CHARLES DE VALOIS: French noble, uncle of Isabella
CHRISTIAN BRUCE: sister of Robert
CHRISTIANA MACRUARIE: Lady of Garmoran
CHRISTOPHER SETON: son of an English knight from Yorkshire and *cousin of Alexander Seton, married to Christian Bruce
CLEMENT V: pope
*COL: serving boy at Aberdeen Castle
*CONSTANCE: maid to Elizabeth at Pleshey Castle
*CORMAC: son of Lord Donough and foster-brother of Robert
DAVID OF ATHOLL: son of John of Atholl
DONALD OF MAR: son of Christian Bruce and Gartnait of Mar, Robert’s nephew
*DONOUGH: Robert’s foster-father and lord of the Bruce estates in Antrim
DUNGAL MACDOUALL: former captain of the army of Galloway
EDMUND: son of Edward I and Marguerite of France
EDWARD I: King of England (1272–1307)
EDWARD BRUCE: brother of Robert
EDWARD OF CAERNARFON: son and heir of Edward I, King of England (1307–1327)
*EDWIN: steward of Robert’s father in Writtle
ELEANOR OF CASTILE: first wife of Edward I, mother of Edward II
*ELENA: daughter of Brigid
ELIZABETH (BESS): daughter of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, wife of Humphrey de Bohun
ELIZABETH BRUCE: daughter of the Earl of Ulster, Robert’s second wife and Queen of Scotland
*EWEN: knight of Alexander Seton
*FERGUS: soldier in Robert’s army
GARTNAIT OF MAR: Earl of Mar, first husband of Christian Bruce, father of Donald
*GEOFFREY: royal knight
*GIL: prisoner at Berwick Castle
GILBERT DE CLARE: Earl of Gloucester
GILBERT DE LA HAY: Lord of Erroll
GILES D’ARGENTAN: English knight
*GILLEPATRICK: one of Angus MacDonald’s men on Islay
GUY DE BEAUCHAMP: Earl of Warwick
HENRY III: King of England (1216–72), Edward I’s father
HENRY BEAUMONT: knight in the court of Edward II
HENRY DE BOHUN: Humphrey’s nephew
HENRY PERCY: Lord of Alnwick
*HUGH: squire of Humphrey de Bohun
HUMPHREY DE BOHUN: Earl of Hereford and Essex, and Constable of England
INGRAM DE UMFRAVILLE: former guardian of Scotland
ISABEL OF ATHOLL: daughter of John of Atholl and his wife, the countess
ISABEL BRUCE: sister of Robert, marries Eric II and becomes Queen of Norway
ISABEL COMYN: Countess of Buchan, wife of the Black Comyn
ISABELLA OF FRANCE: daughter of King Philippe IV, wife of Edward II and Queen of England
ISOBEL OF MAR: a daughter of the Earl of Mar, Robert’s first wife and mother of Marjorie Bruce
JAMES DOUGLAS: son and heir of William Douglas, nephew and godson of James Stewart
JAMES STEWART: High Steward of Scotland
JOAN OF ACRE: daughter of Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, wife of Ralph de Monthermer
JOAN DE VALENCE: sister of Aymer de Valence and wife of John Comyn III
JOHN OF ATHOLL: Earl of Atholl and Sheriff of Aberdeen, married to a daughter of the Earl of Mar, making him Robert’s brother-in-law
JOHN BALLIOL II: Lord of Galloway and King of Scotland (1292–96), deposed by Edward I in 1296
JOHN COMYN III: Lord of Badenoch, head of the Red Comyns, married to Joan de Valence, killed by Robert in 1306
JOHN COMYN IV: son of the man killed by Robert
JOHN MACDOUGALL: Lord of Argyll and Lorn, cousin of John Comyn
JOHN OF MENTEITH: son of the Earl of Menteith
*KERALD: one of Christiana’s men on Barra
LACHLAN MACRUARIE: captain of the galloglass, half-brother of Christiana
LLYWELYN AP GRUFFUDD: Prince of Wales, killed during the 1282–84 conquest
