King Robert I of Scotland
1. The Early Bruces
2. Robert Bruce d.1295
3. Robert Bruce d.1304
4. Robert Bruce 1274-1329
Bruce, Wallace and the
Scottish Wars
The Ordinances September
1305
Bruce’s Coup
and the Death of Comyn the Red
Kingship and Campaign for
Power
Bruce in Triumph
Robert Bruce at Stirling Castle
Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn
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Early documents record the Bruce family acquiring the southwestern Scottish lands of Annandale in 1124 as a military fief. Here the original head or ‘caput’ of the Bruces Scottish lands were established at Annan where the burgh grew up by the side of a defended river crossing.
It is interesting that at this time the Bruces were also establishing themselves in England, north of the Tees where the first Robert Bruce (d1142) is believed to have founded Guisborough Priory in about 1119 for the Augustinian canons. Guisborough Priory was the first religious centre for the Bruces in Britain and remained important to the Bruces throughout the 12th and 13th centuries. Robert Bruce, the founder, was even buried here in 1142 and in 1295, over 150 years later, Robert Bruce, the future King’s grandfather, was also laid to rest here on the eve of the Scottish wars, his body being brought from Annandale, his main base at the time.
It is also believed that David I of Scotland, who exercised effective control north of the Tees in the 1140s, may have gifted Hartlepool to the first Robert Bruce as part of the fief of Hartness (north of the Tees). It is certainly recorded that Hartlepool was in the possession of Robert Bruce at the time of his death in 1142.
In about 1200, back at their Scottish base, however, the waters of the River Annan washed away part of Annan Castle forcing the Bruces to move their chief residence to Lochmaben. The fate of Annan is normally associated with the curse laid on it by the great Irish reformer and saint, St Malachy, who stayed at Annan in about 1140 with Robert Bruce of Annandale. This curse was laid after, at St Malachy’s request, Robert promised to pardon a thief but then hanged him instead. The curse of St Malachy was taken seriously by generations of the Bruces. Indeed, in 1272, Robert Bruce, the future King’s grandfather, on his return from the crusades, made a special visit to the Cistercian abbey at Clairvaux where St Malachy was buried. He prayed at his tomb and gave a gift of land in Annandale to pay for lights to burn forever at St Malachy’s shrine.
In the time of King John (1199-1216), Robert’s son, William Bruce, helped the burgesses of Hartlepool to buy their market and fair charter from the English King. The unusual size, richness and quality of St Hilda, the 13th Century church, suggest that the Bruces may have built the church as a family burial place. The large, weathered altar tomb of Frosterley marble incorporates a worn marble effigy thought to be a member of the Bruce family.
The increasing landed wealth of the Bruces by the end of the thirteenth century came about through good marriages; particularly significant is the marriage of Robert (d1230), fourth Lord of Annandale to Isabel, second daughter of David Earl of Huntington. This brought the Bruces of Annandale, through inheritance, lands in the eastern Midlands of England and important lands of Garioch in Aberdeenshire. This marriage also provided the Bruces with an important link with the Scottish royal family, as David Earl of Huntington was the grandson of David I of Scotland. Further land was gained through the marriage of this Robert’s son, Robert Bruce (d1295), the future King’s grandfather, to Isabel, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hereford in1240, and in 1280 his marriage to his second wife Christine, daughter of William de Ireby of Cumberland.
The Bruces’ presence in southwest Scotland was strengthened with the acquisition of the earldom of Carrick in 1271 when Robert Bruce (d1304), the future King’s father, married the widowed Marjory, Countess of Carrick. The head or caput of the earldom was at Turnberry Castle (Ayrshire), with Loch Doon Castle also having strategic significance.
In 1286, however, a major tragedy struck ending forty years of political stability within Scotland when King Alexander III died suddenly.
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Robert Bruce d.1295
5th Lord Annandale and grandfather of the future King
On 18 March 1286, King Alexander III, aged 44 years lost his escorts on a stormy night on his way along the sea cliffs from Edinburgh to Kinghorn (Fife), a journey he had taking against the advice of his aids, to meet up with his young wife. The following morning he was eventually found dead on the shore having broken his neck on falling from his horse.
Although his was a time of settled political establishment the Bruces’ despite their increasing landed power and status in Scotland, were not part of this establishment. The noble families, who had worked with Alexander III since 1260, included the Comyns, Morays, Stewarts, Frasers, Macdougalls, Grahams, Balliols and Mowbrays. Surprisingly, the Bruces played a more prominent role in English rather than Scottish politics, holding responsibilities such as governorship of Carlisle Castle, 1267-8, and the sherriffdom of Cumberland 1283-5.
