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June 23

June 23

June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 191 days remaining.

Events


- 1295 - Pope Boniface VIII enters Rome.
- 1305 - Flemish-French peace treaty signed at Athis-sur-Orge.
- 1314 - Start of the Battle of Bannockburn south of Stirling, Edward II of England & Robert I of Scotland met in battle. Scotland won and Edward fled the field and Scotland.
- 1532 - Henry VIII & François I sign secret treaty against Emperor Charles V.
- 1611 - The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson's fourth voyage sets Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in the Atlantic Ocean; they are never heard from again.
- 1661 - Marriage contract between Charles II of England & Catharina of Portugal.
- 1683 - William Penn signs friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.
- 1713 - French residents of Acadia given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia Canada. [http://www.acadian-cajun.com/acadia5.htm]
- 1724 - Russia and Turkey sign Treaty of Constantinople.
- 1757 - Battle of Plassey - 3000 British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000 strong Indian army under Siraj-ud-Dawlah at Plassey.
- 1758 - Seven Years War: Battle of Krefeld - British forces defeat French troops at Krefeld in Germany.
- 1760 - Seven Years War: Battle of Landshut - Austria beats Prussia.
- 1794 - Empress Catherine II grants Jews permission to settle in Kiev.
- 1810 - John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company.
- 1812 - Napoleon begins the famous offensive on Russia, which fails horribly.
- 1858 - Six-year-old Edgardo Mortara is seized by Papal authorities.
- 1860 - The US Congress establishes the Government Printing Office.
- 1865 - American Civil War: At Fort Towson in Oklahoma Territory Confederate General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant rebel army.
- 1887 - The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating that nation's first national park, Banff National Park. [http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/cseh-twih/archives2_E.asp?id=25]
- 1888 - Frederick Douglass is the first African-American nominated for US president.
- 1894 - International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne, Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
- 1931 - Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to accomplish the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane. [http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Wiley_Post/EX27.htm]
- 1938 - The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.
- 1938 - Marineland opens near St. Augustine, Florida.
- 1940 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France.
- 1941 - Lithuanian Activist Front initiates Lithuanian 1941 independence from the Soviet Union; it lasted only briefly as the Nazis occupied Lithuania a few weeks later.
- 1944 - Thomas Mann becomes a US citizen.
- 1947 - The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act.
- 1955 - In the Strahov Stadium in Prague the 1st all-national Spartakiáda begins.
- 1956 - Gamal Abdel Nasser elected president of Egypt.
- 1958 - The Dutch Reformed Church accepts women ministers.
- 1959 - Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany (where he resumed a scientific career).
- 1959 - A fire in a resort hotel in Stalheim, Norway kills 34 people.
- 1960 - Japan signs security treaty with the U.S.
- 1962 - Larry Doby retires from the Cleveland Indians to play in Japan.
- 1967 - Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.
- 1968 - 74 are killed and 150 injured in a soccer stampede towards a closed exit in a Buenos Aires stadium.
- 1969 - Warren E. Burger is sworn in as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring chief Earl Warren.
- 1972 - Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.
- 1979 - Sydney: New South Wales Premier Neville Wran officially opens the Eastern Suburbs Railway. It operates as a shuttle between Central & Bondi Junction until full integration with the Illawarra Line during 1980.
- 1985 - A Boeing 747 carrying Air India Flight 182 blew-up 31,000 feet (9500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, South of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.
- 1989 - The movie Batman is released in the United States.
- 1990 - Moldavia declares independence.
- 1991 - Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Genesis in North America.
- 1992 - Mafia boss John Gotti is sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering on April 2.
- 1992 - Yitzhak Rabin wins the Israeli parlamentary elections..
- 1996 - Clan Knightmare, a Quake gaming clan was formed
- 2005 - The IWW Centennial in Chicago, Illinois

Births


- 47 BC - Pharaoh Ptolemy XV of Egypt
- 1433 - Francis II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1488)
- 1456 - Margaret of Denmark, queen of James III of Scotland (d. 1486)
- 1534 - Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (d. 1582)
- 1596 - Johan Banér, Swedish soldier (d. 1641)
- 1612 - André Tacquet, Belgian mathematician (d. 1660)
- 1668 - Giambattista Vico, Italian philosopher and historian (d. 1744)
- 1683 - Etienne Fourmont, French orientalist (d. 1745)
- 1716 - Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English politician (d. 1789)
- 1763 - Josephine de Beauharnais, Empress of France (d. 1814)
- 1800 - Karol Marcinkowski, Polish physician and social activist (d. 1846)
- 1889 - Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (d. 1966)
- 1894 - Alfred Kinsey, American entomologist and sexologist (d. 1956)
- 1894 - King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (d. 1972)
- 1907 - James Meade, English economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
- 1910 - Jean Anouilh, French dramatist (d. 1987)
- 1910 - Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- 1912 - Alan Turing, English mathematician (d. 1954)
- 1916 - Len Hutton, English cricketer (d. 1990)
- 1927 - Bob Fosse, American choreographer (d. 1987)
- 1929 - June Carter Cash, American singer (d. 2003)
- 1936 - Costas Simitis, Prime Minister of Greece
- 1940 - Adam Faith, English singer and actor (d. 2003)
- 1940 - Lord Irvine of Lairg, Scottish Lord Chancellor
- 1940 - Wilma Rudolph, American runner (d. 1994)
- 1941 - Robert Hunter, American singer and songwriter (The Grateful Dead)
- 1943 - James Levine, American conductor
- 1943 - Vint Cerf, American Internet pioneer
- 1946 - Ted Shackleford, American actor
- 1948 - Clarence Thomas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
- 1948 - Darhyl S. Ramsey, American author and professor of music education
- 1955 - Glenn Danzig, American musician (The Misfits and Danzig)
- 1957 - Frances McDormand, American actress
- 1962 - Chuck Billy, American singer
- 1963 - Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer
- 1964 - Joss Whedon, American producer, director, and screenwriter
- 1966 - Chico DeBarge, American musician (DeBarge)
- 1972 - Selma Blair, American actress
- 1972 - Zinedine Zidane, French footballer
- 1973 - Marie N, Latvian singer
- 1975 - Kevin Dyson, American football player
- 1976 - Brandon Stokley, American football player
- 1976 - Patrick Vieira, French footballer
- 1977 - Jason Mraz, American singer and songwriter
- 1979 - LaDainian Tomlinson, American football player
- 1980 - Ramnaresh Sarwan, Guyanese cricketer

