108771: Robert the Bruce in Hiding 1306-07

This is an extract from page 335 of John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish Nation, detailing Robert the Bruce’s time as a fugitive during the winter of 1306 to 1307. It is believed that he found refuge in the Hebrides and Ireland.

An outcast among the nobles, he was forsaken; and the English bade him be sought for through the churches like a lost or stolen thing. And thus he became a byword and a laughing-stock for all, both far and near, to hiss at. But when he had borne these things for nearly a year alone, God, at length, took pity on him; and, aided by the help and power of a certain noble lady, Christiana of the Isles, who wished him well, he, after endless toils, smart and distress, got back by a round-about way, to the earldom of Carrick.