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I got started looking into the Agnew Side of My Family this year and it has been very rewarding. The information looks like it came out of a story book. My Grandmother was born, Kittie Mae Agnew. Her Father came from a line of Agnews that go back to Kings of Scotland, Ireland, England and beyond.
The one that I am most proud of is Robert 1st Bruce, Robert the Bruce of Scotland. He was born July 1274 and died June 1329. Robert I Bruce, King of Scotland was the son of Robert le Brus, Earl of Carrick and Margaret of Carrick, Countess of Carrick. He was the one who was the leader of the ending Battle in the Movie Braveheart. I am sorry but the Movie did a grave injustice to Robert The Bruce.
Robert was one of the top three knights in the world. He was one of the toughest men in the world physically and was a leader of men. He was not at all like they cast Him in the movie. The truth is like something out of a storybook. I don't have room here to give his whole story but it is easy to find. He is Scotland's top hero. William Wallace is also a Scotland hero but there was not anything going on at the time so as to cast Robert the Bruce as such. Robert's Father was not even in Scotland at the time William Wallace fought His Big Battle at Sterling Castle. Upon his return from the Battle of Stirling Bridge, Robert the Bruce knighted and elected Wallace the "Guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland and Leader of its armies", now Sir William Wallace. Wallace was in a losing battle at the Battle of Falkirk, June 25, 1298. Bruce Reconcilled with King Edward for a time in 1302 but never laid anything to Wallace nor came close to betraying Him, ever. Sir William contrived to evade capture by the English until August 5, 1305, when Sir John de Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to Edward, turned Wallace over to English soldiers in Robroystoun, near Glasgow. Robert the Bruce had absolutely nothing to do with Wallace's Capture and was not even around as the movie cast it. Bruce and His family are owed an apology I asure you. That is some of us who are Agnews, Kennedy's and Such. Some from the Bruce clan claim Robert as being in their Grandparent line but I can Find no Son of His who had children.
Robert the Bruce is most famous for the Battle of Bannockburn where his personal fighting that of a warrior and His leadership took a very small group of men to victory over a vastly superior English Army.
On Mid-Summer's Day, the 24th of June 1314 one of the most momentous battles in British history occurred. The armies of Robert Bruce heavily outnumbered by their English rivals, but employing tactics that prevented the English army from effectively employing its strength, won a decisive victory at Bannockburn. If Robert Bruce had done no more than defy the power of King Edward, restore the Scottish monarchy and win at Bannockburn, he would still be listed among the giants, but he did more. His view of his nation was truly international.
Under the rule of the one who was later to be known as "Good King Robert," Scotland had become the first nation state in Europe, the first to have territorial unity under a single king.
unity under a single king. Contained in the Declaration of Arbroath of 1320 was a letter to the Pope from all classes of Scots society, it was stated that since ancient times the Scots had been free to choose their own kings, a freedom that was a gift from God. And so it was, but a gift that had needed a Robert Bruce to deliver.
He is my 20th Great Grandfather and is most likely the same to many other Agnews. The line to Agnew went through his Daughter Margorie Bruce who was Mother to King Robert 2nd. Robert 2nd was father to Robert 3rd and he was father to Lady Mary Stewart who married a Kennedy and down to an Agnew and there it is to those of us who are of the line of Sir Patrick Agnew of Lochnaw, 1st Bt. Born cira 1578 and died 1661. He held the office of 8th Hereditary Sheriff of Gallowa
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