Robert III of Scotland
Encyclopedia
Robert III was King of Scots from 1390 to his death. His given name was John Stewart, and he was known primarily as the Earl of Carrick before ascending the throne at age 53. He was the eldest son of Robert II
and Elizabeth Mure
and was legitimated with the marriage of his parents in 1347.
John joined his father and other magnates in a rebellion against his grand-uncle, David II
early in 1363 but submitted to him soon afterwards. He married Anabella Drummond
, daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stobhall before 31 May 1367 when the Steward ceded to him the earldom of Atholl
. In 1368 David created him Earl of Carrick
. His father became king in 1371 after the unexpected death of the childless King David. In the succeeding years Carrick was influential in the government of the kingdom but became progressively more impatient at his father's longevity. In 1384 Carrick was appointed the king's lieutenant after having influenced the general council to remove Robert II from direct rule. Carrick's administration saw a renewal of the conflict with England. In 1388 the Scots defeated the English at the Battle of Otterburn
where the Scots' commander, James, Earl of Douglas
, was killed. By this time Carrick had been badly injured by a horse-kick but the loss of his powerful ally, Douglas, saw a turnaround in magnate support in favour of his younger brother Robert
, Earl of Fife
and in December 1388 the council transferred the lieutenancy to Fife.
In 1390, Robert II died and Carrick ascended the throne as Robert III but without authority to rule directly. Fife continued as lieutenant until February 1393 when power was returned to the king in conjunction with his son David. At a council in 1399 owing to the king's 'sickness of his person', David, now Duke of Rothesay
, became lieutenant of the kingdom in his own right but supervised by a special parliamentary group dominated by Fife, now styled Duke of Albany
. After this, Robert III withdrew to his lands in the west and for a time played little or no part in affairs of state. He was powerless to interfere when a dispute between Albany and Rothesay arose in 1401 which led to Rothesay's arrest and imprisonment at Albany's Falkland Castle
where Rothesay died in March 1402. The general council absolved Albany from blame and reappointed him as lieutenant. The only impediment now remaining to an Albany Stewart monarchy was the king's only surviving son, James
, Earl of Carrick. In February 1406 the 11 year-old James and a powerful group of followers clashed with Albany's Douglas allies resulting in the death of the king's counsellor Sir David Fleming of Cumbernauld. James escaped to the Bass Rock
in the Firth of Forth
accompanied by Henry Sinclair
, Earl of Orkney
and remained there for a month before boarding a ship bound for France. The vessel was intercepted near Flamborough Head
and James became the prisoner of Henry IV of England
and would remain captive for the next 18 years. Robert III died in Rothesay Castle
on 4 April 1406 shortly after learning of his son's imprisonment and was buried at Paisley Abbey
.
along with the earls of Douglas and March in a failed insurrection against King David II
. The reasons for the rebellion were varied. In 1362, David II supported several of his royal favourites in their titles to lands in the Stewart earldom of Monteith and thwarted Stewart claims to the earldom of Fife. The king's involvement with Margaret Logie (née Drummond) and soon to be his queen may also have represented a threat in the Steward's own earldom of Strathearn where the Drummonds also had interests, while Douglas and March mistrusted David's intentions towards them. These nobles were also unhappy at the king's squandering of funds provided to him for his ransom and with the prospect that they could be sent to England as guarantors for the ransom payments. The dissension between the king and the Stewarts looked to have been settled before the end of spring 1367. On 31 May the Steward gave the earldom of Atholl to John, who by this time was already married to Annabella Drummond, the daughter of the queen's deceased brother, Sir John Drummond and (probably) Mary, heir of William Montefichet, lord of Auchterarder. David II reinforced the position of John and Annabella by providing them with the earldom of Carrick on 22 June 1368 and the tacit approval of John as the king's probable heir. A Stewart succession was suddenly endangered when David II had his marriage to Margaret annulled in March 1369 leaving the king free to re-marry and with the prospect of a Bruce heir.
On 22 February 1371 David II (who was preparing to marry the earl of March's sister, Agnes Dunbar) unexpectedly died, presumably to the relief of both John and his father. Robert was crowned at Scone Abbey
on 27 March 1371 and before this date had given John—now styled Steward of Scotland—the ancestral lands surrounding the Firth of Clyde
. The manner in which the succession was to take place was first entailed by Robert I when female heirs were excluded and David II attempted unsuccessfully on several occasions to have the council change the succession procedure. Robert II quickly moved to ensure the succession of John when the general council attending his coronation officially named Carrick as heir—in 1373 the Stewart succession was further strengthened when parliament passed entails defining the manner in which each of the king's sons could inherit the crown. After the coronation John Dunbar
who had received the lordship of Fife from David II now resigned the title so that the king's second son, Robert, earl of Monteith could receive the earldom of Fife
—Dunbar was compensated with the provision of the earldom of Moray
.
A son, David, the future Duke of Rothesay
, was born to Carrick and Annabella on 24 October 1378. In 1381, Carrick was calling himself 'lieutenant for the marches' sustained by his connections to border magnates such as his brother-in-law, James Douglas
son of William, Earl of Douglas who he succeeded in 1384.
Robert II's policy of building up Stewart domination in Scotland through the advancement of his sons saw Carrick as the pre-eminent Stewart magnate south of the Forth-Clyde line just as his younger brother Alexander, earl of Buchan, lord of Badenoch
and Ross
was in the north. Buchan's use of cateran
supporters drew criticism from Northern nobles and prelates and demonstrated Robert II's inability or reluctance to control his son and resulted in him losing council support. The king's failure to take a leading role in prosecuting the war with England and Buchan's abuse of royal power in the north was the backdrop to the general council meeting at Holyrood Abbey
in November 1384 where the decision was taken to sideline the king and provide the ruling powers to Carrick.
In July 1385, under Carrick's lieutenancy, a Scottish army that included a French force commanded by Admiral Jean de Vienne
penetrated into the north of England without any serious gains but provoked a damaging retaliatory attack by Richard II
. In 1385, the general council sharply condemned Buchan's behaviour and sat with the intention of maneuvering Carrick into firmly intervening in the north.
Despite this, Carrick did not bring Buchan under control and many of the lieutenant's supporters although pleased at the resumption of hostilities with England were unhappy at the continued northern lawlessness. Carrick had been made the king's lieutenant partly on the need to curb Buchan's excesses yet despite this by February 1387 Buchan had become even more powerful and influential when he was appointed Justiciar north of the Forth.
