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purchase of a website. Or domain. A

1:07

biting wind whistles as it blows

1:09

across the grassy mound of earth

1:11

in the graveyard beside Schoon Abbey

1:13

in eastern Scotland. The

1:17

party of powerful Scottish barons and

1:19

bishops on the hill pull their

1:21

fur-lined cloaks tightly around themselves. A

1:25

few of them blow on their hands to try

1:27

and warm them and stamp their feet to keep

1:30

the blood flowing. It's

1:33

the last day of November, St

1:35

Andrew's Day, in 1292. The

1:39

light at this time of year is low and

1:41

weak, the temperature never

1:43

gets much above bone-chilling, and

1:46

the wind and rain constantly swirl in

1:48

from the vast expanse of the grey

1:50

North Sea. The

1:54

Soft drone of the bagpipes and drums coming from

1:56

the direction of the Abbey Get lost in the

1:58

whip of the bridge. Even

2:02

the goals you hover in the wind

2:04

struggle to make their screeching heard over

2:06

it. But

2:10

if the weather is bleak, this is

2:12

still a must see occasion. On

2:15

top of this little mound known as

2:17

Meet Hill. Stands: A stone

2:20

cross, Aside, it is

2:22

a hunk of sandstone carved into the

2:24

shape of a brick. But. The

2:26

size of a chair. It's

2:29

been covered today in black

2:31

silks trimmed with gold embroidery.

2:34

It's. Known as the Stone of Destiny

2:36

or the Stone of Skin. It

2:40

said to be as old as the bible. Some.

2:42

Even say that it was the stone

2:44

the Old Testament Patriarch Jacob used as

2:47

a pillow in one of the stories

2:49

from Genesis. This

2:51

has been a sacred stone in

2:53

Scotland for centuries, Used. In

2:55

coronation ceremonies for hundreds of

2:57

years. And on this

3:00

ancient piece of rock a new King

3:02

of Scots is about to be crowned.

3:06

His name. Is John Boehner

3:08

know? And he's only here

3:10

sitting on the stone of school

3:12

after and agonizingly long legal process

3:14

overseen by the Plan pads in

3:16

It's King of England eight with

3:18

the first. The

3:21

result of Edwards Bc contest to select

3:23

Paleo was announced less than two weeks

3:25

ago, so the coronation has been a

3:28

bit of a rush job. Not.

3:30

Least because there hasn't been a coronation

3:32

in Scotland for more than forty years.

3:37

But now it's happening and Valium

3:39

is getting the regalia of monarchy,

3:41

a crown on his head, a

3:44

sector in his hand, and men

3:46

bearing swords standing behind him. He's

3:51

also getting a lecture. The.

3:53

guests at the coronation wants

3:55

as a dignified gray haired

3:57

hi linda a or summer

3:59

he wearing a distinctive red

4:01

cloak, steps out before them

4:03

and clears his throat. It's

4:07

his job to remind John Balliol

4:09

exactly what a distinguished royal line

4:11

he comes from. Raising

4:20

his voice over the wind, the

4:22

bard begins reciting in Gaelic the

4:25

names of Balliol's royal predecessors, men

4:28

with names like David and Duncan,

4:30

Malcolm and Kenneth, all

4:32

the way back to the maybe legendary

4:34

first King of Scots, Fergus.

4:38

It's a long list because Scotland

4:40

has a proud and ancient royal

4:42

history. But

4:45

as the bard runs through it, some

4:47

of the barons assembled have got to

4:50

be asking themselves, is

4:52

that history about to end with

4:54

a whimper? John

4:58

Balliol may have his buttocks planted on

5:00

the stone of destiny, but

5:02

he's only king on the say so

5:04

of the big plantagenet bully Edward I.

