Robert II of Scotland

Ancestry and early life

The future king descended from the Scottish noble house of Stewart, which traced its origin to Brittany.^[1] His ancestors were hereditary seneschals of Dol in Brittany.^[1] One ancestor, Alan fitz Flaad, entered the service of King Henry I of England.^[1] The descendants of Alan's eldest son William remained in England, acquiring the title of Earl of Arundel under the surname FitzAlan.^[1] Alan's third son, Walter fitz Alan, entered the service of King David I of Scotland around 1136, receiving appointment by the end of David's reign as royal dapifer or steward (dapifer regis Scotie).^[1] This office became hereditary among Walter's descendants, and by the thirteenth century it had acquired the title of High Steward of Scotland (senescallus Scotie), reflecting its status on a national level.^[1] During the reigns of David I and Malcolm IV, the Stewarts accumulated extensive estates in Renfrewshire, the northern half of Kyle in central Ayrshire, and lordships in Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, and Haddingtonshire.^[1] The family was among the most powerful baronial dynasties in Scotland, centred at Renfrew Castle.^[1] In the thirteenth century, the lineage adopted the hereditary office title as their surname, Stewart.^[1] Following the death of King Alexander III, James Stewart, 5th High Steward, served as one of the six Guardians of Scotland.^[1]

From the mid-thirteenth century onward, the Stewarts maintained a close political alliance with the House of Bruce, backing their cause throughout the First War of Scottish Independence.^[1] In the early fourteenth century, Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland (c. 1296 – 1327), became one of the closest comrades of King Robert I the Bruce.^[1][2] In 1314, Walter commanded a Scottish division at the Battle of Bannockburn and soon afterwards married the king's daughter, Princess Marjorie Bruce, born of King Robert's first marriage to Isabella of Mar.^[1][2] From this union was born the future king, Robert Stewart.^[1][2]

Robert was born in early 1316, with a tradition recording the date as 2 March 1316 at Paisley Abbey in Renfrewshire.^[2][3][4][5] A persistent narrative in Scottish historiography and folklore relates that his mother Marjorie Bruce was thrown from her horse in the advanced stages of pregnancy and that Robert was delivered by caesarean section, with Marjorie dying a few hours later.^[6][7] Other modern historical analyses suggest that Marjorie survived her riding accident and died between 25 March 1317 and 24 March 1318.^[2][8] Robert was raised as a Gaelic-speaking noble across the Stewart patrimonial lands in Bute, Clydeside, and Renfrew, developing lifelong attachments to the Gaelic-speaking communities of the western seaboard and the Highlands.^[9][10]

Because King Robert I had fathered no sons by 1316, his grandson Robert Stewart occupied an immediate place in the line of succession.^[2] In 1315, Parliament had altered the succession by revoking Marjorie Bruce's hereditary claim in favour of the king's younger brother, Edward Bruce.^[11] Edward was killed fighting in Ireland at the Battle of Faughart near Dundalk on 14 October 1318 without leaving legitimate issue.^[2][12] In response, a parliament convened at Scone on 3 December 1318 to enact a new tailzie, confirming that if Robert I died without surviving sons, the Scottish crown would pass to Marjorie's infant son Robert Stewart.^[2][13]

On 5 March 1324, King Robert's second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, gave birth to a male heir, the future David II.^[2][11] The birth of Prince David displaced Robert Stewart from his position as heir presumptive.^[11] In July 1326, the Scottish magnates and prelates met in Parliament at Cambuskenneth, where they swore to uphold the right of the king's infant son to succeed to the throne and recognised Robert Stewart as heir should David die without issue.^[11] To reinforce this status, Robert received royal grants of land in Argyll, Roxburghshire, and the Lothians.^[14]

Robert lost both parents in childhood.^[15] His father Walter died on 9 April 1327.^[16] The eleven-year-old Robert inherited his father's office of High Steward of Scotland.^[2][16] Robert was placed under the guardianship of his paternal uncle, Sir James Stewart of Durrisdeer.^[2][11] King Robert I died on 7 June 1329, and the five-year-old David II was crowned king under the regency of Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray.^[2][17] Randolph, together with Sir James Stewart of Durrisdeer and William Lindsey, Archdeacon of St Andrews, held responsibility for young Robert's wardship and affairs.^[2][17] The earliest surviving charter issued by Robert in his own name was witnessed by these guardians at Tarbert in 1330.^[2]

Second War of Independence

The peace established with England by the 1328 Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, which had recognized Scottish sovereignty, began unravelling shortly after the death of Robert I.^[2][18][19] Edward III of England, dissatisfied with the terms, gave covert diplomatic and logistical support to the faction known as 'the disinherited'.^[2][20][21] This group consisted of Anglo-Norman and Scottish nobles who had been deprived of their Scottish patrimonies by Robert I for their adherence to the Balliol and Comyn causes.^[20][21] Heading this coalition was Edward Balliol, son of the deposed King John Balliol, who asserted a claim to the Scottish throne.^[20][21]

The sudden death of the regent Thomas Randolph in July 1332 compounded the crisis.^[21][22][23] In August 1332, Balliol and the disinherited landed a fleet in Fife and marched inland.^[21] Despite numbering far fewer troops than the royal forces, Balliol inflicted decisive defeats on the Bruce loyalists under Donald, Earl of Mar, at Kinghorn and the Battle of Dupplin Moor on 11 August 1332.^{[17][21][24][25][26][27]} Balliol was crowned King of Scots at Scone on 24 September 1332.^[21][24] A counter-offensive staged in the early hours of 16 December 1332 by the sixteen-year-old Robert Stewart and Sir Archibald Douglas surprised Balliol at the Battle of Annan, driving him across the border into England.^[24]

