hat the
candidate whose hereditary claim was strongest was also the man most
fitted to occupy the position of a vassal king. The new monarch made a
full and indisputable acknowledgment of his position as Edward's liege,
and the great seal of the kingdom of Scotland was publicly destroyed in
token of the position of vassalage in which the country now stood. Of
what followed it is difficult to speak with any certainty. Balliol
occupied the throne for three and a half years, and was engaged, during
the whole of that period, in disputes with his superior. The details
need not detain us. Edward claimed to be final judge in all Scottish
cases; he summoned Balliol to his court to plead against one of the
Scottish king's own vassals, and to receive instructions with regard to
the raising of money for Edward's needs. It may fairly be said that
Edward's treatment of Balliol does give grounds for the view of Scottish
historians that the English king was determined, from the first, to goad
his wretched vassal into rebellion in order to give him an opportunity
of absorbing the country in his English kingdom. On the other hand, it
may be argued that, if this was Edward's aim, he was singularly
unfortunate in the time he chose for forcing a crisis. He was at war
with Philip IV of France; Madoc was raising his Welsh rebellion; and
Edward's seizure of wool had created much indignation among his own
subjects. However this may be, it is certain that Balliol, rankling with
a sense of injustice caused by the ignominy which Edward had heaped upon
him, and rendered desperate by the complaints of his own subjects,
decided, by the advice of the Great Council, to disown his allegiance to
the King of England, and to enter upon an alliance with France. It is
noteworthy that the policy of the French alliance, as an anti-English
movement, which became the watchword of the patriotic party in Scotland,
was inaugurated by John Balliol. The Scots commenced hostilities by some
predatory incursions into the northern counties of England in 1295-96.

Whether or not Edward was waiting for the opportunity thus given him, he
certainly took full advantage of it. Undisturbed by his numerous
difficulties, he marched northwards to the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Tradition tells that he was exasperated by insults showered upon him by
the inhabitants, but the story cannot go far to excuse the massacre
which followed the capture of the town. After more than a century