Robert Bruce

King of Scotland (r. 1306-1329)

• Born: July 11, 1274
• Birthplace: Turnberry Castle, Carrick, Ayrshire, Scotland
• Died: June 7, 1329
• Place of death: Cardross, Dumbartonshire, Scotland

Bruce led Scotland to victory in the struggle for independence from English control. He consolidated Scottish political autonomy and secured English recognition of Scotland as an independent nation in the Treaty of Northampton, signed by King Edward III in 1328.

Early Life

Robert Bruce's roots lay six generations deep in the western lowlands of Scotland, but the Brus (or Bruys) originated among the Norsemen, who settled in Normandy and went to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. They moved to Yorkshire in the north of England, where the first of the Bruces acquired great estates and was an important royal agent under King Henry I. His son, also Robert Bruce, was a close friend of David I, king of Scotland, who made him lord of Annandale, where the Bruces remained permanently. Annan was the main western gateway into Scotland through the wild, boggy country of the western lowlands. The Bruces built two castles, Annan and Lochmaben, to guard the way.

To understand the Scotland of Robert Bruce (later known as King Robert I), one must have some knowledge of the feudal system that formed the basis for the legal system and for political relationships in the Middle Ages. In the later Middle Ages, nationalism was just beginning to come into conflict with feudalism as an important historical force. The tension between these two concepts is seen in the life of Bruce.

Feudal lords were like provincial kings who controlled and administered their hereditary lands under a system of mutual obligation. They held their land grant, or fief, under the authority of their king and owed to him military service, counsel, and political loyalty. The lords governed their manors and administered their fiefs in the name of their king, who was dependent on the services and payments of feudal dues by their vassals. Thus a system of mutual obligation developed. An extension of the system was the manorial system, whereby serfs were allowed to work the land and graze their livestock on the lords’ fiefs in exchange for payment in kind and civil obedience. In Scotland, where the system merged with the ancient clan tradition, military service as foot soldiers was also required of the peasants or cotters.

This political, economic, and legal system often crossed national lines. For example, at one time the English king held half of France in fief. The British Isles were particularly interrelated, and many Scots lords married the daughters and heiresses of English barons and earls. Family and feudal relationships prompted a stronger sense of loyalty than did ties of nationalism. There was a certain competition as well as cooperation among the nobility, many of whom had ties to royal families. Robert Bruce, for example, was a direct descendant of King David I.

Bruce was born in 1274 at Turnberry Castle, heir to the earldom of Carrick and to the lordship of Annandale. Little is known of his childhood, but it may be surmised that his education and upbringing were typical for children of his social standing and position in medieval Scotland. He had to be trained in courtly manners and in the complexities and diplomacy of the feudal system. He was exposed to the arts, literature, and law, and he learned basic theological beliefs and the subtleties of the relationship of the Church to the political system and social structure. Like other sons of noble birth, Robert grew up bilingual in French and Gaelic. If he spoke fourteenth century English, it was as an acquired language, as was his Latin. He also had to manage his estates and needed training in administration and business management, but for his life's work he particularly needed military training. Bruce was physically strong and was a formidable foe in hand-to-hand knightly combat, as later battles demonstrated. He learned the details of medieval combat and developed into a brilliant strategist and tactician. He was a born leader and inspired courage and discipline in his men. He was exceptionally persistent and had that sense of perspective that great leaders possess.

Life's Work

On March 18, 1286, Alexander III, king of Scotland, left from Edinburgh Castle to return to his new young wife at his royal manor across the Firth of Forth. It was midnight. The distance was twenty miles over bad roads and a two-mile ferry crossing over choppy waters. It had been snowing and was bitterly cold. Escorted by only three men, the king slipped in the winter storm and was found dead on the shore the next morning. Only forty-four years of age at his death, Alexander had outlived his first wife, Margaret of England, their two sons, and his daughter, the queen of Norway (also known as “the maid of Norway”). His three-year-old granddaughter was now legitimately Margaret, queen of Scots.

The king's council appointed a commission of regency with three guardians for the north of Scotland and three for the south. The great-uncle of the child queen was Edward I, king of England, who sought to arrange a marriage between Queen Margaret and his own son, Prince Edward. The kingdoms of England and Scotland would then be united by marriage. Margaret, however, died at the age of seven, and Scotland was left without a ruler.

The two principal claimants to the throne were John de Baliol, lord of Galloway, and Robert Bruce (grandfather of the future king). To avoid civil war between the two factions, Edward I was called in as a neutral arbitrator to help decide which had the superior claim. He was the brother-in-law of Alexander III and the great-uncle of Queen Margaret. England and Scotland had close relations, and many of both Scottish and English nobility held fiefs in both nations. King Edward was the logical choice to help solve the dispute, but the Scots had not counted on Edward's ambition to annex Scotland as part of his empire: The king had signed the Treaty of Birgham (1290) recognizing the integrity of Scotland as a separate kingdom.

