Robert de Brus, jure uxoris Earl of Carrick

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Robert de Brus,
Earl of Carrick, 6th Lord of Annandale, Constable of Carlisle Castle
Born July 1243(1243-07-)
Birthplace probably Writtle, Essex
Died April 1304 (aged 60)
Buried Holm Cultram Abbey, Cumberland
Predecessor Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale
Consort i) Marjorie of Carrick
ii) Eleanor
Issue i) Isabel b c1272
ii) Christina b c1273
iii) Robert b c1274
iv) Neil b c1276
v) Edward b c1279
vi) Mary b c1282
vii) Margaret b c1283
viii) Thomas b c1284
ix) Alexander b c1285
x) Elizabeth b c1286
ix) Matilda/Margery b c1287
Father Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale
Mother Isabella of Gloucester and Hertford


Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale and jure uxoris Earl of Carrick[1] (July 1243 - March 1304 [2]), was a feudal lord in both Scotland and England prior to and during the Second Barons' War, Welsh Wars, and First War of Scottish Independence. He was the son and heir of Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale and Isobel de Calre, daugheter of the Earl of Gloucester and Hertford.

Roberts birth date is generally accepted (July 1243[3]) but there is a ongoing debate as to whether Robert and / or his son King Robert The Bruce, were born on the family estate at Writtle Essex.[4][5][6][7].

Legend tells that the 27 year Robert de Brus, was a handsome young man participating in the Ninth Crusade. when Adam de Kilconquhar, one of his companion-in-arms, fell in 1270 at Acre, and Robert was obliged to travel to tell the sad news to Adam's widow Marjorie of Carrick. The story continues that Marjorie was so taken with the messenger that she had him held captive until he agreed to marry her, which he did in 1271[8][9].
Note: The crusade landed in Acre on May 9th 1271, and only started to engage the muslins in late June, therefore the story and his participation in the Ninth Crusade are generally discounted[10][11].
What is known is that in:

  • 1264 He has to ransoms his own father, after his capture, along with Henry III, Richard of Cornwall, and Edward I at the Battle of Lewes, Sussex.
  • 1271 He marries, without Scottish Royal consent, Marjory, countess of Carrick. As a result she temporarily looses her castle and estates, regained on payment of a fine.
  • 1278 He swears fealty to Edward I, on behalf of Alexander III at Westminster.
    • Accompanies Alexander III to Tewkesbury
  • 1281 He is part of the delegation to Guy of Flanders, to arrange the marriage of the Lord Alexander.
  • 1282 He participates and is paid for his services in Edward's Conquest of Wales [12].
  • 1283 June, he is summoned by writ to Shrewsbury, for the trial of David ap Griffith.
  • 1286 He is witness, along with his son Robert, to the grant of the church of Campbeltown to Paisley Abbey.
  • 1290 He is party to the Treaty of Birgham.
    • He supports his fathers in his claim to the vacant throne of Scotland, left so on the death of Margaret I of Scotland in 1290. The initial civil proceedings, known as The Great Cause, awarded the Crown to his 2nd cousin and rival, John Balliol.
  • 1291 He swears fealty to Edward I as overlord of Scotland.
  • 1292 His wife Marjorie dies.
    • November, his father, Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale - the unsuccessful claimant - resigns his Lordship of Annandale, and claim to the throne to him, allegedly to avoid having to swear fealty to John[13]. In turn he passes his own Earldom of Carrick, in fee, on to his son Robert.
  • 1293 He sets sail for Norway, for the marriage of his daughter Isabel to King Eric II of Norway.
  • 1294/5 He returns to England.
  • 1295 His father dies.
    • Oct 6, swears fealty to Edward and is made Constable of Carlisle Castle[14].
    • Refuses a summons to the Scottish host.
  • 1296 Jan, He is summoned to attend to the King Edward at Salisbury
    • April 28th, he again swears fealty to Edward I and fights for Edward, at the Battle of Dunbar Castle.
    • August, with his son Robert he renews the pledge of homage and fealty to Edward, at the 'victory parliament’ in Berwick.
    • Edward I denies his claim to the throne and he retires to his estates in Essex[15].
    • Annandale is re-gained.
    • Marries an Eleanor.
  • 1304 Easter, dies on route to Annandale and is buried at Holm Cultram Abbey, Cumberland[16].
    • Following his death his Eleanor remarries, before February 8, 1306 (as his 1st wife) Richard Waleys, Lord Waleys, and they had issue. She died shortly before September 8, 1331.[17]

Shortly after the Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297), Annandale was wasted as retaliation to younger Bruce's actions. Yet, when Edward returned to England after his victory at the Battle of Falkirk, which one source accords to Robert turning the Scottish flank[18], Annandale and Carrick were excepted from the lordships and lands which he assigned to his followers, father having not opposed Edward and the son being treated as a waverer whose allegiance might still be retained.

Robert at that time was old and ill, and there are reports that he wished his son to seek peace with Edward, who, he was convinced, would be victorious over the Scots[citation needed]. The elder Bruce would have seen that, if the rebellion failed and his son were against Edward, the son would lose everything, titles, lands, and probably his life.

