Hosted by journalist and broadcaster Jackie Bird, each episode of our Love Scotland podcasts tells some of the thrilling stories behind the Trust’s people and places, showcasing how everything we do is for the love of Scotland.
Robert the Bruce: fact and fiction
Transcript
Four speakers: male voiceover [MV]; Jackie Bird [JB]; female singer [FS]; Dauvit Broun [DB]
[MV]
Love Scotland, brought to you from the National Trust for Scotland.
[JB]
Hello. Our subject today is Robert the Bruce, Scotland’s great warrior king who lived and reigned during a turbulent period in Scotland’s history. He’s forever linked to the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, where he and his vastly outnumbered army scored a victory against Edward II.
[FS]
Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victory!
Now’s the day, and now’s the hour;
See the front o’ battle lour;
See approach proud Edward’s power
Chains and slavery!
[JB]
Those stirring words by Robert Burns depict Bruce’s address to his troops at Bannockburn. The site is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland and this year, 2024, is a big year for Bruce as it marks 750 years since his birth.
Although the events at Bannockburn have been well documented, the story of Bruce’s rise to be King of Scots is hindered by a paucity of detailed historical evidence from that period, and by an excess of propaganda from the centuries that followed.
But his life is a fascinating one. He was as calculating and ruthless as he was brave. And as for his allegiances, well, let’s just say he was a man of shifting loyalties. And as for the famous story of his encounter with the spider, well, we’ll come to that.
So, to discuss the life and times of Robert Bruce, I’m joined by Professor Dauvit Broun, Chair of Scottish History at the University of Glasgow and an expert on medieval times. Welcome to the podcast, Dauvit.
[DB]
Thank you very much. Pleasure to be here.
[JB]
Medieval Scotland, Dauvit, is complex and I would say comparatively unknown territory for most of us. So, before we talk about Bruce the man, can I ask you about the Scotland he was born into in 1274?
[DB]
Thank you very much. A lovely place to start because, on the one hand, we can think about this as a period where Scotland is like so many other parts of Europe at this time, where there’s a growing population. It’s largely rural, of course. Most people live in the countryside.
[JB]
Population of about half a million?
[DB]
Yes, well, just when you’re saying about there being a lack of sources, all these things are a bit of a guesstimate. We’ll bag half a million then, shall we? There’s economic expansion because in the recent generations there's more trade. And so, although most people live in the countryside, there are towns – burghs in Scotland, obviously – towns generally in Europe and they’re growing; none of them very big yet, but they’re growing. More people therefore are interconnected, if you like. Even if you are tending your wee farm, you have the opportunity to sell a surplus because there’s more money circulating, and be part of the big trade network that for Scotland is linked partly to England, but also to the Low Countries, the Netherlands, where they have a great demand for wool. Scotland is one of the main wool producers, so even if you’re in the hills and you’ve got lots of sheep, then you’re part of this extended economy. So that’s part of the world that Robert Bruce grew up in.
[JB]
As far as its size goes, is it the Scotland we would know it now?
[DB]
Very similar to today. The main differences being that the Northern Isles are not part of the Kingdom – they’re not until the 1460s – and the Western Isles have only recently formally become part of the Kingdom. That’s the Treaty of Perth with the King of Norway in 1266.
[JB]
Tell me about the Bruce lineage. Going back a few generations, his family was Anglo Norman?
[DB]
That’s right, yes. And this is something that Bruce would have been very conscious of because obviously he’s not just aristocracy but leading nobility. A very important part of defining who they were was their lineage: male to male to male all the way back. That took them all the way back to a place in Normandy called Brix. I can’t say it right but Brix, which is where Bruce comes from. So they must have known that – that’s their name.
But that brings with it connections with a branch of the family based in Yorkshire, so they’ll be very familiar with that. But the Bruce family of course has been in Scotland for generations, arriving around 1120 in Annandale where they were set up with David I.
And from there, they’ve become more and more embedded. And for Robert Bruce himself, the most important part of this is he was born almost certainly in Turnberry, because his mother was the Countess of Carrick – his dad was Earl of Carrick by virtue of marrying his mother. He was part of this area, very much a leading part of this area, which was very naturally and substantially Gaelic at the time, with strong connections with Ireland.
[JB]
Robert Bruce led a privileged life. What languages did he speak?
[DB]
Well, of course we don’t have the opportunity to really get to grips with this, but he almost certainly would have known Gaelic. In fact, there’s no reason to doubt he would have known Gaelic, given that he was almost certainly brought up in Carrick.
Not only that, but he had in his career very strong contacts with the Western Isles and Ireland. So, he seemed to be at home in the Irish Sea area as much as in a more French-speaking, English-centric version of things. He probably – presumably, why not? – would have been able to speak some of what they called then Inglis, which eventually becomes called Scots.
[JB]
Let’s go to 1290. Robert would have been about 14 years old, and Scotland suffered a succession crisis. The last hope, a young girl dubbed the Maid of Norway, had died on her journey to Scotland, and those about to crown the new queen found themselves without a clear replacement. What were their options?
[DB]
All they could think to do was to stare at the family tree, if you like, and go back as far as they could, to anybody who had ancestry from the Royal Lion. They had to go way back to Alexander II’s uncle, Earl David, who died in 1219. And just to make matters worse, he just had daughters. ‘Matters worse’ for the way they thought of these things in those time.
