Ayrshireroots - Kings and Queens of Scotland

Scottish Kings and Queens

From 840 AD to 1625 AD

Alpin	840 to 843	Little is known, though tradition credits him with a victory over the Picts by whom he was killed three months later.
Kenneth I	843 to 858.	Kenneth was the first king of the united Scots of Dalriada and the Picts of Scotland north of a line between the Forth and Clyde rivers. He ruled for 16 years. The period is obscure. The gradual union of the two kingdoms from 843 doubtless owes much to intermarriage. By the Pictish marriage custom, inheritance passed through the female. Nevertheless, Kenneth probably made some conquests among the eastern Picts and possibly invaded Lothian and burned Dunbar and Melrose. After attacks on Iona by Vikings he removed relics of St. Columba, probably in 849 or 850, to Dunkeld, which became the headquarters of the Scottish Columban church. He died at Forteviot, not far from Scone in Pictish territory, and was buried on the island of Iona.
Donald I	858 to 862.	Brother and successor of Kenneth I MacAlpin. Donald established an ancient corpus of laws and rights (known as the laws of Aed, or Aedh) that apparently included the custom of tanistry. According to this custom, the successor of a king was elected during his lifetime from the eldest and worthiest of his kin, often a collateral (brother or cousin) in preference to a descendant (son). The next king, Donald's nephew Constantine I, succeeded in accordance with this custom.
Constantine I	862 to 877	Son of Kenneth I. Killed in battle. King of Scotland or Alba, the united kingdom of the Picts and Scots, who succeeded his uncle Donald I. Constantine's reign was occupied with conflicts with the Norsemen Olaf the White, the Danish king of Dublin, laid waste the country of the Picts and Britons year after year; in the south the Danish leader Halfdan devastated Northumberland and Galloway. Constantine was slain at a battle at Inverdovat in Fife, at the hands of another band of northern marauders.
Aed	877 to 878	Son of Kenneth I. Little is known about King Aed except he was the son of Kenneth I and the brother of Constantine. He was killed shortly after becoming king by Giric.
Giric and Eochaid	878 to 889	Giric was the son of Donald I. Echaid was the grandson of Kenneth 1 in female line. These two Kings ruled jointly because of both men having claims to the Pictish throne, so they both ruled from their respective territories.
Donald II	889 to 900	Son of Constantine I. His reign coincided with renewed invasions by the Danes, who came less to plunder and more to occupy the lands bordering Scotland and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. He was also embroiled in efforts to reduce the highland robber tribes. By one account he was slain at Dunnottar, meeting a Danish invasion; by another he died of infirmity brought on by his campaigns against the highlanders.
Constantine II	900 to 943	Son of Aed and cousin of Donald II. Abdicated & entered monastery (943). died c. 952. During the first part of his reign the kingdom was still beset by the Norsemen. In his third year they wasted Dunkeld and all of Alba. They were repulsed, however, in Strathearn the following year. In his eighth year Rognwald, the Danish king of Dublin, with earls Ottir and Oswle Crakaban, ravaged Dunblane. Six years later the same leaders were defeated on the Tyne by Constantine in a battle whose site and incidents are told in conflicting stories; it appears certain, however, that Constantine saved his dominions from further serious attacks by the Vikings. In spite of his wars, Constantine found time in the early part of his reign for two important reforms, one ecclesiastical and the other civil. In his sixth year (906) he established the Scottish church, which the Pictish kings had earlier suppressed. Two years later, on the death of Donald, king of the Britons of Strathclyde, Constantine procured the election of his own brother Donald to that kingdom. He had now to meet a more formidable foe, the West Saxons, whose kings were steadily moving northward. In league with other northern kings, Constantine was decisively defeated at the Battle of Brunanburh (937) by King Athelstan. The slaughter was devastating. A son of Constantine was slain, as were four kings and seven earls. Constantine himself escaped to Scotland, where in old age he resigned the crown for the tonsure and became abbot of the Culdees of St. Andrews. He was succeeded by a cousin, Malcolm I.
