The Book of Bruce, a genealogy of the Bruce family line, is laid out below. The original book was peppered with illustrations, and a PDF copy can be found on the internet.
Book of Bruce
Ancestors and Descendants of King Robert of Scotland
Being an Historical and Genealogical Survey of the Kingly and Noble Scottish House of Bruce and a Full Account of its Principal Collateral Families.
With Special Reference to the Bruces of Clackmannan, Cultmalindie, Caithness, and the Shetland Islands, and their American Descendants.
By
LYMAN HORACE WEEKS
Author of Prominent Families of New York
THE AMERICANA SOCIETY NEW YORK.
Dedicated to the Memory of George Bruce
whose genius contributed substantially to the advancement in America of
"The Art Preservative of All Arts".
I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL SURVEY
Upon the pages of Scottish history no name shines brighter than that of Bruce. The family has been a large part of all that is great and glorious in the achievements of its native land and has contributed in no small measure to the ennobling activities of other countries. In war and in peace; in government and in diplomacy; in the church and in the world of letters; in the broad field of industrial effort; its representatives have ever been conspicuous and pre-eminently successful. In popular estimation the name belongs particularly to the period of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that was crowded with events that changed forever the destiny of the Kingdom of the North. Then the great heads of this house in successive generations were brilliantly and patriotically identified with the development of their country into a nation of power and its achievement of independence from English misrule. But before that time the Bruces had been famous and powerful; and in the subsequent centuries, in all walks of life, they have been worthy of their antecedents.
Students of history know that the Bruce stock gave to Scotland its last and greatest dynasty; that, ever since, it has transmitted its Scottish blood to the ruling families of Great Britain and that it has been allied to other royal houses of the old world. Antiquarian research shows that the family, centuries before its more modern appearance in Scotland, had a record that harks back to the dawn of history, and even into the mists of tradition and mythology.
In considering this family genealogically and historically, King Robert Bruce - THE BRUCE as Scottish history designates him - takes his place as the central figure of such a survey. That great and beloved monarch was descended in direct male line from the most powerful Saxon and Danish lords of the early years of the Christian era and he gave that splendid heritage to the many modern families that bear the name in England, Scotland, Europe, and America.
Originally of Scandinavian origin the line is traced through the dominant lords, princes, and nobles of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, and by frequent matrimonial alliances, to the ruling families of Germany, Russia, and other principalities. The heads of the house in successive generations in that period were among the strong men of Denmark and Norway. They were Vikings of the North and played their parts well in that heroic age when they and their countrymen were masters of the seas ; overran the islands and the mainlands of that portion of the world; subjugated the rude peoples of Northern Europe, and laid the substantial foundations of consolidated government upon which has been built the structure of modern nationality. Some of them sailed across the stormy waters to Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides, taking possession of those islands and becoming rulers of the people already there. They even made incursions to the northern mainland of Scotland and from time to time held sway there, little dreaming that four hundred or more years later their greater descendants were to come again and hold that kingdom. Volumes might be written about the lives and adventures of these Viking ancestors of the Bruces. Their names gleam in the red light of the old sagas; their achievements are related in the Latin annals of the ancient historians, in the records of the northern kingdoms, and in popular traditions. On the following pages the line has been genealogically traced, generation by generation, to early in the eighth century.
Nor is the story of the early Bruces limited to their Northland careers and associations. As will be seen presently, Einar, Jarl or Earl of Orkney, from whom the Bruces descended in direct male line, was a brother of Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy. This allied the Bruces to the great ducal house of Normandy, and to William the Conqueror, of a later generation. Not alone that, but the alliances of the dukes of Normandy with the kings of France, Spain, and Germany, and with other princely houses of Europe is well known and this Bruce connection forms another striking page in the family history.
Still pursuing investigation into the records of the early centuries, it will be found that the Bruce forebears married into the royal family of Scotland several hundred years before their name became indelibly stamped upon the pages of Scottish history. Sigurd the seventh Earl of Orkney married Olith or Alice, daughter of Malcolm II., King of Scotland. He was the ancestor in the fourth generation in direct male line, of the Bruces who came into Scotland from Normandy by way of England at the time of the conquest and was in the ninth generation from the Robert Bruce who married Isabel of Huntingdon, also a descendant of Malcolm II. Thus the modern Bruces trace to the ancient royal house of Scotland through two lines of descent.
An examination of the annals of the Scottish kings is of absorbing interest and reveals a wealth of rich genealogical and historical lore. As set down in the records, Malcolm III. (Malcolm Canmore or Great-head) great-great-grandfather of Isabel of Huntingdon, wife of Robert Bruce, was the eighty-sixth king of Scotland.*
* Caledonia, by George Chalmers, Vol.1, pages 278 and 461.
The record goes back through Malcolm, Kenneth, Donal, and Constantin to Kenneth - son of Alpin - who united the Picts and Scots and became king of the two nations or tribes, 843-59. Beyond this Kenneth the line extends through many heroic predecessors whose deeds are matters of record, to Fergus and Eocha, who are generally regarded as the first of the long royal line and who ruled before the beginning of the sixth century. Beyond Fergus and Eocha we come to the famous Irish kings from whom the Scots were derived and whose origin has been traced by antiquarians through Spain, Phenicia, and Egypt to Judea and Babylon. Into such a far-away period of ancient history the pursuit of the ancestry of the first Scottish kings, ancestors of the Bruces, leads through mazes of tradition, myth, secular and sacred history, and monumental records.
Before the close of the eleventh century representatives of the Bruce stock in the principal male line moved from the islands of Orkney and Shetland back to the mainland of Europe whence their ancestors had come. Again, they were influential and powerful in Norway and Denmark. One of their ancestors was the father of Rollo, the future Duke of Normandy, and another of his sons was the head of the branch which produced the Bruces of Shetland and Orkney. When Rollo invaded France and took Normandy to himself, setting up his great dukedom, several Bruces went with him. In later generations marriages between these families brought them into more intimate association and gave to their descendants common blood relationships. Along with the other nobles who helped to conquer Normandy, in company with Rollo and the dukes who came after him, the Bruces were leaders in the warfares of the day and took large part in the directions of affairs at Court. They grew in numbers and power and the name figures conspicuously in the annals of the ancient dukedom.
Relating to this period of the history of the family there is in an old Statistical Account of Scotland a copy of the genealogy of the Bruces which is very curious in its earlier part.
"Since we are to speak of the genealogy of that heroick prince, King Robert Bruce, take notice in the first place that this surname (whether corruptly pronounced for Le Preux, the Valiant, as in the old records, it is sometimes written Le-Breuse or a tropical surname De Bruis, from a castle and town of that name in the Grisons country) hath originally from France where about the year 1145 lived Peter Brucie, famous for writing against the Romish errors of transubstantiation, whose followers by the Popish writers are styled Petro Brusiarie."
Transferring its habitat to England when William of Normandy conquered that country the stock gravitated gradually to the north where was the earlier home of its race on the Scottish Islands. There it took its final stand in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and became a dominant power in its new home. Ranking with the foremost and most distinguished noble houses then existing, the family exercised a wide and strong influence among both the earlier Scot inhabitants and its Norman emigrant compeers. In less than two centuries its representatives had attained a position that gave them royal rights and honors and within half a century more they had mounted to the throne.
The marriage of the fifth and sixth Robert Bruces into the royal family of Scotland early in the thirteenth century brought to the Anglo-Norman house the heritage of the Saxon Kings of England and the Emperors of Germany. The wife of Malcolm III. of Scotland was Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling and daughter of Edward the Outlaw. From this Margaret the line of ancestry runs through Alfred the Great and his ancestors. At the height of its fortunes and power no royal or noble house ranked higher than that of Bruce. Robert, the Bruce, as we have seen, had in his veins the blood of the most powerful and the most ancient ruling families of Europe, and his children and grandchildren were joined in marriage to other noble and royal houses of England, Scotland, and Europe.
On the male line the Bruce stock produced two kings of Scotland, Robert I. and David II. his son. It also gave a king to Ireland, Edward I. On the female side it produced the luckless Stewart dynasty of Scotland and England. The marriage of Marjory Bruce, daughter of King Robert Bruce I. to Walter Fitz Alan, the High Steward of Scotland, was the foundation of the royal house of Stewart. The descendants of Robert Bruce in the Stewart dynasty maintained themselves first on the throne of Scotland and then on that of England for more than three hundred years. The succession on the Scottish throne was Robert II., Robert III., James I., James II., James III., James IV., James V., Mary (the unfortunate Queen of Scots), and James VI. On the death of Queen Elizabeth of England in 1603, James VI. of Scotland united the two crowns, becoming James I. of England. His dynastic successors in England were Charles I., Charles II., James II., Mary, consort of William of Orange; and Anne. From the Stewart line was also derived the Hanoverian dynasty through Elizabeth of Bohemia, daughter of James VI. of Scotland. Thus Bruce stock by female derivatives has held the thrones of Scotland and of England and directed the affairs of those two kingdoms, alone or united, to the present day.
Of lesser rank but not always of lesser power or distinction, the Bruce stock has included a Cardinal of Rome; Earl of Huntingdon, Carrick, Ross, Elgin, Kincardine, and Ailsbury; Viscounts Bruce; Barons of Gower, Brember, Brecknock, Abergavenny, Skelton, Annandale, Bruce, and Kinloss; Lord High Chancellors of Scotland; a Chief Justice of England; Archbishops, Bishops, Baronets, a Master of the Rolls, Judges, Privy Councillors, Ambassadors, Envoys; Knights of the Garter, Bath, Saint Andrews, and St. Michael; Princesses of Wales, Duchesses of Chandos, Rutland, and Richmond; Countesses of Atholl, Mar, Ross, Sutherland, Cardigan, Perth, Devonshire, Hertford, and Airlie; Baronesses Percy, Beauchamp, Maltravers, Sayes, Bothwell, Mortimer, Brechin, and Cardross.
A Viking ancestor gave to the family the name Brusee or Brusi, that years later transformed into Brus and Bruce. He was of the eleventh century and it was his grandson who established the family name and fame firmly in the annals of Normandy. In the old writings and provincial nomenclature Brus, Bruse, Brwyse, Bruyce, Brutz, Broawse, Brois, and others appear to have been one name spelled differently. Drummond in his monumental work on British families* gives thirty-three forms of the name. Modern France still has Bruyce, Broix, and Breux, which probably have the same origin. In modern dialect, especially on the borders of England and Scotland, the name has been corrupted, at least as it is spoken, into Browis and Brewis. In the Foedera Angliae the name of the great King of Scotland is uniformly given as de Brus, while it is The Brwyce in the manuscript copy of John Barbour's famous rhymed history of King Robert now in the Edinburgh Advocates Library. ** Bruce has become the regular modern form of the name.
* Histories of Noble British Families, by Henry Drummond.
** Metrical Life and Acts of Robert Bruce, by John Barbour.
II. SCANDINAVIAN ORIGIN
ON the Scandinavian peninsula, in the early centuries of the Christian era, was settled a race whose mastery of the countries within striking distance of the Northland was, for generations, well-nigh complete. Tradition and mythology commingle in the story of the semi-barbarous Germanic men of force and their Viking descendants. The sagas of Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Orkney tell the tale of these titanic rovers of the sea and conquerors of the land, their lives and achievements, their wild freedom and their cruelties, their loves and their hatreds. From these sources are derived the genealogical records that make possible the pedigrees of their descendants even to the present day. In them scholarly research has found the earliest discoverable ancestors of the Bruces, men and women of might who had a large and influential part in the iron life of that heroic age.
Before the seventh or eighth century the Norsemen found full employment for their fighting passions in contending with each other for mastery of their respective domains. Gradually a slight sense of national spirit developed among them and they grew more and more inclined to be at peace with their immediate neighbors and kinsfolk and to exercise their propensities for conquest and plunder upon other peoples than their own. Norway became the fountain head of one of the most wonderful conquering and colonizing movements that the world had ever known. In fast-sailing ships the Vikings and their followers made incursions upon Northern Europe and the islands of Britain. They considered war the most honorable profession and, even as Tacitus said of the Germans, "they deemed it a disgrace to acquire by sweat what they might obtain by blood." Or, as another ancient historian quaintly wrote, they were "people desperate in attempting the conquest of other realms, being very sure to find warmer dwellings anywhere than in their own homes." They harried England, Denmark, and Europe, plundering cities, devastating countries, and carrying away spoils by the ship-load. Of such mettle were these progenitors of the royal house of Bruce.
On the direct male line the Bruce pedigree goes to Sveide, a Viking who lived in the middle of the eighth century. On the distaff side the pedigree is traced through various lines, male and female, to the founders of the several principalities or kingdoms that finally became the nation of Norway.
In the most ancient chronology Odin, a prince who, in the fourth or fifth century of the Christian era, was driven, by the Romans, from his domains on the border of the North Sea, led his Germanic tribes to the Northland. He was a famous warrior, always victorious, and when he died he divided his new kingdom between his sons and companions in arms. His son Skioldr established himself at Lethra upon the island of Zeeland and founded the kingdom of Denmark. In the course of time, sacrifices were made to Odin, he received divine honors, and was worshiped as the creator of the universe. Some authors regard him entirely as a mythological personage, while others believe in his historical existence. But the list of Scandinavian kings who claimed descent from him is accepted by historians without reserve, after the seventh century.*
Beginning with Skioldr, son of Odin, the fourteenth king of Lethra was Halfdan II., son of Frode III. The kingdom was divided between the two sons of Halfdan into Lethra and Roeskilde, but in a later generation was reunited by Ivar Vidfami of Roeskilde, the son of Halfdan III. Sniale by his wife Alfo. Halfdan III. was a son of Olaj, the Sharp-eyed, of the Rurik line of kings who were foremost among those eastern princes whose territories and powers were ultimately merged in the Russian empire.
With Ivar Vidfami, or Widefathom, we are on firmer historical ground. His father Halfdan III. was murdered by Gudrod, King of Scandia, and the son went forth to Sweden with an army to avenge the death of his parent. King Ingiald, whose daughter Asa had instigated her husband Gudrod to kill Halfdan, was so hard pressed that he burned himself and all his court in a big banqueting hall. After this Ivar acquired "all the Swede land," Denmark, a "great part of Saxon-land," all the East-realm, and part of England. From him came the early kings of Sweden and of Denmark.
* Manuel d'Histoire, de Genealogie et de Chronologic de tous les Etats du Globe, by A. M. H. J. Stokvis, Vol. II, p. 320.
Auda Diuphaudza, daughter of Ivar Vidfami, married Rad bard or Robert King of Holmgard, and their son King Randver married Asa. In the next generation came Sigurd Hringr, a famous king of Sweden, son of Randver and Asa. He was living in 735 and his queen was Alfhilda. In 750 a daughter of the preceding married Thrond or Hoerk, King of Trondheim, who was a son of Harold Hilditur. Eystein, King of Trondheim in 780, was the son of Thrond or Hoerk; Halfdan. King of Trondheim in 810, was his grandson and Eystein Glumra, King of Trondheim in 840, was his great-grandson. A daughter of Eystein Glumra marrying Ivar, son of Halfdan the Aged, son of Sveide, the Viking, brought to the direct male Bruce line a pedigree reaching back through the several royal lines that have just been indicated, of early Sweden, Trondheim, Holmgard, Rurik, and Lethra to the stock that derived from Odin the divine.
Instead of Ivar, Earl of Upland, some genealogists give as the father of Eystein, Thebotau, Duke of Sleswig and Storman, who is said to have lived in the first quarter of the ninth century; to have served under Gudrod, King of Norway, in 821, and to have married Gandella, daughter of Vitellan, Lord of Ballenstedt and Bernburg in Germany, from whom the Ursini family of Italy is descended. This origin of the Bruce family was first advanced by Gabriel Surrene, the famous antiquarian and genealogist of half a century ago, in his researches for material for a history of the Bruce family. Among English genealogists Henry Drummond has almost alone endorsed the opinion of Surenne.
On the other hand, the pedigree making Ivar, son of Halfdan the Aged and grandson of Sveide, the father of Eystein, is presented by J. H. Wiffen,* who gives a genealogical chart tracing, as has been shown on the preceding pages, the pedigree of Ivar through ten generations to Olaj the Sharp-eyed, King of Rurik. This pedigree is on the authority of Suhn ** and Snorre. *** Stokvis in his Manuel gives the same pedigree from Rognvald father of Torf Einar and of Rollo, Duke of Normandy, back to Olaj the Sharp-eyed and then beyond him, generation by generation, to Odin the first great monarch of the Scandinavian kings. In the Lakdaela Saga and the Landnama Saga, included in the Origines Islandicse; in the Heimskringla, the Norwegian sagas of Snorre Sturlason, and in the Orkneyinga Saga, to all which frequent reference is made in the following pages, the stories of these Norsemen, their ancestors, and their descendants are related, often with much of detail and with full confirmation of the genealogical lines here adopted.
* History of the House of Russell.
** Histoire Critique du Denmark.
*** Historia Regum Septentrionalium.
I
Sveide of Upland, a Viking, 760-800.
II
Halfden the Aged, son of the preceding, was the ruler of Upland in 800.
III
Ivar, son of the preceding, was a jarl or earl of Upland in 830. He made proud boast of his descent from the deified hero Thor. In 850 he married a daughter of Eystein Glumra who was King of Trondheim in 840.
IV
Eystein, or Euslin, named Glumra of Vors, son of the preceding, fled into the kingdom of Norway about 870 to escape Danish tyranny. He married, first, Jocunda, daughter of Hunthiof , King of North Mere and South Mere, two provinces of Norway; second, Ascrida, daughter of Rognvald, son of Olaf or Olaus, an independent king of Norway, who kept his court at Geirstead.
Issue : -
1. Sigurd, the first Earl of Orkney. He married Jocunda, daughter of Olaf Hviti, the White, King of Dublin. Olaf was descended from the same stock as Harald Harfagra, the first king of all Norway. He led an invasion of the Northmen into Ireland in 838, and, capturing the city of Dublin, held the Celtic race in that part of the island in subjection, and founded the most powerful and most permanent Norse kingdom in Ireland. He was a son of Ingiald, who was a son of Helgi, and his wife was the famous Queen Auda.
The islands of Orkney were subdued by Harald Harfagra soon after the year 875, and Sigurd was placed in possession, being created the first Earl of Orkney. The Norwegian race of earls of Orkney continued in the male line until Magnus, Earl of Orkney, who married the Countess of Caithness, died without male issue in the fourteenth century, his granddaughter, Isabel of Caithness, transmitting the right of the earldom to her son, Henry Sinclair, of the Scottish Sinclair or St. Clair family, the claim being acknowledged by Hakon VI. of Norway in 1379.
Sigurd in his new possessions had much trouble with his neighbors on the Scottish mainland. The sagas relate that he and the Scottish earl Melbrigd Tonn, or Tooth, made an arrangement to meet in a certain place with forty men each to discuss their differences. Sigurd mounted eighty men on forty horses. When Earl Melbrigd discovered this treachery he accepted the gage of battle and in the fighting was killed "and all his men with him." But Sigurd did not long enjoy the fruits of his victory. An ancient account of the battle says: "he gained the victory in a foray over the Scotch jarl Melbrigd, and cut off his head, which, in the overweening pride of his triumph, he hung at his saddle; but a sharp tooth that projected from the head chafed his leg and caused a wound which proved his death." Sigurd was buried at Eckialdsbakki.
2. Rognvald, of whom below.
V
Rognvald, son of the preceding, by his wife Ascrida, was one of the great men of the Northland. He was an independent king of an important section of that country and was powerful enough to make himself a leader of other rulers.
He belonged to the same family as Harald Harfagra and was fully equal in rank with that earl. When Harald planned the subjugation of the independent jarls or earls of Norway and the unification of that country into a nation, Rognvald joined forces with him and became his most valued supporter and councillor. He assisted Harald throughout the long struggle with the other Norwegian chiefs until his kinsman was established on the throne as the first king of all Norway. When Harald began his warring against the other earls he swore never to cut his hair until he had conquered and had won the hand of the ambitious maiden Gyda whom he loved and at whose instigation he had undertaken this task. When he had finally achieved his purpose he had his long shining yellow hair cut for the first time in his life and to perform this office he called upon Rognvald - so the sagas tell - because "that lord was the most valiant and best beloved of all his subjects."
Harald appointed Rognvald Earl of North Mere and Raumsdale in 885 after the victory at Solskel when Hunthiof of Mere and his father-in-law Nockvi were defeated and slain. After the second naval victory at Solskel where he particularly distinguished himself he was made Earl of South Mere.
"Rognvald, the Mere Earl, son of Eystein Glumra had become King Harald's man that summer, and him King Harald made lord over the two folks. North Mere and Raumsdale, and strengthened his hands thereto both with lords and franklins; and ships he gave him withal that he might ward the land against war; he was called Rognvald the mighty, or the Keen-counselled, and as folk say it was good sooth of either name."*
* Heimskringla of Snorre Sturlason, Vol. I, pp. 100 and 103
Among his many famous exploits, told in the sagas, was a winter expedition against King Vermund of the Firths.
"And so he came a night-tide to a certain stead hight Naustdale whereat was King Vermund a-feasting. There took Earl Rognvald the house over their heads, and burned King Vermund therein with ninety men." When his son Ivar, fighting under Harald in Scotland in 870, was killed, "to boot the loss of him King Harald when he sailed from the west gave Earl Rognvald the Orkneys and Shetland." But fate had it that Rognvald should meet his death in 890 at the hands of the sons of his friend and king.
Halfden High-leg and Gudrod Gleam, sons of Harald, were dissatisfied with their lot and sought the possession of more land and the exercise of more power. So with bands of followers they went forth fighting. They "came unawares on Rognvald, the Mere Earl, and took the house over him, and burned him therein with sixty men." Rognvald married, first, Hilda or Helinda, daughter of Rolf, surnamed Nefia Grosshertz, a great herrse or baron of Raumsdale ; second, Groa, daughter of Wrymund, King of Trondheim.
Issue : —
1. Rolf, or Rollo, who led an army across seas to France, conquered the province of Neustria, and founded there the Dukedom of Normandy.
2. Thorir, surnamed Thegiandi the Silent. He was made Earl of Mere by King Harald after the death of his father.
He married, in 885, Alof Arbot who was called the Year's-heal, daughter of King Harald.
3. Halladur, the third earl of Orkney. He married Tora, daughter of Find the Squint-eyed, a great lord in Norway.
4. Einar, of whom below.
5. Hrollaugur or Drogo. He married Ermina and was the ancestor of the Barons of Briquebec and other noble families of Normandy.
6. Helinda. She married Sigurd, surnamed Rice, son of King Harald. In 900 he was Governor of the province of Ringrace in Norway.
7. Ivar, who was killed in battle in Scotland in 870,
VI
Einar, surnamed Torf Einar, son of Rognvald and his wife Groa, was the fourth Earl of Orkney. Upon the death of Sigurd, the first Earl of Orkney, his son Guthrom succeeded him, but died without issue a year later, in 875. The earldom reverted to Rognvald who sent his son Halladur there. But Halladur does not seem to have had much in him of the fighting spirit of the age and was soon wearied of defending his possessions against the never-ending attacks of the plundering Vikings. Therefore he returned to Norway, much to the disapproval of his father. When Earl Rognvald heard of this -
"he was ill content with Halladur's journey, and said that his sons would become all unlike their forefathers. Then spake Einar; 'I have had little honor of thee, and but little love have I to part from. I will fare west to the isles if thou wilt give me some help or other; and then I will promise thee, what will gladden thee exceedingly, never to come back again to Norway.' Earl Rognvald said he should be well content if he never came back; 'For small hope have I that thy kin will have honor of thee, whereas all thy mother's kin is thrall-born.' So Earl Rognvald gave Einar a long-ship all manned, and in the autumn-tide Einar sailed West-over-sea; but when he came to the Orkneys there lay before him two ships of the Vikings, Thorir Wood-beard and Kalf Skurva. Einar fell to battle with them straightway, and won the victory, and they both fell. Then was this sung :
'Tree-beard to the trolls he gave there, Scurva there Turf Einar slaughtered.'
"Thereafter Einar became earl over the isles and was a mighty man there. He was an ugly man, and one eyed, howbeit the sharpest-sighted of men."*
* Heimskringla of Snorre Sturlason, by William Morris and Eri'kr Magnusson, Vol. I, p. 122.
His rule in the islands was beneficent and all people were devoted to him. It is said that he discovered the deposits of peat with which the islands abounded and taught the inhabitants how to use it for fuel. To show their gratitude the people gave him the name Torf or Turf.
After Halfdan High-leg and Gudrod Gleam had slain his father Rognvald, Torf Einar was forced by Halfdan, who came to Orkney with an army, to take refuge in Cathanes, or Caithness, on the mainland of Scotland. Gathering reinforcements he returned to Orkney in the autumn and fell upon Halfdan High-leg and defeated him and his forces. Halfdan was captured and Einar in person tortured him before putting him to death, after the manner of that time. The sagas give this song that Einar sang after he had accomplished his vengeance :
"Wreaked have I Rognvald's slaying,
I for my fourth part fully.
For the stay of hosts is fallen;
The Norns have ruled it rightly.
Heap stones then upon High-leg,
High up, brave lads of battle.
For we in strife were stronger.
And a stony scat I pay him."
But Einar's triumph was short-lived. When King Harald heard of the fate of his son he sailed to the Orkneys and the earl again "got him over to Caithness," singing as the sagas put it:
"For the slaughtering of the sheep-kind
Are some with beards made guilty;
But I for a king's son's slaying
Amid the sea-beat island.
Comes peril, say the franklins,
From the wrath of a king redoubted,
And surely of my shearing
Is the shard in the shield of Harald."
In the end the affair was settled by Einar paying a fine of sixty marks of gold to the king in return for which he was left in undisputed possession of the islands.
Issue : -
1. Thorfinn, of whom below.
2. Arnkel who followed King Eric Bloodaxe, son of Harald Harfagra, into England and was killed in battle, 950.
3. Erland who also accompanied King Eric and was killed in battle, 950.
VII
Thorfinn Hausklifr, the Headcleaver, son of the preceding, was the fifth Earl of Orkney, and the Earl of Shetland in 942. In the latter years of his life, he submitted to the rule of Queen Gunnhild, widow of King Eric Bloodaxe, and her sons who, driven out of Norway, seized Orkney; but he resumed the earldom when Gunnhild and her sons went over to Denmark.
He died about 963.
He married Grelad, Greiland, or Grelota, daughter of Dungad, jarl or earl of Cathanes, whose wife was Groa, daughter of Thorstein Rauda, the Red, son of Olaf Hviti, the White, King of Dublin, by his wife Aud, the Deep-rich or Deeply-wealthy. The story of Aud or Und, the Deeply-rich, who married Olaf Hviti, is told in the Icelandic sagas. She was a conspicuous figure in her time and country, and a queen who exercised a powerful control and widespread influence throughout a long and active life.
"Beorn Buna was the name of a mighty and noble herse in Norway. He was the son of Werther-grim, herse or lord of Sogn. Grim had to wife Her-ware, daughter of Thorgerde, daughter of Ey-laug, the herse of Sogn. Beorn had to wife We-laug, sister of We-mund the Old. They had three sons. One of them was Cetil Flat-neb, the second Holgi, and the third Hrapp. They were noble men and from them is the greatest race that is told of in this book and from them are come well-nigh all the gentle-folk of Iceland."*
* The Landnama Book or Book of Settlements, in Origines Islandicae, by Gudbrand Vigfusson and F. York Powell, Vol. I. p. 25.
"There was a man named Cetil Flatneb, the son of Beorn Buna, the son of herse Grim, Halbeorn Half troll's son. He was a mighty lord or herse of Norway and of high family. He dwelt in Reams-dale, in Reamdale-folk, that is between South-mere and North-mere. Cetil Flatneb had to wife Yngwhild, daughter of Cetil Wether, a man of good birth. Their children were five. . . . Und (Aud) Deeprich was a daughter of Cetil's whom Anlaf (Olaf) the White had to wife, the son of Ingiald, the son of Frode the Gallant whom the Swertlings slew.
"In Cetil's latter days arose the rule of Harald Fairhair, so that no folk-king could thrive in the land, nor other great man, save he himself settled what their power or rank should be. And when Cetil found out that King Harald meant to give him the same terms as to the other mighty men, namely to have his kin slain bootless (without weregild), or else become a vassal or leige-man himself, he summoned a moot of his kinsmen and took up his speech thus : ' Ye are acquainted with what hath taken place between us and King Harald, wherefore there is no need to go into it. ... I know of a truth the hatred that King Harald bears us, and it seems to me that we shall not find much backing in that quarter, and methinks there are two choices before us, — either to fly the land, or be slain every man in his own place.' . . .
"Then Cetil said that he was now minded to go west over sea (to the British Isles), for he said there was good land there and that those lands were known to him far and wide, because he had harried far and wide there. . . , Afterwards Cetil makes ready for his journey out of the country west over the sea. His daughter Und went with him and more of his kin. Cetil's sons sailed for Iceland the same summer and Helge, the Lean, their brother-in-law. . . . Cetil Flatneb made Scotland in his ship and gat good welcome from men of worship because he was a man of renown and of a great family. And they offered him to settle thereon what terms he liked. " Cetil fixed his abode there and the rest of the company of his kinfolk, save Thorstan, his daughter's son. He took to sea roving at once and harried far and wide over Scotland and gat ever the victory, and afterwards he made peace with the King of Scots and got half of Scotland for himself and became king thereof. He had to wife Thurid, daughter of Eywind, and sister of Helge, the Lean. The Scots did not keep the peace well, but betrayed him to death in time of truce. Are Thorgilson, the historian, says of Thorstan's slaying that he fell in Caithness.
"Und Deeprich was in Caithness when her son Thorstan fell and when she heard that Thorstan was slain and her father dead she thought that there would be no bettering to be got where she was. And so she had a merchant ship built secretly in the wood and when the ship was finished she fitted out the ship and took much riches in chattels with her. She took aboard with her all the company of her kin that were yet alive. And men thought that it was scarcely ever known that one person, and a woman, should have been able to get away out of such perils with so much chattels and such a following. And it may easily be marked thereby what a paragon she was among women. Und also had with her at that time men of high rank and of great families. . . . Und sailed her ship to the Orkneys as soon as she was ready. There she abode for a little while. There she gave Groa, daughter of Thorstan the Red, in marriage. She (Groa) was the mother of Greiland, whom Earl Thorfinn had to wife, the son of Earl Turf-Einar, the son of Rognwald, Earl of Mere. Their son was Hlodwe, father of Earl Sigurd, father of Earl Thorfinn, and hence is come the house of the Orkney earls."*
* Origines Islandics, by Gudbrand Vigfusson and F. York Powell, Vol. II, pp. 141-145.
The family to which Groa belonged was one of the most powerful in the islands of North-western Europe, and by his marriage to her Thorfinn greatly strengthened himself and his descendants in their hold upon Orkney and Shetland. With the exception of his successor in the earldom, his sons met tragic fates.
Issue : -
1. Hlodver or Lodver, of whom below.
2. Arnfinn. He married Ragnhild, daughter of King Eric Bloodaxe of Norway, and was slain by her in Cathanes.
3. Haavad. He married Ragnhild, his brother's widow, and was killed at Stennis in a fray with his nephew Einar Klining who had been instigated by his wife.
4. Liot. He married Ragnhild, his brother's widow, and was slain in battle with the native chief Magbiod at Skid Myre, Cathanes.
5. Skuli. He received the title of Earl of Cathanes from the King of Scots ; was slain in battle with his brother Liot.
VIII
Hlodver or Lodver, son of the preceding, was the sixth Earl of Orkney.
He died about 980 and was buried at Hofu in Cathanes.
He married Audna, daughter of Kiarval, King of Ireland.
Kiarval was the Cearbhal or Carrol of the Irish annals, King of Dublin 872-87; he was descended from Ivar the Boneless, son of Ragnor Lodbrok. Some authorities say that Lodver also married Africa, daughter of Somerlid, Prince of Argyle.
Issue : —
1. Sigurd, of whom below.
2. Gerleota who married Baldwin Clapham, son of King Edmund of England.
IX
Sigurd, surnamed Digree the Corpulent, son of the preceding, was the seventh Earl of Orkney. Beside holding Cathanes or Caithness against Kenneth III., King of Scotland, he ruled other parts of the Scottish mainland. Between the years 969 and 995 he was challenged by the Earl Finnleic, father of Macbeth, to battle on a certain day. Receiving from his mother a charmed standard he went forth and in the ensuing combat defeated his adversary. Some time after 995 he embraced Christianity. The circumstances of his change from paganism to Christianity are told in the Orkneyinga Saga. It appears that he yielded to the energetic ministrations of King Olaf Tryggvison of Norway who made an expedition to Orkney. Olaf received Earl Sigurd on board his ship and exhorted him to embrace the new faith saying -
"you may have certain hope of honor from me and will gain what is much more important, to reign in eternal joy in the Kingdom of Heaven. The other alternative is that you shall be slain on the spot and after your death I will send fire and sword throughout the Orkneys. You and they who put their trust in idols shall speedily die, and shall thereafter be tormented in hell fire with wicked devils, without end."*
* The Orkneyinga Saga.
Sigurd held out against these urgings and finally King Olaf seized the earl's young son Hundi and making ready to slay him said:
"Now I will show you, Earl Sigurd, that I shall spare no man who will not serve Almighty God or listen to my preaching of the blessed message. Therefore I shall kill your son before your eyes this instant, with the sword now in my hand, unless you and your men will serve my God. For I shall not leave these islands until I have completely fulfilled his blessed commission, and you have been baptized along with this son of yours whom I now hold."*
* The Orkneyinga Saga.
Naturally Earl Sigurd deemed it wise to yield to this vigorous missionary effort. He conceded the superiority of King Olaf and his God and was baptized with all his people of the Orkneys. But even then King Olaf failed to keep entire faith with his convert, for he carried Hundi away to Norway as hostage, having first baptized him by the name Hlodver.* And Hundi never saw home and parents again, for he died in Norway. Notwithstanding this enforced conversion Sigurd continued to fight vigorously for the old paganism. Before 1014 he went to Ireland, leaving his elder sons to rule his dominions and entrusting his younger son, Thorfinn, to the care of the boy's grandfather, King Malcolm. Engaging in war with the Irish king Brian Boroimhe (Boru), he was killed in the great combat at Clontarf April 23, 1014. This battle, fought at Cluaintarbh, now Clontarf, near Dublin, was the most celebrated of all the conflicts in which the Norsemen were engaged on that side of the North Sea. "It was there," says an ancient commentator, "that the old and new faiths met in the lists face to face for their last struggle."
Norwegian legends tell that before he set out on this expedition to Ireland, Sigurd received from his mother a standard, made by her own hand, on which was woven the image of a raven, the bird sacred to Odin, the Scandinavian god of war. The raven was represented with outspread wings and in the act of soaring upwards. On accepting the banner the earl was assured by his mother that it had the remarkable property of bringing victory to whoever had it carried before him, but that the standard bearer himself was doomed to fall. In the battle of Clontarf, two of Sigurd's bearers were killed. After this none of the officers would take up the fatal colors; thereupon the earl wrapped them around his body and gallantly fought until he fell pierced with innumerable wounds.*
* Orcades, seu rerum Orcadiensium Historiae, by Thormod Torfeson.
Thormod Torfeson, whose Latinized name was Torfseus, the celebrated historiographer to Christian, King of Denmark, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, recorded much of the history and tradition of ancient Orkney. He tells the story of a very remarkable apparition in Cathanes preceding the battle of Clontarf. On Christmas, the day of the battle, a man saw several persons on horseback who were riding at full speed toward a small hill, and seemingly entered into it. He was led by curiosity to approach the spot, when, looking through an opening in the side of the hillock, he observed twelve gigantic figures, resembling women, employed in weaving a web. As they wove they sang a mournful song or dirge descriptive of the battle in Ireland, in which they foretold the death of King Brian and that of the Earl of Orkney. When they had finished their task, they tore the web into twelve pieces. Each took her own portion and, once more mounting their horses, six galloped to the south and six to the north.* This legend is the subject of Gray's ode The Fatal Sisters, which is a paraphrase or translation of a Norwegian poem found in the Thormodus and other Norwegian collections. In the ode the sisters are the valkyries, who, in Norse mythology, chose the slain and are the special ministers of Odin to conduct the fallen heroes to Valhalla.
* History of Caithness, by James T. Calder.
"Now the storm begins to lower
(Haste the loom of hell prepare),
Iron sleet of arrowy shower
Hurtles in the darken' d air.
Glitt'ring glances are the loom.
Where the dusky warp we strain,
Weaving many a soldier's doom,
Orkney's woe, and Randvar's bane.
Ere the ruddy sun be set
Pikes must shiver, javelins sing,
Blade with clattering buckler meet.
Hauberk crash, and helmet wring.
Weave the crimson web of war,
Let us go, and let us fly,
Where our friends the conflict share,
Where they triumph, where they die.
Low the dauntless earl is laid,
Gor'd with many a gaping wound;
Fate demands a nobler head,
Soon a king shall bite the ground.
Long his loss shall Erin weep.
Ne'er again his likeness see;
Long her strains in sorrow steep;
Strains of immortality!
Horrors cover all the heath,
Clouds of carnage blot the sun;
Sisters! weave the web of death,
Sisters! cease — the work is done.
Hail the task, and hail the hands!
Songs of joy and triumph sing!
Joy to the victorious bands;
Triumph to the younger king.
Mortal, thou that hear'st the tale.
Learn the tenour of our song.
Scotland, thro' each winding vale
Far and wide the notes prolong.
Sisters, hence with spurs of speed;
Each her thundering faulchion wield;
Each bestride her sable steed.
Hurry, hurry to the field!"
Sigurd married for his first wife, a woman whose name is unknown. He married, second, Olith, Alice or Thora, daughter of Malcolm II., King of Scotland.
Issue : -
1. Hundi, or Whelp, who died in captivity in Norway before 1014.
2. Sumerlid, or Somereld, or Sumarlis, who died about 1015.
3. Bnisi, of whom below.
4. Einar Wrongmouth, who died in 1026.
5. Thorfinn, eighth Earl of Orkney. He married Ingibiorg, daughter of Earl Finn Arnason.
6. Ellen. She married Duncan, son of Malcolm II., King of Scotland.
X
Brusi, or Brusee, son of Sigurd by his wife Alice, although he was a man of peace for those days of warfare was the center of storms during his life and bequeathed an inheritance of bloodshed to his sons. When his father died four sons, Sumerlid, Brusi, Einar, and Thorfinn were left. As soon as the youngest attained to maturity he demanded from his brothers his share of the earldoms of his father and was supported by his grandfather, King Malcolm.
"Earl Thorfinn was from his youth up speedily wrought with all pith: he was mickle and stark; a man ill-favored: and so soon as he waxed in years it was easily seen of him that he was a grasping man, hard and grim and exceeding wise."*
* Heimskringla of Snorri Sturlason, Vol. 11, 170.
Thorfinn began his career when he was only fourteen years of age, going forth on sea excursions for plundering. His skald, Arnor, thus sang of him:
"By the prince in storm of helmets Was the sword's edge deeply crimsoned.
Scarcely fifteen the great hearted Sought renown on fields of battle,
Ready to defend his own land, Or to ravage in another's.
Under heaven a braver leader Ne'er was found than Einar's brother."
In the struggle that Thorfinn made for Orkney Brusi was always the peacemaker. He conceded Thorfinn's claim and contented himself with a third part of Orkney, where he ruled well beloved. At a great feast that was given by Thorkel Fosterfather at Sandwick to celebrate the peace between Einar and Thorfinn, Thorkel, acting under the advice of King Olaf of Norway, slew Einar as he sat at the hearth stone. After that, by the support of King Olaf, Earl Brusi held two-thirds of Orkney for a time until finally, about 1030, Thorfinn again wrested from him all but his original one-third " whenas Knut the Rich had laid Norway under him, and King Olaf was gone out of the land."
"Brusi was meek and peaceful, wise, deft of speech and well beloved. Einar was stubborn, sullen and gruff, grasping and griping and a great warrior. Sumerlid was like to Brusi in his ways."*
* Orkneyinga Saga.
Brusi was converted to Christianity in the eleventh century. He became privy councillor to King Olaus the Holy and was made Earl of Cathanes and Sutherland.
He died in 1031. He married Ostrida, daughter of Regenwald Wolfson, Earl of Gothland.
Issue : -
1. Rognvald, of whom below.
2. Ingreda. She married Turbrand, son of Galbrand, a noble of Norway, who was murdered by Alfred, son of Uchtred, Earl of Northumberland.
3. Margarita, who married Thurbrand the Bald, a Danish nobleman.
4. Olaf, a monk of Clareveux.
XI
Rognvald, son of the preceding, was early in life held in hostage at the court of King Olaf the Holy, of Norway. He became a general in the army of Olaf and when the king was compelled to flee from Norway Rognvald shared his fortunes. On the battlefield of Stickelstead, where Olaf was slain, he distinguished himself and saved the life of Harald, the brother of the king. Subsequently he was made governor of the Castle of Oldegorburg in Russia by Duke Waldamar.
After the death of his father Rognvald waged ineffectual warfare against his uncle Earl Thorfinn for the recovery of Orkney. In the end in 1046 Thorfinn subdued all Orkney and made the islands his principal home. Rognvald escaped to Norway but soon returned and, discovering the home of his uncle, set fire to the house to destroy him. Thorfinn, taking his wife Ingibiorg in his arms, broke through the vaulted roof of the house and, escaping, fled to Cathanes. Rognvald, supposing that Thorfinn had perished in the flames, took possession of Orkney and proclaimed himself ruler of all Thorfinn's dominion in Cathanes and Hebrides. For a time Thorfinn, undiscovered, lived quietly among friends in Cathanes, but about Christmas 1046 he went secretly to the island of Papa Stronsay, where his nephew was and set fire to the house in which Rognvald dwelt. Although Rognvald then escaped he was soon after taken prisoner and put to death by Thorkell Fostri, the follower of Thorfinn, who years before had also killed Earl Einar, his father. It was said of Rognvald that -
"he was the goodliest to look upon, his hair thick and yellow as silk; he was of early days big and strong, and of all men was he the likeliest, both by reason of his wits and his courteous manners."
He married, first, Arlogia, daughter of Duke Waldamar; second, Felicia, daughter of Robert, Duke of Normandy, who was father of William the Conqueror.
