Alexander III (Scotland)

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Seal of Alexander III.

Alexander III (also Alexander the Glorious ; * September 4, 1241 in Roxburgh ; † March 18 or 19, 1286 at Kinghorn ) was king of the Scots from 1249 until his death. He was the last Scottish king from the House of Dunkeld .

origin

Alexander was the only son of Alexander II and his second wife Marie de Coucy . He was less than eight years old when his father fell ill during a campaign in 1249 and died, thus inheriting the Scottish throne. On July 13, 1249, just five days after his father's death, he was proclaimed king in a traditional ceremony in Scone , enthroned on the stone of Scone , consecrated and clothed with a cloak. A Gaelic bard praised his parentage, after which the Scottish magnates paid homage to him .

The enthronement of Alexander with a bard singing about his origins. Late medieval depiction

King's minority

Dominance from Alan Durward

There is no surviving evidence that Alexander II made arrangements for the reign before his death. Alan Durward , the head of a family that had already gained great influence under Alexander II, tried at the beginning of the reign of Alexander to secure the supremacy of his family in Scotland. He claimed the right to knight the underage king before he was appointed king. He was denied this right, but initially Durward largely dominated the government. This he succeeded perhaps thanks to the support of the Queen Mother Marie de Coucy, for this he was apparently able to rely largely on the royal administration, whose officials were largely taken over. However, conflicts soon arose between the supporters of Durward and the Comyn family . This power struggle with an influential noble family weakened the Durward government.

Marriage to Margaret of England

Presumably the Comyns caused a call for help to the English King Henry III. asking for support against the Durward-led government. This gave the English king the opportunity to renew his old claim to supremacy over Scotland. The Scottish attempt to obtain permission from the Pope for the coronation and anointing of kings on the Western European model had already failed due to the rejection of the English king. After calling for help to the English king, the weakened government of Durward was forced to meet the English king. She had to agree to the marriage of Alexander to Margaret , a daughter of the English king, which was probably already agreed in the Treaty of Newcastle in 1244 . On Christmas Day 1251, Alexander and twenty other nobles were from Heinrich III. beaten to the Knight of the Bath , and the wedding took place in York the following day . According to an English chronicler, the English king asked Alexander to pay homage to him not only for his possessions in England, but also as King of Scotland. The homage to Scotland was firmly rejected, whereupon the English king did not pursue this further.

Dominance of the Comyns

Nevertheless, Heinrich III mixed. continued to join the Scottish government over the next few years. It is possible that Durward had tried to secure succession to the throne for himself or his descendants in a document in case Alexander died childless. This document served Heinrich III. presumably as a reason to force the resignation of all senior officials in the royal household. Instead, he appointed Robert de Ros, Lord of Wark and John de Balliol, two northern English barons, to represent his interests at the Scottish court. Henry III. allegedly only concerned about the welfare of his daughter and son-in-law, but he certainly had more political goals. Although his influence has not been proven, Heinrich III. probably great influence in the appointment of the members of the new Scottish Privy Council. In addition to Walter and Alexander Comyn, this consisted mainly of supporters of the Comyn family. Contrary to the expectations of the English king, the new Privy Council did not pursue a policy that was friendly to England. Either the two English representatives at the Scottish court were powerless or they worked with the Scottish magnates, who paid little attention to the attempts of the English king to influence politics. When Heinrich III. In 1253 he demanded military support from the Scots for his expedition to Gascony, which belongs to his empire , but the Scots completely ignored this. Only that of Heinrich III. displaced Alan Durward, who had, however, come to an agreement with him, accompanied the English king to south-west France. Another point of conflict was the tax that the Popes wanted to raise in Scotland for a crusade led by England . The goal of the crusade would later no longer be the Holy Land, but rather the conquest of the Kingdom of Sicily for the second son of Henry III. serve. The Scots then refused to pay the tax. In the summer of 1255, the English king decided not to accept the political situation in Scotland any more, as the Scottish government and even the two representatives he appointed thwarted his attempts to align Scottish politics with English interests. Henry III. convened his feudal army and moved to the border with Scotland in August 1255. Negotiations prevented an open war, and the Comyn-dominated Privy Council resigned. The newly formed Privy Council should remain in office for a maximum of seven years, until Alexander came of age.

Although the Comyns had lost their position in the Privy Council due to the intervention of the English king, they managed to regain considerable influence at the royal court by 1257. Therefore, the king and the new government had to negotiate with the family leaders. The English king was involved in these negotiations. However, the negotiations did not lead to a satisfactory result for the Comyns, whereupon Walter Comyn seized the young king in a coup d'état in Kinross in October 1257 . Henry III. then prepared an armed incursion into Scotland, but due to a war in Wales and above all because of a conflict with an English aristocratic opposition, he was unable to carry out this campaign. Thus, the English influence in Scotland was further restricted.