So, it was a perfect storm for the legal eagles to take over because they could find all sorts of reasons – because there were no precedents for this at all – why it could be Robert Bruce, who was descended from one of the daughters.
[JB]
This is Robert Bruce, Robert the Noble – Robert Bruce’s grandfather?
[DB]
Absolutely.
[JB]
After the Maid of Norway died, there was a vacuum in terms of the throne of Scotland. How was that ended?
[DB]
Total panic to start with. The news got through in October 1290 and it took until March the following year for Edward I to give his reply to the Scottish guardians, the government of the time, who had asked him to come to help out as an arbitrator. By the way, in that time his wife had died so I do wonder at the back of my mind if, you know, some important, sensible advice was lost and he made the appallingly fateful decision to say: actually, I’m not going to come as an arbitrator but as a judge.
And it’s part of those really extraordinary twists and turns as the Scottish governors are trying to not acknowledge this; to say no, no, no, no. Of course you’re not the … I mean, it was a pretty outrageous suggestion from their point of view that Edward should be their overlord. And Edward was equally insistent. The twists and turns include Edward trying to drum up as many potential claimants. We end up with 13 at the end of the day, although everybody knows it’s just Bruce or Balliol. Bruce, the future king’s grandfather or John Balliol.
[JB]
And it was, of course, John Balliol. It was a win–win for Edward. He had his man on the throne and he’d strengthened his position over Scotland.
[DB]
And he really pushed that forward, to make it absolutely clear what this meant. Because for the first time ever, you had appeals from the Scottish Parliament being heard in the English Parliament with Edward I. That was unprecedented, but totally logical if Edward I is now the sovereign.
[JB]
John Balliol proves to be a bit weak as a king and ineffective. The Bruce family are clearly not entirely happy with this choice. Let’s talk about young Robert. What sort of upbringing would he have had as this privileged son of a leading family?
[DB]
Exactly. He would have obviously trained in all the soldiering and feats of arms and so on. He would have grown up expecting to lead not just as Lord of Annandale, which is the ancestral lordship, but also as Earl of Carrick. He would have grown up expecting to be one of the most important nobles.
[JB]
And he would’ve spent some time in Edward’s court and with other leading families … almost like a finishing school, if you like.
[DB]
Yes, yes. I mean, I’d hesitate to describe it as a finishing school, but another way to see it is to just imagine the aristocratic circles because everybody’s related to everybody else, one way or another. Just to broaden it slightly, if you look at the leading families in Scotland at the time, they’ve either all got lands in England or they’ve got family in England. We have had a period of 80-odd years of peace – not entirely trouble-free, but peace.
[JB]
Let’s leap to 1296, the last years of John Balliol’s ineffective monarchy. Edward I decided to invade and decided also to annex Scotland into England. Now, at that point, Robert Bruce was 22 years old. He joined Edward’s side. Why?
[DB]
Well, now there’s a very big question. Just to take a step back, we have to remember that Robert Bruce, the future king, is not head of the family yet; his dad is there as Lord of Annandale. Our Robert Bruce, the future king, is Earl of Carrick, and Dad Robert Bruce lives on until April 1304. So, everything that Robert Bruce is doing, you’ve got to bear in mind it’s in that context. And so that’s one part of it.
But the other part, as you’ve pointed out, is that the Bruces were not comfortable or happy with the Balliol kingship, the Balliol government. They never acknowledged that Balliol should be king. They took steps to avoid acknowledging that he should be king. Putting all this together, it’s less surprising – it seems shocking, but it’s less surprising that Robert Bruce, the future king, should be in Edward I’s army, even when they’re committing their atrocity of sacking Berwick, which is the first big event in the war.
[JB]
Well, let’s take a break just there. The Sack of Berwick was a significant moment for Edward and for young Bruce. We’ll be back in a moment.
[MV]
Are you a whisky lover or a nature lover? A fan of Burns or a good ghost story? No matter what you love about Scotland, there’s an episode of Love Scotland just for you. Take a look through our archives to hear the in-depth stories behind Scotland’s history, people and places.
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[JB]
Welcome back. Just before the break, we reached 1296 and something called the Sack of Berwick. Professor Dauvit Broun, tell me about that.
[DB]
When Edward I decided to invade Scotland, which he did because John Balliol, as king and the nobility, refused to join Edward I’s army fighting the King of France – and had actually, unbeknown to Edward at this point, formed an alliance with the King of France. Edward I, perfectly within his rights as these were understood at the time, led an army to punish his rebellious nobles and was met with resistance, as you might expect. Berwick is not just part of the Kingdom of Scotland at this time, but it is the most wealthy burgh in Scotland. It is the centre of the wool trade with the Netherlands and indeed you have many Flemings who are merchants there.
Now the story goes that the people of Berwick had rather too much confidence in their defences. When they saw Edward’s army arrayed before them, they showed parts of their anatomy to the King of England, which wasn’t very tactful, shall we say. That might be, goodness knows, part of it. But whatever it was, Edward I was enraged by their defiance. And this was not unheard of; it wasn’t a totally disgraceful and an appalling thing to do in the laws of war at the time. If a place isn’t going to surrender, then give it a chance; if it doesn’t do it, sack it. This went on for three days and was a complete, I’m afraid, a total devastating massacre.
