Editing Robert the Bruce (section)

== Earl of Carrick (1292–1306) ==
=== Bruces regroup ===
[[File:Robert I and Isabella of Mar.jpg|thumb|Robert the Bruce and his first wife [[Isabella of Mar]], as depicted in the 1562 Forman Armorial]]

Even after John's accession, Edward continued to assert his authority over Scotland, and relations between the two kings soon deteriorated. The Bruces sided with King Edward against King John and his Comyn allies. Robert the Bruce and his father both considered John a usurper.<ref>Fordun, Scotichronicon, p. 309.</ref><ref name="Macnamee 2006 50">{{harvnb|Macnamee|2006|p=50}}</ref> Against the objections of the Scots, Edward I agreed to hear appeals on cases ruled on by the court of the Guardians that had governed Scotland during the interregnum.<ref name="Barrow 2005 86–88">{{harvnb|Barrow|2005|pp=86–88}}</ref> A further provocation came in a case brought by Macduff, son of [[Maol Choluim II, Earl of Fife|Malcolm, Earl of Fife]], in which Edward demanded that John appear in person before the [[English Parliament]] to answer the charges.<ref name="Barrow 2005 86–88"/> This the Scottish king did, but the final straw was Edward's demand that the Scottish magnates provide military service in England's war against France.<ref name="Barrow 2005 86–88"/> This was unacceptable; the Scots instead formed an [[Auld Alliance|alliance]] with France.<ref>{{harvnb|Barrow|2005|pp=88–91}}</ref>

The Comyn-dominated council acting in the name of King John summoned the Scottish host to meet at [[Caddonlee]] on 11 March. The Bruces and the earls of [[Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus|Angus]] and [[Patrick IV, Earl of March|March]] refused, and the Bruce family withdrew temporarily from Scotland, while the Comyns seized their estates in Annandale and Carrick, granting them to [[John Comyn, Earl of Buchan]].<ref name="Macnamee 2006 50"/> Edward I thereupon provided a safe refuge for the Bruces, having appointed the Lord of Annandale to the command of [[Carlisle Castle]] in October 1295.<ref name="Macnamee 2006 53">{{harvnb|Macnamee|2006|p=53}}</ref> At some point in early 1296, Robert married his first wife, [[Isabella of Mar]], the daughter of [[Domhnall I, Earl of Mar]]. Isabella died shortly after their marriage, either during or shortly after the birth of their only child, [[Marjorie Bruce]].<ref>{{harvnb|Penman|2014|p=39}}</ref>

=== Beginning of the Wars of Independence ===
Almost the first blow in the [[First War of Scottish Independence|war between Scotland and England]] was a direct attack on the Bruces. On 26 March 1296, Easter Monday, seven Scottish earls made a surprise attack on the walled city of [[Carlisle]], which was not so much an attack against England as the Comyn Earl of Buchan and their faction attacking their Bruce enemies.<ref>Duncan, Kingship, p. 322.</ref> Both his father and grandfather were at one time Governors of the Castle, and following the loss of Annandale to Comyn in 1295, it was their principal residence. Robert Bruce would have gained first-hand knowledge of the city's defences. The next time Carlisle was besieged, in 1315, Robert the Bruce would lead the attack.<ref name="Macnamee 2006 53"/>

Edward I responded to King John's alliance with France and the attack on Carlisle by invading Scotland at the end of March 1296 and taking the town of [[Berwick-upon-Tweed|Berwick]] in a particularly [[Capture of Berwick (1296)|bloody attack]] upon the flimsy palisades.<ref>M. Strickland, "A Law of Arms or a Law of Treason? Conduct in War in Edward I's Campaigns in Scotland, 1296–1307", Violence in Medieval Society, ed. R.W. Kaeuper (Woodbridge, 2000), pp. 64–66.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Barrow|2005|pp=99–100}}</ref> At the [[Battle of Dunbar (1296)|Battle of Dunbar]], Scottish resistance was effectively crushed.<ref>{{Harvnb|Prestwich|1997|pp=471–473}}</ref> Edward deposed King John, placed him in the [[Tower of London]], and installed Englishmen to govern the country. The campaign had been very successful, but the English triumph would be only temporary.<ref name="Macnamee 2006 53"/><ref>{{Harvnb|Prestwich|1997|p=376}}</ref>

