Scottish Wars of Independence

Scotland’s fight for independence from England

Major characters include William Wallace and Robert

the Bruce‘Scotland’ formed in 1034, although the northern and

western islands were controlled by the Norsemen

King Alexander III of Scotland

Who was King Alexander III?

Why was King Alexander III an important king?

Why was the 13th century called a Golden Age for

Scotland?

What happened to Alexander on 18th March 1286?

In the 13th century, Scotland had strong

powerful kings

Scotland prospered under Alexander III

He was nicknamed “Alexander the Glorious”

His reign known as “The Golden Age”

Why do you think it was important that Scotland had powerful and strong kings?

Alexander III fought at the Battle of Largs (1268) against the Norsemen

The Norwegian king Haakon sailed to Scotland to fight Alexander and the

Scots

Alexander managed to delay Haakon until a huge storm hit

destroyed his longboats

By 1266, the only land Norway kept were the Orkney

and Shetland Isles

Alexander became allies with the Norwegians and proved

he was a strong king of Scotland

Alexander controlled powerful

nobles and dealt fairly with his

subjectsPeasants lived without fear of

invasion or theft of their land, homes crops or animals

Trade grew and towns prospered

Scotland had strong links with her

neighbouring countries Norway and England

Scotland

England

Norway’s King Eric married Alexander’s daughter

MargaretAlexander was married to the

sister of King Edward I of England

Why do you think it was important that Scotland kept on

good terms with England and Norway?