by Robyn Young
The History of the Kings of Britain and the Prophecies of Merlin were written in the twelfth century by Oxford scholar Geoffrey of Monmouth, who claimed to be translating the prophecies from an earlier source. His works include some of the first portrayals of King Arthur and Merlin, which gave birth to generations of Arthurian romances. They were hugely popular and Edward is known to have had copies. The Last Prophecy is my invention, but Monmouth suggested there were others that hadn’t been translated. In a passage in Monmouth’s History an angelic voice foretells that the Britons will not rule their kingdom any more until a certain time when the relics of the saints are gathered. I’ve connected this with Edward’s confiscation of royal and sacred objects during his conquests.
Edward was clearly interested in Arthurian legend. He and Queen Eleanor reburied the bones of Arthur and Guinevere at Glastonbury. He organised Round Table tournaments and had his own Round Table made, which you can see in Winchester Castle. The Knights of the Dragon are fictitious, although the members are real. The dragon banner is authentic – Edward commanded Aymer de Valence to ‘raise dragon’ when he sent him north against Robert in 1306, a signal that there was to be no mercy.
The death of Alexander III and the Scottish succession
I’ve spoken of Alexander’s demise in my author’s note for Insurrection, but to summarise: chroniclers of the time and modern historians regard his death on the road to Kinghorn as an accident. The murder is pure fiction. That said, we can never truly know what happened that night since the king was separated from his escort and his body wasn’t found until the next morning. The fact that Alexander was thought to have mooted the possibility of a union between his granddaughter and heir and Edward’s son and heir in 1284, but that when he married his second wife any offspring they produced would have rendered this proposition meaningless, led me down the what if route. Similarly, there is no evidence that the Maid of Norway’s death was anything other than a tragedy, the princess thought to have died eating rotten food on the voyage to Scotland, not through any design of the Comyns.
While Robert’s grandfather had a claim to the throne of Scotland by blood, he was also said to have been named heir presumptive by Alexander II; however I’ve made more of this than was made at the time. Robert acquired the earldom of Carrick in 1292 shortly after John Balliol was appointed king by Edward, but it was his father who inherited the family’s claim to the throne. However, Robert was accused of aiming at the crown as early as 1297 and so I chose to have the legacy passed directly from his grandfather to him.
Robert in Ireland
In Insurrection Robert resigns as guardian of Scotland immediately after the clash with John Comyn at the council of Peebles in 1299, before heading to Ireland in search of the staff. In reality he resigned early in 1300 and retired to Carrick. We hear nothing of him until late summer 1301, when Prince Edward attacked Turnberry Castle, but some historians believe it is possible Robert visited his estates in Ireland during this time, where he may have met the daughter of the Earl of Ulster, Elizabeth de Burgh.
All of what happens to Robert in Ireland is fiction, since we know nothing of him during this period. His foster family is fictitious, but he had possessions in Antrim that would have been in the care of a vassal and there are hints in the records that both Robert and Edward Bruce were fostered to a Gaelic magnate in youth. Lord Donough is an amalgamation of these men and Cormac is the foster-brother we later see in sources fighting alongside Robert in Scotland.
In St Bernard of Clairvaux’s Life of St Malachy of Armagh, the monastery of Ibracense is mentioned as being founded by Malachy before he became Archbishop of Armagh, but its location is unspecified. Some archaeologists believe the ruins on Church Island, Lough Currane (old name: Lough Luioch) are those of the monastery, but this is disputed.
Robert’s surrender to King Edward
John Balliol’s transfer into papal custody was part of the treaty brokered between England and France through the arbitration of Pope Boniface VIII, and his subsequent release was orchestrated by Philippe IV. William Wallace spent a year at the French court trying to persuade Philippe to support the Scottish cause and the king recommended him to the pope. We don’t know if Wallace visited the papal curia, but it is possible.