Although the Bruces were by now back in possession of Annandale and Carrick, in August 1296 Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale, and his son, Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick and future king, were among the more than 1,500 Scots at Berwick<ref>{{harvnb|Barrow|2005|pp=75–77}}</ref> who swore an oath of [[fealty]] to King Edward I of England.<ref>{{harvnb|Macnamee|2006|p=60}}</ref> When the Scottish revolt against Edward I broke out in July 1297, [[James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland]], led into rebellion a group of disaffected Scots, including [[Robert Wishart]], [[Bishop of Glasgow]], [[Macduff of Fife]], and the young Robert Bruce.<ref name="Macnamee 2006 63">{{harvnb|Macnamee|2006|p=63}}</ref> The future king was now twenty-two, and in joining the rebels he seems to have been acting independently of his father, who took no part in the rebellion and appears to have abandoned Annandale once more for the safety of Carlisle. It appears that Robert Bruce had fallen under the influence of his grandfather's friends, Wishart and Stewart, who had inspired him to resistance.<ref name="Macnamee 2006 63"/> With the outbreak of the revolt, Robert left Carlisle and made his way to Annandale, where he called together the knights of his ancestral lands and, according to the English chronicler [[Walter of Guisborough]], addressed them thus:

{{blockquote|No man holds his own flesh and blood in hatred and I am no exception. I must join my own people and the nation in which I was born. I ask that you please come with me and you will be my councillors and close comrades.<ref name="Macnamee 2006 63"/><ref>from The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough (previously edited as the Chronicle of Walter of Hemingford or Hemingburgh)</ref>}}

Urgent letters were sent ordering Bruce to support Edward's commander, [[John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey]] (to whom Bruce was related), in the summer of 1297; but instead of complying, Bruce continued to support the revolt against Edward I. That Bruce was in the forefront of inciting rebellion is shown in a letter written to Edward by [[Hugh Cressingham]] on 23 July 1292, which reports the opinion that "if you had the earl of Carrick, the Steward of Scotland and his brother ... you would think your business done".<ref>{{harvnb|Macnamee|2006|p=64}}</ref> On 7 July, Bruce and his friends made terms with Edward by a treaty called the [[Capitulation of Irvine]]. The Scottish lords were not to serve beyond the sea against their will and were pardoned for their recent violence in return for swearing allegiance to King Edward. The Bishop of Glasgow, James the Steward, and Sir Alexander Lindsay became sureties for Bruce until he delivered his infant daughter [[Marjorie Bruce|Marjorie]] as a hostage, which he never did.<ref>{{cite book |title=Robert Bruce: Our Most Valiant, Prince, King, and Lord |date=2006 |publisher=Birlinn |location=Edinburgh |page=101 |url=http://history-books.weebly.com/uploads/6/9/9/0/6990231/robert_bruce__our_most_valiant_prince_kin_-_mcnamee_colm.pdf}}</ref>

When King Edward returned to England after his victory at the [[Battle of Falkirk]], the Bruce's possessions were excepted from the Lordships and lands that Edward assigned to his followers. The reason for this is uncertain, though Fordun records Robert fighting for Edward, at Falkirk, under the command of [[Antony Bek (bishop of Durham)|Antony Bek]], [[Bishop of Durham]], [[Annandale, Dumfries and Galloway|Annandale]] and [[Carrick, Scotland|Carrick]]. This participation is contested as no Bruce appears on the [[Battle of Falkirk#The Falkirk Roll of Arms|Falkirk roll]] of nobles present in the English army, and two 19th Century antiquarians, Alexander Murison and George Chalmers, have stated that Bruce did not participate, and in the following month decided to lay waste to Annandale and burn Ayr Castle, to prevent it being garrisoned by the English.