*LORA: maid to Elizabeth Bruce
LOUIS D’EVREUX: French noble, uncle of Isabella
*LUCY: maid to Elizabeth in Burstwick Manor
*LUKE: infantryman in the army of Edward II
MALACHY (ST): Archbishop of Armagh (1132–37), canonised in 1199
MALCOLM: Earl of Lennox
MALCOLM III (CANMORE): King of Scotland (1058–93)
MARGARET: half-sister of Robert from his mother’s first marriage, mother of Thomas Randolph
MARGARET (THE MAID OF NORWAY): granddaughter and heir of Alexander III, named Queen of Scotland after his death, but died on the voyage from Norway
MARGARET DE CLARE: sister of Gilbert, niece of Edward II, wife of Piers Gaveston
MARGUERITE OF FRANCE: sister of Philippe IV, second wife of Edward I and Queen of England
MARJORIE BRUCE: daughter of Robert and Isobel of Mar
MARJORIE OF CARRICK: Countess of Carrick, Robert’s mother, died in 1292
MARMADUKE TWENG: English knight
MARY BRUCE: sister of Robert
MATILDA BRUCE: sister of Robert
*MATTHEW: knight of Aymer de Valence
*MAUD: maid to Elizabeth in Burstwick Manor
MAURICE: Abbot of Inchaffray
NEIL CAMPBELL: a knight from Argyll
*NES: former squire to Robert, made a knight
NIALL BRUCE: brother of Robert
NICHOLAS TINGEWICK: royal physician to Edward I
*NICOLAS: guard at Pleshey Castle
*NIGEL: infantryman in the army of Edward II
*OSBERT: guard at Roxburgh Castle
OSBOURNE: blacksmith at Kildrummy Castle
*PATRICK: one of Angus MacDonald’s men
*PATRICK: Robert’s servant
PHILIP MOUBRAY: commander of Stirling Castle
PHILIPPE IV: King of France (1286–1314), father of Isabella, cousin of Edward I
PIERS GAVESTON: a Gascon knight in Prince Edward’s household, made Earl of Cornwall
RALPH DE MONTHERMER: royal knight in the court of Edward I, married to the king’s daughter Joan, stepfather of Gilbert de Clare
*RANULF: steward of Humphrey de Bohun at Pleshey Castle
RICHARD DE BURGH: Earl of Ulster and Lord of Connacht, father of Elizabeth
ROBERT BRUCE V: grandfather of Robert, competed for the throne of Scotland, died in 1295
ROBERT BRUCE VI: father of Robert, former Earl of Carrick
ROBERT BRUCE VII: Earl of Carrick, Lord of Annandale on his father’s death and King of Scotland (1306–29)
ROBERT CLIFFORD: royal knight
ROBERT KEITH: royal marshal in Robert’s court
ROBERT WINCHELSEA: Archbishop of Canterbury
ROBERT WISHART: Bishop of Glasgow
*ROLAND: soldier at Kildrummy Castle
RUARIE MACRUARIE: half-brother of Christiana
*SIM: guard at Roxburgh Castle
*SIMON: doorward of Edward I
SIMON FRASER: Scottish nobleman and rebel
SIMON DE MONTFORT: Earl of Leicester, led a rebellion against Henry III, died in battle with Edward, his godson, in 1265
THOMAS OF BROTHERTON: son of Edward I and Marguerite of France
THOMAS OF LANCASTER: Earl of Lancaster and nephew of Edward I, cousin of Edward II
THOMAS RANDOLPH: son of Margaret Bruce, Robert’s half-nephew
*TOM: squire of Alexander Seton
WALTER STEWART: son of James Stewart
*WILL: knight of Alexander Seton
WILLIAM LAMBERTON: Bishop of St Andrews
WILLIAM OF ROSS: Earl of Ross
WILLIAM WALLACE: leader of the Scottish rebellion against Edward I in 1297, executed in 1305
YOLANDE OF DREUX: second wife of Alexander III and Queen of Scotland
GLOSSARY
BASINET: a close-fitting helmet, sometimes worn with a visor.
