Introduction: brushing off the cobwebs
The first chapter of Young, Robert the Bruce’s Rivals describes the wholesale rewriting of history that occurred to support the cause of the Bruce and Stewart kings against the claims of Edward Balliol and Edward III of England. The Comyns were painted very black indeed by the Brucean propagandists, and an account of Wallace’s career was modifed to enable favourable comparisons to be made between Robert and Wallace. Quotations in this chapter are from the pro-Bruce partisan chroniclers, Fordun and Bower. The principal milestones in the revision of Robert Bruce are as follows: Barron, The Scottish War of Independence, 1934; Barrow, Robert Bruce, which first appeared in 1964, and Duncan, The Acts of Robert I, which appeared in 1988.
1 A man of his time, a man of his place: Scotland in the late thirteenth century
See Genealogical table 1 for Robert’s ancestry and 2 for his siblings. The period is described in the final chapters of Duncan, Scotland: the Making of the Kingdom and in the opening chapters of Nicholson, Scotland: the Later Middle Ages, and also in the initial chapter of Barrow, Robert Bruce. Nicholson is especially strong on medieval economy and society. The Scottish monarchy at this time is described by Duncan in the final chapter of Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom, and the concept and process of king-making in The Kingship of the Scots by the same author. Gaelic Scotland in this period is explored by McDonald in The Kingdom of the Isles; and Irish aspects and resonances by Duffy in ‘The Anglo-Norman Era in Scotland’ and in ‘The Bruce Brothers’. I have used Prestwich’s examples to illustrate the relative values of commodities: Edward I, ‘A Note on Money’.
2 An inheritance, a grandfather’s ambition and a ‘coveytous’ king (1286–96)
Early family history is covered by Duncan in ‘The Bruces of Annandale, 1100–1304’. Young, Robert the Bruce’s Rivals is a valuable study of the powerful Comyn family. The origin of the Bruce claim to the throne is discussed in Duncan, The Kingship of the Scots. Duncan is dismissive of Robert Bruce V’s claim to have been acknowledged as heir to Alexander II, who in 1238 had no heir of his body. Opinions on Edward I vary markedly: Prestwich defends the English king in his biography Edward I, from Barrow’s criticisms, set out in Robert Bruce. Events following the death of Alexander III are discussed in Barrow, Robert Bruce and in Duncan’s review of the first edition of that work, ‘The community of the realm of Scotland and Robert Bruce’. Nicholson, Scotland: The Later Middle Ages, provides a third perspective. Stones is the main authority on the Great Cause, and documents in Anglo-Scottish Relations convey a flavour of it. Useful summaries from two different perspectives are given in Prestwich, Edward I and Barrow,Robert Bruce. The campaign of 1296 and its aftermath are covered in the Lanercost, and Guisborough chronicles, and the excerpts of popular song are preserved in Peter Langtoft’s rhyming chronicle.
3 Resistance and survival in occupied Scotland (1296–1306)
Fisher, William Wallace (Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2002) is the leading authority on Wallace himself, though the rebellion is described in Barrow, Robert Bruce. The invasion of England is analysed by McNamee, ‘William Wallace’s Invasion of Northern England in 1297’. The subsequent Edwardian invasions of Scotland are discussed in Prestwich, Edward I and in War Politics and Finance by the same author. A more recent study however is F.Watson, Under the Hammer: Edward I and Scotland 1286–1307. For the MacDougall rebellion, I have used McDonald, The Kingdom of the Isles. Guisborough is the source for the Bruce’s ‘speech to the knights of Annandale; and Guisborough and Lanercost are the main chronicle sources for the events of 1297–98. Cressingham’s fascinating letters to the English government and king are translated in the second volume of Stevenson, Documents. The Battlefields Trust website contains detailed maps and plans of several of the battles connected with Robert Bruce, including: Stirling, Falkirk, Bannockburn and Myton (http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/medieval/).
