Robert The Bruce

Some of the history of one of the Scottish Kings, following the history pages you will find photography relating to Robert The Bruce.

First you can't help but notice the change of Tartan, somehow I didn't think it would impress those of the Bruce Clan to see Robert Bruce on Wallace Tartan:-).
So here we have the Bruce Tartan and Bruce clan badge.
The motto on the badge reads, "Fuimus", translated means, "We Have Been"

You will also notice different flags, these are still Scottish but rather than the blue and white cross of St. Andrew, this is the Royal Standard of Scotland.
The lion has been used as a heraldic device by the Kings of Scotland since William I of Scotland in the 12th century.

Robert The Bruce

From the facts already written in my William Wallace section, we know that, the death of Alexander 111, and the subsequent death of his granddaughter, pushed Scotland into a state of deep unrest.

No direct heir to the throne, but some who had legitimate claim to it.
To understand these claims we need to look at the Royal line of succession to find an heir out with the direct line. The Royal line is documented to as far back as 500 AD (please see my Kings and Queens of Scotland section if you want to trace the line to it's roots) but we do not have to go back quite that far in the search for a rightful claimant to the throne.

We go back to the point where Alexander 111 can be traced and then look sideways for an heir.

David 1 of Scotland is where both Alexander 111 and the Bruce family can claim right to the throne.
David 1 ruled from 1124 to 1153 passing the throne to his grandson, Malcolm 1V.
Malcolm 1V ruled for only a short time, 1153 to 1165 and died unmarried, therefore without heir.
The throne then passed to his brother William the Lion and that line continued until the death of Alexander 111.
Malcolm and William had one younger brother, David, Earl of Huntingdon, David had never ruled as King because his brother William did have heirs. However that does not make the descendants of David any less entitled to claim the throne.
David had three daughters, and it is here that we can now see the connection of those who claimed the throne.
Two main contenders, John Balliol and Robert Bruce, grandson of the future King, were directly descended from these daughters.
Balliol was grandson of the eldest daughter and Bruce was son of the second daughter.

The details of the claims are already covered with the background to William Wallace.
John Balliol claimed and got the throne with some help from Edward 1 of England.
Before this was formally announced, Robert Bruce, the competitor, withdrew his claim, handing it to his son, also Robert who in turn handed it to his son, the future Robert The Bruce King of Scots.

The Bruce family were of Norman extraction having arrived from what we now know as Belgium but was then French, at the time of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The name "Bruce" was a derivation of the name of the town where the family originated, Brix or Brus.

The origins of Robert Bruce, future King were not Scottish but he most certainly was. He was born in Scotland in 1274 most probably at Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, this being the family home of his mother The Countess of Carrick, who was of Celtic origin.
His was a wealthy family owning vast estates on both sides of the Scottish border

Following on from the defeat of William Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298 and the subsequent retiral of William Wallace from his position as Guardian of Scotland, Scotland was once again without a leader.
King John Balliol was still alive but was still imprisoned in England. The Scots had already decided he was not fit to rule, he was not strong enough to oppose England's King Edward 1. Once more the Guardianship had to be decided.

Where Bruce was and what he was doing, during the years of the Wallace battles is historically uncertain and here we have to remember that at this point in time, the Bruce family did want the throne of Scotland as opposed to Wallace who fought only for freedom.

Edward 1 of England, being seen as the overlord of Scotland, Bruce and many other Scottish nobles chose to remain loyal to him in order to better their chances in keeping their lands and in the case of Bruce obtaining the Scottish throne.
Part of the reason that Bruce most probably stayed loyal to Edward was that the Comyns supported the resistance to Edward, and they were very bitter rivals of the Bruce family.
To fight for Scotland also meant declaring his alliance to Balliol, as Wallace fought in the name of King John Balliol, this for Bruce, would have meant he accepted Balliol as King and by doing so would give up his own right to the throne.

For me this raises the question of did Bruce value the throne more than the Freedom of Scotland? The end result might look to be the same but the reason behind it is not.
He appears not to have given any help to Wallace after the Battle of Falkirk.
We shall see as this history progresses.
It is interesting to see that one of the plaques on the Wallace memorial in Elderslie depicts Wallace berating Bruce for fighting with Edward at Falkirk.
There are also accounts from the writings of Blind Harry (minstrel of these times) that Wallace did meet Bruce and did know that he had sided with Edward.
However, since the records of the events of the Wallace Years are scanty and taken from the records of the story tellers, who could change their stories to suit their audience, it will never be certain what Bruce was doing at this time.

What is certain is that Scotland needed a Guardian.
Two new Guardians were appointed in 1298, Robert Bruce and John Comyn, a kinsman of John Balliol and known as the Red Comyn.