BRAIES: undergarments worn by men.
COAT-OF-PLATES: a cloth or leather garment with metal plates riveted to it, worn under the surcoat.
COIF: a tight-fitting cloth cap worn by men and women, it could also be made of mail and worn by soldiers under or instead of a helm.
CROWN OF ARTHUR: a coronet worn by the princes of Gwynedd, most notably Llywelyn ap Gruffudd who styled himself Prince of Wales. Edward I seized the crown along with other important Welsh relics during the 1282–84 invasion and sent it to Westminster Abbey.
CURTANA: also known as the Sword of Mercy because of its symbolically broken tip, it was thought to have belonged to St Edward the Confessor and became part of the English regalia used in coronations.
DESTRIER: a warhorse.
DIRK: Scots for dagger.
FALCHION: a short sword with a curved edge.
FOSSE: a ditch or moat.
GAMBESON: a padded coat worn by soldiers, often made of quilted cloth, stuffed with felt or straw.
GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH: thought to have been a Welshman or Breton by birth, Monmouth resided in Oxford during the twelfth century, where he was possibly a canon of St George’s College. Later, he became Bishop of St Asaph. He wrote three known works during his life, the most famous being The History of the Kings of Britain of which the Prophecies of Merlin became part, followed by The Life of Merlin. Despite mixing established British history with romantic fiction, Monmouth presented his writings as fact and many readers of his works took them as such, accepting King Arthur and Merlin as historical figures. Monmouth’s works, although criticised by some of his contemporaries, were hugely popular during the medieval period and from his The History of the Kings of Britain sprang the immense canon of Arthurian literature that graced Europe over the following centuries. Chrétien de Troyes, Malory, Shakespeare and Tennyson were all influenced by his work.
HAUBERK: a shirt or coat of mail with long sleeves.
HUKE: a hooded cloak.
MAGNATE: a high-ranking noble.
MOTTE: a castle or keep built on a mound, often surrounded by a bailey.
PALFREY: a light horse used for everyday riding.
PROPHECIES OF MERLIN: written by Geoffrey of Monmouth during the twelfth century. Originally composed as a separate volume, the Prophecies were later incorporated into his The History of the Kings of Britain. According to Monmouth he was translating the work into Latin from an older text. Monmouth has been credited as being the creator of Merlin, but it is now believed he derived this enigmatic figure from earlier Welsh sources.
QUARREL: an arrow for a crossbow.
SCHILTROM: a shield ring usually composed of spearmen.
STAFF OF MALACHY: also known as the Staff of Jesus, it was a wooden crosier covered with gold. It was believed to have belonged to St Patrick, who is said to have received it from Jesus. Highly revered by the Irish, it became connected with Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, when he was forced to pay off the leader of the secular clan who had possession of the staff and control of St Patrick’s Cathedral and its diocese. According to popular law, only when Malachy had the staff could he claim to be the rightful archbishop. The staff was taken to Dublin in the late twelfth century, where it was burned as a superstitious relic in the sixteenth century.
STONE OF DESTINY: also called the Stone of Scone, it was the ancient seat used in Scottish coronations. Thought to have been brought to Scone in the ninth century by Scotland’s king, Kenneth mac Alpin, its origins are unknown. It was seized by Edward I during the 1296 invasion and taken to Westminster Abbey where it was set in a specially designed throne and became part of the English coronation ceremony. It remained here until 1950 when four students stole it and returned it to Scotland. It was later sent back to England, before being officially presented to Edinburgh Castle in 1996, where it remains on display. It will be returned to Westminster for future coronations.
SURCOAT: a long sleeveless garment usually worn over armour.
VAMBRACE: armour for the lower arm.
VASSAL: a retainer subject to a feudal superior, who holds land in return for homage and services.
VENTAIL: a flap of mail that can be pulled up and secured to protect the lower half of the face during combat.
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