(Redirected from Robert the Bruce)
'Robert I,
King of Scots' (
Mediaeval Gaelic:''Roibert a Briuis'';
modern Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart Bruis'';
Norman French: ''Robert de Brus'' or ''Robert de Bruys'';
11 July,
1274 –
7 June,
1329), usually known in modern English as 'Robert the Bruce', was King of
Scotland from
1306 until his death in
1329.
Although his
paternal ancestors were of
Scoto-Norman heritage (originating in Brieux, Normandy)
[1], his
maternal ancestors were Scottish-
Gaels, he became one of Scotland's greatest kings, as well as one of the most famous
warriors of his
generation, eventually leading Scotland during the
Wars of Scottish Independence against the
Kingdom of England. He claimed the Scottish throne as a great-great-great-great grandson of
David I of Scotland.
His body is buried in
Dunfermline Abbey, while his heart is buried in
Melrose Abbey. His heart was to be taken on crusade eventually to the
Holy Land, but only reached Moorish
Granada, where it acted as a
talisman for the Scottish contingent at the
Battle of Teba.
Background and early life
Bruce was the first child of
Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale (d. 1304) and
Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, (d. 1292) daughter of
Niall, Earl of Carrick. His mother was by all accounts a formidable woman who, legend would have it, kept Robert Bruce's father captive until he agreed to marriage. From his mother he inherited the Gaelic
Earldom of
Carrick, and through his father a royal lineage that would give him a claim to the Scottish throne. Although his date of birth is definitely known, his place of birth is less certain: it was probably Turnberry Castle in
Ayrshire, although
Lochmaben in
Dumfriesshire and
Writtle in
England[2] are other possibilities.
Precious little is known of his youth. He could have been sent to be fostered with a local family, as was the custom. We can presume that Bruce was raised speaking all the languages of his lineage and nation and was almost certainly fluent in
Gaelic and
Norman French, with
Latin. Although there is no direct evidence, it is perfectly plausible that he also knew
English. Robert's first appearance in history is on a witness list of a charter issued by Alasdair MacDomhnaill, Lord of
Islay. His name appears in the company of the Bishop of Argyll, the vicar of
Arran, a
Kintyre clerk, his father and a host of Gaelic notaries from Carrick.
He saw the outcome of the '
Great Cause' in 1292, which gave the Crown of Scotland to his distant relative,
John Balliol, as unjust. As he saw it, it prevented his branch of the family from taking their rightful place on the Scottish throne. Soon afterwards, his grandfather,
Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale—
the unsuccessful claimant—resigned his lordship to Robert de Brus, Bruce's father. Robert de Brus had already resigned the earldom of Carrick to Robert Bruce, his son, on the day of his wife's death in 1292, thus making Robert Bruce the Earl of Carrick. Both father and son sided with
Edward I against Balliol.
In April 1294, the younger Bruce had permission to visit
Ireland for a year and a half, and, as a further mark of Edward's favour, he received a respite for all the debts owed by him to the English Exchequer.
In 1295, Robert married his first wife,
Isabella of Mar (d. before 1302), the daughter of Donald, 10th Earl of Mar (d. after July 1297), by his wife Helen (b. 1246 d. after Feb 1295).
Some sources claim that Helen was the daughter of
Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, Prince of North
Wales, 'The Great' (1173–1240) and his spouse Joan, an illegitimate child of King
John of England. However, as both Llywelyn and Joan were dead by 1246, that theory would most likely be incorrect. However, there are suggestions that Helen may have in fact been the daughter of Llywelyn's son Dafydd ap Llywelyn and his wife Isabella de Braose.
Beginning of the wars of independence
In August 1296 Bruce and his father swore fealty to
Edward I of England at
Berwick-upon-Tweed, but in breach of this oath, which had been renewed at
Carlisle, the younger Robert joined in the Scottish revolt against Edward in the following year. Urgent letters were sent ordering Bruce to support Edward's commander,
John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, (to whom Bruce was related), in the summer of 1297; but instead of complying, Bruce laid waste the lands of those who adhered to Edward. On
7 July, Bruce and his friends were forced to make terms by a treaty called the capitulation of Irvine. The Scottish lords were not to serve beyond the sea against their will, and were pardoned for their recent violence, in return for swearing allegiance to Edward. The Bishop of Glasgow, James the Steward, and Sir Alexander Lindsay became sureties for Bruce until he delivered his infant daughter Marjorie as a hostage.