Deaths


- 79 - Vespasian, Roman Emperor (b. AD 9)
- 1018 - Henry I of Austria
- 1516 - King Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1452)
- 1555 - Pedro Mascarenhas, Portuguese explorer (b. 1470)
- 1582 - Shimizu Muneharu, Japanese military leader (b. 1537)
- 1615 - Mashita Nagamori, Japanese warlord (b. 1545)
- 1677 - Wilhelm Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1647)
- 1686 - William Coventry, English statesman
- 1707 - John Mill, English theologian
- 1733 - Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (b. 1672)
- 1770 - Mark Akenside, English poet and physician (b. 1721)
- 1775 - Karl Ludwig, Freiherr von Pöllnitz, German adventurer and writer (b. 1692)
- 1806 - Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French naturalist (b. 1723)
- 1832 - James Hall, Scottish geologist (b. 1761)
- 1891 - Wilhelm Eduard Weber, German physicist (b. 1804)
- 1893 - Sir Theophilus Shepstone British South African statesmen (b. 1817)
- 1956 - Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (b. 1875)
- 1959 - Boris Vian, French writer and musician (b. 1920)
- 1969 - Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish athlete (b. 1907)
- 1980 - Clyfford Still, American painter (b. 1904)
- 1995 - Jonas Salk, American medical researcher (b. 1914)
- 1996 - Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
- 1998 - Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish actress (b. 1911)
- 2002 - Pedro 'El Rockero' Alcazar, Panamanian boxer (b. 1975)
- 2003 - Vasil Bykau, Belarusian writer (b. 1924)
- 2003 - Maynard Jackson, Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances


- Ancient Latvia - Jāņi held.
- Midsummer's Eve, Christianized the eve of the feast of Saint John the Baptist, is celebrated in much of Northern Europe and the British Islands
- Victory Day - Estonia
- Saint Jonas Day - Lithuania

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/23 BBC: On This Day] ---- June 22 - June 24 - May 23 - July 23 -- listing of all days ko:6월 23일 ms:23 Jun ja:6月23日 simple:June 23 th:23 มิถุนายน

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน



Boniface VIII

Boniface VIII, né Benedetto Caetani (Anagni, ca. 1235 – October 11, 1303) was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303. Boniface's given name was either Benedict Cajetan or Benedetto Caetani. He was elected in 1294 after Celestine V abdicated. (One of Boniface's first acts as pontiff was to imprison his predecessor in the castle of Fumone, where he died at the age of 81, attended by two monks of his order.) In 1300 Boniface instituted the jubilees, which afterwards became a source of both profit and scandal to the church. Boniface VIII put forward some of the strongest claims to temporal as well as spiritual supremacy of any Pope and meddled incessantly in foreign affairs. In his Bull of 1302, Unam Sanctam, Boniface proclaimed that it "is necessary for salvation that every living creature be under submission to the Roman pontiff", pushing papal supremacy to its historical extreme. These views and his intervention in 'temporal' affairs led to many bitter quarrels with the emperor Albert I of Habsburg, the powerful family of the Colonnas and with Philip the Fair of France. Boniface's quarrel with Philip the Fair became so resentful that he excommunicated him in 1303. However, before the Pope could lay France under an interdict, Boniface was seized at Anagni by a party of horsemen under Guillaume de Nogaret, an agent of Philip and Sciarra Colonna. Philip and the Colonnas demanded that he resign, to which Boniface responded that he would 'sooner die'. Boniface was released from capitivity after three days, however, despite his fortitude, he died of shock a month later, on October 11, 1303. No subsequent popes were to repeat Boniface VIII's claims of political supremacy. Boniface VIII was buried in St. Peter's Basilica, in a grandiose tomb that he had designed himself. (Allegedly, when the tomb cracked open three centuries after his death, his body was revealed to be perfectly incorrupt.) Dante portrayed Boniface VIII, though alive at the date of his vision, as destined for the Inferno—specifically the Eighth Circle, in a special pit reserved for Popes guilty of simony—in his Divine Comedy. The pontiff earned this when his feud with the Colonnas led him to demolish the city of Palestrina, killing 6,000 citizens and destroying both the home of Julius Caesar and a shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

External links


- [http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unam_Sanctam_(English) English text of Unam Sanctam at Wikisource]
- [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02662a.htm More in depth look at the Pope from the Catholic Encyclopedia.] Boniface VIII Boniface VIII Boniface 8 Boniface 8 ko:교황 보니파시오 8세 ja:ボニファティウス8世 (ローマ教皇)

1305

Events


- August 5 - English troops capture William Wallace
- Wenceslas III becomes king of Bohemia
- The Papacy removed to France following riots in the Papal State.

Births


- Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese shogun (died 1358)

Deaths


- April 4 - Joan I of Navarre, queen of Philip IV of France
- June 21 - King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia and Poland (born 1271)
- August 23 - William Wallace, Scottish rebel (executed)
- October 4 - Emperor Kameyama of Japan (born 1249)
- November 18 - John II, Duke of Brittany (born 1239)
- Moses de Leon, Spanish rabbi (born 1250)
- Maximus, Metropolitan of all Rus Category:1305 ko:1305년

Battle of Bannockburn

The Battle of Bannockburn (June 23, 1314 – June 24 1314) was a significant Scottish victory in the Wars of Scottish Independence.

Prelude

Stirling Castle was besieged by the Scots in the spring of 1314. The commander at Stirling, Sir Philip Mowbray, agreed to surrender if a relieving force had not arrived by the end of June. On hearing of this agreement, Edward II of England organized a considerable force of possibly 25,000 men to head north. The army was mustered at Berwick-upon-Tweed before crossing the border at Coldstream and heading for Stirling.

