Edward wasted no time in humiliating Balliol on every occasion over the next five years, driving the Scots community of the realm, the nobles, clergy, gentry and burgesses, to stand against their own King. When war with France coincided with another Welsh rebellion, Edward exercised his overlordship of Scotland and summoned their nobility to fight for him. They refused and then went one stage further. They signed a formal treaty with France against England. To Edward, it was self-evidently a declaration of war. The army he raised in 1296 put even the Welsh campaign in the shade. First to fall was Scotland's wealthiest port, Berwick Upon Tweed. The siege lasted only hours, the massacre that followed, days.


在接下里的五年中的每一个场合，爱德华无时不刻不忘羞辱贝列尔，使得苏格兰社会上上下下，包括贵族，牧师，绅士和市民，都站出来反对他们的国王。当英格兰受到对法战争与威尔士叛乱的夹击时，爱德华对苏格兰运用了强权，召集苏格兰贵族为他而战。但遭到了拒绝 他们甚至更进一步，与法国签订了正式条约，共同对抗英格兰。在爱德华看来，这无疑是在对他宣战。他在1296年召集的大军，甚至令威尔士战役中军队的规模相形见绌。最先被攻克的是苏格兰最富有的港口城市，贝里克郡，围攻仅用了几个小时，而随后的大屠杀，则持续了数天。