Shortly after the
Battle of Stirling Bridge, Bruce defected to the Scots; Annandale was wasted and he burned the English-held castle of
Ayr. Yet, when Edward returned to England after his victory at the
Battle of Falkirk,
Annandale and
Carrick were excepted from the lordships and lands which he assigned to his followers; Bruce was being treated as a waverer whose allegiance might still be retained.
After
William Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland after Falkirk, he was succeeded by Robert Bruce and
John Comyn as joint guardians, but they could not see past their personal differences. As a nephew and supporter of John Balliol, and as someone with his own claim to the Scottish throne, Comyn was Bruce's enemy. In 1299,
William Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, was appointed as a third, neutral Guardian to try and maintain order between Bruce and Comyn. The following year Bruce finally resigned as joint guardian and was replaced by Sir Gilbert, 1st Lord
de Umfraville (d. before
13 October 1307), Earl of Angus (in right of his mother, Maud, Countess of Angus).
In May 1301, de Umfraville, Comyn and Lamberton also resigned as joint guardians and were replaced by Sir
John de Soules as sole guardian. Soules was appointed largely because he was part of neither the Bruce nor the Comyn camps and was a patriot. He was an active Guardian, and made renewed efforts to have King John returned to the Scottish throne.
In July, Edward I launched his sixth campaign into Scotland. Though Edward captured
Bothwell and
Turnberry Castle, he did little to damage the Scots' fighting ability and, in January 1302 agreed to a nine-month truce. It was around this time that Robert the Bruce submitted to Edward, along with other nobles, even though he had been on the side of the patriots until now.
There were rumours that Balliol would return to regain the Scottish throne. Soules, who had probably been appointed by King John, supported his return, as did most other nobles, but the return of John as king would lead to the Bruces losing any chance of ever gaining the throne themselves.
Robert the Bruce and Elizabeth de Burgh
However, though recently pledged to support Edward, it is interesting to note that Robert the Bruce sent a letter to the monks at Melrose Abbey in March 1302 which effectively weakened his usefulness to the English king. Apologising for having called the monks' tenants to service in his army when there had been no national call-up, Bruce pledged that, henceforth, he would "never again" require the monks to serve unless it was to "the common army of the whole realm", for national defence. Bruce also married his second wife that year,
Elizabeth de Burgh (d.
26 October,
1327), the daughter of
Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, (d. 1326). By Elizabeth he had four children:
David II, John (died in childhood), Matilda (who married Thomas Isaac and died at Aberdeen
20 July,
1353), and Margaret (who married William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland in 1345).
In
1303, Edward invaded again, reaching
Edinburgh, before marching to
Perth. John Comyn, who was by now Guardian, could not hope to defeat Edward's forces. Edward stayed in Perth till July, then proceeded via
Dundee,
Brechin and
Montrose, to
Aberdeen, where he arrived in August. From here he marched through
Moray, before his progress continued to
Badenoch, before re-tracing his path back south to
Dunfermline. With the country now under submission, all the leading Scots, except for Wallace, surrendered to Edward in February 1304. Terms of submission were negotiated by John Comyn.
The laws and liberties of Scotland would be as they had been in the day of
Alexander III, and any that needed alteration would be with the advice of Edward and the advice and assent of the Scots nobles.
On
11 June,
1304, with both of them having witnessed the heroic efforts of their countrymen during Edward's siege of
Stirling Castle, Bruce and William Lamberton made a pact that bound them, each to the other, in “friendship and alliance against all men.” If one should break the secret pact, he would forfeit to the other the sum of ten-thousand pounds. Though both had already surrendered to the English, the pact indicated their deep patriotism and commitment to their future perseverance for the Scots and their freedom. They now intended to bide their time until the death of the elderly King of England.
With Scotland defenceless, Edward set about absorbing her into England. Homage was again obtained from the nobles and the burghs, and a parliament was held to elect those who would meet later in the year with the English parliament to establish rules for the governance of Scotland. For all the apparent participation by Scots in the government, however, the English held the real power. The Earl of Richmond, Edward's nephew, was to head up the subordinate government of Scotland.
While all this took place,
William Wallace was finally captured near
Glasgow and executed on
August 23 1305.
