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Robert II
b. 2 Mar 1316 [1]
d. 19 Apr 1390, Dundonald, Ayrshire [2] |
| Title: |
Dei gratia Rex Scotorum = By the grace of God, King of the Scots |
| Term: |
22 Feb 1371 - 19 Apr 1390 |
| Chronology: |
22 Feb 1371, succeeded to the throne of Scotland |
|
26 Mar 1371, crowned, Scone Abbey, Perthshire [3] |
|
19 Apr 1390, died |
| Names/titles: |
Private name: Robert Stewart; Gaelic name: Raibeart; High Steward of Scotland [9 Apr 1326 - 22 Feb 1371] |
| Biography: |
| Born to Walter, 6th High Steward of Scotland and Marjorie Bruce (also known as Margaret de Bruce, or Brus), oldest daughter of King Robert I of Scotland; was declared heir to the throne in default of male issue of his grandfather, Robert I, by Parliament at Scone (3 Dec 1318); forfeited his position as heir apparent on the birth (5 Mar 1324) of his uncle, David (future King David II); became heir presumptive after the death of Robert I (7 Jun 1329); participated in the Battle of Halidon Hill (19 Jul 1333) against the invading English army; was chosen one of the two guardians of the Kingdom (c. 1335-1341) for the absent King David II, who was sent for safety to France; remained a sole guardian after the captivity of another guardian, John Ranulph, 3rd Earl of Moray (1335); relinquished guardianship upon the return of David II (after 2 Jun 1341); chosen guardian of the Kingdom (1346-1357) and exercised royal authority in absence of David II, who was held in captivity in England; rose in rebellion against the king (1363), 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; succeeded childless David II (22 Feb 1371); decreed the succession in the male line in Parliament in Scone (4 Apr 1373); received French support to repel the English invasions (1385); handed some of royal authority to his son, John (future King Robert III) (1384), whose activity was interrupted by an accident that made him partially incapacitated (1388); spent last years of his reign under governorship of his second son, Robert, Earl of Menteith (future Duke of Albany) chosen governor of the Kingdom by the king's council at Edinburgh (1 Dec 1388). |
| Biographical sources: Dunbar (1906), 159-171. |
| |
| [1] |
Scotichronicon, Book XII, c. 25: 2 Mar 1315/1316; Book of Pluscarden, Book IX, c. 14; Extracta E Variis Cronicis Scocie, 146: "Robertus Stewart, filius Walteri Stewart senescalli Scocie, et nepos regis e filia, nascitur anno Domini M°iiicxv. |
| [2] |
Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis, 381 (no. 303): " · Sciendum eſt quod anno Domini milleſimo · cccmo · nonogeſimo de menſe Aprilis obiit Robertus Seneſcalli Rex Scocie apud Dundonald et ſepultus eſt apud Sconam ·"; Scotichronicon, Book XIV, c. 56: 19 Apr 1390; "The Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland, by Androw of Wyntoun" in "The Historians of Scotland. Vol. IX.", ed. by David Laing (Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1879), vol. III, p. 44: "A.D. 1390 ... The secownd Robert off Scotland Kyng, / As God purẅaid, made endyng / At Downdownald in his cuntré / Off a schort seknes thare deyd he."; Extracta E Variis Cronicis Scocie, 244: "Nota Historiam Genologie Sequentis et Mortem Regis Roberi Secundi. Anno M°iiiclxxx., xiii. de Maii, obiit rex Robertus secundus apud Dundonalde, qui regnauit xix. annis et xxiii. diebus, anno etatis sue lxxiii., ... " (in error: probably confused "xiii. de Maii" with "xiii. Kal. Maii", which is April 19, year is also wrong probably by omission of last 'x' in 'lxxxx'); Book of Pluscarden", Book X, c. 2: 20 Apr 1390. |
| [3] |
Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707, A1371/1. Date accessed: 10 November 2008; Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, 1, 184, black (545, red): 26 Mar 1371; Extracta E Variis Cronicis Scocie, 191: "et sic in sequenti festo Annunciacionis, coronatur apud Sconam debito cum nome Robertus predictus in regem, anno Domini M°iiiclxxi." (on the day after the Feast of the Annunciation, i.e. 26 Mar 1371); Scotichronicon, Book XIV, c. 36: crowned in the feast of the Annunciation, 1371; Book of Pluscarden, Book X, c. 1: 1371; Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 2: lxxix, 365. |
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Image: privy seal of Robert II. |