Issue : -
1. Waldamar of Russia.
2. Brusi, or Robert de Brusee, of whom below.
3. Hamilliana. She married Ottala the Brisk, Prince of Russia, nephew of Waldamar.
4. Arlogia, who married Thurstan du Beck.
III. THE BRUCES IN SCOTLAND
XII
BRUSI, or Robert de Brusee, son of Rognvald, found Orkney little to his liking. Norway, the original home of his ancestors, attracted him more and shortly he attached himself to the fortunes of the house of his maternal grandfather, going over to Normandy where he established the Bruce stock. There he became eminent and powerful in the court, being councillor to Robert I., Duke of Normandy, the father of William the Conqueror. He built the castle of la Brusee or Bruis, now Brix, in Normandy, which became "the cradle of the royal house of Scotland." Brusee castle or the Chateau d'Adam near Valognes in the diocese of Constance was situated on the declivity of a hill, on the top of which was the village of Bruis, while at the foot flowed the river Douve. Located nearly five hundred feet above the river the castle commanded a beautiful panoramic view of the country for miles away. Long ago the buildings were demolished by the inhabitants of Bruis to build their houses, so that only the foundations with a few remnants of the walls have been left to the curiosity of later generations. The chateau had three ramparts, the foundations of which appear to have been three hundred, six hundred, and eight hundred yards from the main structure. The ditches were about forty-five feet wide and about fifteen feet deep, which showed that the Brusee castle must have been a fortress of the first order. On the whole it was a defense which only a large army could successfully invest, but it appears to have been many times besieged.
He married Emma, daughter of Alain, Earl of Brittany.
Issue : -
1. Alan or Alain de la Brusee. He married Agnes Montfort, daughter of Simon Montfort, Earl of Evreux. He was Lord of Brusee castle and became head of the great Normandy family bearing his name.
2. Robert de Brusee, of whom below.
XIII
Robert de Brusee, second of the name, son of the preceding, followed the standard of William, Duke of Normandy, when that prince went to conquer England in 1066. With him, as appears from the roll of the knights who came over with William, were many others of the same name.* He had a contingent of two hundred men, the only contingent that is specifically set down in the ancient document. He seems to have been a man of distinguished character and stood high in the regard of his royal master. He shared generously in the favor and munificence of the Conqueror, from whom he received extensive estates in remuneration of his services.
* Role de ceux veignont in Angleterre ovesque Roy Wm. le Conquereur.
Some authorities say that he possessed no fewer than forty-three manors in the east and west ridings of Yorkshire and fifty-one in the north riding. *
* Caledonia by George Chalmers, Vol. I, p. 569; Baronage of England by Sir William Duedale, Vol. I, p. 447.
He died about 1094. He married Agnes, daughter of Walderne, Earl of St. Clair. Walderne of Santo Claro came from Normandy with William the Conqueror. He was of the household of Richard, Duke of Normandy. His son, William de Santo Claro or St. Clair, was one of the many Anglo-Norman barons who settled in Scotland in the reign of King David I, and he received from the King of Scots a grant of the barony of Roslin in Mid-lothian. From his fair and gracious deportment this son was called "the fair St. Clair."
Issue :
1. William de Brusee, who came into England with his father and was Lord of Brember in Sussex.
2. Adelme de Brusee, of whom below.
3. Hortoliana.
4. Philena, who married Wolstan, Lord of Paston.
5. Amicia, who married St. Aylmer de Tours.
XIV
Adelme or Adam de Brusee, son of the preceding, came into England in 1050, in attendance upon Emma of Normandy, who was a daughter of Richard I. of Normandy by his wife Gonnor, and became the Queen of Ethelred, King of England. After the death of Queen Emma he went to Scotland, to which country he was naturally attracted by the family connection that existed through his ancestors of six and seven generations before, the earls of Orkney, Shetland, Cathanes, and Sutherland. When William the Conqueror came to England de Brusee joined the army of the invader, and after the conquest he received the barony of Skelton and the lordship of Cleveland as a reward for his services.
Of all the Yorkshire manors the chief was that of Skelton in Cleveland, near Whitby. This became the seat of the elder or English branch of the Bruce family.
Adam de Brusee died before the fourteenth year of the reign of William I., 1080.
He married Emma, daughter of Sir William Ramsay.
Issue :-
1. Robert de Brusee, of whom below.
2. William de Brusee, who was the first prior of Guisburn. He died in 1155.
3. Duncan. A lord in Scotland.
4. Rosselina, who married Walter Moreville, constable of Scotland.
XV
Robert de Brusee, third of the name, son of the preceding, was born about 1078 and was the head of the barony of Bruce and the first Baron of Skelton and Annandale. He assisted Edgar, son of Malcolm Canmore, against 'Duncan, his base brother, who had usurped the crown. At the instance of Pope Honorius II. he gave the church of Middleburgh and some lands to the monks of Whitby to establish a cell of the Abbey of Guisburn in Cleveland. His brother, William de Brusee, was the first prior of the abbey. He also granted the manors of Appleton and Hornby, with other lands, to the monks of St. Mary of York and he generously endowed the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. He held by grant the lands of Strathannan or Annandale and by his first wife acquired the lands of Carleton and Camelford, and Hart and Hartnesse in the bishopric of Durham, "the maritime key of the palitinate."
The early years of Robert de Brusee were passed at the court of King Henry I. of England. At the same time Earl David of Scotland resided there and a close friendship sprang up between the two young nobles. When David came to the throne he granted, by charter to his friend, the land of Annandale, which embraced the largest part of the county of Dumfries. He had also been associated with David in military adventures, serving with him during the conquest and part of the period of his government of Cumbria, the district comprising the Lothians and Galloway that had been bestowed upon David after the death of his brother Prince Edgar.
The time came, however, when these two friends were parted. King David I., supporting the cause of Maud the Empress, his niece, declared war against King Stephen of England, and advanced with a great army to Northallerton in Yorkshire to meet the forces of the English monarch. Thurstan, the aged and infirm Archbishop of York, although he could not personally take the field against the invader, summoned the nobles of his diocese to repair to the support of the standard with all their powers.
"Amongst the rest Robert de Brusee, notwithstanding he had a very great kindness for the King of the Scots, yet with his son, Adam, a young nobleman of great worth, brought a great company with him which not only in force of arms, but in splendour and vigour of youth, much adorned the whole army."*
* Aethelredus de bello standardi.
"This Robert, an old man of great wealth, slow of speech, yet who expressed himself with great readiness of words, from his youth having been a great follower of the King of Scots and very familiar with him, obtained leave from his companions in arms to pass over to David, either to persuade him to desist from his enterprise, or, as he was bound to him in fidelity and fealty, by holding the lands of Annandale and others of that King, to disoblige himself by renouncing his fealty. In his speech to David he represented to the King that the English and Normans, against whom he was arrayed, had repeatedly restored the power and authority of the Scottish monarchs when driven out by disloyal subjects, and that they were more faithful to the royal family than were the Scots themselves. He begged his friend and patron to withdraw from the contest and concluded in the following affectionate strain : 'It wrings my heart to see my dearest master, my patron, my benefactor, my friend, my companion in arms, in whose service I have grown old, thus exposed to the dangers of battle or to the dishonor of flight.'"*
* Histories of Noble British Families, by Henry Drummond.
"As an old acquaintance and liegeman he was sent to the Scottish King, on his invasion of England in 1138, to offer terms of peace and it is curious to note that he was associated in this embassy with Bernard de Baliol. On the king's refusal these two barons, whose descendants were destined to be such deadly rivals, fought side by side in the battle of the Standard and were also soon after ranged under the same banners as partisans of the Scotch intruder Cumin." *
* The Battle Abbey Roll, by the Duchess of cleveland, Vol. I, p. 102.
In the battle of the Standard that followed, August 22, 1138, Robert Bruce was a conspicuous figure, being in command of a large part of the army of the English king. The battle was so called from the standard that was carried on the field of combat, and about which the army was rallied. This standard was in the form of the mast of a ship, having on its top a cross whereon was the consecrated host in a silver pix, and the banners of St. Peter, St. John of Beverly, and St. Wilfred of Rippon waving below. It was erected on the b^am of a great chariot and around it and upon it were the more aged of the English barons. Before the battle, Ralph, Bishop of Orkney, deputed by Archbishop Thurstan, assured the knights and the soldiers that by fighting bravely they would secure remission of their sins, and upon receiving from them expressions of contrition, he pronounced their absolution and added his benediction. At the same time the priests in their white vestments, carrying crosses and relics, went among the ranks, encouraging the soldiers by their exhortations and prayers.*
* Histories of Noble British Families, by Henry Drummond.
" Where the Kings Standard being erected they all Rendevoused upon notice and exhortation from the venerable Thurstan, Archbishop of York; who had likewise caused all the Clergy of his Diocese to repair personally thither, with their Crosses, Banners and Relicks of Saints carried before them, to defend the Church of Christ against the rage of that barbarous people. And beholding the English army formally drawn up for Battle; as also the Priests in their sacred Vestments, with their Crosses and Relicks, walking about and encouraging the soldiers; being then a very aged person, exceeding wealthy, likewise of grave deportment and singular elocution; he made a speech to them with great majesty and weight." *
* The Baronage of England, by Sir William Dugdale.
Robert de Brusee died in 1141 and was buried in Guisburn Priory.
He married, first, Agnes Pagnel, daughter of Fulk Pagnel; second, Agnes of Annandale.
Issue : -
1. Adam de Brusee, second lord of Skelton. He died in 1162. He married Ivetha or Juletta de Archis, daughter of William de Archis and widow of Roger de Hamville; she died 1167. Skelton and other English lands remained in the possession of the descendants of Adam de Brusee until 1271, when Peter Bruce, head of the house, died without male heirs.
2. Robert de Brusee, of whom below.
3. Agatha de Brusee. She married Ralph, son of Ribald, Lord of Middleham in Yorkshire.
4. Pagan de Brusee.
XVI
Robert de Brusee, fourth of the name, known as Robert Le Meschin, or the cadet, second son of the preceding, by his second wife, Agnes of Annandale, was the second baron of Annandale. Residing in Scotland, he adhered to the cause of King David and became the head of the Scottish branch of the Bruce family. During the conflict between the Scots and the English, supposedly at the battle of the Standard, he was taken prisoner by his father and sent to England, but was pardoned by the king and returned to Annandale in the custody of his mother. He also had lands in England, for his father gave him the lordship of Hart, in the bishopric of Durham. It is probable that he was the De Brusee who gave to the monks of St. Cuthbert, the Chapel of Eden, with this proviso, -
" excepting that when I or my wife or my household abide at Eden, my own chaplain shall sing mass in my own chapel in my castle and shall receive all the offerings made by myself, my family and my guests hearing the mass."
He died between 1189 and 1191.
He married, first, Judith, daughter and co-heir of William de Lancaster, Lord of Kendall, and succeeded to the possession of the Lordship of Kendall. He married, second, Euphemia, whose family name is not known.
Issue by wife Euphemia:
1. Robert de Brusee. He married, in 1183, Isabella, daughter of William the Lion, King of Scotland. He died before his father and without issue. His widow married Robert de Ros.
2. William de Brusee, of whom below.
XVII
William de Brusee, son of the preceding, was the third baron of Annandale. Some authorities say that he died in the tenth year of the reign of King Richard I., 1199, while others fix the date of his death in the sixteenth year of the reign of King John, 1215. The name of his wife is not of record. He succeeded his elder brother Robert in the fief of Annandale, holding that along with the English manors of Helt and Haltwhistle.
Issue : -
1. Robert de Brusee, of whom below.
2. William de Brusee.
3. John de Brusee.
XVIII
Robert de Brusee, or Robert Bruce, sixth of the name, son of the preceding, was the fourth baron of Annandale and one of the great personages of his time and country. His large estates and his royal connections assured him rank among the most powerful barons of southern Scotland. He was liberal to religious institutions and confirmed to the monks of Guisburn the patronage of the churches of Annandale, first granted to them by his grandfather.
When King Alexander II. went to York in 1221 he was one of the retinue of Scottish magnates or barons who accompanied the king and was a witness of the endowment that Alexander bestowed upon his wife Joanna, sister of King Henry III., of England.
He died in 1245 and his wife died in 1252. Both are buried in the abbey of Saltre, near Stilton in Huntingdonshire. Stukely, the antiquarian, visiting the place of their burial, quaintly wrote:
"when I saw the ruins of the church in which lay the bones of Robert Bruce and his wife Isabel, the progenitors of kings, I uttered many a groan."
He married Isabel, daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, who was the son of Prince Henry of Scotland and grandson of David I., King of Scots. The Earl of Huntingdon was brother of Malcolm IV., King of Scots, and William the Lion, King of Scots. Thus the legitimate royal blood of Scotland was introduced into the Bruce family and gave the descendants of this Robert Bruce their claim to the throne. By this royal match the Lords of Annandale attained to high rank among the richest and most powerful noble families of Scotland and England. Through his wife (as co-heiress with her two sisters, of her father's property) Bruce, exclusive of his personal estates in both kingdoms, came into possession of the manor of Whittle and Hatfield in Essex, together with half the hundred of Hatfield. She likewise brought him the castle of Kildrummie, and the lordship of Garioch in Aberdeenshire and the manors of Connington in Huntingdonshire and Exton in Rutlandshire.
Issue : -
1. Robert Bruce, of whom below.
2. Richard Bruce, who died in 1287.
XIX
Robert Bruce, seventh of the name, son of the preceding, was born in 1210. He was called the Competitor from his claim to the crown of Scotland against John Baliol. On the death of his father he became Lord Annandale and when his mother died in 1251 he came into possession of her share of the earldom of Huntingdon. Thus he was a powerful subject of both kingdoms, England and Scotland. In 1250 he was a justice of the Court of Common Pleas of Henry III.
On the death of Alexander II. of Scotland, in 1255, he was one of the regents named to act during the minority of the young king, Alexander III. He was made sheriff of Cumberland and governor of Carlisle by Henry III.; between 1257 and 1271 he frequently served on the English bench and in 1268 he was appointed capitalis justiciarius, being the first chief justice that England had. He sat in Parliament, and in the Barons' War was one of the supporters of the king, marching with his sovereign from Oxford to Northallerton. In the battle of Lewes, May 14, 1264, he was taken prisoner but was released after the king was victorious at Eversham in 1265.
During the lifetime of this Robert Bruce began the great struggle for the crown of Scotland that, after more than a quarter of a century of warfare, resulted in the seating of his famous grandson upon the throne. This Bruce was among those who at the convention of Scone, in February, 1283-4, recognized the right of succession of Margaret, the Maid of Norway; but, on the death of King Alexander III. in 1286, he joined the league of powerful nobles who met at Turnberry Castle and pledged themselves to vindicate the claims of whoever should gain the kingdom by right of blood, according to the ancient customs of Scotland. In the civil war that ensued Lord Annandale asserted his title to the crown against his cousin John Baliol.
As neither Bruce nor Baliol was able unaided to attain his ambitions the dispute was referred to King Edward I. of England as arbitrator. Edward, it is said, offered to decide in favor of Bruce if the latter would do homage to him. Bruce refused these conditions, saying that he preferred the honor of his country to his own personal advantage and that as his country always had been free he would maintain it so. Thereupon Edward offered the throne on the same conditions to Baliol, who accepted and was crowned in 1292. Being then advanced in years Bruce felt that he could no longer contest for his rights. He even refused to do homage to the new king, exclaiming, "I am Baliol's sovereign, not Baliol mine, and rather than consent to such homage, I resign my lands in Annandale to my son, the Earl of Carrick." He then retired to private life in the castle of Lochmaben.
He died in Loehamben on Good Friday, in 1295. In Dugdale's Monasticon there is a picture of the tomb of this Robert Bruce at Gisburn. It has no recumbent figure above as was customary on tombs of that period, but five upright figures stand in niches on each side and three at the west end, the central figure being a king with his crown and sceptre, and the royal arms of Scotland on his shield and over his head the lion rampant, and the saltire and chief on different shields. Robert Bruce married, first, in 1240, Isabel de Clare, second daughter of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hereford. She was born in 1226 and was only thirteen years of age when married. She died in 1271. He married, second, Christiana, daughter of Sir William de Ireby.
Issue of Robert and Isabel (de Clare) Bruce:
1. Robert Bruce, of whom below.
2. William Bruce. He married Elizabeth de Sully, daughter of Raymond de Sully.
3. Bernard Bruce, who held the barony of Connington in Huntingdonshire. He married, first, Alicia de Clare; second, Constance de Morleyn.
4. Isabella Bruce, who married John Fitz Marmaduke and died in 1300.
5. Alosia Bruce, who married Sir Nigel Graham, Lord of Montrose.
6. Christiana Bruce. She married Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, one of the competitors for the crown of Scotland.
XX
Robert Bruce, eighth of the name, son of the preceding, was the first earl of Carrick. He was born in 1253. When a mere youth, in 1269, he went to the Holy Land, a companion of Prince Edward, afterwards King Edward I. of England.
In 1284, as Earl of Carrick, he acknowledged with other Scottish nobles the right of Margaret of Norway to the crown of Scotland. In 1292, upon the death of his wife, he resigned the earldom of Carrick to his son Robert Bruce. About the same time he was party to the agreement that his father entered into with Florence, Count of Holland, another competitor, against the claims of Baliol to the crown of Scotland. After the death of his father in 1295, he succeeded to the lordship of Annandale and was appointed governor of Carlisle, both he and his son, the Earl of Carriek, swearing fealty to Edward I. as king of England and of Scotland. He sat in Parliament in 1295-97. King Edward I. restored to him the lands in Scotland that his father had given up and he accompanied the king on his expedition into Scotland against Baliol when the latter asserted his independence of England. After Baliol was overthrown at Dunbar in 1296, Bruce claimed the throne of Scotland by virtue of a promise that he asserted had been made to him by Edward. The answer of the English king, as reported by one of the chroniclers of the period, was:
" Have I nought ellys to do nowe But wyn a Kynrik to gyve yhowe."
Disappointed in his ambitions he retired to his estates in England and took no more interest in the affairs of the kingdom. He died in the Holy Land in 1304 and was buried in the Abbey of Holmcultram, Cumberland.
He married in 1271, Marjory, widow of Adam de Kilconcath who fell in the Holy Land in 1270; she was the only daughter of Neil, Earl of Carrick. She died in 1292. The circumstances attending this alliance were singular arid romantic. According to the ancient historian Fordun, as quoted by George Grant*:
" It appears that a short time after his return from the Holy Wars, Robert Bruce was riding through the beautiful domains of Turnberry Castle, the property of the widowed Countess of Carrick, who, in consequence of the death of her husband, had become a ward of the crown. The noble baron, however, cannot be accused of visiting Turnberry with any design of throwing himself in the way of the young and handsome heiress of Carrick, and indeed any such idea in those days of jealous wardship would have been dangerous in the extreme. It happened, however, that the lady herself, whose ardent and impetuous temper was not much in love with the seclusion of a feudal castle, had come out to pursue her favorite diversion of the chase, accompanied by her women, huntsmen and falcons; and this gay cavalcade came suddenly upon Bruce as he slowly pursued his way through the forest, alone and unarmed.
* Life of Robert Bruce, by George Grant.
"The knight would have spurred his horse forward and avoided the conflict, but he found himself suddenly surrounded by the attendants, and the countess herself riding up, and, with gentle violence taking hold of his horse's reins, reproached him in so sweet a tone for his want of gallantry in flying from a lady's castle, that Bruce, enamoured of her beauty, forgot the risk which he ran and suffered himself to be led away in a kind of triumph to Turnberry. He here remained fifteen days and the adventure concluded as might have been anticipated by his privately marrying the young countess, without the knowledge of the relatives of either party and before obtaining the king's consent. Alexander the Third was indignant at this bold interference with the rights of the crown and seized her castle of Turnberry; but being a prince of great benevolence, upon the intercession of the noble baron he extended his forgiveness to Bruce, upon his paying a heavy feudal fine."
The earldom of Carrick that the Countess Marjory held in her own right was one of the most ancient in the kingdom of Scotland. It added much to the already high distinction of the Bruce family, and the title Earl of Carrick was one of their most cherished possessions for generations.
Issue of Robert Bruce, by his wife Marjory, Countess of Carrick:
1. Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, of whom below.
2. Edward Bruce, the younger brother of King Robert Bruce, was most famous for his incursion into Ireland where he was made king. When King Robert Bruce invaded the district of Galloway in 1308, Edward Bruce acted as commander of the forces part of the time, and led the retreat from the army of the Earl of Richmond. On the banks of the river Dee he made a stand and defeated the chiefs of Galloway, making a prisoner of Donall, Prince of the Isles. Finally, he brought the district of Galloway under the control of king Robert and gained possession of the town of Dundee, thus driving the English out of almost their last stronghold in Scotland. In 1313 he besieged Stirling Castle, and in 1314 he was one of the chief commanders on the glorious field of Bannockburn, leading the right column of the Scottish army.
In 1315 in a convention of the prelates, nobles, and commons of Scotland, Edward Bruce was, by ordinance, recognized as king in the event of the death of his brother Robert without male heirs. This action was a just tribute to his talent, his commanding force of character, and, as well, to his high ambition. He was a valiant, experienced, and able soldier and is said to have aspired to share the kingship with his brother. But his thoughts were turned away from the throne of Scotland by an invitation from some of the native chiefs of Ireland to go over to that island to drive out the English. The Bruce descent from the old line of Irish kings through the family of Scottish kings into which their ancestors had married, gave them something of a claim to the Irish throne and this was recognized by the chiefs who called upon him.
The Scottish army landed in Ulster in May, 1315, led by Edward Bruce, the Earl of Moray, and others. The town of Carrickfergus was besieged and taken and there Bruce was crowned King of Ireland. In the campaign that ensued he encountered and defeated on many occasions the forces of the government in Ireland. John Barbour, in his rhymed history of the Bruces, says that he defeated the English in nineteen engagements. In the autumn of 1318, he projected another descent upon Leinster, but in battle near Dundalk, in October of that year, he was slain and his forces put to flight.
His body was quartered and his head was sent to King Edward in England. He was not married.
3. Thomas Bruce, who was taken prisoner by the English at Galloway in 1307 and put to death at Carlisle by order of King Edward I.
4. Alexander Bruce, who was taken prisoner with his brother, Thomas Bruce, and suffered a like fate.
5. Nigel, or Niel Bruce, who was taken prisoner by the English in 1306 and executed at Berwick.
6. Isabel Bruce. She married, first, Thomas Randolph of Strathdon, Chamberlain of Scotland; second, the Earl of Athol ; third, Alexander Bruce.
7. Mary Bruce. She married, first. Sir Niel Campbell of Lochow; second, Alexander Frazer of Cowie, Chamberlain of Scotland.
8. Christiana Bruce. She married, first, Gratney, Earl of Mar; second. Sir Christopher Seton, who was put to death at Dumfries, in 1306, by order of King Edward I.; third, Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell, who was governor of Scotland during the minority of King David.
9. Matilda Bruce. She married Hugh, Earl of Ross.
10. Elizabeth Bruce. She married Sir William Dishington of Ardross in Fife.
11. Margaret Bruce. She married Sir William Carlyle of Torthorwald and Crunnington.
12. Margery Bruce. She married Sir David de Breschin.
IV. KING ROBERT BRUCE OF SCOTLAND
XXI
ROBERT BRUCE, ninth of the name, son of Robert Bruce and his wife, Marjory of Carrick, was born July 11, 1274. His early years were passed in the court of Edward I., King of England, where he acquired the graces of society and the art of arms that afterward so well adorned him. Upon the death of his mother, in 1292, when he was just entering his eighteenth year, his father resigned to him the title of Earl of Carrick. It is said that he then did homage to John Baliol, acknowledging the claim of that noble to the throne of Scotland. It is not at all certain that such homage was rendered, for in the disputes that subsequently arose between Baliol and King Edward both the young Bruce and his father were always favoring the cause of England
Throughout Scotland's troublous and exciting years, at the close of the thirteenth century, Bruce, most historians concede, occupied an equivocal position. Correspondence and documentary evidence show that he was first on one side and then on the other. His attitude during all the early years of his country's struggle for freedom has been much discussed and even at this late date has not been made to appear wholly satisfactory to his admirers. The testimony of early Scottish and English chroniclers is variant and untrustworthy on this point, for it was the aim of those on each side of the controversy, though with different motives, to make out that he attached himself early to the national cause. That he did so, is not clear, however. In 1296, when he was twenty-two years of age, his father was governor of Carlisle by appointment of King Edward, and the son swore fealty to that monarch. In the following year he raided the Douglas lands in the interest of Edward, and in this doing made himself, for the moment at least, the pronounced enemy of the man who was destined to become, a few years after, his most loyal and beloved supporter and friend.
When, however, it was disclosed that Edward intended to make Scotland wholly subservient to England, and the revolt against English domination became general, finally assuming national proportions, the Bruce gave his support again to the Scottish cause. After Baliol and the Scots were forced to capitulate at Irvine, in July, 1297, he turned again to the standard of England. Professing loyalty to King Edward, he was required to give hostage to the English for his future faithfulness. When Wallace once more raised the standard of revolt, the Bruce was again summoned and at this critical moment he whose name was to become the greatest on the pages of Scottish history, held back.
For a time he took no active part in the new rebellion, but when King Edward invaded Scotland in 1298, he determined to stand on the side of his countrymen. It is said that he summoned the Annandale men, vassals of his father, then in the service of King Edward, and addressed them thus:
"You have already heard, without doubt, of that solemn oath, which I lately took at Carlisle, and I cannot deny the fact; but the oath was a foolish one and exacted by fear: it was my body that took the oath and not my mind; but its having been taken at all is now to me the cause of much remorse and sorrow : yet ere long I hope to be absolved from it by our Holy Father. In the meanwhile, I am resolved to go and join my fellow countrymen and assist them in their efforts to restore to its liberty the land of my nativity, for none, as you known, is an enemy of his own flesh, and as for me I love my own people. Let me beseech you then to adopt the same resolution, and to accompany me, and you shall ever be esteemed my dear friends and approved counsellors."*
* Royal Descents, by J. Bernard Burke, p. 13.
But the men of Annandale declined to yield to these exhortations, and the Bruce had only a few vassals of Carrick to follow him to the camp of the insurgents, where, as the result of the stand he had taken, he and his family were forced to remain a long time in hiding. In the following year, however, the Bruce had reinstated himself in royal favor, for he was one of the three guardians of Scotland for John Baliol and also was associated with other nobles in an attack upon Lochmaben castle then held by an English garrison. From 1300 to 1305 he maintained an attitude of unquestioned loyalty to King Edward and received many favors from the hands of that monarch.
"The conduct of de Brus, at this juncture, as throughout the entire period prior to his assumption of the crown, not being understood, has excited the wonder and regret of posterity. Supple, dexterous and accommodating — now in arms for his country, and then leagued with her oppressors — now swearing fealty to the English king, and again accepting the guardianship of Scotland in the name of Baliol, it seems to require all the energy, perseverance and consummate prudence and valour of after years to redeem his character from the charges of apparent and culpable weakness. De Brus, the guardian of Scotland in the name of Baliol, says Lord Hailes, is one of those historical phenomena which are inexplicable."*
* The Scottish Nation, by William Anderson, Vol. I, p. 412.
But, as pointed out by other historians, this conduct, upon careful examination, does not seem so inexplicable. Important interests of Bruce and of his father were in England, and they had always been loyal to King Edward. In Scotland, he felt that he had been wrongly deprived of the crown and he had no particular reason for loyalty to the rival house of Baliol, that, for the moment, had been successful in pushing him aside. Wallace and Moray, who led the revolt against English misrule, had developed their movement to national proportions, but it was a movement quite as much for the advancement of the Baliols as for the freedom of Scotland. Wallace was a supporter of Baliol as were also the Comyns, rivals of the Bruce in their own right and also in that of Baliol. Although the insurrection was widespread among the masses there was lack of unity among the Scottish nobles. Some stood for their country at all hazards, while others were not ready to support a cause that had for one of its main purposes the reinstatement of Baliol. Bruce, holding firmly to his right to the throne, and determined to assert his claim to the uttermost at the opportune time, could in reason neither support his rivals' cause nor press his own affair when the power of Balliol or of Comyn was still in the ascendancy.
Matters were finally precipitated by the murder of John Comyn, the younger, of Badenoch, February 10, 1305-6.
With the renunciation of all claim to the throne by John Baliol, John Comyn, the Red, was next in line, according to the award of King Edward in 1291. The two rivals, Bruce and Comyn, met in the church of the Minorite friars at Dumfries.
There they quarrelled, and Bruce, drawing his dagger, stabbed Comyn to the heart. The story is told by Lord Hailes that as Bruce emerged from the building he was met by his companions Kirkpatrick and de Lindsay who, noticing that he was agitated, asked how it was with him. "Ill," said the Bruce, "for I doubt I have slain the Comyn." "Doubt!" exclaimed Kirkpatrick, "then I'll make sure." Thereupon he rushed into the church and plunging his dagger into the body of Comyn, completed the work that Bruce had begun.
In remembrance thereof the crest of the Kirkpatrick family is a hand holding a dagger, distilling drops of blood with the motto "I make sure."
With that the die was cast. The field was clear and Bruce had henceforth no competitor for the throne. The moment was favorable too. Once more the country was aflame with patriotism, for it had been made plain that King Edward was fully determined that Scotland should be simply a vassalage of England. The Scottish nobles were still divided in their allegiance, but the national idea enkindled by Wallace was stronger than ever with the people. It is doubtful if the murder of Comyn was premeditated. The deed was probably done in the heat of the moment, in passion engendered by discussion of differences between the two rivals. Nevertheless by this act, Bruce had put himself upon the defensive and he had no choice now but to stake all upon the hazard of warfare. Despite the sacrilege of violence before the altar the church was on his side, the people were ready to acclaim him, and he had friends and supporters among the nobles. Now that the time for indecision and dalliance had passed Bruce went forward bravely, energetically, and patriotically.
From that moment he never faltered. Nearly two months later, in March 1305-6, he was crowned king of Scotland. The initial ceremonies took place at Scone, March ?7. The Bishop of Glasgow furnished from his own wardrobe the coronation robes and presented to the new king a banner embroidered with arms, which he had long concealed in his treasury. On the head of the monarch the Bishop of St. Andrews placed a small circlet of gold, and a few prelates and barons paid homage to him as he sat on the state chair of the bishop.
A second coronation followed a few days later. This had in it an element of romance. Ever since Malcolm Canmore had ascended the throne in 1056, the Earls of Fife, descendants of the celebrated McDuff, had enjoyed the honorary distinction of crowning the Scots' kings, or, at least, of placing them on the throne on the coronation day. But Duncan, who was then Earl of Fife, was on the side of the English.
His sister Isabella, the wife of the Earl of Buchan, was true to Scotland and in sympathy with the Bruce, and she determined that her family should not fail in its traditional service. Withdrawing secretly from her castle, unbeknown to her husband, she repaired to Scone, avowing herself a partisan of the new king and patriotically devoted to the liberties of her oppressed country. At Scone she insisted upon exercising the privileges and discharging the duties of her family, and the ceremonial was repeated on Sunday, March 29. It is said that on this occasion the determined countess carried off the war horses of her liege lord and took them with other appurtenances of war to the assistance of the Bruce.
Many there were who said that the deed of the countess was inspired quite as much by love as by patriotism and tradition. The gentle rumor was that the countess cherished a tender attachment to King Robert, although each was in the bonds of matrimony. English writers of that period were quite ready to take that view of the matter. "She was mad for the beauty of the fool who was crowned," said Matthew of Westminster, who, though, was neither unbiased nor veracious. That interpretation has been put upon her action by some modern writers. John Davidson, the Scotch poet, dwelling upon this event, puts these words into the mouth of the fair countess, as the culmination of her decision;
"Now, world, wag, wag, your tongues!
I sacrifice my fame to make a king.
And he will raise this nation's head again
That lies so low; and they will honour him;
And afterwards, perhaps, they'll honour me.
Or if they slight me and my modest work,
I shall be dead; 1 have enough to bear
Of disrespect and slander here to-day,
Without forecasting railing epitaphs.
But some — nay, many of the worthiest.
And many simple judgments too, — will see
The sunlight on my deed. This, I make sure:
No Scots' allegiance can be held from Bruce
Because he was not crowned by a Macduff.
And if I love him, what is that to him ?
That's a good saying. So is this, I make:
If I do love him, what is that to me.''" *
* Bruce: A Chronicle Play, by John Davidson, Act II
For the ensuing eight years the history of Bruce and of Scotland was a history of warfare with all the accompaniments of danger, deprivation, and suffering. At the outset the castles and lands of Scotland's king were declared forfeit by King Edward and sentence of excommunication was passed upon him in St. Paul's Cathedral. With his supporters the Bruce was driven into the fastnesses of the Highlands where they led the lives of outlaws.
When he started he had only about four hundred followers and was quite unable to cope with his adversaries. He was first defeated by the Lord of Lorn, and at Craigrostan, on the western side of Ben Lomond, there is a cave which tradition says afforded shelter for him and his little band on this occasion. Here he spent a night surrounded by a flock of goats and was so much impressed with this companionship that he afterwards enacted a law that all goats should be exempt from grassmail or rent. Befriended by the Earl of Lenox, and Angus of Isla, Lord Cantire, both whom received him in their castles, he moved over to the small island of Rachrin, now Rathlin, on the northern coast of Ireland, where he and his adherents passed the first winter of their enterprise.
Queen Elizabeth, with Bruce's daughter Marjory by his first wife, and other ladies of his family, had been sent to Kildrummie, the royal castle in Aberdeenshire, for protection, under the escort of Nigel Bruce, the king's brother, and the Earl of Atholl. But Kildrummie fell into the hands of the English and the members of the royal party were captured.
Nigel Bruce was executed as a traitor and Queen Elizabeth, the Countess of Buchan, and the other ladies were held in confinement in various castles and convents until the end of the war. The Earl of Atholl was among those apprehended. He was carried to London, where, says the chronicler Langtoft:
" being hanged on a gibbet thirty feet high, he was cut down when only half dead, that he might feel greater torments and was then cruelly beheaded. The trunk of his body was burned to ashes before his own face."
The earl was a second cousin of the King of England and for that reason his treason was considered a greater offense. Matthew of Westminster says that Edward, although grievously sick, endured the pains of his disease with greater equanimity after hearing of the capture and execution of his disloyal kinsman. A dozen or more Scottish nobles were put to death by the remorseless Edward and there is a list of twenty-seven nobles and ladies who were imprisoned.
In the spring of 1307, Bruce came out from hiding on the isle of Arran whither he had gone from Rachrin, his first place of refuge, and with the help of the "good Lord James Douglas," ever faithful, and some three hundred hungry but valiant followers, captured from the English his ancestral home Turnberry Castle in Carrick. He was not able to hold the castle, however, but collected what spoils he could from the country and then withdrew to the highlands of Galloway.
During the months that immediately followed, the situation was desperate and indeed, apparently well-nigh hopeless. Douglas achieved several slight successes but nothing of real importance. Three brothers and several friends of the Bruce had perished on the gibbet. His queen and his daughter were prisoners in the hands of the English. His lands were confiscated and his supporters were deserting him. Beset by enemies who environed him with superior forces he wandered, a homeless outlaw, with few friends and unable even to rouse the vassals of his family to unite for his protection.
To this period the romantic and marvellous stories of his exploits that have passed into history principally pertain. Most of them had origin in the metrical work of Barbour arid while some are apocryphal, others were undoubtedly true or at least had some foundation in fact.
Hard pressed by his foes, the throneless king had numerous adventures and many narrow escapes from death or capture. He was tracked by bloodhounds; he was followed by hired assassins ; he was lured into traps that were set for him and only his bravery and skill brought him safely through. He always carried a two-handed sword or a ponderous battle-axe and the chronicles of the period abound in stories of his power in wielding that weapon.
Barbour tells that on one occasion he was surprised by a body of his enemies to the number of more than two hundred when he had only sixty soldiers with him. Placing his men in a secure place, he stood forth alone at a narrow pass to hold the attacking force at bay until help that he had sent for should arrive. On the first assault he slew five of the enemy, whose dead bodies became a rampart of defence against the rest.
Dismayed by the fate of their companions, the assailants drew back a little, but regaining courage they returned to the onslaught, urging each other on. Brandishing his great sword, Bruce stood bravely to the work. As only a single man at a time could approach, so narrow was the pass, he slew them one by one as they came within reach of his sword. When the rescuing party that he had sent for arrived and the English troop in the face of superior forces fled, it was found that fourteen had fallen victims of the prowess of the Bruce.
Such stories as this were heralded far and wide throughout Scotland, and gradually a popular enthusiasm developed for the king, bringing to him more support from the nobles as well as from the common people, and more subsistence and munitions of war. His affairs began to take on a more promising outlook and his hopes heightened. Venturing into the low countries, he reduced the districts of Kyle, Carrick, and Cunningham, won the small victory at Glentool, and then defeated the Earl of Pembroke at Loudon Hill. That was the final turning point of his career and when three days after he encountered Ralph Monthermer, Earl of Gloucester, and overthrew him with great slaughter, the patriotic enthusiasm of the Scots broke all bounds and from every quarter they flocked to the national standard.
From this time on, the Bruce's career was one of almost uninterrupted success. King Edward died in July, 1307, and although his son Edward II. continued the fighting it was to little avail. Bruce swept through Scotland, captured English strongholds, and invaded England, laying waste to the northern districts and exacting heavy tribute. In February, 1309, the clergy of Scotland in a provincial council at Dundee, issued a declaration that the Scottish nation had chosen Robert Bruce for their king and that they willingly did homage to him as sovereign.
By the end of the year 1312, nearly all the fortresses in the kingdom had been retaken from the English. The only important one held by the enemy was the castle of Stirling, defended by Sir Philip Mowbray. Edward Bruce laid siege to this fortress in the autumn of 1313, and King Edward, with an army that has been estimated to number one hundred thousand men, went to the rescue. To oppose this force, King Robert Bruce had only about thirty thousand men, but in the ensuing combat — the battle of Bannockburn, June 24, 1314, — he defeated the English army which fled from the field in a disorderly rout, while King Edward barely escaped capture.
Even then the English king refused to consider his cause lost. For fourteen years longer he continued hostilities. But he was steadily beaten all along the line in military operations ; when he attempted to invade Scotland, his efforts resulted in failure; he could not prevent the armies of the Bruce from invading northern England, laying waste to the country along the border and carrying away great stores of plunder; his attempt to win through the intervention of Pope John was also a failure, for the Bruce would listen to no papal envoys who did not come with full recognition of him as King of Scotland. Edward II. abdicated in 1327, and was succeeded by his son King Edward III., a boy of fifteen.
Negotiations had been under consideration for several years, during a truce between the two sovereigns, and now peace was concluded formally and ratified at Northampton, March 4, 1328.
It was an instance of the irony of fate that the Bruce did not live to enjoy the fruits of the victory that he had fought to secure for himself and his beloved Scotland. He had achieved liberty, independence, and peace for his country and, looking into the future, he now endeavored to make assurance doubly sure by betrothing his son and heir to the throne to Joanna, a sister of the King of England. Little more remained for him to do. The hardships and sufferings that he had endured had reduced his once strong constitution and he became afflicted with disease. He spent the last two years of his life in comparative seclusion in a castle that he had built at Cardross on the northern shore of the Firth of the Clyde. There he devoted his time principally to the building of ships and to aquatic and fishing excursions, hawking and other sports. He was not able to attend the wedding of Prince David to the Princess Joanna at Berwick, in July, 1328, being represented there by the Earl Douglas and the Earl Moray; the bridegroom on that occasion was only four years old and the bride but six. King Robert lingered for a year longer, dying June 7, 1329, in the fifty-fifth year of his age and the twenty-third year of his reign. He was buried in the church at Dunfermline beside his wife who had died in 1327.
When he was on his deathbed, he gave directions that his heart should be removed from his body after death and taken to the Holy Land and then be brought back and buried in the new church of Melrose Abbey. Froissart tells the story of this deathbed scene : *
"Then calling to his side the gentle knight Sir James of Douglas he thus addressed him before all the lords: 'Sir James, my dear friend, you know well that I have had much ado in my days to uphold and sustain the right of this realm, and when I had most difficulty, I made a solemn vow, which as yet, I have not accomplished, for which I am right sorry. That vow was, that if it was granted me to achieve and make an end of all my wars and so bring this realm to peace, I would go forth and war with the enemies of Christ, the adversaries of our holy Christian faith. To this purpose, my heart has ever intended. But our Lord would not consent thereto; for I have had so much to do in my life, and now in my last enterprise, I have been smitten with such sickness that I cannot escape. Seeing, therefore, that my body cannot go to achieve what my heart desires, I will send my heart instead of my body, to accomplish my vow. And because I know not in all my realm a knight more valiant than you, or better able to accomplish my vow in my stead, therefore I require you my own dear special friend, for your love to me and to acquit my soul against my Lord God, that you undertake this journey.
* Chronicles of England, France, Spain, and adjoining Countries, by Jean Froissart.
I confide so thoroughly in your nobleness and truth, that I doubt not what you take in hand you will achieve; and if my desires be carried out as I shall explain to you, I shall depart in peace and quiet. I wish as soon as I be dead that my heart be taken out of my body and embalmed, and that, taking as much of my treasure as you think necessary for yourself and the company suitable to your rank which shall go with you on the enterprise, you convey my heart to the holy sepulchre where our Lord lay and present it there, seeing my body cannot go thither. And wherever you come, let it be known that you carry with you the heart of King Robert of Scotland, at his own instance and desire, to be presented at the holy sepulchre.' "
Douglas accepted this trust on his honor as a true knight and the King added: 'Then I thank you, for now I shall die in greater ease of mind, seeing I know that the most worthy and sufficient knight in my realm shall achieve for me that which I could not myself perform.' " In fulfillment of his promise to his royal master and friend, Douglas started for the Holy Land in the spring of 1330. He was accompanied by several other knights, many squires, and a large retinue. He carried the heart of the Bruce in a silver casket. He sailed for Spain first and there engaged to take part in the holy war that Alfonso XL, King of Castile, was waging against Osmyn, the Moorish Prince of Granada. In battle near Theba, on the frontier of Andalusia, he was killed as he impetuously led the onslaught against the Moors. His body was recovered and taken back to Scotland to be entombed. The silver casket was also recovered and the heart of the Bruce was interred in Melrose Abbey without ever having been laid at the holy sepulchre in Jerusalem. No name has been more deeply graven upon the hearts of the Scottish people than that of Robert Bruce. His achievement in establishing the independence of his native land made him a great figure, and his knightly character won for him the undying affection of his countrymen. Romance has blossomed into full flower in the story of his life, while fact and imagination have closely intermingled as his deeds have been rehearsed. Upon the national life of Scotland he exercised a profound and enduring influence. He changed the history of England as well as the history of Scotland, and made possible the one great nation where two warring peoples had before existed.
