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(MOURNFUL PIPES)
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00:00:07,882 --> 00:00:10,634
In the last decades
of the 13th century,
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the nations of Britain found their voices -
loud, confident and defiant -
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and they were raised against England.
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(WELSHMAN) The people of Snowdon
assert
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that even if their prince should give
overlordship of them to the English king,
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they would refuse to do homage
to any foreigner
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of whose language, customs and law
they were ignorant.
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(IRISHMAN) On account
of the perfidy of the English
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and to recover our native freedom,
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the Irish are compelled
to enter a deadly war.
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(SCOTSMAN) For as long as
but a hundred of us remain alive,
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we will yield in no least way
to English dominion.
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We fight not for glory, nor riches,
nor honour, but for freedom.
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We know these voices.
They've been with us a long time now.
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All the same, it's a shock
to hear them this early,
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to discover the politics of birthplace
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uttered with such passion
and such pain.
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Once said, they could not be unsaid.
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When the Welsh, the Scots
and the Irish acted on their words,
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the bloody wars of the British nations
became inevitable.
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And these would not just be battles
about territories -
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they were battles for ideas,
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ideas about what a sovereign nation
should be.
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An extension of the ruler's will
or something wider -
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something involving the people
as well as the prince,
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something called
"the community of the realm".
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Those battles would be fought
between the peoples of Britain.
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Welshmen would die in Scotland,
Scotsmen would perish in Ireland,
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the English would kill
and be killed everywhere.
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For the fight to the death
between princes and principles,
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the battle for the making of a nation
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would begin
in the very heart of England.
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One man was responsible
for provoking the peoples of Britain
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into an awareness of their nationhood,
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and he was England's own home-grown
Caesar - Edward I.
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In 1774, those made curious by his
fearsome reputation opened his tomb.
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The man inside was as awesome
as contemporaries had recorded,
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dressed in the purple robe
of a Roman emperor,
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an impressive six foot two tall,
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fully justifying his nickname,
Longshanks.
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Upon that stark marble tomb,
the only ornamentation reads...
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"Edwardus Primus
Scottorum malleus hic est."
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Hammer of the Scots.
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00:03:58,423 --> 00:04:02,811
After a century of rule by kings
who were essentially Frenchmen,
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00:04:02,980 --> 00:04:06,254
Edward can be called
the first truly English king -
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00:04:06,418 --> 00:04:11,364
given an old Anglo-Saxon name and
imbued with the frightening certainty
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00:04:11,535 --> 00:04:13,922
that it was England's imperial mission
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to take its rule to the four corners
of the British islands.
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00:04:18,171 --> 00:04:23,287
His many enemies compared him
to one of the big cat predators.
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00:04:23,447 --> 00:04:27,597
Perhaps he will rightly
be called a leopard, Leo -
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brave, proud and fierce, the powered,
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00:04:31,283 --> 00:04:34,512
wily, devious and treacherous.
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00:04:37,519 --> 00:04:42,715
The Leopard Prince was born
to splendid, impossible expectations.
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00:04:42,876 --> 00:04:47,503
His father, Henry III, had named
his son for England's royal saint,
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Edward the Confessor - the paragon,
it was thought, of kingly perfection.
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(MONKS CHANT)
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Though the Confessor had been dead
for almost 200 years,
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Henry ate, drank and worshipped him,
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and finally created
for the long-dead king
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a shrine of unparalleled magnificence.
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00:05:10,299 --> 00:05:15,211
Of course, such a shrine would need
a home that equalled its splendour -
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00:05:16,135 --> 00:05:18,329
the new Westminster Abbey.
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00:05:25,370 --> 00:05:28,519
Henry demolished the old basilica
at Westminster
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and replaced it
with an immense Gothic abbey,
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a building that now fitted his vision
of an awe-inspiring English monarch.
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From now on, Westminster would be
the symbolic heart of the kingdom,
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the place where all English monarchs
would be crowned and buried.
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00:05:46,557 --> 00:05:50,832
His father, King Henry III,
reigned for 56 years.
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00:05:50,994 --> 00:05:55,383
He's not remembered for any stirring
achievement or blood-soaked conquest,
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but Henry's time on the throne was
driven by a magnificent obsession -
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he wanted to turn the monarchy
into England's dominant power.
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Henry's great gift to the nation
was more than just a fine new church.
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00:06:14,940 --> 00:06:20,374
Its secular counterpart was the great
hall of the Palace of Westminster.
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00:06:21,776 --> 00:06:25,812
The palace was both the seat of
government and a residence for Henry
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00:06:25,973 --> 00:06:30,600
who, unlike his Angevin ancestors,
didn't much like being in the saddle.
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00:06:33,049 --> 00:06:37,437
And the hall was a court
in both the senses the word suggests -
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a place of judgement
and a theatre of ceremony.
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At Westminster, the king
had to be seen to be magnificent,
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but the king had also
to be seen to be just.
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00:06:55,195 --> 00:06:58,503
Westminster may have been
the creation of the monarchy,
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but it also belonged to England -
a nation of laws,
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the nation of Magna Carta.
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00:07:07,748 --> 00:07:10,180
Henry had grown up with the charter,
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signed by his father King John
in 1215,
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00:07:13,784 --> 00:07:16,819
which put real limits
on the power of the king.
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A bit of a blow for a king
who wanted absolute authority.
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Kings could no longer ignore
the complaints of their subjects.
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00:07:25,777 --> 00:07:29,370
They could be forced to submit
to a council of the barons.
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00:07:29,534 --> 00:07:34,003
That council thought of itself as the
voice of the community of the realm,
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00:07:34,172 --> 00:07:37,082
and even now
began to be called "parliament".
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00:07:37,250 --> 00:07:40,206
Its role would be to hold the king
to his contract.
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Since Henry had become king
as a boy of nine,
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he'd had no choice
but to swallow this bitter pill.
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00:07:51,321 --> 00:07:55,551
However, as he grew older,
Henry burned with frustration
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00:07:55,719 --> 00:07:58,754
and became determined to get free
of its shackles -
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to restore the unchallenged authority
of the crown.
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00:08:03,594 --> 00:08:06,743
Knowing that this couldn't happen
without a fight,
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00:08:06,912 --> 00:08:10,061
Henry accepted a compromise position
for many years,
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that the king was not free to govern
through pure royal will.
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But Henry III
was also a Plantagenet,
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and Plantagenets
dreamed dangerous dreams -
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expensive dreams
of campaigns far abroad
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which no one in York or Canterbury
could quite see the point of.
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When Plantagenets thought
they might get unwelcome advice,
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they stopped listening -
until, that is, they were made to.
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In 1258, in the very hall
that defined his majesty, Westminster,
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seven of the most powerful barons
confronted the king.
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Fully armed, they paused
only to leave their swords outside.
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They demanded that Henry meet them
at a parliament in Oxford
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and stop trying to turn
his European dreams into reality.
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The barons were led, in all but name,
by the most improbable revolutionary
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in all of British history -
Simon de Montfort.
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Here at Kenilworth, he presided
over a little empire of culture.
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A French aristocrat who inherited
the earldom of Leicester,
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Simon became convinced that he was
more English than the English.
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What was good for de Montfort
was good for the nation.
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Love him or hate him,
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everyone knew that Simon de Montfort
was a man with a mission.
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That mission, embarked on
with his fellow barons,
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was to bring the wayward,
self-glorifying monarchy to book,
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to make it the servant,
not the master of the realm.
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At Oxford, amidst wildfire rumours,
a camp of soldiers,
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and the growling hunger of a famine,
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Henry III was treated to
the emasculation of his sovereignty.
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A document was drawn up
for the king to sign -
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not discuss, just to accept.
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What it said was so startling,
so genuinely revolutionary,
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that 1258 ought to be one of those dates
engraved on the national memory.
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The Provisions of Oxford were at least
as important as Magna Carta.
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In effect, the crown had been replaced
by a new council of nobles and clergy.
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That council now virtually ruled
England.
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Foreign courtiers
were made to disappear.
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00:10:48,294 --> 00:10:52,364
It has been ordained that there are
to be three parliaments a year
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to view the state of the kingdom.
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It is provided that from each county
there are chosen four worthy knights
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to hear all complaints for the common
benefit of the whole kingdom.
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When the assembled
community of the realm,
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including the king and Prince Edward,
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swore an oath
to uphold the provisions,
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they could have been in no doubt
about its significance
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for the fate of the nation.
