User:Angusmclellan/Robert II
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Robert II | |
| King of Scots | |
_i.JPG/200px-Robert_II_(Alba)_i.JPG) |
|
| Reign | March 27, 1371–April 19, 1390 |
|---|---|
| Coronation | March 27, 1371 at Scone |
| Born | March 2, 1316 |
| Died | April 19, 1390 |
| Place of death | Dundonald Castle |
| Buried | Scone Abbey |
| Predecessor | David II |
| Successor | Robert III |
| Consort | Elizabeth Mure Euphemia de Ross |
| Issue | 1st marriage - Robert III (John, Earl of Carrick), Robert, Duke of Albany, Alexander, Earl of Buchan, Margaret, Marjorie, Johanna, Elizabeth, Isabella 2nd marriage - David, Earl of Strathearn, Walter, Earl of Atholl, Egidia, Jean |
| Royal House | Stewart |
| Father | Walter Stewart |
| Mother | Marjorie Bruce |
Robert II (March 2, 1316–April 19, 1390), King of Scots, was the first of the House of Stewart to rule Scotland. Grandson of King Robert I, Robert, known as the Steward before he became king, was for much of his life heir presumptive to the kingship.
Robert played a part in the Second War of Scottish Independence, portrayed in sources favourable to him as a key figure in the fight against King Edward Balliol and King Edward III of England. Robert served as guardian with John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray. With the death of Randolph and the capture of King David in the disastrous battle of Neville's Cross, Robert became sole guardian. He took advantage of his position to legitimate his children with Elizabeth Mure, and to take ownership of many lands in Scotland north of the River Forth.
King David, eventually released in 1357, showed distrust towards Robert, more so after the death of Queen Joan and David's marriage with his mistress Margaret Drummond, whose family were Robert's enemies. During this time, Robert and his sons had added many estates to the lands the Steward had held in his youth, including the Earldoms of Atholl, Menteith, and Strathearn, and the great lordship of Badenoch. In the parts of Scotland outwith Stewart control—Lothian and the north-east of Scotland—King David promoted opponents of the Stewarts to power in his latter years.
After Robert became king, aged fifty-five, on David's death, he and his kinsmen continued to extend the power of the Stewart family, adding the Earldoms of Buchan, Caithness, Earl of Fife, and Ross, to their possessions. Medieval chroniclers were divided on their appraisal of Robert's kingship, Jean Froissart portraying him as a worn-out old man. Modern historians are inclined to see Robert as a successful king, who managed the great magnates of the realm, and maintained the peace. He died in 1390, still active, although his eldest son John, later Robert III, and his third son Robert, had held the guardianship since 1384. Robert's actions as Steward and sometime Regent have not always been viewed favourably. His career as King of Scots suffered by comparison with King Robert I and later Stewart kings. Long seen as a weak and ineffective monarch, his reputation stands higher today than it did in the past.
Contents |
[edit] Background
TO DO
[edit] Birth
Robert was the son of Walter the Steward, sixth hereditary Steward of Scotland, and Marjorie Bruce, only child of King Robert I's marriage to Isabella of Mar. At his birth, Robert stood second in line to the throne, behind King Robert's brother Edward Bruce, who had been acknowledged as heir presumptive by a Parliament held at Ayr in April of 1315. Edward died in Ireland in 1318, and the infant Robert became heir presumptive with his death.[1]
Young Robert received grants from his grandfather the King in 1318, making him lord of Cunningham, and of Kintyre in addition to the Steward's holdings in Strathgryfe, and the isles of Arran and Bute. In the aftermath of the Soules conspiracy of 1320, he was made Baron of Methven and of Kellie.[2]
In 1324, King Robert's second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, gave birth to a son, the future King David II. Robert's place second in line to the throne was confirmed by act of Parliament in 1326 at Cambuskenneth Abbey. His father died in 1327, leaving Robert under the guardianship of his uncle, James Stewart. Robert's grandfather died in 1329 and David II became king.[3]
[edit] Edward Balliol
- Original
Soon after the infant David became king in 1329, the Steward began to take a prominent part in the affairs of Scotland. He was one of the leaders of the Scottish army at the battle of Halidon Hill in July 1333; and after gaining some successes over the adherents of Edward Balliol in the west of Scotland, he and John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray (d. 1346), were chosen as regents of the kingdom, while David sought safety in France.