Malcolm I	943 to 954	Son of Donald II. Killed in battle. Also called MALCOLM MACDONALD king of the Picts and Scots (Alba). He annexed Moray to the kingdom for the first time. After driving the Danes from York, the English king Edmund turned Cumbria over to Malcolm, apparently as a fief or seal of alliance. Later, when Norsemen again invaded the land, the Scots sent raids against the English, and in 954 the West Saxon King Eadred reunited the northern counties to his dominions. Malcolm was slain the same year.
Indulf	954 to 962	Son of Constantine II. Added Edinburgh to Kingdom of Alba. Under his rule Edinburgh was brought under Scots rule. He died in battle against the Danes.
Dubh	962 to 967	Son of Malcolm I. Dubh (The Black) Twice challenged by Culen, Dubh was killed in the second battle and Culen succeeded him as King.
Culen	967 to 971	Son of Indulf. Culen was killed for kidnapping the daughter of the King of Strathclyde.
Kenneth II	971 to 995	Son of Malcolm I. Brother of Dubh. Murdered. King of the united Picts and Scots. He began his reign by ravaging the Britons, probably as an act of vengeance, but his name is also included among a group of northern and western kings said to have made submission to the Anglo-Saxon king Edgar in 973, perhaps at Chester; and the chronicler Roger of Wendover (Flores Historiarum, under the year 975) states that shortly afterward Kenneth received from Edgar all the land called Lothian (i.e., between the Tweed and the Forth rivers). This is the first mention of the River Tweed as the recognized border between England and Scotland. Kenneth was slain, apparently by his own subjects, at Fettercairn in the Mearns.
Constantine III	995 to 997	Son of Culen. Succeeded to the crown after the murder of his cousin, Kenneth II, son of Malcolm I. After a brief reign of two years he was himself killed, perhaps by an illegitimate son (named Kenneth) of Malcolm I or by his successor, Kenneth III.
Kenneth III	997 to 1005	Son of Dubh and grandson of Malcolm I.. Killed by Malcolm II He succeeded to the throne perhaps after killing his cousin Constantine III he was himself killed at Monzievaird by Malcolm (son of Kenneth II), who became Malcolm II. Gruoch, wife of the future King Macbeth, was apparently a granddaughter of Kenneth III.
Malcolm II	1005 to 1034	Son of Kenneth II. Added Lothian and Strathclyde to Alba. The first to reign over an extent of land roughly corresponding to much of modern Scotland. Malcolm II succeeded to the throne after killing his predecessor, Kenneth III, and allegedly secured his territory by defeating a Northumbrian army at the battle of Carham (c. 1016); he not only confirmed the Scottish hold over the land between the rivers Forth and Tweed but also secured Strathclyde about the same time. Eager to secure the royal succession for his daughter's son Duncan, he tried to eliminate possible rival claimants; but Macbeth, with royal connections to both Kenneth II and Kenneth III, survived to challenge the succession.
Duncan I	1034 to 1040	Grandson of Malcolm II in female line. Killed by Macbeth. Duncan was the grandson of King Malcolm II who irregularly made him ruler of Strathclyde when that region was absorbed into the Scottish kingdom (probably shortly before 1034). Malcolm violated the established system of succession whereby the kingship alternated between two branches of the royal family. Upon Malcolm's death, Duncan succeeded peacefully, but he soon faced the rivalry of Macbeth, Mormaor (subking) of Moray, who probably had a better claim to the throne. Duncan besieged Durham unsuccessfully in 1039 and in the following year was murdered by Macbeth. Duncan's elder son later killed Macbeth and ruled as King Malcolm III Canmore (1058-93).
Macbeth	1040 to 1057	Grandson of either Malcolm II or Kenneth II. Killed by Malcolm III. The legend of whose life was the basis of Shakespeare's Macbeth. He married Gruoch, a descendant of King Kenneth III. About 1031 Macbeth succeeded his father, Findlaech (Sinel in Shakespeare), as mormaer, or chief, in the province of Moray, in northern Scotland. Macbeth established himself on the throne after killing his cousin King Duncan I in battle near Elgin not, as in Shakespeare, by murdering Duncan in bed on Aug. 14, 1040. Both Duncan and Macbeth derived their rights to the crown through their mothers. Macbeth's victory in 1045 over a rebel army, near Dunkeld (in modern Tayside region) may account for the later references (in Shakespeare and others) to Birnam Wood, for the village of Birnam is near Dunkeld. In 1046 Siward, Earl of Northumbria, unsuccessfully attempted to dethrone Macbeth in favour of Malcolm (afterward King Malcolm III Canmore), eldest son of Duncan I. By 1050 Macbeth felt secure enough to leave Scotland for a pilgrimage to Rome. But in 1054 he was apparently forced by Siward to yield part of southern Scotland to Malcolm. Three years later Macbeth was killed in battle by Malcolm, with assistance from the English. Macbeth was buried on the island of Iona, regarded as the resting place of lawful kings but not of usurpers. His followers installed his stepson, Lulach, as king; when Lulach was killed on March 17, 1058, Malcolm III was left supreme in Scotland.
