#marjorie bruce

[athousandtales]

“If I die tomorrow... you are Marjorie’s and she is yours.”

[latristereina]

Outlaw King (2018)

[the-busy-ghost]

Shoddy History Edits: The Women of the First War of Independence:

Marjorie Comyn, Countess of Dunbar made her contribution in the first few months of the conflict. Her husband was one of the few Scottish earls to adhere to Edward I of England rather than the Scottish Crown, and had left Marjorie in Dunbar Castle in his absence. Not long after, however, Dunbar came under siege by part of the Scottish army. Marjorie held out for a couple of days with only a small household and no proper garrison until she heard from some of her kinsmen that her husband was, in fact, supporting the English king (it should be remembered that Marjorie was the sister of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, and the cousin of John Comyn of Badenoch, who were King John’s most important backers). At this she promptly changed her allegiance and held Dunbar Castle against her husband, who asked for an English army to retake it. Edward I provided this, and the English were soon laying siege to Dunbar themselves. A Scottish army was mustered to relieve Dunbar and the resulting clash between the two forces, known as the Battle of Dunbar and the first pitched battle of the Wars of Independence, was a disaster for the Scots with many important nobles being taken prisoner both on the field and in the castle. It is unclear what happened to Marjorie afterwards.

Agnes Comyn, Countess of Strathearn, another of the sisters of the Earl of Buchan, had a rather different experience of the war. Her husband Malise at first supported the patriotic cause, but eventually seems to have been worn down by the conflict and adhered to the English after the Battle of Falkirk. This situation did not alter after 1306 when Robert Bruce declared himself king- Bruce did so on the back of murdering Agnes’ cousin, an action which pushed many of the Comyns and their supporters in to the English camp, and he followed this up by kidnapping Agnes’ husband not long afterward, in an attempt to force his allegiance. Whether or not Malise gave this allegiance, it was almost certainly under compulsion, though he was still hauled before the English king to answer for his actions and imprisoned (honourably) in York for several years thereafter, his wife joining him there. He finally returned to Scotland to serve Edward II by holding Perth against Robert I in 1312, and when Perth fell he was stripped of his earldom. The title of Earl of Strathearn was instead given to Malise and Agnes’ son, also Malise, who, unlike his parents, remained a firm supporter of Robert Bruce throughout his career. Agnes’ husband died in their son’s custody a few years later, but it seems the countess herself still had work to do. Given Robert I’s persecution of her family and its supporters, particularly in Buchan which was brutally harried in 1308, Agnes had no reason to love the new king, even if her son remained his loyal supporter. She is named by John of Fordun as one of the conspirators in the Soulis conspiracy of 1320, which aimed to overthrow Robert I, and, given the identities of some of the other conspirators, it seems that Agnes may have been one of the ringleaders of the plot and was active in securing support from among her household and kin. She was imprisoned for this, presumably until the end of her life, though, like her sister Marjorie we have no record of the rest of her life.

Christina of the Isles or Christina of Garmoran was an heiress and important member of the MacRuairi kindred, one of the three major clans descended from the famous Somerled (the other two being the MacDougalls and the MacDonalds). As the only surviving legitimate daughter of the MacRuairi chief she was an important magnate on the western seaboard and in the isles, though we have considerably less information on her than we might like, which is unfortunately quite a typical state of affairs when it comes to noblewomen of the Gaelic world, even more so than their already under-documented Anglo-Norman counterparts. Nonetheless, when Robert Bruce fled into the west in 1306, Christina is supposed to have been one of the island nobles who sheltered him, with the chronicler John of Fordun going so far as to say that is was chiefly ‘by the help and power of a certain noble lady, Christiana of the Isles, who wished him well’ that Bruce was able to return to his earldom of Carrick. Christian, as well as her cousin Angus Og of Islay, provided Bruce with galleys and men in support of his claim, even when he seemed entirely defeated (hence the birlinn of the isles).

