General Notes

REFN: 6828AN
Alexander became king at the age of eight, and only five days after the
death of his father. Unusually for Scotland at this time his minority
passed off w ithout civil war. In large part the peace was held by Henry
III of England as he had interests in Scotland due to the fact that his
daughter Margaret had been married to Alexander while only ten years old.
When Henry suggested that Alexander do homage for both his lands in
England and Scotland, Alexander po litely refused.
During the next fifteen years Alexander's reign was one of pea ce with
England, indeed Alexander was an honoured guest at the coronation of
Edward I in 1272. Yet it again it was suggested that Alexander do homage
fo r Scotland as well as his English lands, this time by the Bishop of
Norwich. Alexander's reply was cool and to the point, 'to homage for my
kingdom of Sco tland no one has right except God alone, nor do I hold it
except of God alone '. The subject was then dropped - for a while.
Although, in general, Scotland was a peaceful realm during Alexander's
reign his relations with Norway were often strained due to Scotland's
claim to the Western Isles. In 1262 there wa s a Scottish raid on Skye and
this caused Haakon, King of Norway, to set sail for Scotland to settle
the issue. Late in 1263 Haakon headed for Scotland wi th a large invasion
force consisting of 200 ships and 15,000 men. The storms around the coast
of Scotland took their toll on the Norwegian fleet, which at one point
meant dragging forty ships overland to Loch Lomond. In the end a r unning
fight took place at Largs where the Norwegian's were defeated by the
Scots led by Alexander Stewart. Haakon did not make it back to Norway, he
di ed on Orkney in December. The Treaty of Perth of 1266 recognised the
reality of the situation and Alexander was given Man and the Isles for
4000 merks and an annual payment of 100 merks. Only Orkney and Shetland
were now outwith Sc ottish control.
Although Alexander was a widower he decided that he better rem arry when
he heard that his heir had died. He married Yolande, daughter of th e
Count of Dreux in the following year but by the next year he was dead.
Fo llowing a routine council meeting in Edinburgh on 19 March 1286
Alexander dec ided that he would return to his wife at Dunfermline Palace.
The night was a stormy one and while riding alone on the north siDe of
the Forth he fell from his horse and broke his neck. His distraught
courtiers found his dead body t he following morning.
Alexander III (September 4, 1241 - March, 1286), king of Scotland, also
known as Alexander the Glorious is regarded as one of Scotlan d's greatest
kings.
Born at Roxburgh, he was the son of Alexander II by his second wife Mary
De Coucy. When he was eight years old, his father died, maki ng him king.
He was crowned on July 13, 1249 at Scone Abbey, Perthshire.
The years of his minority were marked by an embittered struggle for the
control of affairs between two rival parties, the one led by Walter
Comyn, earl of Me nteith, the other by Alan Durward, the justiciar. The
former was in the ascen dant during the early years of the reign. At the
marriage of Alexander to Mar garet of England in 1251, Henry III seized
the opportunity to demand from his son-in-law homage for the Scottish
kingdom, but the claim was refused. In 12 55 an interview between the
English and Scottish kings at Kelso led to Mentei th and his party losing
to Durward's party. But though disgraced, they still retained great
influence, and two years later, seizing the person of the king , they
compelled their rivals to consent to the erection of a regency
repre sentative of both parties.
On attaining his majority in 1262, Alexander declar ed his intention of
resuming the projects on the Western Isles which had been cut short by
the death of his father thirteen years before. A formal claim w as laid
before the Norwegian king Haakon. Not o