ABSTRACT
As an aspiring monarch Robert Bruce had the best of teachers, King Edward I of England. According to Sir Thomas Gray, the Northumbrian knight and chronicler whose father fought in the Anglo-Scottish wars from 1296, Robert served in his youth as a 'bachelor' in Edward I's household. These were staged rituals which may then have had a profound effect upon the Scottish political community and wider society. In that light it is odd to find that, to date, historians have focused far more upon the impact rather than a later gathering which arguably ranks as the best-attended high ceremonial event of Robert's reign and lifetime, namely the consecration of St Andrews Cathedral in 1318. By the thirteenth century Scottish liturgical use on Palm Sunday, as throughout Holy Week and the wider spiritual year. The liturgical elements of these ceremonies, as well as Robert's dedication to a core group of native and dynastic churches, saints and relics.