The battle

On Sunday, June 23, the English force had reached the ford at Bannockburn, a few miles south of Stirling, where the Scottish force of maybe 9,000 was waiting for them under the command of Robert Bruce. The Scots intended to fight in a narrow gap, relying on their disciplined schiltron to blunt the advantages of the English heavy cavalry. The actual battle spread over the few miles of poor ground between Bannock Burn and the River Forth. The battle was fought over two days and although the first encounters were relatively small compared to the major clash on the second day, the outcome was dictated by the strategically disastrous disposition of the English force, hemmed in on marshland between the Bannock Burn and the Pelstream Burn in the marshland leading down to the banks of the meandering River Forth. The Battle of Bannockburn was remembered by the English as "The Battle of the Pools". The first clash was between 500 English cavalry heading for Stirling and a force of Scottish infantry. The schiltrons proved their worth, the English charges were repulsed for little loss and the cavalry were forced to retire. At the same time there had been a number of skirmishes around the main force as the English crossed Bannock Burn to face up to the Scots, including the clash of the English Knight, Henry De Bohun (nephew of Humphrey de Bohun, the Earl of Hereford) and Robert Bruce. De Bohun had seen Bruce mounted on a pony in advance of the main Scottish force. Tilting his lance, De Bohun rode down on the solitary figure whose pony side-stepped the charging warhorse at the last moment while its rider dispatched the knight with a blow to his helmet with his battle axe. As daylight was fading after some further half-hearted skirmishes, the English withdrew to set up camp between Bannock Burn and the Pelstream Burn. Sir Robert Munro, the sixth of his house, fought in the army of Bruce at the battle of Bannockburn. His only son, George, fell there, leaving an heir, who succeeded his grandfather. The main battle occurred on June 24. The English advanced across the burn while the Scots waited in schiltrons. The first English cavalry charge was disorganised and costly, few knights managed to break through the schiltrons and they were quickly dispatched. The Scots then advanced, still in schiltrons, forcing the disorganised cavalry back into the English infantry still trying to join them across the burn. The fire from English archers fell on both English and Scots and before they could properly threaten the advancing Scottish infantry a sally of light cavalry drove the archers back. The English superiority of numbers hampered any attempts at rallying them as the Scottish force pressed the masses back towards the river. Edward II fled the field early, and after being denied entry to Stirling he went to Dunbar via Winchburgh and then by ship back to England.

Legacy

The Scottish victory was complete and, although full English recognition of Scottish independence was not achieved until more than ten years later, Robert Bruce's ability to re-establish Scotland as a sovereign state was greatly strengthened by the events at Bannockburn. Scottish independence The actual location of the battle is disputed, as contemporaneous historical records are ambiguous about the precise site. A 2004 archeological dig sponsored by TV programme Two Men in a Trench found circumstantial evidence that the battle had taken place across a large length of the marshy valley of the Bannock Burn, behind the current location of Bannockburn High School. A modern, abstract monument stands in a field above the battle site, where the warring parties are believed to have camped on the night before the battle. The monument consists of two hemicircular walls depicting the opposing parties. Nearby stands the 1960s statue of Bruce by Pilkington Jackson. The monument, and the associated visitor centre, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the area. Each year the Scottish Nationalist movement, primarily the Scottish National Party commemorates the battle with a march to Bannockburn field from Stirling town centre. There then follows a laying of a wreath at the statue of Robert Bruce and a rally. Bannockburn Category:Scottish culture

Edward II of England

Edward II, (April 25, 1284 – September 21, 1327), of Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until deposed in January, 1327. His tendency to ignore his nobility, in favour of low-born favourites, led to constant political unrest and eventually to his deposition. He is today perhaps best remembered for the brutal method of his alleged murder, which was linked to his reliance on the corrupt Despenser family.

Prince of Wales

The fourth son of Edward I of England by his first wife Eleanor of Castile, Edward II was born at Caernarfon Castle. He was the first English prince to hold the title of the Prince of Wales, which was formalized by the Lincoln Parliament of February 7, 1301. (The story that his father presented Edward II as a newborn to the Welsh as their future native prince is unfounded; the story first appeared in the work of 16th century Welsh "antiquary" David Powel.) Edward became heir to the throne when he was just a few months old, upon the death of his elder brother Alfonso. His father, a notable military leader, made a point of training young Edward in warfare and statecraft starting in his childhood. The prince took part in several Scots campaigns, but "all his father's efforts could not prevent his acquiring the habits of extravagance and frivolity which he retained all through his life". The king attributed his son’s problems to his lover Piers Gaveston, a Gascon knight. Gaveston was exiled by the king after the then Prince Edward bestowed upon him a title reserved for royalty. Ironically it was the king who had originally chosen Gaveston to be a suitable friend for his son, in 1298. When Edward I died, on July 7, 1307, the first act of the prince, now King Edward II, was to recall Gaveston. His next was to abandon the Scots campaign on which his father had set his heart.

King of England

The new king was physically as impressive as his father. He was, however, lacking in drive and ambition and was "the first king after the Conquest who was not a man of business" (Dr Stubbs). His main interest was in entertainment, though he also took pleasure in athletics and in the practice of mechanical crafts. He had been so dominated by his father that he had little confidence in himself, and was always in the hands of some favourite with a stronger will than his own. In the early years of his reign Gaveston held this role, acting as regent when Edward went to France, where, on January 25, 1308, he married Isabella of France, the daughter of King Philip IV of France, "Philip the Fair"; she was the sister of three French kings. Although Edward and his wife had children, the marriage was doomed to failure almost from the beginning. Isabella was neglected by her husband, who spent much of his time with the few friends he shared power with, conspiring on how to limit the powers of the Peerage in order to consolidate his father's legacy for himself, and so appearing to prefer the company of his male favourites. This led to considerable rumours of Edward being homosexual. Many historians agree he was attracted to men. Their marriage nevertheless produced two sons, Edward, and John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall (1316-1336), and two daughters, Eleanor (1318–1355) and Joanna (1321-1362), wife of David II of Scotland. Edward had also fathered at least one illegitimate son, Adam FitzRoy, who accompanied his father in the Scottish campaigns of 1312, and who died shortly after on 18 September, 1322.

Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall

Earl of Cornwall Gaveston received the earldom of Cornwall with the hand of the king's niece, Margaret of Gloucester. The barons grew resentful of Gaveston and twice insisted on his banishment. On each occasion Edward recalled his friend, whereupon the barons, headed by the king's cousin Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, went to war against king and favourite and in 1312 assassinated Gaveston. Edward was not strong enough to avenge his loss. He stood aside, allowing the country to come under the rule of a baronial committee of twenty-one lords ordainers, who, in 1311, had drawn up a series of ordinances, which substituted ordainers for the king as the effective government of the country. Parliament meant to the new rulers an assembly of barons just as it had done to the opponents of Edward's grandfather, Henry III, in 1258. The Commons were excluded. The effect was to transform England from a monarchy to a narrow oligarchy.

Conflict with Scotland

During the quarrels between Edward and the "ordainers", Robert the Bruce was steadily re-conquering Scotland. His progress was so great that he had occupied all the fortresses save Stirling, which he besieged. The danger of losing Stirling shamed Edward and the barons into an attempt to retrieve their lost ground. In June 1314 Edward led a huge army into Scotland in the hope of relieving Stirling. On June 24, his ill-disciplined and badly led force was completely defeated by Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn. Henceforth Bruce was sure of his position as king of Scots, and took vengeance for Edward I's activities by devastating the northern counties of England.

