Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick

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Coat of arms of Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick

Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick , Lord of Annandale (also Robert VI de Brus or Robert de Bruce ) (* 1243 in Writtle ; † between March 29 and April 4, 1304 ) was an Anglo-Scottish magnate .

Origin and youth

Robert de Brus came from the originally Anglo-Norman family Brus . With Annandale, the family owned a barony in Scotland , but also several estates in the English Honor of Huntingdon and Writtle and Hatfield Broadoak in Essex . Robert was the eldest son of his father Robert de Brus and his wife Isabel de Clare . He was probably born in Writtle. During the Second War of the Barons , his father supported the English King Henry III. in the fight against the rebelling barons. Brus, however, stayed in Scotland and released his father, who was captured at the Battle of Lewes, in exchange for a ransom in 1264 . After the victory of the royal party in the civil war, Brus and his father were able to acquire properties from the defeated rebels before 1268. In 1270 he still declared that he wanted to take part in the crusade of the heir to the throne Edward , but he did not set off for Palestine , but was still in England in 1271. As a result, his father set out for Palestine in his place in 1271.

Ascent to the Earl of Carrick

Probably around 1272, while his father was away, Brus married the widowed Scottish noblewoman Marjorie, Countess of Carrick . Allegedly he met her during the hunt, after which she invited him to Turnberry Castle . The marriage of the two took place apparently without the permission of the Scottish King Alexander III. who was angry about this and briefly declared Marjorie's properties confiscated. Finally the king approved the marriage on payment of a heavy fine. By his wife's right, Brus became Earl of Carrick by marriage . In 1278 Robert took part in the English Parliament in Westminster , where he represented Alexander III. the English King Edward I swore allegiance for the English possessions of the Scottish King. After Alexander III. had died without surviving descendants, a mistaken attempt was made to portray this oath of loyalty as a tribute to the English king by the Scottish king, in order to establish English sovereignty over Scotland. In addition, Brus also continued to serve the English king and took part in the campaigns for the conquest of Wales in 1277 and from 1282 to 1283 .

Seal of Robert de Brus, Earl of Carrick

Role during the Scottish Succession Controversy

In 1281 Brus belonged to the sixteen-member Scottish embassy to Count Guido of Flanders , which was supposed to arrange a marriage of the Scottish heir to the throne Alexander with a daughter of the count. However, the young Alexander died in early 1284, whereupon Brus took the Norwegian king's daughter Margarete , the only granddaughter of Alexander III. recognized as the new Scottish heir to the throne. However, in 1286 he attended the meeting of a group of barons at Turnberry Castle, where they presumably recognized his father's claim to the throne. As a result, Brus also supported his father's claim to the throne, which he initially wanted to enforce by force until 1287. Through the mediation of other nobles, however, peace could be restored in Scotland and Brus then supported Margaret of Norway's succession to the throne. In 1290 he was one of the Scottish nobles who witnessed the Treaty of Birgham , in which Margaret was married to the English heir to the throne, Edward . But after Margaret died on the crossing to Scotland, Brus again supported his father's claim to the throne . Like his father, he swore allegiance to the English king as overlord of Scotland on June 13, 1291, and on June 14, 1292 he testified to the agreement his father had made with Count Florens of Holland , another heir to the throne. Then Brus negotiated with King Erik II of Norway , who now wanted to marry his daughter Isabella . He accompanied his daughter when she left for Norway on September 28, 1292. However, he apparently returned to Scotland before Isabella's marriage in the spring of 1293. When the succession controversy was decided in favor of his father in 1292, the latter left him his claim to the throne. For his part, Brus left his claim to the title Earl of Carrick to his eldest son Robert . He himself withdrew to his English possessions. These transfers were later dated between November 7th and 9th, 1292, so that he had no possessions in Scotland when John Balliol was crowned the new Scottish King. Therefore he did not have to pay homage to Balliol and was able to maintain his claim to the throne. The transfer of Carrick was confirmed to a Scottish Parliament in Stirling in August 1293 .

