Robert the Bruce

EARLY LIFE

Robert I, popularly known as Robert the Bruce, was born on July 11, 1274. His place of birth was most likely at  Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, the head of his mother's earldom.

Statue of Robert the Bruce at the Bannockburn battle field. By Martin Kraft

Robert the Bruce was the Grandson of Robert de Bruc, a French aristocrat descended from a Norman Lord who had landed with William the Conqueror. He'd unsuccessfully claimed the Scottish throne in 1290.

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.

Robert was their first child. From his mother he inherited the Celtic Earldom of Carrick, and from his father a royal lineage that would give him a claim to the Scottish throne.

His youth is said by an English chronicler to have been mostly passed at the court of Edward I.

Bruce was raised speaking all the languages of his lineage and nation and was fluent in Gaelic, Scots and Norman French.

BEGINNING OF THE WARS OF INDEPENDENCE

Following the death of young Margaret in 1290, Scotland was left without a king. There were fourteen claimants and the competitors agreed to hand over the realm to King Edward I of England until a decision was made. The Bruce families' great rival, John Balliol, was chosen in 1292.

Robert saw the outcome of the 'Great Cause' in 1292, which gave the Crown of Scotland to John Balliol, as unjust. As he saw it, it prevented his family from taking their rightful place on the Scottish throne and he continued to push his claim as overlord of Scotland.

Although the Scottish conflict seemed settled in 1296, it was started again by William Wallace, who started a national rising supported by Robert the Bruce.

After Wallace was defeated at the Battle of Falkirk in 1297, he reigned as Guardian of Scotland and was succeeded by Robert Bruce and John Comyn as joint Guardians.

In 1303, Edward invaded again, reaching Edinburgh before marching to Perth. He then proceeded to Aberdeen and from marched through Moray to Badenoch before re-tracing his path back south to Dunfermline. With the country now under submission, most of the leading Scots surrendered to Edward in February 1304.

After William Wallace's execution in 1305, Robert rose once more against Edward I.

REIGN

Before his accession, Robert was one of the many claimants for the throne of Scotland. One of his supposed rivals John "The Red" Comyn had a quarrel with him in the sacred sanctity of Greyfriars church in Dumfries. The argument got overheated and Bruce killed him.

The killing of Comyn in the Greyfriars church in Dumfries, by Felix Philippoteaux,

Six weeks later he was crowned King. The coronation took place in defiance of the English claims of suzerainty over Scotland after the execution of Sir William Wallace. England's unimpressed monarch, Edward I, attempted to oust him.

He was crowned as Robert I at Scone on March 25, 1306 by his mistress, Isabella, Countess of Buchan, who claimed the right of her family, the Macduff Earls of Fife, to place the Scottish king on his throne.

Bruce crowned King of Scots; modern tableau at Edinburgh Castle

In June 1306 Bruce was defeated at the Battle of Methven. After his loss, the newly crowned Scottish king fled to Brodrick Castle on the Isle of Aaron waiting for the beacon to be lit on the mainland telling him the time was ripe to begin afresh his war with King Edward.

According to a legend popularized by Sir Walter Scott, Robert the Bruce's uprising against Edward I was not going well and he was on the run from the English troops on the little island of Rathlin off the Irish coast. While hiding in a cave there, the depressed Scottish king watched a small spider spinning it's web. Six times it tried unsuccessfully to secure it properly but it kept going and finally the seventh time, it did it. This was a parable for Robert not to be discouraged by failure but to go out and liberate his country despite setbacks that were bound to occur time and time again.

Encouraged Robert left the island with 300 followers, landed at Carrick and at midnight surprised the English garrison who were asleep at Turnberry Castle. He then began a guerrilla war in south-west Scotland.

In 1313 the Scottish king captured Perth and the next year he retook Edinburgh. At Bannockburn, a Stirlingshire village, the English en route to relief the besieged Stirling Castle were intercepted by Bruce's men. There, Bruce defeated the English under King Edward II, who had succeeded his father.

Bruce reviewing troops before the Battle of Bannockburn

After Bannockburn Edward II of England twice invaded Scotland unsuccessfully. On October 14, 1322, Robert the Bruce defeated King Edward II at The Battle of Old Byland, forcing the English king to accept Scotland's independence. The following year Edward concluded a truce.

On the accession of the more able Edward III war broke out again but the tenacious Scots still had the upper hand and peace was soon signed.

