Talk:Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland

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Alexander Stewart , 4th High Steward of Scotland

           Birth: 1214 in Dundonald, Kyle,Ayr,Scotland 
           Death: 1283 in Scotland
           Marriage:  Jean [of Bute] Macrory b: 1218 in Bute,Scotland 
           

He married Jean MACRORY of Bute.Birth: 1214/1220 Dundonald, Scotland. Marriage: Abt. 1242 Of, , Scotland daughter of James (Seumas) Macrory, Lord of Bute.

4th Great Alexander Stewart ,Steward of Scotland. Born 1214. Died 1283. He married Jean MACRORY OF BUTE Marriage: Abt. 1242 Of, , Scotland Principal commander under King Alexander III at the Battle of Largs 2 Oct 1263 when the Scottish army defeated the Norwegians. In 1264 he invaded the Isle of Man. ALAN, EARL OF MENTETH, joined Robert Bruce, in his claim to the throne of Scotland, and was captured by the English, in whose custody be died, leaving a dau., MARY, COUNTESS OF MENTETH.

           Children 
           1. Sir John Stewart 
                       b: ABT. 1245 in Bonkyl,Scotland   

Sir John Stewart, of Bonkill, Berwickshire born circa 1250, killed in battle 22 July 1298 Falkirk Wallace praised his bravery above all men. He brought his own Islesmen from Bute and his wife's Border archers to aid the national cause, but was killed fighting for Sir William Wallace at the battle of Falkirk. married Margaret de Bonkill, daughter of Alexander de Bonkill.

           2. Sir James Stewart , 5th High Steward of Scotland  [Royal Line]
                        b: 1243 in Dundonald,Kyle,Ayr,Scotland  

Alexander's son James, who died in 1309, was the 5th High Stewart of Scotland. From his Brother, Sir John Stewart of Bonkyl, who fell fighting along with Wallace for the cause of Scottish independence at the Battle of Falkirk in 1208, a number of famous Scottish families took their origin. The line of the eldest son, Sir Alexander, became Earls of Angus, and ended in a female who carried the earldom to the Douglas's, who were Earls of Angus and Dukes of Hamearldom at this present day. From his second son, Sir Alan Stewart of Darnley, descended the Stewart Earls of Lennox, whose heir, Lord Darnley married Mary Queen of Scots, and became ancestor of the later Stewart Kings. From Sir Alan also descended the Earls of Galloway, who are chiefs of the Stewarts presently. From Bonkyl's fourth son came the Stewarts of Innermeath in Strathearn, from whom descended the Stewart Lords of Lorn, the Stewarts of Murthly and Grandtully, the Stewart Earls of Athol, and the Stewarts of Appin. From Bonkyl's sixth son, Sir Robert, came the Stewarts of Allanton and their cadets.

           3. Elizabeth, b: abt. 1250, m. William "le Hardi" Douglas, b. Abt 

1240, d. 1298

           4. Miss Stewart, b: Abt 1268, m. Sir Alexander Lindsay

Notes : His marriage to Jean, daughter and heiress of James, lord of Bute, and, in her right, he seized both the Isles of Bute and than of Arran. After the death of her father, his lands were seized by her uncle Ranald’s descendants. Through her husband’s family, the Stewarts, she prosecuted a claim for the return of the islands of Arran and Butte from Ruairi mac Ranald; they eventually obtained the lands after some resistance. Alexander commanded the right wing of the Scots army at the battle of Largs, 1263. Alexander attended St. Louis of France to the Holy War and he was the principal commander under King Alexander III at the Battle of Largs October 2, 1263 when the Scottish army defeated the Norwegians. He received from Alexander III a grant of the Barony of Garlies in Galloway on November 30, 1263. In 1264 he invaded the Isle of Man.

Sir Alexander’s Arms, as shown on his Seal attached to the Ragman Roll, were three buckles, and several of his grandsons and their descendants accordingly carried “buckles” in their Arms also.

Meantime, Bonkly's nephew, Walter, the sixth High Stewart, had greatly distinguished himself in the cause of King Robert the Bruce (a cousin of both the Stewart and the Boyds), at the great Battle of Bannockburn, and at the heroic defense of Berwick. As a reward, he received the hand of Bruce's only daughter, the Princess Marjory. Their married life was short: as she rode by the knock between Renfrew and Paisley, Marjory was thrown from her horse and killed. She was with child at the time of the fall, but the child was saved by the Caesarean operation. The spot was long marked by a monolith known as Queen Bleary's Stone. The boy lived, however, and though he inherited his mothers weakness of the eyes, played a heroic part in Scottish history.

From that old possession of his family, the Island of Bute, which his ancestor had won from the Norsemen, he sailed forth to attack Dunoon to overthrow the entire conquest of Edward Baliol. When he came to the throne as King Robert II, in 1317, he had earned it by his sword almost as heroically as his grandfather Robert the Bruce. A point which has not been sufficiently noted by Scottish historians, is that from the two marriages of Robert II, a large proportion of the later troubles of the Stewart Kings and of the Kingdom of Scotland took rise. For centuries it was questioned if his first union with Elizabeth Murr of Rowallan, had ever been legitimized. In consequence, the descendants of his second wife, Euphemia Ross, again and again made claim to the throne. From this cause arose directly the murder of King James I, in 1437. Stewart and the Douglas's war against James II in 1450. James I, was slain by the descendants of King Robert's second wife, whom he had dispossessed of the Royal Earldom of Strathern. The ambition of the Earls of Douglas was directly stimulated by the fact that they had inherited the claims of the family of Euphemia Ross and of the earlier great house of Comyn.