5th Lord Robert De Bruce ANNANDALE

   Other names for Robert were "The Competitor", ANNANDALE 5th Lord, De BRUS, CARLISLE Governor and CUMBERLAND Sheriff.

   Ancestral File Number: 9G42-PK. User ID: 151291892.

   General Notes:

"The Competitor", 5th Lord of Annandale, Sheriff of Cumberland, Governor of Carlisle, Crusader 1270-72.

BOOKS
Robert the Bruce King of Scots, Ronald McNair Scott, Carroll & Graf Publishers Inc, New York, 1982.
p10: "...Isobel held large estates in her own right both in England and Scotland, and when the fourth Robert died in 1245 and Isobel in 1252, the fifth Robert (the Competitor) received lands in both countries of such extent as to make him one of the most influential men in either Scotland or England.
"In 1238 a dazzling prospect opened before him. Queen Joan, the wife of Alexander II, died childless and there was no apparent heir. To safeguard the succession the King called his magnates together and in their presence and with their consent designated the fifth Robert as his heri presumptive. But the period of anticipation was brief. In May 1239 Alexander married again and sired on his second wife, Marie de Courcy, a son who was born in Spetember 1241: the future Alexander III. Nevertheless, the fact that the kingdom of Scotland had once been within his grasp was deeply engraved on Robert's mind and when, nearly fifty years later, the opportunity seemed once more to arise, the old man roused himself from his retirement to make a measterful bid for the throne.
"Meanwhile in May 1240 Robert the Competitor had married Isobel de Clare, daughter of the Earl of Gloucester and niece of the Earl Marshall of England. Linked as he thus became to the innermost circles of the English ruling families, he devotedmany of his abilities to the service of Henry III of England, fighting for him against Simon de Montfort on the disastrous field of Lewes, acting as a trusted intermediary between the English and Scottish thrones, and carrying out his duties as Sheriff of Cumberland and Governor of Carlisle.
"The 'Lanercost Chronicle' writes:
" 'He was of handsome appearance, a gifted speaker, remarkable for his influence and, what is most important, most devoted to God and the Clergy. It was his custom to entertain and feast more liberally than all other courtiers and was most hospitable to all his guests nor used the pilgrim to remain outside his gates for his door was open to the wayfarer.'
"His devotion to God and his indomitable character were made equally evident when in 1270 he resigned all his offices and at the age of sixty, accompanied by his son the sixth Robert, embarked on the long voyage to the Middle East to face the rigours of a crusader's life in the Holy Land. When he returned in 1272 his old friend and master Henry III had died and a new vigorous Monarch, Edward I, was on the English throne. It was time for him to settle quietly on the family estates and enjoy the pleasures of his second marriage to a neighboring widow, Christiana of Ireby, which took place in May 1273, and to anticipate with confidence the benediction of the formidable Saint Malachy.
"The curse of Saint Malachy had exercised his mind ever sincehe came to manhood. More than a hundred years earlier in 1148 Saint Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, on his way to Rome from Ireland had spent the night at the house of the second Robert in the town of Annan. Hearing that a theif had been captured shortly before and was awaiting sentence, he asked, as a boon from his host, that the man's life should be spared. His request was granted and he blessed the household. But as he set out on his journey the next morning he saw the thief hanging from the gallows. Outraged by the duplicity of his host, he revoked his blessing and laid a perpetual curse on the family of the Bruces.
"When Robert the Competitor became heir presumptive to Alexander II, it was clear to him that steps must be taken to remove what appeared to many of the superstitious a grievous disability. He journeyed to the saint's tomb and on his kness beside it prayed that the curse might be lifted. He repeated these visits on many occasions. Finally in 1272, on his way back from the Holy Land, he confirmed by a charter, still preserved at Clairvaux, a perpetual rent 'to God and the Blessed Mary and to the house and monks of Clairvaux in order to maintain lights before the blessed Malachy and for the good of his own soul and the soulds of his predecessors and successors' He could well feel that a benediction was now his due.
"Lochmaben Castle, at the head of the Annandale Valley, in which he dwelt with his new wife, was a powerful stone-built fortress, sited on a promontory jutting into the waters of the loch, the embracing arms of which were joined by a canal surrounding it on all sides by water. It was some sixty miles from his son the Earl of Carrick's castle at Turnberry, a long day's ride but close enough to assume that according to the ordinary pattern of family relationship there would have been constant visits between the two households and that he would have attended the christening of his first grandson, Robert Bruce..."
"When Robert the Competitor became heir

Kings and Queens of Europe, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute 1989: "Robert Bruce Died 1295, Son of Robert Bruce Killed 1245 and Isabella Huntingdon Died 1251, Mar Isabel De Clare Died 1254, Parents of Robert BruceDied 1304, Mar (2) Marjorie Carrick."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol III, The Three Edwards, Thomas B Costain, 1958, Doubleday & Co
p62: "The thirteen claimants [to the Scottish throne upon the death of the Maid of Norway] were a contentious lot, although few of them had more than a shadowy case...
"The decision lay in reality between two men...John de Baliol and Robert de Bruce of Annandale, although a third candidate, one John Hastings, was in the running briefly. Baliol was a grandson of Margaret, the eldest daughter of David, brother of William the Lion. Bruce was a son of the second daughter, Isabel, and based his claim on being of an earlier generation than Baliol... Bruce acknowledged as his successorby Alexander II when it seemed unlikelythat he would have an heir, but the subsequent arrival of a son, who became Alexander III, had nullified that preference. In any event, there was some doubt about the acknowledgement, nothing being on record to prove it had been made..."
"Bruce was the stronger man of the two, but he was getting on in years, a circumstance that was offset by his having a solid male line of succession to offer. He had at the time a middle-aged son and a sixteen-year-old grandson, who would become Robert the Bruce, victor at Bannockburn and king and national hero of Scotland. A large group favored the the Bruce claims, known as the party of the Seven Earls, which indicates that the landed interests were behind the lord of Annandale. This constituted a weakness as well, for the Bruces and practically all of their supporters had a strain of Norman blood in their veins. Bruce had extensive estates in England and Ireland, as well as his lands in Carrick from which he derived his earldom. The Scottish people wanted a king with nothing but Celtic blood and undivided sympathies..."
p118: "The family of the Bruces, second choice in that arbitration for a crown, had never been reconciled to the selection of John de Baliol as King of Scotland. The grandfather had died in 1295 and had been followed by his son, the Earl of Carrick, in 1304, leaving the grandson, who is known in history as Robert the Bruce, to continue the family pretensions.

ANCESTRY.COM
World Ancestral Chart No. 10002 Patricia (Downey) Adams Ancestors of Warren Cash 1760: Died 31 > 3 May 1295.
World Ancestral Chart No. 31759 Ancestors of Warren Cash 1760.

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.11 9G42-PK Robert "The Competitor" De BRUCE Born Abt 1210 Annandale Dumfrieshire Scotland Mar May 1240/1244 Isabel De CLARE 8WKL-7K Scotland Died 3 May 1295 Lochmaben Dumfrieshire Scotland Bur Guisburn Cleveland Yorkshire England.

   Marriage Information:

Robert married Isabel De CLARE, daughter of Earl Gilbert De Clare GLOUCESTER, Sr and Countess Isabella Marshal GLOUCESTER, on 20 May 1240 in , , Scotland. (Isabel De CLARE was born on 8 Nov 1226 in , Gloucestershire, England and died on 10 Jul 1264.)

   Marriage Information:

Robert also married Christiana IREBY in May 1273.