[JB]
And young Robert Bruce, who was on Edward’s side remember, does not come out of this well. In fact, a poet at the time wrote ‘the treachery of a certain man who will be decried forever, whose banner deceived the citizens of Berwick, let the name of this Earl be concealed, less damage be renewed.’ Was this a reference to Bruce?
[DB]
Yes. If you join the dots, there aren’t too many other candidates, shall we say, whose banner it is apart from Robert Bruce, the future king at this stage, Earl of Carrick. Those words were probably written between 1304 and 1306 at a point where, if you were hoping for renewing Scottish independence, your best chance was Robert Bruce. So, it’s possible to see why people might be careful about naming him in that context …
[JB]
Yes, if they wanted to see the next day or the day after tomorrow. This was also around the time that Edward took ownership of the Stone of Destiny.
[DB]
Yes, well, exactly. So, the sack of Berwick. And then there was a battle in Dunbar a few weeks later, where the Scottish army were swept away. Let’s remember again, there had been 80 years of peace, so they weren’t used to doing much serious business, whereas the King of England’s army was. The conquest was therefore pretty straightforward and very impressive: stately march, you might say, through Scotland all the way up to Elgin, Edward I got. And on his way back, he passed through Scone and collected the Stone of Destiny.
In Edward I’s eyes, what he had done was he had treated Scotland like it was a fief. That is to say, land that was given to his vassal, the King of Scots John Balliol, who had defied him, and therefore had been deprived of his land. Unprecedented at the time that this should actually be another kingdom, which did create difficulties for Edward I. But in his mind, that’s what had happened, and therefore it had ceased to be a kingdom. It just made sense to make sure the point was not lost by removing the Stone of Destiny on which Scottish kings were inaugurated, and also the bit of the True Cross, the Holy Rood, which was the most sacred royal relic.
[JB]
And at this time, as I said, Robert the Bruce, our Robert, was backing Edward. He did so for a few months, but then he flipped. Why?
[DB]
Now this is where I think we begin to see Robert Bruce become less conventional and a bit more adventurous and imaginative.
[JB]
Do we know anything of his character?
[DB]
His character? Oh goodness. I mean, we can keep tracking this if you like as we go through the years. Really, all we’ve got is his deeds. And as you said at the beginning, there’s a lot of propaganda about that, but peeling that away, what he actually did at the time and there’s also, of course, some things were written in his name. When you put all that together, you do see somebody that was prepared gradually, as events unfolded, to be more adventurous, break convention, and be the ruthlessly pragmatic person in order to achieve his goals.
[JB]
So politically ambivalent. Hugely ambitious.
[DB]
Hugely ambitious but – and this is an important point to always bear in mind in this period – of course for us we’re used to the idea of our political leaders keeping their personal lives and interests separate from the interests of the country. That was inconceivable in those days because after all, if you were the king or you thought you should be the king, then the fate of the kingdom and your fate and your family were intertwined, completely inseparable. That also went for if you were a noble family. The interests of your family against other nobles and the lands and all the people that depended on you – these were inextricably linked to your personal interests.
So what is unusual about Robert Bruce in 1297, as you say, when he’s no longer in Edward I’s peace and starts to rebel, is that he is striking an independent note from his father, who remember is the head of the family and is in England and is having a relatively quiet time. An independent note in order to maintain the profile of his family in the kingdom. It’s almost like he’s thinking through – Balliol is gone but Bruce sees himself as the rightful king. How is he going to maintain this profile of being the rightful king? He’s not going to do it like his dad is doing by sitting in his estates, doing fishing and shooting and all the things that aristocrats do. He’s going to be active in the politics of the country – and that’s what you find him doing in 1297.
[JB]
Which is fine, and which I can follow until I get to 1302 and discover that Robert Bruce changes sides again and goes back to join the English. The question again to you, Dauvit, is why?
[DB]
Exactly. After William Wallace, obviously as guardian, loses the Battle of Falkirk in 1298, at that point intriguingly the leadership then devolves to Robert Bruce and John Comyn, who he slays later on.
[JB]
Ah, spoiler alert! OK, let’s just talk about 1302 first of all. He goes back to the English. Can you tell us because we are going to be here for a long time?
[DB]
Oh, sorry! Yes, yes. Well, he’s been prominent in the government; however, John Balliol, he’s not out of the picture completely and in 1301 he takes a sufficiently personal interest in what’s going on to appoint his own person to govern what has been freed from Edward I’s clutches as sole guardian.
And this is all with a view to John Balliol actually coming back. In early 1302, which is when Robert Bruce defects, that is the point where this is top of the agenda. And why Bruce defects isn’t just negative reasons because he really doesn’t want to be part of this supporting Balliol. But it’s also a positive strategic move because this enables him to marry the daughter of the Earl of Ulster, who is in the loyalty of Edward I.
[JB]
So, he hops from side to side, depending on which side he thinks at that particular time gives him the best chance of eventually reaching the top in Scotland and claiming the throne.
[DB]
Exactly.
[JB]
You mentioned William Wallace there. Can we talk briefly about the interaction or not between Robert Bruce and William Wallace? Famously, for those of us of a certain age, the movie Braveheart had the meeting. This did not happen.
