On a stormy night in 1286, a man fell off his horse and broke his neck, setting two kingdoms on a 300-year course of war. Edward I seized the opportunity to pursue English claims to overlordship of Scotland; William Wallace and Robert Bruce headed the ‘patriotic’ resistance. Their collision shaped the history, politics and nationhood of the two realms, and dragged in a third with the formation of the Franco-Scottish Auld Alliance. It also created a unique society on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border. What prevented peace from breaking out? And how, at the dawn of the seventeenth century, could a Scottish king succeed, peacefully and unopposed, to the Auld Enemy’s throne?

Andy King and Claire Etty trace the fractious relationship between England and Scotland from the death of Alexander III to the accession of James VI as James I of England. Spanning medieval and early modern history, this book is the ideal starting point for students studying Anglo-Scottish relations up to the Union.