Robert the Bruce, or Robert de Brus, as his Norman surname was spelled, was born on 11 July, 1274. He was the first born son of one of the richest and most powerful of the nobles in Scotland. His father had both Norman blood, as the surname suggests, and royal Scots blood in his veins, and his mother was from one of the oldest noble Celtic families in Scotland.

Of course Bruce was educated, learning Latin, English, Scots and Gaelic, and he was also trained in warfare, later to become unsurpassed in Europe in his use of the battle axe. He was raised with the knowledge that he would have a claim to the Scots throne if anything ever happened to the Balliol line, the Balliols having taken the throne when the daughter of the last king, Alexander III, died.

Not long after ascending the throne, Balliol submitted to Edward I, giving up his crown and ostensibly giving Edward control of Scotland. Bruce, however, like many other Scots, would not stand for such an affront to Scotland -- being ruled by a foreign power -- especially when such was aggravated by the bloody sacking of Berwick at English hands in March of 1296, and so he eventually called his vassals and knights to stand behind him in rebellion against Edward.

Bruce did not reside at Edinburgh Castle, as portrayed in the film, it was occupied by the English from 1296 until 1313. And, though the character of the Bruce in Braveheart was depicted as being a man more of words than of battle, that was not the case. While William Wallace and Andrew Murray took control of the heart of Scotland, Bruce gave the English trouble in southwest Scotland.

Most historians cannot be sure of Bruce's actions at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, but it is thought that he may have been the highest-ranking noble who knighted William Wallace in Selkirk Forest in March of 1298, after the victory at Stirling. As far as the battle of Falkirk, while it is accepted that Bruce supplied forces for the Scots army, most historians cannot agree as to what role he played there, though I do feel he was instrumental in helping Wallace escape from the bloodied field as was shown in the film.