Lulach	1057 to 1058	Stepson of Macbeth. Lulach was killed by Malcolm III after a few short months of rule.
Malcolm 'Canmore' III	1058 to 1093	"Canmore". Son of Duncan I. Died in battle. Founder of the dynasty that consolidated royal power in the Scottish kingdom. Malcolm lived in exile in England during part of the reign of his father's murderer, Macbeth. Malcolm killed Macbeth in battle in 1057 and then ascended the throne. After the conquest of England by William the Conqueror, in 1066, Malcolm gave refuge to the Anglo-Saxon prince Edgar the Aetheling and his sisters, one of whom, Margaret (later St. Margaret), became his second wife. Malcolm acknowledged the overlordship of William in 1072 but nevertheless soon violated his feudal obligations and made five raids into England. During the last of these invasions he was killed by the forces of King William II Rufus. Except for a brief interval after Malcolm's death, the Scottish throne remained in his family until the death of Queen Margaret, the Maid of Norway, in 1290. Of Malcolm's six sons by Margaret, three succeeded to the throne: Edgar, Alexander I , and David I.
Donald III	1093 to 1094	"Donald Bane II. Son of Duncan I. Deposed by Duncan II Also spelled DONALDBANE, OR DONALBANE, BANE also spelled BAN OR BAIN, king of Scotland from November 1093 to May 1094 and from November 1094 to October 1097, son of Duncan I. Upon the death of his brother Malcolm III Canmore (1093) there was a fierce contest for the crown. Donald Bane besieged Edinburgh Castle, took it, and, with the support of the Celtic Scots and the custom of tanistry (the Celtic system of electing kings or chiefs), he was king nominally for at least six months. He was expelled by Duncan II, son of Malcolm, assisted by English and Normans and some Saxons. Duncan's reign was equally short, for Donald Bane had his nephew slain and again reigned for three years. These years saw the last attempt of the Celts to maintain a king of their race and a kingdom governed according to their customs. Edgar the Aetheling, who had newly befriended the Norman king of England, led an army into Scotland, dispossessed Donald Bane, and advanced his nephew Edgar, son of Malcolm III, as sole king of the Scots.
Duncan II	1094 to 1094	Son of Malcolm III and grandson of Duncan I.. Killed by Donald III. For many years (1072?-87) Duncan lived as a hostage of the Norman English, allegedly as a confirmation of his father's homage to William I of England. He became king of the Scots while driving out his uncle, Donald Bane, in 1094, an enterprise in which he was helped by some English and Normans. He was killed at the instigation of Donald Bane, possibly at Monthechin, making way for the restoration of Donald Bane.
Donald III (Restored)	1094 to 1097	Deposed by Edgar. Died C. 1100 [ see above ]
Edgar	1097 to 1107	Fourth son of Malcolm III. and Queen Margaret was subserviant to England, he gave the western islands to the King of Norway to establish peace. As a result of this peace many Anglo-Normans came to Scotland.
Alexander I	1107 to 1124	Son of Malcolm III. No legitimate heirs. Alexander succeeded to the throne upon the death of his brother King Edgar. In accordance with Edgar's instructions, Alexander allowed his younger brother and heir, David, to rule southern Scotland. Alexander probably acknowledged King Henry I of England as his overlord. He married Henry's illegitimate daughter, Sibylla, and in 1114 he led a Scottish contingent in Henry's Welsh campaigns. Nevertheless, Alexander strove to preserve the independence of the Scottish Church from the English Church and to assert his will over the Scottish bishops. The outcome of these struggles was inconclusive at his death. He was succeeded by David I, who ruled over the whole of Scotland.