Why would Bruce accept a joint Guardianship with his rival?
In the absence of hard fact it could be assumed that it was to keep some hope of Scottish control and to make sure the Red Comyn did not introduce policies that Bruce was not in agreement with.
There was a third Guardian, appointed with them, to help in the running of the country, William Lamberton, Bishop of St Andrews. The Scottish church was at this time, militant and doing their best to fight for Scotland's freedom.

This was not a stable Guardianship and it did not last for long. Following a bitter argument while at council in Peebles, where the Red Comyn accused Bruce of treason and the already fragile relationship deteriorated further.

By 1300, Bruce having had enough of this resigned his Guardianship.
During the 2 years following this, Edward continued his campaigns against Scotland raiding the border castles and still very determined to conquer Scotland. By the end of 1300 both the other Guardians had resigned and yet another new Guardian was appointed, John Le Soules, Lord of Liddesdale.

Meantime pressure was being put on Edward from both the Vatican and the French King, to restore John Balliol to the Scottish throne and to recognise Scotland as an independent sovereignty. In January of 1302 a 9-month truce was signed and rumour had it that this meant the return of Balliol to the throne.

Bruce again changed sides and submits to Edward. By this submission to he now had security for his lands and was able to marry his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, daughter of the Earl of Ulster.

The politics of war continued and Edward continued to want Scotland. Invasions carried on and in 1303 the English suffered heavy defeat at the hands of the Red Comyn and Sir Simon Fraser a known Wallace supporter. This battle was not in the borders but took place at Roslin near Edinburgh.
Yet again Edward decides to come to Scotland in person to seek his revenge, this time supported by troops from Ireland. The accounts of these battles are documented but in them there is no mention of Bruce.
At this point it would appear Bruce is sitting on the fence.
What is documented is that Bruce had made a secret pact with the Bishop of Lamberton, involving another revolt in Scotland against the English, even though Bruce was at this time on the English side.

Bruce knew Edward was growing old and would not live to fight for much longer and his son, The Prince of Wales, was no real threat. Bruce planned to claim the Scottish throne and lead a rebellion once Edward was dead.
The main opposition to Bruce would come from the Red Comyn, who was still loyal to Balliol.

Bruce decided to meet with Comyn and had drawn up a document stating that in return for his support, Comyn would receive the Bruce lands. The meeting was to take place in Greyfriars church in Dumfries.
Now we find there are at least two documented versions of what occurred here.

The first being that Bruce thought that Comyn had betrayed him to the English, the second being a more simple case of Comyn refusing to support Bruce. Whatever the reason the outcome was the same; Bruce stabbed Comyn in front of the high altar.
In the most sacred of places Bruce murders Comyn.

Bruce now felt he had no choice but to claim the Scottish throne as fast as possible and not wait for the death of Edward as he had planned.
He gathered up his supporters and made plans to get to Scone Abbey.
On route, Bruce met up with another famous name in this period of history.
James Douglas, son of William Douglas and known as the Black Douglas.
Bruce had on an earlier occasion offered support to the Douglas family and now James Douglas wanted to swear alliance to the soon to be King.

Before heading to Scone Abbey for the coronation, Bruce met with Bishop Wishart in Glasgow to receive absolution for his sin of sacrilegious murder.
He had to keep the Scottish church, at that time a catholic church, on his side, as he was not going to receive the support of the people of Scotland.
Bruce decided he was going to be King, in the knowledge that Scotland still had a King, even if Balliol was now in exile in France.
Six weeks after the murder of Comyn, in a very makeshift coronation Bruce was crowned King Of Scotland on the 25th March 1306.

His coronation plunged Scotland back into civil war as the Comyn family gathered their forces and back into war with England when Edward heard of this.
Edward was enraged and took the step of appointing the brother in law of the Red Comyn, Aymer de Valence as his representative in Scotland and gave him the not often used power to "Raise the Dragon"
This involved carrying the banner and in the event of war unfurling it to show that the normal conventions of war would be ignored.
This led to an almost unbelievable period of brutality that I will condense here.
Nigel Bruce, brother of Robert was the first to be captured; he was hanged, drawn and quartered, as were his supporters.
Bruce's sister, Mary was captured, placed in an open cage suspended from the battlements of Roxburgh castle, where she remained for 4 years.
His daughter, Marjory was enclosed in an English nunnery.
His wife because of her father's connections to Edward was treated a little better and imprisoned in a Royal Manor.

Most of this occurred as the result of a battle with De Valence at Menthven in Perthshire.
Bruce himself, escaped and now having been King for 4 months was a fugitive.

Please press next to find out what happened in the years before the battle where Bruce gained his fame.