A series of truces halted any further significant fighting but on 19 April 1388, English envoys sent to Scotland to again extend the ceasefire returned to Richard's court empty-handed—by 29 April Robert II was conducting a council in Edinburgh to authorise renewed conflict with England. Although the Scots army defeated the English at the Battle of Otterburn
in Northumberland
in August 1388, its leader James
, earl of Douglas was killed. Douglas died childless triggering a series of claims on his estate—Carrick backed his brother-in-law Malcolm Drummond, the husband of Douglas's sister while Carrick's brother Fife took the side of Sir Archibald Douglas, lord of Galloway who held an entail on his kinsman's estates and who ultimately succeeded to the earldom. Fife, with his powerful Douglas ally together with those loyal to the king ensured at the December 1388 council meeting that the lieutenancy of Scotland would pass from Carrick (who had recently been badly injured from a horse-kick) to Fife.
There was general approval of Fife's intention to properly resolve the situation of lawlessness in the north and in particular the activities of Buchan his younger brother. Buchan was stripped of his position of justiciar which would soon be given to Fife's son, Murdoch Stewart. In January 1390 Robert II was in the north-east perhaps to strengthen the now changed political outlook in the north of the kingdom. He returned to Dundonald Castle
in Ayrshire
in March where he died on 19 April and was buried at Scone on 25 April.
. The four month delay in the crowning of Robert III can be seen as a period when Fife and his affinity sought to ensure their future positions and which also saw Buchan's opportunistic attack on Elgin Cathedral
, settling an old score with the bishop of Moray
and possibly also a protest at Fife's reappointment as the king's lieutenant.
In 1392, Robert III strengthened the position of his son David, now earl of Carrick, when he endowed him with a large annuity that allowed the young prince to build up his household and affinity and then in 1393 regained his right to direct rule when the general council decided that Fife's lieutenancy should end and that Carrick now of age should assist his father. This independence of action was demonstrated in 1395–6 when he responded to Carrick's unauthorised marriage to Elizabeth Dunbar, daughter of George
earl of March
by ensuring its annulment. The king appears to have also taken over the conduct of foreign affairs, preserving the peace with Richard II and managing to increase the power of the Red Douglas Earl of Angus in the southeast of the country as a counter-balance to Fife's Black Douglas ally. He further showed his authority when in an attempt to reduce inter-clan feuding and lawlessness, he arranged and oversaw a gladiatorial limited combat between the clans of Kay and Quhele (Clan Chattan) in Perth
on 28 April 1396. David of Carrick progressively acted independently of his father taking control of the Stewart lands in the south-west while maintaining his links with the Drummonds of his mother and all at a time when Fife's influence in central Scotland remained strong.
The king was increasingly blamed for the failure to pacify the Gaelic areas in west and north. The general council held in Perth in April 1398 criticised the king's governance and empowered his brother Robert and his son David—now respectively the Dukes of Albany and Rothesay—to lead an army against Donald, Lord of the Isles and his brothers. In November 1398, an influential group of magnates and prelates met at Falkland Castle
that included Albany, Rothesay, Archibald, earl of Douglas, Albany's son Murdoch, justiciar North of the Forth along with the bishops Walter of St Andrews and Gilbert of Aberdeen—the outcome of this meeting manifested itself at the council meeting held in January 1399 when the king was forced to surrender power to Rothesay for a period of three years.
The kin of the border earls took advantage of the confusion in England after the deposition of Richard II
by Henry duke of Lancaster
and harried and forayed into England causing much damage and taking Wark Castle around 13 October 1399. A far reaching dispute between Rothesay and George Dunbar, earl of March occurred when Rothesay, rather than remarrying Elizabeth Dunbar as previously agreed, decided to marry Mary Douglas, daughter of the earl of Douglas—March, enraged by this wrote to Henry IV on 18 February 1400 and by July had entered Henry's service. In 1401, Rothesay took on a more assertive and autonomous attitude, circumventing proper procedures, unjustifiably appropriating sums from the customs of the burghs on the east coast before provoking further animosity when he confiscated the revenues of the temporalities of the vacant bishopric of St Andrews. Rothesay had also in conjunction with his uncle, Alexander Stewart, earl of Buchan, confronted Albany's influence in central Scotland—as soon his lieutenancy expired in 1402 Rothesay was arrested and imprisoned in Albany's Falkland Castle where he died in March 1402. Rothesay's death probably lay with Albany and Douglas who would have looked upon the possibility of the young prince acceding to the throne with great apprehension—they certainly fell under suspicion but were cleared of all blame by a general council, 'where, by divine providence and not otherwise, it is discerned that he departed from this life.'
Following Rothesay's death—with the restoration of the lieutenancy to Albany and the Scottish defeat at the battle of Humbleton—Robert III experienced almost total exclusion from political authority and was limited to his lands in the west. By late 1404 Robert, with the aid of his close councillors Henry Sinclair, earl of Orkney, Sir David Fleming and Henry Wardlaw, had succeeded in re-establishing himself and intervened in favour of Alexander Stewart
, the earl of Buchan's illegitimate son, who was in dispute with Albany over the earldom of Mar. Robert III again exhibited his new resolve when in December 1404 he created a new regality in the Stewartry for his sole remaining son and heir James now earl of Carrick—an act designed to prevent these lands falling into Albany's hands. By 28 October 1405 Robert III had returned to Dundonald Castle in Ayrshire. With the king's health failing, it was decided in the winter of 1405–6 to send the young prince to France out of the reach of Albany. Despite this, the manner of James's flight from Scotland was unplanned. In February 1406, the 12 year-old James together with Orkney and Fleming at the head of a large group of followers left the safety of Bishop Wardlaw's protection in St Andrews and journeyed through the hostile Douglas territories of east Lothian—an act probably designed to demonstrate James's royal endorsement of his custodians but also a move by his custodians to further their own interests in the traditional Douglas heartlands. Events went seriously wrong for James and he had to escape to the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth
along with the earl of Orkney after his escorts were attacked by James Douglas of Balvenie and which resulted in Sir David Fleming's death. Their confinement on the rock was to last for over a month before a ship from Danzig, en route for France picked them up. On 22 March 1406 the ship was taken by English pirates off Flamborough Head
who delivered James to King Henry IV of England
. Robert III had moved to Rothesay castle where, after hearing of his son's captivity, died 4 April 1406 and was buried in the Stewart foundation abbey of Paisley
.
