Robert "the Competitor" Bruce

• General Notes
  • [brownlee.ged]
    
    THE COMPETITORS
    
    Reports of the death of The Maid plunged Scotland into a complicated dynas tic crisis, for there was no obvious heir to the throne.
    
    Four surviving Guardians were ruling the country. One of them, William Fra ser, Bishop of St Andrews, wrote to Edward I of their fears that civil w ar would ensue, since the rival claimants were already assembling their ar mies.
    
    Edward offered himself as arbitrator, on condition that the various claima nts acknowledged him as the feudal superior of Scotland.
    
    In the end, thirteen competitors put their names forward, and nine of t he thirteen made the acknowledgement required by Edward. They also agre ed that possession of the lands and castles of Scotland should be giv en to him so that he could pass them on to the rightful king, when the cho ice had been made.
    
    The thirteen claimants were then reduced to three: John Balliol, Robert Br uce and John Hastings, all of whom were descendants of the three daughte rs of David, Earl of Huntingdon.
    
    After a further period for deliberation, Edward I awarded the crown to Jo hn Balliol, the descendant of the Earl's eldest daughter.
    
    In law, however, Robert Bruce's claim was equally good because, althou gh he was descended from the second daughter, he was a generation nearer D avid I (as his grandson).
    
    
    
    
    Thorns Among the Roses;
    Sir Robert de Brus, b. 1210, d. Lochmaben Castle 31 Mar 1295, Lord of Anan dale, son of Robert de Brus, d. 1251, and Isabella, daughter of David of H untingdon and Maud of Chester. He m. (2) before 10 May 1275 Christian, dau ghter & heir of Sir
    William d'Irby, and widow, successivley of Sir Thomas de Lascelles who d sp bef Aug 1261, and Sir Adam de Gesemuth who d. between 27 July 1270 a nd 23 April 1274 [Magna Charta Sureties]
    Note: Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Editio n, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999
    Note: Page: 121c-30
    Note: Title: Magna Charta Sureties 1215, Frederick Lewis Weis, additio ns by Walter Lee Sheppard Jr, 5th Edition, 1999
    Note: Page: 41-3
    Note: Title: Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain a nd the United Kingdom, by G. E Cokayne, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2000
    Note: Page: VIII:268
    Note: Text: Robert de Bruce, "The Competitor"; father of Isabel
    Change Date: 24 APR 2004