In tradition, folk lore, and poetry, the inspiration of his deeds and the loving loyalty that has encompassed his memory have enriched the literature of the English tongue. The estimation in which he is held in the enthusiasm and affection of his countrymen is well expressed by the spirited lines of the poet Cunningham: De Bruce! De Bruce! — with that proud call Thy glens, sweet Galloway, Grow bright with helm, and axe, and glaive. And plumes in close array; The English shafts are loosed, and see. They fall like winter sleet ; The southern nobles urge their steeds, Earth shudders 'neath their feet. Flow gently on, thou gentle Orr, Down to old Sol way's flood; The ruddy tide that strains thy streams Is England's richest blood. Flow gently onwards, gentle Orr Along thy greenwood banks; King Robert raised his martial cry, • And broke the English ranks. Black Douglass railed and wiped his blade, He and the gallant Graeme; And, as the lightning from the cloud. Here fiery Randolph came; And stubborn Maxwell too was here. Who spared nor strength nor steel; With him who won the winged spur Which gleams on Johnstone's heel. De Bruce! De Bruce! — on Dee's wild banks, And on Orr's silver side. Far other sounds are echoing now Than war-shouts answering wide; The reaper's horn rings merrily now; Beneath the golden grain. The sickle shines, and maiden's songs Glad all the glens again. But minstrel mirth and homely joy, And heavenly libertie — De Bruce! De Bruce! we owe them all To thy good sword and thee. Lord of the mighty heart and mind. And theme of many a song! Brave, mild, and meek, and merciful I see thee bound along — Thy helmet plume is seen afar, That never bore a stain; Thy mighty sword is flashing high. Which never fell in vain. Shout, Scotland, shout— till Carlisle wall Gives back the sound agen, — De Bruce! De Bruce! — less than a god But noblest of all men." Nor can we forget that he was the inspiration of Robert Burns' immortal verse, that is the Scottish national song: "Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled, Scots, wham Bruce has aften led. Welcome to your gory bed. Or to victorie." It was Thomas Carlyle who pronounced this "the best war ode that was ever written by any pen." Of the personal appearance of King Robert Bruce we have little knowledge. It is not known that his portrait was painted during his lifetime. That he was a man of large stature and great strength is indicated by the stories of his prowess which, even though they may have been somewhat exaggerated to suit the popular idea of the hero, were without doubt substantially based on fact. No man of small stature or of ordinary strength could have handled the broad sword as he is reported to have done, and the suffering and privation that he underwent must have worn out a man of ordinary physique long before middle age. The only description of him that has been left is the following from an ancient work : *
* Historia Majoris Britannise.
"His figure was graceful and athletic, with broad shoulders; his features were handsome; he had the yellow hair of the northern race, with blue and sparking eyes. His intellect was quick, and he had the gift of fluent speech in the vernacular, delightful to listen to."
At Taymouth, the ancestral seat of the Earls of Breadalbane, descendants of Sir John Campbell and of the Bruce line, there is a portrait of the Bruce painted by George Jamieson, the Scottish painter of 1586-1644. Naturally, it is a work of imagination, but the artist could have been guided by traditions and descriptions that had been handed down to his time. The work is a bust portrait of a man clad in armor with a close-fitting cap on his head. The face is mild-featured and the eyes strikingly clear and penetrating. A flowing mustache half conceals the lines of the mouth and a long heavy beard falls upon the breast. In the left hand is held a battle-axe upright. A round frame holds the canvas and on this is the inscription
"ANNO DOM. MCCCVI. ROBERTUS I REX SCOTORUM."
Robert Bruce married, first, Isabel of Mar, daughter of Donald, the tenth earl of Mar; second, Elizabeth Aylmer de Burgh, daughter of Richard de Burgh, the second earl of Ulster.
Issue : -
1. Marjory Bruce. She married Walter, High Steward of Scotland, Earl of Renfrew, and became ancestress of the royal house of Stewart of Scotland and England.
2. David Bruce.
Born in 1324, he succeeded to the throne as David II. on the death of his father when he was only five years of age. With his child consort Joanna, he was crowned at Scone in 1331. The reign of the baby king did not open auspiciously. Edward Baliol, son of John Baliol, the former king, had been exiled in France for many years but now saw his opportunity. In 1332, three years after the death of King Robert, he came secretly to Scotland by way of England, raised an army, and defeated the Scots on the Muir of Dupplin on August 11 of that year. He was crowned at Scone a month later and young King David and his bride were sent over to France for security. For more than a decade, Baliol and his supporters, English and Scottish nobles, contended for mastery of the country. In 1341, King David and Queen Joanna were brought back from France, but in battle near Durham in October, 1346, he was captured by the English and taken to London where for eleven years he was held in captivity.
During this time the affairs of Scotland were managed by the regents and patriotic nobles until finally in 1357 Edward of England abandoned further attempts to conquer the northern country, entered upon terms of peace by the treaty of Berwick and set King David free. For fourteen years he wore the crown, but his reign was not brilliant. He died in Edinburgh Castle, February 22, 1371. He married, first, Joanna, daughter of King Edward II. of England. She died in 1362. He married, second, Margaret Logic, widow of Sir John Logie, a Scottish gentlewoman of great beauty. He left no issue.
3. Margaret, or Jane, Bruce. She married, first, Robert Glen; second, William, Earl of Sutherland.
4. Matildis Bruce, who married Thomas Isaac.
5. Robert Bruce, of whom below.
6. Elizabeth Bruce, who married Sir Walter Oliphant of Aberdalgy.
7. John Bruce, who died in infancy.
8. Walter Bruce of Odiston on the Clyde.
9. Nigel Bruce who was killed at the battle of Durham.
V. BRUCES OF CLACKMANNAN, CULTMALINDIE AND CAITHNESS
An important chapter in the history of the Bruce family is that dealing with the distribution of the various branches throughout the mainland of Scotland and the adjacent islands. The name became conspicuously identified not only with Scotland, where the younger branch settled in the eleventh century and was most famous, but also with England where the same branch, as well as the elder, has given to public life many distinguished men and women. The branch from which the American Bruces came adhered to its early Scottish habitat. For several generations immediately after King Robert Bruce I., its representative was established at Clackmannan, one of the great Bruce's castle homes. Then toward the close of the fifteenth century a cadet of the house moved to Cultmalindie, in Perthshire, marrying into one of the leading families of that section. Both in Clackmannan and in Cultmalindie these branches of the Bruce family became famous and for generations were actively and substantially identified with the life of those localities. Particularly the Bruces of Clackmannan were numbered among the great noble houses for several centuries. The heads of the house were active and influential in all public affairs and worthily carried the honors of their distinguished ancestors. Nearly a hundred years later, the head of this branch went to Shetland, thus reverting to the ancestral home of the Bruces more than five hundred years before.
This re-establishment of the Bruces in Shetland and Orkney was of an especially interesting character. In 1565 the crown' lands of the old earldom of Orkney and Caithness were conferred by royal grant upon Sir Robert Stewart of Strathdon who subsequently was created Earl of Orkney and Lord of Zetland (Shetland). This earl of Stewart was an elder half-brother, on his mother's side, of Laurence Bruce of Cultmalindie in the parish of Tibbermore and county of Perth. One branch of Laurence Bruce's family remained in Shetland and Orkney where ever since it has been numerous and strong. The elder branch clung to the old home in Cultmalindie until the close of the seventeenth century when the eldest son of the main line moved to Caithness, another locality which by virtue of brilliant historical associations clearly pertains to the Bruces. There Robert Bruce, the grandfather of George Bruce of Edinburgh and New York, was born in the little village of Watten on the banks of Loch Watten, the largest lake in the district. There also were born his son John Bruce, father of George Bruce, and his grandsons who carried the family name to distinction in the western world. XXII Robert Bruce, tenth of the name, son of King Robert Bruce, was created Earl of Ross by his elder half-brother, King David II., after the death of William, the third earl of Ross. He was killed at the battle of Dupplin August 11, 1332. He married Helen Vipont, daughter of Captain Allan Vipont, of Lochleven. ,
Issue : -
1. Robert Bruce, of whom below.
2. Marie Bruce, who married Sir Alexander Scrimgeour of Dudhope. XXIII Robert Bruce, eleventh of the name, son of the preceding, is on record as having received the castle of Clackmannan from King David II., the charter, dated December 9, 1359, being to "delicto et fideli consanguineo suo Roberto de Bruys." By this charter Bruce received the castle and manor of Clackmannan, Gyrmanston, Garclew, Wester Kennault, Pitfoulden, and other lands in the sheriffdom of Clackmannan. In October, 1364, he had other grants in the same sheriffdom and in January, 1367-68, lands in Rait within the sheriffdom of Perth. He was killed in the battle of Shrewsbury July 23, 1403. He married Isabel Stewart, daughter of Sir Robert Stewart of Rosyth or Rosyth castle.
Issue : -
1. Robert Bruce, of whom below.
2. Edward Bruce, ancestor of the Bruces of Airth, Earlshall, and Stenhouse.
3. Alexander Bruce, ancestor of the Bruces of Garbot.
4. James Bruce, Bishop of Dunkeld, 1441, and High Chancellor of Scotland, 1440; died in 1447.
5. Helen Bruce, who married David Ross of Balnagowan.
XXIV
Robert Bruce, twelfth of the name, son of the preceding, was the second baron of Clackmannan. In 1393, he received the lands and castle of Rait or Raith by charter from King Robert Bruce III. who called him "my beloved cousin." He died in 1405. He married a daughter of Sir John Scrimgeour of Dudhope, constable of Dundee castle. Sir John Scrimgeour was constable before 1400, under Alexander, Earl of Ross, Lord of the Isles and Baron Kincardine. His father, Sir James Scrimgeour, fell in battle at Harlaw, fighting under Alexander, Earl of Mar, against Donald, Lord of the Isles, July 24, 1411.
Issue : -
1. David Bruce, of whom below.
2. John Bruce.
3. Patrick Bruce.
4. Thomas Bruce.
XXV
David Bruce, of Clackmannan castle and manor, son of the preceding, was the third baron of Clackmannan. He married Jean Stewart, daughter of Sir John Stewart of Innermeath and Lorn.
Issue : -
1. John Bruce, of whom below.
2. Patrick Bruce, 1449.
3. James Bruce, 1450.
XXVI
John Bruce, son of the preceding, was the fourth baron of Clackmannan. He married Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of Sir David Stewart of Rosyth castle.
Issue: -
1. David Bruce. He was knighted by James IV. He married, first, Janet Stirling, daughter of Sir William Stirling of Keir; second, Marion (Herries) Stewart, daughter of Sir Robert Herries of Terreagles, and widow of David Stewart of Rosyth.
2. Robert Bruce, of Cultmalindie, of whom below.
XXVII
Robert Bruce, second son of the preceding, was of Cultmalindie, parish of Tibbermore, County of Perth. He died in 1508. He married in 1475 Janet Barbour, daughter of John Barbour of Cultmalindie, and by this marriage received half of the Cultmalindie lands.
XXVIII
Hector Bruce, son of the preceding, succeeded his father at Cultmalindie. He died in 1535. He married January 19, 1502, Gelis Wardlaw, daughter of John Wardlaw.
XXIX
John Bruce, son of the preceding, was also of Cultmalindie. He died in 1569. He married Euphame of Elphinston, daughter of Alexander, the first baron of Elphinston.
Issue : -
1. Lawrence Bruce, of whom below.
2. Robert Bruce, who is traditionally said to have been the father of William Bruce of Symbister.
3. Henry Bruce.
4. James Bruce.
XXX
Lawrence Bruce, of Cultmalindie, son of the preceding, went to Scotland in 1571. His uterine brother. Lord Robert Stewart, appointed him underfowde of the earldom in the Shetlands and Orkneys, an office corresponding to that of governor. That appointment determined him to make his home in the islands, and accordingly he went thither with his family, establishing his residence on the island of Unst. He became a large owner of lands on that and other islands, and in 1598 he commenced building the castle of Muness on the island of Unst, a work that was completed by his son Andrew. In August, 1614, the Privy Council appointed him a commissioner to apprehend any of the rebels from Orkney who might seek shelter in Shetland. He died in August, 1617. He married, first, Helen Kennedy, daughter of Alexander Kennedy of Girvan Mains; second, Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Patrick, fifth Lord Grey, by whom he had no issue.
Issue of Lawrence and Helen (Kennedy) Bruce :
1. Alexander Bruce, of whom below.
2. Andrew Bruce, who succeeded to the paternal estates in Shetland. He died February 12, 1625. He married, in 1600, Isabel Sinclair, daughter of Malcolm Sinclair of Quendael.
3. Helen Bruce, who married, in 1588, Adam Sinclair.
4. Margaret Bruce, who married Alexander Fordyce.
5. Marjory Bruce, who married Malcolm Mclnroy.
6. Elizabeth Bruce.
XXXI
Alexander Bruce, of Cultmalindie, had a charter of confirmation March 24, 1587, securing to him the lands of Cultmalindie granted to him by his father. He died October 23, 1624.
He married, December 15, 1568, Jean Oliphant, daughter of Lawrence, the fourth Lord Oliphant.
Issue : -
1. Lawrence Bruce.
2. George Bruce, of whom below.
3. Alexander Bruce.
4. Helen Bruce. She married, first, Robert Moray, fiar of Abercairney; second, Malcolm Fleming.
5. Barbara Bruce, who married David Smith.
6. Jean Bruce. She married Hugh Sinclair and died March 8, 1644.
7. Marjory Bruce. She married John Cheyne and died April 4, 1645.
8. Margaret Bruce.
XXXII
George Bruce, of Cultmalindie, son of the preceding, sold his patrimony to James Drummond previous to May, 1667. He died in 1675.
He married Margaret (Campbell) Stewart, daughter of Robert Campbell of Glen Lyon, and widow of Robert Stewart of Ballechin.
Issue : -
1. Lawrence Bruce.
2. George Bruce, of whom below.
3. Jean Bruce.
XXXIII
George Bruce, son of the preceding, was the first of his family to appear in Caithness. In the parish of Wick, March 10, 1709, he married Anna Sutherland.
XXXIV
Robert Bruce, son of the preceding, was a resident of Watten, Caithness. He married, November 2, 1728, Janet Sutherland, daughter of George Sutherland by his wife Margaret Bruce.
Issue: 1. John Bruce, of whom below.
2. George Bruce, born May 19, 1732
XXXV
John Bruce, son of the preceding, was born in Watten, Caithness, April 8, 1730. He married, January 12, 1764, Janet Gilbertson, daughter of William Gilbertson of Watten. She was probably born in 1740, her baptism being of record October 27 of that year.
Gilbertson.
The Gilbertson family was originally of North of England antecedents. As the name indicates, it was a branch of the Gilbert stock, Gilbertson being simply the son of Gilbert. The Gilberts were people of distinction, being descended from Gilbert of Normandy, the name, meaning " bright fame," having been given to a crusader. Gilbert of Fontenelle was closely associated with William the Conqueror, and other distinguished representatives of the family were an Auvergnat knight of the second crusade, the English founder of the order of Gilbertine monks, and a Bishop of Caithness. According to the Heralds Visitation of Leicestershire in 1619, William Gilbert, son of Hugh Gilbert, bore the following arms: gules, an armed leg couped at the thigh, in pale between two broken spears argent, headed or. Crest : a dexter arm embowed in armor proper, the hand darting a broken lance in bend sinister, the point argent, staff or. The Gilbertson coat of arms is identical with the above, proving consanguinity. The crest of the Gilbertson family is a snail in the shell proper. William Gilbertson moved with his individual family from the old home in England to Caithness in the early part of the eighteenth century. Births and deaths in his family are recorded in the parish register of Wick which adjoins the parish of Watten, where John Bruce lived. He is there called William Gilbertson of Myrelandorne. He appears to have been a man of standing in the community, and his daughter took a substantial fortune to her husband. The Bruces and the Gilbertsons of this generation were admirable representatives of the industrious, hard-headed Scotch people who have made names for themselves, not alone in their native country, but in other parts of the world. Although they came from ancestors who had brilliant records, they prided themselves even more upon their honesty and integrity of character and their love of native land. They contributed well to the life of the little communities in which they lived and their sons and daughters were worthy descendants, who, in their way, cast further honor upon the names of their families.
Issue : -
1. Elizabeth Bruce, born January 12, 1766.
2. Janet Bruce, born April 15, 1768.
3. David Bruce, born November 16, 1770.
4. Whilhelmina Bruce, born in 1785.
5. John Bruce, who died in Egypt fighting Napoleon.
6. George Bruce of Edinburgh and New York, founder of the New York branch of the family; of whom below.
VI. BRUCES OF KINLOSS, ELGIN, AND KINCARDINE
Several Bruce families of Scotland and England have ranked high among the nobility of the United Kingdom. Their representatives have been conspicuous in the social life of the periods in which they severally lived and have rendered their country signal service in affairs of state, in diplomacy, in war, and in literature. One line has been particularly noteworthy, that of Kinloss, Elgin, and Kincardine, which has given to the world several men and women of preeminent achievement and which produced Christiana Bruce, who married William Cavendish and was the progenitor of the great Dukes of Devonshire.
The branch from which the Lords of Kinloss, and the Earls of Elgin, Ailsbury, and Kincardine sprang, connected with that from which George Bruce of Edinburgh and New York derived, in the person of John Bruce, the fourth Baron of Clackmannan who was in the fifth generation from King Robert Bruce I. and who married Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of Sir David Stewart of Rosyth Castle. Sir David Bruce of Clackmannan, the eldest son of John Bruce and his wife Elizabeth (Stewart) Bruce, was knighted by King James IV., and was the immediate ancestor of this noble family.
David Bruce, son of the preceding Sir David Bruce, became the seventh baron of Clackmannan. In 1497 he married Janet Blackadder, daughter of Sir Patrick Blackadder of Perthshire. He had a family of five sons and four daughters, of whom the most prominent in the next generation was his second son, Edward Bruce, of whom below.
Edward Bruce of Blairhall, second son of the preceding, married Alison Reid, daughter of William Reid of Aikenhead, County of Clackmannan, and sister of Robert Reid, Bishop of Orkney. He was president of the Court of Session from 1543 until the time of his death in 1558. He died in France whither he had gone as a commissioner from Scotland to witness the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots, to the Dauphin of France. He had three sons, Edward Bruce, of whom below, Sir George Bruce, whose descendants became the Earls of Elgin, and William Bruce. Edward Bruce of Blairhall, second son of the preceding, was born about 1549. His public career began as early as 1576 when he was judge of the Commissary Court of Edinburgh. In the same year he received a grant of the Abbey of Kinloss in Ayrshire and was appointed one of the delegates of the Lord- Justice General of Scotland. He was commendator of the Cistercian Abbey at Kinloss and was appointed lord of session in 1597. A devoted adherent of King James VI., he was active in all the intriguing of that period for the advancement of James. It was largely due to his efforts that the peaceable accession of the Stewart to the English throne was brought about, and he accompanied James to England to be present on the occasion of that monarch's coronation in 1603.
He became a naturalized subject of England, was made a member of the Privy Council of both kingdoms, and was raised to the peerage with the title of Baron Bruce of Kinloss. In 1604 he succeeded Sir Thomas Egerton to the mastership of the rolls. He died January 14, 1610-11, and was buried in the Rolls Chapel in Chancery Lane, London, where a monument was erected to his memory. This memorial structure shows his effigy recumbent clothed in the habit of the master of rolls. Upon it is the following inscription:
FUIMUS.
We were — we are no more.
Sacrae Memoriae Domini Edwardi Bruce, Baronis Bruce, Kinlossensis, sacrorum scriniorum Magistridicatum, qui Obiit 14 Jan. Sal Jan. 14th, 1610 Aetat 62 Jacobi Regis 8. Brucius Edvardus situs hie et Scotus et Anglus; Scotus ut ortu, Anglis sic oriundus avis, Regno in utroque decus tulit, auctus honoribus amplis, Regi a consiliis regni utriusque; fuit Conjuge, prole, nuro, genero, spe, reque beatus; Vivere nos docuit, nunc docet ecce mori.
To the sacred memory of Lord Edward Bruce, Baron Bruce of Kinloss. Of the sacred Records Master who died 14th, 1610 of the age of 62, in the 8th of James the King. Bruce Edward buried here, both Scot and English, As Scot by birth, so sprung from English ancestors, In each kingdom glory he maintained, entrusted with great offices, To the King he was of Councils of each kingdom; In Wife, Children, Daughter-in-law, son-in-law, hope and estate blessed, He taught us to live ; now teaches lo! to die.
He married Magdalen Clark, daughter of Alexander Clark of Balbirny in Fife. The eldest son of Edward and Magdalen (Clark) Bruce was Edward Bruce, the second Lord Bruce of Kinloss. He was a Knight of the Bath and was killed in Holland in an historic duel by Sir Edward Sackville, afterwards Earl of Dorset, who had long been his close companion.
"It appears that Lord Bruce was a nobleman of singularly gentle and amiable manners, and had been intimate from boyhood with Sir Edward Sackville, a young man of profligate and dissolute habits. An attachment had grown up between Lord Bruce and Lady Clementina Sackville, Sir Edward's sister, and it was agreed that when he had attained to manhood they should be married. One day when going out hunting at Culross in Fifeshire, an old woman was nearly ridden over by Sir Edward who struck at her several times with his whip. Lord Bruce begged him to calm himself, and said 'Don't hurt her, she's a spae-wife.' The old woman exclaimed: 'Ride on to your hunting, young man. You will not have the better sport for abusing the helpless infirmities of old age. Some day you two will go out to a different kind of sport and one only will come back alive.' "*
* Histories of Noble British Families, by Henry Drummond.
Despite the intimacy of the two young men Sir Edward, on two occasions, when under the influence of wine, insulted and struck Lord Bruce in the face. For his love of Lady Sackville he bore this insult at first with calmness, but upon its repetition he felt compelled to defend his honor. In those days a duel was inevitable under the circumstances, and without delay the young men arranged to meet upon the field of honor.
"Bruce then went and took leave of his mother, and then of Lady Clementine Sackville, and going abroad sent a challenge to Sir Edward. A piece of ground was bought near Bergen of Zoom that they should not be interrupted arid thither they repaired. Nothing is known of the particulars of the duel but from a letter of Sir Edward's, in which the account bears upon the face of it the stamp of truth and whence it appears that Bruce would accept of no quarter and was determined that one or the other should die; and that he was very nearly victor himself, for Sir Edward was badly wounded, but Lord Bruce died. The place is called by the name of Bruce's Field to this day. The heart of Lord Bruce after being placed in a silver case, was brought to this country and interred in the vault or burying ground adjoining the old Abbey of Culross in Perthshire."*
* Histories of Noble British Families, by Henry Drummond.
In a treatise on second sight, by John Aubrey, it is said : "The unfortunate Lord Bruce, saw distinctly the figure or impression of a mort head, in the looking-glass in his chamber, that very morning he set out for the fatal place of rendezvous, where he lost his life in a duel, and asked some of them that stood by him, if they observed that strange appearance; which they answered in the negative. His remains were interred at Bergen-op-Zoom, over which a monument was erected, and the emblem of a looking-glass impressed with a mort head, to perpetuate the surprising representation which seemed to indicate his approaching untimely end. The monument stood entire for a long time."* The second son of Edward and Magdalen (Clark) Bruce was Thomas Bruce who became the first Earl of Elgin. The youngest son was Robert Bruce, the Baron of Skelton. The only daughter of the family, Christiana Bruce, married, in 1608, William Cavendish, second Earl of Devonshire.
* Miscellania Scotica.
Thomas Bruce, the third Lord of Kinloss and the first Earl of Elgin, succeeded to the title upon the death of his elder brother, unmarried. He was born in Edinburgh, December 2, 1599. Attending King Charles I. into Scotland, in 1632, he was created Earl of Elgin in that year, and, in 1641, was created a peer of England, with the title of Baron Bruce of Whorlton. He died December 21, 1663. He married, first, Anne Chichester, daughter of Sir Robert Chichester of Devonshire; second, Diana Vere, dowager of Henry Vere, Earl of Oxford, and the second daughter of William, Earl of Exeter, by his wife Elizabeth Drury.
Robert Bruce, the second Earl of Elgin, son of the preceding, succeeded his father in 1663. He was Lord Lieutenant of the County of Bedford in 1660 and a member of Parliament in 1660 and 1661. He was a member of the Privy Council in 1678 and was appointed lord chamberlain of the household of King James VII. He was created Baron Bruce of Skelton, Yorkshire, and was Viscount Bruce of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, and Earl of Ailsbury in Buckinghamshire in the peerage of England. He died at Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, in 1685. He married, in 1646, Lady Diana Grey, second daughter of Henry, first Earl of Stamford, and had eight sons and nine daughters. Five sons died young.
Thomas Bruce was the third Earl of Elgin and the second Earl of Ailesbury. He was the sixth and eldest surviving son of the preceding Robert Bruce, and succeeded his father in the title in 1685. He adhered to the cause of King James II., and in 1695 was active in the plottings in which so many Scottish noblemen were involved to restore that monarch to the throne. He was apprehended by the English authorities and committed to the Tower of London in February, 1695-6. During the time of his confinement in the Tower his wife died through apprehension of the fate that might overtake him. After his release he left England and went to Holland to live. He died in Brussels in 1741, having been a resident in that city after 1698. He married, first, in 1676, Elizabeth Seymour, daughter of Henry Seymour, Lord Beauchamp, co-heir of Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII. ; she was a sister of William, Duke of Somerset, a lineal descendant of Mary, Queen of France, daughter of King Henry VII., and was connected by blood with several of the most ancient noble families of the kingdom. He married, second, Charlotte, Countess of Sannu, of the house of Argenteau, Duchy of Brabant.
Charles Bruce, second son of the preceding, was the fourth Earl of Elgin and the third Earl of Ailesbury. He succeeded his father in 1741. He was chosen a member of Parliament in 1707, 1708, and 1710. Under the title of Baron Bruce of Whorlton, he was one of the twelve peers who were created and summoned December 31, 1711, to secure for the government a tory majority in the House of Lords. In 1746 he was created Baron Bruce of Tottenham. He married, first. Lady Jane Saville, eldest daughter of William, Marquis of Halifax, and she died in 1717; second, in 1720, Lady Juliana Boyle, daughter of Charles. Earl of Burlington, and she died in 1739; third, in 1739, Caroline Campbell, daughter of John Campbell, afterward Duke of Argyle. He left no surviving male issue and the title Earl of Elgin devolved on Charles Bruce, the ninth Earl of Kincardine. The line of Charles Bruce, the ninth Earl of Kincardine and the fifth Earl of Elgin, also unites with that of the American Bruces in Sir John Bruce (xxvi) who was the father of Robert Bruce (xxvii) of Cultmalindie, extending through his son. Sir David Bruce, his grandson, Sir David Bruce, and his great-grandson, Edward Bruce of Blairhall.
George Bruce of Carnock, third son of Edward Bruce of Blairhall by his wife Alison Reid, was prominent in trade and manufacturing and did much to develop the coal mines in Culross early in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He was knighted by King James VI. in 1604, and died May 6, 1625. He married Margaret Primrose, daughter of Archibald Primrose of Burnbrae.
George Bruce of Carnock, eldest son of the preceding, was a man of affairs and took a prominent interest in the political movements of his day. He was a member of the commission appointed to treat with England in regard to the union of the two kingdoms in July, 1604. He married Mary Preston, daughter of Sir John Preston of Valleyfield. His son, Edward Bruce, was created Earl of Kincardine and Lord Bruce of Torrey in 1662 and died without issue, being succeeded in 1662 by his brother, Alexander, the second Earl of Kincardine, whose second son, Alexander Bruce, the third Earl of Kincardine, died in 1705 unmarried.
Alexander Bruce, the second Earl of Kincardine, was a man of extraordinary character. His deep and lively concern in political affairs compelled him to exile himself from Scotland in 1657, and he did not return until 1660. After the Restoration Scotland was a possible place of residence for him, and in the quietude that followed he was occupied in business; but after a time he again devoted himself to public affairs, being particularly thus engaged from 1660 to 1676, during which time he held various offices of trust. In 1676 his activity and influence became of such a pronounced character that the king dismissed him from the Scottish Privy Council. During his residence in Holland he married, in 1659,'; Veronica, daughter of Corneille Van Arson Van Sommelsdyck, Lord of Sommelsdyck and Spycke. This marriage added much wealth to his own considerable possessions and made him one of the great and prosperous men of his day. He was engaged in the Greenland whale fisheries, in quarrying, and in other industries and substantially increased his fortune. He was a man of wide culture and varied attainments, and of unusual personality in many ways. An historian has said of him that he was a " man of deep personal religion, of highly refined tastes and of very wide attainments; medicine, chemistry, classics, mathematics, mechanical appliances of every kind especially as adapted to his mining enterprises, divinity, heraldry, horticulture, forestry, pisciculture, mining and the management of estates."*
* Dictionary of National Biography, by Leslie Stephen.
Robert Bruce of Broomhall, brother of the preceding George Bruce of Carnock, was the third son of the first Sir George Bruce of Carnock. After the lapsing of the title in the line of the elder brother through the death without issue of the sons and grandsons of the second George Bruce of Carnock, his family became first in the male line, although he himself had died half a century before the title came to his sons. He was a member of the legal profession, was admitted an advocate, and became eminent among the practitioners of his time. He was lord of session, appointed in June, 1649. He died in June, 1652. He married Helen Skene, daughter of Sir James Skene of Curriehill. It was through him and his son Alexander, in the direct line from the first Sir George Bruce of Carnock, that the famous Earls of Elgin and Kincardine of later generations derive.
Alexander Bruce, the fourth Earl of Kincardine, son of Robert Bruce of Broomhall, took his seat in Parliament in 1706. He married Christiana, daughter of Robert Bruce of Blairhall, son of Edward Bruce of Blairhall, and was succeeded in turn by his three sons, Robert Bruce, Alexander Bruce, and Thomas Bruce.
Thomas Bruce, the seventh Earl of Kincardine, son of the preceding, was born March 19, 1663. He died March 26, 1740. He married Rachel Pauncefort, daughter of Robert Pauncefort of Hereford. William Bruce, the eighth Earl of Kincardine, son of the preceding, possessed the title only a few months, dying September 8, 1740. He married, in 1726, Janet Roberton, daughter of James Roberton of Lanark; she died March 29, 1772.
Charles Bruce, the ninth Earl of Kincardine, son of the preceding, was born about 1722. He succeeded his father in 1740, and in 1747 attained to the Scottish earldoms of Elgin and Ailesbury on the death of his kinsman, the fourth Earl of Elgin; thenceforth he was styled Earl of Elgin and Kincardine. He was active in promoting agriculture in both parts of the United Kingdom and developed important industrial enterprises. He died in Broomhall May 14, 1771.
In the church-yard of Dunfermline Abbey a handsome monument stands to his memory and is thus inscribed: "Sacred to the memory of Charles, Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, who died the 14th of May, 1771, aged 39 years. By the goodness of his heart and the virtues of his life, he adorned the high rank which he possessed. In his manners amiable and gentle; in his affections warm and glowing; in his temper modest, candid and cheerful; in his conduct, manly and truly honorable; in the character of husband, father, friend and master, as far as human imperfection admits, unblemished. Pious, without superstition; charitable without ostentation. While he lived the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon him. Now their tears embalm his memory.
Reader! beholding here laid in the dust the remains which once so much virtue adorned, think of the vanity of life; look forward to its end, and prepare, as he did, for immortality." He married, in 1759, Martha White, daughter of Thomas White of London, and was succeeded by his son, William Robert Bruce, who died only two months after his father.
Thomas Bruce, second son of the preceding Charles Bruce, was the seventh Earl of Elgin and the eleventh Earl of Kincardine. He was born in 1756 and educated at Harrow and Westminster, afterwards studying at St. Andrew's and in Paris. He entered the army in 1785 and rapidly rose to the rank of major-general in 1809. It was in diplomacy, however, that he achieved his greatest distinction, and he has been remembered as one of the ablest and most brilliant diplomats in the history of modern England. In 1790 he was intrusted with a special mission to the Emperor Leopold of Belgium, and in this opportunity he was so pre-eminently successful that he was sent as Envoy-Extraordinary to the Court of Brussels in 1792. Subsequently he was Envoy-Extraordinary and Minister-Plenipotentiary to the Court of Berlin in 1795. He was appointed Ambassador-Extraordinary and Minister-Plenipotentiary to the Sublime Ottoman Porte in 1799, and there he entered upon a mission in connection with the preservation of the ancient works of art of Greece that gave him worldwide fame and entitled him to the admiration of all lovers of art.
Taking up the study and examination of Grecian art he was soon imbued with an enthusiasm that carried him quite beyond his original intentions until the pursuit absorbed his mind and his time exclusively for many years. His initial movement was made to have permission from the Porte to carry on the work that he contemplated. This concession was secured in 1801 and the privilege was granted to him to make drawings and reproductions of the Grecian sculptures of the Parthenon and elsewhere, and to take away such of those remains as he might desire. Employing competent artistic assistants he made a large collection of the antiquities which he had ready for transportation to England in 1803. This was only the nucleus for the great collection which subsequently became known as the Elgin Marbles, additions being made to it from time to time until 1812. As soon as all these works of art were safely landed in England he arranged an exhibition of them in London, and they excited the wonder and admiration of all who saw them. He did not, however, entirely escape criticism, for there were many ready to accuse him of vandalism in removing these art works from their original home in Greece. In this connection Byron's scathing poem, "The Curse of Minerva" will be recalled. In the course of time, however, his acts have come to be generally approved, and in 1816 the whole collection was purchased for the nation. From 1790 to 1840 Lord Elgin was one of the representative peers of Scotland, but after his return from the East to England he took but little part in public affairs, his life being embittered by the criticisms that were made upon him by many of his contemporaries. He died November 14, 1841. He married, first, in 1799, Mary Nisbet, the only child of William H. Nisbet of Dirleton, Haddingtonshire; second, in September, 1810, Elizabeth Oswald, daughter of James T. Oswald, of Dunnikier, Fifeshire.
James Bruce, second son of the preceding, by his second wife Elizabeth Oswald, was the eighth Earl of Elgin and the twelfth Earl of Kincardine. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, and became a Fellow of Merton. On the death of his father in 1841, he succeeded to the Scottish earldoms. Entering the diplomatic service of his country he became one of the most famous diplomats of his time, rivalling in achievement even his father. In March, 1842, he was appointed Governor of the Island of Jamaica and his administration there under specially discouraging conditions was pre-eminently satisfactory. His success won for him promotion to the governorship of Canada where he was sent in 1846.
Troublous times were then in the Dominion, riots and other disturbances throughout the country upsetting affairs and giving both the local and the home government much anxiety. The new Governor-General, however, was again successful and after an eight-year term of service he was able to leave the Dominion in a much more healthful condition politically and industrially than it was when he arrived. In 1857 he was sent as an envoy to China, but before reaching there he was ordered to India to aid in suppressing the mutiny which had broken out in that colony. Having done admirable service in that emergency he returned to China and negotiated a treaty with that country, and also with Japan. In 1859 he was a member of Lord Palmerston's Cabinet, holding the portfolio of Postmaster-General.
The distinction of his achievements in public life brought him abundant recognition, and he was elected Rector of Glasgow University and received the freedom of the City of London. In 1860 he was sent as an Envoy to China on another delicate mission, and two years later was appointed Viceroy and Governor-General of India. Leaving England in January of 1862 he entered upon the duties of his new position with some misgivings on account of ill-health. He was able to accomplish a great deal of good, however, in the two short years that he lived, his death occurring from heart disease at Dharmsala in November, 1863. He married, first, April 22, 1841, Elizabeth Mary Bruce, only daughter of Charles Lennox Cumming-Bruce; second, in 1847, Lady Louisa Mary Lambton, daughter of the first Earl of Durham.
Frederick William Adolphus Bruce, the youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Oswald) Bruce, also won distinction in the diplomatic service of Great Britain. He was born at Broomhall, Fifeshire, April 11, 1814. He was first appointed Colonial Secretary at Hongkong in 1844, and subsequent appointments were Lieutenant-Governor of Newfoundland in 1846; Consul-General to Bolivia in 1847; Charge d'Affaires to Uruguay in 1851; and Agent and Consul-General to Egypt in 1853. He was secretary to his brother James Bruce, Ambassador-Extraordinary to China in 1857, and was appointed Envoy-Extraordinary and Minister-Plenipotentiary to China in the following year. In 1865 he was transferred to the United States where, as British Minister at Washington, he won the approval of both his home government and that of the United States. His term of service in the United States lasted less than two years, ending with his death which occurred suddenly in Boston September 19,1867. He was not married. He was buried in Dunfermline Abbey.
VII. BRUCES OF AIRTH
IN the peerage line the Bruces of Clackmannan and their offshoots longest maintained their identity. Descent in male stock was preserved for many generations, and title and possessions were held by worthy sons of the name. The Elgin, Ailesbury, and Kincardine were the most famous of these branches and contributed most vigorously and most brilliantly to the history of their country. But other strong lines long persisted and from some of them branches extended even into foreign lands. Most noted among these was probably that of Airth from which sprang the Bruces of Earlshall, Kinnaird, and Stenhouse and the Counts Bruce of France. Some of the branches of this line were scarcely less distinguished than their parent stem.
" And in Scotland still, not far removed from the old sites of Dunfermline, Clackmannan, and Rosyth, and still possessing Broomhall, Culross, Blairhall, etc., etc., we must look for the chief of that ancient house; whilst on the south side of the Forth some few scions still remain of the house of Airth, and in foreign lands we find many willing to claim kindred and bearing for centuries the same arms. The Comtes de Brus in France we have been enabled to trace from their origin. Russia, Prussia, and Sweden have also their branches; and the Princesses des Home of Salm and Stolberg took pains to prove their descent from their mother, the Lady Charlotte Maria Bruce, daughter of Thomas, third Earl of Elgin, who married at Brussels, in 1698, Charlotte, Countess de Sanu, of the noble house of Argenteau, in the Duchy of Brabant, one of whose grand-daughters became the wife of Charles Edward, Chevalier de St. George."*
* Family Records of the Bruces and Cumyns, by M. E. Cumming Bruce, p. 296.
In the day of Wallace the patriot, Erthe or Arth was one of the great strongholds on the banks of the Firth. It was held by a garrison of English soldiers who oppressed and maltreated the people of the neighborhood. They imprisoned many, including an uncle of Wallace, the priest (of Dunipace, in a cave or cell under the castle, and thereupon Wallace attacked the stronghold and, killing its defenders, rescued the prisoners. On the west side is a tower that is still called Wallace's tower and the spot is pointed out where he killed most of the English soldiers. The De Erths recovered their property after a while and it was retained by them until well into the fifteenth century. The family was very ancient and highly connected, its sons and daughters marrying into various families of distinction. Of Alexander de Airth, 1296, Nisbet says: "An ancient family in Stirlingshire, that had the baronies of Airth, Carnock, Playne, etc., etc., which in the reign of James I came to heirs female, and by marriage to the Bruces, Drummonds and Somervilles." *
* Ragman Rolls, by A. Nisbet.
The name occurs frequently in the Ragman Rolls and other Scottish records from the latter part of the thirteenth century. In 1426-27 Alexander de Arth was one of the representatives of Malyse, Earl of Strathearn by his mother Matilda, one of the daughters of that earl by his third wife, Isabel, daughter of Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney. Because in the reign of King David II. he gave his eldest daughter, Johanna, in marriage to Narrenne, Earl of Surrey, " an enemy of King and Kingdom," the Earl of Strathearn was forfeited of his title by King Robert II.
Edward Bruce, second son of Sir Robert Bruce of Clackmannan by Isabel Stewart of Rosyth,* married Agnes de Erth, eldest daughter and co-heiress of William de Erth, and thus his family came into possession of Erth or Airth. Personally he does not appear to have held that property, as he probably died before his father-in-law and his father. He left two sons, Robert Bruce and William Bruce. His widow married secondly an Elphinston, of a family with which the Bruces in several lines were often matrimonially connected.
Sir Robert Bruce of Airth, son of the preceding, married Agnes Livingstone, a daughter of Sir Alexander Livingstone. With his father-in-law and other nobles he was constantly embroiled in the political controversies of his time. His activity made him an object of jealousy on the part of the courtiers of King James II., and he lost his life thereby in 1449-50.
"That samen yer, the xixth dai of Janvier, James II held his first parliament. Then was forfaulted Sir Alexander Levingstone, Lord Kallender, and James Dundas of that Ilk; and Robert Bruce, the Lord of Clackmannan's brother (nephew) and James Levingstone, son and heir of the said Alexander, was put to deid, baith togidder, on the Castle hill. Their heides stricken off the 3d dale of the Parliament."
Sir William Bruce, brother of the preceding, went to France and entered the service of King Charles VIII. He was greatly beloved and honored by that monarch, by whom he was made a knight of the order of St. Michael and received permission to add the fleur-de-luce to his arms. The Earlshall family founded by him through his grand-nephew.
Sir Alexander Bruce of Brigham, ever after bore arms with that distinction. Sir Alexander Bruce, only son of Sir Robert and Agnes (Livingstone) Bruce succeeded to his father's title and lands upon the return of the family to the royal favor in 1451. He married, first, Joneta, daughter of Alexander, the first Lord Livingstone, and, she dying without issue, he married, second, Margaret Forrester, daughter of Sir Malcolm Forrester.
Sir John Bruce, eldest son of the preceding, died before his father. He lived at Stanehouse which appears to have been the property and residence of the heir apparent of Airth for some generations. He was involved in many of the political troubles of the time and became so conspicuous in his doings that he was placed under ban as a traitor, as appears from an act of Parliament, November 6, 1481.
"The quhilk tyme the saide Commissioners chargeit Jolme the Brois of Erthe, Constable Depute in that pairt to call Alexander, Duke of Albany, the Earl of Marche, and others, to compere in our Souveraine Lorde's Parliament to answer for their crimes of treason."
In some one of these difficulties engendered by the passions that made Scotland so long a bloody field of family and neighborhood animosities, he met a tragic death. As appears by the Criminal Trials, he was " slaughtered " by the Menteiths, brothers of his wife.