I have availed of Barrow’s translations of the following documents: the letter describing the fracas in the patriot camp at Peebles in 1299; the agreement between Bruce and Edward I; and the letter to Melrose Abbey in 1302. There is some uncertainty as to the precise identity of the MacDonald lord murdered in 1299. This is discussed in McDonald, The Kingdom of the Isles. Stones, Anglo–Scottish Relations includes a translation of the papal letter ‘Scimus Fili’. The idea that Wallace’s relationship with the Comyns had been difficult comes from a chronicle tradition, preserved in Bower, that he had suppressed the Comyn faction. The episode may belong to 1297–98.
4 ‘Playing at kings and queens’ (1306): Murder, revolution and enthronement
For the coup itself and the coronation the main source is Guisborough, interpreted by Barrow, Robert Bruce. For Robert’s escape from Methven to the west, I used Duncan’s commentary in (ed.), Barbour, The Bruce. The evaluation of the Red Comyn’s career is based upon that in Young, Robert the Bruce’s Rivals. The crucial letter of the Berwick correspondent is translated in Stones, Anglo–Scottish Relations, No. 34. Duncan’s discussion of the rite of king-making in The Kingship of the Scots is very revealing. Snatches of English popular song are from Peter Langtoft’s chronicle and Wright (ed.), The Political Songs of England. Strathearn’s predicament is recounted in Neville, ‘The Political Allegiance of the Earls of Strathearn during the Wars of Independence’.
5 ‘Through the mountains and from isle to isle’ (1306–07): Defeat and exile (1306–07)
The quotation in the title of this chapter is Sir Thomas Gray’s description of the fugitive king’s western odyssey from his Scalachronica. For this chapter I have relied extensively upon Barrow, Robert Bruce. The dramatic changes of allegiance in the west are described in McDonald, The Kingdom of the Isles. As Duncan points out in his edition of Barbour, The Bruce, the murdered Red Comyn, John of Badenoch III, was not John of Argyll’s uncle, but his cousin. For Robert’s escape from Methven to the west, Duncan’s commentary in his edition of Barbour’s, The Bruce is important. Duncan’s views on Robert’s intended destination on leaving Dunaverty are given in ‘The Scots’ Invasion of Ireland, 1315’. The letter to all the kings of Ireland is translated in Barrow,Robert Bruce; and for the remarkable ‘T’ and ‘A’ letter see Duffy ‘The Bruce Brothers and the Irish Sea World, 1306–29’. MacDowall’s reward is recorded in CDS iv, no. 6. Books IV to VIII of The Bruce describe the king’s precarious survival in the south-west in 1307. Barbour is also the source for the terrified state of Carrick and Randolph’s objections to the king’s lack of chivalry in his warfare. Duncan’s commentary on The Bruce has been followed for the battles of Glentrool and Loudon Hill. The important letter of the Forfar correspondent is translated in Barrow, Robert Bruce.
6 Recovering the kingdom (1307–11)
This chapter is based on: Barrow, Robert Bruce; Duncan (ed.), Barbour, The Bruce; and, for developments in England, Haines, Edward II. Higden’s famous description of Edward II is from Polychronicon. Robert’s supposed comparison of Edward II with his father is derived from the Annales Paulini. The letter from the earl of Ross, written perhaps in October or November 1307, is a vital source, translated in Barrow, Robert Bruce. Further valuable information about events in late 1307 to spring 1308 comes from a badly damaged letter of Duncan of Frendraught to Edward II, which Duncan translates in his commentary to Barbour, The Bruce. The ‘Battle of Inverurie’ (or Old Meldrum to give the battle its precise location) is recounted at Duncan (ed.), Barbour, The Bruce, Bk. IX; and the ‘herschip of Buchan’ follows. The special relationship between the Scots and the Flemings is examined in three articles by Reid: ‘Trade, Traders and Scottish Independence’; ‘The Scots and the Staple Ordinance of 1313; and ‘Sea Power and the Anglo-Scottish War 1296–1328’. The campaign against John of Argyll is discussed in McDonald, The Kingdom of the Isles. Barrow, Robert Bruce, translates John’s letter, but I have followed Duncan in dating the letter to after the Battle of Ben Cruachan. The episode of the ‘Douglas lardner’ is recounted in Duncan (ed.), Barbour, The Bruce, Bk V.The sources for the Galloway campaign are Lanercost, Bower and Barbour, The Bruce, Bk. IX. The source for Robert’s acquisition of the papal tenth is an article by Easson, ‘The Scottish Abbeys and the War of Independence: A Footnote’. The English campaign of 1310–11 is discussed in Haines, Edward II, and McNamee, Wars of the Bruces. The translation of the Gaelic poem is by Meek, ‘ “Norsemen and Noble Stewards”: The MacSween Poem in the Book of the Dean of Lismore’.