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And so Henry III's facade
of omnipotent rule
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had come crashing down
around his ears.
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But he was not the only royal
with a stake in events.
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How did the 19-year-old Edward feel
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about the drastic shrinkage
in the power of the crown - his crown?
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Well, for some time,
even the prince was dazzled
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by the intense magnetism
of Simon de Montfort's personality,
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and, for a while,
Edward went along with it.
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But, inevitably, divisions opened up
between the reformers.
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It was all very well to make the king
answerable to the barons,
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but ought the barons be answerable
to their inferiors?
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De Montfort thought yes.
The earls thought no.
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And as those divisions opened wider,
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the Leopard Prince began to change
his spots and sharpen his claws.
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It became increasingly clear that the
struggle over who was to rule England
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and how they were going to do it
centred on two men - Simon and Edward.
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Neither could prevail
without the other's total defeat.
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Over five years,
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Henry and Edward manoeuvred
against de Montfort for power
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until, finally, words ran out.
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For this was no three-month
paper revolution,
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like the original signing
of the Magna Carta.
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The issue could now only be settled
on the field of battle.
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For the first time
since the Norman Conquest,
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the political fate of England
was completely fluid,
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its eventual outcome uncertain.
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In 1264, de Montfort
won the first round
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at the Battle of Lewes
on the Sussex Downs.
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King Henry and Edward
were both taken prisoner.
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The year which followed,
with de Montfort in charge,
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was the closest England came
to a republic
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until the days of Oliver Cromwell.
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And in Parliament,
not just aristocrats and bishops,
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but ordinary knights of the shire
and even burgesses from the towns
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presumed to discuss the fate of
their superiors - a prince and a king.
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But like the later republic,
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this one quickly gained the attributes
of a dictatorship.
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With power going to his head,
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Simon seemed more the vainglorious
adventurer than a messianic reformer.
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00:14:04,975 --> 00:14:09,090
In the end, he simply repelled
more people than he attracted.
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With the impotent Henry III
firmly under lock and key,
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the crown's future lay with Edward,
who outwitted his captors
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and made a dashing horseback getaway.
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00:14:25,682 --> 00:14:30,150
Even at this stage, there was
something extraordinary about Edward.
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00:14:30,319 --> 00:14:32,786
He radiated the kind of charisma
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00:14:32,958 --> 00:14:37,790
that drew confused responses
of both fear and adoration.
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00:14:37,955 --> 00:14:41,229
He purposely kept his signals mixed -
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00:14:41,392 --> 00:14:44,303
the better to convert them
into loyalty.
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00:14:46,349 --> 00:14:49,623
Edward led his following to Evesham
in Worcestershire,
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00:14:49,787 --> 00:14:53,778
where de Montfort's now outnumbered
army camped near the abbey.
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00:14:59,861 --> 00:15:03,534
Under stormy skies,
the battle was a slaughter.
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00:15:03,699 --> 00:15:05,768
(BATTLE CRIES)
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00:15:07,297 --> 00:15:09,287
Told that his son had been killed,
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00:15:09,455 --> 00:15:12,729
Simon replied,
"Then it is time to die."
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00:15:12,893 --> 00:15:16,042
He charged into the fray
and was slain on foot,
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00:15:16,211 --> 00:15:18,849
his devoted knights falling with him.
199
00:15:24,166 --> 00:15:26,838
Edward ignored the rules of war.
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00:15:29,643 --> 00:15:32,553
The wounded were stabbed
where they lay.
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00:15:33,761 --> 00:15:37,717
Simon's head, hands, feet
and testicles were cut off...
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00:15:40,876 --> 00:15:43,991
...the genitals hung around his nose.
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00:15:50,550 --> 00:15:53,063
The crown had won,
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00:15:53,229 --> 00:15:57,015
but only after overcoming Kenilworth's
mighty defences
205
00:15:57,186 --> 00:16:00,460
in a siege that lasted nine months.
206
00:16:00,624 --> 00:16:03,581
But Edward had been given
a serious early lesson
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00:16:03,742 --> 00:16:06,255
in the political realities of England.
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00:16:06,421 --> 00:16:08,649
He wouldn't cringe before the barons,
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00:16:08,819 --> 00:16:11,286
but he would have
to make them his allies.
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00:16:11,458 --> 00:16:15,971
As partners, they would go on to create
an English empire of their own,
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00:16:16,135 --> 00:16:19,648
the reincarnation of Roman Britannia.
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00:16:23,490 --> 00:16:28,084
In 1274, Edward I's coronation
finally took place
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00:16:28,248 --> 00:16:31,715
in a magnificent sanctuary
created by his father.
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00:16:32,045 --> 00:16:35,877
The Westminster
in which he was crowned would,
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00:16:36,043 --> 00:16:38,033
if Edward had anything to do with it,
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00:16:38,202 --> 00:16:41,589
be the capital not just of England,
but of Britain.
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00:16:43,438 --> 00:16:49,385
It was in Wales that Edward first made
the seriousness of his ambitions clear.
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00:16:51,274 --> 00:16:54,708
Here, the dominant prince
was Llewellyn ap Gruffydd,
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00:16:54,871 --> 00:16:59,340
ruler of the mountainous kingdom
of Gwynedd, Greater Snowdonia.
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00:17:00,348 --> 00:17:04,702
Knowing that the difficult, not to say
impossible terrain of his country
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00:17:04,865 --> 00:17:07,253
had been the graveyard
of English armies,
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00:17:07,424 --> 00:17:11,858
Llewellyn was determined to resist
attempts to subdue central Wales.
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00:17:13,580 --> 00:17:17,934
Here, the native Welsh clung
on to their language, customs and laws,
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00:17:18,097 --> 00:17:22,293
lords in their own lands, but still
subjects of the English king.
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00:17:23,294 --> 00:17:26,284
By the 13th century,
Wales had become divided
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00:17:26,452 --> 00:17:29,999
into the Principality of Gwynedd,
the disputed centre,
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00:17:30,170 --> 00:17:33,240
and the encroaching
English baronial and crown lands.
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00:17:33,408 --> 00:17:38,274
Encroaching, that is, until 1258,
when Llewellyn was strong enough
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00:17:38,445 --> 00:17:43,391
to have himself declared
"princeps Wallie" - Prince of Wales.
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00:17:44,601 --> 00:17:48,558
Exploiting the civil war in England
and allying with de Montfort,
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00:17:48,719 --> 00:17:52,789
Llewellyn's armies overran
the now undefended centre.
232
00:17:52,956 --> 00:17:57,981
But he then overreached himself,
marrying de Montfort's daughter,
233
00:17:58,153 --> 00:18:02,110
an offence Edward
was unlikely to forgive or to forget.
234
00:18:03,989 --> 00:18:08,822
Years later, Llewellyn handed Edward
the perfect pretext for retribution.
235
00:18:08,986 --> 00:18:12,057
He failed to show up
at Edward's coronation
236
00:18:12,225 --> 00:18:17,500
and ignored a total of five summonses
to pay homage to his new king.
237
00:18:18,581 --> 00:18:23,732
Edward, who needed no tutorials on the
connection between ceremonies and power,
238
00:18:23,897 --> 00:18:26,888
immediately took this
as a slap in the face,
239
00:18:27,056 --> 00:18:29,124
an act of virtual rebellion.
240
00:18:29,294 --> 00:18:34,923
In 1276, a huge army, the biggest seen
in Britain since the Norman Conquest,
241
00:18:35,091 --> 00:18:39,320
invaded Gwynedd, penetrating
right to its furthest corners,
242
00:18:39,488 --> 00:18:41,954
to Snowdonia and to Anglesey.
243
00:18:42,126 --> 00:18:46,197
Faced with this invasion,
Llewellyn was forced to surrender.
244
00:18:49,962 --> 00:18:54,316
But, as so often in these years,
humiliation bred defiance.
245
00:18:55,398 --> 00:19:00,389
In 1282, the Welsh launched a surprise
attack on an English garrison.
246
00:19:00,555 --> 00:19:04,307
Edward now bore down again
with an even bigger army,
247
00:19:04,473 --> 00:19:08,180
but this campaign
was far from being a walkover.
248
00:19:15,626 --> 00:19:20,014
Realising this, the Archbishop
of Canterbury attempted to conciliate
249
00:19:20,183 --> 00:19:22,252
between the warring factions,
250
00:19:22,422 --> 00:19:25,537
offering Llewellyn land and title
in England
251
00:19:25,700 --> 00:19:28,929
if he would renounce his rights
in Wales.
