To be king, Robert the Bruce would have to get rid of anyone who challenged his own claim to the crown. Both Bruce and his father refused to back Balliol and supported Edward I's invasion of Scotland in 1296 to force Balliol to abdicate. He has been portrayed numerous times in film and television, most recently by Chris Pine in Netflix's original film, Outlaw King. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. His wife and daughters were imprisoned and three of his brothers executed. Returning to Scotland the following year, Robert the Bruce began a highly successful guerrilla war against the English. The story of the nobleman-turned-outlaw hero who was crowned king of … The decisive event was the murder of John (“the Red”) Comyn in the Franciscan church at Dumfries on February 10, 1306, either by Bruce or his followers. Please select which sections you would like to print: Corrections? Bruce was King of Scotland from 1306 – 1329. Find out more about how the BBC is covering the. Through his father he was distantly related to the Scottish royal family. He hastened to Scone and was crowned on March 25. Robert was good looking, congenial and liked by all. His wife and many of his supporters were captured, and three of his brothers executed. Murder of John Comyn[edit] The killing of Comyn in the Greyfriars church in Dumfries, as imagined by Felix Philippoteaux, a 19th-century illustrator. He led his nation against England during the First War of Scottish Independence and emerged as one of the most popular warriors of his generation. Many wished he was king. He was the first born son of one of the richest and most powerful of the nobles in Scotland. Sometimes these grants proved dangerous, for the king’s chief supporters became enormously powerful. The following year, Bruce was deposed by Edward's army and forced to flee. Robert the Bruce is one of the most prominent figures in Scottish history. Robert the Bruce (1274-1329) is one of the most celebrated figures of Scottish history. To accomplish this, camouflaged pits, … "What you see is the process of the birth of a hero," he says. Robert the Bruce reviewing his troops before the Battle of Bannockburn, woodcut by Edmund Blair Leighton, c. 1909. Bruce now proclaimed his right to the throne and on 27 March was crowned king at Scone. The first Robert de Bruce came to England with William the Conqueror. Two years later, his brother Edward Bruce was inaugurated as high king of Ireland but was killed in battle in 1318. He is a direct ancestor of Queen Elizabeth II. Robert Bruce was the seventh in succession of "Robert Bruce" and the Earl of Carrick by right of his wife, Marjory, daughter of Nigel, Earl of Carrick. The True Story of Robert the Bruce, Scotland’s ‘Outlaw King’ Chris Pine stars as the Netflix film’s eponymous hero, who secures his country’s independence but leaves behind a tangled legacy Robert the Bruce’s grandfather was related to the Scottish royal family by marriage and tried to claim the throne when it became vacant in 1290. Robert the Bruce, who was king of Scotland from 1306 to 1329, freed Scotland from English rule by winning the decisive Battle of Bannockburn and achieving English agreement to full Scottish independence in the 1328 Treaty of Northampton. Well, some of them are currently celebrating Christmas at Sandringham House. Learn more about his life and reign. Robert the Bruce and the Spider Bruce statue at the entrance to Edinburgh Castle. Douglas was killed, but it appears that the heart was recovered and brought back for burial, as the king had intended, at Melrose Abbey. Suddenly the mood changed. His body was buried in Dunfermline Abbey, but the heart was removed on his instructions and taken by Sir James Douglas on crusade in Spain. Robert’s main energies in the years after 1314, however, were devoted to settling the affairs of his kingdom. Robert carried out a feud with his uncle, King David II and … The Earl of Mar was one of the seven Guardians of Scotland and he believed Robert was the lawful King of Scots. An argument started between the two, they came to blows and Robert stabbed Comyn to death before the high altar. King Robert the Bruce is injured and on the run from the English army. This led to his papal excommunication and Edward outlawed his rule. He married MARJORY, (daughter of NIGEL and MARGARET STEWART). Directed by Richard Gray. After being defeated at a battle, Bruce escaped and found a … "Braveheart," in epic and violent terms, looked to the failed rebellion of Scottish Wallace against the English. Edward I, whose garrisons held many of the important castles in Scotland, regarded him as a traitor and made every effort to crush a movement that he treated as a rebellion. In June 1313 de Mowbray put an offer to Edward de Bruce. Robert the Bruce’s place in history was sealed long before Chris Pine starred in this season’s Outlaw King, but how well does Netflix portray the infamous Scot?. After Wallace's death, happened in 1306, Robert the Bruce was proclaimed King of Scotland in 1307, with the name of Robert I. Comyn, a