Marjorie Bruce
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Marjorie Bruce (abt. 1296 - 1317)

Lady Marjorie Bruce
Born about in Dundonald, Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotlandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Wife of — married 2 Mar 1315 in Kyle, Ayrshire, Scotlandmap
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 21 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotlandmap
Profile last modified | Created 1 Feb 2011
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Declaration of Arbroath
Marjorie Bruce was the wife of a signer of the Declaration of Arbroath.
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Contents

Biography

Notables Project
Marjorie Bruce is Notable.
Marjorie Bruce is a member of House of Bruce.
This profile is part of the Bruce Name Study.

Family and Childhood

Marjorie was the daughter of Robert de Brus, earl of Carrick and lord of Annandale, and his first wife, Isabel of Mar, a daughter of Donald of Mar, 10th earl of Mar.[1] The earliest written mention of her was in a proposal by the English in 1297 that she be held hostage as a condition of her father's submission,[2] and it is said that she was no more than a year or two old at that time.[3] Marjorie's birthdate is estimated to have been about 1296.[4][5] She was named after her grandmother who had brought the earldom of Carrick into the Bruce family.[6] However, Robert Bruce had not submitted by early November 1297,[7] and it appears fairly certain that he neither submitted nor surrendered his only daughter.[3]

At the time her father was coronated at Scone on 27 March 1306,[8] Lady Marjorie became a princess of Scotland.

When Bruce's men were forced to flee for their lives in the early summer of 1306, after the Battle of Methven, the women in the party (which included the Queen; Bruce's sisters, Christian and Mary; and the Lady Marjorie) were given all the horses and sent across the Mounth, through the mountains of Atholl and Braemar, to seek safe shelter at Kildrummy Castle on Donside.[9][10] Their escorts were Neil Bruce, earl of Atholl (Robert Bruce's brother, who held the Castle of Kildrummy), Alexander Lindsay, and Robert Boyd.[9] In September 1306 Kildrummy fell to the earl of Pembroke, and Neil de Brus was taken prisoner.[11] The women managed to escape and fled to the sanctuary of St Duthac at Tain, but were captured there by the earl of Ross (a Comyn supporter) and immediately sent under escort to England.[10][11] On their arrival, the prisoners were each sent to a different location.[10]

The Lady Marjorie, then twelve years of age, was first ordered by King Edward to suffer a fate similar to that of her Aunt Mary and Isabel, Countess of Buchan. She was to be kept in a cage made of wood and iron which would be suspended from the Tower of London, and not allowed to speak or be spoken to by anyone except the Constable of the Tower.[12] Edward later revoked this decree (presumably because Marjorie was so young) and instead had her sent to the Gilbertine nunnery at Watton in Yorkshire.[12] The following year the Priory petitioned the king for the cost of keeping the daughter of Robert de Brus, and was alloted the sum of 3d. per day and one mark per annum for a robe and other necessaries for the young woman.[11] Marjorie spent eight years in captivity at the nunnery, until finally being released in 1314 in exchange for English prisoners from the Battle of Bannockburn.[11][5] The escort sent by King Robert to meet the distinguished prisoners being released at the border and see them safely home was led by the young knight who had recently distinguished himself at Bannockburn, Sir Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland.[13][14]

Marriage to Walter Stewart

The following year on 27 April 1315, in a parliament held at Ayr, the royal succession was made explicit.[15] If the king died without a male heir, the crown would go to his brother Edward Bruce; if Edward died without a male heir, the crown would go to Marjorie and, when she died, to her direct heir. If all three were to die without any heirs, Thomas Randolph was to become guardian of the kingdom until a new king could be elected by the nobles.[15] Almost immediately thereafter, King Robert gave his daughter Marjorie in marriage to Walter Stewart.[15][16] The bride was twenty-one years of age, and her groom was several years younger. As part of the marriage settlement, Walter Stewart received from the king the barony of Bathgate, the lands of Ricartoun and Rathow, and various other properties.[17][18]

There was one child from this marriage, born on 2 March 1316, a son named Robert (after his grandfather, the king), destined to become Robert II, king of Scots.[19][20][21]

Death

Her marriage was to be short-lived. In October 1317, Marjorie Bruce was killed in a fall from her horse.[11] (See Research Notes) She was buried at Paisley Abbey,[11] and Walter Stewart gifted the lands of Largs (which he had recently received from the king as a reward for his valor in battle) to the Abbey in return for prayers for the safety of the soul of Marjorie Bruce and himself.[13]

Research Notes

Uncertain Date of Death:
  • There remains some uncertainty regarding the year and exact circumstances of Marjorie's death. The popular story of how Lady Marjorie fell from her horse, fatally dislocating several vertebrae in her neck and causing her son Robert to be delivered post-humously by caesarian section, first appeared in Crawfurd's History of Renfrewshire in 1710.[22] However, earlier historians such as Fordun (author of Excerpta e Chronicis Scotiae) and John Major, who both discuss the birth of Robert Stewart, do not describe any extraordinary circumstances relating to his birth.[23] Likewise, Barbour (writing during the reign of Robert II), Winton (writing right after the death of Robert III), Ballenden, Lesley, and Buchanan also make no mention of the story later told by Crawfurd.[24] The historian Boece, in writing of Marjorie's death, actually commented that "she died leaving a son yet a child," which seems to imply that she did not die before giving birth to Robert.[24] Douglas Richardson states that Marjorie died in October 1317 as the result of a fall from her horse during her second pregnancy, but gives no source for this information.[11] Sir James Balfour, writing in the Annales of Scotland, likewise gives the date of her death as October, 1317,[25] and G.W.S. Barrow also agrees that Marjorie died in 1317.[26] Other historians have chosen to accept Crawfurd's story of her death taking place 2 March 1316, the day when her son Robert was born.[14][27][28] Stevens-17832 22:07, 20 December 2022 (UTC)


