Book of Bruce; Ancestors and Descendants Of

5,1 !i -^ )arlington Memorial Library ..„i.c.s.iii _ „...,^ tok &3..a..?.i^. ) (r / i i.' X 7 J^^ BOOK OF BRUCE *^m^ -^ 0.Mt iSook of Bruce ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS OF liing %ohttt of g)cotlantJ Being an Historical and Genealogical Survey of the Kingly and Noble Scottish House of Bruce and a Full Account of Its Principal Collateral Families. With Special Reference to the Bruces of Clackmannan, Cultmalindie, Caithness, and the Shetland Islands, and Their American Descendants BY LYMAN HORACE WEEKS Author of Prominent Families of New York THE AMERICANA SOCIETY NEW YORK. <\ J \ Copyright, 1907, by THE AMERICANA SOCIETY New YoKic Dedicated to the Memory of daieorge Tsmct whose genius contributed substantially to the advancement in America of "The Art Preservative of All Arts" CONTENTS CON TEN TS TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 15 CHAPTER I GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL SURVEY, . 19 CHAPTER II SCANDINAVIAN ORIGIN, 29 CHAPTER III THE BRUGES IN SCOTLAND, 55 CHAPTER IV KING ROBERT BRUCE, OF SCOTLAND, 75 CHAPTER V BRUGES OF CLACKMANNAN, CULTMALINDIE, AND CAITH- NESS, 91 CHAPTER VI BRUGES OF KINLOSS, ELGIN, AND KINCARDINE, ... 109 9 CONTENTS CHAPTER VII PAGE BRUGES OF AIRTH, 127 CHAPTER VIII THE CAVENDISH-BRUCE FAMILY OF THE DUKES OF DEVONSHIRE, 139 CHAPTER IX ROYAL HOUSE OF STEWART, 153 CHAPTER X LINE OF THE IRISH KINGS, 177 CHAPTER XI ANCIENT ROYAL HOUSE OF SCOTLAND, 191 CHAPTER XII LINE OF THE SAXON KINGS, 209 CHAPTER XIII BRUCE ANCESTRY FROM ROYAL HOUSES OF CONTINEN- TAL EUROPE, 223 CHAPTER XIV COLLATERAL FAMILIES OF SCOTLAND, 247 CHAPTER XV CASTLES AND CHURCHES, 281 10 CONTENTS CHAPTER XVI PAoa ARMS OF BRUGES AND COLLATERAL FAMILIES, ... 313 CHAPTER XVII BRUGES IN AMERIGA GEORGE BRUGE OF NEW YORK AND HIS DESCENDANTS, 321 LIST OF AUTHORITIES 331 INDEX 337 11 ILLUSTRATIONS ILLUSTRATIONS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Opposite pagb BR0OE ARMS Frontispiece BRECKNOCK CASTLE, RUINS OF 19 • ELGIN BRUGES, ARMS OF THE . 29 ORKNEY EARLS PALACE, RUINS OF 34 ROSTTH CASTLE 42 CHATEAU D'ADAM, RUINED EMPLACEMENT OF, 55 ' GISBURN PRIORY, RUINS OF, . 58 BRUCE CASTLE 62 BRUCE, ROBERT THE COMPETITOR, TOMB OF .... 67 KING ROBERT BRUCE, STATUE OF 75 KILDRUMMIE CASTLE 88 KING ROBERT BRUCE, PORTRAIT OF 92 CLACKMANNAN TOWER, RUINS OF 97 BRUCE, THOMAS, FIRST EARL OF ELGIN 102 BRUCE, SIR EDWARD OF KINLOSS 109 BRUCE MONUMENT IN THE ROLLS CHAPEL Ill BRUCE, SIR GEORGE OF CARNOCK, TOMB OF 116 BRUCE, THOMAS OF BROOMHALL. EARL OF ELGIN 120 BRUCE, THOMAS, SECOND EARL OF AILSBURY 127 BRUCE, ALEXANDER, FOURTH EARL OF KINCARDINE 132 BRUCE, CHARLES, NINTH EARL OF KINCARDINE 139 BRUCE, CHRISTINA, COUNTESS OF DEVONSHIRE, 145 STEWART CASTLE 153 ROBERT 11., KING OF SCOTLAND 162 ROBERT III., KING OF SCOTLAND 166 BRUCE, LADY SARAH 172 RAIT CASTLE 182 15 ILLUSTRATIONS Opposite pack STIRLING CASTLE 191 MARQERV, QUEEN OF SCOTLAND, TOMB OF 203 ROTHESAY CASTLE ' 216 TUBNBERKY CASTLE .- 223 CARLISLE CASTLE 247 BRUCE COLLATERAL FAMILIES, ARMS OF 260, 313, 318 AILESBURY ARMS 260 CAITHNESS ARMS 260 GLOUCESTER ARMS 260 HUNTINGDON ARMS, 260 ORKNEY ARMS 260 SKELTON ARMS 260 DUNFERMLINE ABBEY 268 CASTLE CAMPBELL, . 276 lONA 281 GLAMMIS CASTLE 287 LOCHMABEN CASTLE, 296 MELROSE ABBEY, RUINS OF 304 MUNESS CASTLE, UNST 310 CARRIOK ARMS 313 ELPHINSTON ARMS 313 GILBERTSON ARMS 313 MAR ARMS 313 OLIPHANT ARMS 313 SUTHERLAND ARMS 313 DEVONSHIRE ARMS 318 DUNBAR ARMS 318 CAMPBELL ARMS 318 CLACKMANNAN ARMS 318 STEWART ARMS 318 VIPONT ARMS, 318 BRUCE, GEORGE, OP NEW YORK 321 16 I GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL SURVEY GENERAL INTRODUCTION GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL SURVEY UPON the pages of Scottish history no name shines brighter than that of Bruce. The family has been a large part of all that is great and glorious in the achievements of its native land and has contributed in no small measure to the ennobling activities of other countries. In war and in peace; in government and in diplomacy; in the church and in the world of letters; in the broad field of industrial effort; its representatives have ever been conspicu- ous and preeminently successful. In popular estimation the name belongs particularly to the period of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that was crowded with events that changed forever the destiny of the Kingdom of the North. Then the great heads of this house in successive generations were bril- liantly and patriotically identified with the development of their country into a nation of power and its achievement of independence from English misrule. But before that time the Bruces had been famous and powerful; and in the subse- quent centuries, in all walks of life, they have been worthy of their antecedents. Students of history know that the Bruce stock gave to Scotland its last and greatest dynasty; that, ever since, it has