Editing Wars of Scottish Independence (section)

===King Robert the Bruce: 1306–1328===

[[File:Bannockburn Monument plaque - geograph.org.uk - 1538086.jpg|thumb|upright|Bannockburn Monument plaque]]
On 10 February 1306, during a meeting between Bruce and Comyn, the two surviving claimants for the Scottish throne, Bruce quarrelled with and killed John Comyn at Greyfriars Kirk in [[Dumfries]].   At this moment the rebellion was sparked again.<ref>{{cite book |title=King Robert the Bruce |first=A. F. |last=Murison |edition=reprint 2005 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |date=1899 |isbn=978-1417914944 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iMEMc45g9s8C}}</ref>

Comyn, it seems, had broken an agreement between the two, and informed King Edward of Bruce's plans to be king. The agreement was that one of the two claimants would renounce his claim on the throne of Scotland, but receive lands from the other and support his claim. Comyn appears to have thought to get both the lands and the throne by betraying Bruce to the English. A messenger carrying documents from Comyn to Edward was captured by Bruce and his party, plainly implicating Comyn. Bruce then rallied the Scottish [[prelate]]s and nobles behind him and had himself crowned King of Scots at [[Scone, Scotland|Scone]] less than five weeks after the killing in Dumfries. He then began a new campaign to free his kingdom. After being defeated in the Battle of Methven, he was driven from the Scottish mainland as an outlaw as Edward I declared that his supporters would be given no quarter, and his wife Queen Elizabeth, daughter Marjorie and younger sisters Christina and Mary were captured by the English. Bruce returned to the mainland in 1307. King Robert's forces continued to grow in strength, encouraged in part by the death of Edward I in July 1307. The [[Battle of Loudoun Hill]], the [[Battle of the Pass of Brander]], and the captures of Roxburgh Castle and Edinburgh Castle saw the English continually lose ground in their control of the country. The [[Battle of Bannockburn]] in 1314 was a pivotal event in the course of the war, after which the family members of Bruce captive in England were returned. In 1318, the Scots completed the expulsion of the English by retaking the then Scottish city of Berwick-Upon-Tweed in April 1318.

In 1320, the [[Declaration of Arbroath]] was sent by a group of Scottish nobles to the [[Pope]] affirming Scottish independence from England. Two similar declarations were also sent by the nobles, clergy and Robert I. In 1324, [[Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray|Thomas Randolph]], Earl of Moray was sent to meet the Pope in person at his court in Avignon. Randolph successfully persuaded Pope John to recognise Robert as King of Scots, a major diplomatic coup. In 1327, [[Edward II of England]] was deposed and killed and his son [[Edward III of England]] assumed the throne. Repeated invasions of the north of England by Robert or his war leaders, culminating in the [[Battle of Stanhope Park]], in which the English king was nearly captured, forced Edward III to sign the [[Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton]] on 1 May 1328. This recognised the independence of Scotland and Robert the Bruce as King. To further seal the peace, Robert's son and heir [[David II of Scotland|David]] married the sister of Edward III.