[DB]
No reason to imagine that … well, it definitely didn’t happen the way it’s portrayed – and whether they ever met is another matter. The whole idea of the meeting is a medieval fiction; it’s not a modern fiction. You get it in Blind Harry’s Wallace, written in the 1470s. Actually, it’s probably earlier than that, this idea that during the Battle of Falkirk, Wallace protests to prove he should be king and so on. So it’s not completely made up by Braveheart by any means. However, it belongs to literature rather than bald history, if you like.
[JB]
But there is a suggestion that Bruce may have taken part in the hunting down of William Wallace. Is there any factual basis for that? Because at that point he was on the side of the English and it’s difficult to keep track of which side that Bruce is on.
[DB]
Yes, yes, yes. I’ll just demur a bit about how difficult it is to keep track because there is this consistency of purpose. So as long as you know the context, then actually his decisions are quite rational.
But the fascinating thing about the terrible fate of Wallace is the government. There’s still been a government in the name of John Balliol until 9 February 1304. And everybody then submits to Edward I and it takes from then, February 1304, to the beginning of August 1305 for Wallace to finally be turned in. That is despite Edward I doing everything he possibly could to bully people into … I mean, he basically says to many of the leading people, I’ll have you back into your lands and take you back into my allegiance if you show me that you’re really doing your best to get hold of Wallace. I can’t recall Bruce being given that sort of instruction, but he would have the same pressure as anybody else. Nevertheless, Wallace is not handed in for well over a year. I mean, let me do the maths. We’re talking about a year and a half, aren’t we? So that is really quite impressive. I mean, we don’t know where he was, so goodness knows.
When he’s eventually turned in, of course it is an inevitable act of betrayal. But not by Bruce.
[JB]
Well, we’re reaching the end of the episode and Bruce isn’t even king yet. We’ll deal with that in next week’s podcast. But before we go, a final word on Bruce at this stage of his life, Dauvit. It’s 1305, the year before he becomes king. He’s 31 years old. If we were to go out for a walk and saw him across the street and I ask you, who was that? How would you describe him at this point?
[DB]
Well, yes, I’d say steely determination but also a real leader of people. And for all the, as I say, changing sides according to the immediate situation, but there is a clear-sightedness about his ultimate goal. So hugely ambitious; it’s like he’s got a very consistently clear idea: I should be king and king of an independent kingdom as well. He’s not going to be king of something which is just a bit of a rump and as vassal of the king of England.
[JB]
Professor Dauvit Broun, thank you very much.
[DB]
Thank you.
[JB]
And that’s where we will have to leave this edition of Love Scotland on the fascinating story of Robert the Bruce. We have yet even to approach a certain battle called Bannockburn, which of course is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.
Your role in the future of Scotland’s heritage is absolutely vital and if you would like to donate then please go to nts.org.uk/donate
I hope you’ll join us next time for Robert Bruce the sequel. Until then, goodbye.
[JB]
Coming up in Part 2.
[DB]
Robert Bruce has basically thrown the dice in the hope that the middling sorts, if you want to say the common people, of Scotland will back him because he’s the only hope for independence.
[MV]
Love Scotland is brought to you by Think and Demus Productions on behalf of the National Trust for Scotland. Presented by Jackie Bird.
For show notes and more information, go to nts.org.uk and don’t forget to like, subscribe, review and share.
Jackie is joined by Professor Dauvit Broun of the University of Glasgow to discuss the life of Robert the Bruce.
Robert, King of Scots from 1306–29, had a fascinating life of changing allegiances, shifting power and military victories. How much of our understanding of this Scottish ruler is based in fact? What motivated him to switch sides, on several occasions, in the wars of the 13th and 14th centuries? And why has his legacy had such a lasting effect on the nation’s history?
This podcast was recorded in April 2024.
Robert the Bruce: battles of a King
Transcript
Four voices: male voiceover [MV]; Jackie Bird [JB]; Dauvit Broun [DB]; Callum Watson [CW]
[MV]
Love Scotland, brought to you from the National Trust for Scotland; presented by Jackie Bird.
[JB]
Hello and welcome to the second part of our deep dive into the life and kingship of Robert the Bruce in this, the 750th year of his birth. In part one we looked at the privileged early life of the young nobleman Bruce and how a mixture of determination and opportunism saw him position himself as one of the front runners for the Scottish throne. However, by 1306, when Robert was around 32, Scotland had been conquered by Edward I of England.
At home, Robert found himself jostling for position with a young member of the most powerful family in Scotland, John Comyn. As we take up the story, my guide again through these medieval manoeuvres is Professor Dauvit Broun, Chair of Scottish History at the University of Glasgow. So, Dauvit, what happens next?
[DB]
Edward I, he’s well beyond the age when kings are normally meant to be alive. He’s in his late 60s, clearly the old man. And therefore, you can just see these young things, John Comyn and Robert Bruce, looking for them to be … you know, they say ‘we should be kings of Scots’ – just trying to time it so that they can get there just when Edward I is in his last years, hopefully going to die soon.
[JB]
So, the two arranged to meet. What happened?
