After a series of brilliant victories over the English settlers and their partisans, he was crowned king of Ireland on the 2nd of May, 1316. Repeated reinforcements were sent over from Scotland, and at length the king resolved to go in person to the aid of his brother. Their united forces overran a great part of Ireland, and inflicted several severe defeats upon the English, but without gaining any permanent footing in the country. King Robert was soon obliged to return to his own dominions; and after his departure his brother Edward for some time maintained a precarious authority in Ulster; but at length, having rashly encountered, near Dundalk, an Anglo-Irish army ten times more numerous than his own, he was defeated and slain.
During the absence of the Scottish king in Ireland, various attempts were made by the English to disturb the tranquillity of his dominions; but their incursions were as often repelled by the activity and courage of the Steward and Douglas, to whom Robert had intrusted the government of the country. The pope, too (John XXII., a man alike venal and servile), favoured the English side, and was induced by a large bribe to issue a bull commanding a two years' truce between England and Scotland. But as the pontiff withheld from Bruce the title of king, the Scottish monarch refused to receive the papal letters, or to admit the legates to an interview; and when the truce was proclaimed by their messengers, he refused to pay any regard to it. Meanwhile, the death of Edward Bruce, and of the Princess Marjory, who expired immediately after giving birth to a son, March 2nd, 1316, having rendered some new regulations necessary regarding the succession to the crown, a parliament was held at Scone on December, 1318, in which Robert, the infant son of the Princess Marjory, was recognized as heir to the throne, in the event of the king's death without male issue. On the 28th of March, 1318, the important town of Berwick, the key of the eastern marches, fell into the hands of the Scots; and Robert, well aware of the vast importance of this acquisition, strengthened the fortifications of the place, caused it to be victualled and strongly garrisoned, and committed the keeping of it to his gallant son-in-law, the Steward. In the summer of the following year. King Edward, at the head of a formidable army, made a vigorous but unsuccessful effort to recover the town. With the view of compelling the besiegers to abandon the siege, Bruce sent Randolph and Douglas, at the head of fifteen thousand men, to invade England. Advancing into Yorkshire, they encountered at Mitton a numerous but undisciplined force under the archbishop of York and the bishop of Ely, and defeated them with great slaughter. The news of this disaster caused the English to raise the siege of Berwick, and in December following a truce for two years was concluded between the kingdoms. Strange to say, this was the moment selected by Edward's old ally the pope to renew the sentence of excommunication against the Scottish king and his adherents; and, apparently provoked at the contempt with which his former censures had been treated, he commanded the archbishop of York and the bishops of London and Carlisle to repeat the ceremony on every Sabbath and festival day throughout the year. This unfair exercise of authority excited great indignation among the people of Scotland; and in a parliament held at Aberbrothock on the 6th of April, 1320, the barons and freeholders of the realm, in the name of the whole community of Scotland, addressed a spirited memorial to the pope in vindication of themselves and their sovereign, which, together with the representations of two ambassadors, whom Bruce shortly after sent to the papal court, had such an effect upon the mind of the pontiff, that he was induced to suspend for some time the publication of the sentence of excommunication, and earnestly to, recommend the English king to conclude peace with Scotland. Commissioners on both sides were accordingly appointed for this purpose, and a meeting took place at Carlisle with the view of negotiating the terms of peace, but it led to no satisfactory result. About this period a formidable conspiracy against the life of King Robert was brought to light by the confession of the countess of Strathearn, who had been made privy to the plot. William de Soulis, hereditary butler of Scotland, and grandson of one of the competitors for the crown, and David de Brechin, the king's nephew, both of whom were in the pay of the English monarch, were the ringleaders of this conspiracy, which seems to have had for its object the death of the king, and the elevation of de Soulis to the throne. The conspirators were brought to trial before the parliament in August, 1320, and de Brechin and three of his accomplices were condemned to death and executed, while de Soulis and the countess of Strathearn were punished by perpetual imprisonment. Strange to say, in spite of the atrocity of their crime, the punishment of these traitors excited strong dissatisfaction in the community, and the parliament by which they were condemned was long remembered in Scotland by the name of the Black Parliament.
Shortly after this, Edward resolved to undertake another invasion of Scotland, and wrote to the pope, informing him that he was about to establish a peace by force of arms. Before his preparations could be completed, however, the Scots twice invaded the northern provinces of England, and after laying waste the country, returned home laden with spoil. The expedition which Edward undertook against Scotland, at the head of a hundred thousand men, proved utterly abortive; all the cattle and provisions, and every article of value, were carefully removed by the inhabitants to places of safety, and the invaders found themselves traversing a silent desert. They penetrated as far as Edinburgh without having seen an enemy; many of the soldiers perished from famine; and, in order to save his army from destruction, Edward found it necessary to retrace his steps with all haste, grievously harassed by Randolph and Douglas, who hung on the rear of the retreating army, and cut off their stragglers. Bruce immediately retaliated, by leading his forces into the north of England, and by a forced march penetrated into Yorkshire, and suddenly attacked the remains of the English army, which lay encamped at Biland abbey, near Malton. Although they were drawn up in a position of great strength, the masterly dispositions of Bruce speedily determined the victory in his favour. Edward with difficulty escaped to York, leaving an immense booty and many prisoners in the hands of the Scots, who, after plundering and devastating the whole country north of the Humber, returned in safety to their own country. These successive disasters, together with the divided state of his kingdom, and the treachery of many of his nobles, made the English king anxious for peace; and soon after, a thirteen years' truce was concluded by the mediation of Henry de Sully, grand butler of France, who had been taken prisoner at the battle of Biland. Soon after, the pope was induced, by the dexterous management of Randolph, to address a bull to Bruce, with the title of king. At this period, too, a son was born to Robert—5th March, 1323—who afterwards succeeded his father under the title of David II. But the national joy at this event was speedily overclouded by the untimely death of the king's son-in-law, the High-Steward of Scotland, which caused deep and universal lamentation.
In the year following this event, 1327, the weak and unfortunate Edward II. was deposed and murdered, and his son, Edward III., a youth of fourteen, was called to the throne. The council of regency, who carried on the government during the minority of the king, roused the indignation of Bruce by repeated instances of bad faith, and at length both sides prepared for war. The young king assembled a magnificent host at York for the invasion of Scotland; but before he could put his forces in motion the Scottish army crossed the border, and laid waste the northern counties with fire and sword. Edward pursued the invaders for several weeks, tracing their march by the desolation which they spread on all sides, but without success. (See Douglas, Sir James.) At length the Scots regained their own country in safety, laden with the plunder which they had collected during their successful inroad. The English were now at length convinced that all attempts to conquer Scotland must prove abortive, and the disastrous issue of the recent expedition, the impoverishment of the public exchequer, and the desolated condition of their own country, made them at length sincerely desirous of peace. Commissioners were accordingly sent with full powers to conclude a permanent treaty between the kingdoms. The preliminaries were settled in a parliament held at York on the 1st of March, 1328. It was stipulated that the English king should renounce fully and for ever all claims of dominion and supremacy over Scotland, and that there should be a perpetual peace between the two kingdoms, for the confirmation of which it was agreed that a marriage should take place between David, son and heir of Robert Bruce, and Joanna, sister to the king of England. This treaty was finally concluded at Edinburgh on the 17th of March, 1327, and ratified in a parliament held at Northampton, the 4th of May, 1328.
This termination of the war of independence, which had lasted
