User:Angusmclellan/Robert II

Story of a beautiful woman who found true love and a new home  during a time  when people said she was just a nobody she proved to be of royalty and great wealth.

Background
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Birth
Robert was the son of Walter the Steward, sixth hereditary Steward of Scotland, and Marjorie Bruce, only child of King Robert I's marriage to Isabella of Mar. At his birth, Robert stood second in line to the throne, behind King Robert's brother Edward Bruce, who had been acknowledged as heir presumptive by a Parliament held at Ayr in April of 1315. Edward died in Ireland in 1318, and the infant Robert became heir presumptive with his death.

Young Robert received grants from his grandfather the King in 1318, making him lord of Cunningham, and of Kintyre in addition to the Steward's holdings in Strathgryfe, and the isles of Arran and Bute. In the aftermath of the Soules conspiracy of 1320, he was made Baron of Methven and of Kellie.

In 1324, King Robert's second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh, gave birth to a son, the future King David II. Robert's place second in line to the throne was confirmed by act of Parliament in 1326 at Cambuskenneth Abbey. His father died in 1327, leaving Robert under the guardianship of his uncle, James Stewart. Robert's grandfather died in 1329 and David II became king.

Edward Balliol
Soon after the infant David became king in 1329, the Steward began to take a prominent part in the affairs of Scotland. He was one of the leaders of the Scottish army at the battle of Halidon Hill in July 1333; and after gaining some successes over the adherents of Edward Balliol in the west of Scotland, he and John Randolph, 3rd Earl of Moray (d. 1346), were chosen as regents of the kingdom, while David sought safety in France.
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The colleagues soon quarrelled; then Randolph fell into the hands of the English and Robert became sole regent, meeting with such success in his efforts to restore the royal authority that the king was able to return to Scotland in 1341. Having handed over the duties of government to David, the Steward escaped from the battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, and was again chosen regent while the king was a captive in England. Soon after this event some friction arose between Robert and his royal uncle. Accused, probably without truth, of desertion at Neville's Cross, the Steward as heir-presumptive was greatly chagrined by the king's proposal to make Edward III of England, or one of his sons, the heir to the Scottish throne, and by David's marriage with Margaret Logie.

David II returns
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King
TO DO In 1363 he rose in rebellion, and after having made his submission was seized and imprisoned together with four of his sons, being only released a short time before David's death in February 1371. By the terms of the decree of 1318 Robert now succeeded to the throne, and was crowned at Scone, Perthshire in March 1371. He was not a particularly active king. Some steps were taken by the nobles to control the royal authority. In 1378 a war broke out with England; but the king took no part in the fighting, which included the burning of Edinburgh and the Scottish victory at the Battle of Otterburn in 1388.
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As age and infirmity were telling upon him, the estates in 1389 appointed his second surviving son Robert, Earl of Fife, afterwards Duke of Albany, guardian of the kingdom. The king died at Dundonald in 1390, and was buried at Scone.

Appraisal
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His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Adam Mure of Rowallan, a lady who had formerly been his mistress. Robert had married her in 1336, but as the marriage had been criticised as uncanonical, he remarried her in 1349. By her he had at least ten children including: By his second wife, Euphemia de Ross, daughter of Aodh, Earl of Ross, and widow of the 3rd Earl of Moray, formerly his colleague as regent, he had five children including:
 * John, later king as Robert III
 * Robert
 * Alexander, the Wolf of Badenoch,
 * Margaret, married John of Islay, Lord of the Isles
 * Walter, married Isabella, Countess of Fife
 * Marjorie, married first John Dunbar, 5th Earl of Moray, second Alexander Keith
 * Johanna, married in 1373 Sir John Keith, in 1379 Sir John Lyon, in 1384 Sir James Sandilands
 * Isabella, married first James Douglas, 2nd Earl of Douglas, married second David Edmondstone
 * Elizabeth, married Sir Thomas Hay, Lord High Constable of Scotland
 * David (d. bef. 1389)
 * Walter (d. 1437)
 * Elizabeth, married 1380 David Lindsay, 1st Earl of Crawford
 * Egidia, married 1387 Sir William Douglas of Nithsdale

The confusion about the circumstances of his first marriage would later lead to conflict amongst the descendants of his first marriage (which included James I of Scotland) and the unquestionably legitimate descendants of his second marriage.

Robert had also eight illegitimate children, mostly by unknown mothers, including Thomas Stewart, Archdeacon and Bishop-elect of St. Andrews, John of Bute and John (the Red) of Dundonald.