Robert I, (Roibert a Briuis in
medieval Gaelic, Raibeart Bruis in
modern Scottish Gaelic and Robert de Brus in
Norman French), usually known in modern English today as
Robert the Bruce (July
11,
1274 –
June 7,
1329),
was King of
Scotland (1306
– 1329).
Although his paternal ancestors were of
Scoto-Norman heritage, his maternal ancestors were
Gaelic,
and 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 England. He claimed the
Scottish throne as a great-great-great-great grandson of
David I of Scotland.
Background and early life Bruce was born the first child and eldest
son of
Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale (d. 1304) and
Marjorie of Carrick, (d.1292) daughter of
Niall of Carrick and Margaret, daughter of
Walter Stewart, 3rd High Steward of Scotland. 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 is another possibility, but the claim that he was born at
Writtle,
Essex is very
dubious.
Precious little is known of his youth. He was probably 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. According to his acclaimed biographer G.W.S. Barrow, Robert's first
appearance in history is on a witness list of a charter issued by Alasdair
MacDomhnaill, Lord of
Islay. Robert's 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 families' great rival,
John
Balliol, as unjust. As he saw it, it prevented his 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 (d. after Feb 1295), 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. Robert and Isobel's only child,
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. She was heavily pregnant;
the child, the future
Robert II of Scotland, survived.
The 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
July 7, 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 appears again to have sided with 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 Soulis as sole guardian. Soulis 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 John Balliol returned to the
Scottish throne.
In July, Edward I launched his sixth campaign into Scotland. Though Edward
captured
Bothwell and
Turnberry Castle, Edward 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 I, along with other nobles, even though he had been on the
side of the patriots until now. There are many reasons that may have prompted
his turning, not the least of which was that Bruce may have found it loathsome
to continue sacrificing his followers, family and inheritance for John Balliol.
There were rumours that Balliol would return with a French army to regain the
Scottish throne. Soulis supported the return of Balliol as did many other
nobles, but the return of John as king would lead to the Bruces losing any
chance of ever gaining the throne themselves. Also, Robert’s father was old and
ill, and may have wished his son to seek peace with Edward, who, he was
convinced, would be victorious over the Scots. The elder Bruce would have seen
that, if the rebellion failed and his son were against Edward, he would lose
everything, titles, lands, and probably his life. Edward also came to see that
he needed a Scottish noble like Bruce as a friend, rather than as an enemy at
this time; he was facing both excommunication by the Pope for his actions and a
possible invasion by the French.
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. Apologizing for
having called the monks 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 in 1345
William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland.)
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 June 11
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 paid to him by the nobles, 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
brutally executed on
August 23,
1305. Edward had
made Wallace a martyr, a larger-than-life patriotic hero for the Scots. Rather
than settling the “Scottish question,” Edward had wrought enmity that would
hound him the rest of his days.
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Robert the Bruce
of Scotland
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Excommunication and 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 his back. Bruce, as Earl of
Carrick and now 7th Lord of Annandale, held huge estates and property in both
Scotland and 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
February
10, 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. 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
March 25, by Isabella, Countess of Buchan, (alleged by the English to be his
mistress) who claimed the right of her family, the Macduff Earls 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 disastrous failures 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, and Bruce,
almost without a follower, fled to the islands on the western coast of Scotland.
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, Christina, were captured in a sanctuary at Tain, while his three
youngest brothers were executed. But on
July 7, Edward
I died, leaving Bruce to now be opposed by his feeble son,
Edward II and the odds turned to Bruce's favour.
Bruce had returned to the Scottish mainland in February at Turnberry Castle,
and began a
guerrilla war in southwest Scotland. In April he had his first major 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. Bruce 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 the
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 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 recognized Bruce as king at a general
council. The support given to him by the church in spite of his excommunication
must have had great importance and was probably due to the example of Lamberton.
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. In March
1313
Sir James Douglas captured Roxburgh, and
Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray captured Edinburgh Castle. In May Bruce
again raided England and subdued the Isle of Man. About the same time Edward
Bruce laid siege to Stirling Castle, whose governor, Sir Philip de Mowbray,
agreed to capitulate if not relieved before
24 June 1314.
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, forcing Edward II to sue for peace.
