King Robert De Bruce SCOTLAND, I

   Other names for Robert were "The Bruce", SCOTLAND King, ANNANDALE Earl, CARRICK Earl and CLEVELAND Earl.

   Ancestral File Number: B2L0-GQ.

   General Notes:

"The Bruce", Earl of CLEVELAND, Earl of CARRICK, Earl of ANNANDALE, King of SCOTLAND, Crowned Scone 25 Mar 1306, Reigned 1306-1329.

BOOKS
Robert the Bruce King of Scots, Ronald McNair Scott, Carroll & Graf Publishers Inc, New York, 1982

Kings and Queens of Europe, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute 1989: "Robert I, Son of Robert Bruce and Marjorie Carrick, King of Scotland 1306-1329, Mar =1 Isabel Mar, =2 Elizabeth De Burgh Died 1327, Died 1329."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol III, The Three Edwards, Thomas B Costain, 1958,Doubleday & Co
p62: "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..."
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..."
p168: [Bannockburn] "A first visit to Stirling Castle is an experience never to be forgotten. The deep interest aroused is not supplied by the castle itself It is large and old, but it is not the stark gaunt structure which stood so high on theedge of the precipice of rock in the days of Wallace and Bruce. Some of the original foundations may still be there.
"It is the view from the battlements which fills the eye and causes the imagination of the visitor to soar. A glance to thesouth, across the battlefield of Bannockburn, provides a picture of the Lowlands...
"There is a reason why the indolent English king [Edward II] was compelled in 1314 to assemble the strongest army of the day and advance to fight the Scots at Bannockburn, which lies three miles south of the castle...Robert the Bruce and his valiant leutenants...had all been so insistently at work that only three castles of any strength remained in the hands of the English...In 1313 the Black Douglas took Roxborough and Randolph captured Edinburgh by a daring climb up the steep rock. That left Stirling; and it fell to the lot of Edward Bruce, the most daring and ingenious of them all. to lay siege to the granite towers on the precipitous hill.
"The constable of Stirling,...Mowbray agreed to lay down his arms and surrender if he were not relieved by the English king before midsummer of 1314.
"...The English king considered the situation at Stirling Castle a national challenge. The stronghold must not be allowed to fall. The test of strength which had been pending since the death of Edward I could no longer be postponed. It was decided that the strength of England must be mustered for an attack in force. "Edward, who had become more dynastic-minded since the birth of his son, sent the Earl of Pembroke to take charge of the defense of the northern counties until such time as the royal army moved up to the attack. A writ was dispatched to nofewer than ninety-three barons to meet the king at Newcastle with all their men-at-arms and feudal retainers. At the same time he commanded Edward de Burgh, the Earl of Ulster, to cross the water with an Irish force numbering four thousand, including archers, the Gascons to come out in force, and a supply fleet under the command of John of Argyll to operate along the east coast...
"Four of the powerful earls did not put in an appearance- Cousin Lancaster, Warenne, Warwick, andArundel- although they sent troops...
"The upshot was the assembling, finally, of an imposing army. Never before had such a well-equipped force of such size marched to the north to try conclusions with the Scots...
"There was a moment when even the stout heart of the Scottish king almost failed him. It was early on the morning of Sunday, June 23, 1314...Two of the Scottish leaders...had ridden out before dawn to catch a first glimpse of the English. These two stout campaigners gazed with awe when the mist rose and the early sun shone on the burnished arms of the invaders. It was their lot to see first the approach of `proud Edward's power, chains and slavery.' The cavalry was in the van; and two thousand mountedmen with polished shields and helmets, with pennons flying and trumpets sounding, can look formidable...Behind the horsemen came files of foot soldiers stretching back as far as the eye could see, marching steadily with swaying of shields. "...Robert the Bruce was seated on a pony, because it was more sure- footed on such rough and marshy ground, and he was wearing a gold crown over his helmet, to identify him to his men. It would identify him also to the enemy and so can be classed as jactance, an open flouting of the foe, as though he said, I am Robert the Bruce, crowned at Scone, and if I fall the flag of Scotland will fall; and make what ye may of it, bold knights of the Sassenach!
"...His position, in fact,was stronger than the one Wallace had chosen at Falkirk. But what of the archers who had won at Falkirk for the English. Douglas and Keith had said nothing of them, having seen only the chivalry of the Sassenach in their stell harness and thefoot soldiers with shields and spears. Had the English forgotten the lesson of Falkirk?...