The colleagues soon quarrelled; then Randolph fell into the hands of the English and Robert became sole regent, meeting with such success in his efforts to restore the royal authority that the king was able to return to Scotland in 1341. Having handed over the duties of government to David, the Steward escaped from the battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, and was again chosen regent while the king was a captive in England. Soon after this event some friction arose between Robert and his royal uncle. Accused, probably without truth, of desertion at Neville's Cross, the Steward as heir-presumptive was greatly chagrined by the king's proposal to make Edward III of England, or one of his sons, the heir to the Scottish throne, and by David's marriage with Margaret Logie.
[edit] David II returns
TO DO
[edit] King
TO DO
- Original
In 1363 he rose in rebellion, and after having made his submission was seized and imprisoned together with four of his sons, being only released a short time before David's death in February 1371. By the terms of the decree of 1318 Robert now succeeded to the throne, and was crowned at Scone, Perthshire in March 1371. He was not a particularly active king. Some steps were taken by the nobles to control the royal authority. In 1378 a war broke out with England; but the king took no part in the fighting, which included the burning of Edinburgh and the Scottish victory at the Battle of Otterburn in 1388.
As age and infirmity were telling upon him, the estates in 1389 appointed his second surviving son Robert, Earl of Fife, afterwards Duke of Albany, guardian of the kingdom. The king died at Dundonald in 1390, and was buried at Scone.
[edit] Appraisal
TO DO
His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Adam Mure of Rowallan, a lady who had formerly been his mistress. Robert had married her in 1336, but as the marriage had been criticised as uncanonical, he remarried her in 1349. By her he had at least ten children including:
- John, later king as Robert III
- Robert
- Alexander, the Wolf of Badenoch,
- Margaret, married John of Islay, Lord of the Isles
- Walter, married Isabella, Countess of Fife
- Marjorie, married first John Dunbar, 5th Earl of Moray, second Alexander Keith
- Johanna, married in 1373 Sir John Keith, in 1379 Sir John Lyon, in 1384 Sir James Sandilands
- Isabella, married first James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas, married second David Edmondstone
- Elizabeth, married Sir Thomas Hay, Lord High Constable of Scotland
By his second wife, Euphemia de Ross, daughter of Aodh, Earl of Ross, and widow of the 3rd Earl of Moray, formerly his colleague as regent, he had five children including:
- David (d. bef. 1389)
- Walter (d. 1437)
- Elizabeth, married 1380 David Lindsay, 1st Earl of Crawford
- Egidia, married 1387 Sir William Douglas of Nithsdale
The confusion about the circumstances of his first marriage would later lead to conflict amongst the descendants of his first marriage (which included James I of Scotland) and the unquestionably legitimate descendants of his second marriage.
Robert had also eight illegitimate children, mostly by unknown mothers, including Thomas Stewart, Archdeacon and Bishop-elect of St. Andrews, John of Bute and John (the Red) of Dundonald.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Robert's birth is sometimes described as being by caesarian section, but this is uncertain. Marjorie's death is, however, placed in 1316 or 1317: Barrell, p. 121; Boardman, p. 3; Brown, p. 214.
- ^ Boardman, p. 3.
- ^ Boardman, pp. 3–4.
[edit] References
- Barrell, A.D.M., Medieval Scotland.
- Boardman, Stephen, The Early Stewart Kings: Robert II and Robert III, 1371–1406. Tuckwell Press, East Linton, 1996. ISBN 1-898410-43-7
- Brown, Michael, The Wars of Scotland 1214–1371. (The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, volume 4.) Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2004. ISBN 0-7486-1238-6
| Preceded by Vacant since 1346; last held by Maol Íosa V |
Earl of Strathearn 1357 – 1390 |
Succeeded by Merged in crown |
| Preceded by David II |
King of Scots 1371 – 1390 |
Succeeded by Robert III |
[[Category:1316 births]] [[Category:1390 deaths]] [[Category:House of Stuart]] [[Category:Medieval Gaels]] [[Category:Natives of Argyll and Bute]] [[Category:Scottish monarchs]]
