Historical Study of Scotland - Chapter One

 

Historical Study of Scotland

Chapter One

 

Rìgh Alba, 1249 - 1286

 

(King of Scotland, 1249 - 1286)

 

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Alaxandair mac Alaxandair, Alexander III, (4 September 1241 – 18 March 1286) was the Rìgh Alba, King of Scotland, from 1249.

Alexander III was born at Roxburgh in the Scottish Borders and was the only son of Alexander II. His father died on July 6, 1249, and he became king at age seven. He was the first recorded king to be inaugurated at Scone, Peairt agus Ceann Rois, Perth and Kinross, on July 13, 1249.

 

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(History of Scone, no date)

 

During the Middle Ages Scone also gained importance as a religious centre. In 1114, Alexander I founded an Augustinian priory beside the Moot Hill. Half a century later, in 1169, the priory was elevated to the status of abbey, as befitted a place where kings were made. At Scone in 1249, the seven-year-old Alexander III became the first Scottish king to be crowned, rather than merely enthroned.

 

History of Scone (no date)

Available at: https://www.scone-palace.co.uk/history-of-scone(link is external)

(Accessed: 19 November 2024)

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Peairt agus Ceann Rois is, to this day, nestled by the Highland Boundary Fault with the mountainous landscape of the north rising above Peairt agus Ceann Rois, and a sloping and flat area to the south where farming was more common than the rugged Highland mountains.

Alexander III married Margaret of England in 1251, the daughter of the reigning Henry III, south of the border in England. Henry seized the opportunity to demand homage from his son-in-law in a feudal alliance, but Alexander refused defiantly in protection of an independent Alba.

They were married on Boxing Day, the 26th of December 1251, where, ringing profoundly with the era, Alexander was ten years old and Margaret of England was only eleven. Margaret of England died in 1275. They had three children, all of whom outlived their mother but died before their father:

 

1. Margaret (28 February 1261 – 9 April 1283) married into Norway's Royal bloodline and would become King Eiric II of Norway’s wife, but died in 1283 during childbirth.

 

2. Alexander, the eldest son and the Prince of Scotland (21 January 1264 – 28 January 1284), died at 20.

 

3. David (20 March 1272 – June 1281) passed away in his youth at 9.

 

At a young age, and what would be regarded as an inexperienced age of 21 in 1262, Alexander III declared his intention of resuming the claims on Na h-Eileanan Siar (Outer Hebrides) which his father, Alexander II, had pursued before his death.

Norway held a grip on parts of modern-day Scotland and the Isle of Man; in 1262, Na h-Eileanan Siar, Shetland, and Orkney belonged to the Norwegians.

 

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(McGraw, 2023)

 

Towards the end of the 8th century, Vikings from Scandinavia arrived in Scotland. Their violent attacks on the islands and coastline, in which they looted precious metals and objects, eventually turned to settlement when the raiders decided to stay.

 

McGraw, J. (2023) The Kingdom of the Isles: Viking Archaeology in Scotland - Dig it!

Available at: https://www.digitscotland.com/the-kingdom-of-the-isles-viking-archaeology-in-scotland(link is external)

(Accessed: 19 November 2024)

 

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Haakon IV of Norway rejected the claims he considered outrageous and responded with a strong and forceful invasion in 1263, which reached as far inland as the Isle of Arran on the west coast. Alexander III prolonged the negotiations artfully with Haakon IV until the storms that plagued the West of Alba in September and October inevitably began, damaging Haakon IV’s ships irreparably. 

However, Haakon IV advanced and invaded mainland Alba: the Battle of Largs in October 1263. The battle did not secure a resounding win for Alba, however, Haakon turned homewards and, with a stroke of fortune, died in Orkney in December 1263.

In 1266, with no attacking response and no further invasion, Magnus VI of Norway signed the Treaty of Perth, under which the Isle of Man and Na h-Eileanan Siar now belonged to Alba. Norway kept claim to Orkney and Shetland until two centuries later, in 1469, when they were gifted as a dowry for James III of Scotland, House of Stewart, who married Margaret of Denmark.

 

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(McGraw, 2023)

 

Norse influence in Na h-Eileanan Siar waned when Norway ceded the islands, along with the Isle of Man, to Scotland in the 1266 Treaty of Perth(link is external) in return for £2,500 and guarantees about future Norwegian rights over Orkney and Shetland.

McGraw, J. (2023) The Kingdom of the Isles: Viking Archaeology in Scotland - Dig it!

Available at: https://www.digitscotland.com/the-kingdom-of-the-isles-viking-archaeology-in-scotland/(link is external)

(Accessed: 19 November 2024)

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Due to the death of all three of Alexander's children, all within a few years of one another, his heir for succession became an important priority. In 1284, his heir-presumptive was his granddaughter, Margaret the Maid of Norway, and the daughter of the reigning King Eiric II of Norway. 

However, a male heir was considered more suitable and prosperous to the Scottish nobles and the nation of Alba, so Alaxandair mac Alaxandair married for a second time on the 1st of November 1285, Yolande de Dreux. - Expand on Yolande de Dreux.

 

After celebrating at Edinburgh Castle on the 18th of March 1286, Alexander rode a horse through a tumultuous, stormy night to visit Yolande, who was staying at Kinghorn, Fife. The next day, he was found dead with a broken neck on the beach after toppling from a cliff, causing him to fall from his horse.

 

Yolande had fallen pregnant but later lost the child during pregnancy, presumably from a miscarriage. His granddaughter, Margaret the Maid of Norway, became the heir to the Scottish throne at only three years old.

Dunfermline Abbey, where the Rìgh Alba had been buried since 1165, dating back to Malcolm IV, Alaxandair mac Alaxandair and the golden era, was laid to rest.

 

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(History, 2023)
The Abbey Church is the centrepiece of Dunfermline, one of the oldest settlements in Scotland and once its proud capital.  The history of The Abbey is entwined with that of Scotland itself, as Dunfermline was the burial site of the Scottish monarchs after the island of Iona, and you will see many reminders and relics there of great Scottish rulers of the past.

History (2023)

Available at: https://dunfermlineabbey.com/wwp/?page_id=16696(link is external)

(Accessed: 19 November 2024)