Isabella de Beaumont, more often known by her married name Isabella de Vesci, was initially the wife of John de Vesci, lord of Alnwick, a powerful landowner in the north of England. Both before and after her husband’s death in 1289 Isabella showed herself to be remarkably skilled at accumulating land and influence, becoming a major landowner in the north. This was helped along by her close friendship with Eleanor of Castile and, by extension, Edward I of England, which persisted even after Eleanor’s death in 1290. Edward I trusted Isabella with the keeping of at least two important royal castles in the north, appointing her governor of Scarborough and Bamburgh, a position never previously held by a woman in England. As the political situation got out of hand on the other side of the border, Isabella was thus naturally involved in the defence of her territories in the north of England, was granted the keeping of Scottish prisoners, and became interested in Scottish politics, assisted by several of her brothers, whom she had helped to gain prominent positions. Her brother Henry de Beaumont in particular benefited from his sister’s politicking, as Isabella secured for him the hand of Alice Comyn, the heiress to the earldom of Buchan, and in time she also arranged the marriage of Henry’s daughter Katherine to the young son of the late Earl of Atholl. In this way Isabella maneuvered her family into an influential position among the ‘Disinherited’ Scottish nobles, supporters of the Balliol claim and enemies of Robert Bruce, with the result that the de Beaumonts became heavily involved in both the First and Second Wars of Independence (though particularly the latter). She also became close to Isabella of France, though this resulted in her later falling out of favour with Edward II, especially when the war with Scotland began to go badly for the English king. When Queen Isabella was in France plotting to invade her husband’s kingdom, Isabella de Beaumont and her family members were already in revolt against the king, but later Isabella de Beaumont also fell out with Queen Isabella’s new government, especially over the peace treaty with Scotland. To this end she was involved in the Earl of Kent’s rebellion, but escaped imprisonment, and lived to see Edward III in turn overthrow his mother, and the Disinherited’s invasion of Scotland in support of Edward Balliol which started the ‘Second’ War of Independence, before her death in 1334.

Alianora de Louvain, Lady Douglas- even before war broke out, a kingless late thirteenth century Scotland could be dangerous for noblewomen, especially rich widows. In 1288-9, Alianora, the widow of William de Ferrers of Groby, was staying with Elena de Zusche at her manor of Tranent in East Lothian, having come north to receive her dower from her husband’s Scottish lands. At some point before late January of 1289, however, she was abducted by William ‘le Hardi’ Douglas and John Vicharde and carried off ‘into the interior of Scotland’. The Sheriff of Northumberland was commanded by Edward I of England to seize Douglas’ lands, and, along with the Guardians of Scotland, was instructed to arrest Douglas and Alianora should they be found. The Guardians do not seem to have been too eager to stir themselves in pursuit of Douglas, but nonetheless he had been taken prisoner by May of 1290, when he was released from Leeds Castle on the condition that he stand trial. Later upon paying a fine to the English king, William Douglas and Alianora were married, but it is unclear how she felt about the whole affair. I hesitate to agree with whoever edited Douglas’ wikipedia page and claimed that Alianora was “apparently not averse to the rough charms of her kidnapper”- whilst it is not necessarily inaccurate, and abduction in the Middle Ages was a far more complex crime than it is today, there is no real evidence for this speculation, and for all we know Alianora could have been making the best of a bad situation, or might have been party to the plan beforehand, or any number of possibilities. Whatever the case, the little evidence we have for their married life reveals no other drama, and Alianora appears to have played the role of the loyal noble wife to the best of her ability. When William Douglas was again censured by the English king for his role in the uprising of 1297, it is claimed by some sources that Alianora and her young stepson James Douglas (yes that one) were left in charge of Douglas Castle, and it was there that Robert Bruce, who had been sent to take the castle, changed sides to support the rebels. Alianora’s lands were also frequently mentioned as being seized alongside her husband when he was in rebellion, though this may simply have been to counteract the control he could exercise over his wife’s property, and after his death ibn the Tower of London in 1298, Alianora petitioned successfully for their return, engaging in no more acts of rebellion against the English king. Nonetheless, as well as being the wife of a prominent figure in the irststages of the Wars of Independence, she provides an interesting example of both the responsiblities and dangers faced by a noblewoman of her period in her own right.