Coronation as King of Scots
In September 1305, Edward ordered Robert Bruce to put his
castle at Kildrummy, "in the keeping of such a man as he himself will be willing to answer for," suggesting that Edward suspected Robert was not entirely trustworthy and may have been plotting behind Edward's back, however an identical phrase appears in an agreement between Edward and his lieutenant and life-long friend Aymer de Valence. Bruce, as
Earl of Carrick and now 7th
Lord of Annandale, held huge estates and property in Scotland and a barony and some minor properties in England and had a claim to the Scottish throne. He also had a large family to protect. If he claimed the throne, he would throw the country into yet another series of wars, and if he failed, he would be sacrificing everyone and everything he knew.
Bruce, like all his family, had a complete belief in his right to the throne. However his actions of supporting alternatively the English and Scottish armies had led to a great deal of distrust towards Bruce among the “Community of the Realm of Scotland”. His ambition was further thwarted by the person of
John Comyn. Comyn had been much more resolute in his opposition to the English, he was the most powerful noble in Scotland and was related to many more powerful nobles both within Scotland and England. He also had a powerful claim to the Scottish throne through both his descent from the ancient Celtic monarchy and through his being the nephew of
John Balliol. To neutralise this threat, Bruce invited him to a meeting under truce in Dumfries on
10 February,
1306.
Bruce attacked Comyn before the high altar of the church of the
Greyfriars monastery and fled. On being told that Comyn had survived the attack and was being treated, two of Bruce's supporters,
Roger de Kirkpatrick and John Lindsay, went back into the church and finished Comyn off. Bruce was excommunicated for this crime, which eventually led to the excommunication of the barons who supported him, and then the excommunication of the entire country.
[3] Realising that the die had been cast and he had no alternative except to become king or a fugitive, Bruce asserted his claim to the Scottish crown. He was crowned King of Scots as Robert I at
Scone, near
Perth on
25 March, by
Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Buchan, (alleged by the English to be his mistress) who claimed the right of her family, the Macduff
Earl of Fife, to place the Scottish king on his throne. Though now king, Bruce did not yet have a kingdom, and his efforts to obtain it were unsuccessful until after the death of Edward I.
From Scone to Bannockburn
In June 1306 he was defeated at the
Battle of Methven and in August he was surprised in Strathfillan, where he had taken refuge. The ladies of his family were sent to Kildrummy in January 1307. Bruce, almost without a follower, fled to
Rathlin Island off the northern coast of
Ireland.
Edward I marched north again in the spring. On his way he granted the Scottish estates of Bruce and his adherents to his own followers and published a bill excommunicating Bruce. Bruce's Queen, Elizabeth, his daughter
Marjorie, and his sister,
Mary, were captured in a sanctuary at Tain, while his brother Niall was executed. But, on
7 July, Edward I died, leaving Bruce to now be opposed by his feeble son,
Edward II, and the odds turned to Bruce's favour.
Bruce and his followers returned to the Scottish mainland in February in two groups. One led by Bruce and his brother Edward landed at Turnberry Castle, and began a
guerrilla war in southwest Scotland. The second led by his brothers Thomas and Alexander landed slightly further south in
Loch Ryan, but they were soon captured and executed. In April Bruce won a small victory over the English at the
Battle of Glen Trool, before defeating
Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke at the
Battle of Loudoun Hill. He then left his brother Edward in command in
Galloway, while he transferred his own operations to
Aberdeenshire. He overran Buchan and, after a serious illness, defeated
John Comyn, 3rd Earl of Buchan at the
Battle of Inverurie in May 1308. He then crossed to
Argyll and defeated another body of his enemies at the
Battle of Pass of Brander and took
Dunstaffnage Castle.
In March 1309, he held his first Parliament at
St. Andrews, and by August he controlled all of Scotland north of the
River Tay. The following year, the clergy of Scotland recognised Bruce as king at a general council. The support given to him by the church in spite of his excommunication was of great political importance.
The next three years saw the capture and reduction of one English held castle or outpost after another:
Linlithgow in 1310,
Dumbarton in 1311, and
Perth, by Bruce himself, in January 1312. Bruce also made raids into northern England and, landing at Ramsey in the Isle of Man, then laid siege to Castle Rushen in Castletown capturing it on June 21st 1313 to deny the island's strategic importance to the English. In the spring of 1314,
Edward Bruce laid siege to Stirling Castle, whose governor, Sir Philip de Mowbray, agreed to capitulate if not relieved before
24 June,
1314. In March 1314
Sir James Douglas captured Roxburgh, and
Randolph captured Edinburgh Castle. In May Bruce again raided England and subdued the
Isle of Man.