Alexander III’s only heir to the throne was his three-year-old granddaughter, Margaret the Maid of Norway. Six guardians representing the political establishment therefore, assumed political leadership. The guardians were dominated by three from the Comyn family and their ally William Fraser of St Andrews. The only link the Bruces had with this political leadership was the baron, James Stewart, via an alliance through marriage.
The Bruces, however, strongly believed that they had a rightful claim to the Scottish throne in that King Alexander II of Scotland had apparently recognised Robert Bruce (d.1295), the grandfather of the future king, as his successor back in 1238. The Comyns who were now sitting guardians had other ideas.
The Comyns were the most powerful Scottish family of the day. Their military and political power in northern Scotland was virtually vice-regal and was marked by a series of castles controlling most of the main routes and passes in northern Scotland. In 1286, their power was unassailable but the Bruces’ own influence in the south-west meant that it was in this area that the Bruce challenge to the Comyns’ control over Scottish government first took place.
The problem facing the Bruces was how could they forward their claim to the throne when they were excluded from the Guardianship, a grouping that was in the key position to implement the succession and influence the discussion over an heir presumptive? The Comyns were allied through marriage to the Balliol family, who also had strong claims to the Scottish throne because of their own royal links.
On 2nd April 1286, Robert Bruce (d1295) put forward his family’s claim. The Balliols contested it and the Bruces launched attacks in southwest Scotland on the Balliol castle of Buittle, and the royal castles of Wigtown and Dumfries. In September, in further defiance of the committee and the Scottish government Robert Bruce (d1295) made a pact, the Turnberry Bond, with his son, Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and associates at Turnberry. Effectively a state of civil war now existed within Scotland.
The Comyns reinforced their position in the southwest and strengthened the royal castles of Ayr, Dumfries, Wigtown, Jedburgh, Edinburgh and Stirling. In 1288 the Guardians sent for advice and assistance from Edward I in France.
On Edward I’s return from France in 1289 he brokered a marriage between his son and Alexander III’s daughter, Margaret the young Maid of Norway and at the same time effected a conciliation between Bruce and the representatives of the Scottish government. Peace was not to last as the young ‘Queen’ Margaret died suddenly in Orkney in September 1290, on her way from Norway to Scotland, and new political instability ensued.
Robert Bruce (d1295) gathered a large armed force at Perth causing William Fraser, Bishop of St Andrews, to call for assistance from Edward I. While meeting with Edward I, William took the opportunity to recommend John Balliol, brother-in-law of John Comyn of Badenoch, as the best candidate to the throne. Robert Bruce again contested this and in June 1291 Edward came to Norham as overlord to make a judgement on the succession. This lawsuit, which came to be known as the ‘Great Cause’ in the eighteenth century, began in August 1291. Of the thirteen candidates making a claim to the Scottish throne, the two most serious were John Balliol and Robert Bruce (d1295). The final decision of the court on 17 November 1292 went in favour of John Balliol.
Despite the use of military and legal means to strengthen their political position between 1286 and 1292, the Bruces had failed to dislodge the Comyns. However, on 7 November 1292, as the court decided in favour of Balliol, Robert Bruce the elder resigned his claim to his son and heir and in turn to his heirs, and then two days later his son, Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, surrendered his earldom to his 18 year old son and heir; Robert (the future King). This quick thinking and prompt action ensured that the Bruces’ claim to the throne remained!
John Balliol was crowned King of the Scots on St Andrew’s Day, 30 November 1292. Both elder Bruces, the future king’s father and grandfather, refused to do homage to Balliol, for the young Robert, however, homage was a necessity to enable him to be confirmed as Earl of Carrick.
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Robert Bruce d.1304
Earl of Carrick, 6th Lord of Annandale and father of the future King
In June 1294 the outbreak of war between England and France set off a chain of events resulting in the Bruces making an oath of allegiance to the English King. King Edward I, using his authority as ‘Lord Superior of the kingdom of Scotland’ called upon John Balliol and his barons to perform personal feudal service against the French. In response, the Scottish political community signed a treaty with France in October 1295 and in effect declared war on England. King Edward committed on Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale, the keeping of the Carlisle Castle on 6 October 1295. Thus, Robert Bruce and his son did homage to Edward I.
