Lord Edward Bruce was eldest son of sir Edward, baron of Kinloss, so
created by James I. in 1603, to whom the king gave the dissolved abbey
of Kinloss, in Ayrshire, after he had been instrumental in his
succession to the crown of England; whither accompanying the king, he
was made master of the rolls in 1604, died in 1610, and was buried in
the Rolls chapel. His son, the lord Edward, killed in duel by sir Edward
Sackville in 1613, was succeeded by his brother, who was created earl of
Elgin in 1633 and an English baron in 1641.
Sir Edward Sackville, by whose hand the lord Edward Bruce fell, was
younger brother to Richard Sackville, earl of Dorset, on whose death he
succeeded to the title. He was lord president of the council, a joint
lord keeper, and filled several other distinguished offices under
Charles I., to whom he adhered, by whose side he fought at the battle of
Edge-hill, and whose death he took so much to heart, that he never
afterwards stirred out of his house in Salisbury-court, but died there
on the 17th of July, 1652.
Between these noblemen there arose a quarrel, which terminated in their
duel; and all that is, or probably can be known respecting it, is
contained in the following correspondence, preserved in a manuscript in
Queen’s college library, Oxford.[319]
_A Monsieur, Monsieur Sackvile._
“I that am in France, hear how much you attribute to yourself in this
time, that I have given the world leave to ring your praises; and for
me, the truest almanack, to tell you how much I suffer. If you call to
memory, when as I gave you my hand last, I told you I reserved the heart
for a truer reconciliation. Now be that noble gentleman, my love once
spoke, and come and do him right that could recite the tryals you owe
your birth and country, were I not confident your honour gives you the
same courage to do me right, that it did to do me wrong. Be master of
your own weapons and time; the place wheresoever, I will wait on you. By
doing this, you shall shorten revenge, and clear the idle opinion the
world hath of both our worths.
“ED. BRUCE.”
_A Monsieur, Monsieur Baron de Kinloss._
“As it shall be always far from me to seek a quarrel, so will I always
be ready to meet with any that is desirous to make tryal of my valour,
by so fair a course as you require. A witness whereof yourself shall be,
who, within a month, shall receive a strict account of time, place, and
weapon, where you shall find me ready disposed to give honourable
satisfaction, by him that shall conduct you thither. In the mean time,
be as secret of the appointment, as it seems you are desirous of it.
“E. SACKVILE.”
_A Monsieur, Monsieur Baron de Kinloss._
“I am at Tergose, a town in Zeland, to give what satisfaction your sword
can render you, accompanied with a worthy gentleman for my second, in
degree a knight. And, for your coming, I will not limit you a peremptory
day, but desire you to make a definite and speedy repair, for your own
honour, and fear of prevention; at which time you shall find me there.
“E. SACKVILE.”
_Tergose, 10th
of August, 1613._
_A Monsieur, Monsieur Sackvile._
“I have received your letter by your man, and acknowledge you have dealt
nobly with me; and now I come, with all possible haste, to meet you.
“E. BRUCE.”
The combat was fierce, and fatal to lord Bruce. The survivor, sir Edward
Sackville, describes it in a letter, which will be inserted at a future
time. For the present purpose it is merely requisite to state, that lord
Stowell, in a communication to the earl of Aberdeen, president of the
Society of Antiquarians, dated February 15, 1822, seems to have
determined the spot whereon the duel was fought, and the place of lord
Bruce’s interment. From that communication, containing an account of the
discovery of his heart, with representations of the case wherein it was
enclosed, the following detail is derived, together with the engravings.
It has always been presumed that the duel was fought under the walls of
Antwerp; but the combatants disembarked at Bergen-op-Zoom, and fought
near that town, and not Antwerp. The circumstances are still well
remembered at Bergen, while at Antwerp there is not a trace of them. A
small piece of land, a mile and a half from the Antwerp gate of Bergen,
goes by the name of Bruce-land; it is recorded as the spot where Bruce
fell; and, according to tradition, was purchased by the parties to fight
upon. The spot is unclaimed at the present day, and marked by a little
earthen boundary, which separates it from the surrounding corn-fields.
It was considered, until the French revolution, as free ground, where
any person might take refuge without being liable to arrest. Lord Bruce
was buried at Bergen, and a monument is stated to have been erected to
his memory within the great Protestant church, which was nearly
destroyed in the siege of 1747.
[Illustration: ~Appearance of the Heart of Lord Edward Bruce.~]
In consequence of a tradition, that the heart of lord Edward Bruce had
been sent from Holland, and interred in the vault or burying-ground
adjoining the old abbey church of Culross, in Perthshire, sir Robert
Preston directed a search in that place in 1808, with the following
result.--Two flat stones, without inscription, about four feet in length
and two in breadth, were discovered about two feet below the level of
the pavement, and partly under an old projection in the wall of the old
building. These stones were strongly clasped together with iron; and
when separated, a silver case, or box, of foreign workmanship, shaped
like a heart, was found in a hollow or excavated place between them. Its
lid was engraved with the arms and name “Lord Edward Bruse;” it had
hinges and clasps; and when opened, was found to contain a heart,
carefully embalmed, in a brownish coloured liquid. After drawings were
taken of it, as represented in the present engravings, it was carefully
replaced in its former situation. There was a small leaden box between
the stones in another excavation; the contents of which, whatever they
were originally, appeared reduced to dust.
Some time after this discovery, sir Robert Preston caused a delineation
of the silver case, according to the exact dimensions, with an
inscription recording its exhumation and re-deposit, to be engraved on
a brass plate, and placed upon the projection of the wall where the
heart was found.[320]
It is a remarkable fact, that the cause of the quarrel between lord
Bruce and sir Edward Sackvile has remained wholly undetected,
notwithstanding successive investigations at different periods. The last
was conducted by the late lord Leicester, and several gentlemen, whose
habits and love of investigation are equally well known, but they were
unable to discover the slightest clue to the object of their anxious and
diligent inquiry. Lord Clarendon, in his “History of the Rebellion,”
records the combat as an occurrence of magnitude, from its sanguinary
character and the eminence of the parties engaged in it. He does not say
any thing respecting the occasion of the feud, although lord Bruce’s
challenge seems to intimate that it was matter of public notoriety.
[319] Collins’s Peerage.
[320] Archæologia, xx. 515.
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