Re: Braveheart

[kuijt@umiacs.UMD.EDU]

>	Edward wrote;
>	> I think the problem with making Robert the Bruce the hero of
>	> a movie is that he did some unheroic things, like stabbing
>	> his rival while he was praying in church, and leaving William
>	> Wallace in the lurch.  Or am I thinking of MacBeth?

Corun responds:
>Don't you mean Robert Bruce, the great (or is it great great) granfather
>of Robert "the" Bruce, aka Robert I of Scotland? Or is there another
>William Wallace I don't know about? Heck, the Bruce family had Roberts
>at least as far back as before 1141, the year Robert Bruce, First Lord of
>Annandale died. I think it was this Bruce who fought with the Wallace
>of Braveheart. Wasn't it???

Nope.  Robert the Bruce (later King of Scotland) was the guy who
stabbed John Comyn the Red while he was praying in church.  He also
was an on-again-off-again buddy of Edward I of England, and abandoned
Scotland for England at several points, one of them being after Wallace's
defeat in 1298.

1290: Margaret, the Maid of Norway, who became Queen of Scots at the age
of 3, dies on the way to Scotland (7 years old).  Thus ends the house
of Canmore.  13 competitors lay claim to the throne of Scotland.  Two
of them are Robert Bruce, 5th lord Annandale, and John Baliol.  King
Edward I of England (Edward Longshanks, later named "The Hammer of the
Scots", the same guy who conquered Wales and killed Llewelyn ap Iorweth
(Llewelyn the Last) and built many castles in Wales) was asked to
decide the issue.  He used this as leverage (with other previous 
leverage) to persuade the Competitors to acknowledge him as overlord
of Scotland.

1292 Edward decides in favour of John Balliol.  Balliol becomes King
of Scots.  Edward spends several years humiliating him.

1295 Balliol initiates the Auld Alliance (Scotland and France), signing
a treaty with France.  This makes Edward angry (no surprise).

1296 Edward invades Scotland, crushes Balliol's revolt.  Strips Baliol
of his crown and moves the Stone of Scone to Westminster.  Proceeds
to hammer the Scots.

1297 William Wallace gets ticked off with being hammered.  He murders
the English sheriff of Lanark, harasses the English court at Scone,
runs a guerilla war for a while, then when the English respond in
force he defeats them at Stirling Bridge (with Andrew Moray, who is
killed in the battle).  Wallace names himself Guardian of Scotland.
At this point Robert "the" Bruce is 24, the grandson of the Competitor
Robert.

1298 Edward himself gets into the act and defeats Wallace at Falkirk.
Wallace resigns the Guardianship, and spends 7 years in hiding before
being captured at Glasgow.  Robert "the" Bruce and John Comyn the Red
replace him as joint Guardians (Bruce is the grandson of the Competitor
Bruce; Comyn is the ?nephew of John Balliol).  The two joint Guardians
have a big fight, and Bruce goes back to rejoin Edward.  He gets a pardon
in 1302.

1305 Wallace is captured, taken to Westminster, convicted of treason,
hung, drawn, and quartered.  The pieces of his body are taken to Newcastle,
Berwick, Sterling, and Perth.

1306 Robert the Bruce, ostensibly trying to get a reconciliation with
Comyn, stabs him to death in a church.  Edward I makes him outlaw and
Clement V (the Pope) excommunicates him for this murder.  Figuring
that he didn't have a lot to lose, Bruce claims the throne of Scotland
and has a real quicky coronation.  He is defeated by the English
at Methuen and Dalry, and flees into the highlands.

1307 Edward I dies, much simplifying the task of freeing Scotland from
the English yoke :^)  Edward II, who succeeds him, is ineffectual and
weak.  

Using guerilla warfare (much as Wallace had), Bruce gradually drives
the English out of Scotland.  Finally, in 1314, Edward II has to do
something and comes up with a huge army to relieve Stirling Castle.
Bruce defeats them at Bannockburn.

1327 Edward III succeeds Edward II.  His mother, Isobel (the She-wolf
of France), and her lover are regents for a while, as the new King
is not yet at his majority.

1328 England accepts Bruce's sovereignty and Scotland's independence.

1329 Bruce dies.

1330 Sir James Douglas, taking the heart of Robert the Bruce to the
Holy Land on crusade, is killed fighting against the Moors in Grenada
(Spain).  Bruce's heart is sent back and buried in Scotland.


Sources available on request.

Dafydd