AncientPages.com - On July 11, 1274, Robert I, King of Scots, known as Robert the Bruce was born. He became one of Scotland's greatest kings. He ruled from March 25, 1306, until he died in 1329.
Bruce crowned King of Scots; modern tableau at Edinburgh Castle. Image via wikipedia
Robert the Bruce is honored as a Scottish National hero who led Scotland during the Wars of Scottish Independence against the English, claiming the Scottish throne in 1306 as the fourth great-grandson of David I of Scotland. He was the king who lived to see Scotland as an Independent Nation.
Robert was born into an aristocratic Scottish family though very little is known of his youth until age 18. Through his father, he was distantly related to the Scottish royal family. His mother had Gaelic antecedents. Bruce's grandfather was one of the claimants to the Scottish throne during a succession dispute in 1290 - 1292.
The English king, Edward I, authorized to arbitrate in the dispute, chose John Balliol to be king, which was not accepted by Bruce and his father, who instead supported Edward I's invasion of Scotland in 1296 to force Balliol to abdicate.
Edward then ruled Scotland as a province of England.
Image showing Pilkington Jackson's statue of Bruce at Bannockburn and an axe, believed to be a Victorian hoax, found on the site of the battlefield in the 19th century. Part of a display in the National Museum for Scotland.
Edward I, king of England, sought to take advantage of the situation to bring Scotland under English control. An extended period of various battles began, and this period of warfare between the Scots and England lasted until the 1320s.
This period is known as the Wars of Independence. It was a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries).
Due to continued harassment by Edward II, in 1320, Scottish nobles and churchmen signed the Declaration of Arbroath, declaring Robert, the rightful king of Scotland. The pope later also agreed and recognized Robert as King.
Edward II was deposed as king in 1327, and the English made peace with Scotland. In May 1328, King Edward III of England signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, which recognized Scotland as an independent kingdom.
Robert died on June 7, 1329, at the Manor of Cardross, near Dumbarton.
His body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, and his heart is in Melrose Abbey. His embalmed heart was taken on a crusade to Spain on his request by Sir James Douglas to fight against the Moors. However, Douglas was killed during the campaign.
Eventually, Robert's heart in its silver casket was returned to Melrose Abbey
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