[DB]
They meet, and indeed meet in Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries, and they’re actually standing in the altar. That’s the most sacred space of a church. And whatever they were talking about, Bruce got very agitated and knifed John Comyn. Whether that was a mortal blow or not was a bit academic because Bruce’s party made sure that it became mortal. Now we can just set aside, I think, whether this was deliberate or not, it’s very difficult to be sure – the outcome is clear. Bruce has committed not just a sensational act of political violence by killing John Comyn, given John Comyn’s very high profile, but he;s done it in the most sacred space, which is the way people saw things at the time – an absolute abomination. So, he couldn’t have done this in a more outrageous way.
[JB]
But then he goes and gets himself crowned king.
[DB]
Exactly. This is why people think the whole thing might be pre-planned, because he wastes no time in raising his forces, gets hold of a great supporter of his – Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow, who has kept the Scottish regalia for the royal banner. He dusts them down, gives them to Robert Bruce. A few weeks later he’s in Scone and being inaugurated as king.
There isn’t a great turn out from the Earls, most of whom are still in Edward I’s allegiance, but he manages to persuade the Macduff family, who are the people who are meant to put the king on the Stone of Scone. Of course, the Stone of Scone isn’t there anymore, so that’s a bit of a problem. He manages to get Isabel, Countess of Buchan, who’s a member of the Macduff family to perform that role. The Bishop of St Andrews – and this is what makes you think it’s all a little bit pre-planned – manages to slip his guards in Berwick and he gets to Scone, but two days late, so they repeat part of the ceremony just to make sure.
[JB]
So he’s crowned king, but he’s also excommunicated by the Pope. What’s the significance of that?
[DB]
Excommunication means that you’re severed from, to use the technical language of the time, the body of Christ, the Church. And what’s meant to happen then is that you’re just sent to Coventry. You’re no longer regarded as part of society. It was, however, a weapon that had been used many, many times as part of politics. So of course, if you were on the side of the excommunicated, you were unlikely to just accept the verdict. The fact that he had the backing of the two senior bishops in Scotland – the Bishop of St Andrews and the Bishop of Glasgow – shows that although had Bruce travelled abroad he might have had trouble being accepted; within Scotland, he was not shunned as he should have been.
[JB]
He wasn’t a popular man at that point. The Comyn family were after him, as were the English. Is this when he goes on the run?
[DB]
Yes, so he has a go almost as soon as he’s crowned. Of course, he’s gathering an army together. Edward I raises a force, doesn’t lead it himself, but it goes north and they have a battle in Methven, just north of Perth, and that goes dreadfully for Bruce. And that’s when he goes on the run. June 1306 … he’s crowned in, well inaugurated 25 and 27 March 1306. Then you’ve got the Battle of Methven in June and that’s when he’s on the run.
[JB]
And two of his four brothers were caught by the English, and they were hung, drawn, quartered.
[DB]
Yes, it’s a desperate, desperate business for his family.
[JB]
What happens to his wife and his daughter?
[DB]
They eventually are captured and they are kept in a strange form of captivity, which is to be put in a cage in a tower so that they can be, you know, exhibited to passers-by. Nobody Scottish was meant to communicate with them, ever at all. There’s just an old lady that looks after them and that’s how it is for a few years for them, which is pretty dreadful.
[JB]
So, Robert Bruce is on the run, and now we have the folklore. Now we have the spider. Tell us about the emergence of this story.
[DB]
I wish I knew. I should be able to tell you when do people first refer to the spider? But whenever it was, it does capture the absolute desperation of his position.
[JB]
We should probably point out, for those who haven’t heard of it?
[DB]
Oh, yes.
[JB]
He’s supposed to be in a cave hiding, and he sees a spider making a web … and it tries and tries and tries again. So, it’s a story of resilience.
[DB]
Exactly. Exactly. And it’s a wonderful story. If only it were true. Well, it probably is. Heaven knows. How do we know? But, like all good stories, it captures a truth, which is that Bruce was as out of things as you could possibly be. You couldn’t go further down. And just to set the scene a little bit, this isn’t just about running away from Edward II as we’re about to deal with the English. It is also about running away from the most powerful families in the country, most of whom think he is beyond any possibility of being brought back into normal society, never mind being king, because of what he’s done.
What is really ironic is, of course, that these families, the Comyns and their allies who are stretched across the country, are the people who are the backbone of the struggle for independence before. But it is just impossible for them to accept the idea of Bruce as king, especially for the way he’s done it. So, they are after him absolutely as well. Bruce is running away from many, many, many enemies and the war of independence has now become a civil war. And that’s a really. very fundamental change in the nature of the business.
So there he is. Bruce has got nothing. How does he recover from this position? And it is a remarkable story. When he does manage to come back, he arrives in Ayrshire. Remember, he’s Earl of Carrick, so that’s where he goes. He sends some of his brothers down to Galloway to try and raid but they get captured immediately. They’re taken away and executed horribly. So, Bruce is left with only one brother left, Edward, and then, well, we can, I mean the astonishing military turnaround.
[JB]
But the other Edward that you mentioned, Edward I, he died in 1307. He was a skilled politician, fighter, tactician. Edward II, his son, not so much. How much of a game changer was that?
[DB]
Fundamental, fundamental game changer. Because, as you say, Edward I was one of the most ruthlessly effective English monarchs there were, and there’d been quite a few. Edward II? Well, we can encapsulate what was different about him by what happened immediately after Edward I’s death. Edward I dies leading an army against Robert Bruce.
