A survey of the activities of one of the most important cross-Border families, the ancestors of Robert the Bruce. Robert de Brus, the 'conquisitor of Cleveland, Hartness and Annandale', who came into England among the followers of Henry I, was also a close companion and mentor of David I, king of Scots. The lands he acquired from both kings were divided between his sons, from whom two lines descended: the lords of Skelton, influential Northerners who played an active part during the baronial troubles in the reigns of John and Henry III, and the prominent cross-Border lords of Annandale, co-heirs of the substantial Chester and Huntingdon estates and progenitors of King Robert Bruce. This study takes a fresh approach to the Brus family by assessing the achievements of the two lines in parallel while examining the extent of their power and the development of their lordships; it highlights the inter-relations between the barons of England and Scotland during two hundred years of comparative peace between the kingdoms. Of additional interest is the appendix of an extensive handlist of charters of the Brus family of both lines. It will be a welcome addition to the existing body of works on English baronial families and on Anglo-Scottish cross-Border lords of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

A highly impressive monograph on the neglected history of the Brus family. [...] Dr Blakely's remarkable success in creating an intelligible narrative from some highly complex charter evidence makes this perhaps the most persuasive and enjoyable of all dynastic histories of the North.'

Source: Northern History

As a further contribution to the literature on those individuals and their kinsmen who operated in the multiple kingdoms of the British Isles, the book does its job with clarity and concision, offering a sensible and unglamorous survey of its principal themes. As the first monograph devoted to Robert de Brus and his descendants, it will rightly serve as the new point of reference for the Bruses and their lands.'

Source: English Historical Review

Does an admirable job of uncovering the origins and development of the Brus clan. [...] A well-written, detailed and valuable book, and deserves to be read by anyone either with an interest in Border life and politics, or the larger Anglo-Scottish situation in the later Middle Ages.'

Source: Yorkshire Archaeological Journal