Robert the Bruce is one of the great heroic figures of history. When after years of struggle Scotland was reduced to a vassal state by Edward I of England it was Bruce who, supported by the Scottish Church and a group of devoted followers, had himself crowned at Scone as King of Scots and renewed the fight for freedom.

Ronald McNair Scott has used the accounts of contemporary chronicles, particularly those of John Barbour, to reconstruct the story of one of the most remarkable of medieval kings. It is a story with episodes quite as romantic as those of King Arthur, but one which belongs to the authentic history of the Scottish nation.