, the daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stobhall and Mary de Montefichet. The marriage resulted in seven children :
Robert III also had at least two illegitimate children:
reported that Robert III described himself as "the worst of kings and the most miserable of men". Gordon Donaldson
in his general history Scottish Kings (1967) agrees and writes of the first two Stewart kings "that a famous dynasty, which was to produce so many men of remarkable ability ... made a somewhat pedestrian beginning". He immediately qualifies this statement with "it is true that the sources, both record and narrative, are scanty". He goes further and explains "admittedly, no attempt has yet been made to bring the resources of modern historical research to bear on Robert II and Robert III ... but it is beyond the bounds of probability that even if this is done either of them will emerge as a man who did much positively to shape Scottish history." When Robert III re-established his personal rule in 1393 Donaldson characterises it as a period of anarchy and of a king who couldn’t control his brothers Albany and Buchan nor his son Rothesay.
Ranald Nicholson agrees with Donaldson in his Scotland: The Later Middle Ages (1974) and describes Robert III as a failure, like his father, because he wasn’t dominant. Nicholson’s opinion was that in his period as lieutenant in the 1380s, Robert (John, earl of Carrick) was incapable of dealing with the breakdown of law and order citing the number of legal cases. The lameness of Carrick after being kicked by a horse was explained by Nicholson as the excuse needed to have him replaced by his brother Robert, earl of Fife as the king’s lieutenant. Nicholson writes "nothing much was to be hoped for in the heir apparent" and goes on to blame Robert III for the destruction of Forres and Elgin despite the lieutenancy of Fife at the time.
Andrew Barrell in his book Medieval Scotland (2000) puts forward that the first two Stewart kings "had difficulty in asserting themselves, partly because their dynasty was new to kingship and needed to establish itself". Robert III’s period of personal rule from 1393 was "disastrous" according to Barrell, and was exemplified by the king’s failure to re-take the royal fortress of Dumbarton. Barrell’s final assessment of Robert III was of a man crippled in body and incapable or averse to personally confronting Albany but sought to do so through promoting the status of his sons, and even then he failed.
Alexander Grant in Independence and Nationhood (1984) found Robert III to be "probably Scotland's least impressive king". Grant puts this into perspective and writes that it is notable that Robert III's reign could have been worse compared to the turmoil and violence experienced in England and France when ruled by weak kings—even on Robert’s death, Scotland didn’t descend into open civil war but was restricted to positioning among the royal family and its magnate groupings. Grant, in The New Cambridge Medieval History, explains that the 13th century Scottish kings ruled with the endorsement of practically all of the political classes but that none of the 14th century kings, from Robert I to Robert III, did so and retained loyalty by the use of patronage. The benefits of this were outweighed by the disadvantages—alienated lands reduced crown income, endowments had the same effect, the estates granted to nobles and church often in regality led to a loss of royal attendance within these territories and contributed to a diminishment of authority.
Michael Lynch suggests that the earlier 20th century historians made hasty evaluations of both Robert II and Robert III, when they characterised them as "pathetically weak personalities" and their reigns as "nineteen years of senility and sixteen of infirmity". Lynch also makes the point that the complaints made in the later chronicles of lawlessness and disturbance in the country was mainly confined to the north with the king’s brother Alexander, lord of Badenoch and earl of Buchan at its root. The death of John, lord of the Isles heralded a state of dissension between the lordship and the crown that was to last for two generations and which even Robert III’s successor James I was unable to deal with properly. Lynch states that much of the troubles during Robert III’s reign derived from the sharp deterioration of the royal revenues. The unruliness of northern Scotland was the result of competing factions within the royal family—Lynch suggests that the weakness in kingship before 1406 "can be exaggerated" citing Buchan’s enforced appearance at Robert III’s council to answer for his incendiary attack on Elgin and its cathedral and Albany’s obtainment of a submission from the lord of the Isles.
In Stephen Boardman’s The Early Stewart Kings, the younger Robert, then John, earl of Carrick, is shown to be an energetic ambitious man and fully engaged in the running of the country, at the centre of Anglo-Scottish diplomacy, and who became the pre-eminent magnate in Scotland and whose political importance south of the Forth would eclipse that of his father’s. Boardman describes how in 1384 he callously engineered the council to remove his father from power and to place it in his hands. Many of the problems of Robert III’s rule, Boardman argues, stemmed from the death of his brother-in-law and close ally James, earl of Douglas at Otterburnn in 1388 when his deliberately constructed and powerful affinity south of the Forth crumbled. That same year Carrick lost the lieutenancy to his brother Robert earl of Fife that was, Boardman suggests, a blow to the future king’s standing and one from which he would not fully recover. According to Boardman, when Robert became king in 1390 he was the victim of his father’s style of government characterised by Robert II’s creation of his sons, sons-in-law, and other major territorial nobles as powerful magnates to whom he delegated extensive authority—as a result Robert III’s brothers refused to act simply as liegemen to the king. Robert III, already weakened by council when he ascended the throne was in the end completely subordinated to the magnatial power of Albany and Douglas.
Robert II of Scotland
Robert II became King of Scots in 1371 as the first monarch of the House of Stewart. He was the son of Walter Stewart, hereditary High Steward of Scotland and of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I and of his first wife Isabella of Mar...
and Elizabeth Mure
Elizabeth Mure
Elizabeth Mure was mistress and then wife of Robert, High Steward of Scotland, and Guardian of Scotland , who later became King Robert II of Scotland.-History:...
and was legitimated with the marriage of his parents in 1347.
John joined his father and other magnates in a rebellion against his grand-uncle, David II
David II of Scotland
David II was King of Scots from 7 June 1329 until his death.-Early life:...
early in 1363 but submitted to him soon afterwards. He married Anabella Drummond
Anabella Drummond
Anabella Drummond was the Queen Consort of Scotland as the wife of Robert III of Scotland.-Family:She was the daughter of Sir John Drummond, of Stobhall, near Perth, 11th Thane of Lennox and Chief of Clan Drummond, and Mary Montifex...
, daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stobhall before 31 May 1367 when the Steward ceded to him the earldom of Atholl
Earl of Atholl
The Mormaer of Earl of Atholl refers to a medieval comital lordship straddling the highland province of Atholl , now in northern Perthshire. Atholl is a special Mormaerdom, because a King of Atholl is reported from the Pictish period. The only other two Pictish kingdoms to be known from...
