According to Jean le Bel, when Bruce was dying he asked that Sir James, as his friend and lieutenant, should carry his heart to the Holy Land and present it at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem as a mark of penance. John Barbour, alternatively, has Bruce ask that his heart should simply be carried in battle against "God's foes" as a token of his unfulfilled ambition to go on crusade. Given that Jerusalem had been in Muslim hands since 1187, this second is perhaps more likely.
Douglas faithfully fulfilled one of these two proposed vows, which suggests it was probably the one actually asked of him. When Bruce was dead, Douglas had his heart placed in a silver and enamelled casket and wore it around his neck, sailing to Spain to join King Alfonso XI's crusade. Douglas was killed at some point in the great battle that brought victory to the Spanish king.
Recently a way to fulfill the second proposed vow has been found. An oak tree the Bruce himself planted 700 years ago died, and its heart-of-oak was removed. This was carved into the shape of a man’s heart, and taken on pilgrimage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. There it was lain in the place where Jesus was thought to lay, and prayers offered for the Bruce.
This act is in the spirit of wild romance that was the very soul of the Age of Chivalry.
4 comments:
Good story.
Greg
Before I finally gave in and created a new Facebook account so I could view the link (I guess I'd left the old one dormant so long it was purged)- I was looking around for news on this story (and could find none), and I found a good story on the replica throne made from the same wood of the Bruce Oak. It's interesting to me that it should be a Roman campaign chair design.
My wanders about the internet trying to get information on the heart also led me to the wonderful John Barbour poem "Freedom", whose subject is the Bruce.
I got to walk the Bannockburn battlefield two weeks ago. It really helped cement how good the Bruce was at reading the land and using topography against the English. (I also picked up a history and memory study on the battle, and biography of the Black Douglas, in part because one of the hotels I stayed at gave away "Black Douglas" rubber duckies.)
LittleRed1
How wonderful to have had the opportunity to visit Bannockburn. I hope someday I can tour Scotland, especially if I'm still young enough to lift some of the strength stones (like the Dinnie stones).
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