McNamee Colm - Robert Bruce : Our Most Valiant Prince, King and Lord

For John

This ebook edition published in 2012 by
Birlinn Limited
West Newington House
Newington Road
Edinburgh
EH9 1QS
www.birlinn.co.uk

First published in 2006 by Birlinn Limited

Copyright Colm McNamee 2006

The moral right of Colm McNamee to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the express written permission of the publisher.

ebook ISBN: 978-0-85790-496-6
ISBN: 978-1-84158-475-1

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Stories are enjoyable

Even if they are only fables

So stories that are true

If told entertainingly

Give double pleasure in the hearing.

John Barbour, The Bruce, c. 1375

1. Robert Bruce and Elisabeth de Burgh from the Seton Armorial, 1591.
In April 2006, a poll of 1,000 respondents was taken by Stirling University to discover who is considered to be the greatest Scot of all time. William Wallace came first with 36% of the vote, Robert Burns next with 16% and Robert the Bruce third with 12%. Seven hundred years after his seizure of the throne of Scotland, Robert retains an attraction and relevance for most Scots. (From the Seton Armorial Trustees of the National Library of Scotland)

This book is intended as a work of popular history; a distillation of secondary sources, providing a reliable and one hopes entertaining biography for general readers. The original idea for such a book was John Tuckwells, and I am grateful to him for asking me to write it. It is important to me that people who read this book enjoy it, and I have tried to put into the writing some of the enthusiasm I feel for the subject. I love this story, of a hero whose humanity comes across so strongly; of a genius who made some terrible errors, but who was vindicated; of burning ambition realised, but at a terrible cost.

In this seven-hundredth anniversary year it is important to commemorate one who had a profound impact upon developments right across these islands; one who, from whatever mixture of motives, has inspired generations to stand up to insult, tyranny and aggression.

As the book is intended for the general reader, rather than the scholar, I have chosen not to pepper the text with references. Rather, notes detailing sources and acknowledging the insights of other authors have been provided on a chapter by chapter basis in the end matter. I have also forsaken strictly accurate rendering of proper names for their popular equivalents.

Belfast, August 2006

For technical reasons, I am unable to alter the main text of the book, but Hugh Andrew at Birlinn has kindly offered me the chance to add a preface to this reprint so that I can append some of what I now know. I cannot attempt a thorough update of the book in a few pages for too much subsequent research had been published, but I must correct what I now know to be errors. I will deal with these points in the order in which they relate to Robert Bruces career. I hope to change the text itself at the first available opportunity.

Ruth M. Blakely, in her book The Brus Family in England and Scotland 11001295 (Boydell Press, 2005), p. 75 points out that the death of the Scottish queen, Joan, in 1238 would have thrown into high relief Robert the Nobles position as the kings closest male relative and may therefore have had a bearing on the origin of the Bruce claim to the Scottish throne, described on page 36 of this book.

Since I completed this book, Alexander Grant published an article entitled The Death of John Comyn: What Was Going On? in the Scottish Historical Review vol. LXXXVI, 2: no. 222 October 2007, 176224, which reconsiders at length the fatal meeting between Robert Bruce and John Comyn in Dumfries in February 1306. It looks at the chronicle traditions relating to the incident and includes a full discussion as to whether the killing might have been premeditated. We will never know what exactly took place; however, if I were writing the book now, I would pay close attention to Grants train of thought.

On p. 129 of this book, I state that there is no record that Aymer de Valences force of 30 horse encountered Bruces force at Glen Trool in April 1307. When writing, I suspected that the encounter described by Professor Duncan in