Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as
Robert the Bruce (
Medieval Gaelic:
Roibert a Briuis;
modern Scottish Gaelic:
Raibeart Bruis;
Norman French:
Robert de Brus or
Robert de Bruys;
Early Scots:
Robert Brus;
Latin:
Robertus Brussius), was
King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329.
Robert was one of the most famous warriors of his generation, and eventually led
Scotland during the
First War of Scottish Independence against
England.
He fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotland's place as an independent country and is today revered in Scotland as a national hero.
Descended from the
Anglo-Norman and
Gaelic nobilities, his paternal fourth-great grandfather was
King David I. Robert's grandfather,
Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale, was one of the claimants to the Scottish throne during the "
Great Cause". As
Earl of Carrick, Robert the Bruce supported his family's claim to the Scottish throne and took part in
William Wallace's revolt against
Edward I of England.
Appointed in 1298 as a
Guardian of Scotland alongside his chief rival for the throne,
John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, and
William Lamberton,
Bishop of St Andrews, Robert later resigned in 1300 due to his quarrels with Comyn and the apparently imminent restoration of
King John Balliol.
After submitting to Edward I in 1302 and returning to "the king's peace", Robert inherited his family's claim to the Scottish throne upon his father's death.
In February 1306, Robert the Bruce killed Comyn following an argument, and was
excommunicated by the
Pope (although he received
absolution from
Robert Wishart,
Bishop of Glasgow).
Bruce moved quickly to seize the throne and was crowned king of Scots on 25 March 1306.
Edward I's forces defeated Robert in battle, forcing him to flee into hiding in the
Hebrides and
Ireland before returning in 1307 to defeat an English army at
Loudoun Hill and wage a highly successful
guerrilla war against the English.
Bruce defeated his other Scots enemies, destroying their strongholds and devastating their lands, and in 1309 held his first
parliament.
A series of military victories between 1310 and 1314 won him control of much of Scotland, and at the
Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, Robert defeated a much larger English army under
Edward II of England, confirming the re-establishment of an independent Scottish kingdom.
The battle marked a significant turning point, with Robert's armies now free to launch devastating raids throughout
northern England, while also extending his war against the English to
Ireland by sending an army to invade there and by appealing to the native Irish to rise against Edward II's rule.
Despite Bannockburn and the capture of the final English stronghold at
Berwick in 1318, Edward II refused to renounce his claim to the overlordship of Scotland.
In 1320, the Scottish nobility submitted the
Declaration of Arbroath to
Pope John XXII, declaring Robert as their rightful monarch and asserting Scotland's status as an independent kingdom.
In 1324, the Pope recognised Robert I as king of an independent Scotland, and in 1326, the
Franco-Scottish alliance was renewed in the
Treaty of Corbeil.
In 1327, the English deposed Edward II in favour of his son,
Edward III, and peace was concluded between Scotland and England with the
Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, by which Edward III renounced all claims to sovereignty over Scotland.
Robert I died in June 1329.
His body is buried in
Dunfermline Abbey, while his heart was interred in
Melrose Abbey.