252
00:19:29,098 --> 00:19:32,532
And the answer to this offer
was blunt.
253
00:19:33,335 --> 00:19:37,770
That they must stand by their laws
and rights in defence of all Wales.
254
00:19:37,932 --> 00:19:42,446
The people preferred to die rather
than to live under English rule.
255
00:19:42,610 --> 00:19:45,486
They would not do homage
to any stranger
256
00:19:45,648 --> 00:19:49,241
of whose language, manners and laws
they were ignorant.
257
00:19:49,406 --> 00:19:52,123
They would fight
in defence of "nostra natsu" -
258
00:19:52,284 --> 00:19:54,750
our nation against the English.
259
00:19:57,681 --> 00:20:03,229
When the war was renewed, it was
with fresh and unsparing savagery.
260
00:20:04,556 --> 00:20:07,308
No quarter was given by either side.
261
00:20:07,475 --> 00:20:12,829
The Welsh exploited the land, ambushed
slow-moving companies of knights,
262
00:20:12,991 --> 00:20:17,267
and then disappeared off again
into the hills and forests.
263
00:20:21,466 --> 00:20:23,933
(BATTLE CRIES)
264
00:20:26,503 --> 00:20:29,413
Then, in a minor skirmish
in central Wales,
265
00:20:29,581 --> 00:20:32,889
Llewellyn was killed
by an anonymous English spearman.
266
00:20:35,737 --> 00:20:40,047
The final annihilation of resistance
took another six months
267
00:20:40,215 --> 00:20:44,364
before the king could claim Wales
to be pacified.
268
00:20:47,330 --> 00:20:51,207
However, the subjugation of Wales
was far more subtle
269
00:20:51,368 --> 00:20:54,676
than the surgical application
of brute force.
270
00:20:54,846 --> 00:20:58,359
Edward had the chilling,
uncannily-modern knowledge
271
00:20:58,524 --> 00:21:04,152
that to break your enemy you must
strip him of his cultural identity.
272
00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:09,391
Before this place became called Conway
by the English, it was Aberconwy.
273
00:21:09,557 --> 00:21:14,309
It was a monastery that housed the
tomb of the most powerful Welsh prince
274
00:21:14,474 --> 00:21:16,906
and was home to a sacred relic
275
00:21:17,072 --> 00:21:20,460
that the Welsh believed to be
a piece of the true Cross.
276
00:21:22,709 --> 00:21:26,097
Naturally, the monastery
became a fortress
277
00:21:26,267 --> 00:21:31,338
and the Cross was taken to London
along with Llewellyn's crown.
278
00:21:35,381 --> 00:21:39,770
The lords call themselves
Princes of Wales. Fine.
279
00:21:39,938 --> 00:21:44,327
From 1301, they will be
the most English of the English,
280
00:21:44,496 --> 00:21:49,647
the first son of the king, the heir
to the throne, the emperor in waiting.
281
00:21:52,491 --> 00:21:57,562
The most titanic of all the signs
of the English empire were its castles,
282
00:21:57,728 --> 00:22:02,116
a granite ring of fortresses
stretching from Builth to Hope,
283
00:22:02,285 --> 00:22:04,479
most of them supplied from the sea,
284
00:22:04,643 --> 00:22:07,951
depriving the Welsh
of any hope of liberation.
285
00:22:11,799 --> 00:22:15,551
For the Welsh of Snowdonia,
the great stone fortresses in their midst
286
00:22:15,717 --> 00:22:21,583
were what one of them called
"the magnificent badges of our subjection."
287
00:22:23,792 --> 00:22:29,658
The symbol not of imperial grandeur,
but of crushing national annihilation;
288
00:22:29,828 --> 00:22:35,343
a permanent, daily, wounding reminder
of conquest and humiliation.
289
00:22:37,703 --> 00:22:41,979
The most colossal exercise, in fact,
in colonial domination
290
00:22:42,141 --> 00:22:44,573
anywhere in medieval Europe.
291
00:22:44,739 --> 00:22:48,810
Beneath the lion standard
of Edward Plantagenet,
292
00:22:48,977 --> 00:22:52,933
the Welsh inhabitants
had now become second-class citizens
293
00:22:53,094 --> 00:22:55,243
in their own country.
294
00:22:57,411 --> 00:23:01,766
Well, those natives were treated for
the most part like naughty children,
295
00:23:01,929 --> 00:23:05,999
not allowed to bear arms, of course,
but even forced to ask permission
296
00:23:06,166 --> 00:23:09,918
if they wanted strangers
to stay at their house overnight.
297
00:23:10,084 --> 00:23:14,916
Worst of all, I think, the Welsh
were doomed by English superiority
298
00:23:15,081 --> 00:23:17,991
to become objects
of terminal quaintness.
299
00:23:18,159 --> 00:23:20,830
The quaint language, the quaint songs,
300
00:23:20,997 --> 00:23:23,714
those amusing choirs and chants.
301
00:23:26,394 --> 00:23:30,748
It could have been worse,
and for the Jews of England, it was.
302
00:23:32,670 --> 00:23:36,820
The Welsh wars cost ten times
the king's annual revenue,
303
00:23:36,987 --> 00:23:39,625
and the price of victory
and castle building
304
00:23:39,786 --> 00:23:42,139
had so exhaustively bled the Jews -
305
00:23:42,304 --> 00:23:45,260
the usual source
of loans and taxation -
306
00:23:45,422 --> 00:23:47,571
that they had nothing left to yield,
307
00:23:47,741 --> 00:23:50,458
and so could be dispensed with
altogether.
308
00:23:52,858 --> 00:23:57,451
Early in his reign, Edward, perhaps
acting from religious conviction,
309
00:23:57,615 --> 00:24:02,561
outlawed money lending, putting most
of England's Jews out of business.
310
00:24:05,010 --> 00:24:10,206
He then forced them to wear
yellow felt badges of identification
311
00:24:10,367 --> 00:24:13,994
and so be recognised
as the sub-species of humanity
312
00:24:14,165 --> 00:24:16,916
he undoubtedly believed they were.
313
00:24:18,922 --> 00:24:21,593
A year after his first Welsh invasion,
314
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,353
Edward arrested all the heads
of the Jewish households
315
00:24:25,518 --> 00:24:29,304
and hanged nearly 300 in the Tower.
316
00:24:32,754 --> 00:24:34,788
Not satisfied with this,
317
00:24:34,952 --> 00:24:40,501
he expelled the entire community,
perhaps 3,000 people, in 1290,
318
00:24:40,669 --> 00:24:45,342
an act so overwhelmingly popular,
especially with the Church,
319
00:24:45,506 --> 00:24:49,053
that it awarded him a huge tax grant.
320
00:24:52,182 --> 00:24:55,536
So it's Edward's England
which became the first country
321
00:24:55,700 --> 00:24:59,929
to perform a little act
of ethnic cleansing on its Jews,
322
00:25:00,097 --> 00:25:05,122
the violent uprooting of communities
in York, Lincoln and London.
323
00:25:05,294 --> 00:25:08,409
(MOURNFUL SINGING)
324
00:25:11,290 --> 00:25:16,486
It was not plain sailing for the Jews
on one deportation boat in the Thames.
325
00:25:16,647 --> 00:25:20,762
At Queenborough, the captain
encouraged his Jewish passengers
326
00:25:20,924 --> 00:25:25,234
to stretch their legs as the ship
beached on the receding tide.
327
00:25:25,402 --> 00:25:29,312
As it returned, he barred them
from getting back aboard,
328
00:25:29,479 --> 00:25:32,833
challenging them to call on their god
to part the waves
329
00:25:32,997 --> 00:25:35,305
as he had with the Red Sea.
330
00:25:35,476 --> 00:25:39,751
But there was no miracle this time.
They all drowned.
331
00:25:50,986 --> 00:25:55,534
In Lincoln Cathedral lie the entrails
of Eleanor of Castile,
332
00:25:55,703 --> 00:25:57,693
Queen to Edward I.
333
00:25:57,862 --> 00:26:00,658
She died within months
of the expulsions,
334
00:26:00,820 --> 00:26:05,209
leaving her husband, normally so
thick-skinned and emotionally coarse,
335
00:26:05,377 --> 00:26:08,209
distraught, plunged into grief.