Political factions

Edward II's disgraceful defeat made him more dependent on his barons than ever. Thomas of Lancaster now had an opportunity of saving England from the consequences of the king's incompetence. He had shown some ability as a leader of opposition, but lacked creativity. He was suspected of having made a secret understanding with Bruce, in hopes of keeping the king weak. Before long the opposition split into fiercely contending factions. Under Aymer of Valence, Earl of Pembroke, a middle party arose, which hated Lancaster so much that it supported the king. After 1318, the effect of its influence was to restore Edward to some portion of his authority. However, the king hated Pembroke almost as much as Lancaster, and now found a competent alternative adviser in Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester, a baron of great experience. His son, Hugh the younger Despenser, became a personal friend and favourite, who effectively replaced Gaveston. The fierce hatred which the barons had for the Despensers was equal to their hatred for his previous favourite. They were indignant at the privileges Edward lavished upon father and son, especially when the younger Despenser strove to procure for himself the earldom of Gloucester in right of his wife Eleanor de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford and Joan of Acre and niece of Edward II.

Rule of the Despensers

In 1321, the barons met in parliament, and under Lancaster's guidance had Hugh le Despenser and his son banished. This inspired Edward to act. In 1322 he recalled the Despensers from exile, and waged war against the barons on their behalf. Lancaster, defeated at Boroughbridge, was executed at Pontefract. For the next five years the Despensers ruled England. Unlike the ordainers, they took pains to get the Commons on their side, and a parliament held at York in 1322 revoked the ordinances because they encroached upon the rights of the crown. From this time no statute was technically valid unless the Commons had agreed to it. This marks the most important step forward in Edward II's reign. But the rule of the Despensers soon became corrupt. Their first thought was for themselves, and they stirred up universal indignation. In particular, they excited the ill-will of the queen, Isabella of France.

Deposition by Isabella of France

A dispute broke out between England and France over the building of a fortified town in English possession of Aquitaine by Isabella's brother Charles IV of France. The Despensers then sequestered the queen's vast estates, banished Isabella's loyal French servants and took three of her children into their custody. Eleanor de Clare was also imposed on Isabella as her 'housekeeper' to control her actions. Queen Isabella kept silence until 1325, when she went to France to negotiate a solution to the dispute. Her eldest son, Edward of Windsor, followed on later to do homage for Aquitaine to Charles IV when a settlement was reached. Isabella's polite attitude to Despenser and her husband concealed her deep animosity and she was considered loyal. When her business was over, Isabella declined to return to her husband as long as the Despensers remained his favourites. In Paris, she formed a liaison with Roger Mortimer of Wigmore, one of the barons, who had exiled in 1323 when he rebelled after his lands had been seized by the Despensers. On 24 September 1326 Isabella landed with a large force in Essex accompanied by Mortimer and her son, declaring that she was come to avenge the murder of Lancaster and to expel the Despensers. Edward's followers deserted him, and on October 2 he fled from London to the west, where he took refuge in the younger Despenser's estates in Glamorgan. When Isabella entered London, there was a violent revolution in her favour and weeks of anarchy followed. His wife and her army followed Edward and the Despensers, and after a futile effort to escape by sea, Edward and a handful of supporters were captured on 16 November and escorted to Monmouth Castle. According to legend, his capture took place at Pant-y-Brâd ("the dell of treachery"), near Llantrisant. He was later transferred to Kenilworth Castle. It was thought prudent to compel the captive king to resign the crown, and this occurred on January 20. The Articles of Deposition accused Edward of many offences including: being incompetent to govern, unwilling to heed good counsel, allowing himself to be controlled by evil councillors, giving himself up to unseemly works and occupations, and plundering the kingdom. A parliament met at Westminster in January 1327, which proclaimed Edward's son to be king as Edward III. Both Despensers were tried and executed.

Life in captivity and death

Edward III The government of Isabella and Mortimer was so precarious that they dared not leave the deposed king in the hands of their political enemies. On April 3 he was removed from Kenilworth and entrusted to the custody of two dependants of Mortimer. He was imprisoned at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. Contrary to the polemical chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker, record evidence shows that he was well-treated in captivity. It was later rumoured that Edward had been killed by the insertion of a piece of copper into his anus (later a red-hot iron rod, as in the supposed murder of Edmund Ironside. This was elaborated in a history by Sir Thomas More:
- "On the night of October 11 (1327 AD) while lying in on a bed (the king) was suddenly seized and, while a great mattress... weighed him down and suffocated him, a plumber's iron, heated intensely hot, was introduced through a tube into his secret parts (into his anus) so that it burned the inner portions beyond the intestines." This method is unnecessarily complicated, as simple suffocation would have met the objectives and so is unlikely. Following the king's death, the rule of Isabella and Mortimer did not last long. Mortimer and Isabella made peace with the Scots with the Treaty of Northampton but this was highly unpopular. On March 19, 1330, the Earl of Kent, brother of Edward II, was executed for plotting the restoration of Edward II. Some say Mortimer had fed him the information that Edward was still alive hoping to entrap him. However Mortimer's execution of the earl lost him his remaining support. Consequently as soon as Edward III came of age in 1330, he executed Roger Mortimer on charges of treason, the most important of which was the murder of Edward II. Edward III spared Isabella and gave her a generous allowance, but he ensured that she retired from public life. She died at Hertford on 23 August 1358.