The king takes over the government

With their coup, the Comyns had seized the king and apparently regained their influence, but the now seventeen-year-old king was increasingly pursuing his own policy. Officially he was still a minor, but he was no longer willing to join any of the rival political groups. He acted openly against supporters of Alan Durward, who had clearly lost his influence, but he also no longer agreed with the politics of the Comyns. The Comyns had made an alliance with the Welsh princes who were at war with England. The exact situation is unclear, but it is likely that Alexander did not agree to this alliance and supported a ceasefire in Wales that was signed in 1258. In September 1258, Alexander pressed the rival Scottish magnates to a compromise that was likely largely in keeping with his wishes. After this compromise, a new Privy Council should be formed, which should include supporters of the Comyns as well as supporters of Durward. The English king promised to support the Privy Council with his advice, this was perhaps the only possibility, as Henry III, who was hard pressed by the nobility opposition internally, was. could still influence Scottish politics. He officially invited Alexander and Margaret to England, and the royal couple accepted this invitation in November 1260. Alexander, however, apparently returned hastily to Scotland, while Margaret stayed in England, where the birth of her first child took place. The English government had to give assurances that if Alexander died, the Queen and her child would be handed over to the Scottish government immediately. In Scotland, during the king's absence, John Comyn and Walter Stewart had a conflict over Menteith . Although Comyn had influential supporters among the magnates, Alexander reiterated his decision that the title of Earl of Menteith should go to Stewart. Comyn and his supporters accepted this decision and bowed to the king's authority. At this point it was evident that nineteen-year-old Alexander was in control of his government. This effectively ended the king's minority, although he was not yet twenty-one years old.

The King's Foreign Policy

Incorporation of the West Scottish Islands

Starting position

After Alexander became the head of government, he continued the policies of his father, who had tried to incorporate the West Scottish islands into the Scottish Kingdom. These islands had previously been officially under Norwegian ownership, although the Norwegian kings never had the region firmly under their control due to the distance. The islands' nobles also owned holdings on mainland Scotland, so along with the Norwegian kings they constantly threatened the western borders of Scotland. Alexander's attempt to bring the islands under his control, of course, inevitably led to conflicts with the islands' nobles and with the Norwegian king.

Norway and its possessions in 1263

War with Norway

In 1261 a Scottish embassy traveled to Norway to negotiate with the Norwegian king about the future position of the West Scottish islands. The next year, on behalf of Alexander, a Scottish force under the Earl of Ross attacked the islands. The Norwegian King Håkon IV then led a Norwegian fleet to Scotland in the late summer of 1263. The aristocrats of the islands supported the Norwegians only half-heartedly, so that they achieved little success. Nevertheless, the Norwegians were able to conquer Rothesay Castle , and Håkon IV wanted to secure his conquests by assigning properties to his followers. To force the Scottish king to make concessions, he made an advance across Loch Lomond to Lennox , which he plundered. The negotiations with Scotland remained unsuccessful. In early autumn, several Norwegian ships were stranded in storms, and in October the Battle of Largs on the Firth of Clyde remained without a clear winner. Presumably neither side suffered heavy losses in the battle, but both sides claimed victory for themselves. Nevertheless, the outcome of the battle, together with the deteriorating weather, showed the Norwegian king that continuing the campaign made no sense. He sailed north along the west coast of Scotland, levied tributes on the islands, and reached the Orkneys under his sovereignty at the end of October . There, however, he fell ill and died in December 1263.

Conclusion of the Perth Peace

The failure of the campaign, the death of the king and the unwillingness of the inhabitants of the West Scottish islands to fight the Scottish crown led many nobles of the Hebrides to submit to the Scottish king. They were reinforced by further Scottish attacks in Caithness and western Scotland. In 1264 King Magnus III also submitted . of Man the Scottish King after he threatened to conquer the Isle of Man . This convinced the new Norwegian King Magnus VI. To start negotiations with Scotland. After lengthy negotiations, the Peace of Perth was finally concluded in July 1266 . In this treaty, Norway ceded the Hebrides to Scotland in return for a one-off payment of 4,000 Merks and an annual perpetual payment of 100 Merks. The Orkneys, however, remained under Norwegian sovereignty.

Alexander takes part in an English parliament as a guest of Edward I. Detail from a medieval miniature.

