The most famous king that Scotland ever had was Robert Bruce. He
lived in the days when Edward I, Edward II, and Edward III were
kings of England.
During the reign of Edward I the king of Scotland died and thirteen
men claimed the throne. Instead of fighting to decide which of
them should be king they asked Edward to settle the question. When
he met the Scottish nobles and the rivals, each of whom thought
that next day he would be wearing the crown, Edward told them that
he would himself be their king. Just then an English army marched
up. What could the nobles do but kneel at the feet of Edward and
promise to be his vassals? This they did; and so Scotland became
a part of Edward's kingdom and Ba'li-ol, one of the rivals who
claimed the Scottish throne, was made the vassal king.
Some time after this Edward ordered Baliol to raise an army and
help him fight the French. Baliol refused to do this, so Edward
marched with an army into Scotland and took him prisoner. He was
determined that the Scotch should have no more kings of their own.
So he carried away the sacred stone of Scone (_scoon_), on which
all kings of Scotland had to sit when they were crowned, and put
it in Westminster Abbey in London, and there it is to this day. It
is underneath the chair on which the sovereigns of England always
sit when the crown of England, Scotland, and Ireland is placed upon
their heads. It is said to have been the very stone that Jacob
used for a pillow on the night that he saw, in his dream, angels
ascending and descending on the ladder that reached from earth
to heaven.
Edward now supposed, as he had this sacred stone and had put King
Baliol in prison, that Scotland was conquered.
But the men whom he appointed to govern the Scotch ruled unwisely
and nearly all the people were discontented. Suddenly an army of
Scots was raised. It was led by Sir William Wallace, a knight who
was almost a giant in size. Wallace's men drove the English out
of the country and Wallace was made the "Guardian of the Realm."
Edward then led a great army against him. The Scottish soldiers were
nearly all on foot. Wallace arranged them in hollow squares--spearmen
on the outside, bowmen within. The English horsemen dashed vainly
against the walls of spear-points. But King Edward now brought his
archers to the front. Thousands of arrows flew from their bows
and thousands of Wallace's men fell dead. The spears were broken
and the Scotch were defeated. Wallace barely escaped with his life.
He was afterwards betrayed to Edward, who cruelly put him to death.