David I	1124 to 1153	The youngest of the six sons of the Scottish king Malcolm III Canmore and Queen Margaret (afterward St. Margaret). One of the most powerful Scottish kings. He admitted into Scotland an Anglo-French (Norman) aristocracy that played a major part in the later history of the kingdom. He also reorganized Scottish Christianity to conform with continental European and English usages and founded many religious communities, mostly for Cistercian monks and Augustinian canons. David spent much of his early life at the court of his brother-in-law King Henry I of England. Through David's marriage (1113) to a daughter of Waltheof, earl of Northumbria, he acquired the English earldom of Huntingdon and obtained much land in that county and in Northamptonshire. With Anglo-Norman help, David secured from his brother Alexander I, king of Scots from 1107, the right to rule Cumbria, Strathclyde, and part of Lothian. In April 1124, on the death of Alexander, David became king of Scots. David recognized his niece, the Holy Roman empress Matilda (died 1167), as heir to Henry I in England, and from 1136 he fought for her against King Stephen (crowned as Henry's successor in December 1135), hoping thereby to gain Northumberland for himself. A brief peace made with Stephen in 1136 resulted in the cession of Cumberland to David and the transfer of Huntingdon to his son Earl Henry. David, however, continued to switch sides. While fighting for Matilda again, he was defeated in the Battle of the Standard, near Northallerton, Yorkshire (Aug. 22, 1138). He then made peace once more with Stephen, who in 1139 granted Northumberland (as an English fief) to Earl Henry. In 1141 David reentered the war on Matilda's behalf, and in 1149 he knighted her son Henry Plantagenet (afterward King Henry II of England), who acknowledged David's right to Northumberland. In Scotland, David created a rudimentary central administration, issued the first Scottish royal coinage, and built or rebuilt the castles around which grew the first Scottish burghs: Edinburgh, Stirling, Berwick, Roxburgh, and perhaps Perth. As ruler of Cumbria he had taken Anglo-Normans into his service, and during his kingship many others settled in Scotland, founding important families and intermarrying with the older Scottish aristocracy. Bruce, Stewart, Comyn, and Oliphant are among the noted names whose bearers went from northern France to England during the Norman Conquest in 1066 and then to Scotland in the reign of David I. To these and other French-speaking immigrants, David granted land in return for specified military service or contributions of money, as had been done in England from the time of the Conquest.
Malcolm IV	1153 to 1165	"The Maiden". Grandson of David I. Died unmarried MALCOLM THE MAIDEN king of Scotland. Malcolm ascended the throne at the age of 11. He was the eldest son of Henry, Earl of Huntingdon and of Northumberland (d. 1152), and succeeded his grandfather King David I. Under Malcolm's predecessors, the kingdom of Scotland had been extended to embrace the modern English counties of Northumberland and Cumbria. In 1157, by a treaty signed at Chester, England's King Henry II forced the boy king Malcolm to surrender these counties in return for confirming Malcolm's rights to the earldom of Huntingdon. Malcolm died young, unmarried (thus his nickname, the Maiden) and without issue, and was succeeded by his brother, William I the Lion.
William I	1165 to 1214	"William the Lion". Grandson of David I King of Scotland from 1165 to 1214; although he submitted to English overlordship for 15 years (1174-89) of his reign, he ultimately obtained independence for his kingdom. William was the second son of the Scottish Henry, Earl of Northumberland, whose title he inherited in 1152. He was forced, however, to relinquish this earldom to King Henry II of England (reigned 1154-89) in 1157. Succeeding to the throne of his elder brother, King Malcolm IV, in 1165, William joined a revolt of Henry's sons (1173) in an attempt to regain Northumberland. He was captured near Alnwick, Northumberland, in 1174 and released after agreeing to recognize the overlordship of the king of England and the supremacy of the English church over the Scottish church. Upon Henry's death in 1189, William obtained release from his feudal subjection by paying a large sum of money to England's new king, Richard I (reigned 1189-99). In addition, although William had quarreled bitterly with the papacy over a church appointment, Pope Celestine III ruled in 1192 that the Scottish church owed obedience only to Rome, not to England. During the reign of King John in England, relations between England and Scotland deteriorated over the issue of Northumberland until finally, in 1209, John forced William to renounce his claims. In his effort to consolidate his authority throughout Scotland, William developed a small but efficient central administrative bureaucracy. He chartered many of the major burghs of modern Scotland and in 1178 founded Arbroath Abbey, which had become probably the wealthiest monastery in Scotland by the time of his death.