Balliol returned north in 1333 supported by King Edward III and an English invasion army, laying siege to Berwick.^[17][21][24] On 19 July 1333, the Scottish army attempted to relieve the town and suffered a disaster at the Battle of Halidon Hill.^[17][21][27] Seventeen-year-old Robert Stewart participated in the battle, commanding the second schiltron alongside his uncle and former tutor, Sir James Stewart of Durrisdeer, who was slain on the field.^[2][5][17] Following the defeat, Balliol overran southern and western Scotland, revoking Stewart's estates in Bute, Cowal, and the Stewartry, and conferring them upon David Strathbogie, titular Earl of Atholl.^[2][28] Robert evaded English patrols, taking refuge in Rothesay before two trusted servants rowed him across to Inverkip, from where he made his way to the safety of Dumbarton Castle on the Clyde, where King David II was already sheltered by Sir Malcolm Fleming.^[2][28][29] By the winter of 1333, only a handful of Scottish strongholds remained in Bruce hands: Dumbarton, Loch Leven, Loch Doon, Urquhart, and Kildrummy Castle, which was held by Christina Bruce, sister of Robert I.^[30] Early in 1334, Robert received galleys from Campbell of Loch Awe, enabling his forces to descend Loch Fyne and seize Dunoon Castle in Cowal, rewarding Ivar Campbell with the grant of Rosneath Castle for his service.^[29]

Joint guardianship with Moray (1334–1335)

In May 1334, as the Bruce cause faced military collapse, the ten-year-old King David II and Queen Joan were evacuated to the safety of France, where they were received by King Philip VI and installed at Château Gaillard in Normandy.^{[2][28][29][31]} Robert Stewart and John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray, who had returned from France, were appointed joint Guardians of Scotland.^[2][29] The two young leaders set about expelling Balliol's forces from the west and north.^[2][17][29] Political and personal tensions soon surfaced between them. Randolph enjoyed greater prestige at court, while Stewart was older, was nephew to the king, and held vast hereditary regional influence.^[2][29]

The political rift deepened over the treatment of David Strathbogie, titular Earl of Atholl.^[2][29][32] Strathbogie came over to the Bruce side after disagreements with his fellow disinherited nobles, and in September 1334 Moray compelled him to make peace with David II.^[32] In early 1335, Moray journeyed to Tarbert in Kintyre to negotiate an alliance with John MacDonald, Lord of the Isles, bringing the western magnate into the royal fold.^[29] Later that spring, a parliament convened at Dairsie Castle in Fife, where open conflict broke out between Moray and Strathbogie over control of royal revenues and estates north of the Forth.^[2][29][32] Strathbogie had previously claimed northern lands belonging to his uncle, John Comyn, and at Dairsie he received the firm political backing of Robert Stewart.^[2][29][32] The parliament degenerated into factional acrimony between Stewart's followers and Moray's affinity, paralysing royal administration.^[2][29]

Taking advantage of the administrative collapse among the Bruce Guardians, Edward III and Balliol launched a combined invasion of Scotland in the summer of 1335, marching deep into the country.^[29] In July 1335, John Randolph was ambushed and captured by the English on the border, leaving the guardianship fractured.^[2][29] Strathbogie promptly switched allegiances again, submitting to Edward III at Perth in August and being appointed English Warden of Scotland.^[29][33] Facing destructive amphibious assaults launched from English and Anglo-Irish fleets that ravaged Bute, the Firth of Clyde, and the Stewart estates, Robert Stewart concluded a truce with Edward III and Balliol at Edinburgh in September 1335.^[29][33] Stewart relinquished the office of Guardian by December, bringing an end to his first period of regency.^[2][29][33]

Second guardianship and recovery (1338–1341)

Scottish resistance rallied under Sir Andrew Moray of Bothwell, who had been appointed Guardian at Dunfermline in the winter of 1335–1336.^[2][29][34] Moray had previously been captured in 1332, ransomed himself in 1334, and marched north to capture Dundarg Castle from Henry de Beaumont on 23 December 1334.^[35] On 30 November 1335, Moray surprised and defeated the pro-English forces at the Battle of Culblean, where David Strathbogie was killed.^[29][36] Moray conducted vigorous raiding campaigns across Angus and Fife, effectively ending Edward III's ability to maintain stable territorial control over southern Scotland.^[34][37] The English failure in the six-month siege of Dunbar Castle in 1338 confirmed this strategic shift.^[37] When Moray died at his castle of Avoch in the spring of 1338, Robert Stewart was reappointed sole Guardian of Scotland.^[2][29][34]

Stewart made use of a temporary truce in 1338 to dispatch Sir William Douglas of Lothian to France to solicit military and financial assistance from King Philip VI.^[5][31] In June 1339, Stewart joined the Earls of Ross and March to lay siege to the major English garrison at Perth, which was commanded by the English captain Sir Thomas Ughtred.^{[5][38][39][40]} William Douglas returned from France during the siege, bringing with him Hugh Hampyll, a French privateer commanding five barges, alongside Scottish knights from Château Gaillard.^[31] Douglas also persuaded William Bullock, a skilled Anglo-Balliol cleric and military commander holding Cupar Castle, to abandon the English interest.^[5][40] Bullock surrendered Cupar and provided military counsel at the siege of Perth, leading to Ughtred's capitulation on 17 August 1339.^[5][40] Stirling Castle fell shortly afterwards, and on 17 April 1341, Douglas and Bullock took Edinburgh Castle through a ruse.^[5][29][41]