. In 1368 David created him Earl of Carrick
Earl of Carrick
The Earl of Carrick was the head of a comital lordship of Carrick in southwestern Scotland. The title emerged in 1186, when Donnchad, son of Gille Brigte, Lord of Galloway, became Mormaer or Earl of Carrick in compensation for exclusion from the whole Lordship of Galloway...
. His father became king in 1371 after the unexpected death of the childless King David. In the succeeding years Carrick was influential in the government of the kingdom but became progressively more impatient at his father's longevity. In 1384 Carrick was appointed the king's lieutenant after having influenced the general council to remove Robert II from direct rule. Carrick's administration saw a renewal of the conflict with England. In 1388 the Scots defeated the English at the Battle of Otterburn
Battle of Otterburn
The Battle of Otterburn took place on the 5 August 1388, as part of the continuing border skirmishes between the Scottish and English.The best remaining record of the battle is from Jean Froissart's Chronicles in which he claims to have interviewed veterans from both sides of the battle...
where the Scots' commander, James, Earl of Douglas
James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas
Sir James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas and Mar was an influential and powerful magnate in the Kingdom of Scotland.-Early life:He was the eldest son and heir of William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas and Margaret, Countess of Mar...
, was killed. By this time Carrick had been badly injured by a horse-kick but the loss of his powerful ally, Douglas, saw a turnaround in magnate support in favour of his younger brother Robert
Robert Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany
Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany , a member of the Scottish royal house, served as Regent to three different Scottish monarchs...
, Earl of Fife
Earl of Fife
The Earl of Fife or Mormaer of Fife referred to the Gaelic comital lordship of Fife which existed in Scotland until the early 15th century....
and in December 1388 the council transferred the lieutenancy to Fife.
In 1390, Robert II died and Carrick ascended the throne as Robert III but without authority to rule directly. Fife continued as lieutenant until February 1393 when power was returned to the king in conjunction with his son David. At a council in 1399 owing to the king's 'sickness of his person', David, now Duke of Rothesay
Duke of Rothesay
Duke of Rothesay was a title of the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707, of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707 to 1801, and now of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland....
, became lieutenant of the kingdom in his own right but supervised by a special parliamentary group dominated by Fife, now styled Duke of Albany
Duke of Albany
Duke of Albany is a peerage title that has occasionally been bestowed on the younger sons in the Scottish, and later the British, royal family, particularly in the Houses of Stuart and Hanover....
. After this, Robert III withdrew to his lands in the west and for a time played little or no part in affairs of state. He was powerless to interfere when a dispute between Albany and Rothesay arose in 1401 which led to Rothesay's arrest and imprisonment at Albany's Falkland Castle
Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a former royal palace of the Scottish Kings. Today it is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, and serves as a tourist attraction.-Early years:...
where Rothesay died in March 1402. The general council absolved Albany from blame and reappointed him as lieutenant. The only impediment now remaining to an Albany Stewart monarchy was the king's only surviving son, James
James I of Scotland
James I, King of Scots , was the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline as youngest of three sons...
, Earl of Carrick. In February 1406 the 11 year-old James and a powerful group of followers clashed with Albany's Douglas allies resulting in the death of the king's counsellor Sir David Fleming of Cumbernauld. James escaped to the Bass Rock
Bass Rock
The Bass Rock, or simply The Bass, , is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland. It is approximately offshore, and north-east of North Berwick. It is a steep-sided volcanic rock, at its highest point, and is home to a large colony of gannets...
in the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
accompanied by Henry Sinclair
Henry II Sinclair, Earl of Orkney
Henry Sinclair, 2nd Earl of Orkney was a Scottish nobleman and Pantler of Scotland.-Life:He was son of Henry Sinclair, 1st Earl of Orkney by his wife Jean, daughter of John Halyburton of Dirleton. Sinclair was one of those captured following the Battle of Homildon Hill, but released on ransom...
, Earl of Orkney
Earl of Orkney
The Earl of Orkney was originally a Norse jarl ruling Orkney, Shetland and parts of Caithness and Sutherland. The Earls were periodically subject to the kings of Norway for the Northern Isles, and later also to the kings of Alba for those parts of their territory in mainland Scotland . The Earl's...
and remained there for a month before boarding a ship bound for France. The vessel was intercepted near Flamborough Head
Flamborough Head
Flamborough Head is a promontory of on the Yorkshire coast of England, between the Filey and Bridlington bays of the North Sea. It is a chalk headland, and the resistance it offers to coastal erosion may be contrasted with the low coast of Holderness to the south...
and James became the prisoner of Henry IV of England
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
and would remain captive for the next 18 years. Robert III died in Rothesay Castle
Rothesay Castle
Rothesay Castle is a ruined castle in Rothesay, the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in western Scotland. Located at , the castle has been described as "one of the most remarkable in Scotland", for its long history dating back to the beginning of the 13th century, and its unusual circular...
on 4 April 1406 shortly after learning of his son's imprisonment and was buried at Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey is a former Cluniac monastery, and current Church of Scotland parish kirk, located on the east bank of the White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, in west central Scotland.-History:...
.
Heir apparent
John, then styled Lord of Kyle, first appeared in the 1350s as the commander of a campaign in the lordship of Annandale to re-establish Scottish control over English occupied territory. In 1363, John joined his father Robert the StewardRobert II of Scotland
Robert II became King of Scots in 1371 as the first monarch of the House of Stewart. He was the son of Walter Stewart, hereditary High Steward of Scotland and of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I and of his first wife Isabella of Mar...
along with the earls of Douglas and March in a failed insurrection against King David II
David II of Scotland
David II was King of Scots from 7 June 1329 until his death.-Early life:...
. The reasons for the rebellion were varied. In 1362, David II supported several of his royal favourites in their titles to lands in the Stewart earldom of Monteith and thwarted Stewart claims to the earldom of Fife. The king's involvement with Margaret Logie (née Drummond) and soon to be his queen may also have represented a threat in the Steward's own earldom of Strathearn where the Drummonds also had interests, while Douglas and March mistrusted David's intentions towards them. These nobles were also unhappy at the king's squandering of funds provided to him for his ransom and with the prospect that they could be sent to England as guarantors for the ransom payments. The dissension between the king and the Stewarts looked to have been settled before the end of spring 1367. On 31 May the Steward gave the earldom of Atholl to John, who by this time was already married to Annabella Drummond, the daughter of the queen's deceased brother, Sir John Drummond and (probably) Mary, heir of William Montefichet, lord of Auchterarder. David II reinforced the position of John and Annabella by providing them with the earldom of Carrick on 22 June 1368 and the tacit approval of John as the king's probable heir. A Stewart succession was suddenly endangered when David II had his marriage to Margaret annulled in March 1369 leaving the king free to re-marry and with the prospect of a Bruce heir.
