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Historical person
Edward Balliol was a claimant to the Scottish throne and the son of King John Balliol. With English backing, he invaded Scotland in 1332, defeated a larger Scottish force at Dupplin Moor and was crowned king at Scone.
His rule never secured broad support and depended heavily on Edward III of England. Repeatedly expelled and restored, Balliol eventually surrendered his claim, leaving David II as the recognised Scottish king.
In Nigel Tranter’s Flowers of Chivalry, His five-year-old son David II has inherited the crown, but Edward III of England supports Edward Balliol as a rival king and sends armies north to restore English dominance. In J.R. Tomlin’s The Douglas Bastard, After the deaths of Robert the Bruce and James Douglas, Scotland is ruled for the child David II while Edward Balliol and Edward III support a renewed attempt to subdue the kingdom.
Series
The Archibald the Grim novels follow Archibald Douglas, the illegitimate son of James ‘the Black’ Douglas, from an uncertain childhood during the Second War of Scottish Independence to his emergence as one of the most formidable magnates of fourteenth-century Scotland. Raised amid exile, invasion and disputed loyalties, Archibald…
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Standalone books
