A History Of The Life And Reign of Edward I part 3: Enemies on All Sides

 In the early 1290s, Edward began to turn his attention towards Scotland where he hoped to establish overlordship over England's northern neighbours. In 1292, John Balliol was declared king of Scotland with Edward's approval. John then paid homage to Edward who, satisfied with how the business had been concluded, returned to England. In 1293, tensions rose between Edward and King Philip iV of France. First of all, there was a quarrel in the English channel between French and English sailors. The French appeared to be a disruptive presence as English traders attempted to make crossings over to the continent to conduct their business affairs. Tempers boiled over and eventually fighting broke out. Even though they were heavily outnumbered the small number of English ships inflicted severe damage on the French vessels.

That relatively minor incident was overshadowed in 1294 when the English and French kings became embroiled in a dispute. In what was intended to be a symbolic gesture after the clashes in the channel, Edward surrendered his lands in Gascony to the French crown. In return, Philip IV swore to return the possessions to Edward after a period of 40 days. Philip had made that vow in a solemn ceremony in front of the French nobility. Tentative negotiations were then held to discuss a potential marriage between Philip's sister, Blanche, and Edward, now a widower. However, the marriage never came to pass. Blanche refused to marry Edward. This refusal came about after arrangements had been made for Edward to come to Amiens to meet Philip and for the wedding to take place. Edward, by now, would have suspected some skulduggery on the part of the French king who still held Gascony. and so he refused to attend the meeting at Amiens. Feigning outrage at Edward's absence, Philip publicly declared the English king to be an enemy of France and of all the French people. Edward returned to England where he held parliament where it was agreed that he would now make preparations for war against the French. Likewise, Philip began to strengthen his navy and spent much time and money on building new warships.

Edward's attentions from the conflict with France was temporarily diverted to Wales, which had given him so much trouble in the past, and briefly threatened to go into open revolt again. However, after taking Anglesey, Edward was able to calm the situation and he was in a forgiving mood and treated those responsible with leniency. Shortly after this, an English fleet sailed for Normandy and wreaks havoc along the Norman coastline. In response, a French force caused significant damage along the English south coast before they were eventually driven back. On 27th November, Edward held a meeting, asking for finances for the now seemingly inevitable war with France from his nobility and clergy. However, Edward met with some strong reluctance, particularly on the part of the Clergy who perhaps felt the war could be avoided. Nonetheless, Edward was eventually granted the required money.

But Edward could not afford to be too occupied with the French. In the North, the Scottish were threatening rebellion. Edward wrote to John Balliol asking him to send men to fight in Edward's army that would invade France. But it might be said that Edward was not quite reading the room. Balliol was a king in name only and the Scots knew this all too well. It was Edward who was the true power behind the Scottish throne. Edward's demands were therefore given short shrift by the Scots who wrote back telling the English king, in no uncertain terms, that they were under no obligation to heed his calls for support. On top of this, the Scots then signed a treaty with the French that would become known as the Auld Alliance. With his enemies uniting against him, Edward was now in a potentially tricky situation.