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 through agreement with his
father-in-law,
Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster (d.1326), hoping to continue to
disappropriate English jurisdiction there. 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 popularized 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:
“Whereas we and you and our people and your people, free since ancient
times, share the same national ancestry and are urged to come together more
eagerly and joyfully in friendship by a common language and by common custom, we
have sent you our beloved kinsman, the bearers of this letter, to negotiate with
you in our name about permanently strengthening and maintaining inviolate the
special friendship between us and you, so that with God’s will our nation
(nostra nacio) may be able to recover her ancient liberty.”
The diplomacy worked to a certain extent, at least in Ulster, where the Scots
had total support. However, that may be unsurprising because Ulster was the
chosen political beachhead for invasion--with Bruce married to
Elizabeth de Burgh (d. 26 October 1327), daughter of Richard de Burgh, 2nd
Earl of Ulster (d.1326). Bruce's father-in-law was not going to put up
resistance in Ireland to his son-in-law's invasion. Perhaps, the Earl of Ulster
even suggested such an invasion of Ireland proactively--as well as reactively
(to save his Earldom in Ulster as well as his skin because he was aiding his
son-in-law rebel Bruce).
However, geopolitics aside, hardly to malign this larger ideological vision
of a pan-Gaelic kingdom, the vision was influential with other Irish chiefs. The
Irish chief Donal O'Neill, for instance, later justified his Irish support of
the Scots in just such terms 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 characterized by a great deal of 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. In the end,
Bruce became mythological only for Scottish Independence, though that was hardly
the aim from his unheralded string of military victories from spring
1307 onward. Mere
Scottish Independence would have represented to him and his followers by default
an abandonment of the "Pan-Gaelic" project--since he had already been crowned
king in Ireland as well.
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 recognized 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 Christian, Isabel (Queen of Norway), Margaret, Matilda and Mary, and his
nephews Donald, Earl of Mar and
Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray. Alexander, Thomas and Niall were all
executed by the English following capture, and
Edward
was killed in battle in
Ireland.
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, predeceased his
father, and Niall, of Carrick, (died
17 October 1346 at the
Battle of Durham). His daughters were Elizabeth (married Walter Oliphant of
Gask), Margaret (married Robert Glen), alive on
29
February 1364,
and Christian, of Carrick, who died after 1329, when she was in receipt of a
pension.
Robert the Bruce died on
June 7,
1329 at the Manor
of Cardross in Cardross Parish,
Dunbartonshire (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 story is that he died of
leprosy, but
this is now rejected. However it is unclear what his illness actually was,
although
syphilis,
psoriasis, and a series of
strokes have all been suggested.
His body lies buried in
Dunfermline Abbey, but, according to his wishes,
Sir James Douglas removed the late king's heart and took it on a
Crusade in
Moorish Spain, where he
was killed in battle. It was later recovered, taken back to Scotland and buried
at
Melrose Abbey in
Roxburghshire.
Robert Bruce left his sole surviving infant son,
David II, to succeed him.
Robert Bruce's Daughter, Margorie Bruce, Princess of Scotland, was the Mother
of Robert II Stewart, King of Scotland. She Married Walter Stewart, 6th High
Steward of Scotland and they had a Son, Robert II Stewart, King of Scotland.
Robert II was delivered on the side of the road following a fall off of a horse
at which time Margorie died. This was the first Stewart King of the House of
Stewart. He became king after Robert I's son David died.
Margorie's mother was Isabella, Lady of Mar, Robert I's wife who died in
1302. She and her Daughter were held by King Edward I in England for a time.
Legends
According to legend, after his defeat at the hands of the Comyns and the
subsequent incarceration of his family, Bruce hid himself in a cave, which is
located near Gretna and can still be visited today. While in the cave, Bruce
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).
According to another legend, Bruce's heart was encased in silver and the
knight Black Douglas was to transport it to the Holy Land to be buried there.
When in transit to the Holy Land Black Douglas became surrounded by the Moors in
Spain during a skirmish. He is said to have thrown Bruce's heart ahead of him,
crying: "Forward, brave heart, as ever thou were wont to do, and Douglas will
follow thee or die".
Bruce is also a character in the film
Braveheart,
although the historical accuracy of this film has been challenged on several
counts, e.g. Bruce was probably not present at the
Battle of Falkirk.
