Robert the Bruce

Biography

Robert seized the Scottish crown in 1306 after killing his rival John Comyn, and endured defeat and exile in his first years. Rebuilding his strength through guerrilla warfare, he crushed the army of Edward II at Bannockburn in 1314. The Declaration of Arbroath of 1320 asserted Scottish independence to the pope. England recognized his kingship in the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328, the year before he died.