History documentary charting the birth and growth of the Scottish nation.
Robert Bruce's 22-year struggle to secure Scottish independence is one of the most important chapters in the country's history. Neil Oliver explores the crucial role the Scottish church played in promoting the cause of Robert Bruce, how they launched repeated propaganda campaigns, both at home and abroad, and how the famous 1320 Declaration of Arbroath ultimately persuaded the Pope to finally recognise Scotland as an independent nation.
Robert Bruce's 22-year struggle to secure Scottish independence is one of the most important chapters in the country's history. Neil Oliver explores the crucial role the Scottish church played in promoting the cause of Robert Bruce, how they launched repeated propaganda campaigns, both at home and abroad, and how the famous 1320 Declaration of Arbroath ultimately persuaded the Pope to finally recognise Scotland as an independent nation.
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TVTranscript
00:00A summer drew to a close in 1305. So too, it seemed, did the history of the Scottish
00:14crown. King Edward I of England, Longshanks, the Lawgiver, the Hammer of the Scots, could
00:22have been forgiven for thinking that the Kingdom of Scotland was dead. William Wallace certainly
00:27was. He was food for the crows. And as for the King of Scotland, John Balliol, he wasn't
00:41much better. An absentee, exiled in France, a broken and beaten man. Whether or not the
00:50crown was his hardly mattered. He was neither able nor willing to wear it. Edward was a
00:56keen chess player. As far as he was concerned, this was the end game. Yes, Scotland was dead.
01:26By 1305, Scotland had been fighting to defend its independence from England for nine long
01:41years. Edward I had secured significant victories. He had removed Scotland's king, John Balliol,
01:48from the throne with maximum dishonour. He had captured and killed Scotland's greatest
02:04military leader, William Wallace, with maximum cruelty. There were some pockets of resistance
02:12left, but they were small. Nothing to worry about. So, job done. Edward owned Scotland.
02:22Enough with the iron fist, he could put the velvet glove back on. In 1305, Edward set
02:28about what he hoped would be the final subjugation of Scotland. And he slipped out of character.
02:34He went about his business gently. Edward did deals with all of Scotland's leading men.
02:49He allowed Scotland's nobles to keep their lands as long as they swore loyalty to him
02:53as king. He did deals with Scotland's bishops too. But two of those bishops would be the
03:08very men who would mastermind a revolution that would restore the Scottish crown. Bishop
03:16William Lamberton of St Andrews was a strategist, an intellect, a double dealer. And Bishop
03:23Robert Wishart of Glasgow had been fighting for Scotland's independence for almost 20
03:28years. Edward should have strung them up with Wallace.
03:45The story of the bishops who would rebuild the Scottish crown begins here, in 1301, four
03:55years before Edward's final military victory. For it was in the tiny Italian hill town of
04:01Ananyi that the Pope now made his court. The Pope was the highest judge on earth, closer
04:11to God than emperors and kings. All earthly power came through him. The Catholic Church
04:21held every Christian soul in Western Europe in its grasp. Its spiritual powers were politics
04:28in disguise. The courts and streets of Ananyi would have been full not just of priests,
04:34but of diplomats and lawyers from every Christian kingdom. No one else but the Pope could set
04:44the final seal on Edward's success. So in 1301, Edward sought the Pope's agreement that
04:51John Balliol was no king on the grounds that there was no Scotland to be king of. The very
05:00existence of Scotland's crown was at stake. So that summer, a small party of Scottish
05:06priests was sent to Ananyi to defend it. Priests with legal expertise, led by a man called
05:14Baldred Bissett, hand-picked to save the Scottish crown by Bishop William Lamberton. But it
05:22wasn't just the Scottish crown that Lamberton wanted him to save. English bishops largely
05:32did as they were told, and the archbishops of York and Canterbury were subject to the
05:36English king. The English church was under Edward's thumb. But in Scotland, there was
05:43no archbishop, and the Scottish crown had never fully secured control over church appointments.
05:50Scotland's bishops had power that was independent of the Scottish crown, and the privilege of
05:55direct appeal to the Pope himself. Power and independence that could disappear if Scotland
06:01became an English province. It all meant nothing if there was no Scottish king. If Scotland
06:07was to become just another English territory, then Scottish bishops would have to bend the
06:11knee, tug the forelock, and pay the tithes, in Canterbury or in York, and they didn't
06:16want to. In fact, they were determined that they would not. So Bissett had his work cut
06:23out. A crown to save, the independence of his bishops too. Bissett brought with him
06:33a carefully prepared document, a legal brief. He had three basic arguments to make. First,
06:42he told a story. The Scots were descended from Noah. They had lived in Scythia, near
06:47the Black Sea, then Spain. One of their ancient kings had married an Egyptian princess called
06:52Scota, hence their name. So the Scots were unique. Not Irish, not Welsh. Most of all,
07:01not English. Second, Bissett reminded His Holiness that Scotland bore the title of Rome's
07:08special daughter, a status that required the Pope's protection. And third, Bissett turned
07:16to the recent past. Edward I, he said, had wickedly maltreated our legitimate king, exploited
07:22his absence and our resultant weakness, committed boundless atrocities against Scots, both clerical
07:28and lay, peasant and noble, male and female. Free Balliol, said Bissett, and let him return
07:34to Scotland as our king. The Pope was persuaded. It was time, said the Pope, to stop the hammering.
07:47He ordered the release of Balliol and let it be known in his eyes he was the illustrious
07:51king of Scots. Bissett had saved the Scottish crown, but Balliol was totally demoralised
07:59and made no attempt to resume his rule. He took refuge in his family's lands in France.
08:06The Scots were lumbered with a useless king. For the bishops, defending the Scottish crown
08:16was no longer the problem. The problem was the king himself. How could he be replaced?