The Fieschi Letter

A letter was written to Edward III in circa 1337 by a Genoese priest Manuele de Fieschi, Bishop of Vicelli, which has been a source of controversy ever since a copy was discovered in 1878 in Montpellier, because it claims that Edward II was not murdered but escaped. Supporters of this letter say that the accounts of the murder, including le Baker's, were not written until long after Edward's death. Edward's tomb was a valuable source of revenue from pilgrims and the story of a gruesome murder would have been useful. Furthermore the events at Berkeley Castle were only known to a few people who were sworn to secrecy. No-one doubts the authenticity of Fieschi's letter, only its veracity, and it contains details that few people knew at the time and was written long before the accepted accounts of the flight, imprisonment and murder. In the Fieschi letter the flight to Wales, the arrest, the escape to Glamorgan and imprisonment at Kenilworth and Berkeley are described. According to Fieschi Edward heard that he was to be killed and changed clothes with a servant. On reaching the gate, he is reported to have killed the gate-keeper and went to Corfe Castle where he stayed for 18 months. Edward is then said to have stayed in Ireland for nine months, crossed to the Low Countries and travelled to Italy, visiting the Pope in Avignon on the way. Edward is then reported to have lived in monastic hermitages near Milan. Supporters of the letter say that he knew that he had no support at home and never tried to regain the throne, especially after his son, Edward III, had removed Mortimer. In the Italian town of Cecima, (75 km from Milan), there is a tradition that a king of England was buried there and there is an empty mediaeval tomb said to be the place of his burial before his body was repatriated to England by his son. Supporters of the letter say that the elaborate funeral in Gloucester of the person supposed to be Edward II may have been that of the gate-keeper. Many local dignitaries were invited to view the body from a distance, but it had been embalmed and may have been unrecognisable. For the first time a carved wooden effigy of the dead king was carried through the streets rather than the body on a bier. Diplomatic documents also show in 1338 that Edward III travelled to Koblenz to be installed as Vicar of the Holy Roman Empire and there he met someone called William le Galeys, or William the Welshman, who claimed to be the king's father. (Edward II was born in Caerarvon and was the first Prince of Wales.) Claiming to be the king's father would have been dangerous, and it is not known what happened to William. Many historians claim that the person was William Ockle. Opponents of the letter say that the letter is an attempt by the bishop of Maguelone who had been sent to Germany to disrupt an Anglo-German alliance. The letter may therefore be an attempt to blackmail Edward III by undermining his position at the German court. Fieschi held various church appointments in England from 1319 and may also have been attempting to gain royal patronage.

Fictional accounts of Edward II

Holy Roman Empire AD]] The most famous fictional account of Edward II's reign, of course, is that of Christopher Marlowe in his play Edward II. In recent years, several acclaimed productions have been staged in the United Kingdom, although the play is seldom performed in the United States outside of large cities and university towns. Derek Jarman's cinematic version of the play has much more to do with twentieth-century sexual politics than it does with Marlowe's drama. Margaret Campbell Barnes' Isabel the Fair, Hilda Lewis' Harlot Queen, Maureen Peters' Isabella, the She-Wolf, and Brenda Honeyman's The Queen and Mortimer all focus on Queen Isabella. Eve Trevaskis' King's Wake starts shortly after the fall of the Despensers and ends with the fall of Mortimer. Jean Plaidy's The Follies of the King is a rather plodding look at the reign, though it livens up when it comes time for the red-hot poker. In A Secret Chronicle by Jane Lane, Edward II's youngest daughter sends a trusted servant to investigate the circumstances of her father's death. Jean Evans' A Brittle Glory is narrated mostly by the king's fool. Chris Hunt's Gaveston is a sexually explicit account of the king's relationship with his first favorite, while Sandra Wilson's Alice breaks tradition with an emphatically heterosexual Gaveston, whose mistress is the title character. In Cashelmara, Susan Howatch updates the story to 19th century Ireland. Shootings, stabbings, and poisonings replace beheadings and red-hot pokers. There has also been a ballet of his story produced by Birmingham Royal Ballet, which adheres to the red hot poker myth. Most recently, Susan Higginbotham in The Traitor's Wife: A Novel of the Reign of Edward II looks at the reign and its aftermath through the eyes of Hugh le Despenser's wife, Eleanor de Clare. Medieval mystery novelists Paul Doherty and Michael Jecks have set a number of their books against the backdrop of Edward II's reign. A Victorian novelist, Emily Sarah Holt, set several historical novels during this period. Holt's appendices to her books show that she researched her novels thoroughly, though her religious prejudices (she appears to have been strongly anti-Catholic) and her strong sense of propriety make her books rather odd reading. She is far harsher on Isabella than on Edward II, and she seems to have had a soft spot for Hugh le Despenser. Edward II appears in Maurice Druon's series of novels The Accursed Kings (in French: Les Rois Maudits). There, his homosexuality is not at all hidden; Isabella describes how she had to endure Hugh the younger Despenser's presence during sex with her husband. Volume 5, La Louve de France (The She-Wolf of France), describes Isabella's and Roger Mortimer's overthrow and murder of Edward II, the executions of the Despensers, and the installation of Edward III. The novel describes these as part of the circumstances leading to the Hundred Years' War and the end of the Capetian dynasty. Cinematically, the Mel Gibson feature, Braveheart, shows Edward as the weak, fey weakling son who cannot get in Longshanks' good graces. Many facets of this fictional Edward II have basis in fact, including his ignorance of his wife and his military incompetence, although Longshanks did not throw his son's lover out of a window to his death. The film implies that William Wallace was the father of Edward III through his fictional affair with Isabella in the film.

See also

The note on historiographical considerations in History of Sex.

Sources


- Vita Edwardi Secundi
- Blackley, F.D. Adam, the Bastard Son of Edward II, 1964
- Weir, Alison, 'Isabella, She-Wolf of France', 2005, Jonathan Cape, (ISBN 0224063200) Category:1284 births Category:1327 deaths Category:House of Anjou Category:Natives of Caernarfonshire Category:Heirs to the English & British thrones Category:English monarchs Category:British murder victims Category:Earls in the Peerage of England Category:Murdered kings Category:Gay, lesbian or bisexual people Category:Wars of Scottish Independence ja:エドワード2世 (イングランド王)

Robert I of Scotland

Robert I, (Roibert a Briuis in medieval Gaelic and Robert de Brus in Norman French), usually known in modern English today as Robert the Bruce (July 11, 1274 – June 7, 1329), was King of Scotland (1306 – 1329). Although most of his ancestors on his father's side were not Scots, he became one of Scotland's greatest kings, and one of the most famous warriors of his generation, eventually leading Scotland during the Wars of Scottish Independence against England. He claimed the Scottish throne as a great-great-great-great grandson of David I of Scotland. David I of Scotland

