Kingdom of Scotland (Merveilles du Monde Map Game)

Kingdom of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Rìoghachd na h-Alba; Lowland Scots: Kinrick o Scotland), also known simply as Scotland is a state in western Europe, centered on the northern part of the island of Britain.

First War of Independence (1295-1298)
Robert the Bruce murders the English lackey King John I Balliol of Scotland and claims the throne as Guardian of the Realm in a bid for independence.

Second War of Independence (1304-1305)
William Wallace as Guardian of the Realm supports young Edward Balliol's claim to the throne. This culminates at William Wallace and Edward Balliol making a second bid for Scotland's independence from English tyranny, taking advantage of the preoccupied English army in France. They immediately hit much resistance in their attempts at liberate Scotland from English loyalists and other indifferent subjects however, as most of the nobility cannot just make up their mind which candinate to support from the plethora of claimants to the Scottish throne to pick from, unable to present a united front against England at this time.

William Wallace dies at the Second Battle of Stirling Castle, thus bringing another temporary peace in the War of Scottish Independence.

Third War of Independence (1315-1318)
Edward the Bruce, brother of Robert the Bruce, is sworn in as King of Scotland by the newly-created Scottish Parliament. This is disputed by the King of England, thus reigniting the War of Scottish Independence.

Edward Bruce wins decisively againts the English at the Battle of Faughart, ensuring Scottish independence. The period of English vassalage over Scotland, however, has left a lasting legacy of Scotland adopting English institutions and customs such as a regular parliament.

The First Anti-Despensers Rebellion (1321-1324)
Growing tired of Edward II's consistent favoritism toward the Despensers, Roger Mortimer leads a rebellion across Wales and western England, with the support of the Duke of Lancaster and the Marcher Lords. Their faction has a total of 10,000 troops.

After his initial defeat at Pontefract Castle, Roger Mortimer and the March Lords calls on an alliance with King Edward Bruce of Scotland. King Edward Bruce of Scotland proceeds in 1322 to invade England with 3,000 troops against Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, while Mortimer's remaining 8,500 troops regroups at Worchester. England manages to repel the Scottish invasion.

The Earl of Lancaster is captured after the Battle of Worcester, putting an end to the Despenser's War in England for the time being. However, Roger Mortimer and the bulk of the March Lords military escapes the British Isles and is invited to the court of the Count of Hainaut. Roger appears before the Heyst Council of Brabant to plead his case for gathering support from the Lowlands to return to invade England.

After this England moves on the offensive against Scotland but Sir James Douglas leading the Scottish forces manages to trick the English forces with his tactic of placing scarecrow at the other side of river Tyne, making the Scottish army seem like 30,000 when it's only 6,000 causing all of the English forces to flee.

Fourth War of Independence (1333-1338)
King Edward II took advantage of the fact that both the Kingdoms of France and Scotland were ruled at the time by regencies for their respective minor Kings, he striked pre-emptively with 18,500 men under the command of Henry de Beaumont as well as a seperate invasion by the Lordship of Ireland, a vassal of England, on the west coast of Scotland after overunning much of the lowlands, taking control of major burghs such as South Berwick and Glasgow, Scottish resistance is brushed aside and annihilated, effictively winning the war and taking over the Kingdom of Scotland.

Fifth War of Independence (1355-1362)
In 1354 Lord Tighearnach of the Lordship of Eiru, an English vassal, travels to the Hill of Tara in accordance with his plan and following in footsteps of his ancestors declaring himself High King of Eiru and therefore declaring war on the Kingdom of England. High King Tighearnach sends envoys to the King of Scotland and Gaelic lords of Wales encouraging them to also take back control from the European immigrants and especially the much despised Norman aristocracy in favour of a Gaelic ruled Britain.

Scotland answers his plea and revolted against English domination of their land, supporting the rebellion in Ireland. More specifically King Edward I Balliol, now old and infirm, looked upon by the vast majority of Scotsman as illegitimate, passed away without an heir while running for his life from the Scotsmen's vengeance. David II Bruce of Scotland, son of the late Robert I "the Bruce", acting as Guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland, having united into a coalition the Scottish lords who endured the prolonged English occupation, as well as the common people, enjoys unprecedented popular support for the fractious nature of Scotland as of late, augmented by a streak of victories over the English. Now further bolstered by the Lothraingians assault of the English coast, he crowns himself King after popular demand, the commoners blocking his path and his troops refusing to leave the city, pressuring him to accept the honor of Kingship, as both soldiers and citizens, both commoners and lords alike rejoicing with his crowning, overtaking the streets of Edinburgh as a jubilant wave. King David II bids farewell to his family, his wife Isabella Wallace and his 11-year-old son Robert, named after his grandfather and promptly leaves the capital at the head of the detachment of his army, till he reunites with the main host, leading them into the fray against the resurgent Englishmen. He proceeds to block the English army from crossing River Tweed, laying some hasty fortifications, located somewhat close to the fortress of Edinburgh, where he could safely retreat if things go sour. The Englishmen attempt to cross the river and are repulsed suffering heavy casualties. The final engagement takes place near York where 7,000 Scotsman descend on the English camp during the night against the winded English army of 10,000, caught off guard, struggling to hold their ground against the reinvigorated Scotsman, proceeding to massacre their sleepy enemies. As the dust settles in and the sun arises the result is clear, a tremendous Scottish victory, as the bewildered Englishman experience the gruesome reprisals of the Scotsman, only the captured lords of value are spared for ransom.