Tombstone of Robert de Brus from the former abbey church of Holmcultram Abbey

Role during the Scottish War of Independence

After his father's death in 1295, Brus inherited Annandale in Scotland. He tried to deny his stepmother Christian Ireby the Wittum to which she was entitled , since he considered his father's second marriage to be illegal. Brus apparently continued to refuse to pay homage to the Scottish king for this property. In the winter of 1295 to 1296, when tension arose between England and Scotland, Brus also refused to heed the king's call for military success. Thereupon John Balliol declared the fief Annandale forfeited and gave it to John Comyn . Comyn was apparently unable to take possession of Annandale, because in 1297 and in the following years Brus was certainly in possession of the rule. In England Edward I called him on June 24, 1295 by Writ of Summons in the English Parliament and raised him to the hereditary Baron Bruce (of Annandale) . In addition, Edward I gave him command of Carlisle Castle on October 6, 1295 . When the English king wanted to enforce his supremacy in Scotland militarily in the spring of 1296 , both Brus and his son Robert were on the English side. Brus defended Carlisle against an attack by a force led by several Scottish earls in March 1296, then joined the English army that invaded Scotland. He took part in the Battle of Dunbar , and after the English victory he is said to have asked Edward I to keep his promise and hand over the Kingdom of Scotland to him. The king is said to have rebuked him harshly and asked him if he had better things to do than to conquer kingdoms for him. This negative answer is said to have induced Brus to leave the English army, go back to England and never return to Scotland. According to other sources, he is said to have fought on the English side in the Battle of Falkirk in 1298 . In the battle, troops under his leadership are said to have attacked the Scottish army on the flank and thus secured the English victory. Indeed, Brus may have taken part in the battle, while his son Robert certainly did not belong to the English army. On the other hand, Brus did not take part in the campaigns of the English king in the war with France . Apparently he had retired to Writtle while his eldest son had become one of the leading opponents of English rule in Scotland. Only when almost all Scottish leaders had submitted to the English king in February 1304 did Brus want to return to Annandale. He died on the way there shortly after Easter and was buried in Holmcultram Abbey in Cumberland .

Marriages and offspring

Brus had at least five sons and five daughters with his wife Marjorie:

Brus also had another daughter, Margaret , who was probably an illegitimate child. Marjory died before 1293. After her death, Brus married Eleanor , whose origin is unknown. His eldest son Robert became his heir, who also inherited the claim to the Scottish throne.

rating

Robert de Brus stood in the shadow of his father, who, despite his advanced age, insisted on his claim to the throne, and his son, who was boldly crowned King of the Scots in 1306. He is even rated as cowardly and spineless, and he is particularly accused of having accepted the rejection by the English king in 1296.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 201.
  2. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 34.
  3. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 36.
  4. ↑ Michael Brown: The wars of Scotland, 1214-1371 . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2004, ISBN 0-7486-1237-8 , p. 63.
  5. ^ GWS Barrow: A Kingdom in Crisis: Scotland and the Maid of Norway . In: The Scottish Historical Review , 69 (1990), p. 125.
  6. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 20.
  7. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 25.
  8. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 93.
  9. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 35n.
  10. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 99.
  11. ^ A b Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 103.
  12. ↑ Michael Brown: The wars of Scotland, 1214-1371 . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2004, ISBN 0-7486-1237-8 , p. 176.
predecessor Office successor
Marjorie Earl of Carrick
(de iure uxoris)
1272-1292 		Robert
New title created Baron Bruce
1295-1304 		Robert
personal data
SURNAME de Brus, Robert, Earl of Carrick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES de Brus, Robert VI; de Bruce, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English-Scottish magnate
DATE OF BIRTH 1243
PLACE OF BIRTH Writtle
DATE OF DEATH between March 29, 1304 and April 4, 1304