How to read the Robert the Bruce family tree
Read the Robert the Bruce family tree from the top down, one generation to a row. Robert I is the index person, drawn with a double frame. His first wife stands on his left and his second on his right, and each child hangs from the marriage it came from.
No likeness from life survives of anyone on this chart. Robert I and David II carry portraits imagined for Holyrood Palace in the 1680s, Robert II an engraving of 1602, and everyone else a silhouette.
A silhouette
No likeness survives, and the armorial figures on Commons are not used.
Two strokes across a line
The divorce of David II and Margaret Drummond in 1369.
The lords of Annandale on the Robert the Bruce family tree
The grandfather, Robert de Brus, Lord of Annandale, married Isabel de Clare on 12 May 1240. His mother descended from David I, King of Scots, and in the succession dispute of 1290 to 1292, the Great Cause, he claimed the throne. The court found for John Balliol, and Robert died at Lochmaben Castle in 1295.3
His son Robert de Brus was born in July 1243, probably at Writtle in Essex. He married Marjorie, Countess of Carrick, at Turnberry Castle in 1271, and they had eleven children. Marjorie died in November 1292 and Robert in 1304.4 Three of their sons stand in the third row of the Robert the Bruce family tree.
Robert I and his two wives
Robert was born on 11 July 1274, probably at Turnberry Castle.2 Some family-tree sites give Writtle in Essex, which is where his father was probably born.4 He killed his rival John Comyn at Dumfries in February 1306 and was crowned at Scone on 25 March. He won at Bannockburn in 1314, and the Treaty of Edinburgh and Northampton of 1328 recognised the independence of Scotland.2
His first wife, Isabella of Mar, died on 12 December 1296, soon after the birth of their daughter Marjorie.5 In 1302 Robert married Elizabeth de Burgh, daughter of the Earl of Ulster, at Writtle. She was held by the English for about eight years after 1306, and their son David was born at Dunfermline in 1324.611
Robert died at Cardross on 7 June 1329. Historic Environment Scotland records that he was interred before the high altar of Dunfermline Abbey and that his heart was buried at Melrose.12
Edward and Nigel Bruce
Nigel Bruce held Kildrummy Castle against the English in 1306. He was captured there and executed at Berwick in September 1306.8
Edward Bruce was proclaimed heir to his brother at Ayr on 26 April 1315. He was proclaimed High King of Ireland that year, crowned in 1316, and killed at Faughart on 14 October 1318.7 His death left the succession open again.
The succession on the Robert the Bruce family tree
Marjorie Bruce was held by the English from 1306 and released in 1314. In 1315 she married Walter Stewart, the High Steward, who had fought at Bannockburn.910 Tradition gives her death as 2 March 1316, after a fall from her horse at Paisley, soon after her son was born. Some accounts have her alive in 1317.9
Her son Robert Stewart was born at Paisley Abbey on 2 March 1316. A Parliament of December 1318 named him heir if Robert I died without a son.14 David was born in 1324 and became king in 1329. He married Joan of the Tower, the daughter of Edward II, in 1328, and then Margaret Drummond in 1364, and had no children with either.111213 When David died in 1371, the crown passed to his nephew.11
Edward Bruce named heir
Proclaimed heir to Robert I at Ayr.
Edward killed at Faughart
The heir dies in Ireland.
Robert Stewart named heir
Parliament names the son of Marjorie heir if the king has no son.
David II king
The son of Elizabeth de Burgh succeeds at five.
Robert II king
The childless David II dies, and his nephew succeeds.
From Bruce to Stewart
Robert II became king on 22 February 1371 as the first monarch of the house of Stewart, and he died at Dundonald Castle in 1390.14 The house of Stewart, later written Stuart, descends from the marriage of Marjorie Bruce and Walter Stewart.9 Its later queen is the centre of the Mary Queen of Scots family tree, and the Charles II of Spain family tree shows another royal line that ran out of heirs.
Who is who on the Robert the Bruce family tree
All 15 people on the chart are listed.
| Portrait | Person | Years | Life | On the chart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RB | Robert de BrusLord of Annandale, the Competitor | c. 1210–1295 | Grandfather of Robert I. Sources3 | |
| IC | Isabel de ClareWife of the Competitor | Not recorded | Married in 1240. Sources3 | |
| RB | Robert de BrusLord of Annandale | 1243–1304 | Father of Robert I. Sources4 | |
| MC | Marjorie of CarrickCountess of Carrick | ?–1292 | Mother of Robert I. Sources4 | |
| IM | Isabella of MarFirst wife of Robert I | c. 1277–1296 | Mother of Marjorie Bruce. Sources5 | |
 | Robert IKing of Scots, 1306 to 1329 | 1274–1329 | Robert the Bruce. | |
| EB | Elizabeth de BurghSecond wife of Robert I | c. 1289–1327 | Mother of David II. Sources6 | |
| NB | Nigel BruceBrother of Robert I | c. 1279–1306 | Executed at Berwick in 1306. Sources8 | |
| EB | Edward BruceKing of Ireland | c. 1280–1318 | Heir from 1315 until his death. Sources7 | |
| WS | Walter StewartHigh Steward of Scotland | c. 1296–1327 | Father of Robert II. Sources10 | |
| MB | Marjorie BruceDaughter of Robert I | c. 1296–1316? | Mother of Robert II. Sources9 | |
| JT | Joan of the TowerFirst wife of David II | 1321–1362 | Daughter of Edward II. Sources12 | |
 | David IIKing of Scots, 1329 to 1371 | 1324–1371 | He died childless. Sources11 | |
| MD | Margaret DrummondSecond wife of David II | c. 1340–aft. 1375 | Divorced in 1369. Sources13 | |
 | Robert IIKing of Scots, 1371 to 1390 | 1316–1390 | The first Stewart king. Sources14 |
Questions about the Robert the Bruce family tree
How the Stewarts descend from Robert the Bruce
Through his daughter Marjorie, whose son Robert II became king in 1371 after the death of the childless David II.
Who Robert the Bruce married
Isabella of Mar, who died in 1296, and Elizabeth de Burgh, whom he married in 1302.
People and sources
A page of its own lists the 14 numbered sources this article cites. It also gives the credits of the portraits and this page as a reference in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles, ready to copy.