The first Scottish offensive, on 26 March 1296, was an attack on Carlisle Castle from Annandale lead by John Comyn. Robert Bruce senior’s garrison repelled the raiders forcing them to retreat to Sweetheart Abbey. At the same time Edward took back Berwick and continued north capturing key castles such as Roxburgh, Edinburgh and Stirling. On 8 July 1296, John Balliol formally submitted to Edward I, resigning his kingdom to the English King. Rather than, as the Bruces hoped, replacing Balliol with the young Robert Bruce, Edward I now intended to rule Scotland directly. John Balliol and the Comyns were taken to London and imprisoned in the Tower of London and John Balliol was then exiled to his lands in France.
The most well defined demonstration of Edward I’s policy of direct rule was the removal of the Stone of Destiny, the most precious symbol of Scottish nationhood from Scone Abbey to Westminster Abbey. Almost 700 years later, in 1998, this was brought back to Scotland and installed within Edinburgh Castle although there are serious doubts as to whether this stone is the real one. Edward I set up his administrative centre for Scotland in Berwick and ensured that all southern castles came under English control.
Robert Bruce died in 1304 and was buried at Holm Cultram Abbey, Cumberland, in the lands secured by his father following his marriage to Christine, daughter of William de Ireby of Cumberland.
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Robert Bruce 1274-1329
King Robert I
Bruce, Wallace and the Scottish Wars
The period 1296-7 saw a series of revolts in the north and southwest, and the emergence of both William Wallace and Robert Bruce the younger, the future king. The revolts have usually been seen as either aristocratic, inspired by the supporters of Bruce cause, i.e. Robert Bruce, James Stewart and Robert Wishart, or as spontaneous ‘popular’ revolts led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray.
Compared to the Stuart and Moray families who had all lost power because of Edward I and were both justifiably resentful of this English administration in Scotland, it is rather more difficult to explain the involvement of Robert Bruce, the future King. Bruce had been exiled by the Scottish government after refusing to swear fealty to Balliol and had been on Edward I’s side at the outbreak of the Scottish Wars. The fact that Edward I showed no inclination to reward the Bruces with any political responsibilities in Scotland might have persuaded him to join the revolt in the southwest after it started.
Edward I’s concentration during this period was distracted by the greater priority he placed upon his campaign against the French in Flanders. In late June 1297 he even asked the Comyn family (whom he had imprisoned in England) to not only assist him in Flanders but also quell the revolt in Scotland. They pretended to agree and late in 1297 openly came out in the support of the rebellion. Early in 1298 the Comyns deserted the English army in Flanders to join Moray and Wallace. The combined forces of Wallace and Moray won a famous victory over English forces at Stirling Bridge on 11 September 1297. The battle took place on ground now built over but the general site can be viewed from Stirling Castle. The bridge that gives its name to the battle was a wooden one close to the present ‘old bridge’, which was built in the sixteenth century and is still used by pedestrians.
Stirling Castle
The victory at Stirling Bridge gave William Wallace, in practice, the leadership of the Scottish political community until their defeat at the battle of Falkirk on 22 July 1298. Although Bruce and Wallace were fighting for Scottish independence they had very different agendas. Wallace was a supporter of Balliol and was fighting for his return to the throne of Scotland taken by Edward I in 1296. The Bruces were the long time adversaries of Balliol, having lost their claim to the throne in 1286 and thus Robert was now fighting for his own right to the Scottish crown.
On his return from Flanders, Edward I reacted to the English defeat at Stirling Bridge by setting up his headquarters at York in the summer of 1298. This marked the start of the period when York became the war capital for the Scottish Wars and the administrative capital of England until 1338.
The year of 1298 proved a key stage in Bruce’s political career when the new Guardianship of Scotland was a joint one between John Comyn, the younger, and Robert Bruce. Considering the hostility between the Bruces and Comyns since 1286 this alliance was an unusual match, being seen at the time as a compromise. This alliance was not an easy one and in 1300 Bruce resigned the Guardianship. One reason given for this is because of the occupation of his lands and castles following the concentration of the Scottish Wars in the southwest. It is also believed, however, that the diplomatic efforts of William Wallace and others at the courts of the French King and papacy would lead to the return to Scotland of John Balliol. The Truce of AsniÀres, negotiated in France granted a truce to the Scots in the war with England to last from 26 January to 1 November 1302. According to the terms, the French were to hold certain lands in the southwest during the truce. These lands would probably have included the Earl of Carrick’s castle at Turnberry as well as the Bruces’ Annandale lands. Balliol’s return to Scotland would have made Bruce’s position in Scotland untenable. In 1302 the ‘logical’ next step was the renewal of Bruce’s alliance with Edward I.