Euphemia, Countess of Ross is one of many obscure Scottish noblewomen who nonetheless stepped into the political arena during the Wars of Independence, acting as the head of the kindred and governing their husbands’ lands during his absence. Euphemia is thought to have been a daughter of Hugh de Barclay, and was married to Uilleam, Earl of Ross. During her husband’s captivity in England during the late 1290s, Euphemia seems to have taken charge of the family’s fortunes, with the support of her sons. She worked conscientiously for her husband’s release, attempting to appease Edward I and also gaining the support of many prominent members of the Scottish political community in this. Meanwhile, she promised to keep the English king’s peace in Ross, keeping him informed of the rebellion of Andrew Moray in 1297, and personally undertaking to provision and assemble an army which her son was to lead against the rebels in that year. Euphemia thus stands as an example of the often shadowy figures who were forced, often through the absence of husbands or sons- whether as a result of death or captivity- to keep things running smoothly at home and work for the return of their husbands by whatever means possible.

Margaret of France, Queen of England, was the second wife of Edward I of England, and, at the age of twenty, around forty years younger than her husband, a ruthless and formidable conqueror with decades of political and military experience, who had lost his beloved first wife nine years before. Nonetheless genuine affection seems to have existed in the marriage and Margaret, on her own initiative, decided to join her husband on campaign in Scotland, which is supposed to have greatly pleased Edward. She was present at the siege of Stirling, among other engagements, and along with her ladies viewed the spectacle and the feats of arms of her husband and his army in the best chivalric tradition (though whether the presence of the queen inspired the knights to greater deeds in the style of Arthurian legend is less certain). She also accompanied Edward on his final campaign in 1307, but the English king died before reaching Scotland, after which, though she was still young, Margaret refused to remarry, allegedly stating that ‘when Edward died, for me, all men died with him.’

Elizabeth de Burgh, Queen of Scots, was an Anglo-Irish noblewoman who became the second wife of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, in 1302. Four years later, when her husband proclaimed himself king at Scone, she also became Queen of Scots, but her husband’s reign had hardly begun when he was defeated at the Battle of Methven and his supporters forced to flee. Queen Elizabeth, along other important women of Bruce’s family and following, was conveyed north by her brother-in-law Neil Bruce and the earl of Atholl, initially taking shelter in Kildrummy Castle in Aberdeenshire. However when it became clear that Kildrummy was going to be besieged by an English army, the queen and her ladies, along with Atholl, went further north still, probably intending to reach Orkney and then perhaps Norway, where Isobel Bruce, her husband’s sister, was queen dowager. Unfortunately, the small party was betrayed and captured in the chapel of St Duthac in Tain by the Earl of Ross, and handed over to the wrath of Edward I of England. As the daughter of Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, who had remained a supporter of the English king despite his son-in-law’s claims, Elizabeth fared better than some of the other ladies- and certainly better than Atholl, who wasn’t even given the dignity of beheading and was hanged on Edward’s orders. Nonetheless she remained a prisoner, in conditions which were often unfriendly and sometimes filthy, until her husband’s victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. We know little of Elizabeth’s life as a queen, despite her husband’s fame, though she had at least four children, three of whom survived to adulthood- Margaret, Matilda, and finally David, King Robert’s long-hoped for son and heir being born in 1324. She was also stepmother to Robert’s eldest legitimate daughter Marjorie Bruce, who was in the company of the queen at Kildrummy and Tain and was similarly imprisoned in England, but we have little indication of their relationship. Elizabeth died in 1327, two years before her husband, leaving her children motherless at a young age, not least David, who was only an infant and proclaimed king at the age of five.