336
00:26:09,495 --> 00:26:14,930
Edward's devotion is reflected in a
monument unique in medieval kingship -
337
00:26:15,092 --> 00:26:19,719
twelve crosses he built to mark
the points where Eleanor's body lay
338
00:26:19,889 --> 00:26:22,401
en route to Westminster Abbey...
339
00:26:23,766 --> 00:26:27,154
the most famous being Charing Cross
in London.
340
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:39,027
Eleanor's death seemed to transfer
Edward's reserve of passion
341
00:26:39,197 --> 00:26:42,153
to what now became
the real love of his life,
342
00:26:42,315 --> 00:26:45,703
the single-minded pursuit
of imperial power.
343
00:26:48,231 --> 00:26:51,858
It was Scotland that was destined
to be on the receiving end
344
00:26:52,029 --> 00:26:54,337
of Edward's deadly power games,
345
00:26:54,508 --> 00:26:59,624
which began, as always, by converting
accidents into opportunities.
346
00:27:01,423 --> 00:27:04,652
The accident was the death in 1290
347
00:27:04,821 --> 00:27:08,494
of the last surviving direct heir
to Alexander III,
348
00:27:08,659 --> 00:27:10,774
King of Scotland.
349
00:27:10,938 --> 00:27:14,769
With her gone, the Scottish nobles
were lining up for the throne.
350
00:27:14,935 --> 00:27:18,369
Someone was needed
to judge the contestants.
351
00:27:18,533 --> 00:27:20,568
Well, guess who?
352
00:27:22,690 --> 00:27:28,159
The strongest claimants led the two
most powerful factions in Scotland -
353
00:27:28,327 --> 00:27:31,203
the Bruces
and the Comyn-Balliol alliance.
354
00:27:31,365 --> 00:27:34,197
They hated each other.
355
00:27:36,282 --> 00:27:39,477
Both were determined
to have their man made king,
356
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,312
and if they pushed
their rival claims fully,
357
00:27:42,478 --> 00:27:46,947
their conflict would cause civil war
across all of Scotland.
358
00:27:48,235 --> 00:27:52,942
Edward came north to decide
which of the two rivals would be king.
359
00:27:53,112 --> 00:27:56,989
The competitors met him
on either side of the River Tweed,
360
00:27:57,150 --> 00:27:59,582
near a place called Norham.
361
00:28:02,266 --> 00:28:05,700
Of course, Edward being Edward,
he had a price on his mind
362
00:28:05,864 --> 00:28:09,821
in return for being
adjudicator-godfather to the Scots.
363
00:28:09,982 --> 00:28:13,177
And that price, needless to say,
was homage -
364
00:28:13,340 --> 00:28:17,455
the bent knee, the kiss on the ring,
the devoted sword,
365
00:28:17,617 --> 00:28:20,130
the acceptance by whoever got the job
366
00:28:20,296 --> 00:28:23,331
that henceforth
he would be Edward's man,
367
00:28:23,494 --> 00:28:27,609
deeply in his debt,
his soldiers at the king's command.
368
00:28:27,771 --> 00:28:32,000
To prove his point,
he gathered an army at Norham,
369
00:28:32,168 --> 00:28:35,283
an army of monks,
scholars and antiquarians.
370
00:28:35,446 --> 00:28:39,437
Their heavy artillery were
ancient charters and chronicles.
371
00:28:39,604 --> 00:28:44,550
Their job, to find the historical proof
of English overlordship.
372
00:28:44,721 --> 00:28:50,075
But they failed, so the king threw
the problem right back to the Scots.
373
00:28:51,597 --> 00:28:55,746
Edward asked the guardians of the realm
to find documentary evidence
374
00:28:55,914 --> 00:28:59,382
as to why he was not,
in fact, their feudal overlord,
375
00:28:59,552 --> 00:29:02,906
to which he got a wonderfully
canny contradiction,
376
00:29:03,070 --> 00:29:05,184
not at all what he wanted to hear.
377
00:29:05,348 --> 00:29:10,180
Sire, they said, the "bona gentes",
the responsible men who have sent us,
378
00:29:10,345 --> 00:29:14,416
know full well you couldn't possibly
make so great a claim
379
00:29:14,583 --> 00:29:17,653
unless you actually believed
you had a right to it.
380
00:29:17,821 --> 00:29:20,617
But of this right, we know nothing.
381
00:29:20,779 --> 00:29:25,247
Which is as much to say, look, you
can't be completely off your head
382
00:29:25,416 --> 00:29:30,168
to come up with this sovereignty stuff,
but it's all news to us, chum,
383
00:29:30,333 --> 00:29:33,209
since the Scottish realm
on this side of the river
384
00:29:33,371 --> 00:29:36,839
is held tribute to no one but God.
385
00:29:37,009 --> 00:29:39,805
We don't have to prove a thing.
386
00:29:39,967 --> 00:29:43,753
It's for you to come up with
a supermonk with the perfect charter.
387
00:29:43,925 --> 00:29:46,801
Why don't you let us know
when you have it?
388
00:29:49,122 --> 00:29:53,635
In the end, all those who thought
they had a chance at the Scots throne
389
00:29:53,799 --> 00:29:56,436
did pay homage to Edward.
390
00:29:56,597 --> 00:30:01,873
But the rest of the Scots community of the
realm held their noses and stood aloof.
391
00:30:02,913 --> 00:30:08,428
Was this, as some Scottish historians
have insisted, an Edwardian trap?
392
00:30:08,590 --> 00:30:12,739
Was he already thinking of turning
Scotland into Wales North,
393
00:30:12,907 --> 00:30:17,500
the next territory to be gobbled up
by his imperial appetite?
394
00:30:17,664 --> 00:30:20,734
Well, I think the appetite
grew with the eating.
395
00:30:20,902 --> 00:30:24,688
A year later, when the final verdict
came through,
396
00:30:24,860 --> 00:30:27,418
Balliol did prove
to have the better claim
397
00:30:27,578 --> 00:30:29,966
and was the clear choice of Scotland.
398
00:30:30,137 --> 00:30:33,411
Edward did not force him on anybody.
399
00:30:36,053 --> 00:30:39,600
Once Balliol had acknowledged
Edward's overlordship,
400
00:30:39,771 --> 00:30:41,920
the English king agreed to keep
401
00:30:42,089 --> 00:30:45,397
the separate identity
of Scottish institutions.
402
00:30:45,567 --> 00:30:49,604
Only if their interest crossed
would there be trouble.
403
00:30:49,765 --> 00:30:54,278
Alas, they did,
and trouble there certainly was.
404
00:30:56,881 --> 00:31:00,393
Edward wasted no time
in humiliating Balliol
405
00:31:00,558 --> 00:31:03,469
on every occasion
over the next five years,
406
00:31:03,636 --> 00:31:06,024
driving the Scots
community of the realm -
407
00:31:06,195 --> 00:31:09,503
the nobles, clergy, gentry
and burgesses -
408
00:31:09,673 --> 00:31:12,310
to stand against their own king.
409
00:31:12,471 --> 00:31:16,859
When war with France coincided
with another Welsh rebellion,
410
00:31:17,028 --> 00:31:20,223
Edward exercised his overlordship
of Scotland
411
00:31:20,386 --> 00:31:23,615
and summoned their nobility
to fight for him.
412
00:31:23,784 --> 00:31:28,252
They refused
and then went one stage further.
413
00:31:28,421 --> 00:31:33,538
They signed a formal treaty
with France against England.
414
00:31:33,698 --> 00:31:37,735
To Edward, it was self-evidently
a declaration of war.
415
00:31:37,896 --> 00:31:43,649
The army he raised in 1296 put even
the Welsh campaign in the shade.
416
00:31:46,930 --> 00:31:51,955
First to fall was Scotland's
wealthiest port, Berwick Upon Tweed.
417
00:31:52,127 --> 00:31:55,242
The siege lasted only hours...
418
00:31:56,684 --> 00:31:59,719
the massacre that followed, days.
419
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,235
(SCOTSMAN) The king of England
spared no one...
420
00:32:07,278 --> 00:32:09,744
whatever their age or sex.
421
00:32:11,235 --> 00:32:15,943
And for two days streams of blood
flowed from the bodies of the slain...
422
00:32:18,551 --> 00:32:22,462
so that mills could be turned round
by its flow.