7 The road to Bannockburn (1311–14)
The chief chronicle source for the raiding of England is Lanercost. McNamee, Wars of the Bruces, analyses the raids into England. Barbour, The Bruce is the main source for the capture of the Scottish castles. Galbraith, ‘Extracts from the Historia Aurea and a French Brut’ reveals the devastating effects of the war on Northumberland. The developing war in the Irish Sea is recorded in Manx chronicle Chronica Regum Manniae et Insularum, and in the Anglo-Irish chronicle known as the ‘Laud Annals’ (contained in theChartularies of St Mary’s Abbey, Dublin). Duncan discusses the timing of the arrangements over Stirling Castle in his commentary on Barbour, The Bruce, Bk. XI. For the Battle of Bannockburn I have relied upon Barrow, Robert Bruce, and Duncan’s ‘Bannockburn Commentary’ in his edition of Barbour, The Bruce. The main primary sources for the battle are: Duncan (ed.), Barbour, The Bruce, Bks. XI, XII and XIII; and the three English chronicles Lanercost, Vita Edwardi Secundi, and Scalachronica. The Battlefields Trust website contains detailed maps and plans of the Battle: http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/medieval/ The polished, possibly official, version of the king’s eve-of-battle speech survives in Bower.
8 Triumphs and disasters (1314–18): Famine, war and Ireland (1314–18)
Parts of Scotland will have been seriously affected by the widespread animal diseases that occurred in England in the early 1320s, described in Kershaw, ‘The Great Famine and Agrarian Crisis in England 1315–1322’. For the raids into England, see Barrow;Robert Bruce is perhaps a bit thin on this aspect. Literature on the Irish campaigns is growing. They are discussed in Duncan, ‘The Scots’ Invasion of Ireland, 1315’; Frame, ‘The Bruces in Ireland, 1315–18’, and ‘The Campaign of the Scots in Munster, 1317’; and Duffy,Robert the Bruce’s Irish Wars. On the war in the North Sea, in addition to the Reid articles mentioned above, Stevenson, ‘The Flemish Dimension of the Auld Alliance’ throws light on the complicated relationship between England, France, Flanders and Scotland. All these aspects are examined in McNamee, Wars of the Bruces. Barbour shows interest in raids into England only where chivalric feats of arms are performed; but he is well informed about Ireland and devotes Bk XIV, and parts of XV, XVI and XVIII to events in that theatre of war. The only source suggesting an invitation to Edward is a chronicle fragment, printed in Phillips, ‘Documents on the Early Stages of the Bruce Invasions of Ireland, 1315–1316’. The siege of Carlisle is recounted in Lanercost, and the anarchic state of Northumberland is described in Scammell, ‘Robert I and the North of England’, and Miller, War in the North. Prestwich analyses the intriguing episodes of the robbery of the cardinals and the Middleton revolt in ‘Gilbert de Middleton and the Attack on the Cardinals, 1317’ and argues, contrary to my conclusion, that the robbery was not orchestrated by King Robert. The raid of 1318, described in Lanercost, is analysed in Kershaw, ‘The Scots in the West Riding, 1318–19’ and McNamee, Wars of the Bruces. Sources for the decisive Battle of Faughart near Dundalk are the Annals of Clonmacnoise, Lanercost, and Barbour The Bruce, Bk XVIII.