5:09

When Edward agreed to give his opinion

5:11

on who should succeed the late King

5:13

Alexander III, he was

5:15

only meant to be offering advice. Instead,

5:18

he's made the process, known

5:20

as the great cause, needlessly

5:22

long and complicated. It's

5:26

left the Scots with the disturbing impression that

5:28

not only did he have the right to

5:31

choose their king for them, but

5:33

he's now the overlord of the kingdom,

5:36

with a right to get up in their

5:38

business whenever he feels like it. This

5:41

is very much not what they bargained for,

5:45

but what the Scots are going to get

5:47

once Balliol has been enthroned on the sacred

5:49

stone of Schoon is a whole

5:51

lot more of not what they bargained for.

6:00

After Baelil's coronation, Edward

6:02

makes him cross the border into northern England

6:04

and come to see him at the Castle

6:06

of Norham. There,

6:09

Edward orders Baelil to perform the

6:11

ceremony of homage, kneeling

6:13

before him and swearing to become

6:15

his faithful servant. Four

6:18

days after that, Edward issues an

6:20

official statement telling the Scots that

6:22

no matter what they thought or

6:24

indeed what he said, during the

6:26

deliberations over the throne, he

6:29

considers himself the ultimate power in

6:31

the British Isles. And

6:34

to show he's not joking, he starts

6:36

to allow Scottish legal cases to be

6:38

run in English courts. This

6:42

is more than just a boring technicality.

6:45

It strikes at the very heart of what it means

6:47

to be a king, which is

6:49

the ultimate enforcer of the law, like

6:52

Robocop, with a crown and a

6:54

load of castles. When

6:57

Baelil plonked himself down on the stone of

7:00

schoon, he was supposed to

7:02

become the supreme power in Scotland. It

7:05

turns out he's been made nothing

7:07

more than Edward's puppet. The

7:10

disappointment and anger in Scotland is

7:12

palpable and unsurprising.

7:17

Edward doesn't really give a monkeys about any

7:19

of that though. As far

7:21

as he can see, this is a job well

7:23

done. He's smashed whales

7:25

in his early reign, now he's

7:27

put the Scots in their place. It's

7:30

time for him to turn his attention to

7:32

the job he really wants to get done,

7:34

which is going back to the Holy Land

7:36

on Crusades to fight the Mamluks. That's

7:40

the slave soldier dynasty who've written up

7:42

to take command of Egypt and are

7:44

now overrunning the whole of the Crusader

7:46

Kingdom of Jerusalem. But

7:50

if Edward thinks he has a free pass to

7:52

cantor off to the east, he's in

7:54

for a shock. He

7:56

may have bullied the Scots mercilessly, but

7:58

he's not going to get away with it. that easily,

8:02

because there's nothing a bully hates so

8:04

much as being bullied themselves. And

8:07

Edward is about to get a taste

8:10

of his own medicine. I'm

8:17

Dan Jones and from Sony Music

8:20

Entertainment, this is History, Season

8:22

4 of A Dynasty to Die For.

8:27

Edward XI, The Sword and

8:29

the Stone When

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Henry III chose his royal advisors, he

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ended up with some very untrustworthy power

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grabbers which led to poor management decisions,

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rebellions and at least one person in

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9:50

Edward I is one of the

9:52

most effective kings the Plantagenets ever

9:54

produce, but there's something he

9:56

has in common with the other effective

9:59

Plantagenets like... Henry II and Richard

10:01

the Lionheart. They never

10:03

know when to leave a thing alone.

10:07

At the root of it, that's what happens with Edward

10:09

I in Scotland in the 1290s. He

10:12

can't resist throwing his weight around. And

10:15

as a result, he gets his comeuppance,

10:17

and the history of Anglo-Scottish relations takes

10:20

a major turn for the worse for

10:22

nearly 300 years. But

10:25

it starts in a weird place. Not

10:29

in Scotland at all, but

10:31

in Gascony, Edward's one

10:33

remaining bit of French territory, all

10:36

that's left of his great-grandmother,

10:38

Eleanor's once mighty duchy of

10:40

Aquitaine. What happens

10:43

is this. In

10:48

1292, as Edward is bullying John

10:50

Balliol, English, Gascon and

10:52

French sailors are fighting running

10:55

sea-bistles in the English Channel.

