Page "History of Scotland" Paragraph 29

Rivals John Comyn and Robert the Bruce, grandson of the claimant, were appointed as joint guardians in his place.

On 10 February 1306, Bruce participated in the murder of Comyn, at Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries.

Less than seven weeks later, on 25 March, Bruce was crowned as King.

However, Edward's forces overran the country after defeating Bruce's small army at the Battle of Methven.

Despite the excommunication of Bruce and his followers by Pope Clement V, his support slowly strengthened ; and by 1314 with the help of leading nobles such as Sir James Douglas and Thomas Randolph only the castles at Bothwell and Stirling remained under English control.

Edward I had died in 1307.

His heir Edward II moved an army north to break the siege of Stirling Castle and reassert control.

Robert defeated that army at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, securing de facto independence.

In 1320 the Declaration of Arbroath, a remonstrance to the Pope from the nobles of Scotland, helped convince Pope John XXII to overturn the earlier excommunication and nullify the various acts of submission by Scottish kings to English ones so that Scotland's sovereignty could be recognised by the major European dynasties.

The Declaration has also been seen as one of the most important documents in the development of a Scottish national identity.