"28th January 1488-89, William Menteith of the Kerss, Archibald, his brother, Alexander Menteith, for thaim, their kyn and frendis, on the tae pairt; 'Robert the Broisse of Arthe,' 'Alexander,' 'Lucas' and 'Robert Broisse ' for thaim and bre her, emes, and friendis, on the uther pairt; bind and oblije theimselves to abide the sentence of the Lords of Council ' tuiching the making of Amendis for the slaughter of umquhile Johne the Broisse of Arthe, and tuiching the making of amite,' luff and tendernis betwix the pairties in tyme to cum."
Sir John Bruce married, in 1471, Elizabeth Menteith, daughter of Sir William Menteith of Kerss. He left three sons. Robert Bruce succeeded his father.
Thomas Bruce found a branch of the family in France. One of his daughters, Helen Bruce, married a son of Sir William Menteith of Karss, one of her father's murderers. Another daughter, Janet Bruce, married William Livingstone, the younger, who fell on Flodden field.
Sir Robert Bruce, son of the preceding, succeeded his father in Stanehouse and his grandfather Sir Alexander Bruce in Airth, 1488-89. During his lifetime the peace between the Bruces and the Menteiths was still further bound by the erection in the Airth church of the Bruce aisle at the expense of the two famihes. He married Euphemia Montgomery, daughter of Alexander, Lord Montgomery.
Robert Bruce, son of the preceding, succeeded his father who was killed at Flodden. In May, 1544, he was Captain of the castle of Edinburgh and in that place gained special renown by the gallant defense that he made against the army which King Henry VIII. of England sent to Scotland to enforce his demand for the person of the Queen Mary, who was then only an infant and whom the English desired to take from her Scottish environment.
"The Laird of Stanehouse, captain thairof , caused shoot at them, in so great abundance, and with so guid measure, that they lew a great number of Englishmen, amonst whom were some principal captains and gentlemen, and one of the greatest pieces of ordinance was broken, wherethrew they were obliged to raise the siege shortly and retire." He married Janet Forester, daughter of Sir Walter Forester of Garden.
Sir Alexander Bruce, head of the house in the fifth succeeding generation in the direct eldest male line from the preceding Robert Bruce, came to a much diminished inheritance. His grandmother was Margaret Elphinston, daughter of Sir Alexander, fourth Lord of Elphinston. Early in life he took military service in Germany and he was with Prince Rupert in the Low Countries during many years. He returned to his native land in the spring or summer of 1665, and in September of that year he died - the last Bruce of Airth in the male line.
Through the marriage of his daughter, Jean Bruce, to Richard Elphinston, the barony passed to those of the name of Elphinston and Dundas. In the old street of Airth, the village cross, still standing, bears on one side the Bruce arms, with the lion for a crest, and on the other the Elphinston arms with the motto "Do well, let them say," with the initials C. E., 1697 (Charles Elphinston).
Near by a stone bears the united arms of Bruce and Elphinston. Not many years ago, there was in the old church of Airth a slab of black marble that bore upon its face an inscription to one of the barons of Airth. The marble has long since disappeared, but the inscription that was on it has been preserved and reads as follows:
Brusiois hie situs est pietate an clarior armis
Incertum; est certum regibus ortus avis.
Heer lies a branch of Brusses noble stemm,
Airth's Baron! whose high wurth did sute that name.
Holland his courage honoroured. Spain did feare -
The Swedes in Funen bought the triall deare.
At last his Prince's service called him home
To die, on Thames, his bancke, and leave this tombe,
To bear his name unto posteritie,
And make all men love his memorie.
Alexandro Brussio
Ex Robertii Brossii, Scotorum Regis
Filio Natu secundo progenito
Baroni Airthensi.
Primum in Belgio per Annos XLII.
Dein in Anglia pro Tribuno Regio.
Viro cum strenuo turn pientissimo.
Aetatis anno LVI. vitague simul defuncto.
A.D. XVII. Kal. Oct. ob. CI3, LIC. XLII.
G. Lauderus, affinis, M.P.
The modern French house of Bruce is derived from the Sir John Bruce of Airth who married Elizabeth Menteith and was murdered by his wife's relatives. Besides the son who succeeded him he had a second son, Thomas Bruce? who married Elizabeth Auchmoutie.
Adam Bruce of Waltown, great-grandson of the preceding, Thomas Bruce, Lord of Labertsheilles and Woodsyd, went to France in 1633 and established himself there. He married Eve Marie de Hermant and founded the house of the Counts Bruce in France that has been noted in the history of that country.
Louis Daniel, Count de Bruce, seigneur de Montlerard, great-grandson of Adam Bruce, was the first of the family who entered the service of the King of France. He married Harriette Dieudonnee de Montaigu, daughter of the Marquis de Montaigne.
Charles Hector, Count de Bruce, grandson of the preceding, was the head of the house in the nineteenth century. He was a chevalier of Malta, a chevalier of St. Louis, and a chevalier of the Legion of Honor. He was born in 1772. He married in 1820 Fanny de Chamont, daughter of the Chevalier de Chamont. Descendants of the Bruces of Airth were also established in Prussia and Russia.
A brief account of these Bruces and their families was given in a memoir written by Peter Henry Bruce and published in 1782. During the troublous times of the Protectorate two cousins of this house, John Bruce and James Bruce, determined to leave their native country and seek fortune abroad. John Bruce went to Berlin and entered the service of the Elector of Brandenburg. In time he rose to the command of a regiment and had large grants of land whereon he built the villages of Brucenwold and Jetkensdorf. His wife was of the family of Arensdorf. His eldest son, Charles Bruce, was killed at the siege of Namur.
James Bruce, youngest son of this John Bruce, married Elizabeth Catherine Detring of Detring castle, Westphalia. He was a lieutenant in a Scotch regiment commanded by the Earl of Leven in the service of Brandenburg.
Peter Henry Bruce, son of the preceding James Bruce, was educated in Scotland and then served in the Prussian army and afterwards in that of Russia. In 1714 he received his commission as captain in the artillery and engineers of the Russian army. After nearly twenty years he returned to Scotland, married, and settled upon a small estate near Cupar.
About 1740 he entered the service of the English as an engineer and was employed in refortifying Providence, one of the Bahama Islands, and in making surveys for the fortification of Charleston, S. C. During the last six months of 1745 he took part in the military operations about Hull, Newcastle, and elsewhere on the occasion of Prince Charles Edward's invasion of Scotland. Thereafter he retired to his farm where he died in 1747.
James Bruce, who also left Scotland in the time of Cromwell, went to Russia. There he settled and married and his descendants became numerous and powerful.
General Robert Bruce, grandson of this pioneer, was of the Russian ordnance service in the time of Peter the Great. He was a knight of four orders, St. Andrew, The White Eagle, The Black Eagle, and The Elephant. When the Czar was honored by his senate with the titles of Peter the Great and The Emperor of all the Russias, General Bruce was made a count of the Empire and received ten thousand roubles. At the coronation of the Empress Count Bruce carried the crown and the Countess Bruce was one of the four train-bearers.
VIII THE CAVENDISH-BRUCE FAMILY OF THE DUKES OF DEVONSHIRE
To no family of England did the Bruce stock in matrimonial alliance bring more of success and brilliant renown than to that of Cavendish.
In the early centuries of Scottish history the Cavendish ancestors were not of particular distinction. The marriage of Elizabeth Hardwicke to William Cavendish in the forepart of the sixteenth century - a lady who afterwards became the Countess of Shrewsbury — was the beginning of the change. As the Countess of Shrewsbury the widow Cavendish availed herself of her wealth and social position to guard and promote the interests of the children of her first husband. Under her tactful direction the house was able to take the first steps that led toward the substantial position among the peers of the realm that it now holds.
What the Countess of Shrewsbury began in the direction of the advancement of the family fortunes, political, social, and financial, was added to, two generations later, by the Countess of Devonshire, Christiana Bruce, daughter of Edward Bruce of Blairhall. It was undoubtedly due in no small degree to the genius of Christiana Bruce that her son and grandson as well as her descendants in succeeding generations, achieved the renown that has at Cavendish as a family appellation was not known previous to the fourteenth century.
It is held by some genealogists, and generally accepted with here and there a scant reservation, that the ancestors of the first Cavendish came from the Gernon family, which was of considerable note as remote as the eleventh century. According to this account, Robert Gernon was a Norman who came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. So far as the records show he does not appear to have been prominent, but he received several grants of lordships from King William and was a generous contributor to the churches.
Matthew de Gernon, son of the preceding, married Hodierna. daughter of Sir William Sackville, who was a son of Herbron de Sackville. Ralph de Gernon, son of the preceding, was living in 1167. He married a sister of Sir William de Brewse, who was a descendant of the first Alan de Brusee who went into Scotland after the Norman invasion and, as has already been shown, established the Bruce family there. Ralph de Gernon, son of the preceding, founded the Lees priory in Essex. He died in 1248.
William de Gernon, son of the preceding, died in 1258. He had a wife Eleanor and left two sons. One of his sons, Geoffrey de Gernon, was the father of Roger de Gernon who is believed to have married the daughter and heir of John Patton, Lord of Cavendish in Suffolk County, his children adopting the title name of their maternal grandfather. The surname Cavendish was derived from the locality Cavendish of Suffolk County.
John Cavendish, son of the preceding Roger de Gernon, was a noted lawyer and judge of England in the middle of the fourteenth century. It is said that his father was a justice itinerant in the reign of Henry II., which may account for the son's inclination for the legal profession. John Cavendish was chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and in 1352 he was a collector in the counties of Essex and Suffolk.
As early as 1366 he was a sergeant-at-law and soon after that time was a justice on the King's Bench. In 1373 he was appointed chief justice and reappointed in 1378. He was a lawyer of remarkable talent, and as a justice was particularly noteworthy, becoming one of the most conspicuous figures in his generation. His pronouncements from the bench were of strong character and made a deep impress upon the life of that period. One of his peculiar judgments attained more than transitory or mere local fame. As the story goes, he was trying a case in which the defendant, a lady, alleged, as a defence in a suit involving land possession, that she was a minor. The question of her age arising naturally, she announced her willingness to leave the decision on that point to Chief Justice Cavendish, but he declined to render a decision upon the grounds as he said:
"II n'ad nul home en Engleterre que luy adjudge a droit deins age ou de plein age, car escuns femes que sont de age de XXX ans voile apperer d'age de XVIII." *
He died June 15, 1381, under distressing circumstances. The peasantry in Suffolk County, under the leadership of Jack Straw, had risen in riot against the ruling authorities and their rage was directed particularly against the lawyers.
* Year Book, 50 Edward III., p. 12.
A mob of fifty thousand persons assembled and John Cavendish was sent to suppress the insurrection. He was captured by the mob and with Sir John of Cambridge, a prior of the Abbey, was brutally beheaded in the market-place of York. The people were especially incensed against him personally because his son, John Cavendish, had some time previously killed Watt Tyler in the insurrection led by that individual. He married Alice de Odyngseles, daughter and heiress of John de Odyngseles, and by her had two sons and one daughter. By this marriage he acquired the lordship of Cavendish-Overhall. His eldest son. Sir Andrew Cavendish, was sheriff of Suffolk and of Norfolk County and died in 1396.
John Cavendish, the youngest son of the preceding, was an esquire to King Richard II. He is said to have slain Watt Tyler at Smithfield, and he served under King Henry V., being present at the battle of Agincourt in October, 1415. "For William Walworth, Mayor of London, having arrested him, he furiously struck the mayor with his dagger, but being armed hurt him not; whereupon the mayor, drawing his baselard, grievously wounded Watt in the neck; in which conflict an esquire of the King's house, called John Cavendish, drew his sword and wounded him twice or thrice even to death. For which service Cavendish was knighted in Smithfield and had a grant of MW from the King."* He married Joan Clopton, daughter of Sir William Clopton, and had three sons.
* Collins' Peerage of England, by Sir Egerton Brydges. 1812 Edition, Vol. I., p. 308.
William Cavendish of Cavendish Overhall, son of the preceding, died in 1433. He married Joan Staventon, and had two sons.
Thomas Cavendish, eldest son of the preceding, was of Cavendish and Poslingford, Suffolk. He died in 1477. He married Katherine Scudamore, who died in September, 1499.
Thomas Cavendish of Cavendish Overhall was the clerk of the pipe in the Exchequer. He died in 1524. He married Alice Smith, daughter of John Smith of Podbrook Hall, Suffolk. She died in March, 1515, leaving two sons. One son, George Cavendish of Cavendish Overhall, was born in 1500, and became famous for his attachment to Cardinal Wolsey, whom he served from 1526 until the death of that prelate. After that he retired to private life and wrote a life of Wolsey. He died in 1562.
William Cavendish, youngest son of Thomas Cavendish, was born about 1505, and early in life engaged in the public service. In 1530 the King appointed him a commissioner to visit the monasteries to receive from the monks the property which they were called upon to surrender to the Crown. In 1541 he acquired valuable grants of land and in 1546 he was treasurer of the King's Chamber, was knighted, and was made a member of the Privy Council. Throughout his life he enjoyed the favor of his sovereigns, Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Queen Mary, and was a very wealthy man. He died October 25, 1557. He married, first, Margaret Bostock, daughter of Edmund Bostock of Walcroft in Cheshire, and had one son and four daughters. He married, second, Elizabeth Conyngsby, daughter of Thomas Conyngsby, and she died in 1540. He married, third, in 1541, Elizabeth Hardwicke, daughter of John Hardwicke of Hardwicke, Derbyshire, and widow of John Barley, and by her he had three sons and three daughters. After his death, she married George Talbot, the sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, and became famous as the great Countess of Shrewsbury.
William Cavendish, second son of the preceding, was a member of Parliament in 1588; a high sheriff of Derbyshire in 1599, and a justice of the peace in 1603. He was created Baron Cavendish of Hardwicke in 1605. Becoming seriously concerned in the advancement of English interests in America, he was associated with other leading men of his time in promoting the colonizing of Virginia and the Islands of Bermuda; one island of the Bermuda group was named for him. He inherited a large fortune from his mother, the Countess of Shrewsbury, and from his elder brother, Henry Cavendish, who died in 1616. Among the possessions received from his mother were the three estates of Chatsworth, Hardwicke, and Oldcotes, which have been described as "the three most splendid estates ever raised by one hand." He was created Earl of Devonshire in 1618 and died March 3, 1625-26. He married, first, Anne Keighley, daughter of Henry Keighley of Keighley, Yorkshire, and had three sons and three daughters. He married, second, Elizabeth Boughton, daughter of Edward Boughton of Couston, Warwickshire, and widow of Sir Richard Wortley of Yorkshire.
William Cavendish, second son of the preceding and the second Earl of Devonshire, was born in 1591. He was a member of Parliament in 1621 and thereafter, and Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire in 1619, and again in 1625 and 1626. He was a man of many accomplishments, one of the noted gallants of his age, and a spendthrift of such prodigality that when he died he left his family almost in poverty and his estate burdened with indebtedness of every description. He died June 20, 1628. He married, in 1608-9, Christiana Bruce, who became one of the most famous women of her time in England and whose marvellous abilities exercised in various directions not only resuscitated the fortunes of the house of Cavendish but started son and grandson on that splendid career which since her time has distinguished the house of Devonshire.
She was young in years when married, being less than thirteen, and she took to her husband a handsome dowry from the king, James I., who esteemed her father Edward Bruce, Lord of Kinloss, as one of his prime favorites. To this dowry the king persuaded the father of William Cavendish to add a substantial amount so that the young couple were well started in life. Upon the death of her husband it was discovered that his estate was heavily charged and complicated with nearly thirty law-suits. The countess thereupon devoted herself to saving the property and to the education of her son, to whom she was intensely devoted. The litigation in which she was involved was made as perplexing and tedious as possible by the cunning and power of her adversaries, yet in the end she triumphed over all opposition and her success was so marked that it became the talk of the kingdom. On one occasion King Charles jestingly remarked to her, "Madame, you have all my judges at your disposal," which perhaps may be taken as an indication of how she was able to overcome the disasters that threatened her estate. She developed marked business talent and increased the value of her holdings until she became very wealthy. She had fine intellectual qualities and also took an active and important part in the politics of the kingdom.
At the time of the rebellion against the Stewarts, she supported the cause of the royal house, and after the battle of Worcester carried away and concealed for King Charles much of her personal property. Her devotion to the Stewarts was intensified by the death of her younger son, Charles Cavendish, who was killed at the battle of Gainsborough, July 27, 1643, fighting against the army of Cromwell. During the Protectorate she maintained her relations with the royalists, giving them much secret assistance. After the Restoration King Charles II. was frequently at her house, and she was upon intimate terms with the leading men and women of the new regime. Her palace was the center of hospitality and she entertained many men of letters who wrote agreeable verses in her praise. It was said of her that she was —
"of that affability and sweet address with so great wit and judgment as captivated all who conversed with her and of such strict virtue and morals that she was an example to her sex." Horace Walpole wrote of her as follows: "
Christiana Bruce, Countess of Devonshire, was a lady of much note in her time. She was the daughter of the Lord Bruce of Kinloss, one of the favorites of James I., who to facilitate her match into so great a family gave her, besides his recommendation £10,000. ... In her youth she was the platonic mistress of William, Earl of Pembroke, who, according to the romantic gallantry of the age, wrote a volume of poems in her praise which were published and dedicated to her by Dr. Donne. In every period she seems to have held one of those female tribunals of literature first instituted by the Marquise de Rambouillet at Paris and of late years very numerous there. The Lord Lisle in a letter to Sir William Temple tells him that the old Countess of Devonshire's house was Mr. Waller's chief theatre. One of the Independents has recorded her life in a small tract written in the more spiritual tone of those times. Upon the whole her ladyship seems to have been a fair model of our ancient nobility, a compound of piety, regularity, and human wisdom so discreetly classed as to suffer none of them to trespass on the interests of its associates. Thus while her devotion was universally admired, her prudence entrusted the education of her eldest son to Mr. Hobbes; and though she lived up to the splendour of her rank, having a jointure of 5,000 a year, so judicious was her economy that she nearly doubled it; and having procured the wardship of her son she managed his affairs so skillfully as to extricate his estate from a vast debt.
"Nor were politics neglected by a lady so extremely tinctured with a knowledge of the world. On the contrary Lady Devonshire was not only busy but reckoned instrumental in the conduct of the Restoration, being trusted by the pearl of secrecy. General Monck. In a word, if this Countess in the flower of her age was like the Queen of Bohemia, the theme of the wits and poets of the court; in her riper years she seems to have imbibed the profitable wisdom of her Lord's grandmother, the famous Countess of Shrewsbury, and to have made it her study to preserve and augment that wealth of importance to the house of Cavendish of which the gran-dame had laid such ample foundation."
The Countess of Devonshire died January l(i, 1674-75. Her second son, Charles Cavendish, who was born in 1670, was named after Prince Charles Stewart. He served in the war against Cromwell, becoming a general of cavalry. At Gainsborough, July 28, 1643, he was defeated and killed. William Cavendish, the third Earl of Devonshire, son of the preceding, was born in 1617, and upon the coronation of King Charles I. in 1625 he was made a Knight of Bath. His advancement in public life was rapid and he became Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire in 1638, retaining that office until 1641 and was High Steward of Ampthill in 1639-40. Devotedly attached to the royalist cause he was marked by the opponents of the Stewarts, and was one of the eight peers of England who were impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and expelled from the House of Lords in 1642. He was attainted and his estate was sequestrated and a heavy fine imposed upon him. Under these circumstances he was obliged to leave England and remained abroad on the Continent until 1645. Then he secured pardon and lived in retirement with his mother at Latimers, Buckinghamshire. Upon the restoration of the house of Stewart his disabilities were removed and he was reappointed Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire. He was a man of high culture, interested in scientific pursuits, and was one of the original Fellows of the Royal Society- He died November 23, 1684. He married Elizabeth Cecil, daughter of William Cecil, Earl of Salisbury. She died November 19, 1689.
William Cavendish, eldest son of the preceding, was born January 25, 1640, and was educated under the careful direction of his grandmother. In 1661 he was a member of Parliament for Derbyshire, and was again in Parliament in 1666. He served in the British navy in 1665, and in 1669 was appointed on an embassy to France. From 1675 until 1681 he was in Parliament in strong opposition to the court party, and became one of the foremost men of the realm. He succeeded his father as Earl of Devonshire in 1684. He was a man of pronounced views, irascible and impatient, and was constantly in trouble with others who were active in the public affairs of the day. As a result of an encounter with Colonel Thomas Culpepper he was sentenced to pay a heavy fine and was condemned to confinement. He escaped from prison, but all the influence of his grandmother, the Countess of Devonshire, and her family could not avail wholly to save him from the consequences of his act. It was not until long afterwards, in 1697, when political power in Parliament had changed that the record of his conviction was removed. For several years in the latter part of the seventeenth century he was living in retirement, but never ceased his opposition to King James and was among those who made plans for the succession to the English throne of the Prince of Orange. He was very useful in bringing about the accession of William and Mary to the throne in 1689, and as a reward for his services the new sovereign appointed him Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire, and he was elected a Knight of the Garter. In 1692 he served in the English army in Flanders, and as a result of that campaign he was created Duke of Devonshire. He was much addicted to sport of all kinds, especially horse-racing, and was noted even in that luxurious age for the munificence of his entertainments. His last public service was in assisting to conclude the union with Scotland for negotiating which he and his son, the Marquis of Hartington, had been appointed among the commissioners by Queen Anne.
He died August 18, 1707, and ordered the following inscription to be put on his monument : — " Willielmus Dux Devon, Bonorum Principum Fidelis Subditus, Inimicus et Invisus Tyrannis." He married in 1660, in Kilkenny, Ireland, Lady Mary of Ormonde, daughter of James, Duke of Ormonde.
In later generations the representatives of the ducal house of Devonshire, descendants of Christiana Bruce, have not been less famous or less distinguished than those of their ancestors whose careers have here been noted. They have been prominent in public life, serving their country at home and abroad, and have exercised a marked influence upon each generation of English life. The Devonshire ducal house is rightly regarded as one of the most eminent, most distinguished, and most powerful in the United Kingdom.
IX. ROYAL HOUSE OF STEWART
AS a royal house, the family of Stewart which gave kings to Scotland and to England for several centuries and whose history became one of the most conspicuous parts of the annals of the United Kingdom, was more Bruce than Stewart. The surname was derived from ancestors who, while they had been not without distinction in the generations immediately preceding their matrimonial connection with the Bruces, were in no wise royal. The pedigree went back to men of eminence only a few hundred years, and, honorable as it was, the record in the beginning was not even of nobility. Stewarts could claim no relationship to royalty previous to the marriage of Walter, High Steward of Scotland, to Marjory Bruce.
With that alliance there was brought into the family the blood of a stock which, as has been shown on preceding pages, went back generation after generation, not only on the male side but also in various collateral lines, to those who had been foremost in making history and in establishing nations upon the European Continent and the adjacent islands. Between the Stewarts who began in the twelfth century and the Bruces who started from kings and princes six hundred years before and could also trace through generations to the royal houses of Scotland and Ireland, there was a wide difference. It was the royal strain brought into the family by Marjory Bruce that gave the descendants of Walter, the High Steward, their claim to the throne. Therefore it was that the Stewarts as a ruling house were really Bruce in everything except name. Still, despite these considerations, among the many great families with which the Bruce line became connected in marriage none was more worthy or had up to that time occupied a more conspicuous place in the history of Scotland than that of Stewart. Its history began in the time of William the Conqueror, and after the twelfth century it was a house of power and distinction while its representatives ranked among the leading men of Scotland. So far as careful antiquarian research has been able to discover, the family was of Norman origin and vestiges of its English founder have been discovered in the province of Dol in the north-eastern section of Brittany.
It is believed that the first English or Scotch ancestor came from France about the time of William the Conqueror or shortly before. An ingenious but not altogether successful attempt has been made by some writers to connect the family with Bancho, thane of Lochaber, who lived in the reign of King Duncan of Scotland and was murdered by Macbeth in 1043. This is the Banquo of Boece and Shakespeare, and his place in history as an ancestor of the Stewarts, as argued by the supporters of this pedigree, is somewhat hypothetical although not wholly impossible. The argument in its favor is presented strongly by the Reverend, J. K. Hewison in Bute in Olden Time, and by others before and since that author. According to this pedigree the son of Banquo was Fleance who married Nesta, daughter of Griffith ap Lewellin, a Prince of Wales who was murdered by ruffians in 1045. Walter, son of Fleance, was obliged to leave Wales on account of disturbances at that time and was brought up in the court of King Edward the Confessor. Having some disagreement with the Saxon court he was sent to the Continent to live with Alan, Earl of Brittany, who was a relative of his mother. He married a daughter of Alan, and subsequently joining the army of William the Conqueror, fought in the battle of Hastings in 1066.
For some reason he fell into disfavor with King William and retired to Scotland where he was received by King Malcolm III., and thereafter rendered considerable service to the Scottish king. In reward he was made Dapifer Domini Regis, an office which did not differ much from that of the High Steward of Scotland which was subsequently the hereditary prerogative of the Stewart family. Alan, son of Walter, became a valiant knight and went to the Holy War under the standard of Godfrey Bouillon. He was present at the taking of Jerusalem in 1099. After his return home he was made Lord High Steward of Scotland in 1153.
Walter Fitz Alan is the member of this royal family who is accepted with certitude by all genealogists as the real founder of the stock in Scotland. From him downward to later generations the pedigree is without controversy. Variant and speculative genealogical discussion regarding him concerns itself only with his origin and ancestry. Those who hold to the genealogy just presented make him the son of Alan who was the great-grandson of Bancho. The more accepted and reliable view is that he was the son of Alan Flaald, a Norman knight who obtained, soon after the conquest of England, the grant of the castle of Owestry in the County of Salop. There is nothing to show that this Alan Flaald may not have been the Alan, son of Walter, who was Lord High Steward of Scotland in 1153 and is included in the supposed line from Bancho.
According to Eyton* and other Scotch historians, this Alan married Avelina or Adelina de Hesdinges, sister of Ernulf de Hesdinges, and had three sons. Walter Fitz Alan founded the Abbey of Paisley in Renfrewshire for monks of the Cluniac order from the convent of Wenlock in Salop in 1164, and his family became fully established in Renfrewshire where it remained for centuries, being a large owner of land, and wealthy and powerful. From the death of King David 1., in 1153, to the death of King David II., in 1371, the Fitz Alans held chief sway in Renfrewshire and were persons of weight throughout the kingdom. It is said that Walter Fitz Alan went from Shropshire in England to Scotland during the reign of King David, and that monarch made him Steward of Scotland and gave him valuable lands.
In 1153 King Malcolm IV., the successor to King David I., confirmed these grants and further maintained the family in important standing. Eyton* says that he married Eschina, daughter of Thomas de Londoniis and heiress of Molle and Huntlaw in Roxburghshire. He died in 1177.
* Antiquities of Shropshire, by R. W. Eyton, Vol. VII., p. 228.
Alan Fitz Alan, son of the preceding, succeeded his father in the important office of High Steward of Scotland. He was a man of notable character and emulated the zeal of his father in religious affairs, giving many munificent grants to church institutions. He died in 1204 and was buried in the Abbey of Paisley. He married, first, Eva, daughter of Suan, who was a son of Thor, Lord of Tippermuir and Tranant ; second, Alesta, daughter of Morgund, Earl of Mar.
Walter Fitz Alan, eldest son of the preceding, became in turn the High Steward of Scotland. So far as the records go he was the first to term himself and to be called Seneschallus Scotise. On August 24, 1230, he was appointed by King Alexander II. to the office of justiciary of Scotland. He was held in such esteem by King Alexander that he was commissioned as an ambassador to negotiate with Mary, the daughter of Ingelram, Count de Coucy, for her marriage to the King of Scotland after the death of his first wife in 1239. He was preeminently successful in this mission, as the marriage of the king to Mary of Ingelram in the same year fully evidences. Like his father and grandfather he was a benefactor of the church, and besides other grants for religious purposes, he founded the monastery at Dalmulin on Air. He was born in Paisley and died there in 1246. He married Beatrix, daughter of Gilchrist, Earl of Angus. His sons were Alexander Fitz Alan, who succeeded him; John Fitz Alan, killed at the siege of Damietta in Egypt in 1249; Walter Fitz Alan, Earl of Monteith; and William Fitz Alan.
Alexander Fitz Alan, eldest son of the preceding, became High Steward of Scotland after the death of his father. He was a valued counsellor of King Alexander HI., and in 1255 was named as one of the regents of the kingdom of Scotland. In that year he received a charter of the barony Garbis and himself gave many charters and grants to churches. He was not only beneficent and well-disposed toward his dependents, but was a brave man and a capable commander in military affairs. At the battle of Largs, in 1263, he led the Scottish forces under King Alexander III. and was mainly instrumental in the defeat of the Norwegians under King Hakon. In 1264 he was sent to the Isle of Man to receive there the subjection of the people who heretofore had been under the domination of the kingdom of Norway; and he secured the annexation of the island to Scotland. When at Rosburgh in 1289 the nobles of Scotland assembled to consider the succession to the crown of Scotland in case of the decease of the ruling king he was prominent and influential in the deliberations. He was a subscriber to the agreement for marriage between Mary, the daughter of King Alexander III., and Eric, King of Norway. He died in 1283. He married Jean, daughter of James Macrory, who was the son of Angus Macrory, Lord of Bute. His children were James Fitz Alan, who succeeded him; Sir John Stewart of Bonkyl, the ancestor of the Stewarts of that name, and Elizabeth Fitz Alan, who married William, Lord Douglas, of Lugton in Lothian.
Margaret Fitz Alan, the youngest daughter of Walter Fitz Alan and sister of Alexander Fitz Alan, married Niel, Earl of Carrick. In the next generation the daughter of this marriage, Marjory of Carrick, married Robert Bruce, seventh of the name; by this marriage the first union of the houses of Bruce and Stewart was brought about.
James Fitz Alan or James Stewart, son of the preceding and the next High Steward of Scotland, succeeded his father in 1283. By this time the Fitz Alan family had become habituated to the use as a surname of the name of the hereditary office that their ancestors had held for generations. It is not certain exactly when the change in the family name was made, and in fact for several generations both surnames were in use at the same time indiscriminately. But James Fitz Alan became James Stewart and his descendants gradually grew more and more accustomed to the use of the new name until finally they adopted it altogether. Like his ancestors, James Stewart was a man of influence and power and taken much into consideration in all important proceedings in the kingdom. In 1286 he was one of the six regents who were appointed to rule under Queen Margaret after the death of King Alexander III. In September, 1286, associated with his brothers, John Stewart and Walter Stewart, Earl of Monteith, and other leading nobles assembled at Turnberry Castle, he was a subscriber to the agreement to support the claims of Robert Bruce to the throne of Scotland.
In 1291 he was one of the auditors acting on the part of Robert Bruce to support that noble's claims before King Edward of England. In 1297 he gave his support to the cause of the patriotic William Wallace, but upon the failure of that enterprise he was, in common with many other Scottish nobles, compelled to make his peace with King Edward and swear fealty to that monarch. Still devoted to his country and willing to sacrifice everything to secure her freedom from English rule, in 1302, with six others of like patriotism, he visited France to solicit the assistance of King Philip to enable Scotland to maintain her liberties; and afterwards he was engaged on a similar mission to the court of Spain. He died July 16, 1309, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He married Cecilia, daughter of Patrick, Earl of Dunbar and March, and had three sons and one daughter. His sons were Walter Stewart, who succeeded him; Sir John Stewart, who was with the army of invasion that Edward Bruce led to Ireland in 1318, and with Bruce was killed at the battle of Dundalk; Sir James Stewart of Durisdeer.
WALTER Stewart, son of the preceding, was the next High Steward of Scotland. He was born in 1293. He was one of the staunchest and most trusted supports of the Bruce and when King Robert invaded Ireland in 1316, he and Sir James Douglas were appointed governors of Scotland to rule the kingdom in the absence of the king. He showed himself possessed of patriotic spirit and of military instinct at an early age, and in 1314 at Torwood, preceding the battle of Bannockburn, he brought a body of hardy men to support the Bruce, the sturdy warriors of Slrathgryfe.
"Walter Stewart of Scotland fyne That then was but a beardless hyne, Came with a rout of noble men, That might by countenance be ken."*
In arranging the forces of the Scottish army for the ensuing combat, Walter Stewart had command of the third division in company with Sir James Douglas.
"And syne the third battle they gave To Walter Stewart for to lead And to Douglas doughty of deed, They were cousins in near degree. Therefore to him betaught was he; For he was young but not forthy, I trow he shall so manlily Do his devoir, and work so well That he shall need no more zounseil." *
In the battle of Bannockburn he shared to the full the work and dangers of the day as well as the glory of victory. In recognition of his services he was knighted for bravery and at that time he had reached the age only of twenty-one. He married, early in life, Alice Erskine, daughter of Sir John Erskine, and had by her a daughter, Jean Stewart, who married Hugh, Earl of Ross.
* Metrical Life of Robert Bruce, by John Barbour, p. 228 and p. 232.
The romance of his life came after he had acquitted himself so brilliantly at Bannockburn before the eyes of King Robert Bruce and the other nobles of Scotland. In the next year when the royal Scottish prisoners. Queen Elizabeth, Marjory Bruce, daughter of the King; Christiana Bruce, sister of the King; Earl Mar, the Bishop of Glasgow, and others were released from confinement in England where they had been held by King Edward I. they were sent to the Scottish borders under English escort. King Robert Bruce commissioned Walter Stewart to receive them and escort them to Scottish soil. This was the first meeting of the young warrior with Marjory Bruce and he immediately fell in love with her. King Robert must have held his supporter in the highest esteem, for he willingly gave his daughter to him in marriage and conferred upon him the barony of Bathgate and other valuable lands. Marjory (Bruce) Stewart died in 1316, only a year after she was married. Walter Stewart married, third, Isabel Graham, daughter of Sir John Graham of Abercorn. He died April 9, 1326.
Robert Stewart, the succeeding High Steward of Scotland, was the only son of Walter Stewart and Marjory Bruce. He was born March 2, 1316. When he was little more than seventeen years of age he was placed in command of a body of troops of the Scottish army upon the field of Halidon. After that defeat he was concealed for some time in Bute, knowing full well that the King of England was desirous of apprehending him, inasmuch as he was the heir-apparent to the Scottish throne. By act of parliament in session at Scone in 1318 the throne was entailed upon the issue of Marjory Bruce in the case of the death of all male heirs. Therefore Robert Stewart was next in line of succession to King David II., son of King Robert Bruce.
In 1334 he found refuge in the castle of Dunbarton and began actively to engage in plans for the recovery of Scotland for King David. While the King was in exile in France he was associated with John Randolph, Earl of Moray, as one of the regents of Scotland and assisted in the military operations which resulted in Baliol, the pretender to the throne, being overthrown and driven from Scotland. In consequence of changes in the situation, in 1335, he lost the regency and Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell took his place. Three years later Sir Andrew Moray died and Robert Stewart again became a regent. During all these years he was active in encouraging the national spirit of Scotland and in developing plans for the reinstatement of King David and the firmer establishment of the Stewart royal house upon the throne. When King David and his wife Joanna returned from France, Robert Stewart was among the first to greet them, and in the fighting that followed he was in the forefront of the battle at Durham that resulted so disastrously to the Scottish cause. After the capture of King David on this occasion Robert Stewart exerted himself to the uttermost to secure the release of Scotland's young monarch from the hands of the English. He was active and influential in the negotiations for the treaty of peace between Scotland and England, and when that treaty was signed in 1357 he was one of the eight Scottish nobles who submitted themselves as hostages to King Edward to secure the fulfillment of its terms.
King David died February 22, 1370-1. As he left no male heir, Robert Stewart succeeded him on the throne and was crowned at Scone March 27, 1371. As a monarch King Robert II. made no marked impress upon his age. His precocious youth when he accomplished so much for Scotland and his relative, King David, was the most brilliant part of his life. Although he reigned for nineteen years, that period was of secondary importance compared to the years that had preceded in his life. It was of consequence only as marking an epoch in Scottish history, the commencement of a new race of kings - the Stewarts.
King Robert II. was past his prime when he came to the throne and seems to have lost altogether the spirit of activity that once dominated him. Shortly after his accession England again waged war upon Scotland, but the King took no vigorous personal part in the defence of his country. Even when the French under Admiral Vienne came over to assist their Scottish allies King Robert was not present at first to meet them. Subsequently when he did see them he did not make a very agreeable impression. As one of the writers of that age said, they thought "it seemed right well that he was not a valiant man in arms; it seemed that he had rather lie still than ride."*
After that the King retired to the Highlands and did not show himself for some time, taking no part in military operations because, as the same writer says, "he was not in good point to ride in warfare and there he tarried all the war through and let his men alone." * He died in 1390. He married, first, Elizabeth Mure, daughter of Sir Adam Chronicles of England, France, and Spain, by Jean de Froissart. Mure of Rowallan, and by her had four sons and six daughters. He married, second, in 1355, Euphemia, Countess of Moray, daughter of Hugh, Earl of Ross, and widow of John Randolph, Earl of Moray, and by her had two sons and one daughter.
Robert (John) Stewart, son of the preceding by his wife Elizabeth Mure, was born about 1340. He was originally John Stewart, but that name was changed to Robert in order that as a monarch he should not carry the Christian name of John Baliol, the old-time enemy of the Bruces in their contesting for the throne, and also from the desire of his parents to preserve in the line of the kings of the house the family name of Robert. He was the eldest son of King Robert II., and upon the death of his father in 1390 he was crowned at Scone. Physically he was not strong, and he never really governed the kingdom. He had little inclination to rule and was quite willing to entrust the affairs of the kingdom to regents who directed affairs the greater part of his lifetime. The first regent, his brother Robert, Earl of Fife and Duke of Albany, was succeeded in 1399 by David Stewart, the King's son, Earl of Carrick and Duke of Rothesay.
Albany conspired against his royal brother, and contested the position of the Duke of Rothesay, who shortly died at Falkland under circumstances that have never been fully explained, but that have always been regarded as pointing toward his having been put away at the instigation of his uncle Albany. These domestic troubles naturally gave King Robert much unhappiness, and he took less and less interest in the affairs of his kingdom, allowing the contentious nobles to go on altogether in their own way. Retiring to his castle Rothesay, he fell into sickness and died April 4, 1406. His melancholy pursued him to the end. It is related that his wife urged him to follow the examples of his ancestors and the custom of the age by preparing a royal tomb for himself, but he refused her importunings, saying that he "was a wretched man unworthy of a proud sepulchre;" and he prayed her to bury him in a dung-hill with this epitaph, "Here lies the worst king and the most miserable man in the whole kingdom." He married Annabella Drummond, daughter of Sir John Drummond. She died in 1401. He had three sons and three daughters.
James Stewart, third son of the preceding, was bom in Dunfermline in 1394. After the death of his brother David, Duke of Rothesay, in March 1402, by reason of the anxiety of his parents lest he might fall victim to the animosity of his uncle Albany and other nobles, he was placed with Bishop Henry Wardlaw at St. Andrew's to be cared for and to be educated. Two years later it was determined to send him to France for greater security, but on the way thither he was captured by an English man-of-war and with his companions taken to London where he was first imprisoned in the Tower. During the subsequent nineteen years he lived in exile in England under more or less restraint, part of the time in prison, and again enjoying considerable freedom at the courts of King Henry IV. and King Henry V., and in the castles of English favorites of those kings. He was a man of pronounced literary taste and a writer of much merit. Several of his poetical works rank among the masterpieces of that period of English literature. The Kingis Quair tells in part his life story and a melancholy tinge pervades it.
"Bewailing in my chamber thus allone,
Despeired of all joye and remedye;
Fortirit of my thought and wo begone,
And to the wyndow gan I walk in hye,
To see the world and folk y' went forbye,
As for the tyme though I of mirthis fude
My* have no more, to luke it did me gude."*
When he came to manhood he met with much favor from King Henry V., and accompanied that monarch on many military expeditions. He was present with King Henry at the siege of Melun when the army of France with its Scot- tish supporters was defeated after a four months' engagement. Thereafter he remained in France several years, but upon the death of King Henry he returned to England. When the treaty was arranged between England and Scotland, in 1423, he was released upon payment of ransom and the agree- ment of other minor conditions. Before his return to Scot- land he married, in February, 1423-4, Lady Joanna Beaufort, daughter of John Beaufort, the first Earl of Somerset, and granddaughter of John Plantagenet of Gaunt. On May * The Kingis Quaire, by King James I., Canto II. 21 of the same year he was crowned King of Scotland as James I., at Scone.
As soon as he was seated upon the throne he manifested great personal interest in the affairs of his kingdom and entered upon a policy of inaugurating new legislation, a policy that he consistently followed throughout his entire life. Very early in his reign he was drawn into a contest with the nobles of Scotland who were principally led by Douglas, Dunbar, and Lennox; some twenty-five or thirty nobles were engaged in opposition to the crown and eventually a rebellion broke out led by James of Albany and others. This uprising was suppressed and several of the leaders were hanged, but the movement of the nobles against the royal house was never fully overcome. Throughout his reign the Albany malcontents were in constant opposition and the King was never able to abandon the policy of trying to destroy the power of those great nobles. Toward the end of his life strained relations with England promised to bring about another war between the two countries and this added to his troubles. He was a monarch of much ability, ruling under the most discouraging conditions, but still accomplishing a great deal for his beloved Scotland. It has been said of him that "while the nation made his predecessors kings he made Scotland a nation."
He died February 20, 1437, being assassinated by Sir Robert Graham. The story is told that in the previous December he journeyed to Perth to keep Christmas.
"As he was about to cross the Forth a Highland woman shouted 'An ye pass this water ye shall never return again alive.' He took up his residence in the cloister of the Black Friars of Perth. While playing a game of chess with a knight nicknamed the King of Love James referring to a prophecy that a king should die that year said to his opponent, 'There are no kings in Scotland but you and I. I shall take good care of myself and I counsel you to do the same.' A favorite squire told James he had dreamt that Sir Robert Graham would slay the king and for this he was rebuked by the Earl of Orkney. James himself had a dream of a cruel serpent and horrible toad attacking him in his chamber."
Finally these prophecies and dreams were realized in his assassination. By the marriages of his children he strengthened the royal house and the Scottish kingdom by powerful home and foreign alliances. Margaret Stewart married Louis, the Dauphin of France, who afterwards became King Louis XL of France. Elizabeth, or Isabel, Stewart married Francis, Count of Montfort and Duke of Bretagne. Joan, or Janet, Stewart married James Douglas, Lord Dalkeith. Mary Stewart married Wolfram van Borselen, Lord of Camp-Vere in Zealand, who by his wife was Earl of Buchan in Scotland. Annabella Stewart married George Gordon, the second Earl of Huntley. Eleanor Stewart married the Arch-Duke Sigismund of Austria.
James Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, son of the preceding, was born October 16, 1430. Only seven years old at the time of his father's death in 1437, he was crowned at Scone in March of that year. A regency was established, and the young prince was retained in the custody of his queen mother. Civil war between the rival nobles broke out and continued during the lifetime of this monarch as it had in the lifetime of his parent. When he became of age and assumed the throne and with it the authority, he was drawn into the contentions between the nobles, and as his father had done, maintained opposition to the great leaders of the nobles' party. Personally he killed Lord Douglas and followed up that deed by a campaign in 1453-55 against the Douglas supporters. A war with England also demanded his attention, without which at that time no Scottish king could fairly consider himself to be ruling. In this war he laid siege to the city of Roxburgh and there was killed accidentally August 3, 1460. As a monarch he was vigorous, politic, and successful. Sincerely devoted to his people and desirous of raising Scotland to power as a nation, and of improving its domestic condition, he was naturally popular with the commons, but like his predecessors and those who followed him failed to win the approval and support of the noble class. He married, in 1449, Mary Gelderland, daughter of Arnold, Duke of Gelderland. By this marriage he strengthened the relations between Scotland and Flanders.
James Stewart, son of the preceding, was born July 10, 1451. In his minority the nobles, still struggling against their inevitable downfall as a concentrated political power, tried to usurp authority but were not at all successful. In the exigency King James III., who had been crowned at the Abbey Kelso on the death of his father, took actual control of affairs in 1460 when he was only eighteen years of age. At that time he had been just married and his bride was twelve years old, the Princess Margaret, daughter of King Christian I. of Denmark. The first part of his reign was very fortunate since Scotland was quiet at home and enjoyed peace abroad. Presently, however, came the inevitable war with England, while the brother of the king, the Duke of Albany, rose against him and secured the support of King Edward IV. of England. For a time James was successful against this movement of the nobles, but at Sauchie in 1488 his army was defeated and he was driven despairingly from the field. The circumstances of his death as related by the historians of the period were touching, but reflected little upon his courage. Escaping from the field of disaster he imprudently revealed his identity to a woman who was drawing water at a well by mournfully telling her, "I was your king this morning." According to the traditional story the woman thereupon called for a priest, and a soldier of the victorious army who happened to be near by assumed that character. When asked by the fallen monarch to shrive him the soldier replied that he would give him short shrift and promptly dispatched him with his sword.
James Stewart, son of the preceding, was born March 18, 1472-3. After the fatal battle of Sauchie he was crowned as King James IV., and at once his troubles began at home and abroad. Some of the noble leaders who had been in revolt during the reign of his father were now restored to power, but the plottings that had been going on for generations preceding still continued, and King James found great difficulty in meeting them and in keeping his kingdom quiet. At times he was courted by princes, on friendly terms with his father-in-law, blessed by the Pope, and at peace with his subjects. Again he was at odds with all parties and nearly all personages. In 1513 he was obliged to go to war again with England and was killed at Flodden.
The story goes that at the time of this battle, before leaving Linlithgow, he had been warned against the war by an apparition. A version of this tale, given by Pittscottie, was the basis of Scott's Marmion. Therein it is related how a bald-headed old man in blue gown with brotikins on his feet and belted with a linen girdle suddenly appeared at the king's desk where he prayed and prophesied the defeat and death that so soon followed. James married, in 1503, Lady Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of King Henry VH. of England. Out of this alliance grew the right of the Stewarts to the throne of England, which was successfully asserted three generations later when King James VI. of Scotland, great-grandson of King James IV., became King James I. of England.
James Stewart, only son of the preceding, was born April 15, 1512. He was crowned at Scone in 1513 as King James V. Throughout his reign he was the victim of the evils of a regency and the ambitions of the nobles, and was no more able to contend successfully against them than had been the kings of his household who had preceded him. The marriage of the queen mother to Archibald Douglas, Lord Angus, alienated the son from his maternal parent, and before he was eighteen years of age he plunged into the midst of affairs and made war the pursuit of his life. He had varying success against the Douglas party, but was always in the midst of conspiracies, mostly to his disadvantage, and he had also continually to contend against border raids with which the English vexed the country throughout his reign. His army was overthrown by the English at Solway, November 25, 1542, in more disastrous defeat even than that of Flodden, and the king died in Falkland, December 16 following.
James married, first, in 1537, Madeleine, daughter of Francis I., King of France. His queen was an exceedingly attractive young woman, and it is said of her that " her fragile beauty won all hearts in Scotland." When she died in July, 1537, only a few months after her marriage, there was general and sincere mourning for her. James married, second, in 1538, Mary of Guise, daughter of Claude de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, and widow of the Due de Longueville.
Mary Stewart, daughter of the preceding by his wife Mary of Guise, was born December 8, 1542, and was a mere infant when the death of her father made her the queen. Her history as Mary, Queen of Scots, has become a household word in English-speaking lands, and need not be dwelt upon here. By the order of Queen Elizabeth of England she was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle, February 8, 1586, after a life full of unhappiness. She married, first, in 1558, Francis, the Dauphin of France, afterwards King Fancis II. ; second, in 1566, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, eldest son of Matthew, fourth Earl of Lennox, heir-male of the Stewarts; third, in 1567, James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell.
James Stewart, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, by her husband, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, was born June 19, 1566. When his mother was forced to resign the crown at the time when the young prince was but a year old, he was declared king with the title of James VI. of Scotland, being crowned at Stirling, July 29, 1567. Upon the demise of Queen Elizabeth of England in 1603 he received the sceptre of England in addition to that of Scotland, ascending to the throne of the United Kingdom as King James I. With the union of Scotland and England the history of the Stewarts as the royal line of Scotland exclusively came to an end.
X. LINE OF THE IRISH KINGS
NO history of ancient times has been more carefully or more thoroughly investigated by painstaking scholars of mediaeval and modern times than that which treats of the origin and the careers of the Irish kings. Plentiful records concerning those monarchs were preserved by the old monks of the early Christian period; and beyond that the priests and other functionaries who surrounded the rulers of the world in the long generations antedating the coming of Christ preserved much of information concerning the people from whom the Irish race and subsequently that of Scotland originally sprang. To these varied and multitudinous records were gradually added an abundance of tradition and much of mythical lore out of all which it has been possible to derive an interesting and generally acceptable account of the Hibernian chiefs and their ancestors.
It is largely due to the labors of the scholastic monks in the early centuries of the Christian era and even before that time that we are able to trace the history of those rulers chronologically and genealogically. In the fifth century nine scholars, among whom were St. Patrick, St. Benignus, and St. Carioch were appointed by the triennial parliament of Tara in the reign of Lseghaire, the one hundred and twenty-eighth monarch of Ireland, "to review, examine and reduce into order all the monuments of antiquity, genealogies, chronicles and records of the Kingdom." The documents thus examined and placed in order were carefully preserved in the national archives until the Danish and Anglo-Norman invasions. At that time some were destroyed; some were carried away to Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Rome, and elsewhere; some were preserved in public and private libraries in Ireland, and some were held in safety in Irish and Scotch convents and monasteries.*
* Irish Pedigrees, by John O'Hart. Fifth Edition, Vol. I, p. 17.
Early in the seventeenth century another special undertaking was inaugurated to bring together these scattered records, to compare them with original documents, and to compile from the vast amount of widely distributed material a reliable history of the colonization of Ireland from the earliest ascertainable period to about the close of the sixteenth century. The monumental work that was thus accomplished is known as The Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, and also as The Annals of the Four Masters. Upon this imposing work later historians and genealogists have in large measure depended, although much has been added from time to time from other sources, giving additional information or throwing new light upon what had been before collated. Thus the celebrated Irish Pedigrees of O'Hart and the works of O'Ferrall, the Irish historiographer to Queen Anne, and other investigators have given us works that not only reproduce but reinforce the conclusions of the Four Masters.
The task of compiling these annals was placed in the hands of the three brothers O'Clery, - Michael, Cucogry, and Conaire, - and Feearfeasa O'Mulconaire. Michael O'Clery, or Teige of the Mountain, was born in 1575. Early in life he sought admittance to the religious Order of St. Francis, but instead of giving himself up to religious work he determined to devote his life to historical research. He and his brothers became hereditary historians to the O'Donnells, princes of Tyrconnel. Peregrine O'Duigenan and Maurice O'Mulconaire of Roscommon, who were hereditary historians to the kings of Connaught, assisted the O'Clerys and Feearfeasa O'Mulconaire in their work.
Throughout a period of fifteen years these scholars were engaged in gathering manuscripts and various kinds of documentary and traditional evidence from all parts of Ireland. They had access to the Annals of Boyle which the monks in the Cistercian monastery of Boyle had collected; the Annals of Connaught which dealt with the history of Ireland from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century; the Annals of Innisf alien which had been collected by the monks in the Abbey of Innis- f alien and were also sometimes called the Annals of Munster; the Annals of Ulster collected by Cathal Maguire in the fifteenth century, and many other important collections of similar character.
Many of these original annals have been preserved to the present day and are even now accessible to scholars. The Leabhar-Gabhala of the O'Clerys contains poems and other documents which were the sources of the bardic history of Ireland. Many passages from these poems were reproduced verbatim in the Annals of the Four Masters. The first manuscript is in the library of the Royal Irish Academy. Another valuable source of information for this compilation was the Annals of Clonmacnoise which contained the synchronisms of Flann, the poems of Maelmura/ poems of Gillacaemhain, and so on.
The catalogue of Irish kings by Gillacaemhain, incorporated in the Annals of the Four Masters, was principally derived from the accumulated traditions of the poets and seanachils of Ireland. Pinkerton and other Scottish historians who have dealt with the early centuries of Ireland and Scotland unreservedly admit the antiquity and general reliability of this list. Pinkerton in commenting upon it says that it was " so easily preserved by the repetition of bards at high solemnities and some grand events of history" that it is readily credible. Michael O'CIery, speaking of the work of himself and his associates, said that the Annals were compiled "from the ancient and approved chronicles, records and other books of antiquity of the Kingdom of Ireland." The work upon the Annals was begun in the monastery of Donegal in 1632 and was finished in 1636. From the locality where the work was done the Annals are sometimes called The Annals of Donegal.
A further reason for confidence in these Annals is derived from the fact that the first settlers upon the island, the Mile-sians, established principles of law particularly involving hereditary possession of property. They adhered to the principle that a man's right to inheritance depended upon his family relationships, and therefore with them genealogy early became a very important matter. They employed officials whose duty it was carefully to compile the genealogical history of all families of prominence. These Milesian Irish genealogical records and chronicles were, even in the centuries before Christ, constantly examined and revised in order to prevent errors and to continue the historical family account. As state documents they were preserved from generation to generation, and they constituted the material from which in the third century was written, by order of the monarch Cormac MacArt, a history of the Irish nation called The Psalter of Tara.
From this and from other equally ancient and valuable records Cormac MacCullenan, Archbishop of Cashel and King of Munster, wrote in the ninth century The Psalter of Cashel, the original of which is now in the library of the British Museum. The reliability of these annals and records is now very generally recognized by scholars, and the chronological and genealogical pedigrees of the Irish kings set down in them is accepted as being quite as fully and firmly established as any history dealing with periods as far back as the beginning of the Christian era.
From the outset the royal Milesian rulers of Ireland were split into several lines of lords who controlled different parts of the island, just as in Norway, before the time of Harald Harfagra, the country was divided into many small kingdoms held by independent princes. But all these Irish kings derived originally from the same common stock and were also closely allied by intermarriages in successive generations.
Ultimately they united in the one royal house which held the most part of Ireland long before the Christian era and which, in its royal descendants, gave to Scotland the great family which dominated that country for nearly seven hundred years and became especially distinguished in its famous kings, Kenneth, Alexander, and Malcolm.
According to the ancient Irish historians Ireland was colonized by several nations more than two thousand years before the Christian era. These colonists were mostly of Scythian origin and they made no very deep impress upon the new country in which they settled, never rising in civilization higher than mere tribal existence. Then came the permanent occupants of the island who conquered the tribes who had preceded them. The origin of the later settlers has been traced to the conquerors from the East who overran the southwestern peninsula of Europe, subjugating the rude people of Galicia and Lusitania long before the Roman legions had invaded those countries.
These were the Gaelic, Milesian, or Scotic men who arrived in Ireland in the year of the world 3500, according to the ancient chronology. Under them the country was developed into a nation. They set up stable government, bringing with them customs and laws that had made Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and other nations of the East rich and powerful and the forerunners of modern civilization. The nation that they established remained in existence, and the continuity of the royal line was unbroken until Ireland was subjugated by King Henry II. of England in 1186.
It is recorded * that Niul, the youngest son of Fenius Farsa (Phoeniusa Farsaidh), king of Scythia, being a man of great learning was invited into Egypt by the ruling Pharaoh about the time of the captivity of the Israelites. He received land bordering on the Red Sea and married Scota, a daughter of Pharaoh. Gaodhal or Gathelus, the son of Niul, was the ancestor of the Clan-na-Gael, that is " the children or descendants of Gaodhal." He lived in the time of Moses who, it is said, at one time cured him of a serpent's wound by the laying on of a rod. During many succeeding generations the descendants of Gaodhal who were driven out of Egypt led their people in warfare on the island of Greta, in Scythia, and up and down the Caspian sea. Cachear their high priest foretold that,
* The Annals of the Four Masters.
"there should be no end to their wanderings until they should arrive at the western island of Europe now called Ireland, which was the place destined for their future and lasting abode and settlement; and that not until their posterity after three hundred years should arrive there."
Brath, the seventeenth king in line after Gaodhal, ruled in Getulia or Libya, but leaving that country established a colony in Galicia, Spain. His son Breoghan, or Brigus, conquered Galicia, Andalusia, Murcia, Castile, and Portugal, and made himself king of all those countries. He built Breoghan's tower or Brigantia in Galicia and the city of Brigansa or Braganza in Portugal, which was named after him. Also Castile was originally called Brigia for him. Brigus sent into England a colony that settled in the territory now embraced in the counties of York, Lancaster, Durham, Westmoreland, and Cumberland. These colonists were called Brigantes, and the Romans found their posterity there centuries later.
A grandson of Brigus was Milesius of Spain who is the great figure in ancient Irish history. In his youth he went back to Scythia, the early home of his race ; there he married a daughter of the king and was made a general of the army. He grew in power and in the affection of the people until the king became jealous of him and determined to put him out of the way. Milesius, anticipating his father-in-law's intentions, slew him and sailed away to Egypt with a fleet of sixty vessels. In Egypt Pharaoh Nectonibus received him graciously, made him a general, kept him eight years in the country, and gave him his daughter Scota in marriage.
Returning to Spain he found that his father was dead and his country threatened by the invasion of foreign tribes. He fought these enemies successfully, winning, it is said, fifty-four battles and establishing peace throughout the land. Inspired by a desire to find out about the islands to the west and remembering the prophecy of the old magician of his race centuries before, concerning them and his people, he sent his uncle Ithe thither to spy out the land. Ithe was killed by the islanders who resented his intrusion, and then in revenge Milesius determined to invade and subdue the country; but before he could mature his plans he died.
The eight sons of Milesius undertook to carry out the work that their father had contemplated, but on the way westward part of their fleet was destroyed and five of the brothers were drowned.
"They met many difficulties and various chances before they could land; occasioned by the diabolical arts, sorceries and enchantments used by the Tuatha-de-Danans, to obstruct their landing; for by their magic art, they enchanted the island so as to appear to the Milesians or Clan-na-Mile in the form of a hog and no way to come at it (whence the island, among the many other names it had before, was called Muc-Inis or the Hog Island." *
* Irish Pedigrees, by John O'Hart. Fifth Edition, Vol. I, p. 53.
The three surviving brothers, Heber, Heremon, and Amergin with Heber Donn, son of Ir, one of the brothers who had perished, effected a landing, slew in battle the three Tuatha-de-Danan kings, routed their army, and took possession of the country.
"Heber and Heremon, divided the kingdom between them (allotting a proportion of land to their brother Amergin, who was their arch-priest, druid or magician; and to their nephew Heber Donn and to the rest of their chief commanders), and became jointly the first of one hundred and eighty-three kings or sole monarchs of the Gaelic, Milesian or Scottish race, that ruled and governed Ireland successively for two thousand eight hundred and eighty-five years from the first year of their reign Anno Mundi three thousand five hundred to their submission to the crown of England in the person of King Henry the Second; who, being also of the Milesian race by Maude, his mother, was lineally descended from Fergus Mor MacEarca, the king of Scotland, who was descended from the said Heremon, so that the succession may be truly said to continue in the Milesian blood from before Christ one thousand six hundred and ninety-nine years down to the present time." *
* Irish Pedigrees by John O'Hart. Fifth Edition, Vol.I, p.54 and p.55.
"This invasion, conquest or plantation of Ireland by the Milesian or Scottish Nation took place in the Year of the World 3,500 or the next year after Solomon began the foundation of the Temple of Jerusalem, and 1,699 years before the Nativity of our Saviour Jesus Christ; which according to the Irish computation of Time, occurred Anno Mundi, 5,199; therein agreeing with the Septuagint, Roman Martyrologies, Eusebius, Orosius and other ancient authors; which computation the Irish chroniclers exactly observed in their Books of the Reigns of the Monarchs of Ireland, and other Antiquities of that Kingdom; out of which the Roll of the Monarchs of Ireland, from the beginning of the Milesian Monarchy to their submission to King Henry the Second of England, a Prince of their own blood, is exactly collected. "*
* Irish Pedigrees by John O'Hart. Fifth Edition, Vol.I, p.54 and p.55.
The expedition of the sons of Milesius is the theme of Thomas Moore's beautiful Song of Inisfail:
"They came from a land beyond the sea
And now o'er the western main
Set sail, in their good ships, gallantly,
From the sunny land of Spain. '
Oh, where's the isle we've seen in dreams,
Our destined home or grave.
Thus sang they, as by the morning's beams,
They swept the Atlantic wave.
And lo! where afar o'er ocean shines
A spark of radiant green.
As though in that deep lay emerald mines,
Whose light through the wave was seen.
*'Tis Inisf ail — 'tis Inisfail!'
Rings o'er the echoing sea;
While, bending to heaven, the warriors hail
That home of the brave and free.
Then turned they unto the Eastern wave,
Where now their day-god's eye
A look of such sunny omen gave
As lighted up sea and sky.
Nor frown was seen through sky or sea,
Nor tear o'er leaf or sod.
When first on their Isle of Destiny
Our great forefathers trod."
On his shield and standard Milesius of Spain bore three lions. In explanation of these insignia the story is told that on one occasion in his younger days, when journeying in Africa he killed three lions on a single day. In memory of this exploit he always after bore three lions on his shield. His two surviving sons, Heber and Heremon, and his grandson, Heber Donn, after their conquest of Ireland, adopted these arms, each of them bearing a single lion on his shield and banner, but of different colors. Their descendants to this day preserve these arms with additions and changes as may be. The lion rampant was a distinctive part of the arms born by members of the royal house of Scotland, the earls of Huntingdon, and several of the Bruces.
For a more detailed account of the pedigrees of the kings of Milesian origin during their occupancy and control of the emerald isle, the records and annals already quoted may be profitably consulted. Taking up the narrative in the centuries immediately preceding the birth of Christ we find it set down that one of the strongest royal houses of Ireland was that which ruled Dalriada, a province that comprised part of the modern counties of Antrim and Derry.
Aeneas Tuirmeach-Teamrach, the eighty-first monarch of Ireland, who died at Tara, the royal seat of the Irish kings, in 324 B.C., had a son named Fiacha Firmara; this son was the ancestor of the kings of Dalriada in Ireland, and Dalriada and Argyle in Scotland. In the twenty-first generation from Fiarcha Firmara was Conaire II., known as Conaire MacMogha Lainne; he married Sarad, the daughter of Conn of the one hundred battles, who began to reign in 122. Carbry Riada, the son of Conaire II. and his wife Sarad, was the first king of Dalriada. He invaded the northeastern part of Ireland and conquered a new territory which was named after him. He was a cousin of King Comal, and his descendants lived and ruled under the protection of the sovereign house of Ireland from the time of the first occupancy of the country in the middle of the third century. After Carbry Riada the successive kings of Dalriada, his lineal descendants, were Kionga, Felim Lamh-foidh, Eochy Forta- mail, Fergus Uallach, ^neas Fort, Eochy Mun-reamhar, Earc, and Loarn; the last named was the last king of the province and with him we come to the beginning of the Scottish kings.
XI. ANCIENT ROYAL HOUSE OF SCOTLAND
AS was shown in the preceding chapter, toward the conclusion of the fourth century the Dalriadinian Scots were one of the powerful ruling peoples of Ireland. Previous to that time men of the same Scot origin had sailed across the narrow waters between Ireland and the larger island and established themselves in a desultory sort of way in North Britain. There they had come more or less in contact with the Picts who were already located in that region and who, as distinguished from the newcomers, were of Gothic descent instead of Gaelic. Before the end of the fourth century larger and more studied invasions of Romanized Britain were made by the Scots from Ireland. On one occasion, in 360 B.C., they were repelled by the natives of North Britain, but this in no wise dampened their ardor.
This immigration continued persistently, if not strongly, for several centuries. Ultimately a substantial colony from Irish Dalriada came over and, settling at Kintyre in 503, succeeded in establishing firm footing. The Dalriadinian Scots affiliated with the men of Scottish origin who had preceded them and made common cause against the more barbarous Picts.
Gradually, as time wore on, they became successful in their fighting, and not only were able to maintain themselves in their newly chosen home but gradually encroached more and more upon the territory of the Picts.
Bede, the historian, says: "In course of time, Britain, besides the Britons and Picts, received a third nation, Scotia, who, issuing from Hibernia, under the leadership of Reuda (Riada) secured for themselves, either by friendship or by the sword, settlements arqong the Picts which they still possess. From the name of their commander, they are to this day called Dalreudini; for, in their language, dal signifies a part. Dalriada meant Riada's portion."
Fergus is the first Scottish king recognized in the line of descent from the Irish kings to King Kenneth McAlpin of a later generation. Some antiquarians have built up a pedigree extending many generations beyond Fergus, but their conclusions have not been accepted by conservative and more reliable investigators and scholars. Scotland's great historian, George Chalmers, in his Caledonia concedes the beginning of the line of Scottish kings in Fergus as historically and conclusively established. Other historians and genealogists of his day and of later periods who have made a particular study of the earlier and somewhat cloudy periods of Scottish history, unite in agreement with Chalmers. Upon the strength of their conclusions the record from Fergus is received.
Loarn, who at this time was at the head of the Dalriadinian Scots in Scotland, was closely pressed in war by the Picts, and sent to his tribesmen in Ireland for assistance. His grandson, Fergus Mor MacEarca, went over to assist him. Fergus was a son of Loarn's daughter, Earca, and of Muredach who was grandson of Niall Mor, known as Niall of the nine hostages, the one hundred and twenty-sixth monarch of Ireland. It was in 498 that Fergus came to Scotland to the assistance of his grandfather, and he was accompanied by his two brothers, Angus and Loarn. Upon the death of his grandfather Loarn the three brothers assumed control of affairs.
Fergus became the sole monarch of the Dalriadinian Scots upon the death of Angus and Loarn. However, he did not long survive his two brothers but died in 506. An ancient Gaelic poem, or genealogical account of the Scoto-Irish kings, applies to him the ephitet ard, which means great in character or first in sovereignty. His reign lasted only three years.
"In A.D. 498 Fergus Mor MacEarca in the twentieth year of the reign of his father, Murdoch, son of Eugenius or Owen, son of Niall of the nine hostages, with five more of his brothers, viz. another Fergus, two more named Loarn and two named Aongus or iEneas with a complete army, went into Scotland to assist his grandfather who was King of Dalriada, and who was much oppressed by his enemies the Picts, who were in several battles and engagements vanquished and overcome by Fergus and his party. Whereupon on the king's death, which happened about the same time, the said Fergus was unanimously elected and chosen king as being of the royal blood by his mother; and the said Fergus was the first absolute King of Scotland of the Milesian race : so the succession continued in his blood and lineage ever since to this day." [Annals of the Four Masters.]*
* Annals of the Irish Kings, by John O'Hart. Fifth Edition, Vol. II, p. 641.
Domangart, son of Fergus, followed his father and ruled the turbulent Scots and Picts for five years, dying in 511, his life having been "full of troubles."
Comgal, son of Domangart, reigned for twenty-four years - some authorities say thirty-two years - and in this long period widely extended the settlements of his kingdom and consolidated his authority. It was written that " his reign passed away without reproach."
Gauran, brother of Comgal and son of Domangart, succeeded in 535 in the direct line from Domangart to Kenneth McAlpin, who became about 850 the progenitor of the great Scottish royal house. His reign of twenty-two years passed away "without reproach" until in 557 he was overpowered by Bridei, a king of the Picts. Power passed into the hands of his nephew Conal, son of Comgal, who was a protector of the sainted Columba, but Conal's administration of fourteen years was unlucky and closed in 571 in civil war.
Aidan, son of Gauran, after the fall of Conal, successfully maintained his rights to the inheritance on the battlefield of Loro. In 574 he was inaugurated at lona by Columba, and in the next quarter of a century he gained many victories over his rivals in his own family and over the Saxons and other fighting men of that period. Frequently beaten by the Saxons, he lost his sons, Arthur, Eocha-fin, and Domangart in battle, and in his defeat by the Northumbrians under iEthelfred at the battle of Dawstane in 603 the Dalriadini were then so completely overcome that for many generations hereafter they did not attempt to extend their territory far to the south. Aidan was the greatest of the Dalriadinian monarchs and was called "the king of the noble portion." He died quietly at Kintyre, at the age of eighty, in 605.
Eocha-Bui, the yellow haired, son of Aidan, ruled sixteen years, 605-21, but his reign closed under a cloud of foreign and civil war. He and his sons won many victories over their neighbors, but when he died, in 621, he left his people in the midst of troubles.
Kenneth-Cear, the awkward, son of Eocha-Bui, "ruled happily" during three months, said the Gaelic bard, but he was slain in the battle of Fedharvin in 621 fighting the Irish chieftain Cruitbne. Following the death of Kenneth the kingdom was controlled by Ferchar, of the Loarn line of kings, for sixteen years.
Donal-Breac, the freckled, a son of Eocha-Bui, in 637, upon the death of Ferchar, obtained the sceptre that had fallen from the hands of his brother, Kenneth-Cear. He was a man of strong character, vehement and impetuous. Early in his reign he invaded Ireland to attack King Domnal II., and there he was overwhelmingly defeated on the plain of Moyrath in 637. Again in the following year he was beaten by the Picts in the battle of Glenmoreson and, invading the Clyde in 642, he was slain at Straith-Cairmaic by Hoan, one of the reguli of Strathcluyd. During the next sixty years the sceptre was in the hands of the Loarn and the Comgal descendants of Ere, and the record of those years is a record of family feuds.
Domangart, son of Donal-Breac, was not able to succeed his father but was assassinated in 672. Then it was not until Ferchar-Fada, the tall, of the family of Loam, died in 702, after a bloody reign of twenty-one years, that the house of Gauran again acquired power.
Eocha-Rineval, son of Domangart and grandson of Donal-Breac, rose to the control of affairs, but he had a reign that was short, troublous, and inglorious. In 705 he was compelled to give way to Ainbhcealach, the power again passing to a rival branch of the family.
Eocha III., son of Eocha-Rineval, asserted his rights to the succession in 720, and finally in 729 was able to overthrow all his rivals, the whole Scottish-Irish kingdom becoming united under him. After a reign of nine years over Kintyre and Argyle, and four years over all the Dalriadinian tribes, he died in 733. Following his death a contending faction again seized the sceptre and held it for six years.
Aodh-Fin, son of Eocha III., came to the head of the Dalriadinian tribes in 739. He proved to be a great sovereign. During his reign the Scots gained a decided supremacy over the Picts and their king was the hero of many adventurous exploits. After a brilliant reign of thirty years he died in 769. Fergus, son of Aodh-Fin succeeded his father, and reigned feebly three years. After him the sceptre was lost to his family for a quarter of a century.
Eocha-Annuine, another son of Aodh-Fin, re-established the line of the Gauran branch. This Eocha IV. is the Archaius of the Latin annahsts. His reign began in a period of civil war, but he held himself firmly in power and strengthened the royal position of his family. He died in 826 after a prosperous reign of thirty years. He married Urgusia, daughter of Urgusia and sister of Constantin who ruled the Picts from 791 to 821 and of Ungas who ruled the same tribes in 821-30. By this marriage he laid the foundations for the alliance of the Scots and Picts that was realized when Kenneth McAlpin, his grandson, rose to power.
Alpin, son of Eocha-Annuine and Urgusia, after a three years' reign by Dungal, of the house of Loarn, took up the sceptre but did not distinguish himself. His ambitions for more extensive domains and the control of a richer people than he ruled over impelled him in 836 to lead an army into the country beyond the Clyde. He laid waste to the territory between the Ayr and the Doon, but in an engagement near the site of Laicht castle he was slain.
I.
Kenneth, the son of Alpin, succeeded his father in 836. He was a man of enterprise, power, and valor. To avenge the death of his father he made several invasions south of the Clyde, and in 843, after he had reigned over the Scots for seven years, he seized the ancient sceptre of the Pictish kings from Wred, and then held it. By virtue of his descent from Urgusia the Picts were willing to accept him as their sovereign and the two peoples, Scots and Picts, were united into one nation. Notwithstanding this success Kenneth held a territory that comprised only a small part of Scotland. Power over the rest of the country was established gradually as the nation developed. After Kenneth the monarchs were called kings of Picts and then kings of Alba, and it was not until the tenth and eleventh centuries that the name of Scotland was fully adopted. The substantially complete historical account of the kings of Scotland begins with Kenneth McAlpin.
II.
Constantin, son of Kenneth, did not immediately succeed his father since Donal, his uncle, came in for a weak ineffectual reign of four years. He was crowned king at Scone in 863, and at once engaged in the work of correcting the ills that his immediate predecessor had brought upon the land and in extending and strengthening the domain that had been secured by his father. Meantime the Northmen who had been settled in Ireland for nearly half a century were making predatory incursions to the shores of North Britain. Constantin was compelled to meet these invaders soon after he began to reign. For nearly a decade he combated them successfully, but in the end he was overcome and killed on the shores of the Forth in 881. He married a daughter of a prince of Wales and by her had two sons and one daughter.
Ill.
Donal IV., the son of Constantin, came to the throne in 893 after the intervening reigns of Aodh and Eocha. His reign was marked mostly by fighting against the Northmen who continued to ravage North Britain wherever they could gain foothold. Donal defeated them at Collin on the Tay, near Scone, but in 904 he was killed while battling against an army of Danes led by Ivar O'lvar. The Gaelic bard sang of him as "Domhnal Mic Constantin chain," - "Donal, Constantin's son, the beloved," and it was said of him that he was "equally dear to the high and the low."
IV
Malcolm I., son of Donald IV., received the kingdom after Constantin III., his cousin, at the end of a forty years' reign, had relinquished the sceptre in 944 and retired to a monastery in his old age. Malcolm inherited a turbulent dominion, but he distinguished himself by an alliance with England, securing Cumbria from King Edmund, and in later years he raided Northumberland. In an insurrection of the Moray men in 952 he slew Cellach the maormor and in the following year at Fetteressoe fell a victim to the revenge of Cellach's followers. After him three kings of another line, Indulf, Duff, and Culen ruled for a time over Scotland.
V
Kenneth III., son of Malcolm I., came to the throne of his forefathers in 970. He waged war against the Britons and ultimately gained the important object of his ambitions in annexing the kingdom of Strathcluyd to the territories of the Scottish kings. In a decisive combat on the field of Luncarty near Perth he overthrew a great army of invading Danes and secured freedom from the forays of those foes. Involved in domestic war by an insurrection in the Merns, he was assassinated by Finella, wife of the maormorof thelNIerns, in revenge for the death of her son. His death occurred in 994 at the close of a long reign of twenty-four years. He left a son who came to the throne as Malcolm II., a son who was killed in 1032, and a third son Boidhe, who was the father of the celebrated Gruoch, Lady Macbeth.
VI
Malcolm II., son of the preceding, was born in or about 954. He was variously known as King of Scots, Malcolm MacCinseth, King of Alban, King of Monaidh, King of Scotia, "the most victorious king," and "a warrior fortunate, praised of bards." His reign began in 1005 after he had defeated his cousin, Kenneth III., king of Alban, in battle at Mongievaird, near the banks of the river Earn. In 1010 he achieved a victory over the Danes and as a thank-offering he founded the monastery of Marthillach or Mortlach where the battle was fought. During his reign the battle of Clontarf in Ireland was fought and the battle of Carham on the Tweed. In 1031 Malcolm yielded to Canute of England, becoming subject to the Saxon monarch. He died at Glamis, November 25, 1034, at the age of eighty or more and after a reign of nearly thirty years.
Issue : 1. Bethoc or Beatrice. She married, about the year 1000, Crinan the Thane, hereditary lay abbot of Dunkeld and seneschal of the Isles. Crinan was slain in battle at Dunkeld. Eleven of the descendants of this matrimonial alliance were Kings of the Scots between 1034 and 1285.
2. Donada. She married, about the year 1004, Finlaec, mormaer of Moray and had Macbeth, King of Scots, 1040-57.
3. Alice or Thora, who married Sigurd, Earl of Orkney, the Norwegian ancestor of the Bruces.
VII
Duncan, eldest son of Crinan and Beothoc, was born about 103L He was known as the King of Scots, King of Alban, and Duncan the Wise, and was the gracious Duncan of Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. He was made king of the Cumbrians before 1034, and upon the death of his maternal grandfather, Malcolm II, he succeeded him as king of Scots. His reign was short, lasting less than six years, and in military enterprises was not brilliant. He unsuccessfully besieged the city of Durham in 1040, and the same year was defeated in battle at Torfness by his cousin Thorfinn, earl of Orkney. He was murdered at Bothnagowan, now "Pitgaveny, near Elgin, by Macbeth, August 14, 1040. Macbeth was a cousin of Duncan and a commander in his army and succeeded him on the throne. He married a cousin of Siward, earl of Northumberland, about 1030.
Issue : -
1. Malcolm of whom below.
2. Donald Bane who was twice King of Scots.
3. Melmare.
VIII
Malcolm III., Canmore, Great Head or Chief, son of the preceding, was born about 1031. He became the greatest of Scotland's ancient kings and was called "a king, the best who possessed Alban." For fourteen years he lived at the Court of England and received an excellent education, being accomplished in Latin and English as well as in his native Gaelic tongue. When he was about twenty-three years of age he became king of the Cumbrians after the victory of his kinsman Earl Siward over King Macbeth at Scone in July, 1054. After he had defeated and killed Macbeth in August, 1057, and Lulach, the successor of Macbeth, in the following March he became king of Scots. He was crowned at Scone, April 25, 1058. He invaded England five times, waging war against the Normans and in support of his kinsmen, the Saxons. His first invasion was in 1061, and others followed in 1069, 1079, 1091, and 1093. After the battle of Hastings in 1066, the defeated Edger the Atheling and his sisters fled from the victorious William the Conqueror and found refuge in the court of Scotland's monarch.
Scotland was frequently invaded by the Normans during his reign, and parts of Malcolm's kingdom were from time to time annexed to England. These forays back and forth were the beginning of that long and bloody struggle that lasted for centuries while the conquerors of England were endeavoring to subdue Scotland. He was killed by Morel of Bamborough at Alnwick, in Northumberland, November 13, 1093, aged about sixty-two, after a reign of nearly thirty-six years. He was buried at Lynemouth, but afterwards reinterred at Dunfermline. He married, first, about 1059, Ingibiorg, daughter of Earl Finn Arnason and widow of Thorfinn Sigurdson, earl of Orkney. He married, second, in 1068-9, Margaret, daughter of Edward the Outlaw, king of England. She died November 16, 1093.
Issue by wife Ingibiorg:
1. Duncan, king of Scots, as Duncan II., in 1094.
2. Malcolm.
3. Donald, who died a violent death in 1085.
Issue by wife Margaret:
4. Edward, who died from wounds received in battle at Alnwick in November, 1093.
5. Edmund. He ruled parts of Scotia, 1094-97, became a monk, and died at Montague in Somersetshire.
6. iEthelred, Abbot of Dunkeld.
7. Edgar, King of Scots, 1097-1106,
8. Alexander, King of Scots, as Alexander I., 1106-24.
9. David, King of Scots, of whom below.
10. Matilda, "the good Queen Maud." She married King Henry I. of England in May, 1100, and died May 1, 1118.
11. Mary. She married Eustace, Count de Boulogne, in 1102 and died May 31, 1116.
IX
David, the ninth and youngest son of the preceding, was born about 1080. His youth was spent at the court of King Henry I. of England, his brother-in-law. On the death of his brother, King Alexander I., he ascended the throne of Scotland as David I., in April, 1124. His reign, which lasted twenty-nine years, was eventful. Cumbria and Lothian were reunited with Alban under his authority; his supporters were successful in the battle of Strikathro against the men of Moray in 1130; he invaded England in 1136; an army of Scots defeated the English at Clitheroe in 1138, but the King was overwhelmed by the English in the great battle of the Standard in the same year. David, who was the first feudal king of the Scots, was a man of fervent piety and devoted to his people. He was surnamed St. David and was "a pious and God-fearing man." Much of his time and means was given to the upbuilding of the church and church establishments. He founded monasteries at Selkirk and Jedburgh, and established or reconstituted six bishoprics and ten abbeys. He died at Carhsle, May 24, 1153, and was buried under the pavement before the high altar in the church of the Holy Trinity, at Dunfermline. He married, about 1113, Matilda, daughter and heiress of Waltheof, earl of Huntingdon, granddaughter of Siward, Earl of Northumberland, and widow of Simon de St. Luz. She died between April 23, 1130, and April 22, 1131, and was buried at Scone.
Issue :
1. Malcolm who was strangled when a child by Donald Bane, ex-king of Scots.
2. Claricia, who died unmarried.
3. Hodierna, who died unmarried.
4. Henry of whom below.
X.
Henry, younger son of the preceding, did not live to mount the throne, dying before his father, June 12, 1152. He succeeded to the earldoms of Northumberland and Huntingdon. He married, in 1139, Ada de Warenne, daughter of William, earl of Warenne. She died in 1178.
Issue :
1. Malcolm, who was born March 20, 1141-42. From his youthful and feminine appearance he was called "the maiden." He succeeded his grandfather and was King of Scots, 1153-65, as Malcolm IV. He died unmarried December 9, 1165.
2. William, who was born in 1143. He was the famous King of Scots, known as "William the Lion," and was a worthy successor of his great ancestor Malcolm Canmore. His reign extended from the death of his brother Malcolm IV. to December 4, 1214, a period of forty-nine years. He died December 4, 1214. He married in 1186, Ermengarde, daughter of Richard vice comes de Bellomonte; his son Alexander II. succeeded him on the throne.
3. David of whom below.
4. Ada, who married Florence III., Count of Holland, in 1161.
5. Margaret, who married, first, in 1160, Conan IV., Duke de Bretagne, Earl of Richmond; second, Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford.
6. Matilda, who died in childhood in 1152.
XI
David, the third son of the preceding, was born about 1144 and succeeded to the title of earl of Huntingdon. He founded the abbey of Lundors, now Lindores, near Fife. He died at Jerdelay, June 17, 1219, and was buried in the abbey of Saltre in Huntingdonshire. He married, in 1190, Maud, daughter of the earl of Chester.
Issue:
1. Robert, who died young.
2. Henry, who died unmarried.
3. John le Scot, Earl of Chester and Earl of Huntingdon. He died without issue.
4. Margaret, who married Alan, Lord of Galloway, in 1209. Her daughter Dervorgilla married John Baliol; their son John Baliol was the successful competitor for the throne of Scotland in 1291, and their son-in-law, John Comyn senior, was also a competitor and father of the John Comyn whom Robert Bruce killed in 1305.
5. Isabella, who married Robert Bruce of Annadale.
XII. LINE OF THE SAXON KINGS
IN preceding chapters it has been shown how the Bruces of Scotland were descended from noble and royal ancestors of Normandy, Denmark, Norway, Scotland, and Ireland, inheriting their pre-eminence as a royal family from the great warriors who, violent and masterful, and yet with some display of rude statesmanship, opened the way for modern civilization on the western part of the Continent of Europe and the adjacent islands. Another royal descent was theirs; that of the Saxon kings who in the early centuries of the Christian era came to the island of Britain and laid the foundations for the wonderful nation that has in time been built to the admiration of all peoples. Every schoolboy knows the story, how the Romans failed in the attempt to subdue the rude inhabitants of Britain, and abandoning their task left the islands to the semi-barbarous tribes that they had found there.
Shortly the German tribes began to give attention to the island as a promising place for emigration and subjugation. Hengist and Horsa led the Jutes from Denmark in 449, and settled in Kent, becoming kings of that section. Then Aella came in 490 with his three sons, and made himself king of Sussex. Five years thereafter, in 495, Cerdic arrived with his son Cynric, and established the kingdom of the West Saxons, afterwards conquering the Isle of Wight. Cerdic was really the first king of the long Saxon line which, for several centuries, held the land and its people, foreign and native, full in control and finally developed the nation of England out of this raw material. He has been called "the third monarch of the Englishmen." His ancestry has been traced through eight generations to Odin, the great Scandinavian lord.* Gibbon called him "one of the bravest of the children of Wodin."
Cerdic came with a great force of ships and men, and from the time of his first landing, which was made at the mouth of the Itchin, he was uniformly successful in all his movements and in beating back the natives further and further to the interior of the island. His progress of conquest, although slow, was continuous and decisive, and finally he was able firmly to establish throughout the valley of the lower Avon those who came with him and others who followed after. There he became king of the West Saxons in 519. He died in 534, but not until he had seen his followers fixed in their new home, and could look forward with much of certainty to the future growth and development of a people already beginning to bear the impress of nationality. It was a century and a half, however, after the reign of Cerdic, before the compact nation that we now know as England had come surely into stable existence. In the course of time seven different Saxon kingdoms, known in history as the heptarchy, existed in Britain. Of these the most powerful was that of Wessex where the descendants of Cerdic ruled.
*Manuel d'Hisloire, de Genealogie et de Chronologic, by A. M. H. J. Stokvis.
From Cerdic to Egbert there were many kings in direct line of descent who ruled over Wessex. Rivals to them were the kings of the other Saxon states and all were continually in war with each other.