Despite the fact that Bruce had a stronger claim to the throne (including a declaration to that effect by Alexander II), Edward declared in favor of Baliol, presumably because he would be more compliant than the Bruces. At the same time, Edward took many steps to exert his alleged feudal superiority over Scotland. On November 19, 1292, the kingdom of Scotland was formally conveyed to the new King John as a vassal of Edward. The Bruces, in order to avoid civil war, decided not to contest.

In 1295, Edward prepared for war against France and ordered John de Baliol, king of Scots, to join him in London with his Scottish forces to invade France. John refused and joined in an alliance with France instead. Edward responded by seizing all English estates held by Scots nobles who remained in Scotland. John reciprocated, and both kingdoms prepared for war.

Superior English forces defeated the Scots at Dunbar in 1296, and Edward declared himself lord of Scotland and appointed the earl of Surrey as guardian of his kingdom there. The Scottish nobility rallied around William Wallace, one of the guardians of Scotland, who defeated the English at Stirling Bridge in 1297 and parried several English invasions from 1297 to 1304. Finally, in 1305, the English captured and executed Wallace.

At that critical stage of Scottish history Bruce, grandson of the original claimant to the throne, decided to take the leadership in the Scottish War for Independence. In doing so, he took a historically decisive step away from feudalism in favor of nationalism. Through incredible adversity, Bruce clung tenaciously to the goal of freedom for his country, and his perseverance ultimately triumphed. He had the immediate and loyal support of his subjects on his estates, reflecting his generosity as a feudal lord as well as Scots patriotism. The Scottish nobility took sides, some on the side of English suzerainty, others with King Robert I, for so was Bruce crowned in 1306. Indeed, the king was not free to fight the English until he had defeated his Scottish opposition, including the rival Comyn family, one of whom he killed in a violent personal confrontation.

It was of great significance that the battle for Scottish independence from England was fought and won in the ecclesiastical and theological sphere before it was won on the battlefield. The common folk sided with their king largely because their patriotic Scottish bishops did and were persuasive in their justification for so doing. Bishop Wishart of Glasgow provided the robes for the king to wear at his coronation and brought out of hiding the forbidden flag of the lion with the scarlet lilies of the king of Scots. Imprisonment by the English did not dissuade the clergy. King Edward retaliated by appointing Englishmen to the higher posts in the Scots church. In 1310, Scottish bishops issued this manifesto:

By the providence of the Supreme King under whose government kings rule and princes bear sway, we have with divine sanction agreed on the said Lord Robert, and with the concurrence and consent of the people he was chosen to be king; and with him the faithful people of the kingdom will live and die as with one who is worthy of the name of king and the honour of the kingdom, since, by the grace of the Saviour, he has by the sword restored the realm thus deformed and ruined.

Manifestos, though, do not win wars. Though the Scots had the advantage of fighting in their home country with shorter logistical lines, the greatest advantages by far were with the English, who outnumbered the Scots five to one. Their military leadership was outstanding, including that of the king himself. Moreover, their weapons, especially the longbow, were superior. English cavalry was formidable, heavier, and much more numerous. Funding for military campaigns was much easier for the English.

When Bruce was crowned king in 1306, Scotland was, in effect, a conquered country. His position was desperate and dangerous. Yet in an incredible eight years Scotland was to regain its freedom under Bruce's leadership. Bruce was joined by most of the church leaders, 135 landed gentry with their armed men, and many patriotic volunteers.

King Edward ordered that all those taken with military arms and all who sheltered Scottish fighting men were to be hanged or beheaded. He petitioned the exiled pope in Avignon, France, Clement V, to excommunicate Bruce, which he did. The archbishop of Canterbury followed the pope's directive, but the Scots clergy were not much impressed.

The English surprised and defeated the Scots, many of whom were executed or imprisoned. King Robert and his small band hid out in the Grampian mountains. Their wives were outlawed with them by Edward, and they, too, took to the field. In a sharp skirmish, three Scottish brothers attacked the mounted king alone, but Bruce managed to kill all three of them. Seeking a stronghold for his wife and child, Bruce parted from them and did not see them again for eight years, years of fighting during which Bruce struggled to keep the independence movement alive. The English won many small victories, but the Scots often retaliated in force, not to win territory but to demonstrate that the guerrilla movement was still alive. Meanwhile, Bruce's force was increasing.

On June 7, 1307, King Edward I died on the English border. He had fought to conquer Scotland for eleven years, yet the resistance was very much alive. His death proved to be a turning point in Scottish history, for his son was not nearly the aggressive commander in chief that his father had been. Sporadic uprisings against Edward II occurred in many parts of his realm. Internal dissension in England made the Scottish war all the more difficult for him. He decided to return to England for a while and went as far south as York.