=== Guardian ===
[[William Wallace]] resigned as [[Guardian of Scotland]] after his defeat at the [[Battle of Falkirk]]. He was succeeded by Robert Bruce and [[John Comyn]] as joint Guardians, but they could not see past their personal differences. As a nephew and supporter of King John, and as someone with a serious claim to the Scottish throne, Comyn was Bruce's enemy. In 1299, [[William Lamberton]], [[Bishop of St. Andrews]], was appointed as a third, neutral Guardian to try to maintain order between Bruce and Comyn. The following year, Bruce finally resigned as joint Guardian and was replaced by Sir [[Gilbert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus]]. In May 1301, Umfraville, Comyn, and Lamberton also resigned as joint Guardians and were replaced by Sir [[John de Soules (Guardian of Scotland)|John de Soules]] as sole Guardian. Soules was appointed largely because he was part of neither the Bruce nor the Comyn camps and was a patriot. He was an active Guardian and made renewed efforts to have King John returned to the Scottish throne.

In July 1301 King Edward I launched his sixth campaign into Scotland. Though he captured the castles of [[Bothwell Castle|Bothwell]] and [[Turnberry Castle|Turnberry]], he did little to damage the Scots' fighting ability, and in January 1302 he agreed to a nine-month truce. It was around this time that Robert the Bruce submitted to Edward, along with other nobles, even though he had been on the side of the Scots until then. There were rumours that [[John Balliol]] would return to regain the Scottish throne. Soules, who had probably been appointed by John, supported his return, as did most other nobles. But it was no more than a rumour and nothing came of it.

In March 1302, Bruce sent a letter to the monks at [[Melrose Abbey]] apologising for having called tenants of the monks to service in his army when there had been no national call-up. Bruce pledged that, henceforth, he would "never again" require the monks to serve unless it was to "the common army of the whole realm", for national defence. Bruce also married his second wife that year, [[Elizabeth de Burgh]], the daughter of [[Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster]], in Writtle, near Chelmsford in Essex. Elizabeth was about 13 at the time, and Bruce 28. By Elizabeth he had four children: [[David II of Scotland|David II]], John (died in childhood), Matilda (who married Thomas Isaac and died at Aberdeen 20 July 1353), and Margaret (who married [[William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland]] in 1345).

In 1303, Edward invaded again, reaching [[Edinburgh]] before marching to [[Perth, Scotland|Perth]]. Edward stayed in Perth until July, then proceeded via [[Dundee]], [[Brechin]], and [[Montrose, Angus|Montrose]] to [[Aberdeen]], where he arrived in August. From there he marched through [[Province of Moray|Moray]] to [[Badenoch]] before re-tracing his path back south to [[Dunfermline]]. With the country now under submission, all the leading Scots, except for William Wallace, surrendered to Edward in February 1304. John Comyn, who was by now Guardian again, submitted to Edward. The laws and liberties of Scotland were to be as they had been in the days of [[Alexander III of Scotland|Alexander III]], and any that needed alteration would be with the assent of King Edward and the advice of the Scots nobles.

On 11 June 1304, Bruce and William Lamberton made a pact that bound them, each to the other, in "friendship and alliance against all men." If one should break the secret pact, he would forfeit to the other the sum of ten thousand pounds. The pact is often interpreted{{by whom|date=July 2015}} as a sign of their patriotism despite both having already surrendered to the English. Homage was again obtained from the nobles and the burghs, and a parliament was held to elect those who would meet later in the year with the English parliament to establish rules for the governance of Scotland. The [[John II, Duke of Brittany|Earl of Richmond]], Edward's nephew, was to head up the subordinate government of Scotland. While all this took place, William Wallace was finally captured near [[Glasgow]], and he was hanged, drawn, and quartered in London on 23 August 1305.

