Robert The Bruce was born on 11 Jul 1274 in Writtle, Chelmsford, Essex as the sixth child of Robert Bruce and Marjory Margaret of Carrick. He had eleven siblings, namely: Elizabeth, Thomas, Christina, Margaret, Maud, Edward, Mary, Isabel, Nigel, Alexander, and Christiana. He died on 07 Jun 1329 in Cardoss Castle, Firth of Clyde, Scotland. When he was 21, He married Isobel Of Mar,daughter of Donald Of Mar and Helen Of Wales, in 1296. When he was 27, He married Elizabeth De Burgh,daughter of Richard De Burgh, in 1302.
Robert The Bruce was buried in Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland. He was known by the title of King of Scotland, Lord of Annandale, Earl of Carrick.
Robert The Bruce and Isobel Of Mar had the following children:
1. Marjory Bruce was born about 1297. She died on 02 Mar 1315/16 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. She married Walter Stewart in 1315.
Robert The Bruce and Elizabeth De Burgh had the following children:
1. David II Bruce was born on 05 Mar 1322/23 in Dunfermline, Scotland. He married Joan Of The Tower on 17 Jul 1328 in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, England.
2. John.
3.Margaret Bruce was born on 01 Mar 1680 in , Angus, , Scotland. She died on 15 Dec 1759 in Fordel, Fifeshire, , Scotland.
4.Matilda Bruce was born in 1310 in Dunfermline, Fife, , Scotland. She died on 20 Jul 1353 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, , Scotland. She married Thomas Isaac in 1335 in , , , Scotland.
Elizabeth.
Frederick Lewis Weis, Walter Lee Sheppard, Kaleen E. Beall, Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists who Came to America Before 1700: Lineages from Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and Other Historical Individuals. G. W. S. Barrow, Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland.
Robert the Bruce as he was the King that kept Scotland free and independent of mighty England. Edward 1st of England “the hammer of the Scots” had already subdued Wales. Edward’s dream was to rule over the Scots also. This is why he stole the Stone of Destiny from Scone in the late part of the 13th century. By taking Lia Fail to London he thought he could rule all Britain as high king. Robert the Bruce and his loyal Scots had other ideas. King Robert the Bruce freed Scotland of Edward’s dream at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 AD. Robert the Bruce was the King who said - "Our Fathers passed through the sea". King of Scotland who was the victor of Bannockburn in 1314, established Scottish independence from England and is revered as one of Scotland's great national heroes. Robert the Bruce won a major victory at Bannockburn over the English who had drawn on Ireland for soldiers and supplies. The Bruces saw in the invasion of Ireland a chance to weaken the English, free the Irish people, and give his brohter, Edward a kingdom. In May 1315 Edward Bruce landed in Ireland with 6000 men and a year later he was crowned "King of Ireland". However, there was neither unity nor stability among the Irish. Some joined the Scots, but many more simply took advantage of the general disorder to settle old scores. Finally, in October 1318, excommunicated by the Pope, ill-supported or deserted by his Irish allies and with his own forces depleted, Edward Bruce was overthrown and killed. Robert I Encyclopædia Britannica Article born July 11, 1274 died June 7, 1329, Cardross, Dumbartonshire, Scot. original name Robert VIII de Bruce, or Robert the Bruce king of Scotland (1306-29), who freed Scotland from English rule, winning the decisive Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and ultimately confirming Scottish independence in the Treaty of Northampton (1328). Background and early life The Anglo-Norman family of Bruce, which had come to Scotland in the early 12th century, was related by marriage to the Scottish royal family, and hence the sixth Robert de Bruce (died 1295), grandfather of the future king, claimed the throne when it was left vacant in 1290. The English king Edward I claimed feudal superiority over the Scots and awarded the crown to John de Balliol instead. The eighth Robert de Bruce was born in 1274. His father, the seventh Robert de Bruce (died 1304), resigned the title of earl of Carrick in his favour in 1292, but little else is known of his career until 1306. In the confused period of rebellions against English rule from 1295 to 1304 he appears at one time among the leading supporters of the rebel William Wallace, but later apparently regained Edward I's confidence. There is nothing at this period to suggest that he was