Alexander+III

__ Alexander III __ == ** Alexander III was born at **** Roxburgh, the only son of **** Alexander II by his second wife **** Marie de Coucy. Alexander's father died on 6 July 1249 and he became king at the age of eight, inaugurated at **** Scone ** **on 13 July 1249.** == == ** The years of his minority featured an embittered struggle for the control of affairs between two rival parties, the one led by **** Walter Comyn, **** Earl of Menteith , the other by **** Alan Durward , **** Justiciar of Scotia. The former dominated the early years of Alexander's reign. At the marriage of Alexander to **** Margaret of England in 1251, **** Henry III seized the opportunity to demand from his son-in-law homage for the Scottish kingdom, but Alexander did not comply. In 1255 an interview between the English and Scottish kings at **** Kelso led to Menteith and his party losing to Durward's party. But though disgraced, they still retained great influence, and two years later, seizing the person of the king, they compelled their rivals to consent to the erection of a regency representative of both parties. ** == == ** On attaining his majority at the age of 21 in 1262, Alexander declared his intention of resuming the projects on the **** Western Isles which the death of his father thirteen years before had cut short. He laid a formal claim before the **** Norwegian king **** Haakon. Haakon rejected the claim, and in the following year responded with a formidable invasion. Sailing around the west coast of Scotland he halted off the **** Isle of Arran, and negotiations commenced. Alexander artfully prolonged the talks until the autumn storms should begin. At length Haakon, weary of delay, attacked, only to encounter a terrific **** storm which greatly damaged his ships. The **** Battle **** of Largs (October 1263) proved indecisive, but even so, Haakon's position was hopeless. Baffled, he turned homewards, but died in Orkney on 15 December 1263. The Isles now lay at Alexander's feet, and in 1266 Haakon's successor concluded the **** Treaty of Perth by which he ceded the **** Isle of Man and the **** Western Isles to Scotland in return for a monetary payment. Norway retained only **** Orkney and **** Shetland in the area. In 1284, Alexander invested the title of **** Lord of the Isles in the head of the Macdonald family, Angus Macdonald, and over the next two centuries the Macdonald lords operated as if they were kings in their own right, frequently opposing the **** Scottish ** ** monarch. ** == == ** Alexander had married Princess **** Margaret of England, a daughter of King **** Henry III of England and **** Eleanor of Provence , on 26 December 1251. She died in 1274, after they had three children: ** ==

** Margaret (28 February 1260 – 9 April 1283), who married King **** Eirik II of Norway **
** Alexander, Prince of Scotland (21 January 1264 **** Jedburgh – 28 January 1284 **** Lindores Abbey ); buried in **** Dunfermline **** Abbey **

** David (20 March 1272 – June 1281 **** Stirling **** Castle ); buried in **** Dunfermline **** Abbey **

== Towards the end of Alexander's reign, the death of all three of his children within a few years made the question of the succession one of pressing importance. In 1284 he induced the nobles to recognize as his heir-presumptive his granddaughter Margaret, the "Maid of Norway". The need for a male heir led him to contract a second marriage to Yolande de Dreux on 1 November 1285. == == But the sudden death of the king dashed all such hopes. Alexander died in a fall from his horse in the dark while riding to visit the queen at Kinghorn in Fife on 19 March 1286, having spent the evening at Edinburgh Castle overseeing a meeting with royal advisors. He was advised by them not to make the journey over to Fife because of weather conditions, but travelled anyway. Alexander became separated from his guides and it is assumed that in the dark his horse lost its footing. The 44-year old king was found dead on the shore the following morning with a broken neck. ==

[[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Alexander_III_and_Ollamh_R%C3%ADgh.JPG width="550" height="570"]] Alexander's coronation
Please see below for handouts on Alexander's reign