Robert the Bruce

Robert the bruce is probably the most famous of all Scotlands kings.
Although Bannockburn was arguably the finest moment in Scottish history
for Bruce it was the end of a seventeen year struggle to rid Scotland
of the invading English army. But it would be another fourteen years
before they would sign a peace treaty and recognize him as king.
Bruce's struggle was entwined with that of Wallace. As an earl
he had the right to knight people and it was the knighthood he
bestowed on Wallace that allowed the great man to become guardian of
Scotland after he defeated the English at the Battle of Stirling
Bridge. He also provided Wallace with support against those
among the nobility who wished to see Wallace fail.

 

After the defeat of the Scots army at Falkirk Bruce took up
the guardianship with John Comyn Lord of Badenoch in an effort
to stop Scotland decaying in to anarchy. But it was not long
however before the might of Edward the First saw the Scots
living under English rule again. In order to bind Bruce closer to
him Edward had him married to Elizabeth de Burgh,
daughter of the Earl of Ulster.

 

The death of Wallace in 1305 saw bruce enter into a pact with
the Lord of Badenoch in which Bruce would become king and John
Comym would gain all the Bruce lands when the time was judged to
be right for rising against the English. Comyn however had different
ideas and betrayed Bruce who narrowly escaped death at the
hands of the English. He confronted John Comyn in front of the alter
at Dumfries Abbey and stabbed him through the heart. He
claimed the empty throne and thus the second war
of independence began in 1306.

 

As well as fighting the English Bruce was also up against those
who had supported John Comyn and betrayal saw him a broken
man. He sent his wife and daughter to the north but more betrayal
saw the Earl of Ross capture them and send them along with two
of his sisters and his brother Nigel to Edward. His brother was
hung drawn and quartered, his wife was kept prisoner and his
daughter was hung in a cage from the Tower of London. His sister
Mary was hung in a cage from the walls of Berwick castle
and his sister Christian was confined to a convent. Isobel Buchan who
crowned him was hung in a cage from the walls of Roxburgh Castle.


Further disaster was to befall Bruce after his landing at Maidens
with an army of islemen. A similar landing in galloway led by his
brothers Alex and Thomas ended in defeat. They were to meet
a similar fate to Nigel. It was shortly after this while hiding in a
cave in Galloway that Bruce watched a spider trying to attach
a thread of it's web to the stone. Despite many failures
it refused to give up before finally succeeding. This prompted
Bruce to "Try and try again"

 

For the next few years Bruce set about bringing the Scots nobility
into line and clearing English held castles. By 1313 only Berwick,
Roxburgh, Edinburgh and Stirling castles remained in English hands.
Bruce's sole remaining brother Edward entered into a pact with the
English in which they had one year to relieve Stirling Castle or
they would surrender to it to the Scots. Bruce was dismayed as
now he would have to fight the English in a large scale set battle,
something which he had done his best to avoid as the Scots would
certainly be out numbered.

The English marched north in the summer of 1314 with Edward the
Second in command of an army said to be in excess of 100,000. The
two armies met on the ground below Stirling castle beside the
Bannock Burn and the Scots army of around 20,000 defeated the
English to leave Scotland largely free of the English.Bruce used the
large number of captured English knights to bargain for the return
of his wife and daughter as well as the others taken prisoner
eight years before.

 

Bruce was determined to form a lasting peace and be recognized
as king by the English and the Pope who had sided with the English
throughout the war. In 1320 with no progress made towards a lasting
peace the Pope was to act strongly against the Scots by England.
He decided that the whole country was to excommunicated and
outwith the christian community. The Scots reply to this came in
the form of a letter to the Pope in which they sought to inform him
of the country's history and their right to choose their own king.
They even laid the blame for any further deaths and the ruination of
souls on the Pope if he failed to recognize their claim to live as free
men. The Pope accepted what was written in The Declaration
of Arbroath and recognized Bruce as king and Scotland
as an independent country.

 

In 1328 with a new king Edward the third on the throne England
finally entered into a peace treaty with Scotland, known as the treaty
of Northampton, in which they finally accepted Scotland as a
free country and Bruce as king.

 

Robert the Bruce died in 1329 supposedly a leper. His heart was cut
out of his body and placed in a casket. Lord James Douglas then carried
this on a crusade to the holy lands where he met his death.