Background and early life

Robert Bruce was born the first child and eldest son of Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale, (buried in March 1304 at Holmecultram, Cumberland, England) and of Marjory, (d.1292), daughter of Niall of Carrick, 2nd Earl of Carrick and Margaret, daughter of Walter Stewart, 3rd High Steward of Scotland. His mother was by all accounts a formidable woman who, legend would have it, kept Robert Bruce's father captive until he agreed to marriage. From his mother he inherited the Gaelic Earldom of Carrick, and through his father a royal lineage that would give him a claim to the Scottish throne. Although his date of birth is definitely known, his place of birth is less certain: it was probably Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, although Lochmaben in Dumfriesshire is possible, but the suggestion that it was in Essex is not widely accepted. Precious little is known of his youth. He was probably sent to be fostered with a local family, as was the custom. We can presume that Bruce was raised speaking all the languages of his lineage and nation and was almost certainly fluent in Gaelic and Norman French, with Latin. Although there is no direct evidence, it is perfectly plausible that he also knew English. His youth is said by an English chronicler to have been mostly passed at the court of Edward I. He saw the outcome of the 'Great Cause' in 1292, which gave the Crown of Scotland to his families' great rival, John Balliol, as unjust. As he saw it, it prevented his family from taking their rightful place on the Scottish throne. Soon afterwards, his grandfather, Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale - the unsuccessful claimant - resigned his lordship to Robert de Brus, Bruce's father. Robert de Brus had already resigned the earldom of Carrick to Robert Bruce, his son, on the day of his wife's death in 1292 thus making Robert Bruce the Earl of Carrick. Both father and son sided with Edward I against Balliol. In April 1294, the younger Bruce had permission to visit Ireland for a year and a half and, as a further mark of Edward's favour, he received a respite for all the debts owed by him to the English Exchequer. In 1295, Robert married his first wife, Isabella of Mar, (d. before 1302), the daughter of Donald, 10th Earl of Mar (d. after July 1297), by his wife, Helen (d. after Feb 1295), daughter of Llewellyn ap Ivor, Prince of North Wales, 'The Great' (1173-1240) and his spouse Joan, an illegitimate child of King John of England. Robert & Isobel's only child, Marjorie Bruce, died on 2nd March 1316, near Paisley, Renfrewshire, after being thrown from her horse. She was heavily pregnant; their only child, the future Robert II of Scotland, was cut out of the womb. She had married Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland (1293-1326).

The beginning of the Wars of Independence

In August 1296 Bruce and his father swore fealty to Edward I of England at Berwick-upon-Tweed, but in breach of this oath, which had been renewed at Carlisle, the younger Robert joined in the Scottish revolt against Edward in the following year. Urgent letters were sent ordering Bruce to support Edward's commander, John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, (to whom Bruce was related), in the summer of 1297; but instead of complying, Bruce laid waste the lands of those who adhered to Edward. On July 7, Bruce and his friends were forced to make terms by a treaty called the capitulation of Irvine. The Scottish lords were not to serve beyond the sea against their will, and were pardoned for their recent violence, in return for swearing allegiance to Edward. The Bishop of Glasgow, James the Steward, and Sir Alexander Lindsay became sureties for Bruce until he delivered his infant daughter Marjorie as a hostage. Shortly after the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Bruce appears again to have sided with the Scots; Annandale was wasted and he burned the English-held castle of Ayr. Yet, when Edward returned to England after his victory at the Battle of Falkirk, Annandale and Carrick were excepted from the lordships and lands which he assigned to his followers, Bruce being treated as a waverer whose allegiance might still be retained. After William Wallace resigned as Guardian of Scotland after Falkirk, he was succeeded by Robert Bruce and John Comyn as joint guardians, but they could not see past their personal differences. As a nephew and supporter of John Balliol, and as someone with his own claim to the Scottish throne, Comyn was Bruce's enemy. In 1299, William Lamberton, Bishop of St Andrews, was appointed as a third, neutral Guardian to try and maintain order between Bruce and Comyn. The following year Bruce finally resigned as joint guardian and was replaced by Sir Gilbert, 1st Lord de Umfreville, (d. before 13 Oct 1307), Earl of Angus (in right of his mother, Maud, Countess of Angus). In May 1301, de Umfraville, John Comyn and William Lamberton also resigned as joint guardians and were replaced by Sir John de Soulis as sole guardian. Soulis was appointed largely because he was not part of either the Bruce or the Comyn camps and was a patriot. He was an active Guardian, and made renewed efforts to have John Balliol returned to the Scottish throne. In July, Edward I launched his sixth campaign into Scotland. Though Edward captured Bothwell and Turnberry Castle, Edward did little to damage the Scots’ fighting ability and, in January 1302 agreed to a nine-month truce. It was around this time that Robert the Bruce submitted to Edward I, along with other nobles, even though he had been on the side of the patriots until now. There are many reasons which may have prompted his turning, not the least of which was that Bruce may have found it loathsome to continue sacrificing his followers, family and inheritance for John Balliol. There were rumours that Balliol would return with a French army and regain the Scottish throne. Soulis supported the return of Balliol as did many other nobles, but the return of John as king would lead to the Bruces losing any chance of ever gaining the throne themselves. Also, Robert’s father was old and ill, and may have wished his son to seek peace with Edward, who, he was convinced, would be victorious over the Scots. The elder Bruce would have seen that, if the rebellion failed and his son were against Edward, he would lose everything, titles, lands, and probably his life. Edward also came to see that he needed a Scottish noble like Bruce as a friend, rather than as an enemy at this time; he was facing both excommunication by the Pope for his actions and a possible invasion by the French. 1302 However, though recently pledged to support Edward, it is interesting to note that Robert the Bruce sent a letter to the monks at Melrose Abbey in March 1302 which effectively weakened his usefulness to the English king. Apologizing for having called the monks to service in his army when there had been no national call up, Bruce pledged that, henceforth, he would “never again” require the monks to serve unless it was to “the common army of the whole realm,” for national defense. Bruce also married his second wife that year, Elizabeth de Burgh, (d. 26 Oct 1327), the daughter of Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster,(d.1326). By Elizabeth he had four children: David II, John (died in childhood), Matilda (married Thomas Isaac) who died at Aberdeen 20th July 1353, and Margaret (who married in 1345 William, Earl of Sutherland). In 1303, Edward invaded again, reaching Edinburgh, before marching to Perth. John Comyn, who was by now Guardian, could not hope to defeat Edward's forces. Edward stayed in Perth till July, then proceeded via Dundee, Montrose and Brechin, to Aberdeen, where he arrived in August. From here he marched through Moray, before his progress continued to Badenoch, before re-tracing his path back south to Dunfermline. With the country now under submission, all the leading Scots, except for Wallace, surrendered to Edward in February 1304. Terms of submission were negotiated by John Comyn. The laws and liberties of Scotland would be as they had been in the day of Alexander III, and any that needed alteration would be with the advice of Edward and the advice and assent of the Scots nobles. On June 11 1304, with both of them having witnessed the heroic efforts of their countrymen during Edward's siege of Stirling Castle, Bruce and William Lamberton made a pact that bound them, each to the other, in “friendship and alliance against all men.” If one should break the secret pact, he would forfeit to the other the sum of ten thousand pounds. Though both had already surrendered to the English, the pact indicated their deep patriotism and commitment to their future perseverance for the Scots and their freedom. They now intended to bide their time until the death of the elderly King of England. With Scotland defenseless, Edward set about absorbing her into England. Homage was again paid to him by the nobles, and a parliament was held to elect those who would meet later in the year with the English parliament to establish rules for the governance of Scotland. For all the apparent participation by Scots in the government, however, the English held the real power. The Earl of Richmond, Edward's nephew, was to head up the subordinate government of Scotland. While all this took place, William Wallace was finally captured near Glasgow and brutally executed on August 23 1305. Edward had made Wallace a martyr, a larger-than-life patriotic hero for the Scots. Rather than settling the “Scottish question,” Edward had wrought enmity that would hound him the rest of his days.