It was around this time (1302) that Robert's son submits to Edward I. The younger Robert had sided with the Scottish nationalists since the capture and exile of Balliol. There are many reasons which may have prompted his return to Edward, not the least of which was that the Bruce family may have found it loathsome to continue sacrificing his followers, family and inheritance for John Balliol. There were rumors that Balliol would return with a French army and regain the Scottish throne. Soulis supported the return of Balliol as did many other nobles, but the return of John as king would lead to the Bruce's losing any chance of ever gaining the throne themselves.

[edit] Family

His first wife was by all accounts a formidable woman. Marjorie was the daughter and heiress of Niall, 2nd Earl of Carrick[19]. Carrick was a Gaelic Earldom in Southern Scotland. Its territories contained much of today's Ayrshire and Dumfriesshire. The couple held the principal seats of Turnberry Castle and Lochmaben.

Their children were:

  1. Isabel, married King Eric II of Norway in 1293, d 1358 in Bergen, Norway
  2. Christina b c 1273, Seton, East Lothian, marries 1) Sir Christopher Seton, 2). Gartnait, Earl of Mar, 1292 in Kildrummy, Aberdeenshire, 3) Sir Andrew Moray, 20 September 1305, d. 1356/7 in Scotland
  3. Robert b 11 July 1274, married 1) Isabella of Mar, 2) Elizabeth de Burgh, d June 7, 1329
  4. Neil (Niall or Nigel), taken prisoner at Kildrummie, hanged and beheaded at Berwick-upon-Tweed in September 1306.[20]
  5. Edward, crowned May 2, 1316, 'King of Ireland'. Killed in battle, October 5, 1318.[21]
  6. Mary, marries (1) Sir. Neil Campbell; (2) Sir. Alexander Fraser of Touchfraser and Cowie.
  7. Margaret
  8. Sir Thomas, taken prisoner in Galloway, executed 9 February 1307, Carlisle, Cumberland[22]
  9. Alexander, executed 9 February 1307, Carlisle, Cumberland
  10. Christina (Christian), married Gartnait, Earl of Mar, mother of Domhnall II, Earl of Mar
  11. Elizabeth
  12. Matilda,, married Hugh / Aodh, Earl of Ross, in 1308 Orkney Isles, dies after September 1323

[edit] Bruce in fiction

He was portrayed (as a leper) by Ian Bannen in the 1995 film Braveheart. Braveheart wrongly portrays Robert de Brus as being involved in the capture of William Wallace in Edinburgh; as noted above this Robert de Brus died in 1304 and William Wallace was captured on August 3, 1305 by Sir John de Menteith in Glasgow.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dunbar, Sir Alexander H., Bt., Scottish Kings, a Revised Chronology of Scottish History 1005 - 1625, Edinburgh, 1899: 126
  2. ^ Richardson, Douglas, Magna Carta Ancestry, Baltimore, Md., 2005: 732, ISBN 0-8063-1759-0
  3. ^ Douglas Richardson , Kimball G. Everingham (2005): Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families p732 link
  4. ^ Dunbar (1899) p.127, gives Robert The Bruce's birthplace as Writtle, near Chelmsford, Essex.
  5. ^ Dictionary of National Biography
  6. ^ Scottish Kings 1005 - 1625, by Sir Archibald H Dunbar, Bt., Edinburgh, 1899, p.127, where Robert the Bruce's birthplace is given "at Writtle, near Chelmsford in Essex, on the 11th July 1274". Baker, cited above, is also mentioned with other authorities.
  7. ^ Geoffrey le Baker's: Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke, ed. Edward Maunde Thompson (Oxford, 1889)
  8. ^ Dunbar, Sir Alexander (1899): 67
  9. ^ Richardson, Douglas (2005): 732
  10. ^ Dictionary of National Biography
  11. ^ The contemporary records seem to suggest Robert's father accompanied the Princes Edward and Edmund on the 1270-4 crusade, in lieu of his sons.
  12. ^ Prestwich, Michael, (1988,1997) Edward I: 196
  13. ^ Dictionary of National Biography
  14. ^ Richardson, Douglas (2005): 732
  15. ^ Dictionary of National Biography
  16. ^ Richardson, Douglas (2005): 732
  17. ^ Richardson, Douglas (2005): 732-3
  18. ^ John of Fordun's Chronicle of the Scottish nation
  19. ^ Dunbar, Sir Alexander (1899): 67
  20. ^ Dunbar, Sir Alexander (1899): 67
  21. ^ Dunbar, Sir Alexander (1899): 67
  22. ^ Dunbar, Sir Alexander (1899): 67
  • Burke, Messrs., John & John Bernard, The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, with Their Descendants, London, 1848: vol.1, pedigree XXXIV.
  • Flower, William, Norroy King of Arms; Northcliffe of Langton, Charles B., M.A., editor, The Visitation of Yorkshire, 1563/4, London, 1881, p.40.
  • Scott, Ronald McNair, Robert the Bruce - King of Scots.
  • Oxford University Press, editors, Dictionary of National Biography.
Preceded by
Robert V de Brus		 Lord of Annandale
1295-1304		 Succeeded by
Robert VII de Brus