"The English arrived at Bannockburn late in the afternoon following a twenty-mile tramp over heavy roads. They were tired and hungry, but Edward, basing his course on the precepts of his father, who always struck early and hard, decided to attach the two Scottish divisions which were in sight. A regiment of cavalry was sent forward to advance by the Carse Road...
"The English vanguard, commanded by the earls of Gloucester and Hereford, made an urgent advance in the hope of seizing the entry to the flat lands of the Carse, a strategic necessity. They found themselves opposed by a strong corps commanded by a knight on a graypony and with a high crown fitted over his helmet.
"`The king!' ran the word through the English ranks.
"Perceiving that what they had thought was no more than a scouting party was in reality a formidable force led by the great Brucehimself, the English hesitated. Before they could retire, however, there happened one of the incidents which are told and retold in the annals of chivalry. One of the English knights, Sir Henry de Bohun, rode out into open with his lance at rest and shouted a challenge to the Scottish king. Robert the Bruce lacked a lance but he seemed content with the battle-ax he was carrying, and so accepted the challenge by advancing form his own rinks. Bohun charged furiously, but almost at thepoint of contact the king's knee drew the pony to one side and the iron-clad challenger thundered past. Rising in his stirrups, Bruce had a second's time in which to deal a blow with his battle-ax. It landed squarely on the head of the chargingknight and almost split his skull in two.
"Returning to his party, the Scottish king was upbraided for having risked his life in this way. Bruce made no direct response but looked ruefully at the shaft of his ax.
"`I have broken it,he said,
"The shadows of night were falling by the time the English vanguard, very much chagrined by the defeat and death of their champion, had galloped back in a disorderly retreat..."
"The English attack had been badly conceived...
"The faltering English line broke...Gilbert of Gloucester tried to rally the troops but was killed. Clifford fell into one of the pits and was killed before he could extricate himself. Twenty-seven other barons fell in the pandemonium... "Edward and his closest advisers had watched the confusion into which the army had fallen with bitter wonder and dismay. When the retreat from the hillside turned into a rout, Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who knew a defeat when he saw one, having figured in many in his time, seized the reins of the king's horse. It was time for Edward to leave. Surrounded by the five hundred picked horsemen who served as the royal guard, they rode at a furious gallop around the left of the Scottish lines and cut north in the direction of Stirling Castle...they shook off a fierce attack by Edward Bruce...
"On other occasions Edward [II] had not shown much courage in battle, but now, perhaps in desperation, he showed some ofthe Plantagenet mettle. They encountered more pursuers and an effort was made to drag him from his horse. He beat the enemy off. With a mace, which became a lethal weapon in his strong hands, he cut his way through to safety.
"A StirlingCastle the royal party was refused admittance. It was pointed out that, inasmuch as the effort to relieve the fortress had failed, the castle must now capitulate. They did not want the king stepping into that kind of trap. Accordingly Edward and his morose followers rode sixty miles to Dunbar, where they made their escape by sea...
"The pursuit of the English was conducted briskly but not to the exclusion of looting. The equipment of the beaten army had not only been ample but luxurious...In addition to what had been left on the field there were many hundred knights captured, and the Scots saw that each of them paid a heavy ransom...
"There were exchanges, of course, The Earl of Hereford had been taken prisoner on the field and the Scots demanded for him fifteen prisoners held by the English. These included the wife and daughter of Robert the Bruce and the venerable Bishop of Glasgow."
p206: [Boroughbridge] "The most damaging piece of evidence was proof found on the slain Earl of Hereford of an effort made to form a confederacy with Rob- ert the Bruce. Lancaster had been corresponding with the Scottish king earlier, using the nom de plume `King Arthur', an indication, clearly, of the high vaulting nature of his inner ambitions. It will be recalled also that the country had seethed at one stage with rumors that Lancaster was actually in the pay of the Scottish king. The communication found on Hereford's body contained a direct invitation to come into England with an army, offering in recompense the good offices of Lancaster in getting for Scotland `a good peace.'"