Alexander II	1214 to 1249	Son of William I. He maintained peace with England and greatly strengthened the Scottish monarchy. Alexander came to the throne on the death of his father, William I the Lion. When the English barons rebelled against King John (reigned 1199-1216) in 1215, Alexander sided with the insurgents in the hope of regaining territory he claimed in northern England. After the rebellion collapsed in 1217, he did homage to King Henry III (reigned 1216-72), and in 1221 he married Henry's sister, Joan (d. 1238). In 1237 Henry and Alexander concluded an agreement (Peace of York) by which the Scots king abandoned his claim to land in England but received in exchange several English estates. The boundary of Scotland was fixed approximately at its present location. Meanwhile, Alexander was suppressing rebellious Scots lords and consolidating his rule over parts of Scotland that had hitherto only nominally acknowledged royal authority. In 1222 he subjugated Argyll. He died as he was preparing to conquer the Norwegian-held islands along Scotland's west coast.
Alexander III	1249 to 1286	Son of Alexander II. Killed in accident. The last major ruler of the dynasty of kings descended from Malcolm III Canmore, who consolidated royal power in Scotland. Alexander left his kingdom independent, united, and prosperous, and his reign was viewed as a golden age by Scots caught up in the long, bloody conflict with England after his death. The only son of King Alexander II, Alexander III was seven years old when he came to the throne. In 1251 he was married to Margaret (d. 1275), the 11-year-old daughter of England's King Henry III. Henry immediately began plotting to obtain suzerainty over Scotland. In 1255 a pro-English party in Scotland seized Alexander, but two years later the anti-English party gained the upper hand and controlled the government until Alexander came of age in the year 1262. In 1263 Alexander repulsed an invasion by the Norwegian King Haakon IV, who ruled the islands along Scotland's west coast. Haakon's son, King Magnus V, in 1266 ceded to Alexander the Hebrides and the Isle of Man. Alexander was killed in 1286 when his horse fell over a cliff. Because his children were all dead, his infant grandchild Margaret "the Maid of Norway" (d. 1290) succeeded to the throne.
Margaret	1286 to 1290	"Maid of Norway". Granddaughter of Alexander III. The last of the line of Scottish rulers descended from King Malcolm III Canmore. Margaret's father was Eric II, king of Norway; her mother, Margaret, a daughter of King Alexander III of Scotland, died in 1283. Because none of Alexander III's other children were alive at the time of his death (March 1286), the Scottish lords proclaimed the infant Margaret as their queen. In 1290 her great-uncle, King Edward I of England, arranged a marriage between Margaret and his son Edward, later King Edward II of England. On the voyage from Norway to England, however, Margaret fell ill and died. Although the marriage treaty had specified that Scotland was to maintain its independence of England, Edward now proclaimed himself overlord of Scotland; the Scots resisted, and for more than 20 years Scotland suffered foreign domination and civil war.