Relationship with England

In England there was an open second war of the barons against the king between the king and the aristocratic opposition in 1264 . Several Scottish nobles took part in the war, most of them fighting on the side of the English king. In 1265, Alexander offered the English king his weapon aid, which he no longer needed after the victory at Evesham . According to the chronicler John Fordun , Alexander and the Scottish clergy refused to pay a tax demanded by the Pope in favor of the crusade of the heir to the throne, Lord Edward , after the end of the Barons' War . However, numerous Scottish nobles and knights took part in the second crusade of the French King Louis IX. part. During this crusade David, Earl of Atholl , Adam, Earl of Carrick and numerous Scottish knights died. After Lord Eduard returned from his crusade, he succeeded his father, Henry III, who died in 1272. crowned King of England in August 1274. Alexander attended the coronation of his brother-in-law at Westminster Abbey with his wife and numerous Scottish nobles . But he was mainly invited as a baron for his English lands and not as king of a neighboring empire. Still, he did not pay homage to the new king for his English possessions, which strained Scottish relations with England for several years. It was only after Alexander had received an assurance from Edward I that paying homage would not affect the freedom and rights of Scotland that Alexander traveled to Westminster again in 1278 . There he paid homage to the English king on October 28th, expressly excluding the Kingdom of Scotland from the homage.

Domestic politics

Traditionally, the reign of Alexander is considered a golden age for Scotland. During his reign the empire experienced a period of political stability, economic growth and the successful incorporation of the West Scottish islands. The chroniclers of the 14th and 15th centuries may have exaggerated in their reports about Alexander's rule, because they wanted to differentiate the time of his rule from the war and destruction of the Scottish Wars of Independence . However, Scotland likely experienced a period of relative prosperity with an increasing population during the reign of Alexander. The climatic conditions were better than in the following 14th century, and together with the increasing population, agricultural production increased and so did trade with neighboring countries. The export of wool in particular gained in importance. At an unknown point in time between 1275 and 1282, a duty was imposed on the export of wool and hides, which significantly increased the king's income. The brisk construction activity on numerous church buildings, including the cathedrals of Dunblane , Dunfermline , Glasgow and St Andrews, testifies to the good economic development during the reign of Alexander.

Monument at the presumed location where Alexander died in an accident

Unsecured succession and death

The final years of Alexander's reign were marked by peace, good relations with England and Norway, and solid rule by the king. However, the last two years of rule were overshadowed by the unresolved succession to the throne. Alexander had three children with his wife Margarete:

Margarete died in early 1275, and by 1284 all three children of the marriage died. The eldest son Alexander had married a daughter of Count Guido I of Flanders , but the marriage had remained childless. The daughter Margarete had married the King of Norway in 1281 and when she died two years later, she left only one little daughter, who was also called Margarete . Since she was the only descendant of the king after the death of the heir to the throne Alexander, Alexander had an impressive gathering of Scottish magnates swear in February 1284 to recognize his only granddaughter, the so-called Maid of Norway , as heir to the throne if he did not have any further children. On October 14, 1285, the king married Yolande , a daughter of the French Count Robert von Dreux . But only a few months later Alexander was dead. He was with a small entourage on the way from a council meeting in Edinburgh to his wife in Kinghorn when he fell from his horse on the stormy night of March 18-19, 1286. His body was not found until the next morning at the foot of the cliff. He was buried in Dunfermline Abbey. A memorial commemorates him at the presumed place where he had an accident.

consequences

After the death of Alexander, the Scottish magnates elected six Guardians to reign for the Maid of Norway. When the young heir to the throne died in 1290 during the crossing to Scotland, the succession to the throne was completely unclear. There were now several contenders for the Scottish throne .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Alexander III. (Scotland)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 8.
  2. ↑ DER Watt: The minority of Alexander III of Scotland . In: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. Volume 21 (1971), p. 6.
  3. ^ 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. 536.
  4. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 110.
  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. 560.
  6. ^ 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. 571.
  7. ↑ DER Watt: The minority of Alexander III of Scotland . In: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. Volume 21 (1971), p. 18.
  8. ↑ DER Watt: The minority of Alexander III of Scotland . In: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. Volume 21 (1971), p. 2.
  9. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 353.
  10. ^ 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. 291.
  11. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 17.
  12. ^ 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. 604.
  13. ^ 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. 282.
  14. ^ Geoffrey WS Barrow: Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland . Eyre & Spottiswoode, London 1965, p. 4.
predecessor Office successor
Alexander II King of Scotland
1249–1286 		Margarete
personal data
SURNAME Alexander III
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alexander the Glorious
BRIEF DESCRIPTION scottish king
DATE OF BIRTH 4th September 1241
PLACE OF BIRTH Roxburgh
DATE OF DEATH March 18, 1286 or March 19, 1286
Place of death at Kinghorn