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King Robert III Stuart[1]

Male 1337 - 1406  (69 years)    Has more than 100 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Robert III Stuart  [2, 3, 4
    Prefix King 
    Birth 1337  Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 4
    Gender Male 
    Death 4 Apr 1406  Rothsay Castle, Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Siblings 8 Siblings 
    Person ID I121375  Geneagraphie | Ahnen BvS
    Last Modified 19 Mar 2010 

    Father King Robert Stuart, II,   b. 2 Mar 1316, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 19 Apr 1390, Dundonald Castle, Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 74 years) 
    Mother Elisabeth Mure   d. Abt 1355 
    Marriage Abt 1347 
    Family ID F7444  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Annabella Drummond,   b. Abt 1350, Stobhall, Cargill, Perthshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Oct 1401, Scone Palace, Perthshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 51 years) 
    Marriage 13 Mar 1365-1366  [4, 5
    Children 
     1. Duke David Stuart,   b. 24 Oct 1378   d. 27 Mar 1402, Falkland Palace, Fife, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 23 years)
     2. Robert Stuart   d. Yes, date unknown
    +3. Margaret Stuart,   b. Abt 1375   d. Aft 26 Jan 1449-1450 (Age 75 years)
    +4. Princess Mary of Scotland,   b. Abt 1380, Dumferline, Fifeshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 1458, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 79 years)
    +5. Elizabeth Stuart   d. Bef 1411
     6. Egidia Stewart   d. Yes, date unknown
    +7. King James I Stuart,   b. Dec 1394, Dunfermline Palace, Fife, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 20 Feb 1437, Monastry of the Friars Preachers, Perth, Western Australia, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 42 years)
    +8. John Stuart,   b. Abt 1359   d. Yes, date unknown
    Family ID F7443  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 19 Mar 2010 

  • Event Map Click to hide
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 4 Apr 1406 - Rothsay Castle, Dundonald, Ayrshire, Scotland Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Photos Photos (Log in)Photos (Log in)

  • Notes 
    • King of Scotland 1390-1406
      Acceded: 1390. Legitimated 1347 by Papal dispensation.
      Changed his name from John to Robert on ascending to the throne.
      Reigned but too injured by kick from horse to rule.
      Earl of Carrick 22 Jun 1368.
      Robert was born John Stuart of Carrick. His father, Robert Stuart (1316-1390), was related within the forbidden degrees of kinship to his mother, Elizabeth Mure, and John and his brothers had already been born, when their parents applied the pope for a dispensation and were finally properly married in the late 1440s. The uncertainty surrounding John's legitimacy undermined his authority as king and even led to a bitter conflict between his descendants and the unquestionable legitimate descendants of Robert Stuart's second marriage.
      A year after the ridingaccident of his father, John of Carrick succeeded his senile father as king of Scots. John assumed the style of "Robert III", because the Scottish king John Balliol had been a rival of king Robert I Bruce and - even worse - a vassal of king Edward I of England. Sickly, limping John Stuart had always been a gentle and kindly, but hesitant man. On his accession he was not only a chronic invalid, but also a depressive. Living in troublesome medieval Scotland, his invalidity undermined Robert III's authority and probably worsened his depression. Gradually he became an ailing recluse. Once, when discussing his end with his wife, Robert III asked to be buried in a dunghill, beneath the epitaph "Here lies the worst of kings and the most miserable of men".
      When Robert III heard of his son's capture in 1406, he became even more depressed. He refused any food and died within a few days.
      A notorious tournament was held in 1396 on the North Inch of Perth as an entertainment before the king and court and vast crowds. Thirty men of the Clan Chattan fought against thirty men of another clan. They were clothed in a short kilt and armed with sword, dirk, axe, crossbow and three arrows each. To the music of the pipes they slaughtered each other until after a long time only a dozen survived - all badly wounded. As a result of the acceptance of the outcome of this judicial combat and the slaughter of so many local champions in it, in the next years the central highlands were more peacefully.
      *****************************************************
      When Robert II died, he was succeeded by his 53-year-old son John, who took the name Robert III (as his given name John brought back defeatist memories of John Balliol). Robert suffered other disadvantages: he was born illegitimate (made legitimate in 1347), and he had been disabled in 1388 by a horse's kick, so that he had been regarded as unfit to govern for his father. He was dominated by his younger brother, the Duke of Albany, and when he tried to rule for himself, 'he who was strong oppressed the weak and the whole kingdom was one den of thieves', according to one of the chroniclers. In 1399, the Scottish Parliament condemned his misrule and appointed his elder son David, Duke of Rothesay to govern for him. Albany, however, imprisoned his nephew and David died in mysterious circumstances in 1402 at Falkland. Apparently fearing for his own life, Robert III retired to the greater safety of Rothesay Castle on the Isle of Bute and in 1406 arranged to send his younger son James to France. He died soon after hearing that the 11-year-old prince had been captured at sea by English pirates. Painfully aware of his own deficiencies, he had exclaimed, 'Bury me in a midden and write, "Here lies the worst of kings and the most wretched of men".'

  • Sources 
    1. [S190] Peter Barns-Graham, British Pedigrees, (Stirnet), Stewart of Albany, Stewart Kings of Scotland, Stewart of Strathearn (Reliability: 2).

    2. [S275] Mark Humphrys, Royal Descents of Famous People, (copyright 1995, 1996 , , Repository: WWW).

    3. [S14] Brian Tompsett, University of Hull Royal Database (England), (copyright 1994, 1995, 1996 , , Repository: WWW, University of Hull, Hull, UK HU6 7RX bct@tardis.ed.ac.uk).

    4. [S11] Frederick Lewis Weis, Magna Charta Sureties, 1215, (4th ed, Genealogical Publishing, Baltimore , , Repository: J.H. Garner), line 41 p 44 (Reliability: 0).

    5. [S11] Frederick Lewis Weis, Magna Charta Sureties, 1215, (4th ed, Genealogical Publishing, Baltimore , , Repository: J.H. Garner), line 41 p 44, line 165 p 166 (Reliability: 0).



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