Robert the Bruce
Robert the Bruce (July 11, 1274- June 7, 1329) was, as his best modern biographer (Geoffrey Barrow) described him, a great hero who lived in a minor country. Every aspect of his career until 1306 saw him a traditional member of the ruling feudal noble class; the grandson of a younger son descendant of the King of Scots, and more English than Scottish in his upbringing. Earl of Carrick, Robert Bruce was born at Turnberry Castle, Ayrshire, in 1274
By the murder of Comyn in Dumfries (1306), Bruce eliminated any alternative but claiming the throne, which he did. Eight years of exhausting but deliberate refusal to meet the English on even ground proved Bruce to be one of the great guerrilla leaders of any age, an astonishing transformation for one raised as a feudal knight.
Bruce's Cave on Rathlin Island off the coast of Northern Ireland is named after him.
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