Alexander III (Medieval Gaelic: Alaxandair mac Alaxandair; Modern Gaelic: Alasdair mac Alasdair) (4 September 1241 – 19 March 1286), King of Scots, was born at Roxburgh, the only son of Alexander II by his second wife Marie de Coucy. Alexander's father died on 6 July 1249 and he became king at the age of eight, inaugurated at Scone on 13 July 1249.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_III_of_Scotland

Buried Dunfermline Abbey

Consorts Margaret of England and Yolande de Dreux

Offspring (by Margaret of England)

• Margaret, Princess of Scotland (1260/61–1283), who married Eirik II of Norway
• Alexander, Prince of Scotland (21 January 1263 Jedburgh – 28 January 1283 Lindores Abbey); buried in Dunfermline Abbey
• David of Scotland (20 March 1272 – June 1281 Stirling Castle); buried in Dunfermline Abbey

Royal House House of Dunkeld

The years of his minority featured an embittered struggle for the control of affairs between two rival parties, the one led by Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith, the other by Alan Durward, Justiciar of Scotia. The former dominated the early years of Alexander's reign. At the marriage of Alexander to Margaret of England in 1251, Henry III seized the opportunity to demand from his son-in-law homage for the Scottish kingdom, but Alexander did not comply. In 1255 an interview between the English and Scottish kings at Kelso led to Menteith 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 representative of both parties.

On attaining his majority at the age of 21 in 1262, Alexander declared his intention of resuming the projects on the Western Isles which the death of his father thirteen years before had cut short. He laid a formal claim before the Norwegian king Haakon. Haakon rejected the claim, and in the following year responded with a formidable invasion. Sailing around the west coast of Scotland he halted off the Isle of Arran, and negotiations commenced. Alexander artfully prolonged the talks until the autumn storms should begin. At length Haakon, weary of delay, attacked, only to encounter a terrific storm which greatly damaged his ships. The Battle of Largs (October 1263) proved indecisive, but even so, Haakon's position was hopeless. Baffled, he turned homewards, but died in Orkney on 15 December 1263. The Isles now lay at Alexander's feet, and in 1266 Haakon's successor concluded the Treaty of Perth by which he ceded the Isle of Man and the Western Isles to Scotland in return for a monetary payment. Norway retained only Orkney and Shetland in the area. In 1284, Alexander invested the title of Lord of the Isles in the head of the Macdonald family, Angus Macdonald, and over the next two centuries the Macdonald lords operated as if they were kings in their own right, frequently opposing the Scottish monarch.

Alexander had married Princess Margaret of England, a daughter of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence, on 26 December 1251. She died in 1274, after they had three children:

  1. Margaret (28 February 1260 – 9 April 1283), who married King Eirik II of Norway

  2. Alexander, Prince of Scotland (21 January 1264 Jedburgh – 28 January 1284 Lindores Abbey); buried in Dunfermline Abbey

  3. David (20 March 1272 – June 1281 Stirling Castle); buried in Dunfermline Abbey

According to the Lanercost Chronicle, Alexander did not spend his decade as a widower alone: "he used never to forbear on account of season nor storm, nor for perils of flood or rocky cliffs, but would visit none too creditably nuns or matrons, virgins or widows as the fancy seized him, sometimes in disguise."

Towards the end of Alexander's reign, the death of all three of his children within a few years made the question of the succession one of pressing importance. In 1284 he induced the Estates to recognize as his heir-presumptive his granddaughter Margaret, the "Maid of Norway". The need for a male heir led him to contract a second marriage to Yolande de Dreux on 1 November 1285.

But the sudden death of the king dashed all such hopes. Alexander died in a fall from his horse in the dark while riding to visit the queen at Kinghorn in Fife on 19 March 1286, having spent the evening at Edinburgh Castle overseeing a meeting with royal advisors. He was advised by them not to make the journey over to Fife because of weather conditions, but travelled anyway. Alexander became separated from his guides and it is assumed that in the dark his horse lost its footing. The 44-year old king was found dead on the shore the following morning with a broken neck. Some texts have said that he fell off a cliff. Although there is no cliff at the site where his body was found there is a very steep rocky embankment - which would have been fatal in the dark. After Alexander's death, his strong realm was plunged into a period of darkness that would eventually lead to war with England. Had Alexander, who was a strong monarch, lived, things might have worked out differently (Ashley 2002, p. 156). He was buried in Dunfermline Abbey.

As Alexander left no surviving children the heir to the throne was his unborn child by Queen Yolande. When Yolande's pregnancy ended in a still-birth in November of 1286, Alexander's granddaughter Margaret became the heir. Margaret died, still uncrowned, on her way to Scotland in 1290. The inauguration of John Balliol as king on 30 November 1292 ended the six years of interregnum when the Guardians of Scotland governed the land.

