Clan Bruce Scottish army at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 where the English were defeated. In 1334 Thomas Bruce, who claimed kinship with the royal house of Bruce, organized a rising in the Kyle, along with Robert Stewart (later Robert II of Scotland) against the English. Robert the Bruce's son, David II of Scotland became king on his father's death in 1329. In 1346 under the terms of the Auld Alliance David marched south into England in the interests of France, but was defeated at the Battle of Neville's Cross and imprisoned on 17 October of that year, and remained in
Scotland in the Late Middle Ages murder of Comyn, at Greyfriars Kirk in Dumfries. Less than seven weeks later, on 25 March Bruce was crowned as king Robert I at Scone. However, Edward's forces overran the country after defeating Bruce's small army at the Battle of Methven. Despite the excommunication of Bruce and his followers by Pope Clement V, his support grew; and by 1314, with the help of leading nobles such as Sir James Douglas and the Earl of Moray, only the castles at Bothwell and Stirling remained under English control. Edward I had died in 1307 and his heir Edward II moved an army