Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland

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Alexander Stewart (1214 – 1283) was 4th hereditary High Steward of Scotland from his father's death in 1246.

A son of Walter Stewart, 3rd High Steward of Scotland by his wife Bethóc, daughter of Gille Críst, Earl of Angus, Alexander is said to have accompanied King Louis of France on Crusade in 1248.^[1] In 1255 he was one of the councillors of King Alexander III, though under age.^[2]

He was the principal commander under King Alexander III of Scotland at the Battle of Largs, on October 2, 1263, when the Scots defeated the Norwegians under Haco. Subsequently the Scots invaded and conquered the Isle of Man the following year, which was, with the whole of the Western Isles, then annexed to the Crown of Scotland.^[3]^[4]

[edit] Marriage and Issue

Alexander the Steward married Jean, daughter of Angus (or James) Macrory, Lord of Bute,^[5]^[6]^[7] said to be a grandson of Somerled.^[8] They had issue:

James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland (c. 1243-1309)
Sir John, of Bonkill, Berwickshire (1246-July 22, 1298), described as the "second son" who married the Bonkill heiress, had seven sons and one daughter, and was killed in the Battle of Falkirk.^[9]^[10]
Elizabeth, (d. before 1288) Married Sir William Douglas the Hardy, Governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed.^[11] She was the mother of the Good Sir James Douglas.^[12] ^[13]

Through their eldest son Alexander and his wife Jean were the great-grandparents of King Robert II, the first Stewart to be King of Scots, and thus ancestors of all subsequent Scottish monarchs and the later and current monarchs of Great Britain.

Alexander and Jean were also the direct male-line ancestors, through their second son, of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.

[edit] Notes

^ Simpson, David, The Genealogical and Chronological History of the Stuarts, Edinburgh, 1713.
^ Anderson, William, The Scottish Nation, Edinburgh, 1867, vol.ix, p.512
^ Burke, Messrs., John and John Bernard, The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, with Their Descendants &c., volume 2, London, 1851, p. xli-xlii.
^ Anderson (1867) vil.ix, p.512
^ Simpson (1713)
^ Burke (1851), vol.2, page xlii
^ Mackenzie (1935) p.12.
^ Anderson (1867) vol.ix, p.512
^ Simpson (1713)p.64.
^ See also the following for references to Sir John Steward of Bonkill:
- Nisbet, Alexander, 1722. Vol.1,p.48; and appendix, page 149.
- Burke, Messrs., John and John Bernard, The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, and Their Descendants &c., volume 2, London, 1851, p. xlii.
- Anderson, William, "The Scottish Nation", Edinburgh, 1867, vol.vii, p.200.
- Mackenzie, A. M., MA., D.Litt., The Rise of the Stewarts, London, 1935, p.13 - 14.
- The Marquis de Ruvigny & Raineval, The Jacobite Peerage &c., London & Edinburgh (1904), 1974 reprint, p.8n.
^ Simpson (1713)
^ Maxwell, Sir Herbert, Bt., A History of the House of Douglas, London, 1902, vol.1, p.28.
^ Mackenzie (1935) p.12.