Robert Bruce was one of the first major nobles to desert the ‘national’ cause. His loyalty to Edward I was consolidated by a marriage alliance. Bruce took as his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster. The terms of Bruce’s submission to Edward I remain vague. Bruce, however, wanted Edward I’s support for the Bruce landed rights as well as the family’s claim to the Scottish throne.
The Scottish war effort continued with success without Bruce’s leadership after his defection. Since the Scots defeat at Falkirk in 1298 they had tended to avoid major battles being unable to match the cavalry, infantry and longbow archers of the English army. In 1303, however, John Comyn won a notable victory defeating the English at Roslin (Midlothian). Edward I responded with the first English campaign to northern Scotland since 1296. The campaign concentrated on the heart of Comyn power in the northeast. Edward I came across little resistance acquiring the castles of Lochindorb and Balvenie. In February 1304 John Comyn negotiated for the general Scottish submission and Robert Bruce seemed set for reward in Scotland as a valued ally of Edward I.
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Having learned from his mistakes made in 1296 over his management of
Scotland, Edward I appointed more Scots to his administration. Bruce was made Sheriff of
Ayr and Lanark in 1303 and was one of Edward I’s Scottish advisers during the
consultation process before the final settlement for the governance of Scotland was
agreed, the Ordinances of September 1305.
Under the new order Bruce once again was left with very little power.
He even lost the position of Sheriff of Ayr and Lanark. John Comyn, however, paid a fine
to Edward I and retained his lands and considerable political power.
According to tradition established by nationalist writers of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in 1304, Bruce approached John Comyn with a
‘kind-hearted plan’ to end ‘the endless tormenting of the people’.
Robert gave John the choice of two courses of action: either Comyn should reign, with
Bruce gaining all of Comyn lands or Bruce should become King, with all Bruce’s lands
going to Comyn. According to Fordun, the Chronicle
of Scottish Nation, Comyn preferred the latter option and a solemn covenant was made
between them but ‘John broke his word’ and is said to have accused Bruce of
treachery and reporting to Edward I that he was plotting against him. This forms the
background, according to the pro-Bruce Scottish tradition, to what was to follow
next.
Bruce’s Coup and the Death of Comyn the Red
On 10 February 1306, Bruce, fearing that Comyn would hinder him in
his attempt to gain the Scottish throne, sent two of his brothers, Thomas and Neil, from
his castle at Lochmaben to Comyn’s castle at Dalswinton, 10 miles away, asking Comyn
to meet him at the Greyfriars Church at Dumfries to discuss the agreement they made in
1304. During this meeting an argument ensued and Bruce struck Comyn with a dagger and his
men attacked him with swords. Comyn’s uncle, Robert, was killed attempting to defend
his nephew. Mortally wounded and left for dead, Bruce’s men returned later to ensure
he would not survive his wounds.
The capture and execution of William Wallace in 1305 removed the
foremost supporter of the Balliol cause. It is possible that Bruce was involved in
Wallace’s capture, indeed Bruce have been actively involved in the hunt for Wallace
when fighting for Edward I in 1304 and 1304. It was John of Menteith who captured Wallace
and later Menteith became an associate of Bruce. Wallace and Bruce’s causes were very
different and Wallace’s removal made it much easier, in practice, to resurrect the
Bruce claim to the throne. In 1306, however, Robert Bruce did not have general support in
Scotland for his ambitions. There was a need for Bruce either to come to some arrangement
with the Comyns, the power behind the Balliol kingship, or destroy their power. The murder
of John Comyn at the Greyfriars Church on 10 February 1306 meant that Bruce’s
ambitions depended on the destruction of the Comyn power bases in Scotland.
The fact that Robert Bruce was enthroned King of Scots only six weeks
after the murder reveals that some preliminary planning had been carried out. The murder
undoubtedly accelerated plans that Bruce was already preparing with William Lamberton,
Bishop of St Andrews, and Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow. The ceremony itself took
place at Scone Abbey.
Very few of those who benefited by the 1305 Ordinances supported Bruce in 1306 and
English support came swiftly to support the Comyn cause. By 5th April 1306,
Edward I had appointed Aymer de Valence, Comyn’s brother-in-law, as his special
lieutenant in Scotland with wide ranging powers against Bruce. Henry de Percy was given
similar responsibilities in the west.