Bruce Reviewing troops before the battle of Bannockburn.
The eight years of exhausting but deliberate refusal to meet the English on even ground, have caused many to consider Bruce as one of the great guerrilla leaders of any age. This represented a transformation for one raised as a
feudal knight. Bruce secured Scottish
independence from England militarily — if not diplomatically — at the
Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
Freed from English threats, Scotland's armies could now invade northern England. Bruce also drove back a subsequent English expedition north of the border, and launched raids into
Yorkshire and
Lancashire.
Bruce and Ireland
Buoyed by his military successes, Bruce's forces also invaded
Ireland in
1315, supposedly to free the country from English rule, but more probably, one suspects, to open a second front in the continuing wars with England. The Irish even crowned Edward Bruce as
High King of Ireland in 1316. Robert later went there with another army to assist his brother.
To go with the invasion, Bruce popularised an ideological vision of a "Pan-Gaelic Greater Scotia" with his lineage ruling over both Ireland and Scotland. This propaganda campaign was aided by two factors. The first was his marriage alliance from 1302 with the de Burgh family of the Earldom of Ulster in Ireland; second, Bruce himself on his mother's side of Carrick, was descended from Gaelic royalty - in Scotland. Thus, lineally and geopolitically, Bruce attempted to support his anticipated notion of a pan-Gaelic alliance between Scottish-Irish Gaelic populations, under his kingship.
This is revealed by a letter he sent to the Irish chiefs, where he calls the Scots and Irish collectively ''nostra nacio'' (our nation), stressing the common language, customs and heritage of the two peoples:
The diplomacy worked to a certain extent, at least in Ulster, where the Scots had some support. The Irish chief,
Donal O'Neill, for instance, later justified his support for the Scots to
Pope John XXII by saying "the Kings of Lesser Scotia all trace their blood to our ''Greater Scotia'' and retain to some degree our language and customs."
The Bruce campaign to Ireland was characterised by a some initial military success. However, the Scots failed to win over the non-Ulster chiefs, or to make any other significant gains in the south of the island, where people couldn't see the difference between English and Scottish occupation. Eventually it was defeated when Edward Bruce was killed at the
Battle of Faughart.
Diplomacy
Robert Bruce's reign also witnessed some diplomatic achievements. The
Declaration of Arbroath of 1320 strengthened his position, particularly ''vis-à-vis'' the
Papacy.
Pope John XXII eventually lifted Bruce's excommunication. In May 1328 King
Edward III of England signed the
Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, which recognised Scotland as an independent kingdom, and Bruce as its king.
Family
Robert Bruce had a large family in addition to his wife Elizabeth and his children. There were his brothers,
Edward, Alexander, Thomas and Niall, his sisters
Christina,
Isabel (Queen of
Norway), Margaret, Matilda and
Mary, and his nephews
Donald II, Earl of Mar and
Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray.
In addition to his legitimate offspring, Robert Bruce had several illegitimate children by unknown mothers. His sons were
Sir Robert (died
12 August,
1332 at the
Battle of Dupplin Moor), Walter, of Odistoun on the Clyde, who predeceased his father, and Niall, of Carrick, (died
17 October,
1346 at the
Battle of Neville's Cross). His daughters were Elizabeth (married Walter Oliphant of Gask), Margaret (married Robert Glen), alive as of
29 February,
1364, and Christian, of Carrick, who died after 1329, when she was in receipt of a pension.
Robert the Bruce died on
7 June,
1329, at the Manor of Cardross in Cardross Parish,
Dumbarton (the exact location is uncertain and it may not have been very near the modern village of
Cardross). He had suffered for some years from what some contemporary accounts describe as an "unclean ailment"; the traditional view is that he died of
leprosy just as his father before him had done
Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale as it was hereditary in his family, but this has been
challenged with
syphilis,
psoriasis, and a series of
strokes proposed as possible alternatives.
His body lies buried in
Dunfermline Abbey, but according to a death bed decree
Sir James Douglas removed and carried his heart'' 'against the enemies of the name of Christ' '', in
Moorish Granada,
Spain. The decree overrode an earlier written request, dated 13th May 1329 Cardross, that his heart be buried in the monastery at
Melrose.