In 1302, Robert surrendered to Edward, almost certainly because Balliol seemed set to return to the throne with the aid of Philippe: a disastrous prospect for Robert. He didn’t travel to Westminster with Ulster as I have it, but gave himself up to the English warden of Annandale and Galloway. Edward accepted Robert into his peace and the marriage with Elizabeth de Burgh was agreed. The Earl of Ulster was an ally of the Bruce family prior to the war and Edward’s chief magnate in Ireland, but the secret pact between Robert and his new father-in-law is fiction. Still, Ulster wasn’t the most subservient of vassals and Edward was forced to pardon the earl’s considerable debts in order to acquire his service in the 1303 campaign.
I place Robert at his father’s home in Writtle after the surrender, but it’s likely he would have been in Scotland for some of this time, especially after Edward made him Sheriff of Lanark and Ayr. Robert fought for Edward during the campaign of 1303; sent with Aymer de Valence to counter the rebels under John Comyn and on the mounted raid into Selkirk Forest, although this latter force was led by Robert Clifford and John Segrave, not Humphrey and Aymer. The warning to the rebels is fiction, but Wallace did manage to evade his enemies.
After the Battle of Courtrai, which heralded the end of John Balliol’s hopes of returning to the throne, it seems Robert once again had his eye on the crown. An intriguing document survives from 1304, at the siege of Stirling, in which Robert and William Lamberton make some secret contract. The text is vague, but historians interpret it as evidence that Lamberton and Robert were establishing the connection that would lead to Robert’s coronation.
The guardians
When Robert resigned as guardian, Lamberton and Comyn remained in the position, with Ingram de Umfraville soon joining them. In 1301 a man named John de Soules was appointed sole guardian, but the next year he was part of the Scottish delegation that went to Paris to persuade Philippe to continue to support their cause and John Comyn once again took up the role. To simplify the various permutations, I’ve removed Soules, who remained in Paris. James Stewart was also part of this delegation, so his appearances in Scotland at this point in the narrative are fictional, although his lands were attacked by Ulster’s forces.
The capture of William Wallace
William Wallace had returned to Scotland by 1303, when he was once again active in the rebellion. Robert’s plan to join forces with Wallace is fictitious. Edward is reported as being ill in 1304, after the fall of Stirling, and Robert was probably just waiting for his death before moving on the throne, well aware of the weaknesses of the king’s son and heir.
Edward ordered the Scottish magnates who surrendered in 1304 to hunt down Wallace and he was eventually captured outside Glasgow by John of Menteith. According to later chroniclers, documents found on Wallace at the time of his capture implicated Robert in a conspiracy against Edward. There is, however, no contemporary evidence for this.
The plot masterminded by the Comyns to reveal Robert’s treachery is fiction. Neither is there any evidence that John Comyn himself aimed at the throne, although he had a claim to it, passed down from his father whose claim was recognised by Edward at the time of the trial to find Alexander’s successor. Wallace’s execution is based, unfortunately, on fact.
Robert’s betrayal of Edward
The historian G.W.S. Barrow says: ‘Without more evidence than we possess at present, it is impossible to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to Comyn’s murder and from there to Bruce’s coronation’ (Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland, p141). Such uncertainty inevitably makes this point difficult to reconstruct in a narrative, but I’ve mostly gone with the sequence put forward in John Barbour’s epic poem The Bruce, written forty-five
years after Robert’s death, since it worked well with the fictional elements of the novel. The poem has some great, albeit probably fabricated touches, such as Ralph de Monthermer warning Robert, through the pair of spurs, that he was about to be arrested and should run.
Barbour and other chroniclers say that Robert Bruce and John Comyn, unhappy with Scotland’s plight, entered into a pact that if Comyn helped Robert become king, Robert would give Comyn his lands. Comyn then betrays Robert’s intentions to Edward, which leads to the retaliation at Greyfriars. There are similar versions, most dismissed by historians as fiction, but there seem to be elements of truth here, for more reliable chroniclers speak of Robert’s attempt to ally himself with Comyn in order to win the crown, an attempt Comyn spurned which led to the showdown at Greyfriars.
What appears in the novel is an amalgamation of these various accounts, with the chronology altered. In none of the accounts does Edward move to arrest Robert immediately after Wallace’s execution, although he does seem to have grown suspicious of him around this point. Robert’s escape from Westminster is fiction, as is his taking the Staff of Malachy and the fictitious prophecy box. As an interesting aside, however, the crown jewels were stolen from Westminster Abbey in 1303.
