Christina Bruce

Christian Bruce (c. 1278 – 1356/1357), also known as Christina de Brus, was a daughter of Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, and her husband, Robert de Brus, jure uxoris Earl of Carrick, and a sister of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. It is presumed that she and her siblings were born at Turnberry Castle in Carrick.

Life

After defeat at the Battle of Methven on 19 June 1306, Robert Bruce headed west to the mountains. He sent his second wife, Elizabeth, his daughter Marjorie, his sisters Christian and Mary Bruce, and Countess Isobel MacDuff to Kildrummy Castle in the north, where his brother Neil could protect them.^[1]

When Kildrummy was besieged, the women were forced to flee. Neil Bruce was captured and He was taken to Berwick to be hanged, drawn and beheaded. The women made it as far as the sanctuary of St Duthac at Tain in Easter Ross. There they were captured by a Balliol supporter, Earl William of Ross, who handed them over to Edward I’s men.^[1]

Christian Bruce was sent to a Gilbertine nunnery at Sixhills in Lincolnshire,^[1] while her sister Mary and Bruce's supporter Isobel MacDuff, Countess of Buchan, were imprisoned in cages.

Her first marriage was to Sir Christopher Seton, who was born in 1278 and executed in 1306. She remarried in 1326 to Sir Andrew Murray, the posthumous child in 1298 of Sir Andrew Murray, a joint victor of the battle of Stirling Bridge along with William Wallace. Sir Andrew died in 1338.

Christian is sometimes thought to have also married Gartnait, son of Donald, Earl of Mar (died 1305). She is never described as a Countess of Mar, however, or even described as "of Mar". Moreover, there is no evidence of any familial relationship with Gartnait's son and successor, Donald II. Gartnait was instead likely married to an elder sister of Christian.^[2]

In 1335, during the Second War of Scottish Independence, she commanded the garrison of Kildrummy Castle and successfully held out against pro-Balliol forces led by David of Strathbogie, prior to their defeat by her husband, Sir Andrew Murray, at the Battle of Culblean.

References

1. "Elizabeth de Burgh and Marjorie Bruce", Foghlam Alba
2. Watson (2004a); Watson (2004b).

Sources

• Peter Traquair "Freedom's Sword"
• Watson, F (2004a). "Bruce, Christian (d. 1356)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/60019. Retrieved 9 April 2016. (subscription required (help)).
• Watson, F (2004b). "Donald, Eighth Earl of Mar (1293–1332)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18021. Retrieved 12 December 2015. (subscription required (help)).