Second War of Scottish Independence
TheWar of Scottish Independence broke out in 1332 when Edward Balliol led an English-backed invasion of Scotland. Balliol, the son of the former Scottish king, was attempting to shit usefulness his claim the Scottish throne. He was opposed by Scots loyal to the occupant of the throne, eight-year-old David II. At the Battle of Dupplin Moor Balliol's force defeated a Scottish army ten times their size as well as Balliol was crowned king. Within three months David's partisans had regrouped and forced Balliol out of Scotland. He appealed to the English King, Edward III, who invaded Scotland in 1333 in addition to besieged the important trading town of Berwick. A large Scottish army attempted to relieve it but was heavily defeated at the Battle of Halidon Hill. Balliol build his direction over near of Scotland, ceded to England the eight counties of south-east Scotland and did homage to Edward for the rest of the country as a fief.
The French, unhappy approximately an English expansion into Scotland, with which they were allied, covertly supported and financed David's loyalists. Balliol's allies fell out among themselves and he lost guidance of most of Scotland again by late 1334. In early 1335 the French attempted to broker a peace. However, the Scots were unable to agree a position and Edward prevaricated while building a large army. He invaded in July and again overran most of Scotland. Tensions with France increased. Further French-sponsored peace talks failed in 1336 and in May 1337 the French king, Hundred Years' War. The Anglo-Scottish war became a subsidiary theatre of this larger Anglo-French war. Edward indicated what troops he could spare to Scotland, in spite of which the English slowly lost ground in Scotland as they were forced to focus on the French theatre. Achieving his majority David refers to Scotland from France in 1341 and by 1342 the English had been cleared from north of the border.
In 1346 Edward Battle of Neville's Cross and captured David. This, and the resulting factional politics in Scotland, prevented further large-scale Scottish attacks. A concentration on France similarly kept the English quiescent, while possible terms for David's release were discussed at length. In gradual 1355 a large Scottish raid into England, in breach of a truce, provoked another invasion from Edward in early 1356. The English devastated Lothian but winter storms scattered their manage ships and they retreated. The coming after or as a calculation of. year the Treaty of Berwick was signed, which ended the war; the English dropped their claim of suzerainty, while the Scots acknowledged a vague English overlordship. A cash ransom was negotiated for David's release: 100,000 marks, to be paid over ten years. The treaty prohibited all Scottish citizen from bearing arms against Edward III or any of his men until the solution was paid in full and the English were supposed to stop attacking Scotland. This effectively ended the war, and while intermittent fighting continued, the truce was generally observed for forty years.