Tea at Trianon: Was Robert Bruce a Leper?

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, March 19, 2007

Was Robert Bruce a Leper?

The Roving Medievalist linked to an article today about the leprosy of Robert Bruce. "The Bruce" took up the fight for Scottish independence after the death of the great William Wallace. The horrific murder of Wallace stirred the wealthy young noble into risking everything in the struggle for liberty. From the moment he was crowned King of Scots he became embroiled in a conflict with the English and with many of his countrymen. At one point, he was a fugitive in the wilderness; most of his family, including his wife and daughter, were imprisoned by his enemies. Robert Bruce, through sheer determination and brilliant strategy overcame all the odds. At Bannockburn on June 24, 1314, he defeated the English army, although greatly outnumbered.

King Robert had promised to go on crusade in order to atone for a past sin, but died before he could fulfill his vow. His friend, Black Douglas, undertook to fulfill the vow for him. With the heart of Robert the Bruce in a small casket around his neck, he rode against the Moors in Spain. He flung the heart of the Bruce at the Saracens, saying, "Lead on, Brave Heart, as thou hast led so many times before. Lead on, and I will follow thee." Black Douglas was slain in battle and the heart of Robert Bruce was transported to Melrose Abbey in Scotland. Bruce was the one originally given the name "Braveheart." Share