Kirkpatrick & Associates, Leadership Services, Est. Scotland, 1306 AD

Scenes from Scotland

In the year 1306 there were competing rivals laying claim to the throne of Scotland, John "Red" Cromyn and Robert the Bruce. (If you saw the film Braveheart, starring Mel Gibson in the title role as William Wallace, these names may sound familiar.)

 

On March 6, 1306, Red Cromyn sent an invitation to Robert the Bruce to attend a face-to-face peace conference, at a neutral site. They agreed to meet at the altar of a monastery called Gray Friars, in the town of Dumfries in the southwest of Scotland.

 

At noon on March 6, Robert the Bruce arrived outside the church with his royal bodyguard, a troop of mounted warriors. Seeing no obvious threats, Bruce entered Greyfriars and walked toward the altar, where Red Cromyn stood waiting. 

 

As Bruce approached the altar, Red Cromyn's own bodyguard, who had been secreted behind the church's massive stone pillars, leapt from hiding to ambush and assassinate Robert the Bruce.

 

Scenes from ScotlandScotsmen have for many centuries traditionally carried a short dagger, called a dirk, for self-protection. Robert the Bruce drew his dirk and stabbed Red Cromyn in the neck before Cromyn's men could attack Bruce. As Red Cromyn lay bleeding on the floor in front of the alter, his guards rushed to his aid. Bruce quickly fled down the isle of the church and out the front doors through which he had entered.

 

Upon his exit from Grey Friars, the Captain of Robert the Bruce's bodyguard asked what had happened. Legend has it that the conversation went something like this. 

 

Bruce:  "It was an ambush!  I stabbed Red Cromyn in the neck and escaped."

 

Kirkpatrick family crestRoger Kirkpatrick, Captain of the Guard:  "Well, have you killed him?"

 

Bruce: "I'm not sure."

 

Kirkpatrick: "Well, I'll make sure!" 

 

Whereupon Roger Kirkpatrick, Captain of Robert the Bruce's bodyguard, ran into Grey Friar's Church and mortally stabbed Red Cromyn. That much is well documented history. Some doubtlessly embellished legends say Kirkpatrick stabbed the dying Red Cromyn as many as thirteen more times.

 

The Kirkpatrick family crest bears the motto, in Fourteenth Century Scottish, "I Mach Siccar," – I make sure!  Some of the various versions of the family crest incorporate a bloody dagger.

 

Grey Friars Church stands today in Dumfries, Scotland, although across the street from where in stood in 1306. (It was sinking into a bog, so the townspeople disassembled and relocated it in the 1700's.)  An historical marker plaque marks the spot where the crimes occurred in 1306. Gray Friars is an active church today, holding regular weekly worship services. 

 

Scenes from ScotlandSo, you see, we Kirkpatricks have been advising executive leaders for more than 700 years! 

 

Seriously, the above incident stands as an infamous act of sacrilege because it took place on the altar of a church. The term 'warlike' might well have applied to the Scots as a people, during, long before, and well after the 1300's – but largely and mostly because various peoples including the Vikings, Romans, Angels, Saxons, Normans, and the English crown had been invading and attempting to subjugate the Scots for literally 6,000 years.

 

We must consider the context of the times, late Medieval Europe. In the 1300's Scotland suffered amidst a period of centuries of essentially continuous war between the Scottish Clans and between the Scots and the English kings. They suffered constant plundering, pillaging, and intrigues among the Scottish Clans.

 

Scenes from ScotlandNonetheless, such behavior in a church was unacceptable. Kirkpatrick was excommunicated for the act of stabbing Red Cromyn before the altar of Gray Friars, but later pardoned by the Pope because it is likely that the wound from Robert the Bruce's first blow with his dirk was fatal.

 

Historians also record that Roger Kirkpatrick, or Roger de Kirkpatrick, was a first cousin of William Wallace, the famous Scottish freedom fighter, and a distant relative of Robert the Bruce, who was crowned King of Scotland within weeks of the incident at Gray Friars in March 1306.

 

 

Today, Kirkpatrick & Associates uses more modern – and peaceable – methods to develop effective leaders.

 

Scenes from Scotland