Robert de Brus

Notes:

Lord of Annandale. Called "The Competitor" and "The Claimant."

"Sir Robert de Brus, s. and h. of Robert de Brus, Lord of Annandale, by Isabel, 2nd da. of David (of Scotland), Earl of Huntingdon, and coh. of her br., John (le Scot), Earl of Chester. He suc. his father in 1245 and his mother in 1251-2. On 19 Apr. 1267, he, together with his son, swore fealty to the King and Prince Edward. He was sum. cum equis et armis from 18 July (1257) 41 Hen. III to 17 Aug. (1294) 22 Edw. I, and to attend the King at Shrewsbury 28 June (1283) 11 Edw. I, by writs directed Roberto de Brus domino Vallis (or de Valle) Anandi. Being a competitor for the Crown of Scotland (claiming as nearest in degree), he agreed, 5 June 1291, to be bound by the decision of the King as overlord, who however decided against him, 6 Nov. 1292. He m., 1stly, in May 1240, Isabel, da. of Gilbert (de Clare), Earl of Gloucester and Hertford, by Isabel, 2nd da. of William (Marshal), the elder, Earl of Pembroke, and in her issue coh. of her br., Walter, Earl of Pembroke. She was b. 2 Nov. 1226, and was living 10 July 1264. He m., 2ndly, 3 May 1273 at Hoddam, in the diocese of Glasgow, Christian, da. and h. of Sir William d'Ireby, of Ireby, Cumberland, by Christian, elder da. and coh. of Odard de Hodeholme, of Gamblesby and Glassonby in that co. She had m., 1stly, before 12 Dec. 1257, Sir Thomas de Lascelles, of Bolton, Cumberland, who d. s.p. before Oct. 1260: and 2ndly, before Aug. 1261, Sir Adam de Gesemuth, of Cramlington, Northumberland, Buxton, Standon, Over Haddon, &c., co. Derby, and Great Dalton, co. Dumfries, who d. between 27 July 1270 and 23 Apr. 1274. He d. at Lochmaben Castle, 31 Mar., and was bur. 17 Apr. 1295, in Guisborough Priory. His widow, whose dower was settled by deed dated 29 Aug. 1296, d. s.p. shortly before 6 July 1305." [Complete Peerage II:358-60, as corrected in Volume XIV.]

Robert married Isabel de Clare in May 1240. Isabel (daughter of Gilbert de Clare and Isabel Marshal) was born on 2 Nov 1226; died after 10 Jul 1264. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Isabel de Brus was buried in Easington, Durham, England.
2. Robert de Brus was born in Jul 1243; died on 4 Apr 1304 in England; was buried in Holm Cultram Abbey, Cumberland, England.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1226 and 1233
• Alternate death: Bef 23 Jan 1226

Notes:

Lord of Annandale.

Robert married Isabel of Huntingdon. Isabel (daughter of David of Scotland and Maud of Chester) died before 20 Mar 1252; was buried in Sawtrey Abbey, Huntingdonshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1211 and 1212
• Alternate death: 16 Jun 1212

Notes:

Lord of Annandale.

William married Christian about 1185. Christian (daughter of Walter fitz Alan and Eschyna de London) died after 1245. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1240

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1144

Notes:

Earl of Huntingdon and Cambridge. Also called David of Huntingdon.

David married Maud of Chester on 26 Aug 1190. Maud (daughter of Hugh of Chester and Bertrade de Montfort) was born in 1171; died about 6 Jan 1233. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Matilda de Blondeville; Maud of Chester; Maud or Matilda de Meschines; Maud or Matilda de Kevelioc.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Abt 1194

Robert married Eufemia de Aumale. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

1st High Steward of Scotland. Founder of Paisley Abbey. Described by A. M. Mackenzie as "a Norman by culture and a Breton by blood." A supporter of the Empress Matilda, he came to Scotland in 1136 and fought for it at the Battle of the Standard, following which David I made him Steward of Scotland and later confirmed the title as a hereditary office.

Walter married Eschyna de London. Eschyna (daughter of Uhtred fitz Liulf and (Unknown) de London) died after 1197. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Abt 1202

Notes:

Also called Eschina of Huntlaw; Eschyna de Molle.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1115

Notes:

Earl of Northumberland and of Huntingdon. Also called Eanric mac Dabid; Henry of Huntingdon.

