Sisters of The Bruce 1292-1314 (Abridged Version )

Sisters of The Bruce: Historical Background

Scotland was a land of rich and ancient beauty, coveted by many. Its wildness was matched by its people. They were a remarkable mix of races and creeds, both ancient and new: native Picts; Strathclyde Britons; Angles and Saxons from the Germanic continent; Celtic Gaels from Ireland; Vikings and Danes from across the cold North Sea; Flemings from Flanders and the feudal Normans, the newest arrivals, from France. These warriors, traders and settlers formed a loose conglomeration of layered cultures. It is hardly surprising this ill-meshed society was torn apart, often from within by bitter rivalry between families and further weakened by external wars. By the late thirteenth century, the volatile kingdom of Scots was as brittle as dry tinder, ready for the spark which would set it ablaze. Civil war threatened and, to the south, Scotland's great neighbour flexed its muscles, flint-stone at the ready.

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One bitter night in 1286, King Alexander IIIof Scotland crossed the storm-tossed Forth, making haste to lie with his beautiful French queen. Yolande de Dreux was his second wife, and there was no surviving male heir from this marriage. As his stallion tumbled from the cliffs of Kinghorn, so too had Scotland careered out of control.

With the death of the king, many put forward their claims for the crown. One such claimant was old Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale, who became known as the Competitor. Rival factions threatened to split the country. The Scottish parliament appointed envoys to seek out Edward Iof England in far off Gascony, and ask for his advice and protection. For some time, Scotland's relationship with England's monarchs had been on favourable terms: respectful, but wary. Even Alexander III had been prepared to acknowledge, as did many Anglo-Scottish barons, King Edwards' overlordship. However, this extended only to their lands in England, not those in Scotland. Encroachment by their capricious neighbour was an ever-present danger. The country threatened to implode.

With the Treaty of Birgham, six-year-old Margaret, granddaughter of the deceased King of Scots and daughter of Eric II of Norway, was to marry Edward's infant son. Some objected, concerned this marriage - where Margaret was, but a pawn to be used - could give the English king the pretext to interfere in the affairs of Scotland. Scottish and English nobles were sent to collect the child. During the voyage, the little Maid of Norway sickened and died. The year was 1290.

From that time on, battle lines were drawn by the attorneys and adjudicators of the thirteen claimants for the Scottish crown, delivering the complexities of claim and counter claim before a far-from-impartial judge: Edward of England. It was achieved by a piece of adroit political manoeuvring on his part, which would spell trouble for Scotland as an independent country.

Principal amongst those claims was that of John Balliol who was perceived to have the most direct, and therefore senior hereditary right of primogeniture to the throne. His claim was supported by the closely-related and powerful Comyn family. One of their territories, the region of Galloway in southwest Scotland, bordered that of their long time rivals: the Bruce family, the earls of Carrick and lords of Annandale.

Legend tells that many generations before, Gilbert, son of Fergus, Lord of Galloway, bickered over land and power with his half brother, Utred. Believing he had been cheated of his inheritance, Gilbert ordered his blinding: an oft-used punishment in those times. The mutilation resulted in Utred's death. For these ill-deeds, the English king levied an enormous fee on Gilbert. Much later at Gilbert's death, the debt remained unpaid, and the king determined the land should be split. Roland, Utred's son, became Lord of Galloway, and Duncan, the son of Gilbert, the first Earl of Carrick. Succeeding generations passed and the bitterness between the two families festered, not helped as their Celtic heiresses married into the Norman families of Bruce and Comyn. Indeed, these families continued the feud with equal enthusiasm.