11th July: Robert the Bruce

Robert the Bruce was King of Scotland, from 1306 until his death in 1329. He was born on this date in 1274. Here are some facts about him.

1. There's a legend that Bruce’s mother held his father captive till he agreed to marry her. Her name was Marjorie, Countess of Carrick and by all accounts a formidable woman. His father was also called Robert Bruce - he was descended from King David I of Scotland.
2. He was called Robert the Bruce because that was the old way of saying that he was head of the Bruce family.
3. We don't know much about the childhood of Robert the Bruce, although it's assumed he was brought up the same way as most noble children of the time, so he would have learned to speak several languages from an early age (probably Gaelic, Scottish and Anglo-Norman) and possibly worked as a servant for his father or grandfather.
4. He had two wives. His first wife was Isabella of Mar, who was the daughter of the Earl of Mar. She died after giving birth to their daughter, Marjorie Bruce. Six years later, Robert married again, to Elizabeth de Burgh, who was the daughter of a powerful Irish noble. They had three children, one of whom was the future king of Scotland David II.
5. Robert was a supporter of William Wallace (the one in the Hollywood film Braveheart) despite orders from England that he support Edward I's forces.
6. In 1298, after Wallace was defeated, Robert the Bruce was made a guardian of Scotland along with his rival for the Scottish throne, John Comyn. He didn't get along with Comyn and a quarrel with him in a church escalated to the extent that Bruce stabbed Comyn and killed him. He was outlawed by Edward and excommunicated by the pope, but with his rival out of the way he laid claim to the throne and was crowned King of Scotland.
7. A famous story about Robert the Bruce is that when his battles with England weren't going well and he was hiding in a cave, he watched a Spider trying to build a web, and failing several times before finally succeeding. This inspired Robert to keep on fighting.
8. His famous victory was at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Edward II had amassed a huge army to invade Scotland. Bruce was outnumbered by two to one, and didn't have such advanced weapons, but he still won. At one point he engaged in a one to one battle with an English knight, Sir Henry de Bohun, who charged at Bruce on a war Horse. Bruce parried Bohun's lance and split his head in half with an axe. Quite possibly it was witnessing this that did wonders for the morale of Bruce's men and helped them go on and win.
9. He died at the age of 54. Nobody knows for sure what he died of - there was a theory that he had leprosy but evidence suggests this might have been propaganda spread by the English, saying he died of an unclean disease. Scottish accounts of his death don't make any such suggestion. It seems unlikely he could have effectively fought battles, presided over parliament and fathered children if he'd had leprosy. Eczema, tuberculosis, syphilis, motor neurone disease, cancer or stroke have all been suggested as a possible cause. What we do know is that his doctor advised him against eating too many Eels, so it could have been rich food and good living that did for him.
10. He'd asked that after his death, his heart be carried to the Holy Land on a crusade but it only got as far as Spain before being returned to Scotland. In 1818, workmen building a church discovered his tomb. The body inside the vault had a crown fashioned from Lead, and also the breastbone was split open, allowing the Heart to be removed. Estimates based on the remains suggest that Bruce was six feet one inch tall, an impressive height for the time.