With royal control largely restored over the kingdom, King David II and Queen Joan returned from France, landing at Inverbervie in Kincardineshire on 4 May 1341.^[29] In June 1341, the seventeen-year-old monarch assumed direct personal rule, terminating Stewart's second guardianship.^[2][29][42] Relations between the king and his nephew were strained.^[2][29][43] David II had developed an abiding mistrust of Stewart, suspecting his ambitions as heir presumptive and remembering Stewart's submission to Balliol in 1335.^[2][29][43] Moreover, John Randolph was released from English custody in a prisoner exchange in 1341 and was a favourite of the king.^[43] The ties between David II and Randolph, Stewart's former rival for control of the government, prevented Stewart from expanding his lands northwards between 1341 and 1346.^[44]

Despite this tension, the king made substantial territorial concessions to Stewart to secure stability.^[2][45] In early 1342, Stewart contested possession of the Lordship of Liddesdale against William Douglas, the young son of Sir Archibald Douglas.^[45][46] The king ruled in Stewart's favour, declaring Archibald Douglas's 1333 title invalid and conferring Liddesdale upon Stewart in February 1342.^[45][46] Stewart immediately exchanged Liddesdale with Sir William Douglas of Lothian in return for the Earldom of Atholl, being formally created Earl of Atholl on 16 February 1342.^[45][46][47] In Atholl, Stewart fostered alliances with Highland kindreds, particularly Clan Donnchadh, the direct descendants of the ancient Gaelic mormaers of Atholl.^[44] Stewart also granted Glen Tilt to Ewen MacRuari, brother of Ranald MacRuari of Garmoran, introducing West Highland dynasties into Perthshire.^[44]

Battle of Neville's Cross (1346)

In 1346, King Philip VI of France appealed to David II to invade northern England to divert English troops from the siege of Calais.^[44] David II assembled a Scottish army and marched south, crossing the border in October.^[44] On 17 October 1346, the Scottish force encountered an English army commanded by Ralph Neville of Raby, Henry Percy, and William de la Zouche, Archbishop of York, at the Battle of Neville's Cross outside Durham.^[17][24][44] The battle resulted in a rout of the Scottish host.^[17][44] John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray, and Maurice de Moray, Earl of Strathearn, were killed on the field.^[44] John Graham, Earl of Menteith, was captured and subsequently executed by Edward III for having broken earlier oaths of fealty, while Duncan, Earl of Fife, was spared execution due to blood kinship with the English royal family.^[44] David II was severely wounded in the face by two arrows and captured.^[17][44]

Robert Stewart and Patrick Dunbar, Earl of March, had commanded the Scottish army's left wing.^[44] As the battle turned, Stewart and March left the field with their troops and withdrew across the border into Scotland.^[2][17][44] Their conduct became a subject of heated political controversy.^[17][44] John of Fordun's chronicle later asserted that Stewart and March had fled out of cowardice, an accusation echoed by English chroniclers and repeated by David II's adherents during the king's captivity.^[17][44] Later versions of Andrew of Wyntoun's chronicle removed the passage describing Stewart's flight, and their account of the battle criticised King David II more than Stewart.^[2][44]

Third guardianship during King David's captivity (1346–1357)

With the king imprisoned in the Tower of London and Randolph dead, Robert Stewart resumed the office of sole Guardian of Scotland, a position he retained for eleven years until David's release in October 1357.^[2][44][48] Stewart's governance was characterized by the systematic expansion of his family's territorial dominion and aristocratic alliances, particularly north of the Forth.^[2][44] In 1350, Stewart negotiated the marriage of his daughter Margaret to John MacDonald, Lord of the Isles, securing an alliance on the western seaboard.^[2][44][49] He also assumed wardship over the extensive estates of the captive Earl of Fife in western Perthshire, including Strathbraan, Strathord, and Strathtay, maintaining control over them following Earl Duncan's death in 1353.^[50]

In 1347, Stewart took steps to regularize his domestic situation and secure the succession of his children.^[2][44][51] He had cohabited with Elizabeth Mure, daughter of Sir Adam Mure of Rowallan, since the late 1330s, but the union was non-canonical due to degrees of consanguinity and affinity.^[2][44] According to Stephen Boardman, David II's captivity and wound, and the unlikelihood that he would father children in this period, may have led Stewart to consider the status of his children, and he petitioned Pope Clement VI for a canonical dispensation to marry Elizabeth and retrospectively legitimate their four sons and six daughters.^[44][51][52] The petition was supported by the kings of France and Scotland and by Scottish bishops.^[44] Pope Clement VI granted the dispensation at Avignon on 22 November 1347, and the couple celebrated a canonical marriage in 1349.^[2][49][52] A rival line of succession existed in John of Sutherland, the nephew of David II through his sister Margaret Bruce and William, Earl of Sutherland; although he stood after Stewart in the order of succession, he had a better claim than Stewart's sons born outside canonical marriage, and some fourteenth-century chronicles state that until his death in England in 1361 he was considered the nearest heir to the throne.^[44]

