Discovery of his body
Immediately after the king's death, his heart was taken out, as he had himself directed. He was then buried with great state and solemnity under the pavement of the choir, in the Abbey Church of Dunfermline, and over the grave was raised a rich marble monument, which was made at Paris. Centuries passed on, the ancient church, with the marble monument, fell into ruins, and a more modern building was erected on the same site. This, in our own days, gave way to time; and in clearing the foundations for a third church, the workmen laid open a tomb which proved to be that of Robert the Bruce. The lead coating in which the body was found enclosed, was twisted round the head into the shape of a rude crown. A rich cloth of gold, but much decayed, was thrown over it; and, on examining the skeleton, it was found that the breast-bone had been sawn asunder, to get at the heart.There remained, therefore, no doubt, that after the lapse of almost five hundred years, his countrymen were permitted, with a mixture of delight and awe, to behold the very bones of their great deliverer.
(See an interesting Report of the discovery of the Tomb, and the reinterment of the body of Robert Bruce, drawn up by Sir Henry Jardine, in the second volume of the Transactions of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland, part ii.)