Edinburgh Castle was retrieved for Robert the Bruce in March 1314, but the assault was led by Bruce’s nephew, Thomas Randolph, not the fictional Alasdair MacAulay. Interestingly, the daring route was suggested by one William Francis, who had used it while stationed in the keep to make discreet jaunts into town for his romantic liaisons.
Robert the Bruce died—after uniting Scotland beneath his hand—in 1329 in Cardross above the Clyde at fifty-five years of age. Ironically, he died before word of a papal bull pronouncing the legitimacy of his kingship could reach him. That kingship, so arduously won, would not continue smoothly in his absence and ultimately, Scotland would surrender to England’s rule once more.
There are many wonderful stories surrounding Robert the Bruce—including that of the spider—though it is uncertain how many of them are true. One of my favorites is Robert the Bruce’s reputed final request—which was for his heart to be taken to Jerusalem and buried near the Holy Sepulchre.
Sir James Douglas took the heart as pledged, but got no further than Granada (in modern Spain), where he was killed in battle with the Moors. Bruce’s heart was purportedly returned to Scotland by another knight, still in its lead casket, and buried beneath Melrose Abbey. Recently, a lead casket matching the description has been discovered in the abbey and early tests indicate that it likely contains an embalmed heart.
All of Alasdair’s stories are truly Scottish folk tales or ballads. Many of these were collected by Francis James Child in his 19th century volume The English and Scottish Popular Ballads.
The story of Thomas Rhymer is included here with some anglicization of its Scots dialect. The actual Thomas of Erceldoune (also known as True Thomas, or Thomas Learmont—c. 1220-97) was a poet who claimed to have been captured by the fairy queen and released with the gift of prophecy.
Erceldoune is now called Earlston and is in the Eildon Hills southeast of Edinburgh, coincidentally quite close to Melrose Abbey. The Eildon Hills are also considered by many to be where King Arthur and his knights lie in an enchanted slumber, waiting to be awakened by the summons from a magical horn.
The Stone of Scone remained in Westminster Abbey from the time of Edward Plantagenet’s seizure in 1296, with the exception of a brief interval in the 1960’s when the stone was captured by Scottish nationalists. In 1996, it was returned to Scotland by the British government. Interestingly enough, although the stone is reputed to have been brought from Tara in Ireland by the Picts, some seven centuries before Edward’s plunder, geologists maintain that the stone is red sandstone, and quarried near Scone.
The Scottish regalia has a long and colorful history—including being ‘found’ by Sir Walter Scott in the nineteenth century—but are much as is described here. They are on permanent display in Edinburgh Castle—and the scepter still does have a crystal mounted in it!
Finally, the quest for Scottish independence was sought long before and continued long after Robert the Bruce. As I finished this book—in September 1997—the Scottish people had just voted strongly in favor of establishing a Scottish National Legislature once more. It appears that Robert the Bruce’s dream of independence—and that of countless other Scots—will come to fruition before the turn of the millennia.
Perhaps this time, his legacy will endure.