soon to become the Scottish leader in a war of independence against Edward's attempt to govern Scotland directly. The decisive event was the murder of John (“the Red”) Comyn in the Franciscan church at Dumfries on Feb. 10, 1306, either by Bruce or his followers. Comyn, a nephew of John de Balliol, was a possible rival for the crown, and Bruce's actions suggest that he had already decided to seize the throne. He hastened to Scone and was crowned on March 25. Robert I Encyclopædia Britannica Article Page 3 of 5 King of Scots The new king's position was very difficult. Edward I, whose garrisons held many of the important castles in Scotland, regarded him as a traitor and made every effort to crush a movement that he treated as a rebellion. King Robert was twice defeated in 1306, at Methven, near Perth, on June 19, and at Dalry, near Tyndrum, Perthshire, on August 11. His wife and many of his supporters were captured, and three of his brothers executed. Robert himself became a fugitive, hiding on the remote island of Rathlin off the north Irish coast. It was during this period, with his fortunes at low ebb, that he is supposed to have derived hope and patience from watching a spider perseveringly weaving its web. In February 1307 he returned to Ayrshire. His main supporter at first was his only surviving brother, Edward, but in the next few years he attracted a number of others. Robert himself defeated John Comyn, earl of Buchan (a cousin of the slain John “the Red”), and in 1313 captured Perth, which had been in the hands of an English garrison. Much of the fighting, however, was done by Robert's supporters, notably James Douglas and Thomas Randolph, later earl of Moray, who progressively conquered Galloway, Douglasdale, the forest of Selkirk and most of the eastern borders, and finally, in 1314, Edinburgh. During these years the king was helped by the support of some of the leading Scottish churchmen and also by the death of Edward I in 1307 and the ineptness of his successor, Edward II. The test came in 1314 when a large English army attempted to relieve the garrison of Stirling. Its defeat at Bannockburn on June 24 marked the triumph of Robert I. Consolidation of power Almost the whole of the rest of his reign had passed before he forced the English government to recognize his position. Berwick was captured in 1318, and there were repeated raids into the north of England, which inflicted great damage. Eventually, after the deposition of Edward II (1327), Edward III's regency government decided to make peace by the Treaty of Northampton (1328) on terms that included the recognition of Robert I's title as king of Scots and the abandonment of all English claims to overlordship. Robert's main energies in the years after 1314, however, were devoted to settling the affairs of his kingdom. Until the birth of the future king David II in 1324 he had no male heir, and two statutes, in 1315 and 1318, were concerned with the succession. In addition, a parliament in 1314 decreed that all who remained in the allegiance of the English should forfeit their lands; this decree provided the means to reward supporters, and there are many charters regranting the lands so forfeited. Sometimes these grants proved dangerous, for the king's chief supporters became enormously powerful. James Douglas, knighted at Bannockburn, acquired important lands in the counties of Selkirk and Roxburgh that became the nucleus of the later power of the Douglas family on the borders. Robert I also had to restart the processes of royal government, for administration had been more or less in abeyance since 1296. By the end of the reign the system of exchequer audits was again functioning, and to this period belongs the earliest surviving roll of the register of the great seal. In the last years of his life, Robert I suffered from ill health and spent most of this time at Cardross, Dumbartonshire, where he died, possibly of leprosy. His body was buried in Dunfermline Abbey, but the heart was removed on his instructions and taken by Sir James Douglas on crusade in Spain. Douglas was killed, but it appears that the heart was recovered and brought back for burial, as the king had intended, at Melrose Abbey. In 1921 a cone-shaped casket containing a heart was uncovered during excavations at the abbey, reburied at that time, and reexcavated in 1996. (Heart burial was relatively common among royalty and the aristocracy, however, and there is no specific evidence that this casket is the king's.) In later times Robert I came to be revered as one of the heroes of Scottish national sentiment and legend.
