General Notes

Fought at Halidon Hill, 19 July 1333.

Created Earl of Strathearn after forfeiture of Malise, earl of Strathearn, 1343.

'Robertus Senescallus Scocie ac comes de Stratherne' (Red Book of Menteith II: 249-50, no 32)

Succeeded Uncle (David II) as King of Scots, 22 Feb 1370-71.

Founder of the Royal House of Stewart.

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In command of the 2nd div. of the Scotch Army at Halidon Hill.
One of the few who escaped the carnage of that disastrous day.
Acceded: 26 Mar 1371, Scone. Interred: Scone Abbey, Perthshire.
King of Scotland 22 Feb 1370/1-1390
First king of the Stuart House of both English & Scotch royalty.
7th High Steward of Scotland.
Earl of Atholl, 1341, Earl of Strathern 1358.

See Europäisch Stammtafeln Bund II tafel 69.
There is some confusion over which daughter is which and who are their mothers which still needs some clarification.


King of the Scots 1370-90; That Robert Stewart, the only son of Marjorie Bruce, became Robert II was the conclusion of a chain of unlikeley events. His initial survival was almost miraculous, for he was delivered by Caeserean section from the body of his mother, who had died of injuries after a fall from her horse. When he was two years old in 1318, he was acknowledged as his grandfather's heir, a position he forfeited in 1324 on the birth of the future King David II. Forty-seven years later,when against all expectations David II had failed to perpetuate his dynasty, Robert II was crowned and anointed at Scone on 26 March 1371. Perhaps a man advanced to supreme power by the delayed action of chance could not have been expected to be a very decisive ruler; but it was unfortunate that, by the standards of his time, he was well past his prime and in poor health, so that he lacked the energy required of a king responsible for every aspect of government. [Leo van de Pas]

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Robert II, King of Scots; born 2 March 1315/6; succeeded father as 7th Great Steward of Scotland 1327; fought at Battle of Halidon Hill 1333; commanding the retreat after his uncle David II was captured at Neville's Cross 1346, Regent or Guardian of Scotland 1346-7, succeeded David II 1370/1; married 1st (papal dispensation 22 Nov 1347) Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Adam Muir of Rowallan; married 2nd (papal dispensation 2 May 1355) Eupheme (died 1387), daughter of Hugh, 4th Earl of Ross, and widow of John, 3rd Earl of Moray (killed at Neville's Cross 1346), and died 19 April 1390. [Burke's Peerage] ---------------------------------------------------- Robert II Stewart, b. 2 Mar 1315/6, d. Dundonald Castle 19 Apr 1390, Earl of Atholl 1341, Earl of Strathern 1358, King of Scotland 22 Feb 1370/1 - 1390; m. (1) 22 Nov 1347 (Papal dispensation), Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Adam Mure, of Rowallan, co. Ayr, and Joan Cunningham. [Magna Charta Sureties]

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Robert II

born March 2, 1316
died April 19, 1390, Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scot.

also called (until 1371) Robert the Steward , or (1357-71) Robert Stewart, Earl of Strathearn king of Scots from 1371, 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. [Encyclopædia Britannica, online <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=65510>]

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[Earl of Atholl] ROBERT STEWART, HIGH STEWARD OF SCOTLAND, son and heir of Walter Stewart, also High Steward, by Marjory (who died 1316), 1st daughter of ROBERT I, King of Scotland, was born 2 March 1316, succeeded his father 9 April 1327, and was in command at Halidon hill, 19 July 1333, in consequence of which his estates were forfeited and conferred, by Balliol, on David (of Strathbogie), Earl of Atholl. From 1338 to 1341 he was REGENT OF SCOTLAND, and, on 16 February 1341/2, was created EARL OF ATHOLL [Scotland] on the resignation of William Douglas, Earl of Atholl [Scotland]. From 1346 to 1357, during the imprisonment of David II in England, he was again REGENT [Scotland]. In 1358 he was created EARL OF STRATHERN [Scotland]. On 22 Feb. I370/1 he succeeded his uncle, David II, as KING OF SCOTLAND, under the name of ROBERT II, when his Dignities became (apparently) merged in the Crown [Scotland]. He married, 1stly, by Papal dispensation dated 22 November 1347 (in which he is styled "Robertus, Dominus de Stratgrif"), Elizabeth (a), daughter of Sir Adam MURE, of Rowallan, co. Ayr (b), their issue (born before marriage) being legitimated by the dispensation, and their right of succession to the Crown being further confirmed by act, dated 1373. He married, 2ndly, by Papal dispensation dated 2 May 1355, Eupheme, widow of John, EARL OF MORAY [Scotland], daughter of Hugh, 6th EARL or Ross [Scotland], by his last wife, Margaret GRAHAM. She died in 1387. He died at Dundonald Castle, 19 April 1390. [Complete Peerage I:310-11]

(a) A marriage between Hugh Giffard of the diocese of St Andrew's and Elizabeth Mure, of the diocese of Glasgow, contracted when he was 9, and she was 11, was dissolved by the Pope, XIII Kal. Junii 1345. Presumabley this is the Elizabeth of the text.

(b) Sir Adam's 1st wife was Joan, widow of Hugh Houston, [Hutscomperi] da. of (-) Cunningham; his 2nd wife was Janet Mure, heiress of Polkelly; it is not known which was mother of Elizabeth.