The English king was no sooner out of the country than the Scottish king launched a counteroffensive against northern England, partly for booty and partly to demoralize the English. They burned and looted towns and monasteries and captured prominent citizens to hold them for ransom, which was readily paid. Northern English shires agreed to pay indemnities to King Robert to persuade him to return to Scotland, which he did, some twenty thousand pounds richer.

The Scots captured English garrisons in southern Scotland and held national parliament at Ayr, demonstrating their independent status. The only stronghold north of the Firth of Forth still in English hands was Perth, some 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Edinburgh on the Firth of Tay. For six weeks, the Scots laid siege to the walled town, with its deep moat and huge stores of provisions. Without artillery, it could not be taken by assault. The king himself went scouting during the long, dark nights around Christmas to find a weakness in the defenses. In the freezing weather, he personally took soundings of the moat until he found a place scarcely 5 feet (1.5 meters) deep.

At the beginning of the New Year 1313, Bruce ordered the siege raised and the garrison watched from the walls as the besiegers packed their gear and prepared to leave. However, they did not leave. Unseen by the English, the Scots made scaling ladders and, choosing a dark night, crept silently to the moat where the king had located the shallowest spot. Bruce was first across, with a ladder in one hand and his lance in the other sounding his way. Scores of Scots scaled the walls and attacked the garrison. Few people on either side were killed, and there was no unnecessary slaughter when the commander surrendered. The Scots razed the walls of Perth and filled the moat with debris.

One Scottish success followed another, including the conquests of Edinburgh Castle and of Dumfries. Edward II prepared for a showdown battle. The place was Bannockburn, and the time was June 23 and 24, 1314. The English amassed a force of more than twenty thousand soldiers with twenty-five hundred heavy cavalry against seven thousand Scots and five hundred light cavalry. Despite the enormous disparity in numbers, the Scots had two vital advantages: First, they had a volunteer force dedicated to their cause, well drilled and well disciplined (in spite of the traditional individualism of Scottish culture); second, Bruce had the opportunity and the intelligence to choose a superb position for the type of fighting that had to be conducted. Bannockburn flowed through an S-shaped gorge that was 18 meters (60 feet) high, and both cavalry and infantry could cross only in a narrow formation. With the battle actually under way the English could not use their superior numbers and force but were confined to fighting an equal number of Scots at any single time.

The English, too, were overconfident. The Scots had spent the night in prayer before the battle. Early the next morning, when Edward, in his shining armor and jeweled weaponry, saw them across the way, he commented, “They kneel.” “Aye, Sir King,” answered one of his aides, “but to God. Not to us.”

The courage and leadership of Robert Bruce had always been significant throughout the war. No better example was that demonstrated at Bannockburn. In the reconnaissance and maneuvering before the battle, a brave English knight, Henry de Bohun, and his men came on King Robert and his small staff observing and positioning their men. For the moment the king had ridden forward to watch the English movements and was alone. The knight saw an opportunity to rid the English of their nemesis in one bold stroke. He unslung his lance and charged. The king had no lance, but only a light ax, and he was mounted only on a small, gray, sure-footed pony. Coolly he held his ground and watched the huge horse and knight in full armor bear down on him at full speed. Just short of the impact, Bruce quickly moved his pony to sidestep the charging steed and with perfect timing stood in his stirrups as De Bohun thundered past and split his helmet and skull in one awful blow, breaking the ax shaft.

The Scots went on to win that most famous of battles by immobilizing the English within their own lines so that effective use could not be made of either archers or cavalry. English losses were great, Scottish casualties few. The English retreated back into England, and prisoner exchanges freed most Scots still held by the English.

The war was won, but not over. It dragged on listlessly for another fourteen years. In order to persuade the English crown to denounce its alleged suzerainty over any part of Scotland, King Robert spasmodically raided and blackmailed northern England. He even began to grant lands to his supporters in Northumbria. This pressure finally had its desired effect, and in 1328 the Treaty of Northampton was concluded in Scotland in formal recognition of Scottish sovereignty and ratified by Edward III at the parliament of Northampton.

That same year, the king's son, David Bruce, age four (who became King David II in 1329), and Edward's sister, Joanna, age six, were married to cement the friendship of the two kingdoms. It was only one year later that Bruce died, just short of his fifty-fifth year, content to see the accomplishment of his life's work, the independence of Scotland.

