It's the eleventh of July. The last Robert the Bruce was born on this day in
Scottish history. It's a birthday celebration! But a birthday party with
some questions. Some say he's an Englishman born in Tottenham, London.
He, himself, said that he was born in Scotland. Was he just wrapping himself in
a flag for political purposes? Was he English? was he Scottish? Did those ideas
really matter in European high feudal society? Was he the rightful king? Was his
birth even legitimate? You're about to find out.
Hi, I'm Bruce Fummey. If you're interested in the people, events, and places in
Scottish history then subscribe to Scotland history tours; and click the
bell symbol to be notified of new videos. In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
To tell today's story I've come to the ruins that are left of Turnberry castle
and the lighthouse in Ayrshire. The Irish Sea behind us is 12 miles wide at its
narrowest point. You can see Ailsa Craig. On a clear day you can even taste the
Guinness from here. Now in a time before roads, and with direct access from your
castle to the sea, Ireland was much closer than Glasgow path or Edinburgh.
Now this has always been assumed to be the birthplace of Robert the Bruce. You see
the castle belonged to his mother, and I'm not sure how up to speed you are on modern
day biology. but the story of the birth of Robert the Bruce, is really the story
of his parents.
Now I want to start with an apology. I've said elsewhere in these videos that
there were five Robert Bruce's. Now the Encyclopedia Britannica online gave a
figure of eight, but I'm gonna settle on the excellent work of Fiona Watson and
say in fact there were seven. Now please accept my apologies for my past sins.
Hey, if the seventh Robert the Bruce could be absolved for murdering a guy in a
church, I'm hoping you'll forgive me for loosing a couple in a video.
Now this video will talk about three of those Robert the Bruce's; and I'm going
to call the yet unborn hero King Robert the Bruce. His father,
irrespective of his age at the time, Daddy Bruce; and his granddad, Granddad
Bruce. By the way I'm Bruce. Hiya. Now the story of Robert the Bruce's
conception is quite an interesting tale, apparently. In 1270, when Louie IX
of France called for a crusade, the young (and naturally adventurous)
Robert the British the sixth (daddy Robert the Bruce to you and me) decided
that he would go on the crusade alongside Prince Edward, the evil get who
would become Edward the first . Did that sound bitter? The story actually reminds
me of one night when I came home late from performing stand up.
I see home, what I actually did was I went round to my mates house. Now I knew
that he'd be up late and I took a bottle of malt whiskey. When I got there he
was really excited. Right, he's an Aussie living in Scotland and he just
discovered that the Scots Australian rock band AC/DC were going to be touring.
Now they weren't going to be coming to Scotland, but he and his wife had decided
to get tickets to go and see them in Manchester. Anyway we had a dram. I'll be
honest we had a few. And when we woke up in the morning, he and his wife weren't
going to see ac/dc in Manchester, but he and I had bought gig and flight tickets
and were go to see ac/dc and Barcelona.
The point is that somehow, one way or another, the adventurous young Daddy
Bruce was sidelined. He didn't go on crusade, but granddad Bruce went in his
place. Everyone wanted to get to this he AC/DC Jerusalem gig. So you've got to think
about daddy Robert the Bruce. He's pretty downhearted, languishing
at home while his old dad (who's in his fifties) is off on crusade. But whilst
Granddad Bruce's in Acre Daddy Bruce meets a woman. I see meets a woman, let me
tell you the story. On the crusade another Scottish knight, called Adam of
Kilconquer dies. Now word is sent back to Scotland and Daddy Bruce is given the
task of breaking the sad news to the widow. Her name is Marjorie Countess of
Carrick. She has imbued her husband Adam of Kilconquer with the title Earl of
Carrick, by dint of the fact that her dad was the heir of Carrick. Now it was her
being left with the title and her dad not having surviving sons that created
the Kennedy clan, but that's another story.
She's also descended from an O'Neill king of Tyrone. Anyway, let me tell you what
happened by reading a bit from Colin McNamee's book taken from Fordun's
14th century work. Now Robert, Daddy Bruce, has arrived here at Turnberry
Castle to break the bad news... when greetings and kisses had been given on
each side as is the want of courtiers she brought him to stay and hunt and
walkabout. And seeing that he was rather unwilling to do so she, by force so to
speak, with her own hand, made him pull up and brought the night, although very lothe,
with her to the castle of Turnberry Here, after dallying there with his
followers for the space of 15 days or more, he secretly took the countess as
his wife. Friends and well wishers knew nothing about it.
