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The House Bruce
A Chronology of the de Brus family in Yorkshire
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Headlines are in brown.
Dates are in red.
Hyperlinks to other pages are in dark blue.
References and citations are in turquoise.
Context and local history are in purple.
Geographical context is in green.
The Bruce family in the male line was
not of native Scots origin but had its roots in Normandy. Robert de Brus had
come over to England with the army of William the Conqueror. William had
rewarded De Brus by granting him lands in Yorkshire
but the family had added to this inheritance by acquiring considerable lands in
Huntingdonshire and in Annandale, Scotland. Robert's mother's family was of
Scots Gaelic descent.
Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale
(circa 1210 - 1295), was a leading competitor for the Scottish throne in 1290
to 1292. His grandson Robert the Bruce eventually became King of Scots. King Robert I reigned 1306-1329, and was succeeded by his
son David II who reigned from 7 June 1329 to 22 February 1371. The Bruce
dynasty ended with the death of David Bruce in 1371 when Robert II, son of
Robert's daughter Marjorie Bruce and Walter Stewart succeeded to the throne.
Our focus on this webpage is on the de
Brus family who held lands in Yorkshire.
1106
Henry I defeated his elder brother and rival
Robert Curthose at the Battle of Tinchebrai.
After his victory he visited York and Pickering.
Henry I redistributed land from Robert Curtose’s supporters, including Robert de Stuteville to his new men, including Nigel d’Albini, ancestor of the Mowbray
family and Robert de Brus.
Robert de Brus was granted a large fiefdom in
Cleveland. It was probably he who built the castles at Yarm, Skelton and
Danby. He was a Norman knight who came to England with William I the Conqueror
and who was awarded by the gift of many manors, chiefly in Yorkshire, of which Skelton was the principal.
1119
In 1119 Robert
de Brus I founded the Augustinian monastery of Guisborough
Priory and installed his younger brother William de Brus as the first
Prior there
1124
Robert de Brus I, First Lord of
Annandale (c1078–1141), received from Scotland’s King David I, his comrade at
the English court of Henry I, a grant of the lordship of Annandale, in
Scotland.
1125
“Robertus de Brus” donated property to
St Mary’s, York by charter dated to 1125 or 1135.
1138
After the death of King Henry, David
refused to recognise Henry's successor, King Stephen. Instead, David supported
the claim of his niece and Stephen's cousin, Empress Matilda, to the English
throne and taking advantage of the chaos in England due to the disputed
succession there, he took the chance to realise his son's claim to
Northumberland. Robert de Brus of Annandale could not countenance these actions
and as a result he and King David parted company, with Robert bitterly
renouncing his homage to David before taking the English side at the Battle of
the Standard in 1138.
The second Robert later grew estranged
from David and renounced his Scottish fief of Annandale.
1141
Robert de Brus died on 11 May 1141 at Skelton Castle in Yorkshire, England. As the
founder of Guisborough Priory, he was
buried inside the church, in the place of honour between the Canon’s stalls in
the Quire.[22] Priory histories record his death and his burial there. He was
survived by his wife Agnes, and his children. Robert’s son, Adam de Brus,
Second Lord of Skelton, would be buried there in 1143, and his son Robert,
Second Lord of Annandale, would be buried there after his death in 1194. Both
the Scottish and English sides of the family would be laid to rest there, the
last being Robert de Brus, Fifth Lord of Annandale in 1295. Eventually a great
Cenotaph would be placed there honoring the Brus
Family and commemorating its most famous descendant King Robert Bruce (Brus) of
Scotland
The elder de Brus' allegiances were
compromised when David I invaded England in the later 1130s, and he had
renounced his fealty to David before the Battle of the Standard in 1138. The
younger Robert however remained loyal and took over his father's land in
Scotland, whilst the English territories remained with the elder Robert and
passed to the latter's elder son Adam de Brus, 2nd Lord of Skelton. Bruce
family tradition has it that Robert II was captured by his father at the battle
and given over to King Stephen of England.
Annandale was restored to Robert de Brus
II, Second Lord of Annandale (fl. 1138– c1189).
There is a legend that in the 1140s,
Robert II was visited at Annan by St Malachy. St Malachy asked Robert to pardon
a thief, but Robert hanged him anyway, and for this the River Annan destroyed
part of his castle and the de Brus line received a curse from the holy man.
Robert made Lochmaben the centre of his lordship and
constructed a new caput there.