Interregnum	1290 to 1292	Competition for Crown - Adjudicated by Edward I of England
John	1292 to 1296	Great-great-great-grandson of David I. Deposed 1296. also called JOHN DE BALLIOL, OR BALIOL, the youngest son of John de Balliol and his wife Dervorguilla, daughter and heiress of the lord of Galloway. His brothers dying childless, he inherited the Balliol lands in England and France in 1278 and succeeded to Galloway in 1290. In that year, when the heiress to the kingdom of Scotland, Margaret, the Maid of Norway, died, Balliol became one of 13 competitors for the crown. He at once designated himself "heir of the kingdom of Scotland," clearly anticipating the vindication of his claim, which was derived from his mother, daughter of Margaret, eldest daughter of David, earl of Huntingdon, brother to kings Malcolm IV and William I the Lion. His chief rival was Robert de Bruce (grandfather of King Robert I). The English king Edward I met the Scottish baronage at Norham in Northumberland and insisted that as adjudicator between the claimants he should be recognized as overlord of Scotland. His court of 104 persons discussed the rival titles for more than a year, but Balliol's simple claim by primogeniture ultimately prevailed. Edward I confirmed the decision on Nov. 17, 1292, and Balliol was enthroned at Scone on November 30, doing homage to Edward at Newcastle on December 26. John, however, soon proved rebellious; and when in June 1294 Edward demanded military aid from Scotland for his projected war in Gascony, the Scottish reaction was to conclude a treaty of mutual aid with the French. When Edward I sent an army to Gascony in January 1296, the Scots raided northern England. Edward reacted quickly; he took Berwick on March 30. Castle after castle fell to the English king, and at Montrose, John resigned his kingdom to Edward. He was stripped of his arms and knightly dignity in a ceremony which later earned him the nickname "Toom (empty) Tabard." John was a prisoner in the Tower of London until July 1299, when papal intervention secured his release. Thereafter, he lived in Normandy. John Baliol was in fact the last Scottish king crowned upon the Stone of Scone.
Interregnum	1296 to 1306	Edward I governs Scotland directly
Robert I	1306 to 1329	"The Bruce". Seizes throne. Great-great-great-great-grandson of David l. ROBERT VIII DE BRUCE, OR ROBERT THE BRUCE, who freed Scotland from English rule, winning the decisive Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and ultimately confirming Scottish independence in the Treaty of Northampton (1328).
David II	1329 to 1371	Son of Robert I. Died without heir. Although he spent 18 years in exile or in prison. His reign was marked by costly intermittent warfare with England (a stage in the Scottish Wars of Independence), a decline in the prestige of the monarchy, and an increase in the power of the barons. On July 17, 1328, in accordance with the Anglo-Scottish peace treaty of Northampton, the four-year-old David was married to Joanna, sister of King Edward III of England. The boy succeeded his father, Robert I the Bruce, as king of Scots on June 7, 1329. A rival claimant to the Scottish throne, Edward de Balliol, a vassal of Edward III, became de facto king after Edward's victory over Sir Archibald Douglas, regent since 1332, at Halidon Hill, Northumberland (July 19, 1333). In 1334 David went into exile in France, where he was maintained generously by King Philip VI. In 1339 and 1340 he fought in Philip's fruitless campaigns against Edward III. By 1341 he was able to return to Scotland, but he did little as king except to make futile raids into England. During the French siege of English-held Calais he attempted a diversion on behalf of Philip VI but was defeated, wounded, and captured at Neville's Cross, County Durham (Oct. 17, 1346). Held prisoner by the English, David was released in 1357 in return for a promised ransom that proved to be more than the Scottish government could pay. In 1363 David, now on cordial terms with Edward III, proposed that a son of the English king should succeed to the throne of Scotland in return for the cancellation of the ransom. The arrangement, which made an enemy of his nephew and lawful successor, the future Robert II, was repudiated by the Scottish Parliament. In his last years David inspired further opposition by his financial extravagance.
Robert II	1371 to 1390	House of Stewart. Grandson of Robert I in female line. also called ROBERT THE STEWARD, OR (1357-71) ROBERT STEWART, EARL OF STRATHEARN First of the Stewart (Stuart) sovereigns in Scotland. Heir presumptive for more than 50 years, he had little effect on Scottish political and military affairs when he finally acceded to the throne. On the death (1326) of his father, Walter the Steward, in 1326, Robert became seventh hereditary steward of Scotland at age 10. From 1318 he was heir presumptive to his maternal grandfather, King Robert I the Bruce (died 1329). He lost this position in 1324 when the Bruce's son, afterward King David II, was born; but two years later the Scottish Parliament confirmed Robert the Steward as heir apparent to David. During David's periods of exile and of imprisonment by the English, Robert the Steward was joint regent (1334-35; with John Randolph, 3rd earl of Moray) and sole regent (1338-41, 1346-57). After David had been ransomed from the English, Robert led an unsuccessful rebellion (1362-63). He succeeded in defending his own right as heir apparent against David's abortive proposal to commute his remaining ransom payments to the English by making a son of King Edward III of England heir to the Scottish throne. On the death of David (Feb. 22, 1371), Robert succeeded to the throne, his reign proving largely an anticlimax to his career. He took no active part in the renewed war with England (from 1378 to 1388). From 1384 the kingdom was administered by Robert's eldest son, John, earl of Carrick (afterward King Robert III), and from 1388, by his next surviving son, Robert, earl of Fife (afterward 1st duke of Albany). Robert's marriage (c.1348) to Elizabeth Mure followed the birth of their four sons and five daughters, whose legitimation by the subsequent marriage did not give any of them an undisputed right of succession to the crown. A superior claim was asserted on behalf of Robert's two sons and two daughters by his second wife, Euphemia Ross, whom he married in 1355. Partly because of this dispute, Walter, earl of Atholl, one of Robert's sons by Euphemia, instigated the murder (1437) of James I, king of Scots, grandson of Robert and Elizabeth Mure. Robert also had at least eight illegitimate sons.
