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| Robert II of Scotland |
On this day in 1371, Robert Stewart, Earl of Strathearn
ascended to the Scottish throne as King Robert II – the first Stewart monarch
of Scotland.
He was the son of Walter Stewart, 6th High
Steward of Scotland and Marjorie Bruce, the daughter of Robert the Bruce, the Scottish king who had decisively defeated Edward II of England and his army at Bannockburn in 1314 as part of Scotland's quest for independence.
Robert Stewart's early life was mostly occupied by conflict with England.
Scotland’s independence was recognized in 1328, but the English – led by Edward
III – continued to exert influence on Scottish affairs and backed the claim of
Edward Balliol, the son of John Balliol, who was the Scottish king best
remembered for his weakness and incompetence against Edward I of England during
the Wars of Scottish Independence. At times during this period, Stewart was a Guardian
of Scotland during the minority of his uncle, David II (who was eight years his
junior), which meant that he was the de facto head of state in Scotland. He was
also a Guardian when the King was held captive by the English following the
Battle of Neville’s Cross.
At the time of his accession as King of Scots, Robert II had already begun a program
of centralizing power to the Scottish Crown and to end the feudal strife that
had stopped Scotland from advancing as a modern state. This aim of
consolidation and building up Scotland continued as Robert II had his nobles gradually
recapture land still dominated by the English, ended trade with England, and
renewed the strategic alliance with France known as the Auld Alliance. However,
King Robert wished to avoid all-out war with England, and when the English and
French entered into peace negotiations, he wanted to be a party to it. This
move was unpopular with the Scottish nobility, and he faced a mutiny that
included his own sons, and which resulted in the King having his power stripped
away.
Robert II died in 1390, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
John Stewart, Earl of Carrick as Robert III of Scotland.
One of his lasting legacies is the establishment of the House
of Stewart, which continued to preside over Scotland’s transformation from a loose
collection of fiefdoms to a unified and modern nation-state. Power was
consolidated to Edinburgh as the Scottish Crown gained more authority and
influence over the nobility, especially in areas populated by Scandinavians and
Gaels.
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| British Royal Coat of Arms under Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch |
In 1603, the Stuarts extended their dominion with the
accession of James VI to the thrones of England and Ireland as James I, thanks
to the 1503 marriage between James IV and Margaret Tudor (the eldest daughter
of Henry VII of England and sister to Henry VIII), which made King James the
closest living Protestant relative of the childless Elizabeth I. The Stuart
dynasty would rule the Anglo-Celtic (British) Isles until 1714 upon the death
of Queen Anne, during which significant advances in the arts and sciences took
place, and institutions such as the Royal Mail and the Royal Society were
established.
Altogether, the House of Stewart/Stuart reigned for 343
years – longer than any other royal house in British history, and it produced
fourteen monarchs (though an eleven-year interregnum occurred in the 1650’s,
during which monarchy was abolished as a result of the Wars of the Three
Kingdoms). By the end of the Stuart period, England and Scotland had been
formally and politically united into the Kingdom of Great Britain.
Photo Credit: Sodacan via Wikimedia Commons cc
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