In the Footsteps of Robert Bruce

"'On 7 June 1329 died Robert Bruce, of goodly memory, the illustrious King of Scots, at Cardross (on the Clyde) in the twenty-fourth year of his reign. He was, beyond all living men of his day, a valiant knight' wrote a contemporary chronicler. Bruce's body was buried in Dumfermline Abbey, his heart removed to be taken on crusade to the Holy Land - at his dying request - but later returned to Scotland for burial, and interred at Melrose Abbey. Thus it is that for over 600 years. Robert Bruce has had a unique place in Scottish history, his position almost that of patron saint, and that the story of his life as hero king has held the minds of the champions of Scottish nationalism for generations." "Yet behind this legendary figure is a complex, and in many ways, more fascinating picture, a man who not only led his nation to a famous victory over the English at Bannockburn, and who is commemorated in his followers' national anthem 'Flower of Scotland', but who overcame great odds to win power for himself in Scotland and was determined to succeed in fulfilling his family's long-held ambition for political power. For before Robert Bruce could conquer the English, he had to fight his rivals, the Comyns and their associates, in a bloody, vicious and long-lasting civil war. Only then, after the killing of John 'the Red' Comyn, could Bruce put the long struggle against weakness and failure behind him, and begin the battle against Edward II that gave Scotland its independence. Book jacket."--Jacket.