Scottish Regency of the 1320s

Timeline

1. 1327–1329Cardross · ScotlandFrom 1327 to 1329, Robert the Bruce, gravely ill, withdrew to Cardross, with state affairs gradually handled by senior ministers. He explicitly designated his five-year-old son David as heir and arranged for Thomas Randolph as Guardian. After the 1328 treaty recognized independence, Bruce worked to consolidate the succession order of the Bruce dynasty, preparing for the regency transition after his death in 1329.
2. 1329–1330Turnberry · AyrshireAfter Bruce's death in June 1329, the five-year-old David II succeeded at Turnberry, with Thomas Randolph governing as Guardian. The governmental structure of Bruce's lifetime was largely retained, and the independence confirmed by the 1328 treaty was maintained. Because the king was young, the formal coronation was postponed to November 1331, with the regency government handling diplomacy and domestic affairs in the interim.
3. 1330Scottish Lowlands · ScotlandIn 1330, Edward III took personal rule in England and arrested Mortimer, bringing new diplomatic pressure on the Scottish regency government. That same year James Douglas was killed in action at Teba in Spain, ending the Bruce heart expedition and costing Scotland a core military leader. Randolph's regency continued to uphold independence, but England's covert support for the restoration faction of Edward Balliol foreshadowed the outbreak of the Second War of Independence in 1332.