Some of the march lords in Wales agree to help Ireland with roughly 1,500 troops, King Tighearnach takes 1,000 men in January of the next year and sails them across the Irish Sea from Dublin to north Wales. Tighearnach and Mortimer and the 3,000 Welsh, Irish and German troops lay siege to Caernarfon castle and town building a circumvallation of defences to pen the castle inhabitants in stopping their food while also working on constructing a trebuchet, battering rams and other siege weapons to attack it. But all their efforts aren't enough to capture Caernarfon castle and Wales is lost in the subsequent Treaty of Caernarfon, the very much drained Scotland from the black death and half a century of devestation is unable to march forward and siege the Welsh castles to liberate Wales.

Growth and Prosperity (1362-1400)
King David II Bruce is completely embarrassed that he had to give up on his Welsh allies but at least he is glad that the main objective of Scottish independence is achieved. He promises to take his revenge at some point and avenge his Welsh kindred, assisting them in to achieve their liberation. He asks his son and successor, Robert II Bruce, to take up his pledge, having him to swear an oath to assist his Welsh kindred to achieve their independence and fullfill his pledge if he isn't able to do it himself.

The Celtic Confederacy was a defensive alliance pact and a loose union aimed at containing England and keeping the Celtic states united against it, created between the states of Eiru, Scotland and Iceland, wheres an elective office of a Celtic Ameraudur was established, each state having one vote. The power of the Celtic Ameraudur was agreed to be very limited over his de jure subjects. Scotland ceded the newly established Confederacy's Imperial Capital, the Isle of Mann to the Celtic Confederacy.

Scotland becomes quite a prosperous and stable realm in the aftermath, expanding its influence over the North Sea by helping Iceland to secure very favourable terms from Scandinavia in the Treaty of Akranes, such as the cession of Orkney, Shetland and the Faroe islands, benefiting from the increased trade with the friendly Petty Kingdom of Iceland. Eventually the Petty Kingdom of Iceland agrees to vassalization in return for the Hebrides [Inner and Outer] and Arran island.

The infamous mercenary and claimant of the Princedom of Gwynedd and the Greater Principality of Wales Owain Lawgoch attempted an invasion of Wales with over 8.000 French troops given to him by the King of France in his attempt to strike at the heart of England to gain the upper hand in the Hundread Years War they had been fighting with them. However the landing was repulsed with heavy casualties for the French.

The same infamous person, Owain Lawgoch, was pardoned after the English started to take notice of him, his estates were restored and he was given to marry Phillipa of Lancaster, John of Gaunt's daughter, who was granted the title of Duchess of Wales, therefore ruling via jure uxoris in her name over Wales. Essentially the Welsh Prince got installed on the Princedom of Wales by Duke Lancaster, John of Gaunt, while he was ruling from the backstage when his brother, King Edward IV "The Black Prince" got very sick on his deathbed. John of Gaunt eventually ascented to the throne as King John II of England.

After some decades, when he was well in his 60s, he started to make some moves against the King of England, to utilize his ultimate goal, to gain independence for Wales.

He eventually blackmailed King John II of England to grant him 3.000 of the English troops left in England, while King John II of England was preoccupied fight against France in a resumption of the Hundread Years War, the Lancastrian phase, aiming to regain terrories lost in the Louisian phase.

Welsh rebellion (1400-?)
Our ally Owain Lawgoch finally declared his independence war in 1400 and King Robert II Bruce of Scotland answered his call, as he had pledged to do so. The treacherous Eiru however abstained from the war putting the Celtic Confederacy's existance at stake.

England however at this point had been depleted by the successive wars against France over the past 8 decades now and Scotland managed to win them in two impressive battles out in the open of Carlisle in Cumberland, however they haven't been able to secure a desicive victory over their opponents thus far, since some minor setbacks with our ally, the Örebro Union, consisting of the Kingdoms of Norway, Sweden and Denmark respectively took place, however everything was settled by the Second Treaty of Akranes and our Scandinavian allies have joined us in our struggle against England by 1402.

At the same time the disgusting English King, John II orchestrated the assasination of his relative and enemy Prince Owain Lawgoch of Wales, nonetheless the cause of the Welsh rebellion was further fuelled by the cruel desecration in hanging of Owain Lawgoch's dead body by a tree, like a common lowlife, causing outrage over his inhumane and despicable treatment, turning him into a martyr into the eyes of the Welsh people and reinvigorating their determination to achieve their independence after the desicive defeat that the Welsh army suffered at their excursion in Hereford. Also as a result of the desecration of Owain's corpse the March lords put their full weight behind the Welsh rebellion and elect Edmund Mortimer as Prince of Wales, sharing de facto power with Owain Glyndŵr.

