Edward Bruce

Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick, was a younger brother of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. He supported his brother in the 1306-1314 struggle for the Scottish crown, playing an important role in capturing and slighting English-held castles in southwest Scotland, including Rutherglen Castle which he successfully recaptured from the English in 1313. It was he who made a possibly ill-judged pact with the English governor of Stirling Castle, which led to the English sending a large army to relieve the castle. This led to the Battle of Bannockburn on 23/24 June 1314, where he commanded a Scottish schiltrom. Proclaimed High King of Ireland in 1315 and crowned in 1316, he was eventually defeated and killed by Anglo-Irish forces of the Lordship of Ireland at the Battle of Faughart in County Louth in 1318.