10:58

It's half merchant stuff, half

11:00

straight-up piracy. Call

11:02

it what you will. These sea-bistles

11:05

are vicious clashes, with ships

11:07

sunk and men drowned. It's

11:10

clear that heads need to be

11:12

knocked together. Or

11:15

at least it's clear to Philip

11:17

IV, King of France. The

11:21

handsome, stony-faced, obsessive monarch tells

11:23

his sailors to chill out

11:25

and stop causing trouble. Then

11:28

he also orders Edward to rein in

11:30

his own sailors. Philip

11:33

does this in his capacity as

11:36

overlord of Gascony, Edward's

11:38

boss. This

11:41

isn't a friendly request between kings

11:43

mutually interested in peace. It's

11:46

a direct order. The

11:49

sort of thing that Edward has been doing to

11:51

John Balliol, in fact. Of

11:54

course, when the boot is on the

11:56

other foot, Edward doesn't like it

11:58

one bit. He

12:00

drags his heels and refuses to chastise

12:03

the Anglo-Gascone sailors. So

12:06

Philip, who's just as capable

12:08

of bully-boy tactics as Edward is, presses

12:11

the nuclear button. He

12:14

declares Edward has forfeited Gascony.

12:17

He's taking it off him and

12:20

reclaiming it for France. To

12:28

show he's serious, Philip sends some of

12:30

his finest bagmen and thugs down to

12:32

Gascony to make a rot. They're

12:35

the ruthless one-eyed lawyer called Pierre

12:37

Flott and a gang

12:39

of enforcers, including one guy who's

12:41

known only by the nickname Cheese.

12:45

It gets pretty nasty. Cheese

12:47

and his mates start getting heavy with

12:49

the locals. So they're

12:51

captured and arrested by Edward's men, sentenced

12:54

to death and hanged. When

12:57

Cheese is strung up, he has his mouth

12:59

jammed full of sticks so that he can't

13:02

make a formal appeal to the laws of

13:04

France before he dies. When

13:08

word of this outrage gets back

13:10

to Philip, he ups the ante and

13:12

prepares troops to start confiscating castles

13:14

in Gascony and blocking the ports needed

13:16

for the wine trade. Which

13:20

seems crazy. It's only

13:22

a generation ago that old Henry III

13:24

and Louis IX of France agreed the

13:27

Treaty of Paris, which was supposed to

13:29

be England and France's John and Yoko

13:31

moment. Give peace a chance

13:33

and all that. Well

13:36

now it looks very much like peace is on

13:38

the way out. Throughout

13:41

1293, the two realms are on the

13:43

brink of war. Edward

13:46

deploys his brother Edmund over to Paris

13:48

to try and negotiate with Philip IV.

13:52

The idea is that Edward, who's

13:54

been unmarried since his beloved Eleanor

13:56

died, will marry Philip's sister Margaret

13:58

to seal the deal. But

14:01

things get, well, complicated.

14:07

Somehow or other, Philip manages to

14:10

persuade Edward and Edmund that there's

14:12

only one way they can all

14:14

get out of this ugly situation

14:17

saving face. What

14:19

he proposes is this. The

14:24

English should give up the leading

14:26

towns and castles in Gaskinney to

14:28

his men, and Philip

14:31

will issue an official proclamation condemning

14:33

them for being very naughty boys.

14:37

But this will only be for show. Philip

14:41

will then invite Edward to

14:43

a grand ceremony of reconciliation

14:46

and give him Gaskinney back on

14:48

more favourable terms than it was held before.

14:52

The marriage deal between Edward and Margaret can go

14:54

ahead. Big

14:56

smiles, short memories, job

14:58

done. Edward

15:02

and Edmund spend a good while negotiating

15:04

this with Philip in great secrecy, and

15:07

Edward hardly lets anyone know what he's

15:09

up to. Which

15:11

is unfortunate, because anyone with

15:13

half a brain would surely

15:15

have told him that this

15:17

is completely insane. But

15:21

Edward seems to have drunk his own Kool-Aid. Believing

15:24

that with everything he's managed to achieve

15:26

in crushing the Welsh and Scots, he

15:28

can easily outwit Philip IV. On

15:33

this occasion, however, he

15:36

gets played. In

15:41

early 1294, French officials

15:43

go into Gaskinney and start to

15:45

take possession of towns and castles, as

15:48

the agreement with Philip stipulates. In

15:51

the spring, Edward waits for the summons

15:53

to go and meet Philip and have it all handed

15:55

back to him. He

15:57

waits. And he waits.