Excommunication and Coronation as King of Scots

In September 1305, Edward ordered Robert Bruce to put his castle at Kildrummy, "in the keeping of such a man as he himself will be willing to answer for," suggesting that Edward suspected Robert was not entirely trustworthy and may have been plotting behind his back. Bruce, as Earl of Carrick and now 7th Lord of Annandale, held huge estates and property in both Scotland and England and had a claim to the Scottish throne. He also had a large family to protect. If he claimed the throne, he would throw the country into yet another series of wars, and if he failed, he would be sacrificing everyone and everything he knew. Bruce, like all his family, had a complete belief in his right to the throne. However his actions of supporting alternatively the English and Scottish armies had led to a great deal of distrust towards Bruce among the “Community of the Realm of Scotland”. His ambition was further thwarted by the person of John Comyn. Comyn had been much more resolute in his opposition to the English, he was the most powerful noble in Scotland and was related to many more powerful nobles both within Scotland and England. He also had a powerful claim to the Scottish throne through both his descent from the ancient Celtic monarchy and through his being the nephew of John Balliol. To neutralise this threat, Bruce invited him to a meeting under truce in Dumfries. Bruce attacked Comyn before the high altar of the church of the Greyfriars monastery and fled. On being told that Comyn had survived the attack, and was being treated, Bruce sent his men back to the church and Comyn was finished off. Bruce was excommunicated for this crime. Realising that the die had been cast and he had no alternative except to become king or a fugitive, Bruce asserted his claim to the Scottish crown. He was crowned King of Scots as Robert I at Scone, near Perth on March 25, by his mistress, Isabella, Countess of Buchan, who claimed the right of her family, the Macduff Earls of Fife, to place the Scottish king on his throne. Though now king, Bruce did not yet have a kingdom, and his efforts to obtain it were disastrous failures until after the death of Edward I.

From Scone to Bannockburn

In June 1306 he was defeated at the Battle of Methven and in August he was surprised in Strathfillan, where he had taken refuge. The ladies of his family were sent to Kildrummy in January 1307, and Bruce, almost without a follower, fled to the islands on the western coast of Scotland. Edward I marched north again in the spring. On his way he granted the Scottish estates of Bruce and his adherents to his own followers and published a bill excommunicating Bruce. Bruce's Queen, Elizabeth, his daughter Marjorie, and his sister, Christina, were captured in a sanctuary at Tain, while his three youngest brothers were executed. But on July 7, Edward I died, leaving Bruce to now be opposed by his feeble son, Edward II and the odds turned to Bruce's favour. Bruce had returned to the Scottish mainland in February at Turnberry Castle, and began a guerilla war in southwest Scotland. In April he had his first major victory over the English at Glen Trool, before defeating Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke at the Battle of Loudoun Hill. Bruce then left his brother Edward in command in Galloway, while he transferred his own operations to Aberdeenshire. He overran Buchan and, after a serious illness, defeated the Earl of Buchan at the Battle of Inverurie in May 1308. He then crossed to Argyll and defeated another body of his enemies at the Battle of Brander and took Dunstaffnage Castle. In March 1309, he held his first Parliament at St Andrews, and by August he controlled all of Scotland north of the River Tay. The following year, the clergy of Scotland recognized Bruce as king at a general council. The support given to him by the church in spite of his excommunication must have had great importance and was probably due to the example of Lamberton. The next three years saw the capture and reduction of one English held castle or outpost after another: Linlithgow in 1310, Dumbarton in 1311, and Perth, by Bruce himself, in January 1312. Bruce also made raids into northern England. In March 1313 Sir James Douglas captured Roxburgh, and Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray captured Edinburgh Castle. In May Bruce again raided England and subdued the Isle of Man. About the same time Edward Bruce laid siege to Stirling Castle, whose governor, Sir Philip de Mowbray, agreed to capitulate if not relieved before the 24th of June 1314. The eight years of exhausting but deliberate refusal to meet the English on even ground, have caused many to consider Bruce as one of the great guerrilla leaders of any age. This represented a transformation for one raised as a feudal knight. Bruce secured Scottish independence from England militarily — if not diplomatically — at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Freed from English threats, Scotland's armies could now invade northern England. Bruce also drove back a subsequent English expedition north of the border, and launched raids into Yorkshire and Lancashire, forcing Edward II to sue for peace.

Bruce and Ireland

Buoyed by his military successes, Bruce's forces also invaded Ireland in 1315, supposedly to free the country from English rule, but more probably one suspects to open a second front in the continuing wars with England. The Irish crowned Edward Bruce as High King of Ireland in 1316 and Robert later went there with another army to assist his brother. Bruce's propaganda campaign stressed the notion of a pan-Gaelic alliance, as revealed by a letter he sent to the Irish chiefs, where he calls the Scots and Irish collectively nostra nacio (our nation), stressing the common language, customs and heritage of the two peoples: “Whereas we and you and our people and your people, free since ancient times, share the same national ancestry and are urged to come together more eagerly and joyfully in friendship by a common language and by common custom, we have sent you our beloved kinsman, the bearers of this letter, to negotiate with you in our name about permanently strengthening and maintaining inviolate the special friendship between us and you, so that with God’s will our nation (nostra nacio) may be able to recover her ancient liberty.” The diplomacy worked to a certain extent, at least in Ulster, where the Scots had total support. The Irish chief Donal O'Neill, for instance, later justified his support of the Scots to Pope John XXII by saying “the Kings of Lesser Scotia all trace their blood to our Greater Scotia and retain to some degree our language and customs.” The Bruce campaign indeed was characterized by a great deal of initial military success, but the Scots failed to win over the non-Ulster chiefs, or to make any other significant gains in the south of the island.

