Contender for the Scottish throne

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This article lists the aspirants to the Scottish throne who claimed the throne of the Kingdom of Scotland in 1290 . The English King Edward I , who appeared as arbiter, set up a commission that decided on John Balliol .

prehistory

After the sudden death of Alexander III. on March 19, 1286 there was no male heir to the throne in the Kingdom of Scotland . The king had left no surviving children, and it was only after lengthy negotiations that his only granddaughter, young Margaret , was recognized by the nobles as heir to the throne. However, she lived in Norway as the daughter of the Norwegian King Erik II . Until Margaret, who was known as the Maid of Norway , could be crowned in Scotland, six Guardians ran the affairs of state and agreed on November 6, 1289 with English and Norwegian ambassadors in Salisbury that Margaret should arrive in Scotland by November 1, 1290. The King of Norway did not want to send his young daughter into an uncertain future in a distant country. Therefore, the Guardians agreed with the English King Edward I in the Treaty of Northampton in 1290 that Margaret would marry Edward , the heir of Edward I. It was also agreed that independence from Scotland should be preserved. When the Maid of Norway died on the crossing to Scotland at the end of September 1290, the succession to the throne was completely unclear. Since the direct line of the descendants of the Scottish King Wilhelm I, who died in 1214 , had expired, the Northern English Baron John Balliol and the Anglo-Scottish noble Robert V de Brus as descendants of David of Huntingdon , a younger brother of William I, had the strongest claims . When an armed war of succession threatened between the supporters of these two aspirants, the Scottish magnates turned to the English King Edward I with a request to decide on the rightful heir to the throne. Edward I. accepted this task. He invited those who made a claim to the Scottish throne to present their claim before a select assembly of 105 judges. This number was chosen after the model of the Roman Centumviri , who had settled conflicts in ancient times. Edward I himself claimed the chairmanship of the assembly, he appointed 24 members from his Privy Council , while the Scottish nobility should provide 80 members. Of these 80 Scottish members, 40 each were named by Robert de Brus and John Balliol.

The contenders

Family table

In addition to Robert de Brus and John Balliol, twelve other descendants had claims to the Scottish throne, including two kings. There were fourteen contenders for the Scottish throne:

  1. Florens V , Count of Holland: great-great-great-great-grandson of King David I.
  2. Patrick Dunbar, 7th Earl of Dunbar : great-grandson of Ada, an illegitimate daughter of Wilhelm I.
  3. William de Vescy, 1st Baron Vescy : great-grandson of Isabel, another illegitimate daughter of Wilhelm I.
  4. William de Ros, 1st Baron de Ros : great-great-grandson of Wilhelm I and his lover Margaret
  5. Robert de Pinkeney : Alleged great-great-great-grandson of King David I.
  6. Nicholas de Soulis , a member of the Lords of Liddesdale family, was a grandson of an illegitimate daughter of King Alexander II.
  7. Patrick Galightly : alleged grandson of Wilhelm I.
  8. Roger de Mandeville : alleged great-great-great-grandson of Wilhelm I.
  9. John (II) Comyn, Lord of Badenoch : great-great-great-great-grandson of King Donald III.
  10. John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings : great-great-great-grandson of King David I.
  11. John Balliol : great-great-great-grandson of King David I.
  12. Robert de Brus, Lord of Annandale : great-great-grandson of King David I.
  13. Erik II , King of Norway, father of Queen Margaret of Scotland
  14. Edward I , King of England, descendant of Malcolm III.

As closest direct relatives, John Balliol, Robert de Brus, and John Hastings had the strongest claims to the throne. They were all descended from the three daughters of David of Huntingdon, the younger brother of the Scottish kings Malcolm IV and William I. These three daughters were Margaret , the wife of Alan of Galloway , Isabel , the wife of Robert IV de Brus , and Ada , the wife of Henry Hastings . According to current inheritance law, the right of primogeniture did not apply to female heirs. As the grandson of Earl David's eldest daughter, John Balliol evidently had the best claim to the Scottish throne, but his claim was inherited through his mother. Robert de Brus, on the other hand, the son of the second eldest daughter of Earl David, was about thirty years older than Balliol and therefore claimed, as a male heir, a closer relationship to the Scottish kings. John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings, as the descendant of Earl David's youngest daughter, made no claims to the Scottish throne, but claimed a third of the land owned by the Scottish kings.

