Why did Robert the Bruce succeed in rebelling against England when William Wallace failed only a few years earlier?
In: Other
At this time Scotland were a feudal society. You had feudal lords governing the land, collecting taxes in the form of food, weapons, soldiers and defensive buildings (castles). They then decide which army to give these taxes to. So in order to rule over a larger land you need to be favored by the feudal lords.
William Wallace were a lesser noble. We do not even know who his father were. And his last name literally translates to “foreigner”. That would make it very hard for him to gather men, weapons and supplies to fight the English. In fact the English King is able to raise larger armies from the Scottish nobles then Wallace were. However Robert the Bruce were much better connected in the Scottish noble houses. He was a descendant from the last liked Scottish King and had lots of family relationships with the noble houses. And it sounds like he were much better diplomatically skilled then Wallace.
Just some speculation on my part but it does sound like most of the War of Independence were Scottish nobles fighting among themselves, both diplomatically and on the battlefield, about who should be the next King of Scotland. This was kind of how England got involved in the first place as they could back one of the candidates making them win. But when they lost the support of the Scottish feudal lords it was just a question of who they could gather behind. William Wallace probably figured that his only chance of becoming a King was by beating the English with a lesser army by himself. He was not from an old Scottish noble house and had no rights to the throne unless he won the war by himself. When Robert the Bruce started his rebellion most of the infighting between the Scottish nobles had subsided and there were only a couple of potential candidates for the title left. Most of the feudal lords were therefore behind him and it was just a question of how and if rather then who. This is how Robert were able to lose his entire army, hide in various Scottish castles and rebuild his army to its former size. He did not need the tactical skills of William.
Latest Answers