16:01

And he waits. And

16:03

guess what? Philip ghosts him.

16:07

In fact he does worse than that. Not

16:09

only does he not summon Edward to get

16:11

Gascony back on good terms, he

16:14

lets it be publicly known that

16:16

Gascony is confiscated forever and the

16:18

orderly transfer into French hands is

16:20

underway. It's

16:23

incredibly embarrassing. It's

16:25

also rather ironically the sort of thing Edward

16:27

has done to the Scots. Dissembling,

16:30

weedling and just lying outright

16:32

were a major part of

16:34

Edward's MO during the great

16:36

cause. Now he knows what

16:38

it feels like to be on the receiving end.

16:42

What's more, he has to get Gascony

16:44

back which means a full-blown war with

16:47

France, the sort of thing

16:49

that brought his grandad King John's reign

16:51

collapsing around him. So

16:54

from the summer of 1294 Edward

16:56

is scrambling to raise huge taxes,

16:58

huge loans and all the men,

17:00

weapons and provisions he can lay

17:03

his hands on. He

17:06

sends men, including his brother Edmund,

17:08

over to begin trying to take

17:11

back key locations in sieges and

17:13

skirmishes. But to keep

17:15

it all going he needs to tap

17:17

the resources of anyone and everyone that

17:20

owes him military service or any other

17:22

form of support. And

17:24

somewhere on that list, fairly near the

17:26

top, is John Balliol, the

17:29

man he handed the keys to the Kingdom of

17:31

Scotland and who he feels he

17:33

can still treat like his pet poodle. John

17:37

Balliol, however, is very much unable

17:39

to help. Because

17:42

in 1295 Edward gets

17:44

some shocking news from Scotland.

17:49

The Scottish barons, sick and tired of

17:51

having a poodle for a king, have

17:54

rebelled against Balliol. They

17:57

put a council around him to take all

17:59

the key decisions. in government and

18:01

blocked him from ruling on his

18:03

own. The

18:06

first big decision they've taken is to

18:08

send ambassadors south to make a

18:10

peace treaty. But

18:13

those ambassadors don't head to England.

18:16

They go to France to negotiate

18:18

with Philip IV. The

18:21

enemy of my enemy and all that. In

18:24

October 1295, a mutual

18:26

defence pact is agreed between Scotland and

18:28

France, in which they agree to help

18:31

each other to fend off any attack

18:33

from the Kingdom of England. It's

18:36

the start of a deal known to history

18:38

as the Old Alliance. It

18:41

sandwiches Edward and his successors

18:44

between two enemy realms. And

18:48

means that from now on, Plantagenet

18:50

kings can never feel totally confident

18:52

about going to war in France,

18:55

without worrying that their northern borders are

18:57

going to be overrun. In

19:03

1292, after he put Balliol on

19:05

the Scottish throne, Edward thought he

19:07

was the king of the castle. Now

19:10

he looks like a total clown.

19:14

His crusade has never seemed

19:16

further away. The

19:18

war in Gascony is burning cash

19:20

at a terrifying rate. And

19:22

now he has to deal with the Scots, who've had

19:24

the nerve to defy him. In

19:28

1296, he sends an army

19:30

north... ...to

19:33

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20:13

The world's full of people celebrating their

20:15

successes, but if the Plantagenets have taught

20:17

us anything, it's that failing is much

20:19

more interesting. So that's why I'm certain

20:21

you're going to love the podcast How

20:23

to Fail. The very brilliant Elizabeth Day

20:25

invites guests on to talk about three

20:28

of their biggest failures, and what they've

20:30

taught them about life. It's a great

20:32

way to hear a new side to

20:34

people you may think you know. Guests

20:36

include Bernie Sanders, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Stanley

20:38

Tucci. Give it a try, find How

20:40

to Fail wherever you get your podcasts.