Significance

As important to Scotland as that independence was, Robert Bruce's influence continues much beyond that time and place. In a remarkable document sent to Pope John, known as the Declaration of Arboath (1320), the king, with the help of the lords of the realm, sketched the history of the constitutional struggle in Scotland and explained the basis in political philosophy of their determination to be free and independent. The Second and Third Estates acknowledged in an accompanying letter their support of the Declaration. Referring to Bruce, the Declaration states:

The Providence of God, the right of succession by the laws and customs of the kingdom (which we will defend till death), and the due and lawful consent and assent of all the people, made him our king and prince. . . . But after all, if this prince shall leave these principles he hath so nobly pursued, and consent that we or our kingdom be subjected to the king or people of England, we will immediately endeavour to expel him as our enemy, and as the subverter both of his own and our rights, and will make another king who will defend our liberties. For so long as only a hundred of us stand, we will never yield to the dominion of England. We fight not for glory nor for wealth nor honour, but for that freedom which no good man surrenders but with his life.

Surely this document needs to share the honored place of the Magna Carta, the English bill of rights, and the U.S. and Dutch declarations of independence. “Liberty of conscience” is not an empty phrase when one is called on to defend that principle with one's life. Freedom in the world today is based on the concept of limited government guaranteed by a constitution giving both the powers and limitations of each part of the government. In fourteenth century Scotland, that meant that the king must rule by consent, first of the leaders of society, then followed by the consent of the common person. In Scotland the term “community of the realm” described the consent of the governed, and all subjects were considered to participate in the national debate over public policy.

In spite of political turmoils and wars, Scotland maintained its free and independent status until after the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland became also King James I of England and began the Stuart Dynasty in English history. It is ironic how many rulers of England have been of Scottish descent. The Scots participated in the English civil war of the 1640's and the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Under Queen Anne, the Act of Union (1707) took effect, voluntarily merging the two kingdoms into one Great Britain. Tension between north and south still exists, and Scottish national identity and liberty of conscience are very strong even today.

Kings of Scotland, c. 858-1371

Reign

• Ruler

c. 858

• Kenneth I breaks with England

1005-1034

• Malcolm II: Lothian added

1034-1040

• Duncan I: Strathclyde added

1040-1057

• Macbeth

1057-1058

• Lulach

1058-1093

• Malcolm III Canmore

1093-1094

• Donaldbane

1094

• Duncan II

1094-1097

• Donaldbane (second rule)

1097-1107

• Edgar

1107-1124

• Alexander I

1124-1153

• David I

1153-1165

• Malcolm IV

1165-1214

• William I the Lion

1214-1249

• Alexander II

1249-1286

• Alexander III

1286-1290

• Margaret

1290-1292

• Interregnum

1292-1296

• John Baliol

1296-1306

• Interregnum

1306-1329

• Robert I the Bruce

1314

• Robert the Bruce defeats England

1329-1371

• David II

1371

• Ascendancy of Robert II, House of Stuart

Bibliography

Barrow, G. W. S. Kingship and Unity: Scotland, 1000-1306. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981. A valuable discussion of life under the feudal system at the time of Bruce, and an explanation of the concept of the “communities of the realm.”

Barrow, G. W. S. Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1965. Discusses the community of the realm concept from Bruce’s perspective and looks at the Scottish struggle for independence.

Duffy, Seán, ed. Robert the Bruce’s Irish Wars: The Invasions of Ireland, 1306-1329. Charleston, S.C.: Tempus, 2002. A historical overview of the military invasions of Ireland during Bruce’s reign. Includes maps.

Fry, Michael. The Scottish Empire. East Lothian, Scotland: Tuckwell Press, 2001. A history of Scottish imperialism, including its struggles for independence.

Grant, Alexander. Independence and Nationhood: Scotland, 1306-1469. London: Edward Arnold, 1984. A clear, concise interpretation of the relationships between Bruce and Edward I of England and John de Baliol of Scotland. Places Bruce in the sociopolitical context of his time.

MacKay, James A. Robert Bruce: King of Scots. London: Robert Hale, 1974. Excellent account of the political and diplomatic situation in Scotland at the time of Bruce. Analyzes Bruce’s motivations, personality, and character, and the events leading to his leadership in securing Scottish independence.

Mackenzie, Agnes Mure. Robert Bruce King of Scots. 1934. Reprint. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1970. A detailed account of the Scottish war for independence, including analysis of the site of the Battle of Bannockburn. Recognizes the underlying importance of political philosophy in the life of Bruce.

Mitchison, Rosalind. A History of Scotland. London: Methuen, 1982. A brief survey of and a good introduction to Scottish history. Places the Scottish independence movement in the broader context of several centuries of Scottish history.

Roberts, John L. Lost Kingdoms: Celtic Scotland and the Middle Ages. Edinburgh, Scotland: Edinburgh University Press, 1997. A history of Scotland from the eleventh to the seventeenth century, including a chapter on Bruce and Scottish independence.

Stephens, Peter John. Outlaw King: The Story of Robert the Bruce. New York: Atheneum, 1964. Lively, intriguing account written especially for the young reader. Clearly explains complicated political and diplomatic events.