Isabella of France, Queen of England- is well-known for her role in English history, though (fortunately) her involvement in the Scottish Wars of Independence has nothing in common with her storyline in Braveheart, even when she accompanied her husband on campaign on several occasions, including in 1314. Nonetheless, she was on several occasions forced to deal with the realities of a conflict which went increasingly badly for England during her husband’s reign, with the result that, by the late 1320s, Scottish invasions of the north of England were certainly far more common and successful than attempts at English conquest. In 1319, for example, she was forced to decamp hastily from York when the forces of Sir James Douglas made a raid in the area, which was rumoured to have been intended to capture the queen. A few years later, Isabella, once again came close capture when Bruce, Randolph, and Douglas routed English forces near Rievaulx Abbey, where her husband had been staying at the time, and chased him all the way to the gates of York. Meanwhile, as a result of the Scottish invasion, Isabella herself, who had been staying at Tynemouth priory, was now in the middle of territory that lay behind the Scots’ advance, and it is alleged that she was once again nearly captured as she escaped from the area, coming uncomfortably close to the army itself. It is unclear how she actually escaped, given that the land was swarming with the Scots and the sea with Flemish mercenaries, but there is no doubt that being forced to flee once again was humiliating for the queen. Nonetheless, after overthrowing her husband and taking control of England’s government in 1326, it soon became clear that defeating the Scots was no easier than it had been four years before, and, after the failure of the Weardale Campaign, the English government under Isabella and Roger Mortimer sued for peace in the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton. This treaty recognised Robert I as king of an independent Scotland, and sealed the bargain by marrying Isabella’s daughter Joan to the young David Bruce. Nonetheless, the treaty was declared a ‘shameful peace’ in England, while the anger of the London mob prevented the return of the Stone of Scone, and war would break out again in 1332, though by this time Isabella had been firmly removed from government by her son Edward III. 

Christiana of Esperstoun is kind of the odd one out on this list. Unlike the other ladies, she did not choose a political camp during the Wars of Independence and nor did she take part in events of national importance (or at least, if she did, this information has not been passed down to us today). In fact her experiences were local and personal, and, though they were exacerbated by the political uncertainties of late thirteenth century Scotland and the war-torn Lothian countryside, they might have happened at any time. Her story is more interesting (if also a misery-fest) as the unusually well-preserved tale of an ordinary woman (not a noblewoman, again unlike the other ladies on this list) who stood up to men far more powerful than herself in order to protect her heritage, rights, and family. As her father’s only child, Christiana inherited a small parcel of land in the hamlet of Esperston (now little more than three or four spread out houses near the village of Gorebridge in Midlothian). However, her husband, William, by later accounts ‘a man more given to ease than labour’ alienated this piece of land to the local house of the Templars for his lifetime only, in return for his maintenance by them. In the meantime Christiana and her three sons remained in a cottage on this land, but in poverty, and with little security of tenure. When her husband died some time around 1296, she might have expected to at least regain her land but instead, Brian le Jay, the Master of the Templars in Scotland (and a noted supporter of Edward I, hence there may be a little bias against him in later accounts but we cannot know) turned up with several of his followers in order to have her driven out, claiming that her husband had made a permanent alienation. Christiana of course denied that her husband had ever done so or even had the right do so, and clung to the door of her home when the Master of the Templars ordered his men to forcibly remove her. When they could not drag her away, one of le Jay’s followers cut her finger off with a knife and thus Christiana was removed, ‘sobbing and shrieking, from her home and heritage’. Despite suffering mutilation and eviction however, Christiana was not yet beaten, and, eventually gaining an audience with the king at Newbattle (probably Edward I rather than John), managed to have her lands restored after a full inquiry was held, though le Jay seems to have got off lightly. However, the next few years saw increased conflict in Scotland as the War of Independence got into full swing, and the Master of the Templars was able to take advantage of the breakdown in law and order and once again evict her. When Christiana’s eldest son heard of this he returned home to help his mother, but was murdered by a band of Welsh mercenaries that le Jay had hired in preparation for the Battle of Falkirk. It would take many more years before Christiana’s second son William was able to regain his mother’s land for the family, but, though he himself died without heirs of his body, his mother’s bravery and defiance were preserved in a record of an inquiry into the land’s ownership in 1354, and plainly remembered by the local community.

