Robert the Bruce held and once more the crown was placed on the brow of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, Lord of Annandale, King of the Scots. In June 1306 Bruce was defeated at the Battle of Methven. His wife and daughters and other women of the party were sent to Kildrummy in August 1306 under the protection of Bruce's brother, Neil Bruce, and the Earl of Atholl and most of his remaining men. Bruce fled with a small following of his most faithful men, including Sir James Douglas and Gilbert Hay, Bruce's brothers Thomas, Alexander, and Edward, as well as Sir Neil
History of the Scots language the land of the English in the Kingdom of the Scots" and why the early 13th century author of "de Situ Albanie" thought that the Firth of Forth "divides the kingdoms of the Scots and of the English". Most of the evidence suggests that English spread further into Scotland via the burgh, proto-urban institutions which were first established by King David I. Incoming burghers were mainly English (especially from Northumbria, and the Earldom of Huntingdon), Flemish and French. Although the military aristocracy employed French and Gaelic, these small urban communities appear to have been using English as something more than