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Robert the Bruce was born on the 11th of July 1274 to Robert de Brus the 6th Lord of Annandale and Marjorie the Countess of Carrick. In 1286 King Alexander III died without a male heir and the throne fell to 3 year-old Margaret of Norway (Alexander´s great granddaughter). At the end of 1290 she died in Orkney on her way to Scotland and with no heir apparent events began to slip towards civil war. The two main opposing factions were the Balliol and Bruce families. Fearing an outright war the ill-advised Guardians of Scotland and notable Scots magnates appealed to the English King Edward I to act as arbiter. Edward I had other plans and immediately set about forcing his acceptance as overlord of the country.
In 1292 Edward awarded the throne to John Balliol otherwise known as Toom Tabard which means empty shirt. Balliol was repeatedly humiliated by the English king as he sought to reduce Scotland to a vassal state. King John I of Scotland seemed unwilling or unable to do anything about it and when a new group of Scottish Guardians negotiated a treaty with France in 1295 (the Auld Alliance) Edward I went ahead and invaded. In 1296 the Scots were defeated and Balliol abdicated his throne and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was eventually released into the Pope´s custody but despite Wallace fighting on in his name he never returned to regain his throne and eventually died on his family´s estates in France.
After 8 years of war with England culminating in a massive defeat for the Scots in 1304 many submitted to Edward I who tried to impose direct rule from Westminster. The peace did not last long. In 1305 and again in 1306 Robert Bruce, then earl of Carrick, led a full scale revolt. Bruce wanted the throne and so he murdered his main rival, John Comyn, in a church, this rather rash action came back to bite him later as the Pope held a grudge. Bruce then deposed King John and had himself crowned King Robert I. This act saw the beginning of the Balliol - Bruce civil war. Bruce showed his ambition by seizing the throne , he also showed his impatience which was to cost him. The Comyn and Balliol faction opposed to Bruce saw him as a greater threat than the English and so they allied with Edward I. The Scottish people now had to choose a side. Most had supported King John but now this meant supporting an ally of the English, either that or support Bruce who had taken the throne from King John but was fighting for the Freedom of Scotland. Most people chose to wait, eager not to back a loser, so Bruce had little support. He led his army to two crushing defeats firstly from the English and then from the lord of Argyll (a kinsman of the Comyn and Balliol faction). Bruce had to flee from Scotland to evade capture. Most of his supporters surrendered or were captured by Edward I who promptly had them all executed hoping to crush the independence cause altogether. He killed most of Bruce´s friends and family but could not kill the cause.
In early 1307 Bruce returned to Carrick, raised a small army and defeated some English soldiers in Ayrshire. He then moved north and over two years succeeded in beating the leaders of the Comyn and Balliol faction. Robert I now ruled most of Scotland north of the Forth and much of the south-west. This change in fortune for Bruce was largely due to his decision to engage in guerilla warfare and he proved to be a skilled tactician. He avoided major pitched battles, chose to fight on ground suited to his men, and concentrated on ambushing and dismantling enemy strongholds so preventing them from being used against him later. Luckily events down South also went Bruce´s way, first of all Edward I died, then his son Edward the II proved himself to be far less talented than his militaristic father and soon there were distracting political problems in England. Bruce went to Moray to appeal for the help of the lesser men, since there was no earl, these men provided most of his army. This was a clever tactical move as Moray split the lands held by the Comyn and Balliol faction and prevented them from joining forces against Bruce. With his power base established Bruce turned his attentions to the English and began to reclaim the rest of Scotland from them.
Abandoning his guerilla warfare Bruce faced the English army at Bannockburn in 1314 and utterly defeated them. This victory gave him the support of the Scottish people and the majority of the landed nobles pledged their allegiance, those who refused lost their land which was duly awarded to various families who had fought alongside Bruce further cementing his position. All the major castles were back in Scottish hands, treaties were signed with Norway and France but predictably enough the English refused to acknowledge both Scottish independence and his kingship.
Over the next few years Robert´s brother Edward led a campaign in Ireland against the English in which Robert himself fought. This kept the English busy and prevented further invasions into Scotland. There was brief talk of a Celtic alliance to crush the English (Wales, Ireland and Scotland) but it all ended in 1318 when Edward Bruce was killed in Ireland.
The next setback suffered by Bruce was the ex-communication from the pope for the killing of Comyn and seizure of the throne. The reply was three letters one of which was the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 which was intended to show that Bruce was fighting a just war against the English, the pope remained unimpressed. Robert continued to raid the North of England mercilessly, he took Berwick in 1320 and in 1323 Edward II signed a truce.
Bruce showed political skill by signing the treaty of Corbeil with France in 1326 making Scotland and France military allies; this was to prove important later. In 1327 Edward III gained the English throne at the age of 14, Bruce seized the opportunity and invaded the North of England appearing to annex Northumberland. Edward III sued for peace which resulted in the Anglo-Scottish treaty of 1328 and England´s formal acknowledgement of Scotland´s independence.
Bruce died on the 7th June 1329 and was buried in Dunfermline Abbey. In accordance with his wishes his right hand man Sir James Douglas removed his heart and took it on crusade with him to Spain where he was killed. According to legend the heart was eventually found and returned to Scotland to be buried at Melrose Abbey.