Gradually Wessex, or West Saxon, grew more and more powerful until it finally engulfed all the other Saxon states, Kent, Northumberland, East x\nglia, Mercia, Essex, and Sussex. The situation was somewhat similar to that which existed in Denmark before the time of Harald Harfagra who conquered the other independent earls about him and consolidated their principalities into the kingdom of Norway. The difference was that in Britain the several Saxon kings were more powerful and more independent and possessed royal power as well as royal descent, holding themselves in that respect not inferior to the kings of Wessex. But the descendants of Cerdic finally acquired sufficient strength to dominate the other kingdoms and maintain themselves as the sole royal house in Southern and Western England. This was the condition of things when Ealhmund, the direct descendant in male line from Cerdic, was the ruling king of the West Saxons. With his son Egbert began what is generally accepted as the Saxon line of the kings of England.
Egbert or Ecgberht, son of Ealhmund, was, in his youth, driven from England by the joint action of Offa, king of Mercia, and Beorhtric, king of Wessex. He found safe refuge in the court of Charles, king of the Franks, afterward the Emperor Charlemagne, where he remained nearly thirteen years. It is supposed that he was banished in 789, and upon his return to England on the death of Beorhtric in 802, being well-accompHshed in the arts of war, diplomacy, and government, he was accepted by the West Saxons as their king. At once on assuming control of affairs he was beset by uprisings of the people of Wales, Mercia, Northumbria, and other kingdoms, but compelled submission until he had united all the English race under one over-lordship. He was not wholly king of England, but the kings over the different divisions of the country were dependent upon him and acknowledged his authority. In 834 he met a great force of invading Northmen in Dorsetshire and was defeated by them, but two years later he was more successful in routing the same enemies. He died in 839, having reigned more than thirty-seven years. He married Redburga. His children were Ethelwulf, of whom below; Aethelstan, who ruled over Kent and Essex; Editha, who became abbess of Pellesworth.
Ethelwulf, son of Ecgberht, during his father's lifetime, took part in the battling for the control of England, and succeeded to the kingship of Wessex on the death of his father in 839. Soon after he was mounted on the throne he lost his disposition for military affairs and endeavored to lead a quiet life, leaving to followers the work of defending the kingdom. In his times the Danes renewed their onslaughts but suffered defeat and the loss of many men, so that temporarily they abandoned all efforts to conquer the land of the English. He married, first, Osburgha, daughter of Oslac, the thane. Oslac was a Goth descended from Stuf and Withgar who, the best commentators agree, were probably grandsons of Cerdic and sons of a sister of Cynric. He was a pincerna, butler or cup-bearer, of England, that being an ofiice frequently held by nobles of distinction. He belonged to one of the ancient princely lines of the Jutes of Wight, established on that island after its subjugation by Cerdic. Ethelwulf married, second, Judith, daughter of Charles the Bold, king of France. His children by Osburgha were: Ethelstan, king of Kent, who died in 852; Ethelbald, who helped his father to achieve the victory over the Northmen at Ockley, in Surrey, in 851, became king of the West Saxons during his parent's life and, after his father died, married his father's widow, Judith, this scandalous union bringing upon him both church and secular condemnation; Ethelbert, king of Kent after the death of Ethelstan; Ethelred, king of Wessex, after the death of Ethelbald in 866; Alfred, of whom below; Ethelswith, who married Burhred, king of Mercia, and died a nun in 889.
Alfred or Aelfred, son of the preceding, was born in Wantage, Berkshire, in 849. Early in life he engaged actively in the fighting that had been going on for generations to keep the Danes out of England, and by 880 he had enlarged the bounds of his kingdom and had made himself recognized as the only English power in Britain able to bring the whole country into union and independence. Further warfare ensued, but the country was nearly free from Danes by 897.
As a warrior, patriot, and legislator Alfred became the most famous of the race of Cerdic. An English writer says of him that he
"is the one great character of our early history whose name still lives in popular history. . . . Popular belief has made him into a kind of embodiment of the national being; he has become the model English king, indeed the model Englishman." *
The same writer, asserting that he has received credit for many things that he did not do, adds : "and yet even the legendary reputation of Alfred is hardly too great for his real merits. No man recorded in history seems ever to have united so many great and good qualities." Historians of all ages have united in his praise. Keightly compared him with Marcus Aurelius, Mirabeau esteemed Charlemagne as his inferior, and Voltaire maintained that there never existed on the earth a man more worthy of posterity's respect. He died October 28, 901. He married, in 868, Ealhswith, daughter of Ethelred, surnamed the Mickle, earldorman of Mercia, and his wife Eadburk. She died between the years 902 and 905. His children were: Eadward, of whom below; Ethelward, who was born in 880 and who died in 922; Ethelfleda, who married Ethelred, duke of Mercia, became known as The Lady of Mercia and, after the death of her husband, administered the affairs of the kingdom with marked ability; Ethelgiva, abbess of Shaftesbury; Elfthryth, or Alfritha, who married Baldwin II., count of Flanders, and was the great-great-great-grandmother of Baldwin V., count of Flanders, whose daughter Matilda was the consort of William the Conqueror; she died in 929.
Edward, or Eadward, called the Elder, eldest son of King Alfred and Ealhswith, bore the title of king as early as 898, being recognized as his father's chief supporter and assistant. Upon the death of his parent he was chosen by the witan to succeed to the throne. He ably carried on the work of up-building and strengthening the kingdom that had been begun by his predecessor and his success brought to him the title of "the unconquered king," as recorded by the historian Florence of Worcester. He died at Farndon in Northamptonshire in 924 in the twenty-fourth year of his reign. He married, first, Ecgwyn or Egwina, a lady of high rank; second, Elfreda or Aelfaed, daughter of Earl Ethelhelm and his wife Ealhswith; third, Edgiva, or Eadgifu, daughter of the Earl Sigelline, lord of Meapham, Culings, and Lenham in Kent. His children by Egwina were: Athelstan, who was born about 894 or 895 and succeeded his father on the throne and under whom the sovereignty of the whole island was achieved and the kingdom of England fully established before his death in 941; Editha, or Eadgyth, who married Sightric, the Danish king of Northumbria. The children of Edward by Elfreda were: Edward; Edwin, drowned at sea in 933; Elsfeda, a nun at Wilton or Ramsey; Egvina, or Eadgiful, who married, first, in 919, Charles the Simple, king of France, by whom she had King Louis and a daughter Giselle, first wife of Rollo, Duke of Normandy; Ethelhild, a nun at Wilton; Ethelda or Eadhild, who married Hugh the Great, Count of Paris; Elfgifu or Adela, who married, about 936, Eblus, son of the Count of Aquitaine; Edith, or Eadgyth, who married, in 930, Otto, afterwards emperor of Germany, and who died in 947. The children of Edward by Edgiva were: Edmund, of whom below; Edred, who came to the throne and died in 955; Edburga, a nun at Winchester; Eadgifu, or Edgiva, who married Lewis, king of Aries or Provence; Gregory, abbot of Einsiedlen.
Edmund the Elder, son of Edward the Elder and his wife Edgiva, was born about 922. He succeeded to the throne after the death of his elder half-brother in 941. His reign of nearly six years was strenuous, for he was in constant warfare with the Danes, the Norwegians, and the northern Celts. He died in 946. At a banquet in celebration of the feast of St. Augustine he was stabbed to death by an outlaw named Liofa. He married, first, Elgiva, or Elfgifu, a princess of exemplary piety who died in 944 and was hallowed as a saint. He married, second, Ethelflaid, daughter of Elfgar, an earldorman. His children by Elgiva were: Edwy or Eadwig; Edgar, or Eadgar, of whom below.
Edgar the Peaceful, son of the preceding, was born in 944, the year of his mother's death. Before he ascended the throne, Edred his uncle and Edwy his brother ruled, the first for nine years and the second for four years. There was some fighting in the early part of his reign, with the Welsh and the Northumbrians, but on the whole his rule was "a period of national consolidation, peace, and orderly government." He was particularly successful in the pacification of the Danish people settled in Britain. Although he held the scepter from 959, he was not crowned until 973, the ceremony taking place at Bath on Whitsunday. After the coronation he sailed to Chester and it is recorded * that there eight Anglo-Saxon kings, Kenneth of Scotland, Malcolm of Cumberland, MacOrric of Anglesey and the Isles, Inkel of Westmoreland, Jago of Galloway; and Howel, Dyfnwal, and Griffith of Wales — met him and swore to be faithful to him, and to be his fellow workers by sea and by land.
* Chronicles of Florence of Worcester.
Edgar was devoted to the church and a generous patron of the monks, and enacted wise laws for the government of his people. The characteristic of his reign which most impressed the men of his own time was well expressed in the saying "God granted that he dwelt in peace." He died July 8, 975, at the early age of thirty-two and was buried at Glastonbury. Fifty years later he was reverenced as a saint. He married, first, about 961, Wulfrid or Wulfthryth; second, Elfleda, or Ethelflaed, known for her beauty as "the white duck," daughter of Ordmar, earldorman of East Anglia; third, Elfrida or Elfthryth, daughter of Ordmar, earldorman of Devonshire. His children by Wulfrid were: Edith, or Eadgyth, who was born in 962, became a nun of Wilton, where her mother is said to have been abbess, and was sainted after her death in 984 at the early age of twenty-three; Edward, who was king in 975 and Wing assassinated in 978, at the instigation of his stepmother Elfreda, became known as Edward the Martyr. His children by Elfrida were: Ethelred, of whom below; Edmund, who died in 971 or 972.
Ethelred II., sumamed the Unready, son of Edgar and Elfrida, was bom either in 968, or in 969. Succeeding his brother Edward he was crowned at Kingston by the Arch-bishop Dunstan in 978 or the next year. From the beginning of his reign evil was prophesied concerning him and events bore out the prognostications. The Danes and Northmen renewed their attacks upon the coasts of England and for nearly a quarter of a century carried on their depredations. Various expedients were adopted to free the country from these marauders. Treaties were made with them; from time to time their departure was purchased by the payment of large ransoms; occasionally they were beaten in battle; in 1002 there was a cold-blooded massacre of those then living in England.
Still the invasions continued until, in 1013, Swend of Denmark, who had already led many expeditions thither, came again with a splendid fleet and received the submission of all northern England. Ethelred fled to Normandy for safety. He returned shortly after and drove out the Danes under Canute, but his triumph was only temporary and with him the Saxon rule of England practically came to an end. He died in London. April 23, 1016.
He married, first. in 984. Elgiva or Elfgifu, daughter of Thored. an English earl; second, in 1003. Emma, called for her beauty. " the pearl of Normandy." daughter of Richard I., duke of Normandy. His children by Elgiva were: Ethelstan. who died in 1016: Ecgberht, who died about 1005; Eadmund, of whom below; Eadred; Eadwig, who was; banished by King Canute and slain by his order in 1017; Eadgar; Eadward; Wulfhild. who married Ulfeytel, earldorman of East Anglia; Eadgyth. who married Eadric Streona, earldorman of the Mercians; Elfgifu, who married Earl Uhtred. His children by Emma of Normandy were:
Eadward, who was born in 962, ascended the throne on the death of the Danish king Harthcanut in 1042 and was known as the Confessor, his devotion to religion and his munificence to the church winning ecclesiastical commendation so that in 1101 he was canonized by Pope Alexander III. : Aelfred, who was slain in 1036 by Earl Godwin; Godgifu, who married, first. Drogo. Count of Mantes, and second, Eustace. Count of Boulogne.
Edmund II. or Edmund, called Ironside, son of Ethelred the Unready, was born after 981. He inherited the throne on the death of his father in 1016 and made a bold effort to revive the falling fortunes of his house. He could not wholly overcome the Danes under Canute and finally was forced to divide the kingdom with the Danish rival for the throne. He died suddenly November 30, 1016. The cause of his death is left uncertain by the chronicle writers, but there is very general agreement that he was assassinated at the instigation of his brother-in-law Eadric Streona. He married, in 1015, Algita or Ealdgyth, widow of the Danish earl Sigeferth. His children were: Edmund, who fled with his brother from England to escape from the victorious Danes, and was protected and educated by Solomon, King of Hungary, Edward, of whom below.
Edward, surnamed the Outlaw, son of the preceding, was long an exile from his native land during the reigns of the last kings of his line. He lived at the court of Hungary until recalled by his uncle Edward the Confessor in 1057 that he might be made heir to the throne. He died within a month after reaching London. He married the Princess Agatha, daughter of Henry II., Emperor of Germany. His children were: Edgar, the Atheling; Christiana, a nun; Margaret, who married Malcolm III. of Scotland and became the ancestress of the Bruces.
XIII. BRUCE ANCESTRY FROM ROYAL HOUSES OF CONTINENTAL EUROPE
AS has been already shown in other chapters, the Bruces of Scotland derived their claims to regal rights and honors from the ancient Scottish kings and the Irish kings who preceded those first conquerors of North Britain, and also from the original Saxon line of English kings. Beyond that they had the distinction of being allied to the princes and earls of Scandinavia, as was pointed out in the chapter on their Scandinavian origin. Their royal ancestry was not, however, limited to those pedigrees, for they could boast also of descent from the great ruling houses of Continental Europe which, in the opening centuries of the Christian era, were dominant in the control and direction of affairs in that part of the world.
By the marriage of the seventh Robert Bruce with a descendant in the sixth generation from William the Conqueror, subsequent Bruce generations had the inheritance of the blood of the masters of Western Europe. From William the Conqueror they went back through the dukes of Normandy until this line of their pedigree met an ancestor who was the common founder, on the male side, of both the Bruce house and that of Normandy. Also through the line of William the Conqueror they traced to the Emperor Charlemagne and his ancestors of the Carlovingian line of princes, to the house of Vermandois, and to other famous overlords of mediseval times in Germany and France. Through Matilda, the consort of William the Conqueror, they went back to the house that produced the celebrated and powerful counts of Flanders and to the noble families that were allied to and became part of that line.
Rollo, who was the founder of the ducal house of Normandy, was the son of Rognvald, Earl of North Mere and South Mere in Norway, by his wife Hilda, daughter of Rolf Nefia. Einar, who became an earl of Orkney and was in the direct male line of Bruce, was his half-brother. He was a very tall man and wherever he went he marched a-foot rather than ride on the small Norwegian ponies. For this peculiarity he was nicknamed Ganger or Walker, and was thus known throughout his life. When he came to mature years he developed into a man of ambitious and turbulent character. And it was soon apparent that he was marked by destiny for greater things than were possible in the narrow field of his native land.
King Harald of Norway was then engaged in his effort to bring the lesser chieftains or earls of that country under his centralized control and to bind them into something that should resemble a united nation. One of the first measures that he instituted for the accomplishment of this end was to interdict the predatory warfare that these independent or semi-independent lords had hitherto been accustomed to wage upon each other, his plan being to make them more and more interdependent and to establish more kindly relations between them. Rollo was impatient of this exercise of authority by Harald and would not yield to the domination of that prince who was so rapidly growing in power and influence. Holding himself entirely free from Harald and the other earls who had already acknowledged themselves as dependents of Harald, he continued to plunder according as opportunity offered.
"Rolf would be ever a-harrying in the East-lands; and on a summer when he came to the Wick from his Eastland harrying he had a strand-slaughtering there. King Harald was in the Wick at that time, and was very wroth when he heard hereof, for he had laid a great ban upon robbing in the land. Wherefore at a Thing (or assembly) he gave out that he made Rolf outlaw from all Norway. But when Hild, the mother of Rolf, heard thereof she went to the King and prayed him for the peace of Rolf; but the King was so wroth that her prayers availed nought. Then sang Hild:
'Thou hast cast off Nefia's namesake;
Brave brother of the barons.
As a wolf from the land thou drivest.
Why waxeth, lord, thy raging ?
Ill to be wild in quarrel
With a wolf of Odin's warboard.
If he fare wild in the forest
He shall waste thy flock right sorely.'" *
* Heimskringla, by Snorre Sturlason.
Thereupon Rollo decided that, rather than yield to Harald, he would break with that prince and hold to his independence. He brought together a small fleet of vessels and manned them with followers who were as independent and as venturesome as himself, and sailed away from Norway seeking new adventures. First he went to the Hebrides, overrunning those islands, and it is said that he even planned to invade the greater island of Britain from its north shores and attempt the conquest of the people there. It is a singular coincidence that, having been diverted from this project, it was left to his descendants several generations later to accomplish the same purpose by entering England from the south and acquiring domination of the land that their far-away ancestor had cast covetous eyes upon. With Rollo at this time other councils prevailed, and he turned the prows of his vessels toward the mainland of Europe, stopping on the way thither to conquer Friezeland. Arriving at the continent he established himself and his companions in Neustria, making the city of Rouen his headquarters. Years of fighting with King Charles of France followed, but his mastery of Neustria was finally acknowledged and that province was erected into the duchy of Normandy. The first duke was a man of uncommon wisdom and energy and before he died he had established Normandy firmly among the powerful nations of the world. He accepted Christianity, in form at least, and upon being baptized received the name of Robert.
He died about 931. He married, first, Gisele, daughter of King Charles the Simple of France ; second, Papia, daughter of Berengier, Count of Bayeaux. His children, by his wife Papia, were: William, Duke of Normandy, of whom below; Robert, Count of Corbeil, whose descendants became the ancestors of the noble English families of Gloucester and Granville; Crispina, who married Grimaldus I., Prince of Monaco; Gerletta, who married William II., Duke of Aquitaine, their great-great-granddaughter Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, becoming the wife, first, of Louis, King of France, and, second, of Henry II., King of England.
William, son of the preceding, was surnamed Longa Spatha, or Long Sword. He succeeded to the ducal throne upon the death of his father in 931. His reign was short and troublesome, and he left a record of feebleness as a governing prince. He was well-intentioned, but his abilities were of less marked character than those of his father. He was surnamed Sans Peur, a sufficient indication of his character and of the popular estimation in which he was held. His death was accomplished through the treachery of Arnulph, Count of Flanders. Disagreements existed between him and the princes of adjoining kingdoms, and he was persuaded to a conference to discuss the difficulties and an arrangement of terms for peace. There, however, he met death instead of peace, being murdered by Arnulph. He died in December, 943. He married Adela, daughter of Hubert, Count of Senlis.
Richard I., son of the preceding, was born in 933, and therefore was only ten years old when his father's death put upon him the burden of the dukedom. Following a regency of a few years he assumed personal direction of affairs and reigned for fifty-five years. During his hfetime wars with other nations were incessantly waged by him, with varying results but generally to the success of the arms of Normandy. Among the great contests that he was called upon to engage in were those with Hugh the Great of France, and Otho of Grermany. He was renowned for his bounty to the clergy, and built the cathedral at Rouen, and other religious edifices. In his succession to the dukedom he was Richard I. He married Gonnor, a lady of high birth, and by her had four sons and three daughters. His daughter Emma married, first, Ethelred of England, and after the death of her husband, married, second, Canute the Great of England, and became the mother of Hardicanute. This alliance constituted the substantial basis for the claim which several generations later the famous descendant of Duke Richard I., William the Conqueror, set up and successfully maintained for the possession of England.
Richard II., the eldest son of the preceding, was surnamed the Good. He reigned thirty years after succeeding to the dukedom upon the death of his father, and during that time was celebrated for his display of desire for justice, for his courage, and for his religious disposition. He was well beloved by the people over whom he was on the whole a beneficent ruler. He won the esteem of the neighboring princes and nobles and was less in war than most of his predecessors or contemporaries. He was a strong ally of the King of France and assisted that monarch in the conquest of Burgundy.
He died in Fecamp, August 23, 1026. He married, first, Judith, daughter of the Duke of Brittany, by whom he had six children; second, Estrith, sister of King Canute and daughter of Swene, King of Denmark; third, Papia, a Danish lady of good family. By his wife Judith he had Richard, the third Duke of Normandy, who died in 1027 without issue, and Robert, who succeeded his brother. Leonore, his daughter, married Baldwin IV. of Flanders, who was the father of Baldwin V. and the grandfather of Matilda, who became the wife of William the Conqueror, the grandson of this Richard.
Robert, Duke of Normandy, son of the preceding, was surnamed Le Diable, although his character seemed anything but deserving of that nickname, for according to one of the old chroniclers he was "courteous, joyous, debonnaire and benign." He was better called the Magnificent, and after he had succeeded to the dukedom he was engaged actively in measures to broaden the extent of his possessions and to strengthen his power. He helped to restore King Henry of France to the throne from which that monarch had been excluded, and in 1051 made an important visit to the English court for the purpose of securing his recognition by Edward the Confessor as a possible heir to the English throne. Already a Norman party had developed in England and Duke Robert evidently considered the time opportune to press the interests of his family in that direction. In the eighth year of his reign he made a journey to the Holy Land, and on his way home he died in Nice in June, 1035, and was buried in a church in that city.
William, son of the preceding, was born in Falaise in 1027 or 1028. He was a favorite with his father who, as soon as the boy came to maturity, began to plan to have him as his successor, although by birth he was not entitled to that advancement. When Duke Robert set out on the pilgrimage to the Holy Land that ended in his death, he called his nobles and other followers about him and indicated in the strongest terms his desire that William should be accepted as his successor. The nobles yielded to his wishes and therefore upon his death in 1035 William was recognized as the head of the house. The new duke proved to be a man of wonderful energy and discretion and of marked skill as an administrator of government.
The agitation in England for the reception of the Normans as a ruling house, that had been begun in the reign of his grandfather, had developed to a high point by this time and it was clearly recognized that Duke William had before him every opportunity that an ambitious man in those days could desire to add the island across the Channel to his own already large and powerful domain. Upon the death of Edward the Confessor the contest for the rich prize waxed strong between Edgar, the last of the Saxon line, Harold Godwin, of an ambitious but not royal house, and the Duke of Normandy.
Every reader of history knows the result. In the battle of Hastings, in 1066, William of Normandy overthrew the Saxon rule of England and planted himself so firmly upon the island of Britain that the old Saxon authority forever disappeared. For over twenty years he ruled as King of England and at the same time was Duke of Normandy; elevating himself and his family into a position of the highest rank and the greatest power among the then known kings and princes of Europe. He died September 8, 1087, and dividing his great kingdom he gave Normandy to his son Robert, and England to his son William Rufus. To his son Henry he gave a large sum of money only. He married Matilda, daughter of Baldwin v., Count of Flanders and Artois.
Henry, son of the preceding, was born in 1068. In his early years, after the death of his father, he was engaged in constant contention with his brothers, King William Rufus of England, and Robert, Duke of Normandy, principally over the possession of Normandy and the right of succession in England. Upon the death of William Rufus the witan chose Henry to be King of England, and he became Henry I. in 1100, when he was thirty-two years of age. He made a record as an active and industrious king, considerate of the people, and, like all the princes and nobles of that age,- a benefactor to the church. He spent considerable time in Normandy and was of course drawn into the contentions that were constantly carried on between the different kings of Western Europe. He died near Lyons, France, in December, 1135. He married Matilda, daughter of Malcolm Canmore, King of Scotland. His daughter Matilda married the Emperor Henry of Germany in 1114 and afterwards Geoffrey of Anjou. These matrimonial alliances involved him in plotting and warring during the greater part of his life.
Robert, son of the preceding, was the favorite son of his father who created him Earl of Gloucester and endowed him with considerable property. He died in Bristol, England, October 21, 1147. He married Mabel, who by some authorities is named Matilda and by others Sybil, a daughter of Robert Fitz-Hamon, and had six children. His son William, the second Earl of Gloucester, was the father of Amicia who married Ralph de Clare and had Gilbert, Earl of Gloucester, whose daughter Isabel de Clare, married Robert Bruce, seventh of the name, in 1240.
Matilda, who married William the Conqueror and was the ancestress of the Isabel de Clare who married the seventh Robert Bruce, belonged to the house of the Counts of Flanders, who ruled that important domain for hundreds of years, and who were connected in marriage with the Carlovingian kings and other princes of that period.
Baldwin, Count of Flanders, surnamed Bras de Fer, or Iron Arm, was a great-grandson of Lyderic, Count of Harlebec, the first hereditary governor of Flanders. Baldwin became Count of Flanders in 858. He died in 879. He married, for his second wife, in 863, Judith, who was the widow of Ethelwulf of England and a daughter of Charles the Bold, a grandson of Charlemagne.
Baldwin, the second Count of Flanders and Artois, son of the preceding, was surnamed the Bold. He died January 2, 918. During his lifetime he was engaged actively in war against the kings of France, Eudes and Charles the Simple. He married, in 889, Alfritha, or Aelfthryth, daughter of Alfred the Great of England. Aenulf I., Count of Flanders and Artois, son of the preceding, was surnamed the Great. He died at the extreme age of ninety-two. He married, in 923, Alisa or Alice, daughter of Heribert, Count of Vermandois, who was in the fifth generation from Charlemagne.
Baldwin III., son of the preceding, was the next Count of Flanders and Artois. He ruled from 958 to 961. He married, in 951, Matilda, daughter of Herman Billung, Duke of Saxony.
Arnulf II., son of the preceding, succeeded to the title of Count of Flanders and Artois. He died in 988. He married Rosala, daughter of Beranger II., King of Provence and Marquis of Friuli.
Baldwin IV., son of the preceding, was named the Fair-beard, and became Count of Flanders and Artois in 988. He was a man of much energy and made large additions to the family domain by conquest, especially Valenciennes. The Emperor Henry II. endowed him with the island of Wacheren. He married either Origina, daughter of Frederick, Count of Moselle, or Eleanor, daughter of Richard II., Duke of Normandy.
Baldwin V., of Lille, son of the preceding, was known as the Pious and also as the Debonnaire. During the minority of his nephew. King Philip I. of France, he was a regent of that kingdom. His military activities were never-ceasing, and he conquered Hainault and also helped his son-in-law, William of Normandy, in that monarch's enterprises. He died in 1067. He married, in 1027, Adele, daughter of Robert, King of France, who was a son of Hugh Capet. She died in 1079. Their daughter Matilda married William the Conqueror.
In the young centuries of the Christian era two great powers existed in Continental Europe, the Franks and the Lombards, preceding the growth to power of the Carlovingian Kings. Western Europe was beginning to emerge from the barbarism in which the Romans had found and left it, and masterful lords were developing among the different tribes in that part of the world and making their people into nations.
Clovis, the first great leader of the Franks, was supreme over Gaul about the year 500. He was of the Merovingian dynasty, of which Merowig was the founder, and which had become supreme among the powers then existing. Following the death of Clovis, in 511, the kingdom began to split up and finally after the time of Dagobert, the last Frankish king, the realm had become divided principally into Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy.
Pepin of Landen came into control in Austrasia. He was a prince who held the rank of mayor of the palace, but practically he was the ruler of the country, the nominal king being merely a figurehead. One of his daughters married Anseghis who was the son of Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, through whose influence Pepin had been elevated to the position that he held Pepin of Herstal, son of Anseghis by the daughter of Pepin of Landen, not only strengthened himself in the kingdom of Austrasia, but also conquered Neustria and welded the two kingdoms under one control. Although he found the Carlovingian family already established in high rank among the lords of Austrasia and regarded with deference by the nobles of other countries, he advanced its prestige still higher and increased its power. He did not hesitate to lead a revolt against King Dagobert, and overcoming that monarch,received the title of the Duke of Franks. In time he subdued all Northern Gaul and became the acknowledged ruler of the entire Frankish empire. He died in 720.
Charles, son of the preceding by his wife Alpaida, became one of the most distinguished monarchs in his line previous to the advent of the greater Charlemagne. He was Duke of Austrasia and mayor of the palace of the Frankish kings. Early in life he was engaged in rebellion against his step-mother who was planning to secure the succession to the throne for her son to the exclusion of Charles. By his superior talent and energy, he was able to subvert the plans of his stepmother and his half-brother and to ingratiate himself with the other Austrasian nobles. His supporters made him Duke of Austrasia, and he conquered Neustria which had endeavored to break away from the alliance that had been made by his father Pepin.
For a time - some twenty years - he allowed the throne that his father had bequeathed to him to lie vacant, but in 742 he became lord of the united kingdom of Austrasia and Neustria. In several campaigns that he inaugurated against the German nations he was pre-eminently successful, but he gained his greatest fame by repelling the Moslems who, starting from Spain and sweeping northward, endeavored to bring all Western Europe under their control, or to lay waste to it. He met the Moslem forces at Poictiers in 752, and defeated them so completely that they were hurled back a mass of disorganized soldiery into the mountains of Spain. From this victory he got the name Martel, or hammer, thus being known to history as Charles Martel. He annexed to the Frankish empire all of Aquitania, and when he died left the kingdom which he had received from his father so well established that it was fast becoming one of the great nations of the continent.
Pepin II., son of Charles Martel, was born about 715. He was surnamed le Breuf, the Short, but belied his nick-name by proving to be a man of extraordinary prowess and of physical ability. Receiving from his father the control of Neustria, Burgundy, and Provence, he governed those countries with diligence and skill. He did not personally ascend the throne, but for diplomatic reasons placed thei'eon a Merovingian prince, Childeric II., who made an imposing figurehead but had no real power. Pepin had a brother, Caroloman, who for a time divided authority with him, but upon the death of this brother he became the recognized ruler over all that territory that in subsequent times became France. He sent Childeric to a monastery, and supported by the church and other nobles, came forward as the real monarch and was crowned in 752. One of the most brilliant achievements of his life was his victory over the Lombards in 755, as a result of which he founded that temporal sovereignty that has ever since been part of the Holy See. For eight years, 760-68, he was engaged in a destructive war with Aquitania which resulted in his triumph over the opposing nation. He died in 768.
Charlemagne, son of the preceding, was born April 2, 742. His brother Caroloman preceded him in authority, but after the death of his father Pepin and his brother, he attained position at the head of the entire Prankish kingdom. Unquestionably he was the greatest figure in his age in the world. He became master of all Gaul and West Germany and maintained himself impregnable against all rivalry and against all enmity. Near the beginning of his career he was particularly fortunate in wars with Italy, Spain, Germany, and other nations, and by the close of the eighth century had enlarged his kingdom until it had become an enormous empire extending from the Baltic and the North Seas on the north to the Mediterranean and the Adriatic on the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Oder and other eastern rivers of Germany.
Not only was Charlemagne noted as a warrior and as a founder of empire, but he was even more famous perhaps as a law-giver and as a patron of art, science, and learning. Not only did he unite the Germanic and Prankish peoples, but he taught them again the arts of literature and science which had been wellnigh forgotten in the dark ages. He encouraged trade and bent his energies more toward making his people pacific than warlike. He revived learning in a way that has made his name synonymous with culture, establishing some of the most famous schools of learning that the world had known up to that time outside of Greece and Rome. He was one of those few great men who have arisen at far distantly separated periods of time, who, with power of mind and mastery of execution and energy of purpose, have by their efforts changed the face of the world, altered the trend of history, and inaugurated a new era of civilization. In addition to his other varied accomplishments he was a man of literary skill and was the author of many works of importance. He died in 814.
Louis le Debonnaire, son of Charlemagne by his wife Hildegarde of Swabia, was named not only the Complaisant but also the Pious, for the many good deeds that distinguished his life. He was born in Casseneuil, Aquitania, in 778. As a child he received the title of King of Aquitania, but was not active in ruling until after the death of his father, in 814, when as the only surviving son he succeeded to the head of the nation that his father had brought together. His disposition was not entirely toward government, and he felt that his kingdom was fast becoming unwieldy. Accordingly, in 817 he divided it with his sons, giving Aquitania to Pepin, Bavaria to Louis, and Italy to Lothair.
This division, instead of pacifying the ambitions of the sons, served to stir up rivalries and animosities and hence-forward Louis was in constant trouble with the members of his family. Ultimately he was deposed and his wife was imprisoned in a convent. In 830, however, the people of Germany, who were much attached to him, restored him to his throne and released his wife from the convent. His position was maintained only for a short time, for again he was overthrown by his son Lothair who with unfilial spirit subjected him to great indignities.
For the third time, after considerable fighting, he remounted the throne in 835, but it continued to be a troublous seat for him, although he was able to maintain himself thereon until the end of his life. He died June 20, 840, and with him began the dissolution of the Carlovingian empire. He married Judith the Fair, daughter of Welphus I., Count of Altorf , Switzerland ; she died April 19, 843.
Charles le Chauve, the Bold, son of the preceding, was born in Frankfort-on-Maine in 823. He became Emperor of the West in succession to his father Louis, and was also King of France and Neustria. In fact his inheritance comprised nearly the entire western empire, but he was not permitted to enjoy this quietly, for his brothers were ambitious of territory and desirous of elevating themselves in kingly positions. Establishing his authority over the territory now known as France, he became Emperor in 875. His brother, Louis of Bavaria, retained Germany, while Charles in the end confined himself almost exclusively to the kingdom of France. He died October 6, 878. He married Richilda, daughter of Bovinus, Count Aldemir Waldi.
Judith, daughter of the preceding, married, first, Baldwin Bras de Fer, and second, in October, 863, Ethelwulf of England. By her husband, Baldwin Bras de Fer, she became the ancestress of Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror, and through her, the ancestress of the Bruces of later generations.
Robert the Strong was at the head of the noble house that claimed the kinship of France in rivalry with the Carlovingians and that included the founder of the Capetian Dynasty. He was a Saxon warrior who held in fief the province of Anjou, and afterwards was possessed of the duchy of Ile-de-France. He was best known for his brilliant struggle in keeping the Norman invaders of France at bay in the ninth century ; and thereby he won enduring popularity with both the nobles and the commonalty. He died in 866.
Robert, second son of the preceding, succeeded his father as royal claimant, and was the leader of the barons who rose against the Carlovingian kings and maintained warfare with more or less success. He married Beatrix, daughter of Heribert I., Count of Vermandois.
Hugh the Great, son of the preceding, succeeded his father. He was Count of Paris and Orleans and Duke of France and Burgundy. He held under control the vast dominion that extended from the Loire to the frontier of Picardy. He married Hedwiga, daughter of Henry I., Emperor of Germany. Henry of Germany, called the Fowler or the Falconer, was the first Saxon king of Germany. He was born in 876, the son of Otho, the illustrious Duke of Saxony. He succeeded his father to the dukedoms of Saxony and Thuringia, and upon the death of Conrad, Duke of the Franks, he was chosen to that dukedom in 910. He consolidated all Germany under his rule, defeated the Hungarians in 933, and the Danes in 934, and achieved other successes in war. He died in 936 after an eighteen years' reign, leaving a large and powerful kingdom soundly established.
Hugh Capet, son of Hugh the Great by his wife Hedwiga, and grandson of Emperor Henry I. of Germany, was born about 940. He is celebrated as the founder of the Capetian dynasty, the third race of French kings. He inherited from his father the duchy of France and the county of Paris and soon became one of the most powerful princes of his age. Upon the death of Louis V., the last of the Carlovingian kings, the nobles and bishops assembled and selected Hugh Capet to hold the throne. He was crowned July 3, 987. His reign was illustrious beyond that of any of his predecessors, and he ended by making the crown an hereditary possession of his family, bequeathing it directly to his son Robert. He died in 996.
Robert I., king of France, son of the preceding, was born in 971. He had a long but inglorious reign, remaining on the throne twenty-five years. He was of an easy, kindly disposition and was never able to quiet the turbulent nobles who surrounded him. His ambitious queen and her followers made particular trouble for him, and it is said that he felt quite resigned when the approach of death indicated that he was to be liberated from the cares of his lifetime. He died in 1031. He married Constance, daughter of William, Count of Toulouse.
Adele, daughter of the preceding, married, first, Richard III., Duke of Normandy, and second, Baldwin V., Count of Flanders. Matilda, daughter of Count Baldwin and Adele, married, as we have before seen, William the Conqueror, and became the ancestress of the Bruces.
Pepin, founder of the house that produced the Counts of Vermandois, was one of the sons of Charlemagne. He became King of Italy, and of other countries of Europe. He died in 810.
Bernard, son of the preceding, died in 818.
Pepin, son of the preceding, manifested little disposition for the strenuous life of that period, and does not appear to have been in any way conspicuous in the battling for power and possessions that absorbed the attention of most of the men of that age. Heribert, son of the preceding, became the first Count of Vermandois and maintained himself securely in mastership over that little kingdom. He died in 902.
Heribert, son of the preceding, succeeded to the throne of Vermandois in 902. He died in 943, after a long and peaceful reign.
Alisa, daughter of the preceding, married Arnulf I., Count of Flanders and Artois, from whom, in the sixth generation, descended Matilda, who married William the Conqueror.
XIV. COLLATERAL FAMILIES OF SCOTLAND
From the beginnings of its long career the house of Bruce became connected in marriage, generation after generation, with most of the powerful families of Scotland. The Bruce strength as claimant to the throne of Scotland was decidedly reinforced by these alliances, which also added the increased distinction of notable ancestral traditions through various collateral lines. The sons and daughters of Bruce were naturally sought in marriage by the other noble families with whom they were associated and especially since few of those had any trace of royal descent such as made the Bruces conspicuous among their contemporaries. Almost alone in rivalry on the ground of this royal origin were the Baliols and the Cumyns who traced to the ancient kingly house of Scotland the same as the Bruces. But even they, notable though they were, had not behind them the royal ancestry in other lines that the Bruces possessed.
Genealogically, therefore, the history of the Bruces clearly includes the history of the largest proportion of the prominent families of Scotland from the year 1000 onward, and afterwards of many of the foremost noble families of England as well. So far as the marriages of the Bruces, either on the male or female lines, into these families is concerned, the distinction achieved by them becomes part of the distinction naturally belonging to the Bruce stock. In other chapters of this book special attention has been given to the inheritances that came to the Bruces through marriage and intermarriage into several of the more conspicuous families of that age, such as the Stewarts and the Cavendishes. Scarcely of lesser interest is the history of other families, of lesser fame only to those just mentioned.
By the marriage of Lady Mary, daughter of Donald, the tenth Earl of Mar, to King Robert Bruce I., the line of one of the oldest noble houses of Scotland was connected with that of Bruce. Concerning the title of Mar, Lord Hailes remarks that it is one of the earldoms whose origin has been lost in the mists of antiquity. The first Earl of Mar of whom there is any record is Martacus who was living under King Malcolm Canmore in 1065.
Gratnach, son of Martacus, is recorded as one of the witnesses to the foundation charter given by Alexander I. to the monastery at Scone in 1114. Morgundus, son of Gratnach, was the third Earl of Mar, and lived in the time of King Malcolm IV.
Gillocher, son of Morgundus, was living in 1163 and was the fourth Earl of Mar.
Morgund, son of Gillocher, was living in 1171 and was the fifth Earl of Mar. According to a curious writing preserved by the historian Selden, he received in 1171 from King William I. a renewal of the investures of the earldom. He donated much property to the church and gave lands to the Priory of St. Andrew's "for the welfare of the souls of himself and his wife Agnes." He had five sons: Gilbert, who was the sixth Earl of Mar; Gilchrist, who was the seventh Earl of Mar; Duncan, who was the eighth Earl of Mar; Malcolm, and James.
Duncan, third son of the preceding, became the eighth Earl of Mar, succeeding his two elder brothers who died without issue. He was living in the reign of King Alexander II. and made donations to the church of St. Mary of Monymunk, being also a benefactor of the monks of Culdees. He died some time before 1234. He married Isabella, daughter of William, son of Nessius, lord of Latherisk.
William, son of the preceding, succeeded his father and became the ninth Earl of Mar. He was a trusted counsellor of King Alexander III. and was one of the nobles who guaranteed the treaties of Scotland with England in 1237 and 1244. When the party of Henry III. prevailed in Scotland in 1255 he was removed from his official position in the government of King Alexander, but in 1258 he was chosen a regent of Scotland, and in 1264 was made Great Chamberlain of Scotland. He was sent on a special mission to King Henry HI. of England in 1270 and died shortly after that time. He married Elizabeth Cumyn, daughter of William Cumyn, Earl of Buchan. She died in 1267. He had two sons, Donald and Duncan.
Donald, eldest son of the preceding, was the tenth Earl of Mar. He was knighted by King Alexander III. at Scone, September 29, 1270. He was one of the Scottish nobles who in February, 1283-4, bound themselves to support the right of succession of Margaret of Norway to the throne of Scotland in the contingency that King Alexander III. should die without leaving a male heir. He was witness to the contract between Margaret of Scotland and King Eric of Norway in 1281, and was otherwise prominent in all the great events of his age. He died in 1294. His daughter, Lady Isabel, married King Robert Bruce I., and his daughter, Lady Mary, married Kenneth, the third Earl of Sutherland.
Gratney, son of the preceding, succeeded his father in the earldom in 1294. He died some time before 1300. He married Christiana Bruce, daughter of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and sister of King Robert Bruce. Besides his son Donald, he had a daughter who married Sir John Menteith.
Donald, son of the preceding, became the twelfth Earl of Mar upon the death of his father in 1300. He was intimately associated with his royal uncle. King Robert Bruce, in the early campaigns of that monarch. When the Bruce was defeated in 1306 the Earl of Mar was made a prisoner by the English and was detained in captivity until the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. He was one of the party of Scotch prisoners, which included the wife, sister, and daughter of Bruce, who after that event were exchanged for the Earl of Hereford. For a short time he resided in England, but in 1318 he was a member of the Parliament that met at Scone. He was appointed by King Edward II. of England as the guardian of the Castle of Bristol which he afterwards delivered to the Queen, and himself returned to Scotland. In the invasion conducted into England by Randolph and Douglas in 1327 he had a small command. After the death of Randolph, who was then Regent of the kingdom. Mar was elected by Parliament to the vacancy. As Regent he assumed command of the Scottish army, but was defeated by Edward Baliol in 1332 and killed in the rout that followed. He married Isabel, daughter of Sir Alexander Stewart of Bonkill, and had, besides his son Thomas, a daughter Margaret.
Thomas, son of the preceding, succeeded to the earldom of Mar. He was conspicuous in public transactions in the time of King David II., and held many important official positions. He was entrusted with the mission to England to plead for the liberation of King David II. from captivity in 1351. When King David was released in 1357 he was one of the seven lords of Scotland from whom three were selected as hostages for the fulfillment of the terms of the treaty. He was Great Chamberlain of Scotland in 1358 and ambassador to England in 1362. He held many lands and was made a. pensioner by King Edward III. He was married three times, but died without issue and with him the male line of the earls of Mar became extinct.
"No surname in Scotland can boast of a more noble origin than that of Dunbar; being sprung from the Saxon kings of England, the princes and earls of Northumberland."*
* Douglas' Baronage of Scotland.