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.

APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER 

Bruce was blue eyed, yellow haired and broad shouldered.

Robert the Bruce

He was a strong wise and just character who inspired devotion.

Bruce was a witty and fluent speaker who was totally incomprehensible to the English.

RELATIONSHIPS

In 1295, Robert married his first wife, Isabella of Mar, the daughter of Donald, the sixth Earl of Mar.

Robert the Bruce and Isabella of Mar, as depicted in the 1562 Forman Armorial

Isabella died a year later bearing their only child, Marjorie Bruce, who married Walter Stewart, sixth High Steward of Scotland. She bore him the future Robert II of Scotland.

Bruce married his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, in 1302. She was the daughter of Richard Óg de Burgh, Second Earl of Ulster.

Robert the Bruce and Elizabeth de Burgh, from the Seton Armorial.

After the defeat of the Scots at the Battle of Methven on June 19, 1306, Robert sent Elizabeth and his daughter Marjorie by his first marriage to Kildrummy Castle, under the protection of his brother Niall.

They were taken from the sanctuary of St. Duthac at Tain by the Earl of Ross, a supporter of the Comyns, and dispatched to King Edward. Elizabeth was held under severe conditions of house arrest in England. Bruce's nine-year-old daughter Marjorie was sent to the to the nunnery at Watton.

Elizabeth spent eight years as a prisoner. After the Battle of Bannockburn, she was moved to York while prisoner exchange talks took place. Finally, in November 1314, she was returned to Scotland.

By Elizabeth he had four children: David II, John (died after 1329), Matilda (married Robert Glen) and Margaret (who married William, Earl of Sutherland).

In addition to his legitimate offspring, Robert Bruce had several illegitimate children by unknown mothers.

BELIEFS

In his later years Robert Bruce longed to go to the Holy Land to fight against the Muslims, who were again in possession of the Sepulcher of Christ. He was the more anxious to do this because he was troubled at the thought that when he was a young man he had slain a rival before the very altar of God. When he knew that he must die without fulfilling his desire, he asked Lord James Douglas to be responsible for taking his heart to the Holy Land.

HOMES

The Scottish king's family seat was Tunberry Castle, Ayrshire, which was confiscated by the English for much of his reign. He spent much of his boyhood at Lochmaber Castle, near Dumfries.

The remains of Turnberry Castle, By Walter Baxter, 

During the first few years of his reign, Bruce spent most of his time hiding from both the English and his own subjects either in the heather, or in caves on the Isle of Aaron. He also spent some time on the little island of Rathlin where he encountered his spidery friend.

When things had settled he lived in a simple house on the west coast of Scotland. In his later years Bruce lived in seclusion at Cardrass Castle on the north shore of the Firth of Clyde.

DEATH AND LEGACY

Robert the Bruce died on June 7, 1329 at Mains of Cardross in Dumbarton, having 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 was, although syphilis, psoriasis, and a series of strokes have all been suggested.

King Robert I is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, resting place of Scottish kings and queens since 1093. Elizabeth, his second wife, had died 18 months earlier and his body was laid to rest next to hers, interred in the very center of the abbey beneath the high altar, in an alabaster tomb decorated with gold leaf.

Plaster cast of Robert I's skull by William Scoular

When Bruce died, Lord James Douglas put the king's heart in a silver casket and departed with it for the Holy Land. In Spain he found the Christians hard pressed by the Muslims and went to their aid. In the heat of the battle he threw Bruce's heart into the midst of the infidel host, crying: "Go thou before as thou wert wont to do, and Douglas will follow!" The brave Douglas perished in the battle, but one of his knights recovered Bruce's heart. He carried it back to Scotland, where it was buried in Melrose Abbey in Roxburghshire.

He was succeeded by his son David II  (March 5, 1324 - February. 22, 1371) who was one of the worst rulers in the history of the British Isles. David ruined his country with his extravagant spending and futile raids into England before offering the succession of Scotland to Edward III.  The arrangement was repudiated by the Scottish Parliament.

Later depiction of David II, by Sylvester Harding (published in 1797)

John Barbour (1320-1395)'s epic 13,000 line poem "The Bruce" about Robert is among the earliest known works of Scottish poetry.

Robbie Burns' "Scots Wae Nae" was inspired by Bruce's marching song "Hey Tutti Taitie" which was sung by his troops during Bannockburn.