20:51

On March 1st, 1296, Edward

20:53

inspects his army as it

20:55

arrives near Berwick, the first

20:57

big Scottish town across the

20:59

border from northern England. It's

21:03

a major force, alive with the

21:05

sounds of men readying themselves for

21:07

war, clapping each other on

21:10

their armour and leather-clad back. Shouting

21:14

encouragement to one another and psyching

21:16

themselves up by banging metal gauntlets

21:18

above their helmet. Just

21:23

off the coast, Edward has a

21:25

fleet waiting to disembark further troops

21:27

if necessary. It's

21:30

an overwhelming display of English

21:32

military might, and if

21:34

the townsfolk of Berwick have any sense, they

21:36

won't try and stand in its way. Edward

21:40

has already sent them orders to open their

21:42

gates and spare him the need to

21:44

do some real damage. As

21:49

he waits for their reply, he keeps

21:51

himself busy by honouring English pre-battle

21:54

tradition, and dubbing some of

21:56

the young warriors in his army's ranks as

21:58

knights. It's

22:00

a big moment for these youngsters, but

22:02

for Edward, it's all part of a power play.

22:06

He knows that from beyond the

22:08

cheap wooden fence that passes for

22:10

the town's main defenses, the

22:12

citizens are watching. He

22:15

wants them to see what a fierce

22:17

and noble force they're dealing with. But

22:21

he's in for a surprise. As

22:24

he goes through with the knighting ritual, there's

22:26

a cry from a watchtower that rises

22:28

above the wooden fence. It's

22:31

a messenger, obviously representing the people

22:33

of Berwick. He's trying

22:36

to catch the attention of someone important

22:38

on the English side, maybe

22:40

even Edward himself. When

22:43

everyone's looking, the messenger delivers the

22:45

people's response to Edward. It's

22:48

honest, straightforward and unambiguous.

22:52

He turns around, hoiks down his trousers

22:54

and waves his bear behind in the

22:56

English king's direction, slapping his

22:59

hands on the cheeks for good measure. Behind

23:03

him, a whole load of other

23:05

townspeople also crowd onto the platform,

23:07

hooting and jeering and calling the

23:09

English every foul name under the

23:12

sun. It

23:14

doesn't look that much like Berwick is going

23:16

to surrender, which

23:19

only leaves Edward with one option. He has

23:23

a big army, battering rams and war catapults, fire

23:26

and fury. It'll take

23:28

him approximately 30 seconds to

23:30

punch a hole in those flimsy town defenses. No

23:35

one makes a fool of him and gets away

23:37

with it. So

23:39

Edward turns to his army and gives the order to

23:42

start the advance on Berwick immediately.

23:46

The instructions are simple. Head

23:48

in the direction of that cheeky, git, hairy,

23:50

butt cheeks and when you get there, kill

23:52

him and everyone else you can. The

23:59

assault on Berwick which begins Edward's 1296

24:02

invasion of Scotland, is a taste of things

24:04

to come. It

24:07

takes Edward no time at all to

24:09

smash down the town's defences and massacre

24:11

the citizens. Edward

24:15

then stays in Berwick, has his engineers

24:17

build proper defences around the town, and

24:20

sends out threatening messages to John Balliol

24:22

and anyone else who feels like dying,

24:25

warning them that they're next. Yet

24:29

as much as Edward has the overwhelming

24:31

military force, the one thing

24:33

he can't seem to do is bring

24:36

the Scots to what he considers their

24:38

centres. Instead

24:41

of surrendering and sending flowers to say

24:43

sorry, John Balliol sends Edward

24:45

a message of defiance. This

24:49

time it's not in form of a Scotsman's

24:51

derriere, but the general gist is the

24:53

same. Balliol

24:55

tells Edward he can poke his homage where

24:57

the sun don't shine. The

25:00

allegiance he swore was squeezed out of

25:02

him under duress. Scotland

25:05

is independent and he's his own

25:07

king, even if he's

25:09

not exactly a popular one with his people. In

25:17

strategic terms, this is truly

25:19

crazy. Edward has

25:21

the manpower to leave half of

25:23

Scotland the way he's left Berwick,

25:25

a smouldering wreck controlled by English

25:27

soldiers. And indeed,

25:29

that's what he does. Marching

25:32

his army on a spring and

25:34

summer tour around targets including Dunbar

25:36

Castle, the Scottish capital of Edinburgh,

25:38

and the important fortress at Stirling.