423
00:32:26,746 --> 00:32:30,941
At Dunbar, the Scots Royal Army
was swept aside.
424
00:32:31,103 --> 00:32:34,810
Now Edward turned imperial conqueror
in deadly earnest.
425
00:32:35,461 --> 00:32:38,974
King John Balliol's arms
were torn from his coat
426
00:32:39,138 --> 00:32:41,207
like a court-martialled subaltern,
427
00:32:41,377 --> 00:32:44,731
and English officials
took over Scottish government.
428
00:32:44,895 --> 00:32:48,442
Just as he had ripped the heart
out of Welsh independence
429
00:32:48,613 --> 00:32:51,284
by carrying off their sacred relics,
430
00:32:51,451 --> 00:32:54,122
Edward now took the Stone of Scone,
431
00:32:54,289 --> 00:32:58,041
symbol of the independent
Scottish crown, to Westminster,
432
00:32:58,207 --> 00:33:03,039
where a magnificent coronation chair
was custom-designed to hold it.
433
00:33:04,163 --> 00:33:08,279
And when Edward was given
the broken Scottish royal seal,
434
00:33:08,441 --> 00:33:11,431
he set it aside, commenting...
435
00:33:11,599 --> 00:33:15,669
The man does good business
when he rids himself of a turd.
436
00:33:17,155 --> 00:33:23,022
A host of Scots came to do homage
to Edward, including the Bruces,
437
00:33:23,192 --> 00:33:27,580
but there was one who did not -
Malcolm Wallace.
438
00:33:27,749 --> 00:33:30,659
And this Malcolm had a brother.
439
00:33:36,144 --> 00:33:40,896
Here he is, the standard-issue
freedom fighter of the imagination -
440
00:33:41,061 --> 00:33:45,370
the "give 'em hell" whiskers,
the "save me, Jesus" eyes,
441
00:33:45,538 --> 00:33:47,687
the hamstrings from hell.
442
00:33:48,856 --> 00:33:53,324
We've not a clue, of course, whether
William Wallace looked remotely like this
443
00:33:53,493 --> 00:33:57,882
any more than we know whether
he could have stood in for Mel Gibson,
444
00:33:58,051 --> 00:34:00,802
who immortalised him in "Braveheart".
445
00:34:00,969 --> 00:34:04,357
But Wallace is one
of those larger-than-life figures
446
00:34:04,527 --> 00:34:08,199
whose epic romance refuses to go away.
447
00:34:08,364 --> 00:34:12,560
It just grows, to match
this extraordinary monument to him
448
00:34:12,722 --> 00:34:15,712
dominating the Stirling skyline.
449
00:34:17,439 --> 00:34:20,793
There's no doubt, of course,
that Wallace did count,
450
00:34:20,957 --> 00:34:24,345
that his brief
but incredibly dramatic intervention
451
00:34:24,515 --> 00:34:29,347
in the English-Scottish wars
did change the course of British history,
452
00:34:29,512 --> 00:34:32,502
if only to show that the armies
of Edward I
453
00:34:32,670 --> 00:34:36,501
were not invincible at all times
and in all places.
454
00:34:38,226 --> 00:34:41,455
Beyond that,
Wallace was one of the few Scots
455
00:34:41,624 --> 00:34:45,092
who never at any stage
paid homage to Edward,
456
00:34:45,262 --> 00:34:48,252
remaining loyal to King John Balliol.
457
00:34:48,420 --> 00:34:52,570
More gentleman turned outlaw
than peasant man of the glens,
458
00:34:52,737 --> 00:34:55,534
Wallace wasn't a one-man war either.
459
00:34:56,495 --> 00:35:00,566
My mid-1297,
all Scotland was on the boil.
460
00:35:00,733 --> 00:35:04,564
North of the Forth, Andrew Murray
matched or even surpassed him
461
00:35:04,730 --> 00:35:07,720
by leading a wild and brilliant
guerrilla war.
462
00:35:09,447 --> 00:35:13,996
It was when Murray marched south
and Wallace moved north to meet here,
463
00:35:14,164 --> 00:35:17,313
on the Forth at Stirling -
the key to Scotland -
464
00:35:17,482 --> 00:35:22,997
that a chaotic wildfire uprising
turned into a major military campaign.
465
00:35:26,157 --> 00:35:30,545
On the eve of the Battle of Stirling
Bridge, Wallace told the English,
466
00:35:30,714 --> 00:35:32,988
"We are not here to make peace,
467
00:35:33,153 --> 00:35:36,587
"but to do battle
and to liberate our kingdom."
468
00:35:40,189 --> 00:35:43,179
The Scots gathered
on the Abbey Craig Bridge.
469
00:35:43,347 --> 00:35:48,736
Below, a narrow wooden bridge
led to the castle and to the English.
470
00:35:50,582 --> 00:35:54,573
Wallace allowed about half of them
to cross the fragile structure,
471
00:35:54,740 --> 00:35:57,047
enough for his forces to deal with.
472
00:36:03,215 --> 00:36:07,251
And so they did, rushing down
from their perch, through the woods,
473
00:36:07,412 --> 00:36:09,766
and into the English ranks.
474
00:36:15,567 --> 00:36:19,399
Wallace, on foot,
with a great sharp sword,
475
00:36:19,565 --> 00:36:22,282
goes amongst the very thickest
of his foes.
476
00:36:25,361 --> 00:36:28,158
The Scots vanquished
the savage English,
477
00:36:28,319 --> 00:36:31,832
whom they put into mourning for death.
478
00:36:31,997 --> 00:36:37,352
Some had their throats cut, others
were taken prisoners, others drowned.
479
00:36:40,352 --> 00:36:44,740
One, the hated English taxman
Cressingham, was skinned,
480
00:36:44,909 --> 00:36:49,344
his fat body made into a belt
for Wallace's victorious sword.
481
00:36:52,865 --> 00:36:55,821
And yet,
as so often in Scottish history,
482
00:36:55,983 --> 00:37:00,895
defeat quickly followed victory
down the Forth at Falkirk.
483
00:37:03,138 --> 00:37:06,970
Wallace's warriors
died by the thousands.
484
00:37:09,295 --> 00:37:13,410
They fell like blossoms in an orchard
when the fruit has ripened.
485
00:37:13,932 --> 00:37:17,922
Bodies covered the ground
as thickly as snow in winter.
486
00:37:21,127 --> 00:37:24,959
Wallace himself
managed to escape the slaughter,
487
00:37:25,125 --> 00:37:28,195
only to be captured years later,
488
00:37:28,363 --> 00:37:32,911
betrayed by a Scotsman,
possibly even the Bruce himself.
489
00:37:36,318 --> 00:37:40,468
After a mock trial, Wallace endured
the most appalling death
490
00:37:40,636 --> 00:37:44,865
that the king's rage could devise -
a live disembowelment.
491
00:37:49,230 --> 00:37:51,265
In the intervening six years,
492
00:37:51,429 --> 00:37:55,181
Scotland suffered almost as badly
by Edward's hand,
493
00:37:55,347 --> 00:37:59,496
as the Scots drew inspiration
from Wallace and fought on.
494
00:38:00,823 --> 00:38:05,974
Edward came back from 1297 to 1304.
495
00:38:07,579 --> 00:38:11,809
The war became a murderous academy
of siege warfare.
496
00:38:13,336 --> 00:38:17,645
Edward came from the south west
to Caerlaverock Castle,
497
00:38:17,813 --> 00:38:22,361
took it, and left with its defenders
hanged from the walls.
498
00:38:22,530 --> 00:38:28,124
North to Bothwell, where a huge siege
tower overcame its mighty battlements,
499
00:38:28,287 --> 00:38:30,276
and on and on.
500
00:38:31,165 --> 00:38:35,758
Not even Scotland's Westminster
was saved from his fury.
501
00:38:37,561 --> 00:38:40,551
Dunfermline Abbey
is one of those places
502
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:44,232
where you can almost smell tragedy
in the stonework.
503
00:38:44,397 --> 00:38:48,706
Pretty much everything you see here
was built, or rather rebuilt,
504
00:38:48,874 --> 00:38:51,228
after 1303.
505
00:38:51,393 --> 00:38:54,224
It was in that year
that Edward I,
506
00:38:54,391 --> 00:38:57,620
in one of his murderously
vindictive tantrums,
507
00:38:57,789 --> 00:39:00,984
torched the place,
burnt it to the ground.