Bruce’s army suffered defeat after defeat at the beginning of
their engagements with the English. Against all odds Bruce evaded capture though a large
number of castles were lost and many prisoners taken. His family suffered immensely. His
brother, Neil, captured at Kildrummy, was hung drawn and executed at Berwick. His sister Mary was imprisoned in a cage placed in
a tower at Roxburgh Castle. Bruce’s wife was placed in honourable captivity in
Holderness apparently saved from punishment by the allegiance of her father, the earl of
Ulster, to Edward. His daughter Marjory was
sent to a Yorkshire nunnery.
Within three months of his coronation, Robert Bruce was a hunted man,
fleeing for safety with a few close supporters. Robert then disappeared from record for
the next four and a half months in the winter of 1306-7. It is possible that he used his
strategic links with the Earls of Carrick on the Antrim coast when he needed a
refuge.
Robert Bruce returned to the mainland in early 1307 to continue his
campaign. He made the error of splitting his forces in two and his brothers, Alexander and
Thomas, were captured and their forces defeated. They suffered the same fate as Neil
Bruce.
Given the precarious nature of Bruce’s position in 1307, it is somewhat surprising that his armies secured two significant victories at Glen Trool (in April) and Loudoun Hill (in June). Strategically these were not important locations but these victories over the English forces and Bruce’s ability to evade capture had a very positive effect on morale. Support within Scotland for Bruce was growing and the Comyn’s need for English military backing was ever increasing. Bruce’s support was to come from those like Bruce who were aggrieved, dispossessed landowners, those he was able to ‘persuade’ to support his cause through fear and those who believed that the Ordinances of September 1305 and the cruel repression of Bruce’s followers in 1306 was too harsh to give their support to the English King.
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On 7th July 1307 while at
Burgh-on-Sands en-route to Scotland, Edward I died. This was a major blow for the Comyns
as well as for English interests in Scotland. For Robert Bruce, however, this was just the
news he and his supporters were waiting for. Edward I had plans for another Scottish
campaign, his death and his son, Edward II’s decision one month later to abandon
them, was a huge boost to Bruce’s kingship.
Inept leadership and troubles within England gave Bruce a free reign
in Scotland. He lead his army north, knowing that to realise his power in Scotland he
would have to control the Comyn lands in the north. Bruce’s first major target was
the Comyn’s Inverlochy castle in Lochaber, one of the strongest and strategically
placed castles at the mouth of the Great Glen and home of the murdered John Comyn. This was taken after Bruce made a truce with John
Macdougall of Lorn, the Comyn’s main ally in that region. From Inverlochy,
Bruce’s army continued up the Great Glen to Urquhart
and Inverness Castles. These also quickly
surrendered, again after a truce was struck with another of Comyn’s allies, William
Earl of Ross. The aristocratic leaders in the north were thrown into disarray through a
complete lack of co-ordination in facing up to Bruce’s forces.
Urquhart
Inverness Castle was destroyed to the foundations, a common tactic
adopted by Bruce as he did not have specialist siege weaponry and did not want to risk
them being used against him in the future. Urquhart, strategically sited on the shores of
Loch Ness was also destroyed. His campaign continued east capturing the castles of Nairn,
Elgin and Balvenie, and west to capture Cheyne and Tarradale. Bruce’s campaign in the
north was matched by his brother Edward’s campaign in Galloway. By 1308 Bruce’s
main opposition, the Comyns and their associates, had been driven out of their main bases
in Buchan, Moray and Argyll.
Edward II’s policy from 1307 to 1310 played into Robert
Bruce’s hands. He abandoned his father’s military campaign in 1307, promised an
explanation in 1308 for his allies in Scotland, which was not forthcoming, and in 1309
agreed a general truce until 1310. He encouraged garrison commanders at Berwick
Castle, Perth, Dundee, Banff and Ayr to take what truces they could.
To maintain his war effort, Bruce gained money and supplies by
attacks on northern England. These started in 1307 with cattle raids and taking money in
return for truces. Edward II’s campaign of 1310 was far from successful and ended at
the end of July in 1311 with a withdrawal from his father’s administrative centre at
Berwick. This was a signal for the Scots to step up their raids on northern England.
During the years 1313 and 1314 there was an increase in the pace of the Scottish war
effort. Bruce extended his control to the Isle of Man and took the English strongholds of Edinburgh and Roxburgh castles and put Stirling Castle under siege. This provoked a
promise from Edward II in November 1313 to bring an army to Scotland by midsummer 1314.
Bruce in Triumph
The English army that moved into
Scotland under Edward II was weakened with the absence of the Earls of Warwick and
Lancaster who failed to respond to Edward’s summons, a sign of the internal political
disputes among the English. It was still, however, a much stronger force than Bruce had
ever met before.