Sir James Douglas was killed in an ambush whilst carrying out the decree, on realising his immenent death Douglas is said to have thrown the casket containing Bruces heart ahead of him and shouted "Onward braveheart, Douglas shall follow thee or die." . According to legend ''(Fordun Annals)'', the heart was later recovered by
Sir William Keith and taken back to Scotland to be buried at
Melrose Abbey, in
Roxburghshire, per his earlier decree.
Robert Bruce left his sole surviving infant son,
David II, to succeed him.
Robert's only child by his first marriage,
Marjorie Bruce, married
Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland (1293–1326). She died on
2 March 1316, near
Paisley,
Renfrewshire, after being thrown from her horse while heavily pregnant, but the child survived. He was
Robert II of Scotland, who succeeded David II and founded the Stewart dynasty.
Legends
According to legend, at some point while he was on the run during the winter of 1305-06, Bruce hid himself in a cave on the east coast of
Rathlin Island, where he observed a spider trying to spin a web. Each time the spider failed, it simply started all over again. Inspired by this, Bruce returned to inflict a series of defeats on the English, thus winning him more supporters and eventual victory. The story serves to explain the maxim: "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again." Other versions have Bruce defeated for the seventh time by the English, then let him watch the spider spin seven webs, fail, then spin an eighth and succeed.
However, this legend only appears for the first time in a much later account, "Tales of a Grandfather" by
Sir Walter Scott, and may have originally been told about his companion-in-arms Sir James Douglas (the Black Douglas). The entire account may in fact be a version of a literary
trope used in royal biographical writing. A similar story is told, for example, in Persian folklore about the Mongolian warlord
Tamerlane and an ant.
[4]
The Bruce in Fiction
★ The revolt of Robert the Bruce is the topic of the book "The King's Swift Rider", written from the view of a young Scot in the revolt.
★ In the 1995 film ''
Braveheart'', Robert the Bruce is portrayed, somewhat inaccurately, by Scottish actor
Angus Macfadyen. The film showed him taking the field at Falkirk as part of the English army - this is wholly unsubstantiated.
★ Scottish author
Nigel Tranter wrote a well-researched trilogy based on the life of Robert: ''Robert the Bruce: The Steps to the Empty Throne''; ''Robert the Bruce: The Path of the Hero King''; and ''Robert the Bruce: The Price of the King's Peace.'' This has also been published in one volume as ''
The Bruce Trilogy''.
★ Chronicles of the reign of Robert the Bruce (or Robert de Brus) are published in a series titled ''Rebel King, Hammer of the Scots'' (2002); ''Rebel King, The Har'ships'' (2004); and ''Rebel King, Bannok Burn'' (2006). Two more volumes are planned. Historical fiction, but very close to Scottish history, this most comprehensive series on Robert's reign starts in January 1306 and will carry through Robert's death in 1329.
Miscellaneous
Robert The Bruce was portrayed in £1 banknote of
Clydesdale Bank, one of the three Scottish banks with right to issue banknotes, from 1981 to 1989. When Clydesdale Bank discontinued £1 banknotes, Robert The Bruce's portrait was moved into the bank's £20 banknote in 1990 and it has remained there to date.
The airline
British Caledonian, named a
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 (G-BHDI) after Robert the Bruce.
Notes
1. http://www.caithness.org/history/familyhistory/gordonjohnsongenealogy/historyinsurname.htm “Robert the Bruce's family was Norman, and can be traced back to Brieux in Orne, France”.
2. Dunbar, Sir Archibald H., Bt., ''Scottish Kings - A Revised Chronology of Scottish History 1005 - 1625'', Edinburgh, 1899, p.127, where he cites Fordun's ''Annals'', p.60
3. The History Channel May 17, 2006
4. silkroaddestinations.com - Uzbekistan, Shakhrisabz
References
★ Barrow, G.W.S., ''Robert Bruce & the Community of the Realm of Scotland''
★ Bartlett, Robert, ''The Making of Europe, Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change: 950-1350''
★ Bingham, Charlotte. ''Robert the Bruce'' (1998)
★ Brown, Christian, ''Robert the Bruce. A Life Chronicled''
★ Dunbar, Bt., Sir Archibald H., ''Scottish Kings 1005-1625'', Edinburgh, 1899, pps: 126 -141, with copious original source materiéls.
★ Macnamee, C., "The Wars of the Bruces"
★
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
★ Nicholson, R., ''Scotland in the Later Middle Ages.''
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