[JB]
Bruce was the death of him, almost?
[DB]
Almost, yes! This is when Bruce is beginning to recover and he’s actually won a couple of wee battles.
[JB]
Because there’s a campaign of insurgency going on, isn’t there?
[DB]
Yes, exactly. Edward’s got to do something. It’s poetic because he leads his army as far as the south shore of the Solway Firth – it’s Burgh by Sands. He can actually see Scotland and that’s where he dies. Despite his immense energy, and he was a big tall man, very striking.
[JB]
Longshanks.
[DB]
Longshanks indeed. And he was extraordinary. Ruthless determination, consummate politician. He goes; Edward II, he isn’t with him – he’s in London. He speeds up from London to take over because they’re meant to be invading Scotland. And what Edward II does, he gets as far as Cumnock. And then he celebrates making his bosom buddy Piers Gaveston. He treats like a brother – some would say a lover – makes him Earl of Cornwall, which is a royal title. Edward I has refused to do this, but now Edward II is king, he can do this for his pal. So, he gets as far as Cumnock, throws a great big feast for his bosom buddy Piers Gaveston and then goes home. That’s it. And Edward II doesn’t reappear until the autumn of 1310.
[JB]
So, this campaign of insurgency continues. And just to reaffirm that nature of a civil war in Scotland, Edward II had control during that time of castles including Roxburgh, Jedburgh … Perth was still a stronghold for Edward supporters. Many patriotic Scots did not approve of the Bruce regime.
[DB]
Exactly. There’s really a fundamental dimension to all this, which is that in hindsight, of course, it’s very easy to say, oh, these people supporting Edward II are traitors, et cetera, but far from it. They have up to then committed themselves to Scottish independence. And it’s just because it’s Bruce and the way that Bruce became king. And you can really understand that, for them, this is just awful to imagine this person as their king for the future. The problem is there isn’t an alternative …
[JB]
… because John Comyn’s 6 feet under.
[DB]
Exactly.
[JB]
So is it too much of a leap now to go to the months leading up to Bannockburn 1314? Are we missing out huge pivotal chunks?
[DB]
Well, there’s one thing that’s very good to put it all together because that is the march towards taking control of the whole of Scotland, which Bruce does, you see, by military tactics that are brilliantly effective, moving quick and decisively. But above all, he has this new tactic of destroying every castle he takes. And that is a new idea. That’s not what you’re meant to do. He’s figured out … this is part of the way he is so radical and original and absolutely determined. He’s got his eyes set on the ultimate goal and therefore will think through practically – what do I need? And he’s figured out that Edward II needs garrisons. That’s the main way he’s going to maintain his power. Robert Bruce has basically thrown the dice in the hope that the middling sorts, if you want to say the common people, of Scotland will back him because he’s the only hope for independence.
And in a way it’s a lose-lose for Edward II and his supporters because he can’t supply the garrisons regularly enough, so they have to plunder the local countryside, so people hate them. Robert Bruce comes along, takes the castle and destroys it. Yippee.
So, it’s a brilliantly effective military thing but also a political gesture – and that’s the way we find ourselves on the threshold of the Battle of Bannockburn, because up to that point Robert Bruce has avoided any pitched battles. That’s just throwing the dice too desperately; the spinning wheel of fate. You just don’t quite know what’s going to happen. You can lose everything. Stirling Castle is the prize. Edward II is coming up with his army in order to relieve the garrison, which is about to fall.
We know the outcome. I haven’t been to the Bannockburn Centre and played the game where they play the game of the battle, but I’m told that Edward II usually wins, if you do play the game. Somebody can keep me right here, but it’s fascinating. If that’s true, that just reinforces the point that if you had generalship and soldiers of equal value, really it should have been Edward II’s victory. But it wasn’t.
[JB]
Well, let’s leave the story there, just before we get to the Battle of Bannockburn. And when we come back, we’ll talk a little about the battle, but more about its consequences.
[MV]
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[JB]
Welcome back to Love Scotland. So, Dauvit Broun, we’re at 1314, the Battle of Bannockburn. Now, we’re not going into the battle in great detail, as there is another Love Scotland podcast from an earlier series, which does just that. But for our purposes, Bruce’s army, vastly outnumbered, wins the day. Now, you’re not a military historian, but can you tell me, did Edward lose the battle or did Robert win it?
[DB]
Again, it’s down to a large part to Robert Bruce’s inventiveness, his ability to think outside the box in a ruthlessly practical way. One part of that was this formation called the schiltron. You’re remembering that most of the Scottish army is infantry, so they have these huge pikes and they all come together so it’s like a big hedgehog. This was something that William Wallace had developed, but they were static. Robert Bruce developed it so that these could move around; that made it much more difficult. This takes a lot of training, I would imagine.
He also understood, of course, that the real problem was archers – the English archers. Well, they tended to be Welsh, but the archers in the English army. He did have a small cavalry force whose job it was to take out the archers, which they did. It’s a combination of really imaginative generalship, training and so on by the Scottish army, more than it was Edward making any terrible mistakes.
[JB]
And I understand there was a huge significance in the number of knights, Edward’s knights who were killed, influential men from influential families.
