The Second War of Independence began in 1332 with the invasion of Scotland by Edward Balliol, son of King John Balliol (1292–96). His invasion was supported by Edward III of England, who joined the war in 1333 at the siege of Berwick and funded Balliol's campaigns. In exchange, Balliol granted Edward the southern sheriffdoms of Berwick, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Peebles, Roxburgh and Selkirk, to hold as part of his dominion, and performed homage for the Scottish kingdom. His homage acted as a recognition of Edward III's overlordship of Scotland, while his grant of the sheriffdoms annexed these lands ‘a sa roiale dignite et a son roialme Dengleterre et severez de notre reale dignite et de notre corone Descoce’ (‘to his royal dignity and his realm of England, and severed [them] from our royal dignity and our crown of Scotland’). Therefore, the conflict was a civil and Anglo-Scottish war waged by the two Edwards against the supporters of David II (1324–71), son of Robert Bruce. The Treaty of Berwick in 1357 represented the end of this conflict, ushering in a period of peace for a quarter of a century, although it reached no formal settlement between Edward III and David II. On the contrary, after Balliol renounced the throne to Edward on 20 January 1356, the English king's claim to Scotland was strengthened, and large swathes of the Scottish March remained in English control. Despite the significance of this conflict and the vast territory the two kings controlled for much of the 1330s and 1340s, which spanned from Whithorn to Perth and occasionally farther north, little is known about their administrations of Scotland between 1332 and 1357. While several studies have discussed the governance of Scotland in this period, the two administrations are often discussed in isolation, leading to confusion about which offices belonged to which territory and about the personnel involved. A consequent blurring of offices and roles has meant that the full scale of the two kings’ administrations has not been realised.
By comparison, various aspects of the English administration during the fourteenth century have been well studied by historians.