The English king was a descendant of the Scottish king Malcolm III. about his daughter Maud (also Edith ), the wife of King Henry I of England . However, he did not pursue his claim any further. John II Comyn claimed the throne as a descendant of Domnall Bán , a brother of King Malcolm III, but who had died around 1099. Count Florens V of Holland claimed the throne as a descendant of Ada , a sister of Wilhelm I and Malcolm IV , who passed on to his ancestors Florens III in 1162 . had married. The remaining contenders were all descended from illegitimate children of the Scottish kings. Unlike in the early Middle Ages, at the end of the 13th century illegitimate children were no longer able to accept inheritance, so that their claims were almost hopeless. Some of the contenders had even more dubious claims. Robert de Pinkeny, a Northamptonshire baron, claimed to be a son of Henry , a younger son of David I, but was probably only the great-grandson of an illegitimate daughter of Earl David of Huntingdon . Roger de Mandeville came from an Anglo-Norman family from Ulster . He wanted to be a descendant of Athbhric (also Aufreka ), an alleged daughter of Wilhelm I, for which he could not provide any evidence. Patrick Galightly was a Perth citizen who claimed that his father Henry was a son of William I, who died in 1214. This Patrick was an old man and died a little later, but his alleged relationship with the Scottish kings was doubted. The King of Norway justified his claim as the son-in-law of Alexander III. According to the applicable inheritance law, his claim was invalid.

decision

The assembly that was to decide the question of succession to the throne, which became known as the Great Cause , met from May 1291 mostly in Norham in Northumberland , the final assembly took place in Berwick , southern Scotland . At the beginning the English king asked the assembly to recognize his sovereignty, because only then could he decide as a judge. Ultimately, Edward I wanted to take advantage of the situation further and demanded that all aspirants to the throne recognize his supremacy as king. There were intrigues and attempts among the candidates to enforce their claims with the help of forged documents. The descendants of David of Huntingdon had the strongest claims to the throne. Florens of Holland, however, claimed that David of Huntingdon had waived his inheritance claims in favor of Aberdeenshire , which is why his claims were stronger. Robert de Brus then worked with Florens to weaken Balliol's claims. Ultimately, however, Floren's claims were rejected by the meeting. The claims of the other rival contenders were also successively dismissed until the decision in the Great Cause was announced on November 17, 1292. The congregation proclaimed John Balliol the rightful king of the Scots. He was then crowned at Scone on November 30, 1292 .

consequences

Edward I pursued his claims to suzerainty in Scotland. In doing so, he continued to undermine the authority of the new king. The Scots protested against English pressure until open war broke out in March 1296 . In view of the English superiority, Balliol was forced to abdicate on July 8, 1296. The Scots continued the war as a war of independence. The former heirs to the throne pursued different interests. John Hastings, Earl Patrick and William de Ros, who also owned lands in England, fought on the side of the English king. John Comyn, however, fought for Scottish independence. Robert V de Brus died in 1295, whereupon his son Robert VI de Brus asked the English king in vain to help him to the Scottish throne. His son Robert Bruce initially fought on the Scottish side and submitted to the English king in 1302. He was at odds with John Comyn of Badenoch, the son of another candidate, whom he murdered on February 10, 1306. A little later Bruce rose to the rank of King of Scotland, but it wasn't until 1328 that the English King recognized Edward III. made him king in the Treaty of Edinburgh and Northampton .

literature

  • Dieter Berg: The Anjou Plantagenets: The English kings in Europe in the Middle Ages (1100–1500) . Kohlhammer, 2003, ISBN 3-17-014488-X , pp. 171-173.
  • Stewart Ross: Monarchs of Scotland. Lochar Publishing, 1990, ISBN 0-948403-38-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Dieter Berg: The Anjou Plantagenets: The English kings in Europe in the Middle Ages (1100–1500) . Kohlhammer, 2003, ISBN 3-17-014488-X , p. 171.
  2. ↑ Dieter Berg: The Anjou Plantagenets: The English kings in Europe in the Middle Ages (1100-1500) . Kohlhammer, 2003, ISBN 3-17-014488-X , p. 172.
  3. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California Press, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 358.
  4. ^ Michael Prestwich: Edward I. University of California Press, Berkeley 1988, ISBN 0-520-06266-3 , p. 356.