Sources

   * Scott, Robert McNair. Robert the Bruce: King of Scots, 1996

   * Ashley, Mike (2002), British Kings & Queens, Carroll & Graf, ISBN 0-7867-1104-3 .

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Alexander III 'the Glorius', King of Scotland1

M, #102227, b. 4 September 1241, d. 19 March 1286

Alexander III 'the Glorius', King of Scotland was born on 4 September 1241 at Roxburgh, Scotland.

He was the son of Alexander II 'the Peaceful', King of Scotland and Mary de Coucy.

He married, firstly, Margaret of England, Princess of England, daughter of Henry III, King of England and Eleanor of Provence, on 26 December 1251 at York Minster, York, Yorkshire, England.

He married, secondly, Yolande de Dreux, daughter of Robert IV de Dreux, Comte de Dreux and Beatrix de Montfort, Comtesse de Montfort, on 1 November 1285 at Jedburgh Abbey, Roxburghshire, Scotland.

He was also reported to have been married on 14 October 1285.

He died on 19 March 1286 at age 44 at Kinghorne, Fife, Scotland, when his horse plunged over a cliff.

He was buried at Dunfermline Abbey, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland.

Alexander III 'the Glorius', King of Scotland succeeded to the title of King Alexander III of Scotland on 8 July 1249.

He was crowned King of Scotland on 13 July 1249 at Scone Abbey, Scone, Perthshire, Scotland.

He has an extensive biographical entry in the Dictionary of National Dictionary.4

Children of Alexander III 'the Glorius', King of Scotland and Margaret of England, Princess of England

1.Margaret of Scotland, Princess of Scotland+ b. 28 Feb 1261, d. 9 Apr 1283

2.Alexander of Scotland, Prince of Scotland2 b. 21 Jan 1264, d. 17 Jan 1284

3.David of Scotland, Prince of Scotland2 b. 20 Mar 1273, d. Jun 1281

Citations

http://thepeerage.com/p10223.htm#i102227

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Dunfermiline is about 15 miles northwest of Edinburgh.

In the dark of the night Alexander fell off his horse & plunged over the edge of a cliff & died.

Sources: many ~ see wife's decendants/ancestors.

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Läs om kungafamiljens öde: http://www.geni.com/photo/view/6000000000032750484?photo_id=6000000003590554765&position=0

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Alexander III of Scotland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alexander III (Medieval Gaelic: Alaxandair mac Alaxandair; Modern Gaelic: Alasdair mac Alasdair) (4 September 1241 – 19 March 1286) was King of Scots from 1249 to his death.[1]

King of Scots
Reign 6 July 1249 – 19 March 1286 Coronation 13 July 1249, Scone Predecessor Alexander II Successor Margaret (disputed) Spouse Margaret of England Yolande de Dreux Issue Margaret, Queen of Norway Alexander, Prince of Scotland House House of Dunkeld Father Alexander II Mother Marie de Coucy Born 4 September 1241 Roxburgh, Roxburghshire Died 19 March 1286 Kinghorn Ness, Fife Burial Dunfermline Abbey

Life

Alexander was born at Roxburgh, the only son of Alexander II by his second wife Marie de Coucy. Alexander III was also the grandson of William the Lion. Alexander's father died on 8 July 1249 and he became king at the age of seven, inaugurated at Scone on 13 July 1249.

The years of his minority featured an embittered struggle for the control of affairs between two rival parties, the one led by Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith, the other by Alan Durward, Justiciar of Scotia. The former dominated the early years of Alexander's reign. At the marriage of Alexander to Margaret of England in 1251, Henry III of England seized the opportunity to demand from his son-in-law homage for the Scottish kingdom, but Alexander did not comply. In 1255 an interview between the English and Scottish kings at Kelso led to Menteith 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 representative of both parties.

Statue of Alexander on the west door of St. Giles, Edinburgh

On attaining his majority at the age of 21 in 1262, Alexander declared his intention of resuming the projects on the Western Isles which the death of his father thirteen years before had cut short. He laid a formal claim before the Norwegian king Haakon. Haakon rejected the claim, and in the following year responded with a formidable invasion. Sailing around the west coast of Scotland he halted off the Isle of Arran, and negotiations commenced. Alexander artfully prolonged the talks until the autumn storms should begin. At length Haakon, weary of delay, attacked, only to encounter a terrific storm which greatly damaged his ships. The Battle of Largs (October 1263) proved indecisive, but even so, Haakon's position was hopeless. Baffled, he turned homewards, but died in Orkney on 15 December 1263. The Isles now lay at Alexander's feet, and in 1266 Haakon's successor concluded the Treaty of Perth by which he ceded the Isle of Man and the Western Isles to Scotland in return for a monetary payment. Norway retained only Orkney and Shetland in the area. In 1284, Alexander invested the title of Lord of the Isles in the head of Clan Donald, Aonghas Mór, and over the next two centuries the Macdonald lords operated as if they were kings in their own right, frequently opposing the Scottish monarch.

