In 1329 King Robert I died and his five-year-old son succeeded to the throne as David II under the guardianship of Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray.

In the early morning hours of 16 December 1332, then sixteen-year-old Robert fought with Sir Archibald Douglas at the Battle of Annan driving Edward Balliol out of Scotland.

Balliol returned to Scotland with Edward and an English army the following year defeating Archibald Douglas at the Battle of Halidon Hill on 19 July 1333.

David escaped to France in 1334 and Parliament, still functioning, appointed Robert and John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray, as joint guardians of the kingdom.

[3] Edward was killed at the Battle of Faughart, near Dundalk on 14 October 1318,[4] resulting in a hastily arranged Parliament in December to enact a new tailzie naming Marjorie's son, Robert, as heir should the king die without a successor.

The Scottish leadership concluded that only war could release the country from the English king's continued weakening of Balliol's sovereignty and so finalised a treaty of reciprocal assistance with France in October 1295.

[9] On their deaths, Robert the Bruce continued to resist the English and eventually succeeded in defeating the forces of Edward II of England and gained the Scottish throne for himself.

Walter the Steward had died earlier on 9 April 1327,[10] and the orphaned eleven-year-old Robert was placed under the guardianship of his uncle, Sir James Stewart of Durrisdeer,[3] who along with Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, and William Lindsey, Archdeacon of St Andrews were appointed as joint guardians of the kingdom.

[13] Edward Balliol's forces delivered heavy defeats on the Bruce supporters at Dupplin Moor on 11 August 1332 and again at Halidon Hill on 19 July 1333, at which the 17-year-old Robert participated.

[16] The Bruce resistance to Balliol may have been verging on collapse in 1335 but a turn-round in its fortunes began with the appearance of Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell as a potent war leader at the Battle of Culblean.

[20] Balliol lost many of his major supporters to the Bruce side and the main English garrisons began to fall to the Scots — Cupar in the spring or summer of 1339, Perth taken by the combined armies of Sir William Douglas, Lord of Liddesdale, Robert Stewart and Maurice Murray of Drumsargard in June 1339.

Just as Randolph was a favourite of the king, David II mistrusted Robert Stewart with his powerful positions of heir presumptive and guardian of Scotland.

[23] At the beginning of June 1341, the kingdom appeared sufficiently stable to allow the king to return to a land where his nobles while fighting for the Bruce cause, had considerably increased their own power bases.

Signification that although Elizabeth Mor and Isabella Boutellier, noble damsels of the diocese of Glasgow, are related in the third and fourth degrees of kindred, Robert Steward of Scotland, lord of Stragrifis, in the diocese of Glasgow, the king's nephew, carnally knew first Isabella, and afterwards, in ignorance of their kindred, Elizabeth, who was herself related to Robert in the fourth degree of kindred, living with her for some time and having many children of both sexes by her; the above king and bishops, therefore, pray the pope that for the sake of the said offspring, who are fair to behold (aspectibus gratiose), to grant a dispensation to Robert and Elizabeth to intermarry, and to declare their offspring legitimate.

[33] This failure to honour the conditions of the Berwick treaty allowed Edward to continue to press for a Plantagenet successor to David — terms that were rejected by the Scottish Council and probably by Robert himself.

[37] David was buried at Holyrood Abbey almost immediately but an armed protest by William, Earl of Douglas delayed Robert II's coronation until 26 March 1371.

[11] This build-up of the Stewart family power did not appear to cause resentment among the senior magnates — the king generally did not threaten their territories or local rule and where titles were transferred to his sons the individuals affected were usually very well rewarded.

[11] This style of kingship was very different from his predecessor's — David tried to dominate his nobles whereas Robert's strategy was to delegate authority to his powerful sons and earls and this generally worked for the first decade of his reign.

[44][45] By 1375, the king had commissioned John Barbour to write the poem, The Brus, a history intended to bolster the public image of the Stewarts as the genuine heirs of Robert I.

[43] Robert's rule during the 1370s saw the country's finances stabilised and greatly improved due in part to the flourishing wool trade, reduced calls on the public purse and the halting of his predecessor's ransom money on the death of Edward III of England.

[11] Robert — unlike David II whose kingship was predominantly Lothian and therefore lowland based — did not restrict his attention to one sector of his kingdom but frequently visited the more remote areas of the north and west among his Gaelic lords.

[47] In June 1371, Robert agreed to a defensive treaty with the French, and although there were no outright hostilities during 1372, the English garrisons were reinforced and placed under an increased state of vigilance.

Robert may have concluded that as the French had reneged on a previous agreement to send assistance in 1383 and then entered into a truce with England, any military action would have been met with retaliation and exclusion from the forthcoming Boulogne peace talks.

[55][56] On 2 June 1384, Robert resolved to send Walter Wardlaw, Bishop of Glasgow to the Anglo-French peace talks, yet Carrick ignored this and allowed raids into the north of England to take place.

Robert II toured the northeast in late January 1390, perhaps to reinforce the changing political scene in the north following Buchan's removal from authority.

[69] Robert's earlier participation in combat at the battles of Halidon and Neville's Cross, according to Donaldson, had made him wary of sanctioning military expeditions against the English and that any such actions by his barons were concealed from him.

[71] In contrast, the historians Stephen Boardman (2007), Alexander Grant (1984 and 1992) and Michael Lynch (1992) give a more even-handed appraisal of Robert II's life.

[74] Boardman also asserts that much of the negative views held of Robert II find their origins in the writings of the French chronicler Jean Froissart who recorded that '[the king] had red bleared eyes, of the colour of sandalwood, which clearly showed that he was no valiant man, but one who would remain at home than march to the field'.

[78] Influential magnate coalitions headed by Carrick, having undermined the king's position, manipulated the Council of November 1384 to remove Robert II from any real power.

[81] Despite this, the now unknown source whom both Wyntoun and Bower relied on made the point that Fife deferred to his father on affairs of state emphasising the difference in styles in the guardianships of his two sons.