A History of the English Speaking People, Winston S Churchill, Vol I, Dodd Mead & Co, 1956, p313 [Bannockburn]:
"The English army was so large that it took three days to close up from rear to front. The ground available for deployment was little more than two thousand yards. While the host was massing itself opposite the Scottish position an incident took place. An English knight, Henry de Bohun, pushed his way forward at the head of a force of Welsh infantry to try by a surprise move to relieve Stirling Castle which was in English hands. Bruce arrived just in time to throw himself and some of his men between them and the castle walls. Bohun charged him in single combat. Bruce, though not mounted on his heavy war-horse, awaited his onset upon a well-trained hack, and, striking aside the English lance with his battle-axe, slew Bohun at a single blow before the eyes of all."

The Political History of England 1216-1377, Vol III, T F Tout, AMS Press, 1905,
p260: "...[1314] It was not until Sunday, June 23, that Edward at last took up his quarters a few miles south of Stirling, with a wornout and dispirited army. Yet, if Stirling, were to be saved, immediate action was necessary. Gloucester and Hereford made a vigorous but unsuccessful effort to penetrate at once into the castle, and Bruce camedown just in time to throw himself between them and the walls. Henry Bohun, who had forced his way forward at the head of a force of Welsh infantry, was slain, and his troops dispersed. Gloucester was unhorsed, and thereupon the English retreated to their camp..."
p262: "...[Battle of Bannockburn] The Scots, whose losses were slight, showed a prudent tendency to capture rather than slay the knights and barons, in order that they might hold them up to ransom, and though many desisted from the pursuit to plunder the baggage train, those who followed the English fugitives reaped an abundant harvest of captives. Hereford was chased into Bothwell castle, which was still held for the English. But next day the Scottish official who commanded there for Edward opened the gates to Bruce, and the earl became a prisoner. Pembroke escaped with difficulty on foot, along with a contingent of Welsh infantry..."

INTERNET
http://www.findagrave.com/claimtofame/2.html; http://www.findagrave.com/pictures/3103.html; http://www.findagrave.com/pictures/3104.html;
http://www.findagrave.com/pictures/2894.html;
Scottish King, Robert the Bruce [Bone Fragment]
Saint Conan's Kirk, Lochawe, Scotland;
[Body (except for heart and bone fragment)]
Dunfermline Abbey, Dunfermline (West of Edinburgh), Scotland;
[Heart] Melrose Abbey, Melrose (Southeast of Edinburgh), Scotland.

ANCESTRY.COM
World Ancestral Chart No. 10002 Patricia (Downey) Adams
Ancestors of Warren Cash 1760,
World Ancestral Chart No. 31759 Ancestors of Warren Cash 1760:
Robert BRUCE
Crowned King of Scotland 1306. Lived during the time of William Wallace of Scotland and fought with Wallace against the English.
The heart of King Robert Bruce was, by his own explicit direction, taken by his most trusted knight (Sir James Douglas) "to be presented", ordered the King, "to the Holy Sepulchre where our Lord lay, seeing my body cannot come there and wheresoever ye come let it be known that you carry with you the heart of Robert Bruce."
Casketed in silver, the heart, in Sir James constant care, began its journey. But Sir James never reached Jerusalem. He kept to his ship, "kept always his behaviour and great triumph, as though he were King of Scots himself, and in his company were 26 young squires and gentlemen to serve him, his vessels were of gold and silver, pots, pans, basins, ewers, dishes, flagons, cups. And all such as would come to see him were well served with wine and diverse manner of spices, all people according to their degrees." This is related by Lord Berner's English version of The Flemish Sttory, rich in the prose of the fifteenth century.
Near the Spanish border, Sir James was attacked by Saracens, and though his party did wonders in arms, all were slain save William Keith, kept from the fight by a broken arm. He embalmed Sir James body and took it and the heart of Robert Bruce in its silver casket back to Scotland. The heart lies in the Abbey of Melrose that Bruce had loved.