Robert the Bruce as he was the King that kept Scotland free and independent of mighty England. Edward 1st of England “the hammer of the Scots” had already subdued Wales. Edward’s dream was to rule over the Scots also. This is why he stole the Stone of Destiny from Scone in the late part of the 13th century. By taking Lia Fail to London he thought he could rule all Britain as high king. Robert the Bruce and his loyal Scots had other ideas. King Robert the Bruce freed Scotland of Edward’s dream at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 AD.
Robert the Bruce was the King who said - "Our Fathers passed through the sea".
King of Scotland who was the victor of Bannockburn in 1314, established Scottish independence from England and is revered as one of Scotland's great national heroes.
Robert the Bruce won a major victory at Bannockburn over the English who had drawn on Ireland for soldiers and supplies. The Bruces saw in the invasion of Ireland a chance to weaken the English, free the Irish people, and give his brohter, Edward a kingdom. In May 1315 Edward Bruce landed in Ireland with 6000 men and a year later he was crowned "King of Ireland". However, there was neither unity nor stability among the Irish. Some joined the Scots, but many more simply took advantage of the general disorder to settle old scores. Finally, in October 1318, excommunicated by the Pope, ill-supported or deserted by his Irish allies and with his own forces depleted, Edward Bruce was overthrown and killed.
Robert I
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
born July 11, 1274
died June 7, 1329, Cardross, Dumbartonshire, Scot.
original name Robert VIII de Bruce, or Robert the Bruce king of Scotland (1306-29), who freed Scotland from English rule, winning the decisive Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and ultimately confirming Scottish independence in the Treaty of Northampton (1328).
Background and early life
The Anglo-Norman family of Bruce, which had come to Scotland in the early 12th century, was related by marriage to the Scottish royal family, and hence the sixth Robert de Bruce (died 1295), grandfather of the future king, claimed the throne when it was left vacant in 1290. The English king Edward I claimed feudal superiority over the Scots and awarded the crown to John de Balliol instead.
The eighth Robert de Bruce was born in 1274. His father, the seventh Robert de Bruce (died 1304), resigned the title of earl of Carrick in his favour in 1292, but little else is known of his career until 1306. In the confused period of rebellions against English rule from 1295 to 1304 he appears at one time among the leading supporters of the rebel William Wallace, but later apparently regained Edward I's confidence. There is nothing at this period to suggest that he was soon to become the Scottish leader in a war of independence against Edward's attempt to govern Scotland directly.
The decisive event was the murder of John (“the Red”) Comyn in the Franciscan church at Dumfries on Feb. 10, 1306, either by Bruce or his followers. Comyn, a nephew of John de Balliol, was a possible rival for the crown, and Bruce's actions suggest that he had already decided to seize the throne. He hastened to Scone and was crowned on March 25.
Robert I
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
Page 3 of 5
King of Scots
The new king's position was very difficult. Edward I, whose garrisons held many of the important castles in Scotland, regarded him as a traitor and made every effort to crush a movement that he treated as a rebellion. King Robert was twice defeated in 1306, at Methven, near Perth, on June 19, and at Dalry, near Tyndrum, Perthshire, on August 11. His wife and many of his supporters were captured, and three of his brothers executed. Robert himself became a fugitive, hiding on the remote island of Rathlin off the north Irish coast. It was during this period, with his fortunes at low ebb, that he is supposed to have derived hope and patience from watching a spider perseveringly weaving its web.
In February 1307 he returned to Ayrshire. His main supporter at first was his only surviving brother, Edward, but in the next few years he attracted a number of others. Robert himself defeated John Comyn, earl of Buchan (a cousin of the slain John “the Red”), and in 1313 captured Perth, which had been in the hands of an English garrison. Much of the fighting, however, was done by Robert's supporters, notably James Douglas and Thomas Randolph, later earl of Moray, who progressively conquered Galloway, Douglasdale, the forest of Selkirk and most of the eastern borders, and finally, in 1314, Edinburgh. During these years the king was helped by the support of some of the leading Scottish churchmen and also by the death of Edward I in 1307 and the ineptness of his successor, Edward II. The test came in 1314 when a large English army attempted to relieve the garrison of Stirling. Its defeat at Bannockburn on June 24 marked the triumph of Robert I.