Succession

Alexander had married Margaret, daughter of King Henry III of England and Eleanor of Provence, on 26 December 1251. She died in 1275, after they had three children.

Margaret (28 February 1261 – 9 April 1283), who married King Eric II of Norway Alexander, Prince of Scotland (21 January 1264 Jedburgh – 28 January 1284 Lindores Abbey); buried in Dunfermline Abbey David (20 March 1272 – June 1281 Stirling Castle); buried in Dunfermline Abbey According to the Lanercost Chronicle, Alexander did not spend his decade as a widower alone: "he used never to forbear on account of season nor storm, nor for perils of flood or rocky cliffs, but would visit none too creditably nuns or matrons, virgins or widows as the fancy seized him, sometimes in disguise."

Towards the end of Alexander's reign, the death of all three of his children within a few years made the question of the succession one of pressing importance. In 1284 he induced the Estates to recognize as his heir-presumptive his granddaughter Margaret, the "Maid of Norway". The need for a male heir led him to contract a second marriage to Yolande de Dreux on 1 November 1285.

But the sudden death of the king dashed all such hopes. Alexander died in a fall from his horse in the dark while riding to visit the queen at Kinghorn in Fife on 18 March 1286 because it was her birthday the next day.[3] He had spent the evening at Edinburgh Castle celebrating his second marriage and overseeing a meeting with royal advisors. He was advised by them not to make the journey over to Fife because of weather conditions, but travelled anyway. Alexander became separated from his guides and it is assumed that in the dark his horse lost its footing. The 44-year old king was found dead on the shore the following morning with a broken neck. Some texts have said that he fell off a cliff. Although there is no cliff at the site where his body was found there is a very steep rocky embankment - which would have been fatal in the dark. After Alexander's death, his strong realm was plunged into a period of darkness that would eventually lead to war with England. Had Alexander, who was a strong monarch, lived, things would have worked out differently (Ashley 2002, p. 156). He was buried in Dunfermline Abbey.

As Alexander left no surviving children, the heir to the throne was his unborn child by Queen Yolande. When Yolande's pregnancy ended, probably with a miscarriage, Alexander's granddaughter Margaret became the heir. Margaret died, still uncrowned, on her way to Scotland in 1290. The inauguration of John Balliol as king on 30 November 1292 ended the six years of interregnum when the Guardians of Scotland governed the land.

The death of Alexander and the subsequent period of instability in Scotland was lamented in an early Scots poem recorded by Andrew of Wyntoun in his Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland.

Quhen Alysandyr oure kyng was dede, That Scotland led in luve and le, Away was sons of ale and brede, Of wyne and wax of gamyn and gle. Oure gold was changed into lede, Cryst, born into vyrgynyte, Succoure Scotland and remede, That stat is in perplexyte. In 1886, a monument to Alexander III was erected at the approximate location of his death in Kinghorn.

Fictional portrayals

Alexander III has been depicted in historical novels. They include:[4]

The Thirsty Sword (1892) by Robert Leighton. The novel depicts the "Norse invasion of Scotland" (1262–1263, part of the Scottish–Norwegian War) and the Battle of Largs. It includes depictions of Alexander III and his opponent Haakon IV of Norway.[4] Alexander the Glorious (1965) by Jane Oliver. The novel covers the entire reign of Alexander III (1249–1286), "almost entirely from Alexander's viewpoint".[5][6] The Crown in Darkness (1988) by Paul C. Doherty. A crime fiction novel where Hugh Corbett investigates the "mysterious death" of Alexander III (1286). Alexander supposedly suffered a fatal fall from his horse. But there are suspicions of murder. The novel concludes that Alexander was indeed murdered "by a fanatical servant" of Edward I of England. The killer acting according to "Edward's secret desire to overwhelm and control Scotland". Doherty suggests that the personal relations of the two kings were strained by constant arguments, though this in not confirmed by historical sources.[7] Insurrection (2010) by Robyn Young. This novel is the first of a series of novels primarily about the life and times of Robert the Bruce. However, it covers Alexander III and the circumstances surrounding his death in some detail.[8] Holinshed in his oft fanciful history of England stated that at Alexander III's wedding, a horrible monster, mostly skeleton but with raw flesh, appeared at the end of the procession and caused the wedding to be hurriedly concluded. This was,in tradition, an omen of death. Crusader (1991) by Nigel Tranter. This novel follows the minority of Alexander III and his relationship with David de Lindsay. Tranter, who has written scores of historical novels spanning the range of Scotland's history, also wrote "Envoy Extraordinary" (1999) (about Patrick Earl of Dunbar) and "True Thomas" (1981) (about Thomas the Rhymer), both of which take place during the reign of Alexander III and in which Alexander if a featured character.

