Edward Bruce This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Scotsman.com Heritage & Culture - Great Scots - Road to redemption

   heritage.scotsman.com/greatsco - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/27/2006   Last Visited: 5/5/2006

   Another important player is Edward Bruce, the king's brother, a fiery, impetuous and somewhat flawed character who profoundly mourns dead comrades but who appears to operate on a short fuse.
   ...
   On departing from Scone following his coronation, Bruce appears to have been active in Strathearn, desperately seeking supporters or surrenders, before leading a force into Galloway where, faced with English pressure, he was forced to retreat again northwards, to face a rout at the Wood of Methven, near Perth. Allegedly accompanied by the queen and her ladies, Bruce fled westwards through Breadalbane and Glen Dochart to be bested in an encounter with the MacDougals of Lorne, who were Comyn adherents, at Dail Righ near Tyndrum.
   ...
   Bruce then retreated southwards across Loch Lomond before taking to the Clyde and sailing to Rathlin Island, off the Irish coast, where he probably wintered.
   ...
   Bruce found time to encourage his troops with tales of Roman valour and, before embarking upon Loch Lomond, he read them a romance. Equally surreal was the female contingent vacationing in the Highlands before being sent off for safe-keeping to Kildrummy Castle, where they faced ineluctable capture. Deadly serious was their later barbarous incarceration in cages.
   
   It should never be forgotten that Bruce was, from 1306, an excommunicant, thus a non-person and potentially the victim of anyone who opted to assassinate him. He must have spent much of his time looking over his shoulder.
   ...
   Since the tradition cannot be dated any further back than Sir Walter Scott's Tales of a Grandfather (1828), this popular and familiar icon has nothing to do with Bruce and all to do with the impact Scott had on the nation's imagination.
   ...
   However galvanised - most likely due to the beneficent and even alluring influence of Christiana of the Isles, a kind of Hebridean queen - Bruce returned via Arran to his Carrick estates and triumphed in a minor skirmish at Glentrool in Galloway. Shortly thereafter he won another victory at Loudoun Hill, pursuing the enemy to Ayr. A contemporary letter reported Bruce had never enjoyed the goodwill of his supporters, or the people in general, to the degree he did now. Preachers had discovered and circulated a prophecy of Merlin, which stated that after the death of "The Covetous King" the Scots and the Welsh would unite and have full lordship, living in peace together until the end of the world. Shortly before his death, Edward I had two English preachers executed for claiming that Bruce was indeed the subject of the prophecies of Merlin predicting that a second Arthur would lead the Irish, Welsh, Scots, Cornish and Bretons, in a pan-Celtic alliance, against the English, then rule as emperor of Britain.
   
   There is some indication that later in his reign, Bruce attempted to fulfil the prophecies. In 1307, he sent a letter to Irish chiefs rejoicing that "our people and your people, free since ancient times, share the same national ancestry," urging both to come together, united in common custom and language, to strengthen and maintain the special friendship between them so Scotland might recover her ancient liberty. Edward's dying wish at Burgh-on-Sands on the south side of the Solway was that his bones be carried at the head of the English army as it marched into Scotland. Bruce retorted that he feared the bones more than he did the old king's son and successor, Edward II.
   
   Bruce concentrated his attacks on the territories of the Balliols and their Comyn allies, namely Galloway and the north, capturing Inverlochy Castle, Urquhart Castle and Inverness. He proceeded to campaign through the winter, attacking Elgin and Duffus. Having recovered from a serious illness, he then hit Balvenie Castle at Dufftown before raiding the Black Isle and penetrating as far north as Dornoch. In the summer of 1308, he defeated the Earl of Buchan at Inverurie and finally waged warfare on the Comyns in the episode known as the "herschip", or ravaging, of Buchan. The entire earldom was destroyed, crops burned, livestock slaughtered and Comyn supporters butchered. He then turned on the MacDougals in Argyll, smashing them at the battle of the Pass of Brander while his brother Edward partially suppressed the folk of Galloway, following a battle near Buittle, the Balliol headquarters. And so the work went bonnily on. Castle after castle fell to Bruce and, by 1309, he was secure enough to summon a parliament to St Andrews. That same year, the Declaration of the Clergy of Scotland furnishes the first real evidence that his propaganda department was up and running. He had recently secured the services as chancellor of Abbot Bernard of Arbroath, a highly talented individual we may believe was the hand behind both this declaration and that of Arbroath in 1320. The document explicitly stated for the first time the completely false claim that most people had regarded Bruce's grandfather, and thus Bruce, as Alexander III's true heir, implying Edward I had deliberately selected the weaker candidate for his own ends. To relieve the suffering caused by invasion and war, the people, "by divine prompting", distinguishing their need for a captain and leader, accepted Bruce as king. This fascinating text also contains a reference to "the consent of the whole people" which seems somewhat more all-embracing than the "community of the realm".
   
   Around this same time, three Scottish knights met up at Cambuskenneth Abbey and swore in the presence of the abbot that they would "defend the freedom of the kingdom and of Bruce lately crowned king, against all mortals, French, English and Scots, to their last breath" - a most interesting anticipation of the Arbroath declaration.
   
   Bruce's military tactics were as ingeniously straightforward as they were unconventional. He pioneered guerrilla raids and attacks, eschewing set-piece battles. For defence, he favoured scorched-earth tactics, the heart-breaking precaution of destroying any crops and livestock which might sustain the enemy but which would almost inevitably result in the starvation and deprivation of the defenders.
   
   Bruce also insisted captured castles were reduced or demolished, ensuring they would not be serviceable should there be any reversal of fortune. He avoided sieges wherever possible as they consumed of time and men. He also levied blackmail to prevent lands being laid waste, whether the enemies were English or Scots, a significant number of whom adhered to Edward II.
   ...
   Bruce chose the site but his troops were inferior in number and arms. He told his followers they had three great advantages: they had right on their side, were fighting on their own turf and, above all, were defending their lives and families as well as their freedom and their land. It was a close-run thing, hard-fought and bloody, but fortune favoured them. On that day, Bruce and his generals delivered the greatest victory in Scottish history.