Crinan, the first of the family of whom there is any record, was a nobleman before the conquest of England by William of Normandy. He was probably of the royal line of Athol, for it is recorded that Crinan was the father of Duncan who attacked Macbeth in 1045. The Irish annalists say that Crinan, the Abbott of Dunkeld, and many with him, even twenty heroes, were engaged in that affair. Crinan married Algitha, daughter of Uchtred, Earl of Northumberland, by Elgiva, his wife, who was a daughter of King Ethelbert of England.
Maldred was a son of the preceding.
Cospatric, son of the preceding, was in Scotland before 1068. He was created Earl of Northumberland by William the Conqueror, but was soon deprived of that honor on account of some disagreement with his royal master. Thereupon he fled to Scotland where he was received by King Malcolm Canmore who gave to him Dunbar and lands adjoining. Not only was he an earl but he became a monk of Durham, and dying in December, 1069, was buried in the monks' burying ground at Durham.
Cospatric, son of the preceding, was the second Earl. He was a great benefactor to the Abbey of Kelso. He died August 16, 1139.
Cospatric, son of the preceding, belonged to the brotherhood of Kelso. He died in 1147.
Cospatric, eldest son of the preceding, was the fourth earl. He founded the Cistercian convents of Coldstream and Eccles, in Berwick County, and was a benefactor of the Abbey of Melrose. He died in 1166, leaving two sons by his wife Derder. Waldere, eldest son of the preceding, was the fifth earl, but the first to have the territorial designation of Dunbar. He was one of the hostages for the due performance of the treaty for the liberation of King William I. He died in 1182. He married Aelina and left two sons and one daughter.
Patricius, or Patrick Dunbar, son of the preceding, was the sixth earl. He was justiciary of Lothian and keeper of Berwick. In 1218 he founded the House of the Red Friars at Dunbar, and when advanced in years retired to a monastery. He died in 1232. He married, first, Ada, daughter of King William the Lion; second, Christina. By his first wife he had four sons and one daughter.
Patrick Dunbar, eldest son of the preceding, was the seventh earl in 1232. He was a powerful noble of the first rank and was a crusader under King Louis IX. He gave a house to the monks of Dryebergh and lands to Melros. In 1235 he commanded the army sent against Thomas Dow-mac-Allan of Galloway, the usurper, and made him submit. He was a witness to the treaty between King Alexander II. of Scotland and King Henry II. of England at York in 1237, and one of the guarantors of it, and also of another treaty in 1244, between the same monarchs. He was killed at the siege of Damietta in 1248. He married Eupheme, second daughter of Walter, High Steward of Scotland. Patrick Dunbar, son of the preceding, was the eighth earl. Taking a prominent and active part in Scotch politics, he stood with the English party. After the death of King Alexander III. he was one of the regents, and one of "the seven earls of Scotland," a body wholly distinct from the other estates of the kingdom. He died in 1289. He was the first to sign himself Earl of March, which he did in 1248. He commanded the left wing of the Scottish army at Largs. He married Christiana Bruce, daughter of Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale. She founded " ane house of religione in ye toune of Dunbar."
Patrick Dunbar, son of the preceding, was the ninth earl of Dunbar and also bore the title of Earl of March. He was surnamed Blackbeard. He was a steadfast supporter of the English interests, in 1298 was King Edward's lieutenant in Scotland, and in 1300 was on the English side at the siege of Carlaverock. He married Marjory Cumyn, daughter of Alexander Cpmyn, Earl of Buchan, and as his wife sided with the Scottish party Dunbar was not always able to meet the demands of fealty to the English sovereign.
Patrick Dunbar, son of the preceding, was the tenth Earl. He was with his father at Carlaverock and after the battle of Bannockburn assisted King Edward III. to escape. Making peace with King Robert Bruce, he was appointed governor of Berwick castle and valiantly held that fortress against King Edward III. At the battle of Durham he commanded the left wing of the Scottish army. He died in 1369. He married Agnes, daughter of Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray. His countess, known in history as Black Agnes, was a grand-niece of King Robert Bruce. In January, 1337-8, during a siege of nineteen weeks, she made a gallant and successful defence of the castle of Dunbar against the assaults of the English led by the Earl of Salisbury. This affair is memorable in Scottish annals and has been the subject of many a minstrel's song.
In an interpolated passage in Fordun's monumental work on early Scotland* is the following account of the origin of the name of Scrimgeour.
"Early in the reign of King Alexander I, who ascended the Scottish throne in 1107, some of the men of Mearns and Moray assaulted the residence of his majesty, who escaped by the assistance of one of his bed chamber men, called Alexander Carron, through a private passage. The King raising forces went in pursuit of the rebels and came in sight of them on the other side of the Spey. The river was then high; but the King giving his standard to Carron, whom he knew to excel in courage and resolution, that brave officer crossed the Spey and planted the standard on the other side in sight of the rebels. The royal army followed, the adversaries taking to flight. In reward of the gallant service of Alexander Carron the King constituted him and his heirs heritable standard-bearers of Scotland; made him a grant of lands and conferred on him the name of Scrimgeour, signifying a hardy fighter."
* Scotochronicon, by John of Fordun.
Alexander Scrimgeour, descended from Alexander Carron, the original holder of the name of Scrimgeour, was one of the most active and most valiant associates of William Wallace in that patriot's glorious attempt to restore the liberties of Scotland. When Wallace was constituted governor of Scotland, in recognition of the services of Scrimgeour he conferred upon him the constabulary of the castle of Dundee, giving this grant for his "faithful aid in bearing the banner of Scotland which service he actually performs." This grant was dated at Torphichen March 29, 1298.
Nicoll Scrimgeour, or Skyrmeschour, as the name is sometimes spelled in the records, son of the preceding, had from King Robert I. a charter of the office of standard-bearer and also grants of lands in the barony of Inverkeithing, forfeited by Roger Moubray.
Alexander Scrimgeour, son of the preceding, had a charter of lands near Dundee in 1357, and a letter of safe conduct into England in 1366. In a charter of 1378 by King Robert II. he is spoken of as Constable of Dundee. He died in 1383.
Sir James Scrimgeour, son of the preceding, in several charters of his time by King Robert II. and King Robert III., also is mentioned as Constable of Dundee. Among those who accompanied Alexander, Earl of Mar, to Flanders, in the service of the Duke of Burgundy in 1408 was:
"Schere James Scremgeoure of Dundee,
Comendit a famous Knight was he,
The Kingis banneoure of fe,
A lord that wele aucht lovit be."*
* De Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, by Andrew of Wyntoun.
He fought at the battle of Harlaw, July 24, 1411, under the same Alexander, Earl of Mar, against Donald, Lord of the Isles, and was there killed. The name of his wife was Egidia. He had a daughter Egidia who married James Maitland, second son of Sir Robert Maitland of Leithington.
Sir John Scrimgeour, son of the preceding, was also Constable of Dundee. Previous to April, 1413, he was for many months a prisoner in the tower of London, presumably for political reasons. In 1444 he had a charter from Alexander, Earl of Ross, Lord of the Isles and Baron of Kincardine, of lands in Kincardinshire. One of his daughters married Robert Bruce, second Baron of Cultmalindie.
The earldom of Gloucester was a foundation by King Henry I. of England. It dates from the early part of the twelfth century.
Robert, the first Earl of Gloucester, was the son of King Henry I., and was born in Caen, France. Upon the occasion of his marriage his father gave to him large properties in Normandy, Wales, and England, so that he was one of the richest men of his time. Among these properties was the "honour of Gloucester" which the King formed into the earldom that afterwards became so distinguished. Robert was intimately associated with his father in all that monarch's battling in Normandy and elsewhere. He was his father's most beloved son, and was preferred far beyond any other member of the family.
He was the only child present at his father's death, and following that event he was urged by his father's followers and by others to lay claim to and contest the crown of England. But, without ambition in that direction, he declined the proffered honor, contenting himself with the earldom. His birth gave him unusual prominence and he could not keep entirely out of the rivalries and contests of the period. King Stephen especially disliked him, and quarreled with him frequently, but Robert succeeded in maintaining his independence and keeping himself aloof during the war that was waged against Stephen. Nevertheless he felt himself constrained to go to the assistance of his half-sister Matilda in Normandy in 1138.
Subsequently, in 1141, through King Stephen's warring against Matilda, he found himself drawn into that contest and was captured in the battle at Winchester at the same time that Stephen was captured by the opposing forces. The two warriors were exchanged for each other. He always championed the cause of his sister and was the main support of the Angevin party that was promoted by Geoffrey of Angevin, Matilda's second husband. He was a warrior, statesman, and scholar, and left a deep impress upon the age in which he lived. He died in Bristol, October 31, 1147. He married Mabel, or Matilda, or Sybil, daughter of Robert Fitz Hamon and had by her six children.
The ancient family of Fitz Hamon was derived from an ancestor, Richard Fitz Hamon, who was a son or nephew of Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy. Its representatives were in Neustria from the very beginning of the invasion of that territory by the Normans, and they were possessed of important lordships in various parts of the country under the rule of the dukes of Normandy. The house was old and illustrious and had many distinctions long before the appearance of Robert Fitz Hamon in England.
Robert Fitz Hamon came from Normandy with William the Conqueror, and after the battle of Hastings settled' in Kent where he became possessed of extensive lands. When the Normans pushed their way into Wales for the purpose of conquering that section of Britain this noble had a conspicuous and useful part in the campaign. He was really the leader in the invasion, and it was wholly due to his efforts that Glamorgan was conquered. So complete was his success that, with the approval of King William, he established himself in Wales permanently, beginning the construction at Cardiff, in 1080, of a castle which in after years and for many generations was the seat of the family. It has been well said of him that he really founded in Wales a county palatinate. He added much to the possessions of Tewksbury Abbey and was called the second founder of that institution. He also endowed the monks with many titles and was especially liberal to the Abbey of St. Paul's in Gloucestershire. Devoted to the cause of King William I., he was a close confidant of King William Rufus, King William's son and successor, until the death of the latter monarch. Then he attached himself to the cause of King Henry I., and was a stalwart defender of that king in all the difficulties that assailed his throne. At the siege of Calais he was wounded and as a result died in March, 1107. He married Sybil of Montgomery.
William, son of Robert, the first Earl of Gloucester, by his wife Mabel Fitz Hamon, succeeded his father and became the second Earl of Gloucester. He married Hawse, daughter of Robert, surnamed Bossu, Earl of Leicester. He died in 1173, leaving no son but three daughters, and with him the earldom of Gloucester in the male line of his family ceased.
Amicia, daughter of the preceding, married Richard de Clare, and was the grandmother of Isabel de Clare who married Robert Bruce.
The Huntingdon family to which belonged David, Earl of Huntingdon, whose daughter, Isabella of Huntingdon, married Robert Bruce, was of ancient Saxon origin as well as of the royal family of Scotland.
Waltheof, son of Syward the Saxon, who was Earl of Northumberland, lived in the time of King William I. of England. He received from King William the earldoms of Huntingdon and Northampton, on the occasion of his marriage with Judith, daughter of a sister of King William on his Norman mother's side. Subsequently Waltheof disagreed with his royal uncle and took part in a conspiracy to expel him and the Normans from England. In this he was unsuccessful and in consequence thereof was beheaded in 1075.
Maud, or Matilda, daughter of Waltheof, married for her second husband, David, son of King Malcolm of Scotland, and through her David became possessed of the earldoms of Huntingdon and Northumberland. Subsequently he became King of Scotland.
Henry, son of the preceding, obtained from King Stephen of England the earldom of Huntingdon. He married Ada, sister of William, Earl of Warren and Surrey.
David, son of Prince Henry and great-grandson of Waltheof , first Earl of Huntingdon, had by his wife, who was the daughter of Hugh, Earl of Chester, Isabel who married Robert Bruce.
The De Clare or de Claire family which became connected with the house of Bruce was descended from Richard de Claire who came into England with William the Conqueror. Geoffrey, son of Richard I., Duke of Normandy, was its ancestor. He had a son Giselbert, named Crispin, who was earl of Brion in Normandy. Dugdale gives this ancestry of Richard de Clare, although Hornby says that he was the son of Gilbert, officiary Earl of Auci or Owe in Normandy.
Richard de Clare received great honors and possessions from William the Conqueror. At the time of the survey he was called Richard de Tonebruge (Tunbridge), Kent, from the seat which he had established there. He had thirty-eight lordships in Surrey, thirty-five in Essex, three in Cambridge, and ninety-five in Sussex. Among other places that he owned was Benfield, in Northamptonshire, from which he was called Ricardus de Benefacta. From his manor in Suffolk he had the name of Richard de Clare. In a few years that became the seat of the family and his heirs took the title of Lords of Clare. It is said that he was killed by the Welsh while on a hostile expedition into that country. He married Rohesia, daughter of Walter Gifford, Earl of Buckingham, and had six sons and two daughters. His son, Richard de Clare, became Abbot of Ely, and his son, Robert de Clare, was steward of King Henry I. of England.
Gilbert de Clare, eldest son of the preceding, succeeded to the possession of his father's lands in England and resided at Tonebruge. He was engaged in rebellion against King William Rufus, but after a time became reconciled to that monarch. He married in 1113 Adeliza, daughter of the Earl of Claremont, and had five sons and one daughter. His son, Gilbert de Clare, was Earl of Pembroke, and had a son who became the celebrated Richard Strongbow and conquered Ireland.
Richard de Clare, eldest son of the preceding, established himself in Wales, and his family remained there for generations. He is said to have been the first to hold the title of Earl of Hertford. He was killed by the Welsh in 1139. He married Alice, sister of Ranulph, second Earl of Chester, and had two sons and one daughter. His son, Gilbert de Clare, became the second Earl of Hertford, but died in 1151 without issue. His daughter, Alice de Clare, married Cadwalladerap-GriflBth, who was a prince of North Wales.
Roger de Clare, second son of the preceding, succeeded his brother, Gilbert de Clare, and became third Earl of Hertford. From the king he obtained large grants of land in Wales, and built and fortified many castles there. In the tenth year of the reign of King Henry II., he was one of the earls present at the recognition of the ancient customs and liberties confirmed by his ancestors. For his works of piety he was surnamed "the good." He died in 1173. He married Maud, daughter of James de St. Hillary, and had one son.
Richard de Clare, son of the preceding, was the fourth Earl of Hertford. He was one of the twenty-five barons who bound themselves to enforce the observance of Magna Charta. He died in 1218. He married Amicia, daughter of William, the second Earl of Gloucester, and through his wife became possessed of that earldom.
Gilbert de Clare, son of the preceding, was the fifth Earl of Hertford, and the first Earl of Gloucester and Hertford jointly. He was one of the twenty-five barons who opposed the arbitrary proceedings of King John and upheld the Magna Charta. He was also prominent in the Barons' War and supported the cause of the Dauphin Louis of France. At the battle of Lincoln in 1217 he was taken prisoner, but afterwards made his peace with the king. He died in 1230. He married Isabel, daughter of William Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke. His youngest daughter, Isabel, married Robert Bruce.
The founder of the house of Carrick of Scotland was Fergus, Lord of Galloway, who married Elizabeth, daughter of King Henry I. At his death in 1161 he left two sons, Gilbert and Uchtred, between whom his lands were divided.
Gilbert, with his brother Uchtred, attended King William the Lion in the invasion of England in 1174, but subsequently sought the favor of King Henry II. In the same year he procured the assassination of his brother, and, although for some time he was held in royal disfavor on this account, he was received into the presence of King Henry two years later and was pardoned. Under the protection of the English monarch he carried war into Scotland in 1184, but before hostilities were concluded he died, in January, 1185-6.
Duncan, son of the preceding, in the endeavor to heal the family difficulties, entered into an amicable conclusion with his cousin Roland, son of the murdered Uchtred. He was also a vassal of King William of Scotland defended the district of ancient Galloway, and was confirmed in the possession of the territory of Carrick in 1186. Carrick was the southern-most of the three districts into which the county of Ayr was divided and gave title to the earldom. Duncan was created Earl of Carrick by King Alexander II. , founded the Abbey of Crossramore, or Crossregal, for the Cluniac monks, and also endowed other monkish orders of Paisley and Melrose.
Niel Carrick, son of the preceding, followed the example of his father in acts of piety, making liberal gifts to the monasteries of Crossramore, or Crossregal, and of Sandale in Kintyre. He was received under the protection of King Henry III. in 1255 and the same year was appointed one of the regents of Scotland and guardian of Alexander III. and that monarch's queen. He died June 13, 1256. He married Margaret, daughter of Walter, High Steward of Scotland. His daughter Marjory (Carrick) de Kilconcath married the eighth Robert Bruce and, becoming Countess of Carrick in her own right, brought to her husband and transmitted to her descendants the earldom of Carrick. This matrimonial alliance of the Bruces with the house of the High Steward of Scotland was recalled several generations later when Marjory Bruce, daughter of King Robert Bruce, married Walter, the head of the house of Stewart of Scotland.
Uchtred, the second son of Fergus, Lord of Galloway, married Guinolda, who was the daughter of Waldeve of the Dunbar family. Waldeve was the grandson of Crinan, the founder of the noble house of Dunbar, and succeeding his brother, Cospatric, who died in 1139, had the barony of Allandale and other lands, maintaining his home at Cockermouth castle. He married Sigarith, a Saxon lady.
Roland, of Galloway, son of the preceding, after the death of his uncle Gilbert who had murdered his father, defeated the vassals of Gilbert, slaying their commander Gilpatrick in July, 1185. He finally came into possession of the whole of Galloway which he stubbornly held against all enemies. He married Elena Morville, daughter of Richard Morville, by whom he had several sons.
Alan, of Galloway, son of the preceding, had by his first wife, whose name is unknown, a daughter, Elena, who married Roger de Quincey, Earl of Winchester. He married, second, in 1209, Margaret, the eldest daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, and had a son, Thomas, and two daughters, Christiana and Dervorgill. The last named married John Baliol of Bernard Castle and had John Baliol, the competitor, who in 1292 was successful in prosecuting his claim to the throne of Scotland against Robert Bruce and other rivals. Thus a branch of the house of Carrick became associated with the fortunes of the Bruces in another and less agreeable way.
The De Burgh family from which King Robert Bruce chose his second wife was originally of Ireland where it was of special distinction, being connected with one of the first royal houses of that land.
Richard de Burgh, surnamed the Great Lord of Connaught, son of William FitzAdelm de Burgh, Lord Deputy of Ireland in the time of Hervig II., was also Viceroy of that kingdom 1227-29. He built the castle of Galway in 1232 and died in 1243. He married Una, or Agnes, daughter of Hugh O'Conor, King of Connaught, son of Cathal Crobhdearg, or the Red Hand.
Walter de Burgh, eldest son of the preceding, was Lord of Connaught, and in right of his wife became Earl of Ulster in 1243. He married Maud, daughter and heir of Hugh de Laci, Earl of Ulster, and had four sons.
Richard de Burgh, son of the preceding, was the second Earl of Ulster. He was a great warrior and statesman, and commanded all the Irish forces in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Gascoigne. He founded the Carmelite monastery at Loughren and built the castles Ballymote, Carran, and Sligo. In his declining years he retired to the monastery of Athassail. He died June 28, 1326. He married Margaret de Burgo, daughter of John de Burgo, Baron of Lanville, who was a great-grandson of Hubert, Earl of Kent. Elizabeth Aylmer de Burgh, daughter of Richard de Burgh and his wife Margaret de Burgo, was the second wife of King Robert Bruce.
William de Warrenne, Earl of Warrenne in Normandy, was a kinsman of William the Conqueror. He was among the Norman nobles at Hastings, and after the conquest of England received great honors from the King. He married Gundred, a daughter of William the Conqueror. Old-time authorities made this Gundred a daughter of William by his wife Matilda of Flanders. Recent investigations, however, conclusively show that she was the daughter of William by another wife.
William de Warrenne, eldest son of the preceding, built the castle of Holt and founded the priory of Lewes in Sussex. He made his home principally in Lewes, although he had castles also in Norfolk and at Coningsburg and Sandal. Dugdale gives the following quaint account of his closing hours :
" It is reported that this Earl William did violently detain certain lands from the monks of Ely; for which being often admonished by the Abbot and not making restitution he died miserably. And though his death happened very far off the isle of Ely, the same night he died, the Abbot lying quietly in his bed, and meditating on heavenly things, heard the soul of this earl, in its carriage away by the devil, cry out loudly, and with a known and distinct voice; 'Lord have mercy on me. Lord have mercy on me.' And moreover on the next day after the Abbot acquainted all the monks in chapel therewith. And likewise that about four days after there came a messenger to them from the wife of this earl, with one hundred shillings for the good of his soul, who told them that he died the very hour that the Abbot had heard the outcry. But that neither the Abbot nor any of the monks would receive it; not thinking it safe for them to take the money of a damned person. ... If this part of the story, as to the Abbot's hearing the noise, be no truer than the last, viz., that his lady sent them one hundred shillings, I shall deem it to be a mere fiction, in regard the lady was certainly dead about three years before."
This William de Warrenne joined Robert de Belesme, Earl of Arundel and Shrewsbury, in supporting Robert' Curthose, son of King William I., against his brother King Henry I. The rebellion was short-lived, however, and subsequently William de Warrenne was faithful to the cause of King Henry. He married Isabel, daughter of Henry the Great, Earl of Vermandois, and widow of Robert, Earl of Mellent. Adeline, his youngest daughter, married Prince Henry of Scotland, son of King David, and was the grandmother of Isabella de Huntingdon who married Robert Bruce.
The Elphinston family derived its name from the lands of Elphinston in the vicinity of Edinburgh. It was famous among the barons of Scotland before the thirteenth century.
Alexander de Elphinston acquired the land of Erthberg, county Stirling, from his mother Agnes de Erthberg.
Alexander de Elphinston had a charter of lands from King David II. in 1362.
Sir William de Elphinston had a charter of lands in 1399. He had three sons. His son Alexander de Elphinston was killed in a conflict with the English at Piperdean September 30, 1435. His son Henry de Elphinston succeeded him. His son William de Elphinston was the first Earl of Blythswood in Larnarkshire, and married Mary Douglas. A younger son of William Elphinston and Mary Douglas was William Elphinston, Bishop of Ross and Aberdeen, High Chancellor of Scotland, and founder of the University of Aberdeen.
Henry Elphinston, second son of the preceding, was of Pittendriech, which he had under charter in 1477. He also held Erthberg, Strickshaw, and other honors. He had two sons, James and Andrew.
James Elphinston, son of the preceding, died before his father, having had two sons, John and Alexander.
Sir John Elphinston, eldest son of the preceding, had charter for the lands of Pittendriech, Erthberg, and Cragrossy. He had a charter of the barony of Erthberg, and in 1503 the honors of Chawmyrlane and Cragoroth were erected into a barony to be called Elphinston, the title of which was first conferred upon him;
Alexander Elphinston, son of the preceding, had numerous grants of lands and had the custody of the king's castle of Kildrummie in Aberdeenshire in 1508. He was raised to the peerage in 1509 as Alexander, Lord Elphinston. He also had charters of lands in Fife, Stirlingshire, Banffshire, and elsewhere. He fell at Flodden Field, where he was fighting in the support of James IV. on that fateful day in September, 1513. He married Elizabeth Barlow, a noble Englishwoman, who was maid of honor to Mary, Queen of King James IV. His son, Alexander Elphinston, succeeded him. His daughter, Elizabeth Elphinston, married Sir David Somerville. His daughter, Eupheme Elphinston, was the mother of Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney, by King James v., and subsequently married John Bruce of Cultmalindie.
The ancient family of Oliphant was of Norman origin. Its first ancestors known in connection with English history were settled in Northamptonshire and held land there.
David Olifard, or Oliphant, was the first bearer of the surname. He was intimately associated with King David I. of Scotland, who was his godfather. He befriended his royal master during the conspiracy of King Stephen, and was secretary of King David I. after the rout of the forces of Matilda at Winchester in 1141. He thereupon went to Scotland and was rewarded with lands. He was associated in charters with Duncan, Earl of Fife; Ferteth, Earl of Strathearn; Gilbride, Earl of Angus; Malcolm, Earl of Atholl; and others. He was justiciary of Scotland in 1165 under King David I., and also under King William the Lion. He died in 1170.
David Olifard, eldest son of the preceding, succeeded his father in his estates and in the justiciary. He died toward the end of the twelfth century.
Sir Walter Olifard, eldest son of the preceding, inherited the estates of his father and was justiciary under King Alexander n. He died in 1249. He married Christiana, daughter of the Earl of Strathearn.
Walter Olifard, son of the preceding, was also justiciary. He died after 1250.
Sir William Oliphant of Aberdalgy, eldest son of the preceding, was a prominent figure in all the campaigning of King Robert Bruce for the throne of Scotland. About 1296, after the battles of Berwick and Dunbar, he was seized and held in prison until some time in the following year. In 1299 Stirling Castle, which had been fully garrisoned after the English had been driven out of it, was committed to his care. He held control of this fortress for years and skilfully defended it for three months against the determined siege of King Edward in 1304. Following the downfall of that fortress he was a prisoner for four years in the Tower of London. In 1311 he held Perth as a deputy for King Edward. At the siege of Perth by Robert Bruce he was taken prisoner and sent into banishment in the Western islands. After King Robert had fully established himself in the kingdom, Oliphant came into favor, received grants of land, and was present at Parliament in 1320 and in 1326. He died February 5, 1329.
Sir Walter Oliphant of Aberdalgy, son of the preceding, married Elizabeth, youngest daughter of King Robert Bruce. Walter Oliphant of Aberdalgy, son of the preceding, was a sheriff of Stirling and keeper of Stirling Castle in 1368. He married Mary Erskine, daughter of Sir Robert Erskine of Erskine. Sir John Oliphant of Aberdalgy, eldest son of the preceding, was knighted by King Robert II. He died about 1420. He married, first, a daughter of Sir William Borthwick; second, a daughter of Sir Thomas Home.
Sir William Oliphant of Aberdalgy, eldest son of the preceding by his first wife, was one of the hostages in England for the ransom of King James I. in 1424. He married Isabel Stewart, daughter of John Stewart of Innermeath, Lord of Lome. Sir John Oliphant of Aberdalgy, son of the preceding, was by his marriage drawn into the long existing feud between the Ogilvys and the Lindsays. In one of these family quarrels he was slain at Arbroath January 25, 1445-6. He married Isabel, daughter of Walter Ogilvy of Auchterhouse.
Sir Laurence Oliphant of Aberdalgy, eldest son of the preceding, was created a lord of Parliament before 1467. He sat in the first Parliament of King James IV. in 1488; was a privy councillor; a justiciary in 1490, and a peace commissioner to treat with England in 1491. He died about 1531. He married Isabel Hay, youngest daughter of William Hay, first Earl of Errol.
Sir John Oliphant, eldest son of the preceding, was the second Lord Oliphant. Succeeding his father, he sat in Parliament in 1503 and afterward. He died in 1516. He married Lady Elizabeth Campbell, third daughter of Colin Campbell, first Duke of Argyle.
Colin Oliphant, eldest son of the preceding, fought with his brother, William Oliphant, on the fatal field of Flodden in support of King James, both brothers being killed. He married Lady Elizabeth Keith, second daughter of William Keith, who was the third Earl of Mareschal.
Sir Laurence Oliphant, son of the preceding, was the third Lord Oliphant, succeeding to the title on the death of his grandfather in November, 1526. He took his seat in the Scottish Parliament in 1526 and was a member in many subsequent years. He was a consistent opponent of the progress of the Reformation and was constantly in trouble on account thereof. At the rout of Solway he was captured by Dacre and Musgrave in November, 1542, was locked up in the Tower of London for some time, but was ransomed the following year and returned to Parliament. He died at Aldwick in Caithness March 26, 1566. He married Margaret Sandilands, eldest daughter of James Sandilands of Cruvie.
Sir Laurence Oliphant, eldest son of the preceding, was the fourth Lord Oliphant. He was born in 1529 and succeeded to the title in 1566, having also the barony of Aberdalgy, Gask, and Galray. He joined the association in behalf of Queen Mary at Hamilton in 1568, and was always a devoted partisan of that queen. He was frequently in Parliament and a conspicuous figure in all the politico-religious controversies and struggles of that period. He died in Caithness June 16, 1593, and was buried m the church of Wick. An old diary of that time contains this brief notice:
"1593 January 16. Laurens. L. Oliphant diet in Kathnes, and buriet in the Kirk of Wik."
He married, in 1552, Lady Margaret Hay, second daughter of George Hay, seventh Earl of Errol. His daughter, Jean Oliphant, married Alexander Bruce of Cultmalindie. Both she and her husband were direct descendants from King Robert Bruce, she in the eleventh generation and he in the tenth.
Bards and historians say that the predecessors of the house of Campbell, which has been one of the most numerous and most powerful in Scotland, were Lords of Lochow in Argyleshire as early as the year 404. The first appellation that they bore was O'Dwbin or O'Dwin, a name that was assumed by Diarmed, a brave warrior. In Gaelic the descendants of this Diarmid are called Scol Diarmid or offspring of Diarmed. From Diarmed O'Dwbin followed a long series of barons of Lochow until the male line ended in Paul O'Dwbin, Lord Lochow, called Inspuran because he was the king's treasurer.
Gillespick Campbell, an Anglo-Norman of distinction, married the daughter of Paul O'Dwbin, Lord Lochow.
Duncan Campbell of Lochow lived in the reign of King Malcolm IV.
Colin Campbell of Lochow was a subject of King William the Lion in the latter part of the twelfth century.
Gillespick or Archibald Campbell of Lochow lived in the reign of King Alexander I. He married Finetta, daughter of John Eraser, Lord of Tweeddale. Duncan Campbell of Lochow was also living in the reign of King Alexander I. He married a daughter of the house of Comyn. His son, John Campbell (1250-86), was a famous author.
Sir Gillespick or Archibald Campbell of Lochow, the eldest son of the preceding, was living in the reign of King Alexander III., and married a daughter of William de Somerville. Baron of Carnwath.
Sir Colin Campbell was so successful as a soldier that he was named More or Great. From him the chiefs of this family have ever since been styled MacCalan More. He was knighted in 1280 by King Alexander III. He married a daughter of the house of Sinclair.
Sir Niel Campbell of Lochow, the eldest son of the preceding, was knighted by King Alexander III. He early allied himself to the fortunes of King Robert Bruce, and adhered to that monarch through prosperity and adversity. After the battle of Bannockburn he was one of the commissioners sent to York in 1314 to negotiate a peace with England. He was among the great barons who sat in the Parliament at Ayr in 1315. He died in 1316. He married Lady Mary Bruce, a sister of King Robert Bruce.
In subsequent generations the descendants of this Sir Niel Campbell ranked among the most distinguished people of Scotland. His descendant. Sir Duncan Campbell, first assumed the title of Duke of Argyle, and other titles were also borne by representatives of the name. Descendants of King Robert Bruce several generations later married and inter-married with the family.
XV. CASTLES AND CHURCHES
During the more than nine centuries that have elapsed since the Bruce stock was established in Scotland it has, both in its main line and in its collateral branches, been identified with nearly all the famous historical places of the Northern Country. In successive generations its representatives owned castles which are now in ruins, while memories of them and of their ancestors are indissolubly attached to such religious and national shrines as lona, Dunfermline, and others. An account of some of the most important of these castles and churches reveals how large a part the Bruces had in the life of their times and how tradition and romance have lovingly dwelt upon whatever the Bruce name has enriched in historical association.
lONA
No island in the waters that roll upon the coast of Scotland has been more renowned than lona, the ancient burial place of the Scottish kings before the time of Malcolm Canmore, the royal ancestor of the Bruces. As Dr. Johnson Expressed it in one of his letters it is :
"The illustrious island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roaming barbarians derived the benefit of knowledge and the blessings of religion. . . . That man is little to be envied . . . whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of lona."
Before the sixth century the island was a great centre of Druidism. About the year 563 the Irish saint Columba emigrated thither and upon that spot set up the cross and propagated the Christian faith.
Columba, who made lona famous and sacred, was born in 521, the son of Felim, who was a son of Neill, the great king of Ireland. He was highly educated and travelled widely. Before he was twenty-eight years of age he built churches in Ireland and then sailed away from his home to carry his religion to the lands of the Picts. King Brudius granted him possession of lona and there he established himself to preach and teach the doctrines of Christianity. It was not long before lona became celebrated throughout the civilized world. The institutions there planted and perfected were the foundations of the church in that part of the world, and the library of Columba was known as one of the richest in literary treasures in that age. The name of the island, Icolm-kill, or cell of Columba, was derived from its famous monastic establishments. Relics which still exist indicate the former greatness of the place. In an enclosure adjoining St. Oran's Chapel were buried sixty-one kings; forty-eight Scottish, four Irish, eight Norwegian, and one French.
Paulus Jovius, writing in the sixteenth century, said of lona:
"In the church of lona there are preserved very ancient annals and parchment rolls, containing laws and charters signed by the kings and sealed with their effigies on seals of gold or wax. It is also reported that in the same library there are ancient works of Roman history, from which we may expect the remaining decades of Titus Livius, which, indeed, we have lately heard, letters from Scotland have promised to Francis, King of France."*
* Descriptione Brittanige, by Paulus Jovius, Venetia, 1548.
In 1595 the sanctuary of lona was quaintly thus described by another historian:
"Within this ile of Columkill there is ane sanctuary or kirkzaird, callit in Erische Religioran, (the cemetery of St. Ouran who was one of the companions of St. Columbus at the foundation of the monastery) quhilk is a very fair kirk- zaird and Weill biggit about with staine and lyme. Into this sanctuary there is three tombes of staine, formed like little chapelis, with ane braid gray marble or quhin staine in the gavill of ilk ane of the tombes. In the stain of the ain tombe there is written in Latin letters, 'Tumulus Regum Scotise' that is, the tombe or grave of the King of Scotts. Within this tombe according to our Scotts and Erische cronikells there layes forty-eight crouned Scotts Kings, through the whilk this ile lies been richlie dotat be the Scotts Kings, as we have said. The tombe on the south syde forsaid, lies this inscription 'Tumulus Regum Hybernise,' that is, the tombe of the Irland Kinges; for we have in our auld Erische croni- kells, that ther wes foure Irland Kinges eirdit in the said tombe. Upon the north side of our Scotts tombe the inscription bears 'Tumulus Regum Norwegie,' that is, the tomb of the Kings of Norroway, in the quhilk tombe, as we find in our ancient Erische cronikells, ther layes eight Kings of-Norroway, and also we find that Coelus, King of Norroway, commandit his noblis to take his bodey and burey it at Colm-kill if it chanced him to die in the Isles, but he wes so discomfitit that ther remained not so maney of his armey as wald burey him ther; therfor he was eirded in Kyle, after he stroke ane field against theScotts, and wesvanquist be them. Within this sanctuary also lyes the maist part of the Lordis of the Isles, with their lineage, Twa Clan-Lynes (Clan Lean) with their lynage, M'Kynnon and M'Guarrie with their lynages, with sundrie utheris inhabitants of the hail isles; because this sanctuary wes wont to be the sepulture of the best men of the Isles and also of our Kings, as we have said, because it was the maist honerabil and ancient place that was in Scotland in thair dayes, as we reid." *
* Description of the Western Isles; by Donald Munro, High Dean of the Isles,
Scone
The town of Scone in the sheriffdom of Perth is situated on the north bank of the river Tay near the centre of Scotland. Its name, in the Gothic, is Skorn and in the Anglo-Saxon, Scon, meaning beautiful. It was famous particularly for the abbey that was founded there by King David I. for the monks of St. Augustine. Some historians assert that a religious house was established here for the Culdees monks by King Alexander I. During the life of that monarch the place was occasionally the royal residence and under the monks it was a trading centre, with customs payable to the monastery. The abbey wall enclosed about twelve acres of land. In the Reformation the abbey and the king's palace were destroyed.
"So was that abay and plaice appointed to sockage; in doing whereof they tuk no long deliberation, bot committed the holle to the merciment of fyre, guhairat no small number of us war offendit."**
** Knox's Historic, p. 146.
At Scone was held the earliest ecclesiastical council of Scotland of which there is any authentic record. In the Pictish Chronicle it is said:
"Constantine, the son of Ed, and Kellach bishop, together with the Scots, solemnly vowed to observe the laws and discipline of faith, the rights of the churches and of the gospel, on the Hill of Credulity, near the royal city of Scone. Henceforward this hill deserved this name, i.e. (Collis Credulitatis) of the Hill of Credulity."
Few traces of the old monastery have come down to modern times. The contemporaneous church and buildings are of the seventeenth century and later. Many memories of the hapless Stewarts cling to the place. Queen Mary was often there and the king's room where James I. and perhaps Charles II. slept on the eve of their coronations is still shown.
Scone was particularly endeared to the Scots as the ancient place of coronation of the Scottish kings. There was the famous coronation stone, or stone of destiny, seated on which the monarchs received the crown and sceptre. It is a small block of red sandstone imbedded with pebbles and, as the royal emblem of Scotland, was always regarded with the deepest veneration.
According to ancient traditions the history of this stone went back to the Tuatha de Danaans, the Scythian family that invaded Ireland, immediately preceding the Milesian conquest, coming from Persia or Greece. They were skillful far above the native people about them and for that reason were regarded as possessed of magic powers. It is told of them that when they came to Ireland they brought with them a remarkable stone called lia fail, "the stone of fate or destiny"; and from this Ireland received the name Inis Fail or Island of Destiny.
"This Ha fail was held in the highest veneration; and sitting on it the ancient monarchs of Ireland both in Pagan and in Christian times were inaugurated at Tara."
It is stated that whenever a legitimate king of the Milesian race was inaugurated the stone would emit a peculiar sound, an effect produced probably by some mechanical contrivance of the clever druids.
One account has it that in the beginning of the sixth century Fergus MacEarca, who had become King of Scotland, requested the Irish monarch Murtogh MacEarca, his brother, to send him the lia fail to be used on the occasion of his inauguration so that he might have security to his throne in accord with the ancient prophecy that the Scotic race would continue to rule as long as this stone should be in its possession. Another account says that the stone was not brought to Scotland until the ninth century, when Aldus Finliath, King of Ireland, sent it to his father-in-law Kenneth McAlpin, King of all Scotland. The lia fail was preserved with great care and veneration for centuries, first in the monastery of St. Columbkill, on lona Island; afterwards at Dunstaffnage in Argyleshire, the first royal seat of the Scottish kings of the Irish race, and later at Scone, to which place it was taken by King Kenneth and where it was preserved until 1296, when King Edward I. carried it away to England with other regal appurtenances and deposited it in Westminster Abbey.
This stone of destiny has been Latinized as saxum fatale and lias been called by some writers Jacob's stone, from the tradition that it is part of the stone called Jacob's pillow at Bethel, as related in the book of Genesis. The stone is mentioned by Boethius and other early Scottish historians and the following Irish verse concerning it is classic:
"Cineadh Scuit, saor an fhine, Mun budh breag an fhaisdine, Mar a ffuighid an Liagh Fail Dlighid flaitheas do ghabhail."
"If Fate's decrees be not announced in vain. Where'er this stone is found the Scots shall reign."
Glamis
Associated as it is with the tragedy of Macbeth, Glamis castle, in Forfarshire, probably enjoys a wider fame than almost any other building in Scotland. The present structure preserves little likeness to that which existed in the time of Duncan, and indeed changes have been made in it since the poet Gray described it, in 176.5, as follows:
"Rising proudly out of what .seems a great and thick wood of tall trees, with a cluster of hanging towers on top . . . the house from the height of it, the greatness of its mass, the many towers atop, and the spread of its wings has really a very singular and striking appearance."
Rebuilt and altered as it has been, it is even now one of the noblest buildings of its kind in the Land of the Thistle, architecturally dating from the fifteenth century and since. Fordun and other chroniclers tell that in the vicinity of Glamis Malcolm II. was attacked and mortally wounded in 1034, and that his assassins were drowned by breaking through the ice as they attempted to cross the neighboring loch of Forfar. The earliest proprietary notices of Glamis show it to have been a thanedom, and its lands regal domains. In 1372, King Robert II. by charter granted it to Sir John Lyon, designating it as "our lands of the thainage of Glammis."
Sir Walter Scott spent a night in the castle in 1793, and he thus concluded a curious account of his sensations on the occasion :
"In spite of the truth of history, the whole night scene in Macbeth's castle rushed at once upon me, and struck my mind more forcibly than even when I have seen its terrors represented by John Kemble and his inimitable sister."
Dunfermline
Dunfermline in Fifeshire, some fifteen miles from Edinburgh, and the burial place of King Robert Bruce, is indissolubly associated with the memory of the kings of Scotland from the time of Malcolm Canmore to the days of the Bruces. The town is beautifully situated on the brow of a gentle eminence that overlooks the surrounding country and the waters of Forth. For centuries it was the favorite royal residence, and in modern times it has been the home of the Earls of Elgin, descendants of King Robert Bruce. Its antiquities are many, but of the ancient tower of King Malcolm III. only the ruin remains, two low broken walls. The tower was probably built about the middle of the eleventh century. Fordun, Canon of Aberdeen, the early Scottish historian, thus describes it in giving an account of the marriage of King Malcolm III. :
"The nuptials were magnificently celebrated a.d. 1070 at Dunfermline which the reigning king then held prooppide" (his town or fortified residence) "for that place was naturally well defended in itself, being surrounded by a very thick wood, and fenced with precipitous rocks, in the middle of which was a pleasant level ground, also strengthened by rock and water, so that this might be supposed to be said of it ; " Non homini facilis, vox adeunda feris. " Not easy for man, scarcely to be approached by wild beasts." *
* Scotichronicon, by John Fordun.
This tower or castellated palace was not a spacious edifice nor does it appear to have been sumptuous. Still, here the famous monarch, ancestor of Robert Bruce, lived with his Queen, Margaret, daughter of Edward, son of Edmund Ironside, King of England. Not far away from the hill on which the tower stands is St. Margaret's cave, where the Queen was accustomed to retire for her secret devotions.
The tower is referred to in the ballad of Sir Patrick Spens :
"The King sits in Dunfermline toun Drinken the blood red wine, Whare sail I find a skeely skipper Will sail this ship o' mine."
