英国民族28

In the end, all those who thought they were still in a chance at winning the Scots throne did pay homage to Edward. But the rest of the Scots community of the realm held their noses and stood aloof. Was this, as some Scottish historians have always insisted, an Edwardian trap? Was he already thinking of turning Scotland into Wales North, the next territory to be gobbled up by his imperial appetite? Well, I think the appetite grew with the eating. A year later, when the final verdict came through, Balliol did prove to have the better claim and was the clear choice of Scotland. Edward did not force him on anybody. For his part, once Balliol had acknowledged Edward's overlordship, the English King agreed to keep the separate identity of Scottish institutions. Only if their interest crossed would there be trouble. Alas, they did, and trouble there certainly was.

最终，所有那些觊觎苏格兰王座的人，都宣誓效忠爱德华，而剩下的那些苏格兰人，则对此嗤之以鼻，不屑一顾。这会是一些苏格兰历史学家，一直支持的爱德华圈套说吗？他已经计划好将苏格兰变成北威尔士，以满足自己对领土的饕餮之欲吗？但在我看来，吃得越多，胃口就越大。一年后，最终裁决出来了，贝列尔证明了自己更加合适，是苏格兰王座的不二之选。爱德华没有强迫任何人选他，对他而言，一旦贝列尔承认了自己的宗主统治权。英国国王将同意保留苏格兰制度的独立性，只有当彼此发生利益冲突时 才会引发争端。悲剧的是，冲突确实发生了。