Robert III	1390 to 1406	Baptismal name John. Crowned as Robert III. Son of Robert II also called JOHN STEWART, EARL OF CARRICK. After having ruled Scotland in the name of his father, Robert II, from 1384 to 1388. Physically disabled by a kick from a horse, he was never the real ruler of Scotland during the years of his kingship. The eldest son of Robert the Steward (the future Robert II) and Elizabeth Mure, he was legitimated by their marriage several years after his birth. In 1362-63 he joined his father in a futile revolt against King David II, who both imprisoned him and created him Earl of Carrick in 1368. (He had been created Earl of Atholl in 1367.) Robert II became king in 1371; in 1384, because of his advanced age, he turned over the government to Carrick. After his injury in 1388, however, Carrick was supplanted by his brother Robert, earl of Fife. On his accession, probably on April 19, 1390, he changed his name to Robert (III) from John, to avoid reminding others of John de Balliol, who was not favourably remembered. was created Duke of Albany in 1398, continued to govern throughout this reign, except for three years (1399-1402) when Robert III's eldest son, David, Duke of Rothesay, took his place. The dissolute Rothesay died in March 1402 while imprisoned in Albany's castle of Falkland, Fife. Perhaps in an attempt to save his remaining son, James (afterward James I, king of Scots), from death at Albany's hands, Robert III sent the boy to France, but James was captured by English sailors, a shock to the aging king.
James I	1406 to 1437	Son of Robert III. Murdered by Atholl conspiracy. Was held prisoner by the English for over 18 years. After being considered nobility by the Scottish Parliament, he was released from prison and returned to Scotland to claim the throne. He was later murdered by dissident nobles and is buried at Perth where he died.
James II	1437 to 1460	Son of James l. Killed by exploding cannon. The coronation of James broke an ancient tradition of Kings being crowned at Scone, all previous Kings of Scotland since Kenneth MacAlpin had been crowned at Scone. During his attempts at liberating castles from England in almost constant warfare, James introduced Cannons to warfare, and during the siege of Roxburgh he was killed as a cannon exploded that was under his care.
