BRUCE, WILLIAM [SSNE 4384]

Surname
BRUCE, BRUSIUS, BRUSS, BRUSSE
First name
WILLIAM, WILHELM, GULIELMUS
Title/rank
PROFESSOR, AGENT, SOLDIER
Nationality
SCOT
Social status
ACADEMIC
Education
UNIVERSITY
Religion
CATHOLIC

Text source

Dr William Bruce was a Scottish Catholic who worked in in Zamosc, Poland from 1596. He was a professor of Roman Law at Zamosc Academy. In 1601 Bruce was a captain in the Polish army for the Crown Chancellor count Jan Zamoyski, when he was sent on a mission to Queen Elizabeth 1. To that number we can also add the first Stuart-British ambassador, Henry Lyall [SSNE 2404], who was assigned to Poland to replace the English agent Sir George Carew [SSNE 1257] in April 1603. On 9 August 1603, Bruce wrote from "Gedoni" to the commandant at Landskrona, Christian Hansen Barnekow. On the conclusion of Henry Lyall's embassy, William Bruce replaced him as a permanent, resident ambassador in 1604. Bruce, like Fabian Smith in Russia [SSNE 1440], was typical of the sort of man James VI preferred as his resident agents. A Doctor of Law, he had also served as a soldier in Poland against the Turks since 1595. Bruce was well versed in the indigenous language and returned to Scotland in 1602 in time to escort the Polish ambassador to London the following year. His appointment as the new Stuart ambassador to Poland followed, and he remained there for the next five years. His residency was supplemented by the embassy of James Sandilands, 2nd Lord Torphichen [SSNE 1457], from June to October 1609. Thereafter, Bruce confined himself to private business with only the occasional diplomatic intercession such as that in 1613 against the expulsion of the Scots from Konigsberg. It is known he had dealings with his fellow Scot, Admiral James Murray [SSNE 1046].

Sources: P. Wieselgren, (ed.), Dela Gardiska Archivet, part 5, (Lund, 1834), p.109: "Quod hactenus ad v.m.&g. D:em nihil dederim literarum cogitatio discedendi in Brittaniam fecit audita morte diu exoptata vetustae reginae, ut commodarem optimo meo regi si quae turbae fuissent excitatae atque in via erat animus invisendi V.M.D. sed pacatis acceptis ex Britannia nuntiis non ita mihi properandum censuit Ill:mus Cancellarius, V. M. D:nis studiosissimus [...] sed ipse per Germaniam cogor ad S:m Elet. Brandenb. iter facere". (9 Aug 1603, Bruce to Barnekow).

The National Archives, London, SP/88/2; G. M. Bell, A Handlist of British Diplomatic Representatives 1509-1688 (London, 1990), p.214; A. Bieganska, "In Search of Tolerance, Scottish Catholics and Presbyterians in Poland" in Scottish Slavonic Review, 17 (1991), p.47; A. Bieganska, "Andrew Davidson (1591-1660)and his descendants" in Scottish Slavonic Review, 10 (1988), pp.7-18; A. Bieganska, The Learned Scots in Poland (From the Mid-Sixteenth to the close of the Eighteenth Century) in Canadian Slavonic Review, Vol. XLIII, No. 1, March 2001, pp.18-19.

Service record

SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND, ELBING
Arrived 1594-01-01
Departed 1613-12-31
Capacity MERCHANT FACTOR, EASTLAND COMPANY, purpose MERCANTILE, TRADE, COMMERCE
POLAND-LITHUANIA, ZAMOSC ACADEMY
Arrived 1596-01-01
Departed 1600-12-31
Capacity LECTURER, ACADEMIC, purpose ACADEMIC
POLAND-LITHUANIA, LONDON, EDINBURGH
Arrived 1601-01-01, as CAPTAIN
Departed 1602-12-31, as CAPTAIN
Capacity OFFICER, ENVOY, purpose MILITARY, DIPLOMACY
STUART KINGDOMS, POLAND-LITHUANIA
Arrived 1604-04-20
Departed 1610-03-22
Capacity AGENT, purpose DIPLOMACY