General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> King Of Scotland
William I - WILLIAM THE LION (b. 1143--d. Dec. 4, 1214, Stirling, Stirlingshire, Scot.)
King of Scotland from 1165 to 1214; although he submitted to English overlordship for 15 years 1174-89) of his reign, he ultimately obtained independence for his kingdom.
William was the second son of the Scottish Henry, Earl of Northumberland, whose title he inherited in 1152. He was forced, however, to relinquish this earldom to King Henry II of England (reigned 1154-89) in 1157. Succeeding to the throne of his elder brother, King Malcolm IV, in 1165, William joined a revolt of Henry's sons (1173) in an attempt to regain Northumberland. He was captured near Alnwick, Northumberland in 1174 and released after agreeing to recognize the overlordship of the king of England and the supremacy of the English church over the Scottish church.
Upon Henry's death in 1189, William obtained release from his feudal subjection by paying a large sum of money to England's new king, Richard I (reigned 1189-99). In addition, although William had quarreled bitterly with the papacy over a church appointment, Pope Celestine III ruled in 1192 that the Scottish church owed obedience only to Rome, not to England. During the reign of King John in England, relations between England and Scotland deteriorated over the issue of Northumberland until finally, in 1209, John forced William to renounce his claims.
In his effort to consolidate his authority throughout Scotland, William eveloped a small but efficient central administrative bureaucracy. He chartered many of the major burghs of modern Scotland and in 1178 founded Arbroath Abbey, which had become probably the wealthiest monastery in Scotland by the time of his death. William was succeeded by his son Alexander II.
Alexander II - (b. Aug. 24, 1198, Haddington, East Lothian, Scot.--d. July 8, 1249, Kerrera Island, Argyll)
King of Scotland from 1214 to 1249, he maintained peace with England and greatly strengthened the Scottish monarchy.
Alexander came to the throne on the death of his father, William I the Lion (reigned 1165-1214). When the English barons rebelled against King John (reigned 1199-1216) in 1215, Alexander sided with the insurgents in the hope of regaining territory he claimed in northern England. After the rebellion collapsed in 1217, he did homage to King Henry III (reigned 1216-72), and in 1221 he married Henry's sister, Joan (d. 1238). In 1237 Henry and Alexander concluded an agreement (Peace of York) by which the Scots king abandoned his claim to land in England but received in exchange several English estates. The boundary of Scotland was fixed approximately at its present location.
Meanwhile, Alexander was suppressing rebellious Scots lords and consolidating his rule over parts of Scotland that had hitherto only nominally acknowledged royal authority. In 1222 he subjugated Argyll. He died as he was preparing to conquer the Norwegian-held islands along Scotland's west coast.
Alexander III - (b. Sept. 4, 1241--d. March 18/19, 1286, near Kinghorn, Fife, Scot.)
King of Scotland from 1249 to 1286, the last major ruler of the dynasty of kings descended from Malcolm III Canmore (reigned 1058-93), who consolidated royal power in Scotland. Alexander left his kingdom independent, united, and prosperous, and his reign was viewed as a golden age by Scots caught up in the long, bloody conflict with England after his death.
The only son of King Alexander II (reigned 1214-49), Alexander III was seven years old when he came to the throne. In 1251 he was married to Margaret (d. 1275), the 11-year-old daughter of England's King Henry III. Henry immediately began plotting to obtain suzerainty over Scotland. In 1255 a pro-English party in Scotland seized Alexander, but two years later the anti-English party gained the upper hand and controlled the government until Alexander came of age the year 1262.
In 1263 Alexander repulsed an invasion by the Norwegian king Haak