King David II retained political influence from captivity and sought to undermine Stewart's position.^[44][53] In 1350–1351, David negotiated an agreement with Edward III offering to recognise Prince John of Gaunt, Edward's younger son, as heir to the Scottish crown if David died childless, in exchange for David's unconditional release, the restoration of occupied Scottish border territory, and the remission of ransom payments.^[44][54][55] David was paroled to Scotland in November 1351 and presented these terms to the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh in February and March 1352.^[44][53][54] Led by Stewart, the Three Estates rejected the proposal, warning the king that they would not ransom him if he sought to compromise national sovereignty or alter the Bruce succession.^[44][54][56] Stewart maintained communications with the French crown, describing the English succession proposals as a threat of civil war, and David was obliged to return to captivity in London in April 1352.^[44][54]

In June 1354, a draft treaty drawn up at Berwick set David's ransom at 90,000 merks.^[44] The sum was to be paid over nine years and guaranteed by twenty high-ranking hostages.^[57] Stewart sabotaged the agreement in 1355 by accepting French subsidies and committing Scottish arms to coordinated attacks against England.^[2][44][57] In November 1355, Thomas Stewart, Earl of Angus, and Patrick, Earl of March, seized the town of Berwick with French assistance.^[2][44][58] In response, Edward III led an army into south-eastern Scotland in January and February 1356, burning Edinburgh, Haddington, and much of the Lothians in a punitive campaign known as the 'Burnt Candlemas'.^[2][44][58] Simultaneously, Edward Balliol surrendered his claims to the Scottish crown to Edward III at Roxburgh on 20 January 1356.^[2][44]

The capture of King John II of France by the English at the Battle of Poitiers on 19 September 1356 forced the Scots to reopen negotiations.^[2][44][59] On 3 October 1357, the definitive Treaty of Berwick was concluded.^[24][44][59] Under its terms, David II was released in exchange for a ransom of 100,000 merks, payable in annual instalments over ten years, secured by twenty noble hostages, with a truce between the kingdoms while payments continued.^[24][44][59] David returned to Scotland on 7 October 1357, bringing Robert Stewart's third guardianship to an end.^[44]

Opposition under David II (1357–1371)

Upon David II's return, Robert Stewart remained the most powerful magnate in Scotland, particularly north of the Forth where the king's closest loyalists had perished at Neville's Cross.^[50] In November 1357, David recognised Stewart as Earl of Strathearn, confirming the authority Stewart had established over that earldom during his guardianship.^[50] To neutralise the opposition of William, Earl of Ross, Stewart had married Ross's sister, Euphemia de Ross, Countess Dowager of Moray, in May 1355, following the death of Elizabeth Mure.^[2][49][50] Through Euphemia's dower rights as widow of John Randolph, Stewart extended his influence over Badenoch, Methven, and the Appin of Dull, maintaining cateran mercenaries to enforce his lordship across the Central Highlands.^[50]

Friction between king and nephew flared over the succession to the Earldom of Fife.^[50] Following the death of Earl Duncan in 1353, David II granted the title in March 1358 to his favourite, William Ramsay of Colluthie. The grant was contested by Duncan's daughter Isabella, Countess of Fife, who returned from England after the death of her husband, Sir William de Felton.^[50] Stewart championed Isabella's claim, securing Fife for her in late 1359 and arranging her marriage to his second son, Walter Stewart, in 1360.^[50] Walter died in late 1362 without children.^[50] David II promptly blocked the earldom from passing to Walter's brothers, compelling Isabella in January 1363 to marry another royal courtier, Sir Thomas Bissett of Upsetlington, stipulating that Fife would revert to the crown if Bissett died without issue.^[50]

Royal favouritism further alienated Stewart when David II took Margaret Drummond (widow of Sir John Logie) as his mistress following the death of Queen Joan in 1362, openly signalling an intent to marry her in January 1363.^[60] In 1360, Margaret's brothers had feuded with Stewart's kinsmen, the Menteiths of Rusky and the Campbells of Loch Awe, leading to the killing of three Menteith brothers.^[60] Although Stewart was bound by judicial arbitration in May 1360 to cease hostilities, his third son Robert married Margaret Graham, Countess of Menteith, in September 1361, bringing the earldom into the Stewart family.^[60] King David countered by challenging Stewart holdings in Menteith and promoting Drummond interests across Strathearn.^[60]

In the spring of 1363, Stewart joined William, 1st Earl of Douglas, and Patrick, Earl of March, in open rebellion against the king.^[2][60][61] The baronial coalition petitioned David II to reform the royal government, alleging, according to the Scalacronica, that money raised for earlier ransom payments had been wasted by evil counsel, while fearing that they might be handed over to England as ransom hostages.^[2][60] The rebellion was brief.^[61] David acted decisively, marrying Margaret Logie at Inchmurdock in Fife in April 1363 and threatening Stewart's right of succession to the throne.^[60] On 14 May 1363, Stewart submitted to the king at Inchmurdock, swearing an oath of fealty that detached him from Douglas and March.^[60]