Notes

"Alexander III (1241 - 1286)". ^ Jump up to: a b British Listed Buildings Jump up ^ Marshall, Rosalind K. (2003). Scottish Queens, 1034-1714. Tuckwell Press. p. 27. ^ Jump up to: a b Nield (1968), p. 37 Jump up ^ "Historical Novel:Medieval Celts" Jump up ^ "Alexander the Glorious", review Jump up ^ Browne, Kreiser (2000), p. 78, 80-81 Jump up ^ http://historicalnovelsociety.org. "Insurrection". http://historicalnovelsociety.org.

Pictish and Scottish monarchs

Monarchs of the Picts (traditional)

Drest I Talorc I Nechtan I Drest II Galan Erilich Drest III Drest IV Gartnait I Cailtram Talorc II Drest V Galam Cennalath Bridei I Gartnait II Nechtan II Cinioch Gartnait III Bridei II Talorc III Talorgan I Gartnait IV Drest VI Bridei III Taran Bridei IV Nechtan III Drest VII Alpín I Óengus I Bridei V Ciniod I Alpín II Talorgan II Drest VIII Conall Constantine (I) Óengus II Drest IX Uuen Uurad Bridei VI Ciniod II Bridei VII Drest X

Monarchs of the Scots (traditional)

Kenneth I MacAlpin Donald I Constantine I (II) Áed Giric Eochaid (doubtful) Donald II Constantine II (III) Malcolm I Indulf Dub Cuilén Amlaíb Kenneth II Constantine III (IV) Kenneth III Malcolm II Duncan I Macbeth Lulach Malcolm III Canmore Donald III Duncan II Donald III Edgar Alexander I David I Malcolm IV William I the Lion Alexander II Alexander III Margaret (disputed) First Interregnum John Second Interregnum Robert the Bruce (I) David II Robert II Robert III James I James II James III James IV James V Mary I James VI1 Charles I1 Charles II1 James VII1 Mary II1 William II1 Anne1 1 also monarch of England and Ireland.

KINGS & QUEENS OF SCOTLAND

843-858 Kenneth MacAlpin/House of Alpin 858-862 Donald I House of Alpin 862-877 Constantine I House of Alpin 877-878 Aedh House of Alpin 878-889 Eochaid House of Alpin 889-900 Donald II House of Alpin 900-943 Constantine II House of Alpin 943-954 Malcolm I House of Alpin 954-962 Indulf House of Alpin 962-966 Dubh House of Alpin 966-971 Culen House of Alpin 971-995 Kenneth II House of Alpin 995-997 Constantine III House of Alpin 997-1005 Kenneth III House of Alpin 1005-1034 Malcolm II House of Alpin

1034-1040 Duncan I House of Dunkeld 1040-1057 Macbeth House of Dunkeld 1057-1058 Lulach (The Fool)House of Dunkeld

1058-1093 Malcolm III Canmore House of Canmore 1093-1094 Donald III (Donald Bane) House of Canmore 1094 Duncan II House of Canmore 1094-1097 Donald III (Donald Bane) House of Canmore 1097-1107 Edgar House of Canmore 1107-1124 Alexander I House of Canmore 1124-1153 David I House of Canmore 1153-1165 Malcolm IV House of Canmore 1165-1214 William I House of Canmore 1214-1249 Alexander II House of Canmore 1249-1286 Alexander III House of Canmore 1286-1290 Margaret ('Maid of Norway')House of Canmore

1290-1292 Interregnum

1292-1296 John Balliol House of Balliol

1296-1306 Interregnum 1306-1329 Robert I (The Bruce) House of Bruce 1329-1371 David II House of Bruce

Aug-Dec 1332 Edward Balliol (also for periods 1333-1346) House of Balliol

1371-1390 Robert II House of Stewart 1390-1406 Robert III House of Stewart 1406-1437 James I House of Stewart 1437-1460 James II House of Stewart 1460-1488 James III House of Stewart 1488-1513 James IV House of Stewart 1513-1542 James V House of Stewart 1542-1567 Mary, Oueen of Scots House of Stewart 1567-1625 James VI (James I of England 1603-1625) House of Stuart