25:42

Nowhere can hold out against the

25:45

Sassanac juggernaut, and after a

25:47

while, most of them don't bother

25:49

trying. They wait for

25:51

Edward to arrive and then opt not to

25:53

be slaughtered like cattle and have their homes

25:56

burned. It's

25:58

almost inevitable that by the summer... In

26:00

the summer, Balliol has folded like an

26:02

origami swan. Edward

26:05

offers him his life and a place

26:07

as an earl in the English aristocracy

26:09

if he'll give up his resistance. On

26:12

July 8th, Balliol meets Edward

26:14

at Montrose for a humiliating

26:16

ceremony that's basically the reverse

26:19

of a coronation. He's

26:21

ritually stripped of his crown and the

26:24

insignia of kingship, culminating in

26:26

having the royal arms of Scotland ripped

26:28

off his coat, which earns

26:30

him the nickname Tomb Tabard, meaning

26:33

empty coat. Edward

26:36

sends him off to the Tower of London

26:38

as a prisoner and, surprise, surprise, goes back

26:41

on his promise to make him an English

26:43

Earl. Then,

26:46

to ensure that the Scots can't

26:48

install another king in Balliol's place, and

26:51

to reinforce the message that he is

26:53

master of the British Isles, Edward

26:55

goes even further. He

26:58

doesn't just hammer the Scots, he

27:00

does something that will undermine and

27:02

insult the country for generations. He

27:08

sends men to steal the Stone of

27:10

Scoon, the sacred rock on

27:12

which Scottish kings have for so long

27:14

been crowned. They

27:17

take it down to Westminster Abbey, and

27:19

Edward has a magnificent wooden chair custom

27:22

built to keep it in. It's

27:24

actually the same chair that kings and queens of

27:27

the United Kingdom are still crowned on to this

27:29

day. The

27:32

Stone of Destiny is destined to

27:34

stay in England for a long,

27:36

long time. Exactly

27:38

700 years to be precise. It's

27:41

confiscated in 1296 and

27:43

doesn't get returned until within my own lifetime,

27:46

in From

27:50

now on, Edward has decided, there's not going to

27:52

be a King of Scotland at all. He

27:55

sends one of his toughest lieutenants, the Earl

27:57

of Surrey, to be the Governor of the

27:59

Kingdom. To be fair, he's

28:01

had his fill of it. When

28:03

he hands over the Seal of Scotland, which is

28:06

the official symbol of the realm, he says to

28:08

the Earl of Surrey that, ''A man

28:10

does good business when he rids himself

28:12

of a turd.'' Yet

28:16

Edward, for all his bluster, bravado

28:18

and arrogance, isn't ridding

28:21

himself of anything, because

28:23

what happens in Scotland in 1296 sets a tone

28:25

in more ways than one. Each

28:30

army's flexing their muscles is one part of

28:32

the story, but the

28:34

other part is the spirit which Balliol

28:36

briefly showed when he sent his message

28:38

of defiance to Edward. A

28:41

message that defied military logic

28:43

and spoke to raw, proud

28:46

Scottish independence rather than common

28:48

sense. Edward

28:52

can burn all the towns he likes and

28:54

steal all the rocks in the kingdom, but

28:57

Scotland is going nowhere, and

29:00

the Scots are never going to lie down

29:02

and suffer the English jig-boot on their fleets.

29:07

Which is exactly what we're going to discover next

29:09

time, in the season finale of

29:12

This is History. And

29:15

if you want a hint of what's coming up, I've

29:17

got one word for you. FREEDOM!

29:28

FREEDOM!