Edward at once proposed to marry her to his eldest son. Nothing could have been better for both kingdoms, and all reasonable Scots would have welcomed a union. But in 1290 the baby queen died, and at once there was a dispute for the crown between several great Scottish barons. They appealed to Edward, and in their appeal acknowledged him to be ‘overlord’ of Scotland. He gave his decision in favour of John Balliol, who was duly crowned at Scone as King of Scotland.
Edward’s attack on Scotland, 1294.Then, in his new capacity as overlord, Edward began to bully Balliol and to treat Scotland as if it were already a part of England. Balliol was a weak creature, and threw himself into the arms of Philip of France, who saw a splendid opportunity of diverting Edward from Flanders and Gascony by aiding the Scots. So was founded the great alliance between France and Scotland which was to last for over two hundred years. Edward thereon declared Balliol deposed and sent men to conquer Scotland. He only succeeded in rousing every Scottish heart to desperate resistance. William Wallace.Of this resistance a small landowner, called William Wallace, was the first hero. Edward, with his mailed knights and his terrible archers, gave Wallace and the Scots a severe thrashing at Falkirk (1298), but he could not hunt down a whole nation in that wild hill country. During the nine years between the battle of Falkirk and Edward’s death it became a war to the knife between the two nations, which ten years before had been ready to lie down like lambs together.
The ‘Border’ and the Border-wars, 1300–1550.The result was that, for fifty miles on each side of the Border, the land became a desert, through which swept, almost yearly, fierce raids from either country; and this state of things continued far into the sixteenth century.