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    KING ROBERT
    THE BRUCE:




FAMOUS SCOTS SERIES


_The following Volumes are now ready_:--

  THOMAS CARLYLE. By HECTOR C. MacPHERSON.
  ALLAN RAMSAY. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
  HUGH MILLER. By W. KEITH LEASK.
  JOHN KNOX. By A. TAYLOR INNES.
  ROBERT BURNS. By GABRIEL SETOUN.
  THE BALLADISTS. By JOHN GEDDIE.
  RICHARD CAMERON. By PROFESSOR HERKLESS.
  SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON. By EVE BLANTYRE SIMPSON.
  THOMAS CHALMERS. By Professor W. GARDEN BLAIKIE.
  JAMES BOSWELL. By W. KEITH LEASK.
  TOBIAS SMOLLETT. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
  FLETCHER OF SALTOUN. By G. W. T. OMOND.
  THE "BLACKWOOD" GROUP. By Sir GEORGE DOUGLAS.
  NORMAN MacLEOD. By JOHN WELLWOOD.
  SIR WALTER SCOTT. By Professor SAINTSBURY.
  KIRKCALDY OF GRANGE. By LOUIS A. BARBE.
  ROBERT FERGUSSON. By A. B. GROSART.
  JAMES THOMSON. By WILLIAM BAYNE.
  MUNGO PARK. By T. BANKS MacLACHLAN.
  DAVID HUME. By Professor CALDERWOOD.
  WILLIAM DUNBAR. By OLIPHANT SMEATON.
  SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. By Professor MURISON.
  ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. By MARGARET MOYES BLACK.
  THOMAS REID. By Professor CAMPBELL FRASER.
  POLLOK AND AYTOUN. By ROSALINE MASSON.
  ADAM SMITH. By HECTOR C. MacPHERSON.
  ANDREW MELVILLE. By WILLIAM MORISON.
  JAMES FREDERICK FERRIER. By E. S. HALDANE.
  KING ROBERT THE BRUCE. By A. F. MURISON.




[Illustration]

    KING ROBERT
    THE BRUCE

    BY

    A. F.
    MURISON

    FAMOUS
    SCOTS
    SERIES

    PUBLISHED BY
    OLIPHANT ANDERSON
    & FERRIER. EDINBURGH
    AND LONDON




The designs and ornaments of this volume are by Mr Joseph Brown, and
the printing from the press of Messrs Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh.

    _July 1899._




    ALMAE MATRI
    VNIVERSITATI ABERDONENSI




    "O, ne'er shall the fame of the patriot decay--
    De Bruce! in thy name still our country rejoices;
    It thrills Scottish heart-strings, it swells Scottish voices,
    As it did when the Bannock ran red from the fray.
    Thine ashes in darkness and silence may lie;
    But ne'er, mighty hero, while earth hath its motion,
    While rises the day-star, or rolls forth the ocean,
    Can thy deeds be eclipsed or their memory die:
    They stand thy proud monument, sculptur'd sublime
    By the chisel of Fame on the Tablet of Time."




PREFACE


The present volume on King Robert the Bruce is the historical
complement to the former volume on Sir William Wallace. Together they
outline, from the standpoint of the leading spirits, the prolonged and
successful struggle of the Scots against the unprovoked aggression of
Edward I. and Edward II.--the most memorable episode in the history of
Scotland.

As in the story of Wallace, so in the story of Bruce, the narrative
is based on the primary authorities. Happily State records and
official papers supply much trustworthy material, which furnishes
also an invaluable test of the accuracy of the numerous and wayward
race of chroniclers. Barbour's poem, with all its errors of fact
and deflections of judgment, is eminently useful--in spite of the
indulgence of historical criticism.

There is no space here to set forth the long list of sources, or to
attempt a formal estimate of their comparative value. Some of them
appear incidentally in the text, though only where it seems absolutely
necessary to name them. The expert knows them; the general reader will
not miss them. Nor is there room for more than occasional argument on
controverted points; it has very frequently been necessary to signify
disapproval by mere silence. The writer, declining the guidance of
modern historians, has formed his own conclusions on an independent
study of the available materials.

After due reduction of the exaggerated pedestal of Patriotism reared
for Bruce by the indiscriminating, if not time-serving, eulogies
of Barbour and Fordun, and maintained for some five centuries, the
figure of the Hero still remains colossal: he completed the national
deliverance.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER I
                                                  PAGE
  THE ANCESTRY OF BRUCE                             11


  CHAPTER II

  OPPORTUNIST VACILLATION                           18


  CHAPTER III

  THE CORONATION OF BRUCE                           26


  CHAPTER IV

  DEFEAT AND DISASTER: METHVEN AND KILDRUMMY        36


  CHAPTER V

  THE KING IN EXILE                                 53


  CHAPTER VI

  THE TURN OF THE TIDE                              58


  CHAPTER VII

  RECONQUEST OF TERRITORY                           69


  CHAPTER VIII

  RECOVERY OF FORTRESSES                            84


  CHAPTER IX

  THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN                         92


  CHAPTER X

  INVASION OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND                  108


  CHAPTER XI

  CONCILIATION AND CONFLICT                        119


  CHAPTER XII

  PEACE AT THE SWORD'S POINT                       134


  CHAPTER XIII

  THE HEART OF THE BRUCE                           149




KING ROBERT THE BRUCE




CHAPTER I

THE ANCESTRY OF BRUCE


When Sir William Wallace, the sole apparent hope of Scottish
independence, died at the foot of the gallows in Smithfield, and was
torn limb from limb, it seemed that at last 'the accursed nation' would
quietly submit to the English yoke. The spectacle of the bleaching
bones of the heroic Patriot would, it was anticipated, overawe such of
his countrymen as might yet cherish perverse aspirations after national
freedom. It was a delusive anticipation. In fifteen years of arduous
diplomacy and warfare, with an astounding expenditure of blood and
treasure, Edward I. had crushed the leaders and crippled the resources
of Scotland, but he had inadequately estimated the spirit of the
nation. Only six months, and Scotland was again in arms. It is of the
irony of fate that the very man destined to bring Edward's calculations
to naught had been his most zealous officer in his last campaign, and
had, in all probability, been present at the trial--it may be at the
execution--of Wallace, silently consenting to his death. That man of
destiny was Sir Robert de Brus, Lord of Annandale and Earl of Carrick.

       *       *       *       *       *

The Bruces came over with the Conqueror. The theory of a Norse origin
in a follower of Rollo the Ganger, who established himself in the
diocese of Coutances in Manche, Normandy, though not improbable, is but
vaguely supported. The name is territorial; and the better opinion is
inclined to connect it with Brix, between Cherbourg and Valognes.

The first Robert de Brus on record was probably the leader of the
Brus contingent in the army of the Conqueror. His services must have
been conspicuous; he died (about 1094) in possession of some 40,000
acres, comprised in forty-three manors in the East and West Ridings of
Yorkshire, and fifty-one in the North