9 The struggle for peace with honour (1318–23)
Lanercost remains the principal chronicle source for this next phase of the war too. The principal secondary works are Barrow, Robert Bruce and McNamee, Wars of the Bruces. Haines, Edward II, covers the important background of English politics, and is also useful for relations between the papacy and the two warring kingdoms. Barbour shows great interest in the siege of Berwick and in the chivalric feats of the Scottish raid of October 1322. The siege of Berwick is treated in depth in Maddicott, Thomas of Lancasterand McNamee, Wars of the Bruces. The main chronicle accounts for the raid of 1319 and the Battle of Myton are Vita Edwardi Secundi and Lanercost. For the English invasion of 1322, see Fryde The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II, pp. 129–31. Robert’s letter of 1320 to Edward II is translated in Barrow, Robert Bruce, and edited and commented on by Duncan, The Acts of Robert I. The devastation of the bishopric of Durham early in 1322 is described in the chronicle of Robert of Graystanes, contained in Raine (ed.),Historiae Dunelmensis Scriptores Tres and discussed in Scammell, Robert I and the North of England. Apart from the stockman’s account, most of the financial accounts kept faithfully by Durham Cathedral Priory throughout this period lapse at this point, a circumstance which may be connected with the coming of the Scots. Harclay’s appeal for assistance and Edward II’s evasive reply is from the Vita Edwardi Secundi. Robert’s preemptive attack on Lancashire and the Western March is described in detail byLanercost. The English invasion of Scotland is described in Barbour, The Bruce, Bk XVIII and discussed in Haines, Edward II and Fryde, The Tyrany and Fall of Edward II. Lanercost provides the narrative of Robert’s counterattack. The widespread devastation of Pickering and the East Riding is revealed in McNamee, Wars of the Bruces. The Bruce–Harclay treaty is translated in Stones, Anglo–Scottish Relations, no. 39; and Robert’s letter to Sully in Barrow, Robert Bruce.
10 Robert, King of Scots: the governance of Scotland
This chapter relies chiefly upon analyses by Nicholson, Scotland: The Later Middle Ages and Barrow’s chapter ‘Good King Robert’ in Robert Bruce. Attempts to deliver papal bulls to Robert in 1317–18 are detailed in the register of the Archbishop of York, William Melton, and recounted in Hill ‘An English Archbishop and the Scottish War of Independence’. We do not have the text of the barons’ letter to the cardinals, but Duncan infers its existence from other documents; and as he says in The Acts of Robert I, it must have anticipated closely the Declaration of Arborath. Duncan, The Nation of Scots and the Declaration of Arbroath (Historical Association, 1970) was consulted for the Declaration. One of the most entertaining considerations of the document is Brothestone and Ditchburn, ‘ “1320 and A That”: the Declaration of Arbroath and the Remaking of Scottish History’, where the modern relevance of the letter is discussed. Antecedents of the Declaration are considered. The letter of the English barons is discussed in Prestwich,Edward I; the letter itself was copied into Guisborough. The Processus was a legal brief compiled by Baldred Bisset, the chief Scottish lawyer at the papal court in 1301. Many of the materials making up the brief are in Bower, vol. vi, and a summary was sent to Edward I by his own lawyers at Avignon, Stones, Anglo-Scottish Relations, no. 31. The Scottish arguments are summarised and the English report given in translation in Barrow, Robert Bruce. The Remonstrance of the Irish Princes is translated in Bower. Cowan discusses the possible meanings of freedom in the Declaration in ‘Identity, Freedom and the Declaration of Arbroath’. Penman’s article ‘A fell coniuracioun’ is the first indepth analysis of the Soules conspiracy. The conspiracy reveals the insecurity of the Bruce regime. The main chronicle sources for it are Barbour, The Bruce, Bk XIX and Scalachronica. The discussion of Robert’s relationship with his nobles is abstracted from Barrow, Robert Bruce. For Robert’s generosity to Moray, see Duncan, The Acts of Robert I. The royal administration is discussed briefly in Barrow, Robert Bruce, pp. 294–96; and the discussion of Robert’s financial arrangements is based upon Nicholson, Scotland:The Later Middle Ages.