On 23 June 1314 the advanced party from the English army came across
the Scottish forces at Bannockburn with dire consequences. Those who were not slain fled
to Stirling Castle. On 24 June, rather than retreating to fight the small skirmishes which
had proven so successful, Bruce’s forces advanced into the open. The Scots chosen
battleground was a confined area between marsh and woods. The Scots took up the whole
width of level ground preventing any flanking movements and forcing the English heavy
cavalry to attack head on. The English charge was cut down as they crashed into a forest
of pikes and spears. The failure of the leading division of English cavalry caused tumult
and chaos behind them.
Edward II was led off the field by his aids and this signalled a
general retreat. Stirling was lost and Edward II was
forced to retreat to Dunbar Castle and from there by boat onto Berwick. The main casualties of Bannockburn were the Comyn
family. John Comyn of Badenoch, the leader of the Comyns was killed together with Edmund
Comyn, Lord of Kilbride. The realistic hopes that the Comyns would be returned to
political power in Scotland after an English victory over Bruce were shattered. Robert
Bruce’s position and political control within Scotland in 1314 had never been so
secure.
In November 1314, an act was passed in a parliament held at
Cambuskenneth Abbey near Stirling to force the undecided holding land in Scotland and
England to choose between loyalty to Bruce or England. Bruce failed, however, to win
recognition from Edward II, forcing him to extend his campaign into England. Berwick and Carlisle,
the chief border towns still under English military control, received particular
attention. Soon after Bannockburn, Edward Bruce and Thomas Randolph led a Scottish raiding
party into England via Norham and down the east
coast of northern England, turning at Richmond
and returning to Scotland through Swaledale. During the next four years Bruce’s
raiding parties covered the whole of northern England and down into Yorkshire and across
Ireland to as far south as Dublin and the castle of Cashel. The Yorkshire abbeys of Fountains and Bolton
were frequently raided for their valuables and food stocks and in 1318 the Scots
security was increased when they successfully captured Berwick. They attacked Dunstanburgh Castle on the Northumberland coast
earlier in the year to try to prevent this castle, still under construction, from becoming
a launching pad for English attacks.
Dunstanburgh
Bolton Abbey
The year 1319 was noteworthy for an agreement between warring
factions in England, principally Edward II and the Earl of Lancaster. The peace that
ensued lasted long enough for their forces to besiege Berwick between 7 and 17 September.
At the same time a Scottish army launched an offensive in Yorkshire; one theory suggests
that this was a diversionary tactic. Not wanting to enter into direct conflict with Edward
II and the Earl of Lancaster the Scots thought this might place sufficient pressure on the
English to abandon their siege of Berwick. Another theory surrounded a common belief at
the time that there was a plot to kidnap Queen Isabella of England who was resident in
York. News that the York forces had been severely defeated at Myton-on-Swale, a battle
known as ‘Chapter of Myton’, and that the Scots were within striking distance of
York itself caused Edward II to abandon the siege at Berwick.
The raids of 1318 and 1319 had put such pressure on Edward II that he
proposed a truce. The Truce lasted until 1322 during which time Robert Bruce turned his
attentions to the Pope. In 1320 the Declaration of Arbroath was drawn up as a powerful
appeal to the Pope to persuade Edward II to leave the Scots in peace.
On 1 August 1322 Edward II led a large army past Berwick and on to
Edinburgh but Robert Bruce’s policy of burning land and property and the removal of
all cattle from the area ensured that Edward II would have difficulty foraging. This
tactic resulted in the English having to evacuate Scottish grounds before 8 September,
with famine killing as many soldiers as dysentery.
On 30 May 1323, at Bishopthorpe near York, Edward II agreed a thirteen-year truce. The threat of war with France forced Edward II to reconsider his actions in Scotland, although it did not provide Bruce with the recognition he still sought.
In 1324 the Pope finally recognised Bruce as King and an heir to his throne was born. While Bruce’s situation was strengthened both in Scotland and internationally, Edward II’s position deteriorated rapidly. Edward II was in the throws of giving up his claim to Scotland when on 20 January 1327 he was deposed. He was succeeded by the fourteen-year-old Edward III.
In the early thirteenth century, Bruce patronage of Melrose Abbey, perhaps the most important Cistercian house in Scotland, may also have been connected with the curse of St Malachy. Melrose Abbey was specifically named by the future King Robert Bruce as the burial place for his heart.