08:23It was Bishop Lamberton who took steps. He sought a secret meeting with a renowned Scottish
08:29philosopher, Duns Scotus, and Scotus outlined an idea with explosive implications. The real
08:37root of royal authority was not inheritance. True kingship was a contract between king
08:43and people. And when a king had failed, as Balliol had, his people could reject him and
08:49choose someone else instead. At last, Scotland's bishops could begin to look for someone to
08:58replace John Balliol. But time was running out. Edward was getting close to finishing
09:06his conquest of Scotland. Edward had no idea that Scotland's bishops were looking for a
09:14king who could resist him. He busied himself with the last moves in his final victory over
09:22Scotland's crown. He spared no expense. His siege of Stirling Castle was getting nowhere.
09:33So in 1304, Edward took his spending spree one step further.
09:43He ordered a new siege engine, a monstrous catapult of a kind known as a trebuchet.
10:14He already had several, the instruments of other bitter victories. This new machine was
10:19christened War Wolf. It was the largest trebuchet ever built and its component parts were transported
10:26in 27 separate wagons. It was a weapon of terror. For a counterweight, Edward used lead
10:33stolen from the roofs of local churches. The hapless defenders of Stirling Castle watched
10:38as this monstrosity took shape beneath their walls and they surrendered. Edward ignored
10:44them. He wanted to see War Wolf at work. He even had a little shelter built so that the
10:50ladies of the court could watch. The conquest of Scotland had become entertainment.
10:58War Wolf's first shot shattered a section of the castle's curtain wall. The ladies
11:09were duly impressed. But Edward was attacking the wrong building. He should have aimed at
11:20the Abbey of Cambuskenneth, no more than a mile away. As the walls of Stirling Castle
11:25fell, Bishop William Lamberton held another secret meeting there. This time with the future
11:33king of Scotland. Two families had claims to the crown. The Cummins were led by John
11:39Cummin, Lord of Badenoch. The Cummins had lands all over Scotland, but they were blood
11:45relations of John Balliol and John Cummin himself was a stickler. A scrupulous man,
11:52a doer by the book. It would be difficult to get him involved in something that sounded
11:56dangerously like the usurpation of the throne. But there was another family, another claim.
12:04There was a man who nursed the secret but unshakable conviction that the crown should
12:09have been given to his grandfather, not John Balliol. And so Robert the Bruce believed
12:15that the crown was now rightfully his. But until now, he'd had no idea how to get
12:23it. Like Lamberton, he was at this point a vassal of the English king. But his loyalty
12:28to the family claim was considerably greater. At Cambuskenneth, the Bruce and Lamberton
12:41signed a bond. They have agreed faithfully to be of one another's counsel in all their
12:47business and affairs at all times and against whichever individuals. There can only have
12:52been one subject discussed, one purpose for the contract. Lamberton and the Bruce had
12:57agreed that he should take the throne with the church's help. There was no mention of
13:03this in the contract, of course. Writing down such a plan would have been suicidally unwise.
13:09Secrecy was vital. So the penalty for the failure of either party to keep to the terms
13:15was set at a fantastically high sum of £10,000. £10,000, the price of silence, until the
13:25time was right. But Robert the Bruce was already 29 and he was not noted for his patience.
13:37For just over 18 months, he managed to hold his tongue. Then it started wagging to the
13:42man the church had chosen not to choose, John Cummin. On Thursday, the 10th of February
13:511306, the sheriff court was in attendance at Dumfries Castle. Edward's sheriffs, Edward's
13:58justice. As for the king himself, it was widely known that he was lying ill in an English
14:04monastery. Everyone of any importance for miles around was in attendance. So it was
14:11perfectly natural for the Bruce and Cummin to be in town. Their seats were local. They
14:16could meet and the Bruce could try to introduce John Cummin to a truth he wouldn't like at
14:21all. The bishops want me to be king. They met at Greyfriars Church in Dumfries and embraced.
14:33Previous meetings between the two had been less cordial. Seven years before, they'd shaken
14:37each other gently by the throat. So today, they stood on ceremony. They were on their
14:43best behaviour. It's almost certain that the bishops suggested such a meeting. It made
14:51perfect sense, after all, for the Bruce to attempt to persuade John Cummin to support
14:55his claim.
15:08It didn't make sense for the Bruce to kill him. Leaving Cummin for dead, the Bruce and
15:22his men went to the sheriff's court to break it up, which was open rebellion. While he
15:29was there, the Bruce received news that the Cummin was not dead. So he sent a follower
15:34back to Greyfriars Church to finish him off.
15:45This was ugly. This would be hard to spin. He had murdered someone in a church. The sin
15:57alone was deadly. The place he had committed it, God's house, that made it infinitely worse.
16:04He faced ruin, certain excommunication, expulsion from the Catholic Church. And if he died whilst
16:11excommunicated, he would be damned eternally. It was a steep price to pay for an impulsive
16:22act. His immortal soul.
16:34The Bruce fled here, to Glasgow Cathedral, to Bishop Robert Wishart, Lamberton's co-conspirator.
16:50Wishart would have been displeased, to say the least. It was too early. Almost certainly,
16:56the bishops had wanted to wait for Edward's death. The Bruce had ruined that. Their cover
17:02was blown. Nevertheless, Wishart absolved the Bruce of blood guilt. He had no choice.
17:11They were in too deep. Then Wishart made the Bruce swear an oath. An oath that as king
17:19he would always remain obedient to the wishes of the Scottish clergy. A shameful reminder
17:24of his recent crime. A tug at the leash. And then, it started. Wishart preached.
17:33He launched the Bruce, the Church's candidate. He told his flock, this Robert the Bruce will
17:38be Robert the First. He is your king. This is a crusade, he told them. A holy war. Fight
17:46for him. As swiftly and as secretly as possible, Wishart
17:54and Lamberton planned the inauguration of the Bruce as King of Scots. Rumours that Scotland's
18:02upstart bishops were about to make a king reached Edward. Edward was angry, but he wasn't
18:17worried. He had it all sewn up. He'd found out everything the Scots needed to make a
18:21king and stolen it. He'd taken the Stone of Destiny. He'd taken the Black Rude of St.