Adam I de Brus, Lord of
Skelton and Cleveland (1105
to 1143)(or possibly d 1167), was the son of Robert de
Brus I and his wife Agnes Paynell.
1143
Adam II de Brus, Lord of
Skelton (1127 to 11 March
1196)(or possibly d 1188) was born at of Skelton, Yorkshire, England. He married Ivetta
d' Arches, daughter of William de Arches and Ivetta, after 1169. He died on 20
March 1196.
1191
Robert III de Brus (fl. 12th century,
died ca. 1191) was the oldest son of Robert de Brus, 2nd Lord of Annandale. He
predeceased his father, and so did not inherit the lordship of Annandale, which
passed to his brother, William de Brus, 3rd Lord of Annandale. He married in
1183 Isabella Mac William, illegitimate daughter of King William I of Scotland
through the latter's liaison with a daughter of Robert Avenel lord of Eskdale.
There were no children.
William de Brus, 3rd Lord of Annandale
(died 16 July 1212), was the second but eldest surviving son of Robert de Brus,
2nd Lord of Annandale.
1196
Peter I de Brus of Skelton
(1170 to 17 January 1211),
son of Adam de Brus, Lord of Skelton and Ivetta, Countess of Annandale,
inherited the barony of Skelton 1196-8 and his lack of insight brought him into
heavy debt. His debts and rebellion against King John could have brought about
his downfall but he survived the turmoil and set and
example that his son and grandson would follow. Initially he had been a
faithful follower of the king, accompanying him to Normandy. Peter was given
his first chance to rejuvenate the Skelton barony and buy back the vill and forest of Danby which he did for 1,000 pds. Later he would obtain a position of greater importance
than his father or grandfather by purchasing the farm at Wapentake in Lambaurgh in 1207. It encompassed the whole tenant of
Cleveland. He became further disillusioned by King John when he abrogated the
Magna Carta, for in 1217, he was in open rebellion with those who opposed the
king. He fled Skelton Castle shortly is was taken by
the monarch's forces. After King John's death, Peter had Skelton Castle and his
lands restored to him by Henry III.
1211
Peter ll
de Brus, Baron of Skelton
(c 1185 to 13 September 1241).
1214
Some of the Yorkshire barons held no
continental lands, and had little interest in Johnm’s
overseas interests. William de Mowbray and Peter de Brus refused to join the overseas adventure to Poitou or to
pay war taxes in 1214.
These barons were prominent amongst the
northern barons who forced the Magna Carta on John in 1215.
1215
John’s unpopular methods of raising
taxation came to a head by the barons insistence that
King John signed Magna Carta at Runnymede in June 1215. It included a
resolution of countless grievances of the day, but it also embraced some
fundamental legal principles which have passed through to contemporary legal
doctrine, including that No Freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned … but by
lawful judgment of his peers.
·
Imposed
restraints on monarchy;
·
Might
be taken as the first example of a written constitution, which was unusual
across Europe at that time;
·
Represented
a contract between monarchy and the community of the realm, which started to
emerge as a distinct legal entity.
Mowbray was on
the council of 25 barons set up under Magna Carta.
1241
Peter III de Brus (died 18 September 1272), Lord of
Skelton, Danby, Kirkby, Constable of Scarborough Castle, was an English noble.
He was the son of Peter II de Brus and Hawise de Lancaster. Peter married Hillaria, daughter of Peter de Maulay,
Lord of Mulgrave and Isabella de Thornham and died
without issue on 18 September 1272. His properties were split between his
sisters, Agnes, the wife of Walter de Faucunberge,
Margaret, the wife of Robert de Ros, Ladereyna, the
wife of John de Bellew, and Lucy, the wife of Marmaduke de Twenge. Agnes
received Skelton, Marske, Upleatham and Kirkleatham. Lucy received Yarm, Danby and
Brotton. Margaret received half the barony of Kendall. Ladereyna
received Carlton and Kentmere.
The Brus Family in England and Scotland
1100-1295, Ruth M Blakely The Boydell Press,
Woodbridge, 2005
Skelton and its history, Tom Curnow c.1983
The History of Cleveland, John Graves,
1808
Heraldic Monuments in Gilling West
Parish Church, North Yorkshire, Kenneth Laybourne privately published,
Pickering, 1992
History of Cleveland, John Walker Ord 1846
The Alum Farm, Robert Bell Turton Horne
& Son, Whitby, 1938
Skelton-in-Cleveland
in History