In November 1363, David II held talks with Edward III in London, agreeing on terms for permanent peace.^[62] The draft treaty provided that if David died childless, Edward III or his son John of Gaunt would inherit the Scottish crown in exchange for cancelling the ransom debt, returning Berwick and occupied territories, and restoring disinherited estates.^[54][62] Stewart took precautions, founding a chaplaincy in Glasgow on 12 January 1364 with a £40 annuity to fulfill the canonical terms of his 1347 dispensation and ensure the legitimacy of his elder sons.^[62] When Parliament assembled at Perth in March 1364, the Three Estates rejected the English succession proposal.^[54][62] King David nevertheless continued to promote the Drummonds, arranging the marriage of Stewart's eldest son, John Stewart (the future Robert III), to Annabella Drummond, the queen's niece, in May 1367, thereby attempting to bypass Stewart in favour of his son.^[2][62]

Political conflict persisted in the late 1360s.^[2] In June 1368, the Scottish Parliament required Stewart and his sons John and Robert to swear oaths to restrain lawlessness and bandits operating from their lands.^[2][63] Late in 1368, Stewart and his son Alexander, the future Lord of Badenoch, were imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle, presumably for failing to comply with the decisions of the June parliament.^[2][62][63] They were released around the time of King David's divorce from Queen Margaret Logie in March 1369.^[62] David then planned to marry his new mistress, Agnes Dunbar, sister of George Dunbar, Earl of March, and John Dunbar.^[2][62] In July 1370, John Dunbar obtained a papal dispensation to marry Stewart's daughter Marjorie; Stewart resisted the alliance, but the king coerced him into compliance under threat of forfeiting the Earldom of Strathearn, forcing Stewart to surrender lands to Sir William Douglas of Dalkeith.^[2][62] In the autumn of 1370, David compelled Countess Isabella to resign the Earldom of Fife directly to the crown, which granted it to John Dunbar.^[62] Stewart's prospects appeared bleak until David II died unexpectedly at Edinburgh Castle on 22 February 1371, leaving no children.^[62][64][65]

Accession and coronation (1371)

The death of David II on 22 February 1371 brought Robert Stewart to the throne at the age of fifty-five under the terms of the 1318 tailzie.^[64][65] David was buried at Holyrood Abbey, but an armed demonstration staged at Linlithgow by William, 1st Earl of Douglas, disrupted proceedings and delayed Robert II's coronation.^[65][66] Later chroniclers such as Walter Bower and the Book of Pluscarden claimed that Douglas was asserting a personal claim to the crown as a descendant of the Comyn and Balliol lineages, but modern analysis suggests that Douglas was seeking to protect the patronage and offices he held under David II.^[65][67][68] Douglas's demonstration was also aimed against courtiers of the previous reign, including Sir Robert Erskine, who held the royal castles of Edinburgh, Stirling, and Dumbarton, and the Dunbar brothers.^[65][68][69]

According to Andrew of Wyntoun, Erskine brought a large force to Douglas's gathering at Linlithgow, where the Dunbar brothers joined him, and declared his support for Stewart's right to the throne.^[65] Rather than risk prolonged armed conflict that might invite English intervention, Robert II negotiated a settlement with Douglas.^[65][70] Stewart's daughter Isabella was given in marriage to Douglas's son and heir, Sir James Douglas, with a £500 payment and an annual pension of 100 merks, while Earl William Douglas replaced Erskine as Justiciar of Lothian south of the Forth.^[65][70] Other supporters of David II were removed from office: John Dunbar lost his claim on the Earldom of Fife, and Erskine's son, Sir Thomas Erskine, lost control of Edinburgh Castle.^[65][71][72]

Robert II was crowned at Scone on 26 March 1371.^[65][66] Immediately following the coronation, the Three Estates formally acknowledged Robert's eldest son, John Stewart, Earl of Carrick, as heir apparent, affixing their seals to official declarations to prevent future succession disputes.^[72] In 1373, the king had Parliament pass explicit succession entails.^[73] Because none of his sons possessed legitimate male issue at the time, the act defined the order of succession by primogeniture among Robert's sons: first to John, Earl of Carrick, and his male heirs; then to Robert, Earl of Fife; then to Alexander, Lord of Badenoch; then to David, Earl of Strathearn; and finally to Walter Stewart, excluding females from the royal succession while any male heirs survived.^{[72][73][74][75]}

Consolidation and personal rule (1371–1384)

Robert II adopted an administrative strategy distinct from that of David II.^[2][76] While David had sought to centralise executive control, dominating the magnates and promoting household favourites, Robert governed through delegation and conciliation.^[2][76] He distributed offices, titles, and lordships among his adult sons and regional magnates, building an aristocratic network tied directly to the crown.^[2][76] His eldest son John, Earl of Carrick, held the patrimonial lands south of the Forth and was made keeper of Edinburgh Castle.^[17][63] His third son Robert, Earl of Menteith, was granted the Earldom of Fife in March 1372 following an agreement with Countess Isabella, becoming Earl of Fife and Menteith, and keeper of Stirling Castle in 1373.^{[17][63][72][76]} In exchange for Fife, John Dunbar and his wife Marjorie Stewart received the Earldom of Moray in Parliament on 9 March 1372, while George Dunbar, Earl of March, acquired Annandale.^[72] Alexander Stewart was confirmed as Lord of Badenoch, becoming the king's lieutenant in the north and justiciar north of the Forth.^[17][63] David, the eldest son of Robert's second marriage, received the Earldoms of Strathearn and Caithness, while his youngest son Walter married Margaret Barclay, heiress of Brechin.^[63][76][77]