On 22 February 1371 David II (who was preparing to marry the earl of March's sister, Agnes Dunbar) unexpectedly died, presumably to the relief of both John and his father. Robert was crowned at Scone Abbey
Scone Abbey
Scone Abbey was a house of Augustinian canons based at Scone, Perthshire , Scotland. Varying dates for the foundation have been given, but it was certainly founded between 1114 and 1122....
on 27 March 1371 and before this date had given John—now styled Steward of Scotland—the ancestral lands surrounding the Firth of Clyde
Firth of Clyde
The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran.At...
. The manner in which the succession was to take place was first entailed by Robert I when female heirs were excluded and David II attempted unsuccessfully on several occasions to have the council change the succession procedure. Robert II quickly moved to ensure the succession of John when the general council attending his coronation officially named Carrick as heir—in 1373 the Stewart succession was further strengthened when parliament passed entails defining the manner in which each of the king's sons could inherit the crown. After the coronation John Dunbar
John Dunbar, Earl of Moray
John Dunbar, Earl of Moray was a Scottish nobleman.He was nephew of the previous Earl of Moray, John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray. However he did not inherit it the earldom automatically...
who had received the lordship of Fife from David II now resigned the title so that the king's second son, Robert, earl of Monteith could receive the earldom of Fife
Earl of Fife
The Earl of Fife or Mormaer of Fife referred to the Gaelic comital lordship of Fife which existed in Scotland until the early 15th century....
—Dunbar was compensated with the provision of the earldom of Moray
Earl of Moray
The title Earl of Moray has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland.Prior to the formal establishment of the peerage, Earl of Moray, numerous individuals ruled the kingdom of Moray or Mormaer of Moray until 1130 when the kingdom was destroyed by David I of Scotland.-History of the...
.
A son, David, the future Duke of Rothesay
Duke of Rothesay
Duke of Rothesay was a title of the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707, of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707 to 1801, and now of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland....
, was born to Carrick and Annabella on 24 October 1378. In 1381, Carrick was calling himself 'lieutenant for the marches' sustained by his connections to border magnates such as his brother-in-law, James Douglas
James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas
Sir James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas and Mar was an influential and powerful magnate in the Kingdom of Scotland.-Early life:He was the eldest son and heir of William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas and Margaret, Countess of Mar...
son of William, Earl of Douglas who he succeeded in 1384.
Lieutenant of the kingdom
Lord of Badenoch
The Lord of Badenoch was a magnate who ruled the lordship of Badenoch in the 13th century and early 14th century. The lordship may have been created out of the territory of the Meic Uilleim, after William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan, Justiciar of Scotia and Warden of Moray defeated Gille...
and Ross
Earl of Ross
The Mormaer or Earl of Ross was the leader of a medieval Gaelic lordship in northern Scotland, roughly between the River Oykel and the River Beauly.-Origins and transfers:...
was in the north. Buchan's use of cateran
Cateran
The term cateran historically referred to a band of fighting men of a Scotland Highland clan; hence the term applied to the Highland, and later to any, marauders or cattle-lifters....
supporters drew criticism from Northern nobles and prelates and demonstrated Robert II's inability or reluctance to control his son and resulted in him losing council support. The king's failure to take a leading role in prosecuting the war with England and Buchan's abuse of royal power in the north was the backdrop to the general council meeting at Holyrood Abbey
Holyrood Abbey
Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Reformation the Palace of Holyroodhouse was expanded...
in November 1384 where the decision was taken to sideline the king and provide the ruling powers to Carrick.
In July 1385, under Carrick's lieutenancy, a Scottish army that included a French force commanded by Admiral Jean de Vienne
Jean de Vienne
Jean de Vienne was a French knight, general and Admiral of France during the Hundred Years' War.-Early life:Jean de Vienne was born at Dole, in what is now Franche-Comté. As a nobleman, he started his military career at the age of 19, and was made a knight at 21.-Career:By the age of 24, de Vienne...
penetrated into the north of England without any serious gains but provoked a damaging retaliatory attack by Richard II
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
. In 1385, the general council sharply condemned Buchan's behaviour and sat with the intention of maneuvering Carrick into firmly intervening in the north.
Despite this, Carrick did not bring Buchan under control and many of the lieutenant's supporters although pleased at the resumption of hostilities with England were unhappy at the continued northern lawlessness. Carrick had been made the king's lieutenant partly on the need to curb Buchan's excesses yet despite this by February 1387 Buchan had become even more powerful and influential when he was appointed Justiciar north of the Forth.
A series of truces halted any further significant fighting but on 19 April 1388, English envoys sent to Scotland to again extend the ceasefire returned to Richard's court empty-handed—by 29 April Robert II was conducting a council in Edinburgh to authorise renewed conflict with England. Although the Scots army defeated the English at the Battle of Otterburn
Battle of Otterburn
The Battle of Otterburn took place on the 5 August 1388, as part of the continuing border skirmishes between the Scottish and English.The best remaining record of the battle is from Jean Froissart's Chronicles in which he claims to have interviewed veterans from both sides of the battle...
in Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
in August 1388, its leader James
James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas
Sir James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas and Mar was an influential and powerful magnate in the Kingdom of Scotland.-Early life:He was the eldest son and heir of William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas and Margaret, Countess of Mar...
, earl of Douglas was killed. Douglas died childless triggering a series of claims on his estate—Carrick backed his brother-in-law Malcolm Drummond, the husband of Douglas's sister while Carrick's brother Fife took the side of Sir Archibald Douglas, lord of Galloway who held an entail on his kinsman's estates and who ultimately succeeded to the earldom. Fife, with his powerful Douglas ally together with those loyal to the king ensured at the December 1388 council meeting that the lieutenancy of Scotland would pass from Carrick (who had recently been badly injured from a horse-kick) to Fife.
