Alexander Bruce, 1st Earl of Carrick

Alexander Bruce, 1st Earl of Carrick (also Alexander de Bruce ; * between 1312 and 1314; † July 19, 1333 near Berwick ), was a Scottish nobleman .

origin

Alexander Bruce came from the Scottish Bruce family . He was the only child of Edward Bruce, 1st Earl of Carrick and Isabel Strathbogie . He was probably an illegitimate child, as his parents were probably only engaged. Before 1314, Edward Bruce separated from Isabel Strathbogie and married another woman. He fell in 1318 and left no other children apart from Alexander. Although Alexander was undoubtedly named after previous Scottish kings, he did not inherit his father's possessions. King Robert I , his father's older brother, later bestowed the Earldom Carrick on to his own son and heir, David . Although Robert I himself had no surviving sons at the time, Alexander was excluded from a possible succession by a decision of a Scottish parliament .

Fluctuating political stance

Nevertheless, Robert I encouraged his nephew considerably. Alexander's mother received part of the possessions of her brother David Strathbogie, 10th Earl of Atholl as her lifelong Wittum , although her brother had betrayed the Scottish king in 1314. Together with his mother, Alexander received land holdings in Dumfriesshire in 1326 or 1327 , and Alexander received dun in Forfarshire and Carnesmole and Mochrum in Wigtownshire in 1328 . However, Alexander's role in the final years of Robert I's reign is unclear. He apparently did not take part in the Weardale Campaign in 1327 and did not testify to any royal documents. When the so-called disinherited landed in Scotland in 1332 to put Edward Balliol on the Scottish throne in place of David II, Alexander evidently avoided joining the Scottish army, which opposed the army of the disinherited. He therefore did not take part in the battle of Dupplin Moor , in which the disinherited could clearly defeat the Scots. After this victory, Edward Balliol was crowned King of Scots. When Balliol wanted to celebrate Christmas 1332 in Annan , Bruce went to him to submit. However, the society was raided by supporters of David II. In the ensuing Battle of Annan , Balliol narrowly escaped while his brother Henry Balliol was killed. Alexander Bruce was not killed only because the Earl of Moray recognized him and spared his life. When in the summer of 1333 the English King Edward III. openly entered the war , supported Edward Balliol and besieged Berwick with an army , Bruce stood again on the side of David II, who rewarded him with the elevation to Earl of Carrick . Bruce, however, was one of the five Scottish earls who died a little later in the Battle of Halidon Hill off Berwick.

marriage

Alexander Bruce had married Eleanor Douglas , a daughter of Sir Archibald Douglas and his wife Beatrice Lindsay . The marriage remained without surviving descendants, so that the title Earl of Carrick expired with the death of Alexander. After his death, his widow remarried.

In 1344 a man appeared at the royal court who pretended to be Alexander Bruce but was executed as a con man in Ayr .

Web links

• Alexander de Bruce, 1st and last Earl of Carrick on thepeerage.com , accessed January 3, 2020.
• AAM Duncan: Bruce, Alexander, earl of Carrick (d. 1333). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 136.
2. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 160.
3. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 136.
4. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 198.
5. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 299.
6. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 104.
7. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Edward III and the Scots. The formative Years of a Military Career . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965, p. 137.
8. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , pp. 399 n24.

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Earl of Carrick 1333	Title expired