FOR the male ancestry of this noble Lord, I must refer the reader to the account already given of his elder brother, the Earl of Cardigan. But as his Lordship inherits his Barony by virtue of a special limitation in the patent granted to the late Earl of Aylesbury, his maternal uncle, and as (pursuant to the will of his said uncle) his Lordship has assumed the surname of that family, and has been since advanced to the chief title inherited by them; it seems necessary to insert the descent of the BRUCES, SO far back as the ancestry of the late Countess of Cardigan, mother to the present Earl of Aylesbury, can be uninterruptedly traced.

They are decended from ROBERT LE BRUS, (or Bruis) a noble knight of Normandy, who was a person of such note and valour, and so much confided in by William Duke of Normandy, that after his victory over Harold, King of England, he sent him to subdue the northern parts of this realm: which having successfully performed, he was rewarded with no less than fortythree lordships in the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire, and fiifty-one in the North Riding of that county; where the manor and castle of SKELTON was the capital of his barony. He likewise obtained by conquest, and other ways, Hert and Hertness in the bishopric of Durham. This Robert left issue,

ROBERT DE BRUIS, second Lord of Skelton, a man of great worth and honour, who contracted a great friendship with David I. King of Scotland, while that monarch resided in England, where he was styled Earl, and Prince of Cumberland, during the

• Monast. Angl. vol. ii. p. 148, b. n 10,

Lib Doomsday in Ebor.

reign of Alexander I. his brother and predecessor, and was Earl of Northumberland, Huntingdon, and Northampton, in right of his consort, Mathilda, or Maud, daughter of the renowned Earl Waltheof. This Robert de Bruis accompanied King David into Scotland, and was accounted one of his nobles and subjects, as is evident from the register of the bishopric of Glasgow. It is equally evident, from sundry documents, that the same Robert possessed the lordship of Annandale, which contained all the lands, from the bounds of Dunegal and Strathnith, to the lands of Ranulph de Meschines, then Earl of Chester, and Lord of Cumberland; and it is affirmed, by some historians, that, by the mediation of King David, he obtained them in marriage with Agnes Annand, heiress of that vast estate, of which he got confirmation from that monarch, and thereby had large possessions in both kingdoms. As he was a man of great parts, and equally qualified for the cabinet and the field, he was in high favour with Henry I. King of England, as well as with the said David, King of Scotland. Being at the court of England, A. D. 1137, King Stephen joined him in commission with Bernard de Baliol, to endeavour to dissuade or divert King David from his intended invasion of England, and Robert used all his interest with the Scottish monarch; but to no purpose, for that Prince, neglecting the advice, pursued his former resolutions, and entered England with a considerable army. Whereupon Robert withdrew his allegiance from David, and was on the English side at the famous battle of the standard, in 1138, which proved fatal to the Scots. In this action Robert de Brus took prisoner his own son Robert, who had been left in Scotland, and was then about fourteen years of age. When the father presented him to King Stephen, his Majesty desired that he might be delivered to his nurse to be taken care of. Peace being concluded next year between the two kingdoms, in consequence of which Northumberland was given to Henry, Prince of Scotland, Robert continued in favour and friendship with King David ever after.

This Robert was very eminent for his piety and devotion, having in 1129, (as appears by Sir William Dugdale's Monasticon) founded a monastery for canons regular of St. Augustine, at Gysburn, or Gisburne, (commonly called Gisborough) in Cleveland, Agnes his wife, and Adam his son and heir, joining with him therein, amply endowing it with twenty carucates of land, each carucate then containing sixty acres. This monastery was the common burial place of the nobility and persons of rank in those

parts; and its church, by the ruins, seems to have been equal to` the best cathedrals in England. He also bestowed upon the same monastery the patronages of all the churches within his lordship of Annandale. He also gave the church of Middlesburgh with two carucates, and two bovates, of land in Nehuham, to the monks of Whitby in Yorkshire, on condition that they should place certain of their convent there; with which they complied, and made it a cell to their abbey. He likewise gave to the abbey of St. Mary's, at York, his lordships of Appilton, and Hornby, with all the lands lying betwixt the same, and the great road leading from York to Durham, being part of his lordship of Middleton. He also gave them two carucates of land, and a mill in Sunderland Wick, as also the town of Karkarevill, which by the monks of that house was assigned to their cell at Wederhal in Cumberland. According to Sir William Dugdale, he departed this life, 5 Id. Maii, 1141, and was buried in the said abbey of Gisburne; but according to Sir James Dalrymple, in the year

1143.

However, he had two wives, first, Agnes, an English Lady, daughter of Fulco Paynell, with whom he had the manor of Carleton; and,

Second, Agnes Annand, who brought him the lordship of Annandale, as before mentioned.

By the first he was father of a son, ADAM, his successor in most of the English estates. And by his second Lady he had two

sons,

First, WILLIAM, of whom afterwards, as continuator of the male line of this illustrious family; and,

Second, Robert, taken prisoner, as before recited, but of whose posterity there is no certain evidence.

He is likewise said to have had a daughter, Agatha, wife of Ralph (son of Ribald, Lord of Middleham in Yorkshire) who had with her in frank marriage the lordship of Ailewick in Hertness, in the palatinate of Durham.

