King John was the last Scottish monarch to be crowned in Scotland on the Stone of Destiny. He was crowned on St. Andrew's Day, (30th November) 1292. In light of the fact that invariably history is written by the winning side, John Bailiol as the Bruce family's competitor to the throne was typecast as a weak unworthy king that threw Scotland into chaos, only solved when Robert Bruce, in the role as the rightful king, stepped in to rescue Scotland from the tyranny of English rule. Joesph Irving in his History of Dumbartonshire is typical: "The reign of this king, begun in humiliation, was continued in disaster, and ended in disgrace."
Is this a fair summary of his reign? Michael Penman in Richard Oram's The Kings and Queens of Scotland notes: "A lot of his real problems as king lay in fact that until he was well into middle age, John Balliol was not a royal but just another Anglo-Scottish magnate." One thing is certain; in the terms put forward to Edward Longshanks, he was the correct choice of king based on primogentiture. In that respect he was not an unworthy king. Certainly he tried to consolidate control of the west coast by appointing sheriffs, held parliaments and upheld justice.Yet it could be said he never proved himself as a worthy king. It was his relationship with Edward Longshanks that was King John's achilles heel. He was Edward's feudal vassal, as the English king lost no time in showing again and again.
In terms of the beginning of his reign, Irving had a point. Edward summoned John to pay homage to him in respect for the kingdom of Scotland. That was one of the conditions which all the competitors agreed to when agreeing to Edward as a referee for the kingship. It is likely that Robert Bruce the competitor would have complied as King John did, but as only two months into his reign the new King John had not yet succeeded in strengthening his position. It set the tone for his kingship.
However, finally King John did stand up to Edward. This came when Edward demanded that King John and his nobles join England in a war with France. Notwithstanding the Auld Alliance that had begun with King William the Lion, and that no Scottish king since Malcolm the Maiden had fought with the English (for which Malcolm was condemned by the Scots Community of the Realm), and the guarantees that were given by Edward in 1289-90; King John had familial lands in Balieul in France. John refused and in defiance renewed the Auld Alliance with France.
In this game of brinkmanship, though, there was going to be just one winner. Edward moved north and sacked Berwick in the spring of 1296. The Earl of Surrey - who was King John's father-in-law - defeated the Scots troops at Dunbar. Although making the decision not to lead his troops at Dunbar - hardly a morale booster for the Scots host - King John fled north in the face of the English army. He would later surrender to Edward at Montrose.
In the end, King John was disgraced. Edward stripped him of the royal regalia and destroyed the Scottish records, taking the Stone of Destiny to London. There it lay for another 700 years until it was returned to Scotland in 1996 as a gesture to appease the growing wish for Scottish independence by a Unionist Conservative government.
King John was imprisoned in the Tower of London before finally being allowed to reside out of way in his lands in Picardy. He would become known as the 'Toom Tabard' (empty coat) and historians like Irving would reinforce this image. However before the rise of Robert I, the Bruce competitors' grandson, Scots like William Wallace and Andrew Moray were fighting for his reinstatement and his name served to unify the Scottish resistance to Edward Longshanks. Paradoxically, in this way John Balliol was to prove himself worthy when he was no longer king.