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King David Bruce
WHO was responsible for founding the Jersey Militia? Indirectly, it was David Bruce, otherwise known as David II of Scotland.
Bruce, who was the son of Robert the Bruce, victor of the Battle of Bannockburn, at which he defeated Edward II, King of England, did not lead a peaceful life.
His connection with Jersey was forged in 1336 when, as an exile based in France, he led an expedition to the Channel Islands.
Proclamations issued by King Edward indicate that Bruce and his troops were unwelcome visitors. A translation says: ‘David Bruce, with other Scots and their adherents, has attacked Jersey and Guernsey, inhumanly committing arson, murder and diverse other atrocities.’
In 1337 Edward returned to the theme, saying: ‘Because we are informed that the Scots are planning to perpetrate similar crimes in the islands a second time, we order Thomas de Ferrers to levy and array all men capable of bearing arms, and to form them into companies of thousands, hundreds and twenties, and to lead them well-armed and arrayed for the defence of the islands.’
Thomas de Ferrers was the Warden of the day; the part-time force he recruited is reckoned to be the forerunner of the Jersey Militia, the oldest such unit in Britain.
Fortunately, with the Hundred Years War between England and France in the offing and events becoming increasingly volatile in Bruce’s native Scotland, the second Scots incursion never materialised.
Indeed, instead of leading attacks on small islands, Bruce gained the Scottish crown — not for the first time but the second. This is how the full story of his life unfolded.
He first became king in 1331, aged only five, after his father had died of leprosy at the age of 50.
A year earlier — aged, of course, only four — the young David had been married to Edward III’s seven-year-old sister Joan.
That royal liaison was not, however, sufficient to ensure that his place on the throne was safe.
Edward Balliol, the son of King John Balliol, who had been deposed by Robert the Bruce, together with dispossessed nobles known as the Disinherited, landed at Fife bent on rebellion. At the Battle of Dupplin near Perth, Edward defeated Donald of Mar, the king’s guardian. But Bruce remained safe and secure in Dumbarton Castle and Balliol was eventually forced back over the border into England.
However, he returned with Eng-lish support and defeated the Scots at Halidon Hill in 1333.
That was when Bruce decided that it was time to leave for France, exile in the court of King Philip VI, and the occasional raiding party on the English Crown dependencies.
The tables turned again in 1335 when Balliol lost the Battle of Ballater, and the balance of power shifted completely when Edward III removed his troops from Scotland as the first skirmishes of the Hundred Years War began.
Bruce was able to resume the throne as David II in 1341, turning Scotland into one of France’s most important allies and laying the foundations for the Auld Alliance between the two countries.
In 1346 he and his troops fought the English at the Battle of Neville’s Cross, where he was wounded, taken prisoner and then, the following year, ransomed for £66,000.
He died in 1371, aged 46, without having produced an heir from his first marriage to Joan or his second to Margaret Drummond.
This article originally appeared as part of the Jersey Evening Post Crowns in Conflict series, compiled for the 1204-2004 celebrations.
author - Rob Shipley
This article updated: 2004/11/22 13:07:41
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| ......timelines...... |
| In 1880 Hugh de la Haye of Mont Cochon discovered the 'fluke' potato which gave rise to the Jersey Royal and a new era of agricultural prosperity. |
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