There was general approval of Fife's intention to properly resolve the situation of lawlessness in the north and in particular the activities of Buchan his younger brother. Buchan was stripped of his position of justiciar which would soon be given to Fife's son, Murdoch Stewart. In January 1390 Robert II was in the north-east perhaps to strengthen the now changed political outlook in the north of the kingdom. He returned to Dundonald Castle
Dundonald Castle
Dundonald Castle is situated on a hill overlooking the village of Dundonald, between Kilmarnock and Troon in South Ayrshire, Scotland. Dundonald Castle is a fortified tower house built for Robert II on his accession to the throne of Scotland in 1371 and it was used as a royal residence by the early...
in Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...
in March where he died on 19 April and was buried at Scone on 25 April.
Kingship
In May 1390 parliament granted John permission to change his regnal name to Robert, probably in part to maintain the link back to Robert I but also to disassociate himself from King John BalliolJohn of Scotland
John Balliol , known to the Scots as Toom Tabard , was King of Scots from 1292 to 1296.-Early life:Little of John's early life is known. He was born between 1248 and 1250 at an unknown location, possibilities include Galloway, Picardy and Barnard Castle, County Durham...
. The four month delay in the crowning of Robert III can be seen as a period when Fife and his affinity sought to ensure their future positions and which also saw Buchan's opportunistic attack on Elgin Cathedral
Elgin Cathedral
Elgin Cathedral, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, sometimes referred to as The Lantern of the North is a historic ruin in Elgin, Moray, north-east Scotland. It was established in 1224 on an area of ground granted by Alexander II that was close to the River Lossie and outside of the burgh of...
, settling an old score with the bishop of Moray
Bishop of Moray
The Bishop of Moray or Bishop of Elgin was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Moray in northern Scotland, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics...
and possibly also a protest at Fife's reappointment as the king's lieutenant.
In 1392, Robert III strengthened the position of his son David, now earl of Carrick, when he endowed him with a large annuity that allowed the young prince to build up his household and affinity and then in 1393 regained his right to direct rule when the general council decided that Fife's lieutenancy should end and that Carrick now of age should assist his father. This independence of action was demonstrated in 1395–6 when he responded to Carrick's unauthorised marriage to Elizabeth Dunbar, daughter of George
George I, Earl of March
George de Dunbar, 10th Earl of Dunbar and March , 12th Lord of Annandale and Lord of the Isle of Man, was "one of the most powerful nobles in Scotland of his time, and the rival of the Douglases."-Family:...
earl of March
Earl of March
The title The Earl of March has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of England. The title derived from the "marches" or boundaries between England and either Wales or Scotland , and was held by several great feudal families which owned lands in those border...
by ensuring its annulment. The king appears to have also taken over the conduct of foreign affairs, preserving the peace with Richard II and managing to increase the power of the Red Douglas Earl of Angus in the southeast of the country as a counter-balance to Fife's Black Douglas ally. He further showed his authority when in an attempt to reduce inter-clan feuding and lawlessness, he arranged and oversaw a gladiatorial limited combat between the clans of Kay and Quhele (Clan Chattan) in Perth
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
on 28 April 1396. David of Carrick progressively acted independently of his father taking control of the Stewart lands in the south-west while maintaining his links with the Drummonds of his mother and all at a time when Fife's influence in central Scotland remained strong.
Falkland Palace
Falkland Palace in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a former royal palace of the Scottish Kings. Today it is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, and serves as a tourist attraction.-Early years:...
that included Albany, Rothesay, Archibald, earl of Douglas, Albany's son Murdoch, justiciar North of the Forth along with the bishops Walter of St Andrews and Gilbert of Aberdeen—the outcome of this meeting manifested itself at the council meeting held in January 1399 when the king was forced to surrender power to Rothesay for a period of three years.
The kin of the border earls took advantage of the confusion in England after the deposition of Richard II
Richard II of England
Richard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
by Henry duke of Lancaster
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
and harried and forayed into England causing much damage and taking Wark Castle around 13 October 1399. A far reaching dispute between Rothesay and George Dunbar, earl of March occurred when Rothesay, rather than remarrying Elizabeth Dunbar as previously agreed, decided to marry Mary Douglas, daughter of the earl of Douglas—March, enraged by this wrote to Henry IV on 18 February 1400 and by July had entered Henry's service. In 1401, Rothesay took on a more assertive and autonomous attitude, circumventing proper procedures, unjustifiably appropriating sums from the customs of the burghs on the east coast before provoking further animosity when he confiscated the revenues of the temporalities of the vacant bishopric of St Andrews. Rothesay had also in conjunction with his uncle, Alexander Stewart, earl of Buchan, confronted Albany's influence in central Scotland—as soon his lieutenancy expired in 1402 Rothesay was arrested and imprisoned in Albany's Falkland Castle where he died in March 1402. Rothesay's death probably lay with Albany and Douglas who would have looked upon the possibility of the young prince acceding to the throne with great apprehension—they certainly fell under suspicion but were cleared of all blame by a general council, 'where, by divine providence and not otherwise, it is discerned that he departed from this life.'
Following Rothesay's death—with the restoration of the lieutenancy to Albany and the Scottish defeat at the battle of Humbleton—Robert III experienced almost total exclusion from political authority and was limited to his lands in the west. By late 1404 Robert, with the aid of his close councillors Henry Sinclair, earl of Orkney, Sir David Fleming and Henry Wardlaw, had succeeded in re-establishing himself and intervened in favour of Alexander Stewart
Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar
-Biography:He was an illegitimate son of Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan and probably Mairead inghean Eachann.Alexander held the Earldom of Mar and the Lordship of the Garioch in right of his first wife Isabel Douglas, Countess of Mar . Alexander's marriage to Isabella followed his capture of...
