De Brus family

From :
The Heraldry of York Minster by Very Revd. A.P.Pure-Cust D.D. Volumes I and II Published 1890

Page 155

About the same time also, Robert Malet was disinherited and banished by the king, for adhering to Robert Curthose, and then the whole of the Skelton and Guisborough manors were bestowed on Robert de Brus, the son of the original settler at Skelton. Indeed, he seems to have been a great man, and the intimate friend of David, King of Scotland, who gave him the lordship of Annandale, and other large possessions therein. He founded the monastery of St. Augustine at Guisborough, at the advice of Pope Calixtus and Archbishop Thurstan; and when the King of Scotland invaded England, he, with his son Adam, joined the northern barons, and marched to Northallerton, where the Scots were encamped, and the English army already drawn up for battle, their standard a gigantic cross reared on a wagon, and Archbishop Thurstan and his clergy with crosses, banners, and relics of saints, urging them to defend the Church of Christ against that barbarous people. Being " a very aged person, exceeding wealthy, likewise of grave " deportment and singular elocution," he essayed the part of the peace-maker, first haranguing the English, and then crossing over and making such an earnest appeal to the Scottish king that he was melted to tears. Indeed, he would have persuaded him, had not the king' s nephew, " a " person of extraordinary courage, and the chief instigator of this invasion," come in, and in great fury, charging Robert de Brus with treachery, dissuaded the king from hearkening to him. " Whereupon, returning with " sorrow to the English host, preparation was suddenly made for the battle, "which forthwith ensuing, the English obtained a glorious victory," known in history as " the battle of the Standard."

The old man died three years afterwards, 1141, leaving, by his wife Agnes, daughter of Falk de Paganel, two sons- Adam, to whom he bequeathed his great English estates at Skelton and elsewhere, and Robert, who became Lord of Annandale, as his father's heir, and the founder of the great House of Bruce, in Scotland.

Of Adam, there is little recorded, save that he gave many munificent donations to various religious houses. He died 1221, leaving one son Peter, by his wife Helewise, sister of William de Lancaster, Baron of Kendal, and three daughters- Peter seems to have filled for many years the office of Justice Itinerant in Northumberland and Yorkshire. He married Hillaria, daughter of Peter de Maulay, and, dying s-p- 1271, his property was divided amongst his four sisters. Agnes, wife of Walter de Fauconberg, had the castle of Skelton, and certain manors; Lucia, the wife of Marmaduke de Thweng, had the lordship of Danby, and other property. Margaret, the wife of Robert de Ros, had all Kendal; and Laderina, wife of John de Bellew, had the lordship of Carleton, &c.