Consolidation of power
Almost the whole of the rest of his reign had passed before he forced the English government to recognize his position. Berwick was captured in 1318, and there were repeated raids into the north of England, which inflicted great damage. Eventually, after the deposition of Edward II (1327), Edward III's regency government decided to make peace by the Treaty of Northampton (1328) on terms that included the recognition of Robert I's title as king of Scots and the abandonment of all English claims to overlordship.
Robert's main energies in the years after 1314, however, were devoted to settling the affairs of his kingdom. Until the birth of the future king David II in 1324 he had no male heir, and two statutes, in 1315 and 1318, were concerned with the succession. In addition, a parliament in 1314 decreed that all who remained in the allegiance of the English should forfeit their lands; this decree provided the means to reward supporters, and there are many charters regranting the lands so forfeited. Sometimes these grants proved dangerous, for the king's chief supporters became enormously powerful. James Douglas, knighted at Bannockburn, acquired important lands in the counties of Selkirk and Roxburgh that became the nucleus of the later power of the Douglas family on the borders. Robert I also had to restart the processes of royal government, for administration had been more or less in abeyance since 1296. By the end of the reign the system of exchequer audits was again functioning, and to this period belongs the earliest surviving roll of the register of the great seal.
In the last years of his life, Robert I suffered from ill health and spent most of this time at Cardross, Dumbartonshire, where he died, possibly of leprosy. His body was buried in Dunfermline Abbey, but the heart was removed on his instructions and taken by Sir James Douglas on crusade in Spain. Douglas was killed, but it appears that the heart was recovered and brought back for burial, as the king had intended, at Melrose Abbey. In 1921 a cone-shaped casket containing a heart was uncovered during excavations at the abbey, reburied at that time, and reexcavated in 1996. (Heart burial was relatively common among royalty and the aristocracy, however, and there is no specific evidence that this casket is the king's.) In later times Robert I came to be revered as one of the heroes of Scottish national sentiment and legend.
Robert The Bruce was buried in Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland. He was known by the title of King of Scotland, Lord of Annandale, Earl of Carrick.
Robert The Bruce and Isobel Of Mar had the following children:
1. Marjory Bruce was born about 1297. She died on 02 Mar 1315/16 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. She married Walter Stewart in 1315.
Robert The Bruce and Elizabeth De Burgh had the following children:
1. David II Bruce was born on 05 Mar 1322/23 in Dunfermline, Scotland. He married Joan Of The Tower on 17 Jul 1328 in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, England.
2. John.
3.Margaret Bruce was born on 01 Mar 1680 in , Angus, , Scotland. She died on 15 Dec 1759 in Fordel, Fifeshire, , Scotland.
4.Matilda Bruce was born in 1310 in Dunfermline, Fife, , Scotland. She died on 20 Jul 1353 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, , Scotland. She married Thomas Isaac in 1335 in , , , Scotland.
Elizabeth.
Frederick Lewis Weis, Walter Lee Sheppard, Kaleen E. Beall, Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists who Came to America Before 1700: Lineages from Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong, and Other Historical Individuals. G. W. S. Barrow, Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland.