18:27He'd even taken the Earl of Fife, who had the privilege of crowning Scottish kings.
18:33But on March the 25th, 1306, the bishops went ahead regardless and made their king.
18:41Scotland had a real king once more, but there was no time to celebrate. No parties, no pavilions,
18:47no parliaments. King Robert returned to the common lands in the South West to secure them.
18:54Wishart marched to Cooper Castle in Fife. He took it, as the English later said, like
18:59a man of war, which is exactly what he was. By the end of the first week of April, Edward
19:06had appointed an agent in Scotland. Edward ordered him to raise Dragon, the banner which
19:12signified no quarter, no prisoners, no mercy, no rules at all.
19:24And the English rode north. Wishart and Lamberton were swiftly captured. The English regained
19:32Cooper Castle and moved towards Perth. Robert I rode to meet them with all the forces at
19:40his disposal.
19:44King Robert camped in the woods above Methbun on the 18th of June. He had failed to draw
19:48the English out from Perth to a pitched battle in the accepted sporting style of medieval
19:53chivalry, so he would try again tomorrow. But the Dragon banner was flying, for the
20:00English, chivalry was by the by. They approached under cover of darkness. It was a rout, a
20:06slaughter.
20:17Robert and a few hundred survivors dragged themselves west. His wife, Elizabeth, was
20:22still with them, his daughter and his sisters too. So he sent the women north, hoping they
20:28might find refuge in Norway. But they were captured and handed over to Edward. Robert
20:36and his remnant suffered a further defeat at Tindrum, a defeat that must have seemed
20:41final. So the King of Scotland was forced to flee still further west, to Denaverty,
20:47at the very tip of the Mull of Kintyre. There was no land left to run to. He put to sea
20:55and disappeared.
21:07He must have sailed with the bitter knowledge that his crown was proving costly. Bruce's
21:12wife and daughter were confined in convents. He would not see his wife again for eight
21:22years.
21:30Back on the mainland, Edward indulged himself in an orgy of executions. One of the victims
21:36was Robert's brother, Neil. Hung, drawn, quartered, as Wallace had been. The news of his brother's
21:43excruciating death would have bitten deep. Perhaps this misfortune meant that God didn't
21:48want him to be King. For six months, Robert the Bruce remained in hiding.
21:54In 1828, Walter Scott pulled all the strands of myth and hearsay together and gave the
22:00Bruce an encouraging spider for comfort. But it was just a story.
22:06Where he fled to precisely is not known. Ardnamurchan is the current favourite. But wherever he
22:12went, Sir Walter was right about one thing. The Bruce had a decision to make. Whether
22:17to give up or go on. He had connections. One of his sisters was the Queen of Norway. He
22:23could have hidden there. But that would have left his wife, his other sisters, his daughter
22:27and all his bishops in captivity. It would have left his supporters, his friends and
22:32his brother dead and unprayed for. In purgatory or worse. What sort of choice was that?
22:38He chose to fight on.
22:50He gathered a force of Irishmen and Hebrideans and landed secretly at Turnberry in Ayrshire
22:54towards the end of February in 1307. By the beginning of March, two more of his brothers
22:59were dead at English hands.
23:05The price of Robert's throne was rising. He took his forces, his anger and his grief into
23:10the broken lands of southwest Scotland. He wasn't hiding. He was learning how to fight.
23:15He had no more than a few hundred men, hardly any knights. He only had spearmen, foot soldiers
23:19and no intention whatsoever of following Wallace to an early grave. So, he could only wait
23:24until the English were where he wanted them to be and then surprise them.
23:30In April, Robert and a force of 300 men surprised an English force of 1,500 here beside Loch
23:35Trool in Galloway. It was an unpleasant surprise. There was no room for cavalry to manoeuvre
23:40and nothing for the English to do. Robert's brothers were killed.
23:45It was an unpleasant surprise. There was no room for cavalry to manoeuvre and nothing
23:50for the English to do except trip each other up and die. So, they ran away.
23:55So, this was victory. The Bruce enjoyed the taste. But was it a fluke? A one-off?
24:00It might be. By May, Robert was in Ayrshire.
24:05The land was full of the level playing fields that knights adored.
24:10The Bruce chose Loudon Hill instead.
24:15The Bruce had a few more men to work with now, about 600,
24:20and he put them to work gilding the lily, digging trenches to further reduce
24:25the opportunities for a wide assault, narrowing them down to a point.
24:30On the 10th of May, the English approached, 3,000 strong.
24:35They charged. Then they found out about the valley and the trenches.
24:40They lost their elbow room. A lot of them lost their horses as well.
24:45It was such terrible violence that those English troops at the rear,
24:50those not yet engaged, decided not to engage at all. They broke and ran.
24:55It was no fluke. Robert I was a winner.
25:00God was on his side.
25:05God had also had enough of Longshanks, the lawgiver, the slaughterer of Scots.
25:10Angered by the failure of his much larger forces to crush the Bruce,
25:15he left his sickbed and ordered his armies to muster at Carlisle.
25:20But he was iller than he thought, and older too.
25:25This is as far as he got, the sands and marsh of the Solway Firth.
25:30He died within sight of Scotland, but the covetous king did not go gently.
25:35He asked his son to send his heart to the Holy Land on crusade,
25:40but his bones would go with the army to Scotland to finish the business.
25:45The king is dead.
25:50Long live the king.
25:55Longshanks' bones weren't up to the task, but they weren't the problem.
26:00Edward II was. He had his father's temper, but nothing else.
26:05Not his intelligence, or his learning, or his tactical gifts.