[DB]
Indeed, and taken prisoner more to the point, which means that Robert I is in a position because what you do with them is you use them as bargaining counters. Literally, you can … the idea is normally that they would be ransomed. That was the expected thing. This is how Robert then bargains to get his wife and his daughter released, and the Bishop of Glasgow released as well. So, it’s a huge turning point as far as that goes.
What it isn’t is a turning point for the cause of Scottish independence being recognised internationally or by Edward II. Politically, what it really represents is Robert’s victory in the civil war.
[JB]
Today, Bannockburn is of course regarded as a landmark victory … but it wasn’t then. How and why and when did it achieve the iconic status that it has today?
[DB]
In one sense, just to take a dispassionate view, because it was the only big set piece battle that Robert Bruce fought and he won, it’s always going to be very significant. However, when you look at the way things were written up at the time, particularly people writing in Scotland in Latin a couple of generations later, they actually make more fuss of a battle called the Battle of Roslin in 1302, which I don’t suppose … well, if anybody’s heard of it, give yourself a wee treat because that’s very impressive.
The Battle of Roslin, whose big winner was John Comyn, but we don’t hear about that of course. They tend to make not so much fuss about Bannockburn, until later. It’s when you get John Barbour’s Brus.
[JB]
This is an epic poem.
[DB]
An amazing epic poem written in Scots.
[JB]
And when was it written?
[DB]
1375–76. And it was for Robert Bruce’s grandson, Robert Stewart, Robert II, and his court.
[JB]
So, it wasn’t going to be critical?
[DB]
Well, it was critical actually. It’s an amazing piece of work because it’s got all sorts of interesting nuances. It’s not just bold propaganda, and it is critical of Bruce – the way he savaged the lands of the Comyns in Buchan, the Herschip of Buchan. When he portrays Bruce in his deathbed, Bruce is very conscious of this dreadful black mark in his career. He also has one of Bruce’s nephews, who becomes one of his great captains later on, initially telling Bruce off for not going into battle more instead of doing all the guerrilla war thing, which was so radical at the time and unbecoming of somebody who should be a paragon of chivalry. So, there are critical voices within the poem.
[JB]
But overall, it didn’t harm the legendary status?
[DB]
Oh, indeed not. It was absolutely such a dramatic and powerful and compelling celebration of Bruce the leader and the man; it brings him to life. And as far as the Battle of Bannockburn goes, the account of the battle is so vivid. I haven’t spoken to anybody who makes films, but I’m sure it feels like a film director’s close character of detail. It’s just amazing – you can just about hear it and smell it, what’s going on. It is very vivid, very extended, very vivid.
[JB]
Bruce wins the Battle of Bannockburn. The war trundles on for a good few years. We get to 1320, and I’m horrified I’m about to say the Declaration of Arbroath! Briefly, can you tell us about the significance of that document? Heresy for some!
[DB]
I know, I know, the Declaration of Arbroath. So, in a nutshell, the main part of this is that Bruce keeps winning and has actually in 1318 retaken Berwick. Just about the whole of what had been Scotland has been liberated from Edward II, but Edward II has the support of the papacy. The papacy has been putting acute pressure, everything they can throw at Bruce and his government.
And again, Bruce comes up with a novel idea. It’s not a completely new idea, but a novel approach to this idea of presenting yourself as the king who doesn’t really want to do all this, but his barons insist that he does this. A trick that had been played by the King of France a few years earlier. You’ve got this written and it’s written by Robert Bruce’s government, but it’s in the name of the 30+ barons who are named. And then you get many more as well as those who have their seals dangling at the bottom.
This is presenting the prose that many of us know so well and is so vivid. But at the time it’s just doing a very specific job of ‘please get the Pope to think again’, which they do. The pressure is relieved – it doesn’t solve the problem but because it gets incorporated into a way of telling the history of Scotland, which was written around 1330, it gets incorporated there and then is there for posterity. And of course, just because the prose is so amazing, it acquires some of the fame which has grown hugely in more modern centuries.
[JB]
But Bruce doesn’t get what he wants still. The war, the insurgency, the raids continue. There is a sort of truce of sorts, isn’t there? In 1323 when they decide, look, let’s call a halt to this for a while.
[DB]
Actually they arranged for a 13-year truce, which is huge. You wonder what Robert Bruce had in mind, but that all comes to an end when … I mean, it’s a stalemate basically, because Edward II is just never going to accept Bruce as the king of an independent realm, but he can’t do anything about it militarily because Bruce is in charge. He’s got it. But Edward II, eventually his problems in governing England take him over and he is deposed in January 1327. And Bruce says, well, that’s it. The truce is off. And he begins to put acute pressure in the north of England, eventually doing something which isn’t just raiding but actually starting to set the things in motion for annexing parts of the north of England.
It’s at that point that the government, which is precarious, the English government at the time, in the name of the adolescent Edward III, start peace negotiations.
[JB]
He’s a great tactician. He can smell the weakness. He knows that London is destabilised and he decides to make his move successfully. The Treaty of Edinburgh between Scotland and England, which I was interested to hear also included the marriage between his son, Robert’s son David, who was about 4 or 5 years old, with Edward III’s sister Joan, aged 7.
[DB]
Exactly.
[JB]
My goodness. But it meant that England recognised Scotland’s independence with Robert as king.