Through his children's marriages, Robert II linked the royal house to the leading baronial families of Scotland.^[2][76] His daughters married John MacDonald, Lord of the Isles; John Dunbar, Earl of Moray; James Douglas, future 2nd Earl of Douglas; Thomas de la Hay, Constable of Scotland; David Lindsay, 1st Earl of Crawford; and William Douglas of Nithsdale.^[2][49][76] Robert II influenced eight of Scotland's fifteen earldoms, either directly through his sons or through the marriages of his daughters to powerful lords.^[76] Magnates dispossessed of offices were compensated from royal funds, avoiding the baronial resentments that had plagued the previous reign.^[2][17][78]

The kingdom experienced economic recovery and financial stability during the first decade of Robert II's reign.^[2][17] The Scottish wool trade expanded, providing customs duties that funded royal expenditures and magnate pensions.^[2][17] The incorporation of the Stewart patrimony into crown lands augmented revenues, while the suspension of David II's ransom payments to England after the death of Edward III in 1377 relieved pressure on the royal treasury.^[2][17] In 1375, Robert commissioned Archdeacon John Barbour to compose the vernacular epic poem The Brus, which promoted the Bruce and Stewart alliance and celebrated Walter the Steward alongside Sir James Douglas.^[76]

Robert II conducted governance through frequent regional itinerancy, differing from David II's preference for Edinburgh and Lothian.^[10][79] Robert held council and issued charters across Perthshire, Methven, Perth, and Scone, as well as the Stewart patrimonial seats of Renfrew, Bute, and Portencross.^[10] He made annual visits to Bute in May, spent late summers hunting in the forests around Kindrochit in the Highlands, and visited Kilwinning Abbey in late autumn.^[10] He spoke Gaelic, was steeped in Gaelic aristocratic culture, and patronised Gaelic poets and regional kindreds across Argyll, Perthshire, and the Hebrides.^[10][80]

Stewart expansion in the north

In northern Scotland, the king relied on his fourth son, Alexander Stewart, Lord of Badenoch, commonly remembered as 'the Wolf of Badenoch'.^[63] On 7 October 1372, Alexander was appointed royal lieutenant for all territories north of Moray to the Pentland Firth, encompassing Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, as well as the highland districts under the sheriff of Inverness.^[63] Alexander governed through Gaelic cateran mercenaries, maintaining order through coercive private power.^[50][81] Following the death of Sir Walter Leslie in February 1382, Alexander married the widowed Euphemia I, Countess of Ross, receiving the barony of Kingedward and the title of Earl of Buchan on 22 June 1382, alongside confirmation of the Ross estates.^[63] In 1387, he was appointed justiciar north of the Forth.^[63]

Alexander's methods provoked conflict across northern society.^[63][77][81] His activities and methods of administration, enforced by Gaelic mercenaries, drew criticism from northern earls and bishops.^[63][81] His half-brother David, Earl of Strathearn, and the Leslie and Lindsay families protested against his dominance, particularly after Alexander seized the royal fortress of Urquhart Castle.^[63][77][81] On 4 November 1382, Sir James Lindsay of Crawford, allied to the Carrick faction, murdered the king's son-in-law, Sir John Lyon, Thane of Glamis and Chamberlain of Scotland, in a feud linked to northern territorial rivalry.^[2][49][82] The king's inability or reluctance to discipline Buchan damaged his standing on the royal council.^[2][81]

Anglo-Scottish conflict and border warfare

When Robert II took the throne, substantial areas of southern Scotland remained under English occupation, including Berwickshire, Teviotdale, and parts of Annandale and Tweeddale, garrisoned at Berwick, Roxburgh, Jedburgh, and Lochmaben.^[83][84] Although the fourteen-year truce agreed in 1369 remained formally in force, Robert renewed the Auld Alliance with France through the Treaty of Vincennes in June 1371, promising mutual military assistance against England.^[84][85] In 1372, a diplomatic dispute arose when Edward III addressed Robert II in official receipts as his 'cousin' rather than 'King of Scots', which Scottish envoys refused to accept.^[84] Following the outbreak of the Western Schism in 1378, Scotland recognized the Avignon antipope Clement VII, whereas England adhered to the Roman pope Urban VI.

Border warfare resumed in the mid-1370s.^[86][87] Encouraged by the crown, Scottish border barons launched cross-border incursions into the occupied zones.^[86][87] George Dunbar, Earl of March, recovered Annandale in 1376.^[87][88] Following the death of Edward III in June 1377 and the accession of the minor Richard II, Scottish attacks increased.^[17][87] The Scottish government ceased paying the instalments of David II's ransom, and Robert II issued a charter on 25 July 1378 transferring Coldingham Priory from the jurisdiction of Durham Priory to Dunfermline Abbey.^[87][89] In January 1382, the king visited Edebredshelys near Selkirk to coordinate border operations and grant captured territories to local lords.^[90]

In August 1383, Scottish envoys negotiated an agreement with the court of King Charles VI of France, promising French troops and cash subsidies to support an offensive against England.^[91] In February 1384, Scottish forces captured Lochmaben Castle and recovered Teviotdale, unaware that England and France had signed a truce at Leulinghem on 26 January 1384 that included Scotland.^[91][92] In April 1384, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, led an English army to Edinburgh, which was spared from destruction after the burghers paid a ransom, though Haddington was burned.^[91][93] Earl William of Douglas died in April 1384 and was succeeded by his son James, 2nd Earl of Douglas, who joined John, Earl of Carrick, in demanding military retaliation against England.^[2][91][94]

