Alexander (Scotland)

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Alexander (born January 21 or December 21, 1264 in Jedburgh , † January 28, 1284 in Lindores Abbey ) was a Scottish prince.

Origin and elevation to the Lord of Man

Alexander was the eldest son of the Scottish King Alexander III. and his wife Margaret of England . As heir to the throne , his father nominally transferred the Isle of Man to him as early as 1265 after King Magnus Godfreyson had died. By ruling over Man, the heir to the throne received adequate income and, as Lord of Man, a royal-like title. This award was intended to symbolize the high status that the island held for the Scottish king for the nobles and residents of the island. In 1270 Alexander was also given the Earldom of Fife , whose title heir Duncan was still a minor. From 1279 at the latest, the knight William Sinclair , a close confidante of the king, was responsible for Alexander's upbringing. In 1275 there was a revolt on Man, in which the residents of the island of Godfrey declared a son of the previous ruler Magnus to be king. Alexander III however, suppressed the revolt and Alexander was reinstated as Lord of Man.

Marriage and early death

On December 4, 1281, the young Alexander was betrothed to Margaret , a daughter of Count Guido I of Flanders and his second wife Isabella of Luxembourg . The marriage took place on November 15, 1282 in Roxburgh . An agreement with the Count of Flanders stipulated that sons from the marriage would inherit the Scottish throne even if Prince Alexander died before his father. This established the primogeniture for the Scottish crown . Prince Alexander actually died before his father after a long illness. Deeply mourned by his father, the barons and the prelates, he was buried at Dunfermline Abbey . His widow returned to the Netherlands and later married Count Rainald I von Geldern for the second time .

consequences

Since Alexander's marriage had remained childless and his younger brother David also died before June 1281 and his sister Margarete in April 1283, Margaret of Norway , Margaret's only daughter, was the only surviving descendant of King Alexander III. Therefore, after the death of Prince Alexander, the king had the Scottish magnates swear at a parliament on February 5, 1284 in Scone that they would recognize Margaret's line of succession if he himself would not have any more children. After the accidental death of Alexander III. In 1286 the young Margaret of Norway was now heir to the throne, but this female succession to the throne was not without controversy. After the early death of Margaret in October 1290, the Scottish succession to the throne was completely unclear .

There was a long dispute between Scotland and Flanders over the wittum of Alexander's widow Margaret. King Alexander had allowed his son's widow to keep the Linlithgow estate that she had received as a dowry on the occasion of their wedding . Her father, Count Guido, was not satisfied with this arrangement. He claimed a wittum for her with an income of £ 1,000 a year, as had been agreed upon at the engagement. Even after John Balliol became King of Scotland in 1292, Count Guido turned to the English King Edward I , who claimed supremacy over Scotland. Since England was looking for an alliance with Flanders due to a war with France , the English king advised the Scottish king to comply with Count Guido's request. The Scottish king then ordered Alexander's widow to be paid the money due to her.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ GWS Barrow: A Kingdom in Crisis: Scotland and the Maid of Norway . In: The Scottish Historical Review , 69 (1990), p. 121.
  2. ^ TF Tout, revised by Norman H. Reid: Margaret [Margaret of England] (1240-1275). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
  3. ↑ Michael Brown: The wars of Scotland, 1214-1371 . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2004, ISBN 0-7486-1237-8 , p. 84.
  4. ^ GWS Barrow: A Kingdom in Crisis: Scotland and the Maid of Norway . In: The Scottish Historical Review , 69 (1990), p. 122.
  5. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 588.
  6. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 41.
  7. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 22.
  8. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 592.
  9. ↑ Norman H. Reid: Alexander III. The Historiography of a Myth. In: Norman H. Reid (Ed.): Scotland in the Reign of Alexander III 1249-1286 . John Donald, Edinburgh 1990. ISBN 0-85976-218-1 , p. 188.
  10. ↑ Michael Penman: Robert the Bruce. King of the Scots . Yale University Press, New Haven 2014, ISBN 978-0-300-14872-5 , p. 21.
  11. ^ Ranald Nicholson: Scotland. The later Middle Ages . Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1974, p. 27.
  12. ↑ Michael Brown: The wars of Scotland, 1214-1371 . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2004, ISBN 0-7486-1237-8 , p. 275.
  13. ↑ Michael Brown: The wars of Scotland, 1214-1371 . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2004, ISBN 0-7486-1237-8 , p. 277.
personal data
SURNAME Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish prince
DATE OF BIRTH January 21, 1264 or December 21, 1264
PLACE OF BIRTH Jedburgh
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1284
Place of death Lindores Abbey