History |
Robert was born about 1078. Nothing certain is known of his father, given by some sources as Adam de Brus, except that he was a landowner in Normandy. Modern historians contend that Robert may have come from Brix, Manche, near Cherbourg in the Cotentin Peninsula, and came to Britain after King Henry I of England\'s conquest of Normandy (i.e. at the same time as Alan FitzFlaald, ancestor of the Stewart Royal Family). David fitz Malcolm (Dabid mac Máil Choluim, after 1124 David I, king of Scots), was present in France with King Henry and was granted much of the Cotentin Peninsula. It is suggested that Robert de Bruce\'s presences and absences at Henry\'s court coincide with David\'s.
Robert went to Scotland, where the new king, David, made him lord of Annandale in 1124, although there is scant evidence that Robert took up residence on his Scottish estates.
After the death of King Henry, David turned against Henry\'s successor King Stephen. As a result Robert de Bruce and King David parted company, with Robert bitterly renouncing his homage to David before taking the English side at the Battle of the Standard (22 August 1138).
A monastic patron, Robert is remembered as the founder of Gisborough Priory in Yorkshire in 1119. He is said to have married twice: to Agnes, daughter of Geoffrey Bainard, sheriff of York; and to Agnes de Paganell, daughter and heiress of Fulk Paganell, lord of Carleton, North Yorkshire, and his wife Beatrice. There were two sons, Robert and Adam, given in some sources as by Agnes de Paganell. Both would have progeny. [1] |