A murder at Dumfries...

 

#OTD in 1306 John Comyn of Badenoch and his uncle Robert were murdered by Robert de Bruce and his followers in Dumfries church.

Comyn was at his castle of Dalswinton, seven miles north of Dumfries, when he received an invite from Bruce to meet him in the church. What they discussed is uncertain. After a brief talk, Bruce kicked out at Comyn, and ran him through with a sword or dagger. Robert was killed by Sir Christopher Seton.

A later account claimed that Comyn was killed in revenge for betraying Bruce to Edward I. That is Bruce propaganda, invented after the fact to justify a political murder. The killing was in the same vein as the murder of Henry of Almaine, murdered at a church in Italy in 1271, or the followers of John IV Laskaris, slaughtered in a church in Nicaea in 1258.

The reality is that Bruce wanted to be King of Scots, and the Comyn faction were his chief rivals. Both men had sworn homage to Edward as overlord of Scotland, but the king was old and ill, and clearly wouldn't live much longer.

Even after the killing, Bruce did not immediately rise against Edward. Instead he sent a letter to the English at Berwick, warning that he would defend himself with 'the longest stick that he had' unless Edward agreed to his demand. That demand can only have been the kingship.

Bruce was most likely seeking to fulfil the ambition of his grandfather, Bruce the Competitor, who had offered to help Edward conquer Scotland in exchange for the crown. If that meant swearing homage to the old king - in the unlikely event that he would swallow Comyn's murder - so be it. When Edward died, the Bruce Scots would have to re-swear their oaths to his heir, Edward II. That was a different situation altogether.

In the event, Edward I's reaction was ferocious, and the war was back on again.