(Redirected from Marjorie of Carrick, 3rd Countess of Carrick):''See also
Marjorie Bruce, her granddaughter.''
'Marjorie of Carrick' (
1256-
1292), was countess of
Carrick,
Scotland, and is most famous today as the mother of
Robert the Bruce. Her name occurs in
Barbour's ''
Brus'' as "Marthok", a name which contains the
medieval Gaelic feminine
diminutive suffix ''óc''; and so her name meant "Little Mary" or "Little Martha" (c/f
Bethóc).
She was the daughter and heiress of
Niall, Earl of Carrick and Margaret Stewart, and
Countess of Carrick in her own right. Her first husband was Adam de Kilconcath, who died during the
Eighth Crusade in
1270. Then, as the story goes, a handsome young man arrived one day to tell her of her husband's death in the Holy Land. He was
Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale, and he had been a companion-in-arms of Adam de Kilconcath. Marjorie was so taken with him that she had him held captive until he agreed to marry her in 1271. He became Earl of Carrick ''de jure uxoris'' (in right of his wife). Their children were:
# Christina Bruce, married
Gartnait, Earl of Mar.
#
Robert the Bruce.
#
Isabel Bruce (
1275 –
1358), married King
Eric II of Norway.
#
Edward Bruce.
# Niall or ''Nigel'' Bruce, executed 1306 in
Berwick-upon-Tweed,
Northumberland, England.
# Thomas Bruce, executed 1307.
# Alexander Bruce, executed 1307.
# Mary Bruce, married
## Sir Niall Campbell
## Sir Alexander Fraser.
# Margaret Bruce, married Sir William de Carlyle.
# Matilda Bruce, married
Aodh, Earl of Ross
Marjorie died in 1292, at which time her husband transferred
Carrick to their eldest son, Robert.
There is a traditional story that
Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray was son of Marjorie's daughter from her first marriage with Adam. However this is probably is not true, it was probably put forward as an explanation of why Thomas Randolph was described as a nephew of Robert the Bruce.
Sources
★ Scott, Ronald McNair. ''Robert the Bruce: King of Scots''