Joanna de Clare, Countess of Fife was another woman who became uncomfortably aware of the problems in establishing law and order in Scotland during the late 1290s. Joan was the daughter of Gilbert ‘the Red’ de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, as well as widow to Duncan, Earl of Fife, who was murdered in 1289, and perhaps also mother of Isabella, Countess of Buchan. Perhaps unsurprisingly, when the Wars of Independence broke out she was a reasonably wealthy woman who, for the most part, remained on good terms with Edward I of England. The English king naturally considered it his business if such an important noblewoman remarried and extracted a promise from Joan not to do so without his permission, but it may have slipped their minds that wealthy widows were particularly vulnerable to kidnap and forced marriage in the thirteenth century. In 1299 she brought charges against Herbert de Morham, a Scottish nobleman who had ambushed her retinue on the road between Stirling and Edinburgh and carried her off to his brother’s castle. Joanna refused to marry him, however, as a result of her oath to Edward I, and so de Morham imprisoned her and seized her goods to the tune of two thousand pounds. Joanna seems to have been released and brought legal action against her captor, but she nonetheless found herself heavily in debt as a result of the goods he had stolen. Later during the war (1317), and despite her usual loyalty to the English Crown, Joanna is listed as being in rebellion along with her second husband, both of them supporting her son the young Earl of Fife against the English. 

Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Buchan was the daughter of an Earl of Fife, and wife to John Comyn, Earl of Buchan (the brother of Marjorie and Agnes Comyn, mentioned above). Though little is known of her early life, she made history in 1306 when, hearing that Robert Bruce intended to have himself crowned King of Scots at Scone, she broke with her husband (whose cousin Bruce had recently murdered) and quit his house. Riding to Scone she arrived too late for the coronation but nonetheless demanded to fulfill the traditional role of the earls of Fife in installing the new king on his throne, as the earl- either her nephew or more likely brother- was then captive in England. A second coronation was thus held at which Isabella carried out this important tradition. Unfortunately Bruce’s first year as king was not particularly successful and Isabella was soon forced to flee north with the queen and several other ladies. She was captured at Tain by the Earl of Ross and handed over to the English. One source claims that her husband demanded her execution but instead she ended spending the next seven years imprisoned in a cage which was suspended from the walls of Berwick castle, open to the elements. She was finally removed from this harsh imprisonment in 1313, but does not appear in any prisoner exchanges after Bannockburn, suggesting that she may have died by this time. You can read more about her here.

Christian Bruce, Lady Seton, Lady Moray, and perhaps also Countess of Mar was one of the many sisters of King Robert I. Her first (arguably second) husband, Christopher Seton, was a close follower of her brother and, like many of Bruce’s male followers, including Christian’s other brothers Thomas, Alexander, and Neil, he was hanged in 1306. Christian herself was one of the ladies captured at Tain and was held in close confinement in the nunnery of Sixhills, Lincolnshire, until after the Battle of Bannockburn. She later married the Guardian of Scotland, Andrew Moray (posthumous son of William Wallace’s less well-known co-commander of the same name). During the Second War of Independence she successfully defended Kildrummy Castle, which years earlier her brother Neil had defended unsuccessfully prior to his execution and which was then one of the few castles in Scotland still in Bruce hands, against the forces of David of Strathbogie, until Moray’s army defeated Strathbogie’s at the Battle of Culblean and relieved the castle. Christian lived a long life and died in 1357, being buried in the royal abbey of Dunfermline with much honour.

Mary Bruce, another of Robert Bruce’s sisters, was less fortunate than Christian after being captured at Tain. Like Isabella of Fife she was kept for several years in deplorable conditions in a cage which was suspended outside Roxburgh Castle. The reason for her ill treatment by comparison with her sister is unclear- Isabella of Fife's defiance of both her husband and Edward I of England is well documented but we have no record of what Mary’s crime was, if she committed any such act of defiance at all. She was released after Bannockburn and was later married to Sir Neil Campbell, Mac Cailein Mór.

Marjorie Bruce- the only child of Robert Bruce by his first wife, Isabella of Mar, in 1306 Marjorie was around twelve years old and her father’s only legitimate child. She was captured along with her stepmother and aunts at Tain and duly imprisoned in England. It seems that the young Marjorie was initially intended for a similar cage to those of her aunt Mary and Isabella of Fife, which was to be placed in the Tower of London, but for whatever reason this punishment was relaxed and she was instead sent to a nunnery in Lincolnshire. Having spent most of her teenage years in captivity, she returned to Scotland after the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, and, the next year, was married to ‘the Good Sir Walter’, the High Steward, by whom she had one surviving child, a son named Robert. Unfortunately Marjorie would not enjoy freedom for very long and died in 1316, possibly from complications surrounding a second childbirth. However her posthumous legacy ensured her name would live on- fifty-five years later, her son ascended the Scottish throne as King Robert II, and thus founded the Stewart dynasty, who ruled Scotland for several centuries thereafter.

