Death
Robert died on 7 June 1329, at the Manor of Cardross, near Dumbarton He had suffered for some years from what some contemporary accounts describe as an "unclean ailment". The traditional view is that this was leprosy, but this was not mentioned in contemporary accounts, and is now disputed with syphilis, psoriasis, motor neurone disease and a series of strokes all proposed as possible alternatives.
His body lies buried in Dunfermline Abbey but before he died Robert requested that his heart should be removed and then carried in battle 'against God's foes.'
"I will that as soone as I am trespassed out of this worlde that ye take my harte owte of my body, and embawme it, and take of my treasoure as ye shall thynke sufficient for that enterprise, both for your selfe and suche company as ye wyll take with you, and present my hart to the holy Sepulchre where as our Lorde laye, seyng my body can nat come there."
This gesture was to make up for his failure to go on crusade during his lifetime and atone for his sins, not least the sacrilegious murder of John Comyn in the Greyfriars church, Dumfries. Sir James Douglas was allotted the task. Bruce's preserved heart was placed in a silver casket, which Douglas then carried on a chain around his neck. When a projected international crusade failed to materialise, Douglas and his company sailed to Spain where Alfonso XI of Castile was mounting a campaign against the Moorish kingdom of Granada. Douglas was killed in battle during the siege of Teba in August 1330 while fulfilling his promise. It is said his body and the casket containing the embalmed heart were found together upon the field. They were both conveyed back to Scotland by Sir William Keith of Galston. In accordance with Bruce's written request, the heart was buried at Melrose Abbey in Roxburghshire. In 1920, it is claimed the heart was discovered by archaeologists and was reburied, but the location was not marked. In 1996, a casket was unearthed during construction work. Scientific study by AOC archaeologists in Edinburgh, demonstrated that it did indeed contain human tissue and it was of appropriate age. It was reburied in Melrose Abbey in 1998, pursuant to the dying wishes of the King.
Read more about this topic: Robert The Bruce
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“half-way up the hill, I see the Past
Lying beneath me with its sounds and sights,—
A city in the twilight dim and vast,
With smoking roofs, soft bells, and gleaming lights,—
And hear above me on the autumnal blast
The cataract of Death far thundering from the heights.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“Yet always when I look death in the face,
When I clamber to the heights of sleep,
Or when I grow excited with wine,
Suddenly I meet your face.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
““Promise me solemnly,” I said to her as she lay on what I believed to be her death bed, “if you find in the world beyond the grave that you can communicate with me—that there is some way in which you can make me aware of your continued existence—promise me solemnly that you will never, never avail yourself of it.” She recovered and never, never forgave me.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)