Robert the Bruce

Robert I was Earl of Carrick and a fourth-great-grandson of David I when he joined the fight for Scottish independence, first alongside William Wallace, then as Guardian of Scotland in 1298. After quarrels with his co-guardian John Comyn led to resignation, submission to Edward I, and years of political maneuvering, Robert murdered Comyn in February 1306 and seized the throne, crowned King of Scots on 25 March. Edward I's forces crushed him at Methven and forced him into hiding, but by 1307 he'd re-emerged to win at Loudoun Hill and wage a grinding guerrilla campaign that destroyed rival strongholds and reclaimed Scottish territory. His victory at Bannockburn in 1314 broke a much larger English army under Edward II, confirming independence and freeing Scotland to raid deep into northern England and Ireland. It took until 1328 - after the Declaration of Arbroath, papal recognition, a renewed French alliance, and a new English king - for the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton to finally renounce all English claims to Scotland. Robert died in June 1329; his body went to Dunfermline Abbey, his heart to Melrose, his organs to Dumbarton.