*Honourable mention goes to Margaret, Countess of Lennox, and Isabel Bruce, Queen of Norway, who I kind of wanted to include but that was maybe just getting a bit too obscure and tenuous. These were by  no means the only women involved in the wars, and there were many women further down the social scale who supplied and supported troops and diplomacy on both sides of the conflict. However I only found out about most of those women after making this post.

[aethelfleds]

Victims of the Childbed - Isabella of Mar, Countess of Carrick and Marjorie Bruce, Princess of Scotland

Isabella was one of six known children born to Domhnall I, Earl of Mar, and Elen ferch Llywelyn. She was of both Scottish and Welsh blood, for her mother was the illegitimate daughter of Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Wales. The seat of the Earls (or Mormaers) of Mar was in modern-day Aberdeenshire, and Isabella would likely have spent her early years at Kildrummy Castle.

           In 1284 when she was around the age of seven, Isabella’s father was among the lords who formally recognized Margaret, Maid of Norway as heir to Alexander III of Scotland. Two years later they also recognized her as queen after Alexander’s death. But Margaret’s own sudden death in 1290 brought about a succession crisis. In the ensuing conflict, Domhnall gave his support to the claim of Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick. Isabella’s family seems to have had a close relationship with the Bruces. They were allied even closer when in late 1295 or early 1296, Robert and Isabella were married.

           The first months of Isabella’s marriage were plagued by war, with the Bruces allied with Edward I of England against their rivals, King John Balliol and the Comyn family. Sieges and bloody attacks were carried out, and Robert eventually joined the rebellion against England. Somewhere in the midst of this struggle for control of Scotland, Isabella became pregnant. The prospect of descendants of the earls of Mar on the Scottish throne was probably attractive to Isabella’s family. On December 12, 1296 however, Isabella died shortly after the birth of a daughter at the age of nineteen. It is commonly held that there was real love between Robert and Isabella and he felt her loss keenly.

           The baby girl was christened Marjorie and was likely cared for by one of Robert’s sisters during her first years. Robert was still in the middle of rebellion against Edward I. At one point baby Marjorie was demanded as a hostage during negotiations with England, but Robert refused. When Marjorie was six, Robert married Elizabeth de Burgh. In 1306 Robert was finally crowned king of Scotland and Marjorie became Princess of Scotland. Edward I was enraged by Robert’s coronation, which eventually led to the Battle of Methven, where Robert was defeated. Nine-year-old Marjorie and her stepmother Elizabeth attempted to flee to Orkney along with Robert’s sisters Christina and Mary, and Isabella, Countess of Buchan. Their party was captured at Kildrummy Castle, where the men protecting them were brutally executed. Edward was determined to make examples of all of Robert’s female relations.

           Marjorie’s aunt Mary and Countess Isabella were suspended in iron cages from the walls of Berwick Castle. Christina Bruce and Queen Elizabeth were imprisoned in a convent and various manor houses respectively. Little Marjorie, undoubtedly terrified, was also intended for a cage in the Tower of London. Instead she was handed over to the convent at Watton, Yorkshire, where she would remain for eight long years. In 1314, Robert’s victory at Bannockburn ensured their release.

           Following her released, seventeen-year-old Marjorie’s hand in marriage became highly prized. The twenty-two-year-old Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, had distinguished himself in battle and had a powerful position in the country. Marjorie and Walter were wed in 1314. As Robert’s queen Elizabeth had yet to produce and children, it was hoped that Marjorie would bear a son and heir for her father’s line. By late 1215 she was pregnant. As the popular story goes, Marjorie was out riding late in her pregnancy when she fell from her horse. The fall triggered labor. Marjorie was taken to Paisley Abbey where she gave birth to a son on March 2, 1316. She died within hours of the birth at the age of nineteen, like her mother. Her son, Robert, would go on to become King Robert II of Scotland and establish the Stewart Dynasty.

