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Tradition stated that he should sit on the Lia Fail (Stone of Destiny) and have the crown placed on his head by the Earl of Fife. The stone, stolen by Edward the First of England, Hammer of the Scots was now in England, as was the Earl of Fife
The day after Robert was crowned . Isabel the Countess of Fife and Buchan appeared at Scone and insisted on her right to crown the new king, King of Scots . She did this despite the fact that her husband and her father, both told forbade her to do so. They had both taken an oath to serve Edward.
On the 26th on March the beautiful young Lady Isabel placed the crown on King Robert's head for the second time. He was the only Scottish monarch to be crowned twice.
Edward upon hearing of her actions declared her an out law. Being a woman she was supposed to have followed her husband's oath. Her defiance of this was unheard of at this time in histroy and made her a very brave woman. When she was captured .....her husband wanted her put to death for her actions. But, instead at Edwards insistence she was placed in a wooden cage, which was then placed over the ramparts of Berwick Castle and there she remained. She remained in public gaze and exposed to all the elements of the weather for four whole years until she was rescued by Bruce's forces. She died young due to the high toll her time in the cage took on her health. Lady Isabel lived in a time when a woman was a mere chattel to her husband and a bargaining tool for her father. Her efforts are now symbolised in the woman's movement by the figure of a woman in a cage. Ask most of these women protesters who the figure represents and they will tell you they don't know...but you do
P.S.
Isobel Countess of Buchan defied her husband and
father in order to crown Robert the first according to tradition. As a
direct result of this action she was branded whore by the English in a
vicious propaganda campaign which carries on to this day (Barbara Erskine called "The Kingdom of Shadows"). May be no big
deal now, but it was back then. She fled with Robert, his defeated army,
AND his wife and daughter after the battle of Ruthven. Contemporary reports
of the flight state the Royal Party got on well together and modern day
historians conclude that this would not have happened had Isobel and
~Robert been having an affair. She like Queen Elizabeth de Bruce and
Marjory was captured by the English at the end of this flight and she was
hung in a cage for many many years.
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