Scots, whom Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
On to victorie!”—Burns.
“BRUCE to the rescue! Bruce to the rescue!” was the war-cry of the valiant little band of Scottish chiefs who gathered under the banner of Robert Bruce, who was the seventh lord of Annandale, and also earl of Garrick.
The heroic William Wallace had already endeavored to free his country from the yoke of bondage in which they were held by the English king, Edward I.
Alexander III., the ninety-fifth king of Scotland, had died in 1286, leaving his grand-daughter Margaret, the Fair Maid of Norway, heir to the Scottish throne. This child-princess was betrothed to the son of the English king; but when quite young, as she sailed from her father’s castle in Norway to her future home in Scotland, she died on the voyage thither. Thus the crown of Scotland became the cause of dispute amongst thirteen noblemen, descendants of members of the royal family, who set up claims to the vacant throne.
There were but two claimants whose pretensions were based upon sufficient grounds to insure any prospect of success. These were John Baliol and Robert Bruce, grandson and son of the two elder daughters of David, earl of Huntingdon, who was the younger brother of King William, the Lion, who was the ninety-third king of Scotland. This Robert Bruce was the grandfather of the hero who is the subject of this sketch.
King Edward of England, having been requested by the Scots to act as arbitrator amongst all these claimants, decided to give the preference to John Baliol, who was crowned king in November, 1292, having sworn fealty to Edward, king of England. Thus did the wily English sovereign place upon the Scottish throne a king weak enough to be used as his tool. And poor John Baliol soon found, to his sorrow, that he was a king only in name; but in reality a slave in the hands of his ambitious and powerful neighbor.
Edward, having placed the feeble Baliol upon the throne of Scotland, spared him no humiliation. Every time any Scottish petitioner appealed to Edward, Baliol’s liege lord, regarding any decision of the king of Scotland which had failed to satisfy his subject, Edward would summon Baliol to appear at his court, to render an account of his judgment. This occurred four times the first year of his reign. At length Baliol refused to comply longer with these demands of Edward, whereupon the English king advanced with an army against the Scots. After a fearful massacre at Berwick, and the capture of several castles by the English, Baliol begged for peace, and was sent to the Tower in honorable captivity. He subsequently ended his life in his domains in Normandy. Robert Bruce at once claimed the crown. But Edward exclaimed, angrily, “Do you think that I have nothing else to do but to conquer kingdoms for you?”