[calendarofanxiety]

March 2, 1316 DE BRUS Marjorie Bruce or Marjorie de Brus was the eldest daughter of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. On 2 March 1316 Marjorie was riding in Gallowhill, Paisley, Renfrewshire while heavily pregnant. Her horse was suddenly startled and threw her to the ground. She went into premature labour and her child Robert was delivered by Caesarean section at Paisley Abbey but Marjorie died within a few hours. She was nineteen at the time of her death like her mother who was also nineteen years old when she died in childbirth. At the junction of Renfrew Road and Dundonald Road in Paisley a cairn marks the spot near to where Marjorie reputedly fell from her horse. The reputed place of her death is now referred to as Knockhill Road with nearby roads of Bruce Way and Marjorie Drive named in her honour. 

[weavingthetapestry]

Lastly though, while I’m on the subject of Scottish royals and their portrayals, I’d like to debunk a few common mistakes.

Firstly paintings that are not who they are often mistaken for on this site or by the general public:

This is NOT Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I and mother to the Stewart dynasty:

Sadly we do not, to my  knowledge have any contemporary or near-contemporary pictures of Marjorie (though if anyone can help that would be great) and even her ‘tomb’ in Paisley Abbey seems to be of later date. It is of course disappointing to find out that such a neat and clear image is not Marjorie, but it is not even a mistake of antiquarians- this is literally a creation of the internet. The picture is in fact based on a detail from Jost Haller’s fifteenth century depiction of St George slaying the dragon, this lady being the princess saved, with the Stewart and Bruce arms, and the Lion Rampant, superimposed on top. I’m not sure how it got into circulation but I suppose someone was using it as a sort of faceclaim- it’s definitely a good one, but it has to be said that it is not, in reality, Marjorie Bruce. Here is part of the original painting. 

Secondly, this is NOT Mary of Guelders, Queen of Scots (1433-1460):

Now this is a really common misconception and one in fact that I’ve fallen prey to before. In part the problem is that the lady in the picture is sometimes called Mary of Guelders, but this is because she was Duchess of Guelders as the wife of Duke Reinald IV- her ‘birth’ name, or something approximating to it, was Marie d’Harcourt. Whatever the case, she was not Mary of Guelders, daughter to Duke Arnold and Catherine of Cleves, and wife to James II of Scotland. Once again, frustratingly, we have no contemporary image of Mary, despite her Burgundian connections and early social circle, only the sixteenth century portrayals from things like the Seton Armorial, which are very much stock images. This image is from the splendid prayer book that used to belong to Marie d’Harcourt, Duchess of Guelders. Last year they were crowdfunding to restore it, and you can read more about that here.

And while we’re on the subject it is unlikely that the woman buried in Holyrood Abbey under Mary of Guelders’ name is actually the queen herself. Whoever she was I’m sure she is no less deserving of remembrance, but descriptions of her skeleton make it seem very unlikely that she could have lived the kind of life the queen did, and the identification was largely based on the Victorian archaeologists’ preconceived notions of Mary’s alleged infirmity, promiscuity, and hysteria. Mary of Guelders is sadly probably still buried under Waverley stations somewhere, though should she happen to be the skeleton in Holyrood Abbey it would only prove her to be all the more remarkable. Speaking of Trinit Collegiate church, it HAS been theorised that an angel in the Trinity altarpiece might represent Mary, but this is as yet unproven

Now this next misconception is simply, I believe, because it flashes up when you google Elizabeth de Burgh:

However, as is clear from the costume which is very clearly sixteenth century this is not an image of Elizabeth de Burgh, Queen of Scots, and wife of Robert I, who lived in the early fourteenth century. I have yet to identify its origin certainly, but it looks instead to be one of the queens of England- the painting usually identified as either Catherine Parr or Jane Grey.

