#k robert ii
March 2nd 1316 saw the death of Princess Marjorie Bruce daughter of Robert the Bruce at the age of only 19.
Tying in directly to my last post, Marjorie was the mother of King Robert II.
Marjorie may have been a princess, but her short life was marred by tragedy from her birth, she was the only child of the 1st marriage of Robert The Bruce and was probably born in December 1296, the same eventful month that Edward I of England, the self-styled ‘Hammer of the Scots’, invaded Scotland and laid siege to Berwick.
At the end of June 1306 the 9-year-old princess, together with her stepmother, Elizabeth de Burgh and other women-folk of The Bruce’s family, were sent for safety to Kildrummy Castle, escorted by Nigel Bruce and the Earl of Atholl.
It was intended that they would then move on and take refuge in Orkney until times were easier, but the English army was already at Aberdeen and the royal ladies moved on to Tain, north of Inverness, ehrn they were captured in the sanctuary of St. Duthac and sent south to Edward of England, then at Lanercost Priory in Cumberland. They were separated from each other and Marjorie was sent to a convent, where she remained until her release 8 years later. It is thought she was treated better than some of the others due to her father Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster being one of the most powerful Irish nobles of the late 13th and early 14th, who was a close friend of Edward I.
Not yet 18 at the time of the battle of Bannockburn, 24th June 1314, one of the heroes of that great victory over the English was her second cousin once removed, Walter Stewart, 6th Lord High Steward, some four years her senior, she married in 1315, within a year she pregnant.
Whether through rashness, fearlessness or ignorance of the possible consequences, Princess Marjorie went out riding near Paisley while heavily pregnant. Her horse, taking fright at something, reared up, Marjorie was thrown violently to the ground and immediately went into premature labour. Her only child, the future Robert II, was delivered at the roadside by s crude Caesarean section (the first record of such an operation being performed since the birth of the eponymous Julius Caesar).
The beautiful Marjorie died within a few hours, aged only about 19 years, her last words are reported to have been ‘He’s a laddie; I ken he’s a laddie; he will be king’. Her improbable dying prophecy eventually came true, but not for another fifty-five years.
A cairn at the junction of Dundonald road and Renfrew Road in Paisley is said to mark the area where she fell, it reads…..“Near this spot the princess Marjory Bruce was fatally injured by falling from her horse 1316. Her son born posthumously became Robert the second First of the Stewart kings of Scotland”.
Now that’s the traditional story about Marjorie Bruce, however more recent historians say she may have actually survived the birth of her son, perhaps for as long as 18 years, they can’t agree on this though, some are saying she still died due to coming off a horse, others don’t go into the detail.
Marjorie Bruce was laid to rest in Paisley Abbey
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