, the earl of Buchan's illegitimate son, who was in dispute with Albany over the earldom of Mar. Robert III again exhibited his new resolve when in December 1404 he created a new regality in the Stewartry for his sole remaining son and heir James now earl of Carrick—an act designed to prevent these lands falling into Albany's hands. By 28 October 1405 Robert III had returned to Dundonald Castle in Ayrshire. With the king's health failing, it was decided in the winter of 1405–6 to send the young prince to France out of the reach of Albany. Despite this, the manner of James's flight from Scotland was unplanned. In February 1406, the 12 year-old James together with Orkney and Fleming at the head of a large group of followers left the safety of Bishop Wardlaw's protection in St Andrews and journeyed through the hostile Douglas territories of east Lothian—an act probably designed to demonstrate James's royal endorsement of his custodians but also a move by his custodians to further their own interests in the traditional Douglas heartlands. Events went seriously wrong for James and he had to escape to the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
along with the earl of Orkney after his escorts were attacked by James Douglas of Balvenie and which resulted in Sir David Fleming's death. Their confinement on the rock was to last for over a month before a ship from Danzig, en route for France picked them up. On 22 March 1406 the ship was taken by English pirates off Flamborough Head
Flamborough Head
Flamborough Head is a promontory of on the Yorkshire coast of England, between the Filey and Bridlington bays of the North Sea. It is a chalk headland, and the resistance it offers to coastal erosion may be contrasted with the low coast of Holderness to the south...
who delivered James to King Henry IV of England
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
. Robert III had moved to Rothesay castle where, after hearing of his son's captivity, died 4 April 1406 and was buried in the Stewart foundation abbey of Paisley
Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey is a former Cluniac monastery, and current Church of Scotland parish kirk, located on the east bank of the White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, in west central Scotland.-History:...
.
Family and issue
Robert III married Anabella DrummondAnabella Drummond
Anabella Drummond was the Queen Consort of Scotland as the wife of Robert III of Scotland.-Family:She was the daughter of Sir John Drummond, of Stobhall, near Perth, 11th Thane of Lennox and Chief of Clan Drummond, and Mary Montifex...
, the daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stobhall and Mary de Montefichet. The marriage resulted in seven children :
- David StewartDavid Stewart, Duke of RothesayDavid Stewart was the heir to the throne of Scotland from 1390 and the first Duke of Rothesay from 1398. He also held the titles of Earl of Atholl and Earl of Carrick...
(b. 24 Oct 1378- d. 26 Mar 1402) who was betrothed to Elizabeth Dunbar but later married Marjory Douglas, the daughter of Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of DouglasArchibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of DouglasArchibald the Grim also known as Blak Archibald , 3rd Earl of Douglas, Earl of Wigtown, Lord of Douglas, Lord of Bothwell and Lord of Galloway was a late medieval Scottish magnate....
and Jean Moray (or Joanna Moravia) of Strathearn. - Robert Stewart (died young)
- James I of ScotlandJames I of ScotlandJames I, King of Scots , was the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline as youngest of three sons...
(b. Dec 1394 - d. 21 Feb 1437) - Margaret Stewart (died between 1450 and 1456), married Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, the son of Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of DouglasArchibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of DouglasArchibald the Grim also known as Blak Archibald , 3rd Earl of Douglas, Earl of Wigtown, Lord of Douglas, Lord of Bothwell and Lord of Galloway was a late medieval Scottish magnate....
and Jean Moray of Strathearn. - Mary Stewart. 1) Married George Douglas, 1st Earl of AngusGeorge Douglas, 1st Earl of AngusGeorge Douglas, 1st Earl of Angus was born at Tantallon Castle, East Lothian, Scotland. The bastard son of William, 1st Earl of Douglas and Margaret Stewart, Dowager Countess of Mar & Countess of Angus and Lady Abernethy in her own right....
. 2) Bethrothed to Sir William Cunningham 3) Married to Sir William Graham of Kincardine. 4) Married Sir William Edmonton of Duntreath. - Elizabeth Stewart, married James Douglas, 1st Lord Dalkeith, son of Sir James Douglas and Agnes Dunbar
- Egidia Stewart (died young).
Robert III also had at least two illegitimate children:
- James Stuart of Killbride.
- John Stewart of Ardgowan and Blackhall, who was an ancestor to the Shaw-Stewart BaronetsShaw-Stewart BaronetsThe Stewart, later Shaw-Stewart Baronetcy, of Greenock and Blackhall in the County of Renfrew, is a title in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. It was created on 27 March 1667 for Archibald Stewart. This family is descended in the direct male line from Sir John Stewart, illegitimate son of Robert III...
.
Historiography
Abbot Walter BowerWalter Bower
Walter Bower , Scottish chronicler, was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian.He was abbot of Inchcolm Abbey from 1418, was one of the commissioners for the collection of the ransom of James I, King of Scots, in 1423 and 1424, and in 1433 one of the embassy to Paris on the business of the...
reported that Robert III described himself as "the worst of kings and the most miserable of men". Gordon Donaldson
Gordon Donaldson
Gordon Donaldson CBE, FRHistS, FBA was a Scottish historian.Born in Edinburgh of Shetlander descent, Donaldson attended the Royal High School of Edinburgh, before being awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Edinburgh. He also supplemented his income by undertaking some tutoring...
in his general history Scottish Kings (1967) agrees and writes of the first two Stewart kings "that a famous dynasty, which was to produce so many men of remarkable ability ... made a somewhat pedestrian beginning". He immediately qualifies this statement with "it is true that the sources, both record and narrative, are scanty". He goes further and explains "admittedly, no attempt has yet been made to bring the resources of modern historical research to bear on Robert II and Robert III ... but it is beyond the bounds of probability that even if this is done either of them will emerge as a man who did much positively to shape Scottish history." When Robert III re-established his personal rule in 1393 Donaldson characterises it as a period of anarchy and of a king who couldn’t control his brothers Albany and Buchan nor his son Rothesay.
Ranald Nicholson agrees with Donaldson in his Scotland: The Later Middle Ages (1974) and describes Robert III as a failure, like his father, because he wasn’t dominant. Nicholson’s opinion was that in his period as lieutenant in the 1380s, Robert (John, earl of Carrick) was incapable of dealing with the breakdown of law and order citing the number of legal cases. The lameness of Carrick after being kicked by a horse was explained by Nicholson as the excuse needed to have him replaced by his brother Robert, earl of Fife as the king’s lieutenant. Nicholson writes "nothing much was to be hoped for in the heir apparent" and goes on to blame Robert III for the destruction of Forres and Elgin despite the lieutenancy of Fife at the time.
Andrew Barrell in his book Medieval Scotland (2000) puts forward that the first two Stewart kings "had difficulty in asserting themselves, partly because their dynasty was new to kingship and needed to establish itself". Robert III’s period of personal rule from 1393 was "disastrous" according to Barrell, and was exemplified by the king’s failure to re-take the royal fortress of Dumbarton. Barrell’s final assessment of Robert III was of a man crippled in body and incapable or averse to personally confronting Albany but sought to do so through promoting the status of his sons, and even then he failed.
