A History of Britain 04. Nations (17 of 30)

A History of Britain

The army he raised in 1296 put even the Welsh campaign in the shade.
First to fall was Scotland's wealthiest port, Berwick Upon Tweed.
The siege lasted only hours...
the massacre that followed, days.
(SCOTSMAN) The king of England spared no one... whatever their age or sex.
And for two days streams of blood flowed from the bodies of the slain... so that mills could be turned round by its flow.
At Dunbar, the Scots Royal Army was swept aside.
Now Edward turned imperial conqueror in deadly earnest.
King John Balliol's arms were torn from his coat like a court-martialled subaltern, and English officials took over Scottish government.

Just as he had ripped the heart out of Welsh independence by carrying off their sacred relics, Edward now took the Stone of Scone, symbol of the independent Scottish crown, to Westminster, where a magnificent coronation chair was custom-designed to hold it.
And when Edward was given the broken Scottish royal seal, he set it aside, commenting...
The man does good business when he rids himself of a turd.
A host of Scots came to do homage to Edward, including the Bruces, but there was one who did not - Malcolm Wallace.
And this Malcolm had a brother.
Here he is, the standard-issue freedom fighter of the imagination - the "give 'em hell" whiskers, the "save me, Jesus" eyes, the hamstrings from hell.