ABSTRACT
It was thus that in April 1284 Alexander III of Scotland acknowledged Edward I’s condolences on the death of the last of his three children. This might seem an oddly cosy starting-point. After all, less than twelve years later Scotland and England embarked on a nationalistic war of endurance that would embitter Anglo-Scottish relations for the next three centuries. Yet the outbreak of the Wars of Independence must be seen for what it was: not the inevitable result of deep-seated incompatibilities, but the product of a rapid and profound deterioration in relations shaped by the particular conjuncture of the extinction of the ancient Scottish royal line and Edward I’s determined assault on Scottish liberties as he chose to disregard the established conventions of Anglo-Scottish diplomacy and take full advantage of Scotland’s unexpected and acute misfortunes. The first task, therefore, is to get away from what happened in 1296 by identifying and exploring those themes of convergence which, had the Scottish heiress, Margaret ‘the Maid of Norway’, lived long enough, might have helped to produce an entirely different outcome.