26:10His first act as king was to disobey his father's orders
26:15He simply dropped dad off at Waltham Abbey to await proper burial.
26:20Then, in his own good time, he joined the English army in Scotland.
26:25On arrival, he learned they'd been badly provisioned,
26:28so he marched them south for a good square meal.
26:33He would leave the Scots in peace, by and large, for the next three years.
26:38And now, the Bruce had a job to do. Edward's job.
26:42Edward had some Scots to slaughter.
26:45The Cumann family and their many supporters were still loyal to the Balial claim.
26:50There was only one thing to do with such opposition.
26:55Kill it.
26:58He left the borders to his increasingly trusted lieutenant, James Douglas.
27:03Himself, he marched north, accompanied by his brother, Edward.
27:08The Bruce's campaign gathered momentum as he moved up the Great Glen.
27:17His forces were never large, although by now they had a reputation.
27:22His tactics were thorough and unpleasant.
27:25He reduced one Cumann castle after another.
27:30He reduced them to rubble. He killed the occupants.
27:34He burnt Nairn to the ground.
27:35A ruined castle, after all, was no use to the Cumanns.
27:39No use to the English if they returned,
27:41and no use to a king who had settled on a strategy.
27:45Hit and run.
27:48Right now, the Bruce had no use for castles.
27:52Castles meant you couldn't move.
27:54So, burn the castle. Fill the well. Move on.
27:59It took him just two months.
28:01By November, he was in the north-east.
28:02His forces now joined by those of the Bishop of Moray.
28:05Another man of war, Bishop Moray.
28:08The vestments were just for weekends.
28:11And then, the king is ill.
28:16The Bruce's illness was nameless, mysterious.
28:19It left him weak as a kitten.
28:21There was no medicine to hand, no doctor.
28:24He grew steadily weaker as the days passed.
28:27The king is dying.
28:29The king is dying.
28:41It was winter.
28:43The army was perilously close to running out of food.
28:46The Earl of Buchan, cousin of the murdered John Cumann,
28:49had gathered a sizeable force and was waiting for the moment to attack.
28:53The Bruce's forces withdrew into the highlands.
28:59The king was taken to a castle.
29:02To die, some thought.
29:09And then, magically, a spring came.
29:12The king recovered.
29:14He returned to the slaughter.
29:16He came here to Barra Hill near Aberdeen.
29:19The Earl of Buchan had dug himself in at the summit
29:22amidst the remnants of an Iron Age hill fort.
29:24It was, he thought, an impregnable location.
29:28He was wrong.
29:30By now, the Bruce's reputation rode ahead of him.
29:33The Earl of Buchan lost his cavalry to simple terror.
29:37Then he lost the battle too.
29:39John Cumann, Earl of Buchan, last of the Cumann nobility,
29:43fled to England.
29:45He was dead within the year.
29:47There were still supporters of the Cumanns to exterminate.
29:50There were still supporters of the Cumanns to exterminate.
29:54King Robert rode north.
29:57He came to Duffus Castle
29:59and the Bruce laid waste.
30:09Then he sent his brother, Edward, eastward into Buchan,
30:13the heartland of Cumann power.
30:15The Bruce did not forgive it.
30:17On his orders, such damage was done
30:20that the land was infertile for a generation.
30:24But it was not the land he damaged.
30:27He didn't just burn the crops.
30:29That would have made the land fertile in the coming year.
30:32He ordered the slaughter of the livestock
30:34and not only the animals, but those who tended them
30:37and who grew the crops, men, women and children.
30:40Parts of Buchan were left barren for a generation
30:44because there was no one left alive.
30:50I have spilled the blood of innocent men.
30:54Men.
30:56Men.
30:58Men.
31:00By March of 1309,
31:02the Bruce had crushed resistance almost everywhere in Scotland.
31:09In the July of the previous year,
31:11the Pope had lifted his ban of excommunication,
31:14so he was officially back in the fold,
31:16one of the saved,
31:18at least for the time being.
31:20Now it was time to get on with the business of kingship.
31:23Here at St Andrew's,
31:25in a cathedral nearing completion after 150 years,
31:28he called his first Parliament.
31:34It was a funny sort of Parliament by modern standards.
31:37It only lasted two days
31:39and only really did two pieces of business.
31:41Day one,
31:43Parliament replied to a letter from the King of France
31:46who wanted the Scots to go with him on crusade.
31:48Not just yet.
31:50Not yet, said Parliament.
31:52We're busy.
31:54Day two,
31:56Parliament issued an open letter
31:58called the Declaration of the Clergy.
32:00It's not a famous document,
32:02but it should be.
32:06The Declaration of the Clergy
32:08published for the first time
32:10the ideas that Scotland's bishops had borrowed
32:12from Duns Scotus.
32:14With great cunning,
32:16it wove into Scotland's recent history
32:18the idea that a king could be chosen
32:20and did it as though everyone
32:22should always have known
32:24that such a thing could be.
32:26The clergy and the people,
32:28seeing the virtue of Robert the Bruce,
32:30had agreed upon him
32:32and, with their concurrence and consent,
32:34he was raised to be king.
32:38It's a very important document indeed.
32:40It sounds almost revolutionary,
32:42but in 1309,
32:44the people really meant the important people,
32:46the nobility,
32:48the clergy,
32:49not the peasants
32:51or the drinkers down the pub.
32:53No, the Declaration was written for the people,
32:55not by the people,
32:57because the people were meant to listen to it.
33:04It was preached in churches,
33:06it was copied, it was shown around,
33:08it was repeated,
33:10it was the party line
33:12from Robert's faithful support and prop,
33:14the Scottish Church.
33:19The Declaration of the Clergy
33:21was stage two
33:23in Robert's conquest of Scotland,
33:25an attempt to persuade the doubters
33:27and there were still many
33:29that Robert was indeed the rightful king.