Alexander Grant in Independence and Nationhood (1984) found Robert III to be "probably Scotland's least impressive king". Grant puts this into perspective and writes that it is notable that Robert III's reign could have been worse compared to the turmoil and violence experienced in England and France when ruled by weak kings—even on Robert’s death, Scotland didn’t descend into open civil war but was restricted to positioning among the royal family and its magnate groupings. Grant, in The New Cambridge Medieval History, explains that the 13th century Scottish kings ruled with the endorsement of practically all of the political classes but that none of the 14th century kings, from Robert I to Robert III, did so and retained loyalty by the use of patronage. The benefits of this were outweighed by the disadvantages—alienated lands reduced crown income, endowments had the same effect, the estates granted to nobles and church often in regality led to a loss of royal attendance within these territories and contributed to a diminishment of authority.
Michael Lynch suggests that the earlier 20th century historians made hasty evaluations of both Robert II and Robert III, when they characterised them as "pathetically weak personalities" and their reigns as "nineteen years of senility and sixteen of infirmity". Lynch also makes the point that the complaints made in the later chronicles of lawlessness and disturbance in the country was mainly confined to the north with the king’s brother Alexander, lord of Badenoch and earl of Buchan at its root. The death of John, lord of the Isles heralded a state of dissension between the lordship and the crown that was to last for two generations and which even Robert III’s successor James I was unable to deal with properly. Lynch states that much of the troubles during Robert III’s reign derived from the sharp deterioration of the royal revenues. The unruliness of northern Scotland was the result of competing factions within the royal family—Lynch suggests that the weakness in kingship before 1406 "can be exaggerated" citing Buchan’s enforced appearance at Robert III’s council to answer for his incendiary attack on Elgin and its cathedral and Albany’s obtainment of a submission from the lord of the Isles.
In Stephen Boardman’s The Early Stewart Kings, the younger Robert, then John, earl of Carrick, is shown to be an energetic ambitious man and fully engaged in the running of the country, at the centre of Anglo-Scottish diplomacy, and who became the pre-eminent magnate in Scotland and whose political importance south of the Forth would eclipse that of his father’s. Boardman describes how in 1384 he callously engineered the council to remove his father from power and to place it in his hands. Many of the problems of Robert III’s rule, Boardman argues, stemmed from the death of his brother-in-law and close ally James, earl of Douglas at Otterburnn in 1388 when his deliberately constructed and powerful affinity south of the Forth crumbled. That same year Carrick lost the lieutenancy to his brother Robert earl of Fife that was, Boardman suggests, a blow to the future king’s standing and one from which he would not fully recover. According to Boardman, when Robert became king in 1390 he was the victim of his father’s style of government characterised by Robert II’s creation of his sons, sons-in-law, and other major territorial nobles as powerful magnates to whom he delegated extensive authority—as a result Robert III’s brothers refused to act simply as liegemen to the king. Robert III, already weakened by council when he ascended the throne was in the end completely subordinated to the magnatial power of Albany and Douglas.
Fictional portrayals
Robert III has been depicted in historical novels. They include:- The Fair Maid of PerthThe Fair Maid of PerthThe Fair Maid of Perth is a novel by Sir Walter Scott. Inspired by the strange story of the Battle of the North Inch, it is set in Perth and other parts of Scotland around 1400....
(1828) by Walter ScottWalter ScottSir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
. The novel covers events from 1396 to 1402, depicting "Scottish Clan feuds" and other disturbances in Robert III's reign. Robert III himself, David Stewart, Duke of RothesayDavid Stewart, Duke of RothesayDavid Stewart was the heir to the throne of Scotland from 1390 and the first Duke of Rothesay from 1398. He also held the titles of Earl of Atholl and Earl of Carrick...
, and Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany are prominently depicted. Archibald the Grim, Earl of DouglasEarl of DouglasThis page is concerned with the holders of the extinct title Earl of Douglas and the preceding feudal barons of Douglas, South Lanarkshire. The title was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, son of Sir Archibald Douglas, Guardian of Scotland...
stands out among the secondary characters. - The Lords of Misrule (1976) by Nigel TranterNigel TranterNigel Tranter OBE was a Scottish historian and author.-Early life:Nigel Tranter was born in Glasgow and educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh. He trained as an accountant and worked in Scottish National Insurance Company, founded by his uncle. In 1933 he married May Jean Campbell Grieve...
. Covers events from c. 1388 to 1390. Depicting the last years of Robert II of ScotlandRobert II of ScotlandRobert II became King of Scots in 1371 as the first monarch of the House of Stewart. He was the son of Walter Stewart, hereditary High Steward of Scotland and of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I and of his first wife Isabella of Mar...
and the rise of Robert III to the throne. As the elderly king has grown "feeble, weary and half-blind", his sons, daughters and other nobles campaign for power. An ungoverned Scotland is ravaged by their conflicts. Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany and Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan are prominently featured. - A Folly of Princes (1977) by Nigel Tranter. Covers events from c. 1390 to 1402. Robert III turns out to be a weak king. His son David Stewart, Duke of RothesayDavid Stewart, Duke of RothesayDavid Stewart was the heir to the throne of Scotland from 1390 and the first Duke of Rothesay from 1398. He also held the titles of Earl of Atholl and Earl of Carrick...
, and brother Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany rival each other for political power in his court. But the struggle attracts the attention of Richard IIRichard II of EnglandRichard II was King of England, a member of the House of Plantagenet and the last of its main-line kings. He ruled from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. Richard was a son of Edward, the Black Prince, and was born during the reign of his grandfather, Edward III...
and Henry IVHenry IV of EnglandHenry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
, leading to English involvement. - The Captive Crown (1977) by Nigel Tranter. Covers events from 1402 to 1411. It depicts the last few years in the reign of Robert III, the captivity of James I of ScotlandJames I of ScotlandJames I, King of Scots , was the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline as youngest of three sons...
at the hands of Henry IV and the events back in Scotland. Concluding with the Battle of HarlawBattle of HarlawThe Battle of Harlaw was a Scottish clan battle fought on 24 July 1411 just north of Inverurie in Aberdeenshire. It was one of a series of battles fought during the Middle Ages between the barons of northeast Scotland against those from the west coast....
.
Ancestry
See also
- Scottish monarchs' family treeScottish monarchs' family treeThis is a family tree for the kings of Scotland, since the unification under the House of Alpin in 834, to the personal union with England in 1603 under James VI of Scotland...