Maurice has achieved some popular fame because of his role as an early supporter of King Robert I of Scotland and as chaplain at the Battle of Bannockburn. Maurice was probably one of the people who helped Robert after his defeat at the Battle of Methven in 1305.[5] Robert I's first recorded act as king involved Abbot Maurice, who was given a "credence" (like empowering a Plenipotentiary or possessor of Power of Attorney) to speak with Maol Íosa III, Earl of Strathearn on his behalf.[6] Maurice was in England with a grant of safe-conduct in January 1313, probably on a mission to attempt to make peace between the two kings.[7] At the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, Maurice was the chaplain of the Scottish army and gave an encouraging speech and blessing to the Scottish soldiers. According to a legendary account found in the writings of Hector Boece, Maurice brought to the battlefield the silver reliquary known to contain the left arm-bone of St Fillan, but for safety left the actual arm of the saint in the monastery. The arm-bone, however, miraculously made its own way to the battlefield where it helped bring the Scots victory.[8]
His later career is largely unrecorded. He died in the 1340s, definitely before 23 October 1347, when William de Cambuslang, his successor as Bishop of Dunblane, was consecrated.
Notes
^Ian B. Cowan, & David E. Easson, Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man, (London, 1976), 108.