508
00:39:01,147 --> 00:39:04,853
He was, as usual, making a point.
509
00:39:05,024 --> 00:39:07,583
To smash up a royal mausoleum
510
00:39:07,743 --> 00:39:11,574
was to strike directly at Scotland's
sense of independent history.
511
00:39:14,139 --> 00:39:18,448
The greatest symbol of that
independence, as always, was Stirling.
512
00:39:19,975 --> 00:39:23,488
Its surrender took the fight
out of the Scots.
513
00:39:26,491 --> 00:39:30,038
In 1304, they submitted to Edward.
514
00:39:30,649 --> 00:39:33,844
Well, he must have thought,
that was that.
515
00:39:34,007 --> 00:39:36,519
Done with. Peace.
516
00:39:37,085 --> 00:39:38,836
A mistake.
517
00:39:39,004 --> 00:39:42,039
For what Edward couldn't possibly
have predicted
518
00:39:42,202 --> 00:39:44,873
was the emergence of a Scottish lion
519
00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:48,110
even more ruthless
than the Leopard himself.
520
00:39:48,278 --> 00:39:50,915
And he was, of course, the Bruce.
521
00:39:52,875 --> 00:39:57,992
The strange thing, though, is that the
formidable strengths of Robert the Bruce -
522
00:39:58,152 --> 00:40:01,620
his political cunning,
his military ingenuity,
523
00:40:01,790 --> 00:40:05,622
his steely resolution,
even his intermittent fits of rage -
524
00:40:05,787 --> 00:40:10,983
are rather like the attributes of
a man whose work he'd sworn to undo.
525
00:40:11,144 --> 00:40:12,861
Edward I.
526
00:40:13,023 --> 00:40:15,819
If he'd read the book
of Edward's life,
527
00:40:15,981 --> 00:40:20,416
he would have known that lesson
number one was not beat the foreigner,
528
00:40:20,578 --> 00:40:24,774
it was first win your battles at home.
529
00:40:27,334 --> 00:40:30,608
And so, in 1306, Bruce,
530
00:40:30,772 --> 00:40:34,763
the most politically intelligent
and militarily successful figure
531
00:40:34,930 --> 00:40:38,284
in medieval Scottish history,
did just that.
532
00:40:39,527 --> 00:40:44,200
He met with John Comyn, his main rival,
and ended up stabbing him
533
00:40:44,364 --> 00:40:49,071
before the altar of Greyfriars Church
in Dumfries.
534
00:40:54,838 --> 00:40:58,272
The murder is neither explained
nor justified
535
00:40:58,436 --> 00:41:02,062
by it being the case of a patriot
knocking off a quisling -
536
00:41:02,233 --> 00:41:07,258
Comyn had been more consistent in his
opposition to the English than Bruce.
537
00:41:07,430 --> 00:41:10,898
He remained loyal to King Balliol,
who still lived,
538
00:41:11,068 --> 00:41:13,375
and so had to be removed.
539
00:41:14,346 --> 00:41:17,620
Barely six weeks
after he had murdered Comyn,
540
00:41:17,784 --> 00:41:21,820
Bruce had himself
inaugurated king at Scone.
541
00:41:24,340 --> 00:41:27,535
Instead of unifying the Scots
behind a single leader,
542
00:41:27,698 --> 00:41:32,849
Bruce's actions only intensified
what was already a Scottish civil war,
543
00:41:33,015 --> 00:41:36,005
one that he initially lost.
544
00:41:40,290 --> 00:41:44,724
He fled Scotland and so created
a vacuum of knowledge,
545
00:41:44,887 --> 00:41:47,116
filled by heroic mythology -
546
00:41:47,286 --> 00:41:50,196
the fable of the cave and the spider,
547
00:41:50,364 --> 00:41:54,037
whose patience gave Robert
the resolution to persevere.
548
00:41:56,041 --> 00:41:58,394
There was no cave, no spider,
549
00:41:58,559 --> 00:42:01,072
but there was something
more extraordinary -
550
00:42:01,237 --> 00:42:05,626
the polished noble turning himself
into a guerrilla captain.
551
00:42:05,795 --> 00:42:08,466
It was Robert the Bruce,
not William Wallace,
552
00:42:08,633 --> 00:42:11,304
who wrote the book
on partisan warfare.
553
00:42:12,910 --> 00:42:15,377
On his return, four months later,
554
00:42:15,549 --> 00:42:19,142
adversity now made him
a great general,
555
00:42:19,306 --> 00:42:22,377
attacking his Scots
and English foes alike.
556
00:42:24,144 --> 00:42:28,692
In the end, Robert the Bruce
simply outlived the old king,
557
00:42:28,861 --> 00:42:32,010
who breathed his last
fearing the worst
558
00:42:32,179 --> 00:42:34,691
should ever his son,
Edward of Caernarfon,
559
00:42:34,857 --> 00:42:38,370
have to meet Robert the Bruce
on the field of battle.
560
00:42:40,773 --> 00:42:42,728
Eventually, Edward died,
561
00:42:42,892 --> 00:42:46,519
here near Carlisle in 1307,
562
00:42:46,690 --> 00:42:49,964
en route to deal with Bruce himself.
563
00:42:50,128 --> 00:42:54,562
Ironically, at the end of his life,
Edward turned thoughtful,
564
00:42:54,725 --> 00:42:57,362
even writing that he wanted to promote
565
00:42:57,523 --> 00:43:00,752
"pleasantness, ease and quiet
for our subjects."
566
00:43:01,921 --> 00:43:06,628
If he really believed this, he must
have died a truly disappointed man.
567
00:43:07,637 --> 00:43:09,786
One story says the king left orders
568
00:43:09,956 --> 00:43:12,946
for his bones to be boiled away
from his flesh
569
00:43:13,114 --> 00:43:15,501
and carried before his son's army,
570
00:43:15,672 --> 00:43:19,185
believing that as long
as his bones marched north,
571
00:43:19,350 --> 00:43:22,306
the Scots would never be victorious.
572
00:43:24,267 --> 00:43:28,894
But Edward Junior was going to need
more than his father's shinbone
573
00:43:29,064 --> 00:43:32,099
if he was to have
any chance of success.
574
00:43:33,741 --> 00:43:38,176
He was certainly not the incarnation
of the community of the realm.
575
00:43:38,338 --> 00:43:42,124
Neither was he the true heir
of the Caesar of Britain,
576
00:43:42,296 --> 00:43:44,286
the monarch of all he surveyed.
577
00:43:44,455 --> 00:43:46,683
He was just a loser.
578
00:43:48,532 --> 00:43:51,886
Bruce, on the other hand,
was still a winner.
579
00:43:52,570 --> 00:43:55,526
Over seven years,
he regained his kingdom.
580
00:43:55,688 --> 00:44:00,918
So, by 1314, the English
only controlled Bothwell, Berwick,
581
00:44:01,085 --> 00:44:04,393
Jedborough and the key,
Stirling Castle -
582
00:44:04,563 --> 00:44:06,995
now besieged by the Scots.
583
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:10,752
Faced with complete humiliation
in Scotland,
584
00:44:10,919 --> 00:44:14,829
Edward II finally acted
and marched north.
585
00:44:15,636 --> 00:44:21,821
He met his nemesis in a muddy field
along the banks of the Bannock burn.
586
00:44:22,752 --> 00:44:28,266
It was not to be the usual story
of charge, arrows away, slash, victory,
587
00:44:28,428 --> 00:44:31,065
but a relentless two-day affair.
588
00:44:31,786 --> 00:44:36,140
Outnumbered three to one,
Bruce did get to choose the battlefield,
589
00:44:36,303 --> 00:44:39,055
knowing that even Plantagenet
war machines
590
00:44:39,222 --> 00:44:41,529
don't work well on wet ground.
591
00:44:46,817 --> 00:44:50,205
However, it was almost all over
before it had begun.
592
00:44:50,375 --> 00:44:53,092
The young Henry de Bohun,
English knight,
593
00:44:53,253 --> 00:44:56,880
caught Bruce unawares and unarmoured
on his little mount
594
00:44:57,051 --> 00:45:00,041
some way off from his soldiers.
595
00:45:00,209 --> 00:45:05,564
So Henry missed the noble king,
and he standing in his stirrups
596
00:45:05,725 --> 00:45:08,238
with an axe
that was both hard and good
597
00:45:08,404 --> 00:45:10,962
struck him a blow
with such great force
598
00:45:11,122 --> 00:45:14,271
that it cleaved the head
to his brains.
