Edward Balliol

Edward Balliol (c.1283 - 1367), (a.k.a. Edward de Baliol), was intermittently King of Scotland from 1332-1336.

He was the eldest son of John Balliol and Isabella de Warenne, daughter of John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey and Alice de Lusignan. Alice was daughter of Hugh X de Lusignan and Isabella of Angouleme, widow of King John of England.

Scotland was left weakened by the death of Robert the Bruce since it was left with a child king, his son David II of Scotland, and shortly after this Bruce's two most able lieutenants, the Black Douglas and Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, both died.

Taking advantage of this, Balliol, backed by Edward III of England, defeated the Regent, the Earl of Mar, at the Battle of Dupplin Moor in Perthshire. He was crowned at Scone in September 1332, but three months later he was forced to flee half-naked back to England, following a surprise attack by nobles loyal to David II.

He was restored by the English in 1333, following the Battle of Halidon Hill. Balliol then ceded the whole of the district formerly known as Lothian to Edward and paid homage to him as liege lord. With no serious support in Scotland, he was deposed again in 1334, and restored again in 1335, and finally deposed in 1336 when David II returned from France.

He returned to Scotland after the defeat of David II at Battle of Nevilles Cross in 1346, raising an insurrection in Galloway, and speedily penetrated to the central parts of the kingdom. However, he gained no permanent footing.

In January 20, 1356, Balliol surrendered his claim to the Scottish throne to Edward III in exchange for an English pension. He spent the rest of his life living in obscurity. He died in 1367, at Wheatley, Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. The location of his grave is unknown.

References

Primary

• Ashley, W. J. (ed.) (1887). Edward III and His Wars, 1327-1360. London: D. Nutt. 
• Bain, Joseph (ed.) (1881-88). Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland (4 vols. ed.). Edinburgh: H.M. General Register House. 
• Bower, Walter (1987-98). Scotichronicon: In Latin and English. ed. D. E. R. Watt (9 vols. ed.). Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press. 
• Capgrave, John (1858). The Book of the Illustrious Henries. trans. Francis Charles Hingeston. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts. 
• Galbraith, V. H. (ed.) (1970) [1927]. The Anonimalle Chronicle, 1333 to 1381. Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-389-03979-9. 
• Gray, Thomas (1907). Scalacronica: The Reigns of Edward I, Edward II and Edward III. trans. Herbert Maxwell. Glasgow: J. Maclehose. 
• Skene, William F. (ed.) (1872). John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish Nation. trans. Felix J. H. Skene. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas. 
• Wilson, James (2001) [1913]. The Chronicle of Lanercost, 1272-1346. trans. Herbert Maxwell. Cribyn, Wales: Llanerch Press. ISBN 1-86143-109-0. 

Secondary

• Balfour-Melville, E. M. W. (1954). Edward III and David II. London: G. Philip. 
• Beam, Amanda (2008). The Balliol Dynasty, 1210-1364. Edinburgh: John Donald. 
• Campbell, James (1965). "England, Scotland and the Hundred Years War in the fourteenth century". in in J. R. Hale, J. R. L. Highfield, and B. Smalley (eds.). Europe in the Late Middle Ages. London: Faber and Faber. 
• Dalrymple, David (1776-79). Annals of Scotland: From the Accession of Malcolm III Surnamed Canmore to the Accession of Robert I. London: J. Murray. 
• Nicholson, Ranald (1965). Edward III and the Scots: The Formative Years of a Military Career, 1327-1335. London: Oxford University Press. 
• Paterson, R. C. Edward Balliol, in Military History, April, 2003.
• Ramsay, J. H., Edward Balliol's Scottish Campaign in 1347, in English Historical Review, vol. 25 1910.
• Ramsay, James H. (1913). Genesis of Lancaster; or, The Three Reigns of Edward II, Edward III and Richard II, 1307-1399. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 
• Reid, R. C., Edward de Balliol, in Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Antiquarian and Natural History Society, vol. 35 1956-7.
• Webster, B., Scotland without a King, 1329-1341, in Medieval Scotland, Crown, Lordship and Community, ed A. Grant and K. J. Stringer, 1993.