at Carlisle, the younger Robert joined Sir William Wallace,
who raised the standard of Scottish independence in the name
of Baliol after that king had surrendered his kingdom to Edward in 1296. Urgent letters
were sent ordering Bruce to support
John de Warenne, earl
of Surrey, Edward's general, in the
summer of 1297; but,
instead of complying, he assis ted to
lay waste the lands of
those who adhered to Edward. On
the 7th of July Bruce and his friends were forced to make
terms by a treaty called the capitulation of Irvine. The
Scottish lords were not topserve beyond the sea against their
will, and were pardoned for their recenthviolence, in return
owning allegiance to Edward. The bishop of Glasgow, James
the steward, and Sir Alexander Lindesay became sureties for
Bruce until he delivered his daughter Marjorie as a hostage.
Wallace almost alone maintained the struggle for freedom
which the nobles, as well as Baliol, had given up, and Bruce
had no part in the honour of Stirling Bridge in September 1297,
or the reverse of Falkirk, where in July 1298 Edward in person
recovered what his generals had lost, and drove Wallace into
exile. Shortly afterwards Bruce appears againto have sided
with his countrymen; Annandale was wasted, while he, as
Walter' of Hemingford says, “when he heard of the king's
coming, fled from his face and burnt the castle of Ayr which
he held.” Yet, when Edward was forced by home affairs
to quit Scotland, Annandale and certain earldoms, including
Carrick, were excepted from the districts he assigned to his
followers, Bruce and other earls being treated as waverers
whose allegiance might still be retained. .About 1299 a regency
was appointed in Scotland 'in the name of Baliol, and a letter
of Baliol mentions Robert Bruce, lord of Carrick, as regent,
along with William of Lamberton, bishop of St Andrews, and
John Comyn the younger, a strange combination-Lamberton
the friend of Wal1ace, Comyn the enemy of Bruce, and Bruce
a regent in name of Baliol. Comyn in his own interest as
Baliol's nephew and heir was the active regentg. the insertion
of the name of Bruce was an attempt -to secure his co-operation.
For the next four years he kept studiously in the background,
Waiting .his ftirne. A statement of Peter Langtoft that he
was at the parliament of Lincoln in 1301, when the English
barons repudiated the claim of Pope Boniface VIII. to the
suzerainty of Scotland, is not to be credited, though his father
may have been there. In the campaign of 1304, when Edward
renewed his attempt on Scotland and reduced Stirling, Bruce
supported the English king, who in one of his letters to him
says, “ If you complete thatiwhich you have' begun, we shall
hold the war ended by your deed and all the la.nd of Scotland
gained.” But, while apparently aiding Edward, Bruce had
taken a step which bound him to the patriotic cause.. On
the 11th of ]u'ne, five weeks before the fall of Stirling, he met
Lamberton. at Cambuskenneth-and' entered into a secret bond
by which they were to support each other against all adversaries
and undertake nothing without consulting together. The
death of his father in 1304 may have determined his course,
and led him to prefer the chance of the' Scottish crown to his
English estates and the friendship of Edward.
This determination closes the first chapter of -his life;. the
second, from 1304 to 1314, is occupied by his contest for the
kingdom, which 'Was really won at Bannockburn, though
disputed until the treaty of Northampton in 1328; the last,
from 1314 to his death in 1329, was the period of the establishment
of his government and dynasty by an administration
as skilful as his generalship, It is to the 'second of these that
historians, attracted by its brilliancy even amongst the many
romances of history and its importance to Scottish history,
have directed most of their attention, and it is during it that
his personal character, 'tried .by adversity and prosperity,
gradually unfolds itself. But all three periods require to be
keptin view to form a just estimate of Bruce. That which
terminated in 1304, though unfortunately few characteristics,
personal or individual, have been preserved, shows him by his
conduct to have been the normal Scottish noble of the' time.
A conflict of' interest and of bias led to contradictory action,
and thisrconflict was increased in his caseby This father's residence
in England, his own upbringing at the English court,
his family feud with Baliol and the Cornyns, and the jealousy
common to his class of Wallace, the mere knight, who had
rallied' the commons against the invader and taught the nobles
what was 'required in a leader of the- people. 'The merit of
Bruce is that he did not despise the lesson. -'Prompted alike
by-patriotism and ambition, at the prime of manhood he chose
the cause of national independence with all its perils, and stood
by it with an unwavering constancy until he secured its triumph.
Though it is crowded with incident, the main facts in the
central decade of Bruce's life may be rapidly told. The fall
of Stirling was followed by the capture and execution of Wallace
in London"in 'August 1305. »Edward hoped still to conciliate
the noble sand gain Scotland -by a policy of clemency to all who
did not dispute his authority. A parliament in London in
September T305 to which Scottish representatives were summoned,
agreed to an ordinance for the government of Scotland,
which, though on the model of those” foriWales and Ireland,
treating'Scotland- as a third subject province under an English
lieutenant, was in other respects not severe. Bruce is reputed
to have been one of fthe advisers who assisted in framing it;
but a provision that his castle of-Kildrummy was totbe placed
in 'charge of a person for whom he should answer shows that
Edward, not without reason, suspected his fidelity. The
details of his final breach with the English king are somewhat obscure. According to one account, the bond between Bruce and Lamberton was revealed to Edward by Comyn while Bruce was at the English court. Alarmed by a hint dropped by Edward, he left England-secretly, and in the church of the Friars Minorite at Dumfries on the 10th of February 1306 met Comyn, whom he slew before the high altar for refusing to join in his plans. So much is certain, though the precise incidents of the interview
are variously told. It was not their first encounter, for a letter of 1299 to Edward from Scotland describes Comyn as having seized Bruce by the throat at a meeting at Peebles, where they were with difficulty reconciled by the regents.
The bond with Lamberton was now sealed by blood, and the confederates lost no time in putting it into execution. Within little more than six weeks Bruce, collecting his adherents in the south-west, passed from Lochmaben to Glasgow- and thence to Scone, where he was crowned king of Scotland oni the 27th of March 1306. Two days later Isabella, countess of Buchan, cl-aimed the right of her family, the Macduffs, earls of Fife, to place the Scottish kingon his throne, and the ceremony was, repeated with an addition flattering' to the Celtic race. Though a king, Bruce had not yet a kingdom, and his efforts to obtain it were disastrous failures until after the death of Edward I. In June 1306 he was defeated at Methven, and on the 11th of August he was surprised in Strathfillan, where he had taken refuge. The ladies of his family were sent to Kildrurnmy. in January -1397, and Bruce, almost without a follower, fled to the island of Rathlin. Edward came to the north in the following spring. On his way he granted the Scottish estates of Bruce and his adherents to hisown followers, Annandale falling to Humphrey de Bohun, 4th earl of Hereford. At Carlisle there was published a bull excommunicating Bruce; and Elizabeth his wife, Marjorie his daughter, and Christina his sister, were captured in a sanctuary at Tain, while three of his brothers were executed. In a moment all was changed by the death of Edward I. on the 7th of July 1397. Instead of being opposed to the greatest, Bruce had now as his antagonist the feeblest of the Plantagenets. Quitting Rathlin, he had made a short stay in Arran, and before Edward's death had failed to take Ayr and Turnberry, 'although he defeated Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, at Loudoun Hill in May 1306. After wasting the critical moment of the war in the diversions of court life, the new English king, Edward II., made an inglorious march to Cumnock and back without striking a blow; and then returned south, leaving the war to a succession of generals. Bruce, with the insight of military
