writes: “Bruce’s position was partly covered by a marsh,
and further strengthened by pitfalls, in which the En-
glish cavalry was entrapped, and defeated with great
loss.” (Pitfalls are deep holes in the ground with spikes
placed in the bottom, the pits being camouflaged by
grass and foliage.) The numbers remain unknown, but
Edward fled the field with only a few thousand men,
and Scottish independence was assured.
Although Robert the Bruce lived only 15 years after
Bannockburn, he remained a focal point of Scottish in-
dependence. In 1315, he invaded Ireland and named
his brother Edward Bruce as king of that country. Three
years later, Edward Bruce was killed in battle at Dun-
dale, and Robert oversaw the Scottish capture of the
city of Berwick in northern England. In 1320, with the
threat of Edward II again invading Scotland, a number
of Scottish lords and earls met and dispatched a letter to
Pope John XXII, claiming Robert as their monarch and
asking for papal agreement. This “Declaration of Ar-
broath” is considered the first formal avowal of Scottish
independence. In 1324, the pope recognized Robert the
Bruce as the king of an independent Scotland. In 1327,
Edward II was removed from the throne, and his son
edWard iii offered peace to the Scottish, signed as the
Treaty of Northampton in 1328. By this time, Robert
was ill with what many historians consider to be leprosy.
He spent his last year at his castle at Cardross, Dun-
bartonshire, where he died on 7 June 1329 at age 54.
His last wish was to have his heart removed, embalmed,
and carried by his friend Sir James de Douglas to Jerusa-
lem, where it was to be buried. On his way to Jerusalem,
Douglas was killed in battle in Spain. Robert’s heart was
returned to Scotland and buried in Melrose Abbey in
Roxburghshire. His other remains were laid to rest in
Dunfermline.
In 1996, an agency of the Scottish government,
Historic Scotland, announced that Robert’s mummified
heart had been found and identified in the grounds of
Melrose Abbey, in the southwestern corner of Scotland.
Subsequently, 667 years after Robert’s death, his heart
was given a proper ceremonial burial.
References: Barbour, John, comp., The Bruce: or, The
Book of the Most Excellent and Noble Prince, Robert de
Broyss, King of Scots... (Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and
Sons, 1894); Barrow, G. W. S., Robert Bruce and the Com-
munity of the Realm of Scotland (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1965); Mackenzie, Agnes Mure, Rob-
ert Bruce, King of Scots (London: A. Maclehose & Co.,
1934); Scott, Ronald McNair, Robert the Bruce, King of
Scots (New York: P. Bedrick Books, 1989); “Medieval
King’s Heart is Found in Scotland,” The New York Times,
3 September 1996, A4.Rodney, George Brydges, first baron Rodney
of Stoke-Rodney (George Bridges Rodney)
(1719–1792) British admiral
Rodney was born in London in 1719, the fourth of five
children and second son of Henry Rodney, a naval of-
ficer, and Mary Newton Rodney. He was the grandson
of Anthony Rodney, who had served in the navy of
Charles II. The Rodneys were an old, well-established
family of England. Rodney biographer David Hannay
writes: “From the reign of Henry the Third until far into
the seventeenth century [the Rodneys] were established
as owners of land in and about Stoke Rodney, at the
foot of the Mendips, in the valley of the Axe between
Draycott and Wells.” George Rodney briefly attended
Harrow School, and records show that upon his leaving
in 1732, he was given an appointment as “volunteer”
in the English navy aboard the Sunderland. His service
during the next few years was undistinguished; what is
known is that in 1739 he was promoted to lieutenant
and given the command of the Dolphin, then serving in
the Mediterranean.
In 1740, the War of the Austrian Succession—a
struggle for the Austrian throne following the death of
Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor—began, and it
would last until 1748. It is not known what part Rodney
played in the first years of this conflict, but in 1742 he
was promoted to the rank of post captain and placed in
command of the Plymouth and, the following year, of
the Sheerness. He served under the command of Sir Ed-
ward Vernon and then under Sir Edward haWke. As
the commander of the Eagle, a 60-gun ship, he partici-
pated with Hawke in the English victory over the French
fleet off Finisterre on 14 October 1747. Rodney’s service
during the battle was later praised by Lord anson. For
this he was promoted to commodore and named as the
governor and commander in chief of Newfoundland in
Canada in 1749. He was only 30 years old.
In 1751, back in England, Rodney was elected as a
member of Parliament (MP) for Saltish, and two years
later he married Jane Compton, the sister of the Sev-
enth earl of Northampton (she would die in childbirth RoDney, geoRge bRyDgeS, FiRSt bARon RoDney oF Stoke-RoDney