[DB]
Exactly. And just to complete the picture, Robert’s government then went to the papacy to have … The title King of Scots had been recognised since January 1324, but what they really wanted was the right of coronation and anointment, which Scotland, like other kingdoms, did not have in the 13th century. That is this real seal of approval. If you’ve got coronation anointment from the Pope, then you are it: you are fully and completely sovereign. And the Pope agrees to this. The papal bull, which is granting them coronation anointment, is dated a few days after Bruce has actually died.
[JB]
So, a year after the treaty, Bruce is just a few months before his 55th birthday. He is awaiting this confirmation, and he dies. What did he die of?
[DB]
Oh my goodness. Well, there’s all the business about whether he had …
[JB]
That’s why I’m asking: did he suffer from leprosy?
[DB]
And I’m afraid you’ll have to ask somebody else. I am aware that there are all sorts of diseases at the time.
[JB]
But that was a suggestion, wasn’t it?
[JB]
Yes, exactly. Oh, certainly, certainly. And now that a skull has been identified and you can see there’s degeneration – but there may be more than one reason for that sort of degeneration. What is clear is when people talk about leprosy in those days, that obviously wasn’t exactly the same thing as the leprosy that we tend to think of, which means that you’re completely ostracised from society because you’re completely unclean. Whatever it was, it wasn’t that because he and other people at the time – and my colleague Mark McGregor has researched this – where people who have the same ailment but they’re still part of society.
So, whatever the ailment was, it was very serious. Bruce had been seriously ill on a number of occasions in the years running up to that. At the time of the Treaty of Edinburgh being formally concluded in March 1328, he was actually in his bed. He was too ill. He was part of it but he was in his sick bed, so he had been seriously ill a number of times in the years coming up. It probably wasn’t a surprise to anybody when he finally died on 7 June 1329.
[JB]
Only five years after his death, Edward rescinded the Treaty of Edinburgh, and Scotland and England were at it, hammer and tongs again.
[DB]
Yes, indeed. It was three years later that things began to fall apart. And the key person there is somebody we haven’t mentioned for good reason, which is John Balliol had a son called Edward, who was very happy doing things that young men do in Picardy, but had been recalled. He’d been in England trying to gather support, and strangely enough Edward II didn’t really make much of this, but Edward III did. So, that reopened not just the wars of independence, but the civil war as well.
[JB]
We’ve come full circle. Bruce’s reputation as a great freedom fighter – when did that embed itself?
[DB]
I think Barbour’s Brus is a very powerful statement, dramatic and vivid statement of Bruce as the embodiment of the fight for Scottish independence against the aggression of Edward I and Edward II. It really goes back to that. Let’s not forget that Barbour’s Brus of course is manuscripts in those days, but it’s one of the most popular early printed books in Scotland. That and the Wallace, through to the 18th century.
[JB]
And what’s your interpretation – from everything that you know – the big picture of Bruce as a leader and his achievements?
[DB]
Well, his achievement undoubtedly is that Scotland was restored from two conquests and massive destruction and intense pressure – it was restored to be fully part of the family of European kingdoms. It’s very difficult to see how that could have happened with anybody else, not just because he won battles and was effective militarily, etcetera, but it’s just the challenge he faced was enormous because of the civil war dynamic as well. It’s his ability to be on top of the game, be endlessly adaptable and practical and effective and ruthless, all these things.
As I said, it was this amazing determination but willingness to think outside the box just to keep the main prize constantly in view. It is an astonishing achievement really.
[JB]
He’s deserving of his iconic status as far as his achievements are concerned?
[DB]
I think he is, honestly. I know attempts have been made to capture this in film, but there’s so much more that can be done, I have to say, to really bring through the astonishing story of Robert Bruce.
[JB]
Well, thank you so much for taking us through the complexities of his story and the complexities of medieval Scotland. Professor Dauvit Broun, thank you very much.
[DB]
Thank you.
[JB]
And that’s it from this double edition on the life and reign of Robert Bruce.
Bannockburn Battlefield is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. If you want to go along and learn more about the events there, head for the Trust website for opening times and for more details.
It’s preserved by the National Trust for Scotland for you, and if you’d like to help look after it, you can make a donation. Just head to nts.org.uk/donate to find out how. Until next time on Love Scotland, goodbye.
For more on the Battle of Bannockburn itself, search out our podcast from series one called Bruce’s Gamble, when the king finds himself fighting for his life in a moment of single combat.
[CW]
Henry sees the king and thinks ho ho, this is my chance, I’ve got him, spurs his horse forward, thunders towards Robert and Robert is now left in a position where he either has to try and run or get stuck in and try and save himself from Henry.
[MV]
Love Scotland is brought to you by Think and Demus Productions on behalf of the National Trust for Scotland, presented by Jackie Bird.
For show notes and more information, go to nts.org.uk and don’t forget to like, subscribe, review and share.
In the second part of a two-episode biography of Robert the Bruce’s life, Jackie returns to the studio with Professor Dauvit Broun of the University of Glasgow.
Before, we looked at the early life of Robert and how his canny abilities, not to mention his tendency to switch allegiance at opportune moments, helped him to secure power. But what came next?
Picking up their conversation in 1306, when Scotland has been conquered by Edward I of England and Robert faces a jostle for power with the most powerful family in Scotland, Jackie and Dauvit look at all that happened in Robert’s reign.
This podcast was recorded in April 2024.