nephew of John de Balliol, was a possible rival for the crown, and Bruce’s actions suggest that he had already decided to seize the throne. Robert the Bruce and a Spider ~ Legend Stories for Kids . On February 10, 1306, Robert the Bruce and his supporters killed a rival for the throne, John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch at Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Scotland. Suddenly the mood changed. The Franco-Scottish alliance was renewed in the Treaty of Corbeil, by which the Scots were obliged to make war on England should hostilities break out between England and France. On February 10, 1306 a meeting was arranged between Robert the Bruce and John Comyn at the church of the Greyfriars at Dumfries, Scotland. Robert the Bruce drew up the Declaration of Arbroath which defined Scotland's sovereignty and Robert's right to be King. #5 Bruce stabbed John Comyn to death before the altar in a church. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. It is an anglification of his real name, Robert de Brus. The fourth Robert de Bruce married the daughter of William I, king of Scotland. James Douglas, knighted at Bannockburn, acquired important lands in the counties of Selkirk and Roxburgh that became the nucleus of the later power of the Douglas family on the borders. From a personal perspective, the Bruce family was in a difficult position. Robert the Bruce (1274–1329) proclaimed his right to the Scottish throne in 1306 and is remembered as a hero of Scotland who waged a highly successful guerrilla war against occupying English forces. Robert was born on 11 July 1274 into an aristocratic Scottish family. Read more. It was a good thing that he was both brave and wise, because the times in which he lived were wild and dangerous. Questions and answers about Robert the Bruce. In 1921 a cone-shaped casket containing a heart was uncovered during excavations at the abbey, reburied at that time, and reexcavated in 1996. In 1306, following his murder of his rival for the throne, John Comyn, Robert the Bruce defied Edward I by having himself crowned King of Scots at Scone Abbey. He married MARJORY, (daughter of NIGEL and MARGARET STEWART). Unable to make any significant progress, he struck a deal with the castle's commander, Sir Philip Mowbray, that if the castle was not relieved by Midsummer Day (June 24) it would be surrendered to the Scots. The English king, Edward I, was asked to arbitrate and chose John Balliol to be king. Robert himself defeated John Comyn, earl of Buchan (a cousin of the slain John “the Red”), and in 1313 captured Perth, which had been in the hands of an English garrison. Robert the Bruce was the eighth descendant of a Norman knight who was called Robert de Bruce after a Norman castle known as Bruis or Brix. When the English king Edward I decided in favour of John de Balliol, Robert de Bruce resigned Annandale to his son, the seventh Robert (1253–1304), who was already (by marriage) Earl of Carrick. After the death of Edward I, his son Edward II compiled the … It was a good thing that he was both brave and wise, because the times in which he lived were wild and dangerous. Four years later, Robert received papal recognition as king of an independent Scotland. In the spring of 1314, Edward Bruce, brother of King Robert the Bruc e, laid siege to English-held Stirling Castle. His father had both Norman blood, as the surname suggests, and royal Scots blood in his veins, and his mother was from one of the oldest noble Celtic families in Scotland. With Angus Macfadyen, Diarmaid Murtagh, Jared Harris, Stephen Murphy. In later times Robert I came to be revered as one of the heroes of Scottish national sentiment and legend. His decisive victory over Edward II’s army at Bannockburn in 1314 finally won the freedom he had struggled for. Robert the Bruce, or Robert de Brus was born on 11 July, 1274. Robert Bruce as Earl of Carrick, and now 7th Lord of Annandale, held huge estates and property in Scotland and a barony and some minor properties in England, and a strong claim to the Scottish throne. The offer was that if Stirling Castle was not relieved by Midsummer’s Day 1314, 24th June, de Mowbray would surrender the castle to de Bruce. Robert the Bruce and the Spider Bruce statue at the entrance to Edinburgh Castle. Learn more about Guardian Labs content Statue of Robert the Bruce at the Bannockburn Heritage Centre, Bannockburn, Stirling, Scotland. Descendants of Robert Bruce . However, free of his rival, Robert the … This was sent to the Pope in the hope that he would lift the excommunication order under which Robert was still held for the death of John Comyn in 1306. In 1306, Robert the Bruce argued with Comyn, accusing Comyn of treachery which he disputed. With so many English nobles taken prisoner, the women were the price demanded in the exchange of hostages. His father, the seventh Robert de Bruce (died 1304), resigned the title of earl of Carrick in his favour in 1292, but little else is known of his career until 1306. 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