INTERNET
Robert the Bruce
http://home.t-online.de/home/0308970181/page7.htm
"Robert the Bruce, or Robert de Brus, as his Norman surname was spelled, was born aa July, 1274. He was the first born son of one of the richest and most powerful of the nobles in Scotland. His father had both Norman blood, as the surname suggests, and royal Scots blood in his veins, and his mother was from one of the oldest noble Celtic families in Scotland. Of course Bruce was educated, learning Latin, English, Scots and Gaelic, and he was also trained in warfare, later to become unsurpassed in Europe in his use of the battle axe. Too, he was raised with the knowledge that he would have a claim to the Scots throne if anything ever happened to the Balliol line, the Balliols having taken the throne when the daughter of the last king, Alexander III, died.
Not long after ascending the throne, Balliol submitted to Edward I, giving up his crown and ostensibly giving Edward control of Scotland. Bruce, however, like many other Scots, would not stand for such an affront to Scotland -- being ruled by a foreign power -- especially when such was aggravated by the bloody sacking of Berwick at English hands in Mrch of 1296, and so he eventually called his vassals and knights to stand behind him in rebellion against Edward.
Bruce did not reside at Edinbugh Castle, as portrayed in the film, for it was occupied by the English from 1296 until 1313. And, though the character of Bruce in "Braveheart" was depicted as being a man more of words than of battle, that was not the case. While William Wallace and Andrew Murray took control of the heart of Scotland, Bruce gave the English trouble in southwest Scotland. Most historians cannot be sure of Bruce's actions at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, but it is thought that he may have been the highest-ranking noble who knighted William Wallace in Selkirk Forest in March of 1298, after the victory at Stirling. As far as the battle of Falkirk, while it is accepted that Bruce supplied forces for the Scots army, most historians cannot agree as to what role he played there, though many feel he was instrumental in helping Wallace escape from the bloodied field as was shown in the film.
After the loss at Falkirk, once Wallace had resigned as Guardian of Scotland, Bruce and John "The Red" Comyn, Bruce's cousin were given joint positions as Guardians late that year. There had been trouble before between Bruce and Comyn, but they apparently were able to get along at least for a time. However, the Bruce gave up the Guardianship in 1300, though it is not known why.
Bruce's next unexplained move was his submission to Edward I in 1302. This was depicted rather symbolically in the film by his appearance on the Falkirk battlefield under Edward's banner. Of course, the Bruce had not submitted to Edward at the time of the Battle of Falkirk, but the message is clear nonetheless, he wavered. There are many theories as to why he did so. Perhaps he wanted to protect his lands, titles, and power, as the character of his father suggested in the film. Or perhaps, as his staunchest fans today suggest, he was simply a brilliant man who knew that he could not win just then, and that he had to go to Edward's side in order to survive, though he planned to join the side of rebellion again when he was on his feet again. This seems possible, for eventually, he did join the rebels once again.

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.11 B2L0-GQ Robert I "The Bruce" King of SCOTLAND Mar Abt 1295 Isabell or Matilda MAR [QUEEN OF SCOTLAND] 83TP-QQ.

INTERNATIONAL GENEALOGICAL INDEX
IGI Birth T990361-304-0884798 David II King of SCOTLAND Father Robert I King of SCOTLAND Mother Elizabeth De BURGH 5 Mar 1323 Dunfermline Fife Scotland.

Not Married Concubine I Robert I King of Scotland, Concubine IBI Robert I King of Scotland, Concubine III Robert I King of Scotland, Concubine IV Robert I King of Scotland, Concubine V Robert I King of Scotland, Concubine VI Robert I King of Scotland.

   Marriage Information:

Robert married Queen Isabel Matilda Mar SCOTLAND, daughter of Earl Donald MAR, I and Princess Helen NORTH WALES, about 1295. (Queen Isabel Matilda Mar SCOTLAND was born about 1278 in Castle, Kildrummy, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and died about 1320.)

   Marriage Information:

Robert also had a child with Concubine I Scotland Robert I in 1299. (Concubine I Scotland Robert I was born about 1283 in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland.)

   Marriage Information:

Robert also married Elizabeth Ulster De BURGH, daughter of Earl Richard De Burgh ULSTER, in 1302. (Elizabeth Ulster De BURGH was born in , , Ireland and died in 1327.)

   Marriage Information:

Robert also married Concubine II Scotland Robert I.

   Marriage Information:

Robert also married Concubine III Scotland Robert I.

   Marriage Information:

Robert also married Concubine IV Scotland Robert I.

   Marriage Information:

Robert also married Concubine V Scotland Robert I.

   Marriage Information:

Robert also married Concubine VI Scotland Robert I.