to him. By mid-1332, they stood at the head of a small, but dedicated force, waiting only for a sign to attack. And then it came, in the news that the Regent the Earl of Moray was dead. Edward had the force set sail almost as soon as they heard...
"Arriving in Fife, the Disinherited went on the march, startled by speed at which the new Regent, the Earl of Mar gathered a force to oppose them. What followed was a game of cat and mouse, where the outnumbered Disinherited avoided battle with their Scottish foes until they reached a place of their choosing, Dupplin Moor. There, the Disinherited responded to the Regent's attack with what future generations would term 'English tactics'[1]. The result was a lopsided victory for the Disinherited that destroyed much of Mar's army--estimates range from 2000 to 13000--including, the hapless Regent would write, 'many men of quality and renown' among them Lord Robert Bruce, King John's bastard half-brother, Thomas Randolph, 2nd Earl of Moray, and Alexander Fraser, High Chamberlain[2]. The Disinherited, in contrast had lost thirty-three knights and men at arms, and possibly a slightly larger number of infantry....
"In the face of this victory, Edward Balliol decided to continue his attack, and marched on Scone. A few weeks later, he would be crowned king. Thus began a war that would come to involve all of Europe[3]..."
--From Crowned Upon the Stone; the Story of Scotland, by Gyth Gythson (1998)
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[1] This is all more or less what happened OTL.
[2] IOTL, Mar himself was among those dead men of quality and renown.
[3] Again, this is what happened IOTL.
"In popular romances, the great fight of Robert the Bruce was a simple battle against English invaders, a bold struggle to free Scotland from its alien masters. Like most nationalistic myth, it is a convenient simplification. Edward Longshanks held sway in most of Scotland for over two decades--that rule was not based only on foreign soldiers but included numerous suborned Scottish lords. Indeed, it was easy to forget now that it had been the Bruces that had called Edward into the dispute over the crown to begin with, and indeed had been among his earliest supporters against John Balliol. As so often happens in civil wars, local feuds and personal grudges became incorporated into the greater struggle. Some men found themselves fighting for the English because their own opponents were fighting against them--others had allied with the English to further their goals and then found themselves unable to extricate themselves as skillfully as the Bruces had. Such people lost frequently lost everything--and not unfrequently watched newly-minted Bruce supporters take their lands. They called themselves the 'Disinherited', and they would tear down all that Robert Bruce had wrought...
"Any cause needs a leader, and in Henry Beaumont, the de jure earl of Buchan, and former Constable of Scotland, it had one, save for one slight flaw. An able soldier, a skilled general, and a capable politician, he was also a French-born adventurer who had achieved his titles through advantageous marriage, and friendship with Edward I of England. This meant any effort he personally lead would be easily tarred as nothing more than the acts of a feckless foreign adventurer. If Beaumont wished to regain what he'd lost, he needed a figurehead--and a perfect one existed, living in a heavily mortgaged estate in France.
"Edward Balliol was the son of John Balliol, the famed (or infamous) Toom Tabard, who had lost the throne and his estates to the games of Bruces and the English. While his early life is obscure, it is believed Edward had been a soldier, and even earned some reputation for courage--what is certain is that the man had nothing to lose. Arriving in England in late 1331, he settled in Yorkshire and with Beaumont's assistance, gathered the Disinherited to him. By mid-1332, they stood at the head of a small, but dedicated force, waiting only for a sign to attack. And then it came, in the news that the Regent the Earl of Moray was dead. Edward had the force set sail almost as soon as they heard...
"Arriving in Fife, the Disinherited went on the march, startled by speed at which the new Regent, the Earl of Mar gathered a force to oppose them. What followed was a game of cat and mouse, where the outnumbered Disinherited avoided battle with their Scottish foes until they reached a place of their choosing, Dupplin Moor. There, the Disinherited responded to the Regent's attack with what future generations would term 'English tactics'[1]. The result was a lopsided victory for the Disinherited that destroyed much of Mar's army--estimates range from 2000 to 13000--including, the hapless Regent would write, 'many men of quality and renown' among them Lord Robert Bruce, King John's bastard half-brother, Thomas Randolph, 2nd Earl of Moray, and Alexander Fraser, High Chamberlain[2]. The Disinherited, in contrast had lost thirty-three knights and men at arms, and possibly a slightly larger number of infantry....
"In the face of this victory, Edward Balliol decided to continue his attack, and marched on Scone. A few weeks later, he would be crowned king. Thus began a war that would come to involve all of Europe[3]..."
--From Crowned Upon the Stone; the Story of Scotland, by Gyth Gythson (1998)
----------------------------------------------------------------
[1] This is all more or less what happened OTL.
[2] IOTL, Mar himself was among those dead men of quality and renown.
[3] Again, this is what happened IOTL.