"Henry, earl of Northumberland (c. 1115–1152), prince, was the only surviving adult son of David I (c. 1085–1153), king of Scots, and his queen, Maud (or Matilda) (d. 1131), widow of Simon (I) de Senlis. From c. 1128 his name was linked with his father's in governance, and in 1144 he appears as rex designatus ('king-designate'). Although the exact significance of this style is unclear, it seems certain that he had formally been proclaimed as future king; and in practice from the 1130s 'David's was a dual reign...with joint or at least coadjutorial royal government' (G. W. S. Barrow, ed., The charters of King David I: the written acts of David I king of Scots, 1124–53, and of his son Henry earl of Northumberland, 1139–52, 1999, p. 34). This partnership--though Henry was self-evidently the junior partner--had momentous consequences for the Scots monarchy's power and prestige. Henry shared fully in David's policies of modernization by which Scotland began to be transformed into a European-style kingdom, and above all he was inseparably associated with his father in furthering historic Scottish claims to 'northern England'. Leading vast armies against King Stephen, they made extensive gains at his expense." [Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]

Henry married Ada de Warenne after 9 Apr 1139. Ada (daughter of William II de Warenne and Isabel de Vermandois) died in 1178. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Or Adeline.

From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

Her public role as first lady of the Scottish court (there was no queen of Scotland from 1131 to 1186) was originally limited by her numerous pregnancies; but her fecundity averted a catastrophe when Henry, the expected successor to the kingship, died prematurely in 1152. During her widowhood she enjoyed in full measure the respect and status to which she was entitled as mother of two successive Scots kings, Malcolm IV and William the Lion. After Malcolm's enthronement as a boy of twelve in 1153, she figured prominently in his counsels and was keenly aware of her responsibilities. According to the well-informed William of Newburgh, Malcolm's celibacy dismayed her, and she endeavoured, albeit fruitlessly, to sharpen his dynastic instincts by placing a beautiful maiden in his bed. She was less frequently at William the Lion's court from 1165, no doubt because of the periodic illnesses that obliged her to turn to St Cuthbert for a cure.

Ada's cosmopolitan tastes and connections reinforced the identification of Scottish élite society with European values and norms. Reginald of Durham regarded her piety as exemplary, and she played a notable role in the expansion of the reformed continental religious orders in Scotland. If she had a preference, it was for female monasticism, and by 1159 she had founded a priory for Cistercian nuns at Haddington, apparently at the instigation of Abbot Waldef of Melrose (d. 1159). Her household attracted Anglo-Norman adventurers, and she personally settled in Scotland knights from Northumberland and from the great Warenne honours in England and Normandy.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1147, Merionethshire, Wales

Notes:

Earl of Chester. Also known as Hugh le Meschin; Hugh de Meschines; Hugh of Kevelioc; Hugh de Cyveiliog.

1908 DNB entry on Hugh of Kevelioc:

[By Thomas Frederick Tout.]

HUGH (D. 1181) called HUGH of CYVEILIOG, palatine Earl of Chester, was the son of Ranulf II, Earl of Chester, and of his wife Matilda, daughter of Earl Robert of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of Henry I. He is sometimes called Hugh of Cyveiliog, because, according to a late writer, he was born in that district of Wales (Powel, Hist. of Cambria, p. 295). His father died on 16 Dec. 1153, whereupon, being probably still under age, he succeeded to his possessions on both sides of the Channel. These included the hereditary viscounties of Avranches and Bayeux. Hugh was present at the council of Clarendon in January 1164 which drew up the assize of Clarendon (Stubbs, Select Charters, p. 138). In 1171 he was in Normandy (Eyton, Itinerary of Henry II, p. 158).

Hugh joined the great feudal revolt against Henry II in 1173. Aided by Ralph of Fougeres, he utilised his great influence on the north-eastern marches of Brittany to excite the Bretons to revolt. Henry II despatched an army of Brabant mercenaries against them. The rebels were defeated in a battle, and on 20 Aug. were shut up in the castle of Dol, which they had captured by fraud not long before. On 23 Aug. Henry II arrived to conduct the siege in person (Hoveden, ii. 51). Hugh and his comrades had no provisions (Jordan Fantosme in Howlett, Chron. of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, iii. 221). They were therefore forced to surrender on 26 Aug. on a promise that their lives and limbs would be saved (W. Newburgh in Howlett, i. 176). Fourscore knights surrendered with them (Diceto, i. 378). Hugh was treated very leniently by Henry, and was confined at Falaise, whither the Earl and Countess of Leicester were also soon brought as prisoners. When Henry II returned to England, he took the two earls with him. They were conveyed from Barfleur to Southampton on 8 July 1174. Hugh was probably afterwards imprisoned at Devizes (Eyton, p. 180). On 8 Aug., however, he was taken back from Portsmouth to Barfleur, when Henry II went back to Normandy. He was now imprisoned at Caen, whence he was removed to Falaise. He was admitted to terms with Henry before the general peace, and witnessed the peace of Falaise on 11 Oct. (Fœdera, i. 31).