His eldest son ADAM, third Lord of Shelton, behaved with great valour in the aforesaid battle near North Alverton, against the King of Scotland. According to the piety of those times, he founded the priory of Hoton in Yorkshire; and he and Ivetta, his wife, dedicated the church of Thorp to the cathedral of York. He was also a benefactor to other religious houses; and departing

Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland.

this life on March 20th, 1162, had sepulture at Gisburne. Ho was succeeded by his son,

ADAM, fourth Lord of Skelton, who dying in July, 1185, left issue, a son, Peter, his successor, and a daughter, Isabel, wedded to Henry de Percy (ancestor to the Earls of Northumberland).

PETER DE BRUs, fifth Lord of Skeiton, in 10 Richard J. paid 500 marks for his father's lands, and departing this life on January 27th, 1211, was interred at Gisburne, leaving

PETER, his successor, and sixth Lord of Skelton, who, in 17 John, was in arms, with other Barons, who were offended at the King for having resigned his crown to Pope Innocent III. and consenting to hold it as a vassal to the See of Rome; and was so powerful, that he brought the whole country to submit to him. He paid, in 38 Hen. III. for sixteen knights fees, and had other large possessions. Having made a voyage to the Holy Land, be died in his return, on September 13th, 1267, at Marseilles, and was buried at Gisburne. By Helewise, his wife, eldest sister and coheir of William de Lancaster, Baron of Kendal, he left four daughters, of whom afterwards, and an only son,

PETER, seventh Lord of Skelton, who departed this life about the year 1300, without issue by Helena de Mildain, his wife, and left his great estate to be divided among his four sisters, his coheirs. Of these, Agnes, the eldest, was the wife of Walter de Fauconberg, who had for her share the castle and barony of Skelton, with several manors: Lucia, the second, was married to Marmaduke, Baron Thweng, who had other large possessions, whose lineal heirs are, the present Earl of Scarborough, and Sir Charles Hotham, Bart.: Margaret, the third, wedded Robert de Ross, lord of the castle of Warke, who in her right had the barony of Kendal; whose son, William, was Lord Ross of Kendal: and Laderina, the youngest, was married to Sir John de Bellew, and had for her share the lordship of Carleton, and divers other

manors.

d

This branch therefore becoming extinct in the male line, we return to WILLIAM, eldest son of Robert, second Lord of Skelton, by his second wife, Agnes Annand, before mentioned, who, in right of his mother, succeeded to the lordship of Annandale in Scotland, and to the lands of Hart and Hartness, in the bishopric of Durham, by the gift of his father, to be held of him and his

Or rather the daughter of his uncle, the late Sir Charles Hotham, (Thompson) Bart.

successors, Lords of Skelton. He confirmed the donations of the churches in Annandale, which his father had made to the monks of Gisburne. To shew that he looked upon his chief settlement to be in Scotland, he quitted his father's armorial bearings, (Argent, a lion rampant, Gules) and a sum d the coat of Annandale, viz. Or, a saltire and chie, Cules. In a charter, without date, of some lands in Annandale to Adam de Carleolo (one of his vassals), he is styled Willielmus de Bruce, Dominus vallis Annandiæ, &c. This William de Bruce died before the year 1183, and was succeeded by his son,

ROBERT, third Lord of Annandale, a nobleman of great valour and magnanimity, and at the same time both pious and religious. He ratified and confirmed to the monastery of Gisburne all the grants of his predecessors. About the year 1190, he entered into an agreement with Joceline, bishop of Glasgow, with consent of the abbot and convent of Gisburne, whereby the before-mentioned churches in Annandale, which Robert, second Lord of Skelton, and first Lord of Annandale, had granted to the said convent, were made over to the see of Glasgow; his son consenting thereto. He married Isabel, natural daughter of William, surnamed the Lion, King of Scotland, and by the said Lady (who secondly wedded Robert de Ross, Lord of Wark and Hamlake in England, and from whom the Rosses of Hamlake and Wark descended) he left, at his death, A. D. 1191, an only son and heir,

ROBERT DE BRUS, surnamed the Noble, fourth Lord of Annandale, who married Isabel, second daughter of Prince David, Earl of Huntingdon and Chester, son of Henry, Prince of Scotland, eldest son of David I. King of Scotland, and younger brother to Malcolm IV. and William (the Lion), successively monarchs of that realm. By this royal match the Lords of Annandale came to be amongst the greatest subjects in Europe: for by the said Isabel (who was one of three sisters and coheiresses of John surnamed Scot, Earl of Huntingdon, and last Count Palatine of Chester, of which palatinate he (John) became possessed in right of his mother, Maud, the aforesaid Prince David's wife, daughter of Hugh Kiviliock, and eldest sister of Ranulph Blundeville, Earls Palatines of Chester) Robert, exclusive of his paternal estate in both kingdoms, came to be possessed of the manor of Writtle, and Hatfield, in Essex, together with half the hundred of Hatfield, which King Henry III. in the 25th year of his reign gave in

⚫ Cart. 25 Hen. III. m. 1.