33:31This was good,
33:33but was it good enough?
33:35The sheer scale
33:37of the Bruce's task
33:39was becoming clear.
33:41His kingship was still in question.
33:43He was not a legend yet.
33:46Three years later,
33:47three things needed to be done
33:49if he was going to make the throne safe
33:51for himself
33:53and for his male heir.
33:55One,
33:57he had to secure the loyalty
33:59of all of Scotland's nobles
34:01and eject the English
34:03from any significant holdings.
34:05Two,
34:07he had to force the English king
34:09to accept the independent status
34:11of his throne
34:13and three,
34:15he had to father a male heir.
34:17So no chance of an heir then
34:19or not a legitimate one at least.
34:21But before all of these things
34:23he must become unquestionable.
34:25He must become a legend
34:27and for that
34:29he would have to wait five years.
34:32He would have to wait
34:34for Bannockburn.
34:39By the spring of 1314
34:41the Bruce had almost completed
34:43his first task.
34:45Only Stirling and Berwick castles
34:47remained in English hands.
34:49Edward II
34:51began raising an army
34:53to reconquer Scotland.
35:00Edward mustered his forces
35:02at Berwick on the 10th of June.
35:0415,000 foot soldiers
35:06between 2,500 and 3,000 horse.
35:10Edward's nobles
35:12were mostly absent
35:14and they hadn't sent as many knights
35:15as they could gather.
35:17So not exactly a vote of confidence then
35:19but no matter.
35:21Edward had more than enough
35:23confidence in himself
35:25to make up the shortfall.
35:27They rode north.
35:29The Scottish forces mustered
35:31in the Tor Wood
35:33south of Stirling.
35:35The numbers bore no comparison
35:37500 light horse
35:39about 6,000 foot
35:41but size isn't everything.
35:43By now
35:45Edward, James the Black Douglas
35:47Thomas Randolph
35:48the Earl of Moray
35:49were experienced
35:50battle-hardened men
35:52and the foot soldiers
35:53of the Scottish Army
35:54had learned to fight
35:55in shiltrums
35:56packed together in close order
35:58with spears and shields
35:59permanently presented
36:00like tanks
36:01but made of human bodies.
36:04By Saturday the 22nd of June
36:06the Bruce had chosen
36:07where to fight.
36:09He'd had a lot of practice by now
36:11he chose wisely
36:13the edges of New Park
36:14and the Burn.
36:16The trees limited cavalry action
36:18and to the south east
36:19the ground was broken
36:20by streams
36:21and burns
36:22and rills.
36:24On either side of the road
36:25leading to the New Park
36:26the Bruce
36:27modified the terrain.
36:29Just as he had done
36:30at Loudoun Hill
36:31he made the ground
36:32treacherous for his foes
36:33this time
36:34by ordering the digging
36:35of innumerable pits
36:36disguised with grass
36:37and branches.
36:38These
36:39would snap the legs
36:40of the English horse.
36:42The English Army itself
36:43and night fell.
36:49The next morning
36:50was a Sunday
36:51so the Scots
36:52began it with a Mass.
36:54The Bishop of Dunkeld
36:55presided
36:56and when the Mass
36:57was finished
36:58he would have got
36:59his weapons ready.
37:04This
37:05would be the reckoning
37:06the payment
37:07for the Bruce
37:08had lost brothers
37:09and friends
37:10family
37:11and priests
37:12his wife
37:13and daughter
37:14dear to him
37:15had been imprisoned
37:16and those
37:17who gave allegiance
37:18to him
37:19had lost
37:20still more
37:21and now
37:22the English King
37:23was here
37:24no more
37:25than a hundred yards
37:26away
37:27he would be made
37:28to pay
37:29he must
37:30be made
37:31to pay.
37:33The English
37:34opened
37:35with their knights
37:36as was traditional
37:37a massed
37:38cavalry charge
37:39and one
37:40of the knights
37:41found himself
37:42charging an isolated
37:43figure
37:44off to the side
37:45of his soldiers
37:46an isolated figure
37:47wearing a crown
37:49he lowered his lance
37:50and galloped forward
37:51this
37:52was his chance
37:53at immortality
37:54but the Bruce
37:55dodged it
37:56he rose up
37:57in his stirrups
37:58and with a single
37:59blow of his battle axe
38:00split de Boon's skull
38:01from crown
38:02to chin
38:03with that one stroke
38:04the Bruce
38:05became legend.
38:11The
38:24Chiltrums held
38:25they pushed forward
38:26the English cavalry
38:27were sent in again
38:28but the Earl of Moray's
38:29Chiltrum
38:30forced them back
38:31and that
38:32was the story
38:33of Bannockburn.
