Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/358

 352 BRUCE Edward's liegeman, but vacillated between the two parties, taking no very active part in the struggle between Wallace and England. He was associated in 1299 with John Comyn, nephew of Balliol and a pretender to the crown, and with the bishop of St. Andrews, as guard- ians of Scotland. With these he laid a plan for recovering the crown, though apparently still faithful to Edward. This plan was re- vealed by Comyn, and Bruce, meeting him by appointment at the church of the Minorite friars in Dumfries in 1306, stabbed him in a fit of rage. He then assumed the title of king, summoned the Scots to his standard, and was crowned at Scone in March. Edward made Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, guardian of Scotland, and sent him to chastise the rebels. The force of Bruce was almost immediately destroyed in the wood of Methven ; six of his best knights were made prisoners, and he himself was rescued only by the devo- tion of Seaton. For two months, with his brothers and the ladies of his household, he wandered to and fro in the wilds of the Gram- pian hills, until, his party being discovered and forced to separate, he crossed over to- the island of Rathlin, on the north of Ireland. His three brothers, wife, and sister were captured ; the brothers were soon after hanged at Carlisle, and the ladies were imprisoned in various parts of England. His estates were confiscated, and he and his adherents were excommunicated by the papal legate. In the spring of 1307 Bruce returned, surprised his own castle of Carrick, defeated small parties of English in many skirmishes, and maintained himself among the hills and forests until Edward marched toward the border. The latter died on his way, leaving to his son a charge not to bury his bones till he had borne them in triumph from Berwick bounds to the utmost highlands. For three years Edward II. paid no attention to the Scottish war, and Bruce in the mean time established his power over nearly all Scotland, and in the spring of 1310 was acknowledged king. In September of the same year Edward marched into Scotland as far as the Forth without encountering an enemy. In the next year he sent Gaveston to renew the war, who penetrated beyond the Forth, but still gained no material advantages. The following years were passed by Edward in contentions with his parliament, and by Bruce in gradually re- covering all that he had lost in Scotland, until in 1314 the fortress of Stirling alone held out for the English, and even that the governor, Mow- bray, had agreed to surrender if it was not re- lieved before the feast of St. John the Baptist. This at length aroused Edward, who at the head of a large army encamped in the neigh- borhood of the beleaguered fortress, and was there met by Bruce with 30,000 picked men, on the eve of the festival fixed for its surrender. The battle of Bannockburn followed, June 24, 1314, and resulted in the utter defeat of the English. Bruce now exchanged his prisoners against his wife, his sister, and his other rel- atives, who had been so long in captivity. After this success the Scotch assumed the offensive and invaded Ireland, of which Ed- ward Bruce, brother of Robert, was crowned king in 1316. While the dissensions lasted between Edward and his barons, Robert Bruce repeatedly devastated the borders and all the north of Yorkshire. In 1323 a truce was con- cluded between the kingdoms for thirteen years. Four years after this Edward II. was compelled to abdicate in favor of his son, Ed- ward III., and Bruce renewed the war, with the avowed intention of forcing Edward to renounce his claim of sovereignty over the crown of Scotland. This renunciation was made by a treaty ratified at Northampton in 1328, by which Scotland was declared sove- reign and independent. Bruce's title to the throne was recognized, and Jane of England, the sister of Edward, married to David, prince of Scotland. After his death Bruce's heart was embalmed in accordance with his desire that it should be carried to Palestine and buried in Jerusalem ; but James Douglas, who under- took to execute this commission, was killed by the Moors in Spain, and the relic was returned and buried in Melrose abbey. The rest of the body was buried in the abbey church of Dun- fermline, where the bones were found in 1818, when the new church was built. In 1872 a statue of Bruce was erected in Stirling castle. Bruce married first Isabella, daughter of Don- ald, 10th earl of Mar, and had by her a daugh- ter, Marjory, the mother of Robert II. ; and sec- ond, Elizabeth, daughter of Aymer de Burgh, earl of Ulster, who became the mother of Da- vid II., his immediate successor. IV. David II., son of the preceding, king of Scotland, born about 1324, died in Edinburgh castle, Feb. 22, 1371. He was crowned at Scone Nov. 23, 1331, and in the next year was dispossessed by Edward Balliol, son of John Balliol, and forced to take refuge in France, where he resided till 1341, when, Murray, Douglas, and Stuart hav- ing expelled Balliol from Scotland, he ventured to return. In 1346, while Edward III. was ab- sent in France, David suddenly invaded Eng- land, but was totally defeated by a small army at Neville's Cross in Durham, and taken pris- oner. From this time till 1357 David was de- tained in the tower of London, whence he was liberated after the battle of Poitiers, on the agreement to pay 100,000 marks in 20 half- yearly instalments, a truce being sworn to and hostages interchanged between the two coun- tries. This truce was afterward extended to 25 years further, under the name of the great truce, which was faithfully observed by David's nephew and successor, Robert, the first of the Stuart kings of Scotland. David's wife Jane died in 1362, and he married Margaret Logie, from whom he was divorced in 1369. V. Edward, brother of King Robert Bruce, and king of Ireland, was actively engaged in the struggle for the independence of Scotland. In