The murder of John Comyn
Accounts once again differ, according to the bias of the chronicler, when it comes to the murder of John Comyn. In reality Robert and Comyn arranged to meet at the church of the Greyfriars in Dumfries to talk, possibly about Robert’s plan to take the throne, whereas in the novel Robert’s appearance is a surprise to Comyn. We don’t know exactly what happened next, but it seems there was an argument and Robert attacked Comyn with his dagger. There followed a skirmish, involving several of Robert’s companions, including Christopher Seton, and Comyn was mortally wounded. According to some sources he was killed in two stages. After the deed was done, Robert seized Dumfries’s castle and began his march to the throne. He was inaugurated six weeks later.
Chronological changes
I’ve moved Edward’s siege of Caerlaverock from 1300 to 1301 in order to merge the campaigns of those two years, but much of what occurs, including Winchelsea’s appearance with the papal order and Prince Edward’s raid in Carrick, is based on fact.
The Scots attacked Lochmaben in 1301, but my account is heavily fictionalised. Likewise, Edward did make his son Prince of Wales that year, but at the Lincoln parliament rather than on campaign.
Edward’s daughter, Elizabeth (Bess) died in childbirth, but much later, in 1316, and although Joan of Acre’s affair with Ralph de Monthermer and their subsequent marriage is based on fact, it occurred several years earlier than portrayed.
Other chronological changes include the treaty between France and England that excluded Scotland being made in the autumn of 1303, when in reality it was made in the summer. Edward appointed Robert Sheriff of Lanark and Ayr a few months earlier than portrayed and Robert’s brothers were granted their new positions the following year. The massacre at Bruges occurs slightly earlier in the novel and Robert’s father died in April 1304, several months later than I have it. Although he surrendered to Edward with the other magnates in 1304, James Stewart didn’t receive his lands back until late in 1305, after Wallace’s death. Prince Edward was knighted by his father at Westminster in 1306 in the run-up to the reprisal against Robert, but slightly later than depicted, and Christopher Seton and Christian Bruce were already married by the time of Robert’s coronation.
Robyn Young
Brighton
April 2012
CHARACTER LIST
(* Indicates fictitious characters, relationships or groups)
*ADAM: Gascon commander in a crossbow regiment of Edward I
*AFFRAIG: wise woman from Turnberry
*AGNES: maid to Isabel, Countess of Buchan
*ALAN: steward of James Stewart
ALEXANDER II: King of Scotland (1214–49)
ALEXANDER III: King of Scotland (1249–86), brother-in-law of Edward I by his first marriage, died in 1286
ALEXANDER BRUCE: brother of Robert
ALEXANDER SETON: lord from East Lothian and *cousin of Christopher Seton
*ANDREW BOYD: Constable of Turnberry Castle
*ANGUS: man from Turnberry
ANTHONY BEK: Bishop of Durham
AYMER DE VALENCE: heir to the earldom of Pembroke, cousin of Edward I and brother-in-law of John Comyn III
*BETHOC: woman from Turnberry
BLACK COMYN (THE): Earl of Buchan and head of the Black Comyns
BONIFACE VIII: pope (1294–1303)
*BRIAN: companion of Prince Edward
*BRIGID: niece of Affraig
CELLACH: Archbishop of Armagh in the twelfth century
CHRISTIAN BRUCE: sister of Robert, married to Gartnait of Mar
CHRISTOPHER SETON: son of an English knight from Yorkshire and *cousin of Alexander Seton
*COLBAN: one of Dungal MacDouall’s men
*CORMAC: son of Lord Donough and foster-brother of Robert
DAVID OF ATHOLL: son of John of Atholl
DAVID GRAHAM: Scottish nobleman and rebel