Robert the Bruce as he was the King that kept Scotland free and independent of mighty England. Edward 1st of England “the hammer of the Scots” had already subdued Wales. Edward’s dream was to rule over the Scots also. This is why he stole the Stone of Destiny from Scone in the late part of the 13th century. By taking Lia Fail to London he thought he could rule all Britain as high king. Robert the Bruce and his loyal Scots had other ideas. King Robert the Bruce freed Scotland of Edward’s dream at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 AD. Robert the Bruce was the King who said - "Our Fathers passed through the sea". King of Scotland who was the victor of Bannockburn in 1314, established Scottish independence from England and is revered as one of Scotland's great national heroes. Robert the Bruce won a major victory at Bannockburn over the English who had drawn on Ireland for soldiers and supplies. The Bruces saw in the invasion of Ireland a chance to weaken the English, free the Irish people, and give his brohter, Edward a kingdom. In May 1315 Edward Bruce landed in Ireland with 6000 men and a year later he was crowned "King of Ireland". However, there was neither unity nor stability among the Irish. Some joined the Scots, but many more simply took advantage of the general disorder to settle old scores. Finally, in October 1318, excommunicated by the Pope, ill-supported or deserted by his Irish allies and with his own forces depleted, Edward Bruce was overthrown and killed. Robert I Encyclopædia Britannica Article born July 11, 1274 died June 7, 1329, Cardross, Dumbartonshire, Scot. original name Robert VIII de Bruce, or Robert the Bruce king of Scotland (1306-29), who freed Scotland from English rule, winning the decisive Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and ultimately confirming Scottish independence in the Treaty of Northampton (1328). Background and early life The Anglo-Norman family of Bruce, which had come to Scotland in the early 12th century, was related by marriage to the Scottish royal family, and hence the sixth Robert de Bruce (died 1295), grandfather of the future king, claimed the throne when it was left vacant in 1290. The English king Edward I claimed feudal superiority over the Scots and awarded the crown to John de Balliol instead. The eighth Robert de Bruce was born in 1274. His father, the seventh Robert de Bruce (died 1304), resigned the title of earl of Carrick in his favour in 1292, but little else is known of his career until 1306. In the confused period of rebellions against English rule from 1295 to 1304 he appears at one time among the leading supporters of the rebel William Wallace, but later apparently regained Edward I's confidence. There is nothing at this period to suggest that he was soon to become the Scottish leader in a war of independence against Edward's attempt to govern Scotland directly. The decisive event was the murder of John (“the Red”) Comyn in the Franciscan church at Dumfries on Feb. 10, 1306, either by Bruce or his followers. Comyn, a nephew of John de Balliol, was a possible rival for the crown, and Bruce's actions suggest that he had already decided to seize the throne. He hastened to Scone and was crowned on March 25. Robert I Encyclopædia Britannica Article Page 3 of 5 King of Scots The new king's position was very difficult. Edward I, whose garrisons held many of the important castles in Scotland, regarded him as a traitor and made every effort to crush a movement that he treated as a rebellion. King Robert was twice defeated in 1306, at Methven, near Perth, on June 19, and at Dalry, near Tyndrum, Perthshire, on August 11. His wife and many of his supporters were captured, and three of his brothers executed. Robert himself became a fugitive, hiding on the remote island of Rathlin off the north Irish coast. It was during this period, with his fortunes at low ebb, that he is supposed to have derived hope and patience from watching a spider perseveringly weaving its web. In February 1307 he returned to Ayrshire. His main supporter at first was his only surviving brother, Edward, but in the next few years he attracted a number of others. Robert himself defeated John Comyn, earl of Buchan (a cousin of the slain John “the Red”), and in 1313 captured Perth, which had been in the hands of an English garrison. Much of the fighting, however, was done by Robert's supporters, notably James Douglas and Thomas Randolph, later earl of Moray, who progressively conquered Galloway, Douglasdale, the forest of Selkirk and most of the eastern borders, and finally, in 1314, Edinburgh. During these years the king was helped by the support of some of the leading Scottish churchmen and also by the death of Edward I in 1307 and the ineptness of his successor, Edward II. The test came in 1314 when a large English army attempted to relieve the garrison of Stirling. Its defeat at Bannockburn on June 24 marked the triumph of Robert I. Consolidation of power Almost the whole of the rest of his reign had passed before he forced the English government to recognize his position. Berwick was captured in 1318, and there were repeated raids