Hugh seems to have remained some time longer without complete restoration. At last, at the council of Northampton on 13 Jan. 1177, he received grant of the lands on both sides of the sea which he had held fifteen days before the war broke out (Benedictus, i. 135; Hoveden, ii. 118). In March he witnessed the Spanish award. In May, at the council at Windsor, Henry II restored him his castles, and required him to go to Ireland, along with William Fitzaldhelm and others, to prepare the way for the king's son John (Benedictus, i. 161). But no great grants of Irish land were conferred on him, and he took no prominent part, in the Irish campaigns. He died at Leek in Staffordshire on 30 June 1181 (ib. i. 277; Monasticon, iii. 218; Ormerod, Cheshire, i. 29). He was buried next his father on the south side of the chapter-house of St. Werburgh's, Chester, now the cathedral.

Hugh's liberality to the church was not so great as that of his predecessors. He granted some lands in Wirral to St. Werburgh's, and four charters of his, to Stanlaw, St. Mary's, Coventry, the nuns of Bullington and Greenfield, are printed by Ormerod (i. 27). He also confirmed his mother's grants to her foundation of Austin Canons at Calke, Derbyshire, and those of his father to his convent of the Benedictine nuns of St. Mary's, Chester (Monasticon, vi. 598, iv. 314). In 1171 he had confirmed the grants of Ranulf to the abbey of St. Stephen's in the diocese of Bayeux (Eyton, p. 158). More substantial were his grants of Bettesford Church to Trentham Priory, and of Combe in Gloucestershire to the abbey of Bordesley, Warwickshire (Monasticon, vi. 397, v. 407).

Hugh married before 1171 Bertrada, the daughter of Simon III, surnamed the Bald, count of Evreux and Montfort. He was therefore brother-in-law to Simon of Montfort., the conqueror of the Albigenses, and uncle of the Earl of Leicester. His only legitimate son, Ranulf III, succeeded him as Earl of Chester [see Blundevill, Randulf de]. He also left four daughters by his wife, who became, on their brother's death, co-heiresses of the Chester earldom. They were: (1) Maud, who married David, earl of Huntingdon, and became the mother of John the Scot, earl of Chester from 1232 to 1237, on whose death the line of Hugh of Avranches became extinct; (2) Mabel, who married William of Albini, earl of Arundel (d. 1221); (3) Agnes, the wife of William, earl Ferrers of Derby; and (4) Hawise, who married Robert de Quincy, son of Saer de Quincy, earl of Winchester. Hugh was also the father of several bastards, including Pagan, lord of Milton; Roger; Amice, who married Ralph Mainwaring, justice of Chester; and another daughter who married R. Bacon, the founder of Roucester (Ormerod, i. 28). A great controversy was carried on between Sir Peter Leycester and Sir Thomas Mainwaring, Amice's reputed descendant, as to whether that lady was legitimate or not. Fifteen pamphlets and small treatises on the subject, published between 1673 and 1679, were reprinted in the publications of the Chetham Society, vols. lxxiii. lxxix. and lxxx. Mainwaring was the champion of her legitimacy, which Leycester had denied in his 'Historical Antiquities.' Dugdale believed that Amice was the daughter of a former wife of Hugh, of whose existence, however, there is no record. A fine seal of Earl Hugh's is engraved in Ormerod's 'Cheshire,' i. 32.

[Benedictus Abbas and Roger de Hoveden (both ed. Stubbs in Rolls Ser.); Howlett's Chronicles of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I (Rolls Ser.); Eyton's Itinerary of Hen. II; Ormerod's Cheshire, i. 26-32; Dugdale's Baronage, i. 40-1; Dugdale's Monasticon, ed. Ellis, Caley, and Bandinel; Doyle's Official Baronage, i. 364; Beamont's introduction to the Amicia Tracts, Chetham Soc.]

[DNB, Editor, Sidney Lee, Macmillan Co., London & Smith, Elder & Co., NY, 1908, vol. x, pp. 164-5]

Hugh married Bertrade de Montfort in 1169. Bertrade (daughter of Simon de Montfort and Maud) was born about 1155; died after 31 Mar 1227. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1156

Notes:

Also called Bertrade of Evreux. CP notes that at her wedding she was given away by King Henry II "because she was his own cousin." In fact she and the king were second cousins once removed, Simon de Montfort and Agnes d'Evreaux being his great-great grandparents and her great-grandparents.