Bruss History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Bruss was first found in Yorkshire where early record of the family found them at Middlesbrough, a town and parish, on the river Tees. "This place, at a very early period, had a chapel dedicated to St. Hilda, which, in the reign of Henry I., was granted by Robert de Brus to the monks of Whitby Abbey, on condition of their founding here a cell to that monastery; this condition was fulfilled, and the institution that was established continued to flourish till the Dissolution." 2

"The family of Brutz, Brus or Bruce assumed its name from the Castle of La Brusce in Normandy, seventeen miles from Valognes, which was built by Robert de Brutz, or Brusce, a councillor to Duke Robert. His youngest son, Robert de Brutz, or in English, Brus, together with William, his son, followed the standard of their kinsman, the Conqueror, into England, where Robert is said to have died, very shortly after the battle at Hastings. William, his son, had the castle of Brember, in Sussex, and his descendants for several generations held rank as Barons of the realm. Adam, or Adelm de Brus, the second brother of William, came into England in 1050, attending Queen Emma; but, after her death, retired into Scotland. He joined his father and brother in the conquest of England, and for his services was rewarded with ninety-four lordships in Yorkshire. He died in 1079, and his son Robert is recorded in Domesday Book. He built the castle of Skelton, and founded the priory of Gisborough, in 1119; was at the battle of the Standard, in 1135; and died 1111." 3

Skelton in the West Riding of Yorkshire held a special significance to the ancient family. "This place was given at the Conquest to Robert de Brus, a Norman Baron who came over with William, and who erected a castle here, of which scarcely any vestiges remain, the whole having been modernised in 1794. From this baron descended some of the kings of Scotland, and the present family of Bruce, marquesses of Ailesbury. The ancient manor [of Skinningrove] belonged to the Bruces, lords of Skelton, and came by marriage to the Thwengs, of Kilton." 2

In the North Riding of Yorkshire at Liverton, other early records of the family were found. "This place, which at the time of the Domesday Survey was a barren and unprofitable waste, was granted by the Conqueror to Robert de Brus, lord of Skelton." 2

"Robert de Brus was at the battle of Hastings, and held a great barony of ninety-four manors in Yorkshire 4, where he built Skelton Castle. Either he or his son of the same name (from the dates probably the son, as it is scarcely likely that the elder Robert should have outlived the Conquest for seventy-five years) married Agnes daughter of Fulk de Paganell, who brought him as her dowry Hart and Hartnesse in the Bishopric of Durham, "the maritime key of the Palatinate." How he acquired Annandale and his great Scottish estates is not so clear. Some say they were a grant from David I., having from his youth been "a friend and familiar of the King of Scots" at the court of his brother-in-law Henry I.; others believe that his second wife was Agnes of Annan, a Scottish heiress. " 5

Robert I de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale (c.1070-1142) was the first of the Bruce family to hold lands in Scotland. He founded Gisborough Priory in Yorkshire, in present-day Redcar and Cleveland, in 1119. Close friends with David FitzMalcolm, later known as King David I of Scotland, he was granted extensive lands in he Cotentin Peninsula c. 1120.

William de Broase (d. 1211), was a "rebel Baron, the descendant and heir of William de Braose (alias Braiose, Breause, Brehus, &c.), Lord of Braose, near Falaise in Normandy, who had received great estates in England at the Conquest. The family fixed their seat at Bramber in Sussex, and were lords of its appendant rape. " 6