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Edward I, that military man, wanted to unite all the nations of Great Britain, that is England, Wales, Scotland And Ireland. His dad had popped across to Ireland in 1171 and all seemed quiet there. He had invaded Wales and so all that was left was Scotland. His first plan was to marry his son, Edward (unimaginative again) to Margaret, who became Queen of Scotland in 1286. Margaret, however, ruined this idea by dying in 1290, aged 7.

Edward then decided John Balliol should be King of Scotland. John said it seemed like a good idea, swore an oath of allegiance to Edward I and was crowned King of Scotland. John then thought another good idea would be to become an ally of the King of France. Edward didn’t quite agree so, in 1296, he invaded Scotland and John Balliol had another good idea and ran away.

Edward’s problems with Scotland wouldn’t go away and there were two more rebellions. After the second rebellion Robert the Bruce, who liked spiders, was crowned King. Edward I, on hearing this, promised it would be over his dead body and marched north. Unfortunately on the way he kept his promise and died, just outside Carlisle and Robert the Bruce stayed King of Scotland till 1329.

Meanwhile, Edward II, the Prince of Wales, became King of England. Edward II was not like his father. He was more interested in entertainment than warfare and two years after being crowned he married Isabella, the daughter of the King of France. She didn’t share Edward’s love of entertainment and he depended for support on a few court favourites.

Just to finish the Scotland story for a bit, in 1314 Robert the Bruce defeated Edward at a very important battle at a place called Bannockburn.

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