into the north of England, which inflicted great damage. Eventually, after the deposition of Edward II (1327), Edward III's regency government decided to make peace by the Treaty of Northampton (1328) on terms that included the recognition of Robert I's title as king of Scots and the abandonment of all English claims to overlordship. Robert's main energies in the years after 1314, however, were devoted to settling the affairs of his kingdom. Until the birth of the future king David II in 1324 he had no male heir, and two statutes, in 1315 and 1318, were concerned with the succession. In addition, a parliament in 1314 decreed that all who remained in the allegiance of the English should forfeit their lands; this decree provided the means to reward supporters, and there are many charters regranting the lands so forfeited. Sometimes these grants proved dangerous, for the king's chief supporters became enormously powerful. James Douglas, knighted at Bannockburn, acquired important lands in the counties of Selkirk and Roxburgh that became the nucleus of the later power of the Douglas family on the borders. Robert I also had to restart the processes of royal government, for administration had been more or less in abeyance since 1296. By the end of the reign the system of exchequer audits was again functioning, and to this period belongs the earliest surviving roll of the register of the great seal. In the last years of his life, Robert I suffered from ill health and spent most of this time at Cardross, Dumbartonshire, where he died, possibly of leprosy. His body was buried in Dunfermline Abbey, but the heart was removed on his instructions and taken by Sir James Douglas on crusade in Spain. Douglas was killed, but it appears that the heart was recovered and brought back for burial, as the king had intended, at Melrose Abbey. In 1921 a cone-shaped casket containing a heart was uncovered during excavations at the abbey, reburied at that time, and reexcavated in 1996. (Heart burial was relatively common among royalty and the aristocracy, however, and there is no specific evidence that this casket is the king's.) In later times Robert I came to be revered as one of the heroes of Scottish national sentiment and legend.
Robert the Bruce as he was the King that kept Scotland free and independent of mighty England. Edward 1st of England “the hammer of the Scots” had already subdued Wales. Edward’s dream was to rule over the Scots also. This is why he stole the Stone of Destiny from Scone in the late part of the 13th century. By taking Lia Fail to London he thought he could rule all Britain as high king. Robert the Bruce and his loyal Scots had other ideas. King Robert the Bruce freed Scotland of Edward’s dream at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 AD.
Robert the Bruce was the King who said - "Our Fathers passed through the sea".
King of Scotland who was the victor of Bannockburn in 1314, established Scottish independence from England and is revered as one of Scotland's great national heroes.
Robert the Bruce won a major victory at Bannockburn over the English who had drawn on Ireland for soldiers and supplies. The Bruces saw in the invasion of Ireland a chance to weaken the English, free the Irish people, and give his brohter, Edward a kingdom. In May 1315 Edward Bruce landed in Ireland with 6000 men and a year later he was crowned "King of Ireland". However, there was neither unity nor stability among the Irish. Some joined the Scots, but many more simply took advantage of the general disorder to settle old scores. Finally, in October 1318, excommunicated by the Pope, ill-supported or deserted by his Irish allies and with his own forces depleted, Edward Bruce was overthrown and killed.
Robert I
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
born July 11, 1274
died June 7, 1329, Cardross, Dumbartonshire, Scot.
original name Robert VIII de Bruce, or Robert the Bruce king of Scotland (1306-29), who freed Scotland from English rule, winning the decisive Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and ultimately confirming Scottish independence in the Treaty of Northampton (1328).
Background and early life
The Anglo-Norman family of Bruce, which had come to Scotland in the early 12th century, was related by marriage to the Scottish royal family, and hence the sixth Robert de Bruce (died 1295), grandfather of the future king, claimed the throne when it was left vacant in 1290. The English king Edward I claimed feudal superiority over the Scots and awarded the crown to John de Balliol instead.
The eighth Robert de Bruce was born in 1274. His father, the seventh Robert de Bruce (died 1304), resigned the title of earl of Carrick in his favour in 1292, but little else is known of his career until 1306. In the confused period of rebellions against English rule from 1295 to 1304 he appears at one time among the leading supporters of the rebel William Wallace, but later apparently regained Edward I's confidence. There is nothing at this period to suggest that he was soon to become the Scottish leader in a war of independence against Edward's attempt to govern Scotland directly.