Dirty Dirty! Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?
And with your husband barely cold in his grave. This mature woman abducted
young Daddy Bruce for a fortnight of tomfoolery in her castle... and he
liked it! They might have done it down here. They probably did it... Oh disgusting
But romantic... You know it's a romantic, although let's be honest
slightly creepy, story. But are we to believe that this poor wee defenceless medieval
knight was abducted by this rich, landed, newly widowed woman, with royal
blood and title to the Earldom of Carrick? ...or was something else at play? Grandad
Bruce is in the Middle East Adam of Kilconquer dies. He's married to
Marjory countess a Carrick. A light goes off and Granddad Bruce's head.
He releases the fastest woman pigeon he can find, before Dick Dastardly and Mutley
can get airborne. The message reaches young Daddy Bruce here in Scotland. Get
yourself round two Widow Marjorie's hoose ASAP, strike a marriage deal and get
it swen up before some other vulture picks at the carcass. Does that seem
cynical if somewhat colourful? So Daddy Bruce didn't get to go and crusade, but
he's been on manoeuvres at Turnberry here and bagged himself an Earldom and a
widow. But there's a catch. You see not only as widow Margery not told her friends of
her secret nuptials, more importantly she hasn't told King Alexander III of
Scotland. Now here's the thing, the first ranking ability are supposed
to marry only with the King's permission. What if two powerful members of the nobility
marry, and the combined family become more powerful than the king himself eh?
Countess Marjory, the Gallic noblewoman descended from Irish royalty marries
Daddy Robert, the Norman nobleman descended from King David the first
himself. Are you mad? Alexander would never have allowed that!
Alexander the third stripped widow Marjorie of Turnberry here and all her
other possessions. Daddy Bruce and widow Marjorie had barely
laid the blanket in the ground when the rug was pulled from under them. So a
charm offensive was neede. Friends interceded. Robert Marjorie pleaded.
Now the King gets to arrange manages of his leading Nobles, but it couldn't fob off
a widow with a marriage below our station. Could he realistically find a
suitable alternative or with some cash deposited in the Royal coffers solve
the problem? Oh it would. the widow's abduction is starting to look more like a
cunning ruse to have Daddy Robert married off to a countess under
Alexander's nose, making it impossible for him to do anything about it.
Within a year Marjorie was pregnant with the next Robert the Bruce - our warrior
king. Where? I doubt if we'll ever know whether it was in London or here at
Turnberry. But if you were a Countess, and you could go private, wouldn't you
have a home birth? So Robert the Bruce grew up with a
Gallic speaking mother of Irish royal stock and an Anglo Norman father of
Scottish royal stalk. He was probably fostered out as a child to family in the
Gallic speaking West Highlands, or across in Ireland itself. And the fact that
Robert the Bruce spoke Gallic, knew stories of Finn McCou,l and lived the
culture of the Gael meant that he was a new type of Norman knight. He was different
from the Bruce's that had gone before. And when we look at his later life to try
and understand the struggle between patriotism and patrimony, maybe the
answer's here. Alexander the third of Scotland died when our Robert was 12
years old, and Granddad Robert (the Crusader) was one of the contenders for
the empty throne. Having been born in such fortuitous and unlikely
circumstances, and holding the royal blood, polyglot tongue and mixed heritage
that he didl even then young Robert probably saw himself as the man destined
to bring together these two strands of Scottish identity. Even then he probably
knew that 700 years later we'd be talking about his birthday on this day
in Scottish history. Although I wonder if he realised that 14 years later it would
be him who destroyed this castle to keep it from the English. Please like and share
this video. If you want to be part of the member community who support me making
these videos, and get some additional member benefits, then please watch the
39 second video How can I Support Bruce.There's a video link on screen and a
clickable link in the description below. In the meantime, Tha mi an dochas gum bith lath math leibh
Tiorridh an drasda