 When Edward II succeeded his father Edward I on 7 July 1307 , the attitude of his subjects was generally one of good will toward their new king . However , discontent was brewing beneath the surface . Some of this was due to existing problems left behind by the late king , while much was due to the new king 's inadequacies . The problems were threefold . First there was discontent with the royal policy for financing wars . To finance the war in Scotland , Edward I had increasingly resorted to so @-@ called prises – or purveyance – to provision the troops with victuals . Though a perfectly legitimate method of raising money , the peers felt that the purveyance had become far too burdensome and compensation was in many cases inadequate or missing entirely . In addition , they did not like the fact that Edward II took prises for his household without continuing the war effort against Scotland , causing the second problem . While Edward I had spent the last decade of his reign relentlessly campaigning against the Scots , his son abandoned the war almost entirely . In this situation , the Scottish king Robert Bruce soon took the opportunity to regain what had been lost . This not only exposed the north of England to Scottish attacks , but also jeopardized the possessions of the English baronage in Scotland . 
