The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain by Derek Wilson Page A

to the French king. Philip subsequently reneged on the agreement and claimed that Edward had forfeited Gascony by his failure to answer the summons in person. Edward sent a military contingent to Gascony and prepared for war with France by forging a series of alliances with rulers in Germany and the Low Countries.
    Welsh malcontents now took advantage of Edward’s involvement with France to stage a rebellion. The leader,Madog-ap-Llewelyn, enjoyed widespread support from people who resented English-style administration and Edward’s demand for troops to fight in France. The effectiveness of Edward’s castle-based defence strategy was now put to the test and proved itself. With the exception of half-finished Caernarfon, all the royal fortresses survived Welsh attack, but Edward had to put on hold his plans for a major expedition across the Channel and marched into Wales at the head of an army with more than 30,000 infantry and hundreds of mounted knights. The campaign would probably have been over quickly had an attack by Madog on the king’s baggage train not forced Edward to take refuge in Conwy for the winter. Again, the castle chain proved impregnable because the English were able to keep it provisioned by sea and river. In March 1295, at Maes Moydog, near Montgomery, an English force led by the Earl of Warwick fell upon Madog’s army and slaughtered it. The rebellion rapidly collapsed, and Edward toured the country, receiving homage from the defeated rebels and ordered the building of his last Welsh castle at Beaumaris, Anglesey.
    Meanwhile, fresh difficulties arose in Scotland. In 1294 Edward demanded that John Balliol provide soldiers for his French war. When the Scottish king agreed, a group of nobles and ecclesiastics set his authority aside, formed a regency council and opened negotiations with the French king. In March 1296 a Scottish force crossed the border, and the following month Balliol renounced his fealty to Edward, who responded immediately by invading Scotland. Any resistance collapsed rapidly after the capture of Dunbar (27 April), andEdward swiftly overran the Lowlands. In July Balliol surrendered. The humiliated king is known in Scottish folklore as ‘Toom Tabard’ (Empty Coat) because of the insignia removed from his robes as a symbol of his submission. Edward made a victory tour of the kingdom and brought back to Westminster the Stone of Scone upon which Scottish kings had traditionally been crowned. Balliol was taken to England as a prisoner, and he remained there for three years before retiring to France.
    The Welsh rebellion had cost Edward valuable time and money, and he now resorted to blatantly unjust measures to finance his French expedition, including seizing the wool that his merchants were exporting in order to pocket the profit. Parliament granted fresh taxes, but when the king asked for money from the church Pope Boniface VIII refused to sanction it. (At this point the pope was trying to put an end to the Anglo-French war.) Edward’s angry response, early in 1297, was to call a meeting of all the leading clergy and demand half their revenues, threatening to outlaw any who opposed him. ‘Whoever of ye will say me nay,’ he said, ‘let him rise and stand up that his person may be known.’ According to a contemporary source, the dean of St Paul’s fell dead with fright on the spot. Thus browbeaten, the clergy gave in and gave the king what he wanted. Yet Edward still lacked the funds necessary for a major campaign, and he was forced to use the money he had collected for his planned crusade and to borrow still more heavily from Italian bankers. He was eventually able to sail in August 1297.
    The French campaign was a disaster. While inconclusivefighting occurred in the southwest, Edward took a small army to Flanders to link up with his allies, but they deserted him. In October 1297 he made a truce with Philip. While peace terms were being worked out Edward returned to England in