King Robert II Bruce feeling completely sick with King John II's actions distributes pamphlets amongst his own people proclaiming that Owain Lawgoch is a hero of the Welsh and by extension the Celts and a martyr to the cause of Welsh independence, a martyr against English oppression. Owain, his relative, ally and a true friend to him, who was hideously assasinated and his corpse was desecrated on the orders of the excommunicated monsterous English King John II, so that his family members, such as his daughter Catherine Ferch Owain and wife of his second son, William, could find some confort on their grief, as well as the Welsh people now that Owain has turned into a martyr for the Welsh rebellion, an everlasting symbol of Wales itself. It also served as a really good morale booster to reinvigorate the Scottish nobility and commeners alike and make them more determined than ever to assist their kindred Welsh to achieve their independence.

King Robert II Bruce of Scotland came to realise, based on his extensive military education that also including the classics, as such he understood how is overstreched position was unsubstainable, how progressing forward from such an exposed position, with his supplies cut off from him just to achieve some more pyrrhic victories wasn't the way to win this war. So although his forces had reached as far south as Lancaster he initiated an orderly retreat of the 30.000 men under his command back to Carlisle to assault the city, while pillaging, plundering and killing everyone, including women children and generally everything (such as livestock and non domesticated animals) in their way back, scotrching what they cannot keep for themselves, not just crops but settlements and even forests, even salting the scorched fields out of spite, leaving only ruin behind to deprive everything they possibly can from England, as far as the eye can see there is only scotrched earth. The countryside in the area became completely depopulated.

He would instead relly on his fleet combined with the recently arrived Scandinavian one to get him across the sea once they achieved clear naval superiority over the English fleet and asserted their control over the Irish Sea.

Economy and trade
Having between a fifth or sixth ( 15-20 % ) of the arable or good pastoral land and roughly the same amount of coastline as England and Wales, most of it located in the south and eastmarginal pastoral agriculture and fishing were two of the most important aspects of the Medieval Scottish economy. With poor communications, in the early Middle Ages most settlements needed to achieve a degree of self-sufficiency in agriculture. Most farms were operated by a family unit and used an infield and outfield system.

With difficult terrain, albeit a recently improved road network across the nation and methods of transport there was some trade but limited between different areas of the country and most minor settlements continued to depend on what was produced locally, often with little in reserve in bad years. Most farming was based on the lowland farmtoun or highland baile, settlements of a handful of families that jointly farmed an area notionally suitable for two or three plough teams, allocated in run rigs to tenant farmers. They usually ran downhill so that they included both wet and dry land, helping to offset some of the problems of extreme weather conditions. This land was divided into the infield, which was in continuous arable cultivation, and the outfield which was rotated between arable and grass. Most ploughing was done with a heavy wooden plough with an iron coulter, pulled by oxen, who were more effective and cheaper to feed than horses. Obligations to the local lord usually included supplying oxen for ploughing the lord's land on an annual basis and the much resented obligation to grind corn at the lord's mill. The rural economy had boomed in the 13th century and in the immediate aftermath of the Black Death was still buoyant, but by the 1360s there was a severe falling off of incomes, which can be seen in clerical benefices, half compared with the beginning of the era.

There were relatively few developed crafts in Scotland in this period, although by the early 15th century there were the beginnings of a native iron casting industry, which led to the production of cannon, and of the silver and goldsmithing for which the country would later be known. As a result, the most important exports were unprocessed raw materials, including wool, hides, salt, fish, animals and coal, while Scotland remained frequently short of wood, iron and, in years of bad harvests, grain. Exports of hides and particularly salmon, where the Scots held a decisive advantage in quality over their rivals, appear to have held up much better than wool, despite the general economic downturn in Europe in the aftermath of the plague.

From the reign of David I, there are records of burghs, towns that were granted certain legal privileges from the crown. They were able to impose tolls and fines on traders within a region outside their settlements and their growth was facilitated by trade with the continent. The most important exports were unprocessed raw materials, including wool, hides, salt, fish, animals and coal, while Scotland remained frequently short of wood, iron and, in years of bad harvests, grain. Coins replaced barter goods, with Scottish coins being struck from the reign of David I. Until the disruption caused by the outbreak of the Wars of Independence in the early fourteenth century, most naval trade was probably coastal and most foreign trade was with England, but the disruption of this era encouraged the opening up of new markers on the continent.

The main continental trading partners of Scottish burghs were merchants in Flanders. Before 1321 Scottish merchants had established a staple in Bruges. Bruges remained the major trading partner. Wool and hides were the major exports in the late Middle Ages. The disruption of the Wars of Independence meant that this fell in the period 1333–38 and then again in 1355-1362, but trade recovered to reach a peak in the 1390s.

Trade with Iceland and Greenland, such as ivory from walrus and narwhal tusks with Scotland, as well as importing rope, sheep, seals, wool and cattle hides from them. In return we export to them iron tools, wood and supplemental foodstuffs.

Treaties
Treaty of Caernarfon

Second Treaty of Akranes