Lady Mary De Brus

Lady Mary De Brus

Female Abt 1282 - 1323  (41 years)

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  • Name Lady Mary De Brus  [1
    Born Abt 1282 
    Gender Female 
    Died 1323 
    Person ID I0040  Admin Kevin's Chiefly Lines
    Last Modified 12 Jun 2022 

    Father Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother Margaret\Marjory d\o Neil, Earl of Carrick 
    Relationship natural 
    Family ID F0018  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Alexander Fraser, of Touchfraser and Cowie 
    Last Modified 12 Jun 2022 
    Family ID F2751  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 Sir Neil Cambel,   b. Abt 1258, Lochow, Argyllshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Feb 1315/16  (Age 58 years) 
    Married Aft 1314  [2
    Children 
     1. John Campbell, Earl of Atholl,   b. Abt 1314,   d. 19 Jul 1333, Battle of Halidon Hill, age 19 Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 19 years)  [natural]
    Last Modified 12 Jun 2022 
    Family ID F0027  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • 25 March 1306 - Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick, crowned King of Scots at Scone, just six weeks after he had murdered rival, John 'the Red' Comyn, before the altar of the Greyfriar's Abbey in Dumfries. Bruce became a fugitive hiding out in the western islands of Scotland and perhaps even in Ireland. His brothers Thomas, Alexander, and Neil as well as friend Simon Fraser and brother-in-law Christopher Seton were captured and brutally executed. His sister Mary, the wife of Sir Neil Campbell, and the Countess of Buchan, who had placed the Crown on his head, were suspended in cages from the walls of Roxburgh and Berwick castles respectively and exposed to the elements. Bruce's wife, Elizabeth, and his daughter, Margery, were also captured but treated better and held in England for many years. Bruce's fortunes improved the following year, 1307, with the death of his implacable foe, Edward I, and a well-planned military revival.


      From Wikipedia ...

      Mary Bruce (c. 1282 - 1323) was the younger sister of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. During the First War of Scottish Independence, she was captured by the English and imprisoned in a cage at Roxburgh Castle for about four years. She was the daughter of Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale, and Marjorie, Countess of Carrick.

      Along with the king's other female relatives (Christina Bruce, Marjorie Bruce, his wife Elizabeth de Burgh and supporter Isabella MacDuff), she was captured and betrayed to the English by the Earl of Ross. By order of King Edward I of England, she was then held prisoner in an iron or wooden cage exposed to the public view in Roxburgh Castle. Isabella MacDuff was imprisoned in a similar cage at Berwick Castle. They were both transferred to better conditions in 1310. This was not necessarily a humane move, it has been suggested that by this stage Bruce was gaining strength, the women were potentially valuable hostages, and the English did not want them dying of exposure.

      She was eventually released in exchange for English noblemen captured at the Battle of Bannockburn.

      She married, firstly, Sir Neil Campbell, one of her brother's loyal supporters, by whom she had John Campbell, Earl of Atholl. She married, secondly, Alexander Fraser of Touchfraser and Cowie.

  • Sources 
    1. [S03264] Journal of the Clan Campbell Society, Special Edition, Vol. 25, No. 2, Spring 1998.

    2. [S03265] History of Clan Campbell, Volume 1, p68.