“Sacred Food for the Soul”: In Search of the Devotions to Saints of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, 1306–1329

Abstract

The personal piety and devotions to saints and their relics of Scotland's most famous medieval monarch, Robert Bruce, or Robert I (1306-29), is an underexplored topic.1 This neglect is perhaps due both to a predominantly Protestant post-Reformation Scottish historiographical tradition and to a perceived lack of sources. The latter sense is heightened by a general awareness that large quantities of records and artifacts were plundered or destroyed during the prolonged hostilities of the Scottish wars of succession and independence, ca. 1286-ca. 1357, and that further losses occurred in successive centuries.2 Nevertheless, this paper offers new approaches to identifying and understanding the saintly venerations of King Robert. It seeks to illuminate the wide spectrum of motivations for his acts of piety throughout his reign, from clearly political or dynastic public demonstrations of faith to intensely personal expressions of belief. As a result, some aspects of the changing expectations of both Scottish royal piety and Robert I's personal devotions are revealed, alongside often more nuanced insight into the dramatic political and military events of the period. This methodology might be applied cautiously to explore the religiosity of other medieval monarchs.