James III	1460 to 1488	Son of James II. Killed at Battle of Sauchieburn. He was weak monarch, he was confronted with two major rebellions because he failed to win the respect of the nobility. James received the crown at the age of eight upon the death of his father, King James II. Scotland was governed first by James's mother, Mary of Gueldres (d. 1463), and James Kennedy, bishop of St. Andrews (d. 1465), and then by a group of nobles headed by the Boyds of Kilmarnock (2) (3), who seized the king in 1466. In 1469 James overthrew the Boyds and began to govern for himself. Unlike his father, he was, however, unable to restore strong central government after his long minority. He evidently offended his nobles by his interest in the arts and by taking artists for his favourites. In 1479 he arrested his brothers, Alexander, Duke of Albany, and John, Earl of Mar, on suspicion of treason. Albany escaped to England, and in 1482 English troops entered Scotland and forced James to restore Albany to his domains. During this invasion dissident Scottish nobles hanged James's favourites. By March 1483 the king had recovered enough power to expel Albany. Nevertheless, even without English aid to his discontented subjects, James was unable to ward off revolts. In 1488 two powerful border families, the Homes and the Hepburns, raised a rebellion and won to their cause his 15-year-old son, the future king James IV. James III was captured and killed after his defeat at the Battle of Sauchieburn, Stirling, on June 11 1488
James IV	1488 to 1513	Son of James III. Killed at Battle of Flodden. An energetic and popular ruler, he unified Scotland under royal control, strengthened royal finances, and improved Scotland's position in European politics. The 15-year-old monarch immediately began to take an active part in government. He extended his authority to the sparsely populated areas of western and northern Scotland and by 1493 had humbled the last lord of the Isles. Although his reign was internally peaceful, it was disturbed by wars with England. Breaking a truce with England in 1495, James prepared an invasion in support of Perkin Warbeck, a pretender to the English throne. The war was confined to a few border forays, and a seven-year peace was negotiated in December 1497, though border raids continued. Relations between England and Scotland were further stabilized in 1503, when James married Margaret Tudor, the eldest daughter of the English king Henry VII; this match resulted, a century later, in the accession of James's great-grandson, the Stuart monarch James VI of Scotland, to the English throne as King James I. James IV's growing prestige enabled him to negotiate as an equal with the rulers of continental Europe, but his position was weakened as he came into conflict with King Henry VIII of England (ruled 1509-47). In 1512 James allied with France against England and the major continental powers. When Henry invaded France in 1513, James decided, against the counsel of his advisers, to aid his ally by advancing into England. He captured four castles in northern England in August 1513, but his army was disastrously defeated at the Battle of Flodden, near Branxton, on Sept. 9, 1513. The king was killed while fighting on foot, and most of his nobles perished. James left one legitimate child, his successor, James V (ruled 1513-42); in addition, he had many illegitimate children, several of whom became prominent figures in Scotland. True to the ideal of the Renaissance prince, James strove to make his court a centre of refinement and learning. He patronized literature, licensed Scotland's first printers, and improved education.
James V	1513 to 1542	Son of James IV. During the period of his minority, which lasted throughout the first half of his reign, James was a pawn in the struggle between pro-French and pro-English factions; after he assumed personal control of the government, he upheld Roman Catholicism against the Protestant nobles and allied his country with France. James was 17 months old when he succeeded to the throne of his father. In the power struggle that developed between the pro-French regent, John Stewart, duke of Albany, and the head of the English party, Archibald Douglas, earl of Angus, each side sought to gain possession of the young ruler. James's mother, Margaret Tudor, complicated events by shifting her allegiance from her husband, Angus, to Albany. Albany retired to France in 1524, and Angus kept James in confinement from 1526 until 1528, when the King escaped and forced Angus to flee to England. By 1530 James had consolidated his power in Scotland. He signed a treaty with his uncle, King Henry VIII of England, in 1534, but in 1538 he married the French noblewoman Marie de Guise and thereafter allied with France against England. A cruel man, he instituted in his later years a near reign of terror in Scotland, and his financial exactions did not endear him to his subjects. When Henry VIII's forces attacked Scotland in 1542, James's small army, weakened by the disaffection of the Protestant nobles, crossed into England and was easily routed near the border at Solway Moss on Nov. 24, 1542. The disaster caused the King to suffer a mental breakdown; he died on Dec. 14, 1542, a week after the birth of his daughter--his only surviving legitimate child--Mary Stuart (Mary, Queen of Scots). Among his several illegitimate children was James, earl of Moray (died 1570), who became regent of Scotland when Mary Stuart abdicated her throne in 1567.
Mary	1542 to 1567	Daughter of James V Abdicated 1567. Executed by Elizabeth of England 1587 original name MARY STUART, OR STEWART. She was queen of Scotland and queen consort of France (1559-60). Her unwise marital and political actions provoked rebellion among the Scottish nobles, forcing her to flee to England, where she was eventually beheaded as a Roman Catholic threat to the English throne.
James VI	1567 to 1625	Son of Mary by marriage to Darnley. Succeeded to English throne 1603 through descent from Henry VII He was the first Stuart king of England from 1603 to 1625, who styled himself "king of Great Britain." James was a strong advocate of royal absolutism, and his conflicts with an increasingly self-assertive Parliament set the stage for the rebellion against his successor, Charles I.