DONALD OF MAR: son of Christian Bruce and Gartnait of Mar, Robert’s nephew
*DONNELL: monk from Bangor Abbey
*DONOUGH: Robert’s foster-father and lord of the Bruce estates in Antrim
*DUNCAN: steward of John Comyn II at Lochindorb
DUNCAN IV: Earl of Fife, nephew of Isabel, Countess of Buchan
DUNGAL MACDOUALL: (former) captain of the army of Galloway
EDMUND: son of Edward I and Marguerite of France
EDMUND COMYN: head of the Comyns of Kilbride
EDWARD I: King of England (1272–1307)
EDWARD OF CAERNARFON: son and heir of Edward I, Prince of Wales
EDWARD BALLIOL: son of John Balliol
EDWARD BRUCE: brother of Robert
*EDWIN: steward of Robert’s father in Writtle
EGIDIA DE BURGH: sister of Richard de Burgh, married to James Stewart
ELEANOR BALLIOL: sister of John Balliol, married to John Comyn II
*ELENA: daughter of Brigid
ELIZABETH (BESS): daughter of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile
ELIZABETH DE BURGH: daughter of the Earl of Ulster
*EMMA: governess to Robert’s daughter
*ESGAR: captain in the Earl of Ulster’s household
*EUAN: squire of Edward Bruce
*FERGUS: steward of Isabel, Countess of Buchan
GARTNAIT OF MAR: Earl of Mar, married to Christian Bruce
*GEOFFREY: companion of Prince Edward
*GILBERT: steward of Lord Donough
GILBERT DE LA HAY: Lord of Erroll
GRAY: second-in-command to William Wallace
GUY DE BEAUCHAMP: Earl of Warwick
HENRY III: King of England (1216–72)
HENRY PERCY: Lord of Alnwick and grandson of John de Warenne
*HUGH: squire of Humphrey de Bohun
HUMPHREY DE BOHUN: Earl of Hereford and Essex, and Constable of England
INGRAM DE UMFRAVILLE: guardian of Scotland
ISABEL BRUCE: sister of Robert, married to Eric II and Queen of Norway
ISABEL: Countess of Buchan, married to the Black Comyn
ISABELLA OF FRANCE: daughter of King Philippe IV
JAMES DOUGLAS: son and heir of William Douglas, and nephew of James Stewart
JAMES STEWART: High Steward of Scotland, married to Egidia de Burgh
*JEAN DE REIMS: royal knight from the French court
JOAN OF ACRE: daughter of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile
JOAN DE VALENCE: sister of Aymer de Valence and cousin of Edward I, married to John Comyn III
*JOHN: a Londoner
JOHN OF ATHOLL: Earl of Atholl and Sheriff of Aberdeen, married a daughter of the Earl of Mar, making him Robert’s brother-in-law
JOHN BALLIOL II: Lord of Galloway and brother-in-law of John Comyn II, King of Scotland (1292–96), deposed by Edw
ard I in 1296
JOHN COMYN II: Lord of Badenoch and Justiciar of Galloway, brother-in-law of John Balliol and head of the Red Comyns
JOHN COMYN III: son and heir of John Comyn II and Eleanor Balliol, married to Joan de Valence
JOHN OF MENTEITH: son of the Earl of Menteith
JOHN SEGRAVE: lieutenant of Edward I in Scotland
JOHN DE WARENNE: Earl of Surrey
*JUDITH: wet nurse to Robert’s daughter
*LORA: maid to Elizabeth de Burgh
LLYWELYN AP GRUFFUDD: Prince of Wales, killed during the 1282–84 conquest
MADOG AP LLYWELYN: leader of an uprising against Edward I in Wales in 1294
MALACHY (ST): Archbishop of Armagh (1132–37), canonised in 1199
MALCOLM: Earl of Lennox
MALCOLM III (CANMORE): King of Scotland (1058–93)
MARGARET: half-sister of Robert from his mother’s first marriage
MARGARET (THE MAID OF NORWAY): granddaughter and heir of Alexander III, named Queen of Scotland after his death, but died on the voyage from Norway
MARGUERITE OF FRANCE: sister of Philippe IV, second wife of Edward I and Queen of England
MARJORIE BRUCE: daughter of Robert and Isobel of Mar
MARJORIE OF CARRICK: Countess of Carrick and Robert’s mother, died in 1292
*MARTIN: a knight in the household of Edward I
MARY BRUCE: sister of Robert