A short distance from the tower are the ruins of a palace that was once the residence of the sovereigns of Scotland. Only a small portion of the wall, two hundred and fifty feet in length and sixty feet in height, supported by buttresses, now remains. At the western end is a high window, completely covered with ivy, and a chimney of the room in which, tradition says, the ill-fated Stewart monarch, Charles I., was born. Subterranean passages and crypts are still intact. The palace was probably built before 1100. The last monarch who occupied it was Charles II., in 1650. Most interesting of the antiquities of Dunfermline are the ruins of the old abbey which was destroyed at the time of the Reformation. It was built "at great expense." John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, an old historian, wrote of it as "templum, in civitate Dunfermilingensi magnifice suis impensis extructum, sanctiss. Trinitate dicavit." Turgot relates that "it was enriched with numerous ornaments, vessels of solid gold, and an inestimable crucifix, formed of gold, silver, and precious stones." Originally built by Malcolm Canmore, additions were made from time to time by the successors of that monarch, particularly Alexander I., David I., Alexander II., and James VI.
The monastery was dedicated to Margaret, the Queen of Malcolm Canmore, who died in 1093. Queen Margaret was canonized in 1249 and on June 13 in the following year the bones of the sainted one were transferred from the place where they were originally deposited "in the rude altar of the Kirk of Dunfermline" to the choir of the Abbey Church. The young king, Alexander III., with his mother and a large company of nobles and clergy were present to witness the ceremony. The remains were placed in a silver sarcophagus, which, the chroniclers state, was adorned with precious stones; and then a miracle occurred. King Malcolm had been buried beside his queen, and &t first all the strength of many men were not sufficient to remove the relics of the sainted Margaret from the spot until those of her husband had first been lifted and deposited in the place where hers were destined to lie. Wyntoun in his Cronykil tells of this miracle :
"With all thare powere and thare slycht. Her body to rays thai had na mycht. Na lift her anys owt of that plas, Quhar sho that tyme lyand was, For all thare devotyownys Prayeris and yret orysownys, That the persownys gaddryd there Dyd in devot manere: Quhell fyrst thai tuk upe the body Of hyr lord that lay thereby And bare it bene into the quere Lysrly syne in fayre manere Her cors thai tuk up and bare ben, And thame enteryd togyddyr then. Swa trowd thai all than gadryd thare Quhat honour till hyr lord scho bare."
Following the reinterment of the remains of St. Margaret and her husband, the abbey became the burial place of the royal family of Scotland. It succeeded in this respect the island of lona, which for generations had been the ancient place of sepulture of the Scottish monarchs. Besides Malcolm, his Queen Margaret and his son Prince Edward, there were interred: King Edgar, King Alexander I., King David II., King Malcolm IV., King Alexander III. and his first Queen Margaret; King Robert Bruce and his Queen Elizabeth; Prince David and Prince Alexander, sons of Alexander III.; Mathildis, daughter of King Robert Bruce; Malcolm, Earl of Atholl, and his Countess; Annabella Drummond, Queen of King Robert III. and mother of King James I. ; the Earls of Elgin, and others of the royal Bruce blood.
Of Queen Margaret, Sir Walter Scott wrote :
"She did all in her power, and influenced as far as possible the mind of her husband to relieve the distresses of her Saxon countrymen, of high or low degree, assuaged their afflictions, and was jealous in protecting those who had been involved in the ruin which the battle of Hastings brought on the royal house of Edward the Confessor. The gentleness and mildness of temper proper to this amiable woman, probably also the experience of her prudence and good sense, had great weight with Malcolm, who, though preserving a portion of the ire and ferocity belonging to the king of a wild people, was far from being insensible to the suggestions of his amiable consort. He stooped his mind to hers on religious matters, adorned her favorite books of devotion with rich bindings, and was often seen to kiss and pay respect to the volumes which he was unable to read."
King Robert Bruce was buried in the choir of the church before the high altar. His body was embalmed and a rich tomb or cenotaph was erected above the spot. The tomb was made in Paris, of white marble in Gothic work and richly gilt. Barbour wrote :
"And quhen thai lang thus sorrowit had. Thai haiff had him to Dunferlyne: And hym solemply erdyt syne. In a fayr tomb, intill the quer."
Nearly five hundred years passed and the gilded marble tomb had disappeared, perhaps purposely destroyed, or overwhelmed in the ruins of the church. Workmen, digging for the foundations of the new church in 1878, discovered a large leaden coffin, which, upon official inspection, was found to contain the skeleton of Scotland's great king. After examination the remains were reinterred in a sealed coffin, on the spot where they had been found , and there they now rest.
The abbey of Dunfermline was the meeting place of the Scottish nobles during the long warfare between the Baliols and the Bruces and in the revolts against the English. It thus fell under the marked disfavor of King Edward. When the English king journeyed to Scotland in 1303 he spent the winter, from December until the following May, in the abbey, where he was magnificently entertained. When he and his court departed in the spring his soldiers set fire to the building, either in recklessness or under instructions from the king, who has been accused of thus venting his spite against those whom he considered his rebellious subjects. Again during the same war the buildings were set on fire by the English troops, but the church was saved. In the Reformation the abbey was a special object of disfavor of the covenanters who could not forget the eminence that it had attained as a churchly institution of the monastic period. Lindsay of Pittscottie,' in chronicling the events of May, 1530, briefly tells of its destruction by the Protestants:
"Upoun the 28 day thairof, the whoU lordis and baronis that war on this syd of Forth, passed to Stirling, and be the way, hest down the Abbey of Dumferling."
Kildrummie
One of the finest and strongest fortresses belonging to the Bruces was Kildrummie castle, which came to the family in the thirteenth century by the marriage of Isabel, daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, to Robert Bruce, the fourth Baron of Annandale. It was a home much loved by the Bruces but in a later generation it was the scene of disaster to Queen Elizabeth, consort of King Robert Bruce, and the Scotch patriots who surrounded her.
Ruins of this stronghold remain in the Curgarff mountains of the district of Garioch in Aberdeenshire, on the north bank of the river Don, about forty miles from the sea. The structure stood on an eminence, one side of which is washed by the Don, while two other sides are defended by deep ravines. Located in an obscure spot amid scenery wild and gloomy, it seems to have been a stronghold of the old royal domain of Garvyach or the Garioch, the appanage of David, Earl of Huntingdon.
The castle was built by Gilbert de Moravia, of the Scottish Murray family. Bishop of Caithness, in the time of King Alexander II. According to tradition, originally it was merely one great circular tower or donjon, having five floors or stories. When the castle in its fulness was completed this formed the western comer and was called the Snow Tower. It is said to have been one hundred and fifty feet high, but only the merest vestige of it now remains. Subsequent to its establishment the fortress was enlarged into an irregular pentagon, surrounding a spacious court and defended by six other towers of unequal magnitude and dissimilar in form. Four of these protected the four angles of the pentagon, while two others were placed in the western face or curtain, for the security of the barbican which occupied the space between them.
The intervening buildings connecting the several towers seem to have been only two stories high, and the walls are not more than four feet thick, of small irregular stones. The western wall, in which was the barbican or entrance gate, was reared on the summit of a regular slope of no great acclivity, which rises from the river and seems to have been the garden of the castle. The northern side is protected by the steep banks of a brook which flows into the Don. The area of the castle was nearly four acres. In addition to the site of a pit-well, a subterranean vault or passage may be traced within the ruins. This passage opens to the bank on the northern side of the castle and probably served as a sally port. By means thereof the wife, daughter, and sisters of Bruce the king, with their escort and attendants, are said to have made their escape when they fled to the sanctuary of Tain in Rosshire, from which they were delivered into the hands of the English by the earl of Ross.
In the middle of the western wall the remains of the chapel still may be distinguished by the lancet form of its altar windows, consisting of three long narrow slits. During the siege of the castle this chapel was used as a magazine of forage for the horses belonging to the garrison. The besiegers despaired of success until, throwing a piece of red-hot iron through the window, they set fire to the forage and hterally smoked out the defenders.
Lochmaben
Lochmaben castle in Dumfriesshire, where Robert Bruce the Competitor, grandfather of King Robert Bruce, lived and here he died and was buried, was one of the hereditary castles of the Bruce family. In its time it was the most powerful fortress on the border. The original structure was on the hill near the town of Lochmaben, but the present castle was built in the thirteenth century by Bruce the Competitor. Commanding the entrance to the southwest of Scotland, it was the subject of many contests during the border warfare. It was captured by King Edward I. in 1298 and he strengthened its works. When Robert Bruce fled from England before taking the field for the crown of Scotland, he first sought refuge there. After his success he bestowed it on Randolph, Earl of Moray. John Baliol handed it over to King Edward III., but it was besieged and retaken by King David II. in 1346. When Archibald Douglas, Lord of Galloway, expelled the English in 1384, it fell into the Douglas hands and remained there until 1455, when it was sequestrated as a royal possession.
The castle stands on a spit of flat ground running into Lochmaben. By a wide ditch cut across the neck of the peninsula the site could be converted into an island about sixteen acres in extent. Three other ditches protected it. Access was most likely by boats that came into the great ditch or moat, which could be amply defended from the battlements that overlooked. The walls were high and solid and well provided with parapets and defences, but they are now reduced to mere shapeless fragments, having been used in recent generations as a quarry for building materials.
Turnberry
Turnberry castle in Carrick, which Marjory, Countess of Carrick, brought to the house of Bruce, was one of Scotland's most noted fortresses for several centuries. Turnberry Point on the coast of Ayrshire, between Ayr and Girvan, is a rock projecting into the sea, the top about eighteen feet above high-water mark. Upon this rock was built the castle. Only a few feet high of the wall next to the sea are now standing. The length of the structure was about sixty feet and its breadth fifty-five feet. It was surrounded by a ditch, but that was filled up many years ago. The top of the ruin, rising some forty or fifty feet above the water, has a magnificent appearance viewed from the sea. Around the castle was a level plain about two miles in extent, forming the park.
To Turnberry King Robert Bruce longingly looked several times during his troublous career. Once when he made a descent upon the coast of Ayr he was, according to tradition, able to gain possession of the stronghold. Lord Clifford and Lord Lennox held the castle for the English, and the Bruce, with his impetuous brother Edward, Lord Douglas, and other followers, were waiting an opportunity at the Isle of Arran, which had been won by Douglas from Sir John Hastings in 1306. There he made ready to cross to the mainland of Carrick. Cuthbert, a trusty retainer, was sent over into Carrick to sound the people and see if they were favorable to the cause of Bruce. If he found that they were willing to join the cause of the king, it was arranged that he should start a signal light on the shore where it could be seen from the Isle of Arran. At nightfall the light eagerly looked for gleamed over the water and the impatient watchers hastened to sail across the bay to lead the expected uprising. Upon landing they found Cuthbert, who said that he had given no signal because he had learned that the Bruce vassals of Carrick could not be depended upon to support their lord. In this emergency and threatened with discovery, it was almost impossible to retreat. Prudence gave way to the dictates of valor. Regardless of the support of the people of the district, Bruce and Douglas with their little band made an impetuous and desperate attack upon the castle and were successful in driving out its defenders.
The unexpected lights that appeared around Turnberry that night, as though beckoning the Bruce on to death or to repossess his ancestral home, have been explained by prosaic matter-of-fact folk as the work of the brush burners at their occupation. Sentiment and superstition have attached to the incident, however. Sir Walter Scott, in The Lord of the Isles, refers to the belief of the common people of Ayrshire that the fires were really the work of supernatural power, unassisted by any mortal being; and it is said that for several centuries the flame rose yearly at the same hour of the same night of the year that the king saw it for the first time from the turrets of Brodick castle. The place where the fire is said to have appeared has been called Bogie's Brae beyond the remembrance of man.
The description of Bruce's descent upon Carrick is one of the most beautiful parts of Scott's poem :
"They gain'd the Chase, a wide domain
Left for the castle's sylvan reign,
(Seek not the scene — the axe, the plough.
The boor's dull fence have marred it now,)
But then, soft swept in velvet green,
The plain with many a glade between,
Whose tangled alleys far invade
The depth of the brown forest shade.
Here the tall fern obscures the lawn.
Fair shelter for the sportive fawn;
There, tufted close with copsewood green,
Was many a swelling hillock seen;
And all around was verdure meet
For pressure of the fairies' feet.
The glossy holly loved the park.
The yew-tree lent it shadow dark.
And many an old oak, worn and bare.
With all its shiver'd boughs was there.
Lovely, between, the moonbeams fell.
On lawn and hillock, glade and dell.
The gallant monarch sigh'd to see
These glades so loved in childhood free.
Bethinking that, as outlaw now.
He ranged beneath the forest bough.
And from the donjon tower on high,
The men of Carrick may descry
Saint Andrew's cross in blazonry,
Of silver waving wide!
The Bruce hath won his father's hall!
'Great God! once more my sire's abode
Is mine, — behold the floor I trod,
In tottering infancy!
And there the vaulted arch whose ground
Echoed my joyous shout and bound.
In boyhood, and that rung around
To youth's unthinking glee.' "*
* The Lord of the Isles, by Sir Walter Scott, Canto VI.
Stirling
Robert Chambers, in his Pictures of Scotland, wrote: "The time when there was no Stirling castle is not known in Scottish annals." The fortification is of great antiquity and the date of its origin is so remote that it has been forgotten. The ancient inhabitants had a fortress on Stirling rock, and the old chronicles say that it was held by Agricola during the Roman invasion and made an easily defensible headquarters for the Roman legions. Early monkish writers called it Mons Dolorum, or Mountain of Grief, and it was also named Styreling, or Hill of Strife, both appellations clearly indicating its purpose and its character. After the Romans had withdrawn Stirling formed part of the Pictish province of Forterin or Forternn. When Egfrid, the Anglian king, overran the country in the seventh century, it is supposed that he occupied Stirling, which was still a frontier or fortress as late as the time when Kenneth the Hardy led his followers across the Scots Water or Forth and destroyed it.
After King Donald was taken prisoner by the Northumbrians, he yielded the territory around Stirling as ransom, and the Northumbrians rebuilt the castle and strongly garrisoned it. For nearly a quarter of a century it was in possession of the North Saxons and then it was returned to the Scots. In the tenth century it was a rendezvous of the troops under King Kenneth III. when the country was invaded by the Danes; and thence he marched to the battle of Longarty. It was not however until Forteviot, Scone, and Abernethy ceased to be royal residences or capitals that Stirling possessed a castle worthy the name.
In the reign of King Alexander I., there was a fairly well-built fortress on the rock, and that king founded the first chapel within its walls. When the successor of Alexander ascended the throne, a feudal castle, probably a single square tower or keep with spacious courtyard or enciente, replaced the earlier buildings of wood and wattles, rudely fortified by earthworks. In the reign of King William the Lion, Stirling castle was one of the five principal fortresses of the kingdom. During the wars with England, it was more than once destroyed and rebuilt, and it was the prize for which the battle of Bannockburn was fought by King Robert Bruce against the forces of King Edward I. of England.
From the accession of King Alexander I. to the union of Scotland with England, Stirling was one of the chief centres of political activity and statecraft, and a relation of its annals would involve nearly the whole of Scottish history. By the early kings of Scotland it was regarded as one of the most important places in the kingdom, and it was a frequent and favorite residence of the royal family. In the words of the poet, it was "parent of monarchs, nurse of kingly race." King Alexander I. died there, and when King William the Lion was ill he asked to be carried to Stirling, where he lingered for several months before death closed his career. The Stewarts recreated Stirling castle and it became a delightful and luxurious home for them. There in February, 1452, King James II. stabbed the Earl of Douglas:
"Ye towers! within whose circuit dread A Douglas by his sovereign bled."*
Stirling castle, well preserved, is one of the most revered structures of Scotland. For generations, alike in its picturesque beauty and noble grandeur and in its stirring historic associations, it has been the admiration of all who have looked upon it and has been an inspiration to patriotism and to letters. Said one enthusiastic writer describing it:
"Who does not know Stirling's noble rock rising the monarch of the landscape, its majestic and picturesque towers, its amphitheatre of mountain and the winding of its marvellous river; and who that has once seen the sun descending here in all the blaze of its beauty beyond the purple hills of the west can ever forget the plains of Stirling, the endless charm of this wonderful scene, the wealth, the splendor, the variety, the majesty of all which lies between earth and heaven ?"
* Lady of the Lake, by Sir Walter Scott, Canto V.
In close proximity to Stirling are the villages of Bannockburn and St. Ninian's, ,and the famous battleground where Bruce achieved the liberation of Scotland lies immediately between them. The Bore-stone, in which the Scottish king planted his standard, is still preserved and occupies its original site near the village of Bannockburn.
On the Esplanade of Stirling stands a monument of Robert Bruce, of colossal size. The figure is nearly eleven feet high, and stands looking in the direction of the field of Bannockburn, where King Robert achieved his greatest victory over the English forces. The king is represented as a knight of the highest rank, clad in the fighting armor of the period and in the act of sheathing his sword after the victory. On the front of the pedestal is the Scottish [shield with the lion rampant in high relief. On the western face of the pedestal is the inscription "King Robert the Bruce; June 24, 1314," the date of the battle of Bannockburn. The statue was unveiled November 24, 1877.
Melrose Abbey
Melrose abbey had a precursor in a religious house of the Culdee brotherhood established in the seventh century, under the patronage of Oswald, King of Northumbria. ' That has long ago disappeared, and even the more modern building is in ruins. The abbey that stood where ruins now are was founded for the Cistercian monks in 1136. The second abbot of the house was the famous St. Waltheof, Walthen, or Waldeve, who was related to the ancestors of the Bruces. His grandfather was Siward, the Saxon count of Northumberland, who strongly opposed William the Conqueror, by whom he was captured and beheaded. Siward's daughter, the mother of the abbot, married Simon, Earl of Huntingdon, and after the death of that noble married Prince David, who later became the king. In the wars between England and Scotland the abbey suffered much from the English invaders, who were at odds with the monks because the latter avowed the cause of Bruce and Scotland. When Edward II. invaded Scotland in 1322 he intended to rest at Melrose. Douglas was near by with a small company of retainers and the brotherhood admitted him and his men to the abbey, from which they could sally forth in an attack upon the English. According to Barbour* they sent out to reconnoitre "a rich sturdy free, that wes all stout, derft and hardy."
"Upon a stalwart horse he rad
And in his hand he had a sper.
And abaid upon that manner
Quhil that he saw them command near,
And quhen the fermost passit wer
The coynge — he cryit 'Douglas, Douglas.'
Then till them all a course he mass,
And bar ane down delyverly.
And Douglas and his company,
Ischyt upon them with a shout."
Douglas could do little damage to the big English army, and after he had fallen back to the forest King Edward occupied the place and took summary vengeance, wrecking the * The Bruce, by John Barbour. building, slaying the monks, and carrying away with him the silver pix for holding the sacramental wafer.
King Robert Bruce was a good and generous friend to the brotherhood. Among the muniments of the foundation is an interesting document in which Bruce commends the brotherhood with great affection and warmth of expression to the pious charge of his son and successor, David, staling that he intends that the monastery shall be the depository of his heart. The present buildings, ruined as they are, belong to a date much posterior to the time of the reigning Bruces. They are not older than the fifteenth century. Few among the ruined historic structures of Scotland are more picturesquely attractive or more generally admired.
"If thou would'st view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight:
For the gay beams of lightsome day
Gild but to flout the ruins gray.
When the broken arches are black in night.
And each shafted oriel glimmers white:
When the cold light's uncertain shower
Streams on the ruined central tower;
When buttress and buttress alternately,
Seem framed of ebon and ivory;
When silver edges the imagery.
And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die;
When distant Tweed is heard to rave.
And owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave,
Then go — but go alone the while —
Then view St. David's ruined pile;
And home returning, soothly swear.
Was never scene so sad and fair."*
* The Lay of the Last Minstrel, by Sir Walter Scott, Canto II.
Clackmannan
Clackmannan tower, home of the Clackmannan branch of the Bruces, is situated on the top of a hill on the eastern slope of which the town of Clackmannan stands. In 1359, King David II. granted a charter of this domain to Robert Bruce, his nephew, and the castle was held by his descendants in this branch of the Bruce family until the close of the eighteenth century. The old tower is remarkably well preserved, being a rectangular keep, twenty-four feet by eighteen feet inside, with walls six feet thick. In its prime it contained a fine entrance hall with adjacent rooms, and several floors above. A second tower was added in the sixteenth century, and this is now in existence, with fireplace, staircase, picturesque belfry, and other appurtenances. In the adjoining village there was long a relic of the Bruce, a large stone which, having been broken, was girded with bands of iron and preserved with devout reverence. On this stone, says the tradition, the king, while residing in the tower, accidentally left his glove, and, sending his squire to fetch it, used the two words clack, a stone, and, mannan, a glove : from this the tower, village, and county derived their name.
Rait
Rait castle in Nairnshire, the home of Robert Bruce the second baron of Clackmannan, is of such ancient origin that there is no account of its beginning. It is an interesting and unique building about three miles south from the town of Nairn, and commands the coast between Nairn and Moray Firth. Tradition says that it belonged to the Raits of that ilk and afterwards to the Comjms. The ruins show that the castle was an oblong structure about sixty-four feet by thirty-three feet, with walls five feet thick. At the southwest angle was a round tower twenty-one feet in diameter. There were three stories, but the upper ones have disappeared. The entrance was one floor from the ground and opened upon a great hall with handsome mullioned windows.
Rosyth
On the coast along the Firth of Forth, not far from Dunfermline, is the ruined castle of Rosyth which was the ancestral home of Sir David Stewart, whose daughter Elizabeth Stewart married John Bruce the fourth Baron of Clackmannan. It stands high on a rock that slopes gently into the sea and that at full tide is an island wholly surrounded by water. It consists of a high tower, with a vaulted apartment underneath and an inner winding staircase leading to the upper room or floor. Portions of the north and west walls of an adjoining building on the west are still to be seen. In a high compartment over the gateway is a defaced armorial bearing surmounted by a crown and the date 1561, with the letters M. R. (Maria Regina). Mary Queen of Scots, whose memory is thus perpetuated, is said to have slept in this castle, the first night after her flight from Lochleven on her way to Glasgow, near which in May, 1568, was fought the fatal battle of Langside. On the south side of the castle, near the door was an inscription on an old stone in Roman capital letters:
"In-Dev-Tym-Dra-Yes-Cord-Ye-Bel-to-Clink Quahais-Mery-Voce-Wams-to-Mete-and-Drink"
The castle was anciently the seat of the Stewarts of Rosyth or Durisdeer, the lineal descendants of the brother-german of Walter, the high steward of Scotland, father of King Robert II.
Birsay Palace
At the extreme northwest corner of Orkney, twenty miles from Kirkwall, is the large and imposing Birsay palace. It was built by Robert Stewart, half-brother of Queen Mary and descendant of Robert Bruce. He put upon the building this inscription: "Dominus Robertus Stewartus, filius Jacobi Quinti Rex Scotorum." It is said that this bad Latin by which the title King of Scots was made to pertain to Robert, even if he did not intend it, had an influence in bringing Earl Patrick, son of Robert, to the block, when he was arraigned on a charge of treason.
Robert Stewart and his son. Earl Patrick, ruled like kings in this far-away part of Scotland, and Birsay was a palace befitting a sovereign. It is now very much ruined, but it gives abundant evidence of its former grandeur. It is situate close to the seashore and can be reached easily both from the land side and the waterside. It consists of a court yard surrounded with two-story buildings and having two vaulted towers at the angles to protect the approach.
Earl Patrick Stewart rivalled his father in the imposing palace that he built near the cathedral of St. Magnus and the Bishop's palace in Kirkwall. This building has been preserved almost entire except the roof. Sir Walter Scott thus described the remains of the fortified palace of the earls of Orkney :
"These remains, though much dilapidated, still exist in the neighborhood of the venerable and massive pile, which Norwegian devotion dedicated to St. Magnus the Martyr, and, being contiguous to the Bishop's palace, which is also ruinous, the place is impressive as exhibiting vestiges of the mutations both in church and state which have affected Orkney, as well as countries more exposed to such convulsions. The earl's palace forms three sides of an oblong square, and has even in its ruins, the air of an elegant yet massive structure, uniting, as was usual in the residences of feudal princes, the character of a palace and of a castle. A great banqueting hall, communicating with several large rounds or projecting turret rooms, and having at either end an immense chimney, testifies the ancient Northern hospitality of the earls of Orkney, and communicates, almost in the most modern fashion, with a gallery or withdrawing room of considerable dimensions, and having, like the hall, its projecting turrets. The lordly hall itself is lighted by a fine Gothic window, of shafted stone at one end, and is entered by a spacious and elegant staircase, consisting of three flights of stone steps. The exterior ornaments and proportions of the ancient building are also very handsome, but, being totally unprotected, this remnant of the pomp and grandeur of earls who assumed the license, as well as the dignity, of petty sovereigns is now fast crumbling to decay." *
* The Pirate, by Sir Walter Scott.
Since the time of Scott, this princely palace has gone further to ruin, but it still gives plentiful evidence of its former stately character. Architecturally, it belongs to the seventeenth century.
Muness
Muness castle has been called "the most northern specimen of our Scottish domestic architecture." Lawrence Bruce, its builder, might well have said in the words of Longfellow :
"So far I live to the Northward, No man lives North of Me."
The castle stands on a rising moorland, about half a mile from the sea. It is oblong, seventy-four feet by twenty-eight feet, with two large round towers. The building is three stories high and quite entire. The entrance doorway is on the south front and above this is a large panel with an inscription in German letters, which runs thus:
"List ye to know yis building quha began.?
Laurance the Bruce, he was that worthy man,
Quha earnestlie his airis and offspring prayis.
To help and not to hurt this wark alwayis.
The zier of God 1598."
Above the inscription is a panel with the Bruce arms.
XVI. ARMS OF THE BRUCES AND COLLATERAL FAMILIES
As to armorial bearings, in the early centuries of the Ghristian era, either none were worn, or they were continually changed, says Henry Drummond, the antiquarian. In some instances they were even taken irrespective of relationship, and in other cases members of the same family varied them as suited their respective inclinations. Arms of the Bruces in the different branches, and of the leading Scottish families that became allied to the Bruces, are given herewith.
Bruce - The bearings of the original stock of the Scottish Bruces were : a lion rampant azure on a field argent. Alan de Brusee had: a lion rampant gules on a field or. The Skelton line adopted a lion rampant azure on a field argent, and the Brember line a lion or on a field azure. Jacques de Breze, Baron de Brieuze, Marshal of Normandy, had: a lion rampant azure on a field or. After the Bruces became fully established in Scotland many changes were made in their arms. Robert Brusee, Robert Le Meschin, the fourth of the name, had: or, a saltire and chief gules. Robert Bruce, sixth of the name, had : or, a saltire gules, chief argent, a lion passant. The same Robert Bruce used as a seal the arms of the earls of Huntingdon. The arms of King Robert Bruce were : or, a saltire gules, on a chief gules, a lion passant. Edward Bruce of Blairhall had: or, a saltire gules, chief gules charged with a crescent. George Bruce of Carnock had: quarterly, first and second argent, a lion rampant azure; second and third or, a saltire and chief gules. The Bruces of Carrick adopted the arms of the Bruces barons of Annandale: or, a saltire and chief gules; in a later generation one of the Ailesbury branches of the family used the same arms with a lion rampant azure on a canton argent.
Huntingdon - Nisbet the antiquarian, in his great work wherein he reviewed the heraldic claims and customs of the noble families of Scotland, observed : " David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of King William of Scotland, did not use the entire arms of his grandfather, King David I., but only a small part of them; argent, an escutcheon within a double tressure flowered and counter-flowered gules. He had the field of his arms argent and not of the metal or, that of Scotland, because it was the field of arms of his grandmother, daughter of Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon." Robert Bruce of Annandale bore Huntingdon arms.
Waltheof - The last Saxon earl of Northumberland, Waltheof, ancestor of the earls of Huntingdon, had: argent, a lion rampant azure, chief gules.
Orkney - The arms of the earldom of Orkney were : azure, a ship at anchor, oars in saltire and sails furled within a double tressure, flory and counterflory or.
Caithness - The arms of the ancient earldom of Caithness were : azure, a ship under sail or, the sails or.
Normandy - William the Conqueror used the arms of his great ancestor, Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy: gules, I two lions passant, guardant or.
Gloucester - The Earls of Gloucester - de Clare - who were the ancestors of Isabel de Clare, who married the seventh Robert Bruce, had: three chevrons or, gules. This line became extinct in 1313.
Warren - The Earls of Warren and Surrey had: chequy, or and azure.
De Burgh - The first Earl of Ulster, Richard de Burgh of Ireland, whose great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Aylmer de Burgh, was the second wife of King Robert Bruce, had: or, a cross, gules.
Elgin and Kincardine - The lords of Kinloss and the earls of Elgin and Kincardine with their near connections have had almost exclusive distinction as the remaining direct line of male descendants from King Robert Bruce. As has been genealogically shown on other pages, they are derived from the Clackmannan branch of the Bruce stock, which has been the one line most conspicuously preserved in its identity. The arms of the earls of Elgin and Kincardine are ; or, a saltire and chief gules, on a canton argent, a lion rampant azure. Crest: a lion statant azure. Supporters; two savages proper wreathed about the head and middle with laurel vert. Motto ; Fuimus.
Ailesbury - The Ailesbury branch. Barons Bruce of Whorlton, Yorkshire, now extinct, had these arms or, a saltire and chief gules, on a canton argent a lion rampant azure, — the same as the Earls of Elgin and Kincardine, with whom they were allied. The arms of the modern Ailesbury family are: quarterly, first and fourth or, a saltire and chief gules, on a canton argent, a lion rampant azure, for Bruce; second and third argent, a chevron gules between three morions or steel caps azure, for Brudenell. Crests: first, a seahorse argent; second, a lion passant azure. Supporters: two savages proper wreathed around the loins and temples vert, each supporting in the exterior hand a flag, thereon the first quarter of the arms for Bruce. Motto: Fuimus.
Clackmannan - The arms of Bruce of Clackmannan in the sixteenth century were: or a saltire and chief gules, the latter charged with a mullet argent in dexter chief. Later arms of this branch are: or, a saltire and chief gules. Crest: a hand in armor proper (including the upper part of the elbow) issuing out of a cloud, grasping a sceptre, and signed on the point with a closed crown or. Supporters: dexter, the lion of England; sinister, the royal unicorn of Scotland. Motto: Fuimus. These were the heraldic ensigns of Henry Bruce, the last of the Clackmannans. They were also carried by David Bruce in 1686, who added the motto: No deest generoso pectori virtus.
Cultmandie - Robert Bruce of Cultmalindie had: quarterly, first and fourth, or a saltire and chief gules, charged with a mullet or; second and third gules, a lion rampant argent.
Devonshire - The arms of the Cavendish family, dukes of Devonshire, to which the marriage of Christiana Bruce to William Cavendish gave added distinction, are: sable, three bucks' heads, caboshed argent. Crest: a serpent, nowed, proper. Supporters: two bucks proper, each wreathed around the neck with a chaplet of roses alternately argent and azure. Motto: Cavendo tutus.
Stewart - The arms of the Stewarts were: or, a fesse chequy argent and azure. These arms were quartered by the several branches of the family.
Moray - The Randolphs who were Earls of Moray were Bruces through Isabel, Bruce, sister of King Robert Bruce I., who married Thomas Randolph. The earldom became extinct in 1465. The arms were: or, three cushions, two and one of a lozenge form, with a double tressure, flory and counterflory gules.
Dunbar - The arms of the ancient house of Dunbar were: gules, a lion rampant argent, within a bordure of the last, charged with eight roses of the field. The earlier seals exhibit simply the lion rampant, the bordure of roses being, according to Nisbet, the badge of the comital office of the Patrick Dunbar who was first designated Earl of March.
Elphinston - The arms of the Elphinston family are: argent, a chevron sable between three boars' heads, erased gules, armed of the first. Crest: a lady, from the middle, richly attired proper, holding in her dexter hand a castle argent, and in her sinister hand a branch of laurel proper. Supporters: two savages proper with laurel garlands around their heads and loins and carrying clubs on their shoulders proper. Motto: Cause causit.
Oliphant - The arms of the Oliphants are: gules, three crescents argent. Crest: a unicorn's head, couped, argent, maned and horned, or. Supporters: two elephants proper. Motto: A tout pourvoir.
Vipont - The Viponts of Scotland have for arms: gules, six mascles, three, two and one or.
Campbell - The oldest arms of the Campbells of Lochow were: gyronny of eight or and sable. The arms of the later Campbells of Glenlyon, with whom the Bruces married, are in part like those of the Earls of Breadalbane, also a Bruce family. They are: quarterly, first and fourth, gyronny of eight or and sable, for Campbell; second or, a fesse chequy argent and azure, for Stewart; third argent, a lymphad, her sails furled and oars in action, all sable, for Lorn; in the centre of the quarters a man's heart gules, crowned or. Crest: a demi-lion proper with a collar gyronny of eight or and sable and holding in his dexter paw a heart crowned as in the arms. Motto: Quae recta sequer.
Campbell of Barbreck, descended from Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow, nephew of Sir Robert Bruce, had : quarterly, first and fourth, gyronny of eight or and sable ; second argent a broadsword in bend gules, hilted sable; third argent, a castle triple-towered sable ; on an escutcheon of pretence sable, a boar's head erased or, a crescent argent in chief. Crest: a lion's head affrontee proper. Motto : I bear in mind.
XVII BRUCES IN AMERICA - GEORGE BRUCE OF NEW YORK CITY AND HIS DESCENDANTS
THE ancient Scottish family of Bruce has been transplanted to America at different periods of our country's history by various emigrants. These representatives settled in several states and their descendants have been numerous and influential in many communities. Pre-eminent among these American branches are those established by the brothers David Bruce and George Bruce, the celebrated typefounders, both whom were conspicuous citizens of New York in their generation. The present memoir is concerned with the younger of these brothers, George Bruce, his wife, Catherine (Wolfe) Bruce, - daughter of David Wolfe, - and their children.
I.
George Bruce, son of John and Janet (Gilbertson) Bruce, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, June 26, 1781. His eldest brother, David Bruce, came to America about 1790, establishing himself in the printing business in Philadelphia. During the Napoleonic wars, John Bruce, a younger son of this family, lost his life in the army in Egypt, and, the family fearing to lose another of its members in the same way, George Bruce followed his brother to America.
Upon arriving in Philadelphia, the Scotch laddie, then only fourteen years old, obtained employment with a firm of book printers and binders. In 1797, he entered the office of the Philadelphia Gazette, an afternoon paper rejoicing in a circulation of some two thousand. There he remained about a year, when, to escape the yellow fever epidemic then raging, he and his brother left the Quaker City. He was attacked by fever on his way north and, being unable to obtain a place to stop, remained in a shed, being taken care of by his brother; he always believed that he owed his life to this enforced fresh-air treatment. The two brothers proceeded to New York and from there went to Albany, where they were employed in the office of the Sentinel, which did the official printing for the State Legislature.
In the spring of 1799, the brothers went to New York City, a removal which was destined to be permanent and to lead them to both fortune and fame. George Bruce, now in his eighteenth year, secured a position in the printing establishment of the Mercantile Advertiser, owing to his youth being able to obtain only three-fourths journeyman's wages. Subsequently he was employed on books in the offices of Isaac Collins, James Crane, and T. & J. Woods. During this time the Franklin Typographical Association was organized by the journeyman printers of the city, about fifty signing the constitution, and he was elected its secretary — an evidence of the substantial standing which already he had attained in his craft. In 1802, he became connected with the office of the Daily Advertiser, of which he was made foreman in the course of a year; later, he assumed entire responsibility for the publication of the paper, his name appearing as its printer in the volumes for 1803, 1804, and 1805.
About the end of 1805 Mr. Bruce embarked in the printing business on his own account, and among other works issued from his press were reprints of various standard books from England. Joining in partnership with his brother, the firm of D. & G. Bruce, which afterwards attained a wide celebrity, was organized. With a new press and types from Philadelphia, "they established themselves in the upper part of a house at the southwest corner of Wall and Pearl streets. The apartment, which they hired of Miss Rivington, was the same which had been occupied by her father, as the king's printer, during the Revolutionary War." Marked prosperity attended this venture, and within a brief time the firm had nine presses in operation. As an instance of their rigorous enterprise, it is noteworthy that they regularly brought out reproductions of the Edinburgh, London, and Quarterly Reviews, the first American reprints of those British periodicals.
In 1812 was taken the first step which resulted in the introduction by them of the art of stereotyping in America, and, incidentally, in the erection of their great type-founding business. During that year David Bruce made a visit to England to look into the merits of the stereotyping process, then newly invented and known only to a Mr. Walker of London and to the printers to the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford.
He obtained by purchase the rights to the process, and in 1814 the Bruce firm issued the first edition of the New Testament from plates stereotyped in America, and in 1815 the first edition of the Bible thus produced. As a measure of economy, to provide the requisite quantities of type for stereotyping, a type-foundry was begun, at first as a mere incident of the printing business. Owing to betrayal of trust by one of the workmen of the establishment, the stereotyping business did not continue profitable. On the other hand the type-founding department speedily grew in importance, and after the retirement of David Bruce in 1822, George Bruce, who succeeded to the direction of the concern, turned his energies exclusively to type manufacture.
The Bruce foundry under his management promptly took rank among the leading establishments of its kind in the world. The personal contributions of George Bruce towards the perfecting of type manufacture, in both its mechanical and its artistic aspects, were in the highest degree noteworthy, leaving a lasting impress upon the progress of that industry.
"Aiming to attain to the best process of 'punch-cutting,' he was enabled to produce many fonts of type for ordinary use of the most perfect symmetry, while his fancy types and borders were of such variety and excellence as to enable the letter-press printer to rival the productions of the copper-plate presses in superior execution and effect. He himself cut two fonts of beautiful 'script' probably yet unexcelled. He formed a new scale for the bodies of printing type, by means of which each body bears a certain relative proportion to the next, thus leading to the present perfect 'point' system adopted by printers generally. His nephew, David Bruce, Jr., invented the only type-casting machine that has stood the test of practical work and is now in general use. To this he added some improvements and bought the patent from his nephew."
For many years George Bruce was president of the Mechanics' Institute of New York City and the Type Founders' Association. He was a member, among other organizations, of the New York Historical Society, Saint Andrew's Society, and the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen. Says one of his biographers:
"He was a man of great thought, quiet benevolence, of thorough business integrity and loyalty to principle, and of unusual force of character. The success he achieved was due to his own intelligent foresight and patient attention to business. He never received financial aid in his business or otherwise, but, always living within his income, was able to permit himself the luxury of assisting others." *
* Memorial History of New York, Biog. Vol., page 23.
He died in New York, July 5, 1866. He married, in 1811, Catherine Wolfe, daughter of David Wolfe of New York.
Issue:
1. Janet (Jenet) Bruce. She married Dr. G. Brown of Newburgh, N. Y., and left one son, G. Bruce Brown, of whom below.
2. Catherine Wolfe Bruce, of whom below.
3. David Wolfe Bruce. He died March 13, 1895, in his seventy-first year. He was named from his maternal grandfather. Succeeding to the conduct of the Bruce type-foundry, he managed it successfully until his retirement from active business. Like his father, he was a man of high business and personal standing in the community.
4. Matilda Wolfe Bruce, who is now the only survivor of this family. Her home is in New York City.
5. George Wolfe Bruce. He was born in 1828 and died November 14, 1887. He attended Columbia College, but before graduation left to engage in business, becoming one of the most reputable merchants in New York.
II.
Catherine Wolfe Bruce was born in New York and died March 13, 1900. She left an enduring name in connection with the encouragement and advancement of educational and scientific interests, especially in the department of astronomical science. From the early age of five years she loved the science of astronomy. Her services for the promotion of astronomical work are known throughout the world, and were the more valuable for being judiciously directed. During her lifetime she gave in excess of $200,000 to that end. To the Harvard Observatory she presented the splendid Bruce photographic telescope, with which much of the most notable scientific work of our times has been achieved, including the discovery of Phoebe, the satellite of Saturn, by Prof. W. H. Pickering, in August, 1898. This instrument is in constant use for photographing, and for spectroscopic plates showing the composition of stars too faint to be studied in this way elsewhere. In 1897 she established a fund under the auspices of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, to provide for the award of a gold medal annually for distinguished achievements in astronomy. Her benefactions in other directions, and her contributions to charity, were large.
At the time of her death the following tribute, signed W. L. K., was published in the New York Tribune of March 25, 1900.
"Miss Catherine Wolfe Bruce, who died after a long illness at her home, No. 810 Fifth Avenue, on the night of March 13, deserves more than the ordinary obituary record, for she was a woman of the highest character, and contributed nobly of her means to the cause of charity, of education, and of science. The George Bruce Free Library she built, established, and endowed, and it is to-day one of the most flourishing branches of the free-library system. Her benefactions in the cause of astronomy are known all over the world, and her name is identified with many important advances in that science. She corresponded with eminent professors here and in Europe, and was the recipient of distinguished honors for her interest and service. A gold medal was presented to her by the Grand Duke of Baden, and she enjoyed the signal distinction of having her name given to a newly discovered asteroid. Upward of $200,000 has been her contribution to the science she loved. Her charitable gifts and those of private benevolence need not be mentioned here.
"Miss Bruce was the daughter of George Bruce, the famous typefounder, whose work has stood the test of time and change, and is still in use at the present day. Naturally she was interested in the art of printing — that art ' preservative of all arts,' as she was fond of quoting. It has been said that she was an accomplished woman. She had made a study of painting and was a painter herself. She knew Latin, German, French, and Italian, and was familiar with the literature of those languages. She wrote and published in 1890 a translation of the Dies Irse. For many years she was an invalid, and deprived of that society which her talents and character well fitted her to adorn. She was always patient and uncomplaining, and entirely resigned to the will of the Almighty Disposer of Events. She has left a gracious memory of good and generous deeds and an impressive example of noble womanhood."
III.
George Bruce Brown, son of Dr. George Brown and his wife, Janet (Jenet) Bruce, married, first, Virginia McKesson; second, Ruth Arabella Loney — Mrs. Bruce-Brown.
Issue (by first wife) :
1. George McKesson Brown.
2. Catherine Wolfe Brown, who married Allen Donellan Loney and had Virginia Bruce Loney.
(By second wife) :
3. William Bruce-Brown.
4. David Loney Bruce-Brown.
In America four generations of the old Lutheran family Wolfe have been resident in New York City.
John David Wolfe, who established the family in America, was born of Lutheran parents in Saxony, Germany, October 13, 1693. He came to the Province of New York in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, and died in 1795. He married, November !21, 1747, the widow Catherine Busch.
David Wolfe, son of the preceding, was born in New York, August 21, 1748, and died August 13, 1836. He married Catherine Forbes.
Catherine Wolfe, daughter of the preceding, married George Bruce.