Commemorating the seven hundredth anniversary of the enthronement of Robert I of Scotland, this book is intended as an everyman's guide to Scotland's famous hero king. The life of Bruce is one of the greatest comeback stories in history. Heir and magnate, shrewd politician, briefly 'king of summer' and then a desperate fugitive who nevertheless returned from exile to recover the kingdom he claimed, Bruce became a gifted military leader and a wise statesman, a leader with vision and energy. Colm McNamee combines the most up to date scholarship on this crucial figure in the history of the British Isles with lucid explanation of the medieval context, so that readers of all backgrounds can appreciate Bruce's enormous contribution to the historical impact not just on Scotland, but on England and Ireland too. It is designed to encourage popular reassessment of Bruce as politician, warrior, monarch and savior of Scottish identity from extinction at the hands of the Edwardian superstate. Peeling back the layers of misconception and propaganda, the author paints an accurate, sympathetic but balanced portrait of a much beloved national hero who has fallen out of fashion of late for no good reason.
Chapter 1. A man of his time, a man of his place
Chapter 2. An inheritance, a grandfather’s ambition and a ‘coveytous’ king (1286–96)
Chapter 3. Resistance and survival in occupied Scotland (1296–1306)
Chapter 4. ‘Playing at kings and queens’ (1306)
Chapter 5. ‘Through the Mountains and from Isle to Isle’ (1306–07)
Chapter 6. Recovering the kingdom (1307–11)
Chapter 7. The road to Bannockburn (1311–14)
Chapter 8. Triumphs and disasters (1314–18)
Chapter 9. The struggle for peace with honour (1318–23)
Chapter 10. Robert, King of Scots
Chapter 11. Endgame with England, and death (1323–29)
Chapter 12. The image, the legend and the long shadow of Robert Bruce