11 Endgame with England, and death (1323–28)
Barrow, Robert Bruce, McNamee, Wars of the Bruces, and Nicholson, Edward III and the Scots form the basis of this chapter. Two articles by Nicholson, ‘A Sequel to Edward Bruce’s Invasion of Ireland’ and ‘The Last Campaign of Robert Bruce’, discuss the Irish expeditions of 1327 and 1328 and the Weardale campaign respectively. The main chronicle sources – Lanercost and Barbour, The Bruce, Bks XIX and XX – are supplemented by a foreigner’s point of view in Jehan Le Bel’s Les Vrayes Chroniques. The part of Le Bel’s work which covers the Weardale campaign of 1327 is translated in Duncan (ed.), Barbour, The Bruce. Le Bel’s chronicle was copied into the chronicles of Froissart’s chronicle, which is much more readily available than the Polain edition of the original. The Anglo-Scottish negotiations of 1324 are described in the Vita Edwardi Secundi, where it is interesting that Robert demands for the first time the return of the Stone of Scone in expectation of the birth of an heir. Haines, Edward II and Fryde, The Tyranny and Fall of Edward II describe the overthrow of Edward II and its repercussions for English policy towards Scotland. Nicholson, Edward III and the Scots, is the best account of this volatile period. Le Bel, Barbour, Lanercost and Scalachronica all agree that Douglas attacked the English king’s camp; Duncan provides all these accounts in his edition of Barbour, The Bruce. The possibility of negotiations between the Irish government and Robert in 1327 is considered in McNamee, Wars of the Bruces. For the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, I have used Nicholson, Edward III and the Scots, which takes account of a trio of articles by Professor Stones in the Scottish Historical Review in 1949, 1950 and 1951. The formal quit-claim by which Edward III renounced any claim on Scotland is in Stones, Anglo–Scottish Relations. The Barbour passage describing the king’s illness is in Barbour, The Bruce, Bk XX. On the issue of leprosy versus syphilis, I have consulted Moller-Christensen, and Inkster, ‘Cases of Leprosy and Syphilis in the Osteological Collection of the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh: With a Note on the Skull of Robert the Bruce’, and Kaufman and MacLennan, ‘Robert the Bruce and Leprosy’. Hamilton, The Leper King and his Heirsfurnishes the interesting comparison with the twelfth-century leper king of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV. Financial records which exist only for the very last years of the reign are printed in Stuart and Burnett (eds.), The Exchequer Rolls of Scotland and contain some details of the royal funeral. Barbour’s account of Robert’s death-bed speech in The Bruce, Bk XX, may be compared with the version in Le Bel (copied into Froissart). Cameron, ‘Sir James Douglas, Spain and the Holy Land’ and Simpson, ‘The Heart of King Robert I: Pious Crusade or Marketing Gambit?’ discuss Robert’s posthumous crusade and Douglas’s exploits in Spain. The interpolation into Barbour’s text was borrowed from the allegorical poem by Sir Richard Holland, The Book of the Howlat, written c.1448.
12 The image, the legend and the long shadow of Robert Bruce
Haine, Edward II and Maddicott, Thomas of Lancaster each describe the popular canonisation of their subjects. The possibility that Edward II survived his reported death in 1327 is reconsidered by Mortimer, ‘The Death of Edward II in Berkley Castle’. Part of the report on the exhumation of Robert I was published as ‘Extracts from the report made by Henry Jardine’. Little has been written about the exhumation since, except for Kaufman and MacLennan, ‘Robert the Bruce and Leprosy’. On the Internet, however, many sites show interest in the present-day whereabouts of Robert’s corporeal remains. The subsequent history of Scotland that is given here is based upon Nicholson, Scotland: The Later Middle Ages and Edward III and the Scots. The reference to Robert in the Union debate is from Szechi (ed.), ‘Scotland’s Ruine’: Lockhart of Carnforth’s Memoirs of the Union (Aberdeen, 1995). The analysis of nineteenth-century attitudes to Bruce and Wallace is based upon that in Morton, Unionist Nationalism: Governing Urban Scotland, 1830–1860.
Genealogical tables
Kings of Scotland are shown in dark type. ‘Competitors’ are those who participated in the Great Cause of 1290–92. Tables 1 and 2 are based on those in Barrow, Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm, with additional material inserted. Table 3 is that given in Duncan, Scotland: The Making of the Kingdom. Tables 4 and 5 are based on those in Young, Robert the Bruce’s Rivals. I have assumed in Table 5 that Emma and Agnes are the same person. Tables 6 and 7 are based on those in McDonald, The kingdom of the Isles.