Robert II opposed escalating the war.^[94][95][96] Fearing that French diplomatic delays would leave Scotland exposed to English invasion, the king sought to adhere to the Anglo-French truce and sent Walter Wardlaw, Bishop of Glasgow, to peace negotiations at Boulogne on 2 June 1384.^[95][96] Carrick and Douglas ignored the king's policy, launching raiding expeditions into northern England throughout June.^[95][96] Although Scotland was formally admitted to the European truce on 26 July until October 1384, the political rift between the king and the militant border magnates became irreconcilable.^[96][97]

Loss of authority and the coup of 1384

In November 1384, the Scottish General Council convened at Holyrood Abbey.^[96][98][99] The assembly stripped Robert II of his executive and judicial authority, passing control of the government to his eldest son, John, Earl of Carrick, who was appointed lieutenant of the kingdom.^{[76][96][98][99]} The council justified the coup by citing the king's age, physical ailments, and failure to enforce royal justice, particularly regarding the lawlessness of Alexander, Earl of Buchan, in the north.^[81][96][99] The Three Estates bound themselves by oath to support Carrick, even if his decisions ran contrary to the royal will.^[99] The chronicler Bower and modern historians note that Sir David Fleming of Cumbernauld played a central role in enforcing the king's political containment.^[96]

With Carrick at the head of the administration, military preparations proceeded unhindered.^[7][100] In June 1385, a French expeditionary force of 1,200 men commanded by Jean de Vienne, Admiral of France, arrived in Scotland.^[7][100] The French contingent joined an army led by Carrick, Robert, Earl of Fife, and the Earl of Douglas for an invasion of northern England.^[7][100] The campaign yielded minimal results and was undermined by disputes between Scottish and French commanders, resulting in the abandonment of the siege of Roxburgh Castle.^[101] In August 1385, an English army led by King Richard II and John of Gaunt invaded Scotland, burning Edinburgh, Melrose, and Dryburgh Abbey.^[7] Following the English withdrawal, the French troops departed Scotland in late 1385, and a temporary truce was concluded until 1388.^[7]

Counter-coup of 1388 and Fife's guardianship

In April 1388, the Scottish council met at Edinburgh under Robert II's formal presidency, deciding to resume hostilities upon the expiration of the truce.^[102] A Scottish army under James, 2nd Earl of Douglas, invaded Northumberland, raiding as far south as Newcastle upon Tyne.^[103][104] On 5 August 1388, the Scots encountered an English army commanded by Sir Henry Percy 'Hotspur' at the Battle of Otterburn.^{[104][105][106]} The battle was a Scottish victory: Hotspur and his brother Ralph Percy were captured, but Earl James Douglas was killed on the field.^{[104][105][106]} Douglas left no legitimate heirs, triggering a succession struggle for the Douglas estates.^[105][107] Carrick supported his brother-in-law, Sir Malcolm Drummond, while Carrick's younger brother, Robert, Earl of Fife, supported Sir Archibald Douglas 'the Grim', Lord of Galloway, who held an entail on the lordship.^[105][107]

Carrick's political position collapsed rapidly following Otterburn.^[105][107] In late 1388, he was incapacitated after being kicked by a horse, leaving him permanently lame.^{[107][108][109]} At a General Council meeting in Edinburgh on 1 December 1388, Robert II spoke in favour of transferring the lieutenancy from Carrick to Robert, Earl of Fife.^{[105][107][108][109]} Fife took office as Guardian of Scotland, supported by Archibald the Grim, who was confirmed as 3rd Earl of Douglas.^[105][107] Fife moved against the disorder in the north, stripping his brother Alexander of the offices of lieutenant of the north and justiciar north of the Forth, conferring the justiciarship on his own son, Murdoch Stewart.^[108][110]

Death and burial

In January 1390, the elderly king undertook a winter journey across north-eastern Scotland, visiting Aberdeen and Inverness to affirm the change of political authority following Buchan's dismissal.^[110][111] In March 1390, he returned to the Stewart family seat of Dundonald Castle in Ayrshire.^[111][112] Robert II died at Dundonald on 19 April 1390 at the age of seventy-four, being the longest-lived monarch of Scotland since Malcolm III.^{[8][111][112]} He was buried at Scone Abbey, with chronicles recording the funeral taking place either on 25 April 1390 or on 13 August 1390, immediately preceding the coronation of his eldest son John, who assumed the throne as Robert III.^{[2][111][112]}

Historiography and legacy

The reign and character of Robert II have been subject to conflicting interpretations.^[113][114] The French chronicler Jean Froissart depicted Robert as a timid and ineffective ruler, describing him in 1385 as an old man with red, bleared eyes the colour of sandalwood, who preferred the peace of his estates to the battlefield.^{[114][115][116]} This portrayal influenced nineteenth- and twentieth-century historians, including P. Hume Brown, J. D. Mackie, Gordon Donaldson, and Ranald Nicholson, who characterized Robert's rule as weak, lazy, and deficient in statecraft.^{[117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124]} Donaldson described Robert's political career as undistinguished, while Nicholson considered the king incapable of curbing the violent feuds of his sons.^{[117][118][120][124]}