The decisive event was the murder of John (“the Red”) Comyn in the Franciscan church at Dumfries on Feb. 10, 1306, either by Bruce or his followers. Comyn, a nephew of John de Balliol, was a possible rival for the crown, and Bruce's actions suggest that he had already decided to seize the throne. He hastened to Scone and was crowned on March 25.
Robert I
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
Page 3 of 5
King of Scots
The new king's position was very difficult. Edward I, whose garrisons held many of the important castles in Scotland, regarded him as a traitor and made every effort to crush a movement that he treated as a rebellion. King Robert was twice defeated in 1306, at Methven, near Perth, on June 19, and at Dalry, near Tyndrum, Perthshire, on August 11. His wife and many of his supporters were captured, and three of his brothers executed. Robert himself became a fugitive, hiding on the remote island of Rathlin off the north Irish coast. It was during this period, with his fortunes at low ebb, that he is supposed to have derived hope and patience from watching a spider perseveringly weaving its web.
In February 1307 he returned to Ayrshire. His main supporter at first was his only surviving brother, Edward, but in the next few years he attracted a number of others. Robert himself defeated John Comyn, earl of Buchan (a cousin of the slain John “the Red”), and in 1313 captured Perth, which had been in the hands of an English garrison. Much of the fighting, however, was done by Robert's supporters, notably James Douglas and Thomas Randolph, later earl of Moray, who progressively conquered Galloway, Douglasdale, the forest of Selkirk and most of the eastern borders, and finally, in 1314, Edinburgh. During these years the king was helped by the support of some of the leading Scottish churchmen and also by the death of Edward I in 1307 and the ineptness of his successor, Edward II. The test came in 1314 when a large English army attempted to relieve the garrison of Stirling. Its defeat at Bannockburn on June 24 marked the triumph of Robert I.
Consolidation of power
Almost the whole of the rest of his reign had passed before he forced the English government to recognize his position. Berwick was captured in 1318, and there were repeated raids into the north of England, which inflicted great damage. Eventually, after the deposition of Edward II (1327), Edward III's regency government decided to make peace by the Treaty of Northampton (1328) on terms that included the recognition of Robert I's title as king of Scots and the abandonment of all English claims to overlordship.
Robert's main energies in the years after 1314, however, were devoted to settling the affairs of his kingdom. Until the birth of the future king David II in 1324 he had no male heir, and two statutes, in 1315 and 1318, were concerned with the succession. In addition, a parliament in 1314 decreed that all who remained in the allegiance of the English should forfeit their lands; this decree provided the means to reward supporters, and there are many charters regranting the lands so forfeited. Sometimes these grants proved dangerous, for the king's chief supporters became enormously powerful. James Douglas, knighted at Bannockburn, acquired important lands in the counties of Selkirk and Roxburgh that became the nucleus of the later power of the Douglas family on the borders. Robert I also had to restart the processes of royal government, for administration had been more or less in abeyance since 1296. By the end of the reign the system of exchequer audits was again functioning, and to this period belongs the earliest surviving roll of the register of the great seal.
In the last years of his life, Robert I suffered from ill health and spent most of this time at Cardross, Dumbartonshire, where he died, possibly of leprosy. His body was buried in Dunfermline Abbey, but the heart was removed on his instructions and taken by Sir James Douglas on crusade in Spain. Douglas was killed, but it appears that the heart was recovered and brought back for burial, as the king had intended, at Melrose Abbey. In 1921 a cone-shaped casket containing a heart was uncovered during excavations at the abbey, reburied at that time, and reexcavated in 1996. (Heart burial was relatively common among royalty and the aristocracy, however, and there is no specific evidence that this casket is the king's.) In later times Robert I came to be revered as one of the heroes of Scottish national sentiment and legend.
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