In September 1305, Edward ordered Robert Bruce to put his [[Kildrummy Castle|castle at Kildrummy]], "in the keeping of such a man as he himself will be willing to answer for," suggesting that King Edward suspected Robert was not entirely trustworthy and may have been plotting behind his back. However, an identical phrase appears in an agreement between Edward and his lieutenant and lifelong friend, [[Aymer de Valence]]. A further sign of Edward's distrust occurred on 10 October 1305, when Edward revoked his gift of Sir Gilbert de Umfraville's lands to Bruce that he had made only six months before.<ref name="Scott 1982 72">{{harvnb|Scott|1982|p=72}}</ref>

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.

=== Murder of John Comyn ===
[[File:Death of Comyn.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The killing of [[John Comyn]] in the [[Greyfriars, Dumfries|Greyfriars church]] in Dumfries, as imagined by [[Félix Philippoteaux]], a 19th-century illustrator]]

Bruce, like all his family, had a complete belief in his right to the throne.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stevenson |first=J. H. |date=1927 |title=The Law of the Throne: Tanistry and the Introduction of the Law of Primogeniture: A Note on the Succession of the Kings of Scotland from Kenneth MacAlpin to Robert Bruce. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25525771 |journal=The Scottish Historical Review |volume=25 |issue=97 |pages=1–12 |jstor=25525771 }}</ref> His ambition was further thwarted by [[John Comyn]], who supported John Balliol. Comyn was the most powerful noble in Scotland and was related to many other powerful nobles both within Scotland and England, including relatives that held the earldoms of Buchan, Mar, Ross, Fife, Angus, Dunbar, and Strathearn; the Lordships of Kilbride, Kirkintilloch, Lenzie, Bedrule, and Scraesburgh; and sheriffdoms in Banff, Dingwall, Wigtown, and Aberdeen. He also had a powerful claim to the Scottish throne through his descent from [[Donald III]] on his father's side and [[David I of Scotland|David I]] on his mother's side. Comyn was the nephew of [[John Balliol]].

According to Barbour and Fordoun, in the late summer of 1305, in a secret agreement sworn, signed, and sealed, John Comyn agreed to forfeit his claim to the Scottish throne in favour of Robert Bruce upon receipt of the Bruce lands in Scotland should an uprising occur led by Bruce.<ref>Fordun, ''Scotichronicon'', p. 330; Barbour, ''The Bruce'', p. 13.</ref> Whether the details of the agreement with Comyn are correct or not, King Edward moved to arrest Bruce while Bruce was still at the English court. [[Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron Monthermer|Ralph de Monthermer]] learned of Edward's intention and warned Bruce by sending him twelve pence and a pair of spurs. Bruce took the hint, and he and a squire fled the English court during the night. They made their way quickly for Scotland.<ref name="Scott 1982 72"/>

According to Barbour, Comyn betrayed his agreement with Bruce to King Edward I, and when Bruce arranged a meeting for 10 February 1306 with Comyn in the Chapel of [[Greyfriars, Dumfries|Greyfriars]] Monastery in [[Dumfries]] and accused him of treachery, they came to blows.<ref>Barbour, ''The Bruce'', p. 15.</ref> Bruce stabbed Comyn before the high altar. The ''[[Scotichronicon]]'' says that on being told that Comyn had survived the attack and was being treated, two of Bruce's supporters, [[Roger de Kirkpatrick]] (uttering the words "I mak siccar" ("I make sure")) and John Lindsay, went back into the church and finished Bruce's work. Barbour, however, tells no such story. The Flores Historiarum, which was written c. 1307, says Bruce and Comyn disagreed and Bruce drew his sword and struck Comyn over the head. Bruce supporters then ran up and stabbed Comyn with their swords.<ref>{{cite web |title=Flores Historiarum |url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/1307bruce.asp}}</ref> Bruce asserted his claim to the Scottish crown and began his campaign by force for the independence of Scotland.

Bruce and his party then attacked [[Dumfries Castle]] where the English garrison surrendered. Bruce hurried from Dumfries to Glasgow, where his friend and supporter Bishop Robert Wishart granted him absolution and subsequently adjured the clergy throughout the land to rally to Bruce.<ref>{{harvnb|Scott|1982|p=74}}</ref> Nonetheless, Bruce was [[excommunicated]] for this crime.