Modern historians, including Stephen Boardman, Alexander Grant, and Michael Lynch, offer a more positive assessment.^{[68][118][125][126]} They emphasize that Robert's governance was tailored to the decentralized structure of late medieval Scotland, providing a decade of political stability and economic prosperity.^{[17][125][126]} Contemporary Scottish chroniclers, such as Andrew of Wyntoun and Walter Bower, described Robert II as a patriotic leader who defended the realm, maintained royal integrity, and peacefully integrated Highland Gaelic society into the political life of the court.^[2][127] Lynch argues that the baronial autonomy of the 1370s continued policies initiated under David II rather than representing crown weakness, while Grant questions the reliability of Froissart's accounts, noting that the king maintained central direction over military and diplomatic strategy until the council interventions of the late 1380s.^{[68][84][128][129]}

Marriages and issue

Robert II married firstly Elizabeth Mure, daughter of Sir Adam Mure of Rowallan, around 1336.^[2][49][130] The union was deemed uncanonical, but following a papal dispensation issued by Pope Clement VI at Avignon on 22 November 1347, the couple were remarried according to canon law in 1349, legitimising their children.^{[2][49][52][130]} Ten children reached adulthood: * John Stewart, Earl of Carrick (c.^[49][131] 1337 – 1406), who succeeded to the throne as King Robert III, married Annabella Drummond; * Walter Stewart (c.^{[49][107][131]} 1338 – 1362), Lord of Fife, married Isabella MacDuff, Countess of Fife; * Robert Stewart, Earl of Fife and Menteith, created Duke of Albany in 1398 (c.^[2][49][131] 1340 – 1420), married firstly Margaret Graham, Countess of Menteith, and secondly Muriella Keith; * Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan and Lord of Badenoch (c.^{[49][131][132]} 1343 – 1405), known as 'the Wolf of Badenoch', married Euphemia I, Countess of Ross; * Margaret Stewart, married John MacDonald, Lord of the Isles; * Marjorie Stewart, married firstly John Dunbar, Earl of Moray, and secondly Sir Alexander Keith of Grandown; * Elizabeth Stewart, married Sir Thomas de la Hay, 7th Lord Erroll, Constable of Scotland; * Isabella Stewart (d.^{[49][131][133]} 1410), married firstly James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas, and secondly Sir John Edmonstone of Duntreath; * Johanna Stewart (Jean), married firstly Sir John Keith, secondly Sir John Lyon, Thane of Glamis, and thirdly Sir James Sandilands of Calder; * Katherine Stewart, married Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig, Lord High Admiral of Scotland.^[49][131]

In 1355, following Elizabeth Mure's death, Robert married secondly Euphemia de Ross, daughter of Hugh, Earl of Ross, and widow of John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray, following a papal dispensation dated 2 May 1355.^{[49][131][134]} They had four children: * David Stewart (born after 1357, died before 15 May 1390), Earl of Strathearn from 26 May 1371 and Earl of Caithness before 24 December 1375; * Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl and Earl of Caithness (c.^{[49][131][135]} 1360 – 1437), who was executed in Edinburgh in 1437 for his role in the assassination of his nephew, King James I; * Elizabeth Stewart, married in 1380 to David Lindsay, 1st Earl of Crawford; * Egidia Stewart, married in 1387 to Sir William Douglas of Nithsdale.^{[4][49][131][136]}

The legitimacy of Robert's first marriage and the status of his sons by Elizabeth Mure remained a subject of dynastic dispute for generations.^[4][137] Descendants of Euphemia de Ross asserted that their line possessed a superior hereditary claim to the Scottish crown, fueling dynastic conflict that culminated in the 1437 assassination of James I, in a plot organised by Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl.^[4][137]

King Robert II also fathered numerous extramarital children.^[2][138] His longest relationship was with his mistress Mariota de Cardeny, by whom he had at least three sons: * Alexander Stewart of Inverlunan; * Sir John Stewart of Cardeny; * James Stewart of Abernethy and Kinfauns; * Walter Stewart.^[2][49][138] By Moira Leitch, according to family tradition, he had: * Sir John Stewart, Sheriff of Bute (1360 – c.^[138] 1449), ancestor of the Marquesses of Bute.^{[2][138][139]} By other women, he had: * John Stewart, Lord of Burley (killed 1425); * Alexander Stewart, canon of Glasgow; * Sir Alexander Stewart of Inverlunan; * Thomas Stewart, Archdeacon of St Andrews and Dean of Dunkeld; * James Stewart of Kinfauns; * Walter Stewart; * Maria Stewart, who married Sir John de Danielstoun.^{[2][49][138][140]}

Cultural depictions

Robert II has appeared as a character in Scottish historical literature.^{[114][141][142][143]} In James Hogg's novel The Three Perils of Man; or, War, women, and witchcraft (1822), the king is depicted presiding over a peaceful court at Linlithgow Palace, offering his daughter Margaret in marriage to any knight capable of retaking Roxburgh Castle from the English.^[141] Nigel Tranter featured Robert II in two historical novels: The Lords of Misrule (1976), which portrays the king's final years from 1388 to 1390 as an elderly, half-blind monarch struggling against the ambitions of his sons, and Courting Favour (2000), which follows the career of Robert's son-in-law, John Dunbar, Earl of Moray, as a royal courtier and diplomat.^{[142][143][144]}

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144. «Αρχειοθετημένο αντίγραφο». Αρχειοθετήθηκε από το πρωτότυπο στις 14 Αυγούστου 2011. Ανακτήθηκε στις 14 Απριλίου 2018.