599
00:45:14,440 --> 00:45:19,113
The shaft of the axe left broken
in Robert's fist.
600
00:45:21,236 --> 00:45:24,590
Skirmishing followed
as the short June night fell,
601
00:45:24,754 --> 00:45:27,028
Bruce reminding the Scots...
602
00:45:27,192 --> 00:45:30,819
The English are bent
on obliterating my kingdom.
603
00:45:30,990 --> 00:45:33,378
Nay, our whole nation.
604
00:45:34,828 --> 00:45:36,943
The English knights charge.
605
00:45:38,665 --> 00:45:41,497
The sodden ground and "schiltron" -
606
00:45:41,664 --> 00:45:47,895
hedgehogs of 1,500 men, each holding
a twelve-foot spear - defeat them.
607
00:46:05,809 --> 00:46:08,844
Ranks of infantry meet head on.
608
00:46:10,406 --> 00:46:14,875
Such a smashing of spears
that men could hear it far away.
609
00:46:16,363 --> 00:46:20,035
English archers are now swept away
by Scots cavalry
610
00:46:20,200 --> 00:46:25,191
or blocked by the four schiltrons,
which unite and push forward.
611
00:46:26,636 --> 00:46:31,582
And many a splendid mighty blow
dealt there on both sides
612
00:46:31,753 --> 00:46:35,221
until blood burst through
the mail coats
613
00:46:35,391 --> 00:46:38,506
and went streaming down to the earth.
614
00:46:41,987 --> 00:46:46,978
Edward II fled the field
with 500 knights.
615
00:46:48,503 --> 00:46:53,016
The English force broke behind him
and was slaughtered.
616
00:46:53,180 --> 00:46:55,613
The burn becomes so choked...
617
00:46:55,779 --> 00:47:00,725
Men could pass dry foot over it
on drowned horses and men.
618
00:47:03,774 --> 00:47:08,686
Edward II left his shield,
his seal, his honour
619
00:47:08,851 --> 00:47:13,239
and perhaps 4,000 English
and Welsh dead.
620
00:47:21,443 --> 00:47:25,150
Having won a victory on the battlefield
if not the war itself,
621
00:47:25,321 --> 00:47:28,550
the Scots now sought
international recognition
622
00:47:28,719 --> 00:47:30,708
of their newly-won liberty.
623
00:47:34,035 --> 00:47:37,106
The occasion was a letter
sent to the Pope,
624
00:47:37,274 --> 00:47:40,389
setting out the reasons
why Scotland's independence
625
00:47:40,552 --> 00:47:44,622
ought to be recognised by the Church
as itself sacred.
626
00:47:46,468 --> 00:47:49,583
The letter was written here
in Arbroath Abbey,
627
00:47:49,746 --> 00:47:53,214
and more than anything ever produced
south of the border
628
00:47:53,384 --> 00:47:55,657
represented a perfect fusion
629
00:47:55,822 --> 00:47:59,733
between the two ideas of sovereignty
we've seen in action -
630
00:47:59,900 --> 00:48:02,696
the nation and the prince.
631
00:48:05,576 --> 00:48:09,044
At the heart of what we call
the Declaration of Arbroath
632
00:48:09,214 --> 00:48:13,285
is something much more powerful,
much more deeply moving.
633
00:48:13,452 --> 00:48:17,078
It is the insistence
that the nation lived on, beyond,
634
00:48:17,249 --> 00:48:19,398
and outside the person of the prince,
635
00:48:19,568 --> 00:48:22,922
who for a time
happened to claim its government.
636
00:48:23,086 --> 00:48:25,314
We've heard something like this before
637
00:48:25,484 --> 00:48:29,475
at the very beginning of our story
in Oxford in 1258.
638
00:48:29,642 --> 00:48:33,473
But here in Scotland,
it's much more eloquent,
639
00:48:33,639 --> 00:48:37,949
the image of the free patriot drawn
not as a desperado like Wallace
640
00:48:38,117 --> 00:48:40,390
or a mighty prince like Bruce,
641
00:48:40,555 --> 00:48:44,023
but as one of a band
of brother survivors.
642
00:48:44,193 --> 00:48:48,025
For as long as but a hundred of us
remain alive,
643
00:48:48,190 --> 00:48:51,340
we will yield in no least way
to English dominion.
644
00:48:51,508 --> 00:48:56,579
We fight not for glory, nor riches,
nor honour, but for freedom,
645
00:48:56,745 --> 00:49:00,895
which no good man gives up
except with his life.
646
00:49:03,701 --> 00:49:06,372
The real lesson
of the Battle of Bannockburn
647
00:49:06,539 --> 00:49:09,496
was that the Scottish king
commanded loyalty
648
00:49:09,657 --> 00:49:12,965
in ways that just never occurred
to Edward II.
649
00:49:15,334 --> 00:49:19,371
Robert the Bruce knew
that he could only be successful
650
00:49:19,531 --> 00:49:22,283
if he could be
the personification of Scotland,
651
00:49:22,450 --> 00:49:25,520
the incarnation
of the community of the realm.
652
00:49:25,688 --> 00:49:29,156
And that's why
he was not Scotland's Edward I,
653
00:49:29,326 --> 00:49:32,441
he was Scotland's Simon de Montfort.
654
00:49:36,841 --> 00:49:40,434
Like de Montfort,
Bruce had pinned his personal cause
655
00:49:40,599 --> 00:49:44,384
to the flag and to the passions
of his country.
656
00:49:49,193 --> 00:49:52,979
Unlike Edward I,
Robert was not just a warlord
657
00:49:53,151 --> 00:49:55,425
who hammered the country to his will.
658
00:49:55,590 --> 00:49:59,466
He had managed to forge
a true alliance with the people,
659
00:49:59,627 --> 00:50:04,095
a community of the realm
that, when united and led by Robert I,
660
00:50:04,264 --> 00:50:06,493
could win its freedom.
661
00:50:13,419 --> 00:50:17,932
And so the emboldened Scots
take the war to the English.
662
00:50:21,814 --> 00:50:23,292
For 22 years,
663
00:50:23,453 --> 00:50:27,807
the Scots raided and terrorised
huge areas of northern England,
664
00:50:27,970 --> 00:50:30,324
reaching as far south as Yorkshire.
665
00:50:32,167 --> 00:50:34,157
Abbeys and castles fell,
666
00:50:34,326 --> 00:50:37,441
cities paid the Scots off
to avoid destruction.
667
00:50:40,522 --> 00:50:42,432
Villages were trashed.
668
00:50:45,199 --> 00:50:48,951
The border raids on a weakened enemy
were what you'd expect.
669
00:50:55,593 --> 00:50:59,948
In May 1315,
Robert Bruce's brother Edward
670
00:51:00,110 --> 00:51:04,147
landed here in north-east Ireland
near Carrickfergus Castle
671
00:51:04,308 --> 00:51:08,423
with a formidable Scots army
of many thousands of men.
672
00:51:08,585 --> 00:51:10,893
What the Bruces were doing, in effect,
673
00:51:11,064 --> 00:51:15,418
was opening a second front
against the English Empire.
674
00:51:16,700 --> 00:51:19,452
Robert had written
a remarkable letter.
675
00:51:19,619 --> 00:51:21,733
The Scots would come, he said,
676
00:51:21,897 --> 00:51:25,729
not as an invader
but as liberators, for...
677
00:51:25,895 --> 00:51:31,329
Our people and your people,
free in times past,
678
00:51:31,491 --> 00:51:37,165
share the same national ancestry
and common custom.
679
00:51:42,005 --> 00:51:46,632
The rhetoric was stirring and it
found resonance with the native Irish.
680
00:51:46,802 --> 00:51:49,076
For nearly a century and a half,
681
00:51:49,241 --> 00:51:51,958
there had been
an entrenched English colony
682
00:51:52,119 --> 00:51:54,074
in north and eastern Ireland,
683
00:51:54,238 --> 00:51:57,467
often safe only in castles
like Carrickfergus,
684
00:51:57,636 --> 00:52:01,103
which Edward Bruce
now besieged for a year.
685
00:52:01,713 --> 00:52:04,509
But the timing was unfortunate,
686
00:52:04,671 --> 00:52:09,981
for 1315 also saw the worst famine
in living memory.
