Robert the Bruce
"Robert the Bruce is a popular and national hero, 'Good King Robert', but the historic figure is not the same as the undoubtedly genuine hero of popular mythology. The fact is that Robert de Brus, the feudal magnate, was slow to discover himself as Scotland's 'Man of Destiny', and changed his loyalty more than once before he did so." "Edward I was described in the epitaph on his tomb in Westminster Abbey as 'Scottorum Malleus' - the 'Hammer of the Scots'. A hammer, however, is not only a weapon but also a craft tool. Edward may have intended to batter the Scots into submission, but his hammer-strokes served instead to forge them into a nation characterized by a particularly strong sense of identity. Part of the hammering process was the re-shaping of Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick, from a member of the international feudal aristocracy into Robert the Bruce, the quintessential patriot King and national hero."--BOOK JACKET
Print Book, English, 1998
Constable, London, 1998