Marjorie Bruce or Marjorie de Brus (1316 or 1317) was the eldest daughter of
Robert the Bruce
Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert led Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against Kingdom of Eng ...
,
King of Scots, and the only child born of his first marriage with
Isabella of Mar.
Marjorie's marriage to
Walter, High Steward of Scotland, gave rise to the
House of Stewart. Her son was the first Stewart monarch, King
Robert II of Scotland
Robert II (2 March 1316 – 19 April 1390) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scots from 1371 to his death in 1390. The son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, and Marjorie Bruce, Marjorie, daughter of King Robert the Bruce, h ...
.
Early life
Her mother, Isabella, was a noblewoman from the
Clan Mar. Marjorie was named after her father's mother,
Marjorie, Countess of Carrick
:''See also Marjorie Bruce, her granddaughter.''
Marjorie, Marjory or Marsaili of Carrick (also called Margaret; died before 9 November 1292) was Countess of Carrick, Scotland, Carrick, Scotland, from 1256 to 1292, and is notable as the mother of ...
. Soon after giving birth to Marjorie, at the age of 19, Isabella died.
["Elizabeth de Burgh and Marjorie Bruce". Foghlam Alba]
Marjorie's father was at that time the
Earl of Carrick
Earl of Carrick (or Mormaer of Carrick) is the title applied to the ruler of Carrick, Scotland, Carrick (now South Ayrshire), subsequently part of the Peerage of Scotland. The position came to be strongly associated with the Scottish crown when ...
.
According to legend, Marjorie's parents had been very much in love, and Robert the Bruce did not remarry until 1302 (six years after his first wife's death), to a
courtier
A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the officia ...
named
Elizabeth de Burgh.
On 27 March 1306, her father was crowned King of Scots at
Scone, Perthshire.
[
]
Imprisonment
Three months after the coronation, in June, 1306, her father was defeated at the Battle of Methven. He sent his wife, two sisters, and Marjorie north with his supporter Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Buchan, but by the end of June they were captured by Uilleam II, Earl of Ross, a Balliol supporter, who handed them over to the English.[
As punishment, ]Edward I of England
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...
sent his hostages to different places in England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Marjorie was sent to the convent
A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community.
The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
at Watton. Her aunt, Christina Bruce
Christian or Christina Bruce (c. 1278 – 1356/1357), also known as Christian or Christina de Brus, was a daughter of Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, and her husband, Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale, Robert de Brus, ''jure uxoris'' Earl of ...
, was sent to another convent. Elizabeth de Burgh was placed under house arrest
House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...
at a manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
. Elizabeth de Burgh's punishment was lighter than the others. This is due to the fact that Edward I needed the support of her father, the powerful Earl of Ulster. Marjorie's aunt, Mary Bruce, and the Countess of Buchan were imprisoned in wooden cages, exposed to public view, at Roxburgh Castle
Roxburgh Castle is a ruined royal castle that overlooks the junction of the rivers Tweed and Teviot, in the Borders region of Scotland. The town and castle developed into the royal burgh of Roxburgh, which the Scots destroyed along with ...
and Berwick Castle, respectively.
For the next four years, Elizabeth, Christina, Mary, and Isabella endured solitary confinement
Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...
. The latter two experienced daily public humiliation
Public humiliation or public shaming is a form of punishment whose main feature is dishonoring or disgracing a person, usually an offender or a prisoner, especially in a public place. It was regularly used as a form of judicially sanctioned puni ...
. A cage was built for Marjorie, who was around the age of 12, at the Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
, but Edward I reconsidered. He instead sent her to the Gilbertine convent in Watton. Christopher Seton, Christina's husband, was executed.
Edward I died on 7 July 1307. He was succeeded by his son, Edward II, who subsequently held Marjorie captive in a convent for about seven more years. She was freed in October 1314, in exchange for Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford captured after the Battle of Bannockburn.
Marriage and death
Upon the liberation of Elizabeth de Burgh and Marjorie from their long captivity in England, Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, was sent to receive them at the Anglo-Scottish border
The Anglo-Scottish border runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west, separating Scotland and England.
The Firth of Forth was the border between the Picto- Gaelic Kingdom of Alba and the Angli ...
and conduct them back to the Scottish court. In April 1315 Bruce gathered a council in Ayr, and shortly after this Walter Stewart married Marjorie. Her dowry
A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage.
Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...
included the Baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...
y of Bathgate
Bathgate ( or , ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Linlithgow, Livingston, and West Calder. A number of villages fall under ...
in West Lothian
West Lothian (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, bordering (in a clockwise direction) the City of Edinburgh council area, Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire and Falkirk (council area), Falkirk. The modern counci ...
.
The traditional story is that on 2 March 1316, Marjorie was riding in Gallowhill, Paisley, Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...
while heavily pregnant. Her horse was suddenly startled and threw her to the ground. She went into premature labour and her child, Robert II of Scotland
Robert II (2 March 1316 – 19 April 1390) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scots from 1371 to his death in 1390. The son of Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, and Marjorie Bruce, Marjorie, daughter of King Robert the Bruce, h ...
, was born. Marjorie died soon afterward at the age of around 20, like her mother, who was roughly the same age when she died in childbirth. However, it is not clear that this traditional story is correct; some accounts indicate that she may have survived into 1317. She may still have died in a riding accident, but this could have taken place after the birth of her son. In fact, one source states that she died in October 1317, after falling from a horse, during a second pregnancy. Following the same October 1317 tradition, the Renfrewshire historian Crawford recorded circa 1710 that local tradition reported she was "riding betwixt Pasly and the Castle of Renfrew, then the principal Residence of the Great Stewart of Scotland, her Husband, she was thrown from her Horse, and by the fall suffered a Dislocation of the Vertebrae of her Neck; she, being pregnant, fell in Labour (of King Robert II.) the child or Faetus, as they report, was a Cesar an The Operation being by an unskilful Hand, his Eye was touch'd by the Instrument, which afterwards proved incurable, from which he was called King Bleareie e. bleery eye she died upon the Spot: And on the Fatal Place where this Accident happened, there was erected a Cross, yet standing, called Queen Bleareie's Cross." This tradition appears to conflate the dates and facts from other known sources, however authentic references to the sight affliction occurring in infancy, and the related nickname, are lacking.
At the junction of Renfrew Road and Dundonald Road in Paisley, a cairn
A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...
marks the spot called "the Knock", near where Marjorie reputedly fell from her horse. Bruce Road and Marjorie Drive are named in her honour. She is buried at Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey is a parish church of the Church of Scotland on the east bank of the River Cart, White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, about west of Glasgow, in Scotland. Its origins date from the 12th century, base ...
.
Her son succeeded his childless uncle David II of Scotland
David II (5 March 1324 – 22 February 1371) was King of Scotland from 1329 until his death in 1371. Upon the death of his father, Robert the Bruce, David succeeded to the throne at the age of five and was crowned at Scone in November 1331, be ...
in 1371 as King Robert II. Her descendants include the House of Stewart (now styled Stuart) and all their successors on the throne of Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
Marjorie in fiction
The young adult novel ''Girl in a Cage'', by Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris, features Marjorie Bruce as its protagonist. In it, Marjorie is imprisoned in a cage.
The historical novel ''Spirit of Fire: The Tale of Marjorie Bruce '' (2016), by Emmerson Brand, features Marjorie Bruce as its protagonist.
In the historical action drama film '' Outlaw King'' (2018), Marjorie is featured as a minor character during the First War of Scottish Independence.
Commemoration
The original site of Bathgate Castle, which was part of her dowry, can be found on the grounds of Bathgate Golf Club. The site is protected by Historic Environment Scotland and the club is barred from carrying out any excavation work on the site without prior permission. Every year on the first Saturday of June, the town of Bathgate celebrates the marriage of Marjorie and Walter in their annual historical pageant, just before the town's Bathgate Procession and Community Festival (formerly Bathgate Procession and John Newland Festival. Local school children are given the parts of Marjorie, Walter, and other members of the court. After the pageant, everyone joins the procession along with Robert the Bruce on horseback.
References
External links
Bannockburn
article ( National Trust for Scotland) contains some information on Marjorie Bruce.
Bathgate Castle and Old Hall Knowe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, Marjorie
1290s births
1310s deaths
Deaths by horse-riding accident in Scotland
Deaths in childbirth
Marjorie Bruce
Marjorie Bruce
Marjorie Bruce
Place of birth unknown
Date of birth unknown
14th-century Scottish women
14th-century Scottish people
Daughters of kings
Mothers of Scottish monarchs
Heirs presumptive to the Scottish throne