687
00:52:10,148 --> 00:52:14,741
Very soon, Edward Bruce's army
became indistinguishable
688
00:52:14,905 --> 00:52:17,622
from any other disorderly gang
of knights
689
00:52:17,783 --> 00:52:23,013
using force to extract the provisions
they desperately needed for their men
690
00:52:23,180 --> 00:52:26,136
and not choosing to distinguish
with any care
691
00:52:26,298 --> 00:52:29,368
between Gaelic friends
and English foes.
692
00:52:29,536 --> 00:52:31,526
Famished and desperate,
693
00:52:31,695 --> 00:52:35,322
the Scots took what they needed
from the Irish villagers
694
00:52:35,493 --> 00:52:40,166
and finally resorted, so it was said,
to digging up fresh graves
695
00:52:40,330 --> 00:52:43,081
and eating the decayed bodies.
696
00:52:44,527 --> 00:52:47,881
Month by month,
the Bruce's war of liberation
697
00:52:48,045 --> 00:52:52,433
turned into something
remarkably like an occupation.
698
00:52:54,001 --> 00:52:59,026
Ambitious Edward Bruce also wanted
to be a king - a king in Dublin -
699
00:52:59,198 --> 00:53:03,553
and he didn't much care what taking
the throne would cost the Irish.
700
00:53:04,195 --> 00:53:06,185
It was the usual story.
701
00:53:06,354 --> 00:53:10,822
A victory over the Ulster English,
then a march south towards Dublin.
702
00:53:10,991 --> 00:53:14,743
There, many of the population
tore down their own houses
703
00:53:14,909 --> 00:53:19,024
to use as walls against the Scots,
rather than surrender the city.
704
00:53:20,105 --> 00:53:23,459
Not all the Irish nobility and kings
opened their arms
705
00:53:23,623 --> 00:53:26,090
to embrace their Scots "liberators".
706
00:53:26,262 --> 00:53:31,208
A bitter civil war broke out between
native Irish supporters of both sides.
707
00:53:31,379 --> 00:53:35,654
A climactic battle in the west took,
according to contemporaries,
708
00:53:35,816 --> 00:53:38,647
no fewer than ten thousands lives.
709
00:53:41,213 --> 00:53:45,249
In 1318, Edward Bruce
was himself killed.
710
00:53:45,410 --> 00:53:48,445
Before the end of the year,
the Scots had left.
711
00:53:48,808 --> 00:53:54,243
Perhaps the experiment of Scots-Irish
collaboration deserved to fail
712
00:53:54,405 --> 00:53:57,918
because, from the beginning,
Robert the Bruce had his own
713
00:53:58,082 --> 00:54:01,039
rather than his Irish brothers'
interests at heart,
714
00:54:01,201 --> 00:54:05,828
needing a second front to divert
critical English military resources
715
00:54:05,998 --> 00:54:08,464
from Scotland to Ireland.
716
00:54:10,995 --> 00:54:16,987
Not for the last time, the Irish were
being used in someone else's quarrel.
717
00:54:19,230 --> 00:54:22,459
As grim as the story of the Scots
in Ireland was,
718
00:54:22,628 --> 00:54:27,335
they did leave behind something
other than widows and tragic ballads.
719
00:54:27,505 --> 00:54:30,336
The Anglo-Norman colony
stopped expanding
720
00:54:30,503 --> 00:54:33,254
from its base in Ulster and Leinster.
721
00:54:33,421 --> 00:54:37,809
And the idea of the unstoppable
English empire of the Plantagenets
722
00:54:37,978 --> 00:54:42,491
had the shine knocked right off
its myth of invincibility.
723
00:54:47,133 --> 00:54:52,999
And the Bruces had given Irish leaders
their voice of resistance
724
00:54:53,169 --> 00:54:56,603
...an expression of national identity.
725
00:54:57,247 --> 00:55:00,442
(IRISHMAN) To recover our native
freedom, the Irish...
726
00:55:00,604 --> 00:55:03,912
(SCOTSMAN) For as long as
but a hundred of us remain alive,
727
00:55:04,082 --> 00:55:07,197
we will yield in no least way
to English dominion.
728
00:55:07,360 --> 00:55:09,589
(WELSHMAN)
The people preferred to die
729
00:55:09,759 --> 00:55:12,351
rather than to live
under English rule.
730
00:55:12,517 --> 00:55:17,872
All these startlingly-modern sounding
declarations of national community
731
00:55:18,034 --> 00:55:20,671
come together as the epitaph
732
00:55:20,832 --> 00:55:24,618
of the idea
of the Plantagenet empire of Britain.
733
00:55:25,629 --> 00:55:27,505
You hear this language -
734
00:55:27,668 --> 00:55:31,261
eloquent, fierce,
righteously belligerent -
735
00:55:31,426 --> 00:55:34,177
and you hear a voice which,
for better or worse,
736
00:55:34,344 --> 00:55:38,619
would shout, roar and lament
down through the ages.
737
00:55:39,461 --> 00:55:42,292
Robert the Bruce outlived
both Edwards,
738
00:55:42,459 --> 00:55:45,927
and while war would continue
with England for generations,
739
00:55:46,097 --> 00:55:52,248
the Scots had won English recognition
of their truly independent kingdom.
740
00:55:53,972 --> 00:55:57,485
This is certainly not
what Longshanks had imagined
741
00:55:57,650 --> 00:56:01,640
when he had been crowned before
his namesake the Confessor's tomb,
742
00:56:01,807 --> 00:56:05,878
or when he had seated himself
upon the Stone of Scone.
743
00:56:09,003 --> 00:56:11,993
For Edward's attempt
to pound the nations of Britain
744
00:56:12,161 --> 00:56:14,151
into a united super-state
745
00:56:14,320 --> 00:56:19,834
ended up just reinforcing
their acute sense of difference.
746
00:56:19,996 --> 00:56:23,225
The hammer that Edward
had taken to the Scots
747
00:56:23,394 --> 00:56:28,943
had rebounded fatally against
his dream of a reborn Britannia.
748
00:56:30,270 --> 00:56:33,704
For the cost
of all those endless marches
749
00:56:33,868 --> 00:56:36,664
and mile upon mile of castle walls
750
00:56:36,826 --> 00:56:39,497
was political as well as financial.
751
00:56:39,664 --> 00:56:44,530
It meant parliament was more, not less,
necessary to England's government.
752
00:56:44,701 --> 00:56:49,056
It was parliament which had to agree
on how to foot the bills
753
00:56:49,219 --> 00:56:51,936
and how big those bills ought to be.
754
00:56:53,776 --> 00:56:59,961
Edward II failed to bring
any attention to this new reality.
755
00:57:00,931 --> 00:57:03,398
Falling back on rule by favourites,
756
00:57:03,570 --> 00:57:07,197
Edward made himself an alien
in his own land.
757
00:57:07,368 --> 00:57:11,483
The nobility failed to remove him,
but his wife succeeded.
758
00:57:12,005 --> 00:57:15,836
Legend has it that he was killed
in Berkeley Castle
759
00:57:16,002 --> 00:57:18,834
from a hot iron thrust up his rectum.
760
00:57:23,558 --> 00:57:27,389
Edward's murder was proof
that the king could be removed,
761
00:57:27,555 --> 00:57:32,069
even physically disposed of,
if he betrayed the community.
762
00:57:32,912 --> 00:57:35,743
But England would get a new king -
763
00:57:35,910 --> 00:57:39,298
more the heir to Edward the First
than the Second.
764
00:57:41,067 --> 00:57:44,262
Edward III knew
he couldn't achieve anything
765
00:57:44,425 --> 00:57:48,302
simply by acts of brutal,
imperial will.
766
00:57:48,543 --> 00:57:53,250
He'd learned something from
the long wars of Plantagenet Britain,
767
00:57:53,420 --> 00:57:57,535
and what he'd learned was that
his power depended not just on force,
768
00:57:57,697 --> 00:57:59,414
but on consent -
769
00:57:59,576 --> 00:58:02,725
on the consent of his barons
and his churchmen,
770
00:58:02,894 --> 00:58:04,770
on the consent of parliament,
771
00:58:04,933 --> 00:58:09,048
on the consent
of the English community of the realm.
772
00:58:09,210 --> 00:58:12,245
Not for the first
and not for the last time,
773
00:58:12,408 --> 00:58:18,559
it would take the rest of Britain to
teach England just how to be a nation.