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| WE HAVE BEEN Clan Crest © Art Pewter Silver Ltd, East Kilbride, Scotland |
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The name of Bruce is inextricably linked with Scottish history, most notably King Robert I, commonly known as Robert the Bruce, and the victory at Bannockburn against Edward II. The name is Norman in origin. Robert de Brus followed William the Conqueror to England in 1066 and soon after his sons took up residence in the South of England. Another Robert de Brus was one of the friends of Prince David, who followed him to Scotland on his accession in 1124. This Robert de Brus was granted both the lordship of Annandale and the hand in marriage of the district’s heiress. The foundation for the royal house of Bruce was laid when the 5th earl married the niece of William the Lion. A contest to this came later from the Balliols’ and to avoid conflict Edward I was asked to arbitrate the dispute. Edward found in favour of Balliol but tried to assert his authority over Balliol and Scotland. This resulted in the defeat of the Balliols at the battle of Dunbar in 1296. This left Scotland in the hands of the powerful Comyns or the Bruces.The seventh of the Brus lords of Annandale, Robert de Brus (1274-1329) who was to become King Robert I, met the leader of the Comyns in a friary in Dumfries, where Bruce stabbed Comyn in the heart. Shortly after he was proclaimed king and set about establishing the Scottish nation. From Bruce, the line of Stewart kings was established in 1370, through his daughter Marjory. From the mother of Robert the Bruce, the heiress of Carrick, Turnberry Castle became the focus of The Bruces. From 1359 another branch of the family spread still more extensively from Clackmannan, into Fife, and beyond. Sir Edward Bruce was appointed judge at the end of the 16th century and subsequently became Master of the Rolls to James VI. His son, Thomas became 1st Earl of Elgin in 1633. James Bruce, the renowned Abyssinian adventurer and the first explorer of the sources of the Nile was born in Kinnaird, Scotland in 1730. The 7th Earl spent a lot of his fortune in trying to rescue the marbles of the Parthenon which were at the time falling into ruin. His son and grandson were also Viceroys of India during the 19th century. |