38:36For two days
38:37the Scottish Chiltrums
38:38held
38:39and then pressed forward
38:40hemmed the English
38:41in for slaughter
38:42and on the second day
38:44the English
38:45had had enough
38:46so they did
38:47what had now become
38:48the traditional thing
38:49when faced with
38:50a Scottish army
38:51its feet and spears
38:52firmly planted
38:53on the ground
38:55they ran away
38:58the Scots
38:59got down to the
39:00profitable business
39:01of taking prisoners
39:02and Edward
39:03took to flight
39:04Robert
39:05had too few
39:06mounted men
39:07to send a sizeable
39:08number in pursuit
39:09so Edward escaped
39:11check
39:12but not checkmate
39:19The haul was impressive
39:21Robert was able to
39:22trade his prisoners
39:23he recovered
39:24Bishop Wishart
39:2574 years old
39:26and blind
39:27his daughter
39:28his sister
39:30and best of all
39:31Elizabeth
39:32his queen
39:348 years of captivity
39:35had left their mark
39:37and Robert
39:38had grown
39:39that what she'd suffered
39:40was his fault
39:42all for his costly throne
39:45all for his legend
39:48in the history books
39:49and by the firesides
39:50the scale of the victory
39:51would swell
39:52just as the tails
39:53would grow taller
39:55in fact
39:56by the 20th century
39:57the king himself
39:58had grown by 2 feet
40:01but the facts
40:02were rather bleaker
40:05only the task
40:06of removing the English
40:07from Scotland
40:08was near completion
40:10the attempt to produce
40:11a male heir
40:12could now begin
40:13but it was perfectly possible
40:14that Queen Elizabeth
40:15might prove barren
40:18Bannockburn
40:19had given him his legend
40:21but it had changed
40:22nothing else
40:33the road to Scotland's
40:34independence
40:35seemed very long
40:37progress now depended
40:38on Edward II
40:39who had no reason
40:40to make any concessions
40:41of any kind at all
40:44for 4 long years
40:45the Scots raided
40:46English territories
40:47in the north of England
40:48Ireland too
40:50Robert lost his last
40:51remaining brother
40:52Edward Bruce
40:53all in vain
40:55Edward took no notice
40:58he didn't need to
41:01he couldn't beat
41:02the Bruce on a battlefield
41:04so he changed the game
41:06and started playing
41:07by the rules
41:08that Scotland's bishops used
41:10he had gone to the Pope
41:15and the new Pope
41:16was desperate to restore
41:17papal prestige
41:19by sending all the major
41:20crowns of Europe
41:21on crusade
41:22kings who caused
41:23petty national squabbles
41:24would not be tolerated
41:27in 1318
41:28the Scots discovered
41:29that the English
41:30had convinced the Pope
41:31that the war
41:32between England and Scotland
41:33was Scotland's fault
41:37Robert
41:38his lieutenants
41:39and his bishops
41:40were all excommunicated
41:42in addition
41:43the Pope ordered
41:44that in every English church
41:453 times a day
41:47a ceremony was to be held
41:48at which the name of Bruce
41:49was cursed
41:58the news will have been bitter
42:00as the curses rose
42:01from every English church
42:03the Bruce came to
42:04St Andrew's Cathedral
42:05for its day of consecration
42:09almost 700 years ago
42:11the Bruce stood here
42:13along with his old mentor
42:14William Lamberton
42:16but without Wishart
42:17who had died 2 years before
42:19he watched as these
42:20marks were made
42:22a generous annuity
42:23for the new cathedral
42:24was announced
42:25he was pious
42:26desperately so
42:28the Bruce's spending
42:29on things like this
42:30churches
42:31chantries
42:32monasteries
42:33and chapels
42:34was increasing
42:35generous grants
42:36were made
42:37to institutions
42:38dedicated to
42:39St Andrew
42:40St Philan
42:41St Thomas
42:42St Ninian
42:44his people called him
42:45Good King Robert
42:47but Good King Robert
42:48wasn't so sure
42:50he wanted the saints
42:51to intercede on his behalf
42:53those English curses
42:54didn't seem quite empty
42:56not at least
42:57to the man they were
42:58intended for
43:00the fate of the Scottish Crown
43:01was back in the hands
43:02of the papacy
43:04and the Scottish clergy
43:05once again
43:07was the Bruce's only hope
43:09in April 1320
43:11a Scottish knight
43:12set off for the papal court
43:14he was a postman of sorts
43:16he carried with him
43:17three letters
43:19all were written here
43:20in Arbroath Abbey
43:22one was from King Robert
43:24one was from the bishops
43:25and the third
43:26was from the Pope
43:27one was from the bishops
43:28and the third
43:29was from the nobles of Scotland
43:31only the letter
43:32from the nobles survives
43:34and it's now known
43:35as the Declaration
43:36of Arbroath
43:39it has become
43:40a very famous document
43:42some people see it
43:43as an astonishingly
43:44precocious manifesto
43:45for national
43:46and democratic freedom
43:48some Americans argue
43:49that you can see
43:50its influence
43:51in their own
43:52Declaration of Independence
43:55in 1320
43:56it was a hard-nosed
43:57reply to English spin
43:59and it spun
44:00pretty hard itself
44:02of course
44:03it wasn't the nobles
44:04who actually wrote it
44:05this was ventriloquism
44:07with the nobles' dummy
44:08sat firmly
44:09on the bishop's knee
44:14it was a potted history
44:15and a brandished
44:16fist of a document
44:20the Pope must have
44:21enjoyed reading it
44:24first
44:25it summarised the arguments
44:26of Baldrick Bissett's brief
44:29we are an ancient people
44:30we are Rome's
44:31special daughter
44:34second
44:35it asserted that
44:36Robert the Bruce
44:37by due consent
44:38and assent of us all
44:39had freed them
44:40from the English yoke
44:41but if he should
44:42submit to the English
44:43we Scots
44:44will drive him out
44:46and make some other man
44:47who was well able
44:48to defend us
44:49our king
44:50for as long as
44:51but a hundred of us
44:52remain alive
44:53never will we be brought
44:54under English rule
44:56it is in truth
44:57not for glory
44:58nor riches
44:59nor honours
45:00that we are fighting
45:01but for freedom
45:02for that alone