Diplomacy

Robert Bruce's reign also witnessed some diplomatic achievements. The Declaration of Arbroath of 1320 strengthened his position, particularly vis-à-vis the Papacy. Pope John XXII eventually lifted Bruce's excommunication. In May 1328 King Edward III of England signed the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton, which recognized Scotland as an independent kingdom and Bruce as its king.

Family

Robert Bruce had a large family in addition to his wife Elizabeth and his children. There were his brothers, Edward, Alexander, Thomas and Niall, his sisters Christian, Isabel (Queen of Norway), Margaret, Matilda and Mary, and his nephews Donald, Earl of Mar and Thomas Randolph. Alexander, Thomas and Niall were all executed by the English following capture, and Edward was killed in battle in Ireland. In addition to his legitimate offspring, Robert Bruce had several illegitimate children by unknown mothers. His sons were Sir Robert (died 12th August 1332 at the Battle of Dupplin), Walter, of Odistoun on the Clyde, predeceased his father, and Niall, of Carrick, (died 17th October 1346 at the Battle of Durham). His daughters were Elizabeth (married Walter Oliphant of Gask), Margaret (married Robert Glen), alive on 29th February 1364, and Christian, of Carrick, who died after 1329, when she was in receipt of a pension. Robert the Bruce died on June 7 1329 at the Manor of Cardross in Cardross Parish, Dunbartonshire (the exact location is uncertain and it may not have been very near the modern village of Cardross). He had suffered for some years from what some contemporary accounts describe as an "unclean ailment"; the traditional story is that he died of leprosy, but this is now rejected. However it is unclear what his illness actually was, although syphilis, psoriasis, and a series of strokes have all been suggested. His body lies buried in Dunfermline Abbey, but, according to his wishes, Sir James Douglas removed the late king's heart and took it on a Crusade in Moorish Spain, where he was killed in battle. It was later recovered, taken back to Scotland and buried at Melrose Abbey in Roxburghshire. Robert Bruce left his sole surviving infant son, David II, to succeed him.

Legends

According to legend, after his defeat at the hands of the Comyns and the subsequent incarceration of his family, Bruce hid himself in a cave on a deserted island, watching a spider trying to spin a web. Each time the spider failed, it simply started all over again. Inspired by this, Bruce returned to inflict a series of defeats on the English, thus winning him more supporters and eventual victory. The story serves to explain the maxim: "if at first you don't succeed, try and try again." Other versions have Bruce defeated for the seventh time by the English, then let him watch the spider spin seven webs, fail, then spin an eighth and succeed. However, this legend only appears for the first time in a much later account, "Tales of a Grandfather" by Sir Walter Scott, and may have originally been told about his companion-in-arms the James Douglas (the Black). According to another legend, Bruce's heart was encased in silver and the knight Black Douglas was to transport it to the Holy Land to be buried there. When in transit to the Holy Land Black Douglas became surrounded by the Moors in Spain during a skirmish. He is said to have thrown Bruce's heart ahead of him, telling it to lead on as it had done before. Bruce is also a character in the film Braveheart, although the historical accuracy of this film has been challenged on several counts, e.g. Bruce was probably not present at the Battle of Falkirk.

References


- Dunbar, Bt., Sir Archibald H., "Scottish Kings" 1005-1625, Edinburgh, 1899.
- Barron, Evan MacLeod, The Scottish War of Independence: A Critical Study, 2nd Edition
- Barrow, G.W.S., Robert Bruce & the Community of the Realm of Scotland
- Bartlett, Robert, The Making of Europe, Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change: 950-1350
- Bingham, Charlotte. Robert the Bruce (1998)
- Scott, Ronald McNair. Robert the Bruce: King of Scots Category:1274 births Category:1329 deaths Category:Guardians of Scotland Category:History of Scotland Category:Defectors Category:Scottish monarchs Category:House of Bruce Category:Earls in the Peerage of Scotland Category:Wars of Scottish Independence Category:Natives of Dumfries and Galloway Category:Medieval_Gaels Category:Medieval Scotland ja:ロバート1世 (スコットランド王)

1532

Events


- May 16 - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
- June 25 - Suleiman I leads another invasion of Hungary, which fails miserably.
- September 1 - Lady Anne Boleyn is created Marchioness of Pembroke by her fiancée, King Henry VIII of England.
- November 16 - Francisco Pizarro and his men capture Inca Atahualpa.
- Atahualpa wins Inca civil war over Huáscar
- The Prince is published five years after death of the author Niccolò Machiavelli
- Pantagruel is published by François Rabelais
- Henry VIII grants the Thorne brothers a Royal Charter to found Bristol Grammar School.

Births


- June 24 - Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English politician (died 1588)
- December 26 - Guilielmus Xylander, German classical scholar (died 1576)
- Robert Abercromby, Scottish Jesuit missionary (died 1613)
- William Cardinal Allen, English cardinal (died 1594)
- Sofonisba Anguissola, Italian portrait painter (died 1625)
- Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician (died 1575)
- Jean-Antoine de Baïf, French poet and member of the Pléiade (died 1589)
- Hernando Franco, Spanish composer (died 1585)
- Luis Frois, Portuguese missionary (died 1597)
- Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, Spanish explorer (died 1602)
- John Hawkins, English navigator (died 1595)
- William IV of Hesse, German protestant leader
- Etienne Jodelle, French dramatist and poet (died 1573)
- Henry Percy, 2nd/8th Earl of Northumberland (died 1585)
- Thomas Norton, English lawyer (died 1584)
- Thomas Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde (died 1614)
- Amias Paulet, Governor of Jersey (died 1588)
- Richard Topcliffe, notorious English torturer and sadist (died 1604)
- Tulsidas, medieval Hindi poet and philosopher (died 1623)

Deaths


- January 31 - Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley (born 1460)
- August 16 - John, Elector of Saxony (b. 1468)
- December 11 - Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (born 1455)
- Andrea Briosco, Italian sculptor and architect (born 1470)
- Bernardino Luini, Italian painter (born 1482)
- Jan Mabuse, Flemish painter
- Krzysztof Szydlowiecki, Polish noble (born 1467)
- William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1450) Category:1532 ko:1532년

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. He was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty, succeeding his father, Henry VII. He is famous for having been married six times and for wielding the most untrammelled power of any British monarch. Notable events during his reign included the break with Rome and the subsequent establish