Also it should go without saying that James II, King of Scots, is NOT the same man as James II of England and VII of Scotland, who lived two hundred years later. However since at least one ‘special features’ or tv special section or whatever made this mistake here’s a tip- if you see someone in a powdered wig, they’re usually not from fifteenth century Scotland. Portrayals of James II of Scotland will usually have either red hair or a large red patch on his face to represent his birthmark (this one is the only contemporary image we have of him, though later ones may have individual elements of truth. Make no mistake, he WILL use that dagger if you mistake him for James VII again). 

James I also causes problems. The sixteenth century Scottish portrayals we have of him may have some value, as they may have been based on an earlier work or memory, and are pretty useful anyway in absence of other things. But sadly this lovely big fresco in Siena, of Aeneas Sylvius meeting James I, seems entirely fanciful (my response to this was essentially, ‘Rats!’).

James IV probably had red hair. Yes many of his portraits- most of these ones being later depictions or having darkened with age- make him look like he’s got brown hair, but from the more reliable among the contemporary images (for example, the Trinity Altarpiece or the tinge in the Book of Hours), he seems to have had at least auburn, and very probably ginger, hair. Though his father’s seems more brown, the red hair gene was at least present in the Stewart family from James IV’s time. 

While we’re on the subject, other known or possible gingers include Malcolm IV, Alexander II (‘So shall we hunt the red fox-cub from his lair’, in the words of King John of England), and probably the male relatives in between and afterwards too. The red hair gene seems to have been present also in the House of Dunkeld, not that they’ve ever really been presented in media, red-headed or otherwise. Why would you turn down the opportunity for a stereotypical red-headed king of Scots? (I’m kidding). Robert Bruce has been recently theorised to have had brown hair, based on statistical probability, though, so he’s not necessarily going to fit the bill.

- Not an appearance thing but as a general inaccuracy the source of which I have forgotten so will correct here- Euphemia Ross was the first Stewart queen, not Elizabeth Mure of Rowallan. Elizabeth died before Robert II became king, his second wife Euphemia, previously married to the Earl of Moray, became queen. 

Also anything painted by a Victorian such as these well-executed but somewhat monstrous portrayals of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace respectively, should be treated with extreme caution. Even if you don’t intend to use it as an actual depiction of what they might have looked like, the biases and stereotypes of that era often shape the piece, as any era does, though the Victorians have, shall we say, medieval problems. Nonetheless, they can turn out some beautiful works at times just... be careful.

(Young Major William Wallace, 4th Marquis of Elderslie, pictured here in the traditional if totally inaccurate ‘Highland’ uniform of the Lanarkshire Lancers, unexpectedly fell heir to a dukedom in the winter of ‘53, though his real love is the army life. Ladies often turn their heads admiringly as he strolls through St James’ Park arm in arm with another officer, or rides out along the Row, a dignified figure but with his head full of military strategy. He has devoted his life to defending the empire, serving God, Queen, and the Union overseas. He will receive many awards for gallantry, though he accepts them in an eternally bashful manner, his cheek blushing faintly, and many great ladies (not to mention at least three cabinet politicians) will wish to win his heart but they will all weep when it is reported in the Times that Major Wallace met a brave but tragic end during the Mutiny, taking a noble last stand in order to enable his men to escape. It is said that with his final breath he shouted the name of his one true love- Britannia.)

Sorry I got carried away. But hopefully that was helpful (the inaccuracy bit, not the weird Victorian William Wallace AU). I think a major problem is that we have so few images of medieval women from Scottish history, but the internet, whilst accommodating ingeniously, is not necessarily to be trusted blindly. 

If anyone has anything to add or any queries feel free.  

[tiny-librarian]

According to legend, when James V was dying and heard that his wife, Mary of Guise, had given birth to a daughter he said “It came with a lass, it will pass with a lass.”

This was supposedly a reference to the fact that the House of Stewart had gained the crown of Scotland through a woman, when Walter Stewart married Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert the Bruce.

If he did say this, he ended up being partially right, though it wasn’t through his daughter Mary. Mary’s great, great granddaughter, Queen Anne, left no surviving children upon her death, and  the throne passed to her 2nd cousin. He would rule as George I and was the first monarch of the House of Hanover.

[merlinhoot]