Conflict With England

The Normans who conquered England in 1066 were soon in conflict with Malcolm, whose wife Margaret was of the Anglo-Saxon royal house . However, numerous marriages between the Anglo-Norman and Scottish royal families brought a period of peace. This was shattered in 1173 when Henry II of England reneged on an earlier promise to transfer certain domains to Scotland. War broke out between Scotland and England. William I of Scotland was captured at Alnwick, England, in 1174 and forced to acknowledge Henry as his overlord. He was released from this obligation by Richard I in 1189.

Meanwhile, the Norsemen were being driven out of Scotland. Their last Scottish domains, except the Orkney and Shetland islands, were relinquished by treaty in 1266.

The Canmore line died out in 1290, and Edward I of England was invited to arbitrate between the competitors for the Scottish throne. Although the Scots preferred Robert Bruce, Edward's arbitration council chose John de Baliol, who did homage to Edward. The Scots soon rebelled against English domination. In 1296 Edward marched north, defeated the Scots, carried the Stone of Scone (the Scottish coronation seat) back to England, and declared Scotland his.

A Scottish revolt led by William Wallace collapsed in 1304. Two years later Robert Bruce, grandson of John de Baliol's rival, had himself crowned king of Scots. His progress against the English was slow, but his victory at Bannockburn in 1314 was decisive, although fighting continued until 1323. In 1328 England conceded Scotland's independence.

David II, Bruce's son, succeeded to the throne in 1329. In 1332 Edward de Baliol, son of John de Baliol, seized the throne and, after receiving much-needed English support, did homage to Edward III of England. The majority of Scots refused to accept Baliol. In 1356 Edward removed him and the next year restored David to the throne. In 1371 David was succeeded by his nephew Robert Stewart.