Sources

  1. Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), vol. 1, pp. 605-606 BRUS 8. Robert de Brus.
  2. Palgrave, Docs. Hist. Scot, 199, cited in Barrow, G.W.S. Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2013), p. 458, fn. 52
  3. 3.0 3.1 Barrow, G.W.S. Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2013), p.444, fn. 90
  4. Penman, Michael. Robert the Bruce. New Haven and London: Yale University Press (2014), paperback 2018, p. 49.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Ewan, Elizabeth, et al. The New Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2018), p. 56.
  6. Barrow, G.W.S. Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2013), p. 184
  7. Cal. Docs. Scot, vol. 2, p. 247.
  8. Dunbar, Sir Archibald H. Scottish Kings: A Revised Chronology of Scottish History 1005-1625. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1899), p. 129
  9. 9.0 9.1 Barrow, G.W.S. Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2013), pp. 207-208
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Walker, Sue Sheridan (ed). Wife and Widow in Medieval England. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press (1993), pp. 122-127.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), vol. 1, pp. 610-612 BRUS 9. Marjory de Brus.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Barrow, G.W.S. Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2013), p. 210.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Stewart, James King. The Story of the Stewarts. Edinburgh: G. Stewart & Co. (1901), pp. 75-76.
  14. 14.0 14.1 Henderson, Thomas Finlayson. The Royal Stewarts. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons (1914), p. 7
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Barrow, G.W.S. Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2013), p. 381.
  16. Mackenzie, Agnes Mure. The Rise of the Stewarts. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd (1957), p. 15.
  17. PoMS no. 10092, Doc:1/53/66, RRS, V, No.391. Charter 26 Apr 1315 X 31 Dec 1315 (NRS, RH 6177; Nat. MSS Scot, ii, no. 18). "Robert, king of Scots, has given his beloved and faithful Walter, steward of Scotland, in free marriage with Margery his daughter, the barony of Bathgate...."
  18. Stuart, Andrew. Genealogical History of the Stewarts. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, Inc. (facsimile reprint) (2012), p. 18.
  19. Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed, Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author 2013), vol. 1, p. 615-617 BRUS 10. Robert Stewart.
  20. Dunbar, Sir Archibald H. Scottish Kings: A Revised Chronology of Scottish History 1005-1625. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1899), p. 159
  21. Burnett, George (ed). Rotuli Scaccarii Regum Scotorum (Exchequer Rolls of Scotland). Edinburgh: General Register House (1880), vol. 4, appendix to preface, p. cliii.
  22. Crawfurd, George. History of Renfrewshire. Paisley: J. Neilson (1710), p. 148.
  23. Fordun, Excerpta E Chronicle MS, xii, 25; J. Major, vol. 4, cited in Dalrymple, Sir David. Annals of Scotland. Edinburgh: A. Constable (1819), vol. 2, appendix no. 1, pp. 337-345
  24. 24.0 24.1 Dalrymple, Sir David. Annals of Scotland. Edinburgh: A. Constable (1819), vol. 2, appendix no. 1, pp. 337-345
  25. Balfour, Sir James. The Annales of Scotland MCVII-MDCIII. Edinburgh: W. Aitchison (1824), p. 96
  26. Barrow, G.W.S. Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2013), p. 380.
  27. Dunbar, Sir Archibald H. Scottish Kings: A Revised Chronology of Scottish History 1005-1625. Edinburgh: D. Douglas (1899), p. 141
  28. Paterson, James. History of Ayrshire. Edinburgh: Thomas George Stevenson (1852), vol. 2, p. 271
See Also:
  • Dalrymple, Sir David. Annals of Scotland. Edinburgh: A. Constable (1819), vol. 2, p. 103 (succession to throne through Marjory's line)
  • Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd edition. Salt Lake City: the author, 2011. See volume I, page 472; III:526-527, 533-534, 538. For more information about this reference, see WikiTree's source page for Magna Carta Ancestry.
  • Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author, 2013. See volume I, pages 609-610, 614. For more information about this reference, see WikiTree's source page for Royal Ancestry.
  • Weis, Fredrick Lewis. Magna Carta Sureties. Boston (1955), pp. 35-36, Clare line 41.

Acknowledgements

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This profile was developed by Jen Hutton, finishing in February 2021, and approved for the Magna Carta Project by Michael Cayley on 14 February 2021.
Marjorie Bruce is a descendant of Magna Carta surety barons Gilbert de Clare and Richard de Clare and is in
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Comments: 8

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I am going to be updating this profile on behalf of the Scotland Project's Arbroath team. If anyone knows of additional sources which should be included, please message me or post here. Thanks,

Jen

posted by Jen (Stevens) Hutton