transmitted its Scottish blood to the ruling families of Great Britain and that it has been allied to other royal houses of the 19 BOOK OF BRUCE old world. Antiquarian research shows that the family, centuries before its more modern appearance in Scotland, had a record that harks back to the dawn of history, and even into the mists of tradition and mythology. In considering this family genealogically and historically. King Robert Bruce—THE BRUCE as Scottish history desig- nates him—takes his place as the central figure of such a survey. That great and beloved monarch was descended in direct male line from the most powerful Saxon and Danish lords of the early years of the Christian era and he gave that splendid heritage to the many modern families that bear the name in England, Scotland, Europe, and America. Originally of Scandinavian origin the line is traced through the dominant lords, princes, and nobles of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, and by frequent matrimonial alliances, to the ruling families of Germany, Russia, and other principalities. The heads of the house in successive generations in that period were among the strong men of Denmark and Norway. They were vikings of the North and played their parts well in that heroic age when they and their countrymen were mas- ters of the seas ; overran the islands and the mainlands of that portion of the world; subjugated the rude peoples of Northern Europe, and laid the substantial foundations of consolidated government upon which has been built the structure of modern nationality. Some of them sailed across the stormy waters to Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides, taking posses- sion of those islands and becoming rulers of the people already there. They even made incursions to the northern mainland 20 GENERAL INTRODUCTION of Scotland and from time to time held sway there, little dreaming that four hundred or more years later their greater descendants were to come again and hold that kingdom. Volumes might be written about the lives and adventures of these viking ancestors of the Bruces. Their names gleam in the red light of the old sagas; their achievements are related in the Latin annals of the ancient historians, in the records of the northern kingdoms, and in popular traditions. On the following pages the line has been genealogically traced, generation by generation, to early in the eighth century. Nor is the story of the early Bruces limited to their North- land careers and associations. As will be seen presently, Einar, Jarl or Earl of Orkney, from whom the Bruces descended in direct male line, was a brother of Rollo, the first Duke of Nor- mandy. This allied the Bruces to the great ducal house of Nor- mandy, and to William the Conqueror, of a later generation. Not alone that, but the alliances of the dukes of Normandy with the kings of France, Spain, and Germany, and with other princely houses of Europe is well known and this Bruce connection forms another striking page in the family history. Still pursuing investigation into the records of the early centuries, it will be found that the Bruce forebears married into the royal family of Scotland several hundred years before their name became indelibly stamped upon the pages of Scot- tish history. Sigurd the seventh Earl of Orkney married Olith or Alice, daughter of Malcolm II., King of Scotland. He was the ancestor in the fourth generation in direct male line, of the Bruces who came into Scotland from Normandy 21 BOOK OF BRUCE by way of England at the time of the conquest and was in the ninth generation from the Robert Bruce who married Isabel of Huntingdon, also a descendant of Malcolm II. Thus the modern Bruces trace to the ancient royal house of Scotland through two lines of descent. An examination of the annals of the Scottish kings is of absorbing interest and reveals a wealth of rich genealogical and historical lore. As set down in the records, Malcolm III. (Malcolm Canmore or Great-head) great-great-grandfather of Isabel of Huntingdon, wife of Robert Bruce, was the eighty- sixth king of Scotland.* The record goes back through Mal- colm, Kenneth, Donal, and Constantin to Kenneth—son of Alpin—who united the Picts and Scots and became king of the two nations or tribes, 843-59. Beyond this Kenneth the line extends through many heroic predecessors whose deeds are matters of record, to Fergus and Eocha, who are generally regarded as the first of the long royal line and who ruled before the beginning of the sixth century. Beyond Fergus and Eocha we come to the famous Irish kings from whom the Scots were derived and whose origin has been traced by anti- quarians through Spain, Phenicia, and Egypt to Judea and Babylon. Into such a far-away period of ancient history the pursuit of the ancestry of the first Scottish kings, ancestors of the Bruces, leads through mazes of tradition, myth, secular and sacred history, and monumental records.

Load more