45:03which no honest man
45:04gives up
45:05but with life itself
45:11so
45:12the idea of
45:13done scotus
45:14that kingship
45:15is contractual
45:16with added brass neck
45:17and a generous
45:18pinch of broadsword
45:19had finally reached
45:20the papal court
45:22but it hadn't finished yet
45:24the pope replied
45:25that it was the English
45:26not the Scots
45:27who were making excuses
45:28for not going on crusade
45:29and that if his holiness
45:30didn't do something
45:31to stop them
45:32then his holiness
45:33would be blamed by God
45:34for the slaughter of bodies
45:35and perdition of souls
45:37that would inevitably follow
45:40cheeky
45:51the pope replied in August
45:52the letters
45:53astonishingly
45:54had had the desired effect
45:55the excommunications
45:56were suspended
45:58better still
45:59Pope John wrote to Edward
46:00and told him
46:01to end the conflict
46:02and negotiate
46:03Edward agreed
46:04with an ill grace
46:06the treaty negotiations
46:07were to take place
46:08at Bambera
46:09in Northumberland
46:10in the March of 1321
46:14so
46:15in March
46:16the envoys began to gather
46:18the papacy
46:19and the French king
46:20sent agents too
46:21it was a farce
46:23a drain blocked
46:24with all the old arguments
46:27the English
46:28wheeled out
46:29the ancient story
46:30of immemorial
46:31English ownership
46:32of the Scottish crown
46:34the Scots replied
46:35with creaky chunks
46:36of bisset
46:37and a generous helping
46:38of the declaration
46:39adding for good measure
46:40that the entire
46:41Norman and Plantagenet dynasty
46:43was itself
46:44illegitimate
46:45stemming as it did
46:46from the foreign
46:47usurpation
46:48of 1066
46:49an invasion
46:50led by someone
46:51the Scots chose
46:52to refer to
46:53as William
46:54the Bastard
46:55the true
46:56and legitimate claim
46:57on the English crown
46:58said the Scots
46:59lay with the house
47:00of Wessex
47:01whose sole
47:02living representative
47:03was one
47:04Robert I
47:05of Scotland
47:08the Bambera negotiations
47:09came to nothing
47:11a letter confirming
47:12Robert's excommunication
47:13arrived a month later
47:15stalemate
47:18and after that
47:19for six years
47:20it was groundhog day
47:21for Robert the Bruce
47:23every time the Scots
47:24secured concessions
47:25at the papal court
47:26Edward successfully
47:27got them undone
47:29the only day that delivered
47:30any variety
47:31was the 5th of March
47:321324
47:33when Queen Elizabeth
47:34was delivered
47:35of a healthy baby boy
47:37someone to give Scotland to
47:39someone of his blood
47:41a miraculous male heir
47:43David
47:49the Queen was 35
47:51the King was 50
47:53for those days
47:54it was near enough
47:55to miraculous
48:07but did it matter
48:09every morning
48:10the Bruce awoke
48:11to find the English King
48:12unchanged
48:18the Bruce's groundhog day
48:19lasted until the
48:205th of January
48:211327
48:23when Edward II
48:24was deposed
48:26Edward was removed
48:27from the throne
48:28by his wife
48:29Isabella of France
48:30and her lover
48:31Roger Mortimer
48:32with the tacit approval
48:33of an English nobility
48:34that was heartily sick
48:36of Edward's incompetence
48:37favouritism
48:39rumoured homosexuality
48:40and corruption
48:45his son
48:46the Prince of Wales
48:47just 14 years old
48:48was crowned
48:49Edward III
48:50a little less than
48:51two weeks later
48:53this was good news
48:54this was an opportunity
48:56but King Robert
48:57once again
48:58was ill
49:00he remained active
49:01but sometimes
49:02he was active
49:03almost in effigy
49:04carried around
49:05from place to place
49:06paralysed
49:07like a statue
49:08of himself
49:10the illness came and went
49:11but it came more
49:12and went less
49:14as time passed
49:17an eyewitness in July
49:18said the King was so ill
49:19he could scarce move
49:20anything but his tongue
49:22but it was time
49:23for one last effort
49:24or this great opportunity
49:25would be lost
49:26and so
49:27miraculously
49:28in August
49:29the King was well enough
49:30to lay siege
49:31to Norham Castle
49:32while Murray and Douglas
49:33made assaults on the castles
49:34at Annick
49:35and Workworth
49:39all of these sieges
49:40in Northumbria
49:41sent a message
49:42loud and clear
49:44the Scots
49:45quite possibly
49:46were about to take
49:47the throne
49:48the threat was real
49:49the English
49:50folded
49:52on the 18th of October
49:53whilst at Berwick
49:55Robert issued
49:56his conditions
49:58the King of England
49:59must recognise
50:00his throne
50:01and the independence
50:02of the Scottish Crown
50:03in perpetuity
50:05to seal the deal
50:06his son David
50:07was to marry
50:08the King of England's
50:09sister Joan
50:10the English hummed
50:11and hawed
50:12but there was little doubt
50:13that they would accept
50:14all of the important points
50:18the Bruce
50:19had won
50:40Queen Elizabeth of Scotland
50:41died
50:42nine days later
50:44she was sure
50:45of her husband's success
50:46but she was not alive
50:47to see it
50:49the Bruce's blessings
50:50were usually mixed
50:55the peace was finally
50:56concluded at the
50:57monastery of Holyrood
50:58where the Bruce lay ill
50:59on the 17th of March
51:001328
51:03one of the English promises
51:04was to return
51:05the stone of destiny
51:07his earls were in attendance
51:09his bishops too
51:11including William Lamberton
51:12who had chosen him
51:14with whom
51:15he had written
51:16a very different document
51:1724 years before
51:18and without whom
51:19very likely
51:20none of them would have
51:21been there at all
51:23Lamberton died
51:24two months later
51:36on the 12th of July
51:37in accordance with
51:38the second of Robert's
51:39treaty conditions
51:40David
51:41who was only four
51:42and the Princess Joan
51:43who was six
51:45died in Berwick Church
51:48neither king
51:49was in attendance
51:51one was too angry
51:53the other
51:54was too ill
51:58peace at last
52:00after 32 years
52:01of struggle
52:02and bloodshed
52:04the Pope let it be known
52:05that he recognised
52:06the Scottish throne
52:07and he lifted the ban
52:08of excommunication
52:09from King Robert
52:11the Pope was on side
52:13the gates of hell
52:14were firmly shut
52:16King Robert
52:17you might think
52:18could be sure
52:19of salvation
52:21but he wasn't
52:22guilt weighed heavily
52:23on him
52:24his nameless illness
52:25assured him
52:26that he still lacked
52:27God's grace
52:28the crown was his
52:29he wouldn't be parted
52:30from it
52:31but it was steeped in blood
52:33the blood of his family
52:34and the blood of others
52:36he arranged for a chaplain
52:37in Buchan
52:38to say masses
52:39for his brother Neil
52:40dead since 1306
52:42and made Grantstead
52:43where his wife
52:44lay buried
52:47the Bruce
52:48and his advisors
52:49judged the time was right
52:50to ask for something
52:51that every European monarchy
52:52of status possessed
52:54an ampoula
52:55a bottle of sacred oil
52:57blessed by the Pope himself
53:02oil from such bottles
53:04was used to anoint kings
53:05at their coronations
53:07any attempt
53:08to conquer the lands
53:09of a king who
53:10by virtue of this oil
53:11had been anointed by God
53:13was a mortal sin
53:15the English kings
53:16had an ampoula
53:17the French did too
53:18but the Scottish kings
53:19didn't
53:20and they wanted one
53:21it was more than
53:22any mere status symbol
53:24it was a bottle full
53:25of independence
53:26from the English king
53:29his illness grew worse
53:31the king is dying
53:32people said
53:33nobody knew
53:34what he was dying of
53:35but this time
53:36it was true
53:38he had just three months
53:39to live
53:40but he went on pilgrimage
53:41struggled down
53:42the south west coast
53:43of Scotland
53:44to the shrine
53:45of Saint Ninian
53:46in Whithorn Cathedral
53:48too sick to ride
53:49the warrior king
53:50was carried on a litter
53:52the journey
53:53took a month
53:54when he arrived
53:55Robert the Bruce
53:56mortally ill
53:57and on the edge
53:58of the abyss
53:59did penance
54:00he fasted
54:01and did penance
54:02for five days
54:03after all
54:04the church
54:05had got him his crown
54:07surely now
54:08God would take him back
54:12God forgive me
54:14I have spilt the blood
54:15of many innocent men
54:19men
54:21men
54:22on his return
54:23he gathered his earls
54:24around him
54:25and he spoke to them
54:26my day is far gone
54:27he said
54:28I thank God
54:29for giving me time
54:30to repent in this life
54:32because of me
54:33and my wars
54:34much blood has been spilt
54:35many innocent men
54:36have died
54:37so I take this
54:38sickness and pain
54:39as proper penance
54:40for my sins
54:41and he let it be known
54:42that after his death
54:43he wanted his heart
54:44to be removed
54:45and taken on crusade
54:49Robert knew
54:50he would never live to go himself
54:52but the Scots
54:53had been promising
54:54the Pope a crusade
54:55since 1320
54:57Robert died
54:58on the 7th of June 1329
55:00he was 55 years old
55:02the illustrious
55:03king of Scots
55:04was buried here
55:05at Dunfermline Abbey
55:07near his wife
55:09the dead king
55:10and the first king
55:11of something
55:12that had never existed before
55:14the very word Scots
55:15meant something different
55:17there was a Scottish people now
55:19loyal to a Scottish throne
55:21no more confusion
55:22no more divided loyalties
55:24the bishops and the Bruce
55:25had done their job
55:27it was a revolution
55:33the king is dead
55:36long live the king
55:38his five year old son
55:39David
55:40succeeded Robert the Bruce
55:41on the 7th of June 1329
55:44the following year
55:45James Douglas
55:46took the Bruce's heart
55:47on crusade
55:48against the Moors
55:49in northern Spain
55:50and died there
55:51the heart
55:52having fulfilled
55:53its promise
55:54was found on the battlefield
55:56returned to Scotland
55:57and buried in Melrose Abbey
56:03after his death
56:04the legend of the Bruce
56:05did what legends do
56:07it ate things up
56:08it ate the human being
56:10all that was left
56:11was Robert the Bruce
56:12the soldier king
56:13who fought for Scottish liberty
56:14and won
56:16it left a suit of armour
56:17and this face
56:18resolute
56:19and empty
56:23the legend
56:24hid his consuming guilt
56:27it rarely mentioned
56:28the bishops who'd chosen him
56:30and who had guided his every step
56:32it barely muttered the names
56:33of his lost family
56:35it shrunk the Scottish casualties
56:36and multiplied
56:37the English armies
56:38he'd defeated
56:40it blurred the medievalness
56:41of what he did
56:43it made it about
56:44liberty for all
56:45instead of a revolution
56:47that established a free
56:48and independent
56:49Scottish crown
56:57on November the 24th
56:581331
56:59David and Joan
57:00were enthroned
57:01as king and queen
57:02of Scotland
57:03there was no stone
57:04of destiny
57:05Edward III
57:06had promised to return it
57:07and hadn't
57:09but at last
57:10there was an ampoula
57:11of sacred oil from the Pope
57:13the bottle of independence
57:14from the English crown
57:16final proof
57:17of the Bruce's triumph
57:19final proof
57:20that the Scottish crown
57:21was free and quit
57:22of English authority
57:24final proof
57:25that the reign
57:26of good king Robert
57:27had been worth everything
57:29all the deaths
57:30and horror
57:31freedom
57:32from the English crown
57:33at last
57:34forever
57:36the next English invasion
57:37was in 1332
57:41so much for bottles
57:42and for promises
58:05to be continued
58:06in the next episode
58:07of the
58:08story of the
58:09English crown
58:10the story of the
58:11English crown
58:12the story of the
58:13story of the
58:14story of the
58:15story of the
58:16story of the
58:17story of the
58:18story of the
58:19story of the
58:20story of the
58:21story of the
58:22story of the
58:23story of the
